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Kansas State Library - Provides a variety of research databases for kids from the State Library of Kansas.
World Almanac for Kids/Elementary -- Contains a variety of subject areas such as U.S. history, world history, language and literature, science and technology, careers, social issues, and many others.
World Almanac for Kids --- Contains a variety
World Book Online -A leading publisher of authoritative, trustworthy, and understandable educational and instructional content.
Britannica - Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and images from experts.
Science News for Students -is an award winning online publication dedicated to providing age-appropriate, topical science news to learners, parents and educators.
National Geographic Kids - a variety of resources and information about our world and planet.
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A self-administered electronic survey and follow-up interviews were used to determine the quality, quantity and types of supports that are provided for students with autism spectrum disorders in a variety of public school settings nationwide. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to determine the effects of educators’ background, ongoing training and development activities, opinions and attitudes of educators on the supports available. Statistically and socially significant effects were found for a number of these characteristics. A need for increased and improved educator training in autism strategies was a prevalent theme throughout the data.
Sandford, Cheryl A., "Available Classroom Supports for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Public Schools" (2009). NERA Conference Proceedings 2009. 1.
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Van Gogh and Anton van Rappard
In November 80,Vincent
met Van Rappard thanks toTheo, a young Dutch painter with whom he would
develop a true friendship.
Though they had different backgrounds and personalities, they would write
long letters to each other, where they talked mainly about technics, shared
their skills and engravings they both collected.
Some time later, Van Rappard would come to his help he was from
a well-off family who supported him- by lending him some money to achieve
Whenever Vincent quarelled with his brother, he was his confident, listening
to his despairs.
A serious conflict would oppose them when Vincent sent him a lithograph
of his latest work, the Potato Eaters, of which he was very
Van Rappard harshly criticized that work for its flaws of perspective
or of drawing. Vincent resented it, and asked him to retract his words
without conditions. After swapping some scathing letters,
Rappard gave in and retracted his words. But their friendship tremendously
suffered from it...and would not last long.
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Behaviour of dragonflies involves some non-trivial mathematics, and my post is about how dragonflies manage to win over us, humans, in highly mathematical mental games.
Dragonflies, elegant creatures much beloved by poets and children, are consummate predators. As so frequently happens with beautiful predators, their real sophistication is reached not in delightful air acrobatics but in the ways they hunt and fight.
In their fights for territory, dragonflies, when they pursue the enemy with the aim of a sudden attack, use a remarkable and inventive concealment strategy. A dragonfly camouflages its approach so that the foe believes it to be stationary. This conclusion is the result of the reconstruction of stereo camera images carried out by Mizutani, Chahl and Srinivasen . There are already several studies suggesting possible guidance mechanisms used by dragonflies [4,5]; however, the underlying mathematical problem is not that sophisticated. Indeed, I quote Paul Glendinning:
This is not as hard as it sounds. Even when moving, most animals have a good sense of the direction to a given fixed object at any time, and expect to see it on that line. If the aggressor
moves so that at each moment it is on the line between the target and a given fixed point, which could be its initial position, then its relative motion in the eyes of the target is the same as that of the stationary reference point. The only way that the target can know that it is not stationary is to notice the change in size of the aggressor as it approaches. Mizutani, Chahl and Srinivasen extrapolate the lines between the aggressor and the target at several different times and show that to a good approximation these all meet at a point, the fixed reference point or initial condition of the aggressor.
In a development highly offensive to humans’ pride, it seems that we too can be duped by dragonflies and hoverflies: this is confirmed by experimental studies and resolves the mystery of dragonfly flight which puzzled me when I was a child. When you see a dragonfly over a river or meadow, it frequently appears to be hanging in the air motionless, as if it were glued to the sky, and then suddenly jumps at you, whizzing by a few inches from your face — you feel on your skin the air stream from its wings. Only upon reading Glendinning’s paper did I realize that the dragonfly was not motionless — it was approaching me on a reconnaissance flight. If you consider for a second how such an astonishing defeat in a mathematical game against insects could ever happen, it becomes apparent that, although human vision is exceptionally good at detecting even the tiniest relative changes in the position of an object, we are not good at detecting gradual increases in the relative size of an object. You would probably agree with me if you have ever looked at a distant approaching train, seen as a spot of light at the vanishing point of the rail tracks. It is very hard to judge whether the train is stationary or is approaching the platform. It is even harder in modern Britain, where it has become a non-trivial proposition.
Humans use similar strategies, sometimes developed individually, using trial and error at a semi-conscious level, or perhaps learned as part of professional training. For example, baseball players apparently catch high balls by running along such paths on the field — and with varying speed — that the ball (which they keep permanently in view) is perceived as hanging motionless in the sky.
Another example comes from seafaring practice, as a criterion used in sailing to detect boats on a collision course. I again quote Glendinning:
If a boat appears to be stationary with respect to some distant reference point or has the same compass bearing from your boat over a period of time then it is on a collision course with you .
This is equivalent to active motion camouflage with the reference point at infinity.
Notice: geometric infinity appeared on the scene. Of course, from a geometric perspective, the reference point at infinity is the same as the vanishing point. Unlike the verbal infinity of counting, it requires much longer and more arduous training.
A classical problem on collisions from Littlewood’s Miscellany :
ships , , , are sailing in fog with constant and different speeds and constant and different courses. The five pairs and , and , and , and , and have each had near collisions; call them ‘collisions’. Most people find unexpected the mathematical consequence that and necessarily ‘collide’.
Prove that! The problem can be classified as belonging to projective geometry, a mathematical discipline (and the class of mathematical structures) with historic origins in the study of geometric perspective (and vanishing points at infinity).
P. Glendinning, , View from the Pennines: Non-trivial pursuits, Mathematics Today, 43 no. 4 (August 2003) 118-120.
P. Glendinning, The mathematics of motion camouflage, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) Series B 271 (2004) 477-481.
A. Mizutani, J. S. Chahl and M. V. Srinivasan, Motion camouflage in dragonflies, Nature 423 (2003) 604.
A. J. Anderson and P. W. McOwan, Model of a predatory stealth behaviour camouflaging motion, Proc.
Roy. Soc. (London) B 270 (2003) 189–195.
M. V. Srinivasan and M. Davey, Strategies for active camouflage of motion. Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) B 259 (1995) 19–25.
A. J. Anderson and P. W. McOwan, Humans deceived by predatory stealth strategy camouflaging motion. Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) B (Suppl.) Biology Letters 03b10042.S1–03b10042.S3.
Cal Sailing Club, Introductory Handbook for Sailing Boats.
J. E. Littlewood, A Mathematician’s Miscellany, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1953.
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As we all know, teachers are very important — they can inspire and motivate our children to want to learn, which will give us the best chance for a healthy future. Yet many of our teachers are overwhelmed with a curriculum that they must teach to an uninterested class. The main reason for the disinterest is that subjects are taught without any gauge as to where the students are at in their knowledge.
Six Sigma has many great tools that can help with that. In fact, the tools are so easy that they can be used in such a way that it seems that like the class is playing a game. First, let’s fill in the DMAIC template in a very simplified matter.
Define and Measure the Issue: Students are disinterested in learning, they aren’t retaining what is taught to them. The goal is to boost interest in the classroom and have students get excited and motivated about learning. The measurement is shown on their test scores and overall classroom performance, which is very low.
Analyze and Improve: Look at the previously used teaching processes that the school considers the standard. What are the test scores at the end? Since we will assume they aren’t good, let’s see how using the VOC tool we can find out what the students deem as an interesting teaching style that would help them remember what is being taught.
Once the teacher gauges on how to motivate the class, try out the new and improved teaching process and see the results. Keep a line of communication open with the students and this alone will begin to motivate the class.
Control: Once the new teaching process is established, keep monitoring it and adjust as needed. Since teaching is fluid, it must keep its spontaneity. So the monitoring is to keep it spontaneous and interesting.
For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com.
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Scrypt is actually a protocol made use of through some cryptocurrency pieces to withstand ASIC and also FPGA equipment that could or else manage the system. This is an important step to keep the decentralized attribute of these currencies.
This memory-hard protocol strengthens the protection of bitcoin as well as other blockchain systems that sustain digital currencies. It additionally creates exploration more difficult by decreasing the performance of ASIC miners.
It is actually a cryptographic hash functionality
Scrypt is actually a memory-hard cryptographic hash function developed to impede opponents by increasing resource needs. It makes use of a lot of memory reviewed to various other password-based KDFs, that makes it tough for enemies to precompute the hash worth and lessens their conveniences over asset equipment. It additionally demands a lot of similarity, which confines the volume of central processing unit and also GPU hardware an attacker can utilize to overtake a network.
The protocol is actually predominantly used in cryptocurrencies to make them less at risk to ASIC mining, a kind of hardware that can process hashing much faster than regular computer systems. ASICs are actually expensive and need a sizable assets in components, but they can provide a substantial conveniences over frequent computer hardware in relations to hash cost and electricity effectiveness. This gives ASICs an unethical perk in the cryptocurrency mining market and also violates the decentralization of the blockchain network.
Cryptocurrency designers are actually constantly looking for new methods to boost security and also secure their electronic assets from cyberpunks. One means is actually by utilizing the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which gives powerful randomness. It also makes use of a higher lot of rounds, making it more difficult to guess passwords. This approach is popular with shopping platforms as well as other services that store consumer info.
Scrypt has actually likewise been actually implemented in blockchain systems, consisting of Bitcoin. Nonetheless, it is vital to keep in mind that scrypt is certainly not an ASIC-resistant hash functionality, and spells may be launched conveniently along with enough custom-made components. Despite this, it is actually a helpful answer for cryptocurrency networks considering that it makes it more difficult for cyberpunks to take pieces. Source
A number of cryptocurrencies have made use of the scrypt formula, including Litecoin (LTC) and also Dogecoin. This is actually because it possesses a reduced hash fee than other options, such as SHA-256.
Scrypt has been used in a wide array of ventures, from code storage space to safeguard e-commerce. The hash function is really easy to make use of, as well as it is a strong choice to various other security password hashing techniques. The scrypt hash feature is actually additionally made use of in blockchain treatments such as Ethereum as well as BitTorrent.
It is a cryptographic essential power generator
Scrypt is an algorithm developed to improve upon SHA-256, the hashing feature applied on blockchains supporting digital unit of currencies such as Bitcoin. This hashing algorithm targets to produce mining for cryptocurrency more difficult. It requires additional memory than SHA-256, and miners are called for to make use of more advanced components. This makes it harder for newbies to enter into the mining process and also end up being successful.
It utilizes a large angle of pseudorandom little strings to produce the hash. The formula likewise delivers better protection to instinctive power assaults.
The scrypt algorithm is actually utilized to create hashes for security passwords as well as other records that require cryptographic security. It is additionally widely used in the protection of cryptographic methods. It is actually especially well-known with internet solutions that stash private individual info, including banking companies and social media networks. These services typically execute scrypt to secure these delicate records from hackers.
Scrypt is actually a cryptographic hashing formula along with extreme degrees of safety and security. It is actually reliable without sacrificing safety and security, making it perfect for distributed devices that need to have significant amounts of safety. It uses much higher resilience to strength assaults, an important protection function for cryptocurrency systems.
This hashing protocol is a renovation over SHA-256, which can be attacked through custom equipment that uses GPUs to deal with the hashing concern faster than a regular CPU. Scrypt can easily stand up to these assaults by using a larger angle as well as through generating more “sound” in the hash. This additional work will certainly trigger it to take longer for assailants to brute-force the hash.
It was actually originally cultivated through Colin Percival in March 2009 as a password-based essential derivation function for the Tarsnap online backup company. Since then, it has actually been actually included right into numerous internet solutions as well as is actually the manner for some major cryptocurrencies.
It is actually not as preferred as various other hashing algorithms, the scrypt protocol is actually still incredibly useful. Its perks feature its surveillance amount, which is actually adjustable. It is actually additionally even more efficient than its own choices, that makes it perfect for dispersed units that require a high degree of safety and security. Its performance and resistance to brute force strikes make it a good choice for codes and also other records that demand security. Furthermore, it has a lower purchase fee than other hashing formulas.
One method is by making use of the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which offers powerful randomness. The hash function is very simple to utilize, and also it is a powerful alternative to various other password hashing methods. The scrypt hash functionality is also used in blockchain uses such as Ethereum and BitTorrent.
The scrypt protocol is used to create hashes for passwords as well as other records that demand cryptographic defense. Scrypt can easily stand up to these attacks through utilizing a larger vector and also through producing a lot more “sound” in the hash.
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Archaeologists in London have begun digging up some 3,000 skeletons including those of victims of the Great Plague from a burial ground that will become a new train station, the company in charge said.
A team of 60 researchers will work in shifts six days a week over the next month at the Bedlam burial ground to remove the ancient skeletons, which will eventually be re-buried at a cemetery near London. Crossrail, which is building a new east-west train line in London, said the dig near Liverpool Street station was being carried out on its behalf by the Museum of London’s archaeology unit. The company said in a statement that the bones would be tested to “shed light on migration patterns, diet, lifestyle and demography” of Londoners at the time. “Archaeologists hope that tests on excavated plague victims will help understand the evolution of the plague bacteria strain,” Crossrail said.
The Bedlam ground was used between 1569 and 1738 — a period that spanned Shakespeare’s plays, the Great Fire of London and numerous plague outbreaks. The excavation is also expected to further uncover the remains of an ancient Roman road, where Crossrail said that several artifacts such as horseshoes and cremation urns have already been found. The area was London’s first municipal burial ground and was named after the nearby Bethlem Royal Hospital or “Bedlam” — the world’s oldest psychiatric institution, which has since relocated outside London. The burial ground was used by Londoners who could not afford a church burial or who chose to be buried there for religious or political reasons. Members of the Levellers, a 17th-century political grouping that advocated popular sovereignty and religious tolerance, are believed to be buried there. via 3,000 Skeletons Recovered at London Train Station Site
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I’ve been reflecting on the structure of the Book of Alma1 , as well as what the Book of Alma means. What is its message? What did Mormon intend us to learn from it? What did Mormon intend us to learn from its structure and narrative?
The Structure of Alma
First, structure. The Book of Alma might be described in 4 narrative cycles, framed with a prologue and epilogue. Here’s my working outline:
Prologue (Alma 1-3): The stage is set. We meet Nehor and Amlici–whose legacies will haunt the remainder of Alma’s record. The Amlicite Civil War is recounted.
Movement 1 (Alma 4-16): The Nephite Reformation: the story of Nephi’s efforts to reform the Church of God, ending with the terror at Ammonihah and their subsequent destruction at the hand of the Lamanites.
Movement 2 (Alma 17-26): The Lamanite Mission, led by Ammon and his brethren, and the eventual (though short-lived) war between Ammon’s converts and the other Lamanites.
Movement 3 (Alma 30-44): The Zoramite Mission and ensuing Zoramite war, with Alma’s counsel to his three sons sandwiched in between the two events.
Movement 4 (Alma 45-62): Helaman’s (unsuccessful) reform, the ensuing Amalackiahite wars, and the military leader’s constant reform efforts
Epilogue (Alma 63): The effects of the war on the Nephite people, including the passing of a generation.
Importantly, each of these cycles is a kind of repetition, a “variation on a theme,” that includes these similarities:
Reform. Each section begins with an attempt to reform the people
Preaching. Each reform effort involves preaching and sermons centered on Christ
War. Each section ends with a war precipitated by the reform attempt, usually involving a secession or separation.
Covenant Victory. Each war involves a victory by God’s covenant-keeping people
A couple of notes and nuancing.
First, the prologue sets up some major players: introducing the Amlicites (who will return later during the Zoramite war) and Nehor, who directly influenced the people of Ammoniah (and may have set precedent for the Zoramites’ conduct).
Second, the preaching and sermons that make up the reform effort are a dominant note in every cycle except for the final one, which is instead dominated by the war (flipping the emphasis of most sections)–possibly a long war because of Helaman’s initially unsuccessful reform, and Moroni’s repeated attempts to bring his people to obedience.
Third, most of the cycles–including the prologue and epilogue–involves separation and fragmentation: the Amlicites, Ammonihahites, Zoramites, and followers of Amalickiah separate themselves politically or spiritually from the Nephites, and (more importantly) from covenant faithfulness, while the Anti-Nephi-Lehites separate themselves from the Lamanites and join with the Nephites.
Fourth, all of the wars are won by God’s people, the one difference being the destruction of Ammonihah, which is accomplished by the Lamanites (fulfilling God’s promise in 1 Nephi 2:16, that the Lamanites will be a “scourge” unto Nephi’s children, and showcasing that God is the one fighting the battles).
If this outline is correct–at least in the broad strokes–what does this suggest? What meaning are we supposed to take from the Book of Alma?
The Meaning of the Book of Alma
As a preliminary note, I think two obvious themes emerge. The first is the more obvious one: the covenant, and specifically, the covenant God had made with Lehi (2 Nephi 1:20) that ties keeping God’s commandments to prospering in the land, with God’s protection denied those who disobey. This theme is obvious in the church’s efforts to humble and discipline the Church of God, and in the subsequent wars and consistent victories by the righteous. Commenting on Alma 50:17-23, Brant Gardner specifically links Mormon’s emphasis on war with demonstrating the covenant:2
Mormon is not narrating Nephite history in these verses, he is using it to demonstrate the fulfillment of Lehi’s promise for the land. He specifically invokes Lehi and then emphasizes the contrast between the prosperity of the Nephites and the conditions that “brought upon them their wars and their destructions.” While many readers of Captain Moroni’s exploits in Alma see in them a glorification of that military chief captain, Mormon saw him restoring proper Nephite obedience before the Lord, having removed the contrary elements. Thus, “there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni.” Mormon was correct that many readers might miss this message, so he made it explicit.
Mormon’s military descriptions have a specific purpose in his envisioned project; they carry a larger message about the literal fulfilment of Lehi’s promise… here was a promise given to Lehi that had two prongs. Nephi recorded the Lord’s promise to his father: “Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence” (2 Nephi 1:20). At times, Mormon emphasizes the positive aspect of the promise. In this case, he emphasizes the negative side. In addition to pointing out that they invoked the curse through their rebellion, he emphasized that it was due to their own actions.
This seems right. The wars are a feature not because the Book of Mormon is obsessed with violence for its own sake, but because it demonstrates the covenant. (Additionally, our human author–Mormon–has fought a war himself. As Ben Spackman notes, the focus on these wars might be an “alternate history” for Mormon: “Imagine [Mormon] sitting there, surround by plates and destruction, thinking “this could have all been different, if we’d had a Moroni.”)
The second theme, I think, is found in the sermons. While the sermons vary, all of these are linked to the Nephite anticipation of a suffering Messiah, who would take upon Him the sins of all people, and covenant faithfulness to this Messiah. Alma explains this to the people of Zarahemla, Gideon, and Ammonihah; Amulek preaches to his native city of Ammonihah and later to the Zoramites; Ammon and Aaron both preach Christ and repentance to the Lamanite dynasty; and Alma’s counsel to his sons, especially to Corianton, is centered on this Messiah figure.
Christ and Covenant. Covenant and Christ. These are the two main themes of the Book of Mormon. Mormon’s son, Moroni, says as much in the title page:
Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers, and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.
With this lens in place, the Book of Alma begins to make some sense. Every movement involves reform and war. Each reform effort is initiated to bring the people–the Nephites, the Lamanites, the apostate Zoramites–back to their Lord, and observing the covenant that promises them the Lord’s protection. Those who do “prosper in the land,” and those who don’t are “cut off from my presence.” Blessedly, each movement includes some individual instruction as well, helping outline and illuminate the figure of the Lehite Messiah, Jesus the Christ–the very Lord who prospers them–so that the people can better trust God and His mercy.
I’ve long had this issue with the Book of Mormon: the book’s emphasis on war. This emphasis, that runs throughout the Book of Alma and culminates in “the war chapters,” has long bothered me: why would a God of mercy place so much about war in a book ostensibly about Christ? The idea in this quote has begun to help me answer that question, and I think it can sort-of generalize to the Hebrew Bible’s similar emphasis on violence (especially in Joshua). ↩︎
It’s a really, really good book about an issue near and dear to my heart: what is Genesis 1-11? This issue originally became near and dear to me because I love science, and I wanted desperately to know how I could accept the best parts of science, scholarship, and scripture. How do we bring together the best findings of “Biblical criticism” (which often consists of very good, Christian scholars trying to read scripture closely) and the amazing scientific findings of the last several hundred years, and make sense of them in light of the best parts of the Restoration? The Book of Moses and the JST, the Book of Abraham, and the Temple–God’s word to us in these Latter-days? For me, this has always felt essential: synthesizing all these approaches to truth–revelation, reason, authority, observation, and science–without letting one overwhelm the other.
As I’ve been trying to “get” Genesis 1-11 for myself, and synthesize these approaches, I’ve also been concerned with the pastoral side of things: how do I discuss this kind of thing with fellow church members? Is it even important? (I believe it is.) And how do we do it in a way that doesn’t diminish faith, or cause contention, or fracture our church? How do we discuss issues like this in a way that fosters unity? And how can we, if unity simply means–we all believe the same thing?
In the spirit of these questions, a particular section of this volume of “Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?” really stuck out to me. In the conclusion, and after reviewing the positions of each of the volume contributors, Charles Halton (the editor) tries to describe the relationship between the debate about Genesis 1-11 and the church. He writes:
[In talking about these different viewpoints]… this is not to say that questions of genre and historicity are unimportant for the study of the book of Genesis. These are topics that concern many within the contemporary church and, accordingly, we should think deeply about them. In doing so, it is vitally important that we should take care to not let these issues become impediments to Christian unity. Christians have a very long and deeply troubling history of division, rancor, exclusion, and fratricide over a myriad of issues, including the ways in which Gen 1 – 11 is understood. The root of these conflicts–whether they split churches, get seminary professors fired, or even lead to bloodshed–is a lack of charity.
…Each of the contributors to this volume is a respected and senior scholar of biblical studies. Each of the contributors wrote their essays with deep insight and expertise that came from a lifetime of study. And all of the contributors share a concern that their work benefit the theological understanding and practice of the church. Nonetheless, each contributor offered different conclusions regarding the genre of Gen 1 – 11. This should give all of us who read their essays a healthy dose of humility and an appreciation for the complexities involved in this topic. If they cannot come to a consensus, this must be a thorny question indeed. Even more importantly, this fact should join Christian readers together even more deeply and make us all the more reticent to fracture the body of Christ when we have disagreements regarding issues such as this.
Charles Halton, “Conclusion”; emphasis my own
He goes on, and I’ll quote this in full (because it’s do dang good):
Let me make what might strike you as a startling claim. Actually, I’m not the one making it — I am repeating what St. Augustine has said: avoiding errors is not the primary task of interpretation. In other words, when we are reading Scripture, our primary goal should not be to prevent ourselves from making a hermeneutical mistake. To put it differently, the thing we want most from our reading of the Bible should not be to attain its correct interpretation. Augustine was not saying that correctly understanding Scripture is unimportant. Arriving at proper interpretations was important for him but more paramount within the act of Christian reading is for the reader to interact with Scripture in a way that builds up charity. Augustine said: “[I]f he is deceived in an interpretation that builds up charity, which is the end of the commandments, he is deceived in the same way as a man who leaves a road by mistake but passes through a field to the same place toward which the road itself leads.” For Augustine, charity is what God most wants to foster, not correctness of belief. In his understanding, charity was such an essential component of Christian devotion that he said this within a sermon on 1 John: “But there is nothing to distinguish the sons of God from the sons of the devil, save charity. They that have charity, are born of God: they that have not charity are not. There is the great token, the great dividing mark.”
One might rejoin Augustine with Paul’s desire that the church be united in “one mind” (Romans 15:6) and, accordingly, argue that uniformity of belief and correct interpretation are marks of the true church and are the goals for which we should aim. However, Ephraim Radner points out that in Romans 15 Paul links this one mindedness with “contributing to the needs of the saints,” being “hospitable,” “blessing one’s persecutors,” “rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep,” and not being “haughty” or “conceited.” In other words, Paul does not mean that Christians have one mind when they are united together in uniform doctrinal understanding and biblical interpretation. On the contrary, “Agreement is bound to a way of living with one another that is rooted in the heart or form of Christ Jesus and that grows out of a certain bondedness whereby deference is made to others.” Christians are united together in a way of life that points toward Christ. Of course, this implies that we share in common a few bedrock ideas (such as, who is Jesus?), but Paul sees this one-mindedness as an interconnected way of life and not as unitary belief structure. This way of life is centered around deference to others, or, as Augustine may have put it, charity.
Christians [and Latter-day Saints] are not a people who should fracture easily, particularly over the highly complex issues that we confront in Gen 1 – 11. Where there are areas of disagreement we must take pains to extend charity and deference to others, to recognize our own limitations, have patience with one another even as we work for change, and also rejoice in our agreement on the fundamental characteristics of the Christian faith. In Christian understanding, regardless of whether the events of the primeval history happened or not (or happened in the ways they are described), Gen 1 – 11 ultimately points toward the Christ in which Christians are rooted together and the person whom they are called to emulate. This shared way of living with one another not only unites us together when we disagree over the genre of Gen 1 – 11 but it also unites us together with Christians of all times and places — Christians who had tremendously different outlooks on their faith than we do today. This way of life unites us with the likes of Augustine and Charles Wesley and Catherine of Sienna and Teresa of Calcutta. But this way of life also unites us with Origen who, along with being one of the church’s greatest apologists and influencer of early trinitarian formulations, also denied the resurrection of the body and was denounced as a heretic by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in AD 553. This way of life unites us to Martin Luther in spite of his, at times, virulently anti-semitic rants. And it unites us to the Anglican Church that profited from directly owning and managing slaves on the Codrington plantation where punishments for slaves in the West Indies included being pinned to the ground and slowly burned from heel to head for rebellious behavior and for lesser crimes, castration and feet chopped in half. Before we start withholding charity from our brothers and sisters because they embrace a different idea regarding Genesis we would do well to contemplate the fact that if Origin, Luther, and the Anglican Church could stray so far, it is almost certain that generations from now Christians will look back on our ethics and beliefs with a mixture of horror and amusement. This should cause us to extend charity most generously to those with whom we disagree, particularly when it comes to topics as challenging as the genre of Gen 1 – 11.
Let us discuss matters such as the genre of Gen 1 – 11 and debate them vigorously if we desire. But if Christians are united together with the people and organizations that committed moral atrocities and who believed twisted and aberrant theologies, then how we regard Gen 1 – 11 should not come between us. May our God forgive us if this topic and even this book spur division in place of unity and strife instead of love.
CHARLES HALTON, “CONCLUSION”; EMPHASIS MY OWN
As the Lord’s people, we’re commanded to be united. “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.” I’ve written about it before, but what does this mean? I’m inclined to say, with Charles, that it does involve some basic, shared beliefs. While we’re not a creed-loving people, but it does involve some basic ideas, perhaps best encapsulated in the temple recommend questions: do I believe in God, our Heavenly Father? In the resurrected Christ? In the reality of their appearance to Joseph Smith? But beyond this, we can believe many things.
I think sometimes those things can tend to distract us from what “unites us”: we get caught up in whether certain ideas are “conservative” or “progressive.” And we worry, with some reason, whether certain ideas will undermine the faith of the Church. But the Church is, and must be, a big tent: a collection of various people from various countries speaking various languages, all with various histories, but united by our covenant “to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.” This unity does not emphasize orthodoxy, but “‘contributing to the needs of the saints,’ being ‘hospitable,’ ‘blessing one’s persecutors,’ ‘rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep,’ and not being ‘haughty’ or ‘conceited.'”
Further, in the Book of Moses, it says that “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness.” The result was not that everyone believed the exact same things: no, it was instead “that there was no poor among them.” This lines up with the above quote’s summary of Paul’s teaching on unity: “Agreement is bound to a way of living with one another that is rooted in the heart or form of Christ Jesus and that grows out of a certain bondedness whereby deference is made to others”–or in other words, charity.
In light of Mormon’s emphasis on charity (which paraphrases Paul’s language), and the scriptures from the books of Moses and Mosiah, this certainly seems to align with our faith. Certainly, as a church, we can tend towards orthodoxy: and we have apostles to keep doctrine pure, and doctrine is the purview of prophets and apostles, and it is important. But as long as we’re aligned in the key things, then this unity-as-charity seems to make the most sense. We are not united in believing the exact same propositional statements about the nature of God (though a certain orthodoxy is necessary); and a quest like that is probably hopeless. No, we’re instead believers united in their allegiance to a loving Heavenly Father, and to His call to bless the nations. This unity leaves room to focus on what is most important, and leaves an allowable space for us to make the best sense of scripture, history, and science as we see fit.
I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine. It looks too much like Methodism and not like Latter-day-Saintism. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be kicked out of their church. I want the liberty of believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It doesn’t prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine.
Joseph Smith (Discourse, 8 April 1843, as Reported by William Clayton)
“Meaning” (in the way he’s using it) is what’s intended. It’s what Jesus meant when describing the parable of the prodigal son, or preaching the Sermon on the Mount, in the original context. It’s focused on the person preaching or writing, on the authorial intent.
“Significance” is what stands out to the listener. It’s what we get out of it, what strikes us as poignant or important. It’s oriented around the hearer, “the eye of the beholder.” It’s what we take out of a parable or sermon. It’s likening the scriptures to ourselves.
Their point in the podcast is to say that while searching for significance is good, it’s vital to find the meaning first.
This happens with my wife: she’s telling me something, and I’m somewhat distracted, until something stands out that’s relevant to me, or something wakes me from my stupor. I tune in, and occasionally, admit, “Honey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t really listening. Can you say it again?” And with a kind eyeroll (and the occasional dirty look), she sweetly repeats, allowing me to focus on what she means.
As Latter-day Saints, we sometimes focus more on the significance than the meaning. I do this all the time. I’m sitting in General Conference, or reading scripture, and I’m searching for answers to my questions. I’m searching for significance: what does God want to say to me? In doing so, I’m asking what this means for me, without asking what this means–period. I should be searching for both what the prophet intends, and for its significance to my life and world.
In thinking about all of this, I was reminded of Joseph Spencer’s discussion of First Nephi:
… Nephi has purposes we ought to let guide us. That’s perhaps something we don’t often reflect on as we read scripture. We read a little every day, mostly looking for something to touch us, to speak to our everyday life in a way that will help us press on as disciples of Jesus Christ. And there’s of course nothing wrong with that. But if it’s all we do with scripture, we’re likely to find that we’ve silenced the voices of the prophets. Part of what it means to have faith in the prophets is to trust that they have divinely ordained reasons for speaking to us. They aren’t just another means to the end of feeling the Spirit and receiving direction for our lives. They’re messengers with things we’re supposed to come to understand.
I’ll admit that during conference, I was probably more focused on finding significance for my own life than trying to come to terms with “prophetic priorities,” with the “divinely ordained reasons [they had] for speaking to us.” By doing so, have I “silenced the voices of the prophets?”
It’s a heavy question that’s been weighing on my mind. As I go through Benjamin’s words this week, and conference talks too, I’ll be thinking about it.
Reading is obviously where our scripture study must begin. We cannot study and come to understand what we are not already familiar with. We cannot study 1 Nephi thoroughly without knowing the rest of the Book of Mormon. The prophets have admonished us to go beyond reading to study, and though reading is different from careful study, it is an essential part of scripture study. It is not something that can be done once and then forgotten; it must be done over and over again. Thus the repetition of the advice: “Read, read, read.”
Joseph Spencer is very good at reading. And the Church is better for it.
You learn about Spencer’s talent quickly in First Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction, the first in a twelve-volume series put out by the Maxwell Institute at BYU. Where the “theological” could be intimidating, the “brief” and “introduction” are inviting. As is “1st Nephi”–a book that seemingly needs no introduction (and I emphasize seemingly). Spencer is aware of this:
“We know this book best… we turn the departure from Jerusalem into novels. We paint the tree of life. We film the trek through the desert. We sing about building the boat. We sermonize about our personal Liahonas. We make keychains that look like the iron rod. Our children strive to be like Nephi. We pray over our Lamans and Lemuels. First Nephi inspires and gives shape to Latter-day Saint devotion.”
Spencer is right. (I know this, because I teach Sunbeams, where I have sung so many songs about Nephi’s courage and building boats.) But what I thought I knew made reading the book a humbling–and compelling–experience. I should know First Nephi best, but the insight-to-page ratio was so high that I began to wonder if I’d ever really paid attention at all. What more, each insight is made clearly in a warm and friendly tone. Even more, Spencer’s book is grounded in what Nephi says. While all theological interpretation is creative, the best theology takes the text as its canvas: the constraints within which to draw meaning. This book does that well. (The index suggests he cites 1 Nephi about 250 times, several of these citations grouped across several sentences or pages. As far as a book about a book goes, that’s good.)
In short, Spencer’s book is novel, careful, and clear. And it’s missional, too–determined to hear Nephi out, and from that sturdy platform, apply what we’ve learned to the Church: its members and mission. All of this makes it a worthy and promising start to this series of theological forays into the books of the Book of Mormon.
Let me follow with a few additional notes on Nephi’s design, the reading strategies Spencer uses (and doesn’t use), the thing I love most about the book (how considerate and pastoral it is), and some closing critique and hope for the future of the series.
“A Tight, Deliberate Structure”
Aside from learning that I don’t know how to read, the other main takeaway is that First Nephi is a very designed book. First Nephi has “a tight, deliberate structure,” with “a theological center of gravity.” The larger outline of the book, the original divisions, the “central story” of each chapter, and word choice all cascade and run together to make some larger observations about God and His covenant. Yes, Spencer acknowledges that “First Nephi is less a report about a family’s difficult experiences than an explanation, historical and theological, for intertribal conflict between Nephites and Lamanites.” This has been stated many times before, in many different ways. Spencer creates an outline, however, that centers First Nephi on the scriptural traditions Lehi’s family receives from the plates, and on their own visionary encounters with God. These two strands–ancient scripture and modern (for them) revelation–combine into an impactful message centered around God’s plan to redeem the Lehites. If you understand that, everything–Lehi’s dream, Nephi’s vision, Isaiah, and much else besides–falls into place.
It’s terrific stuff. My favorite part was early on in the book: I was reading about Lehi’s dream, and realizing (as Spencer argues) that it’s not really about the individual believers journey to Christ–though we can read it that way. It’s about Lehi’s sons. The vision is framed by Lehi expressing concern for Laman and Lemuel, and everything in the dream shifts dramatically after Laman and Lemuel reject the fruit–a moment that also comes at the center of the vision. In the context of what I was reading, this–and his exposition of Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 11-14–hit me like a ton of bricks. Far from making the story less personal, it reminded me that the God I worship is over history. (And at a time like this, with the Coronavirus everywhere in the news, that’s a comforting thought.)
One thing that intrigued me was Spencer’s reading strategy. How does he approach scripture? What assumptions does he make, and what methods does he follow?
The main thing he wants me to know is this: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Said another way, don’t miss or forget the “big picture” that makes up the larger book of First Nephi. As he says at the outset of the first chapter:
We’re always missing the big picture because we get stuck on the details. One little aspect of a situation stands out to us for whatever reason, and we end up missing everything else. It’s like becoming obsessed with just one scene in a movie and never really getting the point of the whole film. It’s not that there isn’t anything genuinely interesting about what draws our attention. It’s usually quite meaningful, in fact. But we’re always missing the bigger picture. And our experience of the world is poorer for it . . .
Spencer, Chapter 1
The same chapter closes, in part, with these lines–forming a kind of inclusio of his own:
We read a little every day, mostly looking for something to touch us, to speak to our everyday life in a way that will help us press on as disciples of Jesus Christ. And there’s of course nothing wrong with that. But if it’s all we do with scripture, we’re likely to find that we’ve silenced the voices of the prophets… we’re to weave the scriptures we carry with us into the words we hear from living, breathing prophets in our own day. Only then can we see the biggest picture of all concerning what God’s doing in the world.
SPENCER, CHAPTER 1
Spencer’s point comes from a conviction similar to the folks who make the Bible Project videos: each book or section of scripture is a literary whole, and should be treated as such. Rather than being obsessed with one scene, we should ask: what’s the larger point of the book? (For other examples of book-by-book analysis, see the Bible Project’s videos on Samuel and Matthew.)
In addition to emphasizing the big picture, Spencer also talks a lot about words. He discusses the difference between “command” and “constrain”; he notes the different places “Lamb of God,” “Messiah,” and “Christ” all appear; he looks at the distinction between “Holy Ghost” and “the Spirit”; and in all these moments, makes meaning out of it. This assumes a very precise, “tight” translation of the Book of Mormon, instead of a loose translation, i.e. Joseph receiving the words and clothing them in words he himself understood. Is this an accurate assumption? I don’t know. But Spencer draws pages of meaning from where and when these words appear in Nephi’s book, and in a way that coheres with Nephi’s message.
In summary, he asks questions like these:
Structure. Can we take the structure seriously? (For example, is there evidence it was designed, and not just random?) Assuming we can, what are the contours and elements of that structure? What are the author’s original divisions? Are there editorial hints or transitions that suggest how to group these divisions? Are there “central stories” within each division? And what can all this tell us about the book’s theological concerns and the author’s intent?
Textual Details. Assuming that earlier manuscript changes have priority, what can we learn from the Original and Printer’s manuscripts? When it comes to specific words, titles, and names, what is this word’s count and frequency? More, what is the word’s distribution and sequence, and what can that tell us?
Drawing Conclusions. With this close reading and context in mind, what can we learn and draw from this scripture?
These are good questions. For a comprehensive look at First Nephi, they are not entirely sufficient–there are historical approaches that Spencer could have used. There is very little doctrinal connection here; there is not much effort to look outside of the text at historical facts. There are no deep dives into Lehi’s encounter with God as a model of theophany, or whether or not the family left Jerusalem in the midst of a passover. (A good example of a counter-approach is Brant Gardner’s Second Witness commentary, which is analytic and attempts to be comprehensive.) But while Spencer’s commentary misses on the analysis, it functions brilliantly on the level of synthesis. Much as I love these other commentaries, none of them left with as clear and compelling a picture of the overall message of the book as Spencer’s.
Which brings me to my last point.
Being Considerate, and Pastoral Care
The final thing I want to note about this remarkable book is something I find endearing: Spencer’s determination to make his work readable and relevant to readers like you and I. He does this in three key ways:
First of all, as a good writer, he’s ridiculously thoughtful. He’s great at providing check-ins throughout each chapter: zooming in, then zooming out, then zooming in again, then zooming out, then zooming in yet again and zooming out yet again, all to make sure I never lose sight of the picture. I’ve seen it in his other works, too, and it’s very considerate. This is not a trait shared by all writers, and certainly not by all scriptural commentaries, which can seem like a string of miscellaneous insights without much to draw them into a complete whole.
Secondly, Spencer spends the second half of the book addressing modern concerns: the murder of Laban, Nephi’s treatment of Laman of Lemuel, and women (or the lack thereof) in Nephi’s writings–all questions he’s been asked by his students at BYU and elsewhere. He offers rich and creative answers to these questions, but not until after we are oriented to what Nephi wanted us to know. That’s a price I was happy to pay, and I really liked his answers to these questions, though I won’t explore them here.
Thirdly, he has pastoral as well as academic ambitions. These are not cool scriptural nuggets that have nothing to do with our lived-out lives. No. Each chapter ends with a mini-sermon (each set after a lovely Brian Kershisnik woodcut): a takeaway that suggests how we might better relate to each other, to modern prophets, and to the world. Some examples:
Chapter 1 ends with a call to weave together the voices of ancient prophets with the voice of modern ones.
Chapter 2 ends with a missionary call, drawing insight and renewed Abrahamic purpose from Nephi’s vision.
Chapter 4 ends with a call to live together in love, drawing this from the story of Laban.
The other chapters have similar conclusions, but they’re all about how to live as a church and community. And so Spencer sets an example both of how to dig deep into ancient scripture, and how to draw out, from these insights, spiritually powerful and intellectually rich spurs to action.
Critique and Conclusion
This book is not perfect, and heaven knows there may be flaws. (I suspect Spencer would admit as much.) Some minor quibbles:
Spencer has a habit of hanging a lot of meaning on specific words, like pronouns (i.e. his chapter on women) or phrases (i.e. the “more sacred part” he discusses in The Vision of All, critiqued here). I am not certain that the Book of Mormon translation is precise enough to bear that load–see comments on this blog post for an example of this discussion–or that Nephi intended us to read this much onto these phrases.
The analysis does not take into account other forms of critique or analysis, such as other forms of literary analysis (i.e. Grant Hardy) or historical and cultural analysis (i.e. Brant Gardner), or political analysis. As scholarship progress, I hope to see a theological synthesis like Spencer’s integrated into a more holistic synthesis that looks at all of these considerations, and circumscribes all these perspectives into one great whole.
Spencer leaves some arguments unpacked that should be whole books, like his take on the Great Apostasy described in Nephi’s vision. I have lots of questions about that.
For these and other reasons, I look forward to other scholars engaging with the variety of readings and interpretations that Spencer offers. But these are minor quibbles. The book accomplishes what Spencer hoped to accomplish, which is to show how much we miss of a theological nature.
I hope Spencer’s book is widely read. It’s a powerful, compelling, and rich introduction to the book I thought I knew. It’s a model of clear, lucid writing. It invites every reader to consider how Nephi’s perspective should shape our personal and collective ministry. And it sets a high bar for what promises to be a very interesting series.
My friend Marissa is going to Harvard Divinity School, studying the stories of holy women. She recently posted a meditation on female anointings, and in it, described her encounter with a prayer that LDS women used to say as they anointed and blessed their pregnant sisters. Here is the prayer she found:
I love this prayer. In her post, Marissa adds the following:
I love the parts of my religion it [the prayer] reminds me of. I love that, in our early church when things were so theologically creative, women laid their hands on each other and pronounced blessings, the way we still do in the temple. This prayer sounds a lot like those temple blessings. It uses some of the same words, it has the same tendency to dart back and forth between the spiritual and the physical, nearly scientific, with its talk of marrow and ligaments, its attention to the details of the body. I love that about my religion too—the insistent mixing of the mundane with the divine, the assurance that the body is permanent, is part of our soul, is a necessary part of salvation, and therefore worthy of our theological attention and love.
Terryl Givens has said that “One of the hallmarks of Mormonism, and of Joseph Smith in particular, is the collapse of sacred distance–the sense that there is an earthly and a heavenly, a bodily and a spiritual.” This prayer, with “its talk of marrow and ligament, its attention to the details of the body,” is a prime example of that. It’s also a testament to the enduring faith of Latter-day Saint women. I hope my children–should God grant me children–know about prayers like these.
We all use metaphors to describe our lives, things like: “Love is a battlefield.” “Life is a highway.” “All the world is a stage.” It turns out, though, that political philosophers get really dark about it. Here’s political philosopher Michael Oakeshott on why that is:
… it is characteristic of political philosophers that they take a sombre view of the human situation: they deal in darkness. Human life in their writings appears, generally, not as a feast or even as a journey, but as a predicament; and the link between politics and eternity is the contribution the political order is conceived as making to the deliverance of mankind. Even those whose thought is most remote from violent contrasts of dark and light (Aristotle, for example) do not altogether avoid this disposition of mind. And some political philosophers may even be suspected of spreading darkness in order to make their light more acceptable. Man, so the varied formula runs, is the dupe of error, the slave of sin, of passion, of fear, of care, the enemy of himself or of others or of both … and the civil order appears as the whole or a part of the scheme of his salvation.
The precise manner in which the predicament is conceived, the qualities of mind and imagination and the kinds of activity man can bring to the achievement of his own salvation, the exact nature and power of civil arrangements and institutions, the urgency, the method and the comprehensiveness of the deliverance — these are the singularities of each political philosophy. In them are reflected the intellectual achievements of the epoch or society, and the great and slowly mediated changes in intellectual habit and horizon that have overtaken our civilization. Every masterpiece of political philosophy springs from a new vision of the predicament; each is the glimpse of a deliverance or the suggestion of a remedy.
After re-reading this a few times (it’s a hefty statement), it seems that Oakeshott is making a few points:
To some, human life is not a feast or a journey, but a predicament
Political philosophy is the study of the predicament, and how to find a way out
Different philosophies pose the predicament in different ways: man “is the dupe of error, the slave of sin, of passion, of fear, of care, the enemy of himself or of others or of both…”
How this predicament is described, and how the solution is achieved, is what distinguishes each great work of political philosophy
Now, let’s be clear: I’m no political philosopher. Nor will I ever be one. But I find these ideas incredibly interesting, especially the first point about the metaphors we use to describe our existence. Why? Because it matters so much. Think about it:
Is life a feast or a journey? A war or a test? Are we soldiers or students or pilgrims?
If it’s a feast, what are we feasting on? If we’re students, what is the lesson we’re supposed to learn? If we’re pilgrims, what is our journey–our starting point, our waystation, and our final destination? If life is a war, what are we fighting against, and who is on our side, and who is on theirs?
If it is a predicament, what is the predicament? Are we ancient humans stuck in a modern world, waylaid by our biological drives and evolved habits of mind? Are we sinners saddled with depraved souls, with grace as the only way out? Are we, as the Hebrew Bible envisions it, the creation of God inclined toward idolatry–to the worship of anything but God? Are we students in a classroom, sent here to learn? Are we, as Socrates taught, rational creatures beset by ignorance? Are we, as Terryl Givens like to point out, children of God wounded by the world and by each other, requiring the grace and healing that comes in the arms of Christ? Or are some kind of all of these?
Or is all of these an exercise in climbing the wrong ladder? If we are not, in fact, in a “predicament,” is some other framing device better?
Journeys, feasts, predicaments–these are the metaphors we use, and I think they matter a lot because they shape our approach to the world. But I wonder why we all use different metaphors? And I wonder if one metaphor is objectively more right than another? Or if all of these metaphors get at some aspect of life?
A few thoughts.
First, Oakeshott suggests that political philosophers think in terms of predicaments. This requires they take a “sombre view” of the human situation. Are we, as Latter-day Saints, required to take a “sombre view” of the human situation? I’m inclined to say… yeah. Yes we are.
As Latter-day Saints, we’re generally sunny in our outlook. We believe everyone will get a shot at heaven. (I’m thinking of the book title, “Odds Are You’re Going to Be Exalted.”) But we also have a pretty dark and tragic book at the heart of the Restoration: the Book of Mormon, which for all its optimism, ends with the godless Nephites being wiped out by the godless Lamanites.
I’m reminded of Bible scholar Gordon Wenham’s statement: when talking about the first part of Genesis, he said that the book “declares that mankind is without hope if individuals are without God. Human society will disintegrate where divine law is not respected and divine mercy not implored. Yet Genesis, so pessimistic about mankind without God, is fundamentally optimistic…” Why? Because, in short, God has made covenants to Abraham to save the human race. This could describe the Book of Moses equally well. (Think of the scene where Enoch sees the wickedness and suffering of mankind, and weeps with God–but then leads a whole city into God’s rest and loving arms. He sees mankind without God; and works to turn mankind to God.)
Second, journeys and predicaments both suggest a storyline, a narrative. All of these narratives invite us to act, to move, to launch ourselves forward. And perhaps that’s enough? Without a conflict requiring resolution; without a journey needing completing; without a “what-is” requiring a “should-be”; we would be static, frozen in place.
Third, Adam Miller has talked about the questions being asked today, while both Terryl Givens and Nathan Oman have talked about finding new language to celebrate the restoration–new ways to answer today’s new questions. Perhaps to find the “right” metaphor and image, we need to know–what questions are being asked? What metaphors best make sense to this generation, and to the questions they’re asking, and draw from the Restoration?
Back in 2008, as the Amazon Kindle e-reader was coming-of-age and people wondering if printed books would make it, Alan Jacobs suggested three ideas about the future of books. He hypothesized that (1) reference works would be read dominantly online, because hyperlinks are so great for reference (think of Wikipedia); that (2) narrative books, like history and novels, would be best read on the Kindle, because there is a forward momentum with e-readers–you can’t skip around, you can only go forward or back a page, and that creates a momentum; and that (3) the traditional, printed book “will be the best home for works that need to be lingered over, meditated, considered with care.”
This came to my mind today–partly because I was perusing the Bible Design blog–and I started to think about how I read scripture, which seem to fall into Alan Jacobs’ third bucket: works that need to be lingered over, and considered with care. That got me thinking about we read scripture as a church. In wards and branches, we have forgotten print scriptures. Nearly everyone reads scriptures on our phones. And if we do have a printed set of scriptures, we settle for the familiar, 2013 editions that are sold in Deseret Book.
I rarely see anyone with printed scriptures. Makes sense–it’s one less thing to carry. We leave our bulky scriptures behind, and use our phones at church; we enjoy the ability to take notes and highlight things, and leap around the scriptures at will. Butwhat we use to read changes how we read. “The medium is the message.” And I’ve been pausing to consider: what difference does it make when I’m reading scripture on my phone, and in print? (And what difference does it make what kind of print editions I use?)
Consider: if I read scriptures on my phone, I’m encouraged to move about: to click on footnotes, to swipe to see resources from the side, to jump from hyperlink to hyperlink. And that’s if I don’t succumb to the temptation to check our notifications, or swipe to see another app. (Spoiler: I often do.) In many ways, reading digitally makes this kind of behavior almost inevitable.
And we need better study bibles, especially as Latter-day Saints. The footnotes in our current print and leather editions are lacking. The context afforded by a quality study bible is invaluable, and brings us into engagement with modern Christian scholarship on the history and literary nature of the Bible. That’s important. Don’t get me wrong. More of us need to know about, and draw on, the wonderful resources that different translations of the Bible–set in various study bibles with maps and footnotes of every kind–provide.
But whether in print or online, these reference works do not encourage sustained encounter with the text. They encourage encounters with verses and chapters, yes. But after a short perusal of a passage, we notice the clickable hyperlinks or notes at the bottom of the page, which call and beg for our attention. And often, we follow–always learning something, often many things, and some of it valuable. But there is still much to be said about a sustained encounter with the text.
It could be said that a principal problem in our day is that our default mode of interaction is to treat scripture more like a reference work, moving about, and less like a book, standing relatively still.
Bookshelves will survive in the homes of serious digital-age readers, but their contents will be much more judiciously curated. The next generation of paper books will likely rival the art hanging beside them on the walls for beauty, expense, and “aura”—for better or for worse.
J. Mark Bertrand, picking up on this idea, wrote a provocatively titled article, “Are Bible Apps destined to Purify the Printed Word?” He begins the article by detailing the history of the Bible, highlighting two major inventions that each transformed how we read the Good Book: first, the invention of the codex, which moved the Bible from a collection of scrolls into a single, bound book; and second, the Gutenberg printing press, which ushered in the Reformation and a new age of Biblical literacy. The Bible became available to millions of Christians, in their own languages, to be held in their own hands–all radical things, for the time. Then, he brings the story up to our day: the age of the digital book. Asking whether the demise of the printed Bible is inevitable, he argues that any reported death is in fact greatly exaggerated.
… the printed Bible is not under threat. If anything the advent of e-books has ushered in a renaissance of sorts for the physical form of the Good Book. The fulfillment of the hypertext dream by digital Bibles has cleared the way for printed Bibles to pursue other ends. The most exciting reinvention of the printed Scriptures is the so-called reader’s Bible, a print edition designed from the ground up not as a reference work but as a book for deep, immersive reading.
J. Mark Bertrand
This call for a deep, immersive experience is compelling. Our attention has been called our “most important asset.” But whole industries and self-help books have emerged to explain how and why our capacity for attention is slowly eroding. This year is the tenth anniversary of Nicholas Carr’s much lauded “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.” In it, he describes a feeling we might all relate to: a slow realization that sitting down to read a book (or any lengthy essay) was becoming rarer, and more difficult. The internet, and the entire infrastructure of phones and devices that connect with it, change our brains–quite literally. And as good as the Gospel Library is, it too can take part in that process of eroding our capacity for attention:
In a world of intrusive technology, we must engage in a kind of struggle if we wish to sustain moments of solitude. E-reading opens the door to distraction. It invites connectivity and clicking and purchasing. The closed network of a printed book, on the other hand, seems to offer greater serenity. It harks back to a pre-jacked-in age. Cloth, paper, ink: For these read helmet, cuirass, shield. They afford a degree of protection and make possible a less intermediated, less fractured experience. They guard our aloneness.
“A less intermediated, less fractured experience.” Isn’t that what we want? If, as Mary Oliver has written, attention is the beginning of devotion–then we need to do everything we can to develop, and guard, our capacity for attention.
So what? Where do we turn, both as Christians and Latter-day Saints, to attend to scripture in a sustained and devoted way? In an age of feature creep, J Bertrand Russell offers this suggestion, specifically referring to the study bibles:
Reading from a study or reference edition can sometimes feel like watching a movie for the first time with the cast-and-crew commentary turned on. The information is helpful, yes, but it can sure get in the way of the film. I can understand the desire to pack a Bible full of extras. The challenge of designing such a text can be exhilarating. But the easiest way to prevent all the features from getting in the way of Scripture is not to design around them. It is to cut the features. An unmediated — or at least, minimally mediated — design might have just one feature: readability. But that’s a pretty good feature to have.
The principle Bertrand is suggesting: readability is an exercise in subtraction. This can be difficult. But it can be done.
Perhaps no one has done this better for the Bible than Crossway. This publishing house owns the English Standard Version, a translation I’m drawn to both because it’s very, very good as a translation–and because everything Crossway does pays close attention to the readability of the text. In particular, they’ve done a lot for reader’s bibles, which as you can guess, strip out much of the extras. What is left is text–in some cases, just the text–set on pages with wide margins, single columns, and beautiful typography. (Just like it should be.)
Consider their ESV Reader’s Bible. Take a look at how the pages are formatted: aside from the red text, indicating shifts in chapter, the first pages of Genesis read like a story–the greatest story ever told.
It is, as Genesis says, “very good.” J. Mark Bertrand’s review of it is comprehensive, and he calls attention to design choices that are invisible to those of us (myself included) who frequently take book design for granted: the opacity and thickness of the paper, the quality of the binding, the typography–it is all combined into one, marvelous experience. It is bookmaking (scripturemaking) as an art form.
Unlike the single-volume Reader’s Bible, the six-volume set does not have to compact so many things. Therefore the margins and the spacing between letters and lines and words have more room to breathe. It is incredible.
Crossway is not the only one publishing these. Consider Bibliotheca, another fine reader’s Bible, also in a set. J. Mark Bertrand titled his review of it “Bibliotheca, Mon Amour”: Bibliotheca, my love.
Lovely, isn’t it? I particularly love the gradients of each book in the set, in addition to the custom typeface that the creator designed for the site. You can see more of how he designed it here.
Now, these are whole Bibles. But even small books of the Bible can be printed and set. When we were reading the New Testament in Come, Follow Me last year, I was struggling to get “into” Paul. Even after reading N.T. Wright’s excellent biography of Paul, I had a hard time reading through his letters. I was wishing that I could read his letters more like its first hearers: stripped of chapters and verses, forcing me to pay attention to the larger themes of scripture.
Reading Paul here did not solve all my problems. I still consulted notes and study notes to make sense of some of Paul’s finer arguments. But for the first time, I was honoring something that the New Testament scholar and pastor N.T. Wright had once said:
The Bible was not primarily written in order to be read in 10 verse chunks. We have cut the Bible down to size. Now, obviously there are some bits like the Psalms, and like some passages — the book of James is written in very short bursts — but most of it including Paul’s letters and certainly the Gospels and certainly great books like Isaiah and so on are read in order to be experienced the way you experience a symphony.
Imagine if you were to a concert and you got the first 10 bars of Beethoven 5, and then the conductor turned around and said, “Okay, that’s all for this week, come back the same time next week, and we’ll have the next ten bars.” You would think, “Wait…” And if somebody said, “Oh, but if you listen to the whole thing you’d never remember it all, you’d think, “Well, that’s not the point.” You don’t listen to it in order to remember — you will remember quite a lot of it — you listen to it in order to be swept along in the full flow and sweep and flood of it. And I grieve over the fact that there are many many Christians who have never ever read one of the Gospels or even one of the epistles straight through at a sitting…
Now, it is a challenge to read whole books in one sitting. Some take a very long time. But when I was reading Paul, I made a determination–to read his letters all the way through. I wanted to imaginemyself as if I was a follower of the Way–which is what the early Christians called the Jesus movement–who had just received a letter from this apostle of the Lord. I remember reading Phillipians all the way through. And then again, each day, for two weeks. I cannot tell you all the specific parts of the letter, but I can tell you the tone: it is a tone of joy. It is bursting with joy. And all the more remarkable because he was in prison. Having read it in full, made far easier with the Reader’s Letters of Paul, I have come to love that letter. I read it whenever I am tempted to despair. Imagine being able to do something like this, but for individual books of The Book of Mormon, or specific sets of revelation? (Imagine: a Reader’s Kirtland Revelations, or a Reader’s Book of Alma.)
Dan Carlin, host of the popular (and endlessly entertaining) Hardcore History podcast, likes to say that “history has ruined fiction” for him–meaning, that history is so much more interesting than fiction, once it’s known. Borrowing from that formulation, reader’s bibles have ruined reference bibles (and many scripture apps) for me.
As Latter-day Saints, we need to make the scriptures come to life for us–and our children. This begins by reading scripture, and being intimately familiar with it. I have spent most of the time so far gushing about Bibles. But what of our other, Restoration scripture?
When it comes to reformatting and repackaging Restoration scripture to make things more readable, The Book of Mormon has received the most attention so far. Unlike the Bible, it was originally published as a book in single-column pages, with much larger chapters and no verse markings. The chapter divisions were changed (increased from 114 to 239) by Orson Pratt in 1879, who also added our modern verse divisions. And the pages moved from single-column to double-column in the 1920 edition. These changed allowed The Book of Mormon to look more like Bibles of the day–but in the process, made readability a more difficult goal.
As important as these modern divisions have been, we have begun a welcome trend back toward readability, largely thanks to Yale professor and Latter-day Saint Grant Hardy. In 2003, through the University of Illinois Press, he published The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition. There are several reasons Hardy undertook this effort–among them, making it easier for friends of his to approach it–but my favorite is this one:
My wife, Heather, is an astonishingly good reader. I was teaching at the time, and I came home from work one day, and she said, “Oh, I read 100 pages in the Book of Mormon today.” Something like—certainly first and second Nephi—this morning. And she said, “It’s just not . . . there’s not that much there.” She said, “I went to Seminary. I went to Sunday School. I’ve read it a bunch of times. I know the stories. I know the basic doctrines. It’s really repetitive, and it’s awkward.” And she said, “I think I’ve gotten pretty much what I can get out of it.” She tossed it across the room. And I said, “Let me get you a Book of Mormon you can read. I think there’s more there. Let me see what I can do.” So, I had this project. She actually worked with me on this project, and it’s the best gift I’ve ever given anyone perhaps—other than giving my daughter’s phone number to the guy she married, but that’s a different story. I gave Heather a Book of Mormon that she could read, and she taught me how to read it—often reading it for several hours a day and sees all kinds of astonishing things and connections and patterns in it.
This endeavor benefited not only Hardy and his wife, but also myself. I encountered this edition in college, and for the first time, I began to recognize larger patterns in The Book of Mormon, such as who the main narrators are (Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni) and how their contributions shaped the structure of the book. I also began to notice little details, such as how the Amalackiahite Wars–which range from Alma 43 to Alma 63–are fought on two fronts. Suddenly, “the war chapters” became more than just war chapters. The logic and flow of some of the largest books in Restoration scripture began to make sense. Additionally, the passages of Isaiah found in The Book of Mormon are set in poetic form, allowing you to more easily see where the difference in poetry and prose lie.
Now, many years later, the Maxwell Institute Study Edition of The Book of Mormon has been published, this edition designed more for members of the church. While it bills itself as a “study edition,” it doubles as a reader’s Book of Mormon. It has the chapter and verse numbers–both the original chapter numbers, provided in Roman numerals, and the modern chapter divisions, given in Arabic numerals. The text is set in paragraphs and, where applicable, poetic lines; pages are set in single columns; the verses are small and superscripted; and the footnotes offer new and rich insights about the allusions found within the book, and the changes across multiple printings. In addition, each book is prefaced with a beautiful woodcut printing by Brian Kershisnik.
These editions are fantastic. I mentioned earlier how these reader’s editions had ruined apps for me. Well, I can hardly go back to reading the Book of Mormon in the traditional, Church-published editions, for all the reasons I just described: the easy-on-the-eyes paragraphs and poetic lines; the single column pages; the barely visible versification; the typography; the wood-cut printings; even the footnotes, far more spare than what the Church has produced, are incredibly rich and valuable.
(While it’s very good as a study edition, I would quite like to see a more readerly-centered edition, akin to the Reader’s Bibles shown above: one with wider margins, type with more room to breathe, and no versification or titles at all. I’d also love to see this published, perhaps, in a multi-volume set (a lá the multi-volume Reader’s Bibles), perhaps divided by the contributions of Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni.
While these two editions by Grant Hardy are the most prominent examples of printing the Book of Mormon in a readable format, they are not the only instances of the Spirit moving to make our important scripture more readable. Ben Crowder, a talented software engineer at the BYU Library, has prepared a reader’s edition himself–which you can download or purchase as a print edition. Nathan Richardson, a speech therapist and book designer, has made a “do-it-yourself” scripture formatting template, which provides the Book of Mormon in a word document. This file comes without verse numbers, the original chapter breaks, or punctuation, it allows you to participate in the project of making the text more readable. (And if this intrigues you, he’s offered this with the Doctrine and Covenants and other standard works, too.)
(Both Crowder and Richardson also provide editions of their reader’s editions in print, for a cost. I encourage you to take a look.)
We do not yet have any reader’s editions of the Doctrine and Covenants, or the Book of Moses. Pearl of Great Price Central has put out a study edition of the Book of Abraham–a good start in making this important book approachable. It places the book in a single column with subtle headers and footnotes. These are important frontiers for us to push through, with new opportunities awaiting us.
Whether it be from scholars like Hardy, or hobbyists like Crowder and Richardson, or groups like Book of Mormon / Pearl of Great Price Central, the important work of making our scripture more approachable and readable has begun. The Spirit has begun to move within our church–and in history–providing the Body of Christ with new tools and formats for “feasting upon the word of Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20). Recall J. Mark Bertrand’s quote from earlier:
The fulfillment of the hypertext dream by digital Bibles has cleared the way for printed Bibles to pursue other ends. The most exciting reinvention of the printed Scriptures is the so-called reader’s Bible, a print edition designed from the ground up not as a reference work but as a book for deep, immersive reading.
J. Mark Bertrand
Scripture mastery is more than memorizing twenty-five verses from the Book of Mormon: it is understanding the whole of the book, and the larger message it tells. Consider the Book of Mormon: it is a tragic story, a story Grant Hardy once called “a tragedy… an unrelenting record of human folly and ruin.” But it is also a story of a God who has made promises to His children: a God who weeps, and a God who covenants, and a God who desires His children return. The sweep of the Old, New, and “Other” Testaments–as well as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price–is a testimony to God’s love; to the reality of Jesus Christ; and to the truth that God speaks to us today. He cares, he loves us, and he bids us return.
It is vital that we not only memorize the doctrines and principles from scripture, but that we are familiar with the messages of the larger books: the drama of Genesis and Exodus; the prophetic poetry of the Psalms; the intense prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah about the exile; the bold tale of the Gospels, of the son of God Jesus Christ, and his life, death, and resurrection; of Paul’s preaching, boldly, to the Saints in the early church, to the apocalypse of Revelation. Then there is the dramatic tale told on Nephi’s small plates, and his concerns for his people expressed both in Psalm and in prophecy; and Mormon’s retrospective record, looking back and seeing how Nephi’s worries and woes played out, and preserving these lessons for Gentiles in a later day. And of course, there is other scripture, the dramatic history told in-between the lines in the Doctrine and Covenants, of a young man’s quest to meet God again–this time, not in an Eastern desert, but in an American grove–and being called as a Prophet, and leading this church, moment by moment, question by question, with new revelations come in response to those moments.
This is the sweeping tale of scripture, which preserves a record of one God and many peoples striving to observe His will and fulfill a covenant that extends from here back to Abraham: the covenant to be a holy people, blessing all the nations, preparing themselves and all the earth to live in a world remade by God.
If we only read scripture in small sections and chunks, and never allow ourselves the opportunity to be lost in the story, will we ever gain the familiarity with scripture that God has called us to? Not just familiarity with the Book of Mormon, but with the Biblical tales as well? We may not. We need to mature in our understanding of scripture; but we must read it first. Reading is always the first challenge. And scriptures, printed in formats that making reading nearly inevitable, is a good first step, especially in an age where one of our many, many challenges is simply how to pay attention. For me, finding time not just to study, but to read scripture–to feast on the word–is a key part of meeting that challenge. Reader’s bibles have dramatically reshaped my ability to, well, read the Bible! We, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, need something similar. As I learned with Paul last year, and the Book of Mormon this year, editions of scripture stripped of the extra material can help us read them–deeply, immersively–as they were intended to be read: in full. With a good Reader’s Bible–and even a Book of Mormon set in a single column–I find it easier to read, and engage with, God’s sacred word.
Let me end this plea with actual pleas, questions for our Church. Where is our Crossway, our publisher who will print God’s word with utmost care and attention to detail? Where is our Reader’s Book of Mormon, set in one, or many volumes? (And our Reader’s Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Moses and Holy Bible, too?) Who will produce beautiful, readable books that create the conditions for sustained attention, “the beginning of devotion”? What typographers, and publishers, and designers, and artists, and businessmen, and others will conspire to craft beautiful books to shape and form our souls in ways that digital resources–valuable reference works though they are–cannot? I think as we meet these questions, our familiarity with scripture will enhance; and our ability to meet God where we are will grow too.
This past Sunday, I subbed for our Sunday School class. Much as I love teaching Sunbeams, it was a great change of pace to discuss scripture with adults. And part of the challenge (and fun) was looking for ways to not just introduce Jacob’s wonderful discourse in 2 Nephi 6-10, but also to talk about the elephant in the room: Isaiah, who dominates the next twoweeks.
The lesson was met with some positive feedback, and I had several people come up and let me know how much they liked it. So in the spirit of sharing, here’s part of what I did for the lesson, and here’s the handout I gave people a link to for later reference.
While I could have shown the video in class, probably, I decided just to hit the main points myself, keeping it really high level:
I explained that 33% of the Bible is poetry. So how do we read it?
Biblical poetry doesn’t use rhyme to mark something as poetry, but rather couplets set parallel to each other.
The first line of each couplet makes a basic statement.
The second line either completes, deepens, or contrasts the first line. (This is really general, but hey, rule of threes.) I drew these points on the board.
Let’s see an example of this. Jacob uses chapter 6 to comment on Isaiah 49:22-23. But that’s actually part of a larger poem, Isaiah 49:14-23. Let’s take a look at it.
At this point, I passed around this as a handout, which showed the larger passage in poetic form. I also made a couple of notes regarding the “setup” of the poem.
I took a minute to observe that, unlike the KVJ or our own Book of Mormon, this translation shows the couplets. It helps to see the couplets when you read poetry, and you should try to do that whenever possible!
We spent a couple of minutes reading through the couplets, and I asked them each time what they thought the second line was doing. Verse 14? Deepening. The first half of verse 15? Deepening. The second half? Contrasting. Verse 14? Deepening or completing. It was fun, and they really got into it.
Isaiah’s Two Halves
At this point, I had them break into groups and read the poem again, looking for the answer to these two questions: what is the poem about? And why would Nephi and Jacob have taught this to their people? What message did it have for them? After a fruitful discussion, I asked them what it might mean for us. We had a great time.
One of the things that came up in the discussion was that the Isaiah passages Jacob was quoting to his people were basically hopeful. And this makes sense, if we know something about the book of Isaiah! I only spent a couple of minutes making this point, but it proved helpful for several people in our group:
Isaiah has two halves!
I drew a picture of a book, and wrote “Isaiah 1-39 / Judgement” on the left side, and “Isaiah 40-66 / Hope and Comfort” on the right side. I take this basic idea from the Bible Project, commentaries, and BYU’s Joseph Spencer, who said this:
The simplest or most obvious literary feature of the Book of Isaiah is the fact that it comes in two halves… whether we divide the book between chapters 33 and 34 or between chapters 39 and 40, what’s important for our purposes is the fact that the two halves are literarily and theologically different. The first half of the book is taken up primarily with the theme of judgment (both of covenant peoples and of Gentile nations), while the second half of the book is taken up primarily with the theme of restoration (of the covenant people thanks in part to the assistance of the Gentile nations). Other major prophetic books are similarly organized, with prophecies of peace and restoration coming after prophecies of destruction and judgment…
I explained that (generally speaking) it’s helpful to ask which “side” of Isaiah the passage is from. If Jacob or Nephi (or Jesus or Abinadi) is quoting from the first half, like most of next week’s readings, it’s from the “judgement” section. If it’s from the second half, it’s from the “hope” section.
I asked them which “side” today’s reading is from–the “hope” side!–and which “side” next week’s reading is from. And then, with that very brief note about Isaiah’s larger structure, we moved on.
Making Isaiah Approachable
After this, we launched in 2 Nephi 9-10, which is, I think, where most lessons on 2 Nephi 6-10 spend their time. (It’s certainly where the manual focuses us.) But I wanted to make sure we spent some time on the Isaiah chapters–learning how to read the poetry and making Isaiah’s own book a little more approachable. This handout I gave people a link to also helped to point people toward some of the YouTube videos and directions.
I’m always trying to learn how to make Isaiah more inviting. These are little “hooks” that have helped me into a very daunting but powerful testament, a testament that bears witness of God’s covenant love for His people–anciently, and today. I hope it helps!
If you have any other ideas or things that work for you and your class, let me know.
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According to a Johns Hopkins earth scientist, the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has caused changes in the way that waters in those southern oceans mix—a situation that has the potential to alter the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and eventually could have an impact on global climate change.
In a paper published in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Science, Darryn W. Waugh and his team show that subtropical intermediate waters in the southern oceans have become "younger" as the upwelling, circumpolar waters have gotten "older," changes that are consistent with the fact that surface winds have strengthened as the ozone layer has thinned.
"This may sound entirely academic, but believe me, it's not," says Waugh, of the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the university's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. "This matters because the southern oceans play an important role in the uptake of heat and carbon dioxide, so any changes in southern ocean circulation have the potential to change the global climate."
Waugh's team used measurements taken in the early 1990s and in 2005-2010 of the amount of a chemical compound known as chlorofluorocarbon-12 in the southern oceans. CFC-12 was first produced commercially in the 1930s, and its concentration in the atmosphere increased rapidly until the 1990s, when it was phased out by the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. (Before the Montreal Protocol, CFC-12 was used in products such as aerosol hairsprays and refrigerants, and in air conditioning systems.)
From those ocean measurements, Waugh's team was able to infer changes in how rapidly surface waters have mixed into the interior of the southern oceans. Because the scientists knew that concentrations of CFCs at the ocean surface increased in tandem with those in the atmosphere, they were able to surmise that the higher the concentration of CFC-12 in the ocean's interior, the more recently those waters were at the surface.
As the concentrations of CFCs at the ocean surface increase in parallel with those in the atmosphere, they surmised that the higher the concentration of CFC-12 in the ocean's interior, the more recently that water was at the surface.
The inferred age changes are consistent with the observed intensification of surface westerly winds, which have occurred primarily because of the Antarctic ozone hole, suggesting that stratospheric ozone depletion is the primary cause of the changes in ocean ventilation. As stratospheric ozone recovers over the next 50 years, the changes in ventilation may slow or reverse. However, the impact of continued increases in greenhouse gases will need to be considered, and the integrated impact of stratospheric ozone recovery and increases in greenhouses on the southern ocean's ventilation and uptake of heat and anthropogenic carbon is an open question.
Also on the research team were François Primeau, of the University of California, Irvine; Tim Devries, of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Mark Holzer, of the University of New South Wales and Columbia University. Funding for the study was provided by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council.
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The study of elementary particle physics is at an important juncture. The Standard Model has proven to be a remarkably successful description of essentially all experimental phenomena. Still, there are significant gaps in our knowledge of the micro-physical universe. For example, we still do not know the origin of dark matter or dark energy, we do not know the source of spontaneous symmetry breaking, which is responsible for the origin of mass, and we have not found the source of CP violation that is responsible for the dominance of matter over antimatter.
We have good reason to believe that spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) as described by the Minimal Standard Model is unlikely to be correct or complete. The theory has unstable high energy behavior and such pathologies are an indication that new phenomena are lurking at larger mass scales. These phenomena may contribute to the mass and energy balance of the universe.
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The Global South is where the most rapid urbanisation process takes place today. In Mexico, new suburban neighbourhoods are being developed as a response to increasing demands for housing. Homogeneous housing blocks occupy large areas at the periphery of major cities. Recent urban policies and accessible lending schemes, allow for more of these developments to be built through a formal process rather that an informal one.
This paper raises questions about the design and implementation of the early low-income housing schemes built in Mexico after 2000. Standardisation in architecture as a response to affordable social housing and the ways in which the acts of everyday life challenge the design intentions are discussed through a literature review in social housing and neighbourhood design.
The first chapter discusses the rise of the new housing developments in Mexico and the involvement of the different stakeholders in their production. Incremental and formal housing as well as the aspirations between developer and community-led design are compared.
The second chapter addresses the concepts of home and neighbourhood, and the ways in which the urban environment is able to be transformed into community place where memories of daily activity are attached. Communities have the power to improve their environment if provided with the appropriate means.
The last chapter is an investigation into existing alternative approaches to the provision of social housing.
The paper aims to discuss the multi-disciplinary dimensions of social housing provision and the importance of a shift toward a practice in architecture that follows a bottom-up approach.
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We elaborate on different types of petroleum traps such as structural, salt related, and stratigraphic traps. Beijing petroleum geology symposium Petroleum is composed of compressed hydrocarbons and was formed millions of years ago in a process that began when aquatic plant and animal remains were covered by layers of sediments particles of rock and mineral. Safe and Secure Payments. Dtma is the matrix solid interval transit time.
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The book therefore includes some of the practical applications along With the theoretical analyses of the geological elements involved in petroleum exploration.
Dtma is the matrix solid interval transit time. These reservoir rocks hold the oil like a sponge, confined by other, low permeability layers that form traps. Geology of petroleum, 1.
Petroleum is composed of compressed hydrocarbons and was formed leberson of years ago in a process that began when aquatic plant and animal remains were covered by layers of sediments particles of rock and mineral. This was aimed at utilizing seismic data to better define and understand different types of stratigraphic traps onlap, offlap, toplap, etc.
Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology – PDF Free Download
The Role of Geophysics 2. In this section, we discuss how geology combined with geophysical techniques defines the geometry of a petroleum reservoir and how petrophysics is utilized to quantify the reservoir quality and petroleum reserves. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. Geology of Petroleum English, Paperback, unknown. In recent years, through the recent advances made in seismic technology, we are also able to see many prolific subsalt reservoirs such as those seen in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil, and offshore West Africa.
Introduction to petroleum geology. You sent me a year edition. The bulk rock volume multiplied by the net-to-gross ratio gives the net rock volume of petroleum geology by leverson reservoir.
East Dane Designer Men’s Fashion. The Colorado River, source of much irrigation and drinking water in Southern California and Arizona, is notable in its unusually high dissolved solids content.
Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology
Only about one CO2, molecule in every million taken up by photosynthesis is converted to Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology 17 hydrocarbons. Then the second model from the topthe uplift of the beds above the sea level, caused by tectonic forces, expose them to erosion.
The process starts with photosynthesis in which plants convert water and carbon dioxide to complex sugars petroleum geology by leverson using the energy of the sun. There are many types of stratigraphic traps. There are many types of hydrocarbon trap mechanisms. The net rock volume multiplied by porosity gives the total pore volume: Write a customer review. Extremely fine particles result in a very dense, low permeability gellogy termed micrite.
The common link between the first three is simple: We then discuss various types of reservoir rocks such as clastic sandstone and shale and carbonate rocks. Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology 19 hypotheses.
Geology of Petroleum: Leverson: : Books
Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology 33 2. Be the first petroleum geology by leverson review this item Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Customers also shopped for. Along with the organics, muddy sediment also accumulates. We begin with the formation of organic matter and the origin of petroleum.
For commercial accumulations of hydrocarbons in reservoir rocks, there must have been migration pathways or avenues, in rocks, through which hydrocarbons migrate from the source rock and, reach a trap. Safe and Secure Payments. Certified BuyerChidambaram. Certified BuyerDehradun. For example, much older formations e.
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September is National Preparedness Month, making it a great time to assess your emergency plan.
Emergency and disaster tend to strike when we least expect them, so it’s best to be prepared.
Work together with your family or roommates to create a plan that you’ll stick to.
- Water – one gallon per person, per day.
- Food – easy-to-make and won’t spoil. Don’t forget to pack a manual can opener.
- Flashlights, extra batteries, cell phones with chargers and a battery powered radio.
- First aid kit, a seven-day medicine supply including prescription drugs, emergency blanket and toiletries.
- Copies of important documents such as insurance cards and immunization records and emergency contact information.
- Multipurpose tool, extra cash, map(s) of the area and extra sets of keys.
- Remember to include supplies for babies, pets, older individuals and those with special needs.
- Make plans with family and friends in case you’re not together during an emergency.
- Develop a family master plan – discuss how you’ll contact each other, where you’ll meet and how you’ll stay safe in different situations.
- Before and during a disaster, check all types of media for information.
- Your local emergency management office will have information on shelters and evacuation orders.
- Take first aid, CPR and emergency response training classes.
- Participate in community exercises and contact your local Medical Reserve Corps.
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Moreno Taillacq Surname History
The family history of the Moreno Taillacq last name is maintained by the AncientFaces community. Join the community by adding to to our knowldge of the Moreno Taillacq:
- Moreno Taillacq family history
- Moreno Taillacq country of origin, nationality, & ethnicity
- Moreno Taillacq last name meaning & etymology
- Moreno Taillacq spelling & pronunciation
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Moreno Taillacq Country of Origin, Nationality, & Ethnicity
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The nationality of Moreno Taillacq can be difficult to determine because country boundaries change over time, making the original nationality indeterminate. The original ethnicity of Moreno Taillacq may be difficult to determine as result of whether the name came about organically and independently in different locales; e.g. in the case of last names that come from professions, which can crop up in multiple regions independently (such as the family name "Baker" which refers to the craft of baker).
Moreno Taillacq Meaning & Etymology
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The meaning of Moreno Taillacq come may come from a trade, such as the name "Clark" which evolved from the profession of "clerk". Some of these trade-based family names may be a profession in some other language. This is why it is important to understand the country of origin of a name, and the languages spoken by its family members. Many names like Moreno Taillacq come from religious texts such as the Bhagavadgītā, the Quran, the Bible, and so forth. In many cases these family names relate to a religious sentiment such as "From the ash tree".
Moreno Taillacq Pronunciation & Spelling Variations
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In times when literacy was uncommon, names such as Moreno Taillacq were written down based on how they sounded when people's names were recorded in official records. This could have resulted in misspellings of Moreno Taillacq. Understanding misspellings and alternate spellings of the Moreno Taillacq family name are important to understanding the etymology of the name. Last names like Moreno Taillacq change in how they're spelled as they travel across communities, family lines, and eras over time.
Last names similar to Moreno TaillacqMoreno-tapia, Moreno-tarango, Morenothomas, Moreno-tirad, Morenotirado, Morenotony, Moreno-torre, Moreno torrente, Moreno Torres, Moreno-torres, Morenotos, MorenoTrujillo, Moreno Trujillo, Moreno-trujillo, Morenoulises, Moreno-urzua, Moreno-vaca, Moreno-valdez, Moreno-valen, Morenovalente
Moreno Taillacq Family Tree
Here are a few of the Moreno Taillacq biographies shared by AncientFaces users. Click here to see more Moreno Taillacqs
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Pressure, Temperature, and Freezing Water
Country: United States
Date: June 2007
My 12 year old son asked the following question to which
we're having a difficult time getting a conclusive (and consistent)
answer from our scientist friends: If you take a 1 ft x 1 ft x 1 ft
infinitely strong and rigid cube and fill it completely with water
such that absolutely no additional space exists in the cube, and
then place the cube in a deep freeze (as low as almost 0 K), will
the water ever freeze since it cannot expand at all?
The short answer is yes, it will be a solid at nearly zero Kelvin,
regardless of pressure.
Water's expansion during freezing at atmospheric pressure is well known, but
water is still compressible. If you have sufficiently high pressure or very
low temperature, water will be solid.
Reference this water phase diagram for more information:
That is a bit oversimplified, though. The simple phases (solid, liquid, etc)
lose their distinctions at these extreme conditions. Our common-sense
knowledge of how things works tends to break down. We cannot actually achieve
0K experimentally anyway, and even if we could, the thermodynamics would
make things act really squirrely. At massive pressures, the terms solid and
liquid start to lose meaning. You have a system so highly constrained that
it is no longer hydrogen bonding or van der Waals forces, but nuclear
repulsive forces that dominate the structure. The fact that molecules cannot
jump around as readily is what makes a solid a solid, although technically
molecules can jump around, just at a much slower rate. But I digress...
And, for all you ever wanted to know about water, here is the terrific site
from which I got the phase diagram:
Hope this helps,
The reason your "scientist friends" are having a problem is that this "simple"
question is not at all simple. Ice is a very complicated substance -- possibly
not more complicated than other substances, but certainly the most thoroughly
studied. What you are "really" asking for is the "phase diagram of ice", which
term you can use to search the topic in as much detail and complexity as you
can stand. A rather inclusive site is:
If you refer to the insert figure on that site you will see that at temperatures
just below 0 C. and hold the temperature fixed but increase the pressure several
different transitions from one crystal structure to another will occur. This is a
bit different than the "experimental setup" you proposed, but it ends up doing
the same "experiment". As you can see, below 0 C. and - 60 C. and pressures
less than 1000 MPa there are 5 different arrangements of water molecules that
can occur in solid ice. In total there are between 11 and 13 structures of ice
known (depending upon whose data you believe). Yes the water will freeze, but the
water molecules will rearrange themselves in different shapes depending upon the
specific temperature and pressure.
Yes, the water will indeed freeze, but determining the exact temperatures and
pressures where this happens is for an expert familiar with the properties of
ice. I will explain.
There are at least 12 different forms of ice. Each form has a different arrangement
f atoms and can exist at different pressures and temperatures. There are "phase
diagrams" easily available on the Internet that show the stability of water, ice,
steam, and fluid for various pressures and temperatures. Ordinary ice is Ice 1 -
Water stays liquid at temperatures below 0C when subjected to high pressures.
But there comes a limit to this, and this limit is about –20C and a pressure of
200 megapascals. At higher pressures, the trend reverses and the high pressures
tend to make the water solid. At really high pressures, water is solid up to many
hundreds of degrees.
The diagrams show that solid ice is ALWAYS the stable phase of water below –20C,
regardless of how much pressure there is. So, if you cool your box to –20C or so,
you are guaranteed to have solid ice (assuming no nucleation problems).
But let us do a little calculation, because you are worrying that the pressure
will suppress the freezing.
As a first approximation, suppose you pour water into the container and seal it at
room temperature. As the water is cooled, the water will become more dense and the
water will exert a pulling force on the container. (yes, fluids can "pull" on the
container that they are inside of).
At 0C and below, ice will start to form. Water expands about 9% when it freezes, and
so the water-ice mixture will start to experience pressure as the first bits of ice
form. As more and more ice freezes, there will be more and more pressure in the box.
Let us do a simple calculation. Then we will find out why the simple calculation is
not quite right.
The bulk modulus of ice is about 8.8E9 pascals. That means that if you completely froze
the ice cube (let us say, pretty cold), and tried to stuff it back into the box, you
would need to squeeze with a pressure of about 790 megapascals of force to compress 9%
to make it fit. That is about 114,000 pounds per square inch, so you would need a
strong box. But during the process of compressing it into the box, the pressures would
be high enough for the ice to transform to types 3 and 5 and maybe even 6. It is
difficult to determine what the compressibility of these ice forms are. So, as the
ice is squeezed into the box (or as it is made cooler and cooler), it takes a real
expert to figure out what the pressures are. But, solid ice is ALWAYS the stable
phase of water at about –20C and below, so that the water in the infinitely strong
and rigid cube will indeed freeze.
Click here to return to the Engineering Archives
Update: June 2012
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Viper, to answer your question it might be useful if we go back to the beginning. By the beginning I mean 4.6 billion years ago when the planet was first formed. Then it was a ball of molten lava. (1 billion is 1,000,000,000 or one thousand, million)
Over the next billion years the planet cooled and bits of crust formed on its surface. We call these bits of crust tectonic plates (the word ‘tectonic’ comes from the ancient Greek word for ‘building’ ……the crust is ‘building a surface’). These bits of crust got bigger, sometimes sunk into the molten sea they were floating on, but slowly covered the Earth.
Because they floated, the ‘plates’ of crust would have constantly experienced the movement of the molten ‘sea’ below them, so they moved and bumped into each other, and they are still doing that today. It is the movement and the, bumping into each other that causes earthquakes.
Watch this short video. It explains the different types of earthquake that can occur.
Thanks for the question Viper. Not sure about something then ask another question.
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From China Daily (photo: garbage treatment plant dumping waste water into a ditch, via Chinanews.com.cn):
Lianjiao (联滘村) is already home to about 200,000 tons of waste plastic and 500,000 tons of waste paper and cardboard from both overseas and home. The quality of its air and water have declined because of pollutants unleashed by the more than 400 local garbage recycling and processing plants there.
“The land and water are so polluted that it would take over 100 years to rehabilitate them,” said He Pinjing, director of solid waste institute of Tongji University. “It is already a major headache to handle our own waste. How are we supposed to accommodate overseas waste?”
Choked with the black smoke that pours from chimneys of its garbage plants and surrounded by rivers that have been blackened by pollution, Lianjiao has processed more than 200,000 tons of garbage per year during the past 20 years. The volume of its daily trade in garbage is nearly 750 tons, making it the heart of Nanhai‘s waste plastic recycling industry. [Full Text]
– Chinese article by Southern Metro Daily, via Chinanews.com.cn
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Best Tips For Group Discussion. A group discussion can be defined as a formal discussion involving 10 to 12 participants in a group. It is a technique used by organisation to evaluate a candidate’s personality traits and ability to work in a team. In this method, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, and are asked to discuss in within the group. A conclusion may not be drawn. Now you can scroll down below and check Tips For Group Discussion
Group discussion is a famous selection process apart from regular tests and interview. Tests and interviews test a candidate technically. However in a professional set up, the candidate must be able to perform even when working with other people.
Best Tips For Group Discussion
Importance of Group Discussion
- Enhances learning of a subject.
- Increasing critical thinking.
- Helps in problem- solving skills.
- Improves decision-making skills.
- Improve communication skills.
- Builds confidence and positive attitude.
Skills Needed in a Group Discussion
- Communication skills.
- Knowledge and ideas regarding a given subjects.
- Leadership and coordinating capabilities.
- Exchange of thoughts
- Addressing the group as a whole.
- Thorough preparations.
Guidelines For a Successful group discussion
A. : – Be a team player
The foremost objective of a group discussion is to asses an individual’s ability to perform in a team. Being a team player is a strong personality trait and a times, a difficult one too. An individual’s
Communication skill or perspective is seldom looked forward to in a GD. What counts is the participation of every member and jointly reaching to a mutual conclusion.
For any professional, being an active team member is essential to succeed. A good team member will have the following qualities:
1 Build a positive rapport with fellow members.
2 Encourage other member’s participate.
3 Respect other member’s opinion.
4 Does not interrupt while other member is speaking
5 Participates in discussion.
B. :- Reasoning ability skill
Careful arguments must be given in group discussions. A group discussion has many participates with all kinds of sensibilities. So, the speaker participant must be very careful while presenting his/her views to the group. Sometimes the topics of group discussion can be sensitive religious-wise; ethnicity- wise, caste-wise, etc. So, the arguments must always be supported by appropriate facts and figures.
C : – Leadership role
“A leader is an authority who influences the group towards achieving the objective.” The leader in a discussion plays the role of a facilitator. And has to often act in situation like:
1 A discussion where participants do not speak much and are unable to build a proper rapport.
2 A discussion where participants get emotionally charged which results in a chaotic situation.
3 A discussion where participants discuss the topic in an aggressive manner.
In situations like these, the leader steps in and facilities the discussion. The leader interrupts and gets the group back to the subject of discussion. He/she then coordinates with members and their efforts. The leader inspires and motivates the team members to express their views and collectively reach to a conclusion.
D :- Qualities of a good leader
A leader should have the following qualities:
1 The leader shows the direction to the group moves away from the topic in the discussion.
2 The leader coordinates the efforts of all team members in the discussion.
3 The leader stimulates and contributes by giving his/her valuable insights.
4 The leader motivates the team members to express their views and reach to a collective mutual conclusion.
A leader is not a mere coordinator in a discussion, the role of a coordinator is a secondary role. A good leader makes a contribution to the discussion with his/her ideas and opinion, stimulates and steers the conversation towards achieving a goal.
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Last week we discussed 3 suggestions for better bible study. This week, consider 4 more.
Emphasize meditation. There is a vast difference between bible reading and bible study. Meditation is the key. Bible meditation is defined beautifully in Psalm 1. There are two parts. First, chew on the passage. Memorize it, read it, and think about it over and over again. Ask questions about the passage, look of the definition of words, and see how it fits in context. Second, actively look for ways to make application. For example, if you’re studying a passage about proper use of the tongue, look for opportunities during the day to use your tongue for good, like expressing thanksgiving to someone or offering a word of encouragement. The key to proper meditation is answering two questions: “What does it mean?” and “How do I apply it?”
Study topically. Choose a topic like love, joy, or peace. Get out a pen and a notepad, then open up the bible and look for passages that deal with that topic. Write the passages down and categorize them. Once you have finished that step, organize your notes to see the full picture of how the bible discusses the topic. Then commence meditation.
Study textually. Choose a text. It can be a small section, like a parable, an entire chapter, or a book. Read it several times (preferably aloud). Look for keywords and phrases. Look for passages to memorize. Look for transition words like “therefore,” and petition verbs like “urge” and “beg.” Ask questions about the text. What is the historical background? What is the main idea of the text? What is the main point being emphasized?
May God bless us in our study of His word.
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Evidence from archaeological studies shows that botanical medicine has been used by humans since the Paleolithic era, which was 60,000 years ago! Herbal medicine has been used in many societies and cultures throughout time and the traditional knowledge is still used today with scientific studies providing more and more evidence regarding how these plants work. Many well-known pharmaceutical drugs are derived from plants, and herbs can be very effective in treating many common conditions.
What is Botanical Medicine?
Botanical medicine, also known as herbal medicine, uses medicinal plants and extracts to treat conditions and promote the body’s ability to heal. Traditional herbalism has been practiced throughout human history. Modern herbalism uses evidence-based science along with this traditional knowledge to provide safe and effective treatments that work with your body in a holistic way, treating the root cause of illness to help you heal.
The plant kingdom is an incredibly diverse kingdom, and the medicines that come from plants are just as diverse. Many plants contain substances that act on receptors in our brains and bodies, and many pharmaceutical drugs were originally derived from plant constituents Examples include:
- Morphine – a painkiller alkaloid from the opium poppy (Papaverus somniferum), the first commercial natural product marketed for therapeutic use in 1826
- Atropine – an alkaloid from a deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and other nightshades that is listed in the WHO’s model list of essential medicines. It is used to dilate pupils, and in many hospital situations to increase heart rate, and to counter the effects of organophosphate poisoning
- Digoxin – a cardiac glycoside from foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) used to treat heart failure
- Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) – a semi-synthetic anti-inflammatory compound based on extracts from the willow tree, Salix alba
- Paclitaxel – a drug used to treat cancer based on extracts from the Yew tree, Taxus brevifolia
- Artemotil – based on a compound found in Chinese wormwood, Artemisia annua, a new drug used in treatment-resistant malaria
These are just a few examples of many, many drugs that have a basis in plants. While isolating these compounds and using them as drugs can be very effective for certain kinds of therapies, using whole herb extracts can be both a gentler and more powerful way of treating many conditions.
Medicinal plants contain a number of active compounds that act in synergy with each other. Sometimes this means the whole plant extract is much more effective than individual chemicals within the plant. Other times the additional compounds function to smooth out the effect of the main chemical, which can translate to fewer side effects than if you were to use pharmaceutical drugs.
How are Herbal Medicines Administered?
Herbal medicines can be taken in a number of uncomplicated and easy ways. The right way for you will depend on which herbs are being used, what they’re being used for, and what application best fits into your lifestyle.
Tinctures are extracts of medicinal plants in alcohol or glycerin. They usually contain a custom blend of 3-5 different plants and are great when a high concentration of herbs are required.
Standardized extracts are simple herbs in a pill form. These herbs are usually highly concentrated and contain doses of herbal constituents that are known to work,. These pills can either contain a single herb or a blend of herbs, and are formulated to provide the most effective dosing of the active plant chemicals..
Teas are a gentle and effective way to administer herbal medicines. They’re not usually as strong as tinctures or extracts, so drug interactions are minimal. Medicinal teas contain a custom blend of herbs, and some patients love taking the time to prepare their own medicine and create their own ritual. Teas are very comforting, making them especially good for anxiety or stress-related conditions.
Herbs can be applied topically in the form of lotions, ointments, and poultices. These often smell great, and allow us to use herbs that are dangerous if taken internally, but are excellent when used externally. Topical applications are a great way to help heal cuts, bruises, and infections because they help get a strong dose of botanical medicine right to where it’s needed.
Can Botanical Medicine Help Me?
Botanical medicines are powerful, natural substances that can be used as part of a treatment plan for many conditions. With their experience and extensive clinical training, naturopathic doctors are experts in knowing how to use herbal medicines safely while maximizing their effectiveness. Choosing the right plants for an individual case is an art, and we love being able to directly use the healing power of nature by using plants as part of your treatment plan.
Because herbs have mechanisms of actions that are very similar to prescription drugs, they can also be very helpful in reducing doses of medications, and reducing side effects when coming off of medications. If you’re planning on reducing or quitting a drug, ask us how herbal medicine can help.
Discover the powerful and natural herbal medicine for your treatment plan! Book now an appointment to see us!
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Karesansui Garden in a Zen Temple
Tsukiyama Garden in a temple
A small Chaniwa garden
Chaniwa are the tea gardens which are found all around Japan. They are related to the tea ceremony which was started in Japan in the 14th century.
The garden has a tea ceremony house connected and the tea ceremony is performed there. The typical quality of the Chaniwa gardens is to have an atmosphere of loneliness and the feeling which is produced is of absolute withdrawal from the existing world. The main elements of Chaniwa gardens in Japan are the stone lanterns, stone basin etc. The tea gardens are very simple in decoration.
A chaniwa with the ceremony tea room in the background
The tea ceremony has a long history. The tea ceremony has been greatly inspired by Zen Buddhism and is performed while making tea. It is known as Sado. The ceremony includes different rituals and the hand movements have been prescribed and should be followed accordingly. The steps for the ceremony should be remembered thoroughly by the person performing the ceremony. The tea ceremony is performed in traditional Japanese rooms. The tea is supposed to be prepared by the host and then served to the guests. A proper tea ceremony will include a meal and two tea servings. The session will include quality discussion on topics like the utensils etc. The main mantra of the tea session is to - Live in this moment - which has been inspired from Zen Buddhism. It is important that everyone present in the ceremony is highly attentive and become an integral part of the whole process. Distraction of any order is not permissible as that would spoil the essence of the holy ceremony.
The tsukubai and its water basin called chozubachi.
The Tsukubai is an arrangement of stones that includes the chozubachi (water basin), the flow of water pass through the bambou pipe located above, falling into the very center of the basin.
The water of the chozubachi is scooped with a ladle (shaku) and used for the purification purposes by the attendants of the tea ceremony.
These gardens are not always opened for public viewing.
brings to you some flavors of Asia. Click on one of the topics, here below, to discover or better understand the People and the Culture of Asia.
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Are there areas of Illinois more prone to tornadoes than others? There seems to me to be an "alley" that runs through Will County and another that runs along the I-70 corridor in southern and central Illinois. Is this an accurate perception or just the function of being a rather limited observer?
Roger Digges Champaign, Ill.
As a state, Illinois is in the heart of the tornado alley stretching from the Great Plains to the Appalachians. Your observations for Illinois are astute. A study by tornado legend the late Dr. T. Theordore Fujita puts the greatest frequency of tornadoes in Illinois just north of I-70, roughly from St. Louis to the south of Champaign/Danville. Tornadoes are rare enough that this open area of Illinois may be in a better position to develop and observe them, unhindered by forests, hills or buildings. In Chicagoland in recent decades, the axis of maximum tornadoes seems to have shifted to the far southwest suburbs. Since 1921, no tornadoes have occurred in the central portion of Chicago.
Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His weather forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at noon and 9 p.m.
Send your questions to:
ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Place, Chicago, Il. 60618
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What Causes Bad Breath and How Can I Treat It?
Patients can count on Dr. Edward Narcisi to provide expert dental care. One of the leading dentists in the Pittsburgh area, he offers advanced restorative dentistry as well as comprehensive general dentistry services.
Part of being a good dentist is providing patients with the info they need about various aspects of dental health. With that in mind, let's take a moment to consider some of the common causes of bad breath and how it can be successfully prevented and treated.
Common Causes of Bad Breath
Some of the most common causes of bad breath include the following:
Tooth Decay – When your teeth are badly decayed, this can cause your breath to be particularly unpleasant.
Gum Disease – Like tooth decay, an unappealing side effect of gum disease is bad breath.
Tobacco Products – Smoking and using smokeless tobacco are bad for your general health and wellness, and tobacco products don't do your breath any favors either.
Alcoholic Beverages – Alcoholic beverages often have sharp and distinct odors about them, and it can lead to really unpleasant breath when imbibed in excess.
Certain Foods and Beverages – We all know that certain foods and beverages can lead to strong breath and smells. Be wary when it comes to coffee, onions, garlic, fish, spicy foods, and certain cheeses.
Dry Mouth – When your mouth is dry, it's an ideal environment for oral bacteria to feed on food particles and dead skin cells.
Systemic Diseases and Health Problems – Bad isn't just a sign of something wrong in the mouth. It may also be a sign of a major health or wellness issue affecting the throat, sinuses, lungs, or digestive tract.
Of course, combinations of any of the above are possible as well.
Basic Tips to Keep Bad Breath Under Control
The best way to keep bad breath at bay is to brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss your teeth every night, and visit your dentist twice a year. Since a lot of oral bacteria and food particles can remain on your tongue, it's not a bad idea to consider a tongue scraper, which helps keep your tongue clean.
It's also a good idea to keep hydrated, to avoid drinking sugary sodas and eating sugary foods, and to have sugar-free chewing gum and breath mints to mask unpleasant breath.
Professional Treatments to Treat Bad Breath
There are many different dental care treatments around to treat tooth decay and gum disease. This might also include the use of special antiseptic rinses or antibiotics to help keep oral bacteria under control. All of these matters can be discussed with your dentist during a consultation.
As for bad breath related to systemic conditions, these can be properly addressed by a medical specialist who is trained at treating such problems. Your doctor may work in concert with your dentist in some cases depending on the nature of your condition.
Contact the Center for Dental Excellence
To learn more about the common causes of bad breath and what can be done to successfully treat the problem, be sure to contact our cosmetic and restorative dentistry center today. Dr. Edward Narcisi and the entire team at the practice look forward to your visit and helping you have a healthy and beautiful smile.
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Throughout shakespeare's tragedy romeo and juliet, fate manifests itself causing the destruction of many lives fate drastically affects the lives of romeo, juliet, and tybalt throughout the tragedy. Romeo and juliet are often considered the archetypal lovers, and at one time a romeo-meaning a lover-was a common noun several operas and ballets have been based on the story the play also contains some of shakespeare's most-quoted lines, and some of the most beautiful. As critic bertrand evans points out: romeo and juliet is a tragedy of unawareness more so than any of shakespeare's other plays fate, or heaven, as the prince calls it, or the greater power, as the friar calls it, working out its purpose without the use of either a human villain or a supernatural agent sent to intervene in mortal affairs.
Get free homework help on william shakespeare's romeo and juliet: play summary, scene summary and analysis and original text, quotes, essays, character analysis, and filmography courtesy of cliffsnotes. Line-by-line modern translations of every shakespeare play and poem the theme of fate in romeo and juliet from litcharts | the creators of sparknotes sign in. Romeo and juliet is one of william shakespeare's earliest plays even when it was first performed around 1597, this play was a major hit today, it remains one of shakespeare's most successful plays. Romeo and juliet is a young couple's play about love and hate, adolescent angst and death the continual feud between the montague and the capulet families results in ongoing conflict there are many factors that are responsible for the deaths of romeo and juliet.
Romeo and juliet characters guide studies each character's role and motivation in this play escalus: the prince of verona, his continued annoyance with the ongoing feud between the capulet and montague families leads him to warn both families that further fighting between the two will be punished by death. Romeo and juliet is the name of a play written by william shakespeare (april 26, 1564 - april 23, 1616) about two young people, romeo and juliet, who fall in love but are not able to be together they ultimately commit suicide after believing each other to be dead it is a tragic love story but the. Fate in romeo and juliet essay romeo and juliet and prologue - 797 words compare and contrast the presentation of the prologue in the two film versions of 'romeo and juliet' romeo and juliet was written by william shakespeare and was one of his most popular plays. Key terms that get used when talking about shakespeare's language, so you can look out for them in romeo and juliet includes a video on iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets and the difference between prose and verse.
What are some examples of dramatic irony in shakespeare's romeo and juliet of an oxymoron in the shakespeare's play romeo and juliet examples of fate. Key facts full title the most excellent and lamentable tragedy of romeo and juliet author william shakespeare type of work play genre tragic drama language english. Romeo and juliet are star-crosed lovers - we know from the beginning of the play they are fated to die throughout the text, both romeo and juliet use a lot of celestial imagery to describe eachother, which could be hinting at this quote from the prologue this also creates dramatic irony.
Fate 1: the prologue points out that romeo and juliet have fate against them it says that their love is death-marked, and they have no control over what happens it is their misfortune that leads to the sorrowful and tragic ending of the play fate 2: peter runs into romeo and benvolio on the. Shakespeare's characters: romeo (romeo and juliet)romeo, the hero of romeo and juliet, is in love with rosaline at the beginning of the playhe soon falls in love with and marries juliet (26. Farther along in the prologue, shakespeare continues to interpolate fate into his play, referring to the love of romeo and juliet as death-mark'd, (i prologue l 9) another word describing fate.
The conceit of dramatising shakespeare writing romeo and juliet has been used several times, including john madden's 1998 shakespeare in love, in which shakespeare writes the play against the backdrop of his own doomed love affair. Romeo and juliet inevitability of fate fate and its inherent inevitability have constantly found it's way into shakespeare's work and the work influenced by him, a prime example of this is found within the very prologue of one of his largest pieces of work romeo and juliet. Romeo and juliet ranks with hamlet as one of shakespeare's most-performed plays its many adaptations have made it today one of his more popular and famous stories its many adaptations have made it today one of his more popular and famous stories.
Romeo and juliet study guide contains a biography of william shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Fate and destiny were big themes in shakespeare's time all round, not just in the play 'romeo and juliet this is well illustrated by the quote 'star-cross'd lovers' this means more than meets. Romeo and juliet unit plan 9310 identify and describe the function of dialogue, soliloquies, asides, character foils, it is a modern twist of shakespeare. Fate in william shakespeare's romeo and juliet when william shakespeare wrote 'romeo & juliet' he told a tale of a pair of star crossed lovers the role of fate plays an important role in the play.
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Realizing Children’s Rights in the Republic of Congo
The Republic of Congo (Congo) can be a challenging place for children to live. Although the legal framework on child rights consists of robust tools, these are too often not translated into practice. In particular, discrimination of indigenous people, child labour and child marriage can limit the fulfilment of child rights in Congo.
Children’s Rights Index: 6,24 / 10
Red level : Difficult situation
Population: 5,2 million
Pop. ages 0-14: 46.17 %
Life expectancy: 63.95 years
Under-5 mortality rate: 50 ‰
The Republic of Congo at a Glance
The Republic of Congo (Congo) – not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of Congo – is sparsely populated, with over half its population concentrated in the two largest cities, and almost half its population under the age of 18 (World Bank, 2019). Child rights in Congo (also known as Congo-Brazzaville) are improving, with good access to education and many legal mechanisms in place to protect child rights. There remain, however, significant concerns as children who labour, girls and indigenous children continue to experience serious rights violations and often have difficulty in meeting their basic needs.
The recent conflict between the Congolese state and the Ninjas (a local militia), alongside “no humanitarian access” to the country and significant impacts of the man-made climate crisis such as severe flooding, have all combined to create a very challenging context for Congolese people; with children particularly affected (New Humanitarian, 2018). Although the proportion of the population living in poverty fell over the past decade, the extreme poverty rate increased from 2016, especially in rural areas, as a result of the decline in oil prices (World Bank, 2019).
Historically, Congo was subjected to French colonialism for 80 years and Brazzaville was the capital of ‘French Equatorial Africa’. Almost a century of brutal European colonialism severely impacted the country, with innumerous horrors exacted upon its population and its resources stripped for French profit in the form of railway construction and rubber tapping, despite much local resistance. Many of the difficulties Congo and its people face today are connected with the massive crimes inflicted during the colonial period.
Indeed, Congo has experienced numerous conflicts since its 1960 independence from which it is still recovering, including a 1997-1999 civil war which led to over 25,000 deaths and 250,000 people forcibly displaced (United Nations, 1997). Child rights in Congo thus unfurl in the complex context of post-colonialism, humanitarian crisis, the neoliberal world order, protracted internal conflicts and the climate emergency.
Addressing the Needs of Children
The right to children’s health in Congo is assured in various ways. Congo has reduced the number of children who die before their fifth birthday significantly in recent years, and drinking water is accessible to the vast majority of the population. There are consistently high rates of immunisation in Congo, although some of these could be raised further to meet the 90% vaccination coverage threshold (UNICEF, 2013). Children do face specific challenges to having the right to health fulfilled, with malnutrition being an acute danger affecting around 21% of children; indigenous children in particular (World Bank, 2019).
The Pool region has experienced recent conflict and is especially affected by health challenges, with over 15% of children there suffering from acute malnutrition (New Humanitarian, 2018), and between 17.3 and 20.4% of internally displaced children under five who fled from Pool suffering from acute malnutrition (Amnesty International, 2019). Tuberculosis and malaria are dangerous illnesses that affect a small portion of children living in Congo.
The Constitution of Congo’s article 19 ensures the right to education, equal access to education and training, and compulsory universal education until the age of 16 (Congolese Constitution, 2015). The Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) has, however, stated that “thousands of children are unable to benefit from this law”. Importantly, public education is free. Due to a lack of state funding, though, some schools are pushed to impose fees, and families are required to pay for books, uniforms, and health insurance.
There exist significant barriers to education for indigenous children who cannot attend school because they do not have birth certificates or could not afford the 1,200 West African Franc (CFA) per month insurance fee (US State Department, 2018). There are also problems with the level of quality of public education since Congolese public schools can be under resourced and there are disparities between the cities and the countryside.
The OCHD has highlighted these problems with the example of a school in Ngonaka, Lékoumou, which has about 296 pupils for every 3 teachers (two of which are temps). Due to a lack of public funding, the school imposed a fee of 5000 CFA per year per child, limiting access for many children. The water fountain at Ngonaka school has been broken for two years so children cannot drink water when they are at school. Due to the distance from schools, some children do not go to school because their parents do not have the means. This means that compulsory education for all children up to the age of 16 cannot be guaranteed (OCHD, 2019).
Congo does, however, have extremely high school enrolment rates with close to 100% of children attending primary school, over 90% of children completing primary school and negligible gender disparities in this regard. Secondary school enrolment rates are much lower since compulsory education ends at 16 years old. It follows that literacy rates are relatively high with 89% amongst men and 84% amongst women (Conseil de Droits de l’Homme, 2018).
Congolese children acquire citizenship from their parents. Birth within the territory of the country does not confer citizenship, although exceptions exist for children born of missing or stateless parents, or children born of foreign parents, at least one of whom was also born in the country. The government does not require registration of births; it is parents’ responsibility to request birth registration for a child (US State Department, 2018).
The Congolese state asserts that almost all children in the country have their births registered, at a high 96%, indicating that almost all children are able to access their right to identity in this way, by having their births registered; allowing them to exist as citizens and possess identity documentation (Conseil de Droits de l’Homme, 2018). The Committee on the Rights of Child, in spite of this, reiterated its concern in 2018 regarding “the large number of children that were still not registered, the insufficient number of civil registry offices in remote areas and the insufficient awareness of the importance of registration”.
The Committee urged Congo to establish a more efficient and accessible birth registration system to cover the whole country (Conseil de Droits de l’Homme, 2018). This is likely to be in part because the indigenous population often have trouble obtaining birth certificates which are needed for school enrolment, since the birth registration centres tend to be in cities far from their homes. Congo has a national plan for the eradication of statelessness which would protect stateless children and better help ensure their rights be fulfilled (Agence d’Information d’Afrique Centrale, 2019).
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) works with authorities towards the improvement of the situation for refugee children, who are often of Rwandan, Beninois and Congolese (DRC) origin. It is now possible for more and more refugee children to attend Congolese schools. Children in Congo have experienced increased forced displacement, with some becoming internally displaced and others being forced to leave the country. Equally, many children migrate from neighbouring countries due to displacement.
For example, at the close of 2019, heavy rains and flooding affected over 40,000 people by the Ubangi River, damaging crops and destroying food stocks, livestock, and flooding healthcare facilities, residences, and schools in communities which already had significant humanitarian needs (US AID, 2019). On 16 December 2018, Districts of Makotipoko and Bouemba received at least 10,000 asylum seeking people who fled the DRC.
Risk factors → Country-specific challenges
Indigenous children’s rights
Indigenous peoples in the Congo are nomadic or semi-nomadic rainforest-dwelling hunter-gatherers by tradition, although some of them have now become settled and are employed in agricultural work. Central African indigenous people are known collectively as ‘Pygmies’; a term that came to be pejorative, and has been reclaimed by some indigenous people (Survival International, 2020). Indigenous people are historically viewed as inferior by colonisers and by the Bantu tribes, leading to systematic discrimination and modern slavery of indigenous people who are sometimes enslaved treated as possessions (Agence France-Presse, 2011).
Indigenous Congolese people are ‘forest peoples’ consisting of at least eight different groups or ethnicities, and are largely distinct from the Bantu Congolese people. Over 60 languages are spoken in Congo. Indigenous people are estimated to comprise up to 10% of the population in Congo (IWGIA, 2011). The 2011 introduction of the ‘Law on the Promotion and Protection of the Right of the Indigenous Populations in the Republic of Congo’ made Congo the first African country to introduce specific legislation for the protection of indigenous people, and article 22 of a 2011 national law legislates on discrimination against indigenous people in accessing health services, although this is rarely enforced. Indigenous children are subjected to particularly significant barriers preventing them from accessing their rights.
For example, 65% of indigenous children do not have access to education, 40% are chronically malnourished and most indigenous mothers give birth without any aid from a medical professional. Since these children tend to live deep within forests, their access to culturally sensitive health and education services is severely restricted (Cultural Survival, 2018).
Indigenous children’s rights to a safe and healthy environment are under particular threat due to the climate emergency and commercial exploitation of natural spaces which reduces their access to healthy food and plants with traditional medicinal use. The indigenous children who do attend school face difficulties including linguistic barriers, discrimination, and lack of culturally relevant curricula. Many barriers to their education, then, leads to heightened illiteracy, limited employment opportunities and unfair treatment in the workplace (Cultural Survival, 2018).
In Congo, child labor is prohibited by national law, with the minimum age set at 16. There are substantial laws and policies designed to protect children from exploitation. In spite of this, informal child labor continues to be a problem. Indigenous children and those in rural areas are particularly affected by child labour, and children as young as 6 often work long hours in the fields harvesting cassava and carrying heavy loads of firewood.
Foreign-born children are more vulnerable to child labour in Congo, and sometimes travel to Congo in order to work in housekeeping, markets, agriculture and fishing (US State Department, 2018). These children often send back their earnings to their families in their country of origin. Local NGOs have reported that victims of child labour are treated harshly, work long hours, and have almost no access to health or education services, in severe violation of their rights. Children who work in Congo often receive very little or no pay (US State Department, 2018).
There are no official government statistics on general child labor, and it seems children who work are often ‘under the radar’ or ‘off the grid’, thus increasing their vulnerability. A local authority reported that although informal child labour is illegal, it is often culturally acceptable (US State Department, 2018). There is little information available as to whether child labour is a problem in supply chains to the private sector for companies such as Coca Cola, Chevron, Apple, Microsoft and Google as well as Palm Oil producing deforestation projects all of which are present in the region and in the neighbouring DRC where it has been reported such child labour is an enormous, highly dangerous and scandalous problem.
Indeed, as the World Bank puts it, Congo: “ranks among the top 10 of Africa’s oil producers and has substantial mineral resources, the majority of which are yet untapped” (World Bank, 2019). More information is needed on child labour in supply chains to the private sector in Congo. It appears that child labour affects a large proportion of Congolese children; according to UNICEF, 23% of Congolese children were involved in child labour between 2009 – 2015 (UNICEF, 2020) and the International Labor Organization surveyed that around 85% of children in rural, indigenous regions are at work for very low wages (Cultural Survival, 2019), indicating that child labour remains a serious problem and a threat to children’s rights.
Child marriage and girls’ rights
Child marriage is illegal in Congo, with the minimum age for marriage set at 18 for women and 21 for men, and the minimum age for consensual sex being 18 years old. Child marriage is, however, legally permissible in certain circumstances: if both children’s parents, and a judge, give their permission, it is possible for children to marry with no minimum age (US State Department, 2018).
Forced marriage of children is criminally penalised in Congo with large fines and a prison sentence. Equally, violation of child protection laws which stipulate against child trafficking, child pornography, neglect of children, and child abuse can incur heavy criminal penalties (US State Department, 2018). Statistics for 2015 show that by the age of 15, 6% of children were married, and by the age of 18, 33% of children were married in Congo, suggesting that child marriage remains a serious problem in the country in spite of targeted legal mechanisms to prevent this, and child marriage is a barrier to Congolese children’s rights (UNICEF, 2020).
There are not indications to suggest that female genital mutilation (FGM) is prevalent or commonly practiced in Congo, although data on this is largely absent. Violence against women, unfortunately, is said to be an ‘invisible’ part of Congo’s ongoing Pool-centred conflict and humanitarian crisis (New Humanitarian, 2018).
Written by Josie Thum
Last updated on 8 May 2020
OCDH (2019) ‘Droits de l’Homme au Congo-Brazzaville : La terreur et la répression permanentes conjuguées avec la manipulation de l’opinion publique internationale par les gouvernants’ in Rapport Annuel 2019.
This article by no means purports to give a full or representative account of children’s rights in Congo; indeed, one of the many challenges is the scant updated information on Congolese children, some of which is unreliable, outdated or not representative. This is partly due to Congo being ‘inaccessible’, often overlooked and also overshadowed by its much larger neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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Last Thursday, the UK parliament debated the issue of “money creation and society”. This was a backbench debate, which means that no vote is taken at the end and no laws are changed; it is simply an opportunity to discuss important policy issues outside of the government’s agenda.
The government’s view on this debate was provided by Andrea Leadsom MP. Leadsom is the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, a position which is also known by the title “City Minister” (as in the City of London, the UK’s financial centre). She is responsible for the government’s financial reform and regulation agenda.
So we would hardly expect the government’s City Minister to come out as an advocate of Positive Money’s proposals. However, her critique of the proposals was surprisingly mild. Rather than making sweeping assertions (as some critics have done) she simply raised a number of ‘important questions’. I’ve addressed those questions below.
Leadsom comes on to the topic of a sovereign money system (as advocated by Positive Money) by saying:
“But first I just want to briefly set out why we don’t believe that the right solution is the wholesale replacement of the current system by something else such as a Sovereign Money system.
“Under a sovereign monetary system it would be the state not banks creating new money. The central bank via a committee would decide how much money is created and this money would mostly be transferred to the government. Lending would then come from the pool of customer’s investment account deposits held by commercial banks.
Such a system would raise a number of very important questions.”
She then lists 7 questions, which we’ve quoted verbatim below:
1) “How would that committee assess how much money would be created to meet the inflation targets and support the economy?”
Today the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for setting interest rates as a very indirect way of influencing how much money banks create. The 9-person committee has a team of researchers and access to a wealth of data about the health of the economy. The members of the committee spend up to two days deliberating before casting their vote to raise or lower interest rates.
In a sovereign money system, the process would be much the same, but instead of raising or lowering interest rates, the Monetary Policy Committee (or a new Money Creation Committee) would directly increase or decrease the rate at which new money is created by the Bank of England. (The banks by this point would no longer be able to create money.) [showmore]
If, in the current system, the MPC would have voted to lower interest rates (encouraging people to borrow more and therefore getting banks to create money) then in a sovereign money system they would vote to increase the rate at which money is created. The opposite also applies: if they would have voted to raise interest rates (to discourage borrowing and therefore reduce money creation by banks), then in a sovereign money system they would vote to slow the rate at which money is created.
Some critics seem to get confused at this point. They think that the MPC must somehow magically know how much money every single person needs across the economy. This is caricatured in Ann Pettifor’s statement that a sovereign money system would amount to “granting huge powers to a committee of men to decide how much money we should all have…”. But the Committee would not be deciding that, for example, “There should be £X billion in the economy”, and then next month deciding that £X should instead by £Y. The stock of money in the economy would always be growing at some rate, and the Committee’s job is to make that rate faster or slower. They will need to respond to feedback from the economy and adjust their decisions month-to-month.
If critics believe that making such a decision is impossible, then it logically follows that they must also believe it is impossible for the Monetary Policy Committee to choose the right interest rate for the economy. If you agree with this view point, then having a committee making decisions is a disadvantage of both systems. If you believe that the Monetary Policy Committee is suited to setting interest rates – with the intention of influencing the rate at which banks create money – then it should be clear to you why it’s not a major difference to manage the rate of money creation directly rather than indirectly.[/showmore]
2) “If the central bank had the power to finance government’s policies what would the implications be for the credibility of the fiscal framework and the government’s ability to borrow from the market if it needed to?”
This relates to the fear that if the government is allowed to create money directly, it will get carried away and print money to pay for every white elephant or vote-winning project they can think of. It is thought that even the fear that this might happen is enough to scare investors in financial markets to the extent that they’ll stop buying the government’s bonds. This is normally put foward as the reason for prohibiting governments from creating money, and placing that power in the hands of commercial banks, that we know would never use it recklessly or excessively(!).
It doesn’t take much thought to find an answer to this. [showmore]
Firstly, we are not proposing that the government itself (which is made up of politicians who are trying to win the next election) would be allowed to make the decision over money creation. Their incentives to abuse that power are too strong, especially in the run up to an election. That is why we argue that the power to create money must rest in the hands of a transparent, democratic and accountable body that is tasked with working in the public interest. The decision over whether to increase or decrease the rate of money creation is made not on the basis of what the government wants or needs, but on the basis of what is appropriate for the economy as a whole. If Parliament continues to set the Committee the task of meeting a specific inflation target, then that inflation target will stop the Committee from creating excessive amounts of money to finance government projects (as that would feed through into inflation). This framework should reassure financial markets and investors that the government is not about to go on a Zimbabwe-esque spending spree.
Ultimately this is a question about state power and checks and balances. The government could always abuse its military power to shoot anyone who is likely to vote for the opposition, but we have confidence in developed countries that there are adequate checks and balances to stop this from happening. In the same way, a corrupt government could abuse the power to create money, but we can put in place safeguards and checks and balances that are designed to prevent that from happening. Providing the safeguards are adequate and transparent enough, and checks and balances on the power of the Money Creation Committee are in place, then there should be no long-term damage to the credibility of the fiscal and monetary framework.
On the flipside, consider how a sovereign money system will boost the credibility of the government’s management of its finances and the economy. Because banks in a sovereign money system do not need to be bailed out (because the payments system is not exposed to their risk-taking), there is no risk that the government’s finances will be shot by the costs of bailouts. With less risk of boom and bust, there is less risk of a recession leading to a fall in government tax revenue (and a rise in how much it needs to borrow). The national currency would likely be more – not less – trusted, because there would be transparency about how much new money would be created each year, whereas in the current system money is created by private banks that are competing with each other to create the most money (i.e. to grow their market share and size), with the result that the stock of money has grown by an average of 11.5% a year over the last 40 years. That’s much, much higher than the average rate of real economic growth over the same period of time.[/showmore]
3) “What would be the impact on the availability of credit for businesses and households?”
This is certainly a topic that requires greater study, and we will be releasing a paper on this in the near future. But a few points are important here:
- Banks would still be able to lend; they’d just need to get money from savers before they could do so.
- The amount of credit provided by banks to households to date has been totally excessive. Because most of it went into property (through mortgages) it has resulted in a huge increase in the cost of housing relative to salaries. There is an appropriate amount of credit: enough to allow people to buy houses, but not enough to push the price of those houses up at 20% or more in the space of a year.
- With regards to credit provides to businesses:
o Only around a tenth of UK banks’ loans are to businesses. Lending to business is a sideshow compared to their main business (i.e. lending secured on property).
o Around 66% of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) said they never used bank loans anyway. Instead, they finance their investment through retained profits and other sources of funding.
o In a survey of UK businesses, the majority said that the primary barrier to their growth was not their access to finance from banks, but whether they could increase their sales. In other words, to boost the economy, we need more money in consumers’ pockets. Sovereign money makes it possible to get money in consumers’ pockets without relying on them to take on ever greater amounts of debt.
4) “Wouldn’t credit become pro-cyclical?”
Leadsom doesn’t elaborate here, meaning that we have to guess what her thinking was on this point.
Clearly, the level of credit is already hugely pro-cyclical. Banks provide too much credit (and therefore create too much money) when the economy is growing, leading to the kind of debt-fuelled boom we had before the financial crisis. Then, in the recession, they restrict their lending (therefore restricting their money creation), which makes the recession worse. You can read more about this process here, but it’s clear that credit is already pro-cyclical, and it’s hard to imagine that it would become even more so. [showmore]
But perhaps Andrea Leadsom (or the researcher who prepared her speech) has a different point in mind. Perhaps she thinks that in good economic times, everyone will put their money into investment accounts (i.e. making their funds available for the banks to lend to borrowers) whilst in the bad times, everyone will withdraw their funds from Investment Accounts and keep them stashed in transaction accounts. This idea is based on a technical misunderstanding of how investment accounts would work. Investment Accounts are records of the amount of money that account holders have handed over to the bank in order for the bank to lend them out. Shortly after an investment account is opened, the bank will have lent the money to a borrower, so the money placed ‘in’ the Investment Account will now be in the borrower’s Transaction Account (or the account of whoever the borrower spent the money with). However, some people get the idea that money can either be in an Investment Account or in a Transaction Account, and that all money could move from the Investment Accounts to the Transaction Accounts if there was a panic about the near-term economic situation. In reality, money would ALWAYS be held either in Transaction Accounts or in the bank’s own accounts, waiting to be lent. No money is ever held in Investment Accounts.
So what might happen in a panic? Savers who had Investment Accounts maturing in the near future might decide they want to hold money in risk-free Transaction Accounts rather than holding a risk-bearing Investment Account. Banks would find themselves repaying Investment Account holders, which would mean the money is unavailable to fund further loans. At the same time, potential investors might choose not to take risks for the meantime until it’s clearer what will happen in the economy and which banks are healthy (or otherwise).
However, is this really likely to make the provision of credit more pro-cyclical than the current system? In the recent crisis, even when banks were refusing to lend, there were numerous reports of pensioners and savers who were searching for a higher rate of interest on their savings and looking for something to invest it. There will always be people with savings looking for a return. The real pro-cyclicality in the current system comes not from savers’ decisions to invest, but from banks’ willingness to lend (and therefore create money).
So it’s far from clear that a sovereign money system would have credit that is more pro-cyclical than the current system. In addition, only someone who has had their eyes closed for the last decade could suggest that the availability of credit is not pro-cyclical already.[/showmore]
5) “Wouldn’t we incentivise financing households over businesses, because in the case of businesses presumably expect the state to step in?”
It’s hard to make sense of this point, and Leadsom doesn’t elaborate, so we’ll have to guess at what she means.
Leadsom suggests we would incentivise financing households over businesses because “presumably the state would step in” [to lend to businesses?]. But this point makes no sense. Firstly, in a sovereign money system, the Bank of England would be able to create money to lend to banks so that those banks could lend more to businesses. But this money goes through the banks, not around them. The banks would therefore have a role to play in lending to businesses. Why would this incentivise banks to not lend to businesses? [showmore]
Secondly, if Leadsom believes that the provision of finance from the state directed at businesses will dissuade banks from lending to businesses, then what steps is she taking to shut down the Business Investment Bank that her government has just set up? Surely by her logic such a scheme would disincentivise banks to lend to businesses?
Finally, this point shows zero recognition of the fact that, in the current monetary system, banks already face huge incentives to finance households (read: mortgages) over businesses. There are a few reasons for this:
1) With a mortgage, the bank has a nice house that it can repossess if the borrower is unable to repay the loan. This makes it very low-risk.
2) Because house prices tend to rise in good times (largely as a result of all the money that banks create and pump into mortgages), even mortgages that seem risky at first soon become effectively risk-free. If a bank issues a 90% loan-to-value mortgage, then some time later it has to repossess the house, the house price would have to have dropped by 10% before the bank lost money overall. But if house prices rise by 10% a year, then by the end of year 1 of the mortgage they’d only suffer a loss if house prices had fallen by 18.2%, and by the end of year 2 they’d have lost money only if house prices had fallen by more than 25.6%. Because these falls are highly unlikely, much mortgage lending is effectively risk-free and even more so in the context of rapidly inflated house prices.
3) Businesses have little collateral to repossess. Much of a loan to a business will be spent on staff or other services. For example, if a bank makes a loan to a cafe, the only thing they could repossess is a few display cabinets and kitchen equipment, which will sell for less than the cafe initially paid for them. Even with capital-intensive businesses, such as a factory, the machinery is likely to be very job-specific, difficult to resell and would sell at less than the price initially paid for it. So relative to a mortgage, business loans have much less collateral and are therefore riskier.
4) The Basel capital accords require banks to hold twice as much capital against a business loan than against a property loan. Put another way, if the Basel rules are adhered to, then for X amount of capital, banks could lend twice as much for a mortgage as they could for a business loan.
So in the current system there are HUGE systemic biases towards financing households (i.e. mortgages) over businesses. Nothing in the government’s reform agenda tackles that issue, but there is absolutely no reason to think that a sovereign money system would make it any worse. In fact, in a sovereign money system there would be no need for any Basel capital accords. [/showmore]
6) “Wouldn’t we be encouraging the emergence of an unregulated set of new shadow banks?”
The argument here is that by prohibiting banks from creating money, a whole collection of companies that are not banks but act like them will spring up and start creating equivalent substitutes for money, in effect creating the same situation we have today.
Most shadow banks are simply entities that behave like banks but avoid registering as banks in order to escape regulation. So the government approach to shadow banks should really be, “If it looks like a bank and behaves like a bank, then regulate it as a bank.” And who has responsibility for making sure that the regulators do their job properly? Funnily enough, Andrea Leadsom, the City Minister. [showmore]
So if unregulated shadow banks spring up and start creating money, it will only be because of the failure of Andrea Leadsom and her government to regulate companies that need to be regulated. This is not a valid criticism of a sovereign money system; it’s a criticism of the current approach to regulating shadow banks.
Secondly, let’s look at what would actually be required for shadow banks to be able to ‘create money’. They would need to be able to issue liabilities that could be withdrawn on demand and used to pay other people. In order for these liabilities to be as useful as bank money or sovereign money, it would have to be possible for them to be transferred through the main payment systems e.g. BACS, Faster Payments, CHAPS and so on. Access to those payment systems is tightly controlled. It’s simple enough to prevent shadow banks from becoming members of those payment systems, making it impossible for them to create money-like liabilities that can be easily used to pay other people.
What shadow banks could potentially provide, depending on the timidity of the regulator, would be instant access liabilities, but these would be risk-bearing investments, whereas money in transaction accounts would be completely risk-free. If the regulator was even half competent, all money-like substitutes provided by shadow banks would need to be covered in health warnings making it very clear that the investor is taking a risk. Then, anyone who is willing to invest with a financial services provider that promises to repay you your funds whenever you want them, whilst knowing full well that those funds aren’t available, does so at their own risk and should not expect to be rescued by the taxpayer.[/showmore]
7) “Wouldn’t the introduction of totally new system untested across modern advanced economies create unnecessary risk at a time when people need stability?”
This final point rests on the assumption that the current system can provide ‘stability’, and that the government’s reforms since the crisis have been adequate. But even her own Prime Minister has recently been warning about danger signs in the global economy, and the former head of the Financial Services Authority, Lord Adair Turner, has been warning about the dangers financial stability from rising household debt.
Right now, what Andrea Leadsom thinks is ‘stability’ may in fact be the calm before the storm. The major benefit of a sovereign money system is that it would provide greater stability.
To the Andrea Leadsom’s expressed concerns about the makeup of the committee that would create money:
Andrea Leadsom makes a rather silly point, parrotting points made earlier by Ann Pettifor. Leadsom says:
“And of course bearing in mind our current set of regulators we would presumably then be looking at a committee of middle aged white men making the decision on what the economy needs and that’s also would be a significant concern to me were that to happen.”
“In addition, of course, bearing in mind our current set of regulators, presumably we would then be looking at a committee of middle-aged, white men deciding what the economy needs, which would also be of significant concern to me.”
Yes, the Monetary Policy Committee, which makes decisions on interest rates, is made up of white, middle class, middle aged men with similar backgrounds. To the best of my knowledge, Andrea Leadsom has never campaigned for the Monetary Policy Committee to be made more representative or diverse, so it’s interesting that she has suddenly taken an interest. Presumably if she objects to the Monetary Policy Committee having the power to directly manage money creation, she would also object to them having the power to set Bank of England’s interest rates for the lending of reserves to the banks (which indirectly influences money creation).
However, the makeup of the committee in a sovereign money system is up for grabs. [showmore]
The committee could be completely white and middle class in either system, or it could be hugely diverse in either system. We are designing a new system that works in the public interest, so if the key decision makers need to be more diverse, then make them more diverse. If we want that committee to be more diverse and more representative of society, then it shouldn’t be beyond a government minister to figure out how to achieve that.
This point rests on a logical error. When choosing between two systems, something that is a disadvantage of both is not an argument in favour of one. Part of the debate that would have to be had around a sovereign money system is about who we want to have the power to create money. But for anyone who can think about it logically, it should be clear that the fact that we currently give the power to set interest rates to an undiverse committee of men is an argument for reforming that committee, but it is not an argument against reforming the monetary system more fundamentally.[/showmore]
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Managing Knowledge: Dictionaries and Ideology
Module code: EN7219
Module co-ordinator: Professor Julie Coleman
This module traces the beginnings of the modern dictionary in the work of Samuel Johnson and his contemporaries, but concentrates on the great dictionary projects of the nineteenth century, particularly:
- the Oxford English Dictionary
- Roget’s Thesaurus
- Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary
- Brewer’s Phrase and Fable
- Farmer and Henley’s Slang and its Analogues
Generally treated as objective authorities on their subjects, these works embody their period’s attitudes, knowledge, and anxieties. All are still in regular use today. We will explore their structure; definitional styles; selection and use of sources, including the treatment of individual authors; and their approach to obscene and other troubling terms.
By the end of the module, you will...
- Be able to describe and analyse dictionaries using an appropriate range of approaches and terminology
- Know the relevant lexicographical traditions and of the place of individual dictionaries within them
- Understand the subjectivity of dictionaries and their relationship to contemporary concerns and scholarly developments
- A 4,000-word essay
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Olympic medal table
The Olympic medal table is a method of sorting the medal placements of countries in the modern-day Olympics and Paralympics. Officially, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognize a ranking of participating countries at the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, the IOC does publish medal tallies for information purposes, showing the total number of Olympic medals earned by athletes representing each country's respective National Olympic Committee. The convention used by the IOC is to sort by the number of gold medals the athletes from a country have earned. In the event of a tie in the number of gold medals, the number of silver medals is taken into consideration, and then the number of bronze medals. If two countries have an equal number of gold, silver, and bronze medals, they are ordered in the table alphabetically by their IOC country code.
The Olympic Charter, Chapter 1, section 6 states that:
|“||The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries …||”|
— International Olympic Committee
The Charter goes even further in Chapter 5, section 57, expressly prohibiting the IOC from producing an official ranking:
|“||The IOC and the OCOG shall not draw up any global ranking per country. A roll of honour bearing the names of medal winners and those awarded diplomas in each event shall be established by the OCOG and the names of the medal winners shall be featured prominently and be on permanent display in the main stadium.||”|
— International Olympic Committee
According to Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper, the IOC began to accommodate medals tables in 1992, releasing 'information' based on the 'gold first' standard. The medal tables provided on its website carry this disclaimer:
|“||The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognise global ranking per country; the medal tables are displayed for information only. Furthermore, the results that we publish are official and are taken from the "Official Report" - a document published for each Olympic Games by the Organising Committee. However, for the first Olympic Games (until Antwerp in 1920), it is difficult to give the exact number of medals awarded to some countries since teams were composed of athletes from different countries. The medal tables by country are based on the number of medals won, with gold medals taking priority over silver and bronze. A team victory counts as one medal.||”|
— International Olympic Committee
As the IOC does not consider its sorting of nations to be an official ranking system, various methods of ranking nations are used. Some sort rankings decided by the total number of medals the country has but most list by the gold medals counted. However, if two or more teams have the same number of gold medals, the silver medals are then judged from the most to the least and then the bronze medals.
Medal count ranking
The gold first ranking system described above is used by most of the world media, as well as the IOC. While the gold first ranking system has been used occasionally by some American media outlets, newspapers in the United States primarily publish medal tables ordered by the total number of medals won.
This difference in rankings has its origins in the early days of the Olympics, when the IOC did not publish or recognise medal tables. Before the 2002 Winter Olympics the difference in ranking system received scant notice, since in recent Olympic history the country that led in total medals also led in the gold count. However, in 2002 Winter Olympics Germany won the highest number of medals (36) but was left behind by Norway in gold medal count - Germany winning 12 and Norway winning 13. A similar situation occurred at the 2008 Summer Olympics, with China and U.S. topping the gold and total medal tallies respectively, and then again at the 2010 Winter Olympics when Canada and the U.S. finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the "gold first" ranking or 3rd and 1st respectively in terms of total medals won. Other exceptions are the 1896, 1912, and 1964 Summer Olympics when the United States finished first in gold medal count but second in the overall medal count. In an August 24, 2008 news conference, IOC President Jacques Rogge confirmed that the IOC does not have a view on any particular ranking system.
Population-size, resources-per-person and multivariate prediction models and ratings
Sporting success predictions and ratings can be univariate, i.e. based on one independent variable, such as a country's population size and the number of medals is divided by the population of the country, or multivariate, where resources-per-person in the form of GDP per capita and other variables are included.
Resources per person in the form of GDP per capita has been included in an article by The Guardian published during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Already in 2002, the research done by Meghan Busse of Northwestern University suggested that both a large population and high per capita GDP are needed to generate high medal totals, and predictive models have been built trying to predict success with multivariate analysis, taking also past results and host-nation advantage into account.
Systematic rankings based upon a weighted point system with the most points awarded to a gold medal have also been devised. For example, in 1908, the British press invented a ranking system based on awarding gold medals 5 points, silver medals 3 points, and bronze medals 1 point (5:3:1). In 2004, a linear system awarding 3 points to gold, 2 points to silver and 1 point to bronze (3:2:1) was used by the Australian Geography Teachers Association. This weighting values a gold medal as much weight as a silver and a bronze medal combined. In response to the 2008 controversy over medal rank, a New York Times article on the subject described a points system in which 4 points was awarded for every gold medal, 2 points for every silver medal, and 1 point for every bronze medal (4:2:1). These systems have been popular in certain places at certain times, but none of them have been adopted on a large scale.
- Johnson, Ian (August 13, 2008). "Who's on First in Medals Race". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- Araton, Harvey (August 18, 2008). "A Medal Count That Adds Up To Little". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- "Olympic Charter" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
- "Olympic Games Athens 1896 - Medal Table". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
- Shipley, Amy (August 25, 2008). "China's Show of Power". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- Eason, Kevin (2008-08-25). "America refuses to accept defeat in Olympic medal count". The Times (UK). Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- Flyan, Kevin (2008-08-19). "Who’s top of the medals table?". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- Wetzel, Dan (2008-08-22). "U.S. will be rocked by China’s heavy medals". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- Pells, Eddie (March 5, 2008). "US, China set low Olympic expectations". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- Paul, Alan (2008-08-16). "Different measures of success in race for gold". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
- Ruddick, Graham (2008-08-22). "US accused of medal table spin". The Telegraph (UK). Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- Hardaway, Robert (2008-08-22). "Weighing Olympic gold". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- 2010 Official Medal Table
- "Official Website for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- Donovan, Brooke (2008-08-21). "We are second in medals table-behind Slovenia". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- Rogers, Simon (2012-08-30). "Olympics 2012: the alternative medals table". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
- "2008 Summer Olympics: GDP Adjusted Performance Ranking". FlagAndMap. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
- Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Resources and Medal Totals, Review of Economics and Statistics, December 2002.
- "Medals table: The alternative rankings for London 2012". The BBC. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- "Dan Johnson: "The Man Who Predicts Medals"". Colorado College. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- "Medals table: The real winners and losers". The BBC. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- Bernard, Andrew (2004). "Medal points data for Athens 2004 Olympic Games" (PDF). Review of Economics and Statistics. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
- Klein, Jeff (2008-08-17). "The Medal Rankings: Which Country Leads the Olympics?". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
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Scientists have come up with new ways to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the most prevalent type of blindness among the elderly - after figuring out one of its primary causes.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky, U.S., compared eyes donated by deceased AMD patients with those of healthy individuals. The healthy were found to have three times higher levels of dicer, an enzyme, in their retinas.
Low levels of dicer cause the build-up of a genetic material alu, which becomes instrumental in killing off light-sensitive retinal cells in advanced “dry” AMD, the journal Nature reported.
Jayakrishna Ambati, professor of ophthalmology in the University of Kentucky, has created two drugs that could halt the disease. One boosts levels of dicer, the other breaks down the toxic alu, according to a Kentucky University statement.
Ambati said, “When the levels of dicer decline, the control system is short-circuited and too much alu accumulates. This leads to death of the retina.”
Patients with dry AMD, the most widespread variant, could be treated this year. The numbers of sufferers are expected to treble over the next 25 years.
AMD renders daily tasks like reading, driving and watching TV impossible.
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Hip Hop and Education Reform
Transcript of Hip Hop and Education Reform
Enlightened Hop To jump forward Hip Hop Enlightened Action So, by the definition of the word, hip hop is designed to send a message and push for change!
This makes it a perfect tool for education reform! Hip Hop as a Tool for Education Reform Generally those who are the ones
writing hip hop are those who are
not served well by the
education system. That would make them ideal candidates
to write songs about education reform. But are they doing it? Well, yes and no. There are artists who make it their mission to make songs about not only education reform, but social justice in general. One of these groups is Dead Prez. Their song "They Schools," is all about how the education system is not doing its job for minority students. Let's break down some of the topics discussed in this song 1. School is run by the same people who run the prison system and the whole social system -does this mean that school is run like a prison? -do they provide any examples of what can be done to make school feel less like a prison? -do you think that fights in the hallway and a general tone of disrespect should be punished? -"He was convinced the gang leaders were the most promising young people in the area. They weren't just sheep like the rest of the students; they were rebels with sharpened, anti-authoritarian reflexes, rappers possessed of mother-wit, renegades to whom the future should belong."
--Jeff Chang, Can't Stop, Won't Stop In terms of this quote, at what point should rebels be celebrated and at what point should they be punished?
-What does our current school system say about this matter? Language Use in the Song Does the use of foul and disrespectful language help or hurt the cause? The schools are not teaching what needs to be learned -The school curriculum is taught from a white perspective This helps the white students, but is it possible to help the black students as well? This song really pushes the idea of white priveledge in the school setting So, this song points out many problems that need to be reformed in schools, but what about the solutions? This is where the song seems to fall flat. Also, the artists that are not on the radio are rarely heard, as is stated numerous times in our readings. So, what should we do??? Pay attention to the artists who are not on the radio MK Asante points out that the hip hop on the radio is like fast food, it is food but not good food. There is much better food available if you look. There is much better and more socially conscious hip hop available if you look. Pay attention to the messages in the songs that are played on the radio. Some major artists do put education related information in their songs! Lupe Fiasco
-home issues affecting school life Kanye West
-education does not apply to real life So, in conclusion... Hip Hop songs are great for awareness if they can get on the radio...but they do not create a
solution to the problems
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Imagine what your mouth would feel like if you never brushed your teeth or went to the dentist! For many pets, the painful reality is that dental or periodontal disease is a frequently diagnosed health problem
Common signs of dental disease include:
Even if your animal doesn’t have these symptoms, we recommend that you have your pet's dental health evaluated at least once a year. Bacteria and food debris accumulate around the teeth and under the gum, if left unchecked, will lead to deterioration of the soft tissue and bone surrounding the teeth. This decay can result in irreversible periodontal disease, tooth loss, and possibly expensive oral surgery.
A physical exam combined with appropriate laboratory work can determine if infection in the mouth has spread. Antibiotics may be prescribed for your pet to start prior to its dental procedure, to reduce the severity of the infection.
A full dental procedure involves admission in the morning for pre-anesthetic bloodwork, general anesthesia, full oral exam, digital x-rays as needed, local freezing prior to any extractions, scaling and polishing to remove tartar and plaque above and below the gum line, and fluoride. Pain control medications are given before and during your pet’s dental work, and if extractions were necessary, a supply is sent home to keep him or her comfortable during the recovery period.
Schedule your pet's dental exam today! We can show you how to brush your pet's teeth and recommend foods and treats that will help combat plaque and tartar buildup.
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Oxford Languages and Google
Google’s English dictionary is provided by Oxford Languages.
Oxford Languages is the world’s leading dictionary publisher, with over 150 years of experience creating and delivering authoritative dictionaries globally in more than 50 languages.
What is included in this English dictionary?
Oxford’s English dictionaries are widely regarded as the world’s most authoritative sources on current English.
This dictionary is regularly updated with evidence from one of the world’s largest lexical research programmes, and features over 350,000 words and phrases.
The coverage spans forms of the English language from across the English-speaking world. British English and American English are only two of the many individual varieties of the language that share a common lexical core but develop their own unique vocabularies. In addition to British and American English, our dictionary documents many further varieties, including forms spoken in Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the West Indies.
How do we create our dictionaries?
At Oxford Languages, we are committed to an evidence-based approach to creating dictionaries in order to provide the most accurate picture of a language.
The evidence we use to create our English dictionaries comes from real-life examples of spoken and written language, gathered through a series of corpora that continuously monitor language development. The corpora, which collect these examples from a variety of language sources, are curated by the Oxford Languages team and enable us to analyse the ways words are used in context by people all around the world.
Our lexicographers analyse genuine uses of words collected from these sources to determine a word’s definition, spelling, and grammatical behaviour, and to offer guidance on a word’s use based on this research. The team uses this process to identify new words and senses as they come into use.
This evidence-based approach to creating a dictionary is known as descriptive lexicography. Our dictionaries aim to describe the way languages are and have been used by people around the world, rather than attempting to prescribe the way a language should be used.
We apply stringent quality checks to all dictionaries produced or acquired by our expert team so our users can feel confident in our ability to accurately and meaningfully represent their language.
Why do we include vulgar and offensive words in our dictionaries?
The role of a descriptive dictionary is to record the existence and meaning of all words in a language, and to clearly identify their status. We include vulgar or offensive words in our dictionaries because such terms are a part of a language’s lexicon. However, we label in our dictionaries words that fit into these categories to reflect their vulgar or offensive status and usage in the language.
We monitor how offensive language changes over time and integrate the changes we observe into our dictionaries to reflect real-life usage. Any changes that are made to our dictionaries are based on empirical evidence collected and analysed through our language research programme.
We are always grateful when users inform us of cases they believe do not meet our rigorous quality standards, whether due to changing cultural sensitivities or for other reasons.
Learn more about how we label our datasets.
Why do we include slang and regional dialects in our dictionaries?
In our mission to accurately and comprehensively document all words in a language’s lexicon, we record and describe real-life language usage in all of its forms – including slang and regional dialects.
All slang terms and vocabulary from different regions and dialects are clearly labelled in our dictionary entries, so that users can be confident in a word’s language status and typical usage.
As is the case for all of our dictionary entries, any changes or additions must be the subject of sufficient evidence, and all entries, including those documenting slang and regional dialects, are subject to regular review and updates as appropriate.
How do we source our example sentences?
Example sentences are real-life examples selected to help people understand words in the context in which they are commonly used. These sentences do not replace our definitions but give additional context.
Our expert team of lexicographers pull all of our descriptive example sentences from real-life sources collected in our multi-billion-word corpora.
The team analyses evidence to select example sentences that present a word in the typical grammatical and semantic context without distracting from the essential information the definition conveys.
We do our best to eliminate example sentences that contain factually incorrect, prejudiced, or offensive statements from real-life sources and always welcome feedback on specific cases you feel do not meet our rigorous quality standards so that we can review and update our dictionaries.
Note on proprietary status:
Our dictionary content include some words which have or are asserted to have proprietary status as trade marks or otherwise. Their inclusion does not imply that they have acquired for legal purposes a non-proprietary or general significance nor any other judgement concerning their legal status. In cases where the editorial staff have some evidence that a word has proprietary status this is indicated in the entry for that word but no judgement concerning the legal status of such words is made or implied thereby.
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"no one complains about "thought experiments" from immortally dead philosophers and scientists. Sample the illustrious history in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy and other repositories of formerly outré thinking.
Descartes launched modern theory of knowledge with his evil demon. Locke posed an exchange of minds between a prince and a cobbler to argue that personal identity is based on continuous memory, not bodily continuity. Galileo, some believe, "only imagined the experiment of tying two five-pound weights together with a fine string in order to argue that heavier bodies do not fall faster."" - The Chronicle.
Romano provides an interesting discussion of the role of logic in hypotheticals in public discussion.
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On June 21, two events are worth taking note of.
One, the International Yoga Day is being observed by people while keeping social distance and wearing masks.
Two, the occurrence of the annular solar eclipse. It happens when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.
On Sunday, the solar eclipse starts becoming visible at 9.15 am, and till 12.10 pm, light darkness enveloping the earth. It ends at 3.04 pm.
This means for solar eclipse 2020 lasts for almost six hours. The last solar eclipse took place on July 2, 2019.
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the Historical truth, according to the author of the essay, is that only one country in the world – the Soviet Union could defeat Nazi Germany. Won at the cost of enormous casualties and destruction. The entire European part of the USSR lay in ruins.
the Teacher describes the political situation in the country during the Second world war. In the “terrible Twister” was involved many dozens of countries. Don’t pass it, and Afghanistan. In the late 30’s-early 40-ies in the country turned invisible, but very important battle. In addition to the strategic offensive in the Soviet Union, Hitler was preparing a breakthrough in the “jewel of the British crown” – India. To strike in this direction was prepared by the 17 divisions. The operation was to begin after the capture of Stalingrad and the North Caucasus. Previously for the preparation of this operation in Afghanistan under the guise of geologists, engineers, builders, scientists, economists, teachers introduced more than 3 thousand representatives of Germany. Their task was to mobilize the forces of the former Basmachi and the organization of strikes against the Soviet republics of Central Asia. While preparing the rebellion Pashtun tribes, which, if successful, constrained to a significant number of British troops and facilitated the passage of the fascist divisions to India.
“to abort this operation was possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Soviet Union and the UK – said the teacher. They managed to convince the Afghan government is in extreme danger for the country these plans.”
the Russian language unfortunately says that today’s political and economic situation in his country leaves much to be desired. For nearly 19 years, the United States and its allies are fighting international terrorism and “build democracy” has already been spent on it, as was stated in the Congress of the United States, over two trillion dollars. “As a result of Afghanistan on all fronts has stalled: because of dual power developing political crisis, corruption gained unprecedented scale, people have lost confidence in the government, army and police control only about half of the territory…”, he muses.
However, there are, in the opinion of a specialist in Russian, good news: “Russia’s Credibility among Afghans is very high. Thousands of young people who are studying the Russian language, many would like to study in Russian universities. Last year Russia has allocated to Afghanistan 365 training places at the expense of its budget. The number of participants willing amounted to 6.2 thousand people, the competition has exceeded 17 candidates in one place.”
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When blossoms appear on your strawberry plants, you know that plump, deep-red berries will follow soon. When the plants fail to develop flowers, however, the excitement of waiting to pick and eat the berries quickly falls flat. Becoming familiar with the reasons strawberry plants do not produce blossoms can help you act quickly to implement control measures to ensure the garden's future health.
Providing the best care possible for your strawberry plants is essential because healthy plants have a heightened capacity to avoid and overcome health problems, particularly when compared to stressed plants. Strawberry plants grow best in sites that receive full sunlight. These fruiting plants prefer well-drained soil with a pH ranging from 5.5 to 7.0. Monitor the plants regularly, and pull weeds that crop up; weeds compete for nutrients and attract pests.
Gray mold, also known as botrytis fruit rot, is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. The disease is most active during periods of heavy moisture, such as fog and rain. Primarily affecting strawberry plants' flowers, the disease may result in up to 90 percent flower and fruit loss. Symptoms include brown areas of infected flowers and the presence of a gray, moldlike growth on plant parts such as flowers and berries. Affected berries typically harden and appear mummified.
Gray Mold Control
Controlling gray mold requires maintaining good air circulation in the garden to combat high moisture. Adding straw mulch to soil also helps. Ensure levels of potassium and calcium are adequate and that you don't apply too much nitrogen when fertilizing. If the weather is wet, then applications of fungicides beginning at bloom time and repeated once every seven to 10 days until weather conditions improve provides control. Alternating between two fungicides is essential. Effective options include fungicides with an active ingredient such as fenhexamid or a combination of pyraclostrobin and boscalid.
Western Tarnished Plant Bugs
Western tarnished plant bugs, also known as lygus bugs (Lygus hesperus), feed primarily on flower buds, destroying them and leading to malformed fruit, which may appear cat-faced. These pests have green or brown bodies measuring about 1/4 inch long. When young, the bugs have green, aphidlike bodies. Releasing the bugs' natural enemies, such as the parasitic wasp Anaphes iole, offers some management. The use of a bug vacuum as well as the application of an insecticidal soap spray also may provide control.
Strawberry Bud Weevils
Strawberry bud weevils (Anthonomus signatus Say) are small beetles measuring only about 1/10 inch long. With dark, red-brown bodies and snout faces, these pests also are referred to as "clippers" because they feed on flowers and cut them from plants, resulting in brown, dead blossoms. Flowers also may become completely severed, falling to the ground. Because strawberry bud weevils may not be common in your area, contact your county Cooperative Extension Service immediately if an infestation of these insects occurs.
Strawberry Bud Weevil Control
Strawberry bud weevils can be controlled with dust or spray applications of an insecticide containing the active ingredient carbaryl or malathion. Make the first application when clipped buds appear on the strawberry plants, and reapply the insecticide every 10 days while the buds are closed and until conditions improve.
- Cornell University Gardening: Strawberries
- University of Illinois Extension, Integrated Pest Management: Fruits -- Gray Mold of Strawberry
- University of California Integrated Pest Management Online: Management Guidelines for Botrytis Fruit Rot on Strawberry
- University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California Cooperative Extension of Santa Barbara County Newsletter: Ecology and Behavior of Western Tarnished Plant Bug
- University of California Integrated Pest Management Online: Management Guidelines for Lygus Bugs on Strawberry
- Cornell Cooperative Extension: Small Fruit Crops -- Strawberry Bud Weevil (Clipper)
- University of Minnesota Extension Service: Strawberry Insect Pests of the Home Garden
- North Carolina State University Integrated Pest Management: Strawberry Weevil
- Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
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Western rangelands are rich in deposits of minerals and fossil fuels. The states of Nevada and Utah house the world's largest mines respectively for gold and copper, while parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana are slated for unprecedented development of coal bed methane (a source of natural gas). As the population of the United States and the world continues to grow and demand a higher standard of living, the demand for mineral and energy resources is increasing. At the same time, the mining and fuel industries are facing increased public scrutiny as citizens question past policies and demand higher environmental standards. Here we present some of the main issues surrounding mineral and fossil fuels extraction including both environmental and industry concerns. While recognizing that not all situations can be win-win, we highlight innovative solutions and successful collaborations.
- Coal and Natural Gas Issues
- Environmental Justice and NIMBY (Not in my backyard) Issues
- Hard Rock Mining Issues
- Related Links
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The National Churchill Museum (NCM) is located on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in the United States. The NCM is the historic site where Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches. On 5 March 1946, at the invitation of President Harry Truman, Churchill addressed the crowd and presented the speech he knew as the ‘Sinews of Peace’ speech, which later became known for a phrase that he used: ‘Iron Curtain’.
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent…”
The famous phrase of Churchill’s that gave his speech it’s colloquial name was, ‘An Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent,’ which in essence marked the beginning of the Cold War between the west and the (now former) Soviet Union. Churchill’s speech has forever linked Fulton and Westminster College with Winston Churchill.
In the 1960s Westminster College marked the twentieth anniversary of Churchill’s visit by moving from London to Fulton a Christopher Wren-designed church that had been damaged in WWII by German bombers during the London Blitz. This Church, St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury, had stood in London since 1677 when it replaced an earlier structure that had sat on the same site since the 12th century. The damaged church of St Mary was rebuilt brick-by-brick to Wren’s original specifications.
Beneath this Church is the National Churchill Museum itself which, through the imaginative and innovative use of technology, brings to life the story of Winston Churchill and the world he knew. Recently rebuilt from the ground up, the new displays and the permanent exhibition, together with a host of associated historical and cultural activities that support it, was recognised by the United States Congress as America’s permanent tribute to this great man and formally designated as America’s National Churchill Museum. View the speech from the U.S. House of Representatives here.
Please help support the National Churchill Museum by joining the International Churchill Society today.
To plan your visit or for more information on the history of NCM, lectures and upcoming exhibitions, please visit the National Churchill Museum website.
Address: 501 Westminster Ave, Fulton, MO 65251, USA
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Your heart beats around 100,000 times a day, pumping blood around your body to deliver oxygen and nutrients, while taking away waste products. When your heart is unhealthy, it can’t perform this vital task so effectively. An estimated 17 million people die of cardiovascular disease each year worldwide.
Learn more about how your heart works, the causes of heart disease and how to keep your heart healthy with the free online course “Heart Health: a Beginner’s Guide to Cardiovascular Disease”
Heart Health: A Beginner’s Guide to Cardiovascular Disease – Course Content
- The anatomy of the heart;
- How the circulatory system works and what it does;
- Some of the most common cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart failure;
- The effects of these diseases on the body, why they happen and what can be done to prevent them;
- Resources from the British Heart Foundation including up to date statistics, patient leaflets and videos describing many of the tests that cardiac patients undergo;
- The risk factors for heart disease and what you can do keep your heart healthy.
Each week you’ll have the opportunity to get hands on and do a practical activity, helping you to apply the knowledge you’ll gain on the course, to better understand your own heart.
No requirements – but it will help if you have a basic understanding of human biology.
Summary of Main Course Features
- Educator: Natasha Barrett
- Published by: University of Reading
- Duration: 4 weeks x 3 hours per week
- Starts: 25 April
- Certificates available
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Bioinformatics at Biosafe Ltd is optimized for the analysis of safety aspects of microbial genomes.
Bioinformatics at Biosafe Ltd is focused on analyzing the safety aspects of microbial genomes on behalf of companies who develop microbial products into the food chain. They may be production organisms for amino acids, enzymes or vitamins, or live micro-organisms. Many of the products will be evaluated by
the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Whatever the purpose, safety means the absence of acquired antimicrobial resistance genes, genes for toxins and virulence factors. We occasionally also describe the genetic modifications in detail or search for secondary metabolite biosynthesis clusters. The genome is used for unequivocal taxonomic identification at the species level, which is essential in granting the QPS (qualified presumption of safety) status for a microorganism. Sometimes this analysis leads to the description of a new species.
The use of whole genome sequence (WGS) – what and when?
Whole genome refers to both chromosome(s) and plasmids. If it is unclear whether or not the microorganism carries plasmids this should be explored. The DNA extraction and sequencing method will be selected accordingly.
According to The Guidance on microorganisms used as feed additives or as production organisms (EFSA FEEDAP Panel, 2018), WGS is required for bacteria and yeasts. For fungi, WGS should be used for identification if available.
Proper taxonomic classification of a microbe is the basis of safety analysis. The most important level of classification is the species level, which is also the basis for assigning a microbe a Qualified Presumption of Safety status (QPS). EFSA maintains and develops a list of QPS microorganisms for food or feed use. Currently the list contains many bacteria and yeasts but excludes e.g. filamentous fungi. Whenever a new species is introduced by an application submitted to the Commission and forwarded to EFSA, the QPS working group can assess its safety and conclude on its possible inclusion in the QPS list. The assessment is based on taxonomic identification, body of knowledge, possible pathogenicity (or other safety concerns) and the use of the microorganism. The QPS concept is also applicable to genetically modified microorganisms used as production strains.
Sometimes it is important to identify the species at the strain level – such as in the case of E. coli K-12. Although E. coli is not QPS, K-12 strains have a long history of safe use and are generally considered as safe, provided that genes of concern are not introduced in the genome.
The increase of genome sequence information has brought a lot of confusion for taxonomic classification in some genera, such as Bacillus, Lactobacillus and Streptomyces. It has been proposed, for instance, that Bacillus subtilis subsp. inaquosorum should be recognized as a novel taxon distinct from Bacillus subtilis. Novel species can sometimes be particularly problematic for the interpretation of MIC values and may require extra scientific justifications.
The most widely used means for taxonomic classification, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, is often not sufficient for species identification. Biosafe uses multiple approaches to taxonomic classification purposes, such as average nucleotide identity (ANI), phylogenomics or housekeeping genes.
Genome screening for antimicrobial resistance genes and genes for toxins and virulence factors
The genome should be interrogated searched for genes conferring resistance to antimicrobials relevant for their use in humans and animals (Critically or Highly important antimicrobials, WHO). Biosafe Ltd uses several databases to screen the genomes in an in-house pipeline. This genome-based prediction is then assessed together with the results from phenotypic testing to draw final conclusions.
Biosafe Ltd was among the first ones to apply whole genome sequencing (WGS) in the microbial safety assessment for the dossiers submitted to EFSA evaluations. We are constantly improving our analysis pipeline and the clarity of the reports. Our experience on dozens of genomes gives us a good perspective to interpret the results. For example, it is much easier to detect acquired antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes after examining many genomes of the same species.
Almost all microbial genomes have matches to genes in the AMR databases, i.e. to genes that potentially contribute to AMR. Most of these are intrinsic genes, often efflux pumps, which do not necessarily confer resistance. In the case of production microorganisms, it is important that the acquired resistance genes are not transferred into the product. In case of viable microorganisms as products, the acquired functional AMR genes are considered a hazard.
The presence of genes encoding virulence factors may trigger further phenotypic testing (cytotoxicity tests ).
Genetically modified microorganisms (GMM)
In the case of GMMs, WGS should be used to characterize the structure of the genetic modification. This is mandatory for bacteria and yeasts and recommended for filamentous fungi.
Biosafe Ltd follows in detail the EFSA FEEDAP Panel guidance (2018) to characterize the GMM. To do this, we work in close collaboration with the customer, as a proper characterization requires knowledge of the strain history and genetic modifications. Importantly, the WGS is also used to explore if genes of concern were introduced into the genome. This information is necessary for the analysis of the presence of DNA from the production strain in the fermentation products.
Biosafe Ltd also offers comprehensive sequencing services in collaboration with our sequencing partners. We sequence microbial genomes, plasmids or individual genes based on the particular needs. All sequencing projects are unique and designed in collaboration with the customers to answer their specific needs. The sequencing platform is also selected on a case-by-case basis.
How do we work?
We can help you during the planning of a WGS study, during genome analysis for EFSA, FSANZ or other regulatory purposes, or during the publication phase of a new microorganism. You are welcome to contact us to learn more.
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I have been teaching organic chemistry with a mechanistic approach for a long time. Unfortunately, the book that I used prior to Karty tried but ultimately dropped this approach midway through the second semester of topics. In Joel’s text, mechanisms and thinking through a different lens pervade, which has prompted a number of my students to declare, “While other classes say they are going to push you up Bloom’s taxonomy, in this class we actually do it!” (Yes, my students actually reference Bloom’s taxonomy in casual conversation!)
A mechanistically organized textbook de-emphasizes rote memorization of reagents in favor of emphasizing the core causes and bottlenecks of polar mechanisms. This sort of analysis directs students towards a deeper understanding of why. Students are enabled to move from simply remembering a new set of reagents for each set of functional group transformations towards applying that information to different functional groups or even creating new mechanisms. The material is reinforcing students’ base knowledge while challenging them to evaluate that information in new settings.
While teaching the SN1/SN2/E1/E2 section, I gave my students two linked and sequential activities which illustrate that a mechanistic approach can improve a student’s higher order cognitive skills. This section of organic I is particularly difficult for students because they have to choose which pathway(s) to follow as well as memorize new reagents. It is truly the first time that they have to make a number of decisions to simply “predict the product.”
In the first activity, I pair reactions that might appear to be similar but have diverging paths. I ask the students to write the mechanism and to compare and contrast the two reactions in light of product distribution. By having students evaluate what factor is important to explain diverging pathways, this activity is intended to enable students to choose the correct reagent or to predict the correct product. At this point, students are aware of the competing factors but aren’t sure when to use which reason. Using the following example, I want them to see the difference between a nucleophilic and non-nucleophilic acid (i.e. why doesn’t hydrogen sulfate add as a nucleophile) as well as to explain how we can see elimination with sulfuric acid but not with HBr.
The students usually make a number of errors in this first assignment, both in their mechanisms and their explanations. I collect our student errors and combine them into a follow-up assignment where I ask them to determine what’s wrong with the mechanistic step(s) as drawn. There is value in assessing mistakes before just looking at the correct answer; they learn how to avoid the common traps and how to edit/correct themselves.
For the example used above, I ask:
- Why doesn’t the bromide act as the nucleophile and do SN2 to kickout hydroxide?
- Why doesn’t the bromide (or hydrogen sulfate) do either E1 or E2 on the protonated alcohol (or carbocation) to form an alkene?
- Why doesn’t the hydrogen sulfate add to the carbocation?
To their credit, there are students who see all of this complexity immediately, but for the student who is still trying to memorize reagents and products, seeing the incorrect mechanisms written out triggers their ability to take a wider view. It didn’t take long for the students to complete this activity and to get reasonable answers. Ultimately, a lot of the students that I will teach in organic chemistry will never use the reagents again, but they will be faced with complex decisions. I want my medical professionals, for example, to be able to evaluate numerous bits of (maybe conflicting) data and not jump to conclusions. Teaching mechanistically helps to instill this type of reasoning, and this is valuable to them even beyond the classroom.
-Tara Kishbaugh, Eastern Mennonite University
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Since its 2003 publication, "The Da Vinci Code" has caused quite a stir. Since its debut to glowing reviews, it has sold more than 40 million copies in at least 44 languages [ref]. In addition to being a bestseller, it's sparked a lot of controversy. It's a work of fiction, but it presents itself as based in fact, and many critics have raised questions about whether those facts are accurate.
It's no secret that the HowStuffWorks staff likes to take things apart and see what makes them tick. Some of us are also the kind of sticklers who point out science and technology mistakes in TV shows and movies, much to the chagrin of the people listening. But when we heard about the controversy surrounding "The Da Vinci Code," we couldn't resist picking it apart.
In this article, you'll learn what happened when we took a close, hard look at "The Da Vinci Code" and how it uses science, technology, art and history.
Trouble at the Louvre
"The Da Vinci Code" begins with a crime at the Louvre Museum in Paris. At the behest of someone known as "the Teacher," a man named Silas murders curator Jacques Saunière. After reviewing the evidence, French investigators summon Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon for questioning.
Captain Bezu Fache of the Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire (DCPJ) is sure that Langdon is the murderer. Fache has one of his lieutenants plant a GPS dot in Landon's pocket. It's a "metallic, button-shaped disk, about the size of a watch battery." This dot, according to cryptographer Sophie Neveu, is accurate to two feet and lets the DCPJ track Langdon's location, no matter where he is. In other words:
- It's tiny.
- It's amazingly accurate.
- It works indoors.
However, real global positioning system (GPS) devices:
- Can be small, but they're usually bigger than a watch battery. The unit described in the book would also have to fit a power source and a second radio transmitter into its tiny shell in order to communicate with police computers.
- Are accurate to somewhere between 13 and 328 feet (4 and 100 meters).
- Don't work well indoors, under dense tree cover or in urban areas with tall buildings.
This content is not compatible on this device.
A GPS receiver uses the position of three or more satellites to determine a person's location -- not one, as implied in the novel.
One fact explains all of these points -- by definition, a GPS receiver uses radio waves to communicate with satellites that are 11,000 miles above the Earth's surface. The receiver has to have an unbroken line of sight to these satellites, something it doesn't have indoors. Even military GPS technology can't typically get a fix on a soldier who is in dense tree cover or otherwise concealed. Check out How GPS Receivers Work to learn more.
The troublesome GPS dot keeps causing problems as the story moves along. Sophie tells Langdon that if he throws the dot away, the DCPJ officers will see that it is no longer moving and know he's onto them. She comes up with an ingenious plan. She imbeds the receiver in a bar of soap, breaks a restroom window and throws the soap onto the roof of a passing truck.
That seems like a good plan, and it works. The officers rush to apprehend the truck, believing that Langdon is on the roof. This buys him and Sophie some time. Unfortunately:
- The restrooms of the Louvre have liquid soap, just like most other public restrooms.
- According to a "Da Vinci Code" tour guide, the restrooms in that part of the Louvre do not have windows [ref].
In spite of its inaccuracies, this move does buy Sophie and Langdon some time. But the mistakes in the Louvre don't stop there. Check out what else goes wrong in the museum in the next section.
Museums, Medicine and Other Mistakes
Rather than escaping through their newfound window of opportunity, Sophie and Langdon follow another clue to the Salle des Etats. The Salle des Etats, also known as the Salle de la Joconde, is the Mona Lisa's home. Before too long, the DCPJ apprehends them there.
In another burst of quick thinking, Sophie removes Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks" (called "Madonna of the Rocks" in the novel) from the wall opposite the "Mona Lisa." She uses the painting as a shield and threatens to destroy it by pressing her knee through the canvas. Naturally, the apprehending officer allows her to escape in order to prevent the destruction of the priceless artwork.
A few critics have remarked that the scene in the Salle des Etats is impossible because Leonardo painted "Virgin of the Rocks" on wood, not canvas. However, a royal art restorer called Hacquin transferred the painting to canvas in 1806. The scene is impossible as written for other reasons:
- "Virgin of the Rocks" hangs in the Grand Gallery, not the Salle des Etats. The painting directly across from the "Mona Lisa" is Caliari's "The Wedding Feast at Cana." This painting is an enormous 32 feet (9.9 meters) wide. To be fair, we have not found a source detailing which painting faced the "Mona Lisa" before the 2001 closure of the Salle des Etats. However, in several older photographs, reflections in the "Mona Lisa"'s protective glass indicate that it wasn't "Virgin of the Rocks."
- Even if "Virgin of the Rocks" did hang opposite the "Mona Lisa," it's 6.5 feet (1.99 meters) tall, too tall for Sophie to see over as described. The painting's ornate wooden frame is also too heavy for an average person to lift unassisted.
- Sophie's removal of the painting from the wall does not activate any sort of security system. This contradicts the beginning of the book, in which Saunière removes a painting from the wall to activate a security system that seals off an entire corridor. It also contradicts the Louvre's real security system, which includes proximity and movement detection [ref]. For the record, this security system also uses real security cameras, which staff monitor 24 hours a day [ref].
The farther the story moves away from the Louvre, the more it begins to focus on events in the distant past and artistic interpretation rather than verifiable details. But it does make several other concrete errors, including its depiction of people with albinism. One of "The Da Vinci Code"'s villains is a man named Silas, who is an albino. He has white skin and hair as well as pink eyes with red pupils. Silas is good with a gun and drives a car at night in pursuit of the heroes.
Albinism is a real medical condition in which a person's body cannot produce the proper amount of the pigment melanin. Most people with albinism have very pale skin and hair and light-colored eyes. Very few people with the condition have pink eyes, though. Most have light blue eyes.
Albinism prevents a person's retina and ocular nerves from forming properly. For this reason, doctors use eye examinations to diagnose people with the condition. Most people with albinism don't see well because their retinas don't function properly. Although few are blind, many do not see well enough to drive a car or, as seen in "The Da Vinci Code," to shoot people from a distance. In other words, it's extremely unlikely that Silas could perform the tasks described in the novel. You can learn more about albinism at the National Organization of Albinism and Hypopigmentation.
Other errors aren't as complex as the ones described above:
- When traveling from the Paris Ritz to the Louvre, Langdon and a DCPJ agent pass the Opera House and cross Place Vendôme. However, the Paris Ritz is on Place Vendôme. In order to pass the Opera House, the officer would have to head in nearly the opposite direction of the Louvre.
- Langdon says that Saunière, a devotee of the ancient "sacred feminine," was interested in Wiccan relics. However, Wicca is a modern religion, not an ancient one.
- The pyramid entrance to the Louvre contains 793 panes of glass, not 666 [ref].
- Tarot decks contain 78 cards, not 22, although a deck does have 22 major arcana cards. Check out How Tarot Cards Work to learn more.
- The first of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947, not the 1950s.
- The novel implies that the Louvre has one curator. It really has a staff of 60 curators in eight departments. The "Mona Lisa" has its own curator.
- Harvard does not have a professor of "symbology," and symbology is not a real academic discipline [ref].
- There are no metal detectors at Westminster Abbey, and people cannot make charcoal rubbings of the plaques there [ref].
Next, we'll take a look at the novel's treatment of art and history.
Art and History
"The Da Vinci Code" makes a lot of claims about art and the Christian Bible. Of all the disputed statements in the book, these can be the hardest to prove or quantify. Although some people spend their entire lives studying and interpreting art or religious scriptures, both fields are by nature imprecise. It can be impossible to determine an artist's actual intent for a particular piece or the exact meaning behind a particular religious passage.
According to the novel, Leonardo placed hidden symbols and codes in his paintings. For example, the book makes a lot of assertions about the "Mona Lisa," including:
- Leonardo carried the painting around with him and refused to part with it.
- The painting is a "well-documented collage of double entendres and playful allusions."
- Unevenness in the background makes the painting more majestic from the left than the right, which is a testament for Leonardo's love for the feminine.
- The painting represents an androgynous person or a self-portrait of the artist.
- Leonardo named the painting for Egyptian deities -- fertility god Amon and fertility goddess Isis.
Which of these points are true? Here's what we found:
- Leonardo did keep the painting rather than give it to the person who had commissioned it.
- Plenty of art scholars have proposed theories about the painting and who it represents. However, these are all theories -- Leonardo didn't leave behind a step-by-step analysis of his intentions behind the painting.
- Some scholars have pointed out similarities between the "Mona Lisa" and Leonardo's self portrait. However, the widely accepted theory is that the painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. This is why the painting is known as "La Joconde" in France and "La Gioconda" in Italy.
- Although you can blend "Amon" and "Isis" and get "Mona Lisa," there's a much simpler explanation. "Mona" is a title meaning "my lady" in Italian, and the woman who sat for the portrait was named Lisa.
"The Da Vinci Code" also proposes theories about Leonardo's painting of the "Last Supper." According to the book, it shows Mary Magdalene at the right hand of Jesus as well as a disembodied hand bearing a knife. Langdon's explanation for why people don't notice the painting's hidden meaning involves "scotoma" -- the brain blocking knowledge associated with powerful symbols. However, "scotoma" is a medical term that simply means "blind spot." A scotoma typically stems from neurological or ocular dysfunction -- not from exposure to a powerful symbol.
The figure to the right of Jesus does have a feminine appearance, but most scholars agree that it is the apostle John, who typically has a youthful, delicate appearance in artwork of the period. Careful examination of the painting also reveals that the "disembodied" hand really belongs to Peter, although he is holding the knife in a somewhat awkward position. Check out these annotated pictures to learn more.
The novel also makes numerous assertions about history and other works of art. Here's a run-down of some of the frequently contested points:
- Alexander Pope did not deliver a eulogy at Isaac Newton's funeral, although Pope did write a poem about Newton.
- The Gospel of Philip was probably written in Greek, not Aramaic, although the only surviving manuscript is written in Coptic.
- Approximately 50,000 people -- men and women -- died during the years of witch hunts, not 5 million.
- The Priory of Sion is a fictitious organization, founded and publicized by Pierre Plantard in 1956 [ref].
- King Philip of France did arrest and torture members of the Knights Templar on a Friday the 13th in 1306. However, there are many other reasons behind some people's superstition regarding Friday the 13th. See How Friday the 13th Works for more detail.
- Accounts about the history of Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks" differ. However, it seems that money, not displeasure about the symbolism of the painting, caused the dispute that led to two versions of the painting [ref].
- Nothing in the Bible or any other existing historical document proves that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. At the same time, no existing document proves that he was not.
Finally, most of the theories in "The Da Vinci Code" about Jesus's relationship to Mary Magdalene, whether they had a child, the "real meaning" of the Holy Grail and the history of the Catholic church come from one source. That source is "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent and others. Also known as "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" in the United Kingdom, this book is marketed as a work of nonfiction. However, many critics have raised serious questions about its accuracy.
Check out the links in the next section for more information on the Louvre, "The Da Vinci Code" and other locations referenced in the book.
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
More Great Links
- Carlin, Dan. "Paris Locales Clue In ‘Da Vinci’ Devotees." The Arizona Republic. September 26, 2004.
- Corliss, Richard. "Can a Thriller Be Both Fair and Fun?" Time. April 24, 2006.
- Lacy, Norris J. "The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown and the Grail that Never Was." Authuriana. 2004. http://www.smu.edu/arthuriana/lacy.pdf
- The Louvre http://www.louvre.fr
- Lovgren, Stefan. "Warping Mona Lisa Nothing to Smile About, Experts Say." National Geographic. April 30, 2004.
- Ritz Paris http://www.ritz.com/home_ritz/home_ritz.asp?show_all=1
- Paris road map http://www.hot-maps.de/europe/france/paris/homeen.html
- "Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, Wife of Francesco del Giocondo." Louvre. http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id= 10134198673226503&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226503& FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500816&bmUID=1145977971184& bmLocale=en
- Travel Journal http://www.mike-reed.com/TravelJournal.htm
- Van Biema, David. "The Ways of Opus Dei." Time. April 24, 2006.
- "Westminster Abbey Counters Da Vinci Code." Guardian Unlimited. May 31, 2005. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1496206,00.html
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Eureka Prizes: Rehab Hand
Can you imagine not having the use of your hands? That's what happens to
quadriplegics around the world. Now a PhD candidate has come up with an amazing
invention. Peter Abolfathi went into biomedical engineering because he wanted
to help people. He's developed a glove which can manipulate a hand from the
outside, allowing someone to regain the use of their hands with the help of a
computer. We see the world's first test of the glove which may allow patients to
hold a drink or feed themselves for the first time since they damaged their
Peter Abolfathi is an inventor. His goal is to invent devices that can change people's lives for the better.
And one day, while bike riding, he found inspiration in an unlikely way...
I did a whole somersault and landed on my face and hands and chest. It was a scary thing.
Peter needed surgery to get back the use of his hands
For weeks after I couldn't use my hands... until the left one recovered.
Karina Kelly, Reporter:
How frustrating was that?
Quite frustrating. I felt really helpless.
Ironically, Peter was working on a device designed to help people who've lost the use of their hands.
Our hands are amazingly clever tools.
From work, to play, to everyday tasks we use our hands to do just about everything.
Its not until we lose their use that we realise just how dependant on them we really are.
Sean Clarke knows about being dependant. When he was just 22 years old he broke his neck diving from a rope into shallow water. He's now a 'quad'... as he calls it... luckier than many quadriplegics because he can move his arms and wrist a bit and he can still feel things... but he has no use of his hands...
What Sean wants most from any device is to be able to do more for himself.
Just independence, able to drive, transfer into a car, transfer onto a bed, transfer from wheelchair to another and yeah just total independence will be the aim.
Today Sean is about to try out Peter's invention...
And if it works, use one of his hands for the first time since his accident.
It's a revolutionary computer controlled glove...
... still just a prototype and yet to be miniaturised and turned into a finished product but this is an historic moment... Peter has worked through the night getting it ready. Will it work?
Believe it or not this is the first time we've tried it on anyone...hopefully it will work. I think it will work.
It's the culmination of an exhaustive journey of research, trial and error.
Peter worked on three prototypes in his quest for the best solution to a complex problem.
I started thinking about the multiple joint challenge. You can put a wire to this part of the joint and pull on it and cause it to extend and another one on the other side and cause it to flex but the trouble is getting to the joint after that.
Initially, Peter tried using 'artificial muscle' - alloy wires which contract when hit with an electric current... to try and replicate the way our hands work.
But the range of movement was too low and the heat and current required too high to be practical.
So he settled on a simple but ingenious system of electrical motors - one for each joint - which use wires and a gearing system to pull the fingers open and shut ... all controlled by computer.
OK so lets get started. Veronica are you ready? That's great. Excellent. Well done.
Today seeing it on Sean was really a rewarding experience ... that was the vision that I had in my imagination...
What inspired me is basically the impact that one can make by a simple idea.
Peter's glove has passed the first test. But much work lies ahead. One is how to commercialise the glove.
Let's hope he finds a helping hand.
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Pinwheels for Peace
Every student at Columbus Elementary had the chance to make and display a Pinwheel for Peace in honor of International Day of Peace celebrated on September 21. Art teacher Lauralee Chambers has been bringing this project to her students for many years to help them understand that everyone can make a difference to create a peaceful world. Schools from all over the globe participated with over four million pinwheels being displayed worldwide! Students are encouraged to write messages of peace on their pinwheels to help spread words of kindness.
The amazing art installation was the backdrop as students dressed in white gathered in the Columbus office and throughout the hallways in honor of International Day of Peace to sing "Peace Like a River" and share their message of kindness. It's an important message and one that is encouraged everyday in Mount Pleasant.
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The New York Times ran a special report last Sunday titled The Lost Children of Tuam by Dan Barry. At once shocking and moving, this excellent piece focuses on one of the mother and baby homes in mid-20th century Ireland. Three conspirators—the Irish government, the Catholic Church, and Irish families—created the mother and baby homes.
A Nation’s Secrets
St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam (pronounced Chewm), Galway operated from the mid-1920’s to the early 1960’s in the charge of the Bon Secours nuns. The building opened in 1846 as a workhouse during the Great Hunger. It became a repository for women disgraced in the eyes of society by pregnancy out of wedlock and their children. It ended as a disgrace, an insult to the humanity abandoned by the Irish government, the Irish Catholic Church and the Irish families who abandoned their daughters and grandchildren to such a place.
“To bury our humanity itself”
In an odd and vicious twist on a view of sin, the home forced the mothers to leave without their children after one year. The children were baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church. If they survived infancy, they survived on a poor diet, with no affection and little education. Many did not survive. The discovery of the system of Victorian empty septic chambers running under the home in 2015 provided the evidence. The chambers contained hundreds if not thousands of tiny human remains, wrapped and stacked upon one another. The role of the nuns and other involved adults is under investigation now.
The Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, addressed the Irish legislature, saying, “We dug deep and we dug deeper still. To bury our compassion, to bury our mercy, to bury our humanity itself.”
Dan Barry’s The Lost Children of Tuam (nytimes.com/tuam) is a tough read, but it is a very worthwhile one, for all of the questions it asks, and the ones it answers. Neither the people interviewed nor the author have the answer to why these women and children were treated so badly by their families, their government, and their church. All genocides in all countries beg the same question; essential to ask, difficult to answer.
The horrors at St. Mary’s and in the other mother and baby homes were well known by many in the towns, cities and farms of Ireland, but secret to others. In shame, the victims who survived tended to keep their secrets. Secrets are powerful and often destructive, but all families have them.
After reading about St. Mary’s, I thought about my own Irish family, and what I know about them, which I think is a lot—but do I? I know of only one rather benign secret, but I know of no such mother and baby home secrets in my family.
I was told many stories about my maternal great-grandmother, Mary Jane Wright. A mother of five and a young widow, she had nobody to turn to, her father having turned his back on her due to her choice of husband (while the father did buy a house for her, he never helped her again, and indeed, left nothing in his will to her). Mary Jane Wright was unusually capable, and not a young girl on her own, one ostracized by society. She also was a homeowner—a powerful position for a woman of her time.
After the loss of her husband, she took in used clothing and after cleaning and mending it, sold it. So successful was she that she bought houses and became something of a minor real estate mogul. She used her success to support her two sons in their business enterprises, and her two daughters, who neither married nor worked.
Aside from the above, I know nothing about Mary’s extended family and their descendants, the ones who stayed in Ireland. Might they have fallen on hard times, hard enough to end up in a mother and baby home?
The pot of gold
There exists a susceptibility—especially in Irish Americans— to apply the intelligence, and kindness of many Irish to all. The same application of traits, good or bad, exists for all groups, including all Americans. In the case of the Irish, it’s the rainbow effect. I fall under its thrall myself, even though I have supported the Irish Donkey Sanctuary for years and know that thousands of abused donkeys are rescued each year. Thousands of cases of abuse of the innocent. Once rescued though, the donkeys receive good care forever by their kind and able providers.
It’s a pity—a sin—that the mothers and babies found no such sanctuary at the mother and baby homes.
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INCOME TAX ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA (CASE STUDY OF KWARA STATE BOARD OF INTERNAL REVENUE)
Taxation is the legal demand made by the federal government or the state government on its citizens to pay money income, goods and services.
In less complex society in which government has duties and responsibilities, financial need of the government income greater consequently taxes – increase and their effect on the economy become more important.
Thus among the traditional function of the government is the provision of the public goods i.e goods cannot be divided among the separate members of the society and which must be used or welfare of all people in the society. Among the goods services are maintenance of law and orders, defense against external aggression and control of business and trade to ensure social and economic justice.
Moreso, this project work will be divided into five chapters. The first chapter which is the reintroduction, background to the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study and definition of terms.
Furthermore, the second chapter is centered on literature reviews which is the introduction assessable income or profit, total administration of income tax, capital transfer tax administration, while chapter three is research, methodology that is introduction, sample and sampling method, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
The Chapter four of this project is centered on data presentation that is the introduction data presentation, and analysis.
While the last Chapter five is centred on summary, conclusion, recommendation, contribution, to the filed of knowledge and references.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Table of content
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the study
1.6 Definition of terms
2.2 Ascertainment of Assessable income of profit.
2.3 Total income
2.4 Administration of income, Tax personnel income, Tax Administration
2.5 Capital Transfer Tax Administration
2.6 Capital Gain Tax Administration
2.7 Companies Income tax Administration
2.8 Petroleum Profit tax Administration
3.2 Research Method
3.3 Historical Background of the case study
3.4 Sample and sampling method
3.5 Method of data collection
3.6 Method of Data Analysis
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.2 Data Presentation and data analysis
4.3 Research findings
5.0 Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
5.2 Summary of Findings
5.4 Contribution of the study to the field of knowledge
It is generally believed that taxation if the main sources of government revenue. The money realized from the tax is for the benefit of all and people must attain certain age before they can start the payment of tax.
We can view tax as a compulsory payment or levy imposed on individual and firm by the government. It’s also made by the government on the citizen, non diplomatic residents and property owners within the country irrespective of the exact amount of services rendered to the tax payer in return. This chapter discusses tax revenue in Nigeria as well as the purpose of tax revenue.
There are also property tax, i.e the tenement rather than on legal documents.
The world “Income” does not have a specific meaning of definition. Economist define income as the sum total of earning of a government consumption – unit that can be separate during particular period and still have same net asset value in money terms at the end of the period as at the beginning of the period.
Income from the factors of production i.e land, labour and capital can be categorized as follow for income tax purpose.
The land receiver rent, labour receives wages and salaries while capital receive interest and entrepreneur receive dividends.
The administration of income tax which is the topic of the project is on how the government administer the various types of taxes applicable to Kwara State are company income tax, capital gain tax, petroleum profit and purchase tax.
There are various types of taxes. These are import and excise duties tax (this levied on goods important and export repectively).
Exercise duties levied on goods produced within the country. Consumption tax (this is levied on consumers of goods and services).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The main problem to be addressed during the research work includes.
What is the utilization of the income tax?
What is the aims of government in generating income and tax administration in a country?
How does administration of income tax services as (means) for the government?
How is government able to generate income in Nigeria?
In what ways does income and tax helps the country e.g Nigeria.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aims and objectives behind the study of income tax administration in Ilorin with particular reference to Kwara State board of Internal revenue.
Firstly, form the following the role played by the tax collectors and tax payers in an economy and also to know the role played by the inspector of taxes in the collection of various taxes.
Secondly to find out whether the adequate number of complete absence of qualified accountant in the staff of the tax authorities. Inadequate book keeping by the tax payer, legal tax allowance, illegal tax erosion. Illiteracy poor income tax authorities are responsible for the revenue realization from income tax.
Thirdly to let people know the important of income tax administration and its contribution to the economy of Kwara State.
Lastly to assist low tax payers and tax authorities have contributed to economy growth.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is hope that the study with provide variable information on the function and operation for the benefit of the state. The study is therefore significance to the studies in the subject of income tax administration in Nigeria because if further helps in shading light and some relevant concepts. Methods of income tax would provide means of making amendment where necessary for efficiency and effectiveness in the country. Tax helps the government to generate revenue for the utilization of the state or country.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This project is designed to research on income tax administration, in Kwara State with particular reference to board of Internal revenue and to find out how much revenue collected is been of utilized.
Whether government of Kwara State is able to meet is target allowant and to survey and analysis as much as possible the system of revenue collection and enforcement procedure order the income tax management Act (ITMA) 1961 and the relevant Kwara State Law. And attempt has being made analysis the conservation both internal and external, it is intended also after which analysers to attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the collection and enforcement procedure in Kwara State.
The Scope of the Study has also included how the Kwara State Government administrative various types of income tax based on individual, company and partnership, the view reactions of various payer and problem associated with the tax collections.
However, this project should be considered from one prospective only, being academic and making founding based on the responses of the respondents.
The limitation to this study is that, in undertaking a research work in any field human endeavour one is usually failed with some constraint which this research work is not on exception, some of the obstacles are secret that is some information were branded “TOP SECRET” which means it is not mean for outsider consumption. Another problem encountered in the process of the research is the insufficient time giving for the writing and submission.
Financial the research is another due to the fact that there was no enough financial research work cannot be intensified. However the objectivity of the analsis in the research work helps to compensate for the constraints enumerate above.
1.6 DEFINTION OF TERMS
Income:- can be defined as money received during a certain period for work of enforcements, the income or output of a country always refers to the value of output during a specific or definite [period says one year calendar.
TAX: Can be defined as a compulsory payment imposed on people living in an area environment or a country by the government in order to provide necessary things e.g goods road, hospitality, good electricity standard education etc.
ADMINISTRATION: This can be defined as the organizational running of a business or system. The action of giving out or applying order of the government in power.
LAND: Law as factor of production is a free gift if nature and is fixed. It is the oldest factor of production in the sense that, it had been on earth before man started working on it. Land does not include only the hard surface of the earth, but all other free gifts of nature like water, forest and minerals unlike other factors of productions, the supply of land is limited and its reward is rent.
CAPITAL: May be view as wealth research or set aside for the production of more wealth as man made other factors of production includes physical cash, machinery, semi-finished goods and order equipment. Just like other factors of production, capital plays a crucial role in production of goods and services and its reward is interest.
LABOUR: May be defined as both physical and mental efforts of man directed toward production.
It is one of the variable factors of production. Labour as a factor of production involves human being who work on other factors of production like land and capital in order to produce goods. The reward for labour are salaries and wages..
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<urn:uuid:93ee5b23-5bdc-4626-b1b7-2a2878bfa39e>
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CC-MAIN-2021-39
|
https://researchwap.com/business-administration/pr6kDEX69idhqn
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780060908.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20210928214438-20210929004438-00140.warc.gz
|
en
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It is hard to believe, but an abandoned rubbish dump on the outskirts of Eilat is considered one of the most important avian habitats in the world, as it is the main – perhaps the only – way station for over 500 million migratory birds on their way between Europe / Asia and Africa. In recent years KKL-JNF has been working to create bird-watching sites
where bird enthusiastsand other visitors can observe these seasonal migrants. KKL-JNF was also instrumental in helping to develop the first migratory bird feeding station in southern Israel, in Yeruham Park.
For thousands of years this area of Eilat was occupied by a saltmarsh that served as a way station and feeding site for migratory birds until it fell victim to the Eilat building boom, and the birds were obliged to satisfy their hunger in local farmers’ fields. Until the early 1990s the site was used as a rubbish dump. In 1990, in a joint initiative on the part of KKL-JNF, the Israeli Government Tourist Corporation, the Nature and Parks Authority and the Eilat Municipality, development work began: the ground was leveled, the garbage heaps were covered up, pools were createdand trees that could provide the birds with food were planted. The park is directed by Noam Weiss and managed by Tzadok Tzemach of the Eilat Municipal Tourism Corporation in conjunction with KKL-JNF and other bodies.
The Arava region
, which forms part of the Great Rift Valley (also referred to as the Syro-African Depression) is an important migration route, and it is estimated that between five hundred million and one billion birds cross its skies during the migration seasons. Eilat lies at a critical point on the route, on the northern boundary of the world’s desert belt, and many birds stop off to break their journey near the city. In the autumn, on their way to Africa, they pause to rest and gather their forces before crossing the deserts, and in the spring, en route to Europe, they stop off to recuperate after their desert journey.
The saltmarsh that formerly occupied an area of twelve square kilometers adjacent to Eilat contained marsh plants that produced fruit in the spring at just the right time to coincide with the arrival of the migratory birds, who fed off the abundant fruit and used the vegetation as cover. However, as Eilat gained popularity as a tourist venue, much of the saltmarsh that once served as a “pit stop” after their marathon flight over thousands of kilometers was replaced by hotels, farmland and salt pools, and part of it became an unofficial rubbish dump.
The loss of the saltmarsh proved disastrous for the birds. Before migrating, small birds build up measured resources of energy that enable them to cross the deserts and arrive safely in Eilat, and the lives of members of some of these species depend on their finding sustenance in the saltmarsh on arrival.
Eilat is important to large birds, too, which glide for a considerable portion of their migration flight, and hundreds of thousands of gliding birds pass through the Eilat region during every migration season. To lift themselves off the ground these hefty birds require the help of thermals, i.e., warm currents of air that bear them aloft. As thermals are found only on dry land, the Eilat promontory is very useful to them.
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<urn:uuid:1910a746-bdd5-45c1-aec3-2635ae140362>
|
CC-MAIN-2022-21
|
https://www.kkl-jnf.org/tourism-and-recreation/forests-and-parks/eilat-bird-park/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662647086.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220527112418-20220527142418-00444.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974569
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|
Real Estate Condominium Law
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Real estate condominium law in the United States is governed by laws and legislation at the federal level and further defined by individual states’ statutes and municipal ordinances. Condominium is a legal term defined as a means of housing and real property ownership that is settled amongst other similar arrangements with a common facilitates area that is controlled by a joint-ownership association. In its simplest form, a condominium can be viewed as different from a residence in that the property surrounding the condominium is owned and shared by other residents. Similarly, condominiums contrast from apartments in terminology due to the fact that condominiums imply ownership of the property and airspace. Condominium ownership generally involves the permanent possession of a single home unit on a piece of land, and the exclusive ownership of the individuals includes the airspace of home’s boundaries, which generally prove to be residence walls.
The existence of community areas inevitably contributes to disputes arising between condominium owners and their rights according to real estate condominium law. During the establishment of a condominium living community in the United States, individuals will agree to terms formulated in a document referred to as the Declaration of Condominium, which will reiterate and define the terms of usage for the condominium owners. The terms of these documents are determined by a collective of members known as homeowners association, or other common terms such sectional title, unit title, commonhold, strata council, body corporate, owners corporation, condominium association, or tenant-owner’s association.
Topics often covered in the Declaration of Condominium document, as well as accompanying documents such as rules of governance and other bylaws include:
- Maintenance and repair of main and common areas
- Inclement weather adjustment strategies
- Landscaping and other lawn care items
- Proposal and approval process for building projects
- Rental and leasing allowances and caps for potential residents
- Management and collection of association’s budget and fees
- Pet, guest, and other restrictions
- Adherence to local, state, and federal real estate condominium law
Originally in English common law, the legal definition of property ownership included only those items attached to a parcel of land, however, the rapid growth of populations centered in one area metropolis led to the popularity of condominiums. Soon, state legislations, the first being the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, began enacting legislation and law directly detailing real estate condominium law. Currently, virtually all fifty states have specific laws on the books detailing the rights, practices, and zoning measures necessary in a comprehensive state real estate condominium law. Additionally, it is important to note that while each state has exclusively unique condominium laws, there is also a plethora of municipalities, cities, and towns within each state that may abide by their additionally unique statutes and codes in regards to condominium law.
At the federal level, legislation has been enacted in the past that has allowed for the development of condominiums at a rapid pace, which undoubtedly spurred forward the comprehensive state laws regarding real estate condominium law today. The most notable piece of this legislation is found in the 1961 National Housing Act at Section 234. The Act paved the way for insuring mortgages linked to condominiums and in turn, had every state implementing real estate condominium laws by 1969.
In many instances, real estate condominium law disputes will be settled through civil court, unless a criminal act is committed during or as part of an ongoing dispute. Given the magnitude of losing one’s living space, condominium owners embroiled in a dispute are highly advised to seek counsel from a real estate attorney. Additionally, a real estate attorney can review any and all documents related to the purchase and ownership of a condominium, such as the Declaration of Condominium document.
Are you and your loved ones considering purchasing a condominium? Contact a real estate attorney to help you avoid any problems involving real estate condominium law today.
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<urn:uuid:08978db8-b7be-4a69-b763-84346f476c90>
|
CC-MAIN-2015-22
|
http://www.lawfirms.com/resources/real-estate/real-estate-condominium-law.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207925274.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113205-00120-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
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Latency — the delay between a user making a request on a web application and getting a response — can play a major role in your website performance.
By minimizing it, you can ensure that a user’s request — whether that’s checking out on your ecommerce website or clicking on an internal link — is met as quickly as possible. This is key to providing a seamless user experience on your website.
What is latency?
Latency is the delay between the browser sending a request to the server and the server processing that request on a network or Internet connection. It’s usually measured in milliseconds.
Latency can be measured in two ways. The first is round trip time (RTT), or the amount of time it takes for the request to travel from the browser to the server and back. The second is time to first byte (TTFB), or the amount of time between the browser sending a request to the server and receiving its first byte of data.
Latency associated with a basic HTML page or other single asset may seem insignificant. But latency associated with a website can significantly impact the user experience since it typically involves multiple requests for HTML pages as well as CSS, scripts, and media files.
- What is latency?
- How does latency work?
- Why improve latency?
- How to Improve Latency
What causes latency?
The main cause of latency is distance. The longer the distance between the browser making the request and the server responding to that request, the more time it’ll take the requested data to travel there and back.
That’s why website visitors in the US will get responses back from a data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa (one of SiteGround’s data center locations) sooner than website visitors in Europe, for example.
Consider the following scenario: it takes 800ms for a browser to send a request to the server and 900ms for that browser to receive a response. In that case, the latency would be 1.7 seconds.
Other causes of latency are the size of the requested resources and end user issues. For example, if a user requests a web page with lots of images, CSS and JS files, or content from multiple third-party websites, then it will take longer for the server to respond. Or a user might be using a device with low memory, a poor internet connection or another issue that is increasing the delay.
What is a good latency?
Because latency is the time it takes for a request to complete a round trip between the browser and server, it can’t actually be zero. But ideally, it’ll be as close to zero as possible.
While a good latency, like a good bounce rate, is relative, anything less than 100 milliseconds is generally acceptable. The optimal range is even lower, between 20 and 40 milliseconds.
How does latency work?
Latency is the amount of time it takes from when a user makes a request to when they receive a response. Once a user makes a request, several steps have to happen before they get a response.
Take the following example. Say a user is browsing an ecommerce website and clicks a category. To display items from that category on the user’s browser, the following has to happen:
- The user clicks on the category.
- The user’s browser sends a request to the server of the ecommerce website.
- The request travels to the site’s server, with all the necessary information. Transmitting this information takes time. The more information being sent, the more time it takes to transmit.
- The server gets the request.
- The server either accepts or rejects the request before processing it. Each of these steps take time. The amount of time depends on the server’s processing capacity and the amount of information being processed.
- The server sends a reply to the end user with the necessary information pertaining to their request.
- The user’s browser gets the reply, and displays the product category.
Steps 1-4 represent the first part of the latency cycle. Steps 5-7 represent the second part. To get the total latency resulting from the request, you add up all the increments of time, starting from when the user clicks on the category to when they see those products.
Why improve latency?
Page speed is critical to the user experience. So much so that all the way back in 2010, Google announced that page speed was a ranking factor for search. And while they didn’t give an exact number, they did say their goal was less than half a second.
While hitting this target may seem difficult, there are several ways to optimize your website’s speed. A major way is to improve your latency.
You can’t completely eliminate latency, but you can minimize it. Let’s take a look at some steps you can take to minimize latency below.
How to Improve Latency
- Use a CDN.
- Compress your images.
- Reduce the number of render-blocking resources.
While there are steps that the user can take to reduce latency on their side, we’ll focus exclusively on server-side solutions below.
1. Use a CDN.
Since latency is related to the distance between a browser and server, you can reduce latency by bringing the two closer together. While you can’t literally uproot your server location and bring it closer to every user, you can use a content delivery network (CDN).
A CDN is a distributed system of servers designed to deliver web content as quickly as possible to visitors, no matter where they are in the world. With a CDN, you don’t have to rely on one server to send content all over the world. Instead, the CDN will tap different servers in the network that are closest to each unique visitor to deliver the assets requested.
Once the server closest to the user delivers and displays the requested content, that server makes a copy of those web assets. When another visitor in the same part of the world tries to access that content, the CDN can redirect the request from the origin server to the server closest to them, and that server can deliver the cached content much more quickly because it has less distance to travel. Here’s an illustration:
There are two ways you can use a CDN. You can purchase one from a CDN vendor, like Cloudflare. Or you can choose a website building platform with a built-in CDN, like CMS Hub.
The good news is you can automate this process with a minifier like the Closure Compiler Service by Google. Just add your code into the compiler, click the “Compile” button, and download the minified file.
3. Compress your images.
Optimizing your images is another way to reduce your website’s HTTP requests. Ideally, you should reduce each image's file size to less than 100 KB. You don’t have to reduce that much if it affects the quality of the image, but try to keep it as close to 100 KB as possible.
4. Reduce the number of render-blocking resources.
These resources are coined “render blocking resources,” and can significantly slow down your site. Reducing the amount of render blocking resources on your site won’t technically reduce latency, but it will improve the perception of load time on your site.
Minimizing Your Latency
Minimizing latency can have a major impact on your website performance and user experience. Lower latency helps ensure users are receiving the resources they requested as quickly as possible, so they have more reasons to return to your site again and again.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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<urn:uuid:6fc872e5-beb9-43b3-bfc0-111a48c4c34e>
|
CC-MAIN-2023-50
|
https://blog.hubspot.com/website/what-is-latency
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100327.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20231202042052-20231202072052-00159.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.921707
| 1,622
| 2.734375
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|
Sewing Program for Girls
The first sewing machines were purchased in 2009, and a program was launched to train girls to become tailors in Liboré. This three-year course teaches students to make a living in this field and then give back to their community by teaching others. The new Centre has been named 'Cooper's Sewing Centre', in honour of the generous support by the Cooper Family in Canada. A store in the Centre offers tailors in the area a chance to purchase the supplies they may need, as well as the public an opportunity to purchase items made by the sewing students. The students in the Cooper Centre make the uniforms for the Scholarship girls!
The girls in the program pay an entrance fee each year according to their ability and in addition to sewing, are taught literacy, fabric dyeing and cosmetic-making. In 2012, land was purchased in Libore to build the new Cooper's Centre.
To view photos of the sewing program, click here.
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<urn:uuid:bc38e49a-6b72-4e09-be22-05dccd87e6c0>
|
CC-MAIN-2015-14
|
http://www.pencilsforkids.com/our-projects/programs/sewing-program-for-girls
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300735.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00134-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974652
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|
When we think about alcohol or alcohol addiction, the initial point that pops into our thoughts is that it is damaging and needs to be avoided.
The primary thing that comes to our mind is that it is damaging and needs to be kept away from when we believe about alcohol or alcohol dependence. People consume alcoholic beverages for any number of purposes, and if they don't step back at the correct time, it can trigger alcoholism. The beginning stage of this is gradual and can not be evaluated until there are some warning indicators from the behavior of an alcoholic .
If you cannot accomplish anything without drinking alcohol or you need it for accomplishing things that a normal individual can easily accomplish, you are definitely on the edge of ripening into an alcoholic. If you are aware of the negative repercussions of alcohol on your health and wellness, work, and family or personal life, and still aren't able to quit drinking it, you are becoming highly addicted to it. In spite of routine counseling by a physician and a favorable determination to quit drinking, if an individual is still incapable to stop the consumption, it is additionally a warning symptom of alcohol addiction. Fierce desire for alcohol in the upon waking additionally gives an idea about the level of dependence.
* Drinking Secretly:
People typically drink alcohol in order to get rid of their stress or despair, and they accomplish this by drinking in a place where no one can monitor them. They also use alcohol as a method of minimizing mental pressure, frustration, and isolation.
* Bad Credibility:
If you are being called an alcoholic by people, you need to step back from drinking, as it may damage your credibility in the home and trigger quarrels and fights. It might additionally result in problems with close friends and/or disputes at the office. You are moving towards alcoholism if people believe bad about you since of your drinking alcohol habits.
* Seeking an Opportunity to Drink:
You are probably an alcoholic if you consistently find some means or the other to drink. If your close friends discuss going to a celebration, getaway, or an overnight stay, and the initial thing that comes to your thoughts is the availability of alcohol or an excellent opportunity to consume alcohol, it is also a warning sign that you are getting dependent on it.
* Transformation in Conduct:
Persistent alcohol consumption can have a damaging effect on your body along with your brain. An alcoholic begins getting agitated and mad for little or no reason at all. Low self-confidence, unsteady hands, and some weakness are also signals of a drinking problem . There are some occurrences which take place because of alcohol consumption that connect to violence, like street-fights and physical abuse in the family. Some typical indicators of alcohol dependence are reduced appetite, temporary memory loss or inability to recall points, unconsciousness, insomnia, loss of control over body, and weight loss.
* Concealed Alcoholic Drink:
If you are scared of showing your loving for alcohol to people and hide it in places like the car or truck, your personal cupboard, bathroom, and so on, it also means that you are getting addicted to it.
Wasting Lots of Time at the Bar:
If you while away more time at the tavern to drink than you used to before, it is also a symptom of alcoholism.
* Reduced Interest in Leisure Activity:
An individual who is on the verge of being dependent on alcohol would habitually take less interest in a hobby or any type of positive endeavor.
* Neglected Appearance:
A person who starts consuming alcohol would care less about his/her body posture, personal hygiene, and grooming. Such type of detrimental elements are also signs that identify with alcohol abuse.
* Career Issues:
Warning signs of alcohol dependence can also be identified by factors like unsatisfactory work performance, blaming others for one's own blunders, missing out on vital meetings and scheduled appointments, problems at work due to hangovers, and showing up tardy for work quite often.
When we think about alcohol or alcohol addiction , the first point that comes to our thoughts is that it is negative and needs to be avoided. People consume drinks for numerous different reasons, and if they don't step back at the proper time, it can bring about alcoholism. In spite of routine counseling by a physician and a favorable determination to stop drinking, if one is still not able to quit the consumption, it is also a warning signal of alcohol dependence. If people think bad about you because of your alcohol consumption patterns, you are moving towards alcohol dependence.
A few common signals of alcoholism are low appetite, temporary memory loss or failure to remember details, unconsciousness, insomnia, loss of command over body, and loss of weight.
|
<urn:uuid:bace2eb8-7950-4b30-aedf-0f24c0801f14>
|
CC-MAIN-2018-34
|
http://justesen47kaae.blog2learn.com/10123878/notions-on-alcohol-consumption-as-a-social-lubricant
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221216333.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820101554-20180820121554-00329.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.960002
| 957
| 2.515625
| 3
|
A new era for nuclear power is taking shape as third-generation reactors, designed to be simpler and safer, inch through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) design certification process. Much of nuclear's revival hinges on the ability of new reactors to outshine those of yore in terms of safety, economics, construction time and life span.
Of the 26 new reactor applications under current NRC scrutiny, 14 are for Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 pressurized water reactor. What sets the reactor apart is its modular design and passive safety system: Instead of relying on an operator or electronic feedback to shut down the reactor should it overheat, it employs the natural forces of gravity, convection and air circulation.
In the case of an emergency (a one-in-two-million chance according to a probabilistic risk assessment) the plant itself responds to changes in pressure, temperature and coolant level, says Westinghouse's Bruce Bevilacqua, vice president of new plants engineering.
If everything goes according to plan the first of two AP1000 reactors will go online in 2016 at Plant Vogtle in Burke County, Ga., marking the first U.S. nuclear construction project to break ground since the 1970s; the second is set to go online in 2017. Yet it remains to be seen whether the AP1000 will herald nuclear's next generation, especially because the reactor is on its 18th design revision and a couple of key safety questions remain unresolved.
The first safety concern arose four years ago over the durability of the reactor's shield building. The structure is the outermost layer of defense in a nuclear reactor and provides protection against severe external events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornado-generated projectiles and airplane collisions. In the AP1000's case it also supports a very large water tank (one of the passive safety measures).
"Westinghouse first submitted the AP1000 design in the early 2002, which was approved and certified in 2006," explains Scott Burnell, spokesperson for the NRC, adding that one year later the company modified the shield building's design to meet aircraft-impact design standards.* "While the original design used the same reinforced concrete used for decades, the altered design used a more prefab approach, where concrete would be sandwiched between steel plates." After long talks, the NRC said the sandwich module approach would not stand up to severe external events.
Westinghouse returned to the drawing board. In May the company submitted a more robust shield building design that adds steel reinforcement between the walls, fortifies the connection joints between the steel composite wall and the reinforced concrete mat, and improves the venting.
The NRC anticipates completing the overall design certification review around September 2011.
A second safety issue recently came to fore. Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear industry executive and chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates, an energy consulting company, stepped forward to spotlight what he sees as a possible fatal flaw in the AP1000's design: the separation of the concrete shield building from the steel containment vessel.
Typically, pressurized water reactors' containment systems consist of a concrete dome reinforced with steel to prevent radioactive fumes from escaping during a nuclear accident. With the AP1000, there is a space between the steel containment vessel and the shield building, the latter of which has a hole in its roof. Because the AP1000 design uses a chimney effect to draw air outside of the containment vessel upward (a design Westinghouse envisioned for cooling the containment and preventing rust using natural circulation), if radioactive air were to seep from the steel vessel, it would be ushered up into the outside air through the hole in the shield building roof.
"Do I think this is a one-in-10 event? No," Gundersen says. "But I don't think it's a zero-probability event either. Perhaps it's one in a thousand, and that's significant when you're dealing with consequences this big."
Gundersen points to dozens of containment breaches as proof. One hole was discovered by visual inspection in 2009 at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. It bore through the containment's metal lining. Another was an 18-meter-long delamination (fissure caused by layer separation), found at the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant in Florida the same year.
The solution, Gundersen says, is to install filters in the hole of the shield building's roof to capture any vapors that could leak out of the containment vessel, if breached. This modification would probably delay certification.
So why choose the AP1000 reactor when four other next-gen reactors—the economic simplified boiling water reactor, the EPR (for European pressurized reactor), the U.S. advanced pressurized water reactor, and the advanced boiling-water reactor—are going through the same design certification process? "There's a number of reasons," says Doug McComb, engineering manager of Southern Co., the utility that runs Plant Vogtle. "Probably the biggest is we were looking at the schedule for when we would need additional generating capacity and at the schedule for various designs, and the AP1000 was the only one that would meet our need." Meaning that the AP1000 was the only reactor scheduled to be certified in time.
On June 18, Southern Co. accepted a $3.4-billion conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for the twin Plant Vogtle reactors and continues early site construction. The next probable step? AP1000 certification.
*Correction (7/30/10): This sentence was edited after posting. It originally stated that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The NRC is an independent commission appointed by the president.
|
<urn:uuid:2e8edd23-ea41-4392-9a19-3a1314baf432>
|
CC-MAIN-2014-49
|
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/slow-reactor-safety/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931008105.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155648-00010-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.948398
| 1,173
| 2.75
| 3
|
Trying to stop temper tantrum behaviors can be one of the most stressful experiences for a parent. Without putting a stop to them, however, the child usually learns to use these terrible outbursts to get attention, to rebel, to try to exert control and power, or for numerous other reasons. So parents need to come to grips with the phenomenon of tantrums before they become held hostage to them – which only adds more stress and strain to the situation.
But in order to stop temper tantrum outbursts it is important to first understand that most tantrums are not triggered by just one single event or episode. What is generally more typical is that the child who throws a tantrum does so after a long accumulation of frustrations. These remain pent-up inside until eventually the child lets loose and expresses it in an uncontrollable fashion. So rather than trying to trace the tantrum to something that just happened, it is often more effective to just realize that the tantrum is the tip of the iceberg or a symptom of frustration and feelings that have been building up for some time.
Here are some ways to minimize that build-up, and therefore help to stop the tantrums from happening:
- Make sure children have enough rest, are well fed and not hungry, and did not accidentally skip their nap because many tantrums result from those simple things.
- At the first signs that the child is getting irritable, consider what to do to make the child feel better. That may nip the tantrum in the bud before it has a chance to escalate.
- Minimize stressful environments, because when kids are exposed to too much stress they can become overwhelmed – just like grown-ups do.
- Be attentive, let the child know you are there for them, and make sure they know that you are listening to their concerns. Sometimes if a child feels ignored he or she will throw a tantrum as a last resort to get heard.
Once the parent succeeds with changing the toddler’s behavior or effectively controlling these emotional triggers to stop temper tantrums, both the parent and the child feel better. But don’t wait until it is too late to implement these suggestions, because to stop tantrums the source of the tantrums has to be addressed in advance, and on a day to day basis.
|
<urn:uuid:e4c4a777-2b6d-4b2a-a3bb-cd0bd946777d>
|
CC-MAIN-2019-04
|
http://www.parenting-by-example.com/tag/temper-tantrums
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583792338.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20190121111139-20190121133139-00328.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.963462
| 472
| 2.59375
| 3
|
The study was conducted in the Capibaribe river estuary in Recife (Brazil) to assess the role played by cladocerans in a eutrophic environment. Samplings were carried out monthly at 4 fixed stations along the estuary from July 1987 to June 1988. Collections were made with a plankton net of 65 micrometers mesh size. Six cladocerans species were registered: Penilia avirostris, Diaphanosoma spinulosum, Chydorus barroisi, Ceriodaphnia rigaudi, Ilyocryptus spinifer, and Moina micrura. The most frequent species was Moina micrura with 49%. The only true marine species was Penilia avirostris, which was registered at station 1 (close to the river mouth), during high and low tide and in the dry season. The Cladocera average density decreased from 329 ind.m-3 (August 1987, high tide) to 2 ind.m-3 (March 1988, high tide) due to the high load of organic and chemical pollution received by the estuary. At all stations, D. spinulosum, M. micrura, and C. barroisi occurred with a wide distribution, mainly during the rainy season. C. rigaudi and I. spinifer were rare, occurring only during the rainy season. Cladocerans played an important role in the food webs of the plankton community of the Capibaribe tropical estuary and the dominance of a few small species indicated a hypereutrophic environment. A high level of disturbance was indicated by the decline in diversity of specialized species and the increase in abundance of opportunistic species like M. micrura.
cladocerans; indicators; environmental quality; estuarine; zooplankton
|
<urn:uuid:73450c77-17bd-4c94-9938-64ea7a920ea9>
|
CC-MAIN-2023-40
|
https://www.scielo.br/j/bjb/a/PLC7QRdrMdt4ZXjrVkVzYnL/abstract/?format=html&lang=en
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506029.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20230921174008-20230921204008-00713.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.965998
| 376
| 3.21875
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Buried secrets: what we can learn from ancient Indonesian graves
what's the Archaeology regarding the Ancient World.
Archaeology may be the research and study of the peoples prehistory. The early globe times from 7700 BC up to 4000 BC and includes web sites in modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Archaeologists rely on archaeological proof as well as other real proof to be able to research ancient countries along with human being behavior.
The Archaeology of Indonesia
Indonesia contains a few of the oldest peoples bones discovered anywhere on Earth. The bones had been found at the east Java website that dates back nearly 60.000 years. Through the study of the bones archaeologists will find out more concerning the start of humans’ development in Indonesia together with means they interacted because of the other cultures.
The prehistoric Indonesians lived in caves and burials had been held in deep pits. Their elaborate stone architecture was additionally put aside. This helps to comprehend the real history and culture of those people. Once we study prehistory in Indonesia, we can better discern how human beings had been thinking, acting, and felt in numerous times through time.
What was The Annals of Ancient Indonesia.
The prehistoric Indonesia region spanned through the Malay Peninsula as much as the Indonesian isles. A few of the most ancient civilizations descends from this area, like Sumer, Babylon and Asia. It also played a vital role in the past of China and Southeast Asia.
Ancient Indonesia along with the Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula was based in modern-day Indonesia and form a fundamental element of modern Malaysia. It's been an essential way to obtain trade for East Asia and Southeast Asia within the past. Ancient Java was house to a lot of ancient civilizations, such as Vedic India and Buddha’s trip for Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the ancient Java formed the eastern edge of what exactly is now Thailand.
Antiquated Indonesia and in the Southeast Asian Area
The ancient Indonesia spread from modern-day Borneo until Sulawesi that encompassed areas that are actually Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), India (Hindustan), Asia (Shanghai-Tianjin), Vietnam (Nha Trang) along side Southern Korea (Seoul). Through trade and social exchange it absolutely was from the Southeast Asia.
The History of Ancient Indonesia plus the Dutch East Indies
In 1795following decades of war between nearby Japan, the Dutch established unique colony within what's today Indonesia through the acquisition of a place from Javanese believers of Buddhism also referred to as datuk Singhasari. This began just what would be a lengthy reputation for Indonesian colonialism; after centuries Of Portuguese guideline, there have been many different instances when Dutch colonists tried to establish their very own colonies until 1945, once they had been overtaken by independence motions beneath the leadership of Indonesians.What were different culture that lived throughout Ancient Indonesia.The early Indonesians had been a number of people residing throughout Ancient Indonesia. This included Javaans, Malays, Bantustans and other individuals.
The Ancient Malays
The ancient Malays were the title of a group of people that lived within Ancient Indonesia. They include Javanese as well as Malays.
The Ancient Javaans
The ancient Javaans was an individuals group who had been section of Ancient Indonesia. These include Sundanese and Javaan.
The Bantustans of this Ancient World
The Bantustans of this past were an ethnic group that lived within Ancient Indonesia. They consist of Sumbawa in addition to Aceh.
Days gone by of Indonesia was an intricate and diverse spot with diverse cultures in it. The past of Ancient Indonesia is full of amazing achievements. These include the rise of old Indonesia and that of the Malay Peninsula, the annals of Ancient Indonesia while the Dutch East Indies plus the lots of battle chiefs. When you comprehend these incredible feats, you can better appreciate Ancient Indonesia as an original area featuring its very own unique culture and past.
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Starlink, SpaceX's internet connectivity constellation, could offer speed boosts to the levels that matter most.
The company is currently beta-testing its under-development internet service, pitched as a way of bringing high speed and low latency service to practically anywhere with a ground terminal and view of the sky. The constellation orbits at a much lower altitude than other constellations, around 550 kilometers (340 miles) from sea level. The company has applied for permission to put into orbit far more satellites than currently orbit the Earth right now, with one application applying for up to 42,000 craft.
While SpaceX has launched fewer than 600 satellites so far, early results from beta tests suggest the company could offer a better service than existing providers. Results from Ookla's Speedtests shared on Reddit and noted by Ars Technica show the constellation is currently offering download speeds of between 35 and 60 megabits per second, upload speeds of between five and 18 megabits per second, and response times of between 31 and 94 milliseconds.
The results suggest that, in its early beta form, Starlink is offering a service that could outpace traditional satellite broadband providers. The Federal Communications Commission found that satellite internet has latencies of around 628 milliseconds, which makes it around 10 times slower to respond than traditional connections. This is perhaps to be expected with other constellations, which orbit further away and therefore have further to travel. High latency means slow reactions, which makes it bad for applications like video games and video conferencing.
The speeds shown in these tests are a respectable pace compared to existing providers, where HughesNet currently offers packages of up to 25 Mbps and Viasat offers packages with speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Rural Americans that spoke to Inverse in March 2020 claimed their satellite internet speeds could reach single-digit megabits per second in practice.
The results do show that Starlink is not currently reaching its most ambitious high speeds. They're not quite as fast as the approximately 600 Mbps seen with limited United States Air Force tests. It's also less than the gigabit speeds SpaceX has previously listed as its ultimate goal.
Why the discrepancy? It's important to note that the constellation is currently in beta, and the aims of the test are to fine-tune the system based on real-world performance data. SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk have spoken on several occasions about how the constellation is planned to improve over time.
One area for improvement could be inter-satellite laser links, a solution previously announced by SpaceX. Mark Handley, a professor of networked systems at University College London, explained to Inverse in November 2018 that because light moves faster in a vacuum, it could help cut connection times between London and Singapore in half versus fiber connections.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told CNN in October 2019 that this technology would debut in Starlink satellites in late 2020. A job listing in February 2020 spotted by Tesmanian showed the firm was hiring a software engineer for its space laser technology.
Pricing and release date for the Starlink service is still unclear, but the company's website previously suggested that services for the northern United States and Canada could roll out this year.
The Inverse analysis – These early beta tests may not quite meet the gigabit speeds previously outlined for Starlink, but they do suggest the early constellation could give existing satellite internet providers a run for their money.
That benefit is one of the main driving forces behind Starlink. For communities with limited access options, a low latency service that can offer speeds of up to 60 megabits per second could prove an enticing offer.
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a closed insulated vertical cylinder is divided into two compartments, each of volume V=0.1m3. the piston is initially prevented from sliding by a stopper and carries a load of 2500 kg. the top compartment of the cylinder contains air at 30 bar and the bottom one air at 10 bar; temperature in both compartments is initially 320 K. determine a) the maximum amount of work that can be obtained from this system when the stopper is removed ad the piston allowed to move freely, and b) the final temperatures and pressures in the two compartments. Heat exchange with external reservoirs is not allowed. Cv for air Cv=5R/2please i am studying for my thermodynamics exam need extreme help on this problem,
The post a closed insulated vertical cylinder is divided into two compartments, each of volume V=0. the piston is initially prevented from sliding by a… appeared first on Nursing Essay Tutors.
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Jeffrey Wu October 11, 2019 Uncategorized
There’s a simple activity that helps children to develop cognitively, psychologically and creatively: coloring. They love to do it anyway, and it could lead to a healthier, happier life in adolescence and into adulthood. The following are some of the key benefits of coloring pages in kids’ psychology and development.
Hand & Eye Coordination: coloring in assists in the development of hand & eye coordination as the child learns to color within the specified area. Watching and doing and coordinating both actions is a developing skill when coloring in. When children first start coloring they will have a tough time keeping within the lines but as they progress their skill will increase. Staying inside the lines takes considerable skill and when they master it they gain a sense of pride and achievement.
When children have the opportunity to color, they engage their independence and self-expression. What colors should they choose? What should they draw? What will it look like? Will it be big or small? Will it have lots of colors or just one color? Will the faces be smiling or frowning? Chances are, the answers to their questions are either consciously or subconsciously expressing themselves or their emotions. Drawing is a chance for your child to work through his or her emotions and to express themselves in a safe environment. Children may not always have the words to say exactly how their feeling, but coloring will let your child express himself without needing the vocabulary to do so.
Children’s education takes place in a classroom with a fair amount of structure. Lessons are issued on paper via assignments, tests and other written course work. Coloring sheets, books and pages can be integral in preparing kids for the more structured work on paper ahead of them.
Coloring and just talking about it will give your kids an opportunity to learn new words and sentences. Children use descriptive words to talk about their feelings when they see different styles of coloring sheets. Children coloring pages aids in developing their critical thinking ability. Lastly and most importantly, coloring will also allow you and your child to have some quality time together.
Children receive their first exposure to the color wheel by crayons, colored pencils and markers. They learn to tell the difference between green, yellow, red, pink and so on. Using different colors gives your children a chance to explore the different color combinations. It also teaches your children about lesser known colors. Children who learn early about color wheel have an easier time understanding the makeup and mixing of colors.
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By DR. V. A. LALANI
with additional material by MALIK MERCHANT
In response to a recent piece on the impact of Jamatkhana closures, we were pleased to receive a very inspiring recommendation from Omar Kassam of Vancouver who suggested that we slowly recite the Surah Al-Fatihah while we spend 20 seconds thoroughly washing our hands – the #1 health guideline during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Such is the nature of prayer –- that we can seek out small moments of 1 second, 5 seconds or 20 seconds to the remembrance of God, to exalt Him, and to seek His help. The Surah is regarded as one of greatest Surahs in the Holy Qur’an, along with Surah Al-Ikhlas. The wisdom and prayers contained in this small seven verse Surah are absolutely remarkable.
There are many other opportune moments that we have throughout the day, and Mawlana Hazar Imam has often recommended to us to carry the tasbih with us –- in our pockets or handbags –- and seek out moments of happiness by calling on the name of Allah, Hazrat Ali, Prophet Muhammad or the names of the Imams. He has also asked us to invoke these names during any difficulty we are facing.
What is tasbih and what are its origins in Islam?
The Arabic word tasbih means to exalt God, praise God or to pray to God. It is supererogatory prayer, that is, an act which is considered to be good and beyond the call of duty, and not something that is strictly required.
The word tasbih is also given to the beads strung together in the form of a circle which are used in the process of praying.
The tasbih consists of a string of beads that is looped into a circle. The two ends are passed through a larger, decorative bead where they are tied or woven into a knot. This is the starting point of a tasbih.
Almost all the religions in the world today possess some form of this object which differ a little in size, number and arrangement of beads. Calling it by different names (for example, rosary, in Christianity), they make use of it for the purpose of reciting the name of the deity in whom they believe.
Although tasbih is a constant companion and an object of daily use by the believers, its origin, development and purpose has remained so obscure to most of us that I shall discuss some of the details of this small, but important object.
“Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!” — Holy Qur’an, 13:28
It is said that the first tasbih (supererogatory prayer) was given by the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S.) to his beloved daughter Hazrat Bibi Fatima (A.S.), the wife of Hazrat Mawla Murtaza Ali (A.S.). This comprise of the praises of Allah, namely, Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great), Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) and Al-Hamdu-lillah (All praise is due to Allah). Each of these was to be recited thirty-three times in succession. This is known as Tasbih-e Bibi Fatima.
In the absence of any circular object like the present day tasbih, it is said that Bibi Fatima used to recite these praises taking help of thirty-three stones of dates or thirty-three pebbles.
Later on, as it was found to be very inconvenient to keep loose stones or pebbles, or have to collect them when needed, it was probably decided to string together thirty-three stones of dates or some such object to make a rosary giving it a circular appearance. At a later period, at the point where the knot was tied, a more decorative, larger bead was added, forming what we recognize as the tasbih today. Tasbih prayer beads are made of various materials, including different stones, sterling silver, wood, etc.
The larger bead at the tasbih’s crown is called imam which means ‘a leader’ and it is so called because all recitations start at this point. Imam leads and all the other small beads follow.
In the ordinary Islamic tasbih, the number of beads varies widely from 99 to 102. The 99 bead tasbih may have 2 extra small beads as dividers, after each group of 33 beads. The 102 bead tasbih used in some tariqahs is divided in parts of 12, 22, 34, 22 and 12. Then, of course, we have the commonly used smaller tasbih with 33 beads that is considered in conformity with our Holy Prophet Muhammad’s original conception of tasbih.
As in the 99 bead tasbih, the 33 bead also carries 2 extra beads after each 11 beads, as dividers. The extra small beads act as an informer when the required number of recitations are completed. These are called mui’zin in Arabic which means ‘an informer’ (like the informer who calls Muslims to prayer). In the Indian sub-continent, these two beads are called banga, bangi or bango which all mean ‘a caller’ or ‘an informer’.
Among the numerous memorabilia objects that were produced for Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2007 and 2017, the tasbih was the most sought after item. The Diamond Jubilee tasbihs came with a finely-detailed floral pattern interwoven with intricate and diverging leaves inspired by a Fatimid wood carving. The 33 bead Golden Jubilee tasbihs came in twenty-three varieties of semi-precious stone with the top stem adapted from a 16th century alam (emblem or standard).
“O believers, remember God oft and give Him glory at the dawn and in the evening” —
Holy Qur’an, 33:41-42
The last and most important point about tasbih is its purpose. The purpose of tasbih is quite evident and that is to remember Allah.
Over the past 35 years, Mawlana Hazar Imam has sought to encourage us to keep the remembrance of our faith as an integral part of our daily life, and to seek from this remembrance spiritual happiness on an ongoing basis. His most recent reference regarding using the tasbih for calling out the name of Allah, the name of Prophet Muhammad, or Hazrat Ali was in a Farman Mubarak that he made in India in 2018 (see page 144, para. 3, in Diamond Jubilee Farman Mubarak book)
While we all face and feel the effects of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic with the rest of humanity, let us all recall the message that Mawlana Hazar Imam conveyed to us at the commencement of the Diamond Jubilee year, when he said that the faith of our forefathers would help us to face life’s challenges in times of crisis and rapid changes (see page 12, para. 2, in Diamond Jubilee Farman Mubarak book).
“Sitting, sleeping, going about, take the Lord’s name, take the Lord’s name” —
Ginan, Pir Hasan Kabirdin
An illustrious piece of advice regarding our faith comes from none other than our illustrious forefather Pir Hasan Kabirdin, composer of hundreds of Ginans that have illuminated millions of Ismailis over the past seven centuries. In the second verse of Dur Desh Thee Aayo Vannjaaro, he says: “Sitting, sleeping, going about, take the Lord’s name, take the Lord’s name.” (Translation, Aziz Esmail, in his Scent of Sandalwood)
Carrying the tasbih with us will act as reminder for us to contemplate on the names of Allah, the Prophet and the Imams during any moment in our lifetime. That is the nature of prayer.
Date posted: April 6, 2020.
Before departing this website please take a moment to review Simerg’s Table of Contents for links to hundreds of thought provoking pieces on a vast array of subjects including faith and culture, history and philosophy, and arts and letters to name a few.
This piece contains material from the March 1986 issue of Al-Misbah magazine published by the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for the United Kingdom (ITREB). The magazine, like all other religious magazines published by ITREB in numerous countries around the world, ceased publication in the early 1990’s.
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When you are in the process of buying a house, an escrow account helps to ensure that all transactions are financially backed. By definition, an escrow is where a third party holds money in a transaction involving a financial arrangement involving two different parties. An escrow ensures that transactions are more secure because the funds for the payment are kept in the account until all the agreed-upon terms have been met.
Transactions that involve a large sum of money, where there are several obligations that each party must fulfill is where an escrow account is useful. Financial institutions and legal offices typically provide these escrow services. There are a few types of escrows that work differently from one another through the basic principle remains the same.
How an Escrow Works in a Home Purchase
In a home purchase, the escrow agent (generally this is the title company that is handling the closing) will receive the home’s deed from the seller, your down payment, and the money for your mortgage from the financial institution. For the sale and purchase agreement, there are a variety of tasks that must be completed. These tasks could include obtaining a title insurance policy or an approval for a home inspection report.
Once these have been completed, the escrow agent will transfer the escrow money to the seller. They will also record the deed and loan documents, which thereby transfers the property from the seller to the buyer. The escrow is then considered closed.
How an Escrow Works in Mortgages
Once you have purchased a home, you may run into another type of escrow. You are required by mortgage lenders to make your mortgage repayment, take out an insurance policy on your home, and pay for your property taxes on time. These payments are also nicknamed “PITI” which stands for:
- Mortgage Principal
- Mortgage Interest
- Property Taxes
- Homeowners Insurance
Lenders often choose to collect these payments on your behalf to ensure they are paid on time and reducing their risk. They prorate the PITI payments by month and pull together a two-month cushion to protect against increases in taxes. The money for these payments is placed into an escrow account, which is used to pay these bills when they are due.
For example, let’s say your lender has determined that to pay your property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, you will need $4,800 per year. To cover these expenses, your lender will require that you pay $400 each month in addition to your mortgage payments. The $400 is calculated by taking the total $4,800 and dividing it by twelve months. Your lender will then pay your property taxes and insurance on your behalf.
An additional two months of escrow payments can be collected by your lender every year. This money will be used to cover property tax or insurance bills that increase higher during the closing process. Your lender must also send you an annual statement that shows how much is in your escrow account and their projections to the payments coming in the upcoming year. The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act defines this requirement. Any amount collected in your escrow above $50 is required to be refunded to you within 30 days of this annual statement release.
Another type of escrow is when money is set aside during the closing process to cover repairs that may be necessary for the property to reach its full appraised value. An example would be if the home you are purchasing has a damaged roof caused by a hailstorm. An appraiser will evaluate the repairs that are needed for the property to raise its property value. The lender will, in turn, take the higher appraised value and increase your loan amount. An increase in your loan amount will only occur if you meet income requirements for the increased loan amount. The additional money will be transferred to your escrow account that has been set up in closing. Once the repairs have been completed, the funds will be released, closing the escrow.
The various types of escrow allow peace of mind to all of the parties involved in a home purchase. An escrow is a valuable resource for holding money for all parties involved until contingencies have been met.
If you have more questions about purchasing a home or would like to talk to a mortgage professional, give NASB a call at 855-465-0753.
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The structure of the universe
The structure of the universe from the point of view of the Vedic concept different from the official views of modern science. The Vedas say that there are innumerable material universes, which are in trancendentalism the spiritual world, and our universe is one such. The Manager universe is Brahma. Our material universe is shaped like an egg. The diameter is 18 712 069 200 000000 multiplied by 8 miles.
The structure of the universe includes fourteen planetary systems and shestdesyat four dimensions, each dimension is divided into half and Quaternary proportion. All the planetary systems are located closer to the center, from which rise up. Fourteen systems are in turn divided into three levels – is Svarga, phoumi and Bily. Svarga is the highest planetary system, phoumi – middle and Bily – the lower planetary systems. Planetary system in the modern time, also called the galaxy. Thus, the structure of the universe has a three-tier structure.
The structure of the universe. Higher planetary system.
The highest planetary system is called Satya – Loka. This planetary system brahmā lives, and live as humanoid creatures, the length of life is 15 trillion 480 billion earth years. Such is the lifespan on the higher planetary system, Satya – Loka. In Christianity, this planetary system is also called Paradise, – “and you will have eternal life.” The body of living beings in this system consists of the pure element of mind and the sheath of bliss, and they possess all knowledge. In the structure of the universe these planets are the heavenly places.
Then underneath it is – Jana – Loka. Jana–Loka, that of the planetary system, which are yogis who commit celibacy, or Vedic language, wrtv-Brahmacharya. These are people who at a certain practice, never, in several lifetimes, not had sex and have never dropped a seed. And thus, as a result of conservation of potential sexual energy these living creature on this planet ascend.
Further below it is Tapa – Loka. Tapa – Loka is the planet of the sages of the four kumāras. Tapa – Loka means tapasya, or penance. That is, the achievement of these planets is achieved by tapassi. The body of living beings is composed of elements air and mind. They have almost all knowledge.
Further, in the structure of the universe is Mahar – Loka. On the planets of this system, the lifespan of humanlike living beings is 4 billion 320 million years. In the body structure dominates the element of air.
Further, under this planetary system, Svarga-Loka. The planets of this system are the abodes of the demigods. The demigods control all the elements of the universe. Literature in the Vedic demigods are called Devas or Suras and their number is 33 million. It is living beings who are at the highest levels of human development. For example, these SwarG is the ruler of rain, thunder and lightning, in Kievan Rus it was still called Indra. The life expectancy amounted to 309 million earth years. Planets in this system have a fiery nature. The sun to treat this planetary system. The structure of the universe at this level has the nature of very thin elements.
The structure of the universe. Midrange systems.
Set of planets – poor – Locka. She already belongs to the middle planetary systems. At this level, the coarser the structure of the planets. Our planet belong to the system.
Further, in the structure of the universe is a system of bila – Svarga. It’s a hell of a Paradise type planet where living things, more materialistic than we are. Spiritual knowledge is closed. The duration of life increase through material practices. There is no sunlight. Light comes from the head of a huge Naga (snake). Absent the knowledge of God. Many different treats, everyone loves to have sex. And those people who wish to progress in the material, but do not want to progress spiritually, for example scientists, and lead a godly life, living beings fall into this system of planets.
This is the planet of material and technical perfection.
The structure of the universe. Planets of the lower level.
It’s planet hell, as they are called Christians. Here are creatures with godly karma. Systems have seven levels, depending on the type of suffering. Demonic planetary systems Atala – Loka is the place where demons live.
Next comes the vital – Loka, it is home to Lord Shiva, or as in Russia called Velez. Surrounding Shiva at this systems are at the low level of development, and Shiva controls them. Shiva has a divine nature.
Next comes the planetary system sutala – Loka, and in our Divya-Yuga this system belongs to the divine planets.
Later in the eleventh structure of the universe the planetary system is called Tala-Tala. These planets, which are sent all the witches and wizards, and this planetary system belongs to the category of the demonic.
Next, the twelfth level of planetary systems is called Maha-Tala. This planet’s snake-like sentient beings, they can very easily be translated into different bodies.
Next planetary system the Rasa-Tala. This planetary system is also inhabited by a very powerful demonic beings. And the lower planetary system of Patala-Loka. Thus, the structure of the universe based on a highly intellectual level, by increasing or reducing suffering.
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“Are your screens LED or LCD screens?” We often get calls from potential clients asking the above question or something similar when they are starting their first Digital Signage project. The answer is an LED (Light Emmitting Diode) display is the same thing as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) display, it’s the backlight technology that is different. Realistically, modern displays should be called LED backlit LCD displays but that doesn’t work too well in the tech marketing world, but it is a great tongue twister – try saying it quickly, 10 times.
So, why the confusion? Basically a lack of education and (in my view) some fantastic marketing by Samsung a few years back.
Well, Samsung didn’t invent LED TV’s but their marketing department certainly spun the term and it stuck. In or around summer 2009 Samsung launched an LED backlit TV and the television adverts were fantastic, promising everything from great picture quality, blacker blacks, vibrant colours through to making toast for you in the morning (joking about that bit). Anyway, the UK Advertising Standards Agency, said the adverts were misleading and banned them from being shown. The damage had been done and the term LED TV stuck, great for Samsung, terrible for us.
Both types of displays make use of an LCD panel to control where light is displayed on the screen. LCD panels are typically made up of two sheets of polarising material with a liquid crystal solution in between them so when an electric current is passed through the liquid, the crystals line up so that light can, or can’t, get through. The crystals act as a shutter to allow (or not) light to pass through.
“So if both LED displays and LCD displays use the same technology to produce the actual image, what’s the real difference?”
In short: The technology used to light up the LCD panel is either CCFL, Edge lit LED or Direct lit LED.
“CCFL, Edge-lit LED & Direct-Lit LED technology, what’s all that about?”
It’s the lighting technology that is used to illuminate the Liquid Crystals;
CCFL: In the ‘olden days’ ie. even less than 5 years ago, most LCD panels were lit using CCFLs (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps), think of the old fashioned tube lights in offices and kitchens in the 70’s & 80’s but smaller. This method of backlighting a screen was cheap but the depth of a CCFL meant displays were thicker than modern products. New CCFL backlit displays are pretty difficult to get hold of nowadays, because they’re inefficient and the price of LED arrays has dropped significantly.
Edge Lit LED: This is, as the name implies, a strip of LEDs along the edges of a screen, this method of backlighting can come in a number of configurations. LEDs can be placed at the top & bottom; left & right or along all four edges. Each of the different placement configurations product different light levels and uniformity which goes on to affect the picture quality. Edge lit LED illumination is still better than CCFL, but not as good as Direct LED. The displays are much thinner than CCFL and are more cost effective. Ideal for laptops, making them thinner and lighter.
Direct Backlit / Full Array LED: basically, a grid of LEDs that span the whole of the rear of the LCD panel. Zones of LEDs can be dimmed locally where required resulting in better colour / contrast. This method also means there is more control and precision in the illumination of the panel, resulting in amazing picture quality. They use less power, are lighter, thinner and are becoming the standard in the commercial display arena.
In short: when asking for an LED Display (LED TV), you’re actually asking for an LCD display with LED backlight. What should be asked is, “is the display Edge Lit LED or is it Back Lit LED” since CCFL is extinct. Follow that question with, “is it a commercial display with 24/7 rated use and a 3 year warranty?” and “How long have you been providing these solutions & can we speak with your existing customers?” And you won’t go too far wrong.
Call us to see how we can help you bring your project to life: 01422 553166.
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Fig 1: The Bradshaw Model
Holford Combe is located in the Quantock hills, North Somerset (Fig2). The Village of Holford is about 14 miles from Bridgwater, on the A39 and 6 miles (10 km) east of Williton. The village is mainly situated on the left of the A39 whilst on the right there is the village hall and cricket field. Holford has been an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) since 1956. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The name of the river is The Holford Combe River (Fig 4). It is 7km long and the source of the river is at Ladys Fountain Spring, Frog Combe (Fig 5) (Fig 3) which is near Halsway. It is 250m above sea level, and the Mouth is at Kilve Pill. The river flows northward through Holford and kilve villages. The land is used for agriculture for example Pepperhill is a beef herd farm on the slopes of the Quantocks and Durborough is a hill farm, on the edge of Quantock Common, keeping mainly sheep. Fig 2: Ariel map of
North Somerset, UK
Fig 3: Source of the River Holford.
Fig 5: OS map of Holford
Why the river Holford?
The Holford Combe river is ideal for my study because the river is short (7km) long, so we would have been able to collect more data in the time we were there. Also you can get a better overview of the general trends in a rivers processes and landforms over its full course. We can be more certain of our conclusions about the pattern along the Holford Combe River and how closely they relate to the Bradshaw Model (fig 1).
The length is very important because we were only aloud two days outside of school lessons to complete the data collection. The being short meant we were able to walk the length of the river from source to mouth and not waste time from travelling to different sites. Its a good site choice from a health and safety perspective (fig 6) as the river is not to wide or deep and being short as well. Also erosional processes havent had much time to act against the river channel, to make sure it didnt make it dangerously deep or wide. The river was very accessible to us from school (only 47 miles, South west of Bristol), so it was very easy to get to and realistic and cost effective for the site there.
Fig 6: Risk Assessment
Risk assessments are important because then you know of any potential dangers of where you are going and to avoid any potential incidents and so you are prepared in an unlikely event of an accident. Bibliography
The websites I have used to get my information that i needed were: http://www.quantockonline.co.uk/quantocks/villages/holford/holford1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Holford http://www.quantockhills.com/education/Qpedia/Topics/Place/People/Land-Use/Far
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Transitioning to new child care can be difficult for your child and for your family. However, there are many strategies to make the transition easier. A good way to begin is by looking at what exactly is happening—your behavior, the environment, and your child’s behavior, in particular. What can you do to prevent problems and prepare yourself and your child for transitions?
Parents have found the following strategies helpful in preventing problems:
- Give yourself 10 minutes of quiet before you wake up your child or start your day.
- Think about what you know about your child. What will help make the morning more pleasant? The following ideas may work for you:
- Play calming music instead of turning the television on.
- Create a quiet reading area with a basket of your child’s favorite books.
- Turn the light on in your child's bedroom five minutes before waking him or her.
- If your child has trouble waking up, plan to give them three wake-up calls.
- Get things ready the night before:
- Put out clothes, shoes, coats, and gloves, for you and your child.
- Set up breakfast.
- Pack backpacks.
- Find your keys.
- Create clear and consistent rituals.
Strategies for successful transitions to your child care program:
- Leave your child with the same caregiver every day.
- Tell your caregiver about significant things happening at home that are important to your child.
- Have a good-bye ritual so your child knows you are leaving. Tell your child when you will be back (for example, after nap time and group play).
- Leave a picture, a scarf that smells like you, or some other “lovey” in your child’s cubby so that your child will have it when he or she needs comforting.
Strategies for successful transitions from child care to home:
- Take time to relax before you pick up your child—even 3 to 5 minutes can make a difference.
- Try to arrive about the same time every day.
- Find out from your caregiver what happened during your child’s day.
- Plan to have time with your child as soon as you get home.
- Plan calming activities for your child while you prepare dinner. Let your child help you with dinner, read, play with Play-Doh, play in water, color, or listen to relaxing music.
- Encourage everyone in the family to get enough sleep, eat healthy and exercise.
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In the midst of the chaos unleashed by the smog covering most states in North India, sales of air purifiers have shot up with the machines becoming a necessity. However, nature already has air purifiers - ones that are free of cost and don't require as much maintenance as the mechanical ones do.
Yes, we are talking about plants.
It is common knowledge that plants and trees are the sources of oxygen but oftentimes, common sense is ignored in favour of materialist pursuits.
Anyway, this story is not going to be a critique of capitalism but one on indoor plants that can battle toxins in the air.
EarthEasy reports that indoor pollutants that affect health are formaldehyde, Volatile Organic Compounds (benzene and trichloroethylene or TCE), airborne biological pollutants, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, pesticides and disinfectants (phenols), and radon.
The website adds that these pollutants contribute to ‘sick building syndrome’, which causes symptoms ranging from allergies, headaches, and fatigue through to nervous-system disorders, cancer and subsequently - death.
That is why the green things you see in parks are so important - not only do they provide you with oxygen without which you wouldn't be able to live (in case you didn't know that already) but they also filter harmful gases. Wow.
Keeping that in mind, here are a few plants that could possibly save your life.
(Picture credits: Wikipedia)
This gorgeous plant helps battle the benzene in the air. Hence, go to your nearest florist, clear out a sunny area on your windowsill and install this pretty potted plant.
(Picture credits: Chhajedgarden)
This plant likes to stay moist all the time but doesn't like to be too moist. It's high-maintenance like that. However, seeing as how it's removing the formaldehyde and whatnot from the air, it gets to be a little pricey.
(Picture credits: Plants Rescue)
Dracaena “Janet Craig”
This plant sounds like something out of a Harry Potter book so it gets extra points for that. These plants are quite easy to grow but need to be trimmed because the tips might get a little brown if they're not properly watered.
(Picture credits: Bakker)
Needing a lot of attention, New Delhi Television reports that this plant helps eliminate benzene, formaldehyde and other stuff you can't probably spell properly. Don't worry, neither can we.
(Picture credits: Indoor Gardener)
Dracaena Deremensis ‘Warneckii’
You've probably seen this plant around because it is pretty common in most houses. This helpful green thing removes VOCs, benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene
(Picture credits: GardeningKnowHow.com)
This feathery plant likes warm water and love - just like the rest of us. Except, unlike you or me, this plant helps filter noxious gases from the air and could just be your new best friend. It also does wonders for your Instagram aesthetic.
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In all servomechanisms, error signal is fed to an error-correcting device. This device then positions the output (valve, antenna, recorder pen etc.) so that it corresponds to the input. In order to do so, error-correcting device must be able to respond very quickly and have the ability to reverse direction. The most common device used in an error-correcting device is a servomotor. Servomotors can be either a.c. or d.c. While a.c. servomotors are used frequently, some applications require the use of d.c. servomotor.
A d.c. servomotor is usually a split-field motor. The field may consist of two separate windings or one center-tapped field winding which functions as two separate winding. One winding will cause motor rotation in opposite direction than other winding. These motors may be of shunt-type or series-type as shown in figure below:
In servomechanism, switch shown above would be replaced by an active circuit, perhaps a transistor circuit, and the field input would be amplified error signal. The magnitude, phase, and polarity of error signal would determine how fast and in what direction the motor will rotate.
An a.c. servomotor is normally a two-phase induction motor. In fact major application of a two-phase induction motor is in control systems. In two phase induction motor, two field windings electricaly at right angles are used.
For control applications one stator phase winding is used as reference field and is supplied from a constant voltage source at rated frequency, while other stator winding is excited with a variable voltage usually proportional to the error in the system. Schematic of two-phase induction motor is given below:
In figure (a), the series capacitor, C₂, is added to insure exciting currents in the two windings to be 90° apart in phase. If error voltage applied across control winding is in phase with the reference voltage, there will be clockwise rotation, whereas is error voltage is negative, motor will rotate conterclockwise as in this case phase shift will be 270°. Capacitor C₁ is added to increase the impedance of the load on error amplifier and thus reduce current. The value of capacitor, which form a resonant circuit with the field windings is usualy given in the specification by manufacturers.
Figure (b) shows schematic in which electronic amplifier provides 90° phase shift between the input voltage and amplified output voltage.
Analysis of Two Phase Induction Motor
For analysing the performance, the motor may be considered to be a continuous two-phase balanced induction motor, operating from an unbalanced two-phase sinusoidal power supply.
The unbalanced two-phase supply is resolved into two balanced two-phase systems-one of positive sequence and other negative sequence. The actual motor with unbalanced power supply may therefore condidered to be replaced by two balanced two-phase motors mechanically coupled to each other-one operating with a positive sequence and other negative sequence, at slip (s) and (2-s) respectively. The net torque of the motor at any speed then may be found by computing positive sequence motor torque and negative sequence motor torque at that speed and taking algebraic sum of these two torques.
Equivalent circuit of these two motors is shown in the figure below:
Vr = Vrp + Vrn
Vc = Vcp + Vcn … (1)
Also, Vcp = jVrp, and Vcn = - jVrn
Vc = j(Vrp - Vrn), or
jVc = (Vrn - Vrp) … (2)
From (1) and (2), we get,
Vrp = ½(Vr - jVc), and
Vrn = ½(Vr + jVc)
Taking axis of Vr as reference, we have
Vr = Vr + j0 and
Vc = 0 + jVc + j0; so
Vrp = ½(Vr + Vc) + j0; and
Vrn = ½(Vr - Vc) + j0 … (3)
Similiarly, analogous expressions for currents can be obtained.
Note - The subscript p stands for positive sequence and subscript n stands for negative sequence.
Rotor of a two-phase servo motor can be ordinary squirrel cage type (used for comparatively larger ratings) or in general it is drag-cup type rotor as shown in the figure below. This reduces rotor weight and therefore the moment of inertia and also increases rotor resistance, which is essential to avoid single-phase operation, when Vc becomes zero at some point.
Effect of rotor resistance on torque-speed characteristics of a two-phase servomotor and the necessity of high rotor resistance motor to prevent single-phase operation (when Vc = 0) is shown in figure below—
Servo motor normally operates at very low speeds, therefore fans mounted on rotor shaft are ineffective in a servo motor.Generally blowers driven by a small single-phase induction motor (operated from the same source as that of reference field) are used for cooling servo motor above 10 W. The output for a particular frame size can be increased by two to three times by such cooling arrangement.
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Fire, gas and electrical safety at home
Our homes are places we feel most safe and comfortable, but we become so familiar with our environment that we sometimes overlook aspects of our lifestyle that put us at risk. To ensure that we are all able to continue living safely at home, it’s important that we take simple measures to reduce risks and dangers.
Fires can start and spread quickly, causing extensive and irreversible damage. So to protect our lives, our homes and everything we treasure about them, taking these simple measures will help us continue living safely at home:
- Fit plenty of smoke alarms – at least one on each floor.
- Ensure that your smoke alarms have a British Standard number and a Kitemark (a Kitemark indicates that the product has undergone rigorous safety tests and assessments to ensure safety)
- Test your smoke alarms monthly and keep them free from dust. Investing in a long-life alarm will mean that you won’t have to worry about remembering to change the batteries every year because long-life alarms can last between seven and ten years. Specialist smoke and fire alarms are available if you have hearing problems or vision difficulties.
- Plan a fire escape route and make sure that your exit route is kept clear. If you live in a flat, follow the building’s fire evacuation plan and avoid using lifts.
- Never dry clothes over or near a fire or electric heater
- Never leave the pan unattended when you’re cooking.
- If you smoke, make sure you stub your cigarettes out completely and never leave ashtrays near flammable materials
- If you have an open fire, always use a fireguard and arrange for the chimney to be swept at least once a year by a qualified sweep who’s a member of the National Association of Chimney Sweeps (NACS) or Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps or Association of Professional Independent Chimney Sweeps (APICS).
DID YOU KNOW? Some fire and rescue services offer a Home Fire Risk Check where they can visit your home to help you install smoke alarms, plan escape routes and assess other potential hazards.
What should I do if there’s a fire?
Try not to panic. Use your pre-prepared escape route to exit the building and never attempt to re-enter a burning building.
Always remember the fire service’s advice: get out, stay out and call 999.
Gas appliances in our homes can put us at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if they aren’t properly maintained and monitored. Carbon monoxide is a product of burning fuels and leaks are usually caused by incorrectly installed or poorly maintained household appliances such as boilers, gas fires, central heating, water heaters, cookers and open fires.
Carbon monoxide is a gas that has no smell or taste. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are similar to a cold or flu and can include headaches, dizziness, nausea and breathlessness. To ensure we’re living safely at home, the risk of carbon monoxide leaks can be reduced by:
- A carbon monoxide detector will flash and sound an audible alarm if it detects carbon monoxide. You should install one in every room where there is a gas appliance and test it monthly and the battery should last around 5 years. Ensure that your alarm has a Kitemark and British Standard number.
- Ensuring that appliances are installed and regularly serviced by a reputable engineer who is Gas Safe registered
- Arrange for the chimney to be swept at least once a year by a qualified sweep who’s a member of the National Association of Chimney Sweeps (NACS) or Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps or Association of Professional Independent Chimney Sweeps (APICS)
- Never use ovens or gas ranges to heat your home
- Make sure rooms are well-ventilated and don’t block air vents. If your home is double-glazed or draught-proofed, make sure there’s still enough air circulating for any heaters that are in the room by opening internal doors and putting windows on vent.
- Don’t burn charcoal (such as on an indoor barbecue) in an enclosed space
- Ensure that gas fires have a flue fitted
- Ensure that your kitchen has an extractor fan
DID YOU KNOW? Only Gas Safe registered engineers are legally allowed to work on gas appliances. Find one on the Gas Safe website or by calling 0800 408 5500.
What are the signs of a carbon monoxide leak?
- Other people and pets in the property become ill with similar symptoms at the same time
- Symptoms reduce when you’re out of the property
- Seasonal symptoms – for example, if you get headaches more often during the winter when the central heating is used more frequently
What should I do if I suspect a carbon monoxide leak?
- Stop using all appliances and switch them off
- Ventilate the property by opening doors and windows
- Exit the property calmly
- Call the 24-hour Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 straight away
- Don’t attempt to re-enter the property
- Seek medical advice
Electricity helps us all light and heat our homes all over the world and our lives certainly wouldn’t be the same without it! But electricity needs to be properly maintained to protect us from shocks, fires and other electrical hazards in our homes.
Here are some everyday tips to help us live safely with electricity in the home:
- Never overload sockets or extension leads. The overload of electricity can cause fires.
- Bar adapters on a lead are preferable to block adapters. Only ever use one plug per socket for appliances which use a lot of power (such as kitchen appliances).
- Regularly check plugs, sockets and cables for damage and ensure that you seek professional advice from a registered electrician to repair or replace damaged items
- Wiring in the home can suffer wear and tear, so arrange for a registered and qualified electrician to check your household wiring at least once every ten years
- Take particular care when using garden equipment that needs to be plugged in. Make sure any garden equipment is plugged into a socket with RCD (Residual Current Device) protection, which will protect you from an electric shock.
- Electric blankets should be monitored closely for any damage and checked by an expert every 10 years. Never switch it on if it’s damp/wet and never use it with a hot water bottle.
DID YOU KNOW? There are more than 20,000 electrical fires in UK homes each year.
By following these hints and tips, we can all live safely and confidently in the comfort of our own homes. At Trinity Homecare, we’re passionate about supporting independence and maintaining our lifestyles in our homes. Our care teams are able to support you to seek expert advice, so contact us if you have any concerns about living safely at home.
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For some writers, research is a nasty 8 letter word that should not be uttered in their presence.
For others, research is one of the most exciting parts of writing a book.
For most, whether you like to do research or not, it can drain hours of your writing time leaving you to wonder if you are ever going to get some actual writing done.
What does it mean to “research a book”?
There are a hundred different ways to answer that question with even more methods to do it in. Researching a book is basically taking the time to learn about:
- A place/location you are writing about
- A period in time you are writing about
- A culture you are writing about
It can be as simple as:
- Looking up the location on the internet to get a basic idea or traveling to that location to get a real sense of the place.
- Looking up articles written about that specific time in history or watching movies or documentaries to understand what it was like.
- Reading topics about certain cultures on the internet or learning the ins and outs by gathering books about it, articles about it, government facts, etc…
You can be as skimpy or detailed as you want. Just know that the more research you do in the beginning the less leg work you have to do while writing out your story. Less research interrupting your writing equals more time to let the magic flow from your head to your fingers.
How can you make sure you don’t get lost in Research land?
- Make a quick outline of the story you want to write. Read over it and decide what you will need to research. Take those topics and write them out on a piece of paper titled “Topics to Research”
- Set a timer for a designated amount of time and start it right before your fingers hit the keys on the keyboard or before you read the first line of whatever book you’ve checked out. When it goes off, stop what you are researching and write a little note to yourself on your “Topics to Research” paper of where you left off. That way you’ll know right where to pick up when it’s research time again. Don’t forget to check off the topics when you find what you need.
- If you find what you need on the internet, don’t just bookmark the webpage (you’ll forget about it). Either take notes of what you needed to remember or print it out. If you don’t want to print out the whole page but you don’t want to write it out either use PrintWhatYouLike.com. It’s an amazing website that lets you delete what you don’t want on a webpage (like the adds, comments, menus, etc…) and just print what’s important to you. It saves on the amount of ink and paper you use and it makes it easier to find what you are looking for when you go back over it.
- After you have checked off all the topics on your list, go back and highlight what information you think you will actually include in the book. and line it up with where you think it will fit in your outline.
Here are some links to help your find the information you might be looking for.
Links to Information/Data
- APBOnline.com: APB Online is a crime blog that exclusively covers current crime news. It was set up with the goal of bringing the latest police and criminal cases into the limelight. Since its inception, it has worked towards ensuring that this end is met by researching and investigating some of the most horrid and out of place crime stories. Behind APB Online, there is a team of dedicated journalists passionate about their work.
- Answers.com: The worlds largest community for sharing questions and answers.
- Blackfacts.com : A searchable database of events in black history.
- ePodunk.com : A website that profiles communities in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. It provides geocoded information that includes local museums, attractions, parks, colleges, libraries, cemeteries and other features, as well as local history and trivia. The site contains vintage postcards that its users can send online.
- FedStats.gov : provides easy access to statistics and information produced by more than 100 U.S. Federal Government agencies.
- GeoHive.com : a site with all kinds of population statistics. The main component is tabulated population statistics: current, historical, estimates, projections, cities, agglomerations, etc. But also geopolitical data like the administrative divisions of countries (provinces, counties and such) of all nations of this world. In the resources section one can find a long list of national statistical agencies and other interesting resources.
- Google Earth : lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean
- InfoPlease.com : has definitive answers to all your questions, from trivia to sports to news and history. Site includes an atlas, dictionary, encyclopedia, etc…
- Internet Public Library : a searchable database for resources by subject, newspapers, magazines, and special collections.
- Lawcrawler.com : research the law and find out the lastest legal news.
- MapQuest : Find maps of cities and routes to certain locations.
- Names : Interactive visual exploration of baby name popularity. Search naming maps and graphs. Explore detailed statistics and info about names.
- Occupation Outlook Handbook : a guide to career information about hundreds of occupations.
- RefDesk : free and family friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based reference resources
- State Health Facts : trusted information on national health issues.
- The Library of Congress : The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress, but which is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
- The Old Farmer’s Almanac : free long range weather forecasts, full moon dates, weather history, sun rise and set times, best planting dates, and folklore
- U.S. Census Bureau: the official source for U.S. export and import statistics and regulations governing the reporting of exports from the U.S.
- U.S. National Library of Medicine : Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians
- Wikipedia : The free encyclopedia that if filled out by volunteers on the internet. You can information on just about anything but check to make sure the information is correct.
- Wikiquote : a compendium of sourced quotations from notable people and creative works in every language.
- Wikisource : a free content library of source texts.
- YouTube.com : YouTube is a video-sharing website that has videos of almost anything you could possible imagine.
- Alltop.com : All the top headlines from popular topics around the web.
- Memeorandum.com : arranges all the day’s must-read political news and opinion pieces in a single, easy-to-scan page. It auto-generates a news summary every 5 minutes, drawing on experts and pundits, insiders and outsiders, media professionals and amateur bloggers
- Popurls.com : the mother of news aggregators, a single page that encapsulates up-to-the-minute headlines from the most popular sites on the internet
Word Reference Links
- AcronymFinder.com : With more than 1,000,000 human-edited definitions, Acronym Finder is the world’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, etc…
- Medilexicon.com : contains medical searches, news and resources for medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare professionals
- Symbols.com : A large collection of symbols and signs found in Western Culture and esoteric schools of thought.
- TechTerms.com: A searchable dictionary of computer terms with definitions explained in simple language
- Urban Dictionary : Internet dictionary of slang words and phrases. More than 5 million street lingo words and expressions have been defined by the Internet community.
- Websters Dictionairy : Free searchable dictionary and thesaurus, word games, a word of the day, and many other English language and vocabulary reference tools and resources
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- Zotero.org : a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources
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- If you are just beginning sport stacking, start on the floor with your Speed Stacks placed directly in front of you.
- Always keep stacks close together to create a solid base for your pyramid. In fact, let your cups touch in your pyramid.
- Use a light touch, don’t be heavy-handed. Lift with a light grip. Try not to squeeze the cup; let gravity do the work.
- If you lead with your right hand (if it feels best to use your right hand first) that hand should pick up the top cup.
- Alternate your lead hand. Practice leading with one hand and then the other. Switch to increase ambidexterity.
- When handling the cups, your hands should be positioned on the sides of the cups, never over the tops of the cups.
- Separate the cups from one another using your fingers, resting the last (or bottom) cup on your pinky finger.
- Stack in a circle – that means, use a circular motion with your hands and arms instead of back and forth.
- Never pass a cup from one hand to another. Use both hands at the same time
Sport Stacking is an exciting individual and team sport where participants stack and unstack 12 specially designed plastic cups in pre-determined sequence.
Check out the videos for stacking tips and tutorials, then visit the Speed Stacks Store to learn all about the special cups and mats top stackers use.
The most important thing to do when sport stacking is to use BOTH hands. That doesn’t mean picking up a cup with one hand and passing it to the other to set cups in place. Each cup should be handled by only one hand. Use both hands to stack but never on the same cup.
You’re probably already pretty good at it. Do you play a musical instrument? Type on a computer? Play video games? If you do, you’re probably using both hands.
When you use both hands, you’re using both sides of your brain and promoting right brain development which houses aspects like awareness, focus, creativity and rhythm. Sport stacking helps these skills too! Get a set of Speed Stacks and try it out!
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This two-year program will provide students with exceptional welding skills sought by employers in the structural, pressure vessel and manufacturing industries. Students will learn from professors with vast welding experience to receive expert knowledge and practical skills that will foster their trade. This program will teach students to create and read blueprints; give them the skills of fitting metals and understanding their characteristics; equip them to work safely in the industry; and give them practical experience in weld shop and inspection methods. During the second year of this program students will manage a capstone project that will test the skills and knowledge they have learned, preparing them for a successful transition to the workplace.
This program provides an opportunity to introduce students to a field where employment opportunities are abundant, and also train them to meet the growing demands of the welding field. Students will learn traditional forms of welding such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW), flux cored arc welding (FCAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), as well as Plasma cutting and Air Arc gouging.
Graduates will be prepared to work in the manufacturing and construction sectors with the skills and knowledge to find entry level employment opportunities in a number of areas such as welding shops, manufacturers of metal products, piping and structural contractors, automotive and aircraft manufacturers, repair and maintenance services, building and construction industries, railroad and railcar industries and wind turbine manufacturers.
You will learn to:
- Perform safe work practices in the welding trade in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and Regulations for Industrial Establishments.
- Prepare and interpret drawings that would typically be used in a manufacturing and/or fabricating environment.
- Perform all positions in shielded metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, flux core arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding utilizing mild steel and structural shapes with various consumables as well as open root welding on plate and pipe in all positions using the SMAW process.
- Identify the applicable code(s) or standards to be used in conjunction with each specific fabrication activity.
- Learn to use fitting skills to control distortion and correction techniques as they apply to expansion and contraction forces.
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https://durhamcollege.ca/programs/welding-engineering-technician
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posted on Sep, 21 2003 @ 09:51 PM
I am sure this will only succeed in further stirring the fire surrounding cloning controversies.
CLONING CURE HOPE
Scientists have said cloning technology can be used to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
They used the controversial technique in tests to create cells that were implanted into the brains of mice with a Parkinson's-like illness.The
treatment produced a "robust alleviation" of symptoms, said the researchers.
It could mark a significant step towards developing new ways of tackling degenerative and incurable brain disorders.
Therapeutic cloning opens the way to implanting replacement tissue into patients without it being rejected by their immune systems.
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CC-MAIN-2015-32
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http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread18362/pg
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en
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Tell children the following fairy tale.
In one school children were very noisy. Actually, in all schools children like to create noise, but here they were specially and constantly noisy, not only during breaks, but even during lessons. All – teachers, the principle, parents and children themselves – were tired of this noise.
Once the principle invited all children to the big hall. When they came, he introduced them the Little Man wearing a blue old-fashioned steeple-crowned hat. He also wore a blue cloak and blue shoes. Seeing him, children started to laugh loudly, because they founded him very funny. They laughed so much, that some of them even fell down to the floor. The Little Man was looking at them and smiling. Everyone could see that he was not angry and did not sulk with them. He was looking and looking, and gradually, one by one, children became silent. Finally there was drop silence in the hall. Then the Little Man said in his soft voice: “My dear giggly children, I an so happy to meet you. I was waiting for this meeting for so long. I ‘ve brought you some gifts.”
The Little Man took out of his sleeve a blue handkerchief, waved it, and many small star-like Silent Minutes appeared in the air. There was soft beautiful music, and Small Silent Minutes started to dance a Dance of Silence.
Say: “Imagine how Small Silent Minutes are dancing in the air around you. One of them comes close to you. It is your Small Silent Minute. It is like small star, silent and wonderful. It sits down onto you shoulder and tells you a short story. Just listen… What story did your Small Silent Minute tell you? Write down it’s story and make an illustration.”
Workshop of fairy tales and games
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CC-MAIN-2020-16
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http://good-wish.ru/2011/11/small-silent-minutes/
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Many people enjoy different types of art because of the unique styles and creativity involved. Theater is one of these arts in which there are many styles and beauties. Both the Greeks and Bertolt Brecht produced works that have become a part of our world of theater today. Although both were a beautiful form of the art, they were extremely different in style. The Greek's style was based on enticing their audiences into the story and influencing their emotions. Brecht's works were based on teaching realistic social issues and were performed in a way to change an audience ˜s credence. Both have provided a legacy in the history of our theater.
It is difficult to trace the exact evolution of theater. Although, it may be believed that there were rituals performed for Dionysus by a group called The Cult of Dionysus in Thrace, Greece. "Their aim was religious or magical, a wish to enter into a cl
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CC-MAIN-2014-52
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http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/84223.html
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Glushko Lox/Kerosene rocket engine. 12,700 kN. Design 1974. Proposed engines for the RLA series launch vehicles. This version would use four chambers. 'Down-sized' to 200 tonnes thrust for Energia.
In 1972 to 1974 Glushko proposed lox/kerosene engines for the RLA series launch vehicles and the UR-700M Mars booster with a lift-off thrust of 300 tonnes per chamber. The RLA version would use four chambers for a total thrust of 1200 tonnes. Following rejection of the RLA and the adoption of the Energia design, this chamber design was 'down-sized' to 200 tonnes thrust for Energia.
Status: Design 1974.
More... - Chronology...
Thrust: 12,700.00 kN (2,855,000 lbf).
First Launch: 1972-1975.
Associated Launch Vehicles
RLA-120 Russian heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle. Medium booster concept with a payload to low earth orbit of 30 metric tons using the RLA-120 core and a 150 metric ton upper stage. Glushko proposed that the RLA-120 would boost reconnaissance satellites and modules of his POS Permanent Orbital Station into a sun synchronous orbit beginning in 1979. The government rejected the RLA concept, but this design led directly to the successful Zenit-2 booster. More...
RLA-150 Russian heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle. Super-booster concept with a payload to low earth orbit of 250 metric tons using six modules as the first stage and the RLA-120 core. Glushko proposed that the booster could launch a Soviet manned Mars landing by 1983. The government rejected the RLA concept, but it did lead to the Energia booster of the 1980's. More...
RLA-135 Russian heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle. Heavyweight booster concept with a payload to low earth orbit of 100 metric tons using two modules as the first stage and the RLA-120 core. Glushko proposed that the booster could launch a Soviet manned lunar landing by 1981. The government rejected the RLA concept, but it did lead to the Zenit-2 and Energia boosters of the 1980's. More...
Associated Manufacturers and Agencies
Glushko Russian manufacturer of rocket engines and rockets. Glushko Design Bureau, Russia. More...
Lox/Kerosene Liquid oxygen was the earliest, cheapest, safest, and eventually the preferred oxidiser for large space launchers. Its main drawback is that it is moderately cryogenic, and therefore not suitable for military uses where storage of the fuelled missile and quick launch are required. In January 1953 Rocketdyne commenced the REAP program to develop a number of improvements to the engines being developed for the Navaho and Atlas missiles. Among these was development of a special grade of kerosene suitable for rocket engines. Prior to that any number of rocket propellants derived from petroleum had been used. Goddard had begun with gasoline, and there were experimental engines powered by kerosene, diesel oil, paint thinner, or jet fuel kerosene JP-4 or JP-5. The wide variance in physical properties among fuels of the same class led to the identification of narrow-range petroleum fractions, embodied in 1954 in the standard US kerosene rocket fuel RP-1, covered by Military Specification MIL-R-25576. In Russia, similar specifications were developed for kerosene under the specifications T-1 and RG-1. The Russians also developed a compound of unknown formulation in the 1980's known as 'Sintin', or synthetic kerosene. More...
Chertok, Boris Yevseyevich, Raketi i lyudi, Mashinostroenie, Moscow, 1994-1999.. Web Address when accessed: here.
RLA-1 Lox/Kerosene propellant rocket stage. Loaded/empty mass 800,000/45,000 kg. Thrust 11,700.00 kN. Vacuum specific impulse 337 seconds. Empty mass, specific impulses, length estimated by comparison to smaller Zenit successor design. More...
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© / Conditions for Use
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Here's your simple guide to composting fruit and veggie scraps, eggshells, bones and more
If you feel guilty about creating food waste, composting is an easy way to relieve yourself of the anxiety of not eating all the groceries you enthusiastically picked out last week. You can even give a second life to leftover banana peels and pineapple tops.
You don't have to have a green thumb to be a composter — it's way easier than maintaining a house plant. Here's how to compost and start saving the world, one apple core at a time.
What is composting?
Composting is the process of turning organic materials (yes, that even means non-organic-certified food scraps) into a rich soil that can then be used to grow more food.
What can be composted?
Anything that has grown naturally in the ground can be composted! That means fruit and vegetable scraps (or spoiled produce that got lost in the back of your crisping drawer) as well as yard waste, old Christmas trees and dead flowers. Paper, wood and other products made of certified compostable materials can also be composted. Depending on the composting method (which ranges to composting in tightly sealed closed bins or in a garden pile), you can also compost animal matter (i.e. chicken bones), seafood, egg shells and dairy to make nutrient-rich soil, but that's not something novice composters should try at home.
Why compost? What are the benefits to composting?
Many say that composting is the greenest thing you can do. Composting reduces landfill waste and reduces the need for fossil fuel-based fertilizers and greenhouse gas-emitting farming machinery. Composting is also a natural way to introduce new vitamins and minerals to soil and keep farmland healthy.
So how do you start composting?
Anyone can compost! Perhaps the easiest way to compost is to save your food scraps in a bag or container in your freezer (this will prevent them from smelling bad) and drop them off at your local composting center. New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and many more major cities offer convenient drop-off and even pick-up programs for urban composting.
For those outside municipal composting programs, composting is easy. If you have a backyard, you can start a designated compost pile or use a sealed container like a trash bin or designated compost keeper to store your compost.
You'll want to build your compost with nitrogen-rich items, which are green materials like fruit peels, and carbon-rich materials, i.e. brown ingredients like dead leaves or corn husks. You can either layer or mix your compost, which you'll want to do once a week. Your compost should be as wet as a wrung-out sponge, so add water if it appears to dry.
Depending on the time of year — warm weather leads to quicker bacteria growth and material breakdown than in cold weather — compost can be ready to use in three months. You'll know it's ready when the compost is a dark color, crumbly, and you can't pick out any distant elements, like a cherry stem.
How do you use compost?
Use your compost in home gardening as mulch, soil mixture or fertilizer. If you're not a big gardener, find a community garden or local farm to donate your compost to. Thanks for helping the environment!
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i. It badly affects human’s respiratory, digestive and nervous system.
ii. Acidification of drinking water reservoirs cause injurious affects. (b) On Aquatic Biota i. It affects the productivity of fish plankton and amphibians causing skeleton deformities increasing fish mortality. ii. It disrupts the ecological balance by killing many bacteria and blue green algae.
iii. Acidic water leaches aluminium from the soil. The leached aluminium reaches to lakes, rivers and streams which cause death of fish by clogging their gills, preventing the reach of 02. iv. Food web is disturbed due to the death of fungi and bacteria in the water due to acidification. v.
In cold climate acid rain accumulates as acid snow and then it melts, it gives a jolt of acid water to, lakes damaging young fishes, algae and other insects. (c) On Terrestrial Ecosystem i. Organic compounds such as amino acids and hormones leach from leaves through rain water. ii. The capacity of notifying bacteria to fix nitrogen dismisses rapidly below pH 6. Forest productivity reduces flora and fauna is affected due to acidification of soil.
iii. Growth of root plants retards due to acid rain. iv. Acid deposition affects the trees like pine, spruce etc.
They in this way are victim and are attacked by pathogens and droughts. (d) Injury to Vegetation i. S02 injures the vegetation by destruction of cellular integrity which usually appears in the spongy parenchymal cells and affecting palisade layer. ii. Diffused chlorosis on the leaves of plants becomes visible due to continuous exposures to low level of acidic water. iii. Acidic water containing S02 affects the functional cells near the stomata. (e) Affects on Building i.
Acid rain affects the building and structural material like lime stone and slates etc. by causing stone leprosy in them(Attack of acid on marble) e.g.
Taj Mahal CaC03 + H2S04 ———- » CaS04 + H20 + C02 ii. H2S tarnishes silver and blackens leaded house, paints. Traces of radioelement in rain severally damage the buildings. iii. It causes damage to steel oil based paints and automobiles.
It disintegrates textiles and papers etc. Controlling Acid Rain It is very expensive to practice the remedial measures. Thus it becomes necessary to control the pollutants that actually cause the acid rain. Following general options are worth considering for the purpose- (a) Energy Conversion i.
Energy conversion can be done through improved thermal insulation and more efficient fuel use. ii. Desulphurization and Denitrification helps to introduce new technology that reduces the S02 and NOx emission. iii. Substitution for fossils fuels by other alternative energy form.
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Ted Simons: A new report by ASU researchers shows that nighttime temperatures in the Phoenix area increase one to two degrees because of excess heat being released by air conditioners. Joining us now to talk about their report, ASU mathematics professor Alex Mahalov, and Francisco Salamanca, post-doctoral research scientist at ASU's school of mathemetical and statistical sciences. Good to have you both here. Are we talking about air conditioning units contributing to global warming?
Alex Mahalov: Yes. Air conditioning is sort of like refrigerator. So you cool your house, but then you have waste heat, and it increases the heat island by one degrees.
Ted Simons: And anyone who stood by the air conditioning unit outside or if they've been on the roof when it's on, they know warm air does come out. This influences more at night than the day? Why is that?
Francisco Salamanca: because during the day the energy coming from the sun dominates, so even though you aren’t putting any heat outside, they think the temperature is more. However, at night it’s definitely stronger.
Ted Simons: How did you do this research? How was it conducted?
Alex Mahalov: Research was funded by National Science Foundation, and so the model is a meteorological model coupled with building chemistry models. So we take into account everything.
Ted Simons: Ok, and -- But again, it was over a certain period of time, were certain areas focused on? What did you get there?
Alex Mahalov: We used one period in July 2009 just to validate our model. But our research is fundamental and can be applied to Phoenix and other metropolitan areas.
Ted Simons: It sounds like a 10-day period there in 2009. And again, when you went into the research, what were you specifically looking for?
Francisco Salamanca: Well, we were looking for the average in air conditioning temperature in the day time. At the beginning we were not expecting this magnitude, so it was a surprise this significant affect-- Really our focus was the effect of air conditioning on the temperature.
Ted Simons: It's basically like the urban heat isle in effect as well. You’ve got more air conditioning units together, more of an effect I would imagine.
Francisco Salamanca: Yes. The air conditioning contributes to the heat island. So in July the head island in Phoenix it's around 10, 12 degrees. So two degrees are responsible from air conditioners.
Ted Simons: As far as just doing the study in the first place, whose idea was this? Who said, let's find out? Everyone knows there is waste heat coming out of their air conditioning units. Whoever thought to say, let's see if this is affecting the atmosphere?
Alex Mahalov: Francisco.
Ted Simons: Oh Francisco does, all right. What made you go out there and look for this?
Francisco Salamanca: Some years ago during my disease, I was looking, trying to understand the effect, so in the past I applied it to Madrid, so why not in Phoenix?
Ted Simons: Yeah, and you said were you surprised by the findings.
Francisco Salamanca: Yes, I was waiting for a smaller effect. Phoenix is a big city, temperature is very high in the summer, so the effect is stronger.
Ted Simons: And you also now look at electricity use as well and how did that factor in here?
Alex Mahalov: Yes, actually one or two degree is a lot, one or two degrees matters. I brought with me my air conditioning bill, and I can compare June and July, so in July average temperature was one degree higher and my bill is $30 more. So now if we have 1 million households in the state of Arizona, multiplied by 30, $30 million per month. It wastes heat.
Ted Simons: It wastse heat. But what -- It seems like it's almost a closed loop here in the sense that it's getting warmer, I need to cool down. I'm cooling down, I'm making it warmer. It just goes round and round.
Alex Mahalov: Exactly. It’s a negative feedback loop, but can actually we can turn it around.
Ted Simons: How can we turn it around?
Alex Mahalov: It's called waste heat. When you have waste, what you do? You recycle. One solution is actually, instead use this, capture this heat from air conditioning, and run it through water heater. So if you do it, so you get hot water, and then you actually reduce your electric bill. So it's a win-win situation. First you don’t contribute to the heat island, and then you reduce your water heater bill.
Ted Simons: Is that the kind of solution you're looking for when you start looking at this kind of thing?
Francisco Salamanca: No, I was not thinking in this solution, just I was thinking to quantify the effect of the air conditioning, and that’s it.
Ted Simons: So nothing more, but it seems to make sense doesn’t it?
Francisco Salamanca: Yeah, it made sense, the important point we can do is if our indoor temperature is working at 75, just increase to 80, for example, and we save energy, we reduce the impact, and our bill will be lower.
Ted Simons: Yeah, so are there other things, besides perhaps water heaters, are there other things this excess waste heat can be used for?
Alex Mahalov: Well cooking, and maybe some others – well think about it.
Ted Simons: You have to find a way to capture that and bring it back into the house.
Alex Mahalov: Right. But it's probably not very difficult. But if you think about the magnitude of this problem, the magnitude of the solution, right as I said it’s like, 300-250 million dollars. You know, you’re moving this waste heat for good purposes and plus on top of that, say on your electric bill on water heater right. So it's a very significant.
Ted Simons: If it's that significant, are you working with anyone now to say, hey, I got something significant here. Let's work on -- Let's find a way to capture this stuff and use it again.
Alex Mahalov: Well we are working, but we’d like to work more, hopefully after your Arizona Horizon we'll have some phone calls and we'll redouble our efforts.
Ted Simons: We'll do copyright discussion after the show there. But yeah I understand, it makes sense, and again I wonder if that closed loop idea was something that you thought about as well when you started on this research, when you embarked on this research. Or was it basically a research project saying, if X, then Y?
Francisco Salamanca: People underestimated nighttime temperatures in the cities, so the study is important for two points. One, we can quantify if the effect of the air conditioner. Another point is we are improving the weather forecasting models. When we compare the temperature you can consider the heat, that is much better than if you don’t consider this heat.
Ted Simons: Last question, what do we take from this study?
Alex Mahalov: It's to find sustainable solution. We identify problem, and then Arizona is growing, and so this kind of problems we need to transform this into solutions. Positive feedback loop, always positive feedback loop. I think the future is very bright, because we could use energy for good purposes.
Ted Simons: All right. Well, it's an interesting study. I think anyone who stood next to one of those blowers would think that's warm temperature, and you're saying it does make a difference. Thank you for your research and thank you for joining us on the show.
Alex Mahalov: Thank you.
Ted Simons: Tomorrow on "Arizona Horizon," we’ll hear from the attorney representing a former Tom Horne aide who alleges that Horne broke campaign laws.
Ted Simons: And find out about a survey on young people's attitudes toward voting. That's Tuesday evening at 5:30 and 10:00 on "Arizona Horizon." Reminder, www.azpbs.org, that's where you can find us on the web, you can see past shows and you can see what we have planned in the future, azpbs.org/horizon. That is it for now, I’m Ted Simons. Thank you so much for joining us and you have a great night.
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Wonder and environmental virtue
van Zyl, L. (2017). Wonder and environmental virtue. Presented at the Annual conference of the Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, 15 - 18 January 2017.
Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/11177
Wonder is a familiar human emotion. It involves a feeling of delight, admiration, curiosity, and appreciation and is directed towards something that is beautiful, remarkable, mysterious, or unfamiliar. The objects of wonder can include nature and natural entities, works of art, and other cultural objects. In her essay, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (2007) Rosalind Hursthouse puts forward the question of whether there could be a virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder. For an Aristotelian, such a virtue would involve a disposition “to feel wonder the right way, towards the right objects, for the right reasons, to the right degree, on the right occasions, in the right manner, and to act accordingly” (2007: 161). Hursthouse further suggests that the putative virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder is explicitly – though not exclusively – concerned with our relations to nature, and could therefore form an important part of an environmental virtue ethic. Many environmentalists appeal to our sense of wonder, and write about the wonders of nature, but the role of wonder in environmental ethics has not been explored in any detail. My aim in this paper, then, is to consider whether there is an environmental virtue (or set of virtues) that involves being rightly disposed with regards to wonder.
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Advanced modulation and RF transmission schemes are quickly moving from lab to field to solve real-world problems, speakers told last week's IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium.
In discussions ranging from ultrawideband (UWB) personal-area networks to Wi-Fi meshes, academic researchers presented concrete examples of advanced wireless data and sensor networks addressing people's needs around the globe.
While the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas formed a concurrent backdrop to the Radio and Wireless Symposium in Long Beach, Calif., the researchers had more on their minds than consumer markets.
Take Deborah Estrin, for example, of the University of California, Los Angeles. The principal researcher at the school's Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, she demonstrated river and forest monitoring, showing how wireless sensor nets combine with actuators and robotics to form adaptive eyes for such tasks as precision agriculture and tracking species diversity.
"The heterogeneity and spatial variability common to many environmental problems are almost tailor-made for embedded wireless sensor networks," Estrin said in a popular invited talk. "If you don't have that fine-grained variability, you don't really need to sense at multiple points."
The UCLA center grew out of a project to develop prototypical wireless sensor networks for the Defense Department. That work was directed by professor William Kaiser, who more recently has been developing a Low Power Energy Aware Processing (Leap) network model in which microcontrollers are recruited as duty processors to keep networks operating for as long as 20 years at 20 to 60 percent duty cycles.
Estrin, the sister of communications entrepreneur Judy Estrin, said that while many sensor nets use solar power, Leap uniquely has the network itself "harvest" solar power to use it more efficiently.
In recent months, Estrin said, the center's networks have:
• Measured arsenic contaminant transport in drinking wells in Bangladesh;
• Conducted seismic monitoring in the aftermath of an October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan;
• Studied the mixing of the San Joaquin and Merced rivers in California; and
• Observed the microclimates of several continents using terrestrial-imaging nets.
Small robotic and actuator subsystems are critical in some of these applications, Estrin said, because node mobility can help overcome the inherent undersampling of static nodes on a network. Typically, the center's networks employ three tiers: simple, dumb "motes" at the endpoints; microservers to control many motes; and autonomous mobile nodes, many of which use cameras and other sensing devices in much the same way interplanetary missions rely on robotics.
Estrin said this tiered model allowed sufficient local, decentralized participation from citizen-researchers, particularly in tracking natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. But, she said, those in control of such bottom-up networks must realize that privacy concerns demand that local participants can selectively decide whether to share only some of the information they collect.
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Nisga'a stories are affirmations of the history of the people, the land and our relationship to animals. Stories were only shared by specific delegates of one's family, and were considered the tangible property of the family.
The Chief's Rattle
In the Nass Valley, there is a sacred hunting lake. Many hunters tried to hunt on this lake, only to perish in its whirlpool. One day, a hunter watched the movements of the whirlpool, counting the bad times and the mild times. He had many successful hunts by timing the whirlpool, setting out carefully on the lake as the whirlpool became mild and returning before it turned bad.
On one hunt, a little bird came out of the water. It stood on the water and shook itself, making the sound of a rattle. The bird's mask-like head was that of a raven, and on its back there was a carving of a frog whose tongue was joined to that of a man.
The hunter knew that this was the spirit bird, who was controlling the movements of the whirlpool. By showing itself to the hunter, the spirit bird was giving him a blessing for more successful hunts. On returning home, the hunter carved a rattle in the shape of the spirit bird to show his respect and thanks.
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PASSOVER (EXODUS 12:1-30, 19, 20, 34)
The tenth plague is called the Passover. It happened on the fourteenth day of the month. The Israelites were to offer one-year-old lamb per family.
If a family was too small, they were to share the lamb with their neighbours.
If a lamb was not available, a one-year-old goat could also be used.
They were told to:
- Slaughter the lamb/goat; smear some of the blood on the sides and tops of the door- frames of their houses.
- Roast the meat and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (bread without yeast).
If there were any leftovers they were to burn them with fire.
- Eat in a hurry while fully dressed and having packed their belongings.
They were told to borrow silver, clothings, jewellery, and gold from the Egyptians.
- That on the same night, the ‘angel of death’ would kill every first born both males and animals in the houses without blood.
- The angel of death would pass over the houses with blood sparing them. The blood was a sign to indicate this is a house of Israelites.
When the Lord sees the blood, He will pass over that house (V.13).
- The Israelites were told to celebrate / commemorate from generation to generation the Passover as a festival to the Lord.
- The Israelites were not allowed to come out of their houses on the night of Passover.
- At midnight, the Lord struck down all firstborn in Egypt from Pharaoh’s household to the firstborn of the prisoners and firstborn of livestock.
- There was loud wailing over Egypt. Every house had someone dead.
Significance of items used during the Passover
1) Roasted Meat
– this is the easiest method of preparing food since the Israelites were to leave in a short time.
2) Bitter herbs
– was a reminder of the suffering and hardships and slavery experienced in Egypt.
3) Eating while standing.
Deliverance was near, hence the need to leave in a hurry
4) Eating while fully dressed with their stuff at hand
This signified a quick deliverance; hence Israelites should be ready to leave Egypt at once.
5) Eating unleavened bread
– the bread was to be eaten and none left over hence there was no need to add yeast for preservation.
6) Collecting Jewellery
– God had promised Abraham that after slavery for four hundred and thirty years, his descendants shall be freed with great possessions.
7) Remaining indoors
– for security from death. Anyone outside was killed.
8) Blood on doorposts
– a sign for deliverance. The angel of death would pass over doors with blood.
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Since 1964, the same year SeaWorld first opened its gates, SeaWorld’s rescue teams have been on the frontlines of giving ill, injured, orphaned or abandoned animals a second chance at life. Today, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment announced that SeaWorld Rescue has now come to the aid of more than 35,000 marine and terrestrial animals in its 55-year history. Trends in rescue data suggest that the impact of human activity on our oceans, such as plastic pollution, is taking an increasing toll on marine wildlife in recent years.
To grow awareness of the threats facing wildlife, the company also launched a new SeaWorld Rescue channel on Instagram ahead of World Oceans Day that tells the story of rescue, rehabilitation and release, as seen through the eyes of those on the frontlines of saving animals.
“As an organization, we want to get to a place where we conduct fewer rescue operations, not more, but right now there are a lot of ill, distressed or stranded wild animals in need,” said Jon (JP) Peterson, Senior Leader of Zoological Operations at SeaWorld Orlando, who has personally assisted thousands of distressed animals. “We’re not there yet, but there’s much more awareness now of the impact that humans are having on the ocean’s health and the animals that live in the ocean than there was when I started on the rescue team, and that gives us hope. Part of SeaWorld’s mission is to increase awareness and education of the true impact humans are having on our oceans and the detrimental effects on marine wildlife.”
SeaWorld cites changes in sea surface temperatures, urban development and resulting habitat loss, along with ocean pollution, as primary causes and concerns impacting marine wildlife. According to SeaWorld Rescue data, for example, approximately half of the manatees rescued along Florida’s coast since 2015 were in danger from human-impacted activities, including paralysis caused by cold stress or red tide as seawater temperatures dramatically change with the climate, injuries caused by boat strikes, or entanglement in marine debris.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like to express our sincere gratitude to SeaWorld on behalf of the West Indian manatee on World Oceans Day and every day,” said Jay Herrington, field supervisor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North Florida Ecological Services Office. “The rescue team and veterinary staff have always gone above and beyond for these animals, pairing a love for Florida’s beloved state marine mammal with a desire to contribute to manatee conservation and recovery. This dedication by the SeaWorld team to help save the species has extended across the Florida border, as they have led manatee rescue operations from Massachusetts to Texas with many other partners in marine conservation.”
SeaWorld’s rescue team is on call 24/7, 365 days of the year, partnering with multiple government agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to rescue and rehabilitate animals, with the ultimate goal of restoring them to full health so they can return to their natural habitat. In cases where a rescued animal is deemed non-releasable by NOAA or another federal agency, however, SeaWorld is one of many facilities on call nation-wide to provide world-class care from its dedicated team of animal specialists and veterinarians.
"SeaWorld has been a long-standing valuable partner in promoting marine conservation, and rescuing and rehabilitating stranded, entangled or imperiled marine wildlife," said Donna Wieting, Director of NOAA Fisheries' Office of Protected Resources. "On World Oceans Day, NOAA and SeaWorld remind the public that they, too, have an important role in reporting stranded or injured marine animals.”
In addition to SeaWorld’s rescue efforts, the company’s team of experienced zoologists and researchers are working on the frontlines of conservation around the globe to help some of the estimated one million species that are being driven toward extinction. From developing new tools at its Species Preservation Laboratory in California to help repopulate threatened species, to conducting critical killer whale research within its parks that aids in the conservation of threatened southern resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, to practicing conservation medicine to rehabilitate endangered species like the Guadalupe fur seal, the various species in SeaWorld’s care are providing a trove of scientific data that scientists can tap to better diagnose and understand threats to the health of their wild counterparts.
“For SeaWorld, our commitment to conservation runs deeper than saving a single animal on a beach,” said Peterson. “We want to save and support their entire species, the ecosystem that they live in, and the food sources that they feed on.”
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A landmark court decision in Washington state brings new hope for the environment. Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) also known, as factory farms are responsible for many problems besides the cruel treatment of livestock. The contamination of air and water from CAFOs is alarming and given little attention in comparison to the negative press against the automotive and other industries.
This may change with the ruling against Royal City, Washington’s Nelson Faria Dairy. The Dairy had set and ignored the terms of a settlement with Community Association for Restoration of the Environment and this ruling will force them to adhere to the stated terms.
According to CARE, the problems caused by organizations like Nelson Faria are sizable and for the most part ignored. “Operations like the Nelson Faria Dairy produce as much waste as a city of over 200,000 people. Unlike cities, however, which treat their wastes, the dairy industry applies manure to agricultural fields primarily to get rid of it,” said a CARE representative.
Manure contains ammonia and other chemicals that are hazardous to the quality of water and those living in and off of these sources. In moderation, it is an excellent fertilizer, but with the growing numbers of animals contained in these operations comes growing amounts of pollutants.
In 1995, an eight-acre hog-waste lagoon in North Carolina burst and released 25 million gallons of manure into the nearby New River. The spill killed ten million of the area’s fish. This is an example of the harm CAFOs can do to neighboring ecosystems.
Accidents like the one in North Carolina are just an aspect of the factory farming industry. They are the collateral damage of extreme profit driven behavior. What needs to be done right now, and what CARE is hoping to accomplish is a practice of higher regulation and safety in the industry. However, pollution will always occur and will only get larger as the size of farms increase. I feel, in this case, abstinence may be the best policy.
Image Source: Alicia Nijdim/Flickr
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Solomon’s seal is a pretty plant with flowers that are easy to miss unless you know where to look. Follow me after the jump for some photos. I also included a picture of the mystery yellow wildflower I mentioned here, which turned out to be Canadian black snakeroot.
This is an open thread: all topics welcome.
The common name of Solomon’s seal has nothing to do with the shape of the flowers. Sylvan Runkel and Alvin Bull write in Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands,
The thick horizontal perennial rootstock has coarse sparse roots extending from its lower side. On the upper side, it bears scars of previous growth. Since only one stem develops per year, the number of scars reveals the age of the plant.
The scars are a somewhat circular impression believed to resemble the ancient seal of King Solomon. Another version has the name derived from the use of crushed roots to “seal” wounds, especially broken bones.
I haven’t photographed the root scar of Solomon’s seal, but here’s a good picture.
The plant has a distinctive curved shape. When it starts growing, it may look like bellwort at first glance. But bellwort is smaller and develops a bud at the end of the stem. Solomon’s seal stems can be several feet long, with buds that hang down in pairs from where the petiole of each leaf attaches to the stem. You can see some green buds hanging down from the curved plant here:
Later the buds become bell-shaped and pale green flowers. They can bloom in May or June. Here’s a view from a couple of weeks ago. That’s Virginia waterleaf in the upper left-hand corner of the picture.
The bottom of Solomon’s seal flowers usually open up a bit (see the third photo from the top on this page). When I went back later to try to capture this view on my camera, I found that a deer had been munching on the plant.
Native Americans and pioneers used Solomon’s seal roots to treat all kinds of ailments, and many modern-day herbalists swear by it too.
Finally, here’s a bonus photo of that plant I couldn’t identify in the wild geranium diary. You may see its tiny yellow flowers, about a foot or two high, in Iowa woodlands during May or June:
Canadian black snakeroot is common throughout the Midwest, as well as some northeastern states and Ontario, Canada. Strangely, it is in the carrot family. It’s not a bad-looking plant, but later this summer its seeds will be annoying burs that stick to your clothing and/or cover your dog.
Note: the wildflower commonly known as black snakeroot in the U.S. is very different. Bleeding Heartland will feature that plant (also called black cohosh and bugbane) in July.
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Olmsted County Places - High Forest Township
HIGH FOREST township, organized in 1858, took the name of its village, platted in 1855, on high land partly surrounded by forest trees growing along the North branch of the Root river.
MINNESOTA GEOGRAPHIC NAMES Their Origin and Historic Significance
by Warren Upham, Archaeologist of the Society
Published by the Minnesota Historical Society
Saint Paul, 1920
Home | Olmsted County Places
©2008 Genealogy Trails
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Dolch, E.W., Ph.D. (1948). Problems in Reading. Champain, IL: The Garrard Press.
Fry, E.B., Ph.D. (1999). 1000 Instant Words. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials.
Fry, E.B., Ph.D. & Kress, J.E., Ed.D. (2006). The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists 5th Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Rath, L.K., Ed.D & Kennedy, L. (2004). The Between the Lions Book for Parents. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Vaugh, S & Linan-Thompson, S (2004). Research-Based Methods of Reading Instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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Others class of dyes is recognized as artificial dyes. They're according to a specific type of chemical structure. Some of those dyes tend to be- acidic ( Anionic) dyes, fundamental ( Cationic) dyes, Neutral- Premetalized dyes, sulfur dyes, vat dyes, reactive dyes, pigment dyes etc.
Color is applied to fabric by different ways of dyeing for different sorts of fibre as well as different phases for the textile production procedure. These procedures consist of Direct dyeing; Stock dyeing; Top dyeing; Yarn dyeing; Piece dyeing; Solution pigmenting or dope dyeing; Garment dyeing etc. Of these Direct dyeing and Yarn Dyeing methods would be the best ones.
Whenever a dye is applied directly to the fabric without aid of an affixing representative, it really is known as direct dyeing. In this technique the dyestuff is either fermented (for natural dye) or chemically reduced ( for synthetic vat and sulfur dyes) before becoming applied. The direct dyes, that are mainly utilized for dyeing cotton, tend to be water soluble and will be used straight to the fiber from an aqueous answer. Most other classes of artificial dye, apart from vat and sulfur dyes, are also applied in this manner.
Whenever dyeing is completed after the fibre has been spun into yarn, it's called Yarn dyeing. There are numerous kinds of yarn dyeing- Skein (Hank) Dyeing, Package Dyeing, Warp-beam Dyeing, and area Dyeing.
Skein (Hank) Dyeing
The yarns tend to be loosely organized in skeins or hanks. They are then hung over a rung and immersed in a dyebath in a large container. In this method, the colour penetration is the better therefore the yarns retain a softer, loftier experience.
The yarns tend to be wound on spools, cones or similar devices that plans of yarn are stacked on perforated rods in a rack and then immersed in a container. In container, the dye is forced outward through the rods under some pressure through spools then back once again to the bundles towards center to enter the whole yarn as completely as possible.
Its comparable to bundle dyeing but less expensive. Here, yarn is wound onto a perforated warp beam, immersed in a tank and dyed under great pressure.
Inside method, the yarn is colored at periods along its length. Of these two processes- knit- deknit strategy and OPI Space-Dye Applicator- tend to be followed. In the first method, the yarn is knitted on either a circular or flat-bed knitting device and the knitted cloth is then dyed and subsequently its deknitted. Since the dye does not easily enter the areas associated with the yarn where it crosses it self, alternated colored and undyed rooms look. The OPI Space-Dye Applicator strategy produces multi coloured space- dyed yarns. The yarns are dyed intermittently while they run at high speeds of upto 1000 yards (900 m) each and every minute through spaced dyebaths with constant subjection to shock waves created by compressed air presuming supersonic velocities.
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The Sons of Fenrir: Hati and Skoll
When the Great Wolf, Fenris, began to run amuck, he first went back to the place where he was born. Tyr and the other Aesir had tried to keep him from going back to the Iron Wood, but one day he escaped and fled to his birthplace, and was reunited with his mother Angrboda, and his werewolf half-siblings. It is not known what happened to him there, save that when he left, his maddened devouring rage had begun in earnest, and a wolf-woman of the Jarnvidur had borne two wolf-pups, the very image of their father. In another account, the mother of Hati and Skoll was Angrboda herself, by Fenris her son, but we may never know the truth of this. Skoll's name means "treachery" in Old Norse, while Hati's name means "Hater". Hati is also sometimes given two different last names - Hróðvitnisson (Son of Rage) and Managarm (Moon-hound).
When Fenris was chained, Hati and Skoll were the only ones who came to defend him. Loki and Angrboda themselves did not interfere, knowing the necessity of the binding, but his young sons tumbled forth in a vain attempt to free their father. Instead, they were captured by the Aesir, and Odin put them to use, bespelling them as he had bespelled the Great Snake. Sunna and Mani had often been known to dawdle or change their course, which meant that the days and nights were not always dependable and on time. Mani was especially bad at this, as he liked to look down on what was happening, and the adventures played out below his feet enchanted and delayed him. There had been complaints about this from many mouths, and so Odin put the two wolves into the sky as a way to make the chariots run on time, as it were. Skoll was bespelled to chase Sunna's chariot as a dog herds sheep, keeping it to its path, and Hati (also known as Hati Hridvitisson, and Managarm) was similarly charged with herding Mani's dog-cart.
While they do not spend all of their time in the sky - when the Sun and Moon are on time and stick to their schedules, the wolves can run free on the earth below - if either sky-etin is late, they are lifted into the sky to do their job. Skoll is the quieter of the two, and says little; he does not love the involuntary nature of his job, although he gets some fun out of racing Sunna, but he is aware that it is a better deal than the one that befell his father. Hati is more outgoing and more moody; he veers from cheery mischief to wrath, and deeply resents the spell that pulls him so often to the sky. Both are aware that if Ragnarok comes, they will be able to chase and kill Sunna and Mani, and free themselves from Odin's spell, and they look forward to that day.
Artwork by Gracie Gra.
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Why does my cat walk sideways when playing?
Cats typically walk sideways because they are exhibiting fear or they are being threatened. It could also be a sign of defensiveness, intimidation, or a health condition such as vestibular disease. It may also just be part of a cat’s or kitten’s favorite postures during playtime.
What does it mean when a cat walks around your legs?
The moving between and rubbing against the legs is called marking and happens when they are excited. Cats are not bred as herding animals like some dogs, but they have learned that this behavior, marking, is a way to get what they want. Owners see their cat’s excitement and are quick to give her what she wants.
Are there any cats who walk on two legs?
To avoid this, cancel and sign in to YouTube on your computer. Cat videos and guess what? More cat videos. Cats Who Slap PART 4! (A Compilation) Cats Who Crab Walk Part 2!
What happens when a cat Cant walk on its back?
A cat can suffer paralysis when it stops walking altogether. This problem, more common in the hind legs, completely prevents them from moving. Therefore, your cat will not be able to walk or stand. Are your cat’ back legs collapsing?
What should I do if my cat’s back legs are not working?
For example: 1 If your cat’s bed is high up, move it to the floor 2 Give your cat soft bedding and blankets to sit on 3 Keep your cat’s food and water bowls at ground-level 4 Implement short, gentle play sessions 5 Discourage your cat from climbing and vigorous activity 6 Use a low-sided litter tray 7 Gently massage your cat’s legs More …
How to tell if your cat has leg problems?
Rear Leg Problems in Cats. 1 Lameness (limping) 2 Struggling to stand. 3 Slow or stiff walking. 4 Unsteady back legs. 5 Holding a leg off the floor while standing. 6 Dragging the back paws. 7 Legs giving out or collapsing. 8 Paralysis – unable to move the legs at all. 9 Reluctance to exercise, jump, or climb. 10 Disinterest in play.
Why does my cat walk between my legs?
There are a few reasons cats walk between your legs. When they’re rubbing against your legs on the walk, they’re doing something sweet and marking their territory. Your cat rubs against you to deposit her scent and stake her claim to you to the world.
Why does my cat rub against my legs?
When they’re rubbing against your legs on the walk, they’re doing something sweet and marking their territory. Your cat rubs against you to deposit her scent and stake her claim to you to the world. But, because these are cats we’re talking about, there’s another, more manipulative motivation too.
Why does my cat stand but not move?
You may notice that your cat stand but falls or cannot move at all. Sometimes this succeeds but with strange movements such as , raising the legs abnormally or your cat moving its legs in circles. Other times difficulty of mobility occurs because the cat is suffering from tremors, tics or convulsions throughout its body.
What to do if your cat can’t walk or stand?
If your old cat can’t walk or stand, take it to the vet IMMEDIATELY. A professional will be able to diagnose the problem correctly and treat it accordingly. For more, take a look at our article where we discuss caring for older cats. This article is purely informative.
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Once upon a time the Micky Mouse creator, Walt Disney, worked with the world's most famous surrealist, Salvador Dali.
Dali was approached by Disney himself in 1945 to propose a collaborative film. Entitled "Destino, the picture would be based upon a Mexican folk song of the same name, with the music played to accompany a sequence of Dali-designed animation. Destino is a fabled romance between Chronos, the personification of time, and a young mortal woman. The scenes blend a series of surreal paintings of Dali with dancing and metamorphosis.
Walt Disney's Destino was produced by Dali and John Hench (the Disney artist who did the storyboards) for 8 months between 1945 and 1946. Hench was described as a "ghostly figure" who knew better than Dali the secrets of the Disney film. For some time, the project remained a secret.
But the film was eventually shelved due to WWII-era financial problems at Disney’s company. Dalí described the film as “a magical display of the problem of life in the labyrinth of time” and Disney said it was “a simple story about a young girl in search of true love.”
However, some 54 years later, the development of Fantasia’s long-awaited sequel, Fantasia 2000, inspired Disney’s nephew, Roy, to finally revive the project. A team of French animators were brought on board to produce the six-minute film on the basis of Dali’s notes and storyboards. In 2003, his musical vision was released at long last.
The short is moving and extremely enjoyable and someone was kind enough to upload an HD file of "Destino." Watch the video below and let it carry you to dreamland.
What can you say about this video? Feel free to leave your comments below!
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Energy transition in South-East Europe is slowly but steadily gaining momentum as costs of investment in solar PV and onshore wind projects are declining significantly. Electricity produced from renewables is on the verge of becoming less expensive than electricity produced from fossil fuels, and the region should embrace this opportunity, it was said at the regional workshop Renewable energy benefits: can SEE realise the full potential of the Energy Transition?, organized by IRENA and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic
· Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo last week.
South East Europe has never been at the forefront of energy transition and utilizing its renewable energy potential. Until now, regional governments have not perceived renewables as an opportunity, but rather an obligation imposed by the EU and the Energy Community.
“Renewable energy technologies are too expensive, and it is very difficult to balance the energy from renewables” is a narrative frequently repeated by decision makers across the region. This lack of political will and absence of vision have left the region lagging a significant global trend towards sustainable energy solutions.
Moreover, switching from fossil fuels to greener energy solutions has been communicated as a threat to a large number of jobs in the sector.
However, a new study by IRENA, to be published later this year, and whose preliminary findings were presented at the regional workshop in Sarajevo and the ENERGA fair, offers a brighter and more encouraging socio-economic outlook for the region, should it turn more decisively to renewable energy.
By 2050, the energy transition driven by renewables could create around 50,000 additional jobs in the overall economy of Southeast Europe (the study included the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Republic of Moldova) and lead to a GDP gain of around USD 500 billion between 2019 and 2050, compared to a business as usual scenario.
Renewables costs set to decline
According to IRENA, the global levelized cost of electricity decreased by 77% for solar PV and by 35% for onshore wind from 2010 to 2018. The costs of solar and wind power technologies, according to IRENA, are set to continue declining. IRENA also pointed that, with lower cost of capital onshore wind may offer less expensive electricity than the cheapest fossil fuel alternative.
This projection of cheap renewable electricity prices will open new opportunities for a renewable energy boom in the region, even more so if the emissions trading system is to be directly or indirectly imposed on SEE countries.
Bioenergy has a huge potential in theory
This two-day workshop offered an opportunity to conduct a stakeholders consultations to discuss further engagement of IRENA in the region, building on the outcomes of currently implemented IRENA’s South East Europe Regional Initiative.
The topic of modern bioenergy featured prominently in discussions among a wide range of stakeholders attending the workshop. Though the theoretical potential is huge and the share of bioenergy in direct or indirect jobs in the renewables sector in the EU-part of SEE in 2017 was at 82.5%, the potential from biomass is still underutilized.
There have been many studies conducted in the region, but there is still plenty of room for systematizing the data and overcoming numerous barriers, among which logistics and the sustainability of biomass are the most challenging.
The workshop participants also discussed the following opportunity areas: the improved use of bioenergy in the residential sector and in district heating, and biogas production from waste.
EnC contracting parties supported for preparations of NECPs
The topic of National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) has become very important among the EnC Contracting Parties and participants of the workshop agreed that international organizations should provide those countries with coordinated support.
Dubravka Bošnjak from GIZ Open Regional Fund for SEE – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE) said that ORF-EE continues to provide strong support to EnC Contracting Parties in developing and implementing NECPs.
Those NECPs have become obligatory not just for EU member states, but also for EnC Contracting parties following their international commitments. Although working groups for NECP development have been established and the EnC in cooperation with GIZ ORF-EE has published the guidance paper “Consolidation of climate planning processes in the Energy Community Contracting Parties,” there is still a long way for those countries to go in order to align climate and energy planning processes with new 2030 targets, introduce a legal framework and secure implementation.
Waste-to-Energy success story from Ljubljana
Professor Andrej Gubina, Head of Laboratory of Energy Policy at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, presented a success story from Slovenia’s capital – a project of the Regional Centre for Waste Treatment and Recovery (RCERO), where energy is produced from municipal waste.
This WtE plant, one of the most advanced in Europe, has a capacity to process over 170,000 tonnes of waste annually and serves some 700,000 people in 43 municipalities in Slovenia. Having soaked an investment of EUR 155 million, this is the biggest environmental project in Slovenia. It consists of facilities for mechanical-biological treatment of municipal waste, and it annually produces 17,000 MWh of electricity and 36,000 MWh of heat from biogas.
This state-of-the-art facility represents a great example of circular economy making interlinkages between the waste management and energy sector, but also contributing to the overall waste management process of the city, which is the EU capital with the highest percentage of separately collected waste, ahead of Tallinn and Helsinki.
Hidden subsidies for fossil fuels still exist
If we want renewables to have a fair chance in the SEE region, it is essential to create a level playing field for renewables and fossil fuels. What does this mean? First and foremost, it means that we should speak openly about subsidies in the energy sector.
The issue of hidden subsidies was addressed at the workshop by Milka Mumović, an electricity and statistics expert at the Energy Community. Mumović said that the citizens of EnC Contracting Parties are not only subsidizing renewable energy, but also energy produced from coal, whereas the subsidies for coal are even higher than subsidies for renewables, with the exception of Montenegro and North Macedonia.
The citizens, according to Mumović, are aware of their direct contribution in subsidies for renewables since the cost is shown on electricity bills, while in the case of coal, citizens are not aware since the subsidies are granted directly from the budget.
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The European CORDEX (EURO-CORDEX) initiative is a large voluntary effort that seeks to advance regional climate and Earth system science in Europe. As part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) - Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), it shares the broader goals of providing a model evaluation and climate projection framework and improving communication with both the General Circulation Model (GCM) and climate data user communities. EURO-CORDEX oversees the design and coordination of ongoing ensembles of regional climate projections of unprecedented size and resolution (0.11° EUR-11 and 0.44° EUR-44 domains). Additionally, the inclusion of empirical-statistical downscaling allows investigation of much larger multi-model ensembles. These complementary approaches provide a foundation for scientific studies within the climate research community and others. The value of the EURO-CORDEX ensemble is shown via numerous peer-reviewed studies and its use in the development of climate services. Evaluations of the EUR-44 and EUR-11 ensembles also show the benefits of higher resolution. However, significant challenges remain. To further advance scientific understanding, two flagship pilot studies (FPS) were initiated. The first investigates local-regional phenomena at convection-permitting scales over central Europe and the Mediterranean in collaboration with the Med-CORDEX community. The second investigates the impacts of land cover changes on European climate across spatial and temporal scales. Over the coming years, the EURO-CORDEX community looks forward to closer collaboration with other communities, new advances, supporting international initiatives such as the IPCC reports, and continuing to provide the basis for research on regional climate impacts and adaptation in Europe.
The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) established the Task Force for Regional Climate Downscaling (TFRCD) in 2009, which created the Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) initiative to advance and coordinate the science and application of regional climate downscaling through global partnerships (Giorgi et al. 2009). The major goals of CORDEX are as follows: (i) to better understand relevant regional/local climate phenomena, their variability and changes, through downscaling, (ii) to evaluate and improve regional climate downscaling models and techniques, (iii) to produce coordinated sets of regional downscaled projections worldwide, and (iv) to foster communication and knowledge exchange with users of regional climate information. Working towards these goals also helps address WCRP Grand Challenges such as: Water for the food baskets of the world, Clouds circulation and climate sensitivity, Weather and climate extremes, Carbon feedbacks in the climate system, Melting ice and global consequences, and Regional sea-level change and coastal impacts. CORDEX was recently added as a major project under the WCRP auspices and is also included as a diagnostic Model Intercomparison Project (MIP) in CMIP6 (Gutowski et al. 2016). Each regional team can coordinate its own simulations and associated research activities. The EURO-CORDEX community, in particular, has established itself as a key contributor to CORDEX, with more than 30 modelling groups collaborating in the simulation of the European climate, across all scenarios, and making the regional climate model (RCM) data publicly available and accessible in particular via the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). Further, many of the groups in the EURO-CORDEX community have contributed with a wide range of simulations of regional climates in other CORDEX regions and have played an instrumental role in defining standards for the ESGF publication.
This community is organized in a way that allows both a high level of coordination as well as flexibility (e.g., dynamic structures to address emergent scientific challenges). EURO-CORDEX celebrated 10 years as an active consortium in 2019. The scientific output along with the substantial contributions to open archives (e.g., Earth System Grid Federation, https://esgf.llnl.gov) marks EURO-CORDEX as a success. However, Europe enjoys many financial and institutional advantages compared with other regions that should not be ignored. Despite this, there are many aspects to EURO-CORDEX’s success that do not rely on these advantages but rather on the members’ commitment to a strongly coordinated, organized and community-based effort. The authors hope that the lessons learned from the experience of the EURO-CORDEX community can be applied as a model for other CORDEX regions as they evolve.
EURO-CORDEX is driven by scientific challenges, aligned with the first two goals of the WCRP-CORDEX initiative. EURO-CORDEX has made substantial progress in addressing the following specific challenges:
Added value of regional downscaling with respect to scale, uncertainty, processes, and phenomena (Torma et al. 2015; Giorgi and Gutowski 2015; Prein and Gobiet 2016; Fantini et al. 2018; Coppola et al. 2018a; Soares and Cardoso 2017).
Improve the understanding of regional phenomena in a climate change context, in particular extreme weather events e.g., heat waves, storms, winds, floods, droughts, precipitation, Termonia et al. (2018) and Belušić et al. (2017) and their attribution to human activities (Stott et al. 2015; Luu et al. 2018; Philip et al. 2018; Kew et al. 2018).
The strategic challenges confronting EURO-CORDEX are closely aligned with the goals of CORDEX mentioned above. Although progress on point (i) has been demonstrated, substantial gaps remain and EURO-CORDEX will need to address the following issues related to point (ii) over the coming years:
Quality control: EURO-CORDEX certified process-based assessments, which seek to attribute model performance to emerging processes, e.g., conditions originating from the interaction of components of a complex system.
Creation of climate information through
stronger involvement of the statistics community and “big data” analytics strategies as well as stronger engagement with programs and bodies which focus on vulnerability, impacts, adaptation and climate services (VIACS) such as GEWEX (www.gewex.org), Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S; https://climate.copernicus.eu) and Future Earth (www.futureearth.org).
development of approaches to assess the credibility and robustness of multi-model-multi-method ensemble projections, and to synthesize these into user-relevant narratives (Benestad et al. 2017a)
Knowledge transfer and exchange with the GCM community, in particular by contributing to the WCRP Grand Challenges relevant for Europe and by quantifying the GCM limitations induced by simulating the climate at low resolution (Giorgi et al. 2016).
As the needs of researchers and policy makers become ever more focused on local to regional impacts and phenomena (including features such as urban environments, hydrology, vegetation, land use) so must EURO-CORDEX evolve.
This manuscript is meant to provide a brief history of EURO-CORDEX and its predecessors (“A brief history of EURO-CORDEX”), the evolution of the community and its current organization (“Organizational structure of EURO-CORDEX”), the EURO-CORDEX modelling framework (“EURO-CORDEX modelling framework”), its scientific advances to date (“Scientific advances”) and what these advances mean for the future (“Key messages and outlook”).
A brief history of EURO-CORDEX
EURO-CORDEX stems from the achievements of former EU projects on regional climate modelling such as PRUDENCE and ENSEMBLES (Christensen et al. 2007; van der Linden and Mitchell 2009). In launching the CORDEX initiative, WCRP recognized that in order to produce, maintain and continuously analyze large ensembles of regional climate simulations, a large, long-lasting and coordinated community effort is needed. Therefore the EURO-CORDEX community was formed in order to sustain and provide a structure for these activities concentrated on the European domain. As such, EURO-CORDEX has always been a voluntary, self-organized and dynamic community that can grow and evolve with the changing landscape of climate research, high-performance computing and user needs. Due to the fact that EURO-CORDEX builds on the efforts of previous projects and incorporates their lessons, it is also a role model for other CORDEX communities who are engaging in this type of effort for the first time.
Being a voluntary effort without base funding (similar to the larger CORDEX initiative and other endeavors such as CMIP), EURO-CORDEX nevertheless leverages its activities to obtain national and European funding. It also relies heavily on the enthusiasm and engagement of the participating researchers and institutions. The EURO-CORDEX consortium meets yearly in the Climate Service Center in Hamburg, Germany (GERICS). The number of registered participants from the 1st General Assembly (GA) in 2011 to the 8th GA in 2018 grew from 40 to 64, with representatives from 18 European countries (Table 1). At the first meeting, the foundation for the activities of the upcoming years has been laid, including the modelling protocol that forms the backbone of the EURO-CORDEX ensemble. Since then, yearly meetings have provided an opportunity for presenting and discussing the major EURO-CORDEX activities and outcomes, and to decide about future plans and strategies. The EURO-CORDEX community also provided a strong contribution to the two International Conferences on Regional Climate - CORDEX (Brussels, November 2013 and Stockholm, May 2016). In preparation for the Brussels conference the EURO-CORDEX community produced a press release to announce the release of the EURO-CORDEX data (based on studies by Jacob et al. 2014 and Vautard et al. 2013) entitled “New, detailed climate projections for Europe reveal changes in extreme events and open the way for climate change impact studies.” Further research activities were discussed including the analysis of low emission scenarios, including the + 1.5 °C and + 2 °C global warming targets, which resulted in recent studies that use many EURO-CORDEX simulations to assess the impacts of these warming targets over Europe (Jacob et al. 2018; Kjellström et al. 2018; Teichmann et al. 2018). General assemblies are also an opportunity to reflect critically on the work performed and address emergent challenges.
EURO-CORDEX is conceived as both a dynamical and a statistical downscaling activity. Modelling groups focusing on dynamical downscaling are using the following regional climate modelling systems: ALADIN-Climate (Colin et al. 2010), CCLM (Böhm et al. 2006; Will et al. 2017; Rockel et al. 2008), HIRHAM (Christensen et al. 2007), RACMO (Van Meijgaard et al. 2012), RCA (Samuelsson et al. 2011), RegCM (Giorgi et al. 2012), REMO (Jacob et al, 2012, 2014), PROMES (Domínguez et al. 2010; Domínguez et al. 2013), WRF (Skamarock and Klemp 2008), and ALARO-0 (Giot et al. 2016; Termonia et al. 2018).
Modelling groups focusing on empirical statistical downscaling (ESD) employ a wide range of approaches (Benestad et al. 2017a; Maraun et al. 2015, 2018; Gutiérrez et al. 2018; Hertig et al. 2018; Soares et al. 2018; Widmann et al.2019). The two approaches to downscaling are seen as complementary within the EURO-CORDEX community, each with its relative strengths.
Organizational structure of EURO-CORDEX
In order to evolve and adequately address emerging challenges, the EURO-CORDEX community has refined its structure during its existence. Initially, two coordinators were sufficient to manage the dynamically downscaled ensemble. However, new challenges meant that it was necessary to expand the number of coordinating members. The new structure, shown in Fig. 1, is an outcome of the 6th GA in 2016. There, the EURO-CORDEX community acknowledged that downscaling is achievable through different approaches, and that dynamical and statistical approaches are complementary to each other with different strengths and weaknesses. Both approaches are needed to address the challenges ahead. As a result, there are now two working groups devoted to specifically tackle issues related to dynamical and statistical downscaling, respectively, although they interact with each other.
Further, a third working group was formed explicitly focussing on Climate Information Distillation (CID). As discussed previously, this activity emerged as the scientific community acknowledged the challenges that users face when adopting climate data in decision-making contexts. The vast amounts of data produced from multi-model ensembles with different model combinations make state-of-the-art statistical methods necessary in order to make sense of all the data, however, the statistics community has not yet been widely engaged in the analysis of the data (Benestad et al. 2017b). This activity is seen as crucial to the effective integration and collaboration between EURO-CORDEX and the VIACS/policy communities, as this is where the output of the scientific activity makes its way into decision-making. Deser et al. (2012) pointed out that GCMs produce pronounced chaotic variations on regional scales even over decades, and demonstrated that one model with slightly different initial conditions could produce a wide range of local scenarios. One important question therefore concerns the minimum size of a reliable ensemble that is not susceptible to random fluctuations and the law of small numbers (Benestad et al. 2017b). Given the multiplicity of messages, users may be inadequately prepared to incorporate state-of-the-art climate information or may make inappropriate decisions if messages from limited, non-robust, unreliable subsets of data are adopted (Fernández et al. 2019). Currently, a group of scientists is forming to tackle the issue of CID, including dynamical and statistical downscaling researchers from EURO-CORDEX, but also global climate modelers, atmospheric dynamicists, climate service providers and philosophers. Initial teleconferences took place during spring of 2018 and additional activities are planned.
EURO-CORDEX modelling framework
In order to assure a high-quality and easy to handle ensemble of simulations, the EURO-CORDEX modelling strategy was implemented at the first GA. It consists of a controlled experiment setup containing a fixed simulation domain (Fig. 2), predefined horizontal grid spacings, an evaluation simulation for each model used within EURO-CORDEX and a historical and climate change simulations, following the endorsed CORDEX protocol (Giorgi and Gutowski 2015). The following are the time periods covered by the simulations: Evaluation (ERA-Interim), 1989–2008; Control, 1951–2005; Scenarios, 2006–2100.
Within EURO-CORDEX, one domain with two resolutions is used for the RCM simulations: the EUR-44 domain at 0.44° grid spacing, which is similar to what is used in the first phase of CORDEX experiments, and the EUR-11 domain at 0.11° grid spacing. Therefore, together with an ensemble at the CORDEX standard resolution (at 0.44°), an ensemble of high-resolution regional climate simulations has been created (at 0.11°), aiming at better resolving meteorological phenomena, including extreme events, over Europe. At both resolutions, three types of experiments are performed: reanalysis-driven evaluation runs designed to assess RCM capacity to properly simulate regional climate in a “perfect” boundary conditions setup, GCM-driven historical simulations, and GCM-driven climate projections designed to assess current and future climate change. GCM simulations are directly downscaled using RCMs (GCM to EUR-11) or via an intermediate step using a EUR-44 simulation which is then downscaled to EUR-11 (GCM to EUR-44 to EUR-11) (Fig. 3). Simulations are accessible via the ESGF data distribution facility at both a resolution of 0.44°, but also at a higher resolution of 0.11° which is unique within the CORDEX framework.
All regional models used in EURO-CORDEX are evaluated using reanalysis-forced simulations (left hand side in Fig. 3) before running regional climate change projections driven by GCM forcing (right hand side in Fig. 3). Evaluation simulations are driven by “quasi-observational” data (ERA-Interim reanalysis; Dee et al. 2011) offering a robust basis for joint evaluation studies, atmospheric process analysis, comparison with previous projects, e.g., ENSEMBLES, and detailed evaluation against observational data. This provides some information about the performance of the individual RCMs over Europe, along with the presence of common systematic biases. Data are quality controlled before being uploaded to the ESGF repository, and best practices on the use of the regionally downscaled ensembles are provided (see https://euro-cordex.net). Furthermore, a joint errata service, accessible via https://euro-cordex.net, has been set in place in order to inform users on erroneous or equivocal simulation output.
In EURO-CORDEX, the choice of the driving GCM for the climate projection runs is largely up to each participating modelling group, given that it is a voluntary effort. This kind of approach can result in an ensemble of opportunity that might suffer from inconsistent climate change signals (Turco et al. 2013) or be biased towards a few preferred GCMs (Fernández et al. 2019). To avoid this, there has been a strong effort within EURO-CORDEX, and also from other initiatives, to analyze the driving GCMs, both regarding their performance (e.g., Cattiaux et al. 2013; McSweeney et al. 2014; Brands et al. 2013; Belda et al. 2015) and the spread of their mean seasonal temperature and precipitation changes (following the methods of Mendlik and Gobiet (2015) and McSweeney et al. (2014), or using a climate classification in Belda et al. (2016) or for their changes in weather regime frequency (Cattiaux et al. 2013). These analyses serve as support in the selection of forcing GCMs, in the sense of performance under current climate, but also in order to span the full spread of the GCM climate change signals over Europe. So while EURO-CORDEX does not explicitly follow a systematic experimental design as proposed by McSweeney et al. (2014) it does incorporate selection criteria. Further, most of the GCMs used in EURO-CORDEX are among those listed as well performing by McSweeney et al. (2014) for Europe. Nevertheless, the GCM-RCM simulation matrix is sparse. Therefore, national projects such as ReKlies-DE (http://reklies.hlnug.de) and international activities such as the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S; https://climate.copernicus.eu) are supporting EURO-CORDEX in filling this GCM-RCM-simulation matrix in a coordinated effort. There have also been C3S projects for the evaluation and quality control (EQC) of climate model data (https://climatedatasite.net/).
Early on, EURO-CORDEX committed itself to make data available through open access services such as the ESGF (https://esg-dn1.nsc.liu.se/projects/esgf-liu/) and climate impact web portals (https://climate4impact.eu). The availability of a large multi-model ensemble in a coordinated framework (evaluation, historical and future simulations), on different spatial resolutions and for a range of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) is a significant contribution to the climate science community. It has provided the researchers with a solid basis from which to investigate present and future European climate, and assess uncertainty on continental to regional scales.
At the eighth GA (January 2018), a renewed commitment was made towards community-driven research on high-impact topics with a focus on contributing to the next IPCC assessment report. These topics include the following: urban scale issues, added value, impacts (with a focus on extremes), emergent constraints, interactions/feedbacks, and dynamics/thermodynamics. Another outcome of the GA was the establishment of a EURO-CORDEX errata page where issues noted by modelling teams and users are gathered, described and addressed in an accessible and transparent manner. A third decision was to update and improve model/experiment documentation. This will include synchronizing EURO-CORDEX documentation with ongoing C3S-funded projects.
Evaluation studies and projections of future European climate
The EURO-CORDEX evaluation simulations have served as the data-pool for a series of investigations concerning current European climate and the ability of regional models to accurately represent its state, its range of uncertainty and systematic model biases on a continental (e.g., Kotlarski et al. 2014; Katragkou et al.2015; García-Díez et al. 2015) or regional level (e.g., Belušić et al. 2017; Dyrrdal et al. 2017). These simulations also provide a basis for assessing the added value, or lack thereof, of regional climate models. One way to look at downscaling is that information is added, with an improved physical understanding (i.e., though explicit inclusion of more processes/phenomena) and more geographical detail. At the same time, the downscaling can also introduce new errors and biases (e.g., additional uncertainties, mismatches between GCM and RCM in terms of parameterizations). The case for added value is where the addition of information dominates over the addition of uncertainty. However, the question of added value also depends on how the results are being used. For example, there is recent work that shows that the biases and uncertainty in GCM-RCM chains are not additive, i.e., uncertainty does not increase with each downscaling step and that RCMs in the EURO-CORDEX framework improve on the GCMs even at larger scales (Sørland et al. 2018).
The added value of higher resolution simulations was also addressed, both directly and indirectly, in a number of studies including dynamical downscaling (Warrach-Sagi et al. 2013; Torma et al. 2015; Casanueva et al. 2016b; Coppola et al. 2018a; Prein and Gobiet 2016; Ivanov et al. 2017; Soares and Cardoso 2017; Fantini et al. 2018; Sørland et al. 2018) and statistical methods (Casanueva et al. 2016a; Soares et al. 2018). Joint evaluation studies also focused on extreme climate events, such as heat waves (Vautard et al. 2013; Lhotka et al. 2017) and extreme precipitation (Fantini et al. 2018), medicanes (Gaertner et al. 2018) or physical process analysis, such as land-atmosphere interactions (e.g., Davin et al. 2016; Knist et al. 2017) and coastal circulations (Cardoso et al. 2016). Many of these examples point to an added value of regional downscaling by including processes or phenomena that are missing from coarser resolution models (e.g., Prein et al. 2015; Cardoso et al. 2016; Davin et al.2016; Knist et al. 2017; Fantini et al. 2018). In other cases, such as in studies focusing on mean climate conditions involving spatially or temporally averaged fields (e.g., Kotlarski et al. 2014; Casanueva et al. 2016b) and/or phenomena with strong links to large scale circulation (Vautard et al. 2013), the added value is less apparent. However, a comprehensive assessment of added value in CORDEX RCM simulations is still lacking.
The historical and projection simulation datasets are the basis for the investigation of current and future European climate, including investigation of uncertainty stemming from model variability and projection scenarios. Jacob et al. (2014) used the higher resolution (0.11°) EURO-CORDEX simulations to show the overall spatial patterns for temperature and precipitation changes and related indices are similar to those of ENSEMBLES, with a slightly stronger mean precipitation increase over most of Europe and a reduced northwards shift of Mediterranean drying evolution. Bador et al. (2017) investigated the evolution of the record temperatures showing that maximum temperatures above 50 °C can occur at the end of the 21st century under the RCP8.5 scenario. Tramblay and Somot (2018) used the EUR-11 EURO-CORDEX ensemble to investigate the intensity and the time of emergence of the response of Mediterranean extreme precipitation to climate change. They showed a robust north-south pattern with increase (resp. decrease) in the North (resp. South) of the basin. Related to these projected shifts are projected changes in extreme dry spells, which may increase in duration and extent over the Mediterranean basin (Raymond et al. 2019). Jerez et al. (2015) and Bartók et al. (2017) compared changes in solar radiation projected by global and regional EURO-CORDEX climate models and reported a discrepancy between the results in the GCM/RCM ensembles, namely increasing/decreasing trends for the period 2006–2100 over Europe under RCP8.5. Tobin et al. (2016) analyzed changes in surface wind speed and wind power in Europe, using EURO-CORDEX simulations, and Tobin et al. (2018) assessed general changes in electricity production in Europe. Others have also investigated renewable energy projections and note a more challenging environment for wind energy management in the future (Moemken et al. 2018). Several other studies used the EURO-CORDEX projections to focus on regional/national level (e.g., Smiatek et al. 2016; Rulfová et al. 2016; Ouzeau et al. 2016; Soares and Cardoso 2017; Hosseinzadehtalaei et al. 2018; Bador et al. 2017; Fernández et al. 2019; Huebener et al. 2017; Kjellström et al. 2016; Rajczak and Schär 2017; Púčik et al. 2017; Frei et al. 2018; Termonia et al. 2018; Prein and Gobiet 2016; Stepanek et al. 2016; Cardoso et al. 2018) others applied statistical downscaling methods, to further downscale the regional climate information (e.g., Dosio 2016; Mezghani et al. 2017) while others, after adopting bias adjustment techniques, use EURO-CORDEX data for local applications (Reder et al. 2018; Croce et al. 2018).
EURO-CORDEX simulations were recently used to assess the human influence in recent individual extreme events, together with other projection ensembles, a type of analysis which is called “event attribution” (Stott et al. 2015). EURO-CORDEX does not include pre-industrial simulations but changes between an earlier historical period (e.g., 1971–2000) and a “current climate” period (e.g., 2001–2030) allows to estimate a lower bound of human influence on regional climate events. In this way, Kew et al. (2018) showed that heat waves such as the 2017 summer “Lucifer” heat wave in Southern Europe had a probability that had strongly increased due to human influence. Other cases were studied using EURO-CORDEX, such as the extreme precipitations over the Cévennes mountains range (Luu et al. 2018), the European drought of Summer 2015 in Central Europe (Hauser et al. 2017) the extreme wind stagnation of December 2016 (Vautard et al. 2018), and the winter wind storms of January 2018 (Vautard et al. 2019). The added value of high resolution was demonstrated in particular for the Mediterranean heavy precipitations. As a final example, Giorgi et al. (2016) showed the added value of high-resolution RCMs in the projection of summer precipitation changes over high mountainous areas (e.g., the Alps). An overview of EURO-CORDEX publications can be found in the EURO-CORDEX publication web pages (http://euro-cordex.net).
Flagship pilot studies
The flagship pilot studies (FPS) initiative was established by the CORDEX Scientific Advisory Team as an additional activity to the core work of CORDEX, analogous to the MIPs of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) (Gutowski et al. 2016). These are ”bottom up” initiatives and benefit the larger CORDEX/Working Group on Regional Climate (WGRC, https://www.wcrp-climate.org/regional-climate) bodies through linking to the wider climate research community, such as the newly established MIPs and other WCRP core projects. The EURO-CORDEX community submitted two successful FPS applications, one on the climatic impacts of land cover changes and one jointly with the Med-CORDEX community (Ruti et al. 2016; Somot et al. 2018) on convective phenomena through the use of very high-resolution convection-permitting regional climate models (CPRCMs). These computationally intensive projects started up in 2017 and just recently begun to produce results.
FPS I Land Use and Climate Across Scales
Land Use and Climate Across Scales (LUCAS) is a new initiative on coordinated regional climate experiments for Europe including land use change forcing (https://www.hzg.de/ms/cordex_fps_lucas/). It was initiated jointly by EURO-CORDEX and LUCID (Land-Use and Climate, IDentification of robust impacts, http://www.lucidproject.org.au). Land use change (including land cover and/or land management changes) is an important anthropogenic forcing on climate, and its direct biophysical effect on temperature can locally or regionally be of the same order of magnitude as the effect from global greenhouse gas forcing, but there are still uncertainties in magnitude and sign of many land-induced changes (de Noblet-Ducoudré et al. 2012; Lejeune et al. 2017; Perugini et al. 2017; Cherubini et al. 2018). Even more important for impact studies, many numerical experiments have highlighted the strong impact land uses may have on extreme events (e.g., Pitman et al. 2012; Davin et al. 2014; Thiery et al. 2017; Lejeune et al. 2018; Berckmans et al.2019).
The LUCAS initiative is complementary to the Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (Lawrence et al. 2016) in that LUMIP focuses on the global scale, while LUCAS investigates regional impacts, using higher resolution, closer to the scale at which the biogeophysical effect of LUC has the strongest impacts. Up till now, this human forcing is not accounted for in RCM climate change projections. RCMs have been applied individually for investigating impacts of land use changes on regional climate in different world regions (e.g., see reviews of Pielke et al. 2011; Lawrence and Vandecar 2015; Santanello et al. 2018). Most results are model specific and therefore do not allow one to derive robust conclusions. In LUCAS, for the first time an ensemble of RCMs will be used in coordinated land use change (LUC) experiments, focusing on anthropogenic land cover conversions and potentially on land management practices during its later phase. The LUCAS modelling framework is visualized in Fig. 4.
The overall objectives of LUCAS are (i) to identify robust biophysical impacts of land use change on climate across regional-to-local spatial scales and at various time scales, from extreme events to multi-decadal trends, and (ii) to provide robust information in support of effective land use practices and also help guide decisions on land management from unintended consequences. The questions to be addressed are:
How sensitive are regional climate models to land use change and how is this interrelated to land-atmosphere coupling in different regions among the suite of models?
How large is the relative contribution of land use change compared with other forcings in the detection of past and potential future climate trends?
How do land use practices modulate climate variability? Can local land use change modulate extreme climate conditions?
What is the effect of spatial resolution on the magnitude and robustness of land use change-induced climate changes?
What errors do we make on the downscaled climate change if we ignore land use change? This is especially important for subsequent impact studies.
It is clear that the outcome of these simulations will be limited as long as the representation of surface fluxes, boundary layer turbulence, and cloud microphysics cannot be verified and improved. Therefore, these modelling efforts will be accompanied by field experiments on land-atmosphere feedback (Wulfmeyer et al. 2018), which are currently being evaluated or prepared, e.g., at the TERENO sites (Bogena 2016) and the new Land-Atmosphere Feedback Observatory (LAFO; see https://lafo.uni-hohenheim.de).
Cropland management as well as human water use by water extraction and irrigation is an emerging topic and has the potential to either enhance or dampen temperature extremes (Becker et al. 2013; Davin et al. 2014; Thiery et al. 2017; Keune et al. 2018). Also, the collaboration between the FPS LUCAS on land-atmosphere feedback, the WRCP LoCo community (Santanello et al. 2018) and experiments on land-atmosphere feedback (Wulfmeyer et al. 2018) including groundwater dynamics (Keune et al. 2016) should be intensified.
FPS II convective phenomena at high resolution over Europe and the Mediterranean
The second FPS mobilizes the EURO- and MED-CORDEX communities and aims to bring fresh perspectives and expertise on issues surrounding convective phenomena. Present and future convective extremes and their processes are under investigation with convection-permitting regional climate models (CPRCMs), at resolutions finer than 3 km, over selected sub-regions of Europe and the Mediterranean (Fig. 5). Advanced statistical techniques will also be employed in parallel to evaluate the performance of dynamical models, to potentially serve as emulators of convective extremes, and to detect and attribute their changes. These so-called emulators use empirical relationships between large scales features and local phenomena such as precipitation in ways similar to statistical downscaling but then add additional detail to obtain, e.g., sub-daily rainfall (Mezghani et al. 2019). The FPS aims to extend these to also include information from the dynamical downscaling. The added value of CPRCMs is well established now, especially for mesoscale convective systems, rainfall extremes, diurnal cycles, regional snow cover, etc. (see Ban et al. 2014; Prein et al. 2015, 2017a; Berthou et al. 2018; Sørland et al. 2018; Lüthi et al. 2019; Scaff et al. 2019). What has not been done as yet, is to explore these advances in an ensemble framework, which will allow us to better estimate uncertainty, quantify robustness and elucidate key driving processes. The added value of explicitly simulating deep convection will be rigorously evaluated with respect to both coarser resolution simulations up to GCM scales and VIACS applications. The CPRCM simulations will also serve as references and help developing convection parameterizations in standard RCMs and GCMs. The availability of observational datasets at very high resolutions in both space and time allows unprecedented evaluation opportunities (e.g., Lussana et al. 2018; Hiebl and Frei 2016, 2018; Frei2014).
This FPS has three main scientific questions with many attendant sub-topics and questions:
How do convective events and associated damaging phenomena (heavy precipitation, wind storms, flash-floods) respond to changing climate conditions in different climatic regions of Europe?
Does an improved representation of convective processes and precipitation at convection-permitting scales lead to downscaled as well as upscaled added value?
To what extent do lateral boundaries affect convection-permitting model (CPM) performance and how can corresponding errors be reduced?
Is it possible to complement costly convection-permitting experiments with physically defensible statistical downscaling approaches such as “convection emulators” that mimic CPMs and are fed by output from conventional-scale climate models?
Convective extreme events are a priority under the WCRP Grand Challenge on weather and climate extremes, because they carry both society-relevant and scientific challenges that can be tackled in the coming years. Further, “coordinated modelling programs are crucially needed to advance parameterizations of unresolved physics and to assess the full potential of CPMs” (Prein et al. 2015). The project involves over 20 modelling teams and consists of three modelling steps: test cases, evaluation runs and scenario runs. A presentation of the project and preliminary results appear in Coppola et al. (2018b). Figure 6 shows results from a test case over Switzerland and highlights the ensemble performance in reproducing an extreme Foehn event in November of 2014. The ensemble mean spatial pattern correlations for this event were over 0.90. However, the ensemble exhibits much larger spread for events that are more weakly forced by the synoptic background state and have strong orographic and/or land-ocean interactions. Simulations over climate scales (10 years time slices) under present and future conditions are ongoing. A small ensemble has recently been completed (fall 2019) and a number of investigations are underway with results expected in late 2019/early 2020.
Key messages and outlook
The scientific challenges EURO-CORDEX faces will require broad community-based research. Given the fragmented nature of funding for EURO-CORDEX and CORDEX generally, there is a need for funding that targets these types of research initiatives. Only in this way will significant improvements in fundamental understanding emerge. A non-exhaustive list of directed research recommendations are presented below. These are followed by more detailed descriptions of key messages and the future outlook from the EURO-CORDEX community, which include not only research but also necessary expansion of the community to include additional perspectives.
Research towards a more comprehensive and improved understanding of regional climate processes and their drivers, in particular with respect to extremes and place these within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and WCRP Grand Challenges.
Research towards transient continental-scale ensemble kilometer scale modelling (i.e., convection permitting) has the potential to substantially reduce uncertainties in future climate projections and enhance our understanding of high-impact weather events under climate change; the community is moving in this direction but such initiatives require significant and sustained investment in personnel and resources
Research support for the interdisciplinary community that will be needed to further develop Regional Earth system models that are able to better simulate the human impact on local and regional climate (e.g., vegetation feedbacks, hydrology and water resources, irrigation for agricultural production, urban climate, regional sea-level rise, storm surge modelling, coupled glacier modelling)
Research that explicitly links observations to model development and improvement through collaborative community efforts that focus on regional and local process studies that make use of, e.g., field campaign data to improve the representation of processes and feedbacks in regional models.
Linking with climate services
In addition to generating a unique dataset to address many scientific issues pertaining to climate downscaling, the first phase of EURO-CORDEX has already had a tremendous impact on the provision of regional climate services. For example, several “official” national climate scenarios (examples include France (http://www.drias-climat.fr), Switzerland (www.ch2018.ch), Austria, Norway (https://klimaservicesenter.no), Spain (http://escenarios.adaptecca.es) and Belgium (http://www.euro-cordex.be) for national climate change adaptation strategies are nowadays based on EURO-CORDEX. In addition, EURO-CORDEX will be at the heart of the coming C3S European climate service for future projections (e.g., the Copernicus Climate Change Service project C3S34b, PRINCIPLES, https://climate.copernicus.eu). It has also been used in proof-of-concept European climate services, for instance to help the energy sector facing climate change impacts and climate variability in developing renewable energies, or water, such as in the C3S CLIM4ENERGY and SWICCA projects (https://climate.copernicus.eu). Operational implementation is currently underway.
Despite the scientific progress and overall success of the EURO-CORDEX initiative, there are a number of challenges confronting it. These challenges are of both scientific and strategic nature. For example, simply generating and disseminating downscaled regional climate projections in the absence of good experimental design and without proper context, guidance and tailoring, will, at best, not serve user communities’ needs optimally and, at worst, potentially lead to misleading strategies (Dilling and Berggren 2014). Avoiding such pitfalls will require both scientific advances on uncertainty quantification and verification metrics needed to produce robust and reliable projections, as well as strategic partnerships with outside collaborators in the VIACS communities. EURO-CORDEX is directly addressing these challenges through the establishment of strategic partnerships (e.g., with the CMIP6-endorsed VIACS advisory board (Ruane et al. 2016) and a dedicated effort on CID (Fig. 1).
In the second phase of EURO-CORDEX, the ensemble of EUR-44 and EUR-11 simulations will be extended to serve as a robust basis for further studies and VIACS applications. Additional EURO-CORDEX objectives are to foster the creation of climate information including the interface to users and to integrate empirical statistical downscaling. The new structure of EURO-CORDEX (see Fig. 1) reflects these aims and gives us a good basis for future cooperation and collaborations with the broader community of climate change, sustainability and social transformations researchers. It is an ambitious and exciting platform but one that is timely and has a proven and dedicated community of practice built to support it.
Integrating statistical methods
As noted previously, the volume of data produced in the EURO-CORDEX downscaling activities requires advanced statistical techniques for robust analyses (Benestad et al. 2017a, 2017b). Better integration of these techniques and collaboration with external experts is a key strategic aim for EURO-CORDEX. Steps have already been taken with participation of EURO-CORDEX teams in the EU COST Action ES1102 “VALUE” (Maraun et al. 2015), where statistical downscaling groups organized themselves to systematically investigate statistical downscaling and bias correction methods. In a first experiment, VALUE investigated the downscaling skill of some 50 statistical methods for present climate, when driven with reanalysis-based predictors. These results have recently been published in a special issue (Maraun et al. 2017, 2018; Gutiérrez et al. 2018; Hertig et al. 2018; Soares et al. 2018). These types of activities have been integrated into the ESD pillar into EURO-CORDEX (Fig. 1), and a new call for the next experiment will be issued shortly. This experiment will investigate the overall skill of statistically downscaled GCMs in present climate and the plausibility and uncertainties of future projections based on statistical downscaling.
Receiving support from computer science
The fields of climate science and climate change impacts heavily rely on computationally-intensive simulations and data centers should be aware of the wealth of data that is to come from the EURO-CORDEX community due to increasing ensemble sizes and heading towards convection-permitting resolutions. For instance, the effort in the setup and performance of CPM simulations was exemplified in latitude-belt runs by Schwitalla et al. (2017) or European, CPM simulations by Leutwyler et al. (2016) and on global scales by Heinzeller et al. (2016). On the other hand the climate modelling community, enabled by ever increasing high-performance computing resources, is facing large challenges related to new, emerging computing paradigms using, e.g., new microarchitectures such as GPUs (Lawrence et al. 2018) and finding more efficient ways to handle and store the massive amounts of data produced by CPM simulations. Additionally, there will be even more requests from VIACS communities for this data and online processing services to reduce the data volume on the server side. VIACS will have to bring together the large amount of high-resolution climate data and the requests of their customers for local climate information. They are challenged by the need of quick answers on the one hand and the desire to deliver high-quality well thought out and crafted products on the other. To address this issue targeted research and development to simplify and democratize data access and analysis and improve guidance for end-users in an era of data volume explosion will be needed. Here, a closer collaboration with the EURO-CORDEX community will help to address the challenges and fulfill mutual requirements.
Fostering cooperation with WCRP activities
The regional activities in WCRP are receiving increased visibility at present, and it is incumbent upon all involved to look for synergies across these activities. EURO-CORDEX, and CORDEX more generally, has a critical role to play in realizing WCRP’s new scientfic objectives, in particular objective 4 “Bridging science and society” (WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) 2019). The EURO-CORDEX community itself is also challenged by the WCRP and CORDEX-specific grand scientific challenges. Some of them can be addressed together with other communities, such as VIACS or the larger climate science community including CMIP6. Here, closer and more active interaction is essential. Besides the scientific challenges, it is also necessary to support VIACS communities by providing well designed, large ensembles of climate simulations in a well-documented and usable way. As a promising development, a robust community has formed around convection-permitting modelling and two successful WCRP-GEWEX sponsored workshops, with strong participation from the EURO-CORDEX community, have been held in Boulder, Colorado. While advances are coming quickly, there are a number of challenges for this community to address (Prein et al. 2017b). EURO-CORDEX and its affiliated Flagship Pilot Studies are right at the forefront of this effort.
Collaboration with the GCM community
Finally, there is a tremendous strategic opportunity for EURO-CORDEX to pursue synergies with climate research activities mainly focused on GCM modelling through the establishment of CORDEX as a diagnostic MIP within the CMIP6 framework. This is also a non-trivial task, since institutional, disciplinary and philosophical barriers often remain between the two communities. However, increasing collaboration is very important, as CPMs are approaching the global scale and can be operated without lateral boundaries (e.g., Schwitalla et al. 2017). There exist a number of opportunities to evaluate upscaled added value, investigate emergent constraints on climate change at regional scales, provide feedback into GCMs to improve parameterizations, and for collaboration with higher resolution, convection-permitting GCMs.
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We acknowledge all participating institutions for their voluntary effort and contribution to EURO-CORDEX. We also thank the developers and maintainers of the ESGF-nodes who make it possible to store and distribute EURO-CORDEX data. S.S. acknowledges the support of NOTUR/NORSTORE projects NN9280K/NS9001K and the Research Council of Norway and its basic institute support of the strategic project on Climate Services. E.K. acknowledges the support of the Greek Research & Technology Network (GRNET) for provision of technical support and facilities (HPC-ARIS). L.S. and I.G. acknowledge the support of Croatian Science Foundation project CARE (2831) and Ministry of Environment and Energy project TF/HR/P3-M1-O1-0101 (www.prilagodba-klimi.hr). J. F. acknowledges support from the Spanish R+D Programme through grant INSIGNIA (CGL2016-79210-R), co-funded by ERDF/FEDER, and the Altamira Supercomputer at Instituto de Física de Cantabria (IFCA-CSIC), member of the Spanish Supercomputing Network. P.T. acknowledges support from the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO) within the CORDEX.be (BR/143/A2) project, and the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government – department EWI.M.A.G. acknowledges support from the Spanish R+D Programme through grants CGL2013-47261-R and CGL2017-89583-R, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. RF acknowledges support provided by ICHEC (Irish Centre for High End Computing) and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency. K.G. and S.K. gratefully acknowledge the computing time granted through JARA-HPC on the supercomputers JUROPA and JURECA at Forschungszentrum Jülich. M.B. and T.H. acknowledge support by The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports from the Large Infrastructures for Research, Experimental Development and Innovations project “IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center – LM2015070” and the INTER-EXCELLENCE program LTT17007, and support by Charles University from the PROGRES Q16 program. We acknowledge the approval and support of the two Flagship Pilot Studies (the FPS on Convective phenomena at high resolution over Europe and the Mediterranean and the FPS on Land Use and Climate Across Scales) by WRCP CORDEX. We thank Merja Tölle for providing simulation CCLM5-0-9-JLU as contribution to the CORDEX-FPS “Convective phenomena at high resolution over Europe and the Mediterranean”.
D. M., M.P., and H.T. gratefully acknowledge the support received via the projects HighEnd:Extremes, SPIRIT, and reclip:convex, funded by the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP) of the Klima- und Energiefonds (nos. B368608, B960272, and B769999, respectively), as well as the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) for compute time on JURECA through the grant JJSC39 and the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC) through the grants 70992 and 71193.
Open Access funding provided by Projekt DEAL.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Jacob, D., Teichmann, C., Sobolowski, S. et al. Regional climate downscaling over Europe: perspectives from the EURO-CORDEX community. Reg Environ Change 20, 51 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01606-9
- Climate change
- Regional climate models
- Regional climate modelling
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Geothermal energy is considered to be a renewable, clean energy. It is already being harnessed in many places around the world. The Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) has been mapping the sedimentary basins of Western Australia in the search for viable energy sources. Geothermal energy refers to energy obtained from a green and renewable source, conventionally from hot water and extracted from hot rocks. Hot-rock or an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) can be used to generate electricity and heat energy for direct use
Current drilling technology limits economic development of geothermal resources to a maximum depth of about five kilometres. The temperature at this depth varies across the Australian continent due to a range of geologic factors, such as high-heat generating basement rocks. The heat is derived from radiogenic elements in the rocks (particularly granite) and is trapped by layers of sediment that act as blankets.
The largest EGS project in the world is a 25 megawatts (MW) demonstration plant currently being developed in the Cooper Basin in South Australia. The Basin has the potential to generate 5000 to 10 000 MW.
Significant hot-rock resources in Western Australia have been identified in the Canning, Carnarvon and Perth Basins, where the depth to 200 degrees Celsius (ºC) is less than 5 kilometres (see image). Hot-water as a direct energy source has been used in many swimming pools of Perth. GSWA has conducted several studies to assess the potential for geothermal energy resources and development within the Canning, Carnarvon, Perth and Officer Basins. to view GSWA publications search eBookshop.
Geothermal energy exploration in Western Australia was legislated in 2008. Since then several companies have been exploring for geothermal energy, mostly in the Perth Basin.
The following links provide additional information on geothermal energy and assist the exploration for geothermal energy in Australia:
- Onshore Energy Security Program
- Heat flow interpretations for the Australian Continent
- OZTemp database
- Energy Research and Development Corporation
- Geothermal Reporting Code
- Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA)
- Department of Industry and Science
- Australian Geothermal Industry Development Framework with the aim of assisting geothermal exploration in Australia
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Carnarvon Basin
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Bonaparte Basin
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Officer Basin
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Browse Basin
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Canning Basin
- Geothermal energy potential in selected areas of WA — Perth Basin
For further information contact:
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National Beach Cleanup Initiative - Manzanita, Oregon
Annual Oregon Coast Cleanup And Awareness Day April 21, 2018
"Do it for the Beaches"
Manzanita Beach Cleanup Map
Somewhere around 45 million years ago or so, a series of enormous lava flows plodded their way across prehistoric Oregon from what is now Idaho. These massive lava flows inched along slowly, but sometimes as high as 30 feet in some spots, destroying forests and anything else in their path.
When they reached this area, they filled up large canyons and cooled into basalt rock. Eventually, the outer layers of the soil eroded away and the ground often sank, leaving headlands like Neahkanie Mountain, Tillamook Rock near Seaside and Cannon Beach, Cape Meares and others along the coast
Wild Shipwreck Tales
Somewhere just before 1700 a Spanish galleon wrecked here on the Nehalem Spit, not far from the mouth of the Nehalem River. Since then, chunks of beeswax with numbers carved into them have been found along these beaches – something that has greatly slowed since the 70's, however.
The PBS show History Detectives looked into it a few years back and discovered the beeswax came from one of two Spanish vessels: the Santo Cristo de Burgos or the San Francisco Xavier.
A group in the area called the Beeswax Project has been looking for this shipwreck, and over the years all kinds of detective work has been done, including radar soundings beneath the ground and more. This shipwreck has even sparked a host of legends about the Spanish burying treasure somewhere in the forest hills above town, but evidence for this is diminishing rather quickly. Read More:
3:30 PM-6:30 PM
Annual Oregon Coast Cleanup and Awareness Day, Signed by Governor Kate Brown on April 19th 2016.
Nehalem Beach, at the end of Laneda Ave, Manzanita, Oregon.
1st street at the end of Laneda Ave runs into the Ocean and the Ocean Blue cleanup event tour.
On the beach. Look for Ocean Blue Project flags and sign up table.
Glass is a possible thing found on beaches.
If available, please bring:
Reusable water bottle, warm clothes, rain gear, and a recycled box or bag to collect beach debris.
Note: We do not use plastic bags to cleanup beaches.
Event Sign Up Questions:
Manzanita, Oregon Beach Cleanup Event Poster
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There are profound cultural differences in how people think about, measure, and use their time. This module describes some major dimensions of time that are most prone to cultural variation.
- Understand how cultures differ in the views of time and the importance of these differences for social behavior.
- Explore major components of social time.
- Use these concepts to better understand the hidden dimensions of culture.
It is said that “time is money” in industrialized economies. Workers are paid by the hour, lawyers charge by the minute, and advertising is sold by the second (US$3.3 million for a 30-second commercial, or a little over $110,000 per second, for the 2012 Super Bowl). Remarkably, the civilized mind has reduced time—the most obscure and abstract of all intangibles—to the most objective of all quantities: money. With time and things on the same value scale, we can establish how many of our working hours equal the price of a product in a store.
This way of thinking about time is not universal, however. Beliefs about time remain profoundly different from culture to culture. Research shows that cultural differences in time can be as vast as those between languages. In one particularly telling study of the roots of culture shock, Spradley and Phillips asked a group of returning Peace Corps volunteers to rank 33 items concerning the amount of cultural adjustment each had required of them. The list included a wide range of items familiar to fearful travelers, such as “the type of food eaten,” the “personal cleanliness of most people,” “the number of people of your own race,” and “the general standard of living.” But aside from mastering the foreign language, the two greatest difficulties for the Peace Corps volunteers were concerned with social time: “the general pace of life,” followed by one of its most significant components, “how punctual most people are” (Spradley & Phillips, 1972).
Half a century ago anthropologist Edward Hall described cultural rules of social time as the “silent language” (Hall, 1983). These informal patterns of time “are seldom, if ever, made explicit. They exist in the air around us. They are either familiar and comfortable or unfamiliar and wrong.” The world over, children simply pick up their society’s conceptions of early and late, of waiting and rushing, of the past, the present, and the future, as they mature. No dictionary clearly defines these rules of time for them or for strangers who stumble over the maddening incongruities between the time sense they bring with them and the one they face in a new land.
Cultures may differ on many aspects of social time—its value, meaning, how it should be divided, allocated, and measured. The following dimensions are particularly prone to different cultural, as well as individual, interpretations:
Work Versus Leisure
There are cultural differences in the value placed on work, on leisure, and upon the balance between the two. Although some balance is universal, the preferred formulas differ both across cultures and between individuals in each culture. The differences are marked even within highly industrialized countries, The United States and Japan are famous for long work hours, as exemplified by the terms “workaholic” and “karoshi” (“death by overwork”) (Levine, 1997). European nations tend to also emphasize work, with many differences among countries, but generally put greater emphasis on preserving nonwork time than do people in the United States and Japan (Levine, 2012).
Time spent within the workplace also varies across cultures. People tend to spend more of their work time on-task in some cultures and more of that time socializing—informal chatting, having tea or coffee with others, etc.—in other cultures. Studies have found wide cultural variation in answers to the question: “In the companies for which you have worked, what percent of time do people typically spend on tasks that are part of their job description.” For example, people working in companies in large cities in the United States tend to report in the range of “80 percent task time, 20 percent social time.” On the other hand, people working in companies in India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, and some Latin American countries tend to give answers closer to “50 percent task time, 50 percent social time” (Brislin and Kim, 2003).
Each culture sets rules concerning the appropriate sequence of tasks and activities. Is it work before play, or vice versa? Do people take all of their sleep at night, or is there a siesta in the midafternoon? Is one expected to have coffee or tea and socialize, and for how long, before getting down to serious business? There are also customs about sequences over the long run. For example, how long is the socially accepted period of childhood, if it exists at all, and when is it time to assume the responsibilities of an adult?
Clock and Event Time
The most fundamental difference in timekeeping throughout history has been between people operating by the clock and those who measure time by social events (Lauer, 1981). This profound difference in thinking about time continues to divide cultures today. Under clock time, the hour on the timepiece governs the beginning and ending of activities. Under event time, scheduling is determined by the flow of the activity. Events begin and end when, by mutual consensus, participants “feel” the time is right (Levine, 1997).
In event-time societies, modes of time-reckoning tend to express social experience. Sometimes activities occur in finely coordinated sequences, but without observing the clock. For example, anthropologists have described how participants at an Indian wake move from gathering time to prayer time, singing time, intermission, and mealtime. They move by consensual feeling—when “the time feels right”—but with no apparent concern for the time on the clock.
Many countries exhort event time as a philosophy of life. In East Africa, there is a popular adage that “Even the time takes its time.” In Trinidad, it is commonly said that “Any time is Trinidad time” (Birth, 1999). In the United States and much of Europe, by contrast, the right way to measure time is assumed to be by the clock. This is especially true when it comes to work hours. Time is money, and any time not focused on-task is seen as wasted time.
Even the language of time may be more or less event-oriented. The Kachin people of North Burma, for example, have no single word equivalent of “time.” They use the word ahkying to refer to the “time” of the clock, na to a long “time,” tawng to a short “time,” ta to springtime, and asak to the “time” of a person’s life. Whereas, clock time cultures treat time as an objective entity—it is a noun in English—the Kachin words for time are treated more like adverbs (Levine, 1997).
These different ways of time-keeping can often lead to cultural misunderstandings. Individuals operating on clock time are careful to be punctual and expect the same of others. Those on event time are more spontaneous in beginning and ending events and, as a result, tend to be less punctual and more understanding when others are less punctual.
There are also differences within cultures—on both the individual and situational levels. To take just one example, some workers may prosper under clearly defined schedules while others may prefer to complete their work on their own schedules. Similarly, some jobs (for example, financial traders) demand clock-time precision while others (for example, some creative arts) thrive on the spontaneity of event-time scheduling. Levine (2012) argues for fluency in both approaches and to recognize when either is more beneficial.
Many cultures use social activities to define their calendars rather than the other way around. The calendars of the Nuer people from the Upper Nile in the Sudan, for example, are based on the seasonal changes in their environment. They know that the month of kur is occurring because they are building their fishing dams and cattle camps. When they break camp and return to their villages, they know it must now be the month of dwat.
Most societies have some type of week, but it is not always seven days long. The Muysca of Columbia had a three-day week. The Incas of Peru had a 10-day week. Often the length of the week reflects cycles of activities, rather than the other way around. For many, the market is the main activity requiring group coordination. The Khasi people hold their markets every eighth day. Consequently, they have made their week eight days long and named the days of the week after the places where the main markets occur (Levine, 2005).
Polychronic and Monochronic Time
Industrial/organizational psychologists emphasize the significance of monochronic versus polychronic work patterns (Bluedorn, 2002). People and organizations in clock-time cultures are more likely to emphasize monochronic (M-time) approaches, meaning they like to focus on one activity at a time. People in event time cultures, on the other hand, tend to emphasize polychronic (P-time) approaches, meaning they prefer to do several things at once. These labels were originally developed by Hall (1983). M-time people like to work from start to finish in linear sequence: The first task is begun and completed before turning to another, which is then begun and completed. In polychronic time, however, one project goes on until there is an inclination or inspiration to turn to another, which may lead to an idea for another, then back to first, with intermittent and unpredictable pauses and reassumptions of one task or another. Progress on P-time occurs a little at a time on each task.
P-time cultures are characterized by a strong involvement with people. They emphasize the completion of human transactions rather than keeping to schedules. For example, two P-time individuals who are deep in conversation will typically choose to arrive late for their next appointment rather than cut into the flow of their discussion. Both would be insulted, in fact, if their partner were to abruptly terminate the conversation before it came to a spontaneous conclusion.
Levine (2012) argues for the value of shifting between each approach depending on the characteristics of the individuals and the situations involved. In a corporation, for example, some positions may require tight scheduling of time (e.g., accountants during tax time). On the other hand, employees in research and development may be most productive when less tightly controlled.
Silence and “Doing Nothing”
In some cultures, notably the United States and Western Europe, silence makes people uncomfortable. It may denote nothing is happening or that something is going wrong. The usual response is to say something, to fill the silence or to keep the meeting or conversation going. People in other cultures, including many Asian and Pacific Island nations, are quite comfortable with silence. It is seen as an opportunity to focus inward and gather one’s thoughts before you speak. The Japanese emphasize “ma,” which roughly translates as the “space” between things, or the “pause.” It implies that what happens between things, or what doesn’t seem to be happening, is as or more important than what is visibly happening. As an extreme example, consider a question people in Brunei often begin their day by asking: “What isn’t going to happen today?”
Brislin (2000) has described how cultural misunderstandings and counterproductive decisions often arise from these differences. For example, “Americans will sometimes misinterpret long periods of silence as a signal that they should make a concession. Their negotiating counterparts in Asia know this and will sometimes prolong their silence in the expectation that a concession will be made.”
A related temporal difference concerns what people perceive as “wasted time.” People, cultures, and economies that emphasize the rule that “time is money” may see any time not devoted to tangible production as wasted time. People in other cultures, however, believe that overemphasis on this rule is a waste of one’s time in a larger sense, that it is a wasteful way to spend one’s life. If something more worthy of one’s attention—be it social- or work-related—challenges a planned schedule, it is seen as wasteful to not deviate from the planned schedule. In fact, the term “wasted time” may make little sense. A typical comment may be, “There is no such thing as wasted time. If you are not doing one thing, you are doing something else” (Levine, 1997).
Norms Concerning Waiting
Cultures differ in their norms for waiting, not only how long it is appropriate to keep a person waiting but how the rules change depending on the situation and the people involved. Levine (1997) describes a number of “rules” to waiting and how these rules differ in various cultures. Some useful questions: Are the rules based on the principle that time is money? Who is expected to wait for whom, under what circumstances, and for how long? Are some individuals—by virtue of their status, power, and/or wealth—exempt from waiting? What is the protocol for waiting in line? Is it an orderly procedure, as in the United Kingdom, or do people just nudge their way through the crowd, pushing the people ahead of them, until they somehow make their way to the front, as in India? Is there a procedure for buying oneself a place in front, or off the line completely? What social message is being sent when the accepted rules are broken?
There are individual and cultural differences in people’s orientation toward the past, present, and future. Zimbardo and Boyd (2008) have developed a scale that distinguishes between six types of temporal frames:
- Past negative—a pessimistic, negative, or aversive orientation toward the past.
- Past positive—a warm, sentimental, nostalgic, and positive construction of the past.
- Present hedonistic—hedonistic orientation attitude toward time and life.
- Present fatalistic—a fatalistic, helpless, and hopeless attitude toward the future and life.
- Future—planning for, and achievement of, future goals, characterizing a general future orientation.
- Future transcendental—an orientation to the future beyond one’s own death.
Zimbardo and Boyd have found large individual and cultural differences on both the individual subscales and the patterns of the subscales taken together. They describe a wide range of consequences of these differences. Time perspective affects political, economic, personal, social, environmental, and other domains of life and society. One of the paradoxes, they report, is that each particular temporal perspective is associated with numerous personal and social benefits but that, in excess, they are associated with even greater costs. There are both positive and negative processes associated with each perspective. Individuals who focus on the past, for example, are often described with terms such as happy, grateful, patriotic, high self-esteem, and having strong personal values; on the other hand, past time perspective can be associated with terms such as depressed, guilty, angry and revengeful, and resistant to change. Similarly, a focus on the present may be associated with strong social affiliations, joy, sensuality, sexuality, energy, and improvisation; but it may also be associated with violence, anger, over-fatalism, risk-taking, and addictive behavior. A focus on the future may be associated with achievement, self-efficacy, healthy behaviors, and hope for change; but also with anxiety, social isolation, competitiveness, and unhealthy physical consequences ranging from coronary artery disease to sexual impotence. The authors argue for the importance of a healthy balance in one’s temporal orientation.
The Pace of Life
There are profound differences in the pace of life on many levels—individual temperament, cultural norms, between places, at different times, during different activities. Levine and Norenzayan (1999) conducted a series of field experiments measuring walking speed, work speed, and concern with clock time in countries around the world. They found that the characteristic pace of life of a place has consequences—both positive and negative—for the physical, social, economic, and psychological well-being of people who live there. The optimal pace, they argue, requires flexibility and sensitivity to matching individual preferences to the requirements of the situation.
Understanding the values and assumptions a culture places on these temporal dimensions is essential to creating policies that enhance the quality of peoples’ lives. The historian Lewis Mumford once observed how “each culture believes that every other space and time is an approximation to or perversion of the real space and time in which it lives.” The truth, however, is there is no single correct way to think about time. There are different ways of thinking, each with their pluses and minuses, and all may be of value in given situations.
- Video: Dealing with Time
- Video: RSA Animate—The Secret Powers of Time
- Can you give an example of Edward Hall’s notion of time as a “silent language”?
- Can you give an example of clock time in your own life? Can you give an example of event time?
- Are there activities where you might benefit from another culture’s approach to time rather than your usual approach? Give an example.
- What do you think are the consequences, both positive and negative, of a faster pace of life?
- Is it fair to conclude that some cultural time practices are more advanced than others? That some are healthier than others? Explain.
- Clock time
- Scheduling activities according to the time on the clock.
- Japanese way of thinking that emphasizes attention to the spaces between things rather than the things themselves.
- Monochronic (M-time)
- Monochronic thinking focuses on doing one activity, from beginning to completion, at a time.
- Pace of life
- The frequency of events per unit of time; also referred to as speed or tempo.
- Polychronic (P-time)
- Polychronic thinking switches back and forth among multiple activities as the situation demands.
- Silent language
- Cultural norms of time and time use as they pertain to social communication and interaction.
- Scheduling by the flow of the activity. Events begin and end when, by mutual consensus, participants “feel” the time is right.
- Temporal perspective
- The extent to which we are oriented toward the past, present, and future.
- Birth, K. (1999). Any time is Trinidad time: Social meanings and temporal consciousness. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
- Bluedorn, A. (2002). The human organization of time: Temporal realities and experience. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Business Books.
- Brislin, R. (2000). Understanding culture’s influence on behavior (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt.
- Brislin, R., & Kim, E. (2003). Cultural diversity in people’s understanding and uses of time. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 52(3), 363–382.
- Hall, E. T. (1983). The dance of life: The other dimension of time. Garden City: Anchor Press.
- Lauer, R. (1981). Temporal man: The meaning and uses of social time. New York, NY: Praeger.
- Levine, R. (2012). Time use and happiness: Implications for social policy. Thimpu, Bhutan: Centre for Bhutanese Studies.
- Levine, R. (2005). A geography of busyness. Social Research, 72, 355–370.
- Levine, R. (1997). A geography of time. New York, NY: Basic Books.
- Levine, R., & Norenzayan, A. (1999). The pace of life in 31 countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 178–205.
- Spradley, J. P., & Phillips, M. (1972). Culture and stress: A quantitative analysis. American Anthropologist, 74, 518 529.
- Zimbardo, P., & Boyd, J. (2008). The time paradox. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
- Robert V. LevineRobert Levine is a Professor of Psychology and former Associate Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at California State University, Fresno, where he has won awards for both his teaching and research. He has been a visiting professor at universities in Brazil, Japan, Sweden and England.. He is the author of the books, A Geography of Time and The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold. Levine is currently President of the Western Psychological Association. These chapters were written while a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University in the UK.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD
“Planned Parenthood” is a worldwide, mega-organization which is known for its advocacy for abortion. It claims that, for ninety years, it has worked to improve women's health and safety. It is involved, not only in America but, also, in the Third World and it pressures governments to change the social, legal and political barriers which obstruct access to abortion. It also provides information for under-age women in America who may have the legal right to an abortion without having their parent's consent to undergo the procedure.Planned Parenthood is hailed by many feminists to be a liberating and empowering organization which defends the rights of women, worldwide.
While Planned Parenthood is applauded by many in the media and society, the roots of this organization are rarely spoken of. This is because history reveals a shocking and offensive basis, not only for Planned Parenthood but, also, for the abortion movement. To understand the foundation of Planned Parenthood and the abortion movement, one needs to understand the development of eugenics philosophy as it developed in America in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.
What is eugenics? The word “eugenics” was first coined in 1883 by the British scientist, Francis Galton. Galton used the word “eugenics” to convey social uses by which information on a person's heredity could be used for selective breeding. Eugenics represented the idea of the social selection of “fit” persons within society and the removal of “unfit” persons. Fit persons were those deemed strong, healthy and independent, whereas, unfit persons were those who, in some way, were dependent on the society, social order and family to which they belonged. Eugenics presupposed that fitness and unfitness was largely determined by heredity and that positive changes in humanity could be obtained by selective breeding. Before the word “eugenics” was used in 1883, the idea had already been hashed around and developed by philosophers for a long time. In 1798, the English writer, Thomas Malthus, theorized that the finite world food supply would not be enough to support the expanding human population worldwide and that population control was needed to address this deficiency. He also spoke out against charity for the poor. In 1850, Herbert Spencer taught that man and society followed the rules of cold science and not that of a caring God. He was the first to coin the phrase “survival of the fittest.” This would become a much-used phrase in years to come, especially in evolutionary circles. Spencer taught that the fittest would perfect society and the unfit would become more impoverished, less educated and die off.1
The publishing of Charles Darwin's book, “The Origin Of Species,” in 1859, added tremendous fuel to the developing philosophy, not yet named, of eugenics. Darwin's theory was built on the concept of the survival of the fittest and, after him, a flurry of philosophers began writing on the topic of the biological breeding of the strong people in society and of allowing the weak people to perish. By the time Galton coined the word “eugenics” in 1883, the concept was already highly developed and popular. As things digressed, the concept of “unfit” was expanded to include races of people, not just the poor. Between 1890 and 1920, 18 million refugees migrated to the United States. Rather than blending into a melting pot of culture and diversity, most retained their distinctive differences and there was little integration. The mainstream culture had little patience for those who would not, or could not, integrate and racism in America skyrocketed. All of these developments influenced the philosophy of eugenics during this time. Many social activists began voicing their belief that some people and some people-groups were superior to other people and other people-groups. It was not long before such opinions were being spread, not only by social activists but, by elite philosophers, educators and politicians.
When discussing the spread of eugenics by activists, philosophers, educators and politicians, it would be hard to overstate the extent to which they popularized the philosophy of eugenics in America during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Nancy Leys Stepan has said; “In fact, one of the puzzles about eugenics is that, far from viewing it as a bizarre notion of extremists at the fringes of respectable science, and social reform, many well-placed scientists, medical doctors, and social activists endorsed it as an appropriate outcome of developments in the science of human heredity.” 2 These same well-placed scientists, medical doctors and social activists were instrumental in mainstreaming eugenics as the science of their day. In fact, eugenics had become so much a part of health reform by the 1920s that anyone daring to criticize it was mocked. Edwin Black has said; “Racism, group hatred, xenophobia and enmity towards one's neighbours have existed in almost every culture throughout history. But it took millenia for these deeply personal, almost tribal hostilities to migrate into the safe harbour of scientific thought, and thus rationalizing destructive actions against the despised or unwanted.”3 This safe harbour of scientific thought was really a cloak for prejudice, selfishness and racism.
While eugenics was finding a safe harbour among universities in America, it was also making inroads into the political arena. For example, on January 29 of 1907, the Indiana representative, Horace Reed, introduced a bill which was later passed. This eugenics bill enacted law that permitted the sterilization of poor-house residents, the mentally impaired and prisoners. The State of Washington also adopted the sterilization of habitual criminals, as did California and Nevada, of convicts. Connecticut sterilized mental asylum residents. Iowa sterilized those it considered “criminals, idiots, feeble-minded, imbeciles, drunkards, drug fiends, epileptics, ... moral or sexual perverts,” whom they had in custody. 4 In 1911, the State of New Jersey passed legislation which created a “Board of Examiners of Feebleminded, Epileptics and Other Defectives.” 5 The term “other defectives” was ambiguous and open to interpretation. The Board was also to identify prisoners and children residing in poor-houses, as well as charitable institutions, of whom “procreation is inadvisable.” 6 Decisions were made in a formal hearing where persons being considered defective were given a court-appointed attorney but denied a family-hired or personally-selected attorney. New Jersey's governor, Woodrow Wilson, signed the bill into law on April 21, 1911. In 1912, the State of New York practically duplicated the New Jersey legislation for its own state. It would shock many readers that in the United States thousands of people were sterilized involuntarily. Statistics vary on the exact numbers. The most conservative figures begin at 60,000, though the highest numbers are estimated at up to 180,000 sterilizations.
If eugenics flourished in America during the 19th and 20th centuries, how does this relate to Planned Parenthood? Planned Parenthood and the abortion movement relate to eugenics due to the involvement of Margaret Sanger. Who was Margaret Sanger? Sanger was a nurse in New York City who encountered many women caught in the difficult situation of having unwanted pregnancies. New York City had large slum districts where many Americans suffered from poverty and poor health care. Among the suffering were single, pregnant women. Sanger became more than a nurse; she became a social activist who traveled the country, zealously advocating birth control and the legalization of abortion. She was a nurse, a social activist, a feminist and the producer of a couple of periodicals, “The Woman Rebel” and “The Birth Control Review.” Sanger had a shady past, being indicted for violating the United States postal obscenity laws in 1914 and, also, for jumping bail and hiding in England under a false name. She also served time in jail for running an illegal birth control clinic in NewYork in 1916. She was the founder of “The American Birth Control League” which later became “Planned Parenthood.”
Sanger was more than the founder of Planned Parenthood. She was a self-confessed eugenicist. In fact, she represents one of the most extreme eugenicists of her day. She vigorously opposed charitable efforts to help the poor and argued passionately that it was better to do less to help them so that the superior strains of humanity could progress without competition from the unfit. She would refer to those in the lowest income class as being “human waste.” She argued, more than once, that human “weeds” should be “exterminated.” 7 To Sanger, birth control was a form of eugenics. She said; “Birth control, which has been criticized as negative and destructive, is really the greatest and most truly eugenic method, and its adoption as part of the program of eugenics would immediately give a concrete and realistic power to that science. As a matter of fact, Birth Control has been accepted by the most clear thinking and far seeing of the eugenicists themselves as the most constructive and necessary of the means to racial health.” 8 In her book, “Pivot of Civilization,” Sanger devotes a chapter to criticizing charity, in which she says; “Fostering the good-for-nothing at the expense of the good is an extreme cruelty. It is a deliberate storing up of miseries for future generations. There is no greater curse to posterity than that of bequeathing them an increasing population of imbeciles.” 9 Sanger praised the work of the infamous, secular humanist, Ernst Huxley, who attacked The Salvation Army for their vigorous assistance to the poor in England and around the world. She referred to it as “ ... his penetrating and stimulating condemnation of the debauch of sentimentalism ...” 10 She also said in further opposition to humanitarianism and assistance to the poor; “These dangers inherent in the very idea of humanitarianism and altruism dangers which have to-day produced their full harvest of human waste, of inequality and inefficiency ...” 11 Sanger believed that it was dangerous for society to promote the unfit because this caused an imbalance in society. Her proposed solution was the mass sterilization of those deemed defective. She said:
The emergency problem of segregation and sterilization must be faced immediately. Every feebleminded girl or woman of the hereditary type, especially of the moron class, should be segregated during the reproductive period. Otherwise, she is almost certain to bear imbecile children, who in turn are just as certain to breed other defectives. The male defectives are no less dangerous. Segregation carried out for one or two generations would give us only partial control of the problem. Moreover, when we realize that each feebleminded person is a potential source of an endless progeny of defect, we prefer the policy of immediate sterilization, of making sure that parenthood is absolutely prohibited to the feeble-minded. 12
Sanger also declared that it was her aim to see the sterilization of those with inherited or transmittable diseases.
When reading Sanger's writings, the interpretation that many people make is that Sanger's call to eugenics was aimed at the mentally and physically handicapped, as well as the poor. By referring to people with words, such as, “the feebleminded,” “immoral,” “imbeciles,” and “morons,” Sanger and other eugenicists were speaking of the handicapped. However, a closer reading of Sanger's writings reveals that her target-group was larger than just the handicapped. Black civil rights activists point out that these same words were applied to Blacks by society as far back as the days of slavery. Some of them see Sanger as including them in her scope of the feebleminded. There were certainly other geneticists who did use the term “feeblemindedness” as a carefully chosen code word to include Blacks. For example, C. B. Davenport wrote; “The problem of the socially fit must be treated not as one of color but as a problem of the spread of feeblemindedness. ...” 13 What becomes clear is that Sanger's grouping of the feebleminded was much larger than those that we would consider mentally handicapped today. How many Americans did Sanger consider to be feebleminded? Shockingly, Sanger parroted the research of U.S. Army intelligence, which claimed that as many as 70% of Americans were feebleminded. When asked what percentage of America's population was deficient, she said; “... 70% below 15 year intellect ... .” 14 She also built her case for large numbers of delinquents within America's population by referring to a study concerning the military population, cited in an article by John C. Duvall which claimed that expert army investigators had found that 70% of the army had a mental capacity below 14 years of age. 15
Sanger's quotes became more and more inflammatory. She spoke out against large families and in her feminist book, “Woman and the New Race,” she boldly declared; “Many, perhaps, will think it idle to go farther in demonstrating the immorality of large families, but since there is still an abundance of proof at hand, it may be offered for the sake of those who find difficulty in adjusting old-fashioned ideas to the facts. The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”16
Sanger associated herself with some of America's most extreme eugenics racists. She dared to surround herself with eugenicists who were out-spoken racists and white supremacists. One of the most inflammatory of these individuals was Lothrop Stoddard who wrote the book, “The Rising Tide of Colour Against White World Supremacy.” 17 After the publication of Stoddard's book, Sanger invited him to join the board of directors of her American Birth Control League. Stoddard visited Nazi Germany where he observed the sterilization program of Hitler's regime. He said that the eugenics legislation of the Nazis was purifying the Germanic stock in a humanitarian and scientific way by weeding out the worst in German society. He also taught that German-Jewish social problems would be solved by removing Jews from the third reich. 18 , 19 From this, we see Lothrop Stoddard and the American Birth Control League's undeniable connection with racism. Another racist who worked for both Margaret Sanger and Adolf Hitler was Eugen Fischer. Fischer was a German eugenicist whom Hitler appointed to be the directer of the Frederick William University of Berlin. He conducted studies on the racial origins of people-groups and conducted experiments on gypsies and African Germans. Sanger honored him by inviting him to be a speaker at one of her conventions. Sanger's early publication, “The Birth Control Review,” sometimes quoted the opinions of racists. For example, in 1932, it contained an article by Walter Terpening which said:
... As among whites, there are cases of degenerate Negroes whose propagation will be checked only by sterilization or institutionalization, but the practice of birth control among the majority of colored people would probably be more eugenic than among their white compatriots The dissemination of the information of birth control should have begun with this class rather than with the upper social and economic classes of white citizens. 20
In the same year, Sanger printed an article by Newell L. Sims which said; “In virtually every community where Negroes dwell one finds them in fat times and lean alike contributing a disproportionate number to the roles of the dependants and delinquents They make excessive demands on the white man's charity and overtax his patience with their delinquencies.” 21 Another outspoken eugenicist and colleague of Sanger was Yale professor, Irving Fisher. In addressing the Second National Congress on Race Betterment, he said; “Gentlemen and ladies, you have not any idea unless you have studied this subject mathematically, how rapidly we could exterminate this contamination if we really got at it, or how rapidly the contamination goes on if we do not get at it.” 22 Fisher served on Sanger's committee on the First American Birth Control Conference and lectured for her repeatedly at birth control events. Another racist eugenicist who worked for Sanger was Henry Pratt Fairchild. In his book, “The Melting Pot Mistake,” he argued against immigration. He spoke repeatedly at Sanger's conferences, such as the 1925 Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference and the 1927 World Population Conference. In 1929, he was given the position of vice-president of Sanger's National Committee for Federal Legislation on Birth Control, her central lobbying group, and he became vice-president of her Birth Control Federation of America.
By welcoming high-profile racists into key leadership and spokesman positions in her organizations, Sanger was revealing the true colors of her abortion movement. She continued to make more and more inflammatory statements. Honoured at a luncheon at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York, in her speech to the crowd, she said:
'Let us not forget,' she urged, 'that these billions, millions, thousands of people are increasing, expanding, exploding at a terrific rate every year. Africa, Asia, South America are made up of more than a billion human beings, miserable, poor, illiterate labor slaves, whether they are called that or not; a billion hungry men and women always in the famine zone yet reproducing themselves in the blind struggle for survival and perpetuation. ...' 23
Sanger referred to eugenics issues as being “biological or racial problems” in the following quote from her book, Pivot of Civilization:
Let us first of all consider merely from the viewpoint of business and efficiency the biological or racial problems which confront us As Americans we have of late made much of 'efficiency and business organization Yet would any corporation for one moment conduct its affairs as we conduct the infinitely more important affairs of our civilization? Would any modern stock breeder permit the deterioration of his livestock as we not only permit but positively encourage the destruction and the deterioration of our most precious, the most essential elements in our world community – the mothers and children With the mothers and children thus cheapened, the next generation of men and women is inevitably below par The tendency of the human elements, under present conditions is constantly downward 24
So, in Sanger's mind, the deterioration and cheapening of mothers and children is one of the “biological or racial problems” where the most essential elements of society are not bred correctly.
Sanger used her Planned Parenthood Federation to promote her philosophy of eugenics. On October 25, 1950, she addressed the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Planned Parenthood Federation. A transcript of her speech was distributed to the worldwide press and a pamphlet was also distributed, titled, “Books on Planned Parenthood.” The books were divided into topics with one topic being titled “Eugenics.” These books contained common eugenics rhetoric from the 1930s, such as, “selective sterilization” and “the goal of eugenics.” Under the Planned Parenthood Federation letterhead, Sanger wrote a letter stating; “I appreciate that there is a difference of opinion as what a Planned Parenthood Federation should want or aim to do, but I do not see how we could leave out of its aims some of the eugenic principles that are basically sound in constructing a decent civilization.” 25
In 1926, Sanger spoke at a women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. She was later invited by twelve other Klan Chapters to speak. She even tried to get Christian ministers to advance her cause and in a letter to Clarence Gamble, she wrote; “The minister's work is also important and also he should be trained perhaps by the federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” 26 This shows how Sanger tried to conceal her plan from the general public.
Once abortion was legalized in the United States, Sanger's organization began setting up abortion clinics, concentrating them in minority neighborhoods. By making abortion more accessible to Black and other minorities, Blacks began having abortions in an improportionate rate. This was not coincidental. It was organized to be this way. This did not escape the notice of Black civil rights activists. Some of the early pro-life advocates were the Black Panther Party, the Black Unity Party and individuals such as Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson said; “Abortion is genocide.” 27 Black America's civil rights newspapers, such as, “Mohammed Speaks” and “Ebony” also wrote against birth control. Black civil rights activists saw a strong link between abortion, Planned Parenthood and Black genocide. Abortion today is the leading cause of death among Blacks in America. Since 1973, more Black Americans have died by being aborted than have died from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and violent crime, combined. Planned Parenthood has even accepted donations which individuals have made for the express purpose of having “Black” fetuses aborted. This was admitted by Planned Parenthood's national president, Fay Waddleton, in 1986, when she said on video; “We have received contributions from people who want to support us because they want all welfare mothers and all Black women to stop having children.” 28
Planned Parenthood has never disavowed Margaret Sanger but, instead, gives out a “Margaret Sanger Award” each year as the highest honor their organization can bestow. It has been received by individuals such as Jane Fonda, Ted Turner and Hillary Clinton. 29
While many have hailed Planned Parenthood as a liberating and empowering organization which defends the rights of women, other conscientious individuals have looked below the crust of this organization and expressed concern over its connections with eugenics and Black genocide. Just as abortionists today consider that some unborn children are unfit for the privilege of life outside the womb so, too, eugenicists and social Darwinists, of the past and present, have labelled the struggling people of society as unfit. They have been labelled feebleminded, imbeciles, morons and degenerates. Black America is sensitive to these terms because of how they have wrongly been applied to them in the past. Yet, such language flowed from the pen of feminist, abortionist, eugenicist and racist Margaret Sanger. Her legal, and illegal, activism was instrumental in shaping the thoughts of many abortionists today. If her audience had only been the Ku Klux Klan then, perhaps, her ideas would not have spread as far. However, her audience has been a broad range of humanity all the way from intellectuals to educators, to common men and women wrestling with the issue of unwanted pregnancy. Sanger did not rise to her place of influence all on her own. Working together with eugenicists, and even Nazi collaborators, she advanced the cause of birth control. When abortion was legalized, Sanger obtained the legal right to move from being an advocate of abortion to being a provider of abortion. Black and minority neighborhoods were targeted and abundantly supplied with abortion facilities. However, the “human waste” that Sanger wished done away with was really human life. Powerful civil rights and activist organizations failed to overturn her achievements and, sadly, abortion is the number one cause of death of Blacks in America today. No one has honored Margaret Sanger more than her organization, Planned Parenthood, which continues to give out awards in her name. Many conscientious individuals from both the Black and the White community continue to cry out against the atrocities which are just below the crust of Planned Parenthood's name.
Herbert Spencer, quoted in Edwin Black, War Against The Weak (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 12.
Nancy Leys Stepan, The Hour of Eugenics (London: Cornell University Press, 1991), 5.
Edwin Black, War Against The Weak (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 9.
Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization (New York: Brentano's 1922), 109, 112, 116. Also, “Is Race Suicide Probable?” (Collier's, Aug. 15, 1925, p. 25).
Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, 189.
C. B. Davenport, quoted in Maafa 21, Videocassette.
M. Sanger, Letter quoted in Edwin Black, War Against The Weak (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 132.
John C. Duvall, “The Purpose of Eugenics” printed in Birth Control Review, Dec. 1924, page 344 : California State Archives.
M. Sanger, Women and the New Race (New York: Brentano's, 1920, Chapter 5).
Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Colour Against White World Supremacy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926), 259-260.
Lothrop Stoddard, quoted in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothrop_Stoddard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License ; Jonathan P. Spiro (2009), Defending the Master Race : Conservation, Eugenics, and The Legacy of Madison Grant (Vermont: University of Vermont Press), 61.
Walter Terpening, quoted in Birth Control Review, 1932. Quoted in Maafa 21.
Newell L.Sims, Birth Control Review, 1932. Quoted in Maafa 21.
Irving Fisher, quoted in Eugenics Research Association, Officers and Committee List of the Eugenics Research Association - January 1927 (Cold Spring Harbour, NY: Eugenics Research Association, 1927): Truman, ERA Membership Records. Professor Irving Fisher, “A Reply,” Official Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Race Betterment (Battle Creek, MI.: The Race Betterment Foundation, 1915).
Margaret Sanger, “Address” quoted in, Edwin Black, War Against The Weak, 143.
Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, 262-263.
Margaret Sanger, letter to Dr. C. P. Blacker, 5 May 1953: Welcome Institute Box 112.
Margaret Sanger, in Letter to Clarence Gamble. Quoted in Maafa 21.
Jesse Jackson, quoted in Maafa 21.
Faye Waddleton, quoted in Maafa 21.
Birth Control Review, Dec. 1924: California State Archives.
Birth Control Review, 1932.
Black, Edwin. War Against The Weak. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003.
Collier's, Aug. 15, 1925.
Eugenics Research Association. Officers and Committee List of the Eugenics Research Association - January 1927. Cold Spring Harbour, NY: Eugenics Research Association, 1927.
Leys Stepan, Nancy. The Hour of Eugenics. London: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Maafa 21. Videocassette. Life Dynamics, Inc., P.O. Box 2226, Denton Texas 76202.
Sanger, Margaret. Letter to Dr. C. P. Blacker, 5 May 1953: Welcome Institute Box 112.
Sanger, Margaret. Pivot of Civilization. New York: Brentano's, 1922.
Sanger, Margaret. Women and the New Race. New York: Brentano's, 1920.
Spiro, Jonathan P. (2009), Defending the Master Race : Conservation, Eugenics, and The Legacy of Madison Grant. Vermont: University of Vermont Press.
Stoddard, Lothrop. The Rising Tide of Colour Against White World Supremacy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.
Truman, ERA Membership Records. Professor Irving Fisher, “A Reply.” Official Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Race Betterment. Battle Creek, MI.: The Race Betterment Foundation, 1915.
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You may be familiar with injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, or back strain in your workplace. These injuries are due to small, repeated traumas to the musculoskeletal system (muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, bones) and the nervous system when the job does not match the worker's capabilities. These injuries, also called Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs), account for some of the largest costs in injury claims and lost work time in the DOD. Let’s go over some of the most common WMSD injuries Army employees face, warning signs, risk factors for the WMSD, and possible workspace redesign solutions. Remember, only a medical doctor can recommend injury treatment. But once the injury has been treated, if you don’t address the injury’s initial cause (usually by redesigning your workstation), once you go back to work the injury may return.
Ergonomics is defined as fitting the workplace to the worker. A workplace includes not just our work areas but also our tools and equipment. There are seven basic risk factors in the workplace associated with WMSD injuries. If a WMSD is caused by a single risk factor it is usually easy to rectify, however most WMSDs are cause by multiple factors. These risk factors are:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) started a collaborative research program to prevent work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs, conditions involving the nerves, tendons, muscles, and supporting structures of the upper limb). The program has research partners at six universities and one state agency. The goal of the program is to determine the risk for work-related:
- carpal tunnel syndrome
- tendonitis of the forearm and wrist
- shoulder disorders
More information on the CDC's Upper Limb Musculoskeletal Disorder Consortium .
See the free downloadable poster, Ergonomics: Work Smarter! Ergonomic Risk Factors.
1. Warning sign: “I’ve been sitting at my computer all morning writing a report and my legs hurt. What should I do?”
Workspace Redesign: It seems that performing an activity while sitting should allow time for rest and present very few threats to health. The reality is that there are many risk factors office workers are exposed to that can cause health problems. One of them is that the human body was made to move, and if you are sitting for too long the blood flow to your arms and legs decreases. This is why you need to take breaks on a regular interval; go to the water cooler, use the restroom, stand up and stretch, anything to get up and move around. Once every 20 minutes is recommended, but your individual time period may differ.
See the free downloadable poster, Take Time to Stretch
This problem also points out the fact that most WMSDs are caused by multiple risk factors. Your legs may hurt also because your workstation (i.e. your office chair, desk height, lack of a foot rest, etc.) may be improperly set up causing your posture to be poor.
For more information on posture at your workstation see the free downloadable poster, Ergonomics: Designing a Comfortable Workstation
2. Warning sign: “I’m an electrician, re-wiring buildings on my instillation. I got this bruise in the palm of my hand and I have no idea where it came from. Any ideas?”
Workspace Redesign: Doing your electrical re-wiring you probably use a pair of needle-nose pliers and/or wire strippers. The handles of those tools might not be longer than the length of your hand. If the end of one of the handles stops in the palm of your hand, when you squeeze the tool the handle end compresses into your palm causing a compression injury, usually a bruise. Selecting the proper tool based on the task and worker’s characteristics (e.g., hand dimensions and strength) significantly reduces the risk of WMSD injury and ultimately will result in increased productivity.
Check out the free printable Fact Sheet, Choose the Proper Hand Tools for You
3. Warning sign: “I work in the parachute packing barn. When I lift up an unpacked ‘chute and carry it over to a work table my back kills me. But when I lift up a packed parachute it doesn’t. They both weigh the same: what’s going on?”
Workspace Redesign: The answer lies in biomechanics and the posture you use when carrying packed and unpacked parachutes. Posture and lifting technique can either reduce or increase forces on the body. When you lift up and carry an unpacked parachute, more of its weight is further away from your body. Your arms, torso and back are now acting like a giant lever. The pivot point of this lever is your lower back, and that’s where all the torque forces (or moment) are concentrating. A packed parachute may be the same weight as an unpacked one but it’s in a smaller package, so you’re lifting and carrying it closer to your body. As long as you keep your back straight your torso isn’t acting as much like a giant lever, so the forces on your back are smaller and your back pain will be less.
When lifting or carrying an object the closer it is to your body the better. Also keep your back as straight as possible and right before the lift, tighten your core stomach and back muscles.
4. Warning sign: “I do a lot of sanding off old paint with a powered grinder to refurbish transport trucks. At the end of the day my hands are numb and my fingers are pale.”
Workspace Redesign: Powered hand tools allow heavier work to be performed with greater speed and efficiency. However the improper design and use of powered hand tools can contribute to WMSDs caused by vibration. Vibrating tools can cause vascular spasms or a constriction of blood vessels in the fingers, which then appear white or pale. Vascular constriction may lead to numbness and swelling of hand tissue, with a loss of grip strength. Vibration-induced white finger, also known as “Raynaud’s phenomenon,” and hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) cause tingling, numbness, or pain that can be brought on or intensified by exposure to cold. There are preventive actions that can be taken to reduce the impact of vibration:
Reduce the number of hours or days vibrating tools are used in accordance with the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygiene Threshold Limit Values.
Arrange tasks to alternate use of vibrating and non-vibrating tools.
Schedule tool maintenance so tools remain sharp, lubricated, and properly tuned.
Use gloves with vibration-damping materials in the palms and fingers. Ensure workers keep warm at work, especially their hands. To be effective, gloves should fit, be full finger, and comply with ANSI S3.40-2002 or ISO 10819 standards.
Use tools with vibration-damping handles.
Keep hands warm and dry.
Avoid using tobacco or stimulant drugs that may restrict blood flow to the skin by as much as 40 percent.
There is a free printable Fact Sheet called Selecting the Proper Powered Hand Tool can Make Your Work Safer and Easier
5. Warning sign: “Part of my job as an Army Nurse involves transferring and repositioning patients all day. Towards the end of my shift my back starts to really bother me. How can I re-design this?”
Workspace Redesign: Under the best case scenario (for example a stable workload, with handles and able to be held close to the body), NIOSH recommends a person only lift 51 lbs. For nurses and other healthcare workers, because patients are not stable loads, do not have handles and typically cannot be held very close to the body, the recommended lifting limit of a patient who is not able to assist is 35 lbs. Yet during a shift a Nurse typically lifts a cumulative weight of 1.8 tons!
To redesign your lateral patient handling task you might consider an air-assisted lateral transfer device. This is similar to an air mattress with holes on the bottom connected to a motorized air pump. This lets the patient float on a mattress with the cushion of air making pushing or pulling to transfer them much easier.
6. Warning sign: “I work in IT and I’ve been in the office all day. Even though I move around a lot and my chair is adjusted correctly I still get very tired towards the middle and end of the day. Any ideas?”
Risk: Temperature (Cold)
Workspace Redesign: Offices and computer rooms are often kept at a cold temperature for the sake of the equipment. Cold temperature reduces blood flow and is contributing factor to fatigue. If you can’t turn the office’s thermostat up, consider wearing a hat, light jacket or sweater in order to keep your body’s temperature up.
7. Warning sign: “I put together gas masks by hand on an assembly line, and around 3 o’clock my hand starts to swell. How can I redesign my job so this doesn’t happen?”
Workspace Redesign: Repetition results from performing the same task over and over and using same set of muscles continuously throughout the workday. Microtraumas to body parts from repetition can result in inflammation of the tendons, muscle irritation or entrapment syndromes, and nerve irritation. The most famous of repetition injuries is carpel tunnel syndrome.
You might stop your hand swelling by rotating your job: instead of putting together gas masks all day switch off every hour and do something else that uses a different muscle group, like delivering the masks or running errands. Whatever you do it’s important that it use different muscles than the ones you use while putting together gas masks.
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Apr 09, 2018 Written by Ashishrai Filter
1.Lens filters are transparent or translucent glass or gelatin elements that attach to the front of a lens. They protect the camera lens, alter the characteristics of light passing through the lens or add special effects and colors to an image.
2.Screw-in filters fit directly onto your lens, in the threads at the edge of the lens barrel. Each screw-in filter is a specific width, so the more lenses (of different widths) you have the more filters you’ll need.
3.For slot-in filters, a filter holder is placed on the lens’ adapter ring and filters are dropped into the holder. The holder usually has interchangeable rings so the holder can fit on a wide array of lenses.
4.Filters change the dynamics of the light entering the lens and usually require you to alter your exposure to compensate for this fact. This is called the Filter Factor and each filter has a specific filter factor, so read up on the
5.Ultra Violet filters are transparent filters that block ultra-violet light, in order to reduce the haziness that is noticeably apparent in some daylight photography. UV filters don’t affect the majority of visible light, so they are a perfect form of lens protection and they will not alter your exposure.
6.A Polarizing filter can be used to darken overly light skies as it increases the contrast between clouds and the sky. Like the UV filter, the Polarizer reduces atmospheric haze, but also reduces reflected sunlight. The most typical function of a Polarizer is to remove reflections from water and glass.
7 As you know, visible light is made up of a multiple color spectrum. But in photography, you have to make a choice to capture images with the camera’s white balance set to record whitish blue light of daylight or set to record the reddish-orange tungsten (incandescent) light… with a few variations (i.e. sodium-vapor or fluorescent).
8.Attaching a neutral density (ND) filter to your lens uniformly reduces the amount of light entering the lens. The ND filter is helpful when the contrast between the highlights and shadows is too great to get a quality exposure.
9.Soft focus filters, do exactly that, they reduce the sharpness of an image, but only to an extent that is barely noticeable. They are useful in shooting close up shots of people’s faces.
10.There are specific filters for B&W photography that lighten similar colors and darken opposite colors, thereby enhancing the monochromatic look. There are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue filters for use in B&W photography.
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Want a first hand look at young scientists exploring a recently discovered phenomenon? Plastic, Ahoy!: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Patricia Newman, with photographs by Annie Crawley introduces the middle grade level reader to three graduate students who spend nearly three weeks aboard a research vessel in the Pacific Ocean taking samples from what is called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
In August of 2009, Miriam Goldstein, Chelsea Rochman, and Darcy Taniguchi departed on a ship as part of the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition or SEAPLEX (see the blog). The book chronicles their observations and experiences.
You can get a feel for the book in this trailer:
Surprisingly, the students found that much of the plastic in the Garbage Patch is small broken pieces, basically "the size of confetti." The small size is going to make removing the plastic from the water very difficult because any net that is the right size to capture the bits of plastic will also capture all sorts of marine life. The bottom line is that these are not all full-sized water bottles floating around.
The team members also discovered that 9% of 147 the fish they sampled during the trip had plastic bits in their stomachs. Given that there is some evidence plastic bits tend to accumulate toxins from the water, this could have long term negative consequences to food chains. Obviously more studies need to be done.
Not all the news was necessarily negative, however. One study found that sea-going relatives of water striders called "sea striders" are actually doing better in the Garbage Patch because more debris means more places they can lay their eggs (Plastic Trash Altering Ocean Habitats, Scripps Study Shows).
Plastic, Ahoy! can be a jumping off point for many potential science experiments and explorations of your own. Here are just a few ideas:
1. The lifespans of plastic objects
How long will your trash bag live? is an idea for a science fair project that compares the longevity of plastic, paper, and biodegradable plastic bags buried in the ground. This is a long duration experiment (months).
In this article, a Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months
2. Preventing plastic from reaching the ocean
Science Buddies has a science fair project idea for looking at the design of storm drains with the idea of keeping trash from getting into the water
3. Floating ocean trash experiments from previous post at Growing with Science
4. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program has educational materials such as:
- activities (free downloadable printables)
- curriculum (Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris)
- art contest (see flyer in resources for 2014 details)
- fact sheets
Plastic, Ahoy!: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Patricia Newman, with photographs by Annie Crawley is an exciting introduction to science, told through the stories of actual young scientists. You will want to share it with children interested in marine biology, chemistry and conservation. It would make perfect reading for Earth Day (April 22, 2014) or World Ocean Day (June 8, 2014) or a unit on the environment, particularly the marine environment.
Recommended Ages: 8-12
Publisher: Millbrook Pr Trade (January 1, 2014)
Disclosures: This book was provided for review via Blue Slip Media. Also, I am an affiliate for Amazon, and if you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.
Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.
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Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants.
— Plant Taxonomy - Wikipedia
The origins of the taxonomy of plants and plant nomenclature used today is almost entirely indebted to the work done by the Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) also known as Carl Linnaeus or Carl von Linn.
He reviewed the historical manuscripts about plants and developed a comprehensive system for grouping and naming plants.
His manuscript describing a new system for classifying plants was called "Systema Naturae". It introduced the system of binomial nomenclature which is still in use today.
Subsequent research (eg Darwin, DNA etc) has revised and continues to revise the groupings devised by Linnaeus but the basics of the system continue largely to be based on his idea of how to organise biological entities - and describe, classify and name organisms.
The link below is to the most amazing online exhibition about the importance of Linnaeus and includes a huge amount of information about the birth of modern botany and how plants were documented
Definition of Genus: Biology
A taxonomic category ranking below a family and above a species and generally consisting of a group of species exhibiting similar characteristics. In taxonomic nomenclature the genus name is used, either alone or followed by a Latin adjective or epithet, to form the name of a species.
— The Free Dictionary
The Art of Plant Evolution
by Professor W. John Kress and Shirley Sherwood
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Rated USA: 5.0 stars (4 customer reviews)
READ MY REVIEW Book Review: The Art of Plant Evolution.
I have a copy and found it hugely educational from a botanical perspective. Reading it made the whole taxonomy of plants make sense to me for the first time!
I also enjoyed the wider variety of artworks - including etchings and pen and ink plus artists from a variety of countries including significant numbers of contemporary artists from Japan and Brazil.
The Art of Plant Evolution
Paperback: 320 pp
Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens (22 August 2009)
BUY THE BOOK
The Art of Plant Evolution - from Amazon.com
The Art of Plant Evolution - from Amazon.co.uk
This publication is based on an 'art meets science' exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2009/10 to celebrate Kew's 250th anniversary and Darwin's bicentenary. The exhibition provided an overview of plant relationships based on contemporary scientific discoveries and DNA test.
Informative text provide overviews of related topics in biology - including natural selection and the origin of plant species, plant evolutionary relationships and classification, fossil and DNA evidence, and co-evolution between plants and animals
All the links below come from Wikipedia
Taxonomy: Other References
Botany - How people came to understand the natural order of the plant world
Education in Plant Science
One of the things I've found most amazing of late are the number of artists who are undertaking advances studies in botany and plant science so they can become better members of the teams which work at recording plants.
Thus I find I'm interviewing RHS Gold Medallists who started off as botanical artists - but who are now doing MScs and PhDs in Botany!
News Blog about artists, awards, exhibitions etc.
Please send me .
- news to share
- info. about exhibitions
- any suggestions for what you'd like to see on this website
- Best Books about Botanical Art History
- History of Botanical Art
- Botanical Art Online
Contact me if you'd like to promote workshops and courses on this site.
This website is free to you but not for me! (See Affiliate Income below)
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