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Submitted to: Journal of Dairy Science
Publication Type: Peer reviewed journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/30/2010
Publication Date: 11/1/2010
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/57291
Citation: Williams, W., Tedeschi, L., Callaway, T.R., Dowd, S.E. 2010. Evaluation of in vitro gas production pattern and bacteria population of corn milling (co)products using 16S rDNA bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing. Journal of Dairy Science. 93:4735-4743. Interpretive Summary: Distillers grains (DG) are an increasing component of ruminant diets following the increase in biofuel production because they are a wasteproduct of corn fermentation to produce ethanol. The microbial ecosystem ferments different feedstuffs to different endproducts. When DG are substituted for corn in cattle rations, the microbial population and the endproducts of their fermentation differ. This study examines the changes in the ruminal fermentation of some specific DG products and the effect of further processing of DG by removal of fat on the in vitro ruminal microbial ecosystem.
Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the degradation dynamics of two commonly-fed corn (co)products fermented in vitro and investigate the shifts of the rumen bacterial populations. Previous studies have indicated that processing methods of ruminant feeds directly affect the substrate availability and fermentation rates of corn products and that fat content of ruminant feeds can affect nutrient digestibility, but little information is available regarding the changes in the ruminal microbial population. In this study, intact and defatted forms of two dried distiller grains plus solubles (DDGS) of different processing methods (BPX and HP) were fermented in replicates for 24 or 48 h using the in vitro gas production (IVGP) technique. The IVGP is based on the assumption that the gas produced from the anaerobic fermentation is directly related to the amount of substrate fermented. Fermentation profiles of the DDGS were compared to alfalfa hay. The 16S rDNA bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing technique (bTEFAP) was used to determine the bacterial profile at 24 and 48 h of the in vitro fermentations. Bacterial populations were analyzed at the species level; a bacterium was analyzed only if its DNA comprised more than 5% of the total DNA recovered. Bacteria were grouped by their reported substrate affinities (guilds) for cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, starch, sugars, protein, lipids, and lactate. Fermentation profiles indicated that removal of lipids before incubation reduced lag time (P = 0.02) and the fractional fermentation rate (P = 0.02) of the low heat-processed feed (BPX). Defatting of DDGS increased the fiber carbohydrate and proteolytic bacteria guild activity (P < 0.01) and decreased lactate-utilizing bacteria populations (P = 0.02). Information regarding fermentation kinetics and bacterial population shifts may result in more precise ration formulations for ruminants using more advanced nutritional models.
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(PYONGYANG, North Korea) -- After months of threats, North Korea is seemingly turning to diplomacy to end disputes with its neighbors and the West.
The latest instance of this supposedly new tact from Pyongyang came Sunday as a government agency suggested bilateral talks with Washington about possibly ending its nuclear ambitions in the future.
North Korea's National Defense Commission, which is run by leader Kim Jong-un, said as long as the U.S. sets no preconditions for talks, it could select the venue and date for a meeting.
Washington views such overtures with a cautious eye since Pyongyang has offered olive branches in the past, only to pull them away just as suddenly.
In talks with North Korea last year, the U.S. promised 240,000 tons of food aid if Pyongyang suspended its weapons programs. However, the launch of a long-range missile just a few months later ended the agreement.
More recently, North Korea and Japan have instigated talks with China about rebooting discussions regarding its nuclear programs. However, talks with South Korea fell apart when the two sides couldn't agree on the seniority of delegations.
What ultimately might kill off any meeting between Washington and Pyongyang before it begins is the National Defense Commission's insistence that any dismantling of its nuclear programs must be linked to a similar nuclear weapons reduction in the entire region.
Meanwhile, a National Security Council spokeswoman says that the U.S. hopes to have "credible negotiations" with North Korea.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
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Born in 1973, Li Songsong is part of a young generation of Chinese artists who did not experience life in Mao's China directly but whose work addresses the continuing resonance of this era of Communist spectacle through a painterly investigation of its imagery. Cuban Sugar is a vast painting made in 2006 based on a United Nations conference photograph taken at a time when a crisis in China's domestic production of sugar had forced it into an unwelcome trade agreement with Cuba. This historical record of human life and interaction slowly emerges from a vast, highly textural, four-metre wide geometric patchwork made up of different coloured and textured aluminium panels each hovering between figuration and abstraction. Up close, the paint is so thick and luscious that its density obscures the imagery in gestural abstraction. As one steps back from the painting, this extraordinarily photographic expanse comes into view. Part of Li's purpose in choosing to paint such ideologically-charged images in the first place, is to attempt, through the distance of his painterly process, to neutralize such features and render these historical and politicized images anew in a more open, non-judgmental and objective way.
To do this, Li employs a unique painterly practice that simultaneously both engages with and yet also dismantles his subject matter, freeing his source material of its carefully staged facts and associative meaning through an exposure and overt display of both the painting and the photograph's own artifice. In this respect, as he has acknowledged, Li has been inspired by the precedent set by Gerhard Richter whose exposure of the fictive nature of both the photograph and abstraction has proved an important example for him.
In this work, with its multivalent block-like structure of different panels cohesively augmenting and also enlivening this grandiose political stage with its assembly of people all concentrated into groups around a central display of images, Li's collage-like manner of painting seems to emphasize the diversity of human activity taking place within this formally-organized collective mass of people.
To reinforce this sense of individuality each of the panels has been painted as a separate entity and in a different range of colours and styles. Li's selection of these details is largely arbitrary and aimed primarily only at dismantling the cohesiveness of the original image in his own mind as far as is possible. 'For once selected', Li has said, 'in order to try to forget all about the image. I try to break it up bit by bit...(because)... when working on each specific part, I don't care so much about the whole... (and) ...I hope that I can try not to think about it.' (Interview with Ai Weiwei, Feng Boyi and Li Songsong, 6 November 2004 reproduced at www.Galerie-Meile.ch)
Li also proceeds to paint each panel in a methodical and deliberately vague way that intentionally blurs the line between mark-making and figuration. He does this by beginning each aluminium panel in the top left hand corner and proceeding to produce an extremely painterly abstraction that, nevertheless, echoes and repeats the shapes and shadows of the source image. His choice of colour is 'haphazard', he says. The relationships among the tones of a photograph are the beginning of the spontaneous journey. 'I've also tried to turn black and white photographs into colour in my paintings. Through such attempts, I can highlight some accidental differences and conflicts.'(Ibid)
Collectively these panels build together to form a composite painted version of the original image that can only really be fused together into a united whole in the eye of the viewer and through its conditioned practice of searching for a cohesive whole or pattern among disparate fragments. Like a black and white image flickering in muted shades of colour bestowed upon it by a colour television screen, Li's composite and yet also highly painterly images emerge as strong physical presences seemingly only forged into a unity through the logic of the pixelated gaze of todays age of information technology. A flickering grid patchwork of various styles all exploring and exposing the artifice of their common historical source, this painting, with its depiction of a political assembly seeking concord seems not only to articulate and assert multiple levels of reality and interpretation, but also perhaps, to reiterate Napoleon's famous assessment of history; that it is a set of agreed upon lies.
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1. The Issue
Coffee is one of the major products in the world, and it is favored by people in all over the world; therefore, it has become the major source of foreign exchange after oil for many developing countries, and it has been sustained their economies. At the same time, it gives a big impact on the world economy, because coffee is one of the important primary products in world trade. Therefore, it supports lives of people who cultivate coffee. However, the price of coffee is very volatile due to the natural causes and supply and demand. Therefore, coffee producing countries established an organization called Association of Coffee Producing Country (ACPC) in addition to the International Coffee Organization (ICO) to maintain stable market. Nevertheless, there still are many obstacles to overcome. Colombia, the 2nd largest coffee producing country, has been coping with this unsettled problem. How is coffee industry in Colombia, and how do they respond to the problem?
Colombia is the 2nd biggest coffee producer and the biggest producer of Arabica coffee, which is considered the highest quality bean. Cultivation, processing, trading, transportation and marketing of coffee provide employment to many people in Colombia. The major coffee importing countries are the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy and other European countries. There are 570,000 producers. The farmers in Colombia belong to and are controlled by the Colombian Coffee Federation (FNC). The FNC is considered the most successful coffee federation due to over 60 years of experience and continuation of many development activities. The FNC is one of a few organizations that accomplishes to manage farmers. The FNC has been promoting fair-trade, and therefore, it established a system that provided farmers to be able to receive reasonable benefits. As a result, the federation manages the better price in the world market for the lives of those farmers. Moreover, their effort for high quality successfully let Colombia maintain as the 2nd largest coffee provider in the world, and number one in Arabica type coffee. Many Colombian coffee breeds are resistant to crop diseases and unnecessary to use shade trees. The high quality is guaranteed even for the the coffee which is cultivated with shade trees. In recent years, Colombia is enthusiastic about organic coffee that does not use chemical fertilizer or pesticedes. Still, the unpredictable natural calamity such as El Nino and imbalance on demand and supply in the market hit coffee industry in Colombia.
It seems that the biggest problem that Colombia has been facing stems in where it is located. Colombia is located on the Andes, where El Nino and La Nina pass. It takes fairly a long time to recover from such bad weathers. Moreover, Colombia is a country of earthquack situated in the Andes. Earthquack in January 2000 and January 2001 directly hit the coffee growing regions. As a result, infrastructures are destroyed and roads were closed. This led to unavailability of all the process of the production such as fine selection and storage. Consequently, the shippment of coffee beans would be delayed. The best harvest years were the year 1991 and 1992, but since then, the productivity has been decreasing. Furtheremore, the low coffee price in the world market unavoidably has been forcing to lower the price of domestic coffee market. As a result, the FNC cannot stop farmers to lose their confidence on harvesting coffee beans. This could result in farmers to be attracted to the more profitable drug cultivation.
Attempting to Overcome the Obstcles
Consequently, Colombian coffee industry cannot escape from the price fall, and they are groping for a better plan. Currently, the federation manages it by establishing a Coffee Fund. The Coffee Fund is consisted of contribution from both coffee producers and consumers and levying on coffee exports. What is contributed would be reinvested for producers and coffee itself. The fund supports coffee growers by providing domestic minimum price for stable income. The coffee growers are guaranteed the minimum coffee price by covering the difference when the price of Colombian coffee falls in international market. The FNC not only reinvest in coffee, but also reinvest in education, healthcare, electrification, telephone, drainage, and transportation in coffee growing areas for coffee growing farmers. Moreover, the FNC encourages farmers in the coffee regions to grow other crops not to depend too much on coffee. The FNC searches for environmentally friendly coffee growing techniques and technologies such as soil conservation techniques, organic fertilization, safe pest management techniques, wet coffee processing for less water usage, reforestation, and preservation of birds and insects.
WORLD COFFEE MARKET
Coffee production is the major industry in many developing countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, and countries in African and Central America. The coffee market has always been unstable, because of not only natural calamity and supply and demand but also a severe attack by speculators. Since 1945, responsibility was required also to the importing countries than exporters. Importers often agreed to buy coffee with higher price than market price. Coffee producing countries are instead limited the amount of coffee exported. In 1963, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) was established for the purpose of stabilizing coffee market. ICO applied different types of quota systems that were appropriate for the situation at the time. Because of trade liberalization in 1989, the regulations for raw coffee beans were abolished. The coffee producing countries are satisfied with the trade liberalization, and they are eager to explore their new trading partners. Moreover, the producing countries in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America established a cartel called the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) in 1993 to restore equilibrium in a certain extent in the coffee market. The objective of ACPC is to stabilize the supply and demand balance in the market and control balance of power. ACPC operates like OPEC.
Agony of Coffee Exporting Countries
Most countries rely heavily on this product as the major source of trade income. ACPC members agreed on a policy, in which they set export quotas to reinforce the management of coffee supply. However, the member countries such as Brazil broke it because of the drastic price hike in 1997. Moreover, Vietnam, which is not a member of ACPC, started to gain the share in coffee market. This could lead to weakening of the power of ACPC. It also signifies that traditional coffee producing countries are threatened of taking over the share and in danger of industry dying out. Furthermore, they are under pressure from the developed countries to follow the theory of sustainable development: protect both environment and labor. Unlike oil, coffee cannot easily change the quantity of production other than increasing stocks. It has been the pattern for coffee producing countries that first they suffer from low price derived from overproduction; then sharp price hike follows due to frost damage or drought in Brazil, the biggest coffee producer. A case in recent years was a great frost damage in Brazil in 1994. The decreasing stock of coffee due to strong world coffee demand attracted speculators, which triggered the skyrocketing of coffee price. However, coffee demand has been increasing because of improvement in quality as a result of liberalization. Simultaneously, domestic demand in these countries has been increasing, which could lead to the scarcity of coffeein world market. Another recent worry is El Nino phenomena. Its effect on coffee cultivation is not yet elucidated, but it is certainly a fear to fluctuate the coffee market.
Coffee Importing Countries
The major coffee importing countries are the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy and other European countries. Since the coffee price has been unstable and unpredictable, the coffee stock in the coffee importing countries has been increasing along with certain import condition. That is, they have always been ready to deal with poor harvest.
The Plan 2000
To deal with this instability resulting from the above mentioned issues, ACPC implemented a plan called The Coffee Retention Plan 2000 to reduce volatility in the market and maintain the proportion of coffee exports. Revival of the plan to hold more stocks did not give much impact on the market, but the plan further accelated the price fall. As mentioned before, The effectiveness of ACPC has not been strengthened since major coffee producing countries such as Vietnam and Mexico were out of the aggrement of this plan. Vietnam has been drastically increasing the productivity of coffee, and Mexico has not been able to join the organization considering the relationship with the United States, the biggest buyer of Mexican coffee, in addition to a plan to increase the productivity. The one of the reasons why nonmembers join the ACPC is that they hesitate to provide funds for both ACPC and ICO. However, the stock accumulation is the only feasible strategy they coud come up with. This plan would be meaningless unless all member countires keep the agreement. Therefore, their cooperation is at least indispensable for the plan to be effective. The dispute over price limitation between ACPC and ICO, which is the dispute between coffee producing countries and coffee consuming countries, had been broken off for almost a decade. Low price of coffee exposes the lives of coffee cultivators to danger. However, the issue of controlling only the low price has brought out the question of international aid, because high price keeps consumers away from buying coffee, which also results in hurting many people's lives in developing countries. There is also a problem that the biggest consuming country, the United States, does not participate in the ICO. The absence of the United States makes whole important conference and decision meaningless.
The price of coffee has recently been dropping drastically. According to ICO, the average annual coffee price has been dropping constantly every year from 108.95 in 1998, 85.72 in 1999, and 64.25 in 2000 to around 49.00 for the first 3 months in 2001. This price fall is a result from excessive supply. Although coffee consumption has gradually been increasing, aggregate supply exceeded aggregate demand due to increasing production in countries like Vietnam. Productivity almost doubled from 6 million bags in 1998 to 11 million bags in 1999 in Vietnam. Ultimately Vietnam has become the number one in productivity in recent months. Vietnam has drastically increased the production since last November. It is even harder to predict the world coffee productivity with unpredicted weather and the competition with new comers.
It is a crutical issue for coffee producing countries to overcome the price volatility, because they have limited capital, unstable profits, countries' bad economic conditions and limited capital for new technology or reseach on coffee. Therefore, it is essential for them to establish firm farmers based organizations like FNC in Colombia.
3. Related Cases
4. Author and Date:
May 9, 2001
5. Discourse and Status:
Status: In progress
International Coffee Agreement 2001(ICA 2001)
The International Coffee Agreement 2001 was agreed in September 2000 by 63 member countries and it will hopefully be effective on October 2001. This agreement encourages memeber countries to promote sustainable coffee economy, coffee consumption, quality of coffee, training and information programs, and other objectives.
6. Forum and Scope:
Forum: The International Coffee Organization (ICO) : 45 exporting countries and 18 importing countries
and Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) : 14 ratified countries and 14 more signatory countries
7. Decision Breadth:
Coffee producing countries are affected especially by this with very volitile market.
8. Legal Standing: Treaty
Colombia maintains a high quality control standards. Strict inspection by the FNC to each farms is made for better quality. The inspectors check the size, color, and quality of coffee beans. The inspectors give the permission to farmers for shipping. Not only the inspectors but also the operation's owners check the quality of coffee beans. The best beans are selected for export. There are different level of inspections until coffeet is finally shipped for export.
9. Geographic Locations
b. Geographic Site: West South America
c. Geographic Impact: Colombia
10. Sub-National Factors: No
11. Type of Habitat:
12. Type of Measure: Tariff and quota
As an example of measurement, Japan regulates coffee import by tariff. The level of tariff varies by the form. For the raw coffee bean, there is no tariff imposed since the trade liberalization in 1989. However, the processed coffee are imposed a certain degree of tariffs. Furthermore, preferential tariffs (0%) are provided to the least developed coffee producing countries.
13. Direct v. Indirect Impacts:
Indirect impact on Colombian coffee industry
14. Relation of Trade Measure to Environmental Impact
b. Indirectly Related to Product: No
c. Not Related to Product: No
d. Related to Process: Habitat change
15. Trade Product Identification:
16. Economic Data
The lack of rain and insect damage caused low productivity in 1997, but the productivitiy increased in 1998 due to a long period of rain while they had problems maintaining the good quality resulting from high humidity. The best harvest years in the last decade are 1991 and 1992. The production amounted to over 16 million bags.
17. Impact of Trade Restriction:
As to the WTO legal issue, with respect to agricultural goods, Colombia, as a member of the Cairns Group, was an active participant in the Uruguay Round negotiations in this area. The Cairns Group is composed of 15 agriculture exporting countries, who has been asserting the complete free trade on agriculture. Colombia's commitments in the agricultural sector represent an average tariff reduction of 24% over a decade period. In addition, Colombia committed itself to limit agricultural subsidies and agricultural export promotion programs.
18. Industry Sector: Food (Agriculture)
19. Exporters and Importers: Exporters
The biggest Colombian coffee importer is the United States followed by Germany and Japan and other European countries
The Colombian coffee is favored by many people in the United States.
20. Environmental Problem Type:
Coffee plays an important role in the tropical Andean ecosystem. The Colombian Coffee Federation is working toward a sustainable ecosystem, which delivered a conservation biology program. The fund supports a certain level of coffee production, environmental protection, and cofee growers. Because Colombian coffee is cultivated from 1000 to 2000 meter of elevation, most serious problem is that water running over the surface of the coffee growing regions cause the soil erosion. It eventually leads to the reduction of productivity and increase of expenditures on fertilizer to maintain productivity. Colombia tries to diversify the region and avoid the monoproduction. They try not to increase the total area planted in coffee. The coffee area is harmonized with other crops and forests and pastures. Therefore, this diversified landscape also let coffee producers move towards environmentally friendly cultivation. Small-sized farmers produce 76% of coffee, because small farm size provides heterogeneity of the landscape. Colombia tries to be able to coexist with the abundant nature surrounded. Especially, avian species are found in coffee growing areas. Many migratory birds in the coffee regions come from the United States and Canada. Moreover, rare Colombian endemic species are found in shade coffee farms. Therefore, heterogeneous coffee growing landscape supports a diverse biosystem.
21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species
There are also migratory species such as Olive-sided Ayoatcher, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Baybreasted Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Canada Warbler
22. Resource Impact and Effect:
23. Urgency and Lifetime: Low and 100s of years
Since the Colombian Coffee Federation is commited strongly on sustainable development with innovation of new technology, which provide the minimum impact on environment, I believe that there is no real threat of changing ecosystem.
24. Substitutes: Tea !
Colombia is a country with earthquake. In January 25,2001, the major earthquake hit the coffee-growing regions in Colombia. Because of it, farmers in Armenia and Pereira lost everything. They need emergency shelter, food and medical care. Furthermore, they need to rebuild house, schools, health care facilities, aqua ducts, coffee-processing facilities, roads and bridges. Because they totally rely on coffee cultivation for their source of income, it seriously affects their lives. To cope with it, Colombian Relief Fund is incorporated to provide humanitarian assistance.
26. Trans-Boundary Issues: No
27. Rights: No
28. Relevant Literature
All Japan Coffee Association. Zenkyo Kaigai Joho (International Coffee Affairs) Vol. 100 June 2000.
The Colombian Coffee Federation,http://www.askjuan.com
International Coffee Organization,http://www.ico.org/
National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, http://www.juanvaldez.com/
All Japan Coffee Association,http://coffee.ajca.or.jp/
Association of Coffee Producing Countries, http://www.acpc.org
Angelique Web Graphic Materials, http://www.miyuweb.com/angel/
Studio Media: Independent Art Office, http://www06.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/
Silicon Cafe.com for homepage, http://www.siliconcafe.com/gtool/data/text/02/but05_01.html
Flags courtesy of www.theodora.com/flags used with permission, http://www.theodora.com/flags
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SpaceX, L3Harris pursue hypersonic missile defense system
by Paul Brinkmann
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 4, 2021
SpaceX has won a $150 million contract to launch the U.S. Department of Defense's first batch of hypersonic missile defense satellites, the second contract -- for roughly the same amount -- that has been awarded for their development.
SpaceX and Florida-based defense firm L3Harris Technologies are competing and collaborating on the project, which is designed for the rapid development of a globe-circling network with dozens of satellites.
Lockheed Martin and Denver-based satellite firm York Space Systems also are building spacecraft for the network.
"It's a response to the evolving hypersonic abilities from Russia and China and others potentially," George Nacouzi, a senior engineer at the Rand Corporation, a non-profit think tank for the defense industry, told UPI.
"The project is focused on launching a demonstration mission now, but I don't know if they'll build the whole system as intended," Nacouzi said.
SpaceX and L3Harris each are building four missile detection satellites for the first launch, expected in 2022.
Lockheed and York are developing communication satellites that would relay signals about a hypersonic missile's location and potential path.
Although competitors, the firms are required to collaborate on ensuring the satellites work together.
"Speed is essential because such a weapon could travel halfway around the world in less than an hour," Nacouzi said.
SpaceX typically doesn't comment on such projects, but L3Harris executive Bill Gattle said the company has prepared for years to develop large numbers of spacecraft for hypersonic missile defense.
The company has adapted infrared sensors used in its weather detection satellites for the new spacecraft, which will be part of the United States' new planned National Defense Space Architecture, said Gattle, who is president of L3Harris' space systems business.
"The whole industry is moving from the days of building a few satellites at a time to building hundreds of them," Gattle said, referring to constellations of hundreds of satellites launched by SpaceX and similar plans by OneWeb and Amazon.
"We've recognized that we have to become more efficient, and we've already built hundreds of payloads for satellites," Gattle said.
He said the satellite system, coordinated by the defense department's new Space Development Agency, has revolutionized space and defense contracting by moving faster than ever on such a large government project.
The agency was founded in 2019 to ensure rapid response to new threats, said Jennifer Elzea, chief of strategic engagement for the agency.
"It is SDA's desire to create a market rather than a set of programs, so all prospective performers can build capabilities" and bid on future projects, Elzea said.
Eventually, the SDA's hypersonic detection system would have up to 150 satellites in space.
mu Space to push Thai space industry, planning to build its first spaceship in 2021
Bangkok, Thailand (SPX) Dec 30, 2020
2020 was the time when the space scene was lively again, with the Thai government pushing for space-activity-related legislation and creating mechanisms to promote and support both the government and the private sector to develop the space industry together, which is one of the target industries in the new S-curve that will increase Thailand's investment capacity and its role in developing the space industry and ultimately add values to the Thai economy. The private sector also plays an important ... read more
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The following is a list in alphabetical order of common terms surrounding solar energy and its related uses. We will update this list as we run across additional terminology.
Photo courtesy of A&R Solar.
AC (Alternating Current) - This is the type of electricity used in AG亚洲国际平台游戏homes and businesses and delivered to them from their electric utility. In the United States, the standard is 60 cycles per second. Electricity transmission networks use AC because voltage can be controlled with relative ease.
AMP (Ampere) - A unit of electrical current or rate of flow of electrons. One volt across one ohm of resistance causes a current flow of one ampere. An ampere-hour is a measure of the flow of current (in amperes) over one hour; used to measure battery capacity.
Azimuth - The angle between true south and the point on the horizon directly below the sun. The direction solar panels face affects how much electricity they produce. Knowing the azimuth is key to determining the anticipated electrical output. With due south at 180 degrees, west is 270 and east is 90.
Customer Generation - Generation of electricity using customer-owned equipment on a customer's premises intended to primarily offset a customer's electricity use.
DC (Direct Current) - Solar panels make DC electricity which must be converted to AC for use in a AG亚洲国际平台游戏home or business.
Demand Response - The process of using voluntary load reductions during peak hours. In other words, customers reduce their use of electricity in response to pricing signals, automated technologies or other communication.
Distributed Energy Resources (DER or DE) - A variety of small, modular electricity generating technologies that generate power to be used locally, at the location where it is generated. Customer-Generated electricity is a Distributed Energy Resource because it does not come from a centralized power plant but instead is generated and used onsite or in the neighborhood.
Interconnection - Utility customers must meet standards and be approved before their customer-generated electricity may be interconnected with the grid. During the process of installing solar, the installer or the customer must complete the Interconnection Agreement with their utility. NW Solar Communities has worked to simplify and standardize this process across utilities to help make the interconnection process simple and fast.
Inverter - A device that converts direct current electricity to alternating current either for stand-alone systems or to supply power to an electricity grid. For residential solar systems, string inverters connect to a string of solar panels or micro inverters connect with individual solar panels. A different inverter connects to batteries.
Kilowatt (kW) - A standard unit of electrical power equal to 1000 watts. KW is also a term used to refer to sizes of solar systems.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh) - 1,000 watts acting over a period of 1 hour. Most electrical meters measure kWh for billing purposes. For planning purposes, residential and business size solar systems are designed to generate a certain number of kWh per year. That way, a customer can know how much their electric bill will go down, over the course of one year, by adding a solar system.
Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) - This online calculator provides a simple calculator for both utility-scale and distributed generation (DG) renewable energy technologies that compares the combination of capital costs, operations and maintenance (O&M), performance, and fuel costs Note that this does not include financing issues, discount issues, future replacement, or degradation costs. Each of these would need to be included for a thorough analysis.
Megawatt (MW) - 1,000 kilowatts, or 1 million watts; standard measure of electric power plant generating capacity.
Net Metering - Standard metering of electricity use with a bi-directional meter that accounts for customer generation and provides billing credits for excess or "net" production during a billing period. Here in Washington, the Net Metering year ends on April 30 when all bill credits zero out and a new year begins.
Off Grid Solar - An array of solar panels producing electricity that is stored in batteries for a AG亚洲国际平台游戏home or location that is not connected to a utility power distribution grid.
Passive Solar - A building that has been specifically designed and situated to capture the heat from the sun shining through windows.
Pitch or Tilt - An existing building’s roof’s pitch or tilt is measured in degrees or as a fraction. It is the rise in inches over a 12 inch (one foot) distance. For example a 4/12 pitch rises 4 inches over a distance of 12 inches. Tilt is the angle of inclination of a module measured from the horizontal. Tilt or pitch impacts the solar production of a solar panel. When planning to build a new structure, the ideal pitch or tilt for depends on the latitude of the location; and thus the best year-round angle to the sun. Solar panels produce the most power when the surface of the solar panel is exactly perpendicular to the direction of sunlight.
PV (Photovoltaic) - Direct conversion of light into electricity. A Solar PV Module (aka panel). Solar photovoltaic devices are made of various semiconductor materials including silicon, cadmium sulfide, cadmium telluride, and gallium arsenide, and in single crystalline, multicrystalline, or amorphous forms.
PV Effect - The phenomenon that occurs when photons, the "particles" in a beam of light, knock electrons loose from the atoms they strike. When this property of light is combined with the properties of semiconductors, electrons flow in one direction across a junction, setting up a voltage. With the addition of circuitry, current will flow and electric power will be available.
Production Metering - Additional metering used to measure the electricity produced by a customer generation system which is required to apply for production incentives.
Silicon (Si) - A semi-metallic chemical element that makes an excellent semiconductor material for photovoltaic devices. It crystallizes in face-centered cubic lattice like a diamond. It's commonly found in sand and quartz (as the oxide). Solar panels are typically made of monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon cells.
Solar Electric Generation - Generation using solar electric (photovoltaic) equipment, typically solar modules and power inverters for AG亚洲国际平台游戏home or business use.
Solar Energy - Electromagnetic energy transmitted from the sun (solar radiation). The amount that reaches the earth is equal to one billionth of total solar energy generated, or the equivalent of about 420 trillion kilowatt-hours.
Solar Panel Efficiency - the percent of electrical energy that a solar panel produces (under optimal conditions) as compared to the total amount of energy from the sun falling on the solar panel. Typical solar panel efficiency is currently between 12% and 18%, although this value is improving over time.
Solar Tracker – Usually a mechanical device that orients solar panels toward the sun and moves throughout the day and year. Trackers can adjust the tilt of the panels seasonally and/or move from facing east to west throughout the day. Typically trackers are only used in very large solar systems.
Watts or Wattage (W) - When describing or comparing solar panels, wattage is a description of the power production ability of each solar panel. In the factory, panels are tested and then labeled for the wattage.
Introduction to solar and glossary for kids!
We've provided a short and fun glossary of solar terms for kids. Click here to view or download. Also, check out our short introduction to solar video on our YouTube channel aimed at giving kids a glimpse at solar energy, how it works and where you can find it.
Pictured: Solar Washington volunteer Craig Olson demonstrating how a solar powered fan works to kids at Penny Creek Elementary School in Everett (May 2019).
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The Commissioner of the Revenue is a state constitutional officer as set forth in the Constitution of Virginia and is the chief assessing officer of the local government. It is an elected position for a 4-year term. The Commissioner is responsible for maintaining real estate ownership records and administering the Land Use Program and Tax Relief for the Elderly/Disabled Program, assessing all personal property and the qualifying of vehicles entitled to the Personal Property Tax Relief Act, and overseeing the filing process of the Virginia State income tax of Louisa County residents.
The mission of the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue is to serve citizens of Louisa County by:
Assisting taxpayers in the participation of tax reductions programs.
Fairly and equitably identifying and assessing all sources of revenue to which the County is entitled according to the laws of the State of Virginia and the County of Louisa.
Offering friendly, fair and efficient service to our citizens and striving to improve our procedures to best benefit taxpayers.
Providing accurate and useful information from which County officials can make decisions in the best interest of the citizens of Louisa County.
Providing taxpayers with accurate and useful information concerning revenue assessments.
The Commissioner of the Revenue's Office is regulated by the State Code of Virginia and is responsible for upholding the Constitution of the laws of Virginia.
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|Appears in|| |
|Areas|| Pikmin 3|
Tropical Wilds (x4)
Distant Tundra (x4)
|Challenge Mode levels|| Pikmin 3|
Twilight Hollow (x3)
Shaded Garden (x2)
Tropical Wilds Remix (x3)
Distant Tundra Remix (x2)
Tropical Forest (x2)
Tropical Forest Remix (x2)
|2-Player and Bingo Battle levels||None|
The Pyroclasmic Slooch is an enemy found in Pikmin 3, first seen at Nintendo's E3 2012 conference. It resembles a black slug-like creature with yellow-orange rings of light pulsing down its body. It is somewhat cone-shaped with two small antennae at its tip. It cloaks itself in flames which will set any Pikmin species other than Red Pikmin on fire if they make contact with it. It moves slowly, leaving a trail of fire behind it that can further ignite Pikmin. Its face consists of two small eye stalks and a long gray-blue tongue, which the Slooch can lash out to snatch Pikmin from a medium range. It is only hurt by Red Pikmin, as they are immune to fire, but they can also be hurt by other Pikmin if it goes into the water. While a Rock Pikmin's initial thump can damage it, they will quickly catch on fire. When killed, their flaming bodies extinguish and shrink down to a smaller size.
The Pyroclasmic Slooch will sometimes act as a hazard. By leaving trails of fire, it has the ability to block areas for non-Red Pikmin, which will only be accessible if they are defeated by Red Pikmin. It takes 3 Pikmin to carry and is worth 20 Pokos.
Pikmin 3 Website
"These slow-moving creatures use fire to keep away potential predators. They also use their tongues to reel in prey."
Pikmin 3 Prima Guide
"Pyroclasmic Slooches are flame-covered creatures that produce trails of fire as they move around an area, In addition to these very effective defense qualities, these creatures are able to devour any Pikmin standing directly in front of them. When battling a Pyroclasmic Slooch, use a squad of Red Pikmin to charge the creature from the rear, or throw Red Pikmin onto its back."
Defeating the Pyroclasmic Slooch is simple. Take some Red Pikmin (at least 3) and throw them onto the Slooch's body. If the player has less than 3 Red Pikmin with them, be sure to call them back after a few seconds, because the Slooch will be able to buck them off and will be able to eat them. If you don't have Red Pikmin on you, a few direct hits with Rock Pikmin will also do them in. Just make sure to whistle them before they burn to death.
- It is possible that the name may be a pun of a pyroclastic flow, a fast moving current of hot gas or rock commonly found in volcanoes. This would make sense as these appear to be made of magma.
- Its beta name was "Pyroplasmic Slooch," a one-letter difference between its final name.
- Like the Fiery Bulblax, this creature's flames will extinguish if you lead it into water, allowing all types to attack it. Strangely, they don't extinguish if it's raining.
- Like the majority of grub-dogs, the Toady Bloyster, the Peckish Aristocrab, the Burrowing Snagret, and the Sandbelching Meerslug, the Pyroplasmic Slooch is able to ingest a Bomb Rock, which will kill it instantly.
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EPA unveils new ethanol pump labelingPosted on
The Environmental Protection Agency issued fuel pump labeling and other requirements Tuesday for gasoline blends containing more than 10 percent and as much as 15 percent ethanol, known as E15.
The requirements will help ensure that E15 is properly labeled and used once it enters the market, according to the EPA.
The new orange-and-black label must appear on fuel pumps that dispense E15. The label will help inform consumers about the vehicles that can use E15. The label also will warn consumers against using E15 in vehicles older than model year 2001, motorcycles, watercraft and gasoline-powered equipment, such as lawnmowers and chainsaws.
Completion of the misfueling rule was a requirement stipulated in the partial waivers for E15 before the fuel could be sold at retail outlets. Fuel and fuel additive manufacturers now must register E15 with the EPA, and that has not been done as of Tuesday, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Along with other groups, the NMMA is opposing E15.
“While both partial waivers exclude marine engines and other non-road engines, such as snowmobiles, lawn and garden equipment, the NMMA continues to be concerned that the measures outlined in EPA’s misfueling rule do not take significant steps to address anticipated problems with consumer confusion and the risk of misfueling,” the association said in a statement. “In addition, the rule does not ensure compatible fuels remain available for the nation’s 13 million registered boat owners or the hundreds of millions of owners of gasoline-powered equipment.”
Those concerns were outlined in the full comments that the NMMA submitted to the EPA earlier this year.
“As E15 becomes available for on-road vehicles, this greatly increases the likehood of misfueling in boats, the large majority of which are refueled at neighborhood automotive gas stations where E15 will be sold,” NMMA president Thom Dammrich said in a statement. “NMMA is disappointed that EPA’s only mechanism to protect consumers from confusion at the pump and consequent engine failures, emissions control failures and safety issues is a small label on the pump.”
Last December, the NMMA filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the EPA’s partial waiver approving E15 for certain motor vehicles. The NMMA continues to work with the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers in a coalition called the Engine Products Group in pursuing the legal challenge.
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Siem Reap rainy season 2012
The rainy season in Cambodia starts in June and runs until November, bringing 75% of the kingdom’s annual rainfall and temperatures that can drop as low as 22 degrees Celsius. Future politicians take note — this sentence is a prime example of how a statement can be both absolutely true and quite misleading all at the same time. In practice, for the last couple of years at least, the rainy season gets off to a piddling start and then suddenly remembers what it’s all about towards the end and dumps it all on our heads in a panicky fit of rampant precipitation. The level and bare factuality of the statement above do nothing to reveal the turbulent variances behind it, which mean that a Cambodian rainy season experienced in June is a very different beast from rainy season experienced in September.
So at the beginning of the rainy season this year, like last year, in Siem Reap we actually saw very little rain at all, unless you count the oceans of sweat cascading down your back brought on by the soul-strangling humidity. And that thing about the temperatures dropping to 22 degrees, well it is true, but it has to rain before that happens. Occasionally a cloud has meandered across the horizon, like a lost migratory crane. Espied from the ground, great surges of hope have swelled up in the chests of all, only to be viciously crushed as the cloud has floated away or evaporated. Cruel cumulus. So, if you were being a pedant about it, it’s not really rainy season as such; more a ‘Merciful God, please just kill me now’ season.
And now, now in September we may be sitting on the cusp of the great dump. The last three weeks have seen bigger and better storms in the afternoons, bringing with them the odd power cut to be sure, but also that blissful temperature drop in the aftermath when the whole world gleams with awakened possibilities and, released from the oppressive humidity, your mind and spirit skip gaily along the road beside you demanding ice-cream and balloons. It’s a beautiful moment.
But the last few days have seen another change. The rain has been more fitful, not quite as powerful, but longer lasting. The Siem Reap River is rising with the current, creating fat eddies as it rushes past the bridges. The water is edging closer and closer to the banks where locals are lined up with nets to catch all the fish whizzing past. Pictures are already circulating of parts of Banteay Srei under water, and bricks and sandbags are being hauled out by nervous business owners.
Those who were here last year are just a little bit twitchy right now. Two months, during which most of the town centre and environs was inundated, became a little trying in the end. I remember being collared in the street by an expat I’d never seen before who clutched himself as he wailed “I can’t take it any more!” And the expats had much less to worry about than visitors whose hard-worked-for holidays were being washed away or, more importantly, locals whose gardens, animals and fields were swept off towards the fattening Tonle Sap. More than that, 250 Cambodians lost their lives as flooding drowned the country and 50,000 families were displaced. It was a catastrophe, one which barely registered on the international radar as the foreign journalists were far more interested in Thailand – someone should have told them that the wine here is cheaper.
The river is rising again, and we’re waiting for it. Better prepared this time for sure, and everyone is certain that it could not possibly be as bad again (that ‘everyone’ is taken from a very reliable statistical sample of me). It’s the Year of the Dragon which, according to Chinese tradition, is supposed to bring good fortune. Cambodians are not so sure of their dragons though and associate the astrological sign with water, and flooding. It’s considered a powerful sign, bringing success for those born in that year and, it would seem, the risk of ruin for those who live through it. Perhaps I’d better go get some sandbags after all.
So what should you do if you’re planning a trip to Siem Reap? Nothing at all, for now. Bring it on. And stay tuned.
Story by Nicky Sullivan
Jump to a destination
- Hot spots
- Phnom Penh & surrounds
- Siem Reap, Angkor & West Cambodia
- Sihanoukville & Cambodia's islands
- Banlung, Kratie & the Northeast
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Colorado's plans for a comprehensive system to track recreational marijuana from seed until sale won't be quite so comprehensive.
Officials from the state Department of Revenue this week said the system won't be able to start tracking marijuana weights until after the buds are harvested off the plant. The revelation came during a meeting of a stakeholder working group going over proposed rules for the forthcoming recreational marijuana industry. And it raised the concern of Ann Marie Jensen, a lobbyist for the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police who is a member of the group.
Jensen asked how, without keeping track of plants before harvest, the state could be sure that marijuana growers weren't under-reporting harvest amounts and diverting pot illegally into the black market.
Maintaining such control of the recreational marijuana industry is seen as crucial in preventing federal raids against the businesses.
Lewis Koski, the head of investigations for the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, said he understood the concern but that it wasn't possible to keep precise track of something as variable as plant growth.
He said the state would also use other tools — such as surveillance systems — to make sure stores are playing by the rules.
"I don't know that you can suggest that there is a system anywhere that can track 100 percent of the inventory by itself," Koski said. "It's part of a much bigger regulatory atmosphere."
Attempting to allay concerns, medical-marijuana dispensary owner Matt Huron, another working group member, said his business keeps measurements of plants before harvest, then rigorously tracks the weights of finished product and waste materials as a best practice.
"We do not weigh plants, but we do record them going from one cycle to another," Huron said.
Ron Kammerzell, the revenue department's head of enforcement, said Colorado has "reactivated" a $1.4 million contract with a company called Franwell to build a computer system for tracking marijuana batches by radio-frequency tag. The state had previously hired Franwell in 2011 to build such a system for the medical-marijuana industry, but money troubles caused the state to deactivate the contract.
"We think it's going to play a really important role in helping us accurately tax and assess taxes on the product," Kammerzell said.
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Blogger: South Needs to Address Problem of Education for Poor, Rural Children
Of the 111 counties across the country where more than 50 percent of children live in poverty, 78 are in the South.
That's one of the statistics blogger and Teach for America manager Travis Starkey used in a recent blog post to make a point about the need for a coherent, regional effort to address the problem.
"Those counties are exclusively rural. Not a single one is within 45 minutes of a major metro area," he wrote. "There is no hospital with an excellent emergency room. There is no magnet school to apply to. In many places, there's not even a grocery store. It may sound insane, but that's the inescapable reality for tens of thousands of children."
Starkey has a blog, which typically receives about 50 hits per entry, but this post seems to have struck a chord, garnering more than 1,500 views. He wrote that major gifts and attention are focused on urban districts, but the same is typically not true for rural schools. And that means a poor child growing up in an urban district has a better shot of attending a good school in comparison to their rural counterpart. He argues the greatest need for great schools is in the "small town South."
It's worth noting that there are significant efforts to help rural schools, such as the AFT-led Reconnecting McDowell partnership in West Virginia or the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools. Starkey said he'd been looking for groups focused on rural education issues but had trouble finding them, with the exception of the Rural School and Community Trust.
Starkey told the Rural Education blog that he knows many people who are either from the South or who have worked in the South and want to come back to lead schools and nonprofits, practice law, or run health clinics. He said it's easier to convince them to come back if they see themselves as part of a larger regional group working to improve systemic, regional issues.
Starkey said he's in the early stages of developing what will ultimately be a "rural school redesign outfit or a social entrepreneurship incubator." And as a result of the blog post, Starkey has started a Facebook page, which he described as a "community of people devoted to driving and supporting change in the small town South."
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Week #40 – Trouble. What happened when you got into trouble as a child? What was punishment like in your home?
I don't remember my sister and I doing anything that required drastic punishment, but when we did get into trouble we got a stern lecture and sometimes we were sent to our room. That was more of a punishment than it might be today since there were no phones, TVs, computers, or iPods in our rooms back then!
This is a weekly challenge from GeneaBloggers called 52 weeks of personal genealogy history.
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Taking the Chorus out for a spin
Ahead of the orchestra’s performances of Handel’s Messiah in Candlelight this weekend, we invited members of the Houston Symphony Chorus (who, by the way, just celebrated their 1000th performance!), to write about their experience preparing for such a huge piece. Our first entry comes from Susan Scarrow, the manager of the Houston Symphony Chorus. In her “day job” she is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston.
Tuesday evening is the piano rehearsal for this year’s Messiah performance and I am really looking forward to it. Piano rehearsals are my favorite part of the whole rehearsal process. The term “piano rehearsal” is a bit misleading, because of course all of our regular rehearsals have piano accompaniment – in our case, this is generally provided by the amazingly talented Scott Holshouser, the Houston Symphony’s principal keyboard. Scott’s artistry is a crucial part of our preparations for any piece. He doesn’t just play the notes, though he does that extremely well. More importantly, and much more rarely, Scott somehow “orchestrates” his playing so that we become familiar with the instrumentation long before we start rehearsing with the Symphony. But I digress.
A piano rehearsal is the final Chorus rehearsal before the chorus and orchestra rehearse together, and it is the first chance for the week’s conductor to run through the piece with the Chorus. For concerts with visiting conductors (Matthew Halls is conducting this week’s Messiah performance), the whole evening is a lot like a mutual test drive of a new car. The conductor will take the Chorus out for a spin, seeing how fast we can sing the many tricky melismas, hearing how softly we can sign those pianissimos, maybe sprinkling in a few new vocal ornaments to see how they sound. At the same time, we singers will get to know the maestro’s conducting patterns, figuring out how he is going to start pieces, learning his tempos. In a piano rehearsal for Messiah, a piece we all know well, we also usually learn something about a conductor’s performance practice approach, and even about his or her theology.
For instance, what IS the most important word in the phrase “For unto us a child is born?” Is it “us”, “child”, or “born”? And are the pick-up notes in “Behold the Lamb of God” sixteenth notes or eighth notes? If you listen closely to our performances, you will hear that each year’s conductor has a different set of answers to these and other seemingly minor questions, and their answers are often grounded in strong and thoughtful convictions. At the piano rehearsals, conductors will take the time to explain some of the convictions behind the musical details they are asking for, sometimes giving these rehearsals an element of being master-classes with world-class musicians. The mutual insights we gain at Tuesday’s rehearsal will guide us through the week, forming the basis for the understanding and trust that is an essential part of the wordless communication that you witness in any good performance.
Susan Scarrow, Soprano II
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If a right-winger is from a certain age there is a benchmark to which they are usually compared – Garrincha – arguably the greatest right-winger ever. Corbatta was compared to the Brazilian not just on the pitch but sadly off of it as well.
Born Omar Oreste Corbatta Fernández on the 11th March 1936 in Daireaux province of Buenos Aires, his mother moved the family of eight children to La Plata following the death of her husband. It was a poor family and Corbatta would grow up illiterate never learning to read or write – something of which he was ashamed throughout his life. Football was a way out, but at the age of 14 he was released by the youth team of Estudiantes following an ankle injury. In 1953 however he joined Juvelandia de Chascomús for whom he played in the La Liga Platense [a regional amateur league].
Corbatta started to get noticed until a recommendation to the club saw his move in 1955 to Racing Club de Avellaneda. The next seven years would bring two league titles [1958, 1961] and recognition at international level. Corbatta made his debut in the 1956 Pan-American games. However, the following year at 1957 Copa América, La Albiceleste were sublime led by the ‘Angeles con caras sucias’ [Angels with Dirty Faces], which included Corbatta. Sadly by the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Italian clubs had dismantled the ‘Angels’ buying three who would go on to play for Italy though Argentina would win the 1959 Copa América at home.
Both for club and country, Corbatta made the right-wing his own earning the name ‘El Argentino Garrincha’ in the process. With his dribbling, his tricks, opposing defenders found it difficult to stop him and as a right-winger he scored a high number of goals, more with placement than power.
In 1963 he moved to Boca Juniors but by now the darker comparison to Garrincha was taking hold. His physical condition was deteriorating as alcoholism was taking hold and whilst gaining to league titles with Boca, he made only 18 appearances in two years. A move to Colombia followed and Independiente Medellin. A league title was won but as his alcoholism grew stronger his marriage dissolved. He returned to Argentina in 1970 playing out the final four years of his career with a series of local and regional teams. He died of alcohol consumption in 1991 at just 55 years of age.
Corbatta is remembered for his trickery, incredible balance and dribbling abilities that left defenders flailing and their inability to win the ball from him. As Corbatta himself said:- “She [the ball] never wanted to leave my side”. Mostly he is remembered for being one of the best right wingers Argentina have ever had.
GREATEST SQUAD – STARTING XI [4-2-3-1]
OSCAR RUGGERI DANIEL PASSARELLA
JAVIER ZANETTI SILVIO MARZOLINI
FERNANDO REDONDO RICARDO BOCHINI
OMAR CORBATTA DIEGO MARADONA LIONEL MESSI
GREATEST SQUAD – RESERVES
GK: AMADEO CARRIZO
GK: ANTONIO ROMA
LB: JUAN PABLO SORÍN
RB: NÉSTOR SENSINI
SWP: ROBERTO AYALA
CB: ROBERTO PERFUMO
CDM: NÉSTOR ROSSI
CM: OSVALDO ARDILES
CM: JUAN ROMÁN RIQUELME
RW: RENÉ HOUSEMAN
ST: GABRIEL BATISTUTA
ST: MARIO KEMPES
Created by Alan Robins Images by Jorge Manuel Martins
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Anemia occurs when there is a decrease in the number of red blood cells. It can develop from loss, destruction, or lack of production of red blood cells. Anemia is classified as regenerative or nonregenerative. In a regenerative anemia, the bone marrow responds appropriately to the decreased number of red blood cells by increasing red blood cell production. In a nonregenerative anemia, the bone marrow responds inadequately to the increased need for red blood cells. Anemias due to bleeding or the destruction of existing red blood cells are usually regenerative. Anemias that are caused by a decrease in the hormone that stimulates red blood cell production or an abnormality in the bone marrow are nonregenerative.
Signs of Anemia in Cats
The signs of anemia in animals depend on the severity, the duration (short or long-term), and the underlying cause of the illness. Sudden anemia can result in shock and even death if more than a third of the blood volume is lost rapidly and not replaced. After rapid blood loss,the animal usually has an increased heart rate, pale gums, and low blood pressure. The cause of the blood loss may be obvious, such as a major injury. If no evidence of external bleeding is found, your veterinarian will look for a source of internal or hidden blood loss, such as a ruptured tumor on the spleen, a bleeding disorder, or parasites. If red blood cells are being destroyed, the cat may appear jaundiced (a yellowish color of the whites of the eyes, skin, or gums).
Cats with long-term anemia have had time to adjust, and their signs are usually slower to develop. These signs include loss of energy, weakness, and loss of appetite. Affected animals will have similar physical examination findings, such as pale gums, an increased heart rate, and possibly enlargement of the spleen or a heart murmur.
Diagnosis of Anemia in Cats
A complete medical history is an important part of diagnosing anemia. Questions a veterinarian may ask include: how long signs have been present; whether there is a history of exposure to toxins such as rodent poisons, heavy metals, or toxic plants; what drug treatments and vaccinations the pet has had; where the pet has traveled; and any prior illnesses.
A complete blood count is a blood test your veterinarian will use to provide information on the severity of the anemia, the degree of bone marrow response, and the condition of other types of blood cells. A test should be performed to evaluate red blood cell size and shape and to check for red blood cell parasites Blood Parasites of Cats Blood parasites are organisms that live in the blood of their animal hosts. These parasites can range from single-celled protozoa to more complex bacteria and rickettsiae. The method of transmission... read more .
Additional blood and urine tests can be used to evaluate how well the internal organs are functioning. If blood loss within the stomach or intestines is suspected, an examination of the cat’s feces under a microscope for trace amounts of blood and parasites can be useful. X-rays can help identify hidden disease. Bruising or bleeding may be signs of a disease or condition affecting the blood’s ability to clot and indicate the need for a test called a coagulation profile. If hemolytic disease (a condition in which there is destruction of red blood cells) is suspected, other tests can be performed. A blood test for infectious agents may also help define the cause of anemia.
Bone marrow evaluation is typically done for any animal with an unexplained, nonregenerative anemia. Sampling the bone marrow requires sedation or anesthesia.
Regenerative anemias include blood loss anemia and hemolytic anemia.
Blood Loss Anemia
Sudden and severe blood loss can lead to shock and even death if more than 30 to 40% of the total blood volume is lost and the condition is not treated quickly with intravenous fluids or blood transfusions, or both. The cause of blood loss anemia may be obvious, such as excessive bleeding after a major injury. If the reason for blood loss is not apparent, your veterinarian will look for other causes, such as conditions affecting the blood’s ability to clot, bleeding tumors, stomach ulcers, or parasites. Low-grade, longterm blood loss eventually results in iron-deficiency anemia. This leads to abnormally small red blood cells and a lack of hemoglobin. In kittens, this is often caused by parasites (for example, fleas, lice, or intestinal worms), but in older cats, bleeding from stomach ulcers or tumors is more common.
Hemolytic anemiasoccur when red blood cells are destroyed. They are usually regenerative. Hemolytic anemias may be due to immune system dysfunction, diseases of the small blood vessels, injury to red blood cells, metabolic disorders, toxins, infections, and genetic diseases.
Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia is a life-threatening disease that occurs when the immune system no longer recognizes red blood cells as its own. This causes the immune system to create antibodies against and destroy the body's own red blood cells. In some cases, antibodies are directed against immature red blood cells in the bone marrow, resulting in nonregenerative anemia. This type of anemia can occur on its own or as a result of tumors, infection, drugs, or vaccinations. Animals with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia have signs of anemia (such as weakness and pale gums), are usually jaundiced, and sometimes have a fever or an enlarged spleen. Affected cats can show mild, slow-developing signs and not appear to be in any pain, or they can suddenly be in severe crisis. Treatment involves stopping the destruction of the red blood cells with strong medications that suppress the immune system. Patients also often require blood transfusions. Any underlying conditions also must be treated.
Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia is a serious medical condition that causes death in 20%-75% of affected animals. The risk of death depends on which signs are seen, but rapid drops in red blood cell counts, moderate to high white blood cell counts, abnormal bruising, and excessive clotting may indicate a higher risk. Your pet's veterinarian may need to refer your cat to an internal medicine specialist.
Toxins (Drugs, Plants, Chemicals)
Many classes of drugs can cause anemia if they are ingested accidentally or if their prescribed use is not closely monitored. These include common human and animal drugs such as acetaminophen, aspirin, naproxen, penicillin, and many other antibiotic and antiparasitic agents. Other anemia-causing toxins include plants such as oak, red maple, and bracken fern; foods such as fava beans and onions; chemicals; and heavy metals such as copper, lead, selenium, and zinc. It is always important to give as complete a history as possible to your veterinarian when anemia is suspected, in order to help pinpoint the cause.
Many infections—caused by bacteria, viruses, or other organisms—can lead to anemia, by direct damage to red blood cells (leading to their destruction) or by effects on the elements that produce red blood cells in the bone marrow. Some infections that can cause anemia in cats include feline leukemia virus Immunodeficiencies Caused by Viruses , feline immunodeficiency virus Immunodeficiencies Caused by Viruses , Haemobartonella bacterial species, and Cytauxzoon parasites.
Inherited red blood cell disorders can also cause anemia in cats. Deficiencies of an enzyme called pyruvate kinase are seen in Abyssinian and Somali cats. Affected cats have hemolytic anemia that waxes and wanes over a long time. Signs may improve if the spleen is removed or if corticosteroids are given. A hereditary blood disorder, porphyria Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria in Cats Congenital erythropoietic porphyria is a rare hereditary disease of cats, cattle, pigs, sheep, and people. It results from low levels of an enzyme involved in the production of heme. Heme is... read more , which leads to a build-up of porphyrins in the body, occurs in cats, people, and other species. Porphyrins are proteins that become part of the hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells. Your veterinarian can check your cat for these conditions.
Neonatal isoerythrolysis is an immunologic disease seen in newborn cats. It occurs when kittens nurse from a mother whose colostrum (the yellowish fluid rich in antibodies and minerals that is produced after giving birth and before producing true milk) contains antibodies to the newborns’ red blood cells. This can be caused by exposure of the mother to another blood type during a previous pregnancy or an unmatched blood transfusion. Cats with blood type B also have naturally occurring antibodies to blood type A.
The kittens get the antibodies when they first begin nursing. Once absorbed, the antibodies enter the bloodstream where they attach to red blood cells and cause them to rupture. Newborns with neonatal isoerythrolysis are normal at birth but develop severe hemolytic anemia within 2 to 3 days. A veterinarian can perform tests to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment consists of stopping any colostrum while giving supportive care with transfusions. Neonatal isoerythrolysis can be avoided by withholding colostrum from the kittens’ own mother and giving colostrum free of the antibodies. A veterinarian can perform a test to check for alloimmune hemolysis before the newborn is allowed to receive maternal colostrum.
Anemia may be noted in cats with hypophosphatemia, a deficiency of phosphates in the blood. Hypophosphatemia occurs in cats with diabetes or fatty degeneration of the liver. It may also occur as a complication of refeeding syndrome, which is a shift in the concentration of several minerals in the blood that happens during recovery from a period of fasting.
Nonregenerative anemias include anemias caused by poor diet, chronic diseases, kidney disease, and disorders of the bone marrow.
Nutritional deficiencies may lead to anemia if the nutrients needed for red blood cell formation are not present in adequate amounts in the diet. Anemia develops gradually and may initially be regenerative, but ultimately becomes nonregenerative as the body runs out of the nutrients needed to make red blood cells. Starvation causes anemia by a combination of vitamin and mineral deficiencies as well as inadequate protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake. The deficiencies most likely to cause anemia are iron, copper, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin E. Iron deficiency occurs in some cats, but it is more likely to occur due to blood loss than a nutritional deficiency.
Anemia of chronic disease is usually classified as mild to moderate and nonregenerative. It is the most common form of anemia seen in animals. The anemia can occur after a long-term inflammation or infection, a tumor, liver disease, or hormonal disorders such as hyper- or hypoadrenocorticism (disorders of the adrenal gland) or hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland). Proteins called cytokines, which are produced by inflammatory cells, decrease iron availability, red blood cell survival, and the bone marrow’s ability to regenerate, resulting in anemia. Treatment of the underlying disease leads to correction of the anemia.
Chronic kidney disease is a common cause of nonregenerative anemia in animals. The hormone erythropoietin stimulates the development of red blood cells in the bone marrow and is produced in the kidneys. Animals with kidney disease produce less erythropoietin, leading to anemia. A synthetic form of the hormone has been used for treatment. Animals receiving the treatment require supplemental iron to support red blood cell production.
Bone Marrow Diseases
Bone marrow disease or failure from any cause can lead to nonregenerative anemia and a reduction in the number of all types of blood cells—red, white, and platelets. With widespread marrow involvement, white blood cells are affected first, followed by platelets, and finally red blood cells.
Aplastic anemia is a disorder of the bone marrow, in which the ability of bone marrow to grow new blood cells is reduced. It has been reported in cats with a condition in which too few red blood cells, white blood cells, and blood platelets are found in the blood and with bone marrow that is underdeveloped and replaced by fat. Most cases have no known cause, but some are caused by infections (including feline leukemia virus), drug treatment (such as methimazole or some chemotherapy drugs), toxins, and radiation therapy. The immune system may also be involved. Bone marrow tests are needed to diagnose aplastic anemia. To treat the condition, the underlying cause must be determined and eliminated. Supportive care such as antibiotics and transfusions may also be needed. Your veterinarian may also prescribe a drug that suppresses the immune system. Drugs that stimulate the bone marrow can be used until the marrow recovers. If the disease has no known cause or if marrow recovery is unlikely, bone marrow transplantation is helpful if a suitable donor is available.
In pure red cell aplasia, only the red blood cells are affected. In this nonregenerative anemia, there is a severe reduction of the elements that produce red blood cells in the bone marrow. It has been reported in cats, including some with feline leukemia. Other cases may involve immune system dysfunction and may respond to drugs that suppress the inappropriate immune response. Supportive care, including a blood transfusion, may be necessary if the anemia is severe.
Primary leukemias are a type of cancer in which abnormal white blood cells displace normal blood cells. This leads to anemia and a lack of normal white blood cells and platelets. Primary leukemias are uncommon, but they have been reported in cats. Retroviruses (feline leukemia virus Immunodeficiencies Caused by Viruses and feline immunodeficiency virus Immunodeficiencies Caused by Viruses ) are a cause in some cats. Leukemias are classified as acute (sudden and often severe) or chronic (longterm). Acute leukemias, in which the marrow is filled with immature blood cells, generally respond poorly to chemotherapy. In animals that do respond, remission times are usually short. Chronic leukemias, in which there is greatly increased production of one blood cell line, are less likely to cause anemia and are more responsive to treatment.
Myelodysplasia (also called myelodysplastic syndrome) is a bone marrow disorder in which growth and maturation of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow is defective. This leads to nonregenerative anemia or shortages of white blood cells or platelets. It is considered a preleukemic syndrome (occurring before leukemia fully develops). Myelodysplasia occurs in cats, dogs, and humans. The disease commonly occurs in cats with feline leukemia but can also occur as the result of other tumors, drug therapy, or mutations in stem cells. Some cats respond to treatment with synthetic hormones and steroids. Supportive care with blood transfusions may be helpful. Survival rates vary because myelodysplasia can progress to leukemia. Many animals with this condition are put to sleep or die of infection, bleeding, or anemia.
Myelofibrosis is a progressive disease leading to anemia and enlargement of the spleen and liver. It brings on bone marrow failure after it causes normal marrow elements to be replaced with fibrous tissue. It occurs in cats and several other species. Myelofibrosis may arise on its own or as the result of cancer, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia Regenerative Anemias , radiation therapy, or hereditary causes. A diagnosis can be made by bone marrow biopsy, a procedure requiring anesthesia. Treatment depends on the underlying cause but usually involves suppressing the immune system. Because immune system suppression increases the chances that your pet will catch other diseases, carefully follow your veterinarian’s recommendations for controlling exposure to disease-causing agents.
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[HANOI] A science and technology university under construction in Vietnam will promote a new model of higher education in the country, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The 5,000-student University of Science and Technology of Hanoi — to be completed within five or six years at a cost of US$213 million — will encourage stronger links between teaching and research, and promote collaborations with the private sector, said Norman LaRocque, senior education specialist at the ADB, which has lent US$190 million for construction.
France has donated about US$140 million to the university for development and operating costs over the next ten years.
Although smaller than other public universities in Asia, the university represents "a new model in the sense of having a much more autonomous and rigorous governance structure than virtually all of the other universities in Vietnam," LaRocque told SciDev.Net. The curricula of Vietnamese universities are heavily influenced by central government planning, he said.
The university, which opened at a temporary location last October and is enrolling students, is part of a "bottom-up process of reform", said LaRocque, adding that Vietnam's higher education system is "overly centralised and highly politicised".
Vietnamese universities typically cannot produce useful or timely research for industry, he said, and Vietnamese professors lag behind their counterparts from more developed South-East Asian countries in terms of academic productivity. In 2005, Vietnamese researchers produced about 2.5 peer-reviewed science and engineering articles per million people — roughly half that produced by researchers in Thailand, for example.
Phan Hong Son, executive director of Vietnam's National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, acknowledged shortcomings in Vietnam's university system but said the country is "pushing very hard" to improve educational standards.
The new university will "enhance the quality of higher education in Vietnam", Son said, adding that it will help to ease mounting enrolment pressures associated with Vietnam's largely young population.
A new generation of Vietnamese students is earning PhDs abroad and will eventually return to teach at the university, he said, but in the meantime, French professors will provide teaching and training.
Son welcomed the French involvement but said the new university may have trouble recruiting enough Vietnamese students who can follow technical lectures in English and French.
Son and LaRocque agreed that the university's biggest challenge will be maintaining long-term support from the Vietnamese authorities.
"Ribbon cutting is really sexy, but it's not so sexy to make sure you have enough money to keep the lights on, fix equipment and pay staff," said LaRocque.
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Taliesin III's drafting studio (left) and living quarters (right) as seen from the crown of its hill
|Location||south of Spring Green, in Iowa County, Wisconsin|
|Governing body||Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation|
|NRHP Reference #||73000081|
|Added to NRHP||January 7, 1976|
|Designated NHLD||January 7, 1976|
Taliesin //, sometimes known as Taliesin East after 1937, was the estate of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the village of Spring Green in Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States, the 600-acre (240 ha) property was developed on land that originally belonged to Wright's maternal family.
Wright designed the estate after his affair with Mamah Borthwick made headlines and forced him out his residence in Oak Park, Illinois. The design of the original house was consistent with the design principles of the Prairie School, emulating the flatness of the plains and the natural limestone outcroppings of the Driftless Area. The house was completed in 1911.
After a disgruntled employee murdered Borthwick and several others and set fire to the house in 1914, Wright rebuilt the Taliesin estate. This second version was used only sparingly by Wright as he worked on his projects abroad. He returned to the house in 1924, shortly before a fire destroyed the living quarters the next April. A third building was constructed after Wright reacquired the foreclosed property from a bank. Taliesin III was Wright's home for the rest of his life, although he began to winter at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona upon its completion in 1937. Many of Wright's acclaimed buildings were designed here, including Fallingwater, the Imperial Hotel, Johnson Wax Headquarters, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Wright was also an avid collector of Asian art and used Taliesin as a storehouse and private museum.
Taliesin was donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation upon Wright's death in 1959. This organization oversaw renovations to the estate and now operates it as a museum. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and is being considered as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Jones Valley, the Wisconsin River valley in which Taliesin sits, was formed during Pre-Illinoian glaciation. This region of North America, known as the Driftless Area, was totally surrounded by ice during Wisconsin glaciation, but the area itself was not glaciated. The result is an unusually hilly landscape with deeply carved river valleys.
The valley, approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the village of Spring Green, Wisconsin, was originally originally settled by Frank Lloyd Wright's maternal grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones, who came from Ixonia, Wisconsin with his family in 1858 to start a farm. By the 1870s, Richard's sons had taken over operation of the farm, and they invited Wright work during summers as a farmhand.
Wright's aunts Jennie and Nell began a co-educational school, Hillside Home School, in the family valley in 1887 and let Wright design the building; this was Wright's first independent commission. In 1896, Wright's aunts again commissioned Wright, this time to build a windmill. The resulting Romeo and Juliet Windmill was unorthodox but stable. In the winter of 1900, Wright compiled a portfolio of photographs he took of the surrounding area for a promotional brochure for the Hillside School. Unsatisfied with his original design for the Hillside School, Wright replaced the school in 1902 with a Prairie School design. Wright later sent several of his children to receive an education at the school. Wright's final commission on the farm was a house for his sister Jane Porter in 1907. Tan-Y-Deri, Welsh for "Under the Oaks", was a design based on his recent Ladies Home Journal article "A Fireproof House for $5000." The family, their ideas, religion, and ideals, greatly influenced the young Wright, who later changed his middle name from Lincoln (in honor of Abraham Lincoln) to Lloyd in deference to his mother's family.
When Wright decided to construct a home in this valley, he chose the name of the Welsh bard Taliesin, whose name means "shining brow" or "radiant brow". Wright learned of the poet through Richard Hovey's Taliesin: A Masque, a story about an artist's struggle for identity. The Welsh name also suited Wright's roots, as the Lloyd Joneses gave Welsh names to their properties. The hill upon which Taliesin was built was a favorite from Wright's youth; he saw the house as a "shining brow" on the hill. Although the name was originally only applied to the house, Wright later used the term to refer to the entire property. Wright and others used roman numerals to distinguish the three versions of the house.
From 1898 to 1909, architect Frank Lloyd Wright lived and worked out of his home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois. In Oak Park, Wright had developed his concept of Prairie School architecture, designing houses primarily for local clients. In 1903, Wright began designing a home for Edwin Cheney, but quickly took a liking for Cheney's wife. Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney began an affair and separated from their spouses in 1909. They met up in Florence, Italy, in February 1910, where Wright made sketches of his future studio. He was particularly inspired by Michelozzo's Palazzo Medici Riccardi because it was built into a hill, had commanding views of its surroundings, and featured gardens on two levels.
In 1911, the pair sought to return to the United States, but knew they could not escape scandal if they returned to Oak Park. Wright saw an alternative—his family's ancestral farm near Spring Green, Wisconsin. On April 3, Wright wrote to a friend requesting money to purchase "a small house" for his mother. By the 10th, Wright's mother Anne had a signed deed for the property. By using Anne's name, Wright was able to secure the 31.5-acre (12.7 ha) property without attracting any attention to the affair. Late in the summer, Mamah quietly moved into the property, staying with Wright's sister at Tan-Y-Deri. However, Wright and Borthwick's new property was discovered by a Chicago Examiner reporter that fall, and the affair made headlines in the Chicago Tribune on Christmas Eve.
The Taliesin house had three sections: two broad portions on either end and a narrow connecting loggia. Typical of a Prairie School design, the house was, as Wright described, "low, wide, and snug." As with most of his houses, Wright designed the furniture. One of these broad sections was used as Wright's studio and workroom. A small apartment wing juts out of this wing; the apartment may have originally been intended for Wright's mother, but was used by Wright's head draftsman. Wright and Borthwick lived in the other broad portion. The one-story complex was accessed by a road leading up the hill to the rear of the building. The estate gateway was on County Road C, just west of Wisconsin Road 23. Iron entry gates were flanked by limestone piers capped with planter urns.
Wright chose yellow limestone for the house from a quarry of outcropping ledges on a nearby hill. Local farmers helped Wright move the stone up the Taliesin hill. Stones were laid in long, thin ledges, evoking the natural way that they were found in the quarry and across the Driftless Area. Plaster for the interior walls was mixed with sienna, giving the finished product a golden hue. This caused the plaster to resemble the sand on the banks of the nearby Wisconsin River. The outside plaster walls were similar, but mixed with cement, resulting in a grayer color. Windows were placed so that sun could come through openings in every room at every point of the day. Wright chose not to install gutters so that icicles would form in winter. Shingles on the gradually-pitched roof were designed to weather to a silver-grey color, matching the branches of nearby trees. A porte-cochère was built over the main entrance of the living quarters to provide shelter for visiting automobiles. The finished house measured approximately 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of enclosed space.
Life at Taliesin
Upon moving in with Borthwick and her children in winter 1911, Wright resumed work on his architectural projects, but he struggled to secure commissions because of the ongoing negative publicity over his affair with Borthwick. However, Wright did produce some of his most acclaimed works during this time period, including the Midway Gardens in Chicago and the Avery Coonley Playhouse in Riverside. He also indulged his hobby for collecting Japanese art, and quickly became a renowned authority. Borthwick translated four works from Swedish difference feminist Ellen Key.
In his spare time, Wright developed a fruit farm on the property with over a thousand fruit trees and bushes that he ordered from Jens Jensen in 1912. It is unknown exactly how many were planted, because part of the order was destroyed during a railroad strike. Wright requested two hundred and eighty-five apple trees planted, including one hundred McIntosh, fifty Wealthy, fifty Golden Russet, and fifty Fameuse. Among the bushes were three hundred gooseberry, two hundred blackberry, and two hundred raspberry. The property also grew pears, asparagus, rhubarb, and plums. The fruit and vegetable plants were placed along the contour of the estate, which may have been done to mimic the farms he saw while in Italy. Wright also dammed a creek on the property to create an artificial lake, which was stocked with fish and aquatic fowl. This water garden, probably inspired by the ones he saw in Japan, created a natural gateway to the property.
In 1912, Wright designed what he called a "tea circle" in the middle of the courtyard, adjacent to the crown of the hill. This circle was heavily inspired by Jens Jensen's council circles, but also took influence from Japanese wabi-sabi landscape architecture. Unlike Jensen's circles, the rough-cut limestone tea circle was much larger and featured a pool in the center. The circle featured a curved stone bench flanked with Chinese jars built during the Ming Dynasty. A large oak tree stood at the center until it blew down in a storm in 1998. The tea garden also included a large plaster replica of Flower in the Crannied Wall, a statue originally designed by Richard Bock for the Susan Lawrence Dana House; the namesake poem is inscribed on its rear.
Attack and fire
Julian Carlton was a 31-year-old man who came to work as a chef and servant at Taliesin for the summer. Carlton was of African American descent, ostensibly from Barbados. He was recommended to Wright by John Vogelsong, Jr., the caterer for the Midway Gardens project. Carlton and his wife Gertrude had previously served in the house of Vogelsong's parents in Chicago. Originally a genial presence on the estate, Carlton grew increasingly paranoid. He stayed up late at night with a butcher knife, looking out the window. This behavior had been noticed by Wright and Borthwick, who issued an ad in a local paper for a replacement cook. Carlton was given notice that August 15, 1914 would be his last day in their employ.
Before he left, Carlton plotted to kill the residents of Taliesin. His primary target was draftsman Emil Brodelle, who had called Carlton a "black son-of-a-bitch" on August 12 for not following an order. Brodelle and Carlton also engaged in a minor physical confrontation two days later. He planned the assault, targeting the noon hour, when Borthwick, her children, and the studio personnel would be on opposite sides of the property awaiting lunch. Wright was away in Chicago completing Midway Gardens while Borthwick stayed at home with her two children, John and Martha. On August 15, Carlton grabbed a shingling hatchet and began an attack. He started with the Borthwick's family, who were waiting on the porch off the living room. Mamah Borthwick was killed by a single blow to the face, and her son John was promptly slaughtered as he sat in his chair. Martha managed to flee, but was promptly hunted down and slain in the courtyard. He then coated the bodies in gasoline and lit them on fire, setting the house ablaze.
Carlton then turned his attention to the other six residents, pouring gasoline underneath the door of the far end of the residence and setting it on fire. Draftsman Herbert Fritz managed to break open a window and escape, though he broke his arm in the process. Carlton then entered the other dining room and killed Brodelle. He then hid, waiting for the other residents to try to escape. As foreman William Weston and his 13-year-old son Ernest ran through the door, Carlton attacked with the hatchet. The Westons escaped, but Ernest died from his wounds hours later. Carlton sought out the final two residents, laborer Thomas Brunker and gardener David Lindblom. Brunker and Lindblom managed to fight off Carlton and escape, but died days later from their burns and injuries. With the house empty, Carlton ran to the basement and into a fireproof furnace chamber. He brought a small vial of hydrochloric acid with him as a fallback plan in case the heat became too much for him to handle. Carlton did attempt suicide by swallowing the acid, but it failed to kill him.
Lindblom and Weston alerted a neighboring farm of the attack. Weston then returned to the studio and used a garden hose to help extinguish the flames. His efforts saved the studio portion of the building and the many Wright manuscripts. Eventually, neighbors arrived to assist putting out the fire and search for survivors. Iowa County Sheriff John Williams located Carlton and arrested him. Carlton was transferred to the county jail in Dodgeville. Gertrude was found in a nearby field, apparently unaware of her husband's intentions. She was dressed in travel clothes, expecting to catch a train to Chicago with Julian to seek a new job.
Gertrude was released from police custody shortly after the incident. She was sent to Chicago with $7 and was never heard from again. The hydrochloric acid that Carlton ingested failed to kill him, but did badly burn his esophagus, which made it difficult for him to ingest food. Carlton was indicted on August 16 and was charged with the murder of Mamah Borthwick, the only death that was directly witnessed by a survivor. Carlton entered a not guilty plea. Forty-seven days after the fire, before the case could be heard, Carlton died of starvation in his cell.
Bodies of the dead and injured were brought to Tan-Y-Deri. Wright returned to Taliesin that night with his son John and Edwin Cheney. Cheney brought the remains of his children back to Chicago while Wright buried Mamah Borthwick on the property. Heartbroken over the loss of his lover, Wright did not mark the grave because he could not bear to be reminded of the tragedy. He also did not hold a funerary service for Borthwick, although he did fund and attend services for his employees. Wright struggled with the loss of Borthwick, experiencing symptoms of conversion disorder: insomnia, weight loss, and temporary blindness. After a few months of recovery, aided by his sister Jane Porter, Wright moved to an apartment he rented in Chicago at 25 Cedar Street. The attack also had a profound effect on Wright's design principles; biographer Robert Twombly writes that his Prairie School period ended after the loss of Borthwick.
Within a few months of his recovery, Wright began work on rebuilding Taliesin. The new complex was mostly identical to the original building. An additional wing was added to the house and a second loggia looked out over the valley. The dam was also rebuilt; Wright added an observation platform, perhaps inspired by the one he designed in Baraboo. Later, he built a hydroelectric generator in an unsuccessful effort to make Taliesin completely self-sufficient. The generator was built in the style of a Japanese temple. Within only a few years, parts of the structure eroded away. It was demolished in the 1940s.
While designing the new residence, Wright received a sympathetic letter from Miriam Noel, a fan of his architecture. Wright exchanged correspondence with the wealthy divorcee and met with her at his Chicago office. Wright was quickly infatuated, and the two began a relationship. By Spring 1915, Taliesin II was completed and Noel moved there with Wright. When Wright's first wife Catherine finally granted him a divorce in 1925, Wright and Miriam married. Although Wright admired Noel's erratic personality at first, her behavior (later identified as schizophrenia) led to a miserable life together at Taliesin.
In the new Taliesin, Wright worked to repair his tarnished reputation. He secured a commission to design the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan; when the building was undamaged following the 1923 earthquake, Wright's reputation was restored. Wright spent little time at the second Taliesin house, often living near his construction sites abroad. Instead of serving as a full-time residence, Wright treated Taliesin like an art museum for his collection of Asian works. Wright only truly lived at Taliesin II starting in 1924, after the Imperial Hotel was completed.
On April 20, 1925, Wright returned from eating dinner in the detached dining room when he noticed smoke billowing from his bedroom. By that time of night, most of the employees had returned home; only a driver and one apprentice were left in the complex. Unlike the first Taliesin fire, Wright was able to get help immediately. However, the fire quickly spread due to high winds. Despite the efforts of Wright and his neighbors to extinguish the flame, the living quarters of the second Taliesin estate were quickly destroyed. However, the workrooms where Wright kept his architectural drafts were spared. According to Wright's autobiography, the fire appeared to have begun near a telephone in his bedroom. Wright also mentioned a lightning storm approaching immediately before noticing the fire. Wright scholars speculate that the storm may have caused an electrical surge through the telephone system, sparking the fire.
Wright was deeply in debt following the destruction of Taliesin II. Aside from debts owed on the property, his divorce from Noel forced Wright to sell much of his farm machinery and livestock. Wright was also forced to sell his prized Japanese prints at half value to pay his debts. The Bank of Wisconsin foreclosed on Taliesin in 1927 and Wright was forced to move to La Jolla, California. Shortly before the bank was to begin an auction on the property, Wright's former client Darwin Martin conceived a scheme to save the property. He formed a company called Frank Lloyd Wright Incorporated to issue stock on Wright's future earnings. Many of Wright's former clients and students purchased stock in Wright to raise $70,000. The company successfully bid on Taliesin for $40,000, returning it to Wright.
Wright returned to Taliesin in the winter of 1928 and began to rebuild the complex, which he named Taliesin III, shortly afterward. Wright's interaction with Taliesin lasted for the rest of his life, and eventually, he purchased the surrounding land, creating an estate of 593 acres (2.4 km²). Some of Wright's best known buildings and most ambitious designs were created at Taliesin III. Works completed during this period include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the First Unitarian Society Meeting House, and Price Tower. In its final form, the Taliesin III building measured 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2). All Wright buildings on the property combine for 75,000 square feet (7,000 m2), just short of 2 acres (0.81 ha), on 600 acres (240 ha) of land.
Wright inherited the Hillside Home School when it became insolvent in 1915. The building sat empty until 1928, when Wright conceived the idea of hosting a school there. He issued a proposal to the University of Wisconsin that would have created the Hillside Home School for the Allied Arts; however, the plan was later abandoned. In 1932, the Wrights instead established the private Taliesin Fellowship, where fifty to sixty apprentices could come to Taliesin to study under the architect. Students helped him develop the estate at a time when Wright received few commissions for his work. Once he began Taliesin West, a winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1937, Wright and the fellowship "migrated" between the two homes each year.
Wright did not consider the fellowship a formal school, instead viewing it as a benevolent educational institution. He also worked to ensure G.I. Bill eligibility for returning World War II veterans. The town of Wyoming, Wisconsin and Wright became embroiled in a legal dispute over his claim of tax-exemption. A trial judge agreed with the town, stating that since apprentices did much of Wright's work, it was not solely a benevolent institution. Wright fought the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. When Wright lost the case there in 1954, he threatened to abandon the estate. However, he was persuaded to stay after some friends raised $800,000 to cover the back taxes at a benefit dinner.
In 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright, his third wife Olgivanna, and his son-in-law William Wesley Peters formed the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Upon Wright's death on April 9, 1959, ownership of the Taliesin estate in Spring Green, as well as Taliesin West, passed into the hands of the foundation. The Taliesin Fellowship continued to use the Hillside School as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. The fellowship allowed tours of the school, but initially did not permit visitation of the house or other grounds. When the group spent two summers in Switzerland, rumors started that they were planning on selling the house to S. C. Johnson, a former Wright client. Instead, the fellowship sold a surrounding piece of land to a developer associated with the company, intending to develop a tourist complex. The 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) resort included an eighteen hole golf course, restaurant, and a visitor's center.
On January 7, 1976, Taliesin was recognized as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) District by the National Park Service. The nine properties contributing to the district are the landscape, Taliesin III, Hillside Home School, the Hillside Playhouse, the dam, Romeo and Juliet Windmill, Midway Farms, the pool and gardens in the courtyard, and Tan-Y-Deri. This designation also listed the property in the National Register of Historic Places. A National Historic Landmark is a site deemed to have "exceptional value to the nation."
In the late 1980s, Taliesin and Taliesin West were together nominated as a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO designation for properties with special worldwide significance. The nomination was rejected because the organization wanted to see a larger nomination with more Wright properties. In 2008, the National Park Service submitted the Taliesin estate along with nine other Frank Lloyd Wright properties to a tentative list for World Heritage Status, which the National Park Service says is "a necessary first step in the process of nominating a site to the World Heritage List." The properties are expected to first become eligible for the designation in 2016.
In 1987, the National Park Service evaluated the 1,811 NHLs nationwide for historical integrity and threat of damage. Taliesin was declared a "Priority 1" NHL, a site that is "seriously damaged or imminently with such damage." Furthermore, the site was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America's Most Endangered Places in 1994, citing its "water damage, erosion, foundation settlement and wood decay." Taliesin Preservation, Inc. (TPI), a non-profit organization, was established in 1991 to restore Taliesin.
On June 18, 1998, a severe storm damaged the estate. Heavy rains caused the drainage system to fail and a cascade of water surged over the retaining wall. This caused a mudslide, damaging the estate's foundation. Furthermore, the large oak tree at the center of the courtyard fell down on top of the house. The next year, another storm collapsed a tunnel underneath the studio wing. A 1999 grant from Save America's Treasures helped defray costs to re-roof Taliesin III, to stabilize its foundation, and to connect it to a local sewage treatment plant.
Over $11 million has been spent on the rehabilitation of Taliesin since 1998. Unfortunately, its preservation is "fraught with epic difficulties", because Wright never thought of it as a series of buildings with a long-term future. It was built by inexperienced students, without solid foundations. Financing renovations has been challenging because revenue from Taliesin visitation has been lower than projected.
TPI provides tours from May 1 through October 31. In April and November, the association provides only an exterior shuttle and walking tour. Because the organization owns the property, it is inaccessible outside the confines of a tour. Roughly 25,000 people visit Taliesin each year.
Architectural historian James F. O'Gorman compares Taliesin to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, calling it "not a mere building but an entire environment in which man, architecture and nature form a harmonious whole." He continues that the building is an expression of Romanticism influence in architecture. William Barillas, in an assay of the Prairie School movement, agrees with O'Gorman's assessment and calls Taliesin "the ultimate prairie house." In Taliesin 1911–1914, a collection of essays about the first house, the authors and editor conclude that Taliesin was "Wright's architectural self portrait." In a 2009 publication for the Thoreau Society, Naomi Uechi notes thematic similarities between the architecture of Taliesin and the concept of simplicity advocated by philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Neil Levine highlighted the abstract nature of the complex, comparing it to the works of Pablo Picasso.
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- Hoppen 1997, pp. 59–60.
- Matheson, Helen (April 10, 1959). "Wright: A Force of Nature". Wisconsin State Journal. p. 6. Retrieved August 6, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Frank Lloyd Wright FAQs". Taliesin Preservation, Inc. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
- Gottlieb 2001, p. 9.
- Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation v. Wyoming, 267 Wis. 599 (Wis. 1954) (“Since Mr. Wright and his family are direct beneficiaries and the benefit to the public purely incidental, necessarily plaintiff's effort to be relieved of taxes on its property must fail because of the legal principles controlling tax exemptions”).
- "Wright's Taliesin Is Still Active". The Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA). Associated Press. June 29, 1965. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- Van Goethem, Larry (July 15, 1967). "Taliesin East--a Living Symbol of Frank Lloyd Wright's Philosophy". Janesville Daily Gazette (Janesville, WI). p. 1. Retrieved August 14, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Spring Green Recreational Plan Unveiled". The Daily Telegram (Eau Claire, WI). United Press International. July 18, 1966. p. 11. Retrieved August 14, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
- Carolyn Pitts, Architectural Historian, National Park Service (July 29, 1975). "Taliesin East – Nomination Form". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
- Code of Federal Regulations: Parks, Forests, and Public Property, United States Government Printing Office, p. 301, retrieved October 17, 2013
- Allsopp, Phil (Fall 2008). "Preservation, Maintenance Key Funding Priorities for Capital Campaign". Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 19 (4).
- "New US World Heritage Tentative List". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
- "Tentative List: Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings". UNESCO. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
- Bergin, Mary (June 27, 2014). "The Wright stuff: Architect's buildings move up on world list". The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI). Retrieved August 14, 2014.
- Damaged and Threatened National Historic Landmarks, 1987, National Park Service, 1987, retrieved October 18, 2013
- "Preservation". Taliesin Preservation, Inc. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- "11 Most Endangered Historic Places: Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin". Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- Welcome to Taliesin Preservation, Inc
- Gould, Whitney (October 15, 1999). "Rebuilding the Wright House". The Salina Journal (Salina, KS). Retrieved August 6, 2014 – via Wisconsin State Journal, Newspapers.com.
- "Preservation Projects: Completed Projects". Taliesin Preservation, Inc. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- "Search the Database of Funded Projects". National Park Service. Retrieved October 18, 2013. User must select "Taliesin" from the "Title" dropdown list.
- Martell, Chris (December 8, 2008). "Taliesin Restoration Fraught with Epic Difficulties". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- "Restoring Wright: The Difficult Task of Preserving Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin". The Economist. May 3, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
- "Visitors' Guide". Taliesin Preservation, Inc. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
- Barillas 2006, pp. 48–49.
- Menocal 1992, p. ix.
- Uechi, Naomi (2009). "Evolving Transcendentalism: Thoreauvian Simplicity in Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Contemporary Ecological Architecture". In Walls, Laura Dassow. The Concord Saunterer (Concord, MA: Thoreau Society) 17: 74. Retrieved October 2, 2014 – via JSTOR. (subscription required (. ))
- Levine, Neil (Spring 1986). "Abstraction and Representation in Modern Architecture: The International Style and Frank Lloyd Wright". AA Files (Architectural Association School of Architecture) (11): 11 – via JSTOR. (subscription required (. ))
- Barillas, William (2006). The Midwestern Pastoral: Place and Landscape in Literature of the American Heartland. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-1660-0.
- Drennan, William (2007). Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-22210-1.
- Gottlieb, Lois Davidson (2001). A Way of Life: An Apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright. Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia: The Images Publishing Group. ISBN 1-86470-096-3.
- Henning, Randolph C. (2011). Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-28284-4.
- Hoppen, Donald W. (1997). The Seven Ages of Frank Lloyd Wright. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-29420-9.
- Huxtable, Ada (2004). Frank Lloyd Wright: A Life. New York City, NY: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-4406-3173-3.
- McCrea, Ron (2012). Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright's Home of Love and Loss. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87020-606-1.
- Menocal, Narciso (1992). Wright Studies, Volume One: Taliesin 1911–1914. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-1625-0.
- Mickelson, David M.; Attig, John W., eds. (1999). Glacial Processes: Past and Present. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America.
- Packard, Robert T.; Korab, Balthazar; Hunt, William Dudley (1980). Encyclopedia of American Architecture. New York City, NY: McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-048010-0.
- Secrest, Meryle (1992). Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography. New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 978-0-226-74414-8.
- Smith, Kathryn (1997). Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Taliesin West. New York City, NY: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-3991-2.
- Wright, Frank Lloyd (1943). Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography. New York City, NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. ISBN 0-7649-3243-8.
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By William Kay
Defining corporatism is so problematic some recommend retiring the word. The confusion partly results from its having shifted meanings over time. While some trek to antiquity to discover its headwaters; corporatism is clearly of 19th century origin. By the 1880s corporatism was an organized, self-conscious ideological movement much like its rivals: liberalism and socialism. However, the utopian fantasies of the early corporatists are barely discernable in corporatism’s 20th century manifestations.
Regimes now generally accepted as having been corporatist include:
Mussolini’s National Corporatism (Italy, 1922-45);
Primo de Rivera’s Country-Religion-Monarchy (Spain, 1923-30);
Salazar’s New Deal (Portugal, 1932-68);
Hitler’s National Socialism (Germany, 1933-45);
Vargas’s New State (Brazil, 1933-45);
Roosevelt’s New Deal (USA, 1933-45);
Franco’s National Syndicalism (Spain, 1936-73);
Metaxas’s Third Hellenic Civilization (Greece, 1936-41);
Peron’s Justice Party (Argentina, 1943-55). (1)
The connection to fascism is obvious. The labels"Syndicalism" and "Socialism" should be red-flagged because from its inception corporatism appropriated leftist lingo while simultaneously exerting lethal opposition to the Left. The label "New" is equally misleading as corporatists were actually systematizing reactionaries bent on preserving the privileges and fortunes of the oldest aristocratic, monarchical and clerical institutions. The starting dates are instructive because, as one renowned authority has noted:
"In fact, throughout Europe as well as Latin America, corporatism was extremely popular as an ideology during the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s (before the end of World War II). Hundreds and even thousands of books, articles and news stories were written about it." (2)
After WWII corporatism vanished from printing presses and political speeches. Corporatism then surged back in the 1970s with many professors extoling it as the superior socio-economic pathway. By the 1990s it had fallen again. Today no one boasts about being a corporatist. The word survives only as an insult.
Corporatists promote the privately-owned yet state-planned economy. They champion bureaucratic associations representing all firms within, and all practitioners of, the various industries and professions. These mega-associations (a.k.a. the corporations) would collude with state officials but remain self-governing as regards determining quotas and pay-scales etc. The free market would disappear as would independent labor unions. Ultimately, a grand council of corporations would replace elected legislatures.
Across the world, in varying degrees, we now find:
a) powerful self-governing medical, legal and academic associations;
b) mandatory agricultural marketing boards;
c) oligopolies, with proven lobbying capabilities, dominating key economic sectors; and above them all,
d) unacknowledged land cartels.
Some scholars contend that every country is now, more or less, corporatist in deed, if not in name.
Environmentalism presumes corporatism. These two social movements are historical twins. Moreover, today’s green industries, in true corporatist fashion, consist of vast alliances of privately-owned businesses integrated into, and dependent upon, government ministries. The world’s most corporatist countries are also the most environmentalist.
What follows are four 2,500-word vignettes which may shed light on the meaning of corporatism.
Table of Contents
As the medieval order coalesced haphazardly across Europe kings and emperors began their respiteless melee with subject and neighbor alike. Monarchs personally owned vast agricultural properties and viewed themselves as representing all landlords within their domains. Nobles, citizens whom monarchs inducted into the political class, channelled their activism through crown-sanctioned aristocratic, merchant and artisanal estates. The toiling masses were forcibly evicted from politics.
Corporations consisted of crown-sanctioned: municipalities, universities, guilds, monasteries and military orders. The term derives from the Latin "corpus" meaning "body" and translates to "organization" – specifically to function-specific, state-chartered organizations.
Until the 1500s Western Europe had one religion, Catholicism. Popes ruled as monarchs over central Italy, including Rome, while the Church’s private landholdings covered a third of Western Europe.
The long century running from Henry VIII’s founding of the Anglican Church in 1534 (and his subsequent sale of Catholic Church properties) to the end of the catastrophic transcontinental Thirty Years War (1648) drew the curtain on the Middle Ages. The Thirty Years War divided Europe south from north; Catholic from Protestant. In addition to the rise of independent Protestant states across northwestern Europe this century witnessed: a) the proliferation of printing presses; b) the growth of capitalism, colonialism and world trade; and c) the development of quasi-republican, quasi-democratic regimes.
Key to the latter development were the English Civil War (1640-51) which reduced the King’s power and strengthened the House of Commons; and the protracted Dutch War of Independence from Spain (1568-1648) which also ushered in republican, capitalist structures. Southern (Catholic) Europe and eastern (Orthodox) Europe remained unsullied by such profanities.
The next shock to the residual medieval order came in 1791 when France’s revolutionary government abolished guilds and corporate privileges. Over the next decades several countries followed suit. Groups harmed by these changes did not merely lament the passing of their privileges; they resisted fiercely.
The long century running from the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) to World War One (1914-8) beheld a relentless march toward parliamentary supremacy and universal voting rights. Still by 1850 in Norway, then Europe’s most democratic country, only 8% of the population had voting rights. At this time only 4% of Brits were enfranchised. In France only the richest 0.5% voted. In much of Europe there were no elections, no constitutions.
After 1850 as voting rights expanded so did gerrymandering, corruption, intimidation, and the use of multi-tier voting systems aimed at thwarting democracy. Fraud was endemic. In one late 19th century Spanish election results were leaked before the polls opened. Moreover, monarchs often ignored elections and dismissed legislatures. In the words of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Francis I (1792-1835):
"I have my estates and if they go too far I snap my fingers and send them home." (1)
Politicians crowed about their life-long efforts to suppress democracy. Potentates positively delighted in denying fundamental justice to the lower classes. Political dissidents faced public torture and/or execution. Duke Charles III of Parma (1849-54) personally carried out public canings for crimes as slight as failing to remove one’s hat in his presence.
Political exclusion facilitates economic privation. Before 1850 life expectancy for Europeans hovered around 35 years. A third of Europeans subsisted on starvation’s brink. 20% of children born alive did not see their first birthday and 20% of those that did never saw their twentieth. One in seven women died giving birth. (2) This hardly mattered to the likes of Count Arakchevyev, one of Czar Alexander’s top generals, who demanded all serf women attached to his property bear one child a year.
Over much of Eastern Europe a serfdom akin to slavery lasted until the 1860s. There, as in eastern Prussia and the Hapsburg Empire, the nobility owned all the land. Peasants had rights of use but never ownership and with those rights came onerous obligations.
Prince Paul Esterhazy owned 6.5% of Hungarian land; collecting rents from 700,000 tenant farmers. Serbian Prince Milos Obrenovic’s personal income equalled 15% of Serbian gross income. Milos ruled a land with no doctors, virtually no roads and near universal illiteracy. 5,000 such aristocrats dominated European politics, culture, and economics. (3) Even in Britain these families monopolized cabinet portfolios and top military positions.
Basic rights of freedom of speech, assembly and association were denied. Across Europe, save Britain, censors vetted all newspapers and books before publication. Well into mid-century peaceful political assemblies in Berlin were set upon by sabre-wielding Prussian cavalry. (Detectives then scoured hospitals arresting anyone with sabre wounds.) Europe’s free-speech and pro-democracy campaigners met in secret or cleverly used funerals and banquets as false fronts.
The right to assembly and associate became battle-cries in the critical arena of labour organizing. While Britain legalized unions and strikes in 1824 severe harassment persisted into the 1870s. In 1854 alone 3,000 British strikers were imprisoned for leaving their employment in violation of the Master and Servant Act (of 1351). After this Act lost its criminal teeth it was still used to inflict financial penalties on employees who withdrew labor services. In 1872 alone 10,000 British employees suffered such penalties. Nevertheless, Britain was eons ahead of the continent where acceptance of minimalist worker rights to associate and withdraw labor did not occur until 1870. On the eve of union legalisation in Austria fifteen labour leaders received long prison terms for treason. In the early 20th century union organizing remained a crime in Portugal and Russia. (4)
Corporatism was thus the brain-child of despotic minds from terrible times. Corporatism (a.k.a. distributism) emerged post-Waterloo in that bastion of absolutism, the Hapsburg’s Austro-Hungarian Empire. It sprang from the conservative romantic’s abhorrence of capitalist industrialization. It was the ancient regime’s proud tower hoisting the medieval banners of organic harmony and craftsmen guilds. Early corporatists were Catholic aristocrats to whom the Middle Ages was paradise lost.
Among corporatism’s earliest proponents was Adam Muller (1779-1829), spokesman for Prince Klemens Metternich (1773-1859) – the Hapsburgs’ henchman. The Hapsburgs articulated their pathological resistance progress with their motto: "govern and change nothing." In the 1830s Emperor Francis I rejected plans for railway construction "lest the revolution come into the country." (Conterminously, and for the same reasons, Pope Gregory XVI vetoed railways in the Papal States.)
Beyond its own domains the Austro-Hungarian Empire militarily dominated Italy and southern Germany. Metternich held Prussian Kings and Russian Czars spellbound with his zealous commitment to keeping lower classes down. He sent 50,000 troops to crush a peasant uprising in the Ukraine and he blanketed Italy with his "forest of bayonets" to puncture popular mobilizations.
Within Austria Metternich prevented any expression of dissent through: strict censorship; omniscient secret police; and rigid control over education, assembly and association. Whenever dissent evaded these controls, immediate and violent repression followed. Key to Metternich’s system was a vast network of spies recruited from among domestic servants, prostitutes and waiters. Tourists were warned that talking about politics in a Viennese café could result in spending the night in a Viennese jail.
Metternich’s handiwork temporarily came undone in 1848 when a massive uprising in Vienna called for: a free press, constitutional government and his dismissal. Emperor Ferdinand surprisingly agreed to all demands. News of Metternich’s dismissal unleashed rebellions throughout Europe. The exuberance was short-lived however, as by 1849 order had been restored to Vienna – over the dead bodies of 5,000 Viennese. Twenty-five populist leaders were then executed. Hungarian revolutionaries suffered 150 executions with another 1,500 received long prison terms. Several ladies from Hungarian high society who had supported the protesters were publically whipped. The 1850s proved a reactionary nightmare after the "new enlarged second edition of the Metternich system" came out. (5)
Back in the 1820s Metternich’s philosophe, Adam Muller, sought to rescue traditional institutions by attacking both egalitarianism and laissez faire economics. His proposed "class state" would coordinate production and regulate competing interests through grand organizations each controlling separate economic sectors. This re-hash of feudal guilds and estates pandered to the aristocrat’s aversion to unrestricted capitalism. After a lull following Metternich’s death, Muller’s writings surged in popularity.
Until the 1850s corporatists were uncompromising reactionaries bent on extinguishing capitalism and restoring feudalism. In the 1860s a more practical corporatism developed. As with its arch-rivals, liberalism and socialism, corporatism became both an ideology and a movement. It remained hostile to the revolutionizing dynamism of capitalism and to the new forms of conflict capitalism engendered. Corporatists opposed voting rights for the masses and expressed a lethal hostility toward organized labour. Their rhetoric about class collaboration, and their disdain for class conflict, allowed them to posture as peace-makers… whilst they plotted to restore aristocratic hegemony.
Corporatists were monarchists in whose utopia monarchs would interact, not with a citizenry endowed with equal rights, but with corporate leaders. They sought an alternative to parliamentary democracy weighted heavily toward the landed estate. Important post-1860s corporatists tellingly include: Cardinal Henry Manning (1808-1892), Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler (1811-1877), Vincenzo Pecci (a.k.a. Pope Leo XIII, 1810-1903), Francois-Rene de La Tour du Pin (1834-1924), and Monsignor Antoine Pottier (1849-1923).
The denunciations of liberalism and socialism in Pope Pius IX’s infamous Syllabus of Errors (1864) addressed a Church reeling from property seizures in Iberia and Latin America at the hands of liberal-republican elites. The Church was also losing its grip on its core holding, the Papal States. (Fifteen years earlier Pius IX oversaw the brutal suppression of the popular, but short-lived, Roman Republic.)
The Church’s counter-attack involved nurturing Political Catholicism; i.e. social movement Catholicism. This stooping to re-conquer took many forms: from antipoverty activism to electoral parties. Political Catholicism marked a departure from their nakedly repressive strategy exemplified by the Centurions – a 40,000-strong pope-worshipping paramilitary who waged a terrorist crusade against Italy’s "thinkers." (6) In the 1870s, after Political Catholicism unveiled "corporativismo" as the cure-all for the social malaise, corporatism morphed into a full-fledged, multi-faceted program coupling utopian economics with grassroots mobilizing.
In the 1860s as Europe’s oligarchs realized brute force alone could not contain dissent they begrudgingly acquiesced to minimal labor and voting reforms. Nowhere did this strategic shift result in the masses gaining real power; nor did it herald an end to wholesale violence. Several subsequent slaughterings of the innocents followed; the most consequential occurring in Paris in 1871.
In 1870 French disasters in the Franco-Prussian War triggered a bloodless insurrection overthrowing Louis Napoleon’s proto-fascist regime. Sans Louis, his former political base triumphed in the subsequent gerrymandered, rural-dominated election. The new pro-monarchist regime, under Adolph Theirs, relocated government headquarters to Versailles and passed laws causing market chaos in Paris.
A second insurrection in Paris in 1871 was legitimated by municipal elections producing a working and middle class government. While lacking a coherent program, the Parisian government was republican, anti-clerical and determined to continue the wartime moratorium on rents.
Prussia aided Theirs’s effort to subdue Paris by releasing tens of thousands of French prisoners of war. After a few weeks of fighting the woefully out-gunned Parisians capitulated. Theirs’s forces suffered 900 combat fatalities. 25,000 Parisians were killed, the vast majority in cold blood. At La Roquette prison 1,900 faced firing squads in two days. A stack of 1,100 corpses graced Place du Trocadero. At the Ecole Polytechnique the stack of corpses measured three yards high and a hundred yards long. The mere possession of army boots, or of a jacket-shoulder possibly discolored from rifle fire, became crimes worthy of summary execution.
A state of siege, denying all basic freedoms, lasted five years. Of the 50,000 arrested 1,200 died in custody, 26 were executed, and 10,000 received long sentences in squalid prisons. So thorough was the culling Paris suffered labour shortages. Half the workers in the shoe industry perished or vanished.
Europe’s press reveled in tales of atrocities committed by the Parisians. In reality, these consisted of 56 hostages being killed and several Parisian landmarks being torched – actions undertaken by a handful of extremists after Theirs’s massacres had begun. Tales of the Parisians’ atrocities were interwoven with references to an international Marxist conspiracy. In fact, the Parisian government was neither Marxist nor controlled by the First International. In the continent-wide clampdown prosecutors depicted the First International as a powerful Marxist shadow government. In fact, the First International began exhibiting Marxist influence only in 1870 and as of 1871 could not scrape together enough funds to rent an office or hire a single staff.
This bias in journalism was mirrored in academia. Monarchs dominated higher education throughout the 19th century. During the reactionary 1850s, the Catholic Church signed numerous concordats with monarchs giving the Church extensive control over higher and lower education. In Prussia a similar clerical domination of schools prevailed. This throne-altar alliance purged hundreds of academics and teachers for political reasons. Hapsburg Emperor Francis I (1768-1835) expressed the dominant view of academic freedom thusly:
"I have no use for scholars, but only for good citizens…Who serves me must teach what I order…"
After Hanover’s King Ernst Augustus (who committed every crime but suicide) fired seven professors for their liberal views, he shrugged off criticism saying:
"Professors and whores can always be had for money." (7)
In the run-up to WWI this throne-altar alliance switched from mere suppression of dissent to proactively broadcasting their opposition to liberalism and democracy through academics like: Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, Robert Michels, Georges Sorel, Ludwig Gumplowicz, Giuseppe Toniolo, Ferdinand Tonnies, Alfredo Rocco, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). These scholars coined the term "elitism" and they did not use it pejoratively. Neo-feudalism saturated their systematic expositions of corporatism, Christian Democracy and guild socialism. They bemoaned capitalism’s dissolution of sacred communitarian bonds. Neo-feudalism was even more evident in the patronized arts milieu.
The biographical blurbs about the above-mentioned scholars repeat the phrase: "a father of sociology." Indeed, these men laid the cornerstones of sociology especially its structural-functionalist school. Their writings are still required reading. What is conveniently forgotten is that these men were political activists connectable to corporatism (i.e. fascism) by a thousand threads.
Pope Leo XIII, in 1881, summoned a panel of academics to study corporatism. Their 1884 conference in Freiburg, Germany defined corporatism as:
"… (A) system of social organization that has at its base the grouping of men according to the community of their natural interests and social functions, and as true and proper organs of the state they direct and coordinate labor and capital in matters of common interest." (1)
Said "groupings of men" were the "corporations"; i.e. monopolistic, guild-like assemblies that, because they embodied all owners and workers within various industries, would do away with market anarchy and worker-owner conflict. Medieval harmony would be imposed on industrial capitalism.
Harkening back to pre-industrial times was not, yet, wildly idealistic. In most European countries over 50% the workforce remained agricultural; the exception being Britain which was 15% agricultural. Britain was also exceptional for having 40% of its population in cities. In most of Europe urbanization was below 10%. In Austria 7% lived in cities; 65% worked the fields. Village blacksmiths and shoemakers were not, yet, relics. (2)
Corporatists never challenged the private ownership of wealth. Rather, they sought to manage privately-owned economies through some means other than laissez faire liberalism. Here is Williamson on 19th century corporatism:
"While corporatism was an intellectual response to the advent of industrial capitalism in what was held to be liberal politico-economic systems and the writers were often scathing of the impact it had on the proletariat, the theory strongly defended the maintenance of private property as the most desirable form of ownership of the means of production." (3)
Corporatism was not a form of socialism. On the contrary corporatism was a unique political pathway characterised by widespread, sustained attacks on socialism. However, corporatists often masqueraded as leftists; Williamson again:
"…it is often suggested that corporatism is closely associated with forms of socialism, where in fact they were part of different traditions of thought separated by divergent underlying values. A note of caution, however, should be added because certain corporatist writers, like Catholic socialists and monarchical socialists were not adverse to using ‘socialism’ as a flag of convenience." (4)
Clerics, north and south, rightly feared socialists as socialists were even more aggressive about expropriating church lands than were the capitalists. Moreover, socialists tended to be philosophical materialists if not outright atheists.
The Freiburg Conference gave corporatism legitimacy and coherence. A follow-up conference in Berlin in 1890 (later dubbed the Corporatist Internationale) provided additional momentum. The word "corporatism" arrived in English at this time.
In 1891 Leo XIII re-worked the documents generated by these two conferences into his encyclical: Of New Things. In this first Papal blessing of labor unions, Leo fantasized about embracing bosses and workers in familial love. Bosses would show fatherly solicitude toward workers who in return would faithfully perform their duties.
After 1891 Political Catholicism quickened. Catholic labor unions sprouted alongside Catholic youth groups, Catholic business associations, Catholic women’s organizations and Christian Democratic parties. Catholic (corporatist) unions, narrowly focussed on specific crafts, competed directly with socialist unions and other forms of autonomous worker assembly, notably anarcho-syndicalism. Corporatist syndicalism ultimately co-opted and supplanted radical syndicalism. The boards of corporatist unions, as a rule, included employers. Such unions were led by priests and bosses determined to spike working class solidarity and prevent authentic labour organizing.
In southern Germany corporatist Working Men’s Circles date to the 1870s. The national Catholic trade union federation first convened in 1895. By 1910 similar federations appeared in several countries. While explicit "Corporatism" existed in northern Germany, Scandinavia and Holland it never attracted the support that it did in Catholic realms. On the other hand, there was a parallel rise of craft-based, Lutheran-led unions in northern Europe which became the establishment’s preferred alternatives to broad-based socialist unions.
Also emerging across northern Europe at this time was a mode of governance featuring the essential corporatist trait: the centrally-planned but privately-owned economy. This non-idealistic corporatism, which lacked any façade of worker input, was strongest in Germany where industry from its inception was subsidized and cartelized. To compliment this industrial strategy Chancellor Bismarck pioneered government-run health insurance and welfare programs in the 1880s.
The label "social democratic" is problematic. While it now signifies a mainstream, middle-class, neo-corporatist orientation; many early social democratic parties, including the massive one founded in Germany (SPD) in 1875, were originally radical, working-class, socialist affairs.
Between the introduction of Bismarck’s Anti-Socialist Law in 1878 and its lapsing in 1890 some 1,500 socialists were incarcerated and hundreds of socialist publications banned. Although driven underground individual SPD members successfully ran for office. When the Anti-Socialist Law lapsed in 1890, and the legislature refused to reinstate it, Bismarck told Kaiser Wilhelm to execute a coup. Instead Wilhelm dismissed the aging Bismarck and briefly postured as pro-worker.
In the 1890s unions and socialist parties grew across Europe alongside the inexorable expansion of the industrial workforce. Unions made inroads among semi-skilled and unskilled workers. By 1914 25% of German workers belonged to unions. An equal number were kept from union membership by economic and political controls related to employment monopolies and company-supplied housing. Non-unionized workers played pivotal roles in the German strike wave of 1905 and the German Revolution of 1918-19.
Although the SPD eschewed revolutionary rhetoric and anchored itself to legal means, its members continued to be harassed after 1890 and were excluded from civil service employment. In 1889 Wilhelm ordered all teachers and professors to combat the spread of socialistic ideas. Between 1890 and 1913 over 100 SPD journalists suffered incarceration. Restless talk within German ruling circles about coups and crackdowns pervaded the SPD with dread.
This political environment, coupled with establishment efforts to cultivate a conservative, guild-style, labor movement, split the SPD in two. Nevertheless, SPD-affiliated union membership leapt from 100,000 in 1890 to 2.6 million in 1914 while its share of the popular vote spiked to 20%.
Divisions within the SPD widened during World War One. Under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert (a monarchist saddle-maker cum anti-socialist bar-owner) the SPD supported the Kaiser’s war effort. As their western front crumbled the German High Command turned to parliament and the SPD for support. This process culminated, after the Kaiser’s flight, in Prince Maximilian’s unconstitutional transfer of the Chancellorship to Ebert on the understanding that the aristocracy would retain control of the military and that squelching revolutionary activism would be the government’s first order of business.
Ebert’s (majority) faction within the SPD considered the revolution completed when they attained power. The SPD’s minority faction and splinter groups like the Spartacists, along with myriads of leftist independents, expected the revolution to go further. In Berlin, as elsewhere, newly minted workers’ councils formed militias. The majority SPD formed rival militias with funds from foreign governments and German elites. Ebert negotiated a secret pact with Freikorps Commander General Groener.
The SPD and Spartacists both chose January 5, 1919 as a day of demonstration in support of the revolution. Even the Spartacists were amazed when hundreds of thousands of Berlin’s workers, professionals, and housewives poured into the streets, many of them armed. On January 6 shops remained closed and the crowds increased hourly. Then, at a meeting at Ebert’s office in the Chancellor’s Palace, the head of the Prussian War Ministry appointed SPD stalwart, Gustav Noske, the Commander-in-Chief. Noske departed for a Berlin suburb with Prussian General von Luttwitz to mobilize infantry and cavalry.
Later that day Berlin’s demonstrators were ambushed by machine gun fire from rooftops. Berlin was kept in state of terror for ten days while Noske’s forces deployed artillery and aerial bombardment on leftist strongholds. Similar crackdowns, directed by the SPD, hit eastern Prussia and Bavaria. Indicatively, in Munich twelve leftist SPDers were summarily executed by their erstwhile SPD comrades.
In early March 1919, after the revolution and general strike in Berlin had been suppressed, working class districts were subjected to house-to-house searches. During this operation 1,500 Berliners, including women and teenagers, were marched in handcuffs to the nearest walls and machine gunned. (5) The public face, and soundtrack, for this atrocity was… social democracy.
March 1919 also saw the launch of the Fascist Revolutionary Party (FRP) in Milan. The FRP closely copied the Italian Nationalist Party (INP); founded a decade earlier by a clique of wealthy Italian politicos seeking working class credentials. The INP’s paramilitary wing sported monochrome blue-shirts and its leadership spouted a melange of Marxist and nationalist verbiage. They coined the phrase "national socialism." The FRP and INP merged in 1923, two years after the FRP dropped its syndicalist and leftist trappings; rebranding itself the National Fascist Party. INP’s chief ideologue, Professor Alfredo Rocco, an ardent corporatist, became one of Mussolini’s cabinet ministers.
Like their Italian counterparts the German oligarchy realized they could rule through either naked force or through alliances with lower class elements who could supply a popular base. The SPD’s reputation as a workers’ party, and its connections to organized labor, were used to effectively hobble rank and file resistance. On the other hand, the SPD’s democratic constitution, and its formal integration into unions with democratic constitutions, rendered it an unreliable instrument for the oligarchy. The SPD government functioned as a stop-gap while elements from the oligarchy frantically fashioned new parties that were "socialist" and "worker" in name only.
Military intelligence officers and aristocrats atop the Thule Society, Pan-German League and the massive but short-lived Fatherland Party invented the German Socialist Party in 1918, and the German Workers Party on January 5, 1919. The former party dissolved into the latter which renamed itself the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) in 1921.
Meanwhile, the SPD continued tacking rightward. In the mid-1920s they supported the presidential candidacy of the Kaiser’s former Chief General, Paul von Hindenburg. In the late-1920s the SPD converted police forces under their command, like the 700-strong Berlin Police Department, into de facto security guards for what was then the largest fascist paramilitary – Steel Helmet. (6) The SPD’s credibility plummeted. President von Hindenburg, in January 1933, handed the Chancellorship to Hitler.
On January 5, 1974 a column of armoured vehicles containing 150 British troops, decked in full battle order, snaked into Heathrow Airport. They stayed a fortnight. This operation, conducted under Conservative Prime Minister Heath’s watch, was thrice repeated in 1974 during the tumultuous inflation-wracked early months of Labour Prime Minister Wilson’s second government.
Wilson had no foreknowledge of these, or other, suspicious military maneuvers which he sincerely and soundly took to be coup preparations. He and long-time confidante, Labour Party political secretary Marcia Williams, spent 1974 and 1975 waiting for the second boot to drop. Williams expected the coup to start with Royal Horse Guards abducting Wilson. (1)
Alongside the suspicious military maneuverings ran a disinformation operation codenamed Clockwork Orange (a name taken from Anthony Burgess’s 1962 dystopia; adapted to film in 1971). Clockwork Orange began in 1973 with MI5 and Army information personnel giving private briefings to journalists whereat Wilson and his appointees were smeared as: communists, IRA sympathisers, KGB agents and bribe-takers.
The coup’s protagonist was Lord Mountbatten (nee Battenberg): uncle of Prince Philip; cousin of Queen Elizabeth; mentor of Charles. This former Chief of Defense Staff (1959-1965) had maps and timelines detailing the arrests of Wilson’s Cabinet and of militants within the Labour Party and union movement. On the morning of the coup Elizabeth would broadcast a speech imploring Brits to stand by their armed forces. As British officers pledge allegiance to the crown, not to parliament, there would be no constitutional conundrum.
Among the coup plotters were billionaire James Goldsmith, (Ret.) General Walter Walker, David Sterling and Cecil King. Sterling, the founder of the SAS, spent 1973-4 touring high society venues as head of GB75. He circulated Clockwork Orange rumours and encouraged aristocrats and business leaders to form militias. General Walker did likewise.
In 1968 newspaper magnate Cecil King sacrificed both his Bank of England directorship and his chairmanship of International Publishing Corporation (then the world’s largest publisher) by penning a front-page op-ed for Britain’s top circulation newspaper calling for an extra-parliamentary overthrow of Wilson’s first government. King was the nephew and understudy of Viscount Rothermere, famous for throwing his newspaper empire behind Oswald Mosely’s British Union of Fascists in the 1930s.
Anyone finding the above scenario unbelievable is guilty of presentism.
In 1974 Spaniards writhed in Franco’s grip while Portugal’s authoritarian corporatist regime celebrated its 48th anniversary. Greece had squirmed under the Colonels for several years. Italy narrowly escaped a similar fate in 1970 when hundreds of military and intelligence officers, allied with leading industrialists, and led by pretender-King Victor and Prince Junio Borghese, botched an impressively orchestrated coup.
Europe’s neo-fascists were well represented in the violent takeover of Chile on September 11, 1973. They figured more prominently in the agonizing destruction of Argentine civil society which in 1974 saw a juggernaut of right-wing terrorism clear the path for the 1976 pogrom. The worst excesses of Brazil’s 20-year military dictatorship – the years of lead and torture – occurred during Emilio Medici’s reign (1969-74). January 1974 marked the mid-point of Bolivian General Hugo Banzer’s first junta aided, as it was, by flamboyant national revolutionaries and Falange-socialists.
In 1974 South Vietnam groaned under the boots of General Thieu’s cabal who seized power in a 1963 coup wherein Thieu distinguished himself as the most sanguine of the pack. Although Ferdinand Marcos had been Philippine President since 1966 his dictatorship dates to a September 23, 1972 declaration of martial law. In 1974 South Korea’s Park Chung-hee basked in his 13th year of tyranny. Chiang Kai Shek and his Kuomintang remained ensconced in Taiwan while their World Anti-Communist League oversaw influential chapters in 40 countries.
1974 was the heyday of the CIA whose agents worked cheek by jowl across the Caribbean and Central America with sub-fascist monsters like Baby Doc Duvalier and Anastasio Somoza. Anglo-Americans numbered among their allies: a dozen brutal African regimes; a similar number of absolutist Arab monarchies; the Shah of Iran; and apartheid South Africa.
The January 1974 issue of Cambridge’s The Review of Politics showcased Still the Century of Corporatism by 38-year-old American political scientist, Phillipe Schmitter, who began his paper by thanking the Council of Foreign Relations and Carnegie Endowment for their support. (2) Influential contacts (and corporatist predispositions) came easily to Phillipe. He was born in Washington DC to an academic father who specialized in New England’s agricultural marketing boards before assuming a welfare policy position in FDR’s Administration.
Phillippe received a degree in international relations from the University of Geneva before transferring to Berkeley. In 1966 he left Berkeley for Brazil. While marvelling at Brazil’s hierarchical monopolistic interest structures Schmitter happened upon a tattered copy of Mihail Manoilescu’s The Century of Corporatism in a Rio bookstore. This epiphany, according to lore, inspired Schmitter’s deep delve into fascist social science.
The title of Schmitter’s 1974 paper recalls Manoilescu’s book. The paper commences with a quote from Manoilescu and identifies Manoilescu as "the most original and stimulating of corporatist thinkers." (3) Eight of its 43 pages are devoted to Manoilescu and Manoilescu’s distinction between pure and suborned corporatism is a central theme. Nevertheless, the paper neglects to tell us who Manoilescu was.
Mihail Manoilescu’s birth in 1891 unto a wealthy and political Romanian aristocratic family launched his furiously ambitious political career. An engineer by training Manoilescu self-educated in economics and plied this knowledge while a cabinet minister in several Romanian regimes between 1920 and 1944. He sat in multiple cabinets of the reactionary putschist King Carol II. During Carol’s reign Manoilescu met Mussolini; a man whom Manoilescu praised throughout his life. (4)
Manoilescu financed the macabre fascist Iron Guard and campaigned for a senate seat for an Iron Guard front group. He served as an envoy in the Ionescu-Iron Guard government and as foreign minister for the pro-Third Reich Gigurtu junta. He was arrested in 1945 and died in jail five years later.
Manoilescu shared the classical economist’s focus on the purchasing power of a unit of labour on the world market. He departed from classical economics by contending that industrialized labour, being more valuable than agricultural labour, made free trade a swindle for backward countries.
Romania’s economic strategy had been to maximize agricultural exports. The 1864 abolition of serfdom proved a purely symbolic modernization as Romanian landlords (like the Manoilescus) competed on world markets by intensifying the exploitation of their tenant farmers. This process climaxed in a tenant farmer rebellion and subsequent slaughter of over 10,000 unarmed farmers. Mihail was 16 at the time.
As Mihail rose to prominence Romania exported large volumes of grain (and oil) but its underdeveloped banking and industrial sectors remained foreign owned. In three books published between 1929 and 1942 Manoilescu criticised Romania’s nascent capitalist class as wasteful and vision-less. Romania’s industrialization would have to be state driven. The state had to protect high labour-value industries. The state must mould a capitalist class.
Manoilescu’s books sold well in Latin America especially among Brazilian officials in Vargas’s corporatist New State (1937-1945) who wished to rapidly industrialize their underdeveloped agrarian country. (The dictator Vargas himself equivocated regarding protecting "fictitious industries.")
Manoilescu’s Latin American adherents demanded tariffs and import substitution. They bemoaned the vulnerabilities of the export commodity economy and denounced free trade as colonialist. Manoilescu presaged the UN Economic Commission for Latin America’s (ECLA) agenda. His writings were re-published by prestigious ECLA economists. It was not just Manoilescu’s protectionism and corporatism that won accolades; his unabashed elitism and defence of the one-party state also went down well down south.
Still the Century of Corporatism rocked academia. The paper has been cited 4,021 times; far more than any other paper on corporatism. Corporatism Studies ignited. Soon corporatism was receiving obsessive attention from professors who considered Schmitter their high priest. "Mr. Corporatism" spread disdain for the "Anglo-Saxon path." He snidely intoned that comparative politics did not begin in 1950s America. His disciples eschewed Anglo-American ethno-centrism. (5)
In the 1970s European political scientists claimed tri-partite alliances of government, business and labour, coupled with the welfare state, signalled corporatism’s return. This political configuration (promoted by both Christian Democrats and Social Democrats to foil American-style liberal capitalism) went by many names: ordo-liberal, social market, social partnership, Nordic model etc.
Led by the Austro-Scandinavians, governments granted special status to select labour and business leaders and then integrated these leaders into decision-making bodies; thereby blurring the public-private boundary. In exchange these interest group leaders, especially the labour leaders, delivered stability by disciplining their members. Neo-corporatism functioned best where there was a high degree of unionization and hegemonic dominance by a social democratic party.
"Neo" was one of many prefixes academics hyphenated onto corporatism; others included: liberal, societal, quasi, and democratic. As corporatism’s main aim was reducing labour-capital conflict, the focus of Corporatism Studies was labour relations. (Inevitably, as academics clamoured to exalt corporatism the concept became stretched and tangled.)
Anticipating this corporatist revival, Still the Century of Corporatism, commences:
"The first step, I propose, is to rescue the concept of corporatism from various usages of it which have crept into the literature… the most difficult task is to strip the concept of its pejorative tone and implication..." (6)
The paper’s definition of corporatism, destined to launch a 1,000 turgid re-assessments, is:
Corporatism can be defined as a system of interest representation in which the constituent units are organized into a limited number of singular, compulsory, non-competitive, hierarchically ordered and functionally differentiated categories recognised or licenced (if not created) by the state and granted a deliberate representational monopoly within their respective categories in exchange for observing certain controls on their selection of leaders and articulation of demands and supports. (7)
The adjoining footnote credits Manoilescu for this definition. Schmitter admits redacting any mention of: a) how totalitarian a corporatist state need be; b) employer representation in labour union governance; and c) whether councils of corporations should displace elected legislatures. (8)
Pre-1974 Pluralism Studies overwhelmed Corporatism Studies. Both paradigms focussed on the role played by interest groups in government decision-making. Both emphasised: a) the professional, bureaucratic nature of lobbying groups; b) the interpenetration of public and private sectors; and c) the decline of partisanship. Some considered corporatism to be merely a type of pluralism.
Schmitter stressed that pluralist interest groups were: a) not necessarily state licensed; b) not limited in number by the state; c) not monopolistic with regards to their own constituencies; and d) and did not have state modified organizational structures. Pluralism denotes a free market of activists, lobbyists and pressure groups. Corporatism regiments this domain into a fixed array of state-centered vocational bureaucracies. Corporatism is a far more structured form of interest group activity than pluralism. (9)
To Schmitter fascism was a corruption of corporatism. He distinguishes "societal corporatism" from "state corporatism" (fascism) and sneers at how the latter diligently replaced unions with compliant syndicates while leaving businesses associations untouched. (10) He further criticizes state corporatists with:
"Hence, while they are often capable of decrying, in lurid and quite convincing terms, the inequitable and rachitic performance of existing capitalist institutions (and of conjuring up terrifying visions of life under godless socialism), they are obviously not very concerned with revealing how the forceful implantation of corporatism acts as an instrument for rescuing and consolidating capitalism rather than replacing it." (11)
It was not only state corporatists who rejected liberal capitalism, all corporatists did, including societal corporatists. Here Schmitter calls upon Lord Keynes and Sir Andrew Schonfeld. The former, he praises as the: "first major theorist to perceive certain emergent imperatives of capitalism and to link them explicitly to corporatism." (12)
Schmitter quotes at length from Keynes’s: The End of Laissez Faire:
"It is not true that individuals possess a prescriptive "natural liberty" in their activities… The world is not so governed from above that private and social interests always coincide. It is not a correct deduction from the Principles of Economics that enlightened self-interest always operates in the public interest. Nor is it true that self-interest is enlightened, more often individuals acting separately to promote their own ends are too weak to attain even these. Experience does not show that individuals, when they make up a social unit, are less clear-sighted than when they act separately." (13)
"I believe that in many cases the ideal size for the unit of control and organization lies between the individual and the modern state. I suggest therefore, that progress lies in the growth and recognition of semi-autonomous bodies within the state…I propose a return, it may be said, towards medieval conceptions of separate autonomies." (14)
Schmitter’s second witness, Sir Andrew Schonfield (1917-1981), was a Financial Times journalist and a British Labour Party wonk famous for advocating extensive government direction of the private sector as an alternative to socialism. His membership on the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers Associations (reported 1968) landed him a plum job atop the Social Science Research Council. From 1969 through 1971 Sir Andrew was the field marshal of British social sciences.
Schonfeld’s Modern Capitalism (1966) calls for a positive state to: promote employment and growth; check inflation; smooth out business cycles; regulate working conditions; cover economic risks; and resolve labour disputes. These ends would be achieved through large state-coordinated interest groups.
According to Sir Andrew:
"The major interest groups are brought together and encouraged to conclude a series of bargains about their future behaviour, which will have the effect of moving economic events along the desired path….It is curious how close this kind of thinking was to the corporatist theories of the early writers of Italian Fascism in the 1920s. Corporatism got its bad name, which has stuck to it, essentially because of its association with the one-party state." (15)
At this juncture we shall call a third witness, not from Schmitter’s paper, but from a 1977 critique of that paper by Professor Leo Panitch whose star anti-capitalist, Aubrey Jones, is introduced as a: "prime mover of corporatist structures under Conservative and Labour governments." (16)
Aubrey Jones (1911-2003) was an International Labour Organization bureaucrat; a British Military Intelligence Captain; and a journalist for The Times. For much of the 1950s and 1960s he was both a Conservative MP and the head of the British Iron and Steel Federation for whom he lobbied unsuccessfully against nationalization. Later, as a cabinet minister, Jones ran nationalized industries. Still later, PM Wilson picked Jones to run the Prices and Incomes Board (PIB). After being sacked by PM Heath, Jones drifted to the Liberal Party whilst arguing for a permanent PIB "with teeth."
Here is a sampling of Jones’s political philosophy:
The greatest evil of all wrought by individual capitalism was the division it drove between the two classes… the labourer, preoccupied with the day, was left bargaining helplessly against an employer secure in the present and uncertain only about the future… The classic remedy for labour’s plight, trade unionism, solves only part of his troubles… (It) was never intended to bridge the gap that had grown between employers and employed; it served rather to widen it and exacerbate the strife between the two sides. For trade unionism itself became infested with the doctrine that the struggle of the classes was something inevitable; the struggle was looked upon as scrawling itself across the whole of history; and the more inevitable it is accepted to be; the more implacable and the more permanent does it become…
Conflict follows only because labour is an outsider in industry… the bigness or smallness of the common pool of profits means nothing to it; it is intent only on the size of its own share; and is tempted to act irresponsibly….
Labour must be made to feel the same purpose of capital…
Authority remains with the employer, it is he who still controls. But those who are controlled are taken into his confidence, their views are solicited, and so the control, by becoming less of an imposition, is made to operate more effectively. (17)
Jones, Schonfeld and Keynes were neither outliers nor innovators. They were architects of Britain’s deep state and their writings display little originality. Their advocacy of corporatism like their assaults on liberalism were more ably articulated by that veteran of both Labour and Conservative parties, Sir Oswald Mosley, the founding-leader of the British Union of Fascists.
Corporatism’s decline as an academic rallying cry tracked its decline as fa useful policy toolkit. In the late 1980s businesses showed diminishing interest in continuing corporatist partnerships with organized labour. Globalization’s enhanced capital and labour mobility, and the concomitant disciplinary effect of mass unemployment, amply supplied the wage restraint that corporatists had been selling. The slaying of private sector unionism rendered tri-partism redundant. The remaining "bi-partism", or collusion between business and government absent labour, is a political configuration distinct from what academics had been calling "corporatism."
By the 1990s "corporatism" was again a pejorative term causing some to deploy "integration", or more commonly "concertation", as alternatives. The discourse shifted from wage restraint to broader concerns about state management of privately-owned economies. Concertation, in the EU, translates into a myriad of obscure subsidies aimed at exporting your nation’s unemployment problems to the English-speaking world. (18)
After 1974 Schmitter enjoyed posh postings at prestigious universities. Now, age 80, he is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the European University Institute. In 2009 he received the Skytte Prize; considered by Europe’s poli-sci academy to be their highest honour.
Academics don’t dwell on land. The professors who mined corporatism during its late 20th century rush were no exception.
From Williamson’s Varieties of Corporatism: A Conceptual Discussion (Cambridge, 1985) one can garner a few nuggets for the case that the landed interest, especially in Portugal, inspired and profited from corporatism; but Williamson never centres out land for scrutiny.
Wiarda’s Corporatism and Comparative Politics: The Other Great Ism (M.E. Sharpe, 1997) never discusses the political economy of landlordism and muddles the concepts of aristocracy and nobility in a manner reminiscent of Dahl’s sophistry regarding social and economic notables.
A stark exception is Simmie’s chapter in The Political Economy of Corporatism (St. Martin’s, 1985) which opens:
The comparatively recent revival in interest in the study of corporatism has been focussed mainly on the political relationships between big capital, organized labour and national government….From the point of view of neoclassical economic analysis, however, capital and labour must be joined by land as the three major categories of factors of production. Indeed, virtually all forms of production require land on which to combine capital and labour. (1)
Agog by this revelation, the editor repeats this passage in his Introduction. (2)
Like his contemporaries Simmie embraced the pluralist-corporatist dichotomy and took his definition of pluralism from Dahl; faithfully reciting Dahl’s famous query:
In a political system where nearly every adult may vote but where knowledge, wealth, social position, access to officials and other resources are unequally distributed, who actually governs? (3)
Corporatism, according to Simmie, is where effective political participation occurs during regular, secretive meetings between representatives of large commercial enterprises and senior government bureaucrats.
Simmie estimated that 32% of British land was owned by large aristocratic estates, with the lesser gentry owning 19%. This was mainly farmland. Construction companies, investment funds, and banks owned 7% of Britannia. The 1% owned by investment funds tended to be premium downtown parcels. The central government owned 9% and local governments, 8%. Ordinary house and cottage owners owned 20%. Conservation trusts owned 3.6% and the Church, 0.3%.
British land use planning, which Simmie dates to 1909, is a terraced affair involving grand national strategies, detailed county plans followed by wrangling at the local level over whether specific development proposals conform to said strategies and plans. (4)
Simmie cites the Oxford Development Plan to claim that the visible facets of planning are public relations exercises. 40% of attendees at planning fora are government bureaucrats and the Environment Ministry controls meeting agendas. As few Brits have territorial interests spanning a city or county only a handful of aristocrats, conservancies, universities, banks and/or developers send delegates. Obscure jargon-encrusted planning documents are, for the laity, undecipherable.
For an example of local plan implementation Simmie culls a late-1970s dispute regarding a London neighborhood originally zoned residential but rezoned office-land after backroom finagling by developers. Typical development approval processes consist of government officials, sometimes pressured by middle class ‘pluralist’ groups, haggling with developers for more parking space or residential units. Such bargaining is corporatist; involving secretive contact between development execs and local authorities.
Simmie hammers this point. His chapter begins:
"…disputes over land use involve political bargaining that diverges increasingly from the pluralist democratic and accountable paradigm." (5)
"At the local level effective interest representation in planning is largely confined to elites drawn from functionally differentiated organizations. This is corporatism." (6)
Simmie is most perturbed when plans are overruled. He complains:
"There are examples where both feudal landowners and producers were permitted large-scale developments in green belts." (7)
While this chapter has little to say about strategies to maximize green space (i.e. create land scarcity) in a 2006 publication of Simmie accuses Cambridge’s greenbelt of inflating land prices and inhibiting development. (8)
(In a 2014 paper Simmie describes wind power in the UK and Germany as state-driven pathways led by rural landowners and universities.) (9)
Simmie’s current avoidance of corporatist lingo is a far cry from his opening salvo in 1981 where James, still in neo-Marxist short-pants, chose to study land relations as a means to study corporatism. (10) Young James measured politics on the corporatist/pluralist spectrum and cited Dahl’s research on New Haven as his source for the thesis that control over land planning had shifted from wealthy oligarchies to independent entrepreneur-politician alliances. Simmie never questions Dahl’s methodology.
The 20th century’s most influential political scientist, Robert Dahl (1915-2014), received a Ph.D. in political science from Yale in 1940 then, after a stint in the Army, joined Yale’s political science faculty where he remained until 1986; eventually rising to Sterling Professor Emeritus. His breakaway book: Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City (Yale University Press, 1961) analysed Yale’s hometown: New Haven, Connecticut. Cited 7,051 times in academic literature, this book catapulted Dahl to the Presidency of the American Political Science Association in 1966. In 1995 Dahl became the first recipient of the uber-prestigious Johann Skytte Prize.
New Haven was purportedly a microcosm of the USA; a country without an oligarchy, ruling class, or power elite; with a permeable political stratum populated by politicians attuned to electorates. While inequalities of wealth, knowledge and access made America less than a perfect democracy, what existed (dubbed "pluralism" or "polyarchy") was the best of possible worlds.
Dahl wrote Who Governs between 1958 and mid-1961 amidst a raging debate about how democratic the USA truly was. The Khrushchev-Nixon Kitchen Debate occurred on July 24, 1959. Eisenhower’s warning of a creeping coup by the military-industrial complex occurred on January 17, 1961. Many American academics, not only the Marxists, believed America had become oligarchic. Dahl wrote to dispel such heresy.
Who Governs pioneered empirical research in political science. Through recorded interviews with actual political operatives Dahl’s team sought to uncover how specific groups influenced specific government agencies.
In Dahl’s narrative, New Haven’s upper class was not based in its politically inert business community and Yale was peripheral to local politics. Mayor Lee and his aides wielded power in pursuit of electoral payoffs. (11)
Dahl’s team assembled lists of New Haven’s social and economic notables. Social notables were the 231 patriarchs who attended the New Haven Lawn Club debutante ball in either 1951, 1958 or 1959. Attendance at this ball was the sole indicator of social notoriety despite the ball being but one event in New Haven’s social scene and despite the Lawn Club being but one of three elite New Haven clubs. Dahl’s social notables included managers, doctors and other aspiring upper middle class professionals.
Sociologist G. William Domhoff, Dahl’s nemesis, estimated 1,350 families (0.8% of New Haven County) belonged to social clubs. Domhoff considered multiple club membership a better indicator of social notoriety. Only a few hundred held multiple memberships.
For economic notables Dahl tabled a grab-bag of 238 businessmen including micro-bank directors, motel owners, and car dealers. They formed no power elite.
Professor Domhoff, on the contrary, unearthed a downtown establishment consisting of 10 businesses (large banks, utilities and one law firm) at the core of New Haven’s economy. At the nucleus spun the First New Haven National Bank – owner of half the commercial bank assets in the county. Its 25 directors had 26 connections to the other 9 central businesses and 52 connections to 28 other New Haven businesses. 24 directors held social club memberships. 13 held multiple memberships.
Dahl denied the existence of a downtown power elite, although he was aware it. His team interviewed at least two officials who made the following statements regarding First New Haven National Bank:
"The bank’s support is necessary for anything that is done in this town…"
"What they say goes."
"…nothing gets done without the First New Haven National Bank saying so."
Dahl suppressed this data. He also suppressed Yale’s connections to the business elite. Eleven Yale Trustees were bank directors or law firm partners. Yale’s Assistant to the President sat on First New Haven National Bank’s board. Yale retained the services of New Haven’s top law firm.
Dahl’s lists are non-representative and shoddy. (They contain non-locals and the deceased.) He used a method stacked against finding overlap between economic and social notables.
Dahl further skewed the picture in his selection of political issues. His choice of public high school curricula as an important issue ignored the fact that economic notables sent their kids to private schools thus cared little about public schools. Dahl used their absence of involvement in this issue as evidence of politically marginality.
The book’s main issue, urban renewal, received massive media coverage during the late 1950s. Recently announced federal programs helped cities buy and clear any land their city fathers defined as "slum" and to resell this land to businesses or universities.
Dahl’s economic notables were incapable of urban renewal. Dahl also deemed Yale powerless regarding urban renewal despite its being the city’s largest landowner and despite most business leaders being proud Yale alumni. He depicted Yale as alien to the business community and at the mercy of Mayor Lee. In Dahl’s hero-worshipping account it was Mayor Lee and his aides who bargained and maneuvered urban renewal into existence.
Truth be known, the downtown business establishment and Yale promoted urban renewal earlier and more intensely than anyone. A 1937 study commissioned by Yale concluded the university needed land and recommended revamping New Haven’s land use policies. The study’s author was an Old Blue hailing from a Yale dynasty, including Professors, dating to 1720.
In 1947 Yale struck a committee to explore Yale’s land needs. Committee Chair, and Yale Trustee, Prescott Bush (from the Wall Street investment firm Brown Brothers, Harriman) was another Old Blue. His grandfather entered Yale in the 1830s. The Bush Committee Report (1950) recommended a building spree for Yale, including off-campus student housing, and advocated redeveloping downtown New Haven. (The housing component was usurped by the downtown business establishment.)
Yale’s involvement was essential because urban renewal agencies could not access federal aid unless some private entity committed to purchasing the "slum" land. Yale demonstrably deployed its expertise and financial clout to attract federal, and state, subsidies. Informants told Dahl that without Yale the project would have "died aborning." In the midst of redevelopment Yale stepped in with a big loan after one private developer bailed.
In the late 1950s Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush sat on the Urban Renewal Committee and the Banking and Currency Committee (which handled redevelopment legislation). Connecticut received more urban development aid per capita than any other state. Bush’s interventions were crucial because New Haven’s redevelopment plan contravened federal guidelines; i.e. it was not really a slum clearance. Bush gamed federal agencies into ignoring such contraventions as he sliced through other strands of red tape.
Dahl’s informants stressed Bush’s role and his Yale connections. They considered Bush "most helpful" adding that when Senator Bush came to town New Haven’s redevelopment community treated him like royalty at lunches at Mory’s. Dahl suppressed this. He gave no credit to First New Haven National Bank, Yale or Bush. Only Mayor Lee and his merry men mattered.
Richard Lee was born in a working-class Irish New Haven neighborhood in 1916. Like most locals he never attended Yale; only going as far as high school. After graduating he worked for a local paper. However, by age 23 the ambitious Lee was a public relations man for the Chamber of Commerce and an Alderman.
In 1944 Yale’s powerful Secretary, the wealthy and erudite Carl Lohmann, took Lee under his wing. Under Lohmann’s mentorship Lee adopted the Yale dress code and began mouthing enlightened upper middle class slogans. He became a rare non-Yalie permitted to dine at Mory’s.
As Yale’s PR man Lee defended Yale from locals who resented the university’s property tax exemption and its stinginess both as an employer and as a contributor to city services. No Catholic or Jew had ever been a Yale Trustee; an affront to local Irish, Italian and Jewish communities.
Lee ran for Mayor in 1949, 1951 and 1953. Prior to the 1953 election several Yale honchos launched "Independents for Lee." This cabal included the Dean of Yale Law School (Eugene Rostow) and the Dean of Yale’s son-in-law, Edward Logue, a Yale Law grad with some urban planning education. Yale’s concern for local politics was further evidenced by the three Yale faculty elected as Aldermen. Dahl insists, at length, that Yalies ignored local politics.
Lee won the 1953 election with strong showings in the Irish and Yale wards. Edward Logue became Mayor Lee’s right-hand man and his Redevelopment Administrator. He also became Dahl’s chief informant.
Lee’s election marked no watershed of interest in urban renewal among New Haven elites. The Chamber of Commerce, which had been requesting a redevelopment agency since 1949, actually worried they would have to sell urban renewal to Lee and arranged a lunch at the Lawn Club for that purpose. When Lee’s aides first pitched urban renewal to the First New Haven National Bank board they were sent back to Lee and told to think bigger. In Dahl’s fable, Edward Logue heroically outlined the urban renewal scheme alone in his office one night.
Mayor Lee’s function was to assuage locals who were losing their land, being pushed out of their neighborhoods, and saddled with immense municipal debt. Redevelopment jammed blacks into public housing ghettos. Neighborhood denizens and small shopkeepers learned about urban renewal from the daily papers after the deals were done.
Pre-1953 the problem was not a lack of a Lee but a lack of federal and state funding. Part of the funding problem stemmed from a lack of traffic justification for a centrepiece of the renewal plan, the Oak Street Connector freeway (OSC). New Haven’s elite needed the OSC to expand the downtown area and contain suburban sprawl. A decision by the Southern New England Telephone Co. to build an office tower near the OSC, plus investment promises from Yale and others, won over state highway authorities. The OSC became a battering ram for destroying a neighborhood wrongly declared a slum. The OSC is now widely viewed as a blunder. An unfinished off-ramp leads to an embarrassing dead end.
For New Haven’s elite the heart of the matter was not Oak Street but nearby Church Street; i.e. office land. This part of the renewal project sucked up $40 million in federal grants and loans. The elite wanted to lure suburban shoppers back to downtown New Haven. The plan involved a marquis hotel, department stores, a plaza and a parkade.
In the late 1950s as New Haven enjoyed America’s largest urban renewal boom the glossy magazines brayed about Mayor Lee’s daring miracle. Dahl’s book solemnified this myth.
Yale is now an island of privilege in a sea of poverty. New Haven is another deindustrialized university town whose neighborhoods were bulldozed by downtown elites obsessed with raising land values. Government subsidised money-losing megaprojects keep downtown landlords rich and cities poor.
Domhoff does not appreciate what he has uncovered. Lee’s 1953 election was a Yale orchestrated coup. Yale’s Deans and Trustees undertook this project with a view to securing control over land use policies around their campus. Dahl was a co-conspirator. This textbook example of corporatist land use governance became, via Dahl’s disingenuous distortions, the textbook for denying the existence of corporatism.
Universities comprise a major part of the landed estate. Back in 1985, Simmie estimated British universities owned 0.6% of British land. There are many more British universities now. In cities across the western world, universities are often the largest local land-owners. We are not referring here only to their priceless campuses and conservancies. Harvard’s far-flung empire of farms and apartment buildings is worth $4 billion.
There is much more to the land-university connection. Search any university Board of Governors and you shall find:
a) representatives of banks, insurance firms and investment funds whose assets are largely land based; and;
b) old money/big money philanthropic families whose fortunes have solidified into land. (Such entities and individuals are also top donors to universities.)
Furthermore, tenured professors often receive eye-popping salaries. They must be 99% home owners. There is a venerable tradition of professors investing their gains into local rental housing markets. Students being 99% tenants constitute a renewable supply of customers for the landlords of university towns.
While universities, their donors, governors and professors, have diversified investments; it is safe to surmise they are very long on land. As such they express the landed interest and are ardent advocates of land conservation. Universities are not mainly in the land business. They are mainly in the ideological indoctrination business. The professor and the landlord, hand in hand always do they go.
Libertarians hold up America’s Gilded Age, 1860-90s, as that shining moment of unfettered free enterprise before corporatism’s onslaught. However, the economic drivers of this era were: the Union Government’s military-industrial complex; the post-Civil War Reconstruction; and the great transcontinental railway boom – each generously financed by government procurements, land grants, and government-backed bonds. Simultaneous to this great leap forward in statism, pro-corporatist prose poured from the pens of Europeans who viewed railroads and the opening of the American West as diabolical monstrosities. Clearly, there is more to corporatism than government-business comingling.
Two grand befuddlements occlude the view. For the first we can blame Marxists whose portrait of a ruling bourgiousie brushes over the line separating landlords from capitalists. Marx wrote obits for the landed estate in the 1840s. There is, of course, much overlap between capitalists and landlords; and both are often wealthy, prominent gentlemen. However capitalists, left untended, forever break new ground, erect new structures, and open new markets. The landed estate, on the other hand, conserves itself by cartelizing urban and rural land; by protecting domestic industry and agriculture… by reining in the entrepreneurs.
From the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) to the Paris Commune (1871) the landed estate and the upstart entrepreneurs engaged in an internecine and international struggle erupting in the American and French Revolutions, in South American wars of independence, and much else. After organized labour entered the arena the land-capital contest became subdued, submerged and subject to truce… but it never ceased.
A duel is a contest (most picturesquely: a prearranged pistol combat) between two persons or parties. A truel is like a dual only it involves three persons or parties (or economic classes). In truels alliances may form… but watch your back.
The three factors of production (land, labour and capital) each sponsor relentless micro and macro exertions and connivances toward aggrandizement. In politics this truel is not obvious. From three primary colours a thousand hues are blended. As well, the common interests of classes always conflict with the particular interests of certain members.
When corporatists list the few dozen economic sectors whose leaders are to be incorporated into their New State, they never list "landownership" as a sector (although they usually mention agriculture). Corporatists silently presume an aristocratic substructure. In academic tomes the landed interest omnisciently narrates the social diagnosis. Schmitter’s class-neutral state and Dahl’s polyarchy redact references to a landed oligarchy.
Struggles for hegemony entail struggles for the banking sector. Modern governance and high finance first merged in the 1690s when the Bank of England funded William III’s war with Louis XIV in exchange for a monopoly on limited liability banking and currency issue. American money dates to a Civil War arrangement allowing banks to print dollar bills equal to the amount of Union bonds they purchased. However, it was only over the last several decades that banking and the landed estate merged. In many countries, certainly the USA, banks were prohibited from owning land directly and real estate mortgages were too risky for blue-chip financiers.
American banking, among other things, became partly corporatized during FDR’s lengthy administration. In 1935, after the Supreme Court blocked FDR’s Mussolini-inspired National Recovery Administration, the ruling Democrats advanced across a pontoon bridge of agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Labour Relations Board, and notably, the Federal Housing Administration and Federal National Mortgage Association.
Corporatists believe home ownership transforms obstinate workers and minorities into loyal gentry. The banker-friendly "fair housing" movement reared its head prominently in the 1970s when the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency rebranded itself as the Committee of Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The fair housing movement facilitated mortgages for sub-par borrowers thereby pumping up mortgage debt and the real estate bubble that burst in 2008.
Resolving the 2008 crisis cost US taxpayers well over $1 trillion. A grassroots mobilization, the Tea Party, emerged among Americans unwilling to bail out under-water homeowners and their financial enablers. Without the bailout several million houses would have been abruptly dumped onto the market. The concentrated benefit that a bailout would bring to delinquent homeowners and bank shareholders trumped the diffuse cost of that bailout to taxpayers. Remnants of the Tea Party played a lead role in Trump’s victory over the Republican establishment in the 2016 primaries.
The 2008-9 bailouts solidified the government-banking complex. In the US and EU major financial institutions are either state-owned or "too-big-to-fail." The latter, the Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs), employ many former and future government bureaucrats. SIFI execs boast about their intimate partnership with regulators. The mutual penetration involves SIFIs selling (and accumulating) government bonds while governments regulate and prop up SIFIs. Most SIFI assets consist of: real estate mortgages, real estate itself, government bonds, and loans to the ecological-industrial complex. Thus, the most unproductive, parasitic components of the financial and real estate sectors successfully usurp political power and create a parallel economy driven by politicians not consumers.
Let no one discuss land economics without discussing land conservation and other land use restrictions. State-sanctioned vetoes over the use of public lands are but one of the many calculated rigidities imposed on markets by land-owning cartels seeking to stabilize rents. Real estate development is so over-regulated that new construction projects require protracted campaigns aimed at zoning changes, condemnation approvals, infrastructure support, loan guarantees, tax breaks and subsidies. New projects are monuments to the tenacity and perspicacity of the teams enabling them to be built. (1)
The second grand befuddlement obscuring our view involves treating "social democracy" as if it were a working class manifestation. Social democracy, corporatism’s Protestant twin, is an expression of the landed interest. Their welfare state consists largely of taxpayers paying the housing costs of the unemployed. A week after dole cheques are issued the lion’s share of the disbursed money sits in the bank accounts of landlords. Government assistance programs engender legions of dependents and hypertrophied bureaucracies whose combined electoral clout bolsters the social democratic hegemony.
Except for that anomalous decade (1900-10) when Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressives hijacked the Republican Party; America’s corporatist (social democratic) vanguard has been the Democratic Party. Pre-1960 the Democrats were the party of racist Dixiecrats in the South and priest-ridden big city electoral machines in the North. They coopted the conservative American Federation of Labour in the early 1900s and the militant Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1950s. Post-1960 Democrats domesticated independent black, feminist and Latino movements; incorporating them into their electoral machine. The Democrats’ espousal of leftist, even socialist, rhetoric merely replays a cynical corporatist practise stretching back 140 years. Bernie Sanders was the most thorough-going corporatist to contest a presidential primary since Teddy Roosevelt – a man whom Sanders repeatedly praised.
Corporatism is neo-feudalism. It slides society back to a two-tier political system of commoners and nobles. Politicians, obsessed with fundraising, become agents of rent-seeking donors. Citizens without vast sums to donate might as well forget about politics. The toiling masses are excluded.
The Clintons are exemplars of pay-to-play politics. Their open border agenda ensures entrance to a mass of non-citizen workers without basic democratic and legal rights. Their agenda will bring a police state for the disenfranchised poor and a growing licence to commit crimes for the well-connected rich. Exorbitant housing and energy costs will devour paycheques. In this world of gated communities and private cops economic activity will center on providing luxury goods for elites who will then hold forth about the evils of mass consumerism.
A clear and direct correlation exists between how corporatist a country is and how environmentalist that country is. Topping both lists is the German-Danish-Swedish-Swiss-Austrian meta-state (the Fourth Reich). Global Warming is a sweeping socio-technological regime change orchestrated by this meta-state. Their primary goal is their own emancipation from a world market system fueled by hydrocarbons. Unsurprisingly, green energy, from biofuels to solar farms, is land-based energy chiefly benefiting landowners. The deployment of pseudo-scientific rationales as political vehicles is as old as corporatism. Capturing climate science was one of the lesser tasks on their agenda.
Footnotes for: Intro
Footnotes for: Incubation of the Incubus
Footnotes for: Corporatism and Social Fascism
Footnotes for: January 1974: Mr. Corporatism’s Manifesto arrives like Clockwork (orange)…
Footnotes for: The Land beneath the Dahl House
Footnotes for the Conclusion
The list of blogposts, books, chapters, articles, and encyclopedia entries read researching this posting would be longer than the entire posting itself. What follows is a list of the more useful sources.
Bennich-Bjorkman, Li "Mr. Corporatism" awarded "Nobel Prize of Political Science" skytteprize.statvet.uu.ee
Browder, Earl. The Meaning of Social-Fascism. Workers Library Publishers. New York City. 1932.
Domhoff, G. William. Who really ruled in Dahl’s New Haven? www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/
Goldstein, Robert. Political Repression in Nineteenth Century Europe. Provident House, Croom Helm, Australia, 1983.
Greve, Michael S. The rise of adversarial corporatism. Library of Law and Liberty. July 1, 2014.
Lind, Michael. The"corporatist" confusion: Why prominent a political term needs to be retired. Salon. January 5, 2014.
Love, Joseph. Theorizing Underdevelopment: Latin America and Romania 1860-1950. Estudos Avancados January-April 1990.
Littlewood, Mark. The Social Democratic Hegemony. www.centreforum.org
Locke, Robert. What is American Corporatism? Frontpagemag.com September 13, 2002.
Panitch, Leo. The development of corporatism in liberal democracy; Comparative Political Studies, Sage Publications, April 1977.
Schmitter, Phillippe. Still the Century of Corporatism; Review of Politics, University of Cambridge, 1974.
Scruggs, Lyle. Is there really a link between Neo-corporatism and Environmental Performance? British Journal of Political Science. Cambridge University Press. 2001.
Siaroff, A. Corporatism in 24 Industrial Democracies: Meaning and Measurement. European Journal of Political Research, 1999, Wiley Online Library.
Simmie, James. Corporatism and Planning. Chapter 7 in: Grant, Wyn (Ed.). The Political Economy of Corporatism. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1985.
Simmie, James. New Technological Path Creation, Evidence from the British and German Wind Energy Industries. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer 2014.
Simmie, James. The Competitive Economic Performance of English Cities. Department of Communities and Local Government. London 2006.
Stromberg, Joseph. Corporatism as Theory and Practice. Explore Freedom. The Future of Freedom Foundation February 1, 2014.
Tilly, Charles. The Rebellion Century, 1830-1930. Harvard University Press. Cambridge Mass. 1975.
Watkins, Thayer. The Economic System of Corporatism. San Jose University Department of Economics; www.sjsu.edu
Wiarda, Howard. Corporatism and Comparative Politics: The Other Great Ism; M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York, 1997.
Whitehead, John - The Age of Neo-feudalism in America – government by the rich and for the rich and the corporations – Huffington Post 1/28/2013
Williamson, Peter. Varieties of Corporatism: A Conceptual Discussion; Cambridge University Press, 1985.
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How can the U.S. take military action against Syria if it is opposed by the United Nations Security Council? In this occasional series, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today, we look at how the U.S. could justify any such attack.
Q: Doesn’t the UN Security Council need to authorize any strike?
A: Yes. Under international law, the Security Council is regarded as having the power to authorize legitimate use of force against a sovereign state. Britain has already proposed a resolution asking to use force, but it is being blocked by Syria’s main ally Russia, as well as China. If the resolution did go for a vote, Russia and China would almost certainly veto it.
Call it what you will: ‘illegal’ if you are frank, ‘inconsistent with international law’ if you are a lawyer
Q: Wouldn’t that make any strike illegal?
A: Yes appears to be the consensus among the experts, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Lawyer and former Pentagon official Philip Carter said, “The bottom line is that under hard international law, there is no good legal argument” for a U.S. or allied strike on Syria without UN authorization. John Bellinger, a former legal advisor to then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, said, “Syria’s violation of international norms does not lift the obligation on the U.S. to comply with the UN charter. Under international law, two wrongs don’t make a right.” Another lawyer, David Kaye, wrote this week, “So, unless the Security Council authorizes action, the United States and its participating allies would be in violation of international law in using military force against Syria. Call it what you will: ‘illegal’ if you are frank, ‘inconsistent with international law’ if you are a lawyer, ‘difficult to defend’ if you are a diplomat. They all amount to the same thing: No international law supports a U.S. attack on Syria, even in the face of mass killing by internationally prohibited weapons.”
Q: So how can the Obama administration justify a strike?
A: It will argue on humanitarian grounds or because of the risk to U.S. security. President Barack Obama, a former constitutional law professor, is already making the second argument. In an Aug. 28 PBS interview, he said Syria’s use of chemical weapons violated “an international norm.” Failing to respond could indirectly threaten the U.S. and its allies in the Mideast, and the U.S. must act “to make sure” chemical weapons are not “loose in a way that ultimately could affect our security.” Ryan Hendrickson, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, believes Mr. Obama will almost certainly use the moral argument to justify his actions. “Obama will make a moral argument. He will say that norms have been violated,” he said.
Q: And what is the moral argument?
A: That the international community has “a right and sometimes the duty to intervene in cases of slaughter and genocide,” as it did in Kosovo in 1999, says Mr. Carter, a senior fellow and counsel at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. However, the “Responsibility to Protect” (RTP) doctrine has not been accepted as international law. “There’s no case for individual self-defence and a shaky case for collective self-defence” on behalf of the citizens of another country under existing law.
Q: What’s the Responsibility to Protect doctrine?
A: It says the international community is obliged to act to prevent crimes against humanity, no matter where they occur, said Stephen Biddle, an expert on U.S. military and foreign policy at George Washington University. He notes RTP is increasingly perceived as superseding the need to respect a country’s sovereignty. Since the 1990s, when interventions were blocked or delayed in states such as Rwanda and Kosovo, it has gathered weight in international relations. RTP dictates “sovereignty must also entail the responsibility to protect one’s own citizens from atrocity crimes,” said the Public International Law & Policy Group, a non-profit organization. In a recent paper, the group said the international community had a right, as a last resort, to use force in Syria to stop atrocity crimes.
Q. Are there precedents for taking military action that has been deemed illegal?
A: Yes. Experts are citing Kosovo when NATO launched a bombing campaign of Serbian targets. That campaign, which was not authorized by the UN, is generally regarded as illegal but legitimate. President Bill Clinton’s administration justified the 1999 action on humanitarian grounds as necessary to defend Kosovo. Mr. Obama is making the same case. The U.S. president “talked about international norms — not international law — because there is no consensus that international law supports this,” said Christopher Swift, a national security lawyer and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Q: So even if Obama was told a strike would be illegal, he can still go ahead?
A: Yes. Mr. Kaye, who was a lawyer in the State Department’s legal office during the Kosovo campaign, said, “The lawyer’s role is to tell the policy-makers what the law is and what the consequences of particular action might be as a matter of law: Would there be accountability for U.S. forces? Could other countries see the action as illegal? It’s not for the lawyers to say, ‘Is this right? Is it moral? Is it wise?’ That’s policy, and that’s the president’s call.” Ken Pollack, an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs at the Brookings Institution, said it was important how the case for the strike was framed: “Very famously, the Kosovo war was not legal. Yet … you don’t have people running around screaming that the Kosovo war was illegal. That is because the U.S. did a good job of building a case for it.”
Q. Doesn’t Obama need to consult Congress at least?
A: “I would argue he does. If he wants to abide by a constitutional process, then Congress is the branch that authorizes military action,” said Mr. Hendrickson. However, he noted the president’s power as commander-in-chief has grown since the end of the Second World War to the extent he often authorizes action without consulting Congress. “I think [Secretary of State John] Kerry is right when he said that what the Syrian government did is morally obscene but it should be debated in Congress, it should be authorized before force is used.” The War Powers Resolution passed by Congress in 1973 requires the president seek consent from Congress before force is used, or within 60 days of the start of hostilities. But as Jim Geraghty points out in National Review Online, “Since 1973, the United States has used military force in Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989, Iraq in 1991, Haiti in 1994 and Kosovo in 1999. In all those instances, presidents — both Democrats and Republicans — sidestepped Congress and committed U.S. military forces without obtaining congressional approval.”
National Post, Bloomberg News and news services
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Diseases Pigeons Carry
Pigeons are known carriers of several diseases, the two most common being cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis. Cryptococcosis is spread via their droppings and causes mild pulmonary infections. If left untreated, the illness spreads through the rest of the body and eventually attacks the central nervous system. Early symptoms of the disease include bumps that resemble acne or ulcers just below the surface of the skin.
Histoplasmosis causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, and severe cases can lead to pneumonia or even death. Pigeon droppings cultivate the growth of the fungus that causes the disease. People then inhale the spores into their lungs and get infected. Pigeons can also carry psittacosis and toxoplasmosis, though reported cases are rare.
Leave it to the Professionals
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If you never cast a love spell when you were a teenager, you totally missed out. For Oyster #107: The Romantics, New York-based writer/cool gal Hazel Cills schools us on love magic and interviews some IRL witches about the dos and don’ts of spellcraft.
“Take a sip of my secret potion, I’ll make you fall in love,” sing Little Mix on their hit ‘Black Magic’. “For a spell that can’t be broken, one drop should be enough.” In 2015 the dream of a magic spell that can entrance a potential lover is as alive as ever. You would think by now casting spells on crushes would be a long-dead practice — with the click of a link or swipe of a phone screen anyone can find an enthusiastic partner for nearly any sexual or romantic pursuit. But this easy access has brought an almost clinical feel to dating, and effortless as it is to find a cute person to make out with, finding real love seems to be many times harder… which is where magic comes in. A little mysterious, a little unpredictable, and potentially a whole lot of a trouble, love charms and spells bring hopeful singles something beyond the spoils of apps and blind dates: something with magical potential.
The existence and use of love spells is rampant throughout history. The Ancient Egyptians tied scarabs into knots laid upon a man’s body in order to make his partner fall for him.* Ancient Greek men tortured clay effigies of bound, kneeling women while casting spells of passion.** In folk tradition, love magic manifested in many different forms, from menstrual blood in a man’s meal to sticking poppets with pins in order to bend a lover to one’s desires. There was also, of course, the love potion, or philtre, which when drunk caused the recipient to fall in love with the person who administered it. A medieval philtre often consisted of wine or tea mixed with ingredients such as mandrake root, orange, verbena or animal organs. More insidious components have also been recorded, from the blood of blind infants to samples taken from corpses.***
In artistic and cultural interpretations of love magic the process is always more simple than the spell books demand. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, potions cause lovers to jump from crush to crush; in Tristan and Isolde the pair drink a concoction that ties their spirits together even after their deaths. In the modern world love spells and potions have popped up everywhere in movies and television shows, from The Craft and The Twilight Zone to the film Practical Magic, in which a young Sally Owens concocts a love spell for a man she knows will never exist (“He can flip pancakes in the air, he’ll be marvellously kind, and his favourite shape will be a star”) so she won’t fall in love.
Love magic continues to captivate people, sometimes with questionable results. Just this year The New York Times ran a story about a man tricked by a fortune teller into forking over $700,000 to help fix a romantic relationship using crystals, time machines, and reincarnation portals. Recently Etsy, long a digital marketplace for spiritual artifacts, banned the selling of spells. “Any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge) is not allowed, even if it delivers a tangible item,” reads the website’s guidelines. The question is, do these spells deliver real romance?
“I can tell you that they don’t work,” says Meagan Rosario, a practicing witch living in New York. “How do you ask the universe to move out of its way for your silly needs? You can’t.” Many practicing witches and magic enthusiasts assert that love spells simply do not succeed, and also that they’re largely regarded as unethical. “Nothing about them is consensual,” says musician and writer Suzy Hex. “I think any time you are asking the universe to do something to someone else, regardless of whether anything actually happens, it’s bad vibes,” says Katie Heaney, a writer responsible for Buzzfeed’s Witches Counsel advice column, in which Katie and fellow writer Arianna Rebolini recommend spells for readers with all sorts of needs, from fixing problems in a relationship to getting over heartbreak (or a hangover). “We’re all responsible for ourselves and we can’t control other people.”
So what’s a person to do if they’re looking to use magic for greater romantic good? The answer is in taking the emphasis off of a single conquest and opening yourself up to attraction at large. Meagan recommends charms such as rose quartz, pink and red candles, and pink roses. “You foster attraction by feeling sensual, happy and confident within yourself and that’s what those charms can do.” she says. “The closest thing I’ve ever done was light a candle at the moon to attract love, and that works,” Suzy says. “But that’s more like setting an intention and opening up more to romantic opportunity.”
Katie recommends the same for her readers. “We had a young woman write in to help attract a guy who was her crush, and we wrote back and said we couldn’t do that,” she says. “What we think is more useful is a confidence spell.” The columnists carved a candle with the woman’s name and zodiac sign, added Wiccan symbols for connection, beauty and confidence, then whispered their intentions over the candle and let it burn through the night. “The most practical way of attracting someone you like is to be the kind of person who attracts people broadly,” she says.
It seems the best way of finding love through magic is to start with yourself. And yes, that might seem like a cop-out, but even if casting a spell seems like the most effective option, when other people are involved it probably isn’t the most sound — and nobody wants to be a bad witch, do they? So stock up on the red roses, light as many pink candles as you can, and wait for the moon to help foster romance and attraction in your life. Just stay away from the infant blood and animal organs, OK?
* Eleanor L. Harris, Ancient Egyptian Divination and Magic (Weiser Books, 1998), 197.
** Benjamin Recchie, “How To Cast An Ancient Greek Love Spell,” The University of Chicago Magazine: The Core, January, 2013.
*** Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca, 3rd ed. (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008), 269-270.
By Hazel Cills
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There were the husks in which the nuts had grown big and fat until they were ripe, but now every husk was empty. Chatterer saw the queer look on Happy Jack’s face, and he looked too. Now Chatterer the Red Squirrel had very quick wits, and he guessed right away what had happened. He knew that while they had been quarreling and racing over the top of the tall hickory tree, they must have knocked down all the nuts, which were just ready to fall anyway. Like a little red flash, Chatterer started down the tree. Then Happy Jack guessed too, and down he started as fast as he could go, crying, “Stop, thief!” all the way.
When he reached the ground, there was Chatterer scurrying around and poking under the fallen leaves, but he hadn’t found a single nut. Happy Jack couldn’t stop to quarrel any more, because you see he was afraid that Chatterer would find the biggest and fattest nuts, so he began to scurry around and hunt too. It was queer, very queer, how those nuts could have hidden so! They hunted and hunted, but no nuts were to be found. Then they stopped and stared up at the top of the tall hickory tree. Not a nut could they see. Then they stared at each other, and gradually a foolish, a very foolish look crept over each face.
“Where—where do you suppose they have gone?” asked Happy Jack in a queer-sounding voice.
Just then they heard some one laughing fit to kill himself. It was Peter Rabbit.
“Did you take our hickory nuts?” they both shouted angrily.
“No,” replied Peter, “no, I didn’t take them, though they were not yours, anyway!” And then he went off into another fit of laughter, for Peter had seen Striped Chipmunk very hard at work taking away those very nuts while his two big cousins had been quarreling in the tree-top.
HAPPY JACK SUSPECTS STRIPED CHIPMUNK
Thrift is one test of true loyalty to your country.
Happy Jack didn’t look happy a bit. Indeed, Happy Jack looked very unhappy. You see, he looked just as he felt. He had set his heart on having all the big, fat nuts that he had found in the top of that tall hickory tree, and now, instead of having all of them, he hadn’t any of them. Worse still, he knew right down in his heart that it was his own fault. He had been too greedy. But what had become of those nuts?
Happy Jack was studying about this as he sat with his back against a big chestnut tree. He remembered how hard Peter Rabbit had laughed when Happy Jack and his cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, had been so surprised because they could not find the nuts they had knocked down. Peter hadn’t taken them, for Peter has no use for them, but he must know what had become of them, for he was still laughing as he had gone off down the Lone Little Path. While he was thinking of all this, Happy Jack’s bright eyes had been wide open, as they usually are, so that no danger should come near. Suddenly they saw something moving among the brown-and-yellow leaves on the ground. Happy Jack looked sharply, and then a sudden thought popped into his head.
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Science, yes, plagiarism, no
If science won't find a cure for cancer, what will? If science won't find a cure for multiple sclerosis, what will? If science won't help you solve crimes faster, what will? You get the point.
I find it hard to tell if Sen. Rand Paul believes what he says or if he is playing to an ignorant minority political base that he can manipulate (he might think) to win elections.
In a democracy, the people, through their government, determine how funds are to be used. I would like to see more funds allocated to science to help solve the problems (and others) that I outlined above.
Also, plagiarism is not a footnote problem. It's more similar to lying like a rug.
John C. Wolff Jr.
Paul exemplifies political woes
A recent Herald-Leader article encapsulates much that is wrong with politics today. It dealt with Sen. Rand Paul's plagiarism of a movie review used in a speech to try to make the ludicrous point that scientists are aiming to cull people in the name of eugenics.
This episode, however, has implications far beyond that idea. One of the most serious points against Paul is that he used a Wikipedia article describing a mediocre sci-fi film, Gattaca, in place of actual research in science. Paul was either cynically using a fictional source to make a point, or else he believes what he said and respects his source.
Even worse, however, is the quotation from one of his handlers that "all politicians cut corners" and that this will all be forgotten by the time the next presidential election is upon us.
In other words, it's OK to cheat as long as it's done early enough that people won't bother to remember it later.
If we can't come up with better candidates than this, in both parties, we deserve what we will get.
Finding the real Rand Paul
It's a shame that there isn't a simple test to determine whether a person suffers from paranoia. Sen. Rand Paul's comments about science and his fear of eugenics sure do make you wonder.
Paul has recently been questioned about whether he has plagiarized some of his statements and speeches. While I disapprove of plagiarism, in Paul's case I feel the most important point is overlooked.
In my evaluation of him, I often look to statements he made early in his primary bid. I feel we may gain an insight into his core beliefs untainted by later pollsters, political hacks and his desire for a presidential run.
In the early version of Paul, less crafted and presumably more open, he stated beliefs approaching those of a 19th century political time traveler. His advocacy of turning mine safety oversight to local county control should scare anyone who opposes control by the mining companies.
Statements that industrial accidents sometimes "just happen" reveal a total lack of understanding.
Opposition to parts of the Civil Rights and Americans with Disabilities acts indicate a lack of empathy for those held outside both legally and socially.
Years later, no mention of these beliefs from Paul. Instead he lectures Howard University students on Republican support of civil rights. He jokes of dueling with those he opposes.
Perhaps Paul is a time traveler from 150 years ago, but seriously, what should disquiet is the Paul before the smoothed-up version we now see.
Aren't you embarrassed?
Is anyone in Kentucky embarrassed that they sent a senator who plagiarizes to Washington? What an embarrassment.
I had more ethics in third grade than he has as a supposed adult. Sad what the southern states of the U.S. represent to the rest of the world.
Coral Springs, Fla.
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Outside of Africa, Australia holds some of modern humans’ earliest archeological evidence, with relics dating back to about 45,000 years ago. In other words, Australian aboriginals are the oldest continuous population of humans on the planet, besides those found in Africa. But these populations did not remain quite as isolated as researchers originally thought.
Anthropologists and historians always assumed that from the time the first human settlers stumbled upon Australia to the moment European sailors arrived in the late 1800s, Australia remained unknown to the rest of the world. But new research refutes this commonly held belief with evidence of substantial gene flow between Australian and Indian populations millennia ago.
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Printing Photos on Any Material (Mar, 1940)
Printing Photos on Any Material
KENNETH MURRAY TELLS HOW TO SENSITIZE CLOTH, CHINA, GLASS, AND METAL
IN A NEW YORK store window a demonstrator recently attracted crowds by making photographic prints before their eyes on a variety of materials. He daubed a little solution on the surface where the picture was to be placed and, as soon as it had dried, placed a negative over it, clamped it in position with a piece of glass and a rubber band or two, and exposed the picture to the light of a photoflood bulb for a short time. The picture was then quickly developed and fixed like any ordinary photograph.
Solutions such as he was using can be purchased, but you can make your own quite easily and do stunts similar to those of this demonstrator. The process to be described is, indeed, even simpler than his. Once you have mastered it, you need not restrict your picture making to photographs on chloride or bromide paper as supplied by the manufacturers, but you can print photos directly on letterhead paper, on the flyleafs of books, or even on tissue paper if you wish, or on glass, cloth, chinaware, wood, metal, or almost any light-colored material.
The surface that is to receive the picture must first be coated with an emulsion that is sensitive to light. It is not difficult to mix suitable sensitizing solutions, provided one does not attempt to compound an emulsion as sensitive to light as are fast bromide-paper emulsions. The chances of turning out a satisfactory emulsion of that type without training and a knowledge of photochemistry would be rather slim. It is for this reason that the writer uses a very simple sensitizing formula, with which it is almost impossible to make an error or have any difficulty.
The formula is a modification of that used in making blueprint paper and gives a blue picture. If desired the blue image may afterwards be toned to sepia (brown) or black. The writer personally prefers blue because of its brilliance and unique appearance.
Ferric ammonium citrate ………… 1 oz.
Distilled water ………………………….. 4 oz.
Potassium ferricyanide, red ………………………….. 3/4 oz.
Distilled water ………….. 4 oz.
Mix an equal quantity of each of these solutions together immediate- ly before they are to be used. Apply with a bit of cotton wrapped around the end of a clean stick, and do not use a metal-bound brush. Simply swab the solution evenly over the surface of light-colored paper, cloth, leather, wood, or other material. Unless a mask is to be used in printing, the sensitized area should be smaller than the negative. The operation should, of course, be done in a weak artificial light. A yellow or red safelight is not required. Dry the surface as quickly as possible with artificial heat.
Lay a negative over the sensitized spot and hold it in place with a piece of glass to make a good contact. Thin material such as cloth and paper may be held, with the negative, between two sheets of glass. Cloth can be held flat, both for sensitizing and printing, by means of an embroidery hoop. In the case of bulky objects, bind the negative and cover glass in place with cord or rubber bands.
Make the exposure with a photoflood lamp, arc lamp, or sunlight. The latter is much faster. Continue the exposure until the sensitized surface is quite dark in an olive-green color, as seen through the less dense (shadow) portions of the negative. Test exposures may be made beforehand on paper if desired.
Development and fixing consist in merely washing- the image for a minute in water, after which the picture will stand out brilliantly. The water removes all of the sensitizing chemical that has not been affected by light. In the case of cloth and similar materials, dry the picture by pressing with a fairly hot iron.
In order to apply the sensitizer to “slick” surfaces, such as glass, metal, and plastics, the material must be coated with a thin film of gelatin. Soak one envelope of plain dessert gelatin in 3 oz. of water for an hour, then warm it until the gelatin dissolves. Apply the gelatin with a brush while it is warm, and allow it to set and dry thoroughly before coating with the sensitizer. After printing, the washing must be carried on for several minutes to remove the excess sensitizer from the gelatin.
If you wish to tone the blue image to a sepia or brown color, merely brush on a solution of 1 oz. tannic acid in 8 oz. water. Rinse the image as soon as the color is deep enough. A black color may be obtained with the same tannic-acid treatment if the image is first bleached with a very dilute solution of ammonia; 1 oz. ammonia in 16 oz. water is usually satisfactory, but as the strength of the ammonia may vary, some experimenting is advisable. Do not use the bleaching solution for any longer time than is necessary.
Blue pictures can also be toned to a sort of purple or lavender color by the use of ordinary developer of the so-called “M-Q” type (metol-hydroquinone).
When the image is lacking in contrast, it can be made more brilliant by washing with a dilute solution of oxalic acid.
Pictures applied to hard surfaces can be protected with a coat of clear, thin varnish.
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In which Scrabble dictionary does NAUTICAL exist?
Definitions of NAUTICAL in dictionaries:
- adj -
relating to or involving ships or shipping or navigation or seamen
The central meaning shared by these adjectives is “of or relating to the sea, ships, shipping, sailors, or navigation”: nautical charts; marine insurance; maritime law; a naval officer.
adj - pertaining to ships
There are 8 letters in NAUTICAL:
A A C I L N T U
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word NAUTICAL plus a
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word NAUTICAL
8 letter words
7 letter words
6 letter words
5 letter words
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3 letter words
2 letter words
Images for NAUTICALLoading...
SCRABBLE is the registered trademark of Hasbro and J.W. Spear & Sons Limited. Our scrabble word finder and scrabble cheat word builder is not associated with the Scrabble brand - we merely provide help for players of the official Scrabble game. All intellectual property rights to the game are owned by respective owners in the U.S.A and Canada and the rest of the world. Anagrammer.com is not affiliated with Scrabble. This site is an educational tool and resource for Scrabble & Words With Friends players.
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Since 1875 Wellesley has educated women scientists.
Wellesley's academic program was designed to meet the highest standards, with a primary emphasis on English, Mathematics, the Physical Sciences, and the Classics. Wellesley's physics laboratory for undergraduate instruction opened in 1878; it was the second such laboratory in the US, preceded only by MIT. Winifred Edgerton (class of 1883) earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Columbia University in 1886, the first woman to earn any degree at Columbia. Dorothy Weeks '16 was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics at MIT. Annie Jump Cannon (class of 1884) was the first woman awarded the National Academy of Sciences Henry Draper Medal, in 1931. In its 130-year history, Wellesley has had only 12 presidents, all women, two of whom were mathematicians.
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Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla
Electrical problems of the present day lie largely in the economical transmission of power and in the radical improvement of the means and methods of illumination. To many workers and thinkers in the domain of electrical invention, the apparatus and devices that are familiar, appear cumbrous and wasteful, and subject to severe limitations. They believe that the principles of current generation must be changed, the area of current supply be enlarged, and the appliances used by the consumer be at once cheapened and simplified. The brilliant successes of the past justify them in every expectancy of still more generous fruition.
The present volume is a simple record of the pioneer work done in such departments up to date, by Mr. Nikola Tesla, in whom the world has already recognized one of the foremost of modern electrical investigators and inventors. No attempt whatever has been made here to emphasize the importance of his researches and discoveries. Great ideas and real inventions win their own way, determining their own place by intrinsic merit. But with the conviction that Mr. Tesla is blazing a path that electrical development must follow for many years to come, the compiler has endeavored to bring together all that bears the impress of Mr. Tesla's genius, and is worthy of preservation. Aside from its value as showing the scope of his inventions, this volume may be of service as indicating the range of his thought. There is intellectual profit in studying the push and play of a vigorous and original mind.
Although the lively interest of the public in Mr. Tesla's work is perhaps of recent growth, this volume covers the results of full ten years. It includes his lectures, miscellaneous articles and discussions, and makes note of all his inventions thus far known, particularly those bearing on polyphase motors and the effects obtained with currents of high potential and high frequency. It will be seen that Mr. Tesla has ever pressed forward, barely pausing for an instant to work out in detail the utilizations that have at once been obvious to him of the new principles he has elucidated. Wherever possible his own language has been employed.
It may be added that this volume is issued with Mr. Tesla's sanction and approval, and that permission has been obtained for the re-publication in it of such papers as have been read before various technical societies of this country and Europe. Mr. Tesla has kindly favored the author by looking over the proof sheets of the sections embodying his latest researches. The work has also enjoyed the careful revision of the author's friend and editorial associate, Mr. Joseph Wetzler, through whose hands all the proofs have passed.
- Edition: Reprint
- Pages: 496
- Publisher: Angriff Press
- Date Published: May, 1981
- Language: English
- Binding: Hardcover
- ISBN-10: 0913022233
- ISBN-13: 9780913022238
- Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.0 inches
- Date Added: November 19, 2009
Purchase This Book
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Look, at some point, you have probably done it.
Your mowing the lawn, and your blow grass clippings straight into the road.
Most people don’t know this but, blowing lawn clippings into the roadways is dangerous!
Grass is a serious road hazard for motorcyclists.
Discharging grass into the road may seem innocent enough, but it can have real consequences.
It’s true, especially for unsuspecting motorcyclists who hit a patch of grass in the road.
It's time to expose the hidden risk that all motorcyclists have to deal with.
Grass blown into the road.....
The Dangers of Leaving Grass Clippings in the Road
First of all, what's the big deal? It’s just grass clippings, right?
If only it were. Not only does it look terrible in the streets, there is an even bigger problem with dispensing your clippings in the road.
Unfortunately, most people aren’t aware of the dangers of leaving lawn debris in the roadway, specifically grass clippings.
It’s true, grass in the roadway is unlikely to affect the handling of 4- wheeled vehicles (though it can happen). Wheelchairs and 2-wheeled vehicles such as bicycles, dirt bikes, mopeds, and motorcycles, may experience real safety issues from grass negligently left in the roadway.
Why Are Piles of Grass in the Road So Dangerous to Bikers?
Well, if you weren’t aware there are a number of reasons that grass clippings in the roadway can be a real danger to motorcyclists.
Whether it’s a Harley, a Yamaha or a Ducati, motorcycle riders are most at risk when it comes to losing control on grass blown into the roadway.
Grass on the Road, A Serious Hazard for Motorcyclists
The main reason that grass is so dangerous is that it can reduce the traction a bikes tires have on the roadway. Just like sand, gravel, dirt or oil in the roadway Grass is an obstacle that needs to be avoided by motorcyclists.
To learn more we spoke with Justin Lovely, Motorcycle injury lawyer and President-elect of The National Academy of Motorcycle Injury. He told us that part of the problem has to do with the fact that most motorcycle riders are often not aware of the dangers of grass in the roadway.
Lovely tells us:
“Grass clippings in the roadway can be extremely hazardous to the rider and even deadly. Rider's are taught about potential *gravel* on the road but far too often forget about the dangers of grass. In our area we often see this on the back country rural roads.”
“Rider's don't think about it because the rider is often on pavement or other city roads where this is really not an issue. The moment the rider decides to go on the secondary roads, he or she needs to be thinking and looking out for grass.”
Here’s the deal, riders often forget or are simply unaware of the dangers that motorcyclists face on the road. Obstacles like grass clippings are unlikely to strike them as dangerous. Until they learn the hard way.
And, just as many homeowners and lawn care professionals seem to be unaware as well.
Justin Continued by saying:
“Grass clipping on the road essentially place an additional layer between the bike tire and the road. It is almost like an oil slick. It is not as bad on long straight roads, but on turns where the rider may be leaning into the turn to steer the motorcycle, the bike can easily come out from underneath the rider due to the grass clippings.”
“Rider's simply need to be aware of this, especially in the spring and summer riding seasons. Organizations like NAMIL try and preach safety tips such as this when we meet and speak at motorcycle clubs, rallys and events. We tell anyone who will listen.”
Warm Weather Invites Both Lawn Care And Motorcycle Riding
Worst of all, lawn mowing and motorcycle riding both coincide with perfect spring and summer weather.
This only raises the likelihood that motorcyclists and grass in the road will meet in an unfortunate event.
It's simple, the problem is the best days to go out and do yard work like mowing the lawn, are often the best days to take a motorcycle out for a drive.
What Do Motorcyclists Have to Say About the Issue?
As you can imagine, of all the folks who may be impacted by grass clippings in the road, the motorcyclists get the brunt of it.
Needless to say, the motorcyclists who are aware of the dangers of blades of grass in the road aren’t happy about the situation. We spoke to a few motorcyclists who gave us their thoughts on the situation at hand.
To learn more we reached out to Andrew Mwanik with AmericanLegendRider.com who is a motorcycling expert and avid motorcyclist,
He had this to say about grass clippings in the roadway:
"Grass clippings on the roadside and lawn debris are a major safety threat to motorcyclists with a deadly effect. First and foremost, grass is 85% water content which makes it highly slippery. Even when the grass is dry, it is still highly slippery and will cause motorcycle carnage. If a motorcycle rider comes upon a sheet of slippery grass, especially on the turn, he will have no control over what happens next."
Honestly, before I first heard about this issue and really listened to motorcyclists stories, I never realized what a real danger clippings could be. But after listening to motorcycle experts like Andrew, it really sheds light on the dangers grass clippings pose.
Andrew also had this to say:
"Clippings cause a loss of traction and ultimately loss of control which can lead to a wreck. Just like grass clippings, lawn debris can cause a dangerous loss of traction and hence loss of control of the motorcycle at even moderate speeds."
"In these situations, there's nothing much a motorcycle rider can do other than hope he is able to avoid a dangerous crash. Riders should be more keen on the quality of the road surface that they are out riding on. Lawn debris on the road is particularly dangerous to motorcycles drivers. Grass clippings are bad and leaf piles are even more dangerous."
How can Motorcyclists Avoid these Roadway Hazards?
Look, although grass clippings shouldn't be placed in the road at all, the reality is, they likley will be.
So motorcyclists need to be aware of these road hazards, and learn to avoid them.
She had this to say to fellow motorcyclists:
"Grass clippings are very slippery on the roadway because they’re mostly water. Anything that comes between a motorcycle’s tires and the road can make the motorcycle lose traction, but when it’s an organic material, like grass clippings, comprised mostly of water, the loss of traction is compounded. It’s so slippery, it like ice."
As we have been expressing through out this article, grass clippings are a major road hazard.
But it gets even more hazardous for motorcyclists in the fall months as Melanie explains:
"Autumn is a dangerous time to ride a motorcycle for a lot of reasons, but fallen leaves are a big one. Leaves are slippery, and when they get wet, they’re even more slippery. A motorcyclist could easily lose traction while driving over leaves, especially if they’re turning a corner or going around
"Not only can fallen leaves and grass clippings make you lose traction on a motorcycle, but they may also cover up road hazards like potholes."
Unfortunately, there is not much to stop leaves from falling on the road, and they will be a constant hazard for motorcyclists in the fall.
As Melanie explains, motorcyclists need to be vigilant all year round for seasonal hazards...
"If you were riding your motorcycle in sub-zero temperatures, I wouldn’t have to tell you to watch for ice. You’d spot a patch of ice a mile away and do whatever you needed to do to avoid it. In the summer and fall when the weather is warm and comfortable, don’t let yourself get complacent. Keep your eyes open for lawn debris on the roads, just like you would look for ice in the winter."
Melanie Musson and her husband, who is a riding instructor and technical crash investigator, spend a lot of time together focusing on motorcycle safety and instruction.
Recent Incidents Caused By Grass in the Road
It’s true, lawn clippings in the roadway can be a serious hazard for motorcyclists on the roadway. Recently a motorcyclist was fatally injured from a wreck which was caused by lawn clippings in the roadway.
While riding with her husband in on a motorcycle in Bureau County, Illinois, Cheryl I. Zeglen crashed into her husband after not noticing him suddenly slow down for a patch of cut grass in the roadway. The injuries she sustained in this accident lead to her death in the hospital.
Unfortunately, this is not the only case of grass blown into the roadway which has lead to motorcyclists being injured. There are more:
Aaron Lee (Mayfield Kentucky)
Cheryl I. Zeglen (Bureau County, illinois)
Unknown individual (Franklin County, Indiana)
Here's the deal, many of the cases don't get covered by the news, so the information on accidents and wrecks caused by blades of grass is hard to find. But a lot of folks, including people I know, have a story about wrecking, or nearly wrecking on lawn debris in the road.
Becky Beach, a Harley Davidson enthusiast and Finance Blogger is one of many folks who have had these experiences. She shared some of her feelings on the issue with us saying:
"I have almost been in a wreck on multiple occasions because of rocks and grass in the roadways. However, I am an experienced cyclist for the past 20 years so know how to steer my bike to avoid a collision."
" I can see a newer cyclist having trouble with road debris. A friend of mine broke her collarbone from a wreck in which she hit a big pile of grass in the road. There really is a need to remove grass from roadways after the lawn is cut. Perhaps they could use a truck that blows away debris while the lawn is being mowed.."
It's true, there needs to be a solution for grass in the roadway, and we have a number of solutions listed below.
Becky finishes with this message:
"People just don’t care about motorcyclist at all! It makes me so frustrated!
"When a bike rolls over heavy amounts of grass in the road, the tires lose traction and it is hard to steer. Think of it as ice in the road for those traveling by car!"
As you can imagine, Becky is not happy with the current state of how grass clippings are so casually chucked into the road without care. And it is certainly a problem which needs to be addressed.
Fortunately, we have several solutions homeowners and lawn care professionals a like can use! If you want to see them, just keep reading!
Is it Illegal to Blow Grass Into the Road?
Look, whether it is illegal or not it is always a good idea not to. But is it illegal?
It’s true, that there are actually a number of laws which ban depositing grass clippings onto the road. Yet, no law explicitly bans discharging grass onto the road in order to protect motorcyclists.
Several state laws do indirectly make it a crime to deposit anything on the road (grass clippings or otherwise ) in a manner which may make it a hazard for motorists on the road. But none are specific about blowing grass onto the road.
Lawn Care Companies May Still be Held Liable
Look, this is something that lawn care companies specifically need to be aware of. If your lawn care crew is blowing grass clippings into the road, and a motorcycle wreck occurs....
whether there is a law or not, your company can be held liable!
“A motorcyclist is driving and using due care and while driving past a lawn mowing company, the motorcyclist fails to see a large pile of grass clippings erroneously lying in the roadway. In that case, the lawn company would be at fault for negligence in failing to maintain safe working conditions (grass should be bagged and not in the middle of roadways).”
Again, as a veteran lawn care professional myself, I want to be clear about the real dangers of this issue. An act as simple as blowing grass into the roadway can have a huge impact on you, your lawn care company, and any biker who may slip on grass you sent into the road.
Though no law expressly makes the practice illegal, you can still be sued for negligence if an accident occurs!
Discharging Grass onto Road is Illegal For Environmental Reasons
Though there is no state which specifically bans discharging lawn clippings into the road because hazard they pose for motorcycles. Many cities ban the practice because of the hazard grass blades can cause by blocking drainage systems.
More importantly, blowing grass onto the roadway is often illegal due to the effects of the water run-off. Because of the nutrients which are abundant in grass, specifically nitrogen, some cities ban the practice because of the damaging effect on the environment.
Cities like the city of Davenport, Iowa have banned the practice of blowing clippings into the road because:
“Grass clippings and yard wastes that end up on the streets and in our waterways degrade water quality and can reduce oxygen levels necessary to support aquatic life”
The problem which grass clippings pose to the environment is simple.
Grass is made up of mostly 2 things.
Water and nitrogen.
When nitrogen accumulates in local waterways it can harm the environment by altering pH and O2 levels. It can also lead to algae blooms which will kill off aquatic life.
Worst of all, if it gets bad enough it can harm humans too.
Clippings are Full of Valuable Nutrients for the Lawn!
Here’s the good news, the same nutrients which can harm local waterways and cause environmental complications, are the same reason you should keep them in your lawn!
Seriously, grass clippings are loaded with nutrients that your lawn needs to look its best. In fact, there are a number of great benefits to leaving the clippings on the lawn.
One of which is keeping or grasscycling all of those nutrients can reduce fertilizing by at least one application a year.
Even better, pesticides, herbicides and insecticides stay in lawn longer and do their intended job. Leaving the clippings on the lawn helps you get more bang for your buck! To get the most out of your lawn cut we recommend that you mulch the lawn whenever possible.
Easy Solutions to Avoid Blowing Lawn Clippings into the Road
Fortunately, there are some very simple solutions to the problem at hand.
Once you are informed on the issue, and why it is important to not blow clippings into the road.
It is easy to correct the problem.
Here are 3 solutions to keep grass clippings out of the road:
Technique One: Discharge Clippings Away from the Roadway
First and foremost, the easiest way to keep the clippings out of the road is to change up your mowing pattern so that you can blow the first 2-3 passes along the roadway onto your lawn rather than the road.
If you happen to get any clippings in the road, it is always a good idea to have a leaf blower ready to go to blow the debris off the roadway asap. If it is safe to do so, you can also use your mower to blow them back.
That way you limit the chances of an unknowing motorcyclists hitting a wet patch in the roadway and wiping out. Granted a few clippings will inevitably go into the road, and they are unlikely to cause a risk to motorcyclists. However it is important to avoid piles of grass in the road.
In my experience, I have often had to cut every other pass backwards when using a side discharge mower alongside the road. On the other hand you could always disengage the blade and loop back around, if you have to.
Technique Two: Use a Grass Bagger
Another easy solution is to install a bagger on your mower to avoid the issue altogether. Although in general .lawn care pros recommend leaving clippings on the lawn, if it is the only way you can avoid shooting lawn debris into the road and endangering motorcyclists, it’s certainly a better alternative.
You can always compost your clippings and use them as a top dressing on your lawn in the spring anyhow. Using a bagging or mulching system is a great way to avoid clumps in the lawn, and of course on sidewalks, pathways, and most importantly the road.
Technique Three: Mulch the Lawn
Here’s the deal, mulching the lawn is the best way to deal with lawn clippings. A mulching system contains the grass in the deck, and cuts it up into tiny pieces which quickly disintegrate into the lawn.
In my experience, mulching grass clippings is the best way to handle clippings and leaves.
Mulching Grass has these added benefits:
Less grass clippings
No emptying bags
Perhaps best of all, a mulching system is less likely to hurl a rock through a window or into a car because it closes off the side discharge entirely.
What's The Bottom Line With Grass Clippings in the Road?
The bottom line is that there is no reason to dispense clippings into the road.
Now that you know the problem at hand, lets work to change it!
There are so many reasons not to blow your clippings in the road. Grass clippings are:
- A danger to bikers
- Pollutant to waterways
- Able to cause flooding
- Are great for your lawn!
You can help spread the word by sharing this article with your friends and family, and on your social media platforms.
Too many people have been injured by such an easy to fix problem. And if you need to learn more about lawn care, GreenPal's Blog has you covered!
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This quartzite formed in a riverbed, as indicated by the well-developed cross-bedding (sedimentary layers at angles to the main horizontal layers). Its buff to gray color is typical of the oldest rocks of the Huronian Supergroup. The color suggests deposition when the atmosphere contained no free oxygen.
Topic: Earth Science
Keywords: Geology, Stratigraphic--Huronian, Quartzite, Oxygen, Atmosphere, Paleoclimatology
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Record of the service of the Forty-fourth Massachusetts volunteer militia in North Carolina, August 1862 to May 1863 (Google eBook)
Priv. print., 1887 - Massachusetts - 364 pages
54th Mass Adjutant April barracks Battalion battery Berne Boston Boston boys Brevetted bridge brigade Brigadier-General Cambridge camp Captain cavalry Chapter XV Charles Colonel Colonel Lee command commissioned Company G comrades Corporal Creek discharged June discharged Nov dress parade drill duty Eighteenth Army enemy enlisted expedition expiration of service Fifth Rhode Island fire force Forty-fourth Forty-fourth Massachusetts Forty-fourth Regiment Foster Framingham George Goldsboro guard gunboats guns Headquarters Heavy Artillery Henry hospital Infantry James Jamesville John July July 16 killed Kinston knapsacks March March 13 ment miles morning mustered Neuse River Newton night North Carolina officers passed picket Plymouth Private Rawle's Mill Re-enlisted Readville Rebel regiment Rhode Island river road Roanoke River Roxbury Second Lieutenant sent Sept Sergeant shell shot soldiers soon Stevenson Surgeon swamp Third New York tion town troops Vols Volunteers Washington William woods wounded
Page 11 - Militia examine with care the roll of his company, and cause the name of each member, together with his rank and place of residence, to be properly recorded, and a copy of the same to be forwarded to the office of the Adjutant General.
Page 11 - Previous to which, commanders of companies shall make strict inquiry, whether there are men in their commands, who from age, physical defect, business, or family causes, may be unable or indisposed to respond at once to the orders of the Commander-in-chief, made in response to the call of the President of the United States, that they be forthwith discharged ; so that their places may be filled by men ready for any public exigency which may arise, whenever called upon.
Page 11 - ... physical defect, business, or family causes, may be unable or indisposed to respond at once to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, made in response to the call of the President of the United States, that they may be forthwith discharged, so that their places may be filled by men ready for any public exigency which may arise, whenever called upon. After the above orders have been fulfilled, no discharge, either of officer or private, shall be granted, unless for cause satisfactory to the Commander-inChief.
Page 215 - Washington, and in the various duties to which they have been assigned, they have always fully done their duty as soldiers. The commanding general, in parting, expresses his hopes to officers and men that he may have the pleasure of welcoming their return here ; and tenders them, one and all, his best and kindest wishes for the future. By command of MAJOR-GEN.
Page 282 - This is no hasty conclusion, no blind leap of an enthusiast, but the result of much hard thinking. It will not be at first, and probably not for a long time, an agreeable position, for many reasons too evident to state. . . . Then this is nothing but an experiment after all; but it is an experiment...
Page 74 - ... roasted and ground) coffee, or two pounds of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; four quarts of vinegar...
Page 12 - Wherever any son of Massachusetts can render the most efficient service to the State, there, in my judgment, should his efforts be given. Although in the first outbreak of war reliance must necessarily be placed on our militia, in whose ranks are found men of the best classes in our community, yet for prolonged and continuous service a composition of forces like that constituting the Army of the General Government is indisputably the most efficient and serviceable : a composition in which the character...
Page 75 - ... or, one pound and eight ounces of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; four quarts of vinegar; one pound and four ounces of adamantine or star candles; four pounds of soap; thirty pounds of potatoes, when practicable, and one quart of molasses.
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Rubbish, waste and recycling
We're encouraging people to recycling even more whether it be at home, through our household waste recycling centres or even at supermarkets.
Household waste recycling centres
Our household waste recycling centres are for items of waste from households which may be too large or bulky to be taken by your normal kerbside waste collection.
All our centres are open from 8.30am until 6pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
Local waste and recycling services
Your kerbside collections and local recycling banks are provided by your district or borough council. Waste collected in Derby is managed by Derby City Council (opens in a new window).
Not sure how to reduce, reuse and recycle/compost your waste see our A-Z guide on waste (opens in a new window) and initiatives on Love Food Hate Waste, furniture reuse, recycling electricals and real nappies.
The following document is in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download software to view PDF documents for free from the Adobe website (opens in a new window)
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Often I hear athletes mention that they have “weak ankles”. My guess is that the problem isn’t so much “weak ankles” but an initial ankle sprain injury that was never given a chance to fully heal and be fully rehabbed. I don’t doubt that some people are born with weaker ankles than others, much like some people are born faster than others or stronger than others. The thing is, many athletes don’t seem to take the time to strengthen their ankles. One way to help with this is to work some exercises into your training program. I like to find ways to incorporate them into the warm up when possible. This allows you to use them to help get the body ready for the training session while also doing some prehab or rehab work for the athlete. Most of the activities are fairly easy to do. Here are some ideas:
- Walks – These include variations of normal walking. By putting the feet in unusual positions, you are forcing the ankles to adapt and become stronger. So what types of “walks” are there?
- Toe walks
- Heel walks
- Toes pointed in
- Toes pointed out
- Inside edges
- Outside edges
I usually have the athlete begin with 10 yards of the first four types of walks. Over time I progress them to 20 yards. I generally substitute the inside/outside edge walks for the toes in/out every other workout.
- Line Hops – These basic plyometric hops can help the ankles get used to landing in various positions. It is another great and easy activity to help strengthen them. These can be worked in as part of a warm up or as part of the actual training program. To do them, simply pick a line on the ground and hop over it. The jumps don’t have to be high but should focus on getting back and forth over the line as fast as possible. The athlete should begin using two feet to hop and then progress to one foot hops. They can be done for reps or for time. The hops should be done in multiple directions:
- Moving Hops – Moving hops are all done over a distance and on one leg. This makes them more difficult than line hops. I usually have athletes start at 5 yards per foot and progress to 10 yards. Here are the variations. They should be done each direction on each foot.
- Single Leg Balance Drills – These drills are conducted while standing on one leg while on an Airex balance pad. Here they are in order of difficulty. (Note – the drills should be done on flat ground first before progressing to the Airex pad).
- Standing – The simplest drill is to stand on one foot and balance. This should be done for 10 reps of 10 seconds each.
- Arm drills – One variation is to combine balancing on the pad with arm drills. This creates more body movement which increases the stress on the ankle joint. I usually have the athletes do 20 reps with their arms but they can also do them for time.
- Squats – While I’m not sure that I would have an athlete attempt to do a full one-legged squat on a pad, I think that partial squats are fine. I usually have athletes complete 1-2 sets of 10 reps.
These are just a few ways that I have found to include ankle work in a training program. In encourage you to try them and to create your own variations. There are certainly many other great ankle exercises including using exercise bands and training in the sand. While I’m also a big advocate of both of these, I prefer to use many of the examples I gave above instead. Many of them have other benefits besides just helping to strengthen the athletes ankles (ex. – plyometric benefits). Give them a try.
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The exhibit is now open to the public (complimentary/no charge), weekdays – Mondays through Fridays, 9:00am to 5:00pm at the Kalayaan Hall at the Philippine Consulate at 447 Sutter Street in San Francisco and will run through November 11, 2016.
Tuesday, October 18 was the official grand opening of the “Tiempo Russo Tubabao Island” exhibit, dedicated to the 65th year commemorating the arrival of the last ships from the White Russian refugee camp on the Philippine Island of Tubabao to the United States. This marked the end of the long-awaited 2 year stay on the island awaiting permanent residency for the near 6000 refugees. The first three ships in 1949 took a large portion of the refugees to Australia, and other countries, such as South America. The last three ships, thanks to the prayers of Saint Archbishop John of Shanghai & San Francisco, and the support of Senator William F. Knowland to change the Displaced Person’s Act, the remainder of the refugees were able to come to America. Only a handful remained, 27 of the patients with TB, who were later received by France.
This exhibit was organized by the Congress of Russian Americans and dedicated to St.John of Shanghai & San Francisco, Colonel Gregory K. Bologoff, who persevered and wrote letters to governments of hundreds of countries to have all the White Russians saved from capture, torture and death at the hands of the Chinese communists in 1949, and to President Elpidio Quirino, president of the newly-formed Philippine republic, who allowed all 6000 to have temporary refuge, until a permanent country could be found and to the thousands of Russians who preserved the Russian language, culture, and spiritual heritage at a time of crisis, uncertainty and adversity.
At the exhibit opening, Consul General of the Russian Federation, Sergey Petrov and Consul General of the Philippines, Henry Bensurto cut the ribbon to open the exhibit. Natalie Sabelnik, CRA President thanked the sponsors of the event, and the many organizations and people that shared their photos, documents, material, many of them never-before-seen, for the exhibit. Special guests included Bishop Theodosy of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR), grandson of President, Elpidio Quirino, namesake, Elpidio Quirino II, members of the Bologoff family, Bonnie Bologoff, wife of Kyrill G. Bologoff (son of G.K. Bologoff) and Bologoff’s grandchildren, Cheryl Bologoff Holmes and Gregory K. Bologoff (also namesake of his grandfather) and his wife, Valerie. Also, attending the opening reception was Irene Cerelli, granddaughter of Alexander Karamzin, the famed artist (one of his paintings was used for the exhibit invitation flyers), who not only had a large collection of paintings of life in Tubabao, but also painted the icons of the iconostasis of the cathedral in Tubabao (the icons are now at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco). The Philippine Consulate will be hosting another reception for the former Tubabao camp residents on October 24.
Come and see their life in the camp in photos, documents, material depicting their story of departure from China, arrival in the Philippines, building the camp, the everyday struggles, standing in lines daily for water or food, their cultural, social and spiritual life, the numerous documents to be filled out before they could get clearance and visas for departure and the US military sea transportation services that brought them to the US.
The exhibit is prepared and presented by the Congress of Russian Americans with the support of the Philippine & Russian Consulates
and sponsored in part by St.John’s Volunteers-Brookside Skilled Nursing Hospital, Russian American Women’s League, Russian Center SF,
Karen Varnhagen/Morgan Stanley, All Cossacks Union SF and Russian Connections/Always Travel
Special thanks to the Museum of Russian Culture SF for their extensive photo collection, to the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation, to the Russian Historical Society in Australia,
and to the many former Tubabao residents that sent their treasured collections of photos, documents and material!
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Joseph John Payne was born in 1813, Laurens County, Georgia. He was the son of George Payne (born 1785, Wilkes Co., Ga.; died in 1830, Laurens Co., Ga.) and Sara (Smith) Payne (born 1787 in Ga., daughter of William Smith, born 1757, Va., died in N. Carolina).
Joseph married about 1832 Martha Henrietta Smith, born 1815, Georgia, daughter of William Smith (born 1786, Franklin Co., Va.) and Mary (Ellis) Smith (born 1788, Va.).
The Payne family was listed in the 1850 census of Laurens County. In the early 1850s, the Paynes moved to Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida where Joseph was a farmer and also served as a justice of the peace in 1855 and 1858. In the 1860 census of Hamilton County, dated 18 June, Jasper, the Payne family of Joseph, Henrietta, Ira, Joseph, Martha, Margaret, Frances, Lucinda, Dorinda, William D., Susan, were enumerated in household 139. Joseph had real estate of $2,500 and personal property of $5,520. Neighbors included Robert and Zilla Hendry, George and Mary Jennings, William and Caroline Sutton, Augustus and Virginia Polhill, James and Mary Ann Farnell.
Joseph Payne died in 1861. "Inventory of the Property of the Estate of Joseph Payne made Oct. 1861," steel file 13 B, Estate, Jasper, Hamilton County Court House, included in part: 1 harness and chains, 1 gin and gin barrel, 1 old wagon and cart, 1 bay mare, 1 grey horse, 1 mill, 1 drawing knife, 36 head stock cattle, 33 head stock hogs, notes on P. A. Ashley, William Gill and Alexander Bell, accounts of Robert Hendry & James M. Hendry, 230 bushels corn, 900 lbs. of pork, 320 acres of land. His estate was appraised at $2,053.79. Sales of his personal property was filed 28 July 1862 with John Mizell, Judge of Probate.
Henrietta Payne died on 29 August 1870.
Issue of Joseph and Henrietta Payne:
1. Ira Payne, born 1833. He enlisted as a private on 28 Jul 1862 in Georgia in the Confederate Army and was captured at Marietta, Ga. 18 Jun 1864 and died of measles at Camp Morton, Indiana 20 Jul 1864. He apparently never married.
2. Sarah Payne, born 16 Nov 1835; died on 20 Dec 1897; married on 12 Nov 1857 in Hamilton Co., John Wright Hendry, son of Robert Hendry & Zilla Ann (Moody) Hendry. John was born 23 Sep 1836, Thomasville, Ga.; died 4 Feb 1907, Wauchula. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery, Ona, Fla. John was a Baptist minister.
a. Amanda Lugenia Hendry, born 29 Sep 1858, Hamilton Co., Fla.; died 24 Sep 1941; married (1) 22 Aug 1875 James Archibald Strickland, divorced;
(2) 8 Dec 1881 Edward Floyd Bostick, born 17 Sep 1858; died 14 Aug 1920. "Jeannie" and E. F. Bostick are buried in Wauchula Cemetery.
Issue of Jeannie & (1) James A. Strickland:
a1. Cornelia Cornie Catherine Strickland, born 14 Aug 1876; died 30 May 1969; buried Myrtle Hill Memorial Park, Tampa, Fla.; married
30 Apr 1896 Albert William (Ab W.) Carlton (1875-1925), son of Albert Carlton & Martha (McEwen) Carlton; divorced.
Issue of Jeannie and (2) E. F. Bostick:
b1. Ezra Casper Bostick, born 7 Nov 1883; died 22 Nov 1945, Lakeland, Fla.; married Myrtle Purviance. He was a Baptist minister.
c1. Ceylon Robert Bostick, born 23 Oct 1896; died on 4 Jun 1961; married 27 Oct 1923 in New Orleans, La., Katherine Davenport Hayden. She was
born 18 Oct 1896, Russum, Miss. and died 11 Apr 1996, Wauchula, Fla. They are buried in the Wauchula Cemetery.
3. Robert T. Payne, born 1839. He enlisted as a private 28 Apr 1862 in the Confederate Army in Georgia, was appointed corporal, captured at Franklin, Tennessee 17 Dec 1864, paroled at Camp Chase, Ohio on 2 May 1865, was received at Vicksburg, Mississippi via New Orleans, Louisiana for exchange 12 May 1865. He went west after release.
4. Joseph John Payne, Jr., born 1841. He enlisted as a private on 27 May 1861 in Georgia in the Confederate Army, was wounded at Salem Church, Virginia 3 May 1863 and died from his wounds on 6 May 1863. He apparently never married.
5. Mary Jane Payne, born 3 Jun 1842; died 3 May 1899; married on 22 Dec 1858 in Hamilton Co., James Madison Hendry, son of Robert Hendry and Zilla Ann (Moody) Hendry. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery, Ona, Fla.
a. Robert Hendry, born 4 Oct 1860; died 13 Jul 1862; buried Fort Green Baptist Cemetery.
b. Alice Lee Hendry, born 10 Jan 1863; died 30 Jan 1942, Pine Level, Fla.; married 13 Jun 1878 in Manatee Co., Fla. Daniel Webster Hull.
c. Euliff Lardner Hendry, born 2 Oct 1866; died 12 Aug 1914, Ona, Fla.; married 2 Apr 1888 in DeSoto Co., Fla. Clara Abigail Miller.
d. Samuel Enoch Hendry, born 10 Jun 1869; died 29 March 1923, Ona, Fla.; married 10 Nov 1898 Anna Walton.
e. Albert J. Hendry, born 12 Aug 1871; died 12 Nov 1873; buried Fort Green Baptist Cemetery.
f. Henrietta Angelia Hendry, born 17 April 1874; died 10 July 1954, Bowling Green, Fla.; married 4 July 1889 Burrell Fiveash Roberts.
g. Calvin Eugene Hendry, born 14 Jan 1877; died 6 May 1946, Tampa, Fla.; married 30 Dec 1909 Mary Ethel Hull.
h. Charles Boardman Hendry, born 13 Mar 1879; died 14 Oct 1914, Ona, Fla.; married 26 Feb 1905 Delia Viola Boyd.
i. John Newell Hendry, born 7 Nov 1881; died 19 Dec 1968, Wauchula, Fla.; married (1) 15 Mar 1903, Emma Alice (2) 1942 Essie Shuman.
j. Barnabas Binney Hendry, born 17 Feb 1885; died 15 Feb1958, Florence, SC; married Elizabeth Young, 1910.
k. Emery Diaz Hendry, born 17 Aug 1890; died 14 Aug 1891; buried New Zion Cemetery.
6. Martha Payne, born 1844.
7. Margaret Payne, born 1846; married ______ Lindsey.
8. Elizabeth Frances Payne, born Dec 1848; died 11 Apr 1913; married 8 Mar 1868 in Polk Co., Fla., James H. Rich, son of ______ and Sarah Rich. He was born 29 May 1849, Ga., and died 25 Mar 1902. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery, Ona, Fla.
a. William Rich, born 1870.
b. James Rich, born 1873.
c. Flossie Rich, born 1881; died 1954.
9. Lucinda Payne, born Mar 1850; died 1919, Arcadia, Fla.; married 7 Jan 1868 in Manatee Co., Fla., Alderman Carlton (1849-1940), son of Daniel Wilson Carlton and Sallie Ann (Murphy) Carlton. They are buried in Joshua Creek Cemetery, DeSoto Co., Fla.
Issue of Lucinda (Payne) and Alderman Carlton:
a. Callie Etta Carlton, born 15 Feb 1870; died 1942; married 19 May 1895 Jerry Harvey Mathews. He was born 7 Nov 1869 and died 22 Mar 1960.
They are buried in Joshua Creek Cemetery.
b. Sidney Alderman Carlton, born 19 Nov 1871; died in 1937; married Lillie Hancock. Lillie was born 26 Sep 1879 and died 23 Sep 1911. They are buried
in Joshua Creek Cemetery.
Known male issue of Sidney Alderman Carlton:
b1. Royce Carlton, born Jan 1898; died 1940.
b2. Doyle Carlton, born Dec 1899; died 1952; buried Joshua Creek Cemetery.
b3. Ewell Carlton.
b4. Hugh Carlton.
c. Tomsie T. Carlton, born 19 Sep 1873; married D. B. Walker on 18 Feb 1892.
d. Walter Kirby Carlton, born 21 Nov 1875; died 24 Sept 1878; buried Joshua Creek Cemetery.
e. Robert F. Carlton, born 24 Oct 1879; died 1953; married on 4 Jun 1905 Jennie Green, born ca. 1888.
10. Dorinda Payne, born 11 Apr 1853; died 4 Apr 1926; married on 7 Jan 1869 in Manatee Co., Fla., Benjamin Alderman, son of Matthew and Caroline (Sloan) Alderman. He was born 7 Dec 1847 and died 2 Jun 1914. They are buried in Fort Green Methodist Cemetery, Fort Green.
Benjamin served in Lesley's Co., Fla., CSA. He was a farmer, fruit grower and cattleman, with about 100 head of cattle. Benjamin and Dorinda were members of the Baptist church.
a. Bethel Alderman, born 14 Jul 1871; died 2 Jun 1914; married on 6 Oct 1901 Allie Parker.
b. Jesse Alderman, born 15 Nov 1872; died 22 Feb 1932; married on 24 Sep 1892 Julia DeVane.
c. Matthew Alderman, born 4 Sep 1879; married on 25 Apr 1900 Jennie Main.
d. Leon Alderman, born 14 Mar 1882; married on 25 Jun 1905 Florence Stewart.
e. William Vergil Alderman, born 13 Mar 1887; died 1964; married Dora Gill.
f. Robert C. Alderman, born 2 May 1889; married 8 Dec 1912 Edna K. Davies.
g. Melvin Alderman, born 10 Dec 1897; married 24 Dec 1921 Ethel Durrance.
11. William Daniel Payne, commonly known as "Buddy," born 22 Mar 1854, near Jasper, Hamilton Co., Florida; died near noon on 14 June 1931. In Manatee County on 16 May 1875, he married Martha Almittie Rich, daughter of Alfred and Martha (Phillips) Rich. Rev. John W. Hendry officiated. Martha was born 14 April 1858 and died 21 Sep 1937. They lived in the Horse Creek section, southwest of Ona, near the Hardee-Manatee counties line, just across the Manatee County line. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery.
After the death of his mother, Buddy went to live with his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Rev. John W. Hendry, in Chicora, Polk County, Florida. In 1871 the Rev. Hendry resettled on Brushy Creek in the New Zion settlement of Manatee County.
Buddy was greatly influenced by his brother-in-law, and, like him, became a Baptist minister. Known churches Rev. Payne served included: Oak Grove Baptist (1895-96, 1899), First Baptist Church of Wauchula (1897-98), Union Baptist Church (Lily) from November of 1897-October 1898, and New Zion Baptist Church 1897-1901.
W. D. Payne was also a farmer, notary public, and writer. He wrote two short biographies, commissioned by New Zion Church in memory of two of the church's most prominent members, Rev. John W. Hendry and Robert Roberts. The first, A Brief Sketch of the Life and Work of John W. Hendry A Pioneer Baptist Preacher of South Florida, was published in 1907 by the Advocate Press, Wauchula. It provided, not only an insight into the Rev. Hendry's life, but also an interesting glimpse of pioneer days. A Short Sketch of Robert Roberts Embracing a Story of his Military Life in the War Between the States , Payne's second work, contained a brief biography of Robert Roberts (1842-1912) by Payne and an account of Roberts' Confederate service told to Payne.
a. Sarah Edna Payne, born 8 Apr 1876; died 8 Oct 1907; married 1897 Jesse W. Taylor, son of Clayborn and Sallie (Albritton) Taylor. He was
born 28 Jun 1870; died 1 Oct 1907. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery.
a1. Dessee Taylor.
a2. William Taylor.
a3. Alton Taylor.
a4. Robert Taylor.
a5. Almittie Taylor.
b. Seleeta Payne, born June 1882.
c. Agnes C. "Neat" Payne, born 5 June 1884; died ____; married Noah S. Albritton. In Jan 1946 she lived in Waycross, Ga.
c1. Viola Albritton.
d. Hollis Virgil Payne, born 4 Jun 1892; died 6 Jan 1946; buried New Zion Cemetery; married Bessie Roberts. He served as a
private in 124 Inf., 31 Div., World War I.
e. John Willingham Payne, born 18 Aug 1899; died 14 Mar 1984; married on 9 Sep 1923 Alphia Lois
Jones, born 19 Sep 1906, Georgia, died 24 May 1995, daughter of William Henry Jones and Francis Louise (Barnett) Jones. They are buried in New Zion Cemetery.
John lived in Ona and Myakka City, Fla. He was a farmer and school bus driver.
e1. Fannie Almittie Payne, born 12 Jul 1924, Ona.
e2. Gloria Leatrice Payne, born 8 Apr 1926, Ona; married James Crawford O'Neal,
Jr., born 4 Dec 1921, son of James Crawford, Sr. and Lydia Mae (Walker) Crawford.
e3. Lois Irene Payne, born 23 Sep 1930, Ona; married Brian Leslie Carlton, born 13 Jun 1923, died 30 Mar 1997, Myakka
City, Fla., died 30 Mar 1997; son of John Leslie Carlton and Ida Lee (Carlton) Carlton.
e3.1. Walter Russell Carlton, born 6 Jan 1950; married Susan Browning.
e3.2. Daniel Brian Carlton, born 24 Oct 1952; married Bonnie Bray.
e3.3 Leonard Ronald Carlton, born 3 May 1955; married (1) Carolyn Gilmore; (2) Nancy Cannon Steiner.
e4. John William Payne, born 14 Nov 1934, Ona; married Marilyn Murphy.
Issue of John W. and Marilyn (Murphy) Payne:
e4.1. Ronald Gordon Payne.
e4.2. Guy Payne.
e4.3. Jodie Payne.
e4.4. Tina Payne.
e5. Ronald Gordon Payne, born 10 Apr 1937, Ona; died 10 Feb 1955 in a car accident; buried New Zion Cemetery.
f. James B. Payne, born 18 Aug 1899, twin of John; died 9 Feb 1958; married (1) Lena Hall; (2) Margaret Johnson.
12. Susan Payne, born 1858.
References: Jean B. Burton, Wauchula, Fla.; Sharon Lokken, 1355 Honeytree Lane W., Lakeland, FL 33801; Maxwell C. Roberts of Zephryhills, Fla.; Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865; Cora Hinton, A Brief History of Hamilton County, Florida, 1976; estate record of Joseph Payne; "Benjamin Alderman," William Alderman Parker, Aldermans in America, p. 422; "Iron Crosses Placed At Graves," The Herald-Advocate, 3B, 25 May 2006 [On 6 May 2006, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, General David E. Twiggs Camp No. 1462 of Wauchula, along with the Maj. William Footman Camp No. 1950 of Fort Myers, held at Fort Green Methodist Cemetery an Iron Cross Dedication and Memorial Service for Confederate veterans, Benjamin Alderman and John R. Gill (1842-1922).]; Brian Leslie Carlton, Irene Carlton, Roland J. Carlton, Charles Leslie Carlton, In Loving Memory of Uncle Marion And Aunt Ellen Carlton, 1998, p. 5.
3 February 2001, 16 October 2001, 6 May 2002, 15 February 2006, 26 May 2006, 10 June 2006, 15 July 2011
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My Muss Experience-Eva Gamboa
When I decided to come to Israel, one of the big factors that motivated me to make the trip was the idea of traveling around the country. Throughout these last few months, I’ve been to places that I never imagined I’d ever see.
Although we’ve been to countless unforgettable places, my favorite trip has definitely been our visit to the sand dunes and orange grove. I remember that when I first found out that my class wasn’t participating in a water hike, I was quite annoyed. However, I figured that we’d be doing something interesting, so I happily went along with my teacher.
On arriving at the dunes, my friends and I were frustrated because we realized we’d have to hike up obnoxiously large piles of sand to get anywhere. As most people know, this isn’t very easy. Aubrey, my teacher, quickly told us to kick off our shoes and leave our stuff under a tree; I reluctantly obeyed. When we started walking, it took me about 2 minutes to realize why it was better to be barefoot. While I comfortably hiked up the dunes without having to worry about sand going into my shoes, others fumbled with their sneakers and eventually had to give in and take them off.
Finally, we arrived at the top of the sand dunes. First, much to my dismay, we had a class. However, after this short lesson was over, Aubrey told us to line up together in front of the slope. On the count of three, we bolted down the hill and tumbled down the soft sand. I was worried as I expected it to hurt, but it really didn’t; I remained uninjured even after literally hurling myself down the dune. After around 30 minutes of rolling and burying myself in the sand, we got back on the bus and headed off to our next location.
During this week, we had been learning about Labor Zionism. Thus, Aubrey decided to take us to an old Kibbutz that has an orange grove. As soon as I saw the beautiful and vibrant trees, I was thrilled. This excitement continued to skyrocket after I discovered that we would have the opportunity to make and drink our own orange juice.
Our first activity on the Kibbutz was a lesson about the place’s history. Learning about the young people, even teenagers, who worked on the orchard inspired me. I love the idea of finding a new safe place for those who want a new life. After our lesson, we had a tour of the grounds, which included a slightly terrifying replica of the orange sorting process. I distinctly remember sobbing of laughter with my friend because of a mannequin of a farmer that looked like it had been embalmed. When we were done exploring the Kibbutz, one of the workers took us on a sort of trolly that went through the trees. It was so beautiful and the entire time I was mesmerized by the “wonderland” that I saw in front of me. Finally, after riding the trolly we arrived at the orange-juicing area. I quickly got started and made a lovely pitcher of juice with the help of my fellow classmates. Some of the girls in my class even added grapefruits, making the juice even more delicious.
loved this experience and I’ll definitely never forget the hilarious and
beautiful memories that I made. Hopefully, one day I’ll return to Israel and
visit the dunes and orchard once again. However, it won’t be the same without
my amazing teacher and friends.
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I am long overdue for an update so here goes. I have been slowly working on the rear car and putting together a solution to protect the transmission and also provide a rear wing mount.
These were the inspirations.
Welded some mounts to the rear chassis brace.
Set up the frame for this structure. I used clevis ends on the tubing ends to attach to the chassis. That way I can remove the whole structure if I need to pull the engine.
Fabricated some saddle gussets to reinforce the cross members.
I cut away a lot of the rear bumper. The plan is to replace the cutout with a black metal mesh and then just go with a pair of circular tail lights on the ends. The rear wing supports would then attach through there along with running the exhaust through the center.
I have a cross member that protects the transmission.
The whole thing can rotate up or be completely removed.
What is the SIP Protocol?
Definition: SIP, or session initiation protocol is a signaling protocol for IP-based telephony applications. A signaling protocol provides the control layer for communications such as the establishment and release of a voice call.
History of SIP
Previous signaling protocol such as SS7 were designed for circuit-switched networks. These networks use dedicated T1 channels for carrying telephony communications and signaling. With dedicated T1 channels, SS7 is able to provide high-quality voice communications, but at high cost due to the requirement of end-to-end dedicated channels. With the advent of IP and packet-based networks, telephony traffic could be routed more efficiently and cheaply. But this required a new packet-based signaling protocol to be developed. SIP was born. Initially designed for voice communications, today it can manage instant messaging, video conferencing, and file transfers.
Although ExtraHop provides a powerful visualization system out of the box for viewing and analyzing your network traffic, you may need to retrieve your ExtraHop network data for integration into other systems. Perhaps you need device data for an overarching inventory management system. Or you may need specific application metrics for custom calculations involving other data sources. ExtraHop provides an extensive REST API for these purposes. It provides access to just about anything that you would want to know about your network. If you are looking to export a large amount of your network data in real-time, then you may want to opt for our Open Data Stream.
One of the challenges of Java web application server development is catching and analyzing exceptions from your web application after deployment into a production environment. Whether your web application is deployed on Tomcat, Apache Geronimo, Glassfish or JBoss/Wildfly, analyzing exceptions involves digging through application server logs to isolate an issue.
I think I am overdue for an update!
My goal is to rivnut most of the panels. This requires fabricating and welding on a bunch of tabs.
Side body panels (with CF splitters):
I picked up a JD2 M3 tube bender for building my own rear chassis wing mount/transmission protection.
Digging the open rear end and the rear attached wing supports; wonder if anyone has tried this.
Got my new JD2 Model 3 Tube Bender in preparation for building the transmission protection/chassis mount wing. I ordered a 1″ die. Most use concrete anchors to fix the pedestal to the garage floor. But I want a temporary location, so decided to use the lift. I fabricated a mount for the lift. Then tube bender pedestal bolts to it.Welded up the mount frame.
Finished most of the front firewall, intrusion panels, and interior panels. Rather than using rivets and drilling into the chassis tubes, I ended up welding on a bunch of tabs and using 1/4 and 10-32 rivnuts.
For the intrusion panels, I used 6061-T6 1/8″. The interior panels were actually the FFR exteriors, but I trimmed them for the interior. All the panels are then fastened using 1″ counter sunk spacers.
Also cut away the door mounts.
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Digital Sound Quality Will Soon Catch Up With Analogue Says CD Inventor
Sick of all those debates with your audiophile friends that vinyl is the superior format? That its warm analogue tones are the last resort for quality sound in an increasing digital age? Well news has surfaced that could be a very interesting spin to those arguments.
One of the pioneers of the CD format has recently revealed that digital sound is capable of being as good as analogue, and with the speed of developing technology, it’s also becoming a viable, cost-effective option.
UK’s Telegraph ran a story speaking with Ken Ishiwata, a crucial figure in the development of the CD format as a former audio engineer at Marantz, one of the firm that helped developed the compact disc format before it was bought out by Philips.
A hifi industry veteran with other three decades experience, Ishiwata was responsible for some of the first CD players developed which were actually capable of producing analogue quality sound, but instead focussed on making the format affordable as opposed to equalling the quality of the vinyl format that was then the cultural standard.
“We had great analogue sound, but our industry needs something new every 15-20 years,” says Ishiwata, “back then they had cassette, but it reached a peak and they had to come up with something new.”
“Sony and Philips came up with the CD in 1982,” he continues, “all-new quality was possible, but we decided to come up with reasonable technology for the price. We designed it to be affordable.”
The result was a format that revolutionised the industry but also dragged down the level of quality in reproduced audio, “the quality of sound has degraded ever since, “sound quality has gone down for the average user over the last ten to 15 years,” agrees Ishiwata. The introduction of mp3 players, such as Apple’s world-conquering iPod, introduced the digital revolution, relying on compressed music such as the mp3 format to ensure its accessibility.
“When the MP3 player first came out the memory was so expensive,” explains Ishiwata. “But now there’s 32GB on your iPod. You don’t need to compress – the majority is still MP3 but your recording capacity is big enough to have non-compressed music.”
In fact, Apple have begun offering ‘Mastered for iTunes‘ albums and singles on their iTunes store, which boasts “music as the artist and sound engineer intended” with a lossless digital format created from studio-quality masters.
Ishiwata however, isn’t so convinced by the new move from the computing giant, “I’m not sure improving quality is a benefit for Apple.” Their focus on enhancement, says Ishiwata, has not come at “the right time yet… their product is not sold for quality. It’s sold for sexiness and convenience. They are interested in audio but they are very business oriented.”
So while the technology is available, and more importantly more affordable now, Ishiwata predicts it’ll still be some time before we can expect analogue quality audio at convenience and on our mobile phones and computers. Speaking of streaming services, such as the recently Australia-launched Spotify and it’s Telstra-launched rival Mog, Ishiwata remarked of their audio quality, “they’re not bad, and in five years time I think they’ll be a lot better.”
Ishiwata is even putting his money where his mouth is with the release of the new Marantz Consolette, an iPod dock that plays like a high-end stereo system that’s retailing for around $AU1,400. “I think usually engineers do not understand music; but I’m coming from the music side and then I studied engineering,” argues the Japanese ‘Master Tuner’. “I try to see people’s lifestyle and how they think and feel so I can manipulate sound.”
For now though Ishiwata admits that the majority of people are content with using highly compressed mp3 formats, “it’s unfortunately more convenient,” he remarked, “but in the nature of people they always want something better. It always goes down, hits the bottom. But it’s already coming back up… it’s beginning to improve.”
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Since Joseph Ratzinger's writings on Roman Catholic doctrine have been prominent throughout his term as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, now that he's Pope Benedict XVI, he's "a known quantity," says Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
But evangelicals are known to him, too, says Land's denominational cohort, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler: "In his previous writings, this new pope has indicated a clear and genuine understanding of what evangelicals believe. As a matter of fact, he may be the most well-informed pope in history, in terms of evangelical conviction and theological commitments. That is not to say that the pope is in any way sympathetic to those convictions. This much is clearthis papacy is likely to be both interesting and challenging."
Mohler says there's an irony in Benedict's election and the way evangelicals should view it. "The conservatism that leads Ratzinger to defend historic Catholic positions on abortion, euthanasia, and a host of other issues go hand-in-hand with his defense of the papacy, magisterial authority, and the evolving body of Catholic doctrine."
It's common these days to articulate it this way: Evangelicals and Catholics are most united on issues of culture and society, and most divided on matters of ecclesiology.
The view is too simplistic, and ignores the point that evangelicals and Catholics are united on social issues because they share common theological convictions. When articulating arguments against abortion or gay marriage in Western society, it's sometimes more helpful to talk in sociological terms than to quote Scripture. But the tie between doctrine has ...
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sialoquent (seye-AL-oh-kwent) - adj., spraying saliva while talking.
Can be thought of as another form of oversharing. Often paired with getting a touch carried away by one's argument. The noun form is sialoquence, not to be confused with eloquence. Coined from Greek sialon, saliva + Latin loquens, speaking, present participle of eloqui, to speak out, from e-, a form of ex-, out + loqui, to say.
After his third bark, the St. Bernard got quite sailoquent in his objections to my presence.
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Disability News India โ June 2010 Issue
Admission to special schools gets 20% easier for disabled peopleJune 19: Taking a more humane view of disabilities, the state social justice department has proposed to reduce the disability percentage required to make disabled persons eligible for various government schemes.
The department issued a government resolution (GR) bringing the disability percentage to 40 instead of the current 60 for admissions to schools for disabled people and ashramshalas.
According to government records, there are 15.69 lakh handicapped persons who are registered with various government agencies. The percentage of those officially disabled is less than 1.5 though the central government claims the population of handicapped persons is 3%. The state government has claimed that its latest decision will help more and more people register with the government.
Sachin Ahir, minister of state for social justice, said on Friday that his department had issued a GR making admissions easier for handicapped persons.
"This will be applicable with immediate effect. But, we are also putting forward a proposal to bring the overall disability percentage down to 40%. This will help more and more disabled people take advantage of government schemes," he added.
The minister said that once approved by the chief minister, the GR will be issued in that respect. Once approved by the department, persons with more than 40% disability will be entitled to government services, various selfโemployment schemes and reservations in various government establishments including railways and BEST.
Be sensitive to blind people, Bombay high court tells govtMumbai, June 18: Maharashtra government's attitude treating persons with total and partial blindness 'uniformly' while considering them for jobs under disability quota has not gone down well with the Bombay high court.
A division bench of acting chief justice JN Patel and justice SC Dharmadhikari on Thursday observed: "The authorities need to be careful and sensitive towards these people. These people are not beggars, they can perform if given an opportunity."
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Harshad Jadhav, a blind man seeking directives to the state government to implement the provisions of Disabilities Act, 1995, and provide jobs to disabled people in government bodies.
Chief secretary JP Dange, in an affidavit submitted in the court, stated that the government is following the recommendations of an expert committee, as per the provisions of the act. "Therefore, the recommendations are binding and the state has no authority to overrule them," said the affidavit.
Dange also justified state's stand on treating the totally blind and those with low vision uniformly. "If the number of persons from totally blind category find it difficult to get selected, the state can hardly do anything in this regard," said his affidavit.
The judges particularly expressed displeasure about this statement, observing that such an attitude will make the totally blind compete with either with the partially blind or those with low vision.
Technical jobs in railways for people with disabilitiesJune 17: Persons with physical disability are now entitled for jobs in railway technical services for the first time.
At Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative, the railways have given up the exemption it had sought from the Persons with Disabilities (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act 1995. The act requires government departments to reserve 3 percent job vacancies for disabled person.
Except for the Railways Protection Force, disabled candidates have now become eligible for jobs in the technical services including those of loco pilots, guards and station masters.
Candidates are now eligible for direct recruitment through the Union Public Service Commission for all classโI jobs in the technical services.
"Restrictions on jobs for nonโgazetted technical posts remain, but it is significant that the entry doors for such candidates have been opened for the first time for disabled candidates", a ministry official said.
Banerjee's initiatives in the matter have, ironically, raised the hackles of another set of disabled persons: The 10,000โodd individuals who run Public Call Outlet across the country's railway stations.
"The minister can't have two sets of standards on the same issue. A benevolent attitude for recruitment of disabled people in railway jobs and an indifferent approach towards handicapped PCO owners", said Vineet Sharma, Viklang PCO association.
Fill up vacancies for disabled people by June 30, HC tells govtMumbai, Jun 17: The Bombay High Court today said if the government did not fill all the existing vacancies in the posts reserved for disabled people by June 30, it would consider freezing the recruitment even in the general category.
The division bench of acting Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S C Dharmadhikari, which was hearing PILs filed by National Association for Blind and others, also directed that identification of new posts โโ which can be reserved for disabled people โโ must be completed by July 30.
The PILs were filed three years ago, seeking implementation of Disability Act of 1995, which created a three per cent quota for those with disability.
"Authorities must be sensitive to the requirements of disabled people. They don't need your sympathy, but give them work," the bench said.
GMDA set a deadline for public buildings to introduce disabledโfriendly facilitiesGuwahati, June 15: The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has set a June 30 deadline for hospitals, malls and commercial buildings in the city to introduce disabledโfriendly facilities.
Facilities like ramps and wheelchairs will be introduced in government offices, educational institutions, bus terminuses, railway stations and even at Kamakhya temple atop Nilachal Hill in a phased manner, to be completed within this year.
Manikut Pathak, the development officer of GMDA, said a group of experts and officials has already visited various shopping malls and private hospitals to check out facilities available for physically disabled persons.
He said not a single building has been so far was found to be equipped with the required facilities, making these places completely inaccessible for physically disabled persons.
"The GMDA has made it mandatory for the owners of commercial buildings and private hospitals to install display boards and prominently highlight the facilities and infrastructure available for physically disabled persons. It would be a tough job as the details gathered by the GMDA has revealed that not a single building in the city has such facilities. But we must go ahead since the initiative would be in adherence to various directives issued by the Supreme Court in recent years and various provisions of the Disability Act, 1995 to make public places completely accessible to physically disabled persons," Pathak said.
The new building bylaws formulated by the GMDA clearly mentioned that the commercial buildings must be constructed in a disabledโ friendly manner.
The disability law unit (Northeast) of Shishu Sarothi, an NGO, while welcoming the initiative, said it would adopt a waitโandโwatch policy to see the effectiveness of the GMDA's step.
"Introduction of ramp and wheelchair will not be enough. According to the Disability Act, 1995, several other facilities, like specially designed elevators with auditory signal system to make it easy to identify floors for visually impaired, are a must at shopping malls, private hospitals and other government offices. There must be guide maps at shopping malls, hospitals and railway stations for those with hearing impairment," Anju Talukdar, the project coโordinator of the NGO, said.
In April last year, the disability law unit (Northeast) of Shishu Sarothi, an NGO, decided to file a case in Gauhati High Court against the chief electoral officer of Assam and deputy commissioners for their failure to make polling booths disabledโfriendly during the Lok Sabha polls.
Hiโtech implant surgery on deaf boy at AIIMSJune 14: Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have successfully performed a hiโtech implant surgery on a threeโandโaโhalfโ yearโold deaf boy.
This is for first time that the new generation cochlear implant surgery has been conducted in a government hospital in the country, AIIMS officials said.
Aditya was implanted with a modern, stateโofโtheโart fifth generation cochlear implant last month. Cochlear implant is the only option available to children and adults who fail to benefit from hearing aids.
The surgery was carried out by a team of surgeons lead by associate professor Rakesh Kumar and included Kapil Sikka. The surgery was performed under the supervision of professor of ENT and AIIMS Director R. C. Deka.
'The surgery was successfully conducted for the first time in India in a public hospital. It is the most recent technology in the cochlear implant design called as Nucleus 5 of Australian make,' said Deka, who pioneered the cochlear implant surgery in India.
Explaining the benefits of new technology, Deka said: 'It is provided with features which are better than their previous models. The new model is much thinner and tougher. The system is waterโresistant and has a remote controlled processor. This device will help the hearing impaired children in better speech understanding.'
So far AIIMS has performed 320 cochlear implants. These include 284 surgeries among children and adults, including patients from countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Mauritius.
PNB launches special credit card scheme for blind peopleJune 09: Public sector bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a special credit card scheme for visually impaired.
In a circular dated 31st May, the bank has particularly directed all its branches throughout India to accept applications filed by blind having a bank account for over 6 months and have a good track record.
It has also directed that the blind persons falling in the age group of 18 to 65 years and who are at least matriculate and have screen reader enabled mobile phones would be qualified for getting a credit card.
A written pledge is required from the client stating that he would use the card carefully and legally.
Akhilesh, a visually impaired person said, "Credit cards have become an important aspect of the way we transact today. The move by PNB to issue credit cards especially for persons with vision impairment is a nice thing indeed. Hopefully this would extend to other services they provide for disabled customers."
Bus for disabled people lying unused, students sufferNew Delhi, June 8: The Delhi University (DU) has on offer more than 1,500 seats for disabled students but not a single medium to take them to the venue of the application procedure.
The Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC), a body that addresses problems faced by disabled students, though, has a bus especially for disabled people students, which is currently parked at the office of the Dean, Students ' Welfare for more than a month now.
EOC bought the bus in July last year. "The bus plies when the session is on but there is a gap during the admission session. Also, not many people know that we have a bus for disabled people students. There needs to be more awareness," said Dr Chandra Nisha Singh, officer on special duty, EOC.
But insiders claim that the bus is not plying as a driver has still not been appointed for the purpose. "The bus would have been a big boon for disabled people students but there is no driver to drive the bus. The EOC has not made the bus available," said a student volunteer, who does not want to be named.
For physically disabled Abhilash Sharma (name changed), reaching the office of the Dean, Student's Welfare, to fill the DU application form is a struggle. "I cannot board an auto or a cycle rickshaw because of my wheelchair and have no choice but to hire a taxi for the day," he says. A resident of Rajouri Garden, Sharma finds it easy to travel by the Metro.
"But it is a problem travelling beyond the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station," he adds. The university has also scheduled medical checkups for disabled people students at the University Health Centre but there has not provided any conveyance for that either.
"We did not receive a list of students who registered, from the Office of the Dean, Students' Welfare. Had we known where the students live, we could have assigned pickโup points," said Singh.
Inclusiveplanet.com: Social Networking site for visually impairedJune 7: Now there's a medium for visually impaired to network and exchange ideas. Inclusiveplanet.com is an online platform that enables persons with print impairment to find each other, to connect, build communities, and share accessible content.
Ever wondered how a person with a visual impairment uses a computer, Surf the web, Read a book or an article, The most popular, software program used by people with visual impairments to read a document is a type of computer software known as a screen reader, but now people with visual impairment can not only read articles, but can also network with the help of ? Inclusive Planet.
Inclusiveplanet.com is an online platform that enables persons with print impairment to find each other, to connect, interact, build communities, and share accessible content and solutions. In this they are collaborating with the Centre for Internet and Society and leading blind associations of the country and soon, school and college syllabi will be accessible, making this the world's largest such library.
Inclusive Planet also has a social networking site and is similar to any other socialโnetworking site that connects friends and gives space to create a blog or generate content. Users can also share files, books, articles or songs. Besides, they can create profiles, track old friends, post comments and so on. There is a separate section for profiles. Creators of the site are now getting requests to introduce provisions for uploading videos and sharing photos, which they thought wasn't required.
The site was started in October 2009 by three former National Law School students. One of them who was a copyright lawyer once attended a conference by World Blind Union. He realized that most of the material accessible to the sighted was inaccessible to the blind. That was the root of the idea.
The website, built in three months on a microโinvestment model, now has 4,000 members from 78 countries. Of these 2,000 are from India.
Inclusive planet is a social venture with a very simple yet powerful agenda โ to engage smart minds across the world to create scalable technologyโled solutions to challenges faced by people with disabilities.
'Swayambar' for hearing impairedNew Delhi, May 3: Leading matrimonial service Shaadi.com has partnered with the Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women (DFDW) to extend support for the 'XVIII Pranay Milan Sammelan 2010', a matrimonial alliance common ground for hearing impaired women.
The Sammelan was held on Monday at New Delhi with over 100 hearingโ impaired matrimonial prospects from all over the country attending it.
Shaadi.com, the event sponsor of the Pranay Milan Sammelan, has been backing this cause for the fourth consecutive year now.
This initiative enables these prospects to come together, present themselves before each other and mingle with each other in a safe and supportive environment. DFDW undertakes the responsibility of getting the brides and grooms assembled together and also that of short listing them.
Shedding light on the initiative, Nilesh Borgharkar, National Sales Head, Shaadi.com said, "Shaadi.com believes that everyone deserves a chance to find their companion and life partner. We have been conducting numerous swayamwars through our offline retail business Shaadi.com Centre and today, we're pleased to be able to participate in XVIII Pranay Milan Sammelan and help hearingโimpaired matrimonial prospects find their life partner and find happiness.
"The number of lives we are able to touch year on year through this exceptional Sammelan humbles us and brings us immense joy. It is indeed an honour for us to be associated with the Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women for the fourth consecutive year and we hope this association will only strengthen in the years to come."
The unique annual swayamwaram was inaugurated by Rajyalaxmi Rao, President, DFDW. Rao said: "DFDW organizes various such programs, to meet the needs of the very aware and intelligent hearing impaired women. These events are open to all caste and creed and all walks of life. For the last three years, this platform has helped the hearing impaired boys and girls, along with their parents, meet their potential life partners.
"As every year, this year too the event saw a warm and hearty participation of people who have come to find their better half. This event has seen many successful couples, who had met each other at the sammelan, culminate in matrimony. The main objective of this sammelan is 'come, see and suit yourself'. We are thankful to Shaadi.com for their support in conducting this swayamwar."
To facilitate maximum interaction between participants, the sammelan began with the introduction of each participant. Introductions are done in a distinctive sign language and that's what sets this swayamwar apart.
These unique introductions paved the way for one to one meetings where the participants met up with the others they found most suitable.
Hearing test must for kidsMumbai, June 2: Radha Yadav (30) sat in a soundโproof room at Bandra's Ali Yawar Jung Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJIHH) on Saturday waiting for the doctor to conduct a hearing test on her fiveโmonthโold son, Yash.
The Andheri resident had a caesarean delivery, and her doctor told her that getting a thorough check up of the infant ?tests for sight and hearing included ? was a must before proceeding with immunisation shots.
Yash's hearing proved to be normal. But he is one of the few infants to undergo screening to rule out deafness. According to AYJIHH, most parents find out about their child's disorder after the child turns four or five. By then it is too late to begin training and rehabilitation, said R. Rangasayee, director of AYJIHH.
The institute is thus formulating a strategy to ensure screening of newborns to identify hearing problems becomes a universal practice in India.
The institute will be consulting Dr Karl White, director of the National Centre for Hearing Assessment and Management, Utah State University, and paediatric audiologist, Dr Terry Foust, who has conducted similar programmes in Ghana and Costa Rica, for the project.
"Six per cent of Indian children below the age of 10 are deaf," said Rangasayee. "If the screening of newborns is made protocol, with parental support, a deaf child will be able to enter regular schools by the age of six," he added.
"More than half the babies in India are born outside hospitals," said Dr White. "There are big challenges here so we need to come up with a variety of strategies."
The institute will hold conferences with the medical community on June 1 and with hearing aid manufacturers on June 2 to spread awareness for this cause.
DU sells maximum forms to disabled students in a dayAfter a dismal show in the first three days, a record number of application forms were sold to disabled students Tuesday in Delhi University (DU) in a single day in seven years.
The university sold 73 forms Tuesday, said an official involved in the admission process for disabled people students.
'It is for the first time in the last seven years that 73 application forms for disabled students have been sold in a single day. Along with the Delhi University staff, 17 student volunteers are involved in the process,' an university official told IANS.
Sale of application forms for admissions to undergraduate courses in DU began May 28 and will be on until June 11.
According to officials, on the first day the number of application forms sold to disabled students was four, on the second day it was 15 and on the third day it was 56. With Tuesday's addition, the total number of forms sold is 148.
Last year the total number of forms sold to disabled students was 350. The form for disabled students is different from the one the others have to fill in to apply to the varsity.
Unlike filling up circles against one's choice of course and college in the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) forms, the forms for disabled students simply requires them to give seven choices of course and college that they would like to apply for.
Copyright Information All original graphics and photographs are ยฉ copyright 2006-2010 DisabilityIndia.com
By: Disability News India
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There are many examples of interracial lovers who take a look and operate stunning. The most famous couple of this type is the Australian-Australian couple Alfre Woodard and Rodrick Spencer. They’ve been married seeing that norwegian mail order bride 1983 and have 3 children mutually. They seldom appear alongside one another in public but they have been start about their challenges and concerns as biracial couples. The couple features spoken about their particular experiences while biracial parents, as well as that they have attempted to teach their children about Dark history.
Interracial marriage has become a popular movement, with more persons falling in love with persons of different contests. This movement is also helping reduce racial discrimination inside the society. In addition, interracial lovers also make excellent families. They have beautiful children and tend to outlast marriages between people of the same race.
Angelica and Thomas Perego are two examples of mixte couples based on a backgrounds and lifestyles. Angelica is usually Hispanic, while Thomas is white. Both are money professionals whom live in New York City. They have witnessed the change in society, and also the social behaviour towards mixte marriages.
Despite their particular commonalities, these types of beautiful interracial couples encounter challenges. They need to overcome ethnic bias and bias in their human relationships. The fight to be accepted and validated by simply society is a challenge that many interracial lovers face. They may face societal disapproval, or perhaps their friends are likely https://austinmoms.com/2021/10/12/evolving-expectations-and-breaking-stereotypes-of-latina-mothers/ to be biased against them.
The couple even have a kid together. During the past, the couple married in june 2006 and welcomed their third child. Both lovers have worked hard to maintain their very own relationships. The couple is likewise raising their children together. They will are generally open about their struggles for the reason that biracial father and mother. The couples have twins, a little girl and a son.
In 2006, Sammy Davis Junior. married celebrity May Britt, despite the racial segregation laws and regulations in the time. During the time, interracial marriages were still illegal in 31 advises, but New York was one of the few exceptions. After nine years of marital life, Sammy and can Britt had a daughter, Tracey, and followed two kids. Unfortunately, Sammy Davis Jr. later divorced May Britt following an affair with vocalist Lola Falana.
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It’s not just Wim Hof and his legion of followers. Cold water immersion has been embraced for centuries due to its myriad health benefits. By subjecting your body to a cold plunge, you stimulate circulation and trigger a release of endorphins, fostering an immediate sense of invigoration and alertness. While there is still a need for more studies, history and a the available research points to regular cold plunges being linked to improved immune function, reduced inflammation, and increased metabolic rate. Moreover, the practice can enhance your mental resilience by training your body to adapt to stressors and promoting better sleep. Whether you seek post-workout recovery, a boost in energy, or simply a refreshing daily ritual, a cold plunge tub offers a unique and accessible way to embrace the transformative power of cold therapy and pave the way to a healthier, more vibrant lifestyle.
What is a Cold Plunge Tub?
A cold plunge tub is an immersion tub filled with ice-cold water. It’s used in hydrotherapy for reducing inflammation and soreness in the body. Popular among athletes, these tubs aid in post-workout recovery. They can be made from various materials like wood, acrylic, or stainless steel.
Cold plunge tubs have gained popularity for more than just their invigorating effects. The science behind these tubs reveals numerous benefits for the body and mind. One of the key advantages is their ability to reduce inflammation and muscle soreness. By exposing the body to cold water, blood vessels constrict, improving circulation and promoting faster recovery. Additionally, cold plunging activates the body’s natural recovery mechanisms, stimulating the immune system and promoting overall well-being. Research also suggests potential mental health benefits of cold water therapy. Incorporating a cold plunge tub into your routine may provide a holistic approach to wellness.
Is a Cold Bath as Effective as a Cold Plunge Tub?
While cold baths can provide similar benefits, a cold plunge tub offers more precise temperature control and promotes full-body immersion. Additionally, the design of a cold plunge tub may offer a more enjoyable and relaxing experience.
Why Should I Buy a Cold Plunge Tub?
The primary reason to buy a cold plunge tub is to experience the convenience of cold water therapy in privacy. These tubs offer consistent and controlled water temperature, making them a valuable addition to your wellness routine. Investing in a cold plunge tub allows for regular cold exposure, offering an alternative to traditional ice baths or cold showers.
Can I Cold Plunge in my Bathtub?
Cold plunging in a bathtub may not be as effective as using a dedicated cold plunge tub. Most bathtubs lack insulation and depth for proper cold water immersion. For optimal results, consider investing in a tub specifically designed for cold plunging.
How Much Does a Good Cold Plunge Tub Cost?
Top-tier cold plunge tubs run upwards of $8,000, but there’s no need to spend nearly that much. Budget options cost just a couple hundred dollars, and while they lack the tech-heavy features and vast temperature variations of the high-end models, at the end of the day, 50-degree water is 50-degree water, no matter how much you paid for the vessel holding it there.
Features to Look For in a Cold Plunge Tub
When choosing a cold plunge tub, it’s important to consider several factors that can enhance your cold water therapy experience. One key feature to look for is the size and capacity of the tub, ensuring that it can accommodate your specific needs. Additionally, durability and longevity are essential, so opt for a tub made with high-quality materials. This will ensure that your plunge tub withstands regular use and maintains its performance over time. Another important feature is temperature control, which allows you to easily adjust the water temperature to your preference. By having this control, you can personalize your cold water therapy experience for maximum benefits.
Size and capacity: When choosing a cold plunge tub, it’s important to consider the size and capacity that will best suit your needs. Finding the ideal dimensions for your space and comfort is crucial for enjoying a spacious and comfortable cold water therapy experience. You should also take into account the number of users and the available space when selecting the capacity of your plunge tub. By optimizing your cold water therapy with a tub that accommodates your body type and preferences, you can enhance the benefits of ice baths and improve blood flow. So, choose a cold plunge tub with the perfect size and capacity to maximize your cold water therapy experience.
Material and durability: When it comes to your cold water therapy experience, material and durability are key factors to consider in your cold plunge tub. Choosing a tub made from high-quality, durable materials ensures long-lasting use and enjoyment. Look for a cold plunge tub that is resistant to wear and tear, so you can fully benefit from its therapeutic effects without worrying about frequent repairs or replacements. Additionally, select a material that offers excellent insulation properties, allowing the tub to maintain cold water temperatures for extended periods. Investing in a cold plunge tub built to withstand varying weather conditions and frequent use will ensure that you can make the most of your cold water therapy sessions.
Temperature control: The most important aspect of a cold plunge tub is precise temperature control. You want to maintain consistent and refreshing temperatures throughout your session, ensuring maximum benefits. Look for user-friendly options that offer convenience in setting and monitoring the temperature. Whether it’s a portable, inflatable, or high-end tub, temperature control is crucial for optimizing your cold water therapy.
Is Investing in a Cold Plunge Tub Worth It?
Considering the potential health benefits of regular cold plunging, evaluating the cost compared to other wellness investments, and assessing space and maintenance requirements are crucial. If you’re a serious athlete, or suffer from severe inflammation or joint issues, cold plunging can do wonders for reducing soreness and helping you get back to feeling agile and confident. Of course, consulting professionals for personalized advice and weighing the long-term benefits against the initial investment can help determine if investing in a cold plunge tub is worth it for your specific situation, but one thing is clear: when put to good use, the benefits of a cold plunge tub far outweigh the cost.
How to Make a Cold Plunge Tub at Home
Creating your own cold plunge tub at home is easier than you might think. To get started, gather the necessary materials such as a tub, insulation, and a cold water source. Follow a step-by-step guide to assemble the plunge tub, making sure to properly insulate it to maintain the desired water temperature. Use a thermometer to accurately monitor the water temperature and make adjustments as needed. It’s also important to test the tub for leaks and adjust the water flow to ensure a smooth experience. By following these simple steps, you can enjoy the rejuvenating benefits of a cold plunge right in the comfort of your own home.
Materials needed: To set up your own cold plunge tub, you will need a tub or container that is suitable for cold plunging. Make sure to choose a size that fits your needs and space. Insulation materials such as foam or PVC pipes are necessary to help maintain the desired water temperature. You will also need a cold water source and a hose to fill the tub. For easy draining, a drain valve or mechanism is essential. To accurately monitor the water temperature, a thermometer is a must-have tool. By gathering these materials, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying the invigorating benefits of cold plunging.
Building the tub: Prepare your chosen tub by thoroughly cleaning it and ensuring that it is watertight. This will provide a clean and safe environment for your cold plunge experience. Next, install insulation around the tub to help maintain the water temperature, so you can fully enjoy the benefits of cold therapy. Connect a cold water source and use a thermometer to check the desired temperature range, typically between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Adding accessories like a cover or filtration system can enhance your cold plunge tub experience.
The Top Five Cold Plunge Tubs
This innovative cold plunge tub boasts advanced precision temperature technology that hones in on muscle soreness. The industry-leading PolarPod offers exceptional performance, and is ideal for traveling athletes and those embarking on expeditions due to its portability and ease of fill-up. With precise temperature control, you can customize your cold water therapy session for maximum effectiveness, with settings designed to enhance blood flow, constrict blood vessels, and promote weight loss.
The Ice Pod
Compact in size, The Ice Pod is the perfect cold plunge tub for small spaces. This also makes it great for travel, and its low price point is ideal for first-time plungers. Its insulation keeps the water cold for longer periods, allowing you to fully enjoy the rejuvenating benefits of cold water therapy. Setting up The Ice Pod is a breeze, as no installation is required. Surprisingly, for a tub that costs just north of $100, it features adjustable temperature control, allowing you to personalize your cold therapy experience on par with what the more expensive plunge tubs offer. That said, it’s low-tech and you’re not getting much more than the cold plunge itself. But for amateur athletes or those apprehensive about trying cold plunging (it’s really COLD, after all), this is a solid choice.
Ice Barrel 300
The Ice Barrel 300 is a mid-range cold plunge tub that is made with high-quality recycled PVC for exceptional durability. It offers various sizes to accommodate different body types, ensuring a comfortable and immersive cold therapy experience. That said, you can’t lounge out in it due to the bucket shape, but for its specific purpose, this tub performs as well as any on the market. The insulated cover of the Ice Barrel 300 helps maintain the water temperature, while the inner lining provides additional insulation and prevents any leakage. With the convenient drain valve, removing the water from the tub is quick and easy.
Inergize Cold + Hot Plunge Tub
A powerful cooling system and ozone sanitation set the Inergize Cold Plunge Tub apart from cheaper models. This compact tub is designed to fit in small spaces, and it breaks down quickly and easy for when you need to move it to another small space. Its inner layer insulation ensures that the cold temperatures are retained, allowing for an effective cold water therapy session. With the added benefit of free in-home delivery, and the perk of it doubling as a hot tub, the price point on this high-end model is worth it for athletes and patients. The Inergize Cold Plunge Tub provides a rejuvenating experience while maintaining cleanliness and hygiene through its ozone sanitation system. The portable design and powerful cooling system make it a top choice for those seeking a convenient and efficient cold plunge tub option.
Alpine Terrain Chili GOAT Cold Tub
The Alpine Terrain Chili GOAT Cold Tub is a durable option designed specifically for outdoor use. Fair warning, this is a top-of-the-line product intended for use by dedicated athletes and those seeking serious relief from inflammation, soreness, and other fatigue. It’s not cheap – but this cold plunge tub is built to withstand the elements, making it perfect for your patio or backyard, especially if you live in a place that experiences all four seasons. With multiple sizes available, you can choose the one that suits your individual needs – and your space limitations – best. Cleaning and maintenance are a breeze with the included hose for easy draining. The inner lining of the tub helps to maintain cold water temperatures, ensuring a refreshing and invigorating experience every time. Plus, its a brand-new product built based on the feedback of dedicated plungers, scientists, and industry experts. You get what you pay for, and this tub is top notch.Buy Now $8,495
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A federal marriage amendment failed today in a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State hailed the derailment of the so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment,” but criticized the House leadership for playing politics with the Constitution.
The House voted 227-186 in favor of H.J.Res. 106, but that tally fell short of the two-thirds necessary to pass a constitutional amendment. The amendment, which is being heavily promoted by Religious Right organizations, would limit marriage to one man and one woman. It is designed to outlaw same-sex marriages.
Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “This amendment posed a grave threat to the separation of church and state, and I’m delighted that it failed. Some religious traditions perform same-sex unions, and some do not. It’s wrong for the government to favor the religious rituals of the majority over those of the minority.”
Lynn added that it is deplorable that members of Congress are using this issue as a pawn in election-year politics. House leaders knew the votes were lacking to adopt the amendment.
“The only reason for this vote,” said Lynn, “is to give the Christian Coalition and similar groups another line item on their biased ‘voter guides.’”
Lynn noted that during a national meeting of the Christian Coalition in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23-25, staffers with the group bragged that they would distribute millions of “voter guides” this year.
The guides, Coalition Field Director Bill Thomson said, “are our greatest weapon. It is the best weapon in our arsenal. It is our B-2 bomber.”
In addition, the Family Research Council (FRC) has pledged to include three FMA-related votes on its congressional scorecards this year. (The FRC will even rate lawmakers on whether they cosponsored the amendment.)
The Coalition, the FRC and other Religious Right groups, Americans United asserts, are eager to get a vote on the amendment, put the results on guides and scorecards and use them to tip the balance in close House races around the country.
A wide array of religious organizations opposes the amendment. More than two dozen faith groups sent a letter to House members today, urging them to reject the FMA. Among the signers were: the Alliance of Baptists; the American Friends Service Committee (Quaker); the American Jewish Committee; the Episcopal Church, USA; the Loretto Women's Network (Catholic Order); the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the National Sikh Center; the Metropolitan Community Churches; the Office of the General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); the Union for Reform Judaism; the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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The Supreme Court’s Wednesday opinion in McCutcheon v. FEC striking down aggregate political contribution limits has thus far been accused of a wide variety of sins, including that it opens the floodgates to “corruption.” Although it’s likely that anything short of a total vindication of pervasive contribution limits would have failed to satisfy the Left, Justice Breyer’s dissent took a more precise approach, criticizing the majority for failing to expand the definition of “corruption” to “influence over or access to” elected officials. Let’s see if this criticism is justified.
McCutcheon struck down aggregate limits on campaign donations, but left intact per-campaign donation limits (“base limits”) that cap the amount that a particular donor can direct to a particular candidate. In this case, for instance, Shaun McCutcheon brought suit because he wanted to give the symbolically significant amount of $1,776, less than the base limits, to multiple independent campaigns. The aggregate limits, however, capped the number of campaigns to which he could contribute this amount. As a practical matter, aggregate limits imposed a limit on the number of campaigns that he could meaningfully support.
Although the government offered several interests supporting this limitation, the plurality opinion argues that the only constitutionally permissible governmental interest served by donation limits is actual or apparent quid pro quo corruption, that is, the actual or apparent exchanging of direct contributions for control of the officeholder’s official duties. Thus, individual donation limits are themselves a prophylactic measure for achieving this governmental interest.
Justice Breyer’s dissent takes issue with this proposition, beginning with what we might call the Justice Breyer Theory of Political Speech. Breyer argues that the purpose of speech is to “secure government action.” This portion of Justice Breyer’s opinion is nothing if not abstract, although it does occasionally make reference to actual case law. Citing a series of Progressive-era cases, Justice Breyer’s dissent suggests that the purpose of freedom of speech under the First Amendment is to permit the people to engage in unimpeded “collective speech” with their representatives, and that the “appearance of corruption” arises when the public believes that its “efforts to communicate with its representatives or to help sway public opinion have little purpose,” ultimately resulting in a loss of interest in political participation and loss of faith in those who govern.
Now, one might assume that Justice Breyer would simply rely on these broad propositions to articulate a broad definition of “corruption,” but he doesn’t. Instead, he draws a circle: governmental interests in preventing “corruption,” defined as hindrances to electoral speech, are actually based on the First Amendment itself. Indeed, Justice Breyer argues, campaign-finance laws are not only a potential violation of the First Amendment, they are actually necessary to strengthen it. Thus, Justice Breyer manages to pit the First Amendment against itself, raising the “potential for conflict” (his words) between diametrically-opposed priorities that ostensibly come from the same source. If this isn’t moving the constitutional goalposts, I don’t know what is.
The rest of Justice Breyer’s dissent is predictable, combining vague definitions of “corruption” with a series of hypothetical means of creating “undue influence.” Justice Breyer notes prior case law describing corruption as including “undue influence on an officeholder’s judgment,” whatever that is, and “privileged access to and pernicious influence upon” elected officials. He also identifies a series of hypothetical donations that, he says, illustrate the opportunities for nefarious political activities.
But the dissent inadvertently makes one thing clear: Under the broad definition of “corruption,” there is virtually no way to distinguish between influence, gratitude, or the conduct that Breyer considers “corruption.” As a result, Breyer’s hypotheticals conflate support for a political party or movement with official corruption. If that’s what corruption means, then Breyer’s view would impose essentially no limits on the government’s ability to regulate the political activities of those that it deems too powerful. The plurality rightly notes that the First Amendment requires any ambiguities to be resolved in favor of more speech, not less.
Breyer’s view constitutes a dangerous weakening of the commonsense principle that, in freedom of speech cases, the threat of oppression comes from government, not speech itself. For Breyer’s abstract theory to resist degeneration into practical tyranny, campaign-finance regulators would need to be perfectly nonpartisan, immune from political pressure, and incapable of misunderstanding the messiness of politics. And that’s absurd.
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I've been at times frustrated and at times disappointed at the tone of most media coverage about the rising cost of real estate in Vancouver. So much of what is being published is written with barely disguised racism. I wonder how people of Asian descent feel when they read the online discussions about the "Asian Invasion"?
Have we learned nothing from history? Is this 1907 all over again? Should we expect angry mobs soon?
Perhaps a philosophical perspective would be to see the rising price of real estate as a kind of karmic justice, a century after Canada's imposition of the Chinese Head Tax.
Today, China has over 2,378,000 millionaires and 213 billionaires. The population of B.C. is 4.67 million.
Imagine half of the population of B.C. being millionaires. What do you suppose those millionaires would do with their wealth? Would buying real estate in one of the most beautiful cities in the world not be a logical step to take?
Because of the kind of ideology that dominates our economy these days, people with lots of money are more powerful and have more choices than do people who are poor. There is nothing fair about that, but that's not the fault of the people who have played the economic game according the rules of how to capitalize on investment.
And yes, you can make the case that some rich people have not always played the game legally. In fact, if you look into the history of some of the richest families in Canada, you will see that there are many unsavoury practices that they indulged in on their way to becoming millionaires.
Money has been laundered in Canada since the birth of our country. The only difference between now and then is that back then it was people of European descent doing it.
Rather than speak of Chinese investors, I wish people would talk about millionaires who are from China. It may seem like that's a small difference -- but it's actually a huge one.
"Millionaires who are from China" focuses on wealth whereas "Chinese investors" focuses on ethnicity. And that's a problematic focus given the history of racism in Canada.
Did you know that until quite recently, only white people could live in the tony British Properties in West Vancouver?
The more logical target for outrage is the economic ideology that makes it possible for wealth to determine as much as it does in our society. It's no secret that if a rich person and a poor person were guilty of the same crime, the latter is more likely to go to jail.
We measure the value of a person on whether or not they have the ability to shop for pleasure, not need. We consider people who are poor, lazy, and those who are rich, hard-working. We are enraptured with the lives of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton but completely ignore the plight of the working poor who, despite working two or three jobs, still struggle to feed, clothe and shelter their families.
Yes, shelter is expensive in Vancouver. And yes, many of the people who are rich and are able to afford a home in Vancouver are from Asia. But neither of those facts has got anything at all to do with ethnicity, and everything to do with economic ideology.
We can't have our cake and eat it too. Either we ensure that social justice is a priority in our society, or we allow wealth to determine who gets to live a good life or not.
Why isn't the prevalence of homelessness in Vancouver a reason for outrage as much as the rising cost of real estate is? Where is the outrage about B.C. having the highest rate of childhood poverty in Canada ?
We have an economic ideology that provides investors everywhere with the means to determine what is of value in our society. We should not be surprised with the choices they make, whether in the stock market or in real estate.
And that's got nothing to do with whether those investors are Chinese or not. It's just the rules of the game.
Also on HuffPost:
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The world is getting smaller, and tools like social media have made it possible to connect with people all over the world. However, language barriers continue to present obstacles. Human translation is the gold standard for communication between cultures, but it isn’t practical for every interaction. Fortunately, advances in machine translation and neural machine translation offer effective solutions for certain situations.
With businesses developing in emerging markets and the increasing need for global collaboration, the demand for translation services is growing exponentially. It is more important than ever to make content available over a variety of languages in as short an amount of time as possible. As machine translation continues to develop and improve, it's becoming an increasingly important tool for organizations with specific translation needs.
Google Translate now supports 13 additional languages, bringing the total to over 100 (103 to be exact). According to Google’s estimate, the free translation service now covers an astonishing 99% of the online population.
Google Translate has come a long way. It first launched in 2006 using an early form of computer-assisted translation, based on information from dictionaries, grammar guides and other sources. The first language pair in April 2006 was English and Arabic, which was then followed by translations between English, Chinese and Russian in December 2006. The number of supported languages began to increase in 2007, and now, a decade later, the service has passed the 100 languages mark.
Translation of medical device packaging and instructions can be a life or death situation.
As we enter 2016, the United States remains the largest medical device market in the world, outperforming other developed markets. There are more than 6,500 medical device companies in the United States, and these companies exported more than $44 billion in products in 2012 (the most current year of available data). One of the forces that drives this market growth is the ability to quickly translate and publish medical device documentation, making it available and accessible to users worldwide. But, before medical devices are approved for market entry, all of this information must be carefully adapted to comply with international, regional and local laws. Translated documentation must meet strict language criteria and abide by regulations enforced by international governmental bodies.
The correct usage of a medical device is crucial, and can be a life or death situation, depending on the device and its use. The importance of accurate and precise translation cannot be overstated for these devices when they are released in overseas markets – there is no room for error.
A quality result on translation services is more important now than ever.
Translation services are an important and necessary part of many businesses that have an international presence. When you have need for translation services, it's very important for the job to be done correctly. Choosing the right type of provider for your translation needs is an important part of the process.
What Does Value Mean?
There are important distinctions between cost and value, especially when it comes to translation services. Cost is typically a starting point for someone shopping for translation services, but not all translations are created equal. In this context, value is often more important, as there can be a huge difference in the quality of the translators, reviewers, and even the translation process that each provider offers.
Value, for translation services, then is getting the best services at the lowest possible price. So what type of translation solutions give the best value?
Freelance, In-House, or LSP
Let’s discuss three of the main resources for translating professional content, as each have their own set of pros and cons.
Freelance translators can sometimes offer the lowest direct cost for services and are typically seen as the most cost-effective solution. For a one-off, simple and small project, they can indeed make the most sense. However, when working on a multi-lingual or more complex project, a company has to dedicate internal resources to managing however many individuals are involved, recruiting and vetting each translator and reviewer for quality, arranging schedules and managing glossaries and translation memory content, which may or may not be in that project manager’s experience or expertise. Taking all factors into consideration, the relatively low per-word fees charged by freelancers may not be as low as they seem.
In-house linguists often have a main job with entirely different responsibilities, and are then asked to “help” with translations. They may work in sales, or marketing, or any number of other roles, and it can hardly be more efficient to obtain translation services than to ask someone just a desk away. Plus, from a terminology standpoint, they’re bound to have an intimate knowledge of preferred industry terms. However, just because a person is bilingual, does not mean that they are necessarily trained, experienced, and good at everything that goes into being a professional translator. Aside from resources and research, there’s the technical ability to produce content without typos or grammar errors. And the additional complicating factor is that this may complicate or compromise their ability to perform their main job, depending on what that job description is. The “side projects” requested of them may cause conflicts reducing in reduced morale, and lateness.
When learning a foreign language, accurate pronunciation of new vocabulary words can be one of the toughest skills to master. As the language-learning world becomes more and more digital, language learners are more likely to turn to online tools, such as Google Translate, for pronunciation help. However, the computer voice often sounds robotic, garbled, and difficult to understand.
DITA is a model for using the XML markup language to write and publish content. DITA was developed by IBM as a way to make reusing content more efficient. Incorporating the DITA method can be a very effective tool for quickly creating content for enterprise projects. One of the biggest benefits of using DITA is that it allows users to easily organize content and optimize it for re-use in the future, and hopefully never having to pay twice for the translation of any content. A key part of succeeding with DITA as it relates to localization is proper planning and resource selection.
Here’s the situation: you’ve got TONS of text that needs translation (tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of words) but there isn’t room in your budget for the higher cost of “standard” translation, and you’re faced with an expedited timeline. Most likely, under such circumstances, the traditional human translation process simply isn’t feasible.
Machine translation (MT) engines can translate large quantities of data in minutes or hours, and for a fraction of the cost. However, most of us have seen some comical examples of the sub-par translations produced by any of the free online MT solutions. Gibberish certainly isn't an acceptable form of communication!
Fortunately, the quality of customized, trained MT engines has come a long way, and for certain content, it’s the perfect option. When MT is supplemented with extensive industry-specific Translation Memories and Glossaries (e.g. Life Sciences, IT, Electronics, Medical Devices, Automotive), along with a human post-editing touch, your desired linguistic quality is within reach.
The most critical step to improving the quality of your MT results is through the post-editing process. To benefit from “the best of both worlds”, you would first run your content through MT software and then arrange for a professional translator to perform post-editing. This way, a human expert will enhance the quality by correcting grammar, terminology and punctuation, among other issues.
Translation memory is an essential tool for increasing consistency and efficiency, and can result in significant cost savings over time. Translation memory (TM) software is a valuable tool for translators and often a client’s best friend.
What is translation memory? In simple terms, a TM it is a database consisting of “segments” (phrases and sentences) that are stored as the original source language along with translated target language “segments” that correspond to the original content.
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Ok, so we all know we are supposed to be eating our fruits and veggies. But, I’m constantly asked about fruit consumption. People have gotten afraid to eat fruit because of the popularity of low carb diets, like Atkins. Some so-called health experts warn that fruit as just as bad as sugar when it comes to overall health and weight maintenance.
Why the stigma? Most of the calories in fruit come from carbohydrates, and most of those carbs are sugar, and most of that sugar is fructose. Recent studies suggest that fructose, in the large quantities most Americans consume, can have adverse effects on blood sugar levels and promote weight gain along with many other health risks.
But, it’s more complicated than that. First, fresh fruit really only account for a very small amount of the fructose most Americans consume. You’d have to eat several servings of fresh fruit to equal the equivalent amount in a soda. And, fruits are also high in fiber, which slows the absorption of sugar in the blood stream.
So what’s the verdict? Fruit is naturally sweet, healthy and delicious. The more you eat, the less you’ll crave sugar. Fruit is rich in vitamins, minerals (like potassium) and antioxidants. Thanks to their fiber and high water content, eating fruit is very satiating. And, it’s the ultimate travel and fast food snack.
Your homework: You guessed it – eat more fruit!
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§ Earl Attlee
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why, in a period of heightened tension, it is possible for protestors or anyone else, to gain unauthorised access to Marchwood military port. [HL1531]
§ Lord Bach
The security of all Ministry of Defence establishments is kept under constant revieWAnd is enhanced as necessary. It would not be realistic to attempt to secure the very extensive outer perimeters of any MoD site to a level that would guarantee that it could never be penetrated, or exclude the possibility of material damage in a non-sensitive area. We rely on defence in depth, priority being given to the protection of life and to those assets critical to the delivery of defence capability.196WA
The measures in place at Marchwood military port were commensurate with the threat posed by the demonstrators in that there was no loss or compromise of MoD equipment in transit and no injuries, either to authorised personnel or to the demonstrators. In all cases where protestors had put themselves at risk by chaining themselves to equipment or lodging themselves in precarious positions on or around loading ships, their safety remained paramount.
As a result of the increasing level of attempted incursions by anti-war demonstrators additional resources have been brought in to guard the Marchwood perimeter. Due to service personnel being committed to Operation Telic or Operation Fresco additional Ministry of Defence Police and MoD Guard Service personnel have been made available from other establishments.
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DENVER — This wicked winter notwithstanding, a study of two Rocky Mountain ski resorts says climate change will mean shorter seasons and less snow on lower slopes.
The study by two Colorado researchers says Aspen Mountain in Colorado and Park City in Utah will see dramatic changes even with a reduction in carbon emissions, which fuel climate change.
University of Colorado-Boulder geography professor Mark Williams said Monday that the resorts should be in fairly good shape the next 25 years, but after that there will be less snowpack — or no snow at all — at the base areas, and the season will be shorter because snow will accumulate later and melt earlier.
If carbon emissions increase, the average temperature at Park City will be 10.4 degrees warmer by 2100, and there likely will be no snowpack, according to the study. Skiing at Aspen, with an average temperature 8.6 degrees higher than now, will be marginal.
The key to the survival of the larger ski areas in the Rockies will be adaptation, according to the study by Williams and Brian Lazar, a scientist at Boulder-based Stratus Consulting. The researchers said they expect many U.S. ski areas to follow the lead of resorts in the European Alps already dealing with snow shortages by storing water to use for snowmaking.
The two also suggest that resorts add gondolas to ferry skiers from low-snow base areas to snowier spots and expand operations at higher elevations.
The study focuses on Park City and Aspen, which helped sponsor it. But Lazar and Williams, who are researching the effects of climate change on ski areas on the West Coast and in New England, said several ski areas in California, Oregon and Washington and in the East likely will face similar or worse conditions.
The pair combined temperature and precipitation data for Aspen Mountain and Park City Mountain with general climate circulation models for the study. They mapped three scenarios: a slower increase in carbon emissions; continuation of the current rate; and increased emissions.
"It's not all doom and gloom, particularly for the Rockies," said Williams, a fellow at CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.
Reducing the rate at which carbon emissions increase — the best-case or "green" scenario — likely will still mean less snow accumulation and shorter seasons, but the results won't be as dramatic, the researchers said. The Rockies' high elevations and cold weather will enable the resorts to make up for snow shortages through stepped-up snowmaking.
More snowmaking, though, will require more water, a challenge in an area where most of the water rights are already allocated, the researchers said.
Even if emissions are reduced, winters will be warmer and less snowy than in the past because there's a 50- to 70-year lag between release of the carbon emissions and the effects, the researchers said.
"Some of this warming is written in the cards. That's the bad news," Lazar said. "The good is that which emission path we end up on makes a dramatic difference."
The Park City and Aspen ski resorts have taken several steps to cut their emissions by switching to solar and wind power, increasing energy efficiency and using cleaner-burning snow machines.
But ski resorts could eliminate all their carbon emissions and not save the industry, said Auden Schendler, executive director of sustainability for Aspen Skiing Co. The issue of climate change is much bigger than just one industry, he added.
"I think the issue of climate change at ski resorts is a way for people to understand the broader issue of climate change. In a way, it's a metaphor for the world," Schendler said. "This should be the No. 1 lobbying issue for our whole industry."
Aspen Skiing officials have testified before Congress on addressing climate change and filed a supporting brief in a lawsuit by Massachusetts and other states pushing for regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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ALANSON A., ELHANAN AND HYRCANUS BLACKMAN. – The father of these gentlemen, Adam Blackman, is a native of Maine; and their mother was Mary (Howard) Blackman, both of whom are still living in the town of Bradley in the above state. The history of communities and of nations is made up mainly of the acts of men who contribute towards directing to a result the efforts of the people by whom they are surrounded. This is equally true whether the actor be a Grant marshaling the legions of a grand army, a Vanderbilt, dictating a nation’s commerce, or the obscure farmer whose harvest is gathered to feed those dependent upon him. The acts of each that have an influence upon any portion of the human family are historic events, and are important in proportion to the result. Every community has its leading men, whose operations exert an influence upon others. Their plans include the capital and the labor of many to execute; and if that labor is benefited or that capital augmented, the ones who planned are public benefactors, great in proportion to the results achieved. Even though it be claimed that the object of such operations was to benefit the designers only, still, if in its detail or results benefits accrue to the public, those who designed and executed nevertheless are public benefactors.
There are persons of this class living between the Cascade and Coast Mountains who have done much for the country where they live; but among them all there is none superior in this respect than the gentlemen whose names head this short memoir, and whose portraits appear in this history. Fertile in invention, comprehensive in judgment, with a tenacity of purpose inherited from their Puritan ancestors, they could not have fallen short of becoming leaders in whatever sphere circumstances may have placed them.
The firm so well and favorable known throughout Washington Territory as the Blackman Brothers of Snohomish, is composed of those gentlemen whose names appear above. They came to Snohomish county sixteen years ago poor men; but through industry and enterprise, guided by financial ability, they have succeeded in building up a very extensive sawmill, lumbering and logging business on the Snohomish river, together with a general merchandise store in Snohomish. Some idea of their extensive business may be gleaned form the knowledge that they employ their different enterprises no less than one hundred and twenty-five men, and keep four large logging camps in successful operation. (A full account and description of the business interests of this firm will be found in its proper place among the industries of Washington Territory.)
The lives of these gentlemen are conclusive evidence of the truthfulness of the adage of “where those who will may win.” As business men, they have the confidence of all who know them; as citizens, the respect to which their character and actions in life have entitled them; and their wealth is the result of judicious labor prompted by their early surroundings, and not the reward of chance or birth. They have gathered the foundation for a competency in the near future, and in doing so have developed a capability and judgment in management that both warrants and deserves success. It is only just to state that the brothers have been ably assisted by the ladies of their families, who aided them in their council, and even for a time undertook the hardship of looking after the household duties in their different logging camps. Whatever enterprise is started that tends towards the benefit of the territory, county or city in which they reside is always met by the brothers by a hasty indorsement and financial aid. In 187 they each built a handsome residence in the city of Snohomish, where they enjoy the comforts of a happy home.
The senior of the brothers, Alanson A., was born in Bradley, Penobscot county, Maine, May 26, 1841, and resided in his native town until his coming with his brothers to Washington Territory, where they arrived in November 1872. He was united in marriage in Bradley, Maine, November 28, 1867, to Miss Eliza J. Howard, a native of Maine. Elhanan was also born in Bradley, May 10, 1944, and was married in the same town December 25, 1867, to Frances M. Osgood, a native of Maine. By this union they have one child, Edith M. Hyrcanus Blackman was born January 4, 1847, in Bradley and was united in marriage at that place May 17,1870, to Miss Ella E. Knapp, a native of the same town. Their children are Clifford A. and Eunice L.
The lives of those three brothers have been indelibly connected since their childhood. They resided on their father’s farm until twenty-one years of age. They were engaged in the lumber business until November, `872, when they came to Puget Sound, and, after looking over the territory for a location, selected Snohomish for their future home, where they now own a large amount of real estate, together with thirty-four hundred acres of timber and agricultural land in the county of Snohomish. The above land contains about one hundred and fifty million feet of standing timber. They are conservative in politics, but vote the Democratic ticket. That party, in the fall of 1878, honored itself by selecting the junior member of the firm to represent Snohomish county in the territorial legislature, a position he filled with ability, and to the best interests of the county, for the sessions of 1878 and 1880.
In conclusion we would say that the men who develop and shape the prospects and property of a country are such men as the subjects of this sketch, – men who by activity, force of character and honorable purposes, guided by superior intelligence, mould for success that which they control, shape for improvement that which falls within range of their influence.
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We are here for you to provide the important Current Affairs September 27 2018, which have unique updates of all daily events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, India Today, Indian Express, Business Standard, all Government official websites.
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First Smart City Expo India-2018 inaugurated in Jaipur by Vice President
On September 26, 2018, Vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated three days long Smart City Expo India-2018 in Jaipur.
i. Near about 6000 delegates from MNC’s of different countries , researchers , CEO’s of different Smart cities , Mayors and corporates participated in the expo.
ii. They had discussions related to:
Benefits of new technology, town planning, capacity management, challenges before socio-economic development and development of networking in the Smart City sector.
iii. At present 433 smart city projects worth Rs 7,958 crore have been completed in the country.
iv. Additionally, over 800 projects worth Rs 32,500 crore are being implemented.
v. 48 out of the 100 smart city projects in India are based on the public private partnership.
4-day “Lok Manthan 2018” : national literary and intellectual conference inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in Ranchi
On September 27, 2018, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated a national literary and intellectual conference- “Lok Manthan 2018” at Khel Gaon in Ranchi.
i. The four-day event was organised by Department of Culture of Jharkhand Government in association with a NGO.
ii. The event witnessed discussions on present social and cultural issues facing the country.
‘USAID-India End TB Alliance’: alliance formed between India, United States to combat tuberculosis
On September 27, 2018, India and United States have formed an alliance to jointly fight tuberculosis.
To achieve a TB-free India by 2025.
i. An alliance comprising leading experts in public and private sectors called ‘USAID-India End TB Alliance’ was formed in New York.
ii. Alliance members include industry and civil society leaders, academics, scientists, innovators, investors, and members of the diaspora.
iii. The team would offer innovative approaches to combat tuberculosis in India.
iv.USAID Administrator Mark Green announced that USAID is making an initial USD 30 million commitment,subject to the approval of the US Congress.
India accounts for 27 per cent of the world’s TB cases, with 421,000 deaths per year. This accounts to one death per minute in India.
♦ Capital: Washington D.C.
♦ Currency: US Dollar.
♦ President: Donald Trump
MOU to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and security: India and Morocco
On September 25, 2018, Moroccan defence minister Mr Abdeltif Loudyi on his two day first official visit to India, met Indian Defence minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi.
i. They inked pact on the following:
- Bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and security,
- The fields include: Hydrography, Peacekeeping, Telemedicine, Information Technology and Communications as well as Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency,
- Collaboration in Ship Building and manufacturing support,
- Participation of Defence minister of Morocco in the Aero India 2019to be held in Bengaluru in February 2019,
- MOU for cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’ between ISROand the Moroccan Centre of Remote Sensing ,
- MOU for Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security’ between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT –IN), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Moroccan Computer Response Team (ma-CERT).
ii. The Moroccan delegate also visited Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities at Bengaluru .
♦ Capital: Rabat.
♦ Currency: Moroccan dirham.
Indo-Bangla border conference held in Aizawl, Mizoram
On 27th September 2018, a joint border conference was held between India and Bangladesh at Aizawl, Mizoram.
i. Delegates from India and Bangladesh discussed the border issues between both the countries including demarcation of border between the two countries along Mizoram.
ii. Indian delegation was headed by Survey of India Director Sanjay Kumar. Surveyor General of Bangladesh, Brigadier General Zakir Ahmed also participated
India, Oman agree to boost cooperation in maritime security
On 26th September 2018, Defence Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman and Minsiter of Defence Affairs, Sultanate of Oman, Sayyid Badr Saud Harib Al Busaidi agreed to improve cooperation in maritime security and defence industry engagement.
i. Sayyid Badr Saud Harib Al Busaidi is on an official visit to India. He held discussions on a wide range of topics with Nirmala Sitharaman.
ii. They reviewed bilateral defence cooperation and discussed measures to improve bilateral exchanges and defence relationship between both the countries.
iii. India and Oman have decided to cooperate in coastal defence and conduct regular joint exercises by navy, air and army officials.
iv. Oman has opened access to Port of Duqm in Oman for military use and logistical support. It will provide maintenance to Indian Naval vessels.
v. Also, Oman is the first GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) to formalize Defence ties with India from joint military exercise and cooperation in anti-piracy and security matters.
About GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council):
♦ Secretary General – Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani
♦ Headquarters – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Agmark online system launched by Agriculture minister to conduct quality control functions
On September 26, 2018, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh launched online software for Agmark certification process.
i.The processes of certification are being implemented by the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI).
ii. The process has been easy and accessible due to modern technologies implemented by the National Informatics Center .
iii. The online certification processes include:
- Certificate of authorisation (domestic),
- Permission of printing press,
- Permission of laboratories (domestic) and
- Services related to laboratory information management system and
- Provisions for online receipt of fees from the applicants.
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare:
♦ Union Minister: Shri Radha Mohan Singh.
♦ Minister of State: Shri. Purushottam R., Smt. Krishna Raj, Shri. Gajendra S.S.
Hyderabad Metro became India’s 2nd largest metro rail network
On September 27, 2018, the Hyderabad Metro Rail’s (HMR) 46-km Corridor One became India’s second-largest metro network after Delhi.
i. It is also the world’s largest metro project under the public-private-partnership (PPP) worth over Rs 20,000 crore.
ii. It is originally a 72 km of elevated metro line which is being built by L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad in the three dense traffic corridors of the city, of which 46 km is now operational.
4 Northern states and 2 UTs to fix uniform tax rates on petroleum products
On September 27, 2018, 4 Northern states and 2 UTs agree to fix uniform tax rates on petroleum products.
Fixing uniform rate of taxes on petrol and diesel.
i. These state are : Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and UTs of Delhi and Chandigarh.
ii. This was decided in a meeting held by the finance ministers of 4 states and officials of UTs in Chandigarh.
iii. Futher, a sub-committee would be instituted which would recommend with regard to uniformity in tax rates in next fifteen days.
iv. As per the decision taken by the officials,
Uniformity in VAT rates on petrol and diesel will be brought to provide relief to consumers,
i. They have also decided on uniformity in taxes on liquor and registration of vehicles and transport permit.
ii. A committee of officials has also been set up for excise and transport to report about the tax uniformity in the respective states.
Punjab has one of the highest rates of VAT on petrol in the country and it is second to Maharashtra.
Assam cabinet to launch the Universal Pension scheme on October 2, 2018
On September 27, 2018, the Assam cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, announced that on the 150th birth anniversary of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, will launch the Universal Pension scheme in the state.
i. Under the scheme, the pension will be given to all BPL and APL ration card holders over 60 years of age.
i. An amount of 50 lakh rupees has been sanctioned to filmmaker Rima Das whose movie Village Rockstar has been nominated for Oscars.
ii. Small tea growers have been exempted from the levy of cess amounting to 10 paise per kilogram under an amendment in the Assam Special Land Act, 1990.
iii. It also approved the Inland Water Transport Authority Bill for regulating and inspecting all vessels for their safety measures.
iv. The State Cabinet approved the amendment in the Assam GST Act by which GST registration has been relaxed from 10 lakh rupees annual turnover to 20 lakh rupees annual turnover.
v. Furthermore, a recommendation of Sports University Bill to set up a sports university at Chabua named after Aniruddha Dev was placed before the cabinet.
♦ Capital: Dispur.
♦ Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal.
♦ Governor: Jagdish Mukhi.
♦ National Parks: Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park (UNESCO Natural World Herigate Site), Orang National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
♦ Airports: Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Dibrugarh Airport, Jorhat Airport, Tezpur Airport, Silchar Airport.
Supreme Court struck down Section 497 of IPC due to violation of rights
On September 27, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, of the Supreme Court struck down the 150-year-old penal law on adultery.
i. It invalidated the Section 497 of IPC as a violation of Articles 14 and 15 and under Article 21 of the constitution of India.
ii. It is declared that adultery can be the ground for civil issues including dissolution of marriage but it cannot be a criminal offence.
iii.The 5 judges include: Chief Justice India Dipak Misra, Justices Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
India ranks 96th; HK, Singapore retain top spot: Economic Freedom Index
On September 27, 2018, according to a study named Economic Freedom in the World by Centre for Civil Society (CCS) along with Canada’s Fraser Institute, India stands at 96th rank out of 162 countries in economic freedom.
The 2018 report is based on data from 2016.
i. The index measures 5 areas of economic freedom. They are: Size of Government, Legal System and Property Rights, Sound Money, Freedom to Trade Internationally and Regulation.
ii. India ranked 98th in the previous year.
iii. India improved its score on parameters such as legal system and property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labour and business.
iv. The score however reduced in the size of government parameter.
v. Among the BRICS nations, Russia and South Africa are ahead of India at 87th and 94th place and China and Brazil are behind it at 108th and 144th positions.
vi. Hong Kong and Singapore again topped the index ranking first and second respectively.
vii. Remaining countries in the top 10 were: New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the US, Georgia, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (tied for 10th) respectively.
viii. The 10 lowest-rated countries are: Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Syria, Algeria, Argentina, Libya, and lastly Venezuela.
ix. People living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy greater prosperity, more political and civil liberties, and live longer.
x. Life expectancy is 79.5 years in the top quartile nations compared to 64.4 years in the bottom quartile nations.
Centre for Civil Society:
♦ Headquarters: New Delhi.
♦ Founded: 1997.
♦ Founder and President: Parth J shah.
♦ Chairman: Luis Miranda.
BANKING & FINANCE
RBI eased cash reserve rules to allow banks to get increased liquidity from SLR
On September 27, 2018, Reserve Bank of India enhanced the “Facility to Avail Liquidity for Liquidity Coverage Ratio (FALLCR)” from the existing 11 per cent to 13 per cent of their deposits.
To overcome any possible liquidity constraints by the banks.
i. This will be effective from October 1.
ii. This will enable the banks to forge out up to 15 per cent of holdings under the statutory liquidity reserves (SLR) during liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements as compared to 13 per cent now.
iii. As of September 26, banks had availed of Rs.1.88 trillion through term repos from the Reserve Bank.
♦ Availing of liquidity against the securities under FALLCR is usually permitted to banks only under the conditions of stress.
♦ Current SLR: 19.5%.
ADB approved $500 mn for Tamil Nadu water supply, sewerage, drainage infrastructure project
On September 25, 2018, Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved financing of up to $500 million for a multitranche financing facility (MFF) infrastructure project in at least 10 cities of Tamil Nadu.
To develop climate-resilient water supply, sewerage, and drainage infrastructure.
i. ADB’s financing will be provided in 3 tranches between September 2018 and March 2022.
ii. The first tranche of the program amounting to $169 million will target the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Rajapalayam, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, and Vellore.
iii.The Second one would be a $2 million grant from the Asian Clean Energy Fund, established by the Government of Japan, to fund the solar energy pilot project.
iv. ADB technical assistance grant of $1 million to support capacity building. This is a part of a project worth $766.4 million by The Government of India, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
v. The MFF availability period is up to 30 June 2026.
vi. This assistance is a part of its support to the state’s Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 to provide universal access to water and sanitation and develop world-class cities in high-performing industrial corridors.
vii. The projects would include:
- Development of climate-resilient sewerage collection and treatment and drainage systems in 10 cities,
- Installation of country’s first solar-powered sewage treatment plant on a pilot basis,
- Introduction of smart water management systems.
viii. Around 4 million people will benefit from piped water and sewerage connections and improved drainage.
National Parks of Tamil Nadu :
♦ Mudumalai National Park
♦ Anamalai National Park,
♦ Guindy National Park.
♦ Headquarters: Manila, Philippines.
♦ Established in 1966.
♦ Members- 67 , (48 from Asian region).
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Govt increased customs duties on 19 items to bridge gap of CAD
On September 27, 2018, the government increased customs duty on import of 19 on certain ‘non-essential’ items.
i. This increase in import duty is aimed at bridging current account deficit (CAD) in order to save Indian rupee from the incessant fall.
ii. The changes came into effect from September 27.
iii. The total value of imports of these items in the year 2017-18 was about Rs 86,000 crore.
iv. The increased rate would enable the government to collect Rs 4,000 crore by the end of this financial year.
♦ Union Minister: Shri Arun Jaitley.
♦ Minister of State: Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Shri Pon Radhakrishnan.
♦ Secretart of Finance:Shri Rajiv Kumar(Finance).
Indian Navy signs contract with Hindustan Shipyard Ltd for construction of 2 Diving Support Vessels (DSV)
On 20th September 2018, Indian Navy signed a contract with M/s Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakhapatnam, for construction of 2 Diving Support Vessels (DSV) to expand Indian Navy’s submarine support operations.
i. The first vessel will be built in 36 months. It will be followed by the second vessel, 6 months later.
ii. The vessels will be based at Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai respectively. It will have 118 m length and 7,650 T displacement.
iii. The DSV also has a Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) that will improve its Submarine Rescue Capabilities.
iv. M/s James Fisher Defence, United Kingdom, delivered the first non-tethered DSRV with capability of submarine rescue upto depths of 650 m, in April 2018, in Mumbai.
v. The second DSRV for Vishakhapatnam is expected to be delivered in December 2018.
About Indian Navy:
♦ Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) – Admiral Sunil Lanba
♦ Headquarters – New Delhi
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
PM Modi among 6 entities to get UN’s ‘Champions of the Earth’ award: UN
On September 26, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with 5 other individuals and organisations are recipients of UN’s highest environmental honour: Champions of the Earth Award.
i. He along with French President Emmanuel Macron have been conferred this award in the Policy Leadership category
ii. They have been awarded for their joint effort to:
- Promote environmental policies through the International Solar Allianceand
- Eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.
iii. Cochin International Airport has also been awarded this year under the ‘Entrepreneurial Vision’ category for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.
iv. Among other awardees are:
- Environmental and indigenous rights defender Joan Carlingand the ‘Beyond Meat and Impossible Food’ in the Science and Innovation category for their popular, plant-based alternative to beef.
- China’s Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programmegot the awarded for transformation of polluted rivers and streams.
v. These awards would be presented during the Champions of the Earth Gala in New York City, on the sidelines of the ongoing 73rd UN General Assembly in New York.
♦ Headquarters: New York.
♦ Member: 193
♦ Secretary-General: Antonio Guterres.
Mukesh Ambani retains top spot; 214 new additions: Barclays Hurun India rich list 2018
On September 26, 2018, Barclays Hurun India rich list 2018 was released and according to it new 214 individuals were added, whose net worth is Rs 1,000 crore or more.
i. Since its inception in 2012, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani remains to be at the top of the list.
ii. He is now the richest Indian with net worth of Rs 371,000 crore with his wealth increasing by Rs 300 crore a day over the past year.
iii. With 831 members, the list has increased by a third since 2017 and almost eight times since 2012.
iv. The cumulative wealth of the 831 individuals featured in the list stood at $719 billion, roughly a quarter of India’s GDP of $2,848 billion.
v. India as 3rd with 141 billionaires in terms of countries highest number of billionaires behind China and the US.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology announced by CSIR
On September 27, 2018, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on its foundation day released the list of awardees for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2018. Dr Aditi Sen De is the only female winner this year.
i. Dr Thomas Pucadyil from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune has been awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology by CSIR.
ii. He was conferred with the honor for his research in the discipline of Biological Sciences on membrane biochemistry and vesicular transport.
iii. Other awardees of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology 2018 were:
- In the Biological Sciences category, Ganesh Nagaraju from IISC, Bengaluru.
- In the Chemical science category, Rahul Banerjee and Swadhin Kumar Mandal of IISER, Kolkata,
- In the Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences category, Dr. Madineni Venkat Ratnam of the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Tirupati, and Parthasarathi Chakraborty of CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa,
- In the Engineering Sciences, Amit Agarwaland Ashwin Anil Gumaste of IIT Bombay,
- In the Mathematical Sciences category, Amit Kumar and Nitin Saxena, from IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur respectively,
- In the Medical Sciences category, Dr Ganesan Venkatasubramanian of NIMHANS, Bengaluru,
- In the Physical Sciences category, Dr. Aditi Sen De the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad and Dr. Ambarish Ghosh from IISc, Bengaluru.
About the Award:
Constituted in 1958, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is India’s highest science award, for outstanding research, in science and technology.
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
TRIFED & “TRIBES INDIA” presents “Punch Tantra collection” & Ms. Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador of Tribes India
On 27th September 2018, Jual Oram, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs launched “Punch Tantra Diwali collection” and announced World Boxing Champion Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador of “Tribes India” in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
i. The event was organised by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) and Tribes India under Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
ii. The Punch Tantra range of tribal arti-facts consists of handlooms and handicrafts inspired and promoted by Mary Kom.
iii. The collection is like the powerful punch of Mary Kom, as the name suggests. It has been specially introduced for the festive season.
iv. The Punch Tantra collection comprises Sarees, Stoles, Dupatas, Shawls, Kurtas/Kurtis, Lamp shades (Kandels), Sky Lanters, Diyas, Gift hampers, etc.
About Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED):
♦ Managing Director – Pravir Krishna
♦ Headquarters – New Delhi
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
‘Astra’ air-to-air missile successfully test fired
On September 27, 2018, the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) Astra from a Su-30 aircraft over the Bay of Bengal near Chandipur in Odisha.
i. It has been developed by:
IAF and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) primarily.
ii. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited modifying the aircraft for weapon integration along with 50 other private and public industries.
iii. It was part of the series of final pre-induction trials and had already undergone more than twenty developmental trials.
♦ Headquarters: New Delhi.
♦ Defence Minister: Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
♦ Minister of State for Defence : Dr.Subhash Bhamre.
♦ Defence Secretary and Chairman of DRDO: Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy.
♦ Headquarters: Bengaluru.
♦ Head: R. Madhavan.
Madrid to host new-format Davis Cup in 2019 and 2020
On 27th September 2018, International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that, Madrid would host the first two new-format Davis Cup finals in 2019 and 2020.
i. The new format was proposed by the Kosmos group headed by footballer Gerard Pique and was adopted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in August 2018.
ii. The competition will engage 18 countries at one place for a week at the end of the tennis season.
iii. The revamped finals will be conducted at La Caja Magica, venue for Madrid Open in 2019. The venue for the 2020 event has not yet been decided.
iv. The investment group Kosmos will spend $3 billion over 25 years on the revamped 118-year-old Davis Cup.
About International Tennis Federation (ITF):
♦ President – David Haggerty
♦ Headquarters – London, United Kingdom
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CUT THE RIBBON, JORIS-KARL HUYSMANS
Posted on January 14, 2013 by admin
French of Duch origins, writer Joris-Karl Huysmans was born in 1848. First considered part of Naturalism, he became associated with the decadent movement with his publication of À rebours. Despite the variety of his work, Huysmans is the example of a person who changed many time during in life. For thirty-two years he worked as a civil servant for the French Ministry of the Interior, a job he found tedious but he also entered the “Zola Club” and started to write because that was what he liked more. His oeuvre is complex, his writing is exquisite and refined but it’s for the novel À rebours (Against The Grain) that he definitely cut the ribbon. Jean Des Esseintes is the last member of a powerful and once proud noble family. He has lived an extremely decadent life in Paris, which has left him disgusted with human society. Without telling anyone, he retreats to a house in the countryside. He fills the house with his eclectic art collection and decides to spend the rest of his life in intellectual and aesthetic contemplation.
Love it or hate it, À rebours is the very first novel that follows the life of a dandy. The book that impressed Oscar Wilde himself, the book in which you can read about a person choosing the color of his wall in a maniac way (about 5 pages)…and the book in which a person, in order to exalt his new carpet’s color, decide to buy a turtle to be place on it. But then the turtle is too dark and the carpet gets too much red shades and Des Esseintes decided not only to paint the shell in gold but also to add some precious stones, but not vulgar diamonds everybody can have, some Japanese rare stones you can buy somewhere complicated (about 5 pages). Delirium, obsession, research for perfection and beauty: the dandiest of all the dandies who cut the ribbon first was Huysmans.
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Film: It Happened One Night
Peter Warne (Clark Gable) is a hard-bitten reporter. He loses his job, but finds a ticket back in when he stumbles onto a runaway heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who is determined to marry an airplane pilot named King Westley against her father's wishes. Peter meets Ellie on a cross-country night bus, and threatens to blow her cover unless she gives him the exclusive story about her escape. They hate each other at first; when they realize that they'll have to share a room, they invent the "Wall of Jericho," a blanket between their two beds to keep them apart. But they eventually fall in love...This Romantic Comedy from 1934 was directed by Frank Capra. It was the first film to win all five major Oscars in the same year: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay - a feat only repeated twice since with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Silence of the Lambs. It established Columbia Pictures as a major film company, made Clark Gable a star, and let the world know that Frank Capra was a great director. Its title was the solution to the very first rebus on Concentration.It's also the first Screwball Comedy — it started a whole genre of comedy films in which a straight man-style character is chased, harassed, and eventually romantically captured by a Cloudcuckoolander (or related trope).Random trivia: Bugs Bunny's love of carrots was intended as an obvious Shout-Out to Clark Gable's carrot chomping in this movie, but it quickly became the Stock Animal Diet of fictional rabbits everywhere. (In Real Life, carrots are unhealthy for rabbits in large amounts.)
This film provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: A very obnoxious guy hits on Ellie on the bus so Peter starts pretending to be her husband.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Peter is kind of a jerk to Ellie in some scenes. She still falls for him anyway.
- She falls for him because of him being a bit of a jerk now and then - she likes someone who stands up to her and isn't impressed by her (father's) money.
- The Alleged Car: Peter's car has a Plot-Driven Breakdown while pursuing Ellie's convoy. Not only does the car overheat, a tire goes flat as well.
- Almost Kiss: Between Peter and Ellie in the hay.
- Anguished Declaration of LoveEllie: I love you. Nothing else matters. We can run away. Everything will take care of itself. Please, Peter, I can't let you out of my life now. I couldn't live without you.
- Beautiful Dreamer: Peter to Ellie on the bus: "I hated to wake you up. You look kind of pretty asleep."
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: They sure do snipe at each other a lot in the beginning.
- Blackmail: Peter wants the scoop on Ellie's flight to her husband; he threatens to call her father unless she gives it to him.
- Also, Oscar Shapely wants to go 50/50 on a $5,000 reward he sees in the newspaper.
- Break Up Make Up Scenario: one of the first in cinema, as Peter and Ellie angrily separate, only to be reunited at the end.
- Catch Phrase: I'll write a book about it.
- Clark Kenting: Peter and Ellie fool the detectives by pretending to be a low-class married couple. Somehow it works.
- Crowd Song: Though the bus passengers' rendition of "The Flying Trapeze" is believable.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ellie to Peter during his hitchhiking attempts.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Ellie's character development over the course of the movie.
- Disposable Fiancé: King Westley. He is the reason why Ellie jumped from her father's yacht and is attempting to escape to New York. Of course, Ellie never really knew him. He was simply the first man she ever got alone with; she got engaged to him to stick it to her overprotective father. Once she spends her time with Peter and finds out what falling in love is actually like, she realizes there's no way she ever loved her fiancé.
- Domestic Abuser: Peter pretends to abuse his "wife" to fool those who are looking for Ellie.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Peter does this when his wedding plans with Ellie fail.
- Fairytale Wedding Dress: Ellie's is pretty sweet.
- Fanservice: Clark Gable was seen without an undershirt in this film. There is an urban legend that this hurt undershirt sales.
- Foreshadowing: Calling the dividing towel the "Wall of Jericho" foreshadows that the barriers between the couple will eventually fall away. The end includes a Call Back to this very topic, where the couple request a trumpet and a towel is shown tossed into a corner.
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: Ellie is completely covered in baggy pajamas, but she still demands Peter's robe before walking to the separate shower room at the motel.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: So blatant it hardly counts as sneaking. Peter and Ellie spend the movie hanging a towel (the Wall of Jericho) between the beds in their hotel/motel rooms for privacy. At the end, when they have been married, they retire to a hotel room, while the owner remarks to a friend how funny it is that the newlyweds requested a trumpet. Cut to a scene of a towel being thrown into the corner, with the sound of a trumpet being blown. Really suggestive for 1934.
- Gilligan Cut: At the train station Peter insists that he wasn't interested in Ellie's money. Cut to the next scene where he sends off a telegram to his boss with the attempt to cash in on the big story that fell into his lap.
- Have a Gay Old Time: "Dyke's Auto Camp" might elicit a few snickers today.
- I Have a Family: Peter gives Oscar Shapely a good scare with the kidnapping and You Know Too Much plot, upon which the latter replies that he has a wife and kids.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Peter does this towards the end when meeting with Ellie's father:Mr. Andrews: Do you love my daughter?
Peter: Any guy in love with your daughter should be examined.
Mr. Andrews: Do you love her?
Peter: A normal man couldn't live with her without going nutty.
Mr. Andrews: I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Peter, who is rude and crass but really does care about Ellie.
- Also, Peter's Mean Boss seems to have a soft side to him.
- Just for the Heli of It: The groom arrives at the society wedding in an autogyro (like a helicopter, but with an unpowered rotor), apparently for the PR value. The bride and her father are not favorably impressed:Mr. Andrews: Everything's set. Creating quite a furore, too. (Pause) Great stunt King is going to pull.
Mr. Andrews: Yeah, he's landing on the lawn in an autogyro.
Ellie: (Flatly) Yes, I heard.
Mr. Andrews: Personally, I think it's silly, too.
Peter: I'd like to get a load of that three ring circus you're pulling. I wanna see what love looks like when it's triumphant. I haven't had a good laugh in a week.
- Ellie and her father aren't the only ones to find it a bit silly
- King Incognito: Ellie, the rich society heiress trying to sneak back to New York on a bus.
- Meet Cute: In the not so spacious backseat of a cross-country night bus.
- Non-Indicative Name: The story takes place over the course of at least three days.
- The title might well refer to that they fell in love one night along that trip.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't get to see how Peter managed to outrun the car and overwhelm the driver who tried to get away with his luggage.
- Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Peter walks across a shallow stream carrying Ellie over his shoulder to prevent her from falling in. However, Ellie thinks he is carrying her piggy-back and Peter slaps her on the butt for being foolish.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Elllie has run away because her father is trying to annul her marriage. Of course, this happens before she meets Clark Gable.
- Phoney Call: Type C. Peter makes a drunk call to his editor who decides to fire him while on the phone and then hangs up in disgust. Peter, surrounded by other drunkards, pretends the conversation is going on and that his editor is begging him to stay on the job which then earns him the applause of his friends.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Peter is giving one to Ellie at the train station accusing her of being a Spoiled Brat who is used to buy her way out of all problems.
- Refuge in Audacity: Peter makes Oscar Shapely shut up about his blackmailing by spinning a yarn about kidnapping Ellie and the probable shootout ahead.
- Also, the way Peter and Ellie throw off the detectives by playing a quarreling couple.
- Road Trip Plot: Probably the first ever "road movie".
- Road Trip Romance: The Trope Maker.
- Romance Ensues: Take a couple with a healthy dose of UST between them and send them on a road trip.
- Romantic False Lead: Does anyone watch this movie and think that Ellie will choose King Westley?
- Runaway Bride: One of the, if not the earliest example on film. Ellie races away from the altar and into the arms of Peter at the last moment
- Seinfeldian Conversation: Ellie and Peter spend quite a bit of time discussing hitchhiking techniques and what does or does not constitute a piggy-back ride.
- Gable has one of his own, where he complains that women "don't know how to dunk" (donuts into coffee). Nike used that scene for a shoe ad in the 1980s.
- Show Some Leg: The Trope Maker, and so old that many people don't even realize this is where it comes from.
- Shirtless Scene: Gable's scene caused a media sensation.
- Sleep Cute: Early in the film, Ellie falls asleep on Peter's shoulder, while riding a bus.
- Sleeping Single: Played straight—why would a supposedly married couple get separate beds?—but also used by Capra to set up the iconic "walls of Jericho".
- Smithical Marriage: Peter and Ellie have to pretend to be married to get a room in a motel.
- Spinning Paper: We see several newspaper montages throughout the movie.
- Spoiled Brat: Ellie is so spoiled that she can't grasp the concept of a budget, and tries to buy candy on the bus when she has $4 to her name.
- There Is Only One Bed: One of the most famous scenes in the film is when our two leads much share a bedroom for the night. Peter hangs a towel across the room to give Ellie privacy, calling it the "Wall of Jericho." Of course, the Wall of Jericho is most famous for falling down, foreshadowing their eventual romance.
- The Thirties: Two dollars to rent a motel room for the night.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: Played straight as an arrow, almost to the point of deconstruction. After Ellie confesses love to Peter, he leaves without telling her to make arrangements for them to get married (including trying to gather enough money to have her marriage annulled). Ellie misunderstands the situation, thinking he abandoned her and went to collect the reward money, and goes off to have a proper wedding with King Westley. Meanwhile, the newspaper headlines have Peter believe Ellie changed her mind about him and thus he refrains from making an effort to explain the situation and win her back. Fortunately, Ellie's father comes to save the day, even though Ellie brushes him off the first time he tries to set things right.
- This Is My Side: That bedsheet been homaged/used dozens of times by everything from Neon Genesis Evangelion to A Very Brady Sequel.
- Uptown Girl: A bit of It Was His Sled, right?
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Happens quite a bit between rough-mannered Peter and snooty Ellie.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: Ellie's love life makes the top story on the front page of every newspaper. Evidently, not much else was going on in the world in 1934.
- Considering that it was in the middle of The Great Depression, chances are that any more upbeat news would've been more than welcome.
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September 15, 2011
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 2953248366
ISBN - 13: 9782953248364
From the Publisher
Discover architecture that will take your breath away! Buildings of the World provides an overview of the most incredible buildings of the last two decades. From the National Stadium in Beijing, which took more than 46,000 tons of metal to build, to Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world, this book presents the most impressive contemporary buildings on the planet. As this compelling survey of current trends receals, architecture is a discipline that is strongly influenced by the challenges and the cultural and economic forces affecting society as a whole.
26 cm x 34 cm 208 page hardcover.
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The Tiny Talker
The Tiny Talker is a 12 button communication device that helps children with communicative disabilites learn to use an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device in a more natural way. Simply press one of the buttons to allow the Tiny Talker to speak for you or a loved one! Some of the sounds include: I'm sorry, Television, More Ple...
WhisperPhone Solo is a hands-free, acoustical voice-feedback tool that enables learners to focus and hear the sounds that make up words ten times* more clearly as they learn by processing language aloud. Simply use the Solo like a phone. It helps accelerate development in speech training by channeling the voice directly into the user’s ear. Whil...
Recordable Answer Buzzers, Set Of 4 by Learning Resources
Learning Resources Recordable Answer Buzzers add POP to your next lesson, quiz or therapy lesson, not to mention playtime at home. The Answer Buzzers include four recordable buzzers in four vibrant different colors. Record a silly message, words, sounds, or music. Just tap, record, tap, and listen! Once you press the button, the recorded sound ...
Prop-it Speech Therapist's Tool Kit
Travel-size pack (9-1/2" x 12" x 1") contains a collapsible stand that supports mirror, magnet board, assessment manuals, large cards and papers. 7-3/4" x 10-3/4" free-standing, non-breakable mirror has a magnet on the back to attach to steel surfaces. Magnet board has a dry-erase writing surface, and kit also includes black dry erase marker and...
The Pencil Grip - Original
The Pencil Grip - Single Count - Benefits Adults & Children, Righties & Lefties - #1 Grip recommended by therapists to help kids write - Arthritis Foundation recommended as "easy" and "comfortable" - Fits on pencils, pens, crayons & many drawing and writing tools The #1 grip recommended by doctors, teachers, and occupational therapi...
WhisperPhone Element XL
This handheld WhisperPhone XL is ideal for helping learners develop their reading and spelling abilities and for developing new language skills. Perfect for the tactilely sensitive who prefer to hold their WhisperPhone vs. wearing our Solo headset.A great size for older learners and readers, this WhiperPhone XL is a great tool for therapy and le...
Ready, Set, ABC Flashcards (multi-sensory cards)
The Ready, Set, ABC touch and feel cards are double-sided multi-sensory flash cards used to build early academic skills like vocabulary and reading. Each card has two-sides, one side is a letter and the other side is a textured illustration for each letter in bright, fun colors. 13 cards come in a sturdy box for easy clean up and storage. The w...
Chew Stixx Chewable As and Zs
Learn while chewing with Chew Stixx Chewable As and Zs! Chew Stixx Chewable As and Zs are great for children who chew on pencils, shirts and more. Combining multiple sensroy stimulating and food simulating textures, the Chew Stixx Chewable As and Zs is an excellent fidget and chew. The A is smooth while the Z is textured. Made of FDA approved ma...
Original PenAgain (3 pack)
The Original PenAgain is a ballpoint pen designed with an ergonomic wishbone-shaped body with a finger cradle that allows for a more comfortable grip. The tripod design encourages a proper writing position while eliminating writer's cramp. The PenAgain is designed for both right and left-handed individuals, and it can be used by all ages. Stude...
Learning Resources Jumbo Tweezers (set of 12)
Use with various manipulatives, the Jumbo Tweezers act as a learning tool to strengthen hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills like grip, color identification and so much more. The design of the Learning Resources Tweezers features ergonomic depressions to guide a proper grip and build hand strength. The early developmental tool can be used i...
TalkTools® Straw Kit
The TalkTools® Straw Kit is an excellent supplement to traditional therapy techniques, and the best activity available to promote tongue retraction, grading, and controlled tongue movements. The Straw hierarchy promotes jaw-lip-tongue dissociation through twelve stages of development. This activity, like the Horn Hierarchy, is fun for clients an...
Ergo Stylus w/ Original Grip
- Works on ALL Touchscreens - Great for Kids & Adults - The ONLY Stylus with the #1 Ergonomic Writing Aid - Ideal for Drawing and Handwriting Apps - Writes as Easily as a Pen! The Ergo Stylus improves the touchscreen experience with the #1 ergonomic grip recommended by doctors, teachers and occupational therapists. The stylus works on all to...
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Surplus Food Rescue Program: Step 1: What this program offers
Step 1. What this program offers
The application intake period for the Surplus Food Rescue Program is now closed.
The Surplus Food Rescue Program is part of the government of Canada’s emergency response to the current COVID-19 crisis. This is a time-limited program to help manage and redirect existing surpluses to organizations addressing food insecurity and to avoid food waste. It will provide an opportunity for non-profit and for-profit organizations across the supply chain to bid on significant volumes of surplus products at the cost of production or less, processing them where necessary for longer shelf life and distributing to food serving agencies.
Applicants under this program may be eligible to receive a maximum of $20 million unless the organization can make a case to move commodities in all categories.
Report a problem on this page
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INSIDE BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
Sophomore is writing his ticket to success
Joe Monte has learned the power and importance of the written word during his two years at Binghamton University.
The 20-year-old sophomore from Staten Island came to the University thinking he would pursue engineering or psychology. But two writing classes led by doctoral student Andrei Guruianu, Broome County’s poet laureate, opened his eyes to English.
“The best way to voice your opinion is through spoken word or paper,” the English major said. “Everyone at this university, with its diversity, has something to say. I feel like the most important thing in the world is for people to hear you.”
Monte will give students a forum to be heard as executive editor of Ellipsis, an undergraduate literary journal recently chartered by the Student Association. Monte oversees nine other editors who review poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Monte, who came aboard after Guruianu pitched the idea, hopes that the first issue will be produced by December.
“The most important thing about the journal is being the medium for people to say what they want and hopefully inspire and influence people like my professors do for me,” said Monte, who enjoys having the freedom to go from writing an essay about Shakespeare to producing poetry for an open-mic night.
“Joe shows a seemingly endless enthusiasm for any activity in which he gets involved,” Guruianu said. “He is a devoted student and always puts in the energy necessary to make sure a project is successful.”
Monte also wants writers to read their works on his WHRW radio show. A disc jockey who prefers the classic rock of Bruce Springsteen and Led Zeppelin to today’s new music, Monte praises the variety that the station offers.
“WHRW is the one of the last free-format stations,” he said. “We can go from Beethoven to Roll Over Beethoven by the Beatles.”
Monte said he is looking forward to continuing his English studies and likes the many roads that the major offers. Graduation is still more than two years away, but he’s already considering going into teaching, law or journalism.
“You could do something for the rest of your life that gets you a big house and nice material things, but if you don’t enjoy getting up every day and going to do it, then what’s the point?” he said.
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Far too often, the concept of Moneyball is misperceived as solely the pursuit of baseball players who take walks and post good on-base percentages. Although this was part of the recipe of success for the Oakland Athletics during the early 2000s, it was never so much about finding guys that took walks and posted good OBPs, as much as it was simply, cost-effectively capitalizing on something(s) undervalued; which for the A's, were particularly overlooked skillsets, that very few else were paying much attention to - that's what Moneyball is.
After the success of the A's, for those paying attention, compounded by the publication of Michael Lewis's book, Moneyball, it didn't take long for the rest of Major League Baseball to begin catch on. More teams began delving into the world of statistics, beyond "traditional" stats. Billy Beane's subordinates, Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi were lured away by other organizations. If they couldn't take Beane's people, they were hiring their own prestigiously-educated, efficient thinkers. But most noticeably, other teams were taking Oakland's Moneyball ideas, and doing what the A's couldn't ever do - applying money to them.
Nowadays, on-base percentage is hardly an undervalued skill, along with handfuls of statistics and acronyms that weren't even fathomed just ten years ago. Practically every player in the major leagues, minor leagues, and even in independent and overseas leagues can be dissected down to their ability's strengths and weaknesses, due to the wealth of numbers and statistics that are observed, recorded and available to other teams and enthusiastic fans alike. The worth of a player can be fairly estimated and theorized based on statistics like Wins Above Replacement (player(WAR)), which factors in a vast myriad of statistics and formulas. The way the game is looked at has changed drastically in recent years, and with most everyone taking a piece of the pie, or borrowing parts of the Oakland recipe, so have the fortunes of the Athletics, who are finishing up their fifth straight year of a non-winning record.
With every statistic and number being scrutinized and analyzed these days, it's difficult to say if there ever will be another Moneyball formula like the Oakland Athletics'. So with that in mind, who says that a particular statistic or a skillset are the only things that can go undervalued? In fact, who says the next Moneyball has to even come from the product on the field or the resulting statistics at all?
Scouting, ladies and gentlemen.
Scouting is where the next Moneyball could possibly be unearthed from.
Do you know what the league minimum salary is, in Major League Baseball?
$414,000; give or take a little bit, depending on various circumstances.
This is what Freddie Freeman is making as he's hoping to win Rookie of the Year. This is what Brandon Beachy is making while piling up strikeout numbers not necessarily reminiscent of a rookie. This is also what Brandon Hicks makes while spending 95% of the game on the bench, waiting for Chipper Jones to get on base in late innings so he can pinch-run. This is also more than enough to pay off my house, and my car, and maybe even the remainder of my parents' house loan too. Needless to say, for sounding like the equivalent of compensation for working the drive-thru window at Taco Bell, $414,000 is a pretty significant amount of money.
Do you know what the mean annual salary for baseball scouts is?
$60,000. And that's just the mean annual salary; on the high-end of the spectrum are scouting directors, and other scouts with superlatives to describe their tenure and seniority in observing prospective baseball talent, and they can make just over $100,000 a year. And they probably have an office.
On the other side of the spectrum, you'll find many more junior/entry-level scouts; younger guys tasked with more arduous travel, fewer benefits, less respect, less trust in their judgment. Depending on whom you ask, you'll discover that these guys make anywhere in the neighborhood of $30,000-45,000. And their offices? The same sunbaked seats at the ballpark, that you and I might enjoy on any given day during the baseball season. Or their car, or in discount roadside lodging, but very seldom, their own homes.
There aren't a ton of resources out there for me to confirm a lot of what I'm writing; a lot of this is based on things I've read from a myriad of sources, stories I've heard from other fans, and even a few words I've had myself with some random scouts while being at minor league games. Perhaps that's all kind of metaphorical to where the state of scouting is; discreet, relatively unknown, primarily behind the scenes and certainly not something easily researchable. Yet the art of scouting is still something paramount to the life of baseball. Sounds like something that might be... undervalued?
For something as important as scouting is to the world of baseball, it sounds like scouting, could possibly be a little bit undervalued. And capitalizing on undervalued resources, is what Moneyball is all about.
Do the math - basically, for the cost of one J.C. Boscan, Brandon Hicks, Brett Hayes, Lars Anderson, Robert Andino or Pete Orr, a team could employ four more senior-level scouting directors, or twelve additional junior scouts, or any combination of varying leveled scouts that equal the MLB minimum salary. Or they could apply such funds towards improving work benefits for scouts; whereas the players themselves, aside from making way more than a scout would ever see, are entitled to guaranteed money and union-protected benefits; scouts seldom see such benefits in their own field. In a perfect world, the theory is that happy employees are productive employees. And productivity in the field of scouting would theoretically bear more promising fruit.
* * *
For simplicity's sake, I'll explain my theory through example. Team X is coming off of a losing season, and things don't really look to be any better in 2012, or even 2013. For starters, Team X unloads a relief pitcher the equivalent of Pedro Feliciano, for the next year, with plans to replace him with a AAA-level pitcher who will make league minimum, and is now absolved of the equivalent of eight league minimums in the move.
Taking a portion of such freed payroll, Team X embarks on a scout hiring spree for 2012, hiring handfuls of scouts at varying levels of career, and locations in their respective minor league territories. With more scouts, Team X is theoretically capable of more in-depth analysis of their own organization's players. With more scouts in varying areas, no more will one scout be responsible for driving to see the Rookie team in Tuscaloosa on Monday, then to New Orleans to see AA on Tuesday, and then back to Columbus on Wednesday to see the Low-A squad; every one of these territories will already have a scout or several scouts already designated to cover such assignments. Scouts remain better rested, possibly more relaxed, and apt to be more efficient and effective in their own regional scouting assignments, and less disgruntled about their jobs, less chance of employee burnout.
With more scouts in place, it is theoretically possible for Team X to get a greater understanding of their organization's strengths, weaknesses, places of need and places of excess. If it turns out that the numerous scouts are clamoring about a particular kid's poise, maturity, but more importantly his plate discipline and slugging ability in Low-A, they might be on to something. An increased number of scouting directors, with their collective experience, could then collaborate and possibly better judge if what they hear is true. This kid could become a legitimate prospect for the organization's rebuild, or an invaluable chip to trade for an important component for the future. In a perfect world, multiple opinions couldn't hurt.
And all of this is just the approach for theoretically capitalizing on the scouting situation, internally. Hire more scouts to scout the teams of the opposition, see if there are minor leaguers in other organizations with desirable skill sets are toiling away in obscurity, begging to be plucked away at a low cost. Hire more scouts to scour the international leagues of South America, Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia, seeking out exotic gems in the rough.
If Team X is in rebuilding mode anyway, why bother paying a Pedro Feliciano or two several millions of dollars, for guys who will impact an eventual losing season by anywhere of just 2-3 games? Why not unload such salaries for cheap place-holders, while using the freed up payroll to hiring more scouts to increase the organization's chances at finding the future?
If the theory is that you won't find gold if you don't dig, why not hire more equipped miners to dig for you, especially if the reward in gold is worth way more than the cost of the tools?
* * *
One of the most infamous stories of scouting failure is the story of Albert Pujols. In short, the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the ball in not drafting Pujols, dismissing him as a fat third baseman with little discipline. More notoriously, was the complete whiff on the part of the Kansas City Royals, who somehow didn't take seriously this guy living IN KANSAS CITY, who was destroying baseballs with no mercy in high school and community college. Both the book The Extra 2% and sportswriter Joe Posnanski go way more in-depth on this topic.
The bottom line is that whether it was a poor sell by a lower-level scout, or perhaps the stubborn unwillingness to listen by a senior-level scout, here are two teams that completely whiffed at the opportunity to draft the best baseball player in current times, when he was available.
Could better scouts possibly have altered history? Perhaps. Could more scouts have made it harder for a more reputable decision-maker to ignore? Maybe.
* * *
More than ever, thanks to the reputation of Moneyball, the value of baseball scouting in general is probably lower than it used to be, due to the increasing reliance of numbers and statistics, which are great at painting a picture of what kind of baseball player a baseball player is, but not so much to what kind of person a baseball player is. The portrayal of scouts in the movie, as old-thinking, old-fashioned, old men doesn't help either. What good is an outfielder sent to Cleveland who slugs .522, but is easily overwhelmed by the cold weather in April and September? What if there was a Venezuelan third baseman that gets on base at a .402 clip, but it turns out he's uncomfortable with little or few Spanish-speaking teammates, and it begins to affect his performance? Numbers don't tell you any of those details; scouts do.
Numbers paint only part of the picture, and no matter how much it may be undervalued, good scouting can easily paint the rest. And quite possibly, having more scouts could make painting the picture a little more efficient. Especially if it can be done cheaply. This is not meant to spark the rhetorical stats vs. scouts debate; as good as many scouts may be able to paint a picture, the cold hard numbers still never lie. In a perfect world, both approaches exist in harmony and compliment each other, not oppose.
Obviously, this theory is full of gaping holes and wildly unpredictable variables. The payoffs won't be necessarily instantaneous as a 102-win season and a division title, for starters. Also, what if there just aren't that many scouts out there, even if this module were to be tried? What if the increased number of scouts hired doesn't ever get along or see eye-to-eye? What if in attempting to make happier scouts, instead more complacent scouts are the result and Team X ends up in a worse position than before they started? I'll be the first to admit that it's not a perfect theory. But it's a theory that goes to show that inequities in the game exist in more places than just on the field, and the front office.
Taking a risk in hiring a boatload of scouts isn't that different from the risk of compiling a roster of castaways, and hoping that they'll deliver their career OBP numbers. Given the vast contrast in the salaries between players and scouts, it could be a risk that could end up being a whole lot cheaper, too.
And if somehow Pedro Feliciano gets unloaded for salary relief, anytime soon, and the Yankees hire a ton of scouts, I'm sorry Pedro.
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The UPV EHU's Molecular Spectroscopy Group in collaboration with the Institute of Catalysis and Petroleum Chemistry of the CSIC Spanish National Research Council has developed a highly fluorescent hybrid material that changes colour depending on ... - Read More
Up periscope may become a submarine commander's outdated order thanks to a team of Technion Israel Institute of Technology researchers who have developed a new technology for viewing objects above the water's surface without a ... - Read More
Using principles of energy transfer more commonly applied to designing solar cells scientists at the U S Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new highly sensitive way to detect specific sequences of ... - Read More
In a first of its kind study of how a material some think could transform the electronics industry moves in water researchers at the University of California Riverside Bourns College of Engineering found graphene oxide ... - Read More
Costs of natural hazards are at historically high levels and show an increasing trend Cost assessments of natural hazards often only cover direct costs and even these are assumed to be at least 50% higher ... - Read More
Inspiration can come in many forms but this one truly was a breath of fresh air A group of McMaster researchers has solved the problem of cumbersome expensive and painfully slow water testing by turning ... - Read More
Many efforts to reduce the environmental impacts associated with commercial horticulture production have failed to influence the general public For example one recent study showed that the use of organic fertilizers offered no significant marketing ... - Read More
For the observation of cold matter in the interstellar medium astronomers need instruments for the detection of terahertz radiation Specific high resolution instruments are based on terahertz quantum cascade lasers but operate only at cryogenic ... - Read More
The isolation of graphene at the University in 2004 led to the discovery of many other 2D crystals While graphene has an unrivalled set of superlatives these crystals cover a large range of properties from ... - Read More
A Rice University laboratory has flexible portable and wearable electronics in its sights with the creation of a thin film for energy storage Rice chemist James Tour and his colleagues have developed a flexible material ... - Read More
The development of graphene a highly advanced metamaterial with many unique and varied properties may lead to exciting new applications in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases according to a report in the May ... - Read More
Researchers at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science NIMS have synthesized a novel superconductor SrAuSi3 which contains gold as a principal constituent element Led by Masaaki Isobe a team consisting of Hiroyuki Yoshida Koji Kimoto ... - Read More
Five million people suffer cartilage damage to the knee every year in Germany Cartilage injuries are not only painful they can lead to osteoarthritis decades later In the course of the disease the protective shock ... - Read More
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have observed magnetic properties typically associated with those observed in rare earth elements in iron These properties are observed in a new iron based compound that does ... - Read More
Released 4 28 2014 10 00 AM EDTSource Newsroom McMaster University more news from this source Contact Information Available for logged in reporters only Citations Angewandte ChemieApr 29 2014 HAMILTON April 28 2014 – Inspiration ... - Read More
Research published in Science today found that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause soil microbes to produce more carbon dioxide accelerating climate change Two Northern Arizona University researchers led the study which ... - Read More
It's broadly understood that the world's oceans play a crucial role in the global scale cycling and exchange of carbon between Earth's ecosystems and atmosphere Now scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San ... - Read More
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have published details about how the first organisms on Earth could have become metabolically active The results which are reported in the journal Molecular Systems Biology permit scientists to ... - Read More
A new report quantifies for the first time how much our food choices affect pollutant nitrogen emissions climate change and land use across Europe The executive summary of the European Nitrogen Assessment Special Report on ... - Read More
Colorful church windows beads on a necklace and many of our favorite plastics share something in common they all belong to a state of matter known as glasses School children learn the difference between liquids ... - Read More
Tell us what you think of Chemistry 2011 -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Chemistry2011 is an informational resource for students, educators and the self-taught in the field of chemistry. We offer resources such as course materials, chemistry department listings, activities, events, projects and more along with current news releases.
The history of the domain extends back to 2008 when it was selected to be used as the host domain for the International Year of Chemistry 2011 as designated by UNESCO and as an initiative of IUPAC that celebrated the achievements of chemistry. You can learn more about IYC2011 by clicking here. With IYC 2011 now over, the domain is currently under redevelopment by The Equipment Leasing Company Ltd.
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Christ and the Human Soul
In these lectures Steiner shows how the influence of Christ has been operative from the beginning of human existence, long before the inception of the Christian religion. The ancient mysteries brought about will and wisdom; Christ brings love and individuality. The lectures impress on us how vital it is for our time that we strive to imbue our feeling life with the Christ Spirit.
Translated from shorthand reports unrevised by the lecturer. In the Complete Edition of the works of Rudolf Steiner the volume containing the original German text (together with the texts of other lectures) is entitled: Christus und die menschliche Seele. Über den Sinn des Lebens. Theosophische Moral. Anthroposophie und Christentum. Translation by Charles Davy.
|July 12, 1914
|The two goals of the evolution of the human soul. Implanting of freedom in man and the gift of being able to distinguish between good and evil, beautiful and ugly, true and false. The scene in Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. Man's relation to sin and guilt and the coming of Christ to the Earth. Christ and ancient Judaism. Moses led the Jews out of Egypt, himself led by Christ although he did not recognise Him. Fundamental note of the Old Testament is Will; of the pagan Mysteries, Wisdom. The darkening of the soul and the summons: “Man, know thyself!” Immortality and passing through the gate of death with consciousness. Reference to the words spoken to Job. Love and individuality. Through the Mystery of Golgotha a super-earthly Being united Himself with the Earth.
|July 14, 1914
|Ideals and assured reality. Souls after death and their ideals in earthly life. Christian Morgenstern and the impulse received from him out of the spiritual world after his death. Spiritual Science enfilled with Christ will be a seed in the evolution of humanity. Spiritual forces flowing into human forces were necessary to enable the project of the Mystery Plays to be carried through. If Christ permeates the fruits of our knowledge, they work not for ourselves alone, but for the whole of humanity. “Not I, but Christ in me.” The relation of Christ to the human soul; its effects in man's life on Earth and between death and rebirth.
|July 15, 1914
|The concepts of sin and guilt and of Karma. The malefactors on the right and left of Christ on the Cross. Lucifer and Ahriman: on the one hand opponents of the Gods and, on the other, necessary for the whole cosmic order when their forces operate on their legitimate level. Judgments which hold good for the physical plane must not be supposed to hold good for the higher worlds. Christ a Being of the kingdom of Heaven, not of the kingdom of the Earth. Individual sin is not exempt from karmic justice, but Christ blots out from Earth evolution as a whole the debt and objective consequences of sin and guilt. The meaning of the “forgiveness of sins”.
|July 16, 1914
|Truths in themselves contain life-force. Christ became related to death because evolution of the universe made it necessary that a God of the upper worlds should be leader of Earth-evolution. The four ethers. Christ came from regions closed to man as a result of the Luciferic temptation: from the regions of the Music of the Spheres (chemical ether) and of Cosmic Life (life-ether). These regions were to be restored to man through the coming of Christ to the Earth. The meaning of the “Resurrection of the body”. The Earth period will be followed by the Jupiter period, when two races, the good and the evil, will differentiate themselves. A Venus-existence will follow that of Jupiter, and again there will be an adjustment through the further evolution of the Christ-consciousness.
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Lincoln's Twin Towns
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse lies in the heart of the Palatinate region of Germany and literally translated means ‘New Town on the Wine Street’. It is an historic town with beautiful historical buildings and is Germany’s largest wine-growing community. Neustadt, and its nine adjoining villages, is surrounded by beautiful vineyards and countryside.
The twinning relationship with Lincoln was formed in 1969 and is one of the oldest, strongest and most successful in the Country. The most important feature of the partnership, however, is the personal exchanges between the citizens of Lincoln and Neustadt and the understanding and friendship which this creates.
Port Lincoln, Australia
Port Lincoln, Australia is situated at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula, Southern Australia and was discovered in 1892 by the famous British Sea Dog, Captain Matthew Flinders. It enjoys a mild climate and is renowned for its pleasant summers and mild winters. Within 35 km around the city there are numerous islands, bays, inlets and coves; and many varieties of fish can be seen, for which Port Lincoln is particularly known.
A Friendship Agreement with Port Lincoln was signed in January, 1991, by the Mayor of Lincoln, England and Mayor of Port Lincoln, Australia.
The City of Tangshan, in the Republic of China, has a population of some 7.6 million and lies 100 miles south-east of the Chinese capital of Beijing.
Lincoln accepted an invitation to establish links with Tangshan in the Republic of China, following an industrial breakthrough by one of Lincoln’s largest companies, in 1988. A Twinning Agreement was then signed in 1988, during a visit by a Chinese delegation.
Radomsko is one of the oldest cities in Poland and is located on the Radomka River in the southern part of the province of Piotrkow Trybunalski. This beautiful historic city has a population of around 52,000.
The Twinning Agreement between Lincoln and Radomsko was signed in June, 2007, by the Mayor of Lincoln, England and the Mayor of Radomsko, Poland.
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When the renowned author of the wonderful Oz
stories surpasses himself with a full-blown fairy tale, complete with magic wishes, palace life, an evil hag, and a poor boy and girl, we know we are in for something exceptional in storytelling. "In some ways," Baum confided to his son, "Queen Zixi
is my best effort." The critic Edward Wagenknecht goes further, terming it flatly one of the best fairy tales ever written by anyone.
The master tale-spinner captures suspenseful attention at once with a magic wishing cloak which the fairies decide to give to the first unhappy mortal — man, woman, or child — their emissary chance to meet. At the same time, the King of Noland has died without heir, and the law says the new King shall be the forty-seventh person who happens to pass through the city gates that day. In the neighboring kingdom of Ix, malevolent Queen Zixi, six hundred and eighty-three years old and smug in the secrets of witchcraft, craves that magic cloak with all her evil heart. And that morning, a humble ferryman's son, Bud, happens to be on his way to the city with his pretty sister Fluff …
All who know the enchantment that a real fairy tale can hold for a child will recognize here the ingredients of a spellbinder. Add to them the well-known gifts of the author in creating captivating characters, sparkling fantasy, rich humor, and inventive absurdity, and a true classic of juvenile literature emerges to fascinate both child and parent. An added delight is the inclusion of all 90 of the original illustrations by Frederick Richardson, straight from the pages of St. Nicholas Magazine
, where this tale was originally serialized.
Reprint of the original, 1905 edition.
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Geek Art: The Evolution of Anakin Skywalker
When Star Wars was released in 1977 most people became fascinated with Darth Vader. How could they not after seeing his hulking black armor and flowing cape striding through the door of Princess Leia’s Corellian Corvette? Little was known at that point of the Sith Lord’s past, because Darth Vader was an already established leader of the Empire, and it was obvious that he embraced the Dark Side.
It wasn’t until the disastrous prequels were released that fans could finally see how Vader came to be. The story of Anakin Skywalker’s rise to infamy was fleshed out over three films that each portrayed the troubled Force user at a different point in his life. He went from an innocent young slave boy in TPM, to a whiny adolescent in AOTC, and an even whinier young adult in ROTS, with his final transformation to Darth Vader taking place at the tail end of that film.
The movies themselves may not have been great, but Darth Vader is still one of the most memorable villains of all-time, so rather than watching the prequel films to see his transformation from boy to Sith, you can head on down below and check out the artistic version of the same process. Trust me, it’s easier on your Star Wars soul than watching the movies. That’s unless you were born after 1990.
[#ff entbuddha] “Making you a better geek, one post at a time!”
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Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Identifier: SC 00799
Scope and Contents Contains a handwritten diary, roster, booklets, and newsletters that were collected by a member of the 398th Bombardment Squadron, 504th Bombardment Group of the Twentieth United States Army Air Force that was stationed on Tinian Island during Word War II. Included in the collection is a diary written by an unknown soldier that follows his voyage from Seattle, Washington in November 1944 up through the end of the War in September 1945. The unknown soldier was an enlisted soldier and worked...
Found in: Special Collections Research Center
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Apr 24, 2020 - 05:53 AM
As a work-around, you could have the student duplicate the project on their Wixie home page and then you can add the new Assessment and grade the duplicate (copy) project.
To do that, have the student click the project options button (three dots) from the student Home page and choose Duplicate from the menu that appears.
This will create a copy of the project in their project list and you can grade the new project with the correct assessment (rubric).
I hope this helps you out.
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The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency has deployed new navigational procedure which cuts flight time for airlines, saves fuel and improves safety, writes Chinedu Eze
The high cost of aviation fuel has always been a daily lament by airlines, especially since the late 2000s when the cost of a barrel of crude went beyond $100. For airlines, it has been an endless mathematics on how to cut down fuel consumption and save money and aircraft manufacturers have been striving to produce aircraft that consume less fuel. That is why aircraft type like Boeing 787, the Dreamliner has become a beautiful bride, in spite of the initial hiccups after its manufacture. It saves a lot of fuel and operates more efficiently.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted on Monday that following the recent softening in oil prices, the average price for Brent crude oil is expected to be $108 per barrel for the rest of this year, describing it as a slight downward trend from the $109.5 per barrel it earlier forecast but laments that “nonetheless, this is nearly twice as high as it was in 2006, when the average price of oil per barrel was $65.1.”
Area Radar Control
So it was great news for Nigerian scheduled airline operators, private aircraft owners and others when the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) introduced navigational procedure, the area radar control that cut off about 10 minutes from one hour flight. For example, after the introduction of Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) flight to Abuja which used to be 1 hour, 20 minutes was cut down to average of 55 minutes, the newly introduced area radar control has cut it further to average of 45 minutes.
This means that a flight will save 10 minutes of fuel on every local destination. Average flight of a Boeing 737 from Lagos to Abuja gulps about N400,000 fuel, which means that on every flight the airline saves about N75,000 of fuel and when you compute this for an airline like Arik Air, which operates about 120 flights daily it would be about N9 million daily. This in a month would amount to N270 million, a huge saving for an airline!
This procedure kicked off on May 29, 2013 and according to NAMA, the agency successfully deployed its surveillance facility for area radar control from its two area control centres in Lagos and Kano to allow for optimal flight operations by pilots within the airspace.
Eighteen flights operated by some foreign airlines like Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air Portugal, Turkey Airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Saudi Air took advantage of the new air traffic service that commenced midnight -00hr UTC as they were vectored on radar within the Kano flight information region.
Area radar control is air traffic control service, provided for airplanes flying within the Flight Information Region (FIR). The benefits of this new traffic management include increased airspace capacity, improved safety, reduced fuel consumption, reduced flight time and efficient flow of air traffic within the nation’s airspace.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Nnamdi Udoh, described the migration from procedural to area radar control as part of the dividends of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the aviation sector as being promoted by the Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah.
He praised the initiatives of the previous leaders of the agency over their foresight in conceptualising the idea of Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria for the country, equally applauded the efforts of the regulatory agency, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for ensuring the smooth take off of the new air traffic service.
The launching of the procedure in Lagos attracted dignitaries from within and outside the country among whom were: former managing director of the agency, Mr. Oladunjoye Onasanya; former director of Operations, NAMA, Alhaji Abdulkareem Rahim; former General Manager, NAMA, Sam Olu Akerele; former Air Space Manager, Abuja, Macaulay Oyeneke; Director of Air Traffic Services, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Albert Taylor; and his Chief of Facility counterpart, Osei-Bonsu Kwaning.
Taylor said the inauguration of area radar control in Nigeria would improve safety and enhance reduction in emission of carbon, just as Martins Nwafor, who represented the director general of NCAA disclosed that 24 air traffic controllers had been rated on area radar control for effective delivery of service.
The Head of TRACON Operation, Uzoma Fyneboy Felix, remarked that with this deployment, the agency was bound to make more revenue as the service he noted, would attract more flyers within the nation’s
Offshoot of TRACON
The service for now will be available between 7 a.m. and 7 p .m. from Monday to Friday. The agency had since Thursday, May 2, 2013 issued Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) to all airlines to meet the
mandatory 28 days’ notice required by industry regulation for full trial of the new operation.
NAMA also said that it had equally upgraded the radar maps and harmonized with its data base for accurate co-ordination of traffic when the enroute area radar control is fully deployed.
Udoh explained to the media that this latest project was an offshoot of TRACON and said that the next advancement the agency would accomplish is the full deployment of enroute area radar.
“We will be embarking on a seamless area radar air traffic control. Nigeria airspace is known all over the world as Kano Flight Information Region (Kano FIR) subdivided into Lagos and Kano sub FIRs. So we are going to implement area radar control in Kano and Lagos. It has been a very time taken and hard work period for us. NCAA has given us the waiver. For Nigeria to have area radar controllers you must give one person the authority to licence Nigerians.
“This is how it works. You take off from Lagos to Abuja, we give you as much information as possible to clear you, you take off; they vector you on various geographical coordinates, they descend you to Abuja without changing your squawk code. For example, you take off from Lagos with Squawk 0455. If you are going to Abuja now, you have to change that squawk for Abuja to accept you, but when it is area radar control, as you are taking off Abuja is seeing you; they know your estimate, they know when you are coming; they know you vectoring. It saves time, saves fuel and saves money.”
He said since the introduction of TRACON, the agency had been saving time for airlines. In the past, flying from Lagos to Abuja used to be 1 hour 20 minutes. When radar was introduced it reduced to 55 minutes
“So having saved time for airlines, like going to Abuja, from Lagos from 1 hour 20 minutes; 1 hour 10 minutes in the past to 55 minutes. That will further reduce again to maybe 45 or 40 minutes, as the case maybe. And it is something huge, if you save five minutes per flight in a year. It is huge savings for the industry and for the environment as well, it is a lot of reduction on carbon dioxide emission.”
New Business Initiative
The NAMA chief executive said the area radar control project was part of the new business initiative embarked by the agency to improve flight operations in Nigeria and improve its revenue. He disclosed that there were other similar projects the agency was embarking on so that it would continue to generate its own revenue to sustain its existence and fund some of its future projects without any subvention from government.
“I will also like to announce that our business initiative has taken us to Bonny, NLNG base, where we have deployed air traffic controllers providing services on private airport initiative, just like we are doing in Asaba and Warri and we have oncoming too for Forcados and Taraba state which has developed an airport and we are going to provide air traffic services for them. Those are initiatives that are exciting for us. I said in October 5, 2011 that NAMA was going to grow; that we would start doing things differently to get different results. And when you look at our balance sheet, you can see the impact.”
He said it was due to the crucial role the agency plays that it was difficult for the unions to close the airspace during the recent industrial action, adding that the ultimate goal was to ensure safety in the airspace, provide state of the art equipment for easy operations of flights and also open avenues for the agency to make money.
“On the day of agitation, we were still able to move 420 flights with 19, 200 passengers in Lagos alone. It means that our airspace is robust in the direction we are expecting it to be. We are not there yet because we are 180 million Nigerians, we should be able to have 500,000 Nigerians flying on one or two-day basis.”
For the agency to sustain its development and deploy modern technology to improve the airspace, it must equally ensure manpower development to provide the needed skills that will propel the equipment to action. Udoh said the agency had embarked on massive training of members of its staff.
“Some of us are wondering what we are doing in the area of training. This senior staff member (pointing at one of the officers) is in his 35th year as a director. His next move will be to retire but before he will do that he will give me a programme on how to train the next 40 or 80 people and that is why we are collaborating with the Nigeria College of Aviation and Technology (NCAT), Zaria right now to fast track the training of Air Traffic Controllers so that the ageing workforce replace programme, which I announced at the beginning of my tenure will be on-going.
For the take-off of the new procedure, Udoh said that there was massive and urgent training of air traffic controllers, who would man the additional technology in airspace management.
“In the training of controllers, all of them were brought to Lagos and they went through the simulator and they went through the senior controllers who trained them. We also sent people to Accra for more training.”
He reiterated the gains of the area radar control to the airlines.
“The airlines are going to save money on fuel and time. This is tremendous; it is amazing. If you save five minutes per every flight and add it together in a day, in a month and in a year, you will realise the billions of naira each airline is saving. This is costing NAMA logistics. The infrastructure is already there, TRACON is already there, which cost Nigeria 66.7 million euros.”
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This wildlife model museum offers visitors a close glimpse of the area's spectacular and sometimes menacing wildlife and nature. Housing a taxidermy collection of Banff's indigenous animals, visitors can spy on cougars, grizzlies, brown bears, beavers and mountain goats; all set in recreations of their natural habitats. Wildlife related art, models, displays and a library of natural history are also here.
- Open Hours: May to Jun - Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 AM to 05:00 PM, Jul to Sep - Monday to Sunday from 10:00 AM to 06:00 PM, Sep to Oct - Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 AM to 05:00 PM
Attractions & Landmarks, Other
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The Sharks (Royal Navy)
Gazelle from The Sharks Team
|Branch||Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy|
|Role||Helicopter display team|
The "Sharks" were the Royal Navy's Helicopter Display Team from 1975 to 1992. They flew four red Westland Gazelle helicopters, with aircraft and pilots drawn from 705 Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall.
The "Sharks" were established in 1975 and were unusual in that the team's personnel and crews were changed every year. The pilots were all instructors from 705 NAS, which at the time was the squadron responsible for the basic training of Royal Navy helicopter pilots. Their involvement with the "Sharks" was purely voluntary, and all the activities involved with the team - the pre-season rehearsals, transits to and from display venues, and the display flying itself - were in addition to their normal weekday duties instructing student pilots on the Westland Gazelle.
The "Sharks" display routine was renowned for mixing together a range of different manoeuvres, comprising close formation, synchronised, opposition and solo flying. The display typically lasted for 10-12 minutes, and was highlighted by the use of distinctive mix of red and green smoke.
The team operated successfully for the best part of two decades, appearing at airshows and events around the UK and near Europe. They were regulars at the largest shows such as the International Air Tattoo, Farnborough Airshow, as well as Royal Navy-organised events and the British Grand Prix.
The team were disbanded in 1992 due to Royal Navy operational and budgetary commitments. Despite this, the Royal Navy Helicopter Display Team title was maintained until the end of 1996 as 705 NAS continued to provide a pair of Gazelles known simply as the "Gazelle Pair" (although in 1995 a special four-aircraft team was resurrected for a handful of events). With the retirement of the Gazelle from Royal Navy service, the Royal Navy Helicopter Display Team was finally disbanded in 1996.
- "Aerobatic Display Teams - 705 Squadron: The Sharks". Royal Navy Museum. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- "Helicopter Display Team (Black Cats)". Royal Navy website. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
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This volume offers state-of-the-art research in service science and its related research, education and practice areas. It showcases recent developments in smart service systems, operations management and analytics and their impact in complex service systems. The papers included in this volume highlight emerging technology and applications in fields including healthcare, energy, finance, information technology, transportation, sports, logistics, and public services. Regardless of size and service, a service organization is a service system. Because of the socio-technical nature of a service system, a systems approach must be adopted to design, develop, and deliver services, aimed at meeting end users‘ both utilitarian and socio-psychological needs. Effective understanding of service and service systems often requires combining multiple methods to consider how interactions of people, technology, organizations, and information create value under various conditions. The papers in this volume present methods to approach such technical challenges in service science and are based on top papers from the 2019 INFORMS International Conference on Service Science.
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Hyacinthoides hispanica, Spanish Bluebell
|Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images|
© Fiona Maitland
© Fiona Maitland
Click on map to enlarge
|Hyacinthoides hispanica (Miller) Rothm., (Miller) Chouard, (Mill.) Chouard, Mill.|
Spanish bluebell and its hybrid with the native Irish bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L.) Chouard ex Rothm. are both widely grown in gardens. The hybrid is in fact probably far commoner than the true species.
The Spanish bluebell is similar to the native bluebell, but has the flowers arranged all round the stem, not hanging to one side, and has broader leaves, and shorter, 'fatter' flowers. The hybrid Spanish bluebell has combinations of characteristics intermediate between the Spanish and native Irish species. Flower colour in hybrid populations in gardens can vary between blue, lilac, pink and white, but are normally blue in wild populations.
|Country of origin|
Spanish bluebell is a native of the Iberian countries and North Africa. The common Irish bluebell is native to Ireland, Great Britain and western Europe as far south as central Spain. The hybrid appears to have originated within the British Isles where both species meet in gardens or other plantings.
|Location in Ireland|
The Spanish and hybrid Spanish bluebells are recorded mainly from County Down and south County Antrim, but with scattered reports from elsewhere. It is probable that most reports of Spanish bluebell are misidentifications, the hybrid being apparently far commoner. The woodlands in Stormont Estate, Belfast, which have both species and the hybrid, are publicly and easily accessible.
Both Spanish bluebell and its hybrid with common bluebell are bulbous species, producing the fresh season's leaves in about December. Flower spikes appear in May and the flowers are insect-pollinated. The hybrid is fully fertile and produces abundant seed. All bluebells retain much of their seed in the papery fruits until well into the winter. Leaves die back completely from about the end of summer.
|Wildlife and habitat impacts|
There is no known adverse impact on animal wildlife. The principal concern is the contamination of native bluebell populations by the genes of Spanish or hybrid bluebells, and the possibility of 'hybridization out of existence' (introgression) of the native plant. This threat may be overestimated.
Spanish bluebell and its hybrids are mostly found in gardens, demesnes or parkland, where they were deliberately introduced. Their escape into wild situations is probably linked to the careless disposal of garden rubbish containing bulbs. The degree to which natural woodland is contaminated with Spanish and hybrid bluebells is unknown, but is probably not extensive. Seed dispersal is largely by wind over short distances, and the invasion of uncontaminated populations of native bluebells by windblown seed is unlikely to be very great except where they are situated close to gardens or parks containing the non-native plants.
|What you can do as an individual|
If you purchase bulbs labelled 'Spanish bluebells', you will almost certainly be
|buying the hybrid, not the pure species.|
|If you wish to purchase native bluebell bulbs for a garden, ensure they are from local Irish sources and have been raised in cultivation, not stolen from the wild. Make sure that they are not the Spanish bluebell or its hybrid (the horticultural trade is notoriously inaccurate with naming and labelling plants).|
|Do not knowingly plant Spanish or hybrid bluebells in or close to any woodland or ground containing native bluebells, and never throw away rubbish containing garden bluebell bulbs, either into your rubbish bins (they could grow on rubbish tips) or 'over the garden fence' or onto outdoor tips or dumps. If you need to get rid of unwanted garden bulbs, kill the bulbs first by drying them off over a period of weeks. Remember that compost heaps may not destroy the bulbs. |
The complete removal of Spanish or hybrid bluebells from an extensively contaminated site is probably uneconomic and undesirable. The focus of management should be on prevention of further spread into natural woodland or other natural habitats by the removal of garden escapes as and when discovered. More research on the extent of the problem in Northern Ireland is required, as there are suggestions it may have been exaggerated in Great Britain.
Plantlife International has carried out a survey of the Spanish bluebell in the UK — see their web site.
|Text written by: |
Paul Hackney, Keeper of Botany, Ulster Museum
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- For this you will need much taller herbs, about three times the length of the finished smudge stick you want to make. You will also need fewer herbs since you are folding them over to three times the original thickness. You will need very pliant herbs that will not snap. Aim for a 6 – 7 inch finished smudge stick.
- Again work on a flat surface. You will need a large piece of newspaper, fabric or soft leather for this method. Hold the herbs tightly together and turn the top third of the herbs over the middle third, so the herbs are now double over the top part of the stick. Do this carefully so they don’t break. Secure with twine and a firm knot.
- Now bend the bottom third up so the stick is three times its original thickness, and tie again with a knot to include all three levels. The stick should now be a third of the original height, but very chubby like a cigar.
- With slightly smaller herbs you can bend the herbs just once.
- Before binding the stick, roll the newspaper, fabric or soft leather around it at an angle as tightly as possible. Tie the paper very securely and leave for about 8 hours, with the top and bottom of the newspaper just open to let in air.
- Now unbind the newspaper and tie the compressed herbs tightly with twine. Starting from the stem end, bind them in a criss-cross pattern as before, tying them again very tightly about every 1/2 inch along. Leave the herbs to dry for two or three weeks.
With a little practice, making a smudge stick is remarkably easy, though you may prefer to buy them ready-made. The secret is to pack and entwine your herbs really tightly so that they will not fall apart when you light them. There are many different methods and the following is just a series of the most useful:
- You can use sprigs of fresh herbs from your garden or garden center for taller smudge sticks or use packs from a supermarket (either ready cut or still growing in a pot) for smaller smudge sticks.
- Before making your bundle of herbs, test the twine you intend to use by burning a little in your flat dish. Does it flare up or smell foul? Try cotton without any synthetic additions, as synthetic fibers will break. Experiment with undyed natural twines or those where vegetable coloring has been used, you will find one that works well for you. Horsetail is the best, but is not easy to obtain.
- Use thick sprigs (about seven or eight in total) of the fresh herbs with plenty of greenery no more than 12 inches long. The ideal length for your finished smudge stick is 7 – 9 inches so use the longer herbs in order that you can trim the bottoms and tops off to give a smooth finish.
- Use a very sturdy herb to act as anchor at the center of the smudge stick. Some people use a dry stick as a base around which to twine the stems to give the bundle substance. Taper the stick at one end so that the woody part you hold is slightly narrower. Broader smudge sticks tend to work better than narrow ones.
- Lay the herbs flat on a surface on smooth fabric, leather or newspaper. First wrap the thread around the bottom of the herb wand four or five times.
- Then, with the separate ends either side of the herbs, begin to criss-cross from the bottom at about 1 inch intervals. Leave the top third to a quarter unbound. You can if you wish knot every other cross. Tie very tightly, pressing and weaving the herbs together as you work.
- Turn the stick over and from the top, repeat crossing or knotting again at about 1/2 inch intervals so the whole stick is now tied at 1/2 inch intervals
- When you get back to the bottom, make two or three wraps, tie the ends together and cut off the excess.
- Trim the bottom of the bunch below the tie.
- You may also trim any straggly herbs and trim the top.
- Trim the bottom or top off after binding.
A Witch’s Calling
Author: Moon magik
From the moment we are born into this learning experience called life, most of us have our spiritual paths chosen for us. If your parents are Catholic, you’re going to be Catholic. If your parents are Baptist, you’re definitely going to be Baptist. Children have no choice to their own beliefs, because their parents require them to follow family tradition. We then grow up doing the same thing to our own children. There are very few people that grow up and just decide after 20 or 30 years that they do not believe what they were raised to believe. There are also some that grow up with absolutely no spirituality in their lives at all.
My mother and father were divorced just 8 months after I was born. My father raised me, because my mother was young and irresponsible and he wanted me to grow up in a good environment. During the first seven years of my life, we lived with my grandparents. My grandparents were Lutheran, so naturally my father was Lutheran as well. There was a Lutheran church conveniently located just a few houses down from our home.
I knew from a very young age that I did not belong in a Lutheran Church. Most Witches’ have a calling to the old ways and earth traditions at some point in their lives. I hated bible study and had no interest in learning about Christ. I didn’t know anything about Witchcraft, or have a clue that I would one day find myself casting spells in a circle on my bedroom floor. I just simply didn’t care for church. It wasn’t until I was about 11 years old when I started having dreams that I was magical.
It began sporadically and then eventually became an every night dream. In my dream I was standing in the middle of the woods during the peak of fall season. I was spinning in circles and dancing around trees. Every time I had the dream, I notice I had a wooden stick in my hand. I now realize the wooden stick was my wand. I went to the library one morning to check out a book on Diana Ross, because I had a book report for school due on the following Monday.
When I sat down at the table in the library there was one small paperback book left behind by what I’m assuming was a lazy citizen. The book was about Witchcraft. I was extremely intrigued, so I decided to check it out and bring it home to read.
When my father saw the book, he was very unsure whether he wanted to allow me to read it or not. I used my charm and wit to persuade him, plus he was the biggest push over ever. The strange thing is, my father told me just a few days ago, that a few years before I checked out that book, I was scolded for drawing pentacles on my bedroom door. He said he couldn’t figure out where I got the idea to draw pentacles. He said he would have not been so freaked out by the action if the drawings were only stars without circles around them. He understands a bit more now that I am 27 and he knows about my spiritual practices.
As I grew older my dreams became more vivid and lucid. I started having dreams of things before they would occur. My first prophetic dream was about my mother. In my dream, the doctor called me on the telephone and told me that my mom was going to die, because she had a tumor in her stomach. About two weeks later my mother had to go to the doctors, because her premenstrual cycle would not end. The doctors ran some test and then found that she had a large mass, the size of a baseball growing in her uterus. They advised her that she needed surgery immediately to get the mass out. My mother called me on the telephone afterwards to talk to me. She was astonished how similar my dream was to her situation.
The second dream was even scarier. I was blind. The only thing I could do was listen to the sounds that were around me. I heard screaming and arguing and then a blast of gunshots so close like the gun was going off next to my ear. The next morning I went to work and received a phone call from my mother in the middle of the day, which was very uncommon. When I answered, she was frantically crying. She proceeded to tell me that one of my closest friends was shot in the head in the middle of the night.
She explained to me that he was still alive, but he was in a coma and the doctors said we should come in and say our goodbyes, because they did not expect him to live through the day. We all gathered at the hospital for which turned out to be a week while he struggled to survive on life support. Finally, he woke up from the coma.
He could not speak, because he had a trachea tube in his throat, so none of us knew if he could hear us or not. A bandage covered his eyes, so we did not know if he could see us. The bullet in his head traveled back down the path in which it entered and actually fell out into the bandage that was wrapped around his head. The doctors did not have to perform any surgery because of that. Unfortunately once the bandage was removed we found out that he was blind.
I have accepted the fact that I am not a psychic. I cannot read tarot cards. I cannot read runes or tea leaves or make use of any other divining tool. The only thing that I have is my dreams. Therefore, I call myself a dream witch. I love witchcraft. I love the freedom of being solitary eclectic and choosing beliefs that make me feel comfortable.
I love the art and beauty of casting a circle and uniting myself with the Lord and the Lady to mold the energies of the universe for my intentions. I love herb magick and candle magick. I love every aspect of earth traditions and wish that more people would discover the beauty and mysticism that surrounds it.
I wish more people would give their children the knowledge and independence to explore different beliefs to decide what or whom they want to worship. Children continue to be lead into their predecessor’s political, social and religious views. I am not saying that I want everyone to follow the path of the ancient traditions; I am just concerned with the limited freedom we give in a country founded on freedom.
The Proper Use of Magical Intent
Author: Michael ‘Blackthorn’ Furie
Magical intent is one of the most important facets of working magic. For the magic to be ideal in its success the intent must not only be properly focused and projected but also, it must fit the actual goal of the spell. For example, if you cast a protection spell designed only for spiritual or psychic protection, you may still be vulnerable to physical attack. If the intent of a spell is not complete or proper in its scope, the effects of the spell will be diminished or diverted. To demonstrate, I will give some examples and some corrective measures for the main goals of most magical practitioners. Let’s start with love magic.
Love – Before performing a love spell you should be able to define, as precisely as possible, the type of person you wish to attract. You should also evaluate whether or not you are ready for a long-term relationship or if your true goal is merely sexual fulfillment. In the case of sexual fulfillment, I would suggest that you modify whatever love spell you are using to only include positive sexual attraction and take out any references to lasting partnerships or lifetime commitments. You should also be wary of using magic to fall in love if you only want to be in love ‘just to be in love.’ Any magic done that will involve the lives and free wills of other people should only be done with a proper level of maturity.
In addition, it is highly inadvisable to ever cast a love spell on a specific person. This is an outright attempt at overpowering the free will of an innocent human being and would result in ‘unsavory’ consequences. In order to cast a spell on another living being, they either have to subconsciously allow it to affect them or you have to channel enough energy to overpower their subconscious shielding (which every being has) and force them into compliance. A spell of that magnitude is harder to cast than you might think when using positive energy and the more energy you send out the greater the eventual return.
If you send out an enormous amount of energy essentially designed to break the free will of another, when that energy returns to you, well…don’t expect the relationship (or anything else) to go according to your wishes for a long time. You will then become someone whose will gets continually overpowered. Also, ‘relationships’ created in such a compulsory manner usually don’t last long since the target’s subconscious mind is aware of what you did and so, resentment and conflict will eventually bubble to the surface and destroy the relationship.
The proper intent for a love spell would be to focus on the type of partner that you wish to attract into your life with the desire that it be for your mutual good and with free will. This type of love spell if properly cast, is guaranteed to be free of harsh side effects.
Money – Money is an interesting thing. It is in fact, artificial. The concept of money is one of agreed upon value; everyone agrees that a certain coin or piece of paper is worth a given amount and…poof! It is. Truly understanding that money is more of a perception or concept as opposed to being the most powerful factor in existence is the key in using magic to bring money. Don’t get me wrong, having money is important! But not for its inherent value, for it has none. Money is important only because of the security that it can bring and the only reason it has this power is because we agree that it does.
Now, I’m not saying that if we personally stop believing that money has value in our lives our need for it will stop. I’m not even suggesting that. I’m also not saying that money is a bad concept; merely that it is in fact, a concept. Prior to the use of money, the barter system was used to trade goods and services. This system is of course, quite cumbersome and would be totally unworkable in today’s society.
I realize that we basically have no choice whether or not to agree on the value of money. Society decided that ages ago but, it’s not really money that we crave; we crave safety, health, comfort and security. This is why there are money spells in magic. We must work within the modern system in order to achieve the life security that nowadays, only money can provide.
When working with spiritual forces to acquire a mundane, physical thing (which is a large chunk of what magic is used to do) , it is important to focus on what the exact desired goal is rather than thinking in general terms. Specifically, when using magic to bring money, focus on why you need this money; what it will be used for, instead of just trying to ‘draw in money energy’ or something like that. We must focus on the truth behind things and not just a thin veneer or a means to an end. Focusing on the money itself is akin to over-analyzing the process of how magic will manifest a goal, which, as previously stated, then hinders that process. The true worth of money is what should be focused on and that can only be done by focusing on what it will be used to obtain.
So, if you need money to purchase a new car, focus on the need for the car. You may also focus on the specific amount of money needed to purchase the car, if desired. Do not however, only focus on the money! That cannot be overstated. Money magic is about growth, security, and abundance and not money for money’s sake.
Magic, in general works best if there is genuine need (as opposed to selfish want) . If you need money for something, cast the spell for that something. If you merely want $100, 000 dollars for the fun of it well, you can try for it but trust me, it will be a LOT harder to achieve.
Healing – When working healing magic for one’s self or others, it is necessary to visualize the person in a relaxed, healthy state as opposed to seeing them ‘becoming healed’ or ‘growing in strength’ or something along those lines. Surround them with healing energy and state that the injury or illness shall no longer exist. In your mind’ eye, ‘see’ the person healthy and with no illness. Visualize only the outcome; not even one speck of the process of healing. Otherwise, there will be delays, or mixed results due to confusing signals being projected by you. Any healing magic must be done with a true sense of compassion and love infused with it. This maximizes its effectiveness since magic done without proper feeling is only marginally successful at best.
Protection – As noted earlier, the type of protection magic worked is an integral of its success. If you feel that someone is trying to work negative magic against you (however, that is a rare occurrence) or that a dark spiritual entity has become attached to you in some way (an even rarer occurrence) , or that you spend time around an energy vampire (a surprisingly frequent occurrence) , then you should work magic for psychic protection.
If on the other hand, if you are worried about physical danger, then work magic for physical protection. Now, if you are under immediate physical threat or danger, then you should first take all necessary mundane precautions like locking doors, calling police, going to a safe public place etc. Most people work protective magic as a precautionary measure to avoid any such threats and I would recommend doing so. I personally feel that it is a good idea when using protection magic to aim for a combination of both types of protection; both psychic and physical, to make sure you are truly secure. A good dual protective measure is the witch bottle.
When working protection magic, you should be filled with a sense of safety and serenity (no fear!) and infuse this serenity into the spell. If you are filled with fear, you will only infuse that fear into the spell and it will offer no protection; it will only increase the fear. You must project how you want to feel with the end result for effective protection.
Binding – This is in an area known as gray magic. Binding can be used for positive ends but does involve the overpowering of the free will. Because of this, unless skillfully done (and even then) , there could be serious repercussions to the spellcaster. Many modern practitioners never use this type of magic and prefer to not even discuss such things but, given the fact that we live in an unpredictable, sometimes harsh world, I feel that it is best to be fully armed and knowledgeable with the use of defensive magic. The key here is defensive. Bindings should not be done merely to control another person for some type of ego boost or a cheap thrill. They should only be done to stop a dangerous person or situation from continuing on in its destructive ways. Additionally, it is possible (but, difficult) to bind oneself to help curb negative tendencies or bad habits.
The proper intent for a binding is to visualize the person bound and unable to escape then, give them a specific set of commands to follow according to need. You should feel fully in control without malice or fear. Feel as though you are overwhelming the person into giving in to your demands (think angry nagging as opposed to kidnapping and threatening) . Bindings do require lots of energy to be effective and if the person’s subconscious mind is strong enough to reject your spell, you will quickly suffer the consequences of rebound. This is why this type of magic should be rarely done and when done at all, should only be in times of true need.
The reason for specific orders is twofold. First, it speeds the success of the spell by giving it clear focus and second, it helps eliminate rebound upon the spellcaster since the stated conditions do not apply to the one casting the spell. Let me give an example, if you need to bind a thief then, do a binding with the specific command that the person will no longer steal the possessions of others and since you are not a thief (at least I hope not…) there would be no rebound of binding your free will. That being said, there is always an energy return from every spell cast and this is unavoidable. This is one reason why it is inadvisable to dwell too often in the realms of gray or black magic. You don’t need all that negative energy returning to you and disrupting your life.
Cursing – Ah, the most controversial magical topic of them all. Now, this does qualify as black magic and as such, should only be done under very severe circumstances. To work a curse first, you must be filled with angry, vengeful energy and second, be willing to project that energy on to someone else. This will definitely result in dark energy being returned to you so, you must make sure that you are willing to deal with the consequences and that there aren’t any other, less severe options (see binding, above) that could accomplish your goal.
A curse will cause misfortune to the target of the spell and will result in a life of misery for them. Unfortunately, to curse another is to curse oneself so, be prepared to be on the receiving end of misery as well.
If the consequences of curses are so awful then, why do people use them? Well, they should only be used in times of greatest need. Dark energy travels quickly on this plane. Much more quickly than positive energy, this is the lure of cursing. It’s quick and effective magic. Many people become addicted to the sense of power that the use of such magic brings. This is ignorant and dangerous behavior.
The only justifiable reason to cast a curse is if someone has greatly wrong you or a loved one with no remorse and intends to continue doing so (either to yourself or others) . In such a case, a curse could be used to force a realization of the person’s own actions into their mind, creating a kind of tortured empathy or fill their lives with such chaos and misery that they no longer have the time or even the strength to attempt to harm you or anyone else.
You should be very specific in your goals for a curse so, much like in the case of binding, the possibilities of rebound are minimized. Again, even if the curse doesn’t rebound upon you, the dark energy will eventually return and you will face the consequences of your actions. To cast the curse, you must be filled with anger and rage and infuse this feeling into your spell. This can be exhausting, as it requires enormous energy for the proper results to be achieved. For the most part, it is advisable to leave the negative magic alone in order to avoid the harsh repercussions of its use.
The positive magical path is always a safer and highly encouraged choice.
With all of these skills, anyone should be able to fine tune their intent, cast successful spells and reap the rewards of living the magical life.
Author: Bob Makransky
Witchcraft is a craft. It’s something you learn. Witches usually do have supernormal powers. However, these powers are learned. There can be inborn talent, but it takes a lifetime of practice just to perfect one such power. This is why the terms “occultism”, “secret science”, “mysticism”, and so forth are silly. There is nothing secret or hidden going on here. Witchcraft is merely a matter of paying conscious attention to the things, which our society has taught us to ignore.
Witchcraft is what everyone is doing all the time, beneath the surface of everyday life. Most people just pretend they aren’t doing it or else they don’t consider what they do to be witchcraft. For example, infatuation is a species of mutual bewitching. Lovers bewitch one another and themselves. But they wouldn’t consider this witchcraft. They consider it love – at least until the bewitchment, the infatuation, wears off.
Similarly, people who cannot break free of an abusive relationship are usually bewitched by their partners. Doctors, and all healers, cure people by stimulating and encouraging the people’s own faith in getting well. Good salespeople are adept at bewitching their customers. And so on.
Everyone is manipulating everyone else on a witchcraft level all the time. Any time people command another’s attention, or manipulate their feelings in any way, they are bewitching them. Thus all art is witchcraft, and great artists are merely great witches. Artists are highly intuitive people who can tune into profound feelings in their art and take other people with them.
Witches are perhaps a bit more psychic to start with than average people. At least witches rely upon and trust in their intuition more than average people do. To most people, psychic events such as precognition, prophetic dreams, omens, telepathic communications happen now and then unbidden, but are beyond control. Such things happen to witches with somewhat more frequency because witches welcome, or intend, such things. Or better said, witches are more attentive to such things whereas average people tend to brush past them (or in many cases, reject what they just experienced because it contradicts their beliefs about what is “real” or “socially acceptable”) . With some experience and practice witches learn how to control their psychic abilities.
For example, when faced with a problem, one thing many witches do is to pray (intend) upon retiring at night for the solution to their problem to come to them. With a little practice they find that this works most of the time. They receive the answer in a dream that night, or else it comes in the next day or two. And as they see this technique work time and time again, it builds their faith, and as their faith builds the technique keeps working better and better for them.
Faith, the emotional content of belief, is the key to making witchcraft work. It can move mountains. It is the lever by which we create our own realities. The only reason our thought form world works is because we put our faith in it. If we believed in witchcraft with the same certainty that we believe turning a key in an ignition will start a car, then witchcraft would work as well for us as science and technology do.
That’s what faith is all about. There have been societies on this earth, which were based upon witchcraft, such as the Mayan Indians of Central America. These societies get witchcraft to work for them as well as materialistic science does for us, because that’s where they put their faith.
The reasons why witchcraft often doesn’t work as well as the books, and one’s own spirit guides, for that matter, say that it should, are sundry. Sometimes it just isn’t time yet. “To everything there is a season.” All the prayers and spells in the world won’t make Christmas happen before December 25th. Sometimes our prayers and spells are contingent upon the right astrological influence occurring.
Other times our prayers and spells don’t work right away because we have heavy karma in the way that has to be cleaned out first. This is often the case when what we are telling ourselves consciously that we want (love, wealth) contradicts self-esteem issues left over from our childhoods. Moreover, this karmic barrier to realizing our desires might stem from previous lifetimes, as well as this one. In my own case it took twenty years of just putting in the time and paying my dues between when I first made the decision to follow the witch’s path (after reading Carlos Castaneda’s books) , and when my spirit guides appeared in my life, which was my actual entry into the world of witchcraft. From there it was another fifteen years until I started seeing some real results from witchcraft working on my own, without spirits backing me up. However, I never lost faith, and that’s why I have succeeded so far.
The difference between witches and average people is that witches have infinite patience and a willingness to confront any danger and endure any pain necessary in order to realize their desires. Average people, on the other hand, always seem to be looking for a free ride or handout in life. Average people’s decisions don’t have enough power behind them to accomplish anything worthwhile because they back down and reverse their decisions the minute the going gets a little tough. What helped me a lot in my own quest, I see now in retrospect, was that my situation was truly desperate and miserable. I had nothing to go back to, so I had no choice but to press forward.
The Spirit always plays little games on our heads to test us in our resolve. It always makes it as difficult as possible to stand by our decisions. Things never happen the way we fantasize them or rehearse them. Average people are ready to throw in the towel and weep in self-pity at every little disappointment. Witches know that once a decision has been made, there’s no going back unless the Spirit itself grants release. The basic principles of witchcraft are to make absolutely irrevocable decisions; and to go to any extreme necessary to stand by those decisions.
Power is the same thing as luck. True power involves leaving nothing to chance. Average people, if they believe in witchcraft at all, believe that witches control chance. This isn’t correct. Witches, at least white witches, don’t dominate chance or enforce their own will on the universe. Rather, they are wholly dominated by it. They give up all personal desires of their own, cease caring whether they win or lose, or get their own way or not. In this way witches become one with chance and merge themselves with it. Then their will becomes unstoppable.
Witches will to accept the Spirit’s will as their own. They give up all their own images of what they think they desire and let the Spirit’s desires for them prevail. When witches synchronize their own desires with those of the Spirit, everything becomes possible for them. The great enemy of witchcraft is doubt.
I happen to have the power to bewitch women to fall in love with me (okay, no snickering out there, this happens to be true) . My spirits taught me how to do this to show me that witchcraft does indeed work – that it is possible to make impossible things happen merely by willing it. They also wanted to teach me to hold my attention fixed upon a single object, moment-to-moment, all day long every day. They know me pretty well: they knew that the only thing that would motivate me to put out the effort and discipline needed to do this was the promise of sex.
I’ll save the details of my experiences with bewitching women for my autobiography, except to say that the last time I tried it, it backfired on me in such a way that I’ll never do it again. Besides, although you can get sex by bewitching, you can’t get love that way, so why bother?
Psychic healing works the same way that bewitching does. The healer visualizes the patient as being well, and thus overrides the patient’s doubt and self-pity. Any form of ‘ensorcellment’ involves substituting the witch’s will for the subject’s will. This can only take place if the subject is willing, consciously or unconsciously. That is to say, no one can be bewitched, or healed, against their will.
Bewitching is really no different than Creative Visualization. Witches know to keep their Creative Visualizations within the realm of reasonable possibility. Thus they don’t try to bewitch famous movie stars to fall in love with them, or to win the lottery. These sorts of outcomes are too unlikely. In order to make witchcraft work it is necessary to overcome doubt, and wishing for something that’s way out of one’s league, or too improbable, starts off with too big a doubt debit.
When bewitching for love, for example, witches start out with someone with whom they already have desire lines in place. This means someone with whom they have already shared feelings; someone they’ve already looked directly in the eye and flashed with. That flash doesn’t necessarily have to have been one of love. The flash could have been anger, disgust, humor, or sadness as well as attraction. It doesn’t matter. If, for an instant, two people look in each other’s eyes and some emotion passes between them, then at that moment they stuck lines in each another. They bewitched one another. If there is any feeling at all between two people, whether positive or negative, then they can be bewitched through that feeling.
What passes in brief moments of direct eye contact is very powerful sexual witchcraft. It is so potent, in fact, that it scares most people. They immediately get flustered, avert their eyes, and pretend that nothing happened. Even when the emotion that is being shared is humor or gaiety, there is a polite limit to how long direct eye contact can be engaged before it becomes threatening, i.e. sexual. Even if the emotion is anger or disgust, that just means that the feeling is so sexual that it has to be hidden by its negation
Sexual feeling is the matrix of all feeling. Sexual feelings are actual lines that people shoot into one another, like arrows, whenever they flash on each other by sharing a feeling. These lines appear to people with psychic vision as fibers of living light. It’s through the light fibers, which join people that they pass emotional information, such as the psychic knowledge that the other person is hurt, or dead, or having sex with someone else. It’s also through these light fibers that bewitching takes place.*
In short, if two people have ever shared any direct feeling, then there’s already a sexual bond between them. Witches can use this bond to bewitch, or to heal. They force energy through that desire line by intense visualization of their desire coming true. This brings pressure to bear upon the interpersonal barrier. This barrier is the pretense that there’s nothing going on between the participants.
Sexual desire can exist from previous lifetimes and realities – this is usually what’s behind the phenomenon of love at first sight. If there’s an underlying sexual attraction (which can in fact be read from the natal horoscopes of the people involved – e.g. the man’s sun or Mars conjunct or opposition the woman’s moon or Venus) , then there’s fertile ground for bewitching even if the two people have not yet met face-to-face.
On the surface, the witches act cordially but disinterestedly. They keep a poker face and they do nothing on their own account. Eventually that pressure brings about a moment in time when the Spirit itself opens the floodgates and the other person’s defenses evaporate. If and when it’s time for an overt move, it comes on its own in a moment of power.
In everyday society most of the actual sticking of desire lines into other people is done in the state of dreamless sleep, although the intent is set up in waking. If you have ever had a dream war with someone, that person was trying to stick a line into you, but you successfully fought him or her off. If you hadn’t successfully fought them off, you wouldn’t have had that dream. It would have remained unconscious, on the level of dreamless sleep.
Witches, both black and white, sometimes rely upon spirit helpers to cue them on what to do and when. These messages come across as sudden ideas or inspirations. But witches don’t act unless prompted.
In other words the witches’ superficial behavior betrays nothing of what they are actually thinking or feeling. Contrast this with how most people try to make their desires come true. Most people get caught up in making obvious moves, polishing their self-presentation, trying to somehow flag other people’s, or God’s, attention: “Yoo-hoo! Here I am! Over here!”
This approach will work sometimes, but it’s really inept. This is what the dating game is all about, which is why people find it so boring and predictable. There’s no sport to it. Besides there’s no true feeling to it, much less love. It’s all phony.
When witches bewitch, all their energy is held rigidly in check. Desire is inflamed by visualization, which is why witchcraft is basically a matter of bewitching oneself. Witchcraft is hypnotizing oneself into an intense, single-pointed desire. Witches first have to bewitch themselves to be madly in love – they go first. Then they impose that feeling on the subject of their desire. Better said, they give the subject a powerful option.
No one can be forced to do anything against his or her own will by witchcraft. It’s quite possible for the person being bewitched to block the ensorcellment by detaching his or her light fibers from the witch. This is felt as closing up to them emotionally. What witches, particularly black witches, count on is that most people’s wills are so weak and confused.
Witches may use some object symbolic of their desire and pour all of their attention on it. They imagine the face of the person in it and talk with it and make love with it and cuddle with it at night. For example, in the movie Bell, Book and Candle, Kim Novak bewitched Jimmy Stewart with a cat. In the book The Witch’s Dream by Florinda Donner, the protagonist bewitched his love with a devil’s mask. The symbolic object can be charged like a charm.
Thus bewitching is like normal daydreaming or fantasizing, carried to an extreme (visualized in the here-and-now rather than projected to a future which will never come) . When bewitching for love, the witch visualizes him or herself in the physical presence of the beloved – holding hands, kissing and caressing, having fun together – as if the person were actually there. In bewitching you look the other person (the lover you desire, the boss you want a raise from, the jerk you want out of your life, whomever) directly in the eye.
In normal daydreaming and fantasizing, by contrast, you’re usually not making eye contact at all. In bewitching the focus is on the other person and how enjoyable it is to be in their company (or to be rid of them, depending upon what you are bewitching for) . In normal daydreaming the focus is on yourself. Other people serve only as mute witnesses to your own glory and vindication. This is the difference between bewitching and fanning the breeze with idle daydreaming. When you bewitch someone you’re right there in front of him or her eyeball-to-eyeball. You let them do the talking and make the moves. In daydreaming they’re fawning over you while you carry on a monologue.
This is another difference between Creative Visualization, what witches do, and fantasizing and daydreaming, which average people do. Visualization is a matter of feeling, of longing, of reaching out for the object of desire. Daydreaming is a matter of thinking, imaging, distancing oneself from the object of desire. Daydreaming is actually reaching out towards self-pity, not towards the realization of one’s true desires.
You should not daydream or have romantic or sexual fantasies about someone whom you are bewitching. They will feel this through the light fibers you have in them as a sleazy vibe, a sexual expectation, coming from you. They will raise defenses against it. Creative Visualization, true bewitching, usually doesn’t have a context of sexual or romantic excitation at all. It’s too here-and-now, too spontaneous and unpredictable. It has a light, joyous feeling to it as compared to the obsessive and directed intensity of most daydreaming. Daydreams are about control, whereas Creative Visualization is about joy.
When bewitching to get rid of someone, witches don’t visualize bad things happening to that person. Rather, they visualize themselves happy, relieved, joyous, now that said person is gone. Psychic healing is done by visualizing the person as well. The point is that the visualization has to be done as if the action is unfolding in the here and now, unlike normal daydreams, which take place in the future. One has to feel all the feelings – joy, relief, health, whatever – that would be felt if the visualization were actually true. It’s those feelings, which are being felt which attract the object of desire; which make the visualization come true.
My Mayan teachers showed me some techniques for bewitching to overcome. I really think this whole thing is childish; but since it does it indeed work; and since it has helped me out a few times (e.g. when I was subjected to a nuisance lawsuit) ; I’ll pass the information along here. If you can obtain a photograph of the person you wish to overcome; or a hair or fingernail cutting from the person – great. If not, just make a small drawing of the person by hand. Make a little cross of sticks (my Mayan teachers use jocote – flat pine sticks oozing sap and used for fire starters) . Wind a red thread around the sticks to join them into a cross. Then place the photo or artifact of the person you wish to overcome in the center of the cross. Fasten it to the cross by winding the red thread around it (my teachers said not to pierce the photo, since that would be definite black witchcraft and result in physical injury to the person being bewitched. The idea is to overcome the person – not incur bad karma, which will have to be paid in other lifetimes) .
After performing a “Scat” ritual over the cross (Choose a Saturn hour for this and follow instructions in the BOS in the Witchcraft 101 folder
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WitchcraftalAlmanac/files/How%20to%20use%20Witchcraftal%20Almanac/) , place the cross in your shoe (I wrap these crosses in duct tape first to keep them intact) ; and imagine grinding the person you wish to overcome into the dirt with every step you take (as Nancy Sinatra crooned) . As I said, it’s childish; but it does indeed work.
Conscious awareness is where all links ultimately have to be made. A witch, however, never makes links through direct intervention, by acting on his or her own accord. This is how most people blow things or trip themselves up. They fail by acting on their thought forms, by being impatient and pushy, by being unwilling or unable to trust in the Spirit to bring them what they want in the fullness of time.
This shows lack of faith. Only the Spirit can move the wheel of chance. Therefore the basic principle of witchcraft is patience. Conscious awareness can only exist if there is also unconscious awareness – something that is being hidden. The trick of witchcraft is to take in everything so that nothing is any longer hidden. Another way of saying this is, we must become aware of our own prejudices and taken-for-granted assumptions, since it is our own images and expectations which blind us to the truth.
Everybody already knows intuitively how to make witchcraft work, but they don’t do it much since if they succeeded they’d scare themselves silly. This is another difference between daydreaming and Creative Visualization. In the former the person doesn’t really want the desire to come true. He or she is just playing games, fanning the breeze with self-pity. Therefore it usually takes an intense, overwhelming desire or desperation to activate average people’s true witchcraft powers. Miracles do sometimes happen, when people are 100% clear in their intent – when they permit their higher self to surface and take command. Witches strive to make every moment a miracle.
Creative Visualization, is the same thing as prayer. Everyone intuitively understands the efficacy of prayer, but most people don’t call upon it unless they’re desperate. However, desperation isn’t the best motivation for prayer since people create their own realities. They wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place unless they created it for some reason, to learn some lesson. If that lesson happens to be learning the power of faith, that prayer does work, then their prayers will save their butts; but not necessarily otherwise.
The problem with witchcraft as a spiritual path, and bewitching people in particular, is that it hangs us up in all the same stupid games of winning and losing that average people play in normal, everyday society. Witchcraft is like capitalism – it’s really pretty slimy and distasteful, but it’s the name of the game; so if our demonic society forces us to play such games, then let’s at least play to win. Witches – like capitalists – aim to be winners… whereas average people aim to be losers – to wallow in helplessness and self-pity.
In the coming century and a half our decadent, degenerate society will collapse under the weight of human greed and stupidity, and the pressure of the earth herself turning against us. The surviving remnant of the human race (if there is one) must willy-nilly reorganize itself along the lines of what is now considered to be “witchcraft”. Or another way of saying this is, that only witches – people who have learned to rely upon their own intuition and intent instead of belief in society’s lies – will survive the coming holocaust.
Fundamentally witchcraft is as much a dead-end street for an aspirant on the spiritual path as is seeking the validation and glory of society. The only value to witchcraft, which seems baffling at first but which is learned through experience, by making lots of mistakes, is understanding the difference between when one is acting on one’s own impulse, or when one is truly being prompted to act by the Spirit. This is the crux of the matter, and the reason why learning witchcraft is worthwhile.
* See the drawings of humans interacting on a light fiber level in Barbara Brennan’s book Light Emerging, Bantam NYC 1993.
Brennan, Barbara, Light Emerging, Bantam NYC 1993
Being Spiritually Centered (And Tips On How To Get There)
Author: Michael ‘Blackthorn’ Furie
Witches are taught that life is an intricate web of interconnected forces; that we are all one and that each piece of the microcosm can influence the whole. We are also taught to think for ourselves (a bit of an oxymoron, I know) and that every living being has its own destiny and right to exist. Furthermore, we are told that everyone should be able to believe whatever they choose and that all beliefs have validity even if only for their respective adherents, since one’s perceptions can influence their reality. This I believe is a true but potentially dangerous teaching if not framed in the proper context.
Most of us are taught how to “ground and center” in the moment as part of proper preparation for ritual or at least as a stress relieving technique however, an increasing number of us haven’t been given instruction in the necessity of, or the way to becoming, spiritually centered beings. I have known several people in my life (some Pagan, some not) that struggle with a feeling of spiritual emptiness and unrelenting frustration. They feel abandoned by the universe and whatever concept of Deity they hold dear. They don’t understand why so much of their life is filled with chaos. They feel continual conflict, both in the outside world and within themselves. I myself have suffered from this ailment and have struggled to find answers as to why. I have come to identify a reason for this chaos and conflict: a lack of being spiritually centered.
Being spiritually centered is a powerful tool that we have to truly embrace who we are as people and how we approach life. If you study spiritual gurus or masters of any faith, one key factor keeps presenting itself; they practice what they preach. In other words, they live their lives according to a set of clearly defined beliefs that they adhere to without exception. They leave no room for inner conflict or hypocrisy.
Psychologists have identified a state known as cognitive dissonance, which is defined by the American Psychological Association as: a state of despair that is induced when a person holds two contradictory beliefs, or when a belief is incongruent with an action that the person had chosen freely to perform. Because this situation produces feelings of discomfort, the individual strives to change one of the beliefs or behaviors in order to avoid being inconsistent. Hypocrisy is a special case of cognitive dissonance, produced when a person freely chooses to promote a behavior that they do not themselves practice.
I believe cognitive dissonance to be one of the greatest social ills faced in human society. When people feel driven to hold a belief because it was instilled in them as a child but they personally feel that the belief is either too restrictive or wholly invalid, a frustration and dissatisfaction with life builds within the mind. We’ve seen the results of unrelenting cognitive dissonance on a societal scale many times in the past.
When a group (let’s say the Puritans, for example) feels compelled to hold personally restrictive beliefs that are too difficult for even themselves to comply with, they then feel a gnawing sense of inadequacy, guilt and despair, now known as cognitive dissonance. This would then result in a large number of spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically unfulfilled people which, (I guess) is fine if that is their free choice.
If however, another group of people is nearby that practice a different set of beliefs (let’s say Native Americans, Pagans, Less restrictive Christians, well anybody really…) and those people appear happier and more fulfilled than the former group, the inner conflict only grows. To ease this conflict they have only three possible courses of action: isolate themselves away from the less restrictive people and continue in their ways, change their own restrictive beliefs and live a more relaxed life, or persecute those that live more freely than they, in order to reinforce their own sense of values and ease some of their secret feelings of inadequacy.
Sadly, this last choice seems to be the one that is most often chosen. Far too many people throughout history (in my opinion) have mistaken the sense of power felt when they convert people to their beliefs for true spirituality and religious fulfillment. Instead of becoming spiritually centered themselves, they choose to force their values on others; attempting to stamp out other belief systems in the hope that this will reinforce and ‘prove’ the supremacy and truth of their own beliefs to themselves.
This is why at the beginning of this article I stated that I believe that the fact that everyone’s beliefs are valid on at least some level because a person’s perceptions can influence reality, can be a dangerous teaching. If a person believes that inner conflict and a feeling of spiritual emptiness are ‘the way it must be’ then, they are living in needless misery and becoming potentially dangerous to those around them that do not share in their narrow outlook.
With all that being said, I shall (finally!) come to the point of this article and discuss becoming spiritually centered. In order to be spiritually centered, you must know who you are. You must have ‘found yourself’ as they say, and you must be comfortable in your own skin. This requires a process of evaluation and conscious acknowledgment of how you think and what you believe. The first step in this process is to ask yourself what you believe. Take a notebook and write down everything that you believe. No, seriously! Make the list as complete as possible; write down your entire Spiritual, cultural, political, and personal beliefs, both positive and negative.
After this list is complete, consider each item and determine whether you hold this belief because you truly believe it or, merely because someone else told you to believe it. Now, consider each item and decide whether or not you want to continue to hold that belief. Those beliefs you no longer desire to keep should be crossed out on your list. It is vital that a truly Spiritual person be free of clouded judgment and the weight of other people’s beliefs.
To hold any belief only because someone else claimed it as fact is a giving up of personal control to that person. A belief should only be held if, upon personal examination and experimentation, you find that it truly speaks to you and enriches your life.
Any shame or fear-based beliefs must be thoroughly examined. Truly determine whether or not any guilt, shame, fear or doubt is based on genuine wrongs that you may have committed or rather, based on unfair labels and projections placed upon you by others. This no doubt, will be an emotional journey but I assure you it is definitely worthwhile. Depending on the nature and severity of any emotional issues, therapy may be required to properly resolve them. In that case, I would highly recommend it but use your best judgment. Just remember that we are all human and prone to mistakes. One of the great challenges in life is to learn from and grow beyond, our mistakes. Let go of shame and fear.
The next step is, create a new revised list (I’m big on lists) of your personal beliefs and scan this list for any conflicting beliefs that you still hold. As I previously mentioned, hypocrisy is just another form of cognitive dissonance and will continue to keep you away from your centered self. Remember, there is a difference in being able to see both points of view in an argument and never being able to give a singular personal opinion on anything because you don’t feel able to take a definitive stance on any issue. The latter results from continuing to hold conflicting beliefs that keep you bound in shame and guilt and blur the lines so that you can’t find personal truth.
When you are centered, you are able to speak your truth with a clear and proud voice because you know deep within your heart that it is your truth and you will be unwilling to abandon it.
Once all your beliefs align, there is only one more step in becoming centered…actually living according to those beliefs. Remember that it is just as important to ‘do’ as it is to understand and feel. There are three aspects to our personalities: thinking, willing, and feeling. We need to utilize all three as equally as possible in order to live fully. Thinking and (hopefully) feeling have been involved in the process so far, but never forget the power of the human will. It is connected to the fire element and is that special spark that is only gained through actual experience; contemplation, evaluation, intellectual understanding and emotional connection are only parts of the process.
To be complete, we too must practice what we preach.
To those whose feet are stilled
And those who laugh with us no more
To you we say, our love was with you here
And goes with you hence
To that place where you rest and revel.
May the dark Lord and sweet Lady
Guide your feet along the rocky paths
To the place where all is fresh and green
And lover, friends and ancestors wait
With open arms to greet you.
Go in peace, and with our blessing
Be rested and return when the Lady deems it fit
With the countless turns of the Great Wheel
We shall miss you
We shall meet you again in the green places of Her domain.
Vesta Sizes Up
This composite image shows the comparative sizes of nine asteroids. Up until now, Lutetia, with a diameter of 81 miles (130 kilometers), was the largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, which occurred during a flyby. Vesta dwarfs all other small bodies in this image.
Asteroid Vesta also is considered a protoplanet because it’s a large body that almost became a planet and has a diameter of approximately 330 miles (530 kilometers). was the largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, which occurred during a flyby. Vesta dwarfs all other small bodies in this image.
Asteroid Vesta also is considered a protoplanet because it’s a large body that almost became a planet and has a diameter of approximately 330 miles (530 kilometers).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JAXA/ESA
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: Why does this star have so few heavy elements? Stars born in the generation of our Sun have an expected abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium mixed into their atmospheres. Stars born in the generation before our Sun, Population II stars, the stars that created most of the heavy elements around us today, are seen to have some, although fewer, elements heavier than H and He. Furthermore, even the elusive never-seen first stars in the universe, so-called Population III stars, are predicted to have a large mass and a small but set amount of heavy elements. Yet low-mass Milky Way star SDSS J102915+172927, among others, appears to have fewer metals than ever predicted for any stars, including at least 50 times less lithium than came out of the Big Bang. The unusual nature of this star, initially cataloged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and pictured above, was discovered by detailed spectroscopic observations by a large VLT telescope in Chile. Many models of star formation indicate that such a star should not even form. Research is ongoing, however, with one leading hypothesis holding that fragile primordial lithium was destroyed in the star’s hot core.
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Typography hits the right key in home decor
Published: Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 4:28 p.m.
Numbers and letters are hot off the press this season in decorative items, dishware and soft furnishings.
Typographic decor spans a variety of styles, from vintage — in the form of letterpress or old correspondence imagery — to clean-lined modern graphics, often using bold text or individual symbols.
Before designing dinnerware, Christopher Jagmin was a graphic designer. "I love and appreciate the art of typography," he says. "We're all surrounded by it every day. We type on computers, we're aware of it on advertising, billboards, magazines and on television."
His numbered plates are creating a lot of buzz — there's something really artsy about these symbols on a crisp white ceramic plate. Jagmin agrees: "I think that breaking down words to the simplicity of a letter or a number, we see the true beauty and art of a font, and its basic elements."
San Francisco designer Rae Dunn stamps clay cups and plaques with the sparest of phrases; the result is both charming and evocative. "Tres Bien" and "Oui," say sweet little cups. "C'est la vie," shrugs a plate. And the homespun phrase "Home Sweet Home" becomes something special when pressed into creamy clay and embellished with a little bee.
Textual decor can add a touch of drama. John Derian was given an envelope of correspondence between two former lovers; throughout the letters, written in 1919, a young lady is trying to recover some personal items. She becomes more impatient with each missive: "Sorry to appear insistent. But I must have my trinkets back."
Derian has decoupaged several of the letters onto beautiful glass trays for a collection he calls "Relationships."
Samuel Ho, Nathan Tremblay and Ian Campana comprise the Calgary, Alberta, design firm Palette Industries. Their limited edition Dharma lounge chair has a seat formed of the laser-cut words "Stand, Forget, Breathe, Acknowledge and Observe," atop sleek chrome legs. Their Camus floor lamp has a veneer shade laser-cut with Albert Camus' quote, "You cannot create experience, you must undergo it."
Walls can support a variety of strong graphics, and are a perfect place to play with numbers and letters. Cafe Press has the simple yet striking Helvetica wall clock. Ikea's Olunda Typeface wall art depicts the alphabet in bold black, white and red.
Flamboyant, innovative fashion designers Chris Brooke and Bruno Basso have ventured successfully into wall coverings with "Alphabet," a lacy, intricate pattern of Greek letters in a palette of sophisticated tone-on-tone and softly contrasting hues.
Inspired by layers of advertising on New York City billboards, Megan Meagher created collages of fonts on two canvases; find them at Crate & Barrel.
The retailer also has a kicky collection of cocktail-oriented serveware with chatty, multi-font words forming drink pitcher and martini glass shapes on slivers of white porcelain.
For the floor, consider Peacock Park Design's wildly popular Tattoo mat, an antiquarian-style set of inky fonts printed on bamboo. CB2's Club Red rug is a plush and punchy rendition of a London club poster.
Ikea's Vitaminer Siffra duvet set is a peppy pop of colors and numbers.
And finally, Donna Wilson plays with the whole concept by scripting "Blah Blah" across a soft, cozy blanket. Well said, Ms. Wilson
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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By Guest Blogger, CA Representative Karen Bass
|Hon. Diane Watson and Congresswoman Karen Bass|
To me, she is a mentor. I take my seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 33rd Congressional District of California not as a replacement, but with her at my side. I have many people to thank for believing in and working toward my success in the 2010 mid-term election, but her encouragement and support helped guide my decision to run for the seat when she stepped down.
I would like to take a moment to highlight some of Diane Watson’s historical and influential career. She is best known for her dedication and tireless work towards education reform. In 1975, Watson was the first black woman elected to the Los Angeles School Board of Education. She is regarded as a community hero for her endless support for quality public service.
A few years later, she began a remarkable political career. She served as a member of the California State Senate from 1978 to 1998, was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as Ambassador to Micronesia from 1999 to 2000 and recently ended a ten year career in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her contribution to education, social services and health care exemplify the proven societal benefits that result when women seek roles in public office.
Walking the halls of Congress, it is difficult to ignore the obvious gender disparity. It is imperative that we continue our work to elect more women to office and demand equal representation. I want to thank Diane Watson for the example she has set in recognizing the important role and responsibility of women in Congress and other elective office to take steps to continue their legacy. We need more women holding office not only to reach out and encourage younger women to run for office but to actively recruit and mentor talented women to step into their shoes. I am honored and humbled to be a public servant to my constituents and look forward to continuing the work of former Representative Diane Watson.
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It’s time to once again peer into the hidden world of librarians.
Blatantly borrowing a concept from a website that shall remain nameless, I present Things Librarians Fancy, Chapter II.
I am, for the record, guilty of many (many (many)) of the items described below.
There is nothing that gives a librarian more pleasure than talking someone into reading a book they didn’t know they were interested in (or “hand-selling”). Avid hand-sellers have been known to carve notches on their circulation desks for every patron they successfully persuade. Fast Fact: Overly-ambitious librarian Anna Demson holds the record for hand-selling. She once convinced a patron to check out War and Peace, Two and a Half Men (Season 4) DVD, and buy the half eaten bag of Doritos from her lunch!
Small, Unseen Boom Boxes Playing Soft Music
If you hear gentle music emanating from places unknown, chances are you’re in a school library, where small boom boxes are often hidden behind desks and shelves, playing music that creates just the right mood. Fast Fact: In the Uline District Library, a Coby TH-2312 CD Player/Radio has been playing Lite 96 FM for eight years nonstop. Librarians have been unable to find the device to turn it off!
Not Being Called Librarians
Uncommon titles such as School Library Media Specialist, Cybrarian, and Media Technologist have been created and adopted to inform patrons that important things are going on in the library – things they wouldn’t understand. Fast Fact: Charles Trastel has given himself what is considered to be the most secretive librarian title, changing the sign on his office and business cards to read “Head Wildlife Photographer in charge of Literature Importing/Exportingâ€. Successfully confusing his staff, he has not had to attend a meeting since this change in 2006!
Applying Stickers to Books
Librarians will do anything to help patrons find the right book, even if it includes completely disguising the book behind an array of labels, barcodes, tags, dots, and reading level stickers. Fast Fact: Several library supply companies have begun selling Groucho Marx-inspired glasses with attached false noses to help further the book anonymity.
Foreign Edition Covers
Librarians derive great pleasure out of introducing strangers and colleagues to familiar books sporting unfamiliar covers. After proudly displaying the foreign edition, librarians will typically respond to confused looks with curt “It’s from the UKâ€. Fast Fact: The most staunch foreign edition cover supporter, Ellen Blant, refuses to read any book that is written in her native language, resulting in 0.0 books read in the last five years.
Exhaustively Precise Cataloging
The librarian’s mind is a cluttered place, and nothing brings order to the world better than obsessively kept records. If it’s a thing, and it’s in the library, chances are it has been given a MARC record detailing its weight, color, dimensions, and current mood. Fast Fact: Librarian Stephen Bredel has been called “The King of Catalogingâ€. In his library he catalogs the individual tissues in boxes of Kleenex, because “they have a way of walking offâ€.
Well before it became reality-show vogue, librarians were the original hoarders. Weeding, or the act of removing unusable materials, has yet to catch on among many in the profession. To librarians, the older and more out-of-date a book is, the more its importance grows. Reality is often altered for support. Dated is turned into “collectibleâ€, while damaged quickly becomes “near-mint conditionâ€. Fast Fact: The most extreme case of weeding negligence took place in Anderton District Library, where a complete set of 100 reference books on Burt Reynolds’s moustache were discovered on an out-of-the-way shelf labeled “treasured keepsakesâ€.
‘Librarian X meets the Laugh Out Loud+cats!‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/53057512@N00/3057613794
‘she was an open book to all+that+knew+her‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/53611153@N00/272560684
‘Anita Ozols typing in Cataloging Department of+Ohio+University’s+Chubb+Library,+1969‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/37066425@N08/3513478201
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Infertility affects about 1 out of every 6 couples. It is more than just the inability to conceive after 12 months of trying, but also includes those that cannot carry a pregnancy to term. Surrogacy is presented as an option to couples who otherwise would not be able to have children.
Surrogacy In India is in demand. It's common for singles and couples alike to feel impatient, particularly if they have already spent years trying to decide if they should have a child or not. By the time they have finally decided, having to choose a method and then go through the process may seem like a never-ending journey.
The important thing is to take your time and evaluate all of your options. It may take months or years to finally have your parental dreams realized but once you become a parent, it is for the rest of your life. Rushing through your choices now can only result in increasing the chances of making decisions that aren't best for you which can result in difficult struggles later on in your journey.
When weighing your options you may feel overwhelmed. A good place to start is by looking over the positives and negatives of each and then compare that list to your financial, emotional, and physical resources as well as how much time you can invest in each.
-Emotional resources : How might each option effect your family and friends and how will their reaction effect you? How much of a strain is each option on your marriage, friendships, and personal self esteem? Are there friends, family members, support groups or counselors which can help you increase what you can invest emotionally?
-Physical resources : What other procedures can your body handle? IVF Surrogacy, IVF or Just Surrogacy? What risks are you willing to take? What are your chances of succeeding? Are you able and willing to undergo further invasive procedures? Are there many other clinics you would like to try? Are you willing to travel a great deal? If bed rest were required could you and your family handle it?
When trying to decide if surrogacy India is right for you there are many things you must consider besides your financial and physical abilities. Your emotions as well as those of your partner, family, friends, and even co-workers also should be taken into consideration.
Understanding the Different Types of Surrogacy's
While there are two main types of surrogacy, gestational surrogacy and traditional, there are also different types of arrangements, agency arranged and independently arranged. Also surrogacy may be done between strangers who never meet, persons who meet only a few times, persons who meet and become quite close over the course and often after the surrogacy, and those who are friends before ever entering a surrogacy arrangement or are family members.
Gestational Surrogacy India
Most intended parents prefer gestational surrogacy because they feel more secure in knowing the chances of the surrogate being able to keep their baby is slim to none. They also feel more in control of the surrogacy and pregnancy in general because they are choosing the genetics of their baby. An advantage to having an egg used by an ovum donor or the intended mother is that for the surrogate mother, it separates the complex emotional issues of being a gestational and genetic donor/mother.
Using an Egg Donor India
Often parents who choose to have a gestational surrogate carry their child cannot genetically contribute to their offspring nor do they wish to have their surrogate mother be the genetic mother. Intended parents in these situations usually rely on outside assistance via sperm and or egg donation. While sperm donation has been around for hundreds of years egg donation is relatively new. In this process a screened egg donor undergoes hormone therapy (usually injections) over the course of many weeks which cause her ovaries to release more than one egg.
What is Egg donation and who can be donor?
Donor Options and Process.
We at Delhi IVF are doing Surrogacy in India case in routine and already treated more than 200 cases. We have arrangements for egg donor/rent womb.
We are India's Oldest and best IVF & Surrogacy Clinic India.
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AROUND THE WORLD WITH 80 WOMEN.
GMB LONDON & SOUTHERN REGIONS INVITE YOU TO CELEBRATE ” INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WITH US ON SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2016, FROM 11.30 am – 4 pm AT GMB HQ @ 22 STEPHENSON WAY – EUSTON – NW1 2HD. A BUFFET LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED FROM 12 NOON, ENJOY OUR PHOTO EXHIBITION AND MUSIC..
SOME FURTHER INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS.
THE MACARTHUR HOLIDAY TRUST.
THE HISTORY OF THE TRUST.
The trust was created in 1922 and all those associated with it are proud of its long record of service. In carrying out the objectives of the TRUST the MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE is always conscious that they should act to meet the ideals of the women whose name the TRUST bears–Mary Macarther
Mary Macarthur was born in Ayr in 1880 the daughter of a draper. Joining the Shop Assistants Union 1901 she was elected the President of it’s Scottish District Council within the year. In 1903 she moved to London and became General Secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League. She helped to form the National Federation of Women Workers in 1906 and was President for the first two year’s . She served as it’s General Secretary from 1908 to 1921 when it was merged with what is now the GMB, shortly before her tragic early death.
Mary Macarthur often expressed concern that the ” tired working women”, with whom she came into contact had no hope of respite or a holiday.Her hope was that a holiday home could be opened to which they could go for a period of rest. They therefore decided they should find an alternative way of providing for women in need which they were confident respected Mary Macarthur’s original intentions and would meet with her approval.
since 1991 the new Mary Macarthur Holiday Trust has achieved the provision of a holiday of personal choice : for there can be no doubt that the unique place that Mary Macarthur Homes held in the area of social responsibility , and the memory of Mary herself ,are perpetuated through the Trust Fund. Her aim to fight to struggle ,to right the wrong so that those in need might hope for better things is continued today in the fulfilment of her dream to provide the respite needed for women.
Posted: 11th February 2016
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The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received, in a special meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Guyana, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, at the headquarters of the organization in Washington, DC.
In the opening of her address, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett focused on the history of her country, recalling that this week marks the anniversary of the Berbice slave rebellion 250 years ago, “an event of historic importance” for Guyanese society. Upon similar lines, she highlighted that today, “just 20 years since Guyana achieved democratic rule, the country has undergone a transformation” with important achievements in its economy, social development and integration with the region, among other feats. “None of these developments would have transpired had Guyana not received support and solidarity from Member States from the hemisphere and benefited from the work of the OAS in the promotion of democracy,” said the Minister, making special mention of “the work of the OAS electoral observation missions which have been fielded in my county and which have played a role in ensuring free, fair and democratic elections.”
With respect to the role of the OAS and the adaptation of its strategic goals to the changes in the region, the Guyanese Foreign Minister praised the initiative and the ideas of the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, in presenting to the Member States his Strategic Vision of the OAS and expressed her conviction that the document “can serve as a useful point of departure in the ensuing deliberations concerning the future of the OAS.”
Minister Rodrigues-Birkett highlighted the importance that her country places on multilateralism, and mentioned the role played by Guyana in several regional organizations, “all of which have important agendas,” she said. Nevertheless, she added, “the most outstanding accomplishments over the years in strengthening and upholding democracy, human rights, integral development and security have been achieved by this organization.” For that reason, she added, “the OAS is and will remain the hemisphere’s indispensable platform for dialogue, the promotion of cooperation, sharing best practices, confidence building and problem solving.”
In her conclusion, the Minister said “the imperatives of our time are the legitimate needs of our peoples for security and prosperity. Nations, whether small and vulnerable or large and strong, must be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and count on the solidarity of each other to confront the challenges of today. We, the guardians of our peoples’ interests, must summon the commitment, flexibility and solidarity that is needed to achieve their just aspirations.”
The Chief of Staff of the Secretary General of the OAS, Hugo de Zela, representing Secretary General Insulza, highlighted the “unique role” of Guyana “as a bridge between the Caribbean and South America,” given that it is the only English-speaking country in South America. Ambassador de Zela said that “building citizenship, giving citizens more opportunities and creating a safe environment for the full development of the people are goals we all share, and are core values of this organization.”
Ambassador de Zela noted that Minister Rodrigues-Birkett has made constant efforts to achieve “meaningful integration, one that promotes sustainable development and social inclusion for the benefit of our citizens.” “The OAS stands ready,” he said, “to support the efforts of our Member States in furthering their commitments to the promotion and consolidation of democracy and development for the citizens of the Americas.”
The Chair of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the OAS, Denis Moncada, opened the meeting and welcomed the Minister, saying her time as the Foreign Minister of Guyana “has been marked by the strengthening of relations with its neighbors, which has allowed the development of major joint undertakings in areas such as maritime security and climate change, food security, and financial stability.”
A gallery of photos of the event is available here.
The video of the event is available here.
The B-roll of the event is available here.
The audio of the event is available here.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
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The following was originally posted in YFile, York University’s Daily News, on November 26, 2012 and is reposted here with permission.
A systems approach is needed to respond to youth homelessness in York Region and Canada. This was the message at yesterday’s research forum: Re-Imagining Our Response to Youth Homelessness: A Canadian and Global Perspective, organized by United Way York Region (UWYR) and York University at the Markham Convergence Centre.
“A multi-sectoral approach is necessary. Non-profit organizations, universities, governments and other key stakeholders have to work together to end youth homelessness and move forward with one clear vision,” said keynote speaker Stephen Gaetz, York University professor and director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network. “We need to reconsider our response to youth homelessness and shift our focus away from an emphasis on emergency supports towards prevention and rapid rehousing.”
Representatives from a variety of sectors gathered at the Markham Convergence Centre to talk about an effective response to youth homelessness in York Region and Canada.
The research forum was organized by UWYR in partnership with York University’s Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) Unit through a one-year Public Outreach Grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
“We see this event as a great opportunity to invite people to think differently about youth homelessness and learn from other jurisdictions,” said Jane Wedlock, knowledge mobilization officer, UWYR. “And we can consider whether we might explore some of these different approaches.”
Examples were drawn from different Canadian provinces and other countries that have undertaken some innovative approaches to addressing youth homelessness.
“It was impressive to see York research at a forum designed to facilitate relationship building, a two-way exchange between academic researchers and practitioners in social service provision, all with one common vision to support positive changes in addressing issues of youth homelessness in York Region,” said Michael Johnny, manager of knowledge mobilization at York University.
“Research Forums, such as the one held yesterday, are an important process of effective knowledge mobilization by creating a culture of collaboration and realizing the potential for research to have a direct and positive impact for York Region,” said Johnny.
For more information, visit the UWYR website.
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IE8 security bug forces users to move
It has become a suitable tool for those who did not like the changes Vole made during the Windows 8 era.
However, now Microsoft has found a rather good weapon to motivate its slacker customers - a rather nasty security flaw, which it won't patch until its next round of monthly updates.
The zero-day vulnerability is serious enough that continuing to use the browser isn't advisable from a security standpoint.
The vulnerability has been used to launch attacks aimed at US government workers including the Department of Labour and the Department of Energy.
A website's code script points visitors to a malicious server, which in turn serves up the Poison Ivy Trojan.
NextGov reported that a specific site that was hacked dealt with "nuclear-related illnesses" linked to Department of Energy facilities of employees who may have fallen ill developing or disarming nuclear weapons.
Poison Ivy is linked to "DeepPanda" hackers, which are thought to be based in mainland China.
Microsoft points out that it has offered two new web browsers for free to all of its Windows customers since Internet Explorer, and can't reasonably be expected to continue tech support for the discontinued version indefinitely.
While some IE8 users are using older hardware which can't properly support a newer and more resource-hungry browser, government based outfits should have upgraded a long time ago or moved to Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome.
The Vole seems to think that by telling the world about a crucial security hole well ahead of closing it up, it will give users the final push to do something about it.
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This page lists historical and other events on October 4th in Catalonia and the Catalan-speaking countries as well as a list of births and deaths of well-known Catalans..
1833 - Prats de Lluçanès, Osona: There is a Carlist uprising in favour of brother of King Fernando VII and pretender to the throne, Carlos Maria Isidre de Borbón, in Prats de Lluçanès in the comarca of Osona. This leads to the start of the first of three Carlist wars that would affect mainly Catalonia and the Basque Country for the next 50 or so years.
1880 - Santa Margalida, Mallorca: Joan March Ordinas, Franco's banker, Mallorcan smuggler, politician and investor (died 1962).
1918 - Barberà del Vallès: Josep Maria Arnella i Gallego, Catalan journalist.
1889 - Vila-real, Plana Baixa: José Polo de Bernabé y Borrás, Valencian politician and businessman (born 1812).
1913 - Barcelona: Josep Falp i Plana, Catalan doctor and writer, founder of the Lliga Vegetariana de Catalunya (born 1873).
1913 - Tànger, Morocco: Josep Tapiró i Baró, Catalan painter (born 1836).
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Published by JRP|Ringier. Edited and with text by Giovanni Carmine.
Although often overlooked in contemporary art, Welsh-born realist painter Sylvia Sleigh (1916–2010) became an important part of New York’s feminist art scene in the 1960s and beyond. She was particularly well known for her explicit paintings of male nudes, which challenged the tradition of male artists painting female subjects as objects of desire. Despite a 1953 solo exhibition at Kensington Art Gallery, Sleigh received little public recognition until her move to New York in the 1960s. There she and her husband, the art critic and Guggenheim curator Lawrence Alloway, created a home that welcomed artists, writers and musicians, many of whom Sleigh painted. These works radiate a sense of emotional attachment between the artist and her sitters, presenting an array of significant cultural figures of the time, such as Eleanor Antin, Nancy Spero, Agnes Denes and Mary Beth Edelson. This book is Sleigh’s first retrospective monograph.
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‘National sovereignty will soon prove itself to be a product of the imagination’
Gerhard Schroder, Chancellor of Germany 1998 – 2005
Leaving the EU – Making it Legal
For those of us who argued long and hard for the UK to relinquish its membership of the European Union, today is a momentous day. The British Government will give notice formally to the EU, through the office of the President of the European Council, that the UK is triggering Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. As a telling indicator of the nature of the European Union, before 2009 it was illegal for any member state to leave the EU. It took a British lawyer to draft Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon to bring at least a flavour of democracy to that Treaty. Imagine joining your local golf club on the understanding that if you chose to relinquish your membership of that club, you’d be taken to court. That’s Napoleonic law for you.
Red Letter Day
The Moraymint family calendar now has this day marked up in large red letters and will be recognised today and annually hereafter with a bottle of champagne. I suppose, out of spite, post-Brexit the EU could place an enormous export duty on French champagne being shipped to the UK – in which case English Nyetimber it shall be.
Prepared to Walk Away
The parties to the exit negotiations have up to 2 years from today to come to some agreement about what the UK’s withdrawal from the EU means in practice. If no agreement is reached within 2 years then either the European Council can sanction an extension to the negotiations, or the UK walks away. Any half-decent negotiator will tell you that leaving your counter-party with the prospect of you walking away from a negotiation is a no-brainer. Being prepared to reach a deal at any cost opens the door to the UK being screwed over by the European Union. It strikes me that some people in the Remain camp are, even now, prepared to see the UK screwed over by the EU; a sort of Remain rearguard action, perhaps?
The EU Yesterday and Today
The original intentions of the EU’s founding fathers may have been well meaning. However, over the course of 60 years, since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the EU has morphed from being a club ostensibly focused on economic cooperation to being a nascent superstate characterised by contempt for democracy. Whilst it was a close-run thing, it didn’t really surprise me that the majority of people of this country voted for the UK to leave the European Union. At the time of the EU Referendum, my head said we would vote Remain, my heart said we’d vote Leave. What shocked me at the time was the extraordinary level of propaganda associated with the supposed catastrophic consequences of the UK leaving the EU: total economic disaster; World War III; the collapse of civilisation (all were cited). To some extent that propaganda theme pervades, but its credibility (not that it had much in the first place) does seem to be diminishing by the day.
To this day, I’ve yet to see a Remainian argue cogently that, on balance, it is better for the UK to be governed by a foreign oligarchy than by its own elected Parliament; for the UK to pool its sovereignty with 27 other nations and have less than 4% of the voting rights in any decision-making process affecting 64 million British people’s lives; to open our borders to 500 million foreigners purely in the name of free trade, and to hell with the cultural, social and internal security consequences.
The UK muddled along nicely thank you for 1,000 years before Jean Monnet et al conceived the European Union (as we know it today). You could choose virtually any history of the English-speaking peoples you like and you would discover that it is we who invented freedom – and it is we, the people of the United Kingdom today who remain the greatest advocates on earth of freedom and democracy. We live for these tenets; we die for them.
This is all terribly baffling to our fellow members of the European Union. Many, if not most of our EU colleagues simply cannot believe that the UK intends to recover its sovereignty, to bring its law-making back in-house and to pursue trading relationships with not only the nations of Europe, but also the rest of the world. The histories of the nations of the European continent are, obviously, quite different to that of our islands sitting here offshore to that landmass. It’s beyond the scope of this post to wax lyrical about why the British people are what they are today, to explain our norms, values and beliefs. Suffice to say that on matters of law-making, freedom and democracy there’s little question that we, the British people, think quite differently to the European Union groupthink which prevails today.
‘I have never understood why public opinion about European ideas should be taken into account at all’
Raymond Barre, Prime Minister of France 1976 – 81
‘The day of the nation state is over’
Roman Herzog, President of Germany 1994 – 99
The End Game
It is that groupthink which contains the seeds of the EU’s destruction; those seeds inhabit also the economic madness that is the euro currency. That economic madness manifests itself as social destruction in those countries which should never have adopted the currency in the first place. There’s only so long that 500 million people can be coerced. Again, it’s beyond the scope of this post to set out in any detail why the European Union is doomed. It may take 10 years; it may take 3 years; the EU may survive for another generation. My own view is that the EU’s days are numbered and that its fall will come within my lifetime, and possibly sooner rather than later. The task for Europe’s political leaders will be to manage the unwinding of the European Union under control and peacefully. My fear is that they’re not up to the task; indeed, dismantling the European Union is probably unthinkable to its core politicians, if not most of the Union’s political elites; it’s that groupthink again.
Anyway, that’s the future; but today’s the day. Today’s the day we the British people start the process of extricating ourselves from a failing union, a cooperative founded upon deceit and which many of us will be glad to see receding in the rear-view mirror. All the best to the European Union. Meantime, Cheers! to the United Kingdom, freedom and democracy.
‘The UK belongs to the EU’
Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament 2012 – 17
Notwithstanding the post above, if you remain convinced that the UK’s future lies within the European Union, spend a few minutes watching this …
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Pecan nuts originate from North America. In the past, the nuts would be collected from wild pecan trees and only relatively recently (since the 1880s) the trees have become domesticated.
Nuez de la isla
Noix de pécan
Basic information and facts
Highest production of pecan nuts is in the USA. The trees are now also grown in some other countries including Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.
Evergreen or deciduous:
Pecan is a deciduous tree.
Climate and weather:
Trees can be 20 to 40 meter tall.
The seeds of the pecan nut are edible and are eaten fresh as a snack or are used in cooking. The wood of the tree is used to make furniture and wooden floors. It can be also used to produce smoked meats.
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I’ve been living all my professional live in relational database world. Lately NoSQL is making a lot of buzz that I couldn’t ignore it any more and decided to take a closer look. The first question I had is which NoSQL database should I play with? I narrowed my option to three: CouchDB, MongoDB, and RavenDB. Being a .NET developer RavenDB looked like a logical choice. It’s .NET friendly and has a LINQ provider.
Next step for me was to download and install RavenDB and that what this post is about.
1. Download RavenDB.
2. Unzip the file.
Use your favorite file archiving utility to unzip the file you just downloaded. In my case I used 7-Zip to unzip RavenDB-Build-206.zip file. By the way I decompressed the files intto C:\RavenDB folder.
3. Next let’s fire IIS Manager and create new application pool.
You need to open the IIS Manager. The following instruction are for IIS 7. If you are using different version than you’re on your own.
In Connections panel select Application Pools.
Then in Actions panel click on the “Add Application Pool…” link. If you clicked it correctly, you should see the “Add Application Pool” dialog. In case you don’t see this dialog than you need to read How to Use a Computer Mouse.
You need to name the application pool and you must choose .NET Framework v.4.0 in the “.NET Framework version” drop down box. Leave everything else the same and press the OK button.
4. Create a new Raven Web Site.
In IIS Manager right lick on the Sites folder and select “Add Web Site…” from the context menu.
You should see the “Add Web Site” dialog.
For Site name type “RavenWeb” or you can pick some other name.
Select RavenApplicationPool for Application pool. You do that by click on Select button.
Make sure that Physical path is points to “Web” folder in extracted folder. In my case it’s going to be “C:\RavenDB\Web”.
Leave everything the same except the Port. I picked 8080 for my port you can type the same number or select different.
Your values should look similar to mine but don’t click the OK button yet.
Click the “Test Settings…” button and you probably will see that authorization failed.
We must provide the user for our site that has write access to the physical database location. Close the “Test Connection” dialog and click on “Connect as…” button in the “Add Web Site”.
“Connect As” dialog should appear on your screen. Select “Specific user” option and click on the “Set…” button to to enter credentials in “Set Credentials” dialog.
If you entered. proper credentials, than by pressing on the “Test Settings…” button you should see that Authentication and Authorization are valid and we’re ready for next step.
We successfully installed and set up Raven DB to run in IIS. Just navigate to http://localhost:8080 url or in IIS Manager make sure the new web site is selected and click on “Browse *:8080 (http)” link in Action section. Rave DB page should be opened in your favorite browser.
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On March 9, 2011, Bet Shalom held a lecture entitled “Women of the Wall: the Rights of the Jewish Woman” in honor of International Women’s Day. “Women of the Wall,” “Nashot Hakotel” in Hebrew, has demanded the right of women to wear talit, to pray and to read the Torah at the Kotel since 1988.
Bet Shalom, loyal to its commitment to equal rights, has joined the call of Rabbi Eric Yoffie (Union for Reform Judaism President) for all liberal communities around the world to support and publicize the fight of Women of the Wall.
The conference featured Batya Kallus, an active member of “Women of the Wall.” Born in Boston, Batya has lived in Israel since 1991. She currently works as an adviser at Fohs Foundation and became a member of Women of the Wall twenty years ago.
Batya told us about the actions “Women of the Wall” take for the religious rights of the women in Israel and how the Rosh Hodesh ceremony at the Kotel has become an act of affirmation of Jewish Women’s rights in Israel and also the Diaspora.
She reviewed the difficulties they have faced for the past twenty years, the fanatical and intolerant attitudes they have to put up with, the arrests that took place during 2010 (we had the opportunity to see some pictures) and also, as a counterpoint, the caring support and solidarity they receive from men and women worldwide. We were moved by Batya’s testimony and we came to understand not only the commitment of Women of the Wall but their joy and deep love to Judaism.
Those present, more than 50 people, participated actively in the later discussion, asking questions about Israeli legislation, the influence of ultra- Orthodox groups in Israel, and the fight of some movements for civil rights to counteract this influence. There were also many questions about the role that the Jewish woman plays in the different movements of Judaism.
As a result of this meeting, Bet Shalom is organizing a solidarity group with “Women of the Wall” that will meet on Rosh Hodesh in Barcelona. It is coming soon and we expect to have Batya Kallus again with us as well as other members from Israel.
People interested in receiving more information or joining our upcoming activities can contact Bet Shalom at: [email protected]
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Reforming Our Mission
Looking across the landscape of evangelicalism, the most common misperception and criticism of Reformed theology is that it is incompatible with a high commitment to evangelism and missions. Even the slightest theological understanding and historical perspective should prevent such confusion, but the revivalistic bent of twentieth-century evangelicalism created a disastrous impression that retains cultural potency even today.
None of this would surprise Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Throughout his illustrious and culture-shaping ministry as pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, Spurgeon faced the need to defend evangelical truth and to define evangelical Calvinism over against both misperceptions and misconstruals.
Spurgeon was always most powerful in his pulpit. On February 7, 1864, Spurgeon delivered a message on Exodus 33:19 entitled, “Election No Discouragement to Seeking Souls.” This message became something of a touchstone for Spurgeon’s ministry — representing a classic statement of his evangelical commitment to Reformed theology and of his passion for conversions.
In this sermon, Spurgeon responded to those who claimed that the doctrine of election betrayed a vision of a harsh and unloving God. “God is good, infinitely good in His nature,” Spurgeon insisted. “God is love; He willeth not the death of any, but had rather that all should come to repentance. …Our friends very properly insist upon it that God is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His work; that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy; let me assure them that we shall never quarrel on these points, for we also rejoice in the same facts.”
Spurgeon refused to see or to acknowledge a conflict between God’s omnipotent will and His love. “There is not the slightest shadow of a conflict between God’s sovereignty and God’s goodness. He may be sovereign, and yet it may be absolutely certain that He will always act in the way of goodness and love. … If the sons of sorrow fetch any comfort from the goodness of God, the doctrine of election will never stand in their way.”
The doctrine of election should not cause troubled souls to doubt the goodness of God, Spurgeon insisted, but to doubt their own confidence apart from the work of Christ.
“Let such remember that God is just as well as good, and that He will by no means spare the guilty, except through the great atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ. The doctrine of election … does come in, and breaks the neck, once for all, of all this false and groundless confidence in the unconvenanted mercy of God.”
The doctrine of election simultaneously affirms the glory of God and the helplessness of sinners, Spurgeon explained. Human pride falls dead at the foot of the cross, he believed, and nothing made this so clear as the Reformed doctrine of election.
Spurgeon’s ministry was intensely evangelistic, with the proclamation of the Gospel at the very center of his preaching and with thousands of faithful church members distributed throughout the world as evangelists, missionaries, and witnesses. As Iain H. Murray argues, “It was Spurgeon’s own persuasion of the love of Christ for the souls of men that lies at the heart of his weekly evangelistic preaching in London for thirty-seven years.”
Spurgeon was a deeply honest man, and he also confronted those who considered themselves to be committed to Reformed theology, but were opposed to evangelism. He preached faith as a duty, and called for persons to believe in Christ. Without apology, he stared down those, who by their denial of God’s saving purpose, brought Reformed theology into disrepute.
The charge of diminished evangelistic passion and missionary commitment emerged over the last two hundred years as evangelical theology was itself in foment. Spurgeon simply pointed to the legacy of the modern missionary movement, driven by men such as Andrew Fuller and William Carey, whose missionary vision was deeply grounded in Reformed theology.
In our day, John Piper has helped a new generation to understand how Reformed convictions produce a profoundly compelling missionary vision. The doctrine of election points to the glory of God, and the glory of God is demonstrated in the gladness of peoples who have come to know Christ as savior.
As Piper explains, “A heart for the glory of God and a heart of mercy for the nations make a Christ-like missionary. These must be kept together. If we have no zeal for the glory of God, our mercy becomes superficial, man-centered human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a reveling in His mercy, then our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is out of touch with God and hypocritical.”
Remember these witnesses the next time you hear that Reformed theology leads to a lessening of evangelistic commitment. Those who know that God saves and the purpose for which He saves, should be the most eager and faithful witnesses to see others come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Uncommitted to evangelism? That is what Reformed theology is not.
© Tabletalk magazine
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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: email@example.com. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.
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The Cowboy, the Police Officer, Military and the Firefighter are all American Heroes. The NPRA is a non-profit organization of law enforcement officers and firefighters, dedicated to the Western lifestyle, and to preserving the traditional link between cowboys and cops. Now active and retired military and their families are also eligible to join!
NPRA is a family organization. We bring together
This variation of steer wrestling allows non-mounted contestants to compete. The cowboy comes out of a bucking chute holding a steer by the horns. After crossing a line he flips the steer to the ground with all 4 feet in the air.
Commonly seen in high school and junior rodeos, a goat is tied to a stake. The cowgirl rides across the arena over a score line to the goat, dismounts, flanks and ties the goat in a manner similar to calf roping.
The steer/calf leaves the bucking chute, and a team of cowboys/cowgirls wrestle the animal long enough to put a pair of panties on it.
WOMAN'S BARREL RACING
Barrel racing is a timed event. At a signal
from the starter, the contestant will run to barrel #1, pass to the left of it
and complete an approximately 360 degree turn around it, then go to barrel #2,
pass to the right of it and complete a slightly more than a 360 degree turn
around it, then go to barrel #3 pass to the right of it and do another
approximately 360 degree turn around it and then sprint to the finish line.
Similar to calf roping, except the
time stops when the rope
Contestant must rope calf, dismount, go down rope and throw calf by hand and cross and tie any three feet. Tie must hold and three legs remain crossed until passed on by the judge.
A version of calf roping with two cowboys assuming separate roles of roper and tier.
WOMEN'S RIBBON ROPING
In this coed event, a mounted cowboy or cowgirl ropes a calf. His or her partner must
then catch the calf, and remove a ribbon from its tail, running back across a score line.
The kids like to get involved in this one.
The first roper is the Header and catches the steer by the horns, the second roper is the heeler who catches the steer by the hind feet. Time will be taken when steer is roped and both horses are facing steer in line with ropes dallied and tight.
Just like the Open team roping the rules are the
same, except the added requirement that each contestant must be at least 40
years or older.
Roper will start from head box. Time will stop when steer is facing horse and both are on all four feet.
Website designed, built and maintained by:
Andy Brown (NPRA Webmaster)
Question regarding this site? firstname.lastname@example.org
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From an all-in-one health tracking app that has an index of 2 million foods to a personal app that tests the health of your lungs, we bring you the most innovative stories from the world of wellness research.
PSFK has partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim to bring you a snapshot of Ten Innovative Ideas each week that are reshaping the health care industry. Continue reading below for the most exciting ideas from the past seven days.
App Offers Nutritional Information For Nearly 2 Million Foods
MyFitnessPal, a nutrition and fitness tracking mobile application, has recently entered into a collaboration with global food retailer Sodexo in providing its more than 20 million users with access to nutritional information around select Sodexo recipes. The partnership creates unique codes for all of Sodexo chef-developed products, adding them to a variety of signs, labels and other outputs so consumers can use their MyFitnessPal App scanner to instantly grab and log nutrition information for a wide variety of products. The partnership aims to support users in making healthy behavior changes by providing information in an actionable, all-in-one service.
Smartphone Application Offers Alternate Lung Testing Platform
SpiroSmart is a smartphone application that gives people suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases a cost-effective way to measure lung functions. Developed by the University of Washington, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital, the application detects breath resonances in a person’s trachea and vocal tracts by analyzing sound wave frequencies. These frequencies can be analyzed to determine the intensity and speed of a patient’s breathing at a far cheaper price than a standard medical spirometer. Closer to medical standards than its competitive counterparts, SpiroSmart tested within 5.1 percent of its commercial predecessor, adhering to current medical standards of accuracy. Additionally, its mobile functionality provides patients with an on-the-go screening tool to reduce the number of potential emergency room visits.
Health Concierge Service Improves Medical Care Efficiency
First Stop Health is an online and telephonic medical concierge service for individuals and families that combines 24/7 expert advice and diagnosis through phone access to its more than 250 on-call physicians. In addition to providing unlimited calls to physicians for advice and information, First Stop Health provides an online database of medical information that can be used to a research symptoms, conditions, and treatments and find doctors and medical facilities using search tools and a database of 780,000 physicians and 8,000 facilities. The app helps users save money and avoid waiting for ER treatment only to be informed that their ailment could have been treated with at-home remedies or over-the-counter medicines.
Infographic Illustrates How Mobile Healthcare Apps Are Changing The Industry
Online healthcare education portal AlliedHealthWorld has illustrated the rapid rise of mobile health monitoring tools in an infographic that highlights the positive impact smartphones have had on people’s overall well-being. Among their published findings, is research that demonstrates mHealth Apps offer two times greater access to care and 24% lower administrative costs. mHealth apps are also on the rise in terms of usage, nearly doubling from 124 million users in 2011 to 247 million users today. It is estimated that there are currently about 40,000 mobile health apps available for tablets and smartphones, and over 500 health projects worldwide that have a mobile emphasis.
Adjustable Nebulizer Helps Deliver a More Comfortable Asthma Treatment
JettPak is a unique product designed to help administer nebulizer treatments to asthmatic children while they are sleeping. Created by JettStream, a startup company specializing in products and information to help treat childhood asthma, the device resembles an adjustable desk lamp with a nozzle at the end, which can be positioned near a child’s mouth for continuous medication delivery. The concept allots for periods when nebulizer treatment is required, but the patient cannot remain awake and upright, allowing a clinician, caregiver, or family member to effectively treat the patient without disturbances. JettPak’s usefulness isn’t limited to asthma patients, and can be used to treat patients with cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema and other respiratory diseases. The idea stemmed from the fear many children have while wearing a traditional treatment mask at night.
Crowdsourcing Platform Brings Transparency To Healthcare Prices
Clear Health Costs is a crowdsourcing platform and comparison tool that lets users know what other people are paying for healthcare treatment elsewhere in New York. The site encourages its users to share what they’ve paid for a medical treatment, along with the details of the practice where they received the care. Visitors are shown both the lowest and the highest prices for each particular treatment, along with the names of the corresponding providers so they can note discrepancies between healthcare centers. Clicking on a treatment provides all of the data that has been entered for that service, which can be sorted by lowest to highest price and location. In addition, reports about the healthcare marketplace and advice for patients purchasing medical treatment are available on the site.
Artificial Heart Uses Magnets To Mimic the Natural Movement of Human Tissue
New Hampshire-based Suprock Technologies has developed a new pump design for artificial hearts that could prevent damage by mimicking the natural movement of human tissue. Today’s artificial hearts contain pumps whose spinning rotors can damage blood cells, causing clotting which can lead to strokes. The new pump prototype utilizes flexible membranes and a ferrofluid, or magnetic liquid, and is designed to mimic the natural movement of a muscle when an electromagnet is turned on and off. The next step for the prototype is for it to be sent to a medical-device maker and then tested in a living animal.
Study Suggests Public Disease Alerts May Spread Stigmas Around Infected
Hypothetical disease alerts generated by Penn State’s Rachel Smith and Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics demonstrate how public health alerts contribute to creating stigmas around disease. Based on previously existing alerts, Smith formed sixteen different alerts based on a hypothetical virus carried by rodents to monitor how alerts are passed from one individual to another. The alerts provided information covering the four components of Smith’s Model of Stigma Communication: disease symptoms, labels associated with infected persons, perceptions of danger, and responsibility. The four content cues evoke various levels of emotion and responsiveness to the disease and are likely shared to create a social bond between individuals. As a result, the peer communication of the alerts and how they are perceived dictate the likelihood that people will endorse the isolation of those infected. The effective communication of alerts is important when disseminating public information regarding infectious diseases in order to avoid barriers to healthcare created from the stigmas, which are not easily erased once in place.
Kinect Technology Allows Physical Therapy Exercises Customization
Reflexion Rehabilitation Measurement Tool is a rehabilitative therapy program designed to allow physical therapists to customize plans and monitor patients. Developed by the West Health Institute, the program uses Kinect technology to not only monitor adherence to a rehab program, but to also track the motions of rehabilitative exercises to ensure that they are done correctly and to measure progress. West Health Institute researchers hope that the Reflexion will be a fun, relatively low-cost solution that will improve compliance, which in turn will result in better outcomes for patients undergoing physical therapy.Mobile Device
Helps To End Malaria Drug Resistance By Identifying DNA
Researchers at St George’s, University of London are leading a new project, called Nanomal in Europe to develop a handheld device to detect malaria within 15 minutes, distinguishing specific strands and drug resistant mutations. Healthcare professionals draw a patient’s blood by pricking their finger and placing the sample onto a nanowire biosensor that converts the DNA of the malaria into binary code. The code can then be analyzed and shared for real-time monitoring of disease patterns. The group hopes to lower the time and cost of malaria testing, delivering lab quality results in the field within a matter of minutes. Immediate identification will enable healthcare professionals to prescribe the best drugs possible, reducing drug-resistance and improving community resistance.
PSFK has partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim to bring you a steady stream of inspiring news and ideas in the health and wellness space. Once each week, we will be posting an article on PSFK.com. If you would like to gain access to the full stream of content, please check out Boehringer Ingelheim’s Facebook page, where they are publishing a regular stream of inspiring and informative content.
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Impairment of Auditory Acuity 4.85 Evaluation of hearing impairment 4.85-1 4.86 Exceptional patterns of hearing impairment 4.86-1 4.87 Schedule of ratings—ear 4.87-1 4.87a Schedule of ratings—other sense organs 4.87a-1 § 4.85 Evaluation of hearing impairment. (a) An examination for hearing impairment for VA purposes must be conducted by a state-licensed audiologist and must include a controlled speech discrimination test (Maryland CNC) and a puretone audiometry test. Examinations will be conducted without the use of hearing aids. (b) Table VI, “Numeric Designation of Hearing Impairment Based on Puretone Threshold Average and Speech Discrimination,” is used to determine a Roman numeral designation (I through XI) for hearing impairment based on a combination of the percent of speech discrimination (horizontal rows) and the puretone threshold average (vertical columns). The Roman numeral designation is located at the point where the percentage of speech discrimination and puretone threshold average intersect. (c) Table VIa, “Numeric Designation of Hearing Impairment Based Only on Puretone Threshold Average,” is used to determine a Roman numeral designation (I through XI) for hearing impairment based only on the puretone threshold average. Table VIa will be used when the examiner certifies that use of the speech discrimination test is not appropriate because of language difficulties, inconsistent speech discrimination scores, etc., or when indicated under the provisions of §4.86. (d) “Puretone threshold average,” as used in Tables VI and VIa, is the sum of the puretone thresholds at 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hertz, divided by four. This average is used in all cases (including those in §4.86) to determine the Roman numeral designation for hearing impairment from Table VI or VIa. (e) Table VII, “Percentage Evaluations for Hearing Impairment,” is used to determine the percentage evaluation by combining the Roman numeral designations for hearing impairment of each ear. The horizontal rows represent the ear having the better hearing and the vertical columns the ear having the poorer hearing. The percentage evaluation is located at the point where the row and column intersect. (f) If impaired hearing is service-connected in only one ear, in order to determine the percentage evaluation from Table VII, the non-service-connected ear will be assigned a Roman Numeral designation for hearing impairment of I, subject to the provisions of §3.383 of this chapter. (g) When evaluating any claim for impaired hearing, refer to §3.350 of this chapter to determine whether the veteran may be entitled to special monthly compensation due either to deafness, or to deafness in combination with other specified disabilities. (h) Numeric tables VI, VIA*, and VII. [52 FR 44119, Nov. 18, 1987, as amended at 64 FR 25206, May 11, 1999] Supplement Highlights reference: 25(1) table vi numeric designation of hearing impairment based on puretone threshold average and speech discrimination % of Puretone Threshold Average discrim- ination 0-41 42-49 50-57 58-65 66-73 74-81 82-89 90-97 98+ 92-100 I I I II II II III III IV 84-90 II II II III III III IV IV IV 76-82 III III IV IV IV V V V V 68-74 IV IV V V VI VI VII VII VII 60-66 V V VI VI VII VII VIII VIII VIII 52-58 VI VI VII VII VIII VIII VIII VIII IX 44-50 VII VII VIII VIII VIII IX IX IX X 36-42 VIII VIII VIII IX IX IX X X X 0-34 IX X XI XI XI XI XI XI XI table viA* numeric designation of hearing impairment based only on puretone threshold average Puretone Threshold Average 0-41 42-48 49-55 56-62 63-69 70-76 77-83 84-90 91-97 98-104 105+ I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI *This table is for use only as specified in §§4.85 and 4.86. table vii percentage evaluation for hearing impairment (diagnostic code 6100) Poorer Ear XI 100* X 90 80 IX 80 70 60 VIII 70 60 50 50 VII 60 60 50 40 40 VI 50 50 40 40 30 30 V 40 40 40 30 30 20 20 IV 30 30 30 20 20 20 10 10 III 20 20 20 20 20 10 10 10 0 II 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 0 0 0 I 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 XI X IX VIII VII VI V IV III II I *Review for entitlement to special monthly compensation under §3.350 of this chapter.
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Idaho State Senator Believes Romney May Take Office as President in January
Sheryl Nuxoll, a Republican state senator from Idaho, believes there’s still a way to put Mitt Romney in the White House come January, despite the fact he lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College tally.
Nuxoll posted an article via her Twitter account insisting that Romney’s election is “still not too late.” Her idea has roots in the Tea Party, whose enthusiasts have circulated a proposal from Judson Phillips, a former assistant district attorney in Tennessee and founder of Tea Party Nation.
Phillips claims that if 17 of the 24 states that Romney won refuse to participate in the Electoral College when it convenes in December, the college would have no quorum. Without a quorum, the decision of choosing a winner would move to the US House of Representatives, which Republicans control, according to Phillips.
The amendment states that when no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College, the decision moves to the House, where each state would have one vote and a quorum of two-thirds of the states would be required.
“The two-thirds reference in the 12th Amendment is a reference not to the Electoral College but rather to the establishment of a quorum in the House of Representatives,” Adler told the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
No quorum is required for the Electoral College, he added, saying the plan touted by Nuxoll, Phillips and other Tea Party members is “really a strange and bizarre fantasy.”
To Learn More:
Eye on Boise: Lawmaker Shares Far-Fetched Idea to Elect Romney (by Betsy Z. Russell, Spokane Spokesman-Review)
A Constitutional Plan for Installing Romney as President? Oh, Wait. Nevermind. (by Emily Phelps, Constitutional Accountability Center)
Americans Overwhelmingly Want to End Electoral College (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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- U.S. Faces Uphill Task in Connecting With New Government in India
- Majority of Americans Support Treatment of Migrant Children as Refugees, Not Illegal Immigrants
- EPA Accused of Fracking Oversight Negligence
- Federal Court Upholds Florida Law Preventing Doctors from Discussing Guns
- New Super PAC Spends Big Money to Fight Big Money in Politics
| 136,180
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White Rose extension not necessarily going to use wellhead platform
At open house events in the fall, including one seen here at the Fluvarium in St. John's, Husky staff explained the options they are considering for their White Rose Extension development. — File photo
The provincial government is inviting comments on a detailed environmental assessment document, submitted by Husky, on the two options being considered for the company’s White Rose extension project.
A spokeswoman for the oil company confirmed Thursday a subsea option is still being moved forward alongside a proposal for construction of a wellhead platform in Argentia.
It means the company may yet decide against major construction in the Placentia Bay area.
The main White Rose project was released from further environmental assessment in 2000 and, in 2007, a new assessment was done for the proposed addition of up to five, new drill centres on the sea floor and associated pipeline.
“These previous environmental assessments encompassed the location of the subsea tiebacks proposed herein, as well as the way in which the construction and operation activities would be performed,” states the most recent submission to regulators.
“Therefore, the description of the (extension project) focuses mainly on the wellhead platform development option, which has not been previously assessed.”
The wellhead platform is, in many ways, a smaller version of the Hibernia or Hebron platforms.
As The Telegram reported Aug. 9, initial filings for a new oil development using the platform were submitted to the province earlier that month. The submission showed a concrete batching plant, offices, a mess hall, a medical clinic, temporary sheds, lay-down areas and storage areas would all be needed at the Argentia site, if the platform option was chosen.
Following public comments on that submission, in November 2012, Husky was asked by the provincial Department of Environment for more detail around, “disposal of materials resulting from dredging and the graving site excavation, groundwater information, extent of existing contamination on site, potential effects of ocean dredging on fisheries in Placentia Bay, additional workforce/employment details and gender and diversity considerations.”
The new filing is in response to that request. It is available on the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board website. The board is assisting in the joint provincial-federal review of the project.
The document, more than a thousand pages in total, can also be requested from the Department of Environment and Conservation.
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Children and Families - Equality and Inclusion
Cheshire East Council’s Children’s Services is committed to
achieving equality for all our service users and
staff. Working to the Council’s Single Equality Scheme
and Action Plan, we aim to ensure that all our service users and
staff are treated fairly and equitably irrespective of race, ethnic
origin, nationality, gender, disability, age, gender reassignment,
religion, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, political
belief or social/economic group.
Equality Impact Assessments
Equality Impact Assessments are a tool to identify whether or
not our policies, services and procedures are having an adverse
impact on a particular group of people due to race, disability or
gender, or in the case of new or changing policies, a potential
adverse impact. By carrying out this assessment, we can make
any necessary changes to make sure that decisions do not
discriminate against minority groups.
The results of the equality impact assessment are used to
improve our service delivery. They may also show that we need more
information about our service users, for example through monitoring
Children’s Services have currently carried out the following
equality impact assessments:
More will be added as they are developed.
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The Federal Signal Rumbler®, intersection-clearing system, demonstrates the longstanding commitment to continue as the technological leader in warning sound, Siren development, and operator safety.
Improves Intersection Warning Effectiveness
The Rumbler introduces a revolutionary new concept to audible warning. This system has the ability to interact with 100/200-watt siren amplifiers and provide secondary, low frequency duplicate tones. Low frequency tones have the distinct advantage of penetrating and shaking solid materials allowing vehicle operators and nearby pedestrians to FEEL the sound waves, and perhaps even see their effects through a shaking rear-view mirror.
Secondary System with Built-in Safety
In addition to the primary siren amplifier and speaker, the Rumbler adds a secondary amplifier. This gives the system the ability to sense the currently enabled siren tone signal, reduce the signals' frequency by 75%, and amplify the sound through a pair of high output woofers. The systems' timer allows the tone to sound for 10 seconds, and then automatically shuts off. The result is a highly effective backup emergency tone, especially when transitioning hazardous traffic intersections. The Rumbler is particularly effective when used in dense urban environments with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. A complete Rumbler intersection-clearing system consists of an amplifier, a timer, two subwoofers, and vehicle specific mounting hardware(sold separately). This system can be paired with most 100/200-watt emergency siren amplifiers and the Rumbler system is most effective when used as an intersection-clearing device where heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic is present.
- Improves emergency vehicle operator safety
- Produces penetrating/vibrating low frequency sound waves
- Interacts with most 100/200- watt emergency vehicle siren amplifiers
- Enabled via any emergency vehicle steering wheel horn ring
- 10 second safety timer provides automatic tone shutdown
- Highly effective in dense urban environments with heavy vehicle traffic
- Input Voltage 9 VDC to 15 VDC
- Input Current, Operating 12A max
- Polarity Negative grounded systems only
- Dimensions of Amplifier: 1.3" H (3.49 cm) X 6.3" L (15.57 cm) X 5.7" D (14.48 cm)
- Dimensions of Timer: 1.4" H (3.56 cm) X 6.5" L (16.51 cm) X 2.9" D (7.37 cm)
- Dimensions of the pair of Woofers: 8.5" H (21.6 cm) x 7.25" (18.4 cm) Diameter
| 308,047
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SEOs have a hard time selecting the best separator for keywords in title tags. With so many symbols to choose from, the struggle is real. We will set the record straight and help you put an end to your dilemma, once and for all (hopefully).
Let’s start with the three most often used separator symbols:
The bar is my go to separator in many cases for reasons explained throughout this article. In short, it is more visually striking in search engine results links (in my opinion). Bars use fewer pixels than dashes (more on that lower in the article), and clearly do what they intend: which is to separate words or phrases from each other.
The dash, more formally known as a hyphen, is my second most used separator. It also clearly separates words or phrases, and looks pretty good in search results. Where I typically use a bar to separate brand names from other keywords, I usually use hyphens a bit differently. It’s common to have three sections in a title tag (space permitting). One being the brand name, and if the other two sections are some how hierarchically related, I tend to use dashes.
The colon is my third most used separator, but used far less frequently. The colon can separate your brand name from keywords, or when one keyword/phrase explains the previous keyword. Very rarely you have a list of things in your title (not recommended unless necessary) and a colon introduces the list. The colon can save some precious pixel space also, because you don’t need a space before a colon like you do with bars and dashes.
Which title tag separator is best?
The separator you use is ultimately a personal choice. The only thing close to a guideline from Google is from this Webmaster Tools era article from 2007 that is still available at the time of writing this here:
…consider including just your site name at the beginning or end of each page title, separated from the rest of the title with a delimiter such as a hyphen, colon, or pipe, like this:<title>ExampleSocialSite: Sign up for a new account.</title>
The three separators Google mentions are hyphens, colons and pipes. Three great choices in my humble opinion. This has more to do with how to use your brand name, but it’s the only official word by Google that I’m aware of on separator usage.
Of course, you aren’t limited to just those three choices. There are several other separators that aren’t used as often, but they are definitely seen in the wild:
Fun fact: en-dash and em-dash get their names from their widths, which are approximately the same lengths as the letters n and m respectively.
I personally don’t use these in title tags, mainly because I can never remember how to type the weird Alt + number combinations. I’d have to do a search, and copy and paste one into my title. I had to do that for the above examples on this page.
If you are great at memorizing random strings of numbers, and really want to use en or em-dashes, by all means, do it.
Commas are appearing in the wild more and more frequently as of late, and from Google’s perspective, commas are perfectly fine as separators. Underscores are the only symbol that Google has said is not a good separator, because they are used for connecting text usually, not separating text.
If you use Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress, you have several more symbols to choose from for the default “Title Separator.”
- – — · • * ⋆ | ~ « » < >
So wherever you use the %%sep%% variable in your titles and meta descriptions, it’s replaced with your choice from that list.
Each separator has a different width in pixels. This is one reason some SEOs choose bars or colons over other separators. The width of a bar in pixels, is only about half the width of a dash. So if your title tag has two separators in it, which is common, you will have less space available for keywords if using dashes.
You have, on average, 50-60(ish) characters per title tag depending on the width of the characters used. If your title is filled with colons, bars, and the lowercase letter l, you are going to have a lot more characters visible in Google and other search engines. If your title is filled with the letter m and em-dashes, there will not be many that can be displayed in SERPs before they are cut off with an ellipsis.
Here are two example titles with roughly the same pixel width (520px) if seen in Google SERPs:
lll llllllll: lllllllllllll | lllllllllll lllllll llllll lllll | lllllllllll lllllllllllll | lllllllllll lllllll llllll lllll
mmm mmmmmmm — mmmmmmmmm — mmmm mmmmm mmm
The first title, with all narrow characters and separators, has 125 characters. The second example has only 40 characters, but they both use about the same amount of horizontal space. As you can see, characters visible in SERPs will vary widely before they are truncated.
I’m running a CTR test using Colons vs Bars vs Dashes, and will update this article when the data comes in. My hypothesis is that CTR is not greatly affected by separator alone. It would take a very competitive search query to be able to get any statistically significant data one way or the other. Changing separators periodically may skew the findings so we will be running the test over several pages and try to minimize the changes.
Click through rates are more affected by lower and uppercase usage, action words, and length. These are the types of things that you should test for increased clicks.
Other related strategies, seen more frequently lately, is the use of brackets [ ] and parentheses ( ) to add emphasis at the end of a title. For example, you could add something like (2018) or [Infographic + Guide] to make that word or phrase stand out a bit more. Another strategy, that is less about word separation, and more about drawing the user’s eye to a result, is to use certain emojis or unicode characters. Use with caution, and think through the entire impact this may have on your brand, before going too crazy with it.
Separators can be a time suck when you can’t keep those perfectionist tendencies at bay. Use a preview tool when creating your titles and go with your gut. Happy optimizing!
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All of us at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin have learned how to talk to kids about scary things — from common medical procedures to complex surgery.
When violence occurs, we’re usually the experts about communication: use the right words, watch for signs of fear and offer distractions to make things easier.
Yesterday, Children’s Hospital was in the middle of the frightening incident. Our hospital — a place for safety and healing for children in our community — was the subject of dinner table conversations that might have been uncomfortable, even scary for kids.
If your kids are asking questions about why a hospital for kids could experience violence, here are some tips for how to respond:
- If your child expresses feeling unsafe, discuss how to regain a sense of control over his or her surroundings, like where to go in school if an event ever happened. Try comparing these plans to a tornado drill to help your child understand.
- Limit exposure to media coverage to prevent re-living the event.
- Remind your child this is not a common event.
- If unusual behaviors last more than a week or two, please seek help from a professional.
Today, we’re back to normal at Children’s Hospital. I’ve had the chance to visit every patient floor in the hospital and have talked to countless families today. I have seen our doctors and nurses back in action—and following our own advice about helping kids feel safe.
Please remember that Children’s Hospital is always here for you and your family.
– Nancy Korom, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, vice president and chief nursing officer, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is designated a Magnet hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
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Apostrophes can be used in three ways: to form contractions, to create plurals, and to show possession.* Read up on the details below and then take our quiz!
Apostrophes are used to form contractions—that is, words that are shortened by omitting one or more letters—for example, you’re for you are, ma’am for madam, tellin’ for telling, and ’til for until.
When the apostrophe is at the start of the word—as in ’til—be sure that the punctuation mark is inserted correctly. It should look like a single closing quotation mark, not an opening one.
Apostrophes are used to form the plurals of letters:
Accommodation has two c’s and two m’s.
Mind your p’s and q’s.
She had three scarlet A’s on her back.
But apostrophes are not used for the plurals of letters referring to grades or for the plurals of abbreviations containing capital letters:
She got three As.
This program is open to people with MAs and PhDs.
Apostrophes are used to show possession. For singular nouns and irregular plurals (those not ending in s), you should add ’s to the end of the word. For plural nouns ending in s, you should add only an apostrophe:
the cat’s meow
the people’s choice
an old wives’ tale
Note, though, that when a word ending in s is the same in the plural as it is in the singular, you just add an apostrophe:
identity politics’ critics
Also add only an apostrophe for proper names when the name is plural but the entity is singular:
the United States’ policy on China
In MLA style, proper nouns ending in s that are singular follow the general rule and add ’s :
Alexandre Dumas’s novels
Some styles may allow you to add only an apostrophe: Athens’ history, Diogenes’ philosophy, Dumas’ novels.
If two nouns jointly possess something, use only one apostrophe:
My mom and dad’s house
But if each noun possesses something separately, use an apostrophe with each noun:
Smith’s and Johnson’s studies
Remember to use an apostrophe in phrases such as the following:
one week’s vacation (one week of vacation)
And use an apostrophe for the double possessive:
He is a friend of Steve’s (Steve’s is the equivalent of the possessive pronoun his: a friend of his.)
Though practices vary, you may omit the apostrophe when a noun modifies another noun—that is, when the first noun is attributive:
a teachers union (a union for teachers)
*These rules are adapted from the MLA Handbook, 7th edition.
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The University of San Diego is committed to actively promoting awareness, appreciation, and respect for the complexity of cultural, political, environmental, and social issues worldwide while creating a campus environment that builds theoretical and practical skills needed to interact effectively in today's global society.
Core Values for Global Competence
- Globally competent students
are ambassadors of the variety of cultures they represent. Through a values-based education, students learn to respect diverse human values, challenge existing global perspectives, and develop a deeper understanding of worldwide interconnectedness. Globally competent students are able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for successful interactions locally and globally and maintain connections to facilitate personal and professional growth.
- Globally competent faculty
are committed to the common good of an interrelated global society. In-depth professional knowledge of other cultures, languages and global dynamics form the core principles for effective faculty interaction in our globally interdependent world. Faculty actively participate in a community of international scholars working to promote experience with world issues, research and knowledge of those concepts and methods needed to better educate students in our increasingly diverse society.
- A globally competent institution
develops systematic processes to establish formal international initiatives and provides an infrastructure to support international activities. The institution places a high priority on preparing students, faculty, staff, and administrators committed to leadership in an increasingly interdependent world.
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Population 1,730,000 (UA)
The history of Sacramento, California, began with its founding by Samuel Brannan and John Augustus Sutter, Jr. in 1848 around an embarcadero that his father, John Sutter, Sr. constructed at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers a few years prior. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Nisenan branch of the Native American Maidu inhabited the Sacramento Valley area.
In spite of military base closures and the decline of agricultural food processing, Sacramento has continued to experience population growth in recent years. Primary sources of population growth are an influx of residents from the nearby San Francisco Bay Area, as well as immigration from Asia and Latin America. In 2002, Time magazine featured an article recognizing Sacramento as the most diverse and integrated city in America. In 2012, Sacramento started the marketing campaign as "America's Farm-to-Fork Capital" due to Sacramento's many restaurants that source their food locally from the numerous surrounding farms.
Pray for the pioneering of the work in Sacramento.
Pray for the ability of the base to reach, disciple and train the next generation for missions.
Pray for revival in the church and the city of Sacramento.
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