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7 Tips to Help Parents Decide about Vaccination.
Via Rena Sassi
on Feb 19, 2015
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The vaccine industry has framed the dialogue where a parent must choose to vaccinate or not.
This blog is written for parents like me—parents who want a road map to decide which vaccines, if any, are worth giving to our children and when to give them.
The truth is that most parents are thoughtful and concerned and are either still exploring and trying to understand the benefits and risks to vaccines or have decided to not succumb to the polarizing rhetoric—we are neither for nor against all vaccines but would rather look at each disease and its relevant vaccine individually.
The question we ask is: Should I vaccinate for________ ? (and fill in the blank one disease at a time). As a mother of two partially vaccinated children, I belong to this last group of parents—the parents who may choose to vaccinate for some but not all vaccines or who decide on alternate schedules.
The following are general rules of thumb (not universal laws) on how to make those decisions.
Rule #1: Research the disease.
What are the benefits or risks of the disease?
“Benefits to disease?” I hear many of you screaming in terror as you cringe to your mobile device. Yes, some diseases have benefits. Aside from the scientifically evidenced assumption that contracting certain benign infectious diseases can help to build a powerful immune system, some diseases can have some long term benefits—measles may significantly increase a child’s IQ or intellect and mumps may protect against ovarian cancer[1].
There are, of course diseases, that can have serious detrimental or even fatal effects. Diseases like polio, diphtheria and tetanus come to mind. And for those diseases one must ask: when do these diseases pose the greatest risks and to what populations?
Diphtheria mortality rates are higher in children under five or adults older than 40 but not every country is high risk for Diphtheria infections. We were living in Egypt when I had both of my children vaccinated for Diphtheria.
Mumps, however, poses the greatest risk of infertility in men but boys do not begin to make sperm until they reach puberty; thus, the worst possible outcome for most mumps cases is not really a risk in boys under the age of 12.
It may be wise then to wait until the disease poses a true risk to your son before vaccinating, if the child hasn’t yet gotten the disease. Other relatively mild childhood diseases like measles and the chicken pox can also cause birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected.
Again, these vaccines can be re-considered later when a female is of reproductive age and has not yet gotten the diseases as a child.
I can hear the pro-vax movement now screaming frantically about the many deaths of children caused by measles in the third world. To them I say, vaccinating entire populations is politically controversial and a calculated distraction from responding to the real needs of people in the third world.
Rule #2: Research the vaccine.
Research and analyze the risks and benefits of each vaccine that may be worth giving. With every vaccine there are risks, but not necessarily benefits. Juxtapose the analyses you’ve made about vaccines and then ask yourself: what is worse, if my child gets the disease or the vaccine?
It is not difficult in our age of information to find whatever information you want to find. If you are looking to confirm a pro-vax or an anti-vax perspective you will find evidence for both. Thus, it is important to look at research, studies and findings from both camps. The majority of parents are caring, reasonable and trying to view the evidence objectively.
Rule #3: Analyze your family history.
If possible, look at your family history. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have family around, find out if anybody in the family has had any adverse reactions to a particular disease or vaccine. By family I mean everybody—cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings and parents.
If someone has had a particularly difficult time with a certain disease or experienced some complications your child may carry a similar predisposition or reaction to that disease. For example, not all people who have had polio are crippled but if a family member has been crippled by it, your child’s risk of having complications of polio are high.
Or, if a family member got shingles after the chicken pox at a young age, your child may also be susceptible to a similar reaction. So if you had crossed out chicken pox as a dangerous disease when doing your research under rule of thumb #1, you may need to put it back on your list of dangerous diseases for you child and consider vaccinating for it.
Likewise, if someone in your family has experienced vaccine damage and knows which vaccines caused the damage you should include that vaccine as a major risk to your child. Orthodox western medicine views vaccine damage as occurring within only two weeks of receiving the vaccine. However, we Homeopaths find that vaccine reactions may not appear for months after a vaccine. If you need help assessing whether or not a vaccine has damaged a person in your family please contact a homeopath for help.
Rule #4: Postpone!
Postpone! Postpone! Postpone! As long as possible. If there are no epidemics of the diseases you decided to vaccinate your child for postpone as long as possible.
The longer you wait, the stronger your child’s immune system has grown and the more likely they will be able to fight off any adverse vaccine effects. If at all possible, do not give any vaccines before the age of two when a child’s immune system has matured passed its infant/early toddler vulnerability.
It’s ideal to wait even longer, but if there are no outbreaks of diseases that pose great risks as assessed in rules 1-3 above, don’t do anything until they are at least two years old.
Also, the more time you wait to strengthen and nourish your child’s system the more time you have to do research and to wait for the results of newer studies to be published. (Note: to date, there have been no randomized control studies in the U.S. comparing the overall health of unvaccinated children to vaccinated children).
Finally, once you vaccinate you cannot undo that vaccine but if you postpone you can change your mind and maintain a dynamic process constantly researching and learning about vaccines and diseases while also getting to know your child’s needs and health patterns.
Rule #5: Far apart and one at a time.
Schedule the vaccines as far apart from each other as possible and as few at a time as possible. For example, if you have decided to vaccinate for polio and tetanus give the single vaccines with at least six months to a year in between each single vaccine. Some vaccines require that you give a series within a few months. So if you give polio, wait till at least six months after the final dose of the polio vaccine before giving Tetanus.
Why you ask? With a vaccine you are trying to send a message to the body and trigger a positive response to the vaccine. If you give a combination vaccine which disease are you telling the body to fight? What mechanisms will it use to fight all these diseases, what mechanisms will be suppressed?
Do you see how it can be confusing to the body and trigger a negative response instead?
In addition, the more diseases you have in one vaccine the more preservatives in the form of heavy metals are found in the vaccine. Metals are fat-soluble and cross the blood brain barrier and most of the metals used as preservatives in vaccines (aluminum and mercury) are neurotoxins.
Rule #6: Follow your intuition
You, as a parent know your child better than anybody else in the world, including doctors. So, if you have a gut feeling that you should or shouldn’t give a certain vaccine, follow it! The old adage “mama knows best” is a cliché for a reason, because it’s true! And we don’t need men in white coats working in “sterile” environments to validate what we feel deep, down inside—that we know exactly what is best for our children.
Rule #7: Think outside the Big Pharma box.
Realize that the pharmaceutical industry has a tight grip on all aspects of modern medicine; from setting up and implementing research on vaccines to publishing outcomes and determining medical truths.
A quick glimpse of historical charts and statistics shows that all diseases come and go in cycles, regardless of when a vaccine was introduced. The line “herd immunity is necessary to protect immune compromised children” should also be thoroughly analyzed. Is herd immunity really achievable? How can we possibly have 95% of the population vaccinated at all times when our open borders are constantly flowing with thousands of people coming in and out everyday?
Are you willing to never travel outside of your own country or not allow travelers in?
If you follow these rules and, more importantly, your intuition as a parent you will be making empowered decisions for your children and reclaiming our sciences, our medicines,and our knowledge from profiteering big business!
I salute you for being a radical parent!
1. http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2013/01/29/measles-vaccines-part-ii-benefits-of-contracting-measles-by-dr-viera-scheibner-phd/
Relephant read:
To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate?
Author: Rena Sassi
Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock
Photos: flickr
About Rena Sassi
Rena Sassi is the owner and operator of Sukuun Holistics, of two radically awesome children, a homeopath and a birth worker currently living in Los Angeles, California. Rena is also certified in homeopathic CEASE therapy and offers CEASE vaccine detox locally and via the interwebs. For a consultation please contact Rena. Catch up with Rena on Twitter, facebook and Google +.
6 Responses to “7 Tips to Help Parents Decide about Vaccination.”
1. Cassandra says:
This is dangerous advice. Not vaccinating causes deaths from preventable diseases. No child should die from measles in the US. Don't follow your gut, follow science and cold, hard facts. Vaccines save lives.
2. UmQasim says:
Cassandra…even top CDC doctors say what Rena has…..the measles epidemic that just erupted in the U.S. began from a VACCINATED child…plus there is no time frame on how long the vaccine is effective so what if ur child catches it a day after vaccine wears off?…do YOUR research instead of trying to scare people into potentially subjecting their children into a live of autisim…..
3. hoohaa says:
I am sorry but did you just mention autism?! Looks like you need to do your research because there has never been a real study done that linked vaccines to autism.
4. SavvyFairre says:
“I salute you for being a radical parent!”
A RADICAL parent? How about an ignorant, selfish and moronic parent? Ever seen a ward full of kids in iron lungs? Take a look. http://amhistory.si.edu/polio/historicalphotos/im
THAT was reality before the polio vaccines. The “study” linking vaccines to autism has been totally and completely debunked and that “doctor” stripped of his medical license. Vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Years and years of research went into making them safe and effective and because of them, some pretty horrific diseases have been more or less eliminated. Your “gut feeling” has nothing to do with it. This is science.
That “immigration” bit is a complete red herring, as most other countries, even third world countries have MUCH stricter rules about vaccinations that the USA. And as far as vaccines being government “big business” please bear in mind that in most European countries, health services are free at the point of use (paid through taxes, not billed to the individual user), so the notion of vaccines for profit does not apply – and European doctors are massively pro-vaccination.
5. Concerned Parent says:
I had my first child just after the major vaccination/autism study was discredited. Still, a very scary time to make decisions about sticking needles into your kid. So here’s what I did: Vetted many pediatricians-doctors who studied medicine and took an oath to do no harm, and went with my gut in choosing a person to give me MEDICAL advice about my child. Intentionally, did not discuss vaccination concerns in interviews.
6. Randy says:
The iron lung is still around. Just called a ventilator. There are over 36,000 people on them on average in a year.
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Friday, 24 August 2012
Classical Liberal Human Rights Are Not Today Socialist Human Rights
The principle of human rights is derived from the political doctrine of classical liberalism (not to be confused with "liberalism" in the modern American sense of left-wing political orientation).
Consistently with the liberal theory's emphasis on the individual's need to be protected from state interference and power, the concept of human rights has an originally negative connotation (permitting or obliging inaction), as the right not to be killed or physically attacked (right to life), not to be unduly restricted by the state (right to liberty), or not to be hindered in one's legitimate ambitions (right to pursuit of happiness). These are also called liberty rights, i.e. not entailing obligations on other parties, but rather only freedom or permission for the right-holder.
The human rights principle that has been used in recent times has the same name but little else in common with the liberal, original one.
It has a positive connotation (permitting or obliging action): right to a job, a house, a minimum income, free health care, free education, social security, financial support during unemployment, sickness or retirement, welfare, and many more: the list is endless. These are also called claim rights, i.e. entailing responsibilities, duties or obligations on other parties regarding the right-holder.
The state in this perspective has become a provider, like a parent, it is a "paternalistic" state. Far from trying to limit its reach and power to control, people who advocate these ideas cause the state to expand its authority, become bigger and more influential on people's lives. The state becomes more and more like, well, a socialist state.
Karl Marx's formula for communism, his final goal after the intermediate, transitional socialism of the dictatorship of the proletariat, was: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
This formula, especially in its latter part, is no other than the new re-definition of "positive" human rights by socialists.
Every need gives rise to a new human right.
The governed then expect everything from the state. But as rights are the other side of duties, and freedom is the other face of the coin of responsibility, inversely to delegate responsibility is to abdicate power and renounce some freedom. The more people expect from the state, the less control they have over their own lives.
So, what happened to "human rights" is what happens to a concept when used in a different theoretical context.
"Time" and "space" have very different meanings in Newton's classical physics than in Einstein's relativity theory.
Time and space are absolute in the former, relative in the latter. In addition, time becomes the fourth dimension of space in the theory of relativity.
Each theory redefines its concepts. So, modern-day socialists, who have virtually all ideological and doctrinal power in the Western world since the end of the Second World War, have redefined the liberal concept of human rights and transformed it into something antithetical to it.
Time and space are absolute in classical mechanics but relative in modern mechanics.
Human rights in classical liberalism are a protection from state power, but in contemporary socialist view they are a way to make that power never-ending. These two concepts, under the deceitful guise of the same name, couldn't be more in opposition to each other.
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Factors for effective English Learning_from 孤鳥 Factors for effective English Learning Article from 孤鳥 <---- link to her Blog Whether it is from the learner’s point of view or from the teacher’s point of view, I truly believe that learning English has to be practical/useful and fun. Without these two factors, the results of the learning could be ineffective and futile. First of al 西裝外套l, one of the main purposes of learning a language is for communication, as a tool connecting us with others in the world. Therefore, when we first learn a new language, we really want to learn something that we can use in daily life, in school, at work, or for other social gatherings. When I first came to the U.S.A. the only sentence structure that I could remember the 售屋網 most was “This is a ….” structure, for instance, “This is a book.” This is a key”. “That is a dog.”…etc. But guess what? I think everyone is smart enough to know what a book, a key and a dog is; there is really no need for us to emphasize that in a conversation. And this is just one example that is not practical and useful enough for us to associate and communicate with those 關鍵字排名who speak English. So, what things are practical? If you ask me, I would say something that you hear and use often, for example, idioms/slang and short conversational sentences are some good starting points. It is a myth that we have to speak a complete sentence (subject + verb) or long sentences in order to communicate; it doesn’t have to be. For example, in stead of saying “You have done a great jo G2000b!” You can just say “Way to go!” And it won’t even diminish the compliment that you are trying to give. Learning a new language can be a tedious task if you just read it or learn it straight out of the textbook. I am not saying that the content of the textbook is not good or anything, but we are only human being, without adding a little variation or excitement into the learning, we tend to get bored easily. 關鍵字行銷 I was a student once and whenever I had a teacher who just read out the textbook, my motivation to learn that subject dwindled. Since language is a part of life; therefore, if we can learn the new language through things that relates to us, it will increase the effectiveness and successfulness in learning it. Some good examples that a teacher can do is to incorporate various tools (games, bingo, role play, tongue twister, joke, songs 濾桶….etc) into their curriculum planning; however, teachers should also keep in mind that all students are different and it won’t be “one style fits all”. One factor that I did not mention in the beginning of the article is the “heart” of the learner; I just could not emphasize enough how important that is for an effective language learning. No matter how practical and how fun the learning materials are and how hard the teacher tries to teach, if the l 關鍵字排名earner does not have the heart for it or does not want to spend efforts, then the learning might still be unavailing. Learning and teaching are closely interrelated with one another. We all can learn to teach but at the same time, we teach to learn as well. Since this is beside the point from the topic of this article, so I will stop right here. In the future I will try to share some solid examples that I think would help those who really want to learn English well. 房屋二胎 開口說英語不難_難在"沒有自己的想法 "！第一步：學會問! 說明1 第二步：學會答! 說明2 第三步：學會說故事! 說明3 第四步：學會答辯! 說明4 第五步：學會演講! 簡單做即席演講 第六步：學會即席演講! 如何做即席演講 第七步：學會聊下去！ 說明7 第八步：掌握說的變化！ 說明8 第九步 : 控制自己的情緒與想法! 說明9 請參考我的部落格如下: 英語學習重點: 請 房地產選擇:五大句子的建立 請選擇:文法是一種位置學1 請選擇:文法是一種位置學2 請選擇:文法是一種位置學3 請選擇:文法是一種位置學4 請選擇:文法是一種位置學5 請選擇:妳會用英語問"問題"嗎? 請選擇:擴大句子 請選擇:縮簡句子 請選擇:英語圖解法 請選擇:簡單做即席演講 請選擇:如何做即席演講 也可以看看我的留言版 ! 大多是讚美與感謝!也會有心得分享!如果是第一次進來:建議看我的自我介紹中”文章分類”解說！ .msgcontent .wsharing ul li { text-indent: 0; } 分享 Facebook Plurk YAHOO! 酒店兼職 .
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Friday, 13 January 2012
beh-Eco:Cognitive Limitations and Rational Consumer Choice.
Cognitive Limitations and Rational Consumer Choice.
A.)Bounded Rationality
Humans don’t behave like rational beings potrayed in standard rational choice models. This comment on human behavior was potrayed by Herbert Simon, a pioneer in artificial intelligence, ie, instructing a computer to reason.
When we ourselves confront a puzzle we don’t reach a solution in a neat linear fashion. We search in a haphazard way for potentially relevant facts and information and usually quit once our understanding reaches a particular threshold. Our conclusions are often inconsistent even incorrect. Yet we come up with serviceable even imperfect solutions. We are satisficers not maximisers.
B.)Decision-making under incomplete information
It is not even rational to make fully informed choices. It is irrational to be completely informed. This literature has infact bolstered our confidence in The Rational Choice Model.
However another offshoot of Simon’s work less friendly to the rational choice model is that even with transparently simple problems people often violate the most fundamental axioms of rational choice. (Frank, RH, 2003)
How a choice is presented decides the preferences that are revealed
Asian disease problem-Disease threatens 600 people, there is a positive way of framing the problem
A-200 people are saved
B-1/3rd probability 600 are saved, 2/3’rd probability zero are saved with an expected value of 200 being saved. The preference pattern seen is that 72% choose A-certainly
saving 200 is better.Majority choice is risk-averse.
Whereas another way of framing the problem is-
C-400 people will die D-1/3rd probability zero will die, 2/3rd probability 600 will die with an expected value of 400 dying.The preference pattern is that 78% choose D.Majority choice is risk-taking, certain death of 400 is less acceptable.
This is an example of Framing of Choice with risk aversion leading to inconsistent preferences.
· Outcomes in Problem1 are described in terms of lives saved, problem 2 in terms of lives lost.
· Choices involving gains are risk averse, losses are risk-taking.
This leads to inconsistent preferences. Despite the fact that A and C and B and D are equivalent in terms of lives lost or at risk, most people choose A over B but D over C.”(Tversky and Kahneman, 1981)
D.) Assymetric Value Function
In Rational Consumer Choice we evaluate events on basis of overall effect on total wealth. Consider A-Unexpected gift of $100. B-Repair of broken water line on your property, invoice of $80. Net effect of $20-increase in wealth
But, Kahneman and Tversky say that people weigh each event separately giving less importance to gain then loss. A larger value in absolute terms to loss of $80 than to a gain of $100.(Tversky and Kahneman, 1981)
E.) Sunk Costs
According to Rational consumer choice Sunk costs should be ignored but according to Thaler(Thaler,1980), people ignore this principle rather than sunk costs.A pair of $200 shoes causes discomfort would you wear it or give it away, would your choice change if it was a gift. Either way you own them now and the only question is whether the discomfort they cause is serious enough to discontinue wearing them.People however are much more likely to abandon wearing them if they received them as a gift.
V. Judgemental Heuristics and Biases:
A.)Examples considered so far make it clear that even when people have facts on their fingertips they make mistakes, another difficulty of the rational choice model is we often draw erroneous inferences about what the relevant facts are. More important, many of the errors we make are systematic not random.
Three simple heuristics or rules of thumb we use to make inferences about the environment, which lead to large predictable errors even if they help us economise on cognitive effort.(Kahneman and Tversky, 1974)
Representativeness heuristic: What is the probability that person A (Steve, a very shy and withdrawn man) belongs to group B ( librarians) or C (salesmen)? In answering such questions, people typically evaluate the probabilities by the degree to which A is representative of B or C (Steve´s shyness seems to be more representative for librarians than for salesmen) and sometimes neglect base rates (there are far more salesmen than librarians in a certain sample).
Availability Heuristic: This heuristic is used to evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how quickly instances or associations come to mind. When examples or associations are easily brought to mind, this fact leads to an overestimation of the frequency or likelihood of this event. Example: People are overestimating the murder rate in New York as compared to that of suicide if they can quickly remember reading on instances of murder. People tend to be biased by information that is easier to recall. They are swayed by information that is vivid, well-publicized, or recent. People also tend to be biased by examples that they can easily retrieve.
Anchoring and adjustment: People who have to make judgements under uncertainty use this heuristic by starting with a certain reference point (anchor) and then adjust it insufficiently to reach a final conclusion. Example: If you have to judge another person''s productivity, the anchor for your final (adjusted) judgement may be your own level of productivity. Depending on your own level of productivity you might therefore underestimate or overestimate the productivity of this person.
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The Tinderbox:
A Creativity Experience
Creativity Tips
Creativity Tips
Studies show creativity is vital to a child’s health, self-esteem, academic performance, stress-relief and overall wellbeing. Please consider the following tips to help your child build a life-long love for this most rewarding gift.
1. Creativity is not a pastime. It’s an essential part of who we are, finding countless expressions in our life each day. Therefore, support your child in their creative endeavours. Let them know that you value their creativity, and help them grow and explore by modeling creativity yourself.
2. Withhold judgment. You may wish to help through critique, but creativity flourishes in a non-evaluative atmosphere. Despite personal preferences, you can show respect for each of your child’s creations, recognizing that everything they express comes from a part of themselves, and is therefore worthy of your love and attention.
3. No surveillance. Hovering over a child, however good our intentions, has been proven to stifle their creative juices. Instead, create a safe environment where they can explore creativity on their own. You may be amazed at what your child comes up without help of any kind.
4. Offer guidance sparingly. They will receive more than enough throughout their lives. And constant reminders to improve themselves can undermine a child’s self-esteem, sending out the unintended message: You need to change. You aren’t good enough as you are. Remember, we don’t always need to teach our kids to be better. Just encourage them to be themselves.
5. Cultivate originality. Let your child know how great it is to be different, and that they bring something unique to this world. The greatest innovators have always been those who thought differently from the rest. Here’s a brief list of famous people who owe their success to creativity, each of them renowned for thinking outside the box:
a. Bill Gates
b. Albert Einstein
c. The Wright Brothers
d. Pablo Picasso
e. J.K. Rowling
f. Al Gore
g. John Lennon
h. Nikola Tesla
i. Frank Lloyd Wright
j. Thomas Edison
k. Mark Twain
l. (Insert your child’s name here!)
Some of the above material summarized from Goleman, Kaufman and Ray (1992)
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Why do a little people turn out to be addicted to capsules whilst others don’t?
Long-time period use also causes changes in different mind chemical systems and circuits as properly, affecting features that include:
• gaining knowledge of
• judgment
• decision-making
• pressure
• memory
• behavior
Despite being privy to these dangerous effects, many folks that use tablets preserve to take them, that’s the character of addiction.
No one issue can are expecting if someone turns into hooked on pills. A mixture of factors influences threat for dependancy. The greater chance elements a person has, the extra the risk that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:
• Biology. The genes that humans are born with account for about half of of someone’s hazard for dependancy. Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental issues may have an effect on danger for drug use and addiction.
• Environment. A individual’s surroundings includes many specific affects, from family and pals to financial popularity and trendy great of existence. Factors such as peer stress, bodily and sexual abuse, early publicity to pills, strain, and parental guidance can greatly affect a person’s likelihood of drug use and addiction.
• Development. Genetic and environmental elements engage with vital developmental levels in a person’s lifestyles to affect dependancy threat. Although taking drugs at any age can cause dependancy, the earlier that drug use starts offevolved, the much more likely it’s going to development to addiction. This is specifically difficult for young adults. Because regions in their brains that control selection-making, judgment, and willpower are nonetheless growing, young adults can be specially liable to risky behaviors, which include trying capsules.
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Schools in the USA
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Writing Your Personal Essay
Purpose of the Essay
Applying to college is very competitive and a good essay can mean the difference between being accepted or not.
The personal essay or statement should provide focus to your entire applications package and bring to light your strongest assets. It's the only part of the application package where you have the freedom to sell yourself to the college - why should they accept you over the other applicants. This is the opportunity to show your personality and convince the admissions department as to why they should select you to attend their college.
When several applicants are very similar, a poignant essay can put you your application into the acceptance pile!
Focus of the Essay
A good essay will have a focus or theme. This is the core concept of what you want to communicate about yourself in the personal essay.
A theme is based on your background, achievements and personality. To get clarity on what your theme might be, list all of your strengths and decide on which ones are your best. An essay with a well thought out, clearly communicated theme summarizing your strengths will give you a tremendous advantage over the other applicants.
In other words, don't simply answer the question but identify what you want to communicate about yourself when answering the essay question. And make sure that the answer relates to why they should accept you into the program you are applying to. For example, talking about the entrepreneurial skills you learnt from starting your own lawn care business is highly relevant to applying to business school.
The Structure of an Essay
As with any written document, before your start writing your essay you should prepare an outline. The sections of the outline should flow logically and build your case according to the theme you've already identified. The outline helps to confirm the order of information so that thoughts aren't presented randomly, but each paragraph builds on the previous paragraph.
Regardless of your theme or writing style, your essay will likely have four main sections:
• an introductory paragraph will set the tone and style of your personal essay and introduce your theme
• the second paragraph of the essay will provide supporting evidence as to your theme
• the third paragraph will build on the second paragraph and provide more detail or examples of your theme
• finally, the last paragraph will provide the conclusion by reiterating your points in a summary manner and why you would be a good student for their college
• With a well structured outline, writing the first draft of your essay will be much easier. Once you have a first draft completed, check to make sure all your points are included, there isn't any repetition or contradictions, your writing style is consistent and the tone is appropriate.
All Good Essays Require Polish
Finally, don't forgot to proof, fine tune and polish your final essay before submitting. Don't' be surprised if you spend just as much time fine tuning and polishing your essay as you did to write the first draft.
As part of finishing your essay, you should always have someone else read it. A fresh pair of eyes and someone with strong grammatical skills can do wonders to create not just a good essay, but an exceptional essay.
If you want to hire a professional writer to prepare your essay, check out these sites:
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Ordaining Women
Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008
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Modern space shuttles consist of state of the art technology and have come a long way since they first developed. Certain scientists who were pioneers continued to develop new technology to enhance the performance and the efficiency of the crafts.
Similar pioneers existed in the development of women's rights. Groundbreakers such as Abigail Smith and even Madonna, took crucial steps for women in their development towards equality. Over the years women attained such rights as voting and the right to work. These took time and eventually women began to be seen as equal beings along with men. Although women have come a long way there are still some issues that remain unresolved and exist in society as injustices. An example is the wages women receive in the same job are significantly lower although they are equally qualified. Another issue, one that cannot be resolved is women's right to be ordained as priests or ministers.
Some women wish to become ordained to serve God on a higher level, yet this is not possible for them. Women cannot become ordained in the Catholic Church because of tradition, authority, and their calling from God existing in the scriptures.
"Priestly ordination, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ to His apostles of teaching, sanctifying and governing the faithful, has in the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone. This tradition has also been faithfully maintained by the Oriental Churchesâ¦"(The Pope speaks Vol.39, No.5, p.319).
The tradition of the Catholic Church has been preserved for two thousand years, and in this time period there has not been one female priest. As a result of this the church when questioned with the issue of ordaining women decides to stick to a philosophy that exists in our legal system called "Stare Decisis",
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Thursday, 21 February 2013
Spelling Activities to Strengthen Memory!
I hope you have had good week! ~ I, on the other hand thought that Monday was going to be the craziest day of all - but I was wrong. The craziness continued throughout the week from assessments and class work to forgetting (on the most important day of the week mind you) my teaching suitcase which had all of those at home! Although, now I have a super sized block of cadbury chocolate next to me and all is well with the world again. =D
So, the main theme for this week has been the do's and don't's of spelling. As much as we repeat the rules of spelling and punctuation, these are often forgotten and repetition is almost a must every week. So, I've decided to gather the most useful tips and tricks to help strengthen students' memory banks with spelling.
Useful tip 1: Always have a word wall in class and update it each week. This will help students recall the words, even if they'd forgotten the meanings or how to spell the words, they will be able to learn and remember through everyday exposure of the words.
Useful tip 2: Create sentences with the given words each week. Practice these in class and have the students build sentences themselves out of the words using cards. The only way for the students to learn the words is for them to create sentences and use the words.
Useful tip 3: Have a drop quiz every week to review the words. The drop quiz can be a spelling test with the words or a dictation with the words for that week. These quizes are informal quizes whereby students can mark each others work or mark the work as a class.
Useful tip 4: Stick to a list of words each week and don't give out more than the students can handle. Try to get them to master the list for that week, then give them the next batch of words.
Useful tip 5: Do help the students learn basic spelling rules. The quizes are helpful each week although the rules are much more important - their understanding is much more effective than having repetative memorizing tasks.
Useful tip 6: When the students write, have them circle the words that they are unsure about or the ones that they find difficult to understand and spell. Allow them time to write them in their journals / books.
Useful tip 7: encourage the students to use these words in their journals and throughout their writing. Begin to endorse creative story writing with prompts.
Useful tip 8: Focus on the short and long vowel sounds throughout the year, these help students gain strength in recognising sounds and spelling through those sounds.
Finally, I am currently working on a spelling / word builders pack and I decided to share the first week of the activities here. The pack includes activities for over 200 fry words for grade 1.
The freebie is right here.
I will be creating packs for other grades in time. I hope youy've enjoyed this post and that you have found this post and freebie useful, wishing you a lovely remaining February.
Thursday, 14 February 2013
How Do I Feel? - Encourage Talking About Emotions.
I hope you've all had a wonderful Valentines Day!
Throughout the month of February we all talk about expressing love to our families, loved ones, partners, husbands, wives etc. With all the violence seen on the news lately, I thought it would be essential to build our future generation on good grounds and in turn hopefully minimize voilence in general.
Many children face this challenge. Often when they're angry, they either argue with their friends, classmates, or teacher. They don't know where to let out their frustrations, and in turn are scolded or punished for misbehaving.
So how do we as teachers, mothers, uncles, and aunties encourage children to talk about emotions?
Here are 5 steps to encourage talking about feelings:
1. Warm-ups. Start the day with a 'hello' and 'how do we feel today?' class activity or discussion. Maybe include some questions on the board about feelings. What do we do when we're angry? What do we do when we're happy? etc. This will usually help create a friendly environment where the children will feel happy to share and less intimidated to talk.
2. Give them space. For example, if a child is upset and a little withdrawn, they may not want to discuss what is upsetting them straight away. Although, if you let them know that they can think about it and when they're ready to talk to you, you'll be there to listen. They will feel secure in knowing that if they're uphappy about something it is okay to talk about it.
3. Manage misbehaviour. Make it clear to the students that unacceptable reactions such as hitting or insulting others will not be tolerated. Use posters about what anger does and how much it hurts someone else. Use statements such as 'hitting hurts.' and 'we don't scream.'
4. An outlet. Have a form of creative outlet. For example each week let the class watch a movie, be creative and make crafts, or use a media device (iPods, iPads) etc. These ways help children see their favorite shows depicting many different emotions and how they responded to them appropriately.
5. Be a positive model. Encourage using 'I messages' for example. 'I feel sad when ...' and these sentences help children in time reflect positively on their own emotions. This will let children know that it is okay to express sadness, fear or anger but in a positive way.
I hope you found this post useful! Feel free to comment below and tell me how you encourage talking about feelings in your class! - would love to get more ideas.
Finally, I would like to conclude with a freebie on teaching emotions. It includes a vocabulary of emotions page hand-out, a worksheet on the verb to be and a writing piece. This mini unit is suitable for grades 1-3 or for ESL beginner levels.
It is available here.
Wishing you a lovely February!
Thursday, 7 February 2013
ESL Kids Corner... + Chinese New Year!
Happy Chinese New Year!...I didn't need to look harder for another cause for celebration haha.
So my ESL class celebrates the Chinese new year this week - they've been counting down the days and making sure I know it! Ha! So I've created a unit based on the Chinese animals zodiac signs. The unit is a 46-page bundle which includes activities on introducing and reinforcing the months, days, seasons and years. It is suitable for grades 1-3 and for ESL learners of all ages. Here is a snap shot of the unit:
This week, we used the Sorting Seasons Center. Before we started the activitiy, I brainstormed the seasons on the board. I drew a cloud over each main season, winter, autumn, spring and summer. This normally activates students' learning and prior knowledge. Following the brain storming initial activity, I handed out the page of seasonal pictures for each group. Here is the picture:
Students were then instructed to cut out the pictures in groups and discuss what each pictures signifies. Students start organising the pictures under their respective season (this is the part where you will need to be all eyes to respond to questions). Then, make sure that you instruct them to place the cards on the sheet without gluing it just yet - in case they've made mistakes.
Finally, the students are to record a sentence about each picture seen in all the seasons. This is an individual task. This will be a great actvity to help reinforce essential skills.
If you would like to see the full Chinese Zodiac Themed unit, it's here
Now for the freebie this week, it is for ESL students. I will be posting a unit on starting ESL students for kids and another for adults but in time. It's been crazy busy lately but until then, I couldn't resist but post a freebie to see how much everyone responds to it. It's is a freebie which can be used as an ice breaker or starting the lesson.
It introduces students to names and how to have a basic conversation in English to introduce themselves. Here it is!
Finally, hope you've enjoyed this post and a happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! Until next time. :)
Friday, 1 February 2013
A Super Sale this Sunday! :)
Hi all! If you haven't stopped by TPT yet. I would really recommend it this weekend! My wishlist is full and so is my cart of lesson plans ready to checkout on Sunday 3rd Feb. Can't wait!
My store is having a sale of up to 25% on all items, don't miss out on the Valentine's ones which are brand new:
Here's the link! ~~ Sea of Knowledge TPT Store.
The awesome graphic above was made by Brooke Beynon and her store is also participating in the sale right here.
Happy Shopping! =)
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Your Heart Stops Beating When You Sneeze
It Is Impossible to Keep Your Eyes Open During a Sneeze
Sneezing After Having Sex Can Prevent Pregnancy
This is one of the many myths about preventing pregnancy. The theory behind the sneezing idea is that if a sneeze is powerful enough to shoot mucus out of one’s nose, it must be strong enough to expel the semen from a woman’s vagina after sexual intercourse. However, although some semen may be expelled after a very powerful sneeze, even the most outrageous sneezing fit wouldn’t get rid of enough semen to provide reliable contraception.
Looking at Bright Lights Can Make Some People Sneeze
According to one study, approximately 30% of people suffer from so-called “photic sneezing” triggered by looking at a bright light. The response seems to be acquired rather than inherited, and for most people it is not a consistent phenomenon (they won’t sneeze every time they look at the sun). The cause of photic sneezing is still unknown, but some researchers speculate that bright light triggers the nerves involved in sneezing by stimulating the retina or pupil, or by causing the person to squint. In susceptible people, such stimulation crosses the nerve signals that normally induce a sneeze. Photic sneezing can’t hurt you, and it may actually help when you feel a sneeze coming on and want to get it over with!
Holding In a Sneeze Can Damage Your Hearing
When you sneeze, the air that you expel is estimated to be traveling at around 100 miles per hour. Trying to hold in such a strong force (by pinching your nose, for example) pushes the air into the Eustachian tube, which connects to the middle ear and eardrum. Redirecting a sneeze like so could theoretically result in a ruptured eardrum and loss of hearing, which would be expected to resolve as long as the practice isn’t repeated. This is different than holding back an impending sneeze from occurring in the first place, for which there is no known associated harm.
Although many superstitions associate sneezing with danger or even death, sneezing is just a natural reflex, much like itching and tearing. Most of the rumors about sneezing are not true. Your heart does not stop, people can sneeze with their eyes open, and pregnancies can and do occur despite a sexually active sneezer’s best efforts. There is at least one useful truth to be found among all these sneezing myths: once you do it there’s no turning back. If you block a sneeze, you may not be able to hear your much deserved “God bless you.”
• Find the truth behind medical myths. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences website. Available at: . Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Messmer J. The medical minute: medical myths, part 2. Penn State University website. Available at: . Published July 2006. Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Mikkelson B. Impregnable defenses. Snopes website. Available at: . Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Mikkelson B. It’s time for the sneezin’ of love. Snopes website. Available at: . Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Semes LP, Amos JF, Waterbor JW. The photic sneeze response: a descriptive report of a clinic population. J Am Optom Assoc . 1995;66:372-377.
• Why do we say ‘bless you’ after a sneeze? Inspiration Line website. Available at: . Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Why do we sneeze with our eyes shut? Flipside Extra website. Available at: . Accessed November 10, 2008.
• Image Credit: Nucleus Communications, Inc.
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[foh-nuh-tak-tiks] /ˌfoʊ nəˈtæk tɪks/
noun, (used with a singular verb) Linguistics.
the patterns in which the phonemes of a language may combine to form sequences.
the study and description of such patterns.
(functioning as sing) (linguistics) the study of the possible arrangement of the sounds of a language in the words of that language
Read Also:
• Phot-
1. variant of before a vowel: photalgia.
• Photalgia
[foh-tal-juh, -jee-uh] /foʊˈtæl dʒə, -dʒi ə/ noun, Pathology. 1. pain, as in an eye, that is caused by intensity of light. photalgia pho·tal·gi·a (fō-tāl’jē-ə, -jə) n. Pain caused by light. Also called photodynia.
• Photics
[foh-tiks] /ˈfoʊ tɪks/ noun, (used with a singular verb) 1. the science of light.
• Photinia
[foh-tin-ee-uh] /foʊˈtɪn i ə/ noun 1. any of various trees or shrubs belonging to the genus Photinia, of the rose family, having clusters of small white flowers and red, berrylike fruit.
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The Myth of the Rule of Law
Any state, no matter how powerful, cannot not rule solely through the use of brute force. There are too few rulers and too many of us for coercion alone to be an effective means of control. The political class must rely on ideology to achieve popular compliance, masking the iron fist in a velvet glove. Violence is always behind every state action, but the most efficient form of expropriation occurs when the public believes it is in their interest to be extorted.
Mythology is necessary to blunt the violent nature of state power in order to maximize the plunder of property — and, most importantly, provide an aura of legitimacy. The perception of legitimacy “is the only thing distinguishing a tax collector from an extortionist, a police officer from a vigilante, and a soldier from a mercenary. Legitimacy is an illusion in the mind without which the government does not even exist.”1
State authority, and public obedience to it, is manufactured through smokescreens of ideology and deception. These myths sustain the state and offer an illusion of legitimacy, where orders, no matter how immoral or horrific, are followed because they are seen as emanating from a just authority. The state cannot implement violence against everyone everywhere and overwhelm the host, so the battle is waged against the hearts and minds of the public. Fear is exploited, language is distorted, and propaganda is spread, while narratives and history are tightly controlled. The gulag of state power, first and foremost, always exists in the mind.
If the mythology of state power is smashed, then the state is exposed for what it is: institutionalized violence, expropriator of the peaceful and productive, and entirely illegitimate.
The Myth of the Rule of Law
In order for a society to have peace and order, there needs to be a set of largely uniform and neutral laws in which the vast majority of the public agree are fair and just. Throughout the history of Western law, a decentralized process of trial-and-error, competing courts, and private arbitration achieved these rules. A monopoly power was not necessary, nor desirable. Before the rise of the modern bureaucratic, democratic nation-state, the monarch was the symbol of monopolistic order, and his power consisted mostly in enforcing the private common-law tradition that had already developed over centuries.2
Eventually, the nation-state model we see today grew and absorbed this decentralized tradition into a monolithic, top-down coercive regime imposed by legislatures, state police, and bureaucracies. The “rule of law” became the propaganda term used to justify this radical departure from the Western tradition of common-law and private arbitration. The law was now political in nature, subject to the usual array of corruption and disincentives inherent in any political order. With the monopoly state now in charge of law, the idea that a coercively imposed system of justice — in which everyone is governed by neutral rules that are objectively applied by judges — became a powerful myth for states to exert control over society.
As a myth, however, the concept of the rule of law is both powerful and dangerous. Its power derives from its great emotive appeal. The rule of law suggests an absence of arbitrariness, an absence of the worst abuses of tyranny. The image presented by the slogan “America is a government of laws and not people” is one of fair and impartial rule rather than subjugation to human whim. This is an image that can command both the allegiance and affection of the citizenry. After all, who wouldn’t be in favor of the rule of law if the only alternative were arbitrary rule? But this image is also the source of the myth’s danger. For if citizens really believe that they are being governed by fair and impartial rules and that the only alternative is subjection to personal rule, they will be much more likely to support the state as it progressively curtails their freedom.
The rule of law, imposed by the state, is simply a myth. There is no such thing as “a government of laws and not people.” Legislative edicts are always subject to the biases and agendas of those who interpret them, and will be imposed in this manner by whoever currently wields the power of the monopoly state over society.
For example, despite the US Constitution’s very clear language in most of its passages (there are some dangerously vague sections, of course), the most trained and brilliant legal minds can come to completely opposite conclusions over the exact same clause. Whether it is a particular amendment in the Bill of Rights or the particular language of executive or legislative power, a liberal and conservative judge could use sound reasoning and cite historical precedent to make their case — and they would both be right. “[B]ecause the law consists of contradictory rules and principles,” argues John Hasnas, “sound legal arguments will be available for all legal conclusions, and hence, the normative predispositions of the decision makers, rather than the law itself, determine the outcome of cases.”
The law, then, is not a neutral body of rules to help keep order and govern society; it is merely an opinion with a gun. Whenever the state is in charge of anything, the outcomes, process, and administration are always political in nature. There can never be a system of definite, consistent rules that produce determinate results because these laws, no matter how they are written, will always be subjected to the biases, prejudices, and discrimination of those who interpret and enforce them.
The idea that the law is not neutral or determinant is not a revolutionary doctrine and should not be entirely shocking. Over a century ago, former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes argued that certainty in law is an illusion; judicial decisions rely more on the language of logic than they do on objective enforcement. Since at least the 1970s, the Critical Legal Studies movement has recognized this, and even they are just reviving the legal realists who made these same insights decades before them. The idea of determinate law is actually an undesirable feature — even if we were to overcome the impossibility of making it so — as the strength of an effective legal system lies in its ability to have certain amounts of flexibility. This is why the decentralized, private law tradition was able to produce several codes of uniform laws — do not murder, steal, assault, or initiate aggression in general — while providing the room to adapt to social change and distinct cultures.
When the law is under the dominion of a top-down, coercive state it is transformed from a system of governance to a body of expropriation. Whether through the use of logic or emotional appeals, whoever wields the state apparatus says what the law is and they will dispense their armed enforcers to make sure their law is fulfilled.
If an objective rule of law is impossible, then why does this myth persist? To ask the question is to answer it. “Like all myths,” notes Hasnas,
it is designed to serve an emotive, rather than cognitive, function. The purpose of a myth is not to persuade one’s reason, but to enlist one’s emotions in support of an idea. And this is precisely the case for the myth of the rule of law; its purpose is to enlist the emotions of the public in support of society’s political power structure.
If the public views the law as a neutral and objective arbiter, then they are more willing to support state power and its violent expropriation and parasitism. We are more willing to accept the comfortable delusion of objectivity and the need for predictable laws than deal with the frightening alternatives of supposedly unpredictable anarchy. “Once they believe that they are being commanded by an impersonal law rather than other human beings,” people “view their obedience to political authority as a public-spirited acceptance of the requirements of social life rather than mere acquiescence to superior power,” notes Hasnas. Tyrants of the past used to claim that their rule was inspired by Divine Right to mask the fact that their rule was an exercise of naked aggression over their subjects. When this doctrine became discredited, a new myth was needed, and the rule of law was born.
No matter how impossible the rule of law may be, the state has a heavy interest in promoting this myth.
Before the rise of legislative law, the private, decentralized, and polycentric common-law system was effective at promoting peace and public order because it lacked the monopoly power of a centralized state. Under both models, laws are never determinate or universally objective. But under a private law system, bad decisions that were not accepted by the public or viewed as overreaches could not be coercively imposed on society. This system of checks and balances allowed laws beneficial to the protection of private property to flourish while weeding out the bad laws.
Under a state system, however, it is much harder, if not impossible, to fix bad laws as there now exists a political incentive to keep the law on the books, while most judges serve lengthy or even life terms. If the judge, legislature, and police are all part of the state apparatus, they will tend to find expansive definitions for state power with limited definitions of individual freedoms.
“The myth of the rule of law does more than render the people submissive to state authority; it also turns them into the state’s accomplices in the exercise of its power,” concludes Hasnas. “For people who would ordinarily consider it a great evil to deprive individuals of their rights or oppress politically powerless minority groups will respond with patriotic fervor when these same actions are described as upholding the rule of law.” While the state does indeed provide some law and order under its jurisdiction, the “rule of law” has been used as a propaganda tool in order to help cement and legitimize state power.
3 thoughts on “The Myth of the Rule of Law
1. The best way I can respond is to encourage everyone to take some time to apply these tenets to their own local situation… And then roll those findings up. The state here operates whenever it chooses outside of brilliant laws. Rather the admins. simply run claimants around the law they advertise. Complaints to lawmakers against admins rarely get things fixed. Happy landings… -cap
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Alternative Dairy Initiative
Alternative Dairy Initiative
Milk should have a clean, pleasing aftertaste.
Milk Flavor
The flavor of milk should be pleasantly sweet and full, and have a clean, pleasing aftertaste.
Much like butter, milk can absorb flavors during stages of production or in your fridge. This can often lead to diminished quality. It’s also possible the milk didn’t taste very good to begin with! The health of the milk animal and what she is fed has HUGE impacts on milk flavor.
Great tasting milk comes from happy, healthy cows, fed mainly on pasture, is processed in clean facilities, is minimally exposed to air and light, and is consumed when fresh.
Some of the off-flavors you may have experienced fall into three basic categories:
*Some flavors can result from multiple causes and may be listed more than once.
1. Absorbed: Feedy, Unclean, Foreign
2. Bacterial: Acid, Malty, Unclean, Fruity, Putrid, Lacks Excellence, Bitter, Foreign, Sour, Rancid
3. Chemical: Rancid, Oxidized, Light-Induced, Foreign
Conduct your own taste test!
Practice and experience will help you identify some of the more subtle nuances between samples that you might not notice initially. Use the Flavor Correction Guidance documents at the bottom of the page to help you identify different off-flavors.
1. Have samples at 60 degrees F and make sure they are well mixed.
2. Observe the aroma before tasting, the nose if far more sensitive than the mouth.
3. Put about 10mL's of the sample in your mouth, hold all samples in your mouth for the same period of time.
4. Observe mainly which tastes and odors emerge first.
5. Recondition your mouth with some warm water, or a slice of apple or pear between samples.
6. Practice introspection and don't be overly critical.
Tips for Milking for Quality:
To get a quality product, these five key factors must be optimal:
A weakened or stressed animal often produces milk with rancid flavors, a result of broken milkfat globule membranes. An animal suffering from ketosis will pass on a “cowy” flavor.
While the quality and composition of pastures varies widely, the cause of most “feed” flavors in milk is the result of either corn silage, legume hay, or brewer’s grains. The flavors are absorbed through the animal’s nose or mouth, into the bloodstream and then into the milk.
As noted above, flavors can be absorbed through an animal’s nose and mouth and ultimately into the milk. Dust, dirt, and manure must be removed regularly, keeping surroundings clean. All surfaces in contact with the milk should be properly cleaned to prevent buildup of milk solids.
As noted above, rancid flavors result from broken milkfat globules which can result from over-agitation in the bulk tank, freezing, flooding and/or air leaks in pipelines, and infrequent milk collection.
Light damage and bacterial contamination can result from improper milk storage. Minimizing exposure to damaging rays and maintaining temperatures below 38-40°F optimizes milk flavor post-production.
See these Flavor Correction Guidance documents from the Vermont Milk Flavor Program:
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Wednesday, December 28
Humans Are Frugivores
A very basic anatomical comparison, that of which does not cover all organisms.
I didn't even know what a frugivore was until a few years ago. Seriously, I had never heard of such a thing. In my school, I believe that it was suppressed. In biology we learned about carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores, but never was there any mention of the term frugivore. Even as I type this article, my spell checker is marking the word (frugivore) in red because it doesn't recognize it.
Frugivore: Zoology / Any chiefly fruit-eating organism, as certain primates, birds, fish, and bats.
Research by anthropologists show that the anatomy of our ancestors, similar to that of our closest primate cousins, is in fact designed to primarily consume fruit. There are no findings that suggest otherwise.
"By careful examination of fossil teeth and fossilized human remains with electron microscopes and other sophisticated tools, Dr. Walker and his colleagues are absolutely certain that early humans until relatively recently, were total fruitarians." - Science Verifies That Humans' Ancestors Were Frugivores
"Preliminary studies of fossil teeth have led to the startling suggestion that our early human ancestors (Australopithecus) were not predominantly meat-eaters or even eaters of seeds, shoots, leaves or grasses, nor were they omnivorous. Instead they appear to have subsisted chiefly on a diet of fruit. Every tooth examined from the hominids of the 12 million year period leading up to Homo Erectus appeared to be that of a fruit-eater." - Dr. Alan Walker, Anthropologist of John Hopkins University in Maryland - May 15, 1979 - New York Times.
"The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables. His hands afford every facility for gathering them; his short but moderately strong jaws on the other hand, and his canines being equal only in length to the other teeth, together with his tuberculated molars on the other, would scarcely permit him either to masticate herbage, or to devour flesh, were these condiments
not previously prepared by cooking." - Georges Cuvier
Now then, why is this so very important? Because the 'food' that we are choosing to eat is killing us. It has degraded the human organism so badly, that children are now plagued with the same diseases that aging adults had decades ago. Processed, genetically-modified foods laden with chemical pesticides and packaged in hormone-disrupting plastics or disease-causing metals have accelerated this issue to the point that some people cannot even have babies if they tried. It is nature's way of saying that we have gone too far. People are sicker and dying younger, but they think it's only because it runs in the family.
Eat more fruit to detoxify the body naturally, with the exception of nightshades which are
generally not recommended. Also, keep high-fat and non-sweet fruits to a minimum.
So what do we do? We must change our diets if we want health and longevity. It truly is that simple. Eat more fruit. We are such a young species, and we have not evolved into omnivores. Modern humans have only been around for 200,000 years, civilization is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialization started in the 1800's. This short period of aberrant eating will not have changed our dietary requirements for optimal health. If we had in fact evolved, our anatomy would be quite different than it is today.
Biologically Appropriate Human Food Test:
Sight: Does the food stand out and draw the eye?
Smell: Does the food have a pleasant odor?
Taste: Is the food sweet, a little sour, or pleasant when it is raw?
Children: Does an infant or child eat it without coercion?
Ease: Is it easy to pick and easy to chew?
Desire: Do you want to eat it?
Judging from anatomy and genetics, take a look at our closest Hominidae relative: Chimpanzees. Did you know that almost half of their diet is figs? Then, of course, fruits like bananas, mangoes, melons, and apples make up the majority of the rest. They also eat a small amount of nuts, seeds, leaves, blossoms, medicinal herbs, honey, and palm wine. Lastly, when fruit is not available they'll eat raw meat, eggs, and insects (this makes up about 10% of their diet), and they'll only do so because they want to, not because it's best.
Dr. Robert Morse and Hilde Larsen explain why eating fruit is so important:
Imagine what life would be like without so much discomfort and pain. If you're interested in change, start eating more fruit today. It makes a huge difference. Trust me, like others out there, I know how it feels to eat this way. I've been on high fruit for a while now, and my life is better because of it.
Be well,
Monday, December 19
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
It was initially a surprise when I first heard there was to be an inter-episode Star Wars installment this year, but opening weekend has arrived and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has debuted. This chapter depicts the characters and events that directly precede those in Episode IV: A New Hope. There were some references to connecting events, and via the utilization of ever-improving computer generated imagery and compositing, there were even cameos by a few characters whose actors are no longer able to reprise their roles for one reason or another. Clearly, immense efforts were given by everyone involved in the production of this film, and those efforts are greatly appreciated. Visually, Rogue One fits exactly where its story does; vehicle and prop designs were more industrial and functional, akin to the original films, but there was still a wealth of imagination in everything from the massive starships to a simple communicator. Sound effects were equally appropriate, iconic, and were presented with such power as to be felt instead of simply heard. The worlds and their environments were beautiful and seamless. Diversity of life was everything one might expect in this galaxy far, far away; there were creatures and suggested cultures that were familiar, and some completely new. Indeed, the Star Wars universe keeps expanding. The characters in Rogue One were portrayed by the cast with expertise, and their stories were compelling. Humor was a welcomed virtue. The art of practical effects was very much alive and well before the camera; grit, sweat, slime, and animatronics were a few of the ways the details of this adventure gave it life.
Within all of this, and just as was apparent in Episode VII: The Force Awakens, cinema has been pushed to a level that stretches the simple vicarious experience and brings the terrible moments of war a little closer to each attendee. There is a consequence to the inundation of all media that depicts violence. What I've observed throughout my life is that many have become grossly desensitized to such content; they've come to find it pleasurable, or even desirable. It is by this dark side of the truth that most any meaningful messages within the entire saga are lost; philosophy and spirituality have all but succumbed to spectacle. Unfortunately, this behavior is far from being a new trend, as it's been known in human civilization since ancient times.
Orson Krennic: "...We were this close to providing peace... security for the galaxy."
Galen Erso: "You're confusing peace with terror."
Orson Krennic: "Well... You have to start somewhere."
- Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars has always had an overt theme of fighting to reclaim freedom, yet war can be completely avoided on the path to restoring balance, and therefore, peace. Films like these echo what is happening in the real world, and to what escalating ends the self-appointed elites are willing to explore in order to preserve their illusory authority. One needs not be Force-sensitive to discover the truth.
If we choose to partake in these types of cinematic experiences, we must focus on the positive messages they might offer. Great changes must be made by our species to achieve peace and freedom both, and those changes are synonymous with a path of simplicity and mutual growth; it's a path worth walking. Claudia and I share such a path, and we've known wondrous expansion throughout our journey.
This was certainly a different sort of chapter; the narrative focused far more on the fight than on philosophy, or the fabric of the universe and how me might interact with it. Therefore, as one who's grown up with Star Wars and has continued to find deeper meanings within it over the years, I've found Rogue One to be a valuable experience, but from a certain point of view. The sights and the sounds were of great magnitude, but we should repel the urge to be swept away.
Happy movie watching.
- Aaron -
Thursday, December 1
Art Prints and Originals on Sale for the Holidays
The holidays are just around the corner, and what better gift to give than an art print or an original one-of-a-kind piece of art. These would all make lovely gifts. Of course you can always treat yourself as well!
Give them a new home, they need an awesome wall to hang on.
Go take a look:
Please let me know if there's anything you like by emailing me at claudia sutton at gmail dot com ASAP. They're all first come, first serve, including the prints because I will not be reprinting more.
♡ Claudia
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Scotland and Scotsmen
Henry George
[An address to the people of Scotland - 1884]
Richard McGhee, of Glasgow. On the following Sunday, January 6, he was formally welcomed at Euston Station, London, by a great gathering of Labour organisations. The Land Question had been to the front in Ireland and Scot-land, and was being carried into England.
The lecture campaign opened in St. James' Hall, in the West End of London, on January 9. A few weeks previous to this, that hall was crowded when Michael Davitt gave an address on "The Land for the People". He had broken away alike from the advocates of physical force and those who seemed content to merely "swap landlords", and was proclaiming the doctrine of common rights in land. But, if Davitt filled St. James' Hall, it was packed when George spoke; there was no standing room, and the platform was crowded.
After speaking in London, the tour proceeded through a number of important provincial towns, and then to Scot-land, where the campaign opened, in February, at Dundee.
Scotland was ripe to hear the gospel of the Land for the People. Besides the slum question of the big towns, there was the case of the Cottars and the Crofters. Only a year or two previously there had been further enclosure of common land in the Western Isles - land that had been common from ancient times. The Crofters had offered physical resistance for a time, but were put down by force of law. Large proprietors were displacing the small owners. The former hardy inhabitants were being forced out, while more and more the land was being occupied by sheep and deer.
A Royal Commission had been appointed into the grievances of the Crofters and Cottars, and this Commission eventually effected a reduction in rents - by no means a remedy. There was a general feeling that there were serious wrongs to be righted, but no comprehensive remedy was being put forward. Henry George's campaign in Scotland was thus opportune.
From Dundee, the lecture course was to northern towns, and George visited John o' Groat's house. Thence to the Western Isles, where the Land Question was so intense, and where he spoke at Portree, on the Isle of Skye.
After the Islands, Henry George spoke at some western towns; then followed the two most important meetings of the tour, both in the City Hall, Glasgow.
At the first meeting, held Monday, February 1 8,1 884, Councillor Crawford presided, and the address was entitled "Scotland and Scotsmen". It brought frequent and continued applause, the audience becoming more enthusiastic as the address proceeded, and, at the close, five hundred people remained in the Hall to take part in forming an organisation -- the Scottish Land Restoration League.
The second meeting, held February 24, was for the purpose of launching the organisation in good style. It was a great occasion. There were other speakers besides George, all inspiring, and the meeting was a huge success. The large City Hall was crammed with people, while enough were turned away to make another big meeting.
The Scottish Land Restoration League was duly launched, with William Forsyth, president; and Henry George wrote the League's Proclamation to the people of Scotland. Similar Leagues were formed at Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, where George spoke later; also at Dundee, Greenock and several other towns.
Since then, "Scotland and Scotsmen" has been published in many editions in Britain, America and Australia.
P.J. Markham
Henry George
This is the second time I have had the privilege of standing in this hall. I visited Scotland once before, but only Glasgow. I came in by night in a Pullman car, and I went back again by night in a Pullman car, and I saw nothing of the country. The audience that I then addressed was an Irish audience - it was on St. Patrick's night. This audience is a general audience; I presume a Scottish audience.
The Logical Scot
Now, I have been pretty well abused. I read in the papers all sorts of things about myself, and if I did not know Henry George pretty well, I had thought he was a cross between a thief and a fool. These charges I have never noticed; nevertheless, there is one charge that has been made against me since I came to Scotland which I would like to say a word about: I have been accused of flattering Scotsmen.
The first place where I spoke in Scotland was in Dundee, and I was glad to get before a Scottish audience. It so happens that in my own country I know very many Scotsmen, and among the men who stand with me are very many Scotsmen. These Scotsmen have always been telling me:
"Ah, a Scottish audience is the thing; wait till the Scottish people take hold of this question, and they will go to the logical end". I was glad to get before a Scottish audience, and I told them about my Scottish friends, and I told them about the letter I had received from a good "canny" Scotsman, who said to me, "Don't waste your time on these English people. They are a 'beery' set. Beer confuses and dulls their understandings. You can do far more good in Scotland, where they are logical, clear-headed people; and if they drink anything at all, it is only whisky, which does not have such a confusing effect on the intellect".
Well, I told them that, in the frankness of my nature, and next morning the papers, in their usual denunciation, said I took an advantage by flattering a Scottish audience. Now, I may have been accused of many things, but I don't think those who know me would accuse me of attempting to flatter Scotsmen about Scotland. I doubt if that is possible.
Henry George's Scottish Blood
When I came from New York to California, a Scottish banker sought me out and said, "I had a wager about you, and I want to ask you a personal question. You are an American by birth?" And I said, "I am". "Have you not Scottish blood in your veins?" "Well", I said, "my mother's father was a Glasgow body". Says he, "I've won my bet; it's through your mother you get your talent". That man had, and has, a theory that every great man is a Scotsman, with two or three exceptions, and in these cases a mistake was made. Now, joking aside, I do not want to flatter anybody; and if Scotsmen don't like to be flattered, will you let me tell you tonight some home truths - some things that are not complimentary?" (Cries of "Yes! Yes!")
I draw my blood from these islands. But it so happens this is the only place to which I can trace my ancestry with any certainty. I do not know but that some of my own kindred perhaps today live in Glasgow, and it is from Glasgow men some of my blood, at least, is drawn. I am not proud of it. If I were a Glasgow man today I would not be proud of it.
"Let Glasgow Flourish by the Word"
Here you have a great and rich city, and here you have poverty and destitution that would appal a heathen. Right on these streets of yours the very stranger can see sights that he could not see in any tribe of savages in anything like normal conditions.
"Let Glasgow Flourish by the Preaching of the Word" -- that is the motto of this great, proud city. What sort of a Word is it that here has been preached? Or, let your preaching have been what it may, what is your practice? Are these the fruits of the Word - this poverty, this destitution, this vice and degradation? To call this a Christian community is a slander on Christianity. Low wages, want, vice, degradation - these are not the fruits of Christianity. They come from the ignoring and denial of the vital principles of Christianity. Yet you people in Glasgow not merely erect church after church, you also subscribe money to send missionaries to the heathen. I wish the heathen were a little richer, that they might subscribe money and send missionaries to such so-called Christian communities as this - to point to the luxury, the very ostentation of wealth, on the one hand, and to the barefooted, ill-clad women on the other; to your men and women with bodies stunted and minds distorted; to your little children growing up in such conditions that only a miracle can keep them pure!
Excuse me for calling your attention to these unpleasant truths; they are something that every man with a heart in his breast ought to think of.
How the Poor Live
John Bright, in his installation speech to the Glasgow University in 1 883, made a statement, taken from the census of Scotland, in which he declared that 41 families out of every 100 in Glasgow lived in houses having only one room. He further said that 37 per cent beyond this 41 per cent dwelt in houses with only two rooms; thus, 78 per cent, or nearly four fifths, dwelt in houses of one or two rooms; and he went on to say further, that in Scotland nearly one third of the people dwelt in houses of only one room, and that 70 per cent, or more than two thirds, dwelt in houses of not more than two rooms. Is not that an appalling statement; in the full blaze of the nineteenth century, in the year of grace 1 884, here in this metropolis -- this great city of Scotland -- Christian Scotland!
Now, consider what it implies - this crowding of men, women, and children together. People do not herd that way unless driven by dire want and necessity. These figures imply want and suffering, and brutish degradation, of which every citizen of Glasgow, every Scotsman, should be ashamed.
A Shocking Illustration
Here I take at random from one of your papers of this evening a story, a mere item of an inquest held at Peterborough. The deceased was a married woman, the house had no furniture, and the four children were half starved. There was no food in the house, and the only protection against the chills of night were three guano bags - a basket of litter for the whole family. The dead body of the mother was found to be a mass of sores, and the left arm was shrivelled up. The daughter stated that when they got food the father would bite first, and pass it round in turn. The dying woman craved a bun, but they could not give her even that. In their verdict of death from natural causes, paralysis, deep-seated sores, and exhaustion, the jury stated that the husband had been guilty of gross and unpardonable neglect to his wife and family. But this seems to be based upon the fact that he had not taken his wife to the almshouse, though, as he stated, he had tried to get her into the almshouse, but had been refused, unless he would go too. There is nothing to show that he was idle or drunken. He was but a labourer, and seems to have tried his best to get what work he could, and came home every night to lie beside that poor woman on the rotting straw.
Slum Life and Savage Life
But take the bare facts. Among what tribe of savages in the whole world, in anything like a time of peace, would such a thing as that be possible? I have seen, I believe, the lowest races on the face of the earth -- the Tierra del Fuegans, who are spoken of as the very lowest of mankind; the black-fellows of Australia; the Digger Indians of California. I would rather take my chances, were I on the threshold of life tonight, among those people, than come into the world in this highly-civilised Christian community in the condition in which thousands are compelled to live.
The fault of the husband, the verdict says! I know of this case only what the papers say; but this I do know, from the testimony of men of position and veracity, from officials and ministers of the Gospel, that such things as that are happening every day in this country, not to drunken men, but to the families of men honest, sober, and industrious.
Why, in this great, rich city of yours, there are today numbers and numbers of men who cannot get employment. Here the wages of your engineers were reduced a little while ago, and they had to submit. The engineers of Belfast had also to submit to a reduction of wages, because there were so many unemployed shipwrights and engineers in Glasgow that they feared they could not maintain a strike. Am I not right in saying that such a state of things is but typical of that which exists everywhere throughout the civilised world? And I am bound to say that it is a state of things you ought to be ashamed of. I speak, not because they do not exist in my own country, for in their degree there is just the same state of things in America. But is not the spirit that, ignoring this, gives thanks and praise to the Almighty Father, cant of the worst kind?
Our Twofold Duty
Can we separate duty towards God from duty towards our neighbours? Yet here are men who preach and pray, while they look on such things as matters of course, laying the blame upon natural laws, upon human nature, and upon the ordinances of the Creator. Is it not cant and blasphemy of the worst kind? How can a man love a God whom he believes responsible for these things -- a God who made a world in which only a few of His creatures could live comfortably; who has made a world in which the great masses have to strain and strive all their lives away to keep above starvation point?
It is not the fault of God! It is due merely to the selfishness and ignorance of men. And when you come to ask the reason of this state of things, if you seek it out, you will come at last, I believe, to the great fact, that the land on which and from which it was ordained that all mankind must live has been made the private property of a few of their number. This is the only adequate explanation.
Landlords Command Men
Man is a land animal. All his substance must be drawn from the land. He cannot even take the birds of the air or fish in the sea without the use of the land or materials drawn from the land. His very body is drawn from the land. Take from a man all that belongs to land, and you would have but a disembodied spirit. And as land is absolutely necessary to the life of man, and as land is the source from which all wealth is drawn, the man who commands the land, on which and from which other men live, commands those men.
Crowded Cities and Low Wages
Take the opposite course; trace up the facts. Why is it that men are crowded together so in Glasgow? Because you let dogs-in-the-manger hold the land on which these people ought to live. Here is one fact that I happened to see in a communication in one of your papers recently. There is a field in Glasgow called Burnbank, comprising fourteen acres, worth £90,000 -- it is surrounded by houses -and ought to be used for buildings. But the owner is holding it till he can get a higher price from the necessities of the community. You let him hold it. You don't charge any taxes for it. The taxation you put upon the houses.
The same article says, if that field were feued and covered with houses, these houses would pay not less than £7000 a year in taxation. You charge and fine a man who puts up a house that would give accommodation to the people, and the man who holds land without making any use of it you do not charge a penny for the privilege. How can there be any doubt as to the reason why you are so crowded together? Or, take the fact that wages are so low; that men are competing with one another so eagerly for employment that wages are brought down to starvation rates. What is the reason? Simply that men are denied natural opportunities of employment.
This city of Glasgow has been crowded with people driven from Ireland, and your Highlands, where they were living. When I was over in Ireland two years ago I saw the process.
Landlord Tyranny in Ireland
Aye, over there, I followed some of those red-coated evicting armies, and saw how, at the behest of men who had never set foot in Ireland, the military forces of the Empire were being used to turn out poor people from the cabins and the land on which their fathers had lived from time immemorial. Where were they forced to go? Into the cities, there to obtain work at any price.
That great man who has stood on this platform, Michael Davitt, is one of that class. His mother, forced from her home, carried him around begging, rather than go to the almshouse, and coming over here, he had, at an early age, when he ought to have been at play and at school, and not at work, to enter one of your factories, and that empty sleeve on his right side is a memento of that tyranny. Thus is your labour market crowded with people who must get work or starve, who cannot employ themselves, who are forced into competition for anything they can get.
So with your own people -- the people of Scotland. They have been crowded here in the same way. There is the explanation. This is the explanation of the fact that, although during this century, by reason of invention and improvement, the productive power of labour has increased so wonderfully, wages have not increased at all save where trades' unions have been formed and have been able to force them up a little.
I have now seen something of Scotland, and let me tell you frankly that what I have seen does not raise my estimate of the Scottish character. Let me tell you frankly -- seeing I have been accused of flattering you, and you say you can stand unpleasant truths - I have a good deal more respect for the Irish. The Irish have done some kicking against this infernal system, and you men in Scotland have it yet to do.
The Scots are a logical people, as my friend says. I won't gainsay that; but their major premise must be a very curious one. I have really been wondering, since I have been in Scotland, whether you have not got things mixed a little.
There is a story I heard in Ireland about a little crossroads innkeeper. A woman kept an inn there, and a lord came along and stopped there one night. Oh, she was all in a flutter at attending upon a lord, and so she carefully instructed the boots -- a rude boy -- as to how in the morning he must go and knock at Lord So-and-so's door, and when his lordship asked who was there, he was to reply, "The boy, my lord". Well, the poor fellow was awfully flustered, and he gave a thundering rap at the door, when Lord So-and-so cried out, "Who's there?" and the boy shouted out, "The Lord, my boyl" He had got things mixed.
Lords of Land and Water
The Scots are a Bible-reading people. I have sometimes wondered whether, instead of reading that "In the beginning the Lord created the heavens and the earth", they haven't got it that, "In the beginning the lairds created the heavens and the earth". Certainly the lairds have it all their own way through Scotland. Theirs is the land and all upon it; theirs is all that is beneath the land; theirs are the fishes in the rivers and in the lochs; theirs are the birds of the air; theirs are the salmon in the sea, even the seaweed that is thrown ashore, even the whales over a certain length, even the driftwood Theirs are even the water and the air.
Why, in Dundee, do you know, the people there, in order to get water, had to pay £25,000 to the Earl of Airlie for the privilege of drawing water for their use out of a certain loch. The water alone; he retains the right to the fish. The very rain as it descends from heaven is the property of the Laird of Airlie!
Why, just think of it! You know how that the chosen people were passing through the wilderness and they thirsted, and Moses struck the rock and the water gushed forth. What good would it have done if that rock had been private property, and some Earl of Airlie had been there who would say: "You cannot take a cupful until you pay me £25,000"? And this Earl of Airlie does not live in Scotland at all -- at any rate, he does not live in Dundee! He never drinks a cupful of that water.
Why -- just think of it! Here, when you have dry weather, the preachers pray for rain, and then when the good Lord listens to their prayer, and sends it down, it belongs to the Earl of Airlie!
Scottish Land Taboo to Scotsmen!
But the people of Scotland have the air -- that is, what they can get in the streets and the roads! There is at Dundee a hill they call Balgay. It was never cultivated, and the only thing about it is that there is good air to be obtained there, also fine views to be had. That hill belongs to a non-resident. I think the man's name is Scott, and he lives in Edinburgh. The people of Dundee want to take their walks on that hill. How do they get that privilege? By paying him a rent of £14 per acre!
Talk about the taboo! Do you remember those superstitious South Sea Islanders to whom we sent missionaries, and who are now dying out from rum and disease? Do you know these people had a custom that they called the taboo? Their high chiefs, whom they venerated as gods on earth almost, could say of a certain thing, "That is tabooed", and one of the common sort dare not touch it or use it; he would have to go around for miles rather than set his foot on a tabooed path, go thirsty rather than drink at a tabooed spring, and go hungry though fruit on a tabooed tree was rotting before his eyes. You have just precisely the same thing here. There are miles and miles of this Scotland of yours -- that is, the Scotland that you common Scotsmen call your country -- that is, the Scotland for which you are told you ought to lay down your lives if necessary -- there are miles and miles of it in a state of nature, which one of you common Scotsmen dare not set his foot on.
There is one of my countrymen -- an American named Winans -- who made a great deal of money in Russia; he comes over here and has a playground stretching from sea to sea, in a state of nature, tenanted by wild animals, and from which every one of you Scotsmen is rigorously excluded; and that is only an example of the country all over.
If you were heathens, if you were savages, many of you would be far better off. People would not have to live on oatmeal and potatoes while the streams were flashing with fish and the moors were alive with game.
If Quail Were Sent from Heaven
All the fish are preserved. I got hold of a book the other day, "The Streams and Lochs of Scotland", and I had the curiosity to look over it. Why, every bit of water in which you can paddle a tub is preserved; it belongs to Lord This, or Lady That, or Mr. Somebody Else. And the quail! Why, to go back to what I was just talking about. You remember how, to feed the hungry Israelites, quail were sent from heaven. If they had been sent into Scotland, you common Scotsmen would not have dared to touch them. Here the quail are preserved. Why, through the country that I have been, the common, ordinary working Scotsmen live on potatoes, and are well off when they get salted herrings or a little oatmeal. If the potato rot were to come, you would have just such a famine as occurred in Ireland in 1848. In point of fact, this year there is on the Isle of Skye a crop of potatoes only by the charity of the people who subscribed to the destitution fund, and so furnished those people with seed.
Rack-Rented from the Land
Full-fed, comfortable people, who eat hearty dinners every day, professors of universities with good salaries, gentlemen with nice steady incomes and pensions, say: "Oh, everything is going right; the working classes are getting better off"; and they deny most bitterly the assertion that poverty is keeping pace with progress, and they give you long tables of statistics to prove it. Everywhere that I have been I have asked the working people themselves what they thought, and I found everywhere that the very reverse was their opinion.
Certainly, after going through this country, there can be no question that all this progress and civilisation has only ground these people lower down; that they were better off hundreds of years ago when they were half heathen savages. They have now been driven from the good land they used to cultivate, and have been forced upon poor land. Their little holdings have been curtailed, so that they cannot keep enough stock to pay their rent. The rent has been increased and increased, and their only way of paying it is to trench upon their revenue and sell off their stock. There are places where they used to fish, where they have become so impoverished that they have now no fishing boats. There are places where they used to have horses, where now they have none, and where women - Scottish women - have to do the work of beasts of burden! You can see them today carrying manure and everything else on their backs.
Poverty Among the Highland Crofters
Go to the Highlands and you will see a state of society - of industrial society - that belongs to past centuries. You will find people cultivating the ground with the old-fashioned 'crookit spade', reaping with a hook, and beating out their little harvest of corn with a flail. Civilisation has done nothing for them save to make life harder. Those men, large numbers of them, have to pay rents which they cannot possibly get out of the ground. They are forced to go fishing, or to come down to the Lowlands to seek for work, in order to get money to pay their rents. It is not merely for the ground they are charged, not merely for the virtues of the soil; they are charged for a mere breathing space, a mere living place.
Yet those people who live in that way are called lazy! Lazy! I would like to have some of those well-fed people who talk about their laziness go up and take a week of that sort of work. Let these men go up and dig a little with the 'crookit spade', and go out and face the rough sea in one of those fishing boats; and let those fine ladies go to the Highlands and carry turf on their backs as the women do there. As far as I learned when there, it takes, on the average, about one person's labour to keep up those miserable peat fires in the centre of the hut. As for flowers; since I have been in Scotland I have never seen a single flower around one of those miserable cabins, where most of the people live.
At Glendale I asked one crofter if they had ever any fruit. "Well", he said, "they used to have some kail".
Struggle to Pay the Rent
I went, as Americans would say, to the jumping-off place -- to John 0' Groat's -- and there I saw two very bright fellows bringing up stones from the seashore. One of them stooped down upon his knees to help me to hunt for groatie buckles, and we had a talk. He said he was going to build a house. The gentleman who was with me asked if he had any surety in building it except the word of his landlord? He said he was a good landlord. I asked, "How much have you to pay?" I think he said £5. His father lived there, and there were two other sons. I asked, "What do you make out of it?" One of them said, "We generally get the meal". I said, "Do you get enough to pay your rent?" "No; we have got to make it up. I go off to the fishing, and my brother goes off to work. Sometimes we get enough to pay the rent, but generally we don't". I said, "The goodness of this good, kind landlord of yours amounts to this, that he lets you live there, and takes from you all that you make, save just enough to live". He said, "That is just about so". But then he said, "He is really better than many other landlords". Well, so he is; some of those landlords are there skinning the people alive.
The Cottar's Hard Lot
It is not the crofters who have the worst lot - it is the cottars, who come under the tacksmen. The crofter can only be put out once a year; the cottar can be put out at forty-eight hours' notice. The cottars are the absolute slaves of the tacksmen. There is just as much slavery as there existed in any land where human flesh was bought and sold. Why, there was the testimony before the Royal Commission. By-the-bye, that Royal Commission - to a man who does not know anything about it - looks like a committee of wolves to investigate the condition of the sheep. I would like to see labouring people represented on some of these commissions. Anyhow, a very intelligent Gaelic witness said all the land he had was for his cabin and grass for a cow. Lord Napier asked mow much rent he paid. He replied £5. The Commission did not believe it - it seemed so incredible. They said, "How do you pay it?" He replied, "I work a 1 00 days in the year at 1/- a day". Is it any wonder that wages are low in your city when that is the state of labour in the outskirts?
A Pitiful Example
Poverty and destitution! There is enough to make you sick at heart if you listen to it. Why, a banker in the Highlands told me that only last week a young fellow had come to him whom he knew was an honest, sober, industrious, hard-working man, and a cottar, and asked him for the loan of a couple of pounds. "Well", the banker said, "I can't lend you that as a matter of business. What is the matter?" The man replied, "I don't know where to get anything to eat. Myself, my wife, and four children have had nothing but potatoes since last November - over two months -and not enough of them; and now there is not a particle of food in the house. All I have in the world is a cow and a stirk. If I sell them now, I can get nothing for them. If you lend me this money, I will sell the stirk at the term time and give it back to you". My friendly informant said, I will give you so much meal, enough to keep you', - I forget how much, so many stones you call it - "to last you up to the time, and bring me the money when you sell the stirk". The man dropped down and burst into a flood of tears.
My informant said to me: "I never felt so humiliated in my life as to see a human creature, a fellow-man, driven to such a pinch". And then he said: "The man told me, 'You don't know what anguish I have suffered. Morning after morning I have seen my little children going to school fearing they would fall down from sheer weakness on the road"'.
The Poor Help the Poor
And the treatment of the poor - the poor broken creatures who have nothing of their own -- is something outrageous -- this endeavour to keep down the poor rates! Do you know that in some of these parishes there are poor decrepit creatures who get an allowance of 2/- a month, and in other places 14 lbs. of meal for two weeks? Well, I asked, over and over again, "How do they live? They can't live on that". What they live on is the charity of the poor people. The landlords, the rich farmers, shunt this burden of providing for the poor that their rapacity creates upon the hard-working people, who themselves can hardly keep from starvation.
Oppressed by Landlord and Factor
One of the London papers said, jeering at me, that proposed to take all the property from the landowners, and they supposed, however, I was very kind -- I would send them to the almshouse. Well, now, I wish - I have no ill-will towards them - but I heartily wish that a lot of your ruling classes could be sent to the almshouse. I think if some dukes and duchesses and earls and countesses were treated as these poor people are treated, that the wickedness of it, the sheer cold-blooded barbarity of it, would become apparent to your so-called Christian people.
Utter slavery! Why, as one man said to me, "We have feared the landlords more than we have feared Almighty God, and we have feared the factor as much as the landlord - perhaps even more -- and the ground-officer as much as the factor". Why, they are absolutely in their power.
There is a case, I am told of, where the factor was a fish merchant, and compelled the people to sell him the fish, and fined them £1 if they sold the fish to anybody else. Why, a gentleman was telling me - a professional man - how he had ridden, just a week or two ago, round with the factor on the estate of one of your members of Parliament. They came up to a man, and the factor said to him, "Look here, why were not your children at school yesterday?" Well, the man sheepishly replied, and the factor said, "Look here, don't you allow that to happen again. See that they are at school". "Yes, your honour", the man replied. "Heavens and earth, how can you talk to a man like that?" said the professional man, and the factor said, "I can make him toe the mark; I have plenty of power". Why, take the Isle of Skye, the factor there is everything except the parish minister.
I spoke there, at Portree, the other evening. I went up to Portree, and some of the inhabitants came to me, like Nicodemus, at night, and said, "You must not leave Portree without speaking here". I said that I did not want to thrust myself upon them, but if they secured a hall I would speak. They went away, and by-and-bye they came back and said, "There is not one of us who has the courage to ask for a hall". They were afraid, and I said, "I will take the whole responsibility, and offer myself, if need be, a vote of thanks". I wrote a letter to the factor. I suppose you have heard of that factor - Mr. McDonald, I think his name is. He is Justice of the Peace and everything else, and he has charge of the only hall there. I wrote him a polite note, stating that some of the people wanted me to speak on the land question. He wrote back to me to say that he could not let the hall for a lecture; he could not take the responsibility without consulting all the proprietors. Anyway, we got a schoolhouse. A clergyman at the head of the School Board was good enough to grant the use of a schoolhouse, though there were threats of interdicts and other terrible things made against him.
Highland Lions and Highland Sheep
I remember reading in an English book, written some years ago, about an aristocratic Pole in the old times, who took an English traveller over some of his ground, and pointed out some miserable-looking objects. He told the traveller he could kick any of them he wanted to. It was much like that in Scotland today. Your aristocracy take a pride in all that sort of thing. They like to keep up those Highland romantic notions, the feather bonnet and the kilt, and all that sort of thing. Well, now, really when you come to think of it, those Scottish Highlanders have been an ideal people with the aristocracy. They fight like lions abroad, and they have been taken abroad at the dictate of the very power which has oppressed them, to rob and plunder, and kill other people; but they are as tame as sheep at home. Don't you think that alongside of the Scottish lion you ought to put a Scottish sheep?
There is one thing that has greatly displeased me. The most displeasing thing I saw in Ireland was the police force - the Royal Irish Constabulary. Well, now, you are keeping up here in Scotland an institution very much the same. When I was in Skye I saw policemen loafing around just as the Irish Constabulary loaf about. In a little bit of a village named Dunvegan, where I don't think there are more than six or seven houses, there are two policemen, all in uniform. The police of the County of Inverness have been increased by fifty, at a cost of £3000 to the rate-payers, and £3000 more to the whole country, on account of the fears of the landlords.
No Remedy in Half Measures
Now, I have been pointing out the evil. How can it be cured?
Well, it cannot be cured by any half-way measures; it cannot be cured by any measures that will be agreeable to your aristocracy. You know that at the beginning of big sheep-farming in the Highlands, and the eviction of their brethren by chiefs who had become landowner's under an infamous English law, there was a good deal of misery, and one of the earliest measures to relieve that misery was to get up those Highland regiments. They were got up about the time of the American war, and a lot of them were sent over there to fight the American people. You can't relieve poverty by any such measures as that.
The Wrong Road
In the beginning of the century, when the Duke of Sutherland and other men of that kind were evicting their people with a barbarity that will hardly find a parallel in the annals of savage warfare, there was another measure got up to relieve the destitution -- that was, the making of the roads. Some £267,000 of public money, in addition to £5000 a year from the public funds, was, for many years, spent on making roads through the Highlands; but this grant was finally abandoned, on the ground that all it had done was to improve the rents of the Highland landlords. No such measures as that will relieve poverty.
You cannot get rid of it by such measures as you Glasgow people adopted in your City Improvement Trust. You have taxed the masses of the people only to foster corruption; to put large sums into the pockets of speculators and landlords; to improve the property of other landowners: and you have not a whit relieved overcrowding or destitution. Your have simply changed the place of the disease. It is like putting a plaster on a cancer and driving it somewhere else. You cannot cure this deep-seated disease by any such measures as these; you must go to the root, boldly and firmly.
Take the Beast by the Throat
Take no stock of those people who preach moderation. Moderation is not what is needed; it is religious indignation. Grasp your thistle. Take this wild beast by the throat. Proclaim the grand truth that every human being born in Scotland has an inalienable and equal right to the soil of Scotland - a right that no law can do away with; a right that comes direct from the Creator, who made earth for man, and placed him upon the earth.
Your cannot divide the land and secure equality. It could be done among a primitive people, such as the children of Israel, who, under the Mosaic law, divided the land; but in our complex civilisation that cannot be done. It is not necessary to divide the land, when you can divide the income drawn from the land. You can easily take the revenue that comes from the land for public purposes. There is nothing very radical in this: it is a highly conservative proposition. Why, I had the pleasure of reading a speech delivered in this hall by your member, Dr. Cameron, proposing substantially the same thing. Dr. Cameron and myself, I am glad to say, stand upon the same platform in this respect. He wants to reestablish the old, ancient tax upon land that the landowners have thrown upon the masses of the people. That is what I want to do; and when we have done that, I want to go a little further. But I have no doubt that Dr. Cameron, when he had got so far, would be quite willing to go a little further. The real fight will come on some such proposition as that made by Dr. Cameron, and I have not the shadow of a doubt that, if the people do their duty, the landlords will be routed -- horse, foot, and dragoons.
Shift the Burden of Taxation
Now, see the absurdity of the present system, even as a great economic measure. Here, in Glasgow, take that field of Burnbank. The owner allows it to be vacant, and pays nothing; but if he puts houses upon it you will then get £7000 a year in taxation. Have you got enough houses in Glasgow? Why should you tax houses and not land? The man is a public benefactor who puts up houses. The more you tax houses, the less houses your have. But you may tax the value of land 20 shillings to the pound and you will not have an inch less land.
A good part of this city used to belong to your people. It was purchased by a Lord Provost named Campbell. I don't know how he got it. It reminds me of the story I heard in Cardiff, how an ancestor of the Marquis of Bute got a great part of the common of that town - now most valuable property. A predecessor of Lord Bute gave the freemen a dinner every year. In a fit of generosity they voted the common to him; but he did not continue the dinner. I don't know how the Lord Provost got this property. But I am informed he paid £1 500 for it. Now, his successor, Sir Archibald Campbell, draws £30,000 in feuduties, and he does not pay a penny of the rates of the town. Would it not be better to take that £30,000 in taxation, and remit your taxes on some other things?
The Fund of Land Values
I want to call your attention to what an enormous fund you would get for public purposes in this way. The chief advantage of putting taxes upon land is that you would choke off those dogs in the manger who are now holding the land without using it, or making deer forests of what ought to be the homes of men; who, that they may compel a larger black-mail, are withholding land around your towns from building uses, while whole families are crowded in four-storied houses, a family to each room. A great stimulus would be given to industry, to the investment of capital, to production of all kinds, by the removal of the taxes that weigh and press them down. And by taking that which now goes to the landowner and using it for public purposes, instead of making poor people pay for the education of their children, as you do now, you could have all your schools free, and the best kind of education given to the children of the poor, as well as to the children of the rich; you could establish libraries and museums, and public parks, and gardens, and baths, if you chose, in every town; you could all around this coast build safe harbours for your fishermen; and you could give a pension of enough to live comfortably on to every old and decrepit person, to every helpless one; you might even dower every girl, and give every young man a start in life.
Preposterous does it seem? Well, it does - this thing of doing anything for the masses of the people. It is highly demoralising, we are told, to give the people something for nothing; it would destroy their independence if the poor people didn't have to pay for the education of their children!
You don't hear anything about that when individual pensions are granted up to thousands of pounds. Your Parliament votes £25,000 a year to a young prince as though it were nothing at all. Judges, officers, and others such, get most handsome retiring pensions. It doesn't hurt them! It doesn't demoralise them!
The Cost of War
And see how enormously your other expenses would be reduced. Why, I saw in an office today a chart showing the expenses of this nation diagrammed, and, according to that chart, it was nearly all for war - the cost of war, and preparation for war. You have been going round the world warring with other people, and out of the present taxes, according to that chart, you pay 1 6/9,1 think, a year, for war, the expense of war, and the costs of war, and 3/3 for other expenses.
Why is that expense placed upon you? Because you are governed by a land-owning aristocracy. The army is a good place for younger sons. You have been governed by the class that likes to make war, and that finds a profit in rnaking war. With the rule of the people that would cease.
Justice Outraged Demands a Penalty
There is enough here for all of us. There is no natural reason for poverty, or even for hard work. The inventions and discoveries that have been already made give man such a command over material conditions, that we all could live in ease and luxury if we did not scramble and tread each other underfoot.
Once give the people an opportunity, give mind a chance to develop, and the forces of production would increase at a rate never dreamed of. Where wages are highest, there is labour always most productive, there is invention most active. And certainly it is time that something were done.
Why, think if one of us, having a family of children, were to go away from home, and come back and find the big ones leaving the little ones out in the cold, keeping them in ignorance, in squalor and misery, and disease -- what would we say?
Do you believe that the laws of justice can be outraged with impunity? Not so. The whole history of the world shows that, though, on the narrow scale of individual life and individual action, injustice sometimes seemed to succeed, yet on the great scale of national life, the punishment of national crimes always comes sure and certain. And, so sure as God lives, that punishment must overtake such nations as this. The cry of the oppressed cannot go up for ever and ever without bringing down punishment.
Look back at the greatest nation that ever played its part on this world's stage - Imperial Rome. What was its fate? That very fate may be seen coming over this nation today. Italy, when the Roman power went forth to conquer the world, was the home of hardy husbandmen, independent and self-reliant. As fortunes grew, these men were drained off to the wars, evicted, driven out, and Italy was given up to sheep and cattle and great estates. That very same thing is going on in these islands today.
The Braes Given to the Huntsmen
What was Scotland made for? What was this earth made for? Was it not for man? Was not man given the dominion over the birds of the air and the beasts of the field? Was it not made his duty to subdue the earth? Is not man the highest thing that earth can produce? And yet here, in this Scotland, you are driving men off the land, and putting on beasts, and the vengeance is coming.
We know something of the laws of the universe. We do not yet know them all. But there is a strange thing that has been noticed in new countries, and that is the influence that man seems to have by his mere presence upon nature. The bee follows the pioneer across the American continent; where settlements are made more rain seems to fall, new flowers without planting seem to spring up, and the earth to bring forth more abundantly; and, where man retires, nature becomes more savage. See how, in Italy, fertile districts, when depopulated, became the haunts of fever. Look to the arid wastes of North Africa, once such a teeming hive of population.
Men Who Love Scotland, Arise
The very same thing can be seen in Scotland today. Upon this land the curse that follows the expulsion of men is coming. Men have been driven off the richest and best land, and the sites of their little homes and their little cultivated fields given up to sheep, and the sheep fattened. It was good grass where the men had been. That, everywhere I can learn, is giving way. I am told by capable authorities that where a thousand sheep twenty or thirty years ago could be kept, in places men had been driven off, not 700 can be kept now. There is a fungus moss creeping over the ground; Scotland is relapsing into barbarism again; even sheep are giving way to the solitude of the deer forest and the grouse moor.
Will you, men who love Scotland, let it go on?
Question Time
The address concluded, there was long-continued applause. The Chairman then announced that Mr. George was prepared to answer questions. The first three he would submit to him had been handed in by a journeyman tailor. The following questions, some written, others called out from the audience, were asked and answered.
Q: Why does Mr. George address meetings in large cities instead of amongst the farmers and farm labourers, the large cities being centres of commerce, and their inhabitants having no interest in the question?
A: Because I think it is in large cities that the evils of land monopoly are best seen - and it is to the large cities that I look for the force that is to reform these evils. Those poor, cowed people in the Highlands, trembling under the eyes of their factors, what can they do for themselves? It is to you men of the cities that I mainly and principally look. The towns must carry the standard of advancement, as they always do.
Q: How would nationalisation of the hand tend to raise wages or shorten the hours of labour of the city artisan?
A: I do not propose nationalisation of the land, but to Nationalise Land Values by collecting the Rental Value of Land for the nation. That would open to labour the primary source of all employment. Why are wages, generally speaking, in new countries higher than in old countries? Adam Smith, a hundred years ago, stated the reason when he said it was because there land was cheap - because a man can there work for himself, and therefore will not work for anybody for less than he can earn for himself. When you open up the land, you relieve the pressure on every industry. It is the pioneers in a new country who furnish the foundation and market for all the others. First you have the herdsmen and farmers, and afterwards you have the operatives. It is sometimes said, "We cannot all be farmers"; but that is the only thing we all can be. We all might be farmers, because communities have existed in which everybody was a farmer; but you never heard of a community where everybody was a tailor It is not necessary, however, for us all to be farmers. If we break up the monopoly of land, so that in the primary occupations there will be easy employment and high wages, then there will be a brisk demand for labour and high wages in all employments.
Q: If Mr. George would not tax labour products, and if the rent of the agricultural and grass land is only about £66,000,000 per year-56 millions of this amount being a rent imposed upon the labour of the farmer-would he explain to us how he proposes to abolish the existing poverty with the paltry sum of 10 millions which remain?
A: The landlords are very anxious to show how little they get. Mr. Mallock has made a coloured diagram in which he pictures it as only £100,000,000. If it is so little, what is the use of making a fuss about it? The fact is, that it is an enormous sum. The agricultural rent is put at £60,000,000; but that is the smallest part of the rent. The rents of towns and cities and mineral lands ought to be at least twice as much. Nor in these estimates is everything given. It is merely rent received by the landlords. There may be feued ground that pays 20/-, and which the growth of the city has made worth £10 or £20. All that is rent. The Duke of Westminster gets, besides the rent, all the buildings upon his estates in London at the expiration of the leases. The rent of these kingdoms is at least £200,000,000 -- enough to pay all your legitimate expenditure, and all your extravagant expenditure in some directions, and a great deal more, and at the same time giving labour a chance.
Q: If it be unjust to hold private property in land, is it not equally unjust to build a private house upon land, seeing that to build a house upon land is putting a portion of the people's earth to private uses, and excluding every one except the owner of the house from the use of that portion of the earth?
A: That question is on a par with what you will find in the reviews of your best newspapers: it must come from the editor of one of your leading dailies. If a man takes a fish out of the sea, the fish is properly his private property; but that fact does not necessitate giving him the sea as private property. So with the man who builds a house. He must have the exclusive use of certain land to justify him in building. The house he builds is his private property, and should not be taxed. But he should pay to the community the Rental Value of the Land he holds. That is equitable.
Q: Would not the abolishing of taxes benefit the large merchants of a city rather than the artisans or labouring classes?
A: No; I don't think so. The greatest benefits would be to the labouring classes. The incidence of taxation, as now laid, benefits the capitalist, or the man who has most money. The making of liquor has been concentrated, and distillers have built up great fortunes over in Ireland. The distillers are the men who renovate and build churches. It is the same with all sorts of business.
We have in our country, more than in yours, a protective tariff. The duties are paid primarily by the importers. Do you think you can get them to work for free trade? On the contrary they profit by the duties, as their effect in increasing the amount of capital required for the business keeps competitors out. The effect of all these taxes is to concentrate business in the hands of capitalists.
Now, it is said, why attack the landlord alone; why not go for the capitalist? The capitalist, as a capitalist, is doing nobody any harm. What harm is done by the capitalist is as a monopolist.
It is the monopoly that you want to destroy. Now, we find when a man has a great sum of money, this power is, in the phrase of the Socialists, used in exploiting labour. Where does this power come from? Suppose I take a million pounds and go into a country where men can earn for themselves £1 a day and put up my big factory: can I get anybody to work for less than £1 a day? No indeed. It is because men are impoverished that they are forced to compete with each other for starvation wages. Suppose every family had, as it well might have, its own house and garden, enough to live on; would you find people working for a few shillings a week? You can see where the pressure comes from. One millstone cannot grind. It requires two, the nether millstone as well as the upper millstone.
Q: Supposing the rent of the land was paid to the State, instead of to the private owner, would it make any difference?
A: It might not make any difference in the rent, but it would make a very great difference to the people who paid the rent, and to the community. That question was answered in a London newspaper in another way by my friend Mr. Joynes. A man wrote, and asked what difference was it to the farmer whether he paid his rent to the State, or whether he paid it to the landowners? He said this was the difference -- that the State was not likely to go to the Continent, or go off in its yacht and spend it: that it would be spent for the general good. As to the amount of rent levied; it would not be just to the rest of the people to make rents low. Every rent ought to be a proper rent, as much as the land is worth, because that is the only way of securing equality. There's the mistake our friends in Ireland have made. They have gone and turned that great agitation into a miserable little thing for the tenant-farmers. Now, the tenant-farmers are not entitled to a whit more favour than any other class in the community. The class to look to, the class to strive for, is the lowest class -not the farmer, but the labourer. He is the man. Improve the condition of the man who has nothing but his hands, and you improve the condition of the whole community.
Q: Does Mr. George propose to confiscate the interest on bonds held by widows and orphans, which absorbs a large part of the income of land?
A: I would propose to confiscate the whole value of the land.
Q: Well, what I refer to belongs to widows and orphans.
A: Do not be deluded by this widow and orphan business. That is a matter that is always put to the front. When men talked about abolishing slavery in my country, the cry was raised about the widow and the orphan. It was said, "Here is a poor widow woman who has only two or three slaves to live upon; would you take them away?" It reminds me of the story of the little girl who was taken to see a picture of Daniel in the lions' den. She began to cry very bitterly, and her mother said, "Do not cry, do not cry; God will take care that no harm will befall him". To which she replied "I ain't crying for him, but for the poor little lion at the back -- he is so little I am afraid he won't get any."
Now, as to the widow and the orphan: in the state of society which would ensue from breaking up land monopoly, no one need fear that the helpless ones he left behind would come to want. This is not the case now. Take your Duke of Argyle or Duke of Sutherland -their descendants will yet be tenanting your alms-houses. John 0' Groat was sent by one of your kings up to Caithness, and made a rich laird. But the lot of the 0' Groats now existing there is just as poor and miserable as any people there. The best blood of England, as it is called, runs in the almshouses. How much better it would be for the richest man to know that he left his widow and children in a state of society where they could not possibly want, where all the influences around them were healthy, than in such a state of society as this. Why, look at its moral aspects. The vice and disease that are bred of poverty - do they rest merely with the poor people? No; they climb up through the ranks of the rich to the highest.
Q: If Mr. George would abolish ownership in land, what compensation would he give to those owners of land who have acquired it by purchase, sanctioned by existing law?
A: I would not give them a penny. I don't think this matter of compensation comes into practical politics. Why should you make any discrimination between a man who purchased his land, and a man who did not purchase it? Does it make much difference whether I am a robber or I bought the thing of the robber? Supposing I was big enough to steal one of you, and run you off to a country where I could hold you as my slave: you would have a moral right to get away from me as soon as you could; but would the moral right cease the moment I had sold you to somebody else? If you were to say we will recompense anybody who can show that they bought their land, what would be the result? Why, by the time you came to take the Land Values, everybody would have sold the land to somebody else.
A gentleman said to me tonight -- Oh, Scotsmen will not hear of anything else but compensation." I don't believe that. I have a very much higher notion of Scotsmen than that. I believe the Scots are too logical a people to tolerate the idea of compensation. I will tell you a story I heard about this matter of compensation. There was one of your Highland lairds - a Gordon something or other - in a railway train with a gentleman, and he was talking about these wicked ideas that were floating about. The gentleman said to him, "How did you get your land?" He said, "We got our land by bringing our men into the field to fight for the country" The gentleman said to him, "What did the men get?" Well, he had to admit that the men had not got anything. "But", he said, "we have had the land for a long time, and sanctioned by law. It would be robbery to deprive us of it". The other gentleman asked, "How long have you had it?" "We have had it for 800 years". "Well", the gentleman said, "if you have had it for 800 years, don't you think you have had it long enough?"
Compensation is preposterous. Why, all titles to land are nothing but robbers' titles, and the titles to a large part of the land in Scotland are a great deal worse than robbers' titles. They are not titles won by the strong hand or by conquest. They are rather the titles of the sneak thief - or worse. These Highland chiefs betrayed their brethren - took advantage of a language and a law that they did not understand. They were won by treachery and treason. I don't propose to go back into inquiries of that sort, because, to my mind, it makes no difference how a man got the land. It may be said he bought it. Supposing he bought the sun? Could he buy it from any one who had the right to sell it? But where do these titles come from? Has one generation, supposing they were all united, the right to sell the rights of the coming generation? This earth belongs to all generations.
You men have carried in a certain direction compensation to the extreme of absurdity, but it has always been compensation to the ruling classes. You paid the descendants of Charles the Second's illegitimate children compensation for hereditary pensions and taxes, and you paid enormous sums to buy out the hereditary jurisdiction of your Highland chiefs. For every sinecure held by one of the ruling classes he gets compensation, but you never hear of a poor man being compensated. How much were the people compensated when the taxation was taken off the land and put upon labour? Why should you compensate the landlords? The only reason is that you have been doing it for a long time. Nobody proposes to take anything from the landlords. I would give every one his full equal share. It is not proposed to take anything from them; it is merely to stop them from taking from other people.
Q: What about recently acquired land?
A: Treat it in the same way. Supposing the land was acquired by purchase; is it not the principle of law that the buyer can get no better title than the seller has to give? If a man has no right to the land, how can he give another man the right to it? As a matter of fact, you would do no injury by laying down that principle, No one could be hurt by the resumption of the land as common property, save those who could well afford to have their incomes lessened. The man of small means who had got himself a house and lot would be the direct gainer by the change which would exempt houses from taxation, and put it upon lots, while he would be an enormous gainer by the increase of wealth and the rise in wages. Then the business men who are landowners would profit by the improvement and stimulation of the productive energies of society far more than they would lose as landlords.
There is one who would lose, by losing his power of living on the toil of others - the mere landowner: the typical landlord, the man who goes to the Mediterranean in a yacht, and spends the money which he draws from the toil of the people here. Or, like that Dublin man, known as "Cosey" Murphy, who practically went to bed for seven years. At the end of that time he woke to find himself twice as wealthy as when he went to bed. "Cosey" Murphy was, of course, a landowner. Without any effort on his part, the progress and activity of the community increased the value of the land he held, and that is how he grew wealthy while he slept.
Consider, the real thing that would be taken from the people who demand compensation is not land, but the power which the possession of land now gives them of levying toll upon the labour of others. What does the Duke of Sutherland want with his twelve hundred thousand acres; or the Duke of Westminster with his London estates? No more than the Earl of Airlie wants with the water that he sold. They want to have the privilege of taking the wealth of the people who have produced it. That is a right that no one can have. That is a power that can be sanctioned by no purchase, and for which no one can justly ask compensation.
Q: Suppose a man was induced by our Land Laws to invest £100 in land. He might have invested the money in any other commercial enterprise. Would Mr. George compensate the man who had lost his money by the so-called pernicious Land Laws?
A: I would not. [A voice: "You will not do for Scotland". Second voice: "Keep quiet, you fool! Do you speak for Scotland?"] If a man invests a gold sovereign in a bad Bank of England note, I would not reimburse him. If a man invests a hundred pounds in slaves, I would not reimburse him.
[A voice: "We compensated the West Indian slaveholders".]
A very wicked thing it was. I hope you will not do so again. You shunted the loss which the slaveowner ought to have incurred upon the backs of the working classes of this country. You did worse. You strengthened slavery all over the world; you taught the American slaveholder to believe that, if abolition should come he would get a price for his human property. Up to the verge of the war slaves commanded as high a price as ever they did. If, on the contrary, that agitation had gone on on the basis of absolute emancipation, the thing would have been gradual. The value of slaves would have declined. Men would not have bought and sold them. Now, the same is true in this. I want to do this at 1 0 o'clock to-morrow morning; but if we all wanted to do it, it would take a good while. It necessarily must be a progressive step. We must necessarily, on account of the resistance, move step by step. And as we do this the landowners will have a chance; your recent purchaser will have a chance not to purchase. The decline would be slow and gradual.
Q: Why not begin at home?
A: Why not begin at home? I am beginning at home! I don't come over here to preach anything I have not preached in my own country. The very conditions that I have been speaking to you about I have seen growing upon new soil, and it was because of that that my eyes were opened to it. Why not begin at home? I am here beginning at home. We who speak this language are on both sides of the Atlantic but one people - becoming every day more one. The agitation must go forward on both sides of the Atlantic - by action and reaction. America must be affected through England and Scotland, and England and Scotland will be affected through America. Whatever we do, we do for this whole, great imperial race - the race to whom the destiny of modern civilisation is entrusted.
Q: Would you confiscate all rent?
A: I would confiscate all rent in the economic sense.
Q: Then, would you give compensation for improvements?
A: I do not propose to take the improvements, but to let everything stand as it is now. The proposal is to take the Annual Value of all land for the National Revenue, and this need not disturb any man in his holding. If at any time he gives up possession he would certainly be entitled to compensation for his improvements, and this would be paid by his successor. There would be no confiscation of improvements. It is the present system that is confiscatory. It is confiscating labour every day. It is not a robbery that is done and passed away; it is robbery that is going on every week and every month, every day and every hour. It is a fresh robbery that is committed on every child that comes into the world.
Now, to go back to this matter of compensation. Some people do propose to compensate. There are some who propose to compensate all who can show that they have purchased the land, at the price they gave for it, minus the net rent that they have received. Then there is Miss Helen Taylor, the step-daughter of John Stuart Mill. She is also in favour of compensating everybody who can show that they have purchased the land with the proceeds of their labour. She proposes to make the landowners pay up with interest, and compound interest, all the back taxes from the time of Charles the Second, and then to take part of that money and compensate the people who could show that they had purchased with their own earnings. There are people who believe in compensation-compensation not to the landowner, but to the people who have suffered. I would cut the whole thing now. I should be perfectly willing to draw the line at "let the past be the past." If any one wants to compensate landholders, they have a perfect right, so far as they are concerned themselves, to give compensation. They could make a collection for them. You have a perfect right to do that, but I deny the right of any individual to grant away the natural rights of another individual. Be just before you attempt to be generous. There is only one true basis of social reconstruction, and that is the basis of justice!
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Leadership and Democracy LabWestern Social Science
Social Agency and Energy Development
Analysts: Isabella Caravaggio, and Sydney Reis
Team Leader: Haliz Doskee
According to World Bank statistics, approximately 75% of the Guatemalan population lives under the poverty line and roughly 58% of the population lives below the extreme poverty line. This implies that most Guatemalans do not have the sufficient means by which to purchase basic goods and services necessary to survive. This situation of poverty is exacerbated by energy related issues. Firstly, residential electricity costs are, on average, over $100 USD/MWH more in Guatemala than the rest of the world, a high cost to pay for a population that earns an average of $1 USD per day. To make matters worse, a majority of rural inhabitants have a complete lack of access to electricity, reflecting the statistic that approximately 20% of people in Guatemala are living in the dark.. As a result of this lack of access to more sustainable, cheaper and modern forms of completing household tasks such as cooking and heating, approximately 81% of households have resorted to using firewood stoves in their homes. Despite its widespread use, the three stone, firewood stoves that most households use waste approximately 90% of the energy it’s intended to produce. As a result many use kerosene to heat their homes which is not only expensive but is known to produce significant respiratory problems when exposed to for long periods of time.
One way that this issue can be solved in poor and rural communities is with the introduction of renewable sources of energy in households and commercial buildings. Currently, many households are not connected to an electrical grid and even if they were, it is doubtful that they would be earning enough money to pay for electricity. However, with the introduction of renewable energy sources, labourers will be able to work longer hours at home and increase their productivity, save money on travel costs and save money on kerosene and firewood, all of which contribute to a higher income for average workers and the opportunity for them to spend more on renewable sources of energy in the future. This provides potential investors with a unique opportunity. Not only will renewable energy investors be able to in a sense ‘create’ demand for themselves but this strategy of helping the poor rise out of poverty will also mitigate against community’s fear of manipulation which often leads to the protest new foreign energy projects.
Despite the growing proliferation of green energy in Guatemala, the poverty trap - which consists of low-income, often indigenous individuals - prevents many Guatemalans from reaping the economic benefits. When individuals are ‘trapped’ in poverty, they lack the economic and government influence to invest capital, or receive investments, for green energy development upfront. This barrier to affordable and reliable energy resources has contributed to the economic stagnation of the average Guatemalan. When green energy is utilized efficiently, economic advantages that can facilitate economic development among the impoverished are opened. For one rural villager, the introduction of residential solar panels brought the means to build a garment making business to supplement farming income. In contrast, traditional energy generating methods (oil-based fuels and traditional biomass) currently used in much of Guatemala's agricultural sector increase production costs, reduce productivity, and leads to environmental and human health problems. This disparity in energy access demonstrates the demand for further green energy development in Guatemala.
Despite the benefits that this project is likely to bring there are also significant risks that potential investors must take into consideration. The relationship between poverty and social agency on the one hand and renewable energy development on the other is a double edged sword for investors. In the short run, investors will be able to capitalize off of those who have risen out of poverty through the use of renewable infrastructure and who have more disposable income to spend on renewable energy. However, in the long run, as more and more households become connected to the energy grid and renewable energy infrastructure become readily available, some households will inevitably begin to produce their energy independently.
Another major risk is a significant lack of infrastructure that will need to be developed before investors are able to receive profits. While in the long run this infrastructure is likely to provide the investors with high yields and return on investment, it will be a lengthy and large sum project that investors should be aware of. Another potential risk is the large influence that NGOs like Cause Canada have on trying to ensure that renewable energy strategies are largely dictated by communities and not foreign or national interests. This is mitigated by the fact that investors would be providing poor communities with more affordable and sustainable electricity. However, investors should be aware that NGOs are extremely active in Guatemala and they will need to ensure that their projects include significant community and interest group input to appease these groups.
During the initial stages of green energy development, particularly in rural areas of Guatemala, investors should expect to make education a central focus. As demonstrated in the past, many Guatemalans approach investment from foreign companies with suspicion and disdain. Recent bad experiences with foreign and domestic companies have tarnished the reputation of renewable energy development throughout the nation which is why social dissatisfaction with new projects is so high and why so many protests against foreign projects have occurred. Furthermore, the comfort of traditional energy methods may discourage some people from adopting green technologies. According to a report by the British Embassy in Guatemala city, “It is therefore advisable to create and develop a good communications program direct to the villagers in order to share with them the benefits of any particular energy project.”
Collaboration from the government, and any potential NGO groups should be sought in order to produce relevant and appropriate materials that explain how to operate, and the benefits of, green technology. Statistics detailing evidence of money saving, as well as the inefficiency of nonrenewable energy, should be utilized. High quality educational materials created for and in collaboration with locals in the form of pan flips, and town hall style workshops, will help mitigate suspicion in relation to foreign investment and encourage green technology use.
Considering that 58% of Guatemala's population lives below the extreme poverty line, the relationship between poverty, social agency, and energy development within Guatemala is a paramount question for green energy investors. Poverty, on the one hand, presents the possibility for major investors to capitalize off of new infrastructure and consumers, while aiding in the development process. Conversely, poverty also represents stagnation and tradition that will require substantial upfront investment to combat. Investors must be willing to provide the initial education and capital in order to jumpstart the economic development required to bring return to investment. Furthermore, the combination of education and collaboration with potential NGOs and residence can help to combat the prevalent suspicion of foreign projects.
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A team of researchers is investigating.
May 11, 2017
The microbiome, or the complex ecosystem of bacteria that resides in the body, is experiencing a renaissance. Once largely ignored by the medical community, scientists have linked the microbiome to a variety of diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and depression.
Now a new study makes the interplay between the microbiome and general health more explicit: bacteria in the gut, it suggests, could cause a brain disorder.
The paper, which was published in Nature, traces a connection between the formation of blood-filled bubbles in the brain, called cerebral cavernous malformations, and the presence of a particular strain of bacteria.
Dr. Mark Kahn, one of the study’s authors, has studied this disorder, which can lead to serious conditions including seizures and stroke, for nearly a decade. It was only recently, however, that he make the connection between the disease and gut bacteria populations.
Below, he explains how his team of researchers stumbled on the link between cerebral cavernous malformations and the microbiome, and how this revelation could shape our understanding of how we treat a range of disorders. (Spoiler alert: It could involve fecal transplants via poop pills.)
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
How common are cerebral cavernous malformations?
Pretty common. They occur in up to one in 100 people, although most of this group isn’t born with a genetic predisposition. In most cases, there is typically a sudden, single, solitary lesion.
But about 20% of patients have what is called a familial form of the disease, which is much more severe. Some present as infants, and experience stroke or seizures. Instead of having one lesion, they can have tens or even hundreds of lesions.
You’ve previously linked the familial form of the disorder to genetic mutations. How did you discover the microbiome might also be involved in the presentation of the disease?
When we deleted genes in mice, they developed cerebral cavernous malformations [in humans, this gene is mutated in many CCM patients]. At least at first.
But then our lab moved from one building at the University of Pennsylvania to a different building. When we moved the mice to the new building, they stopped showing lesions. Everything was being done exactly the same as in the building a block away. It was pretty mysterious and it pointed to an environmental influence. We hadn’t changed the genetics of these mice; all we had done was put them in a different facility.
This was a huge problem for us, until we came across an important clue. [To delete the relevant gene] we would inject the mice at birth. By putting a needle into an animal’s abdomen, occasionally the needle might go through part of the bowel, and cause a bacterial abscess. It’s actually pretty common in people too. If bacteria escapes from your gut and into your belly, it can end up causing a localized infection, which is like a large pimple, but in your abdomen.
Although this was a rare event, the animals that developed these abscesses were also the only animals developing lesions.
The bacterial abscesses were somehow causing the lesions?
Yes. We started to give them infections deliberately and when we did, we found they drove the development of massive numbers of cerebral cavernous malformations.
What did this suggest, and how did it relate to the relocation of your lab?
That a component of bacteria, when it gets into the blood, is what was driving the formation of lesions. This was totally unexpected! Why would a brain vascular malformation come from bacteria?
Once we knew that, we went back to the move in lab locations. If we had animals with the disease in facility A, and not in facility B, maybe that’s because when you move to a new place, the bacteria changed.
So a change in location can alter the microbiome?
It happens all the time in science and in human life. I’m in Italy now. If I stayed here for the next five years, I’d probably have a different microbiome than if I stayed in Philadelphia.
When we changed the mice’s environment, the bacteria in their guts changed. It wasn’t a deliberate experiment, it was serendipitous. But it had a profound effect. When we sequenced the types of bacteria in their gut, we discovered a change in one type of bacteria. They still had the deleted genes, but they weren’t developing lesions.
How does this apply to human patients?
In the familial form of the disease, there is an enormous variation in clinical course. There are patients who have the exact same mutation in the same gene, but some of them never develop lesions, and some of them do, as infants.
This is very unusual for a genetic disease. If everyone has same genetic problem, they should all present the same.
So it’s possible that in humans, as well as mice, gut bacteria could determine whether patients with the same genetic mutation develop lesions?
It’s a huge amount of work to look at the human microbiome. We haven’t done it yet. But what we are starting to do is look at several hundred patients in New Mexico who all have the same exact mutation on the CCM1 gene.
By collecting fecal samples from these patients, then, you’re hoping to make the same connection in humans that you did in mice?
We haven’t proven it. But [previous research in mice suggests] maybe there is a biome that is protective, and a biome that is not.
What we want to do is measure this bacteria [in humans], which requires getting samples and careful analysis. That’s exactly the next step.
If the microbiome and the development of the disorder is linked in humans, how could this lead to new treatments?
It’s not that hard to change someone’s biome. You give them antibiotics, which kills off their bacteria. And then you perform a fecal transplant, in which you literally giving them feces from someone else.
In theory, this will seed the gut with new bacteria. If we can prove the biome is as influential in people as it is in mice, we can actually treat people by giving them biomes we believe are protective. This is all still very hypothetical, but I do think we will see some diseases treated this way in the next 10 to 20 years.
How big of a deal is this?
The implications are pretty big. No drugs are without side effects, which makes the microbiome very attractive. If we are right, [i.e. gut bacteria impacts the formation of lesions in people with a familial form of the disorder], by changing a patient’s’ biome, he can be protected for the duration of his life without taking drugs. It could offer more elegant therapies.
What are the potential drawbacks?
We are just starting to learn about the microbiome. There are almost no diseases right now for which altering the microbiome is an accepted therapy. This is all very new.
There’s been a lot of research linking the microbiome to a host of disorders, including obesity, diabetes, and ADHD. Is it possible fecal transplants could inadvertently cause new problems, even as they solve old ones?
You know, there’s no free lunch: whenever you alter something, you maybe get some good, but you are probably going to get some bad. We’re at the very beginning of this era of medicine and biology, and we don’t know what the answers are yet.
Are there any general takeaways you think your study reveals?
We’ve worked on this disease for almost a decade. We never imagined in our wildest flights of idea that it could be affected by bacteria in the gut. The gut is in no obvious way connected to the brain.
What this really tells you is that the biology in the body is complicated—there are so many things going on that we are not aware of yet.
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Thursday, December 23, 2010
Carok From Madura
One of the customs of the region is carok Madura, related to the previous post about sickle (Traditional Weapons Madura). Carok is a tradition of murder due to certain reasons associated with self-esteem and then followed by inter-group or inter-clan with using a weapon (usually celurit). There are no official regulations in this fight because carok an act that is considered negative and the criminal and illegal. This is how the Madurese in maintaining self-esteem and "out "of problems that complicated.
Usually, "carok" is the last way that the travel by the Madurese community in solving a problem. Carok usually happens when it comes to issues involving honor / pride for the people of Madura (largely due to infidelity and dignity / honor the family)
Many consider carok is a heinous act and contrary to religious teachings Madurese own though steeped in Islamic religion in general but, individually, many still hold the tradition carok.
The word itself comes from carok Madurese language which means 'fight with honor'.
1. mantab bener nih postingan sob...untuk mempertahankan harga diri dibayar darah.
2. @Rendra-sangir : Iya bos, cuma kayanya traidis harus dihilangkan deh.terlalu sadis
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Batman’s carbon footprint is enormous. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, he’d be way better off using his money to pay for carbon offsets, rather than spending it on expensive gadgets.
Batman is a hero in the DC Universe and the alter-ego of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. He patrols Gotham City in his Batmobile and Batwing aircraft and uses a series of complex weapons to subdue criminals and supervillains alike.
Batman’s carbon footprint is tied directly to his impressive arsenal, so we’re going to break it down into individual components and calculate the carbon footprint of each item.
The Batsuit + Gadgets
All materials have a carbon footprint. It requires energy (which usually comes from burning fossil fuels) to dig up, construct, and transport the stuff we use. We don’t know for sure what Batman’s suit and gadgets are made out of, but there are hints in the comics and movies. So we can make some additional educated guesses based on similar, real-life objects.
Tim Burton’s Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins probably give us the clearest picture of what makes up the Batsuit. Many repeat film viewings plus extra details from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns comic provide a good guess at the suit’s materials:
Nomex and Kevlar make up the majority of the suit, protecting Batman from fire and bullets. The hard carbon-carbon composite protects Batman’s head and face while polyester woven over memory-shaped nitinol rods allow Batman to glide around on his cape. Add in some heavy-duty, steel-toed boots and some steel batarangs and we have a complete Batsuit with a carbon footprint of 9,084.3 lb CO2e
While this might look like a lot, it’s approximately the same as the carbon footprint of only 37 regular men’s suits.
Bonus: In the film Batman Begins, Alfred explicitly says that he and Bruce are going to build the Batsuit themselves, and that they’d need to order 10,000 cowl parts to avoid suspicion. If that’s really true, then the carbon footprint for the Batsuit becomes the same as that for 400 average Americans.
The Batmobile
The carbon footprint of a car comes mostly from burning gasoline which releases a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And the Batmobile is going to have a pretty terrible footprint, because it shoots literal fire out the back.
While Batman drives a lot, he also spends a lot of time crouching on gargoyles, beating up criminals, and making badass silhouettes against the moon. Based on the driving statistics of NYC cab drivers, my conservative estimate is that Batman drives around 20,000 miles per year.
As for the Batmobile’s fuel efficiency, we’ll have to make some additional guesses. The Batmobile is probably a cross between a military vehicle and a high-end sportscar, like a heavily armored Bugatti Veyron. The Bugatti Veyron sportscar gets around 8 miles/gallon, which, coincidentally, is the same as the presidential limo. So we’ll go with that.
Now we have all we need to calculate the carbon footprint of driving the Batmobile around:
Batmobile = (20,000mi / 8 mi/gal) * 19.36 lbs-CO2e/gal = 48,400 lbs CO2e
Flying is generally worse than driving in terms of carbon footprints. And it gets even worse when the entire jet, like the Batwing, only holds one person. The Batwing is probably some sort of cross between the real-life F-117 Stealth Fighter and the Harrier Jump Jet, which can hover like a helicopter (note: while cool, this feature burns jet fuel at an alarming rate of 1 gallon every 2 seconds).
Making a few modest assumptions about flight time, we can calculate the carbon footprint of the Batwing in both flying mode and hover mode:
Let’s assume Batman flies around for 2 hours per adventure, 48 hours total per year. If Batman flies around 95% of the time and only uses hover mode 5% of the time, the total carbon footprint for flying the Batwing is:
Batwing = 1,719,461 lb CO2e
This is approximately the same amount of carbon released by an average person on a commercial flight traveling from New York City to San Francisco…344 times.
While the carbon footprints so far have ranged from “ugh” to “oh no,” we’re about to hit “BOING!” territory. The Batcomputer is a supercomputer that helps Batman solve crimes as the world’s greatest detective. It also uses an absurd amount of electricity.
One of the most powerful and reliable supercomputers in the world is the Japanese K computer, which draws 12.6 MW. This is a reasonable proxy for the Batcomputer. And let’s assume that Batman doesn’t need the computer running all day, just about 12 hours per day to help him solve mysteries about the toughest crimes…probably from the Riddler.
So now all we need is the source of the electricity. Gotham City was always a pretty good analog for Chicago. If we think that Bruce Wayne/Batman is using the public power grid, and that the electricity for Gotham comes from roughly the same sources as Chicago (lots of coal and nuclear), then the Batcomputer’s carbon footprint comes out to:
Batcomputer(Chicago) = 83,417,766 lbs CO2e
This is an astonishingly large number. It’s the carbon footprint of just under 2,000 average Americans.
I figured that Batman is a good guy and would do anything to save Gotham, including using alternative energy sources. But I wanted to check this with another comic-book-savvy friend of mine, which led to the following exchange:
Me: Batman is a superhero. He wants to save the planet. My guess is that he’s using all sorts of renewables to power his stuff.
Ryan: I think the main thing to remember about Batman is that he probably doesn’t give a sh*t about that. It’s all about the mission. He’d run the cave on a 100 gas generators if that’s what it took. He’s too single-minded in his obsession to think long term about things like renewables. Any renewable sources are probably coming from Lucius at Waynetech via Alfred.
Ok, fair enough, Ryan. But let’s still assume that Batman uses a combination of alternative energy sources: 50% nuclear, 20% hydroelectric, 20% wind, 5% solar, and 5% geothermal. Using the IPCC’s documented footprints of these alternative energy sources, Batman’s revised carbon footprint for using the Batcomputer becomes:
Batcomputer(alternative) = 3,733,468 lbs CO2e
Even though this is much lower, he’s still using enough energy that the Gotham Gas & Electric Company would likely pay Wayne a visit to see what the hell is going on.
The Final Analysis
Adding up everything, Batman’s total carbon footprint comes out to:
Batman = 3,733,468(computer) + 1,719,461(batwing) + 48,400(batmobile) + 9,084(batsuit) + 285(batarangs) = 5,510,698 lbs CO2e
Setting aside the enormous carbon cost of being Batman, it’s also very expensive to be Batman – somewhere around $682,450,750. If Bruce Wayne, instead of being Batman, decided to buy carbon offsets using that money, he could offset 2,601,265 average Americans’ emissions. In a neat coincidence, this is approximately the same population of Chicago – our Gotham stand-in.
Next Character: Firebird
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Hetty Green
Hetty Green (1835-1916) was a US businesswoman famous for her stinginess.
Hetty Green was born Henrietta Howland Robinson in November 21 1835 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Her family were Quakers who owned large whaling fleet but did not maintain an opulent lifestyle. At the age of two she was living with her grandfather Gideon Howland. Due to his influence and that of her father, Edward Mott Robinson, and possibly because her mother Abby Howland was constantly ill, she took to her father's side and was reading financial papers to her father by the age of six. When she was 13, Hetty became the family bookkeeper. At the age of fifteen, Hetty went to a school in Boston.
When her father died in 1864, she inherited $7.5 million in liquid assets against the objections of most of her family, and invested in Civil War Bonds. However, when she heard that her aunt Sylvia had willed most of her $2 million for charity, she contested the will with a document she had probably written herself. She fought for five years and lost.
At the age of 33 she married Edward Henry Green, member of a wealthy Vermont family. She made him renounce all rights to her money before the wedding on July 11 1867. There are claims that she married only so that her relatives could not get their hands on her money. The married couple moved to Edward's home in Manhattan, but when her cousins tried to sue her for forgery, they moved to London where they lived in the Langham Hotel. Her two children, Ned and Sylvia, were born there.
When they returned to the USA, they went to Edward's hometown in Bellow's Falls, Vermont. She began to quarrel with her husband and in-laws but also with the domestic servants and neighborhood shopkeepers. Eventually Edward Green got tired and divorced her. When he died in 1902, Hetty Green moved to Hoboken, New Jersey with her children and traveled daily to her bank in New York City.
Hetty Green was mainly interested in business and there are many tales of various accuracy of her stinginess. She never turned on the heat or used hot water. She wore one old black dress and undergarments that she changed only after they had been worn out. She did not wash her hands and rode an old carriage. She ate mostly pies that cost fifteen cents. One tale claims that she spent a night looking for a lost stamp worth two cents.
Green made much of her business sitting in the floor of the Seaboard National Bank in New York in a middle of a trunks and suitcases full of her papers; she did not want to pay rent for an office. Later unfounded rumors claimed that she ate only oatmeal she heated on the office radiator. Possibly because of the stiff competition of mostly male business environment she developed an abrasive personality and earned a nickname of "Witch of Wall Street". However, she was a successful businesswoman who dealt mainly in real estate and invested to railroads, in addition to lending money. She wanted to handle everything herself and could travel thousands of miles to collect a debt of few hundred dollars - always in the cheapest possible way.
She was equally harsh to her children. Her son Ned broke his leg as a child but Hetty took him away from hospital when she was recognized. She tried to treat him at home but the leg contracted gangrene and had to be amputated - he ended up with a cork prosthesis. When he moved away from her mother, he became a spendthrift philatelist, who formed one of the finest stamp collections ever in private hands.
Her daughter Sylvia became a silent woman who also wore old clothes. Hetty disapproved of all her suitors because she suspected they only wanted to get their hands on her money. When Hetty finally let Matthew Wilks to marry Sylvia, she made him waive all rights to her money.
When her children left home, Hetty moved to a two-room fifth-floor apartment- two rooms merely because she did not want to receive customers in her bedroom.
In her old age she began to suffer from bad hernia but refused to have an operation because it cost $150. She suffered many strokes and had to rely on a wheelchair. She also became afraid that she would be kidnapped and made detours to evade the would-be pursuers. She began to suspect that her aunt and father had been poisoned.
Hetty Green died 1916 at the age of 80. Reputedly she had a heart attack when she was arguing with a maid about the price of milk. Estimate of her net worth was around $100-200 million.
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Mango is widely grown in the tropics for its succulent fruit. The fruit is kidney-shaped or oval, from 5 to 15cm in length greenish, yellowish or reddish in colour. Mango tree belongs to the family Anacardiaceae and classified as Mangifera indica. The fruits are nutritious, high in calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C.
• Uses of Mango
1. Mango chips
2. Mango powder
3. Mango Juice
4. Jam,
5. Jellies
6. Syrups
7. Mango pulp
8. Nectar
9. Fruit sauce
10. Mango slices,
11. Mango wine Glazings,
12. Flavoured yoghurt,
13. Ice cream
14. Production of tasty pickles, curries and other food condiments
• Soil and Climatic Conditions Required for Mango Production
Mango tree is adapted to many soil types, provided they are adequately drained and mildly acid (pH 6-7). It grows best in seasonally wet/dry climatic zones of the lowland tropics or frost-free subtropical areas. A dry and or cool season causes uniform floral initiation and tends to synchronize bloom and harvest. The tree does not attain a truly dormant state but ceases growth at temperatures below 12.8 – 15.5°C. Temperature below 15.5°C or above 37.8°C at flowering can cause flower abortion, loss of pollen viability and occasional seedless fruit development. Leaves and fruits are injured by mild frost (-2.2°C – 0.0°C) but the wood is not killed unless temperatures drop to below -6.7°C. The trees have high water requirements during fruit maturation, but tolerate “winter” drought. High winds can knock fruits off trees or cause scaring, since the fruits hang on long, pendulous floral branches at the periphery of the canopy.
• Planting Materials: There are three types of planting materials namely:
1. Seedlings:
Many mango trees are the result of seedlings, which have grown from discarded seeds. The seeds must be from ripe fruits. The seedlings are transplanted two or three weeks after germination.
2. Patch Budding:
Patch budding is the most commonly used method in bud grafting of mangoes. Patch budding consists of completely removing a rectangular patch of bark from the stock and replacing it with a catch or bark of the same size containing a bud of the desired variety to be propagated.
3. Top Working:
It is a method of converting an old mango tree into improved variety/varieties. The tree is cut at the desired height and concentrated solution of Potassium permanganate smeared with vaseline is applied and the cut end covered with mud and plastic bag. Within a few days, new shoots will develop near the cut ends.
• Mango Varieties:
In Nigeria mango trees were over the years raised from seeds, which have strong phenotypic and genetic variations, giving rise to different mango varieties in the country. The few Nigerian mango varieties, which are currently known and grown in different parts of Nigeria, include Julie, Peters and Paul.
• Mango Processing (Pulping and Juicing):
1. Fruit Selection:
Matured fruits with uniform colour and texture, minimum soluble solids of 13 Brix, pH value of 3.5 to 4.0, devoid of insect infestation and mechanical injury are preferred. The receiving area must be clean, well ventilated, and free of insects, rodents or other animals. It is not advisable to hold the fruits too long before processing to avoid spoilage.
2. Washing:
The washing pit should be filled with water containing 15 ppm chlorine in order to reduce microbial load and impurities from the fruit. A second washing with clean water is made to eliminate residual chlorine.
3. Blanching:
This operation is done to inactivate enzymes, eliminate air inside the fruit tissues, remove off- flavours and aromas, fix fruit colour and soften the tissues for further pulping. Two methods are currently used to effect blanching: Dip in boiling water or direct steam injection. The thermal treatment is applied such that internal fruit temperature reaches 75°C. This usually requires 10 minutes in boiling water or 6 minutes with steam. Fruit is blanched unpeeled.
4. Peeling and Cutting:
Pulp is separated from the seed manually with knives made of stainless steel on a working bench. Mango pieces are placed in clean plastic containers and taken to the pulping machine.
5. Pulping:
Mesocarp pieces are passed through a fine mesh to remove undesirable particles. After pulping, a smooth puree is obtained. Recommended mesh size is 0.5 mm. coarser material is separated in the process and disposed properly. The pulp is transferred in containers to the kettle.
6. Thermal Treatment:
A heat treatment is applied in the kettle to prevent chemical and microbial spoilage. In this treatment the pulp reaches 95°C and is held for 10 min. with continuous stirring.
7. Additives:
The use of additives is recommended to extend the pulp shelf life. Commonly used additives include 0.39 percent citric acid to decrease pH and prevent microbial growth and enhance effectiveness of preservatives as sodium benzoate (0.5 percent). To prevent discoloration 0.1 percent ascorbic acid is used as antioxidant. Additives are incorporated to the pulp right before the thermal treatment is finished (ca. 5 min before) by dispersing in hot water or pulp and proper stirring. Final product should have 13 °Brix and pH values between 3.4 to 3.5.
8. Packing:
The pulp is packed when hot in plastic containers, sealed immediately and flipped over so the internal part of the lid gets in contact with the hot product. All packing materials must be clean before use.
9. Cooling:
Hot containers are cooled with fresh water at the lowest temperature attainable. After cooling, lid closings should be inspected. Finally, containers are cleaned and labels affixed to be sent to a fresh, clean storage place.
fc for mango pulping and juicing
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A daring and adventuresome tabby cat named Cody discovers America in the late 1800's by traveling from New York City to San Francisco on a freighter, a riverboat, a stagecoach, by wagon train, horseback, and railroad. Many historical early American pioneers like Clara Barton, Stephen Foster, J.P. Morgan, Samuel Clemens, Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok rescue, liberate, protect, and cherish this adorable cat who can not keep from getting into trouble on her travels. History unfolds as Cody learns about the expansion of the country with lumber barons, steel magnates, railroad tycoons, fur trappers, gold miners, and other brave people.
Look for exciting quizzes related to Tabby Cat Trails and history of the United States
Tabby Cat Trails Quiz
10 points for each correct answer. Winner will receive complimentary signed copy of book.
Send answers to [email protected]
1. List of character names
2. List of Animal names
3. List of Cities
4. Modes of Transportation
5. Historical places/things
6. Historical figures
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Rituals and Worship
Sacred Time
Thus the universe, invisible and visible, began to emerge. As it emerged, matter, energy, space, and time (termed MEST by Scientologists) and life itself developed. Spiritual beings, the thetans, emerged quite early in the process and were essential to the creation of reality. But along the way, they forgot that they could create. "Thus comes about scarcity. And the dimension points can perish and so the viewpoints [thetans] assume that they, too, can perish. Thus comes about death."
Thetans, forgetful of who/what they really were and that they inhabited a universe of space-time, launched the pre-historical world. That world has lasted billions of years and has seen thetans participating in a cosmic journey that has further particularized their situation and eventually brought them to planet earth. Certain aspects of this cosmic history are critical both for understanding the present state of humans and envisioning a way forward if they are to actualize all of their potential and be able to operate as free spiritual beings in the years, centuries, and eons ahead. In the Operating Thetan (OT) Levels, the name given the advanced training courses for Scientology church members, the major details of that cosmic history are revealed and its essential implications explained. The revised self-understanding based upon the history then becomes the basis of the auditing and other exercises pursued by upper level Scientologists.
According to Scientology, the era of human history opened 10,000 years ago with humans' initial attempts to understand themselves. As civilizations subsequently emerged, tidbits of truth appeared. For example, Egyptians saw themselves as spiritual beings, Hindus understood reincarnation and the continuous stream of life, Zoroastrians attempted to define good and evil, and Lao-tse understood humankind's basic goodness. The rise of civilizations also created what became established orders that easily ossified, thus setting the stage for the great philosophers and prophets -- Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad -- who would hold up the spiritual nature of humanity against those social orders that would reduce people to the merely material. The twin message of the spiritual nature of humans and the right to be free to believe became the issues that struggled to surface over the centuries since Rome.
In the modern world, efforts at self-understanding and the emergence of science brought a new challenge in the ideas of the likes of Charles Darwin, Wilhelm Wundt, Sigmund Freud, and I. P. Pavlov, whose evolutionary, materialistic, and animalistic views of humans led to contemporary psychology/psychiatry, which has banished from its discourse the idea that humans have a soul and that they are spiritual beings. In a society where materialistic philosophies dominate, humans are reduced to stimulus-response creatures and totalitarian states are free to arise. By the mid-20th century, with the emergence of the atomic age, humans had the potential for complete self-destruction.
This moment of history, when humanity gained the potential for annihilating itself, provided the environment in which L. Ron Hubbard appeared and offered a way out of the dilemma in which humans had placed themselves. Scientology offers a spiritual view of the individual in sharp contrast to modern psychotherapeutic self-understandings. Scientology sees itself as providing a bridge to a new world where humanity's spiritual nature is affirmed and nurtured and people are invited to live as free beings.
Study Questions:
1. Describe Scientology's understanding of the beginning of time. Where do thetans fit in?
2. Why is timing important to Scientology's teachings?
3. How has truth emerged over the course of human existence?
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zakynthos history
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Zakynthos history: Learn about the history of the famous island of Zakynthos Greece
The first presence of human life on the island of Zakynthos Greece dates back to the Neolithic Times.
The island was first mentioned in the Homeric plays, the Iliad and the Odyssey. According to Homer, the first inhabitants of the island were the son of the King Dardanos of Troy, Zakynthos, and his men, who came on the island around 1500-1600 B.C.
The years that followed, the Zakynthos history was marked with the conquest of the island by King Arkeisios of Kefalonia.
The island subsequently fell under the hands of the famous Ulysse from Ithaka. A treaty that gave to Zakynthos its independence was signed.
During the Peloponnesian War, Zakynthos was a part of the Athenian Alliance.
After the defeat of the Athenians in the expedition against Sicily, the Athenian Alliance was dissolved and Zakynthos fell under the reign of the Lacedaemonians.
The Lacedaemonians established an oligarchy and altered the democratic principles of the island. The inhabitants of Zakynthos revolted and restored their traditional democracy.
During the Macedonian Wars, Zakynthos did not hold a neutral stance and as a result, was subjugated by the Macedonians and later by the Romans.
Christianity spread on the island around 34 A.D. Constantine the Great created the Byzantine Empire and the new religion became dominant in the second half of the 3rd century A.D.
Zakynthos and the other Ionians islands got then captured successively by the Venetians, the Franks, the Kings of Naples and the Princes of Florence.
Then, democracy was established, the first in the Hellenic area. The democratic era on the island of Zakynthos lasted more than 650 years.
Due to the location and the fertility of the island, the inhabitants became quite wealthy and started establishing colonies in Crete, Paros (in the Cyclades), and even in Spain.
During the Persian Wars of the 5th century, Zakynthos maintained a neutral position up to the battle of Plataea, during which it chased the Persians to Asia along with the Lacedaemonians.
Zakynthos history was marked by the Roman Domination.
During the first years, Zakynthos was administrated by a proconsul according to the Roman law.
Later, the island acquired a degree of autonomy with the obligation to pay an annual tax to the Romans and to offer soldiers to their legions.
The island, then, had the possibility to establish its own laws. It had its own municipality, parliament, and even its own coins.
During the period of Roman occupation, the island developed both materially and culturally.
When in the 15th century, the rest of the Greek territory was dominated by the Turks, the Ionian islands remained under the rule of the Venetians. The Venetians established on the island their harsh aristocratic oligarchic political system.
Later around 1797, the French republicans arrived on the island but did not manage to solve the social and economic problems and the island fell again under the rule of Russians and Turks.
They were succeeded another time by the French and finally by the British for the period between 1814 and 1864. The British modernised the administration and the public works but during those years, Greece’s independence from the Turks created a strong nationalist feeling which leaded to the unification of the Ionians islands with the newly built Hellenic Republic, on 21 May 1864.
The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta-Caretta) is an endangered species and can only be found today in the Mediterranean... more
Zakynthos architecture adopted elements from the culture of Western Europe... more
All the majors festivals are related to religious ceremonies... more
There is a wealth of Zakynthos churches on the island. The most famous is the Church of Agios Dionyssios... more
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watercolor+flowers-638x1024This project worked well for kinders through 5th grade last week. I basically had students draw or “fill in” the flowers first with their paint brushes, and then trace the edges afterward. My other projects almost always begin with traced drawings so this backwards approach gave the students a different perspective and different results.
1. With medium size brushes, liquid watercolor paint and white card stock paper, I had the students paint three flower tops and then a few stems and leaves below.
2. To keep this a one-class project, I handed out paper towels and had the students gently apply it on top to absorb any extra paint. This sometimes lightened the image, but it still looked pretty.
3. Lastly, each student took a fat black Sharpie and traced the edges of their flowers. I encouraged them to add extra details, such as folds in the flower leaves, and little bugs or insects on the side. This can be a pretty and quick project, if you need one. My experience was that most kids finished it in a half hour at most.
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Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: 192111092
Advanced Logic
Course info
Course module192111092
Credits (ECTS)5
Course typeCourse
Language of instructionEnglish
Contact A. Rensink
Lecturer A. Rensink
Contactperson for the course A. Rensink
Academic year2016
Starting block
Application procedureYou apply via OSIRIS Student
Registration using OSIRISYes
Learning goals
After completing this course successfully, the student can:
• Indicate the relevance of formal logical methods in computer science.
• Explain the role of and the relationship between formal syntax and semantics of proposition and predicate logic.
• Explain the principles of Binary Decision Diagrams, and manipulate them.
• Explain the principles of SAT solving and apply them to simple examples
• Apply proof systems (semantic tableaus, Gentzen and Hilbert style deduction, resolution) and prove their equivalence.
• Explain the meaning of soundness and completeness and how these apply to the aforementioned proof systems.
• Understand the concepts of logic programming, and explain the connection with mathematical logic.
Course description
In logic many aspects of computer science are treated in a theoretical way. Examples are the relationship between syntax and semantics, computability, and concepts of programming languages. In a more direct sense, logic is applied in, e.g., logic programming, but also in programming by contract and other types of formal verification.
In this course we study the formal syntax and semantics of proposition and predicate logic. Several proof systems (semantic tableaux, Hilbert and Gentzen style systems, resolution) and their equivalence are presented, and soundness and completeness are discussed. We then continue by studying connections to other logic-related programming and specification paradigms: Binary Decision Diagrams, SAT solving and logic programming.
Assumed previous knowledge
Required materials
M. Ben-Ari, Mathematical Logic for Computer Science (3rd ed.). Springer, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4471-2128-0
Recommended materials
Instructional modes
Self study
Written exam
50% tentamen, 50% huiswerkopdrachten
Kies de Nederlandse taal
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“Why a map, Mom?”
“Well, how do people normally use a map?”
“To get oriented to a place and to use that to find their way around.” Brian thinks for a minute. “So, it’s to understand where neurons are located inside the brain and how they are connected?” He pauses. “But don’t neuroscientists and neurosurgeons already know the locations and the connections?”
“They do but the brain has more than one billion neurons–” his mom says.
“–and several trillion neural connections or roads, you can say. Wait, are the neurotransmitters like roads or like cars? I guess they are like cars.”
His mom smiles. “That’s a close analogy. How do you think they will use the map?”
Brian scratches his chin.
“There are many diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinsons that we don’t fully understand,” his mom says. “ Obama’s BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) initiative will help them develop tools that can be used to not only map the brain but to understand how the neurons behave. So, it’s not just about creating a more detailed map but it’s also about getting a dynamic view of the stuff that happens in the brain.”
“But, how, how exactly? How will they capture the messages, the path traversed by the neurotransmitters, the messengers of the brain? I mean, that’s not a static thing…”
“Good point. The current studies use fMRI technologies to measure blood flow in specific parts of the brain. This helps them locate the place where neurotransmitters are active.”
“Yes, I know that!”
“Well, the idea of BRAIN is to provide funding to create more sophisticated tools than the fMRI, to see both high-level view of the neurons and their activities and to get a more close-up view—“
“—yeah, I get it.” He says impatiently. “But how is it different than the research already happening?”
“It’s not necessarily different. It’ll build on the existing work and provide additional resources.”
“Ah, so we can learn about the brain faster.”
“Mom, maybe I can get involved with the BRAIN initiative.”
“Yes, it’s a new thing. So, there will be all types of opportunities if the funding continues. But, first if you have to get qualified by studying neuroscience.”
“Maybe I can become a brain surgeon!”
“Sure, but that means you will learn and use what is already known about the brain. You won’t be making new discoveries. So you won’t be part of BRAIN.”
“So, a neuroscientist then?”
“Yes, or both,” his mom says.
“I can be like Oliver Sacks and be a brain-surgeon and a neuroscientist and a neuroscience writer.”
“Yes, you can be. But first, start exercising your brain on the math homework that’s due tomorrow.”
“Yes Mom.”
Josh Buchanan, a UC Berkeley graduate, edits this column with an eye on grammar and scientific approach.
1. Flatow, Ira, host of President Obama Calls for a BRAIN Initiative, NPR>Science>Research News, April 5, 2013,
2. Neuroscientists Weigh In on Obama’s BRAIN Initiative, Scientific American, May 2, 2013,
World of Words
topic words
regions Broca’s area, Wernicke’s Area, motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and other regions
Wendy has to stay at home with her mother while her siblings go to Universal Studios with their father. She is recovering from flu and her parents want her to take it easy. She is unhappy about the situation and sulks as her siblings go off to have a day of fun.
But when her siblings return from their adventure, Wendy is flush with excitement and does not even notice them. Her mother has given her a story book set in India. Wendy lives in a small town in the US, near Los Angeles. She is 15-yrs-old and has just started to discover the cultures of other countries. A particular scene in one of the stories fires up her imagination “a rainbow of colors swirled in the air and she closed her eyes just before the red-yellow-blue-green-purple powders landed on her white shirt.”
Wendy is engrossed in the exotic scenes in the book and her brain is having an adventure that’s comparable to that of her siblings’. The meaning of the sentences, paragraphs, and the entire narrative, is parsed by language processing centers in the brain called Broca’s area in the frontal lobe and Wernicke’s area in the temporal lobe. For a long time, neuroscientist understood that Broca’s area is used for reading aloud and for producing language and that Wernicke’s is used for comprehension. But, according to studies cited in the New York Times and study results published in an article in the Harvard Crimson, Broca’s area is used for comprehension also.
The processing does not end once the meaning of the words is parsed. Some of the other regions that are involved in further analysis are motor and somatosensory cortexes. These areas catapult the experience from beyond the wordsunderstanding of the story and characters into simulating the experience for the reader. It’s not exactly like the 4D simulation of Universal Studios, but it is much more individualized than the rides at the amusement park and can entertain longer depending on the length of the story being read.
Per neuroscience studies cited in the book Words to Brain and in a New York Times article, the actions of characters in Wendy’s book activate the motor cortex and the somatosensory cortex in the frontal lobe. The motor cortex, as the name implies, sends signals to other parts of the body for the coordination of movements, like walking, dancing, eating, etc. The somatosensory cortex manages the sensations of touching. Other parts of the brain are also engaged in the process of simulating the reading experience and more research is being done to comprehend the details.
When Wendy’s imagination recreates the scenes and the experiences of the characters, her brain experiences the event as if the scene had occurred in front of her or perhaps even to her. As she reads about the Indian festival of holi, her mind’s eye sees the colorful powders falling, the smile people dresses in white, the colors landing on their clothes…The words on the page activate her brain in a similar manner that it would be activated had she been part of the story.
Neuroscientists are only beginning to study the biological basis of the power of reading but good storytellers have known how to exploit it for centuries. Most avid fiction readers are familiar with the experience of getting lost in a story filled with compelling emotions, evocative scenes, and hypnotic storyline. Of course, the success of a story in achieving movement and sensory activation of the brain is dependent on the skill of the writer in communicating the narrative to the reader. As the characters move around slyly and playfully, filling up water guns with colored water or their hands with colored powder, Wendy experiences the scene only as vibrantly as the author is able to recreate it.
This monthly column is published in magazine. Leena Prasad has a writing portfolio at Links to earlier stories in her monthly column can be found at this site.
1. The New York Times. Your Brain On Fiction, March 17, 2012.
2. Blackburne, Livia. From Words to Brain (Can neuroscience teach you to be a better writer?).
3. The Harvard Crimson. Broca’s Area May Have New Function, October 19, 2009.
4. Pub Med. Broca’s area plays a role in syntactic processing during Chinese reading comprehension, April 2008.
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What are the healthy and unhealthy sources of fat in the diet?
Healthy sources of fat are pecans, sunflower seeds, avocado, and wild salmon. Less healthy sources of fat in the diet are hamburgers, cheesecake, butter, and whole milk.
Continue Learning about Fats
At 9 calories per gram, fats can add up quickly in your diet, yet experts recommend that you get only 7% of your calorie intake from fat. Fats also affect your cholesterol, and there are both good and bad fats. The best kind of fa...
ts are called unsaturated fats, and can be found in oils like olive and canola oils, nuts and seeds. These fats can help your body get rid of cholesterol. Saturated fats often have had hydrogen added to them to make them more solid. Other saturated fats are found in cream, butter and meats. They can raise your blood cholesterol. Its wise to learn which is which and check nutrition labels to make proper choices.
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Types of Air Purifiers
Photo from www.amazon.com
There are numerous types of air purifiers so a comprehensive know-how about air purification technology is great for have, particularly if you are planning to get one but don’t know which one to choose.
• Ionic Air Purifiers: Ionic air purifiers create charged particles (ions) and give off them in to the surrounding air. These ions merge with harmful particles (like dust) in the air, driving the impurities to cling to a close surface. Ion generators are the second most popular type of air purifiers, however they both emit ozone, a powerful lung irritant that is in particular dangerous for people with asthma along with other chronic lung diseases, both children, and the seniors.
• Hepa Filter Air Purifiers: HEPA air purifiers work on the principle of filtration. HEPA is an acronym for “high efficiency particulate absorbing” or “high efficiency particulate arrestance”. This type of air filtration gets rid of over 99% of dust, mold, pollen, bacteria and other airborne particles. HEPA was first a registered trademark, also now has evolved into a generic term for highly effective filters. The primary problem with the HEPA air purifier is basically you must periodically replace the filter. The leading benefit: If it’s HEPA certified, then you already know it works well. Not all HEPA filters are created equal. Size matters: the greater square feet of HEPA filter the more particulates it will likely be able to remove. The size, material, and construction of the particular filter media all play a role in the air purifier’s overall performance and may account for why one HEPA filter is more expensive than another.
• UV Light Purifier: This is basically a sterilization method using ultra-violet light. The UV light needs to be at the right wavelength of which the best performing is 254 nanometers. Only at that wavelength the UV irradiation breaks the molecular bonds within DNA of organisms like airborne bacteria and viruses. This kills them or renders them harmless. What’s more, it destroys fungal spores and mold spores.
• Ozone Air Purifiers: As soon as the term ozone air purifier is used, it is generally conveying an air cleaner that produces ozone to sterilize the air or objects inside a room. Ozone air purifiers release ozone (O3) into the air. This reactive oxidant is most effective against chemical gases, smells and bacteria but cannot eliminate particles and also other allergens. Even so, excess ozone can result in the formation of new pollutants and therefore these purifiers should be used properly.
• Carbon Air Purifiers: Carbon Air Purifiers are reliable with gas, smokes and smells, although not as efficient with allergens, dust, and bacteria. Carbon air filters are comprised of microscopic exceptionally absorbent pores. They chemically react to the particles that move through them. Much larger particles are caught up in the many pores.
An air purifier filter will help you get rid of your home’ s unhealthy particles which are flying around in the air. However, you better carry out your own analysis to buy the best and suited for your family needs.
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India's 70th Independence Anniversary
The seventh decade has been completed as India marks its independence. Beyond the celebrations, there is also remembrance as the brutality of the partition cannot be forgotten. Partition divided India into two new countries of India and Pakistan.
Around a million people died as Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims had to make life changing decisions as to which part of the political and geographical divide they stood. Whilst Mahatma Gandhi and India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru fought for a non-violent movement, partition changed all that as Indians fought amidst religious divides. The aspirations of independence turned into the new challenges ahead beginning with the largest and bloodiest mass migration the world had seen.
For those unfamiliar with the history, it is worth reading the succinct piece done in The Telegraph which gives an excellent brief account.
In current times, there is much to be optimistic about for India with the economy growing, investments as a high, success in science and technology and of course Bollywood and cricket. But beyond such optimism, there are unsolved issues of over population, a significant part of India still under developed and people still suffering below the poverty line and environmental catastrophes. The solutions for Kashmir are still nowhere in sight.
Prime Minister Modi in his Independence speech in Delhi surrounded by a spectacular assortment of independence symbols spoke of his vision of New India which is corruption free, violence free and where caste and communal differences are things of the past.
As Indians enjoy the celebrations and remember the sad memories of partition let us hope that the next decade brings peace in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – the precursor to such aspirations is dialogue.
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Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Harmful Energy drinks, soft drinks, and diet soft drinks....
Today's Post: Tuesday, 2-18-2014
Many people drink energy drinks.
Many people drink soft drinks.
And, those who drink diet soft drinks drink more of them thinking they are free of fattening effects.
All three kinds of drinks are quite literally are so harmful, they should pay YOU to drink them to compensate you for the damage!
1. We’ve already posted that soft drinks with high fructose corn syrup are almost the perfect fattener.
They add calories that do not make you less hungry. Then you get rebound hunger later from your insulin slamming back the blood sugar spike drinking the soft drink gave you.
The goal of good health and permanent fat loss is to eat in a way that you don’t get fat or sick or get excess hunger.
Soft drinks are totally the reverse, they add calories and make you extra hungry – AND they help cause type 2 diabetes and it’s beginning to look like they cause heart disease and osteoporosis directly.
Even worse, the added sugars from soft drinks have recently been found to cause heart disease and deaths from heart disease even in people who are not yet fattened by them.
2. It’s complex to unravel why; but somehow the people who drink diet soft drinks tend to be fat and become even fatter and get the same diseases research has found.
Astonishingly, they do so about as effectively as regular soft drinks on a per drink basis. But it’s even worse because people who drink diet soft drinks drink more of them per day thinking they are safe and non-fattening to drink. Oops!
It’s hard to credit being more effective a fattener than regular soft drinks. But drinking diet soft drinks has been shown to do so.
3. Energy drinks are like non-carbonated soft drinks with extra caffeine.
Because they contain the same sweeteners or artificial sweeteners as soft drinks they too harm your health.
They may be a bit less fattening because the effects of the caffeine keep down how many energy drinks most people drink a bit. But per drink they are about as fattening.
(The people who drink too many energy drinks have wound up in the hospital or worse.)
All three of these drinks tend to contain the same ingredients.
It’s already known they fatten you.
And the phosphoric acid in soft drinks and diet soft drinks leaches calcium and structural strength from your bones over time. In people who hardly get any exercise or walking or strength training and eat badly besides this can easily result over time in osteoporosis when you get older.
The high fructose corn syrup contains mercury which is a nerve toxin because of the way about 30% of it is made
The health oriented Chiropractor, Dr Lew Connor, I once went to sends periodic health information emails and sent this with other components in these drinks.
Virtually every one is harmful!!
These are in addition to the harms I already listed!
(I’ve added my comments in this form using parentheses.)
“Splenda /Sucralose is a chlorocarbon.
Chlorocarbons (include) tetrachloride, trichloroethylene and methylene chloride, all poisons.
Chlorine is a highly excitable atomic element employed in bleach, disinfectants and insecticides, World War I poison gas and hydrochloric acid. (Free chlorine in large volume is a poison gas. And they made phosgene by adding carbon monoxide to chlorine.)
(Sucralose has been found to kill off almost all of your gut bacteria which may have some medical benefit with some intestinal diseases.
But since the beneficial bacteria it kills help you digest your food and keep your base level of inflammation down ingesting sucralose harms your nutrition and the boost in inflammation helps cause cancer and heart disease.)
Aspartame is a multi-potential carcinogen that increases the incidence of malignant tumors in rats.
Ace-K (potassium) is a food additive used for sweetening. Ace-K produces tumors in rats in three months.
Methylene chloride is used to produce Acesulfame K (Ace-K) and appears to be the cause of tumor production.
Potassium benzoate damages an important area of DNA, the mitochondria, to the point that potassium benzoate inactivates this area of DNA.
(VERY scary stuff!
Mitochondrial damage speeds aging, reduces your muscle speed, cuts down your overall feeling of energy, causes heart failure -- and, in the brain causes nerve cell damage and mental decline.)
Potassium benzoate is an artificial coloring agent.
Potassium phosphate is used as an additive in hundreds of processed foods. Potassium phosphate is linked to more rapid development of kidney disease.
(Kidney disease harms your heart and can kill if not treated and kills even if treated if it gets bad enough.)
Also, other phosphate additives have been linked to increased risk of heart disease and the additives disrupt the body’s use of vitamin D.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) causes insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension and weight gain.
Potassium sorbate :
food and toxicology reports have labeled potassium sorbate a carcinogen showing positive mutations in the cells of mammals. Potassium sorbate is a preservative.”
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Our laboratory is interested in unraveling the design principles that underlie the relationship between the sequence, structure and function of RNA molecules. Once thought to be a passive carrier of genetic information, RNAs are now understood to be essential to regulating and defending the genomes of all organisms. This broad array of function is hypothesized to be mediated by specific RNA structures that selectively interact with the cellular milieu. It is our goal to understand and design these structures so that we may utilize RNA function to engineer biomolecular systems as solutions to challenging problems in biology, medicine and biotechnology. To do this, we also work on developing technologies that can characterize RNA structures in massively high throughput to use as a diagnostic tool in our RNA engineering. This technology in turn opens new doors through which we can ask fundamental biological questions such as how specific RNA structures mediate cellular processes. With these fundamental investigations, we learn new RNA design principles that then feed back into our engineering methodology.
Pushing the Limits of RNA Design with Cellular Engineering
orthogA necessary first step in programming cells is developing large numbers of versatile, interoperable building blocks that can be combined together to create more complex function. RNA is an intriguing biomolecular substrate for this task because it has been shown to perform a wide array of function in biology, it is amenable to forward design, and there are cutting edge tools based on next generation sequencing that can now globally characterize its abundance, and soon its structures and interactions, across the entire cell. However, we still lack a complete set of basic design principles that we can use when designing RNAs to function independently with predictable function inside the cell.
One of our central interests is to change this by systematically uncovering and developing the principles with which we can engineer RNAs to perform essential functions necessary for programming cells. We are specifically interested in designing RNAs that can sense and integrate external and regulatory signals, regulate multiple aspects of gene expression, and propagate regulatory information. Shown here is one such example where we made the first steps to uncover the principles that underlie the specificity of interaction of an antisense RNA and its regulatory target, and showed how these regulators can be chained together to create the first reported RNA-mediated genetic network (link). We continue to push our ability to engineer RNA structure and function by asking fundamental engineering questions about how far we can go with RNA, and how we can build higher order genetic circuits out of our well-characterized RNA building blocks.
Related Papers:
1. Achieving large dynamic range control of gene expression with a compact RNA transcription-translation regulator.
2. Using in-cell SHAPE-Seq and simulations to probe structure-function design principles of RNA transcriptional regulators.
3. Creating Small Transcription Activating RNAs, Nature Chemical Biology, 2015.
4. A renaissance in RNA synthetic biology: new mechanisms, applications and tools for the future. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2015.
5. Characterizing and prototyping genetic networks with cell-free transcription-translation reactions, Methods, 2015.
6. Improving fold activation of small transcription activating RNAs (STARs) with rational RNA engineering strategies, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2015.
7. Generating effective models and parameters for RNA genetic circuits, ACS Synthetic Biology, 2015.
8. Rapidly characterizing the fast dynamics of RNA genetic circuitry with cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) systems, ACS SynBio, 2014.
9. A modular strategy for engineering orthogonal chimeric RNA transcription regulators, NAR, 2013.
10. The Centrality of RNA for Engineering Gene Expression, Biotechnology Journal, 2013 (Review).
11. Versatile RNA-sensing transcriptional regulators for engineering genetic networks, PNAS, 2011.
Next Generation RNA Structure Characterization
In-cell_SHAPE-SeqWe lead the team that developed SHAPE-Seq, a technique that utilizes next generation sequencing to characterize RNA structures and interactions of complex mixtures of RNAs in a single experiment (link). As depicted, SHAPE-Seq utilizes advances in chemical probing to first modify RNAs in a structure dependent fashion. These RNAs are then converted into cDNAs by a process that is blocked by the modification. cDNAs are then sequenced, and sequencing reads are analyzed to uncover the locations of modifications on the RNA. This information is then used to infer structural features of the RNAs, or particular locations of interactions with other biomolecules.
We are currently developing improvements to SHAPE-Seq to be able to characterize vastly complex pools of RNA in a cellular context. SHAPE-Seq and its improvements are allowing us to systematically uncover the structural features that underlie specific RNA function, as well as be an integral tool in designing RNA sequences to specifically fold into structures and carry out designed function inside of the cell.
Related Papers:
1. Cotranscriptional folding of a riboswitch at nucleotide resolution.
2. Distributed biotin-streptavidin transcription roadblocks for mapping cotranscriptional RNA folding.
4. Characterizing RNA structures in vitro and in vivo with selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension sequencing (SHAPE-Seq). Methods, 2016.
5. RNA systems biology: uniting functional discoveries and structural tools to understand global roles of RNAs. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2016.
6. Simultaneous characterization of cellular RNA structure and function with in-cell SHAPE-Seq. NAR, 2015.
7. SHAPE-Seq 2.0: Systematic optimization and extension of high-throughput chemical probing of RNA secondary structure with next-generation sequencing. NAR, 2014.
8. Multiplexed RNA structure characterization with selective 2’-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension sequencing (SHAPE-Seq). PNAS, 2011.
9. Modeling and automation of sequencing-based characterization of RNA structure. PNAS, 2011.
10. RNA Structure Characterization from Chemical Mapping Experiments. Allerton Conference, 2011.
Harvesting RNA Design Principles from Nature
DesignThere has been a recent explosion in our understanding of the functional capability of RNAs. We are interested in studying specific natural RNA-mediated systems to uncover the basic principles in nature that give RNA this amazing array of function. Specifically, we are interested in the general principles by which RNAs interact with proteins so that we may use these to design specific interactions between our engineered RNA building blocks and other cellular components.
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Sunday, March 04, 2007
"Ten Years...if that"
Via Skippy, this article (first in a series) in the Times-Picayune, on how the Louisiana Gulf Coast could be irretrievably gone in as little as ten years:
Coastal scientists produced the map three years ago. They now know they got it wrong.
What does this mean?
In 10 years, at current land-loss rates:
The entire nation would reel from the losses. The state's coastal wetlands, the largest in the continental United States, nourish huge industries that serve all Americans, not just residents of southeastern Louisiana. Twenty-seven percent of America's oil and 30 percent of its gas travels through the state's coast, serving half of the nation's refinery capacity, an infrastructure that few other states would welcome and that would take years to relocate. Ports along the Mississippi River, including the giant Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana in LaPlace, handle 56 percent of the nation's grain shipments. And the estuaries now rapidly turning to open water produce half of the nation's wild shrimp crop and about a third of its oysters and blue claw crabs. Studies show destruction of the wetlands protecting the infrastructure serving those industries would put $103 billion in assets at risk.
What is being done about this?
Despite such dire threats, the most disturbing concern may be this: Coastal restoration efforts have been under way for two decades, but not a single project capable of reversing the trend currently awaits approval.
The modest restoration efforts already under way have no chance of making a serious impact, experts say.
"It's like putting makeup on a corpse," said Mark Schexnayder, a regional coastal adviser with LSU's Sea Grant College Program who has spent 20 years involved in coastal restoration.
This article is a testament to the power man has to negatively impact his environment. Bad environmental planning and a bad hurricane have produced this situation. Only very good planning, money, and commitment will undo it. A reversal could be a testament to man's power to repair and improve his environment. If there's enough time.
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What effect does Provigil have on patients with epilepsy ?
Provigil on epilepsy patientsEpilepsy is a neurological disorder that is characterized by the occurrence of seizures. If the patient has more than one seizure, then he or she may be classified as epileptic. The condition can occur due to genetic or acquired causes. There are drugs available that can help in controlling the seizures and also to treat the person. However, some epileptic patients may be prescribed to take Provigil as a part of their drug therapy.
Why Provigil? This is probably one of the constant questions that run in the minds of epileptic patients and others too when they come across this statement at any time in their life. Many may wonder as to why a drug like Provigil that is used primarily as a medication to help overcome narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea is being administered to patients with epilepsy as well. There are many reasons for this, and they are looked into in detail below.
The multiple benefits of Provigil in epileptic patients
The success of Provigil is that it has many off-label uses that are highly important in treating a number of conditions when the patient does not respond to other medication. One such instance of Provigil’s off-label use, which is gaining more popularity among medical professionals, is the use of the drug in epileptic patients. The reasons for doing so are because of the number of benefits aided by the medication. They are:
• One of the reasons why a seizure becomes triggered is the lack of adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can cause changes to the neural activity in the brain and in turn lead to seizures. The metabolites in Provigil help to maintain the sleep-wake cycle and reduce the chances of a seizure attack from happening. Continuous sleep of six to seven hours is healthier than disrupted sleep patterns of a few hours at a time. It can effectively bring this pattern into order.
• Another instance where the drug is very useful is when the epileptic patient goes through periods of fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness. These are a few common symptoms associated with people who have this condition. Provigil use does not cause seizures and it does not exacerbate the condition either, making its use safe for most patients.
• Side effects of anticonvulsant medication make the individual to feel drowsy and groggy in the head. It works as a better wake-me-up than caffeine and increases the focus and attention of the individual. Usually after a seizure attack where highly potent drugs have been used, the patient will be recover from the episode better with the help of Provigil to counteract the effect of other drugs.
Can I buy Provigil if I’m epileptic?
Considering these multiple benefits of Provigil, you may be tempted to buy the drug if you are epileptic. It is not recommended to commence any kind of prescription medication without the assistance of your healthcare provider. It can become habit-forming if its use is not regulated. Seek professional help first to ensure that the drug is first suited to your ailment and general response to treatment. If your doctor prescribes Provigil, then you can purchase Provigil from internet drugstores without any fear. Click the following link to order Provigil without any hassle: http://www.buymodafinilshop.com/buy-provigil-online-and-get-what-you-need-today/
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Catching Fire
Catching Fire Summary and Analysis of Part 1: "The Spark" - Chapters 7-9
Katniss finds Madge and tells her that the mockingjay pin she gave Katniss before the Games are now all the rage in the Capitol. The pin once belonged to Madge's aunt, (who died in the arena) but had been in Madge's mother's family for a long time. Madge and Katniss discuss the origin of the mockingjay. Jabberjays were birds capable of learning and repeating human phrases, the result of a "muttation" created by the Capitol to spy on the rebels. But the plan backfired when the rebels began feeding lies to the Jabberjays. The Capitol eventually discarded them, leaving them to die. But in the wild, they mated with mockingbirds, creating mockingjays. While a mockingjay is a songbird and not a weapon like Madge insists, it is nevertheless "a creature the Capitol never intended to exist" (92).
After the Harvest Festival, Katniss leaves clues for Gale in the snow, leading to a concrete house by the lake her father used to take her to. Gale arrives a short time after Katniss does, rejecting the gifts she left for him - a pair of Cinna's gloves (he thinks they're Peeta's), food, and a flask. It is clear he feels betrayed by Katniss' engagement to Peeta. Katniss immediately tells Gale about President Snow's threat on his life. After some hesitation, she also tells him why the proposal was a necessary illusion. Katniss asks Gale if he will consider running away with her. He is overjoyed even though he acknowledges how hard it will be to flee with his younger siblings. No matter what, though, he loves her.
Katniss is caught off guard by his admission. She cares for Gale deeply, but has no time to think about love until everyone is safe. He's disappointed, but still willing to go - until he learns that Katniss plans on bringing Haymitch and Peeta along as well. Gale reasons that Snow won't kill Peeta after his performance during the proposal. Katniss disagrees; the uprising in District 8 has changed the game. Gale perks up and Katniss knows she should have kept the news about Eight a secret. He is brightened by the idea of a revolt and suggests to Katniss they join the fight. She is aghast; all she wants to do is keep her loved ones safe. Gale is disgusted. He says she could do so much. He throws down the gloves and leaves.
Katniss decides to try to reason with Hazelle before Gale can speak to the miners about the uprising in District 8. She hopes she can get her to talk some sense into her son. Katniss still plans on going ahead with her escape. She approaches Peeta and he agrees to go along with her but suggests they talk it through with Haymitch. They walk to the square, where a huge crowd has gathered. Peeta tries to prevent her from seeing the cause of the commotion but she learns the truth anyway - Gale is being brutally whipped.
Katniss throws herself in between Gale and the whip. It catches her in the face. While on the ground, she looks up at the Head Peacekeeper. It is not Cray, but a cruel grey-haired man. He lifts the whip again, aiming for Katniss, but Haymitch calls for him to stop. Haymitch trips over Darius, who has been knocked out. The Head Peacekeeper finally recognizes Katniss and pauses. He maintains she interrupted the punishment of a criminal but Haymitch threatens that he'll report him to the Capitol. Purnia, a regular at the Hob, steps forward and tells the Peacekeeper that he has already doled out the required number of lashes for a first-time poaching offense. Reluctantly, he lets Gale be taken away by Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch.
Bristel and Thom, Gale's crewmates in the mines, help carry him to Katniss's house. They tell Katniss what happened. After meeting Katniss, Gale went to Cray's house to sell him the wild turkey he snared in the woods, knowing it was his favorite. But instead of Cray, Gale found the new Head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread. Cray hasn't been seen since that morning. Darius tried to get Thread to stop whipping Gale after 20 lashes, but was knocked out for making trouble.
Katniss's mother cleans and bandages Gale's wounds. Even though he is barely conscious, he must be in excruciating pain. Katniss is hysterical. Her mother orders Haymitch and Peeta to take her away. She cries in her room. Later, Madge shows up with a box of morphling, a powerful painkiller from the Capitol. Katniss wonders if maybe Madge has feelings for Gale. Katniss stays with Gale all night, thinking about what he must have felt watching the Games. She comes to the conclusion that they belong to one another. When he stirs, she apologizes and tells him she's going to "stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble" (119). They kiss.
Peeta relieves Katniss in the morning. She can tell he is hurt by her closeness with Gale. She realizes that no matter what she does, she is hurting someone. After a nightmare-filled sleep, she wakes to find District 12 overwhelmed by blizzard. Katniss hopes the weather will keep the Peacekeepers from her door. She thinks about her decision to fight and finds a flaw in the plan - Prim. She must protect her sister at all costs. However, the Capitol has already hurt Prim through years of starvation and near slavery conditions. Katniss tries to figure out how District 8 organized their rebellion.
Meanwhile, Prim and Katniss's mother are taking care of Gale. Mrs. Everdeen remembers trying to help victims of whippings before Katniss was born, when the Peacekeepers were more strict and brutal. When the storm settles, Katniss goes out with Haymitch and Peeta, telling them that the new plan is to rebel rather than run. Haymitch is incredulous. When the reach the square, they find a new order has taken hold within the past few days. Armed Peacekeepers are everywhere, an official whipping post, stockades and a gallows have been erected, and the Hob has been burned down. The citizens of District 12 are terrified. Katniss wonders how a terrified people could be motivated to fight back.
The mines have been shut down for 2 weeks, bringing District 12 to the brink of starvation. Food shortages even affect the wealthy and the packages that arrive on Parcel Day are ruined or rotten. Katniss is able to arrange for Hazelle to find work cleaning up at Haymitch's, but Rory, meanwhile, has had to sign up for tesserae. With her friends, families and fellow citizens in distress, the arrival of a box of President-approved wedding dresses upsets Katniss. She steals off into the woods despite the great risk in doing so. She is almost at the lake when someone calls for her to stop. She cocks an arrow, but turns around to find someone in a Peacekeeper's uniform holding a gun on her. The gun is dropped, however, and the person holds out a cracker in her gloved hand. Stamped in the center of the bread is a mockingjay.
The biggest conflict in Catching Fire is whether or not Katniss will join the rebellion. The events in these chapters make the decision for her. Her conversation with Gale in the lake house, his subsequent beating and recovery, and the increased authority presence and crackdown convince Katniss that the Capitol must be dealt with.
Gale initially agrees to run away with Katniss, believing they have a chance for love if they can get out from under the gaze of Snow and his surveillance. Katniss is not convinced and, as she mentions when the issue arises, love is a luxury she cannot afford. Her goal is to keep her loved ones safe and if the promise of a romance with Gale is necessary to sway him, then so be it. However, news of the uprising in District 8 foils their plans. Gale’s rebellious streak overrides any affection he may have for Katniss; he is actually disappointed that she would suggest running when she knows the revolution is brewing, especially because she is already in a position to become a rebel leader. Katniss is hurt by his reaction and worried that he will only get himself into trouble. This occurs much sooner than she anticipates.
Gale’s nearly fatal whipping at the hands of new Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread changes the conversation. This is another incident of extreme violence that Katniss witnesses – too many for a teenager. On a personal level, the threat of losing Gale pushes Katniss to realize some of her own feelings for her friend. In Catching Fire, Katniss is able place herself in the shoes of others as she continues to mature beyond her own self-interest. Katniss realizes how difficult it was for Gale to watch her in the arena and with Peeta. However, it’s not quite clear whether their kiss is motivated by pure love or guilt. Likely it’s a combination of several factors as Katniss still struggles to get a handle on her own emotions:
This moment set in motion the course of the rest of Katniss’s life, and understanding her motivation will help her decide which path to take. Seeing Gale desperately hurt and the resulting increase of authority in District 12 also helps her to make a choice “of worth.” Though she often feels guilty over getting others in trouble or hurt, she slowly begins to realize that she is not always directly responsible. From a coming-of-age angle, this signals the self-awareness that comes with maturity; Katniss realizes that she is not the center of the universe. This moment also stokes her political awakening as she comes to understand that the abuses of the government render all citizens powerless. Even Prim, whose life Katniss fought so hard to save, has suffered many different forms of abuse over her short lifetime.
Katniss always acts to preserve her way of life. When the new wave of Peacekeepers burn down the Hob and close down the mines, pushing the District to the brink of starvation, Katniss finally comes to the conclusion that Snow’s regime must be overthrown, lest there be no home or family left to protect.
One final note on these chapters – Romulus Thread, the vicious new Head Peacekeeper, is another character whose name traces back to Roman mythology. Romulus and Remus were the twin sons of Silvia, a Vestal Virgin who had been raped by Mars, the God of War. The babies were abandoned and then taken in by a she-wolf. When they reach adulthood, they decide to build a new city and quarrel over the location. Remus is killed. Romulus goes on to found Rome. In Catching Fire, the name befits the character – a man who represents authority and bloodlust.
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Selections directly from
Effective Pitching Mechanics
Use the Fast Ball to develop all pitching mechanics. Different grips making different speeds and movements are learned after the Fast Ball is mastered. Grip - the fingers are close together with the fingertips across two seams, four seams or with the seams. The grip is in the center of the ball with the ball placed at least one index finger away from the palm of the hand ...Release - the wrist is perpendicular to the ground and the palm faces the target ...Result - maximum velocity and force on a pitch with reverse 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock spin."
"How To Play Better Baseball"
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Stance - The front foot is closed with the feet a comfortable distance apart. The back foot is parallel to the back of the plate... Weight Shift - The front foot rolls on the in-step as the knee begins to move backward... Stride - The front foot takes a short, soft, comfortable stride forward. The front foot lands on the inside ball of the foot as if "testing thin ice"... Swing - The front heel plants firmly on the ground as soon as the decision to swing is made. The back heel comes off the ground pivoting on the back toe as if "squishing a bug".. Follow-Through - Both feet remain on the ground with the body's weight almost entirely on the front foot."
Here's what you get in each
Effective Pitching Mechanics
In this 8 panel brochure, Baseball Parents, Developmental League Coaches and Self-Coached Players discover 83 detailed pitching mechanics broken down into well-defined movements for each of nine body parts during each phase of the pitching motion. These are the same mechanics professional coaches teach their players.
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Visiting an MRT
Depending on what procedure you have planned, you may visit a different type of MRT:
If you are having a general x-ray, CT, angiogram, breast imaging, or other type of radiation-based scan, you will visit a radiological technologist. They make up 80% of all MRTs. These MRTs produce internal images of your body using the latest imaging technology. Radiological technologists not only have a high degree of technological training, they are also trained and committed to providing comprehensive and compassionate care to each patient. Most radiological procedures involve only a short exposure to low-level radiation. Radiological technologists provide the lowest dose possible to obtain a quality diagnostic image. Protective coverings can be placed on patients to help minimize their exposure. Technologists wear protective clothing, or stand behind protective barriers, to avoid unnecessary exposure.
If you require radiation therapy, for example to help you fight cancer, then you will see a radiation therapist. Radiation therapists use focused beams of radiation to destroy tumours, while minimizing harm to healthy tissues. Treatment may involve placing radioactive sources directly into the patient’s body. Radiation treatments often take place over several weeks. You may experience side effects from treatment — your radiation therapist can counsel you on how to cope with, or even lessen, symptoms. Unsurprisingly, a special supportive relationship usually develops between the radiation therapist, the patient and family members.
If your doctor is seeking a diagnosis using nuclear medicine, you will visit a nuclear medicine technologist. They are trained in the use of radioactive drugs called tracers that concentrate in specific organs and allow for detailed diagnostic imaging procedures. This kind of imaging is important for diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and monitoring of disease as it shows organs and systems in action. Nuclear medicine technologists are experts in the safe use of radiopharmaceuticals, as well as techniques to ensure patient comfort and reassurance.
If you are scheduled for an MRI, your MRT will be a magnetic resonance technologist. These professionals produce diagnostic images using equipment that generates radio waves and a strong magnetic field to capture highly detailed 3-D images of the inside of your body. They have extensive knowledge of anatomy, pathology and physiology, as well as an understanding of how to help patients cope with the anxiety of having a scan. Since magnetic resonance does not involve the use of ionizing radiation, radiation protection is unnecessary. However, claustrophobia can be a problem for certain patients, since magnetic resonance scans require sliding the patient into a body-length tunnel.
To learn more
You can learn more about specific procedures at
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Atomic Behaviour: Coding Best Practice
Atomic Behaviour: Coding Best Practice
Many organizations follow a pattern where they have a master database where updates happen and queries are handled from a separated database which is regularly synchronized. Such synchronization stuff is normally handled at the database level, but sometimes there are occasions when programs are written to achieve this synchronization. This generally happens when frequently changing business rules are used to extract data from the master database that needs to go into the query database. Interestingly most of such implementations that update the query database, I have seen, are implemented in the following manner:
1. Verify the major input data – reject if inconsistent
2. Delete the previous data present in the query database
3. Insert the new data with which the process is invoked
At the outset the above steps look fine, and yes they work in most of the cases except in few scenarios. In one of the instances, when I faced problem with the above, was in a JEE environment. The method having the steps there had the transaction semantics as “TRANSACTION REQUIRED”. This method was being called from a batch program executing in and with transactions controlled by the JEE environment.
Problematic Scenario
The scenario involved entities that can be mapped to User, Privileges and User Privileges and the data being updated into the query database regularly was that of User and User Privileges entities. Privileges were assumed to be more stable and were not synchronized.
The incidents reported for this scenario was that of a particular user having lost some of his privileges was not able to perform some tasks. Not all privileges were lost and the privileges lost were random and inconsistent, eg. losing the view access but still having the update access for the same business functionality.
Causal Analysis
In order to understand why the way the method was written was the cause for the incident, let us look at the methods steps replicated below for the scenario:
1. Check whether the user is present – reject input if not
2. DELETE all the existing privileges of the specified user
3. INSERT all the specified privileges for the user
Note that step one does not validate the presence of privileges in the query database; it assumes that they are present. The database, however, does this checking in step 3, to validate the referential integrity. Consider a scenario, when the one of the privileges of the user is missing from the privileges entity. This will cause the step 3 above to fail. However, note that the step 2 would have succeeded and if the transaction were to be committed after the failure, the database would be in an inconsistent state from business point of view. This is exactly how the batch program was written; it ignored the exception from this method. The rationale for doing so is obvious – one cannot rollback the complete transaction, just because one user’s data failed. The point to note, here is that the failure should not have left the database in an inconsistent state from the business point of view, which in our case it was doing. It was relying on the assumption that the caller would rollback the transaction and hence the problem.
The diagram illustrates the relationship between the data synchronization method and the batch program and highlights the difference from an online update on the same method. A batch program does a lot more transactional tasks than an equivalent online program. Each task cannot be treated as a transaction because that would unnecessarily slow down the system on the whole. Further if any of the tasks fails, a complete rollback too is not possible as that would lead to wasting of time and efforts spent in all the tasks that were successful.
One would argue that this should be handled by the transaction semantics, well that is correct, but then the JEE container managed transactions semantics does not allow for nesting of transaction context.
Learning & Best Practices
There are a few learnings that can be drawn from this episode, which are also the best practices for coding for atomic behaviour. These will certainly not eliminate the risks, but following them would certainly reduce the risks substantially. The best practices are as follows:
1. Perform all the validations before any update. If the validations are not successful then raise an exception
2. Perform the unrelated operations in Insert, Updates and then Delete order – Rationale being having incorrect data is better than losing correct data
3. Perform only the operations that are required
4. In case of throwing an exception, ensure that the database is in a consistent business state. This may require you to perform some more database operations to bring the database to a consistent business state.
The best practices above generic in nature and should be followed for all development having database.
Binary Indexed Trees
Binary Indexed Trees (Fenwick Tree)
Why Binary Indexed Tree?
Consider an array A : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16}, you have to find the sum of a range say (1,5). One way of doing this can be by keeping the sum of elements from index 0 to index i, where 0 <= i<= n. So the array with all the cumulative sum is "sum" :{1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78, 91, 105, 120, 136} and to calculate sum from 1 to 5 we can simply do sum[5] – sum[1]. This will take O(n) precomputing time and O(q) with q queries with O(1) complexity per query.
Let us modify the question now, Suppose we have another query that modifies value at some index i, this will make us calculate the sum from index ‘i’ to ‘n’ again. Now the complexity will be O(q*n) if there are ‘q’ queries. Segment trees can be used to solve this in O(q*log(n)). (Refer to this post for segment trees).
Coding for segment trees can be a very lengthy and Hectic process, Segment Trees require a very large memory space, Debugging a code of segment tree is very difficult. Another approach to solve the above problem is to use Binary Indexed Tree data structure, which also has O(q*log(n)) complexity but BIT (Binary Indexed Trees) are much easier to code and require very less memory space than segment trees. Binary Indexed trees are also called Fenwick Trees.
Representation of Binary Indexed Tree
Consider an input array A : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16}. Binary Indexed Tree or Fenwick tree is represented using an array of size n, where n is the length of the input array. Let’s call the binary indexed tree of this array “tree[n]”. tree[idx] (where idx is some index of BIT) will store the sum of values of the given input array from index (idx – 2^r +1) to index idx. Here, r is the position of the last set bit (from left to right) in binary representation of the index idx
So, for example idx = 6, binary representation of 6 is 0110, Therefore the last set bit from left to right is the 1st bit (considering 0 based index) which makes r = 1. Therefore tree[6] stores the sum from index 5 to index 6.
The diagram below shows value of r for every index from 1 to 16. The color of rth index is changed for better understanding.
Binary Indexed Tree
Therefore, tree[12] = A[9] + A[10] + A[11] + A[12]. To calculate “tree[idx]”, we can store the cumulative sum from index “0” to index “idx” where (0 <= idx < n) in an array and then subtract "sum[idx – 2^r + 1]" from "sum[idx]". This will find value of tree[idx] in O(1).
So, tree[idx] = sum[idx] – sum[idx – 2^r + 1].
How to Find the value of the last set bit?
Let num be an integer whose last set bit we want to isolate. Note that num can be represented in the form a1b, where a represents the series of bits before last set bit and b represents all the zeros after the last set bit.
Integer (-num) can be found out using 2’s complement of num, which is done by adding 1 to the inverse of num. the expression for finding twos complement is as follows,
(a1b)¯ + 1 = a¯0b¯ + 1.
Since b consists of all zeroes, so b¯ consists all ones.
Therefore, finally we have
-num = (a1b)¯ + 1 = a¯0b¯ + 1 = a¯0(0…0)¯ + 1 = a¯0(1…1) + 1 = a¯1(0…0) = a¯1b
Now, we can easily isolate the last digit, using bitwise operator AND with num and -num
a 1 b
& a¯1 b
= (0…0)1(0…0)
So, to calculate the value of (idx – 2^r + 1) we just have to do the following operation
idx = idx – (idx & -idx);
Construction of Binary Indexed Tree
For every index “idx”, tree[idx] is calculated in O(1) complexity using the expression tree[idx] = sum[idx] – sum[idx – 2^r + 1], where “sum[idx]” stores the cumulative sum from index “0” to index “idx”.
The code is shown below.
Sum Between Two Indices :
To calculate sum between two given indices l and r. we will have to calculate sum from index ‘0’ to index ‘r’, then the same thing from index ‘0’ to index ‘l’ and then calculate the difference between of the results obtained.
Let us consider an example of index 13, to calculate sum from index 0 to index 13, array tree will play a major role here, we know that tree[13] will store sum of 13th index only, tree[12] stores sum from 9th index to 12th index and tree[8] stores sum from index 0 to index 8. So, adding tree[8] + tree[12] + tree[13] will give us cumulative sum from index 0 to index 13.
tree[13] = tree[13] + tree[12] + tree[8]
tree[1101] = tree[1101] + tree[1100] + tree[1000] (Binary representation)
Note that, complexity of our algorithm to calculate sum from index 0 to index idx will be O(log(idx)) .
The diagram below illustrate this.
Binary Indexed Tree
The Code to find sum from index 0 to index idx is shown below
Update Value at some position and update BIT :
If a value at some index idx is added by some value say val, then we will have to update the tree at all those places which are affected by this index.
For example, if value at 9 is changed, then tree[10], tree[12], tree[16] …so on, will be changed because
tree[10] = tree[9] + tree[10];
tree[12] = tree[9] + tree[10] + tree[11] + tree[12];
while we were reading the sum, we were removing last set bit from index until it became zero. Now, while updating the tree we should add one set bit to the index idx until it becomes greater than or equal to length.
Below is the code to do that.
Binary Indexed Trees easy to code, code length is very short and should be used wherever possible.
The Links of some practice problems are given below :
Virtualization: Hypervisors
Hypervisors in virtualization
As we saw basics of virtualization in this posts: Virtualizaton and it’s role in cloud computing
To understand concept of virtualization, first understand hypervisor concept. In this post will go in detail about hypervisors.
To quote Wikipedia, hypervisor is piece of software, firmware or hardware which enables users to run virtual machines. It allocates CPU, storage and bandwidth to virtual machine and manages execution of them. The machine on which this hypervisor runs is known as host machine and the machine which run on top of it are called as guest machines. There are two kinds of hypervisors available.
First is Type 1 which directly run on bare hardware and have complete access to hardware. Sometimes these are called as bare metal hypervisors. Some implementation of this kind are Xenserver by citrix, Hyper-V by Microsoft and VMWare ESX by VMWare.
Type 1 Hypervisor
Type 1 Hypervisor
The second is type 2 which run on conventional operating system as normal software and allow user to run different virtual machines as guest operating systems, these operating systems can have different file systems and process management however, they see hardware completely dedicated to them even though it is not. Some of the type 2 hypervisors are VMWare’s workstation and Oracle’s Virtualbox.
Type 2 hypervisor
Type 2 Hypervisor
Let’s see these hypervisors in detail
1. VMWare ESXi hypervisor
VMware is the industry leader in virtualizing on Intel platforms. They have a comprehensive suite of software products to managed small and large environments, both for internal IT staff and for service providers offering virtualized cloud infrastructure for their clients. ESXi is type 1 hypervisor.
Now a days, ESXi hypervisor comes embedded into the server hardware and not need to buy server and ESXi CD_ROM separately. VMWare has remove the bulk of the console code which was based on Red Hat Linux kernel code and replaced that with remote command line console. This has greatly reduce the memory footprint of ESXi from 2GB to approximately 70MB.
Basic component of ESXi is it kernel also called as vmkernel. In addition to all basic functionalities of modern day operating systems, it support the feature of sharing hardware seamlessly to many users above it. Architecture diagram of ESXi is given below:
ESXi type 1 hypervisor
ESXi architecture
We will discuss each component of this architecture in detail in next few posts.
To read how WMWare has removed legacy Linux derived device drivers with their own native device driver, please refer :
Advantages of VMWare
It has been around longer and has developed as an Enterprise-grade virtualization technology.
2. XenServer
Xen is an open source hypervisor, commercialized by Xensource and currently developed by Citrix who is trying to provide a similar set of virtualization and cloud management software as VMware. It is the hypervisor used by Amazon EC2, and is available in many Linux distributions.
Xen is the only type 1 hypervisor which is open source.
Architecture of Xen hypervisor is shown in figure below
Xen Type 1 hypervisor
Xen hypervisor is very lean piece of software which run directly on hardware and manages memory and CPU scheduling. Dom 0 is special VM which has privileges to directly access hardware and it handles all the system IO.
Guest OS can Paravirtualized or Hardware virtualized based on the need and Xen can support both the types.
Advantages of XenServer
• ability to run “paravirtualized” guests, where the guest machine runs much faster by making modifications to the guest OS rather than translating everything through the hypervisor.
• It can run on older processors.
• Very small footprint (less than 1 MB as it builds on principle of micro kernel)
Good source to learn about Xen project is Xen overview
3. KVM
KVM (kernel virtual machine) is an open source hypervisor based on QEMU and adopted by the Linux community when Citrix bought Xensource and stopped playing nice with the Linux distributions.
Advantages of KVM
• It runs as a kernel module (similar to a .dll file in Windows), so that it can run on any Linux system and has even been ported to FreeBSD and other operating systems.
• KVM requires newer processors with hardware-assisted virtualization extensions (Intel-VT and AMD-V)
4. Hyper-V
Need to research on that.
5. Virtualbox.
Virtualbox is now part of Oracle. Virtualbox runs really well as a desktop virtualization platform (similar to Parallels Desktop and VMware Workstation/Fusion). Even though most people run Virtualbox as a desktop system, it works on servers too. It’s based on the QEMU emulator,
If you’ve got a Mac and want to run Windows, or have Windows and want to try Linux, Virtualbox is thing you are looking for. It’s cross-platform, which is always a winning choice.
This is for now on Hypervisors, I would incrementally add more info to this post as and when I read something good on this topic. If you any material or links that should be included here, please write in comment.
Counting permutations : Programming as an art
Counting permutations : Programming as an art
I am writing this blog on Algorithms to lay emphasis on not only the solution to the problem, but to some other aspects which get completely ignored when writing the implementation of the algorithms. To start with lets first look at the Question:
Implement a program that would find the total number of ways of picking one number each from N bags (each bag containing K numbers) such that the sum of the picked numbers is greater than a given threshold (H)? K & N > 1? Assume that the program is invoked on the command line, with N, K, input-file-name and H as parameters to the program and outputs the result to its standard output.
Brute Force Algorithm
To start with let us look at how we would solve this problem in the simplest of manner. If we could somehow manage to iterate through all the permutations, then we have to simply add the numbers selected in the current permutation and compare it with the threshold and increment the count if found greater.
The algorithm is simple and can be written as follows:
The complexity of this simple algorithm is O(KNN) since there would KN permutations and for each one of them the sum needs to be found for the N numbers in a given permutation.
Think before you Program
I had given this as an exercise to some students. I am reproducing here, without prejudice, one of the answer to highlight some of the other aspects that were completely ignored.
Biggest problem that I think in the above code is to locate where the algorithm is implemented. The program is simple and it is not difficult to locate where the real algorithm is in this program. Even though the implementation is recursive, but it is in essence doing exactly, with some optimization, what the algorithm I have written above. However, it is spread across at multiple places in the program. It is party present in the recursive method and partly in the main method.
Consider the situation when I would have to use this algorithm for some analytical reasoning in some business application and I had asked for POC to be done. Using the above implementation probably would be difficult for me, since the program does not separate the concerns by putting the logically similar concerns together and the one dis-similar separated with loose coupling.
Another big problem here is the field ‘count’ being held in a class scoped variable. This is very dangerous considering the fact one would wants to calculate the count multiple times in parallel when in production.
One concern that an architect would have is to be able to use different algorithm in different situations, and therefore will require a proper modeling of the problem. Since there is none, the architect would have to sit down and do the modeling afresh.
Art or Science
Now, the question is, whether the aspects that were missed completely in the above solution so difficult that they were completely ignored. So lets just put some thought to it and list down the high level concerns in the problem (I think this is know as the CRC [class responsibility collaboration] card). At a very high level, I see the following concerns:
1. Bag containing the numbers – I intend to model it via a interface Bag which is responsible for the following:
1. Count of numbers in the bag
2. Some kind of Iterator though the numbers in the bag
3. Min, Max numbers in the bag
4. Mechanism to hold the numbers in a particular order as desired by the algorithm
5. With a Self Cloning, Self Factory default implementation
2. Algorithm to find the count – I intend to model it via a interface PermutationCounter which is responsible for the following:
1. Name of the algorithm
2. A method to calculate the count for a given array of bags and the threshold
3. Take problem input from the screen/file and invoke the algorithm for the problem – this will be done by the main method
Simple, was it not? The advantage that one gets from this approach is that the responsibilities have been clearly demarcated and it is any bodies guess which all parts can be very easily reused. Yes, the Bag and PermutationCounter along with all its implementation can be reused. Now, lets look at adjacent diagram which captures the class hierarchy and how it is to be used by the client (for the scope of this problem it is the main method). In actual, one can experiment and decide on the strategy to follow for using the implementations. Now let me return the the point where I left the iterative algorithm for this problem. So how are the aspects present in the algorithm mentioned in the start actually implemented. The current permutation can be easily held in an integer array of same size as the number of bags. Each element in the array represents the index of the number in the corresponding bag. To start with this array will be initialized to say for N = 4 as [0, 0, 0, -1] and then can be manipulated to produce arrays (for K = 3) [0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 1], [0, 0, 0, 2], [0, 0, 1, 0], and so on till [2, 2, 2, 2]. These two methods can be present in the IterativePermutationCounter class as private method (implementation as below).
Given the above two implementations, implementation of the algorithm is as follows:
For the complete code and some interesting implementations for the problem you can request to the author.
A method to quantify the quality of software
Measurement of quality
Today, the dependence of an enterprise on IT has increased many folds than it used to be twenty years back. The business too, is changing very fast and to remain competitive, the agility of the IT infrastructure and software is essential. Virtualization and cloud provides this much needed agility to IT in the infrastructure area, but when it comes to software and that too custom software the solution is not as simple. It all boils down to how fast the software, specifically the custom software, can be restructured to meet the ever changing demands of the business. Among many factors that influence this restructuring, the biggest that comes in the way of high agility is the quality of the code and hence measurement of quality.
There are many quality metrics in the software industry that are today used to measure some aspect of the code. For example cyclomatic complexity, which measures the number of linearly independent paths through a section of program, gives a measure of the complexity of the corresponding section in some way. Is this the complete measure of the complexity? Obviously the answer would be no, since the complexity dependents on many other factor apart from the linearly independent paths. Some of the key measures are cyclomatic complexity, cohesion, coupling (for example Data Abstraction Coupling and Fan-out Coupling), N path complexity, code coverage, program size, documentation, MOOD metrics, and adherence to standards.
Software quality measurement
The quantities obtained from these quality metrics are different as they measure different aspects of the code. Simply doing a mathematical operation to some of these quantities and then adding them will give us measure e.g. Maintainability Index, but will it balance all concerns of different stakeholders? A single approach to fit all needs would be too simplistic an approach. With years Maintainability Index has been redefined many times. Following are some of its definitions:
• The original formula:
MI = 171 – 5.2 * ln(V) – 0.23 * (G) – 16.2 * ln(LOC)
• The derivative used by SEI:
MI = 171 – 5.2 * log2(V) – 0.23 * G – 16.2 * log2 (LOC) + 50 * sin (sqrt(2.4 * CM))
• The derivative used by Microsoft Visual Studio (since v2008):
sMI = MAX(0,(171 – 5.2 * ln(V) – 0.23 * (G) – 16.2 * ln(LOC))*100 / 171)
The above formulation uses V for Halstead Program Volume; G for Cyclomatic Complexity; LOC: for Lines of Source Code; and CM for Comment Ratio (lines of comment to total number of lines). This formulation for Maintainability index used the experience and skills of the individuals and organizations where they were first conceived. This has for long been an art and highly dependent on the skills of the individuals and the data he/she is working with. Note that with experience only have the individuals/ organization been able to find constants or mathematical functions which have given results matching the expectations on the code at hand.
In my experience with developing and maintaining software for many of my organizations customers, I have seen the concerns change over time in the same engagement. The index such as the above still gives the same measure and therefore becomes less applicable. From engagement to engagement, since the priorities vary, the use of same index again is less applicable. Maintenance engagement, I have noticed, are more focused towards maintainability. So would be the case with products which are mature. Development engagements, however, are more holistic but then tend to focus on the maintainability aspect as the product being developed becomes mature.
The quality metrics sited above are not the universe. There are bound to be changes in them itself and addition of newer and smarter metrics. Architects and managers would certainly want to use them too.
A more mature method is, therefore, required to be developed which is independent of the quality metric in question and treats all the quality metrics in a similar manner. With quantities produced from such a method, it would be easier to alter the index based on the concerns relevant at the time and still be able to correlate it with the indices values obtained in the historical times.
Why should such a quantity exist?
To answer this question, I would like to consider the example of two applications along with the quality metric ‘cyclomatic complexity’. Let me call them A1 and A2. Let these two applications have similar number of code artifacts. Application A1 has most of the code artifacts with cyclomatic complexity in the 1-3 range. While the application A2 has most of the code artifacts with cyclomatic
complexity in the 8-10 range. Note that the Industry best practice for this quality measure is 10. So the question is do the two applications considered in the scenario have the same code quality?
Obviously the answer is no. The artifacts in application A1 have cyclomatic complexity less than that in application A2. This in turn means that the artifacts of application A1 are simpler than that of application A2. The graph of two applications when plotted in the manner shown above makes this fact very obvious.
Notice, in the graph above I compared two applications. Let us for this moment assume that we have a mathematical formulation which can compare two applications in the manner shown in the graph above and give us a quantity. What if we were to compare each application with a hypothetically perfect application of similar size? Now with the assumed mathematical formulation we can obtain a quantity for both the applications and can use it to compare the two applications.
Now, what is such a mathematical formulation? One would be tempted to use average as the formulation, but then average will not cover the essence present in the graph. If one dwells further into the statistical quantities, the quantity that covers the essence of the graph above is the general correlation coefficient. Here, the correlation is on the count of code artifacts having a particular range of values of the quality metric with a hypothetical perfect application. Note that it is very simple to qualify a similar sized perfect application. All the counts would be in the range that is considered best from the quality perspective for that quality metric. The formula that I will use for correlation after deriving it from the general correlation coefficient will be as follows:
The scores ai are derived by subtracting the quality metric value of the code artifact i from the value that is considered best for that quality metric. This is to be done for all artifacts that are not at the desirable levels (It should be ensured that these values are negative). For the ones that are at the desirable levels the value obtained for the quality metric is to be used. However, if the quality metric is grouped in k groups with the ith group having the assigned score as ai and the count of artifacts from the application lying in the ith group is ni (given that ∑ni=1ni = n), the above formula will change to
Now let us look at some good formulations for this quantity for a given quality metric. The table below shows some scenario of different kinds of application where the counts for the quality metric is split into three groups viz. good (2), average(-1) and bad (-2).
Quality Metric Grouping Artifacts Count for Application Classification
Perfect Bad Bad Bad Below Average Below Average Average On the edge Good
Good(2) 50 0 0 0 25 25 25 35 40
Average(-1) 0 50 0 25 0 17 25 15 7
Bad(-2) 0 0 50 25 25 8 0 0 3
Expected quantity < 0.2 < 0.2 < 0.2 < 0.4 < 0.4 < 0.65 < 0.7 > 0.7
τ -1 -1 -0.948 0 0.197 0.316 0.625 0.709
(1+τ)/2 0 0 0.025 0.5 0.598 0.658 0.812 0.854
[(1+τ)/2]2 0 0 0 0.25 0.358 0.433 0.659 0.729
Notice that the spread for bad applications correlation value lies between 0.5 to -1 while for applications average or better the range of correlation lies from 0.5 to 1. This leaves very little scope of identifying good, on the edge, average applications. Thankfully, since the number is between -1 and 1, squaring or cubing the number will result in increasing the range where we want it to be increased. Squaring (and keeping the sign) reduces the range for bad applications by making it from 0.25 to -1 while increasing the range for the rest type of applications by making it from 0.25 to 1. Also notice the calculation (1 + τ)/2 just changes the whole range from [-1, 1] to [0, 1]. Since [(1 + τ)/2]2 gives a very good value in comparison to the value I was expecting for each type of application.
The method to quantify the quality or measurement of quality of software provides a way to calculate a correlation value for different code quality matrices. Since the value obtained are all correlation values, a weighted addition can easily be done to arrive at an overall score. The weights can be so chosen to be in line with the key concerns of various stakeholders relevant to the software. Such a score is not dependent on the skills of the individual and therefore have greater significance and can be used in many ways.
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Legal empowerment is a term used in to describe the struggling of minority racial, religious or economic groups. Here though it is referring to the individual and the rights of the individual, which by the same criteria has become a minority. There are two main contributing factors in the steady downward legal mobilization of individual rights. These are: 1) lack of legal awareness' and 2) 'lack of access to legal empowerment tools.' Legal empowerment is knowing the law, using available 'para legal tools' like dash cameras, and legal smartphone apps, to make the law work for you.
Many today do not trust the legal system due to the widespread systemic abuse individuals have historically been subjected to by the more powerful. The tools you will find herein are grass root justice tools; “they take the law out of books and courtrooms, and makes it available and meaningful to ordinary people.” Get tools to enhance your capacity to exercise your rights.
Endangered rights
This section contains cutting edge tools and resources for protecting and exercising orphaned and forgotten rights. Here you will find products, services, videos, interactive maps, graphs, organizations, locators, pamphlets, infographics, fliers, and information all about rights which are under threat of becoming extinct.
countersuveillance & suosveillance
While government and institutions steadily increase surveillance of individuals, Countersurveillance and Suosveillance Tools have empowered individuals to counter their intrusions and even watch back. Because of portable camcorders and phones, millions have been able to protect themselves in car accidents, against abuse of power, and even record phenomenal events like meteor strikes. Get tools to stop surveillance and watch back.
activist toolkits
Get tools and resources employed in 21st century activism. These tools have been compiled into activist tool-kits which can be useful in legislative research, promotion, organizing, community assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, advocacy, boycotts, protests, court, etc...
legal protection tools
These tools empower individuals within our present judicial system. Everything from legal apps to contract generators, Legal Insurance Providers, Civil Rights and more.
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World War One: The Jump in the Evolution of Warfare
Updated on November 6, 2011
World War One
On the out break of war in 1914 no one predicted what a violent and bloody stale-mate it would become. The conflict was 'meant' to be fought in rapid set piece battles with lines of infantry and mounted cavalry. The war was to be ‘over by Christmas’ it was famously claimed.
In August 1914, on the out break of war, the cavalry were 'meant' to play an important role; The first action that any British forces experienced was, classically, a cavalry charge. This traditional start to the war left the British forces in high hopes. Putting them in exactly the wrong frame of mind for what was to come. Roughly 8 weeks after the war began the cavalry are dismounted and used as regular infantry to plug holes in the line. A fitting marker of the end of 'traditional warfare'.
This huge change in warfare over such a short space of time is down to some obvious, and some rather mundane, inventions and ideas that forced armies on both sides to change their tactics; changing warfare for ever.
The Railway
This cavalry unit within the intelligence section of the army were to report that an estimated 500,000 German soldiers were heading towards the British Expeditionary, who had only 100,000 men. The British high command could not believe this. It seemed impossible that the German army could have massed that many men and have them moving so quickly.
The answer to this was the strategic German rail system; parts of their system had been specifically designed to carry troops to the borders. 11,000 trains took 5 million men to the front in just four weeks.
The Maxim Machine Gun
The Maxim machine gun was the first full automatic and it had no recoil. The inventor was an American, as such, he sold his invention to countries that would be on both sides when conflict broke out 19 years later. They were brought in huge numbers by both sides in Europe. By the 1912 the Victors company (British) had made a lighter more reliable version of the Maxim called the Maxim.3, it could fire 10 rounds a second.
The Lee-Enfield rifle
Accurate at 600 yards it was the longest range standard rifle of any army in Europe at the out break of war in 1914. The average trained soldier could let off 25 aimed shots a minute. An example of the superior killing power of the rifle is the first major battle between the German and British forces. Firing over a canal a British force of 1600 is estimates to have killed 6000 Germans.
75mm French gun
The standard French 75mm gun in the early 20th century had a hydraulic system to absorb the recoil, meaning only the barrel rather than the entire gun moved. Before the introduction of this system guns would have to be re-sighted every time they were fired, now they could be fired immediately after, the hydraulic system was soon used in all heavy gunning equipment. Combine this with a new loading system and the average gun crew could rain down 24 shells a minute in one specific place; the birth of the artillery barrage.
The Birth of the Trenches
With the new threat of co-ordinated artillery barrages the troops need somewhere to hide from such deadly fire power. A temporary system of trenches was ordered to be dug, just as a hiding hole from which to launch attacks from. However, because of the strategic important of the cover and the usefulness of them in logistical problems each side was soon fighting for each others cover; The birth of trench warfare and the stalemate that was to claim millions of lives.
More and more men digging more and more trenches soon led to what we now know as the western front.
That was information on the main inventions that I’m sure spring to mind when you think of the First World War. However, some less thought about inventions had great impact on how the war was fought.
Barbed Wire
Another less thought about invention, with a HUGE impact on the tactics of the war, is barbed wire. This invention would put an end to cavalry charges and seriously slow down any infantry trying to get though the lines. An example of barbed wires importance would be when 200 cavalry men were killed in 6 minutes because their horses could not get through 2 single coils of barbed wire. They were picked off by rifle men until finally they had to retreat.
The Telephone
Before the First World War armies were commanded by Generals on horse back on the front line. But the armies of WW1 were far too large and far too spread out for this to be possible. The telephone allowed orders to be sent from miles away to all troops who it concerned.
Tinned and Canned Food
The invention of the preservation process means that rather than having to get food to the front line from hundreds of miles away the army could just stockpile canned food much the same as they would with ammunition. They would not have to leave during the winter as they would have had to in the past; they could fight all year round.
These developments gave much more of an advantage to the defender compared to the attacker. The railways were only tactically valid to the Germans when fighting on the borders of Germany, machine guns were excellent stationary but very difficult to move quickly, food stores were only useful when you are close to them not advancing forward and telephones were not portable and it took on average 2 days to set up an effective operator centre. The war was at a stand still because they could not counter the defensive effectiveness of these pieces of technology.
If you are more interested in other aspects of World War One, such as the causes or main events, there are tons more articles on HubPages of really good quality.
The Causes of World War One
World War 1 life in the trenches ww1
World War 1 1914-1918 WW1
Topic Hub: World War One
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• profile image
Dayanara 2 years ago
Sophia Loren was also know for being fashionable dirnug her times. And yes, she was right that women should dress like a barbed-wired fence, no one must touch while you're wearing it. It's for your eyes only to appreciate it.Born27 recently posted..
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Sam_clarke69 4 years ago
it really helped withmy assignment, cheers
• jaskar profile image
jaskar 5 years ago from England
thank you. I could not see a hub on the subject without barbed wire, its one of the first things myself (and im sure many others) think when I think of the first world war. without barbed wire it would have been a different type of war.
thank you again for you valid comment.
• UnnamedHarald profile image
David Hunt 5 years ago from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
I enjoyed reading this article and was surprised to see mention of barbed wire. As you accurately describe, the use of barbed wire is usually overlooked-- it's not very glamorous-- but it played a big part in trench warfare. Combine acres of barbed wire channeling soldiers in predetermined paths with machine guns and you've got a lot of very dead men.
Again, very nice.
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The DLL File Is Missing: What Does It Mean?
by Thomas King
You may receive an error message stating "Windows cannot find the filename.dll" or "A required .DLL was not found" or something similar. This means that your computer is missing a dynamic link library (DLL) file or a required DLL is corrupt. Fortunately, this problem can be fixed.
Dynamic Link Library (DLL)
A dynamic link library (DLL) is a module used by the Windows operating system. The main characteristic of a DLL is that it can be used by several applications at the same time. While a different copy of the DLL data is sent to each application, the programs share the DLL code. This reduces the amount of memory used and helps your operating system run more efficiently.
An error message stating that a particular DLL is "missing" can be caused by several things. A program that was recently uninstalled removed a DLL that was required by another program, a program that was recently installed overwrote a DLL, a bad installation of a program corrupted a DLL, a malicious program such as a computer virus removed a DLL or hardware issues like a bad hard drive is causing the error messages.
Missing DLL errors can often by fixed by installing the latest Windows updates. To do this, click "Start," type "Update" into the search field and click "Windows Update" in the results list. Then, click "Check for Updates," click "Install Updates," and "Finish." The latest Windows updates often include repairs to common errors, including missing DLL errors. In addition to installing the latest Windows updates, you should run an anti-malware program to remove any malicious programs that may have removed a DLL.
Download and Register a New DLL
If you are still receiving an error message stating that you are missing a DLL, you will need to download a fresh copy of the DLL and register it. There are several online sites that will allow you to search for and download the missing DLL. Once you have downloaded the DLL to your computer, click "Start," type "cmd" into the search field and press "Enter." The Windows Command Prompt opens. Type "regsvr32 name.dll" (without the quotation marks) into the Windows Command Prompt and press "Enter." Note that name.dll should be replaced with the name of the DLL that you downloaded. The DLL is now registered. Restart your computer and the error message should no longer appear.
About the Author
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Peer Support in Mental Health Recovery
“To understand”peer support,” it’s important to look at the meaning of the word “peer.” “Peer” is a relational term that indicates a connection or relationship amongst two or more people based on similar attributes, characteristics or experiences. We often speak of “peer pressure” to describe experiences within groups of young adults, or “peer reviewed” when professional articles are read and approved by others in our same professional area. “Peerless” links people through commonalities and similar experiences.
“Peer Support,” then, is when people who share these comparable experiences offer each other encouragement, empathy, hope, consideration, respect and empowerment from the vantage point of experiential understanding. The “been there, done that” connection creates a unique understanding and eliminates the power and authority typically associate with helper roles.
It is worth noting here that sometimes systems have a tendency to get too literal and too lax about what constitutes a commonality relevant enough to consider two or more people “peers.” It is equal parts mistake to assume that people need to, for example, have the same diagnosis or same type of distress to offer one another peer-to-peer support, as it is a mistake to assume that all people who have been diagnosed or received mental health services will fit for one another. Sometimes, simply being human with one another is enough. Other times, the commonality may be more specific like both having heard voices, both having been dependent on Social Security Disability Income, both having experienced involuntary hospitalization, and so on.
Peer Support is not a new phenomenon-it has existed in some way since the dawn of human beings. It is a natural tendency for us to seek out those who have walked similar paths and can truly understand us.
Within the Mental Health Recovery frame work, peer support grew out of a human rights movement, as well. In the 1970’s people who saw themselves as having survived the hospital experience were connecting with each other, offering support and validation that they were recovering (despite what they had been told was possible or not), and uniting in the righteous indignation at the abuses they had endured as part of what they told was treatment. People bonded together to not only provide mutual support, but to change the way things were done so that others wouldn’t have to endure the same abuse they had experienced. Unlike others areas of peer support, mental health has always included a segment of people who have taken on the mission of speaking out about conditions within mental health services and exposing it to the public to advocate for change. This dates back to 1800’s with the written works of such people as Katherine Packard, John Percival and Clifford Beers, the founder of Mental Health America.
Out of the falling call against hoe things were came the mission of having an active role in facilitating the change process. “Nothing about us without us ” became a familiar mantra borrowed from the disability rights community at large), and writings like “On our own” by Judy Chamberlin were published to offer guidance for peer-run supports as a more humane alternative to traditional systems of care.
Peer Support took their place as stand-alone, peer-run organizations separated from mainstream services. Some people were paid and others were volunteers, but either way, supports were provided by individuals who were themselves in recovery. Some organizations functioned as drop-in centers: others had a more educational approach, while others played more of an advocacy/activism role.
Over time, partnerships between public behavioral health professionals and people with persona experience developed, and more representatives were invited to participate in planning, developing, delivering and evaluating mental health services. Pioneering agencies created roles for people in recovery,and state agencies began to create liaison roles, often called “Office for Consumer Affairs.” For the most part,however, peer supports were in the community, trying to influence change from the outside, strategizing for ways to be invited to the tables and trying to get the message of recovery to people in any way possible. Peer Support was offered within these community settings in a variety of ways, from 1:1 support and encouragement, educational classes like Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), empowerment and leadership forums, etc.
While many agencies were developing a desire to incorporate more peer roles, the lack of funding streams was a primary barrier. In 1999, Georgia was successful in getting approval for a dedicated “Certified Peer Specialist” role in their state Medicaid. This became the catalyst needed for a ground swell of change in peer support within traditional mental health systems. What started out as peer support groups and “consumer-run” organizations has now evolved to include formal peer supportive behavioral health agencies, complete with a training curriculum to ensure that people working in peer roles meet predetermined competency criteria before engaging in support roles. Both informal and formal organizations have valuable roles in the overall system and enhance the spectrum of recovery support options.
It’s also worth noting that-concurrent to the development of peer roles-many organizations have also re-visited the idea of supporting all of their employees to have more latitude to self-disclose about personal experiences. Although, disclosing as a clinician does not make the relationship peer-to-peer, many are now finding value in sharing experiences across many borders that were previously considered uncrossable.
One group that has done some intentional work on the exploration of self-disclosure in clinician environments is the Transformation Committee in Massachusetts. In 2007, they produced a document called,”Promoting a Culture of Respect: Transcom’s Position Statement on Employee Self Disclosure in Mental Health Service Workplaces.”
For those interested in reviewing the statement, it can be found at: Feb 23 2007.pdf
Reference: National Council For Behavioral Health- The Providers Handbook on Developing & Implementing Peer Roles By Lynn Legere of Lynn Legere Consulting
Recovery is possible for every individual
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Saturday, September 6, 2008
CSS Tutorial
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It is a way to divide the content from the layout on web pages.
How it works:
A style is a definition of fonts, colors, etc.
Each style has a unique name: a selector.
The selectors and their styles are defined in one place.
In your HTML contents you simply refer to the selectors whenever you want to activate a certain style.
For example:
Instead of defining fonts and colors each time you start a new table cell, you can define a style and then, simply refer to that style in your table cells.
Compare the following examples of a simple table:
Classic HTML
With CSS (assuming that a selector called subtext is defined)
While CSS lets you separate the layout from the content, it also lets you define the layout much more powerfully than you could with classic HTML.
With CSS, you will be able to:
- define the look of your pages in one place rather than repeating yourself over and over again throughout your site. (Ever get tired of defining colors and fonts each time you start a new cell in a table? Those days are over with CSS!)
- easily change the look of your pages even after they're created. Since the styles are defined in one place you can change the look of the entire site at once. (Ever get tired of replacing tags throughout your site when you want to change the look of a certain element? Those days are over with CSS!)
- define font sizes and similar attributes with the same accuracy as you have with a word processor - not being limited to just the seven different font sizes defined in HTML.
- position the content of your pages with pixel precision.
- redefine entire HTML tags. Say for example, if you wanted the bold tag to be red using a special font - this can be done easily with CSS.
- define customized styles for links - such as getting rid of the underline.
- define layers that can be positioned on top of each other (often used for menus that pop up).
Your pages will load faster, since they aren't filled with tags that define the look. The style definitions are kept in a single CSS document that is only loaded once when a visitor enters your site.
The one disadvantage is:
- these will only work on version 4 browsers or newer. However, more than 95% of all browsers live up to that.
The CSS syntax is made up of three parts: a selector, a property and a value:
selector {property: value}
The selector is normally the HTML element/tag you wish to define, the property is the attribute you wish to change, and each property can take a value. The property and value are separated by a colon and surrounded by curly braces:
body {color: black}
If the value is multiple words, put quotes around the value:
p {font-family: "sans serif"}
Note: If you wish to specify more than one property, you must separate each property with a semi-colon. The example below shows how to define a center aligned paragraph, with a red text color:
p {text-align:center;color:red}
To make the style definitions more readable, you can describe one property on each line, like this:
text-align: center;
color: black;
font-family: arial
You can group selectors. Separate each selector with a comma. In the example below we have grouped all the header elements. All header elements will be green:
color: green
Class Selector:
With the class selector you can define different styles for the same type of HTML element. Say that you would like to have two types of paragraphs in your document: one right-aligned paragraph, and one center-aligned paragraph. Here is how you can do it with styles:
p.right {text-align: right} {text-align: center}
You have to use the class attribute in your HTML document:
This paragraph will be right-aligned.
This paragraph will be center-aligned.
Note: Only one class attribute can be specified per HTML element! The example below is wrong:
This is a paragraph.
You can also omit the tag name in the selector to define a style that will be used by all HTML elements that have a certain class. In the example below, all HTML elements with class="center" will be center-aligned:
.center {text-align: center}
In the code below both the h1 element and the p element have class="center". This means that both elements will follow the rules in the ".center" selector:
This heading will be center-aligned
This paragraph will also be center-aligned.
Do NOT start a class name with a number! It will not work in Mozilla/Firefox.
id Selector:
With the id selector you can define the same style for different HTML elements.
The style rule below will match any element that has an id attribute with a value of "green":
#green {color: green}
The rule above will match both the h1 and the p element:
Some text
Some text
The style rule below will match a p element that has an id with a value of "para1":
text-align: center;
color: red
The style rule below will match any p element that has an id attribute with a value of "green":
p#green {color: green}
The rule above will not match an h1 element:
Some text
CSS Comments:
You can insert comments into CSS to explain your code, which can help you when you edit the source code at a later date. A comment will be ignored by the browser. A CSS comment begins with "/*", and ends with "*/", like this:
/* This is a comment */
text-align: center;
/* This is another comment */
color: black;
font-family: arial
Selectors are the names that you give to your different styles.
In the style definition you define how each selector should work (font, color etc.).
Then, in the body of your pages, you refer to these selectors to activate the styles.
For example:
In this case B.headline is the selector.
The above example would result in this output:
There are three types of selectors:
The general syntax for an HTML selector is:
HTML selectors {Property:Value;}
For example:
HTML selectors are used when you want to redefine the general look for an entire HTML tag.
The general syntax for a Class selector is:
.ClassSelector {Property:Value;}
For example:
Class selectors are used when you want to define a style that does not redefine an HTML tag entirely.
When referring to a Class selector you simply add the class to an HTML tag like in the above example (class="headline").
SPAN and DIV as carriers
Two tags are particularly useful in combination with class selectors: and
Both are "dummy" tags that don't do anything in themselves. Therefore, they are excellent for carrying CSS styles.
has a particular importance for layers. Since layers are separate blocks of information.
is an obvious choice when defining layers on your pages.
The general syntax for an ID selector is:
#IDSelector {Property:Value;}
For example:
ID selectors are used when you want to define a style relating to an object with a unique ID.
This selector is most widely used with layers (as in the above example), since layers are always defined with a unique ID.
Grouped Selector
Most often selectors will share some of the same styles, for example, being based on the same font.
In these cases, rather than defining the font for each and every selector, one by one, you can group them, and thus assign the font to all the selectors at once.
Look at this example, made without grouping:
As you can see, the only style that varies is the font-size.
In the next example we have grouped the selectors, and defined the common styles at once.
Less to type, easier to change and guaranteed to be the same for all styles.
CSS can be added to your pages at 3 different levels.
It is possible to create CSS styles that only work for the single tag it is defined for.
Single tag CSS is used when the style is used in a single place on the entire site.
Usually a certain style appears more than once on your pages, and thus you should use the second technique: adding styles that are defined once for the entire page.
If, however, that certain style is used on more than a single page, you should use the third - and most powerful - technique described: adding styles that are defined once for the entire site.
The following Sections will explain each of these techniques....
Single Tags / Inline Style Sheet
CSS can be defined for single tags by simply adding style="styledefinition:styleattribute;" to the tags.
Look at this example:
You should limit your use of single tag CSS.
If you define your styles for each and every tag they're used on, you will lose much of the power associated with CSS.
For example, you will have to define the style over and over again whenever it's used, rather than just defining it once and then referring to that one definition whenever it's used.
Furthermore, if you wanted to change a certain style, you'd have to change it all over in your document, rather than in one place.
Single Pages / Internal Style Sheet
CSS can be defined for entire pages by simply adding a style definition to the head section.
Look at this example:
In the above example, although we used the sublines style twice, we only had to define it once: in the section.
By defining styles for entire pages, you will gain the freedom to easily change the styles even after the entire page has been made.
This is an obvious advantage for you as a designer. But the advantage is on the visitors side as well.
Since the styles are only defined in one place, the page size will be smaller, and thus faster to load.
There is a way to emphasize these advantages even more: using external CSS styles that work for entire sites.
Entire Sites / External Style Sheet
CSS can be defined for entire sites by simply writing the CSS definitions in a plain text file that is referred to from each of the pages in the site.
Rather than writing the entire CSS definition on each page, as in the previous examples, you can write it to a text file that is only loaded on the first page that a visitor sees at your site.
When the visitor jumps to other pages, the CSS text file will be cached and thus doesn't have to be transferred via the internet for subsequent pages.
This means that your pages will load faster while at the same time you will have extreme flexibility to change the style for your entire site even after it has been made.
Look at this example:
File: example.html
The above example is the exact same as we used for CSS defined for entire pages, with one important exception:
There is no style definition on the page. Instead we added a reference to an external style sheet:
This means that the browser will look for a file called whatever.css and insert it at the place where the reference was found in the
html document.
So in order to complete our example we need to have a file called whatever.css that looks like this:
File: whatever.css
Now if you just add the line to the of all your pages, then the one style definition will be in effect for your entire site.
Imagine the power and flexibility this gives you to make changes to the layout even after the site is done.
But also realize how using an external style sheet will guarantee that all pages are following the same thread.
There won't be single pages that you forgot to update when you decided to change the style for your headers.
At this point of the tutorial you should know:
All we need now is a walkthrough of the various style attributes that can be assigned.
We will divide them into three categories:
CSS has several options for defining the styles of text.
These options can entirely replace the tag, but there's even more. CSS allows you to define these styles much more powerfully than you could ever do with plain HTML.
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Sunday, February 27, 2011
Bullying Doesn't Help Anyone
I want to start with this clip that I found about a young boy who was made fun of for his hair color. It definitely sends a strong message to younger kids or teenagers that they need to stand up for one another. A child who is bullied needs someone to stand behind him or her for the confidence. The child who stood up for the bullied child really knew that he needed to interfere and the only way for children to learn this is by teaching them. It is our jobs, as potential teachers to show kids that they need to help each other out, despite their differences.
As for the GLSEN website, I wish more people knew about this website. I know many people must know about it, but there are plenty who need to take a look. This website, or components of it, could be taught in a classroom. It will give children an opportunity to see that there are ways to connect with people if they need the support. (If they fall into one of these categories. Or even if they don't then they can at least have hope that there is some one out there who is feeling the same way that they are.)
I was reading this article and it is disgusting how many secondary school kids are being made fun of because of their differences. The statistics are absolutely horrifying! And it is really upsetting that the kids do not have enough confidence in their teachers to help them overcome their issue. Teachers should be there for the kids so it is the teacher's job to make sure each individual child knows that they can seek guidance from any teacher.
Once again, I feel a little naive. I do not remember too much bullying in high school. I must have been in my own world, or didn't even care if someone made a rude comment. I know that there is bullying because I watch my brother go through this in middle school and it is always tough to get past. Bullying is all about making fun of the kid who isn't the same, but I always liked to be different. Kids should embrace their individuality and the earlier they learn this in life the better.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Public Language
"But I couldn't believe that the English was mine to use. (In part, I did not want to believe it.)"
Richard felt that, because English was not his primary language, he could not use it. He felt uncomfortable using it. For example, I can understand little Italian and maybe say a couple of things, but I would never be able to just speak it because that is what everyone is speaking. Within the article, this quote signifies how Richard was in a school where he had to speak English, but he didn't seem to know it well enough to speak it. He tells the reader that he often mumbled when asked a question because he was unsure of himself. A person should not have to go through school feeling uncomfortable with his culture.
"In and instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that had revealed and accentuated our family's closeness."
It is terrible that a family would have to start speaking English all the time just because that is the 'public' language. This quote is an example of the culture of power. It seems like there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to speaking in the United States when there really is no correct way at all. Richard explains to us that there is so much emotion and meaning behind his primary language, Spanish. The whole article is based on how Richard's family had to give up a piece of their culture to fit in. Not only was this just a change in languages, but it was a change in how the family communicated. The children did not feel as comfortable talking to their parents once they knew that had to speak English all the time.
"Though his English improved somewhat, he retired into silence."
Richard tell the reader how his father could speak some English, he felt that it was better to just remain quite most of the time. This goes back to the way Richard felt in class, when he would rather mumble answers than speak aloud. His father's accent was still strong enough that even at the dinner table with his own family, he would take the 'backseat' so to speak and let his wife take control of grace. This is not a way of life. It is a shame that a family member decides to keep quite than to speak. The word gringos is brought up many times. Richard's father would say it derivatively with such intense meaning, but it lost it's intensity once he had to speak English frequently. A family should not lack communication because of the languages.
Is there a reason why parents can't teach their children their primary language? It seems like children with more than one language can learn better because of the diversity. People should be able to keep their culture, as long as they can actively participate in the culture around them.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Men and Women Vs. Black and White
Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege was a great article! It is all about how black people are less privileged than white and she compares the races to men being more privileged than women. McIntosh explains to us that privileged doesn't necessarily mean being "favored", but it means that some things are better than others. I do not look at myself or my family as privileged, until after I read this article, that is. I am not wealthy and I do not have many expensive possessions. After reading this article, I learned that there are more things that can make a person privileged, such as being able to walk into a hair salon and knowing someone can take care of my hair.
My roommate last year was black. She came from Jamaica and she had many cultural differences; more differences than I thought two people could have. Sometimes, when we were going to bed (if we happened to go to bed at the same time, which was rare) I would ask her about her culture, her hair routines, even why she was always late. We would joke about our conversations but I learned so much about how she did things. For example, her hair was a whole day procedure! Who knew. I wash my hair every day but she could only do it certain days and with certain shampoos. Unbelievable!
There is more to just shampooing in life, though. On a more serious note, McIntosh really caught my eye when she described being able to criticize her own culture because it was the dominant one. I think about when two black people sometimes address each other with the N-word. Only black people can say it to each other and they are fine with it but once a white person says it then all hell breaks loose. I was walking to class one afternoon and I walked by three black guys. I know one of them and he is very nice. But as I walked by, I heard one of them say that word. I felt rather uncomfortable and I'm not sure why. I was always told never to use horrid language such as that, but it's ok for them to say it? Double standards I think.
This article was so engaging with all the points that McIntosh made that when she brought up Combahee River Collective's "Black Feminist Statement of 1977", I decided to do a little research. I found this very interesting about how this group is trying to defeat all of the less privileged groups of people, such as racism and sexuality. It is quite a tough world, and I am only starting to see a small part of it. I never realized how privileged I actually am, when I always thought otherwise! This is a hot topic to discuss because I wonder if I am the only one who feels this way. Am I really that naive?
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Q: My cat constantly rips out the hair on her sides to the point that she has bald spots in those areas. Is this an allergy or skin disease and what can I do to stop her behavior?
A: Hair pulling in cats can be due to a multitude of conditions that include medical and behavioral issues. It is important to take the rest of the cat into consideration to try to determine the underlying problem, so a thorough physical exam is vital for proper diagnosis and treatment.
A close examination of the skin will help rule out skin issues such as fleas, bacterial infections, fungal infections and other skin diseases. After a thorough skin examination, a full pain assessment exam is next to try and determine if there is pain associated with the areas or near the areas. Pain can cause strange behavioral changes such as hair plucking, skin chewing, and skin licking, as well as other behavioral issues such as hiding.
Older cats should get x-rays to rule out any spinal arthritis or other areas of discomfort that might be the underlying issue causing the hair pulling. Next, performing full blood work with a urinalysis is recommended to rule out urinary issues and other metabolic issues.
If everything is normal and an underlying medical issue cannot be associated with the hair pulling then there are two other conditions that need to be considered.
In some cats, food allergies and environmental allergies can cause hair plucking behavior and most of the time the skin looks completely normal. Unfortunately, allergies are difficult to diagnose and sometimes we must try medical management with food changes and medications to treat these issues.
If all is normal and allergy medications do not stop the behavior then this likely is a behavioral issue. At this point, I recommend looking at your cat’s environment and “stress” level to determine if there anything that you can do to make sure your cat has special private spaces to be alone and can get away from any dogs or other cats that might be causing issues in the household. There are also behavioral medications that can be used temporarily in stressful situations to help with behavioral issues.
Q: My grand-daughter is 10 years old and wants to become a veterinarian. What are the steps she must take to accomplish this goal?
A: It is a worthy goal to want to become a veterinarian and there are many paths a person can take, so taking the “right” path should not be the focus. The focus while in school should be to get good grades and try to enjoy all topics, not just science.
Although it’s natural to look first at the medical side of veterinarian medicine, which is very important, it is also vital that veterinarians have excellent communication skills to effectively communicate with their clients. Learning a foreign language would also be a great tool as would working in the public service industry or with people in general, not just animals.
I recommend participating in after school activities to broaden your skills and to pursue foreign travel as much as possible to fully expose yourself to other cultures and differing animal welfare issues.
Above all else, I recommend getting exposure to veterinarian medicine by volunteering, working with, or shadowing multiple veterinarians and practices so that you are clear about what it takes to be a veterinarian.
Experience in multiple practices with multiple veterinarians can help you experience the reality of the profession. It also allows you to gain the perspective of different veterinarians and get information about their paths to the profession as well as help you with relationships that can be used to get important recommendations for future applications.
Veterinary medicine can be a very fulfilling career but takes dedication and commitment to reach the goal. Good luck!
Dr. Julianne Miller is a Flagstaff veterinarian. She can be reached at drmiller@canyonpet.com.
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Top blue bar image Comp327: Introduction to Computer Security
Blog and homepage for Rice's Comp327
Hacking the internet. All of it
Researcher’s at the University of Minnesota have come up with a bot net attack that could theoretically take take a large portion of the internet. It is a scalable distributed denial of service attack that exploits the way routers send ouf BGP updates(border gateway protocol). It basically involves using the botnet to have send out a ton of BGP updates saying that a given router is dead, causing the other routers connected to it to have to recalculate the route for packets. As more and more routers are affected, the amount of computation each router has to do would sky rocket, causing each router to have more updates than it could handle. Apparently the attack is unlikely because the people malicious people with the technical knowledge to do it would be motivated by profit and have little interest in a DoS attack. Here’s the link to the article: link
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Self-alignment of photonic wires by optical forces
Laser light may have significant mechanical effects on microscopic objects. We have theoretically demonstrated that a silicon photonic wire that is broken by a gap and an offset may tend to self-align by the forces generated by the very light it guides. The two parts of the silicon wire, each of cross-section dimensions of a few hundred nanometers, tend to bend to form a continuous wire. Conversely, depending on the geometrical parameters, the light flowing inside the waveguides may cause the two parts to deflect away from each other. These novel effects we present may be used for nanoscale machines on a silicon chip. The results suggest the guided light may hold a silicon wire cantilever in stable equilibrium or vibrate it, with application in sensing of nanoscale objects.
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North Korea's
Hydrogen Bomb
Prabir Purkayastha
ON September 3, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – or North Korea, as it is usually called by the media – tested a hydrogen bomb, with a yield estimated to be around 120 kilotons, eight times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. This, combined with the recent ICBM tests that show North Korea can reach the western shores of the US with its missiles, is not just a game changer between the US and North Korea stand-off . It is virtually game over. The US has failed in its attempts to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programme.
The only way forward is to re-start talks between North Korea, the US and other countries. Continuous threats of annihilation by US military leaders, and Trump's tweets of fire and brimstone, are not helping to move away from the nuclear brink.
The latest nuclear weapons test by North Korea is much more powerful than what it tested a year back. It is either a full-fledged hydrogen bomb, or a boosted fission device. A hydrogen bomb uses a two-stage explosion – a first stage involving a nuclear fission trigger that in turn leads to the fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a separate compartment. In a boosted fission device, a standard fission stage is seeded with heavy isotopes of hydrogen, increasing its yield significantly.
In either case, North Korea's nuclear capability has taken a quantum leap. For those who might remember India's nuclear tests, there was a lot of doubt whether India's hydrogen bomb test was a boosted fission device or a hydrogen bomb. It matters little. What matters is its yield – and at 120 kilotons, the world will have to accept that North Korea has indeed entered the nuclear “club”.
A day before the test, Kim Jong Un visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute. The pictures released by the North Korean state TV shows a warhead that has the shape of a two-stage hydrogen bomb, and is small enough to be mounted on Hwasong-14, the North Korean ICBM. North Korean tests in July and August have shown that it can reach the West Coast US cities with its missiles. With this test, it has demonstrated its ability to miniaturise its warhead, and inflict a much bigger damage than estimated earlier. The only remaining question is whether it has developed the necessary heat shield to protect the warhead from being destroyed on re-entry. The US can scarcely gamble on North Korea not having a proven heat shield in a nuclear exchange with North Korea. In geo-strategic terms, North Korea has now reached a “deterrence stage” with its nuclear and missile programme. The problem of course lies in this crazy theory that believes the only way to mutual peace lies through stock-piling enough weapons to destroy each other, and the rest of the world.
Both China and Russia have argued that North Korea should stop its provocative acts of missile and nuclear weapons tests. But they have also asked the US not to engage in equally provocative military exercises like the one the US carried out recently near North Korea's borders with hundreds of thousands of troops. They have asked both sides – North Korea and the US and its allies – to step back and engage in talks.
While the US presents North Korea as a “rogue state” with a “mad” leader, the fact remains that the US has engaged in invasions, regime changes, wars and military occupations over the last 70 years – including the only use of nuclear weapons. There is also no example in history of a small nation attacking a militarily far bigger one, and risking certain annihilation.
And after Bush's declaration of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the Axis of Evil, North Korea regards itself as a US target for regime change. With Saddam and Gaddafi, having given up their nuclear and chemical weapons, and subsequently suffered the consequences, it is unlikely that North Korea will give up either its nuclear weapons, or its missile options.
A number of analysts have argued that to protect itself, North Korea is taking the only rational course. Senator Dan Coates, the director of National Intelligence, said in July 2017 in the Aspen Security Forum, “And there is some rationale backing his actions which are survival, survival for his regime, survival for his country, and he has watched I think what has happened around the world relative to nations that possess nuclear capabilities and the leverage they have and seen that having the nuclear card in your pocket results in a lot of deterrence capability. The lessons that we learned out of Libya giving up its nukes and Ukraine giving up its nukes is unfortunately if you had nukes, never give them up. If you don't have them, get them...”
North Korea sees itself under threat of US and South Korean invasions. The frequent military exercises with live ammunition and mimicking invasion of the north on its border is recurring irritant. The only agreement that exists between North Korea and the US, is a temporary truce, the 1953 armistice. The US has turned down any effort to reach a permanent peace with North Korea.
The US, and the global corporate media suffers from complete amnesia, when it comes to the 1950-53 Korean War. The US dropped more bombs on North Korea than it did in the entire Pacific arena during the Second World War. The US killed an estimated of 4-5 million Koreans during this War. Not a house was standing in North Korea after three years of carpet bombing. General McArthur, who was relieved of his command for wanting to use 50-100 atom bombs in Korea, in his testimony said, “The war in Korea has already almost destroyed that nation of 20,000,000 people. I have never seen such devastation. I have seen, I guess, as much blood and disaster as any living man, and it just curdled my stomach the last time I was there. After I looked at the wreckage and those thousands of women and children and everything, I vomited …” (Hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, and Foreign Relations, Eighty-Second Congress, 1951)
The US claims, which Trump has recently tweeted, is that there is no point in negotiating with North Korea, as it does not keep its promises. It is the US that has repeatedly reneged on its promises to North Korea. North Korea not only kept its side of the bargain, it allowed its nuclear reactors capable of producing significant amounts of plutonium to become junk. It is these agreements starting with the 1994 Agreement that delayed North Korea's nuclear programme by at least a decade.
Jeffrey Lewis, writing in 38North.org, a website on the Koreas, writes, “The fundamental logic of the Agreed Framework was sound. North Korea had a small, unknown stockpile of plutonium in 1994. It was on the verge of having much, much more. The United States successfully froze that stockpile – a freeze that lasted eight years...when the Bush Administration chose to “shatter” the Agreement...”
Clearly, UN sanctions without any desire to talk to North Korea is not working. Can the US now walk back to the negotiating table and restart the process? Not just of missiles and nuclear weapons but of the whole of gamut of issues. Including that of permanent peace in the Koreas. A nuclear war in the Koreas will take down not only North Korea but also South Korea and Japan. North Korea is clearly not blinking with Trump's bluff and bluster. The US has to not only to speak to China and Russia about North Korea, but also listen to them. Something it still refuses to do.
William R Polk, a veteran foreign policy consultant, author and professor, served in the State Department’s Policy Planning Council during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In his recent two-part article in ConsortiumNews.com, Polk concludes,
I am convinced that it will not be possible in the foreseeable future to get Kim Jong Un or any conceivable successor to give up deliverable nuclear weapons. Thus, there can be no “success,” as described in current policy statements by the Trump administration. But, arrangements can be created – by enlisting China and Russia as partners in negotiations and by renouncing threats and such damaging (and ineffective) policies as sanctions – to gradually create an atmosphere in which North Korea can be accepted as a partner in the nuclear “club.”
Failure to move in this direction will leave us, at best, in the limbo of fear and the possibility of stumbling into war. This is obviously a gambit that may fail. What is clear, however, is that none of the alternatives has worked or is likely to work. To embark on this path will require a degree of statesmanship, which we may not have.
Will the US and its president be willing to tread the difficult path to peace? Or are we, as Polk says, in the danger “of falling off the edge into the dark void of nuclear war.”
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27th December, 2015 towards Red Brigade
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Assembly General Election
Assembly General Election
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Monday, July 31, 2017
hope, courage, vision, analysis (Cornel West quote)
Quote from Cornel West, Race Matters:
That Thing That I Do, It Has a Name (Other-Race Effect, V)
Sometimes people just look like other people.
Case in point, right:
Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
I loved that movie, and I had no problem telling the actors apart––because I'd seen them both many times before.
But I see the problem--what if you hadn't?
The Guardian uses that example in the article, "Why Do People of Other Races All Look Alike?", about the neuroscience at work when people "find it difficult to distinguish between individuals of other races".
Like I have proven, with chagrin, that I do.
So, there ya go:
it's A Thing, of course, the thing I, a white person, did with mixing up the names of two of my black coworkers who look superficially alike.
Yesterday I did it again with another set of coworkers--black men this time, who look a little like each other, but not, really, a whole lot––and I could tell, within myself--
with the little shock when I instantly realized I'd done it--
that somehow I wasn't reading my black coworkers' faces with the same fine-tuning as I do white people's faces.
Because, as I said when I first wrote about this, I haven't known many black people well because I live with the socio-political legacy of slavery and centuries of unmitigated racism in the United States that has hardened into unofficial but entirely real physical and economic segregation.
And that's how racism comes into it, to answer one blog-commenter's question.
I just now googled "recognizing facial features of other races" and up pops "cross-race effect":
The cross-race effect (sometimes called cross-race bias, other-race bias or own-race bias) is the tendency to more easily recognize faces of the race [or ethnic group] that one is most familiar with (which is most often one's own).
In social psychology [and other fields], the effect can be seen as a specific form of the "ingroup advantage"...[2]
The phenomenon was first written about in 1914 by Gustave Feingold:
--"Influence of Environment on Identification of Persons and Things"
And here, from that article from the Guardian, 2011, about research into the "underlying brain mechanisms" at work when people "find it difficult to distinguish between individuals of other races":
[Researchers at the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University] interpret the results to mean that same-race faces are encoded elaborately, with an emphasis on the unique facial features that help us to distinguish one person from another.
Why does this happen?
In my case, I'm sure it's the first reason, and not much the second, if at all, because, as I wrote, I'd talked to all the people involved, being always very interested--(even have been told I'm "nosy")--in people's unique attributes--their stories and psychology, etc.
Another blog commenter here had suggested it was racist of me to think my misnaming had anything to do with racism, and had asked if I wouldn't misname people with red hair or old white women too.
Indeed, there's a variation of this effect that applies to hair-styles and to age:
Similar biases have been found for aspects other than race. There is an own-gender bias, although evidence suggests that this comes down to hair style recognition. Also, there is own-age bias where people are better at recognising people of a similar age as themselves.
I've worked closely with and have always had friends among old people (and am getting to be one...), and I've never caught myself mixing them up.
But I can imagine misnaming someone by their hair, if I saw them from behind.
But is this the same as misnaming black people?
Would that it were that meaningless.
The difference is, if you aren't misnaming someone because of a social, historical inequalities [racism, in my case], it's usually experienced as simply an amusing slip, and it wouldn't bother me.
I know misnaming black people is not neutral:
"For black people, being mistaken for someone else can have a special sting, which might explain why the movie star Samuel L. Jackson [below, left] eviscerated a white TV reporter for mistaking him for Laurence Fishburne [below, right].
"'We may be all black and famous, but we all don't look alike!' Jackson exclaimed. He proceeded to ridicule the reporter, refusing to move on despite profuse apologies."
--"Jackson Outburst Highlights 'Other Race Effect'"
Research shows that people can get over this through becoming aware and working on changing their perspective. Which I am doing.
As for Damon and DiCaprio, Hollywood should stop casting guys who look just like other guys in the same movie, or at least give them distinguishing haircuts and costumes.
Friday, July 28, 2017
AI Bob and Alice Talk Between Themselves
Lucinda sent me this article, "Researchers shut down AI that invented its own language"--from Digital Journal (7/21/17), about an artificial intelligence system at Facebook that started making up and using its own efficient and logical language.
Turns out human language is not that.
Reminds me of the Star Trek episode "The Changeling" in which a computer goes around the universe trying to destroy all life forms that are imperfect--including the crew of the Enterprise.
[screencap from TrekCore; quote from above article]
Laura in Glacier
I had no idea the US National Parks host artists in residence, until my friend Laura called me and asked to practice her interview with the administrators at Glacier National Park.
She's there now, their artist of the month--e-connectivity is spotty, but the view is worth a million bucks, she says.
She sent me this photo of Lake McDonald she took right outside her cabin.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Art Sparker incorporated this butterfly stamp I'd sent her into one of her "left art" cards (she's the one who gave me the idea for these)
--from her Instagram:
She wrote, "I really liked the way the stamp cancellation stood in for the movement of the butterfly’s wings."
A Yorkshire Standpoint (Other-Race Effect, IV)
Maura told me my recent posts on race and my distress about mixing up the names of my black coworkers [which I have since learned is called "other-race effect"] reminded her of a book, The Everyday World As Problematic, by sociologist Dorothy E. Smith.
"The everyday world is not fully understandable within its own scope. It is organized by social relations not fully apparent in it nor contained in it." (Smith, 1987)
I looked Smith up (Wikipedia), and see she was born in Yorkshire, in 1926 (she's still alive)--I just note that because blogger Cathy is from there!
Small world.
Smith developed the Standpoint Theory--like a theory of relativity for social sciences, it says "reality" is subjective:
it depends on the position of the viewer, and we should factor that into our thinking––a point we now take more or less for granted (or maybe not...).
From Wikipedia: Noteworthy Standpoint Theory Example
Smith often uses this particular story as an example of Standpoint Theory:
"One day, while riding in a train in Ontario, Smith observed a family of Indians standing by a river, watching the train pass by. After having made these assumptions, Smith realized that they were just that; they were assumptions, assumptions that she had no way of knowing were true or not.
"She called them 'Indians,' but she couldn't have known what their origins were. She called them a family, which could very well have been not true. She also thought they were watching the train go by, an assumption that emerged solely based on her position in time and space, her position riding in the train, looking out at the 'family.' [4]
"For Smith, this served as a representation of her own privileged position [as a sociologist], from which she made assumptions and imposed them on the group of 'Indians.'
It helped lead her to the conclusion that experiences differ across space, time, and circumstance, and that it is unfair to create society––and ruling relations––based on only one point of view/being.[5]"
In other words:
"Recognizing that knowledge and understanding are embedded in social structures, standpoint theory begins in a Marxist rejection of liberal claims of “objective” social research, and instead calls on social scientists to begin inquiry in social structures and processes with the standpoint of the marginalized." --(via
Huh. Must go to the library and get this book.
The Last of Fandom
I came home last night (from having drinks with my coworkers at a sports bar) to an email from the editorial director:
my fandom ms is on its way to the printer!
And the director loved it.
Until the director signs off, there's the possibility that the writer (me!) might have to make some substantive changes.
But no.
The director wrote,
"It's your best work yet. It’s fascinating, fun, funny, well organized, deeply researched, and beautifully written—and so darn smart. And profound, actually, the material you're working with."
"Profound", I suppose, because as I've written about before here, I chose––due to limited space and the age of the intended readers (thirteen to eighteen years old)––to focus on the theme of how fans create all sorts of "fix-its" to balance mass media's skewed representation of underrepresented social groups.
(The overarching theme is HOW they do that--the various social and electronic technologies they use, invent, share, etc.)
In the ms, I only touched lightly on the facts that fandom is just as much, or even more, about erotic desire and that it's a "gift giving" economy that flourishes in capitalism---(though that's changing a little as fans find ways to charge money for their works...).
Because I skimmed over those fascinating and central parts of fandom, I felt the book was maybe lacking, but the director's enthusiastic review let me believe that it's good, as it is.
I'm relieved, honestly.
And, of course, secretly pleased with myself.
Now I'm off to a house-cleaning gig.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Little Nicks to the Spirit (Other-Race Effect, III)
Some friends here and elsewhere are asking me about the post I wrote about being unhappy for calling a black coworker by the name of another black coworker.
I feel like I must have left out a lot of background, or it would have been clearer. So, if you're interested, bear with me, please?
I want to try to fill in some blanks.
I. Starting with Little Old Queer Me
Why do I care so much about misnaming someone based on their appearance?
What I did is normal (not to say that makes it OK--more on that later); I caught myself and apologized; and my coworker, I'll call her Deborah here, has since connected with me as if it never happened---we talked about astrology, for instance, and she said she likes Pisces (my sign).
Of course, if it happens to you all the time, you might well gloss it over––consider it, if you even do consider it, not worth getting upset about, especially if you can tell the person didn't mean anything by it, which was the case here.
I care because it--being named based on appearance, and misnamed at that--happens to me, and I HATE it.
I don't want to do it to others.
For me, I am identified and misidentified mostly re my sexuality.
In 1977, when I was a teenager, I came out as lesbian.
You who are my age will remember this was not an easy time to be gay. I always, always felt nervous, and when I say I "came out", that's not really true--I never told people casually.
And so people always assumed I was straight.
The normal default question at the time was, "Do you have a boyfriend?" not something neutral like we'd ask now, such as "Are you dating someone?" or "Do you have a sweetie?" or something.
So I have that experience of knowing something about me was ... socially iffy. Even possibly risky.
I spent about twenty years in lesbian-feminist culture--a very particular culture, blending the consciousness-raising of above-ground feminism with the more underground experience of the gay minority subculture (gay bars didn't have signs in the 1970s and even in the '80s--you had to know where they were), plus the subversion of gay liberation.
"The personal is political" was the guiding philosophy.
In 1984, Lucinda (bink) and I got together, and one year later, Rock Hudson died of AIDS--the first public figure to reveal his diagnosis (though he said it was probably from a blood transfusion...).
AIDS started to devastate the brother culture of gay men, and the president wouldn't even say its name or fund research to halt it.
This didn't much affect lesbian health, but it totally impacted the culture, in terms of political consciousness, much of which is transferable to the politics of race.
A dozen years later, I fell in love with a man.
It was confusing and uncomfortable, like having a mild but ongoing intestinal disorder.
I broke up with Lucinda and had an affair with this guy.
He was married---another underground experience, and morally problematic in a way lesbianism never, ever was for me (I mean, I never saw sex between free, consenting humans as a moral problem)--and wow, I've gotta say, the way people feel free to condemn you for adultery is like nothing else I've experienced––except, weirdly! the way some people have condemned my mother, to my face, for taking her own life. One woman told me my mother had committed was "the only unforgivable sin."
Uh, so... Then I dated men for a while, but I don't really connect well with men, on an intimate emotional level. So I gave up the whole partnership thing, pretty happily, I must say.
(Both my parents were longtime single---I think maybe my family does pretty well, maybe even better, as single, cultivating friends rather than a lover or spouse.)
BUT... people still read me as lesbian.
Out of loyalty to my younger self and to my community, I don't mind that––in fact, it's something of a compliment, like, "I see you as an independent being"––
but I hate, hate, hate that people just ASSUME what I am.
It's quite, quite blatant.
A couple years ago, a married guy I knew slightly said,
"I'm glad you're a lesbian."
"I'm not a lesbian!" I said.
I think he meant that he was attracted to me and felt safe because if I were a lesbian, it couldn't be mutual. (Which right away isn't necessarily true anyway--though it was true in this case I would never have been attracted to this man, but not because I was lesbian. Which I'm not.)
Also, people have assumed that Marz and I were girlfriends.
(I know because bink told me at the time--also people have since told me.)
This creeps me out a little because, while we were romantic friends and are still, after some upds and downs, still close and affectionate, I always felt parental toward Marz, who is thirty years younger than me.
At any rate, why didn't people just ASK?
It is such a horrible feeling to be labeled without your consent---and mislabeled at that. If you haven't experienced it, I'm not sure how to describe it--maybe it's as if people walking past brushed you with the sharp edge of a feather.
Except when it's repeated over and over.
II. And then there's poverty
I hope I don't sound like I'm preaching: I know you all know race is linked to poverty and privilege.
And that privilege in the United States isn't so much about having money to buy stuff---there's so much stuff (so much stuff!!!), we are drowning in cheap crap.
There is the financial side, of course––you don't have to worry about your car breaking down, because it's new!––but it's also about having options and confidence and hope, and about how other people automatically grant you dignity.
Poverty is about constant, low-grade humiliation.
It means working low paying, part time jobs where there's no chance of going full time with benefits; you have to punch out for unpaid half-hour breaks (which they only give you because they're required by law); you don't get free coffee or anything; and where they check your bag every time you leave the building. (All that's policy where I work now).
I learned most of what I know about racism + poverty by riding the bus. All my life, as a white woman, I've been given a pass by bus drivers if I'm short on bus fare.
Over and over and over again, I've seen white bus drivers give black guys a hard time.
One driver called the cops---the actual city police--on a black man who argued with him about being 25¢ short, argued in a friendly, funny way!
When the driver put in the call, I went up and paid the quarter, but the driver said it was too late. The cops came and escorted the black man off the bus, and patted him down on the sidewalk.
I got off the bus and said, "He didn't do anything!"
One of the cops turned, looked at me with cold eyes, and said, "Move along, ma'am."
Let me tell you, if you didn't know, having a cop give you the cold eye is very scary.
I repeated what I'd said, but I moved along.
III. Mind the Gap
So... I've said that what I did, misnaming my coworker, was normal. More on that.
First, I want to be clear that I know, because I was there, that I called my coworker Deborah out of her name, not to insult, but because I saw her first as black.
I'm not unusual here for reflecting the culture around me––how not?––and I'm not blaming myself, as if I'm personally a bad person.
The cognitive biases I have around race are common, normal American things to have---they turn up in tests where people take a fraction of a second longer assigning pleasant words to the faces of black children than to white children.
Oh--hey, I found it--you can take the test, hosted by Harvard University:
Project Implicit Tests
Project Implicit is a research project, started in 1998, that "investigates the gap between intentions and actions." The PI tests collect data to investigate "thoughts and feelings that exist outside of conscious awareness or conscious control. "
I took their Race test, which "indicates that most Americans have an automatic preference for white over black."
Heh, I just now took it, and my result was the opposite:
Perhaps because of me feeling bad, misnaming my coworker? You could say it was a minor incident, but by writing and thinking about it, I've called it into my consciousness.
Anyway, it's not a judgment on me as a person, it's not a moral issue, it's just a tragic situation that I am caught up in, that I--that all Americans--have inherited.
And denying that does no one any good.
Perhaps by becoming more aware of it, I will be less likely to pass it on unthinkingly.
IV. Call Me By My Name
Some people have kindly suggested I forgot my coworker's name, the same as I would the name of a white person.
Of course that happens, but I have to ask you to believe me that in this case, I know that I didn't just forget her name, or I wouldn't have felt bad about it the way I did--it was not the embarrassment of an etiquette breach, but of something less meaningless.
It's a common enough name, but it's pronounced with the accent on an unusual syllable, like De-bo-RAH, so I'd made an effort to remember it.
And I'd not only worked a couple shifts with her, I'd ridden the bus with her, and she'd told me some things about herself.
One story that stays with me is that when she was in high school, a friend who was five-months pregnant took a cab to school one day because she felt sick. On the way, she started to gush blood. The taxi driver took her to the ER, but was angry at her:
"Who is going to pay to clean up this blood?" he demanded.
That wasn't Deborah's point, though. We were talking about health care, and her point was that this young woman's preemie spent a year in the hospital and now is fine.
No, I knew her name, and I knew even as I called her the wrong one that it was a Freudian slip, that I was replacing her name with her race---it was one of those little, revealing accidents of speech that betray a subconscious bias.
I called her out of her name because I saw her first as "black".
You know, this is both a tiny little thing, and a massive huge one.
Names are political.
Here's an article along those lines by Dr. Rebecca Boylorn, an African American professor, about not being called by her title, and how that means something different for a black, female, working class professor than it does to a white male who might choose to have a student call him by his first name:
"On Being Called Out My Name"
OK. I hope that clarifies where I'm coming from, for those who asked.
It helped me to spell it out a little more.
Here's another privilege I notice all the time at work:
the privilege to assume unthinkingly that I have a right to ask questions.
And that asking questions is a Good.
Right? Socrates asked questions!
I say that as an argument in its favor.
Those who don't have privilege might point out,
And look what happened to him.
It's a matter of perspective, like with To Kill a Mockingbird.
For white people like me, it's a feel-good book about a heroic resistance to racism.
But if you read it from Tom Robinson's perspective, it's a story about how black people can't get justice, even when good white people stand up for them.
When I realized that (belatedly), all of a sudden I realized why some black people rejoiced when O. J. Simpson was found not-guilty.
People who say they don't see race, they are essentially saying they don't see history.
And we know where that leads.
So--thanks for the comments and questions, which gave me this chance to try to get my head straight (as it were).
Monday, July 24, 2017
I said that wrong. (Other-Race Effect, II)
I have to leave in 15 minutes to catch my bus for my 5th shift in a row--a bit much on my legs, but my body has adjusted, but I want to say, wow, am I running into different communication styles at work!
To begin with, there's me. I put it wrong in my last post--I wasn't saying I was a racist--just not "not a racist"--that is, not immune to soaking up and acting in a way that reflects the racist society I live in.
We need a new word for that (maybe it exists?), since "racist" can mean anything from that to the guy who shot up the black church.
I acted in a way that reflects the inbuilt racism of the society I live in: I didn't like that I did that, but it doesn't reflect my beliefs.
But of course the way we act without thinking, bypassing the frontal lobe, does reflect some big, maybe parallel reality, and it can be disturbing to see it in action, in one's own self.
But then, ha--my workplace is so different than the up-to-date Social Justice Warriors on Tumblr, for instance, who are so super aware of unconscious slips (micro-aggressions and the like), they are likely to tip the other way---into represesion and censorship of speech.
They keep such a tight rein on their speech, who knows what's going on.
And at my new work, it's unreconstructed speech.
I have to laugh---it's kind of refreshing.
A customer told me she was buying clothes to go to a wedding of her old girlfriend and that woman's girlfriend.
And one of my coworkers, a black woman, said,
"Oh, I'd love to go to one of those kinds of weddings!"
Ha. I had just been working with my editor to write a caption for a photo of trans actor Ian Alexander that didn't sound like we were presenting him as a side-show---"here's one of those kinds of actors."
But my coworker clearly meant it with friendly respect, and I was glad the customer took it that way---and so did I.
This job is like the opposite of my editing and writing work, which is all about finding what's wrong, or somehow off, figuring out why and coming up with other options.
At the thrift store, yesterday I asked for clarification of some vague policy and set off some chain reaction that I still do not understand, but it ended with 3 people (2, managers) telling me, basically, not to ask because they couldn't answer.
And now I'm going to catch the bus! XO Fresca
Follow-up post: "Little Nicks to the Spirit"
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Social Work (Other-Race Effect, I)
NOTE: One week after I wrote about this, after doing it again (aargh!), I searched further and discovered it has a name:
I am acting out the Other-Race Effect, which I posted about:
That-thing-that-i-do: it-has-a-name.
Also related: Implicit Bias
"Implicit racial bias tends to work against the same groups that are the victims of the type of overt racism that you hear from white supremacists or the subtler bigotry of people who believe that racial minorities suffer from cultural pathology or who actively defend racial and ethnic stereotypes.
But it can also affect the minds of people who would say — honestly — that they are horrified by these types of attitudes. That's because the implicit associations we hold often don't align with our declared beliefs.
"As Cynthia Lee, a professor at the George Washington University School of Law, has explained,
'The social science research demonstrates that one does not have to be a racist with a capital R, or one who intentionally discriminates on the basis of race, to harbor implicit racial biases.'"
[End NOTE]
Last night, without thinking, I called one of my black coworkers by the name of a different black coworker.
I caught myself as soon as the wrong name was out of my mouth, and apologized, but there was no taking it back, and yet another black coworker standing there laughed and commented on it incredulously, "You think she's A__?"
I'm embarrassed that my racism showed, and chagrined that I caused my coworkers some slight dismay (even if amused).
I feel a little awkward writing about this, but I want to record it, so I can SEE it. From the beginning at this job, I decided to see myself and my coworkers from the pov of an observer--like an embedded journalist.
I chose to adopt that not because of race and social issues, but because I wanted to avoid getting over-involved in how the place is managed, to avoid resentment.
But I'm also getting to see at this job, in real life, how I am permeated by and play out the race divisions in my country, which play out in economics, like oil and water.
It's somewhat unusual, in my experience, for white people like me, from a middle-class, academic family, in a historically largely white part of the country, to take a low-paying job, once we're out of high school, at least, where we'd work with working-class people, which means a lot more people of color than there are in publishing.
[In the sixteen years I've been working with the children's book publisher, I've worked with.... zero people of color there.
Can this be???
*thinks hard*
People like me just didn't grow up knowing a lot of black people well (or at all), unless they were, like, the children of professors from Nigeria or something (or, now, of the president of the United States--ha, ha, I mean the former president! it's like I forgot...).
A white friend from South Carolina, in contrast, told me when he moved up here, he was shocked by the subtle racism, having grown up in a state with some of the worst race history.
[The Confederate flag flew over the courthouse until 2015---and is still a live issue:
From July 8, 2017---that's 13 days ago:
The S.C. Secessionist Party will host a flag-raising for an event marking 'two years since the initiation of the politically correct cultural genocide we have seen sweep across the Southland,' organizers wrote on Facebook".]
Racism was more overt there, my pal said, but he was used to black and white people constantly interacting--you wouldn't misname someone because you weren't used to seeing their features.
I'm not condemning myself here, but I'm under no illusions that I am "not racist":
How would that even be possible in this country?
Of course I hold the usual white, liberal person's views about racial equality and all that, but in the USA, we live in a society so permeated with race divisions, it's inevitable that we all take them on, and I've done little to counteract that actively:
I don't know many black people, personally, and it showed in my unconscious misnaming, to which you could assign the horrible, old "they all look alike."
OF COURSE I don't believe that,
consciously, and the coworkers whose names I fudged have a slight similarity (short, plump, young women), but hey--the proof is in the pudding.
I pondered afterward if I've done the same to white people--called them by the wrong name.
Yes, of course.
But I find in myself a difference:
I'm not great with names, and at SP thrift store there were several white, middle-aged women who looked very much the same, and whose similar names (Jane, Claire--not similar in sound, but similar in social feel) I confused.
But here's the thing:
I knew I wasn't sure of who was who, so I just didn't use their names.
I truly don't know because I don't want to ask––most of my coworkers don't ask questions, usually, and I don't get the sense they welcome them either–– but I don't think most of my coworkers went to college.
However, there's a young, white woman who dropped out of college recently. She and I have discussed books, travel, and other things that come with class privilege, a bit; I was reading Into the Wild, by Jon Karkauer, in the breakroom, for instance, and she asked me if I'd read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, which I had.
When it came up later with one of my black coworkers that this white woman and I were both from Wisconsin, she said,
"Oh, yeah, you remind me of each other."
I don't think it's Wisconsin we have in common. In fact, we come from very different towns.
But you know, mixing up people who have more social power (simply by being white), doesn't have the same insulting sting, doesn't carry the same obliterating charge.
Meanwhile, I was happy last night to have a small conversation about religion with a Somali-born, Muslim coworker.
He asked me what religion I am, which made me happy, and we had a tiny discussion--he was saying as a Muslim, he can't take loans with interest to pay for school---he's going to train as a med tech.
I told him I'd studied religion, and he was very interested---I got the sense he'd like go to the U himself--he knew they have a religious studies major--but I gather that's not practical for him now.
He's young. Maybe later.
That's a huge difference I sense in immigrants and children of immigrants: it's not money, it's that idea, "maybe later I will go on".
I saw that in my own father:
as the child of immigrants, he wanted to get up and out, and never thought he couldn't.
Ayayay, it's complicated. But it's fascinating, and even if I put my foot in it, for which I'm sorry, it's worth stepping into more closely.
Follow-up post: "Little Nicks to the Spirit"
Quote from Cornel West, Race Matters:
― Cornel West, Race Matters
Hot Dog, Happy Cats
It's hot. L&M's wire-fox terrier, Astro:
My father's cats, Harry (orange) and Ciccina (calico), went to live with his (and their) good friend, his next-door neighbor, where they are already happy, and go well with the rug.
Friday, July 21, 2017
Dapper Doll
It was the right thing to do, gathering all my toys on the couch. Sitting among them, I could decide which one to start working on.
It was the crocheted person I'd rescued from SP thrift store, who was a tube from the neck down. She looked like a formless washer woman, akin to those dolls whose crocheted lower-halves cover toilet paper rolls
I gave her a neck and arms, with hands tucked into white trousers-- formerly a huge circular skirt. I sewed leatherette rounds on the bottoms of her legs, so she stands up. With shirt buttons, belt bead, and a vintage button bow tie, she's a dapper doll.
Marz has borrowed the camera back, so here's a laptop photo:
And this is what my couch looks like now:
It makes me happy and proud.
I was shocked when a neighbor came by this morning, saw me sewing the doll, and said, "Watch out you don't turn into one of those old ladies with so many toys you can't sit on your couch."
I said, "But, I'd be OK being that!"
[watch this space]
What is this impulse to clean up?
My sister emailed last night that she'd brought back our father's (once our mother's) sewing basket for me, as I'd asked, which is very nice, but then she said,
"And I just went through it and got rid of all the tangled threads and things."
Nooooooo! I wrote right back, asking her to get them out of the trash, if possible: "Those thread nests are one the wonderful, unique things you can't find anywhere except in old sewing baskets."
Thankfully, she could and did rescue them.
"Now you say it," she said, "I can see how lovely they are."
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Good Behavior for Memoirists
Blogging is nonfiction, creative journalism, sometimes fiction, and sometimes it's memoir on the hoof.
A big question for me when I'm writing about my life is how to handle other people in it.
I usually don't write much about other people because I don't want to use them, or get them wrong.
(I don't much like writing such as David Sedaris's that relies on using other people's intimate lives for material.)
But some people are integral to my life, like my father, and I do want to talk about that, and about them. Then I wrestle with how much I need to expose them in writing to get my story across.
What I wrote yesterday, for instance, was a lot longer to start, with examples to illustrate what I meant by my father not always being "nice." But then I figured my main point was that I couldn't trust him to be nice, and now that he's dead, I'm released from that problem; you could fill in the blanks for the details, which don't much matter.
I'd hesitated to write about that at all, but I was surprised when I told a friend who'd had a good relationship with her late parents that my father's death had improved our relationship, and she burst out, "Me too!"
So, I figure it's A Thing, but not a thing people say much––and maybe simply because of that, it's worth saying, and I should say it.
So I did.
The obituary my sister wrote for our father is a good example of how unreliable memoir is. She didn't end up using Wordsworth, but she did write about our father almost soley from her perspective, with a result so glowing I can barely see the man I knew through it.
Fair enough, it was far more important to her, so I just offered a little editing. I didn't much care what she wrote until she e-mailed the obit to friends, saying we had written it together.
Aargh! Then I was angry that she would present her experience as mine. No!
It was a great reminder of how I want to be careful about how I write about other people.
From Tracy Kidder's Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction
Some Basic Rules of Good Behavior for the Memoirist
Say difficult things. Including difficult facts.
Be harder on yourself than you are on others. The Golden Rule isn't much use in memoir. Inevitably you will not portray others just as they would like to be portrayed. But you can at least remember that the game is rigged: only you are playing voluntarily.
Try to accept the fact that you are, in company with everyone else, in part a comic figure.
Stick to the facts.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Commence, Again
I. Toy School Photo
The toys, most of them, have gathered this morning, one week after my father's death. I had thought it might be a memorial, but they are not interested in death:
they decided it was a school photo, like at the beginning of the school year.
(I don't know how the toys know things--it's very selective.)
I'm ready and wanting to get on with the Stuffed Needy Animal Rescue Project (SNARP), repairing and clothing them. Some aren't even re-stuffed yet. Tan bear with black ears (third from left, back row), has no stuffing at all.
scroll right, for full photo > > >
II. Repair
I want to say clearly that I'm sorry my father has died.
Until a few months ago, when liver cancer started to take him down, he was in robust good health for a man in his eighties, and he would have relished another six healthy years, like his sister, my auntie, who turns 92 next month.
I wish he'd had them.
But here's a thing I hadn't expected:
My relationship with my father has vastly improved, now that he's dead.
I liked many things about my father.
But all my life, I couldn't trust he'd be nice to me or to other people. When I was little, I never wanted to invite friends over. He might be very nice. Or he might not.
I never have to worry about that again.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Giving and Releasing
On the day my father died, Marz took me to the art institute to see a statue of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
(Japan, 13th century; cypress wood with lacquer, gold, and inlaid glass: full image here)
I'd never seen it before.
I especially like how the hands seem to be both offering and releasing.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Rabbit Ears & Cucumbers
To me, they're all sci-fi gadgets:
But the customers do.
Ha. Yes.
She raised her eyebrows, and agreed.
"My father killed himself," she said.
My Father, Happy
My sister chose this photo of our father for his obituary, which I love--it catches my favorite side of him, doing some silly dance in his p.j.s.
From 2015, he's eighty-four years old here (January 1931–July 2017), on the beach in southern California where he and my sister went on vacation several years running--he liked to watch the seals and whales nearby, and pick up feathers.
The full picture of my father is much more complex, of course, and involves far darker qualities, but as his body goes to cremation tomorrow, I feel free to remember this, his endearing side, first and foremost.
My father took the Eeyore I rescued & restored for him to California, and Eeyore is going on this last trip with him too.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
"Something your hand touched..."
Lucinda read this quote at the memorial for my father yesterday:
Sort of unexpectedly, it's from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Today I go to work at the thrift store for the first time in a week (luckily I'd taken most of the week off for something else; death took its place).
I feel just a little nervous, going back into the world, but also it's very, very welcome--I'm so glad I have a job to go to, not more writing work alone at home, and I'm totally ready, and needing, even, to be around strangers and stuff and other distractions again.
My intention (fingers crossed) is FINALLY to set up the sewing machine this coming week (after I've done all the dishes from the memorial) and start on all of that--touching fabric and thread and buttons.
Thank you all for the emails and comments--the contact and kindness means a lot, and I appreciate it:
your words are a kind of touching too.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
For my father, "with a merry heart..."
(Marz brought the camera back, just in time.)
Italian Afternoon (la felicita)
I'm (unexpectedly) having fun preparing for my father's memorial lunch today.
I was a little dismayed that it's going to get hot today, after several cool days, but then I thought, no, that's correct:
it fits the spirit of the family gatherings for the birthday of his mother, my grandmother, every August
––minus the obligatory-for-the-era uncle in plaid shorts, black ankle socks & sandals, stirring a huge vat of spaghetti sauce, who always grabbed the females a little too closely and kissed us a little too sloppily––
but that creepy uncle (Uncle Larry!), long dead now, is like a gateway to some of my happiest childhood memories.
I'm listening to a CD Italian Café: my favorite song is "Juke Box" (on youtube)
"Juke box e una magica invenzion, ... la felicita... [happiness], con Sinatra e Johnny Rave , Franky Lane e Doris Day..."
My sister just emailed me our father's work ID from the 1980s.
I laughed: he looks like a character in a Coen Bros. movie--not a gangster, my father actually had a touch of the laid-back Dude about him:
"All the dude ever wanted was his rug back, man.
Could we get the father back for that? :)
OK, back to house cleaning, and arranging olives & salami...
Friday, July 14, 2017
In Memoriam (Lunch)
i. The Menu
Strong emotion makes me sleepy, and I've been sleeping a lot since my father died (gosh, only two-and-a-half days ago). I think some funeral rituals are helpful simply because they make you get up and get dressed... and maybe even clean the house.
I was just now looking at an old glass peanut-butter jar full of pearl buttons, thinking that if I were someone else, I would be spending this afternoon hand-sewing a little, treasurable favor for everyone who is coming to the home-made memorial I am holding for my father in my small apartment tomorrow.
Instead, I am figuring out the ratio of sleeping-time desired to house cleaning–time required.
I did manage to go out and about to gather for the memorial some of the Italian foods my Sicilian grandmother served for casual gatherings:
salami, cheese, bread, fresh fruit, Jordan almonds (Italian in origin), and red wine.
Ignoring my grandmother's advice that "the cheapest wine is the best,"
I splurged ($65) on Amarone della Valpolicella, which we never drank.
I only tasted it a few years ago.
It's amazing: made from semi-dried grapes (raisins), but not sticky sweet--it's a dry red wine (insert something about chemistry... )
Photo, right, of the grapes, drying over the winter.
ii. Marking the Change
Funeral rituals get you out of bed, but they're also important for me because I need to mark the event, to help make it real. Death is so weird---the psyche has a hard time accepting someone has gone forever. It doesn't compute.
I woke up this morning thinking that losing my father to a natural death is a million times easier than losing my mother to suicide.
It was much harder simply to take it in, when my mother killed herself. I dreamed, and still sometimes dream, that she's not really dead: once in a dream, I ran into her in Australia, where she'd been living for years but hadn't bothered, somehow, to write.
I'd arranged a big funeral for her--I really needed the big guns to mark her death, and I very, very much appreciated the many people who came and the many cards people sent. Now, not being on Facebook, I haven't heard from many people and haven't reached out to many either. It's fine. I've invited only a handful of old friends to this memorial for my father--there'll be a couple readings, but mostly it's lunch. *
iii. Time and Chance
I think I'll read my father's favorite Bible passage---the bit from Ecclesiastes about the race not going to the swift, but chance playing a major role in how things turn out for people's lives. **
That sums up my father's political philosophy, that people who succeed give themselves too much credit if they think they are better than others: usually they're just luckier than others who're trying just as hard or didn't get a chance even to try.
My father was a professor of political science, whose politics (everyone deserves the dignity of choice, I guess sums it up, even if their choices are dumb) were shaped by growing up during the Great Depression in the industrial city of Milwaukee, the son of hardworking but impoverished immigrants.
He always spoke with deep bitterness of the way the government relief workers would visit the family's home, to make sure they weren't lying about their need for clothes, and how the government-issued shoes had orange soles, so the children who had to wear them to school felt marked out. His father, my grandfather, was a violent, brutal man, but my father always said he was made worse because he was a proud man who'd been made to feel humiliated.
iv. Different Landscapes
My sister is writing our father's obituary for the newspaper. Earlier today we spoke on the phone, and she asked if I had any suggestions for quotes to include.
I suggested the Ecclesiastes bit, saying our father was always an Old Testament Christian (insofar as he was Christian at all, which wasn't much)--he even said as much, and it summed up his odd mix of New Deal + Libertarian politics.
She paused.
"I was thinking more of the Romantic poets," she said."Like 'Travelling,' by Wordsworth--it reminds me of our wonderful trips together."
I can't think of any sensibility much further from [how I see] my father's.
What can I say?
Every person is many different people; my sister and I share the same biological father, but we knew different ones.
My father's favorite book, so far as I know, was The Leopard, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa:
This tale of the decline and fall of the house of Salina, a family of Sicilian aristocrats, first appeared in 1958, but it reads more like the last 19th-century novel, a perfect evocation of a lost world."--NYT
My father even named his son Fabrizio, after the main character, the prince.
THIS, from the novel is the landscape--the psychological landscape, the Sicilian DNA-- that shaped my father:
“For over twenty-five centuries we [Sicilians have] been bearing the weight of superb and heterogeneous civilizations, all from outside, none made by ourselves, none that we could call our own.
all those rulers who landed by main force from every direction who were at once obeyed, soon detested, and always misunderstood, their only expressions works of art we couldn't understand and taxes which we understood only too well and which they spent elsewhere:
My sister's thinking daffodils, and I'm sure that's true to her experience of our father.
I'm thinking artichokes.
And wine that's made from reduction.
* P.S. If you're a friend in town reading this, and I didn't invite you, I was probably asleep: you are welcome to turn up uninvited!
* * Oh! How 'bout that?
I just now looked up the Ecclesiastes quote, to link here, and it follows shortly after,
eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart", which also fits my father, and is perfect for a memorial lunch!
This is the bit he especially liked (KJV):
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
My Mother, Father, and Unborn Me
I've posted this before---a favorite photo:
my mother, Lytton Virginia Davis, 7 months pregnant with me, and my father, Daniele Dominic DiPiazza,
Christmas 1960/New Year's 1961,
at the house of my mother's parents, in Missouri.
Of the trio, there's just me now.
Toys from My Father (R.I.P.)
Two days ago, I flew down and said good-bye to my father in the flesh––kissed his hand and told him I'd always remember him with respect, which I thought was the thing that would please this Sicilian man the most––spent the night, and flew back the next day.
My brother called this morning at 5 a.m. to say our father just died.
(Have I mentioned a brother? Maybe not. He's not in my life. Our family is a like a broken ceramic plate--it's hard to fit the pieces together again, all those razor-sharp edges and rough, grating edges.)
I'm grateful I made the trip in time.
My father wasn't responsive when I got there, but his consciousness didn't seem to be totally shut down, and I definitely got the sense he knew I was there, along with my brother and sister.
I knew it would be hard to be in the house of my father, and it was (bad dreams came to me), but my father had refused to go to his own dying father's bedside, and I realized when I was there that by showing up, now my actions would never in any way echo that, in the mind of my father, me, or anyone else.
Unexpectedly, it felt a little bit like I was ending a curse.
(Hm. It's only as I write this that I see that so clearly:
perhaps only the one who is hurt enough to want to carry on the curse has the power not to, and thus to end it . . . [wow])
I'm grateful my father had a good death, as death goes---hospice in his home and morphine both worked beautifully, and people he loved attended him.
My brother said he simply slowed and slowed until he stopped.
And I'm grateful that after a brutal boyhood, my father had a good adult life, and even a great second-half of his life, and he knew and said as much.
I wrote before that one of the great things I inherited from my father is a love of toys. I brought home with me some of his santons, French nativity figurines, bought over many years on trips abroad with my sister.
These [fuzzy laptop photo below] are some of them, on my windowsill. When I hold them, I feel plain old, straightforward love for my father.
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What is molluscum? Statistics, facts and information
05/18/2016 06:02
A1. Molluscum is a mild virus (MCV) causes skin diseases. In healthy individuals, the virus affects only the outer layer of the skin and does not flow through the rest of the body. MCV papules shock or injuries caused calls to develop. They vary in size of a pen tip with a diameter of up to 5 mm. They are firm, smooth and often have a depression in the center. They can occur in the body almost everywhere, either alone or in home remedy for molluscum contagiosum a cluster. Can red, pain, swelling and itching, but are usually painless. The papules usually disappear on their own and without scarring within six to twelve months, but some can stay up to four years.
More than 1000 articles clinical procedures provide clear step by step instructions and include instructional videos and medical charts allowed to master the most advanced techniques or improve their skills in the process demonstrated. fowl pox infection does not provide immunity against future re-infection. The following are effective ways to prevent the spread of molluscum.
Although any type of skin contact, such as sexual activity, contact sports or other activity that involves contact with the irregularity of an infected person. When the immune system diseases such as HIV or the drugs used to treat cancer is weakened, it may be necessary to treat molluscum. The success of treatment is difficult for people with a weakened immune system, as it is for those who have a normal immune system. Veregen (catechins) Ointment, 15% of the records. Planegg / Martinsried, Germany: MediGene AG. 2011e
I would like to offer help, struggling with plaster or medical tapes, which can irritate the skin if poultices or other healing methods to keep sensitive skin application. If you have symptoms of mollusk, you should make an appointment with your doctor, watching the joints and make a diagnosis. A6. Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching, scratching, or use any skin boils, either you or someone else. Molluscum contagious virus spreads through physical contact.
Flat warts (verruca ruber) are smooth, flattened variants of common warts that are 2 to 4 mm in diameter. They occur most often on the face and limbs of children and women in the legs, which are distributed by shaving 11 (Figure 8). Since each comprise bump processes treatment, a method may be necessary. If you have many large potholes, it may be necessary http://skinhealthspa.com/ to start every three to six weeks, until the lumps disappear. New ones can appear treated as existing ones.
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The women in Viking society were not Vikings, they were just Scandinavian women. They had heavy household duties like the women in society still do a lot of the time. Wives handled all the food and often times wore the key to the food cabinet on their waist to display their authority. “The farm animals were also her responsibility and when her husband went trading, went Viking, or hunting she also ran the farm in his absence.”[1] Wives were doing more than just the food preparations, especially if their husband was an active Viking.
Some women were doing a lot more than farming as well. There were some very important women; most of whom were Queens or relatives of Viking rulers. “One of the richest burials of Viking Age Scandinavia is that of the Oseberg 'queen', buried in a very grand style with a richly-decorated ship and large numbers of high-quality grave goods in 834.” [2] Queen Emma definitely wanted her name to be remembered. Her father was Duke Richard of Normandy; she was married to two English kings and was a great patron of the church. One thing I didn’t know is that a woman could divorce her husband in the Viking age.
I don’t really feel like there’s still a “role” barrier now that we’re in 2012. Let’s get real; the women in Viking times were walking around with keys to their food cabinet on their waist. Some women are walking down Wall Street right now making money I’ll never see, it all depends on what you do. One thing that’s still the same is women in 2012’s society can divorce their husbands (depending on where you live in the world of course). Scandinavian women during the Viking era had a lot more freedom than women in many other countries of Europe. They actually had more freedom than some women in the world do today.
1. Who do you think had more authority in the Viking age, the males or the females?
2. What do you think would of happened if a women in the Viking age wanted to divorce her husband but wasn’t allowed to?
3. Have you ever heard of someone being buried in a ship before you heard of Queen of Osberg?
4. How would you feel if you were a woman taking care of the farm while your husband was away?
5. What did the women wear on the waist to symbolize authority?
6. Who was one female of the Viking era named in this document?
7. Why was she so important?
8. How do you think her trying to go through a divorce would’ve gone over?
9. Can you think of a way women in the Viking age were probably similar to women now?
10. What do you think a Viking male would do once his wife divorced him?
[2], “Women of Influence”
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The ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ (Patagonian shingle formation) of eastern Patagonia: environmental conditions of gravel sedimentation
The gravel mantels known as ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ of Eastern Patagonia are one of the most distinctive features of the regional landscape. Their significant roundness, along with additional sedimentary and geomorphological evidence, indicates their origin is linked to fluvial action. Currently, no natural processes exist on Earth potentially generating equivalent deposits, either in Patagonia or elsewhere around the world. The hydrological conditions responsible for the gravel formation were thus likely very different from those currently prevailing in Argentine Patagonia, suggesting the gravel mantels formed during the Late Cenozoic, when surface drainage networks of relatively high energy existed in the region. Such high energy was induced by powerful flow rates and/or strong water gradients, attributable to tectonism, epirogenesis and/or lowering of sea level. Periods with water flow regimes significantly higher than at present characterized the full glacial phases lasting several thousands of years, corresponding to each of the many glaciations of the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The capacity for erosion and water transport would have been increased by the sea level drop characteristic of each full glacial phase. There were also much shorter periods, known as ‘terminations’, representing the abrupt ending of the main glacial events during which large amounts of water were released as a result of the intensive melting of the Cordilleran ice sheet. During interglacial periods, in the absence of large masses of ice in the mountains and with average temperatures similar to or higher than at present, layers of gravel were deposited as a result of tectonic or epirogenic movement or by reactivation of drainage networks produced by sea level lowering (glacio-eustatism). These endogenous landscape reactivations were also independent of and longer than the climatic fluctuations and therefore overlapped with both interglacial and glacial periods. Finally, some units of the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ may also have been deposited during major pluvial events, characterized by higher mean annual precipitation over sufficiently long periods. The current evidence suggests that, at various times since the Late Miocene, varied climatic conditions have allowed the production and accumulation of large gravel beds covering much of extra-Andean Patagonia. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 103, 336–345.
Los mantos de gravas de Patagonia oriental, conocidos como ‘Rodados Patagónicos’, constituyen por su extensión y homogeneidad uno de los elementos del paisaje más distintivos de la Patagonia oriental. El marcado redondeamiento de estos sedimentos, junto con otras evidencias sedimentológicas y geomorfológicas, indica que su origen se vincula inexorablemente con el escurrimiento superficial (acción fluvial). Puesto que en la actualidad no existen procesos que estén generando depósitos o geoformas equivalentes (en Patagonia o en otro sitio de la superficie terrestre), debe asumirse que las condiciones hídricas que permitieron su formación fueron muy distintas a las que imperan actualmente en la Patagonia Argentina. Es necesario considerar entonces ciertos momentos dentro del Cenozoico Superior, en los que existieron redes de drenaje superficial con mayor energía, inducida ésta por mayores caudales y/o mayores gradientes hídricos (por tectónica, epirogénesis o descenso del nivel del mar). Lapsos con regímenes hídricos y caudales significativamente mayores a los actuales caracterizaron las fases pleniglaciales (períodos de estabilización y máxima expansión de los glaciares que duraron quizás decenas de miles de años) correspondientes a cada una de las numerosas glaciaciones ocurridas durante el Plioceno y el Pleistoceno. En estos casos la capacidad de erosión y transporte de las aguas superficiales se habría visto incrementada por el descenso del nivel del mar, lo cual tiene lugar en cada episodio glacial. Durante estos eventos climáticos las condiciones fueron típicamente glaciales (muy frías y húmedas) en el ámbito cordillerano y periglaciales (muy frías y secas) en Patagonia extraandina. Por otro lado, existieron momentos mucho más breves, denominados ‘terminaciones’, que coincidieron con la brusca finalización de las glaciaciones, en los cuales se liberaron grandes cantidades de agua provenientes del intenso derretimiento del manto de hielo cordillerano. Este espectacular proceso se habría producido bajo condiciones climáticas similares al actual interglacial. Por otro lado, durante los períodos interglaciales, en ausencia de las grandes masas de hielo en la cordillera y con temperaturas medias atmosféricas similares o superiores a las actuales, se depositaron mantos de grava pedemontanos como producto de ascensos/descensos tectónicos o epirogénicos (cordilleranos y extracordilleranos) o por la reactivación de las redes de drenaje producida por el descenso glacioeustático. Estas reactivaciones del paisaje, de carácter endógeno, fueron independientes de las fluctuaciones climáticas y de mayor duración que éstas y, por lo tanto, actuaron durante el tiempo superponiéndose a los interglaciales y a las glaciaciones, indistintamente. Finalmente, no debería descartarse la posibilidad que algunas unidades de rodados hayan sido depositadas durante eventos pluviales mayores, los que implicaron un aumento de las precipitaciones medias anuales durante un lapso suficientemente prolongado.
La evidencia con que se cuenta en la actualidad indica que, en distintos momentos desde el Mioceno Tardío, condiciones climáticas muy variadas habrían favorecido o, al menos, permitido la producción y acumulación de grandes mantos de gravas, muy similares entre sí, que cubrieron buena parte de la superficie patagónica extraandina. Las más extensas de estas unidades sedimentarias se habrían depositado en contextos ecológicos también muy variados, extendiéndose por toda Patagonia atravesando ambientes de bosque, tundra, estepas graminosas y arbustivas, y zonas de transición entre las formaciones vegetales mencionadas.
Patagonia is likely to have started experiencing a process of desertification at approximately 16.5 Myr as a result of the Andean uplift (Stern & Blisniuk, 2002), with the severity of this process increasing at approximately 14 Myr (Blisniuk et al., 2005), when a new tectonic pulse increased the efficiency of the orographic effect, limiting the incoming humid winds from the Southern Pacific Ocean (Ramos & Ghiglione, 2008). This process generated a marked west–east climatic gradient similar to the one that characterizes present-day Patagonia east of the Andes (e.g. mean annual precipitation 5000 mm in the Andean environment and < 200 mm less than 200 km to the east at 43°S). Extensive gravel sheets known as ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ or ‘Patagonian Shingle Formation’ were deposited in eastern Patagonia during this period and under this general climatic pattern superimposed on the glacial cycles of the Quaternary. The ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ are gravel accumulations, with or without carbonate cement, substantially rounded, with pebbles and cobbles as the dominant size fractions, in a sandy or silty/clayish matrix (Martinez, Rabassa & Coronato, 2009). The larger clasts are of highly variable lithology, although with a certain predominance of basic and mesosilicic volcanics and acid plutonic rocks. Their range in Argentine Patagonia extends from the Andean Cordillera to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Río Colorado valley to the island of Tierra del Fuego (Fig. 1). They were generated during the Late Cenozoic, tend to form horizontal to subhorizontal mantles of varied extension and thickness and are located in different topographical positions, usually showing a west–east dominant gradient. Many of these layers of gravel are connected to the west with Pleistocene marginal moraines, a fact that assigns them an unquestionable glaciofluvial origin and facilitating in many cases precise ageing. However, there are also gravel accumulations of clear piedmont origin across Patagonia, an origin indicated by their spatial connection with mountain fronts, their geomorphological context and lithological affinities with the source area. The ages of these deposits are highly variable. Finally, there are ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ units, similar to those above, but which have been disconnected from old glacial margins or mountain fronts, making their genetic and temporal interpretation difficult.
Figure 1.
The range of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ in Argentine Patagonia between the Andean Cordillera and the Atlantic Ocean coast (Martínez & Coronato, 2008).
This paper provides an analysis of various environmental conditions under which these unique depositional sedimentary units were likely formed. Our analysis assumes that different geomorphological processes during the Late Cenozoic were capable of generating very similar landscape deposits and forms at different times and under different ecological contexts (Martínez & Coronato, 2008).
The physiognomy of the vegetation is a precise climate indicator, as shown by the different lifestyles that characterize the world's biomes (Hinojosa, 2004). Volkheimer (1971) analysed the relationship between leaf morphological characters and climatic variables (mainly temperature and rainfall) during the Cenozoic of southern South America and proposed a progressive decrease in temperature, from subtropical to temperate, and the establishment of arid to semi-arid conditions in the area towards the Pliocene (Hinojosa, 2004). A series of factors have affected this increase in aridity in the subtropics of South America (Hinojosa & Villagrán, 1997; Villagrán & Hinojosa, 1997). These include the separation of South America from Antarctica, the subsequent glaciation of West Antarctica and the generation of the Circumpolar and Humboldt currents in their present forms (Simpson, 1983; Hinojosa & Villagrán, 1997; Villagrán & Hinojosa, 1997). The interaction of these factors, coupled with the rain shadow effect generated by the uprising of the Andes, ending around the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, are likely to have forced the fragmentation of Subtropical Palaeoflora and the expansion of the arid taxa along what is called the ‘Arid Diagonal’. This arid diagonal is a continuous strip of arid climate that extends along the Andes from western Venezuela and north-western Chile, Argentina to north-eastern Patagonia (Villagrán & Hinojosa, 1997, 2005; Ezcurra, 2002; Hinojosa, 2004), which in turn coincides with the South American transition zone. In this zone, biotic elements of the Andean and Neotropical regions overlap (Morrone, 2001, 2004; Ruggiero & Ezcurra, 2003) and its formation can be considered a vicarious event that has slowed the spread of Andean and Neotropical biotas (Morrone, 2004). Additionally, the xerophytic vegetation along this stretch isolated the forest region of southern South America from the other forest formations of the continent (Villagrán & Hinojosa, 2005).
Currently, southern South America is characterized by a marked climatic and vegetation contrast between both sides of the Andes. Particularly, the vegetation of Andean Patagonia occupies most of the Patagonian territory, occurring as a semi-desert, with alternating grass steppes in the western sectors of higher moisture, with shrub and subshrub steppes to the east (Soriano, 1956; Cabrera & Willink, 1980). From a phytogeographical point of view, Patagonia includes elements of the Neotropical region, the Andean Patagonian Domain and the Patagonian province. The Patagonian province is itself divided into the Western, Central and Sub-Andean Districts (Soriano, 1956).
These environments are characterized by a homogeneous appearance, with extensive plains some with slight undulations, that are part of terraces or alluvial fans, and bush or shrub steppe as the dominant vegetation. The vegetation consists of subshrubs, scrub or cushions that grow despite poor soil conditions and severe weather. The dominant species include neneo (Mulinum spinosum), several species of senecio (Senecio sp.), colapiche (Nassauvia glomerulosa), neneo enano (Mulinum microphyllum), solupe (Ephedra frustillata), abrojo (Acaena platyacantha), yerba loca (Tetraglochin alatum), cactus (Maihuenia patagonica) and leña de piedra (Azorella monantha). The shrub species include quilimbai (Chuquiraga avellanedae), yaoyín (Lycium chilense), molle (Schinus johnstonii), calafate (Berberis microphylla) and mamuel choique (Adesmia volckmannii). All of them are generally represented by small and isolated specimens (Fig. 2). There are also landscape-defining species; for instance, the grassy steppe is dominated by coirón amargo (Stipa speciosa, S. humilis), coirón blanco (Festuca pallescens), coirón poa (Poa ligularis), cebadilla patagónica (Bromus setifolius) and cebada patagonica (Hordeum comosum), whereas a significant proportion of bare soil (up to 70%) has been noted (Fig. 3). The presence of such a diverse flora throughout Patagonia suggests the current environmental conditions in the region are not coincident with the conditions necessary for the production, transport and accumulation of sediments comparable with the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’. In fact, the present-day climatic and geomorphological conditions are far from meeting the requirements necessary for the generation of the Patagonian Shingle formations.
Figure 2.
Shrub or subshrub steppe with herbaceous and woody species, dominated by Asteraceae.
Figure 3.
Landscape units represented by a grass steppe, dominated by Poaceae.
The extreme roundness that characterizes the gravel that forms the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ (Fig. 4) suggests they were weathered by surface water transport, i.e. fluvial environments, using the term in its broadest possible sense. Other lines of evidence also support their fluvial origin. Firstly, remains of ancient drainage networks can often be identified on the surface of these plains using satellite images, aerial photographs and even in the field (O. A. Martinez, pers. observ.). Such ancient drainages can be related to at least the superficial gravel beds. Secondly, the field morphology of some of these deposits can occasionally provide a genetic link with surface water run-off, especially when they preserve the shape of alluvial fans, ‘bajadas’ (alluvial fans that are laterally coalescent) and pediments (erosion and transport surfaces, of very low slope, which are also generated at the expense of retreating mountain slopes). However, although such morphological features are highly diagnostic, they are only visible in younger units of the ‘Rodados’ and are not recognizable in older units. Thus, there are cases where the morphology does not provide the necessary clues for the assessment of the origin of these gravel mantles. These usually involve the most extensive gravel mantles, those covering hundreds of kilometres in a latitudinal sense and exhibiting a physical continuity between the Andean mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. They are a serious challenge for the reconstruction of their origin.
Figure 4.
Unit of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ in northern Patagonia.
Two types of water flows can be identified that are capable of generating the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ acting from the time the rock fragments were extracted from their source to the time when they were finally deposited: (1) intensive pulses, produced in a relatively short time under a high-energy regime; or (2) extended time regimes under conditions of low to moderate energy. Large amounts of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ were deposited during relatively long periods and therefore both water regimes likely took part in their genesis. The energy of water flows is defined essentially by two variables: flow and land slope. Flow is a function of the climate (rainfall amount and/or melting) and land slope is a function of vertical ascents and descents of the land by tectonics (vertical movements on the margins of tectonic plates), epeirogenesis (vertical movements of larger continental blocks) and eustatism (changes in sea level). It is possible for gravel units exhibiting similar characteristics (size, thickness, sedimentological properties) to have been deposited at different times as a result of distinct processes during non-overlapping periods of sedimentation of different extent. As such, it is necessary to explain the origin of the gravel mantles of the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ considering the Late Cenozoic, a time when hydrological and environmental conditions were notably different from today. In any case, whatever the origin of the gravel units under consideration, their origin can be linked directly or indirectly to climatic events that characterized the glaciations that began in the Late Miocene. Four scenarios considered most favourable for the generation of these sedimentary units are described in Table 1. These scenarios correspond to: (1) full-glacial periods; (2) fluvial extra-Andean piedmont environments during glaciations; (3) glacial ‘terminations’; and (4) fluvial piedmont environments (both Andean and extra-Andean) during interglacial periods.
Table 1. Scenarios and environmental conditions considered most favourable for the generation of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’
EventGenesis of the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’Event durationSea levelClimateHydraulic gradientVegetation
GlaciationsGlacifluvial8000–15 000 yearsLoweredGlacial (very cold and wet)Periglacial (very cold and dry)HighNoSteppe/tundra
InterglacialsPiedmont10 000 yearsHigherSimilar to the presentSimilar to the presentVariableSimilar to the presentSimilar to the present
Terminations (transitions)Glacifluvial/fluvialVery short (centuries?)RisingSimilar to the presentSimilar to the presentDecreasingRecolonizationRecolonization
Accumulation of‘Rodados Patagónicosduring glacial periods
The analysis of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2), the most recent and best-known glacial stage, allows a general characterization for the purpose of this study that could, to some extent and with great caution, be extrapolated to previous glacial events. This glaciation was a global climate event involving a decrease in the mean annual atmospheric temperature with respect to current temperature of approximately 6° in northern Patagonia and even more southwards (Clapperton, 1993; Rabassa, 2008). In Patagonia, this temperature decrease would have been accompanied by an increase in precipitation (Villagrán, Moreno & Villa, 1995), probably attributable to a northward migration of the westerlies (Markgraf, 1993; Bradbury et al., 2001; Heusser, 2003). During this climatic event, a mountain ice sheet > 2 km thick occupied the entire Patagonian Andes (from central Neuquén Province to Tierra del Fuego, see Clapperton, 1993). At its southern end, this continuous ice mass exceeded the present Atlantic coast, while slimming and vanishing around 37°S, from where the glacial accumulations consisted in cirque and valley glaciers located near the top of the mountains (Rabassa, Coronato & Martínez, 2011). The extension of the ice mantle from the Andean mountains to the east was accompanied by the development of periglacial environmental conditions (cold and dry) on the expanded Patagonian steppe, the Atlantic coast of which was displaced by between 200 and 300 km to the east with respect to its current position, as a result of lowering sea level (Ponce et al., 2011). Evidence of cryoturbation in ‘Rodados Patagónicos’, associated with permafrost development, has been noted for northern Patagonia at this time (Trombotto Liaudat, 2008). Under such conditions (which may have been representative of Late Cenozoic glacial events), processes leading to the accumulation of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ would have been favoured, firstly, during the full glacial stages and, secondly, in extra-Andean fluvial piedmont environments.
Glaciofluvial ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ deposited in full-glacial stages
The vast majority of glaciofluvial deposits are generated during the stages of glacier stabilization. This stabilization occurs when ice masses come into equilibrium with the prevailing climatic conditions. From a glaciological perspective, it involves the setting of the margins (the glacier does not grow or diminish in size), with the amount of ice incorporated by snowfall and new generation being equal to the amount loss by melting (mass balance = 0). Under these conditions, in the terminal area located downstream where ablation is higher, two morphogenetic events dominate. Firstly, the debris in contact with the ice margin is incorporated upstream and is accumulated within the glacial mass. These materials, of varied shape and grain size, form ridges called marginal moraines (frontal and lateral). When preserved over time, these moraines indicate the position of the glacier margin after it has melted. Secondly, also in the terminal area of the glaciers, but affecting a large area downstream, important waterways are born from the base or sides of the glacier, which carry away from the moraines the brownish glaciofluvial sediments that build pro-glacial plains (washout) either from its base or sides. These plains are thus formed both by the debris contained in the ice and by the sediments removed from the moraines. The glaciofluvial flows tend to be very plentiful (depending on the size of the glacier and the melting rate), especially during the warmer seasons, and appear forming transition fans (alluvial) that can reach large sizes and will overlap laterally with time. Water courses usually have a braided pattern that changes constantly, typical of sediment-saturated currents (Fig. 5). These sediments are gradually finer and more rounded as they reach more distant positions with respect to their parental marginal moraines. As mentioned above, grain size, roundness and sphericity of the gravels are directly related to water transport capacity and distance transported.
Figure 5.
Present glaciofluvial streams (braided rivers), similar to the ancient glaciofluvial systems during the ‘terminations’ or full glacial phases.
In eastern Patagonia a large number of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ plains can be linked genetically, with reasonable certainty, to former glaciofluvial processes. This is the case of deposits that are spatially connected upstream (toward the west) with marginal moraines. Several of these ‘rodados’ units, especially those located at higher latitudes, extend eastward, often reaching the present Atlantic coast. These outstanding deposits were generated under very rigorous environmental conditions, with a glacial climate in the vicinity of the Andes and periglacial conditions in the extensive extra-Andean area. Thus, the courses of sediment-laden waters, which came from the ice fronts, circulated during the winter over land that tended to freeze (permafrost), contributing to their own total or partial freezing. Such a landscape is thus likely to have strongly restricted the development of vegetation and associated wildlife, especially aquatic. However, during the winters, the migration of terrestrial wildlife would have been favoured in a north–south direction, probably on a regional scale. During the summers, the higher regional temperatures and the consequent increase in the melting of water from the Andean glaciers significantly modified the dynamics of extra-Andean ecosystems. Thus, the development of vegetation dominated by Poaceae and other elements typical of the steppe, particularly species of Asteraceae (Mancini et al., 2008), would have been favoured in those areas that escaped the influence of the mighty glaciofluvial currents. These same streams, in many cases saturated with sediment, would have limited the north–south migration of terrestrial species (in summer), while at the same time facilitating the movement of aquatic species adapted to these conditions in all available directions, as appears to have been the case for the freshwater fish Percichthys trucha (Ruzzante et al., 2011).
Accumulation of gravels in extra-Andean piedmont environments during glaciations
The majority of the accumulations of ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ deposited during the glacial events are likely of glaciofluvial origin. Piedmont deposits developed in extra-Andean areas, however, also exist. These deposits have likely formed as a result of the adjustment of the drainage networks to the lowering of the Atlantic Ocean or tectonic pulses superimposed on the glaciation effect. They exist in the form of alluvial fans, bajadas and pediment cover of very varied lithological composition, extension and thickness. Such piedmont deposits are characteristic of arid and semiarid climates and accumulate at the foot of the mountains where there is a significant change in the topographic slope and where the streams flow seasonally with a torrential regime, and abandon the deep valleys typical of the mountain environment to enter more open areas of lower energy, usually depressions between the ranges.
In our view, another significant variable, indirectly linked to the formation of the gravel plains, was the production of debris by cryoclastism, a phenomenon characteristic of periglacial environments, and it would have strongly affected, during each of the glaciations, much of the rocky outcrops that form the extra-Andean highlands. Much of these angular materials, of varied grain size and composition, were released from bedrock by physical weathering and must have been rapidly incorporated into the river networks when climate changed and rainfall increased in the area, with the consequent increase in the availability of surface water. Under this scenario, it is not easy to establish whether the glacial periods favoured or limited the processes of piedmont sediment accumulation in extra-Andean areas. While local fluvial processes were greatly reduced during glacial periods, the intense disintegration of rock outcrops by cryoclastism (physical weathering) would have increased the availability of loose surface material, which, subsequently, during wet periods, would have been captured by the drainage network.
It should also be noted that tectonic pulses or epirogenetic uplift likely also contributed to the accumulation of gravels in extra-Andean regions. The longer timescale of these events of endogenous origin (usually millions of years) widely exceeds the average duration of glacial and interglacial stages (measured in tens of thousands of years), and their footprint on the Cenozoic fluvial processes of Patagonia, undoubtedly very important, was superimposed on these weather events.
Accumulation of‘Rodados Patagónicosduring Glacial terminations
This section should be considered as the development of a hypothesis in which the word ‘termination’ is treated in a very flexible way. It is defined as a relatively rapid transition from a cold stage (glacial) to a warmer one (interglacial). Most authors who refer to this issue (see Lowe & Walker, 1997) have approached the analysis of the so-called Terminations I and II, the best known at present. The first one corresponds to the transition from Isotopic Stage 2 (Last Glaciation Maximum) to Isotopic Stage 1 (the Holocene or current interglacial); the second is the transition from Isotopic Stage 6 (Penultimate Glaciation) to subestadial 5e (warmest climate of the interglacial corresponding to Isotopic Stage 5). These periods of profound climatic changes were characterized by alternating minor climatic pulses in the context of a general warming. Termination I included the Late Glacial, a period when glaciers started to vanish from the continents. Generally, the transition from a glacial to an interglacial stage is much faster than one from an interglacial to a new glacial stage (Clapperton, 1993; Lowe & Walker, 1997). The installation, then, of a warmer climate during any glacial termination would have meant the abrupt transformation (or passage?) of the Cordilleran ice masses (Lowell, Heusser & Andersen, 1996) to a non-balanced climatic phase dominated by ablation and the decrease in thickness and area covered by the glaciers until their almost complete disappearance. From the standpoint of water, this meant a huge and sudden meltwater production resulting in rivers with a permanent high water discharge régime. Assuming Patagonia was dominated at those times by a marked climatic seasonality similar to the present (dry summers, rainy winters), it is likely that rivers achieved their highest volumes during the driest season (summers). Other factors to be considered for a correct understanding and reconstruction of these particular periods are, firstly, the gradual but influential rise of sea level and, secondly, the development in some mountain valleys of immense proglacial lakes enclosed to the east by the marginal moraines and to the west by the receding glacier. Under this scenario, the extra-Andean river valleys, which concentrated glacial flows during the full glacial period, were hydrologically disadjusted and subjected to processes of widening, but also of deepening of the river bed. This vertical erosion can be the cause of the terracing that characterizes most of the gravel plains, but this phenomenon would have been gradually weakened, especially in the eastern fringe closest to the coast, by the gradual rise of sea level (the regional base level of all watersheds). It is very likely that the underfit conditions, with respect to the present flow régime, of many of the Patagonian valleys (the Chubut, Genoa, Deseado, Santa Cruz and Coig rivers, among others; Fig. 1) is attributable largely to the strong erosion effect of water during these fast transitions from a glacial to an interglacial stage. It is also likely that ‘rodados’ units removed from their older locations to the west began to accumulate in positions further east in response to the decreased transport capacity of the rivers. According to this hypothesis, some of the ‘rodados’ units located in easternmost Patagonia were likely formed during these terminations.
Accumulations of piedmont‘Rodadosduring interglacial periods
In Patagonia there are many areas of ‘rodados’, whose origin has been assigned by different authors to piedmont fluvial action. While the origin for some of these is yet in doubt, there are remnants of some gravel units, especially very old units located at higher topographic heights, which were unquestionably deposited by water flows in a piedmont environment (see Fidalgo & Riggi, 1965; Panza, 2002). As already mentioned, piedmont deposits and landforms are originated by fluvial processes in arid or semi-arid climates, in response to reactivation of the landscape. These ‘rejuvenations’ consist of modifications in the base level of drainage networks attributable, in most cases, to the action of a tectonic uplift/depression (as a result of the action of tectonic plates) or epirogenic (vertical movements of large crustal blocks). These phenomena of endogenous character, a product of lithospheric deformation (diastrophism), have in the past frequently affected both Andean and extra-Andean Patagonian grounds. Moreover, such movements or diastrophic phases occur during periods that are often measured in hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. These processes have overlapped temporally with the climatic events (glaciations and interglacials) of the Quaternary. It should thus be safe to assume that at least some of the piedmont ‘rodados’ units accumulated during time lapses that included several and diverse climatic events.
As it was already mentioned, the piedmont deposits are characteristic of dry climates with low rainfall. Thus, it may be assumed that (applying actualism) weather conditions such as those currently prevailing in much of extra-Andean Patagonia (with mean annual precipitation below 300 mm, with seasonal, but not torrential rainfall) do not offer serious limitations, and should be sufficient for the formation of ‘rodados’ units throughout.
However, beyond the fact that many valleys and sides of different mountains and plateaus distributed throughout Patagonia are currently being modified, covered and obliterated by the development of alluvial fans (which in many cases tend to coalesce and generate morphologies called ‘bajadas’), it is safe to assert that these modest piedmont aggradation processes are quite different, because of their scale, from those that correspond to any of the great ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ units that lie in the area.
If significant rainfall is not needed to justify the presence of these gravel mantles, it is then necessary to incorporate in their genetic scheme the influence of a topographic gradient sufficiently large to have allowed intensified water erosion in elevated areas, the consequent downstream transport of extracted materials and their accumulation, rounded, in distal positions of the piedmont. This increased hydraulic gradient, that is, the increase in energy availability in the system, was provided by diastrophic movements in Patagonia since the early Neogene (approximately 20 Ma). These movements can be summarized as the Pehuénchicos movements that occurred at the Oligocene–Miocene boundary, the Quéhuchicos movements in the Late Miocene and the Andicos movements during the Pliocene and even in the Pleistocene (Ramos & Ghiglione, 2008).
The ‘Rodados Patagónicos’ are sedimentary units distinguished by their large areal extent, their topographic monotony and uniformity, and their marked sedimentological homogeneity, characteristics that keep a significant independence with the actual age of the deposit. Currently, either in Patagonia or any other place, processes that lead to the generation of equivalent or similar gravel accumulations do not exist, despite the great variety of climates and ecological conditions that presently exist on the Earth's surface. Patagonia has therefore likely experienced unique conditions in the recent geological past (at least from the late Miocene onwards), that were favourable for the production, transport and sedimentation of these characteristic materials on a large scale. Far from solving such an intriguing topic, we consider that, beyond the geological and climatic variables, the initial relief (essentially the topography and regional slope) on which the different units of rodados were deposited would have played a very important role. Assuming that solely the action of surface water runoff may explain these sedimentological and geomorphological properties characteristic of the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’, sufficiently long periods of the past need to be identified with fluvial processes of the magnitude and intensity necessary for these accumulations to have taken place.
The glacial stabilization (full-glacial phase) and glacial terminations (a term used in a broad sense to indicate any fast deglaciation) bring together, for different reasons, the most favourable conditions for the development of many of the Patagonian gravel units, both in terms of their sedimentology, as in the occurrence of landforms such as plateaus and terraces. The environmental conditions under which these materials were deposited are significantly different from each other. The extra-Andean Patagonia vegetation was changing in response to these different environmental conditions. While, in general, the physiognomy corresponded to grass and subshrub/shrub steppes, and tundra during glacial periods, their specific composition and coverage were changing, and therefore the associated fauna did so as well.
In periods of high input of water, with permanent and high discharge streams, the continuous generation and deposition of sediments and ‘rodados’ in the flood plains would have modified seasonally the vegetation cover, represented mainly by annual herb species and aquatic plants (macrophytes) associated with water courses, which year after year restarted a new process of colonization, the plant succession. The higher water supply would have facilitated the dispersal of some aquatic species (e.g. see Ruzzante et al., 2011), whereas for terrestrial species it may have acted as geographical barriers to migration, thus limiting the north–south migratory processes.
In contrast, certain gravel mantles, some of them very extensive, located on the eastern strip of Patagonia (near the Atlantic coast), but also other relicts found in the mountains, seem to be better explained by strictly fluvial piedmont processes. Those which responded to tectonic/epirogenic reactivations had their maximum activity during non-glacial periods, when the periglacial conditions were not yet developed in the extra-Andean area.
Although the terms uniformity and homogeneity appear to be an unavoidable part of any definition about the ‘Rodados Patagónicos’, evidence suggests that, paradoxically, their genesis would be linked to a variety of environments and ecosystems. Not only they would have been deposited at different times of the Late Cenozoic, under very different climate types, but also the same unit of rodados, especially those born in the Andean area and ending along the Atlantic coast, were generated by streams that passed through longitudinal strips with very different ecological characteristics.
We thank Jorge Rabassa, Eduardo Tonni, Alfredo Carlini and Daniel Ruzzante for the invitation to participate in the Symposium ‘Palaeogeography and Palaeoclimatology of Patagonia: Effects on Biodiversity’, held at the La Plata Museum in Argentina in May 2009.
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Bone Health and Osteoporosis
together and provide strength and stability.
• Wrist-motion and use might never be the same; two to four months to heal • Vertebra (spine)-very painful, can occur without a fall; two to four months to heal • Hip-requires surgery and hospitalization; can be very serious; full recovery takes 6 In addition to fractures, posture is impaired in osteoporosis. Because the bones of the spine lose their height, they collapse, causing a slumped posture. The ribs fall closer together, and the bottom ribs press on the pelvis, causing pain. This limits breathing capacity, as the lungs cannot expand, causing increased risk of respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and decreased endurance. Motion becomes more limited, as trunk rotation and shoulder motion are restricted. Neck and back pain is common, due to both the collapsing bones and the weakened, strained muscles. Long-Term Negative Consequences of Osteoporosis
• Fractures • Dysfunctional and painful posture • Surgery • Loss of lung volume and breathing capacity • Disability • Poor endurance • Pain • Medical costs • Loss of strength • Hospital stays • Loss of height • Other medical complications Risk Factors
Risk Factors for Osteoporosis Fractures
(Charts adapted from the National Osteoporosis Foundation) Permanent
Having a fragility fracture* as an adult A close relative with a fragility fracture* Not having a period for more than six months *Fragility fracture = a fracture occurring from a fall from standing height or lower There are also certain medical conditions that make osteoporosis more likely, due to both the underlying disease and also due to side effects of medications for treatment. The most common medications that directly affect bone health are corticosteroids, often used to treat asthma, arthritis, and immune disorders. Women with hormone imbalances such as Cushing's disease, hyperparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and genetic sex hormone deficiency are also at higher risks. Also, diseases that cause disabilities to limit walking such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries can lead to thinning bones. Risk Factors for Osteoporosis That Cannot Be Changed
15 percent of women in their 50s have osteoporosis; 50 percent of women in their 80s have it. Women have a much greater risk than men. Women have thinner lighter bones, less muscle mass to protect them, and are hormonally more susceptible. Genetics pre-programs a body to be susceptible to certain things such as Family history osteoporosis and greater rate of fractures. Muscle and fat protect and strengthen bones. Other medical Certain medical problems such as hypothyroid and hormonal imbalances risks Risk Factors for Osteoporosis That Can Be Changed
Those less active and less on their feet have weaker bones. Bones get stronger the more they are used. Calcium is necessary for bone formation; it is the basic excess Excess alcohol and tobacco interfere with bone formation. Estrogen is needed for the delicate balance of hormones High-protein diets interfere with calcium absorption. The Role of Hormones
Currently, 40 percent of post-menopausal women in the United States have osteoporosis; the number might actually be greater if more women were tested. Ask your doctor for a bone density test if you have reached menopause or have had more than three fractures over your lifetime (not due to a serious accident). Terms and Fracture Risk Increase
What It Means
Recommended Tests
Type of Test
How It Is Done
A scan is taken of your measures density at your spine and hip and establishes a diagnosis of osteoporosis A scan is taken of your Bone density at specific site tested; does not necessarily correspond to hip or spine whichcorresponds closely to the hip. Used Dye is injected into your Evaluates a possible stress fracture or blood; hours later, you have other problem with the bone; not a a scan taken fracture or other problem in your bone; not bone turnover helpful to understand cause Doctors who diagnose and treat osteoporosis can have medical degrees in various specialties; this is a reflection of the many aspects of health that thin bones can affect. For more complicated cases and when frequent stress fractures or fall fractures occur in younger girls or women, referral to an endocrinologist (hormone specialist) is recommended, as these are medical specialists who are most qualified to evaluate and treat osteoporosis. If you are in your teens or reproductive years and have had more than three fractures or absent periods, a bone density test should be done to screen for osteoporosis or osteopenia. If there is evidence of decreased bone density, it is recommended that you go to an endocrinologist to evaluate and correct the problem now to prevent future problems. For osteoporosis after menopause, your primary care doctor, gynecologist, orthopedist, physiatrist, or rheumatologist may manage your treatment. Treatment
The ultimate goal of diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis is to reduce the number of
fractures. Because bone density is the most reliable measure of osteoporosis, treatment
is focused on increasing bone density. Bone strength is directly related to density, and
ultimately, the stronger the bone, the less likely it will fracture. Bone strength also
improves with proper diet and exercise. Hormones and genetics also influence bone
strength. Treatment of osteoporosis is most effective using a combination of medications,
calcium, vitamin D, weight-bearing exercise, and lifestyle and dietary modifications.
The most effective osteoporosis medications to date are the bisphosphonates, marketed as Fosamax and Actonel. Taken once weekly, these drugs are the most likely to increase bone density, decrease fracture risk, and reduce bone breakdown. Bisphosphonates function by interfering with the natural process of bone resorption and have been shown to reduce spine fracture risk by 30 to 50 percent and hip fracture risk by 24 to 50 percent. Estrogen supplements can prevent the development of osteoporosis and some fractures but are not recommended specifically for treatment, nor are they recommended for more than five years after menopause. Other types of drugs that are also used are described in the following chart. Consult with your doctor if you are taking some of the less-effective medicines, especially if you have a definite diagnosis of osteoporosis. Medications Used to Treat and Prevent Osteoporosis, in Increasing Order of
Calcitonin (Miacalcin), nasal also helps with nose, pain from menopause; minimal spray; also can be injected pain of vertebral injection Estrogen, oral or patches Allows bones to Premarin) cyclic estrogens calcium better Tissue-specific estrogens used in women who have had breast cancer estrogen; prevents breast cancer in some women not show that these reduce the risk of hip and other fractures; more preventive than treatment remain upright for fractures by 24 to 50 30 minutes drugs; may cause widely available or cancer Nutrition is very important, as bone growth and strength cannot occur without calcium, the building block of bone. Vitamin D and magnesium also play an important role. Vitamin D helps the body retain calcium and prevents it from being excreted out of the body via the kidneys. Bone specialists recommend taking 1,300 to 1,500 mg of calcium in two or three divided doses with two of the doses taken in the evening (one with dinner, one before bed). A multivitamin containing 400 IU of vitamin D should also be taken with the evening meal. There are also other trace minerals involved in bone formation, including magnesium; these are covered by taking your multivitamin daily, a recommended habit for everyone. When totaling your calcium and vitamin D intake, include food and drink sources so you do not overdo the amounts. Adding your total calcium milligram is easy by reading labels-add a zero to the percent daily value of calcium listed on the food label to easily calculate the mineral content. Supplement to total 1,500 mg. For example, if you have eaten three servings of dairy products, each containing 30 percent the "daily value" (%DV) of calcium (such as milk, cheese, and calcium-fortified orange juice), your total calcium intake through foods is 900 mg. So on this day, you only need to take one 600 mg supplement of calcium. Daily vitamin D needs are covered in your multivitamin and the milk products you have consumed. It is not recommended to take more than 2,000 mg of calcium or 800 IU of vitamin D daily. Also, do not take vitamin A supplements if you have osteoporosis; this has been shown to increase fracture risk. In women who have osteoporosis, excess salt, high-protein diets, alcoholic drinks, and carbonated drinks should be kept to a minimum, as these can interfere with the body's calcium absorption and retention. Caffeine can also increase calcium loss, but this effect is minimal, unless you are also a smoker. Smoking is detrimental to the bones and should be stopped! Exercise improves bone strength, just as it improves muscle strength. Our bodies work as hard as possible to positively respond to the healthy stress of exercise, resulting in not just stronger muscles and lung and heart function, but also stronger bones. The proven way to strengthen bones is with weight-bearing exercise, brisk walking, mountain biking, stair climbing, soccer, basketball, racket sports, and hiking. The greater the weight-bearing impact, the greater the effect. (Gymnasts and runners tend to have very strong bones, despite their thin frames.) Resistive weight training has also been shown to positively stress bones and make them stronger. It is recommended to use a combination of these weight-bearing exercises for the most effective increase in bone strength, ideally doing weight-bearing exercise for at least 20 to 30 minutes each day, along with upper body strength training three times a week for 20 minutes. Lower body strength training should be done if your exercise program is not weight bearing such as swimming, cycling, or kayaking. Be aware that exercise can also be overdone, causing bones to negatively respond to the excess stress with stress fractures; therefore, impact or intense weight training is not recommended for more than one hour each day, unless you are a highly trained athlete. Prevention
age, make sure you are having regular periods.
Calcium Intake
*Adapted from the National Osteoporosis Foundation Calcium Supplements
• Divide your total dose if you need to supplement more than 600 mg; take half with • Make sure it is an absorbable form (see above). • Do not take it with iron unless you are also taking vitamin C or calcium citrate. • Calcium carbonate should be taken with food. • Take calcium with or after a snack or meal. Tips in Selecting a Calcium Supplement
• Avoid "natural," aluminum, oyster shell, or bonemeal supplement types. • Look for "purified" on the label. • Select a chewable or liquid form. • Experiment with different flavors to find one you like. The importance of maintaining and developing maximum bone strength is clear. Living a healthy, physically active life with a diet rich in calcium is the best thing you can do to take care of your bones. Continue your activities, making sure you are doing weight-bearing exercises and strength training if your sports activity is not impact. Take an extra calcium supplement or two if you are not sure you ate enough foods, and make sure you are having regular periods or have had a bone density test if you are in menopause. Do not smoke and avoid excessive alcohol, carbonated drinks, and high-protein diets. As with anything, if you have concerns, and especially if you have had multiple fractures, see your doctor. Fuente:
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CONTRATO PRESTACIÓN DE SERVICIOS PROVEEDORES Y/O CONTRATISTAS En SANTIAGO de Chile se celebra el presente contrato por medios electrónicos entre la empresa Achilles Chile, en adelante Achilles, filial de Achilles Group, en adelante “ la empresa ” y el proveedor o contratista, según los términos y condiciones que pasan a expresarse: I.- Condiciones Generales 1. El contrato t
IL TRATTAMENTO DELL’OBESITA’ : i paradossi imperanti Già nel II secolo d.C., il famoso medico greco Galeno di Pergamo dedicò un trattatoalla << Dieta dimagrante >>. Già allora l'Autore raccomandava che lo scopo dovesseessere non la vanità personale di carattere estetico, ma piuttosto il benessere fisico, cheRaccomandazione del tutto inascoltata fino ai giorni nostri, se
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Tai Khamtis of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh By:- C.K.Gogoi and J.Borbora.
Tradition Vs Assimilation:
The Tai Khamtis of Assam and
Arunachal Pradesh
The Khamtis, as one of the oldest immigrants of Assam (1750-1850 A.D.) were originated from an area known as “Khamti Lung” situated near the river Irrawaddy in northern Burma (Dalton 1872; Wilcox 1826). This region interposes between the eastern extreme of present Arunachal Pradesh of the northeast India. In Assam and in Assamese language “Khamti Lung” is called Borkhamti. Captain Wilcox narrated that there were feuds between two groups of Khamtis and as a result, one section of them has moved to Assam, the then Tai Ahom Kingdom. The Tai Ahom Kingdom permitted the Khamtis to move into Assam and to settle on bank of the river Tengapani in 1751. The Ahom king understood that the Khamti were the kith and kin (Pinongkum Tai) and hence allowed to settle within their kingdom.
History says that there were tussles and killings between the Khamtis and the British and the Khamtis and the Ahoms. However, after the fall of the Ahom king, the Khamtis came under the British rule. The British army killed several Khamti chiefs, burnt down villages, captured and punished many leaders to death and damaged paddy fields. These are the talks among many Khamti old people even today. After the Khamti surrendered to the British, the British administration took steps to make the Khamti settled. One group of Khamtis were sent to settle near the bank of the river Sissi in Dhaemaji Distict. Some Khamtis went to Namrup and settled there, a place about 40 kms, away from Lakhimpur. Some Tai Scholars are of the view that these Khamti population, in course of time mingled with Borgohain or Buragohain clans or some have identified themselves as Khamti Gohain (Gogoi 1996 : 80). Another group of Khamti population were also deported by the British rulers towards Sadiya (Sunpara area near foothills of Lohit district of present Arunachal Pradesh). A small section of them settled near the bank of the river Bibru about 10 kms away from present Dibrugarh town. During 1842-43, the British administration allowed some Khamtis to settle in the valley of Tengapani river (Namsoom), Kamlang and Dirak river areas. These population further moved towards east, and at the advice of a Vikkhu, a Buddhist monk, they have constructed a Golden temple (Chong-Kham). In Tai language “Chong” means temple or Buddha vihar and “Kham” means gold. Henceforth this place was known as “Chowkham” or “Chongkham”.
Thus, it is evidenced that the Khamti population, once a dominant ruling and warrior tribe scatteredly settled in various parts of upper Assam districts and inhabitated in the eastern tip of the Brahmaputra valley. They are of Sino-Siamese linguistic group which includes the Ahoms, Khamtis, Khamayangs, Phakial, Aiton and Turungs.
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About Us
about diet chemistry
What does chemistry means in general, it is a branch of physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter. Here we will talk and discuss about chemistry of foods and their individual requirement. Which food will suit you more as per your blood groups, your physiological conditions, psychological conditions, your routine, as per your likes and dislikes etc.
I believe that there are no such magic pills or secrets that will make you fit in one go but on the other hand it is also not that hard or time consuming to look and feel your best either. Let me tell a secret of mine, I am a huge foodie person and not a big fan of crash dieting or counting my calories or follow rigid diet plans. Important is to learn how to balance treats and favourite foods with those that will nourish and sustain your daily activities.
In our eat and run, massive portion sized culture, maintaining a healthy weight can be tough and losing weight even tougher. If you have tried and failed to lose weight before, you may believe that diet plans don’t work for you for long term or your weight bounces back after discontinuing the previous plans. You are right somewhere.
Losing weight in a healthy sustainable way often takes time. It requires patience and commitment. Extreme diets may promise rapid results but you will binge more, it will leave you more cranky.
However, diet chemistry provides plenty of small but powerful ways to avoid common dieting pitfalls like starving on the same food group for the whole week with lesser options or depending on mono diets for weight loss. Diet chemistry will help you to inculcate habit of making smarter choices everyday, adopting new eating habits that will not only help you to lose weight but will also improve your outlook and mood as well as you would make you feel more energetic.
So friends make your healthy eating a journey an adventure into the world of delicious tasting wholesome foods and enrich your health with Diet Chemistry (Dt. Gurleen Kaur - A member of Nutrition and Natural Health Science association).
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Fla'via Gens
plebeian. Members of it are mentioned in Roman history only during the last three centuries before the Christian era. It seems to have been of Sabine origin, and may have been connected with the Flavii that occur at Reate in the first century after Christ, and to whom the emperor Vespasian belonged. But the name Flavius occurs also in other countries of Italy, as Etruria and Lucania. During the later period of the Roman empire, the name Flavius descended from one emperor to another, Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, being the first in the series. The cognomens that occur in the Flavia gens during the republic are FIMBRIA, GALLUS, LUCANUS, and PUSIO.
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Robert Ingersoll and “A New Birth of Reason”
IngersollHere is a brief excerpt from an article in The American Scholar written by Susan Jacoby. She points out that Robert Ingersoll, the Great Agnostic, inspired late-19th-century Americans to uphold the founders’ belief in separation of church and state.
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Why do some public figures who were famous in their own time become part of a nation’s historical memory, while others fade away or are confined to what is called “niche fame” on the Internet? Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899), known in the last quarter of the 19th century as the Great Agnostic, once possessed real fame as one of the two most important champions of reason and secular government in American history—the other being Thomas Paine. Indeed, one of Ingersoll’s lasting accomplishments as the preeminent American orator of his era was the revival of Paine, the preeminent publicist of the American Revolution, in the historical memory and imagination of the nation.
Ingersoll emerged as the leading figure in what historians of American secularism consider the golden age of free thought—an era when immigration, industrialization, and science, especially Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection, were challenging both religious orthodoxy and the supposedly simpler values of the nation’s rural Anglo-Saxon past. That things were never really so simple was the message Ingersoll repeatedly conveyed as he spoke before more of his countrymen than even elected public leaders, including presidents, did at a time when lectures were both a form of mass entertainment and a vital source of information.
Traveling across the continent when most Americans did not, he spread his message not only to urban audiences but also to those who had ridden miles on horseback to hear him speak in towns set down on the prairies of the Midwest and the rangelands of the Southwest. Between 1875 and his death in 1899, Ingersoll spoke in every state except Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
Known as “Robert Injuresoul” to his clerical enemies, he raised the issue of what role religion ought to play in the public life of the American nation for the first time since the writing of the Constitution, when the Founders deliberately left out any acknowledgment of a deity as the source of governmental power. In one of his most popular lectures, titled “Individuality,” Ingersoll said of Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin:
To the question that retains its politically divisive power to this day—whether the United States was founded as a Christian nation—Ingersoll answered an emphatic no. The marvel of the Framers, he argued in an oration delivered on July 4, 1876, in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, was that they established “the first secular government that was ever founded in this world” at a time when every government in Europe was still based on union between church and state. “Recollect that,” Ingersoll admonished his audience. “The first secular government; the first government that said every church has exactly the same rights and no more; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words, our fathers were the first men who had the sense, had the genius, to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword.” A government that had “retired the gods from politics,” Ingersoll declared with decidedly premature optimism on America’s 100th birthday, was a necessary condition of progress.
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To read the complete article, please click here.
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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has secured control of Aleppo city after more than 4 years of fighting in what is Syria’s most strategically important city, second to the capital Damascus. Western media has chosen to explain this victory to the world as bad news for the interests of peace and humanity in Syria, claiming that thousands of civilians will now die from government retaliation.
The reason the battle for Aleppo is so significant in the Syrian proxy war is because of its strategic importance to the country of Syria as a whole. Controlling Aleppo would give opposition groups leverage in a situation where Syria is broken into pieces. It is also part of the geopolitical concerns over competing natural gas pipelines which would be built partially in Syria.
The battle for Aleppo has been described inaccurately for years and what follows is an explanation of 10 common lies or omissions which still continue today.
1. The city is still under total siege because of the Syrian Army and Russians
Aleppo is an ancient city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, populated since at least the 3rd millennium BC. Aleppo is both a rural province and an urban city inside of it, which is about the same size as Washington D.C. by land area. Western media reports about the ongoing battle do not account for this and conveys the images that millions of people are trapped in an urban city where the Syrian Army and Russians will not stop bombing them. Aleppo had a pre-war population of over 2 million people. It is a center of commerce and trading with Turkey, as well as a conduit between the Middle East and Europe.
The battle for Aleppo has been intense and has destroyed significant parts of the city’s eastern neighborhoods. However, even at the height of the battle, western media reported claims that 250,000 people may be left in rebel-held areas and might die from starvation, water shortages, and lack of medical care. This number has been disputed and thought to be lower, however Russian officials say over 100,000 people have been escorted to safety from East Aleppo. Videos have shown thousands of people passing through corridors opened by the Syrian Army.
It is unknown how many civilians are left in the areas still under bombardment, but the scale of conflicting information is significant. There are no credible reports of how many casualtieshave been caused by bombing. The only specific number that western news has consistently reported claims 82 civilians have been executed by Syrian government forces in recent weeks, which comes from the controversial Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It is hard to know exactly how many people are in the besieged areas, although UN envoy Staffan de Mistura put the figure at about 50,000. He said there were approximately 1,500 rebel fighters, about 30% of whom were from the jihadist group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front. Other local sources say there could be as many as 100,000 people, many of them arriving from areas recently taken by the government.
Other reports claim what seems to be obvious, that East Aleppo is basically empty and most that are left are part of extremist groups or held hostage by them.
East Aleppo, which was under rebel control, is destroyed.
Syrian state television broadcast live footage throughout the day on Tuesday showing its reporters roaming through the ruins of the newly reconquered neighborhoods, trumpeting the government’s victory as they climbed over piles of rubble, peered into abandoned homes and sifted through the remains of rebel defenses. There was no other sign of life in the empty streets.
About half of the city was controlled by government forces prior to the major offensive to retake the city began in July. Many civilians have been killed by shelling from opposition fighters who fire randomly into these parts of the city.
Opposition fighters have contributed to the siege over the years by controlling the major highways into the city, especially the two roads leading west towards Turkey and other major cities to the southwest. The opposition-controlled these strategic highways until July 2016 when the Syrian Army was able to make enough gains on the ground to re-open the roads. Fighters used the roads to receive weapons and supplies from Turkey.
Aleppo city was the largest hub for distributing fighters, weapons, and supplies to other parts of Syria. Al Mayadeen recently reported on one of the weapons caches found in an East Aleppo basement after the neighborhood was cleared by the Syrian army. The bunker contained GRAD missiles, which are typically fired from a system mounted on a truck.
There were other military grade weapons found, with English language labels, and enough of each to mean the weapons could have only been shipped in by truck. If the opposition fighters could receive so many weapons and supplies into Aleppo from Turkey, why could the Syrian Army somehow stop critical food and medical supplies as U.S. officials claim?
2. The Syrian Army is blocking humanitarian aid to Aleppo, creating the crisis
U.S. officials blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for ordering the army to block aid delivery and remove medical supplies from shipments that do come in. They ignore any role the terrorists groups play in that, as reported in September.
A convoy of 20 UN trucks carrying enough aid for 40,000 people is languishing at the Turkish border as diplomats try to secure agreement from both rebels and regime forces to allow the vehicles through.
“Some parties to the conflict are trying to use this for political gain,” said David Swanson, a UN spokesman. “The challenge for us is ensuring that all parties to the conflict are on the same page. If one element of the chain is not there we cannot proceed.”
Activists there said they intended to reject the UN aid in protest at the ceasefire agreement which was brokered between the US and Russia without input from the Syrian opposition.
Video from Aleppo showed a large demonstration against the UN had gathered at Castello Road, the key supply route that the aid convoy would have to travel down.
At least some of the demonstrators were waving the black flags of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), an al-Qaeda linked jihadist group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.
3. The rebels in East Aleppo are ordinary Syrians who are fighting a civil war against government abuse
While it is unclear how many civilians remained in Aleppo, what is known is that most of the fighters are from the official Al Qaeda group in Syria called Al Nusra, and other groups that have formed public alliances with them. There have been dozens of groups under different names that the United States has called “moderate” opposition, however, many of them were either in alliance with or commanded by Al Nusra itself.
Colonel Steve Warren, spokesperson for the U.S. coalition against Islamic State, said “it’s primarily al-Nusra who holds Aleppo,” in April 2016 prior to the Aleppo offensive.
In 2012, as the intensity of the war grew, thousands of foreign jihadists came to the city and helped take over neighborhoods in the east. Most of these fighters had no ties to Syria before the war and were given support and weapons by wealthy terror financiers from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Qatari foreign minister just pledged to continue sending weapons and assistance to these groups regardless of what Western allies do.
The war crimes committed and infighting with “moderates” became so bad that the U.S. government and the United Nations was forced to declare them terrorists after regional news reporting led the Washington Post to write that Al Nusra was the most effective and influential group on the battlefield. Al Nusra was then declared a terrorist organization by the U.S., other western countries and the United Nations. That was after almost a year of clandestine U.S. support as part of opposition groups.
The November 2012 article describes Al Nusra when they were still part of the popular term “Free Syrian Army” which was used by the U.S. to describe a moderate opposition who should not be bombed.
After this occurred, many groups began to merge and change their names, however, the majority of what became the Free Syrian Army has been proven to be made up of extremist groups who would otherwise be declared terrorists. The largest “moderate” groups in Aleppo, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and Nour Din al-Zinki have been prevented by the United States from being declared terrorists at the United Nations. The U.S. fought with Russia for months to keep these groups off the list of terrorist groups in Syria. This was a consistent point of failure in Syria peace negotiations. As a result, the groups continued to receive protection from America by including the groups in the Syrian ceasefire.
Jaysh al-Islam grew to 25,000 fighters by some recent estimates. Jaysh al-Islam integrated over 100 smaller groups, and led Syria’s largest remaining alliance, Fatah Halab as they renamed themselves in Aleppo. This alliance also included Ahrar al-Sham and Nour Din al-Zinki.
U.S. and Russian officials have been arguing over whether these groups should be targeted for bombing since they fight in the same areas as Al Nusra. The U.S. has claimed since February 2016 that it would persuade moderate groups to separate from Al Nusra, but it never happened despite the U.S. being in daily contact with them.
In response to this continued trend, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced Stop Arming Terrorists Act last week to ban funding of terrorists groups, whether direct or indirect.
4. Rebels in East Aleppo are not terrorists. They are “moderate” and do not commit war crimes.
The most unbalanced part of Western news reporting on Aleppo is the deliberate effort to not report the war crimes committed by opposition groups, while confirming unverifiable claims about atrocities by the Syrian Army or from Russian airstrikes. Reporters have brought up this concern multiple times with U.S. officials and specifically when making the claim that Russian airstrikes hit hospitals in Syria but refusing to give evidence, twice.
In April 2016, Jaysh al-Islam admitted to using chemical weapons in the city of Aleppo. They have consistently used civilians as human shields, sometimes locking them in metal cages on the back of trucks.
The US also defended Ahrar al-Sham after they recently massacred an unknown number of people and kidnapped over 100 from the small village of Zaara in May 2016. State Department officials were confronted about specifically on May 24 with one reporter asking “Is this a yellow card? How many villages do they have to massacre before they become bad guys?” in relation to removing them from the protection of being declared a moderate group.
Ahrar al-Sham has was singled out for war crimes by Amnesty International just before the Zaara massacre. The Amnesty report also condemned the group for torture, kidnapping, and rape as well as using chemical weapons on multiple occasions.
Nour Din al-Zinki became most well known for beheading a sick young Palestinian boy on video which went viral on social media. U.S. State Department officials refused to condemn the group and still allowed them protection under Syrian ceasefire agreements.
The United Nations admitted last week that they received reports of opposition fighters shooting at civilians trying to leave East Aleppo, despite months of ignoring these claims. The U.S. State Department has also declined to admit the groups they call moderate have been involved in shooting at civilians.
Aleppo MP Fares Shehabi also confirmed that terrorists had turned state-run hospitals into command centers in a heated argument on the UK’s Channel 4 News.
The terrorists even had their own prisons and torture centers.
Soldiers showed what appears to be militant flags, graffiti, and machine tools for making munitions, and even cells and alleged means for torturing captives.
SOT, Muhammad Hamud, Soldier, Syrian Arab Army (Arabic): “We released nearly 15 civilians. That was in a male prison. In Qadi Askar there was another prison which was a joint male and female prison. It was in the headquarters of the Sharia centre.”
5. People are unhappy the Syrian Army has taken over the city again
There is a reason the leader of the Syrian Kurds said it “would be a disaster for everyone” if the Assad government were to fall to the extremist opposition. The alternative to Aleppo city being controlled by Al Nusra, or worse, extremists could fight for control of it and further divide the region.
Western news reports described the victory in different degrees of terror, saying the people of the city were in shock at the army’s victory, ignoring the thousands of people celebrating in Aleppo areas controlled by the government. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby made the most controversial of the statements saying that he had not seen “any dancing in the streets” as celebrations were ongoing.
“I’ve been many times to Homs, to Maaloula, to Latakia and Tartus [in Syria] and again, Aleppo, four times. And people’s support of their government is absolutely true. Whatever you hear in the corporate media is completely opposite,” Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett described at a United Nations press event.
6. Desperate pleas for help on social media by local Syrians show just how bad the situation is in East Aleppo
Western news media marketed a coordinated campaign of videos claiming to be average Syrian citizens pleading for international action to intervene in the Syrian war as the battle of Aleppo came to an end. A combination of children, social media activists and claimed independent journalists have been featured as genuine accounts from East Aleppo, however, these transmissions have been questioned.
But there is one major problem with these well-articulated video pleas: these aren’t simple civilians of Aleppo, but bloggers and filmmakers – who have played active roles in supporting the regime change operation – who are now magically being given prime time slots for worldwide TV coverage. Interestingly, Aleppo has no cell service or electricity, so how these “civilian” videos are being recorded/disseminated is also an open question, which implies less than organic means.
According to Anissa Naouai, host of RT’s ‘In the Now’, a quick search of the Internet reveals the identities of these “civilians.”
A 7-year-old girl named Bana Alabed has become a known Twitter personality during recent months for her videos which are said to be recorded in Aleppo. Confirmed Syrian activist Maytham Al Ashkar contacted the account for Bana on November 27, offering to evacuate her family from eastern Aleppo. According to screenshots of conversations, someone who identified herself as Bana’s mother responded about a month later. The responses received led him to believe the account was fake and being operated by someone who preferred speaking in English instead of Arabic.
Bana’s account, designated by Twitter as “verified”, was set up three months ago, and has since gathered over 310,000 followers. The tweets, written by both Bana and her mother, Fatemah, who says she taught her daughter to speak English, depict life under siege in east Aleppo.
Many have called the authenticity of the account into question, pointing to videos where Bana appears to be reading from a prompt. It is also unclear whether Bana’s posts are genuine, since any user, anywhere in the world can post from the account, as long as they have the password.
Pro-government activist Maytham Al Ashkar is originally from Al-Zahraa in northern Syria, currently in Beirut, but often travelling to Damascus and Aleppo. He offered to help evacuate Bana and her family, contacting Bana’s Twitter account on November 27.
“This person was contacted by Bana, who told him she wanted my offer. Once he got my approval, Bana (the account) contacted me directly,” Maytham explains.
“When I got contacted by Bana’s account, I started to chat in Arabic since we are all Syrians and Arabic is our mother tongue. However, it was obvious that the person behind the account preferred English as a language of communication.”
Another problem has been the spread of false images represented as civilian casualties in Aleppo. One fake image of Aleppo violence was actually a screenshot from a 2014 music video.
7. The Syrian Army is now butchering people, executing civilians in the streets
If United States officials are watching the battle of Aleppo so closely, why has it not released any evidence of civilian casualties being caused by Syrian and Russian airstrikes? No satellite imagery, no pictures or video of large-scale casualties, no documentation of the alleged hundreds of bodies in the streets as claimed by news media like the New York Times. In the same article, the New York Times was forced to show pictures of the thousands of civilians being escorted to safety by the Syrian Army. Many pictures showed soldiers helping civilians, even carrying them when needed.
There have been genuine images from hospitals showing innocent civilians wounded in the fighting or people rescued from the rubble of buildings, but where are the images showing the mass casualty events described?
Syrian pro-government forces in eastern Aleppo have been killing people, including women and children, on the spot in their homes and on the street, the United Nations says. The UN’s human rights office said streets were full of bodies.
As noted earlier, the only consistent report of civilian deaths last week was the claim that 82 people were executed by Syrian government forces. The claim was reported as verified fact by most of Western news media, including ReutersBBCNew York Times.
The common source for these claims is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which sounds like an independent and official source, but is an unaccountable organization made up of sources on the ground who are kept private.
8. The Syrian Army prevents civilians from leaving
It is reported that many civilians feared leaving East Aleppo for government-controlled areas because they might be tortured or killed. These reports cannot be verified and will not be trivialized here, however Russian officials noted that more than 100,000 civilians had been evacuated since operations began in November.
Wednesday, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a statement confirming it received reports that the opposition was preventing civilians from leaving, holding them hostage as human shields.
Alongside a pattern of indiscriminate attacks, the Commission has further received allegations of opposition groups, including the terrorist group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) and Ahrar al-Sham preventing civilians from leaving as well as opposition fighters embedding themselves within the civilian population, thus heightening the risk to civilians of being killed or injured.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been seen on video leaving the areas of battle, being received by Syrian and Russian soldiers. Russia announced it distributed 35 tons of humanitarian aid this week in eastern Aleppo to civilians in need.
‘Moderate Rebels’ Slaughter Syrian Civilian Protesters Trying to Escape East Aleppo
For the last 6 months, 21st Century Wire, along with many other alternative news outlets, have been reporting how the US Coalition-backed ‘moderate rebels’ (comprised of listed international terrorist groups including al Nusra/al Qaeda) have been using Syrian civilians a human shields in rebel-held areas like East Aleppo.
It is a dark reality for the residents of East Aleppo, now in its fourth year of terrorist occupation – militants are tightened their control over public spaces and mosques – for fear of continued civilian protests. Last night saw the unthinkable, as hundreds of civilians took to the streets to protest against the ‘rebel’ occupation – with 17 residents gunned-down and killed and dozens of others reported wounded – as ‘moderate’ terrorists (and Washington) become ever more paranoid about losing control…
RT Reports:
At least 17 people were killed by heavy gunfire and about a dozen more were rounded up and executed after hundreds of civilians trying to leave eastern Aleppo protested against the rebel blockade of exit routes, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Some 500 civilians took part in several protests in the rebel-occupied eastern part of Aleppo on Thursday, and at least 200 of them were trying to reach the Syrian government-controlled area at the time they were violently dispersed with live fire, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
21WIRE global affairs writer Patrick Henningsenspoke to RT News International late last night about this brutal attack, and how it exposes the complete failure of 5 years of Obama Administration and CIA policy in Syria. More and more, the world can see that the ‘rebels’ backed by the Washington-London-Paris-GCC Axis. Watch:
watch the video
“The militants dispersed the demonstration, shooting at the protesters from a heavy machine gun and then mined all the approaches to the checkpoint and placed snipers on the roofs of nearby houses,” Konashenkov said, as quoted by Sputnik news agency.
“Seventeen people died at the site, including two teenagers of 13 and 15 years of age, over 40 people were wounded,” he added.
Upon quelling one of the rallies, militants launched a hunt for the presumed organizers of the protests, the ministry spokesman said.
“Terrorists detained about 10 men, who they held to be ‘organizers’ of the riots, and drove them away in an unknown direction. They were shot dead the same evening,” Konashenkov said.
See full report at RT
The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes NATO’s ‘White Helmets’ as Terrorist-Linked Imposters
By Vanessa Beeley
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I am a director not only of a Syrian Civil Defence Unit, but of brave human beings, volunteers who risk their lives, despite the terrorism that is invading Syria, to maintain security for Syria. I give thanks from my heart for the courage of my men who have lost their comrades in terrorist attacks but they keep working despite the risks. They are true soldiers, their equipment, and their spirit is their only weapons ~ Director of Tartous’ REAL Syria Civil Defence
Before we introduce the real Syria Civil Defence, who are Syria’s real ICDO certified civil fire and rescue organization, let’s first take a closer look at the imposters; terrorists in white hats, and agents of war – NATO’s pseudo ‘NGO’ construct, embedded exclusively in terrorist-held parts of Syria…
Screenshot from one of the multitude of NATO’s White Helmets promotional videos, as per usual –
with fans and camera crew in attendance.
So who, and what exactly are the White Helmets?
White Helmets ‘Team’ Photo: Screenshot from Netflix promotional documentary.
British Military officer James Le Mesurier
The western media mythology goes as follows:
The White Helmet network showing primary funding sources and James Le Mesurier connections back to deep state (Image: UK Column)
Variation on the Netflix promotional poster for the NATO White Helmet documentary.
|Poster by: Cory Morningstar of WrongKindofGreen.
Like many other ‘NGOs’, the White Helmets have been deployed by the west to derail the Syrian state, first by undermining existing civic structures and by disseminating staged PR to facilitateregime change propaganda, through western and Gulf state media outlets. Despite the fact that they were started, and are still generously funded by NATO members states, particularly from the US and UK, the White Helmets’ official statement still claims categorically that they are somehow “fiercely independent” and “have accepted no money from governments, corporations or anyone directly involved in the Syrian conflict“. This is both farcical and deeply misleading.
For further details on the White Helmets and their role in supporting US & NATO state-sponsored terrorism in Syria please refer to the compilation of articles contained in the 21WIRE article: WHO ARE SYRIA’S WHITE HELMETS?
The REAL Syria Civil Defence
The REAL Syria Civil Defence, stationed in Syrian government held West Aleppo
(Photo: Vanessa Beeley August 15, 2016)
The REAL Syria Civil Defence: Aleppo
Decimated areas of Sheikh Maqsoud, the northernmost, Kurdish held,
entry point into the government held West Aleppo (Photo: Vanessa Beeley August 14, 2016)
West Aleppo REAL Syria Civil Defence unit (Photo: Vanessa Beeley August 15, 2016)
Chemical Attacks
MODERATE WEAPONS: ‘Rebel’ Terrorists in East Aleppo shell civilians indiscriminately with their crude munitions, and then blame it on “The Regime” via misleading social media imagery.
Painful skin blisters caused by an ISIS chemical weapon attack in Northern Aleppo 17/9/2016 (Photo: Press TV article)
Aleppo REAL Syria Civil Defence Fire Engine parked in their yard (Photo: Vanessa Beeley August 15, 2016)
US EQUIPPED: White Helmets showing off their brand new equipment in Idlib (on borders with Turkey) supplied by US Equipment company, Bobcat (Photo: screenshot from White Helmet promotional video)
The White Helmets: Criminals, Kidnappers and Killers
Granted, this might come as a shock to anyone who has already bought into the public relations image of the group that’s already been developed over three years by various agencies in New York, Washington DC and London, but these are the real accounts regarding what one might say is the true unmasked nature of the west’s White Helmets.
2. Where is this rescue being filmed?
(Photo: Vanessa Beeley August 15, 2016)
The REAL Aleppo Medical Association
Are the White Helmets, NATO ghosts?
Later, in Part II of this story, we will travel to the northwest Syria regions ofLattakia and Tartous and speak to REAL Syria Civil Defence units there, before finally visiting the Syria Civil Defence Headquarters in Damascus, right in the heart of Jaish Al Islam, terrorist strongholds in Jobar and the surrounding suburbs of Damascus.
The REAL “saints” do indeed come marching in….
The REAL Syria Civil Defence, Lattakia, next stop on the tour of the true heroes inside Syria. Photo: Lattakia Fire Brigade FB page
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VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJU9-GN-_Xc
America has prolonged the civil war, only destabilized the region
By Justin Schuster
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On November 8, 2016, American voters elected Donald Trump to be the 45th president of the United States in a victory that casts uncertainty on the future of American foreign policy.
With two months left in Obama’s presidency, Syria Direct turned to Joshua Landis, Director of the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Middle Eastern Studies and author of the blog Syria Comment, to make sense of it all.
Here, the lightly edited conversation is the first installment in a series of reaction interviews with analysts, academics, and diplomats around the implications of a Trump presidency for US-Syria policy. Can Trump really be worse than the current administration on Syria? Will Trump hand Syria over to Putin? Does he even have that power, or is it already done? Landis, for one, offers a sharp, candid assessment of America’s unyielding and unrealistic vision in Syria and the Middle East writ large.
“President Obama and Hillary Clinton decided that Assad was going to fall and that they could carry out regime change smoothly in Syria without too much damage,” Landis tells Syria Direct’s Justin Schuster. “This was a terrible mistake.”
“Breaking down the very delicate and fragile state structures that have been created in the Middle East over the last 100 years has not done anybody any favors,” says Landis. “To just wipe them away and expect that some kind of democracy and unity are going to emerge in their place was very naïve.”
The result, says Landis, is a legacy of destruction in the region for which the United States is in part responsible.
And yet, he says, “America hasn’t taken responsibility, and it won’t take responsibility.”
Q: Donald Trump is going to be the 45th president of the United States. What is your initial reaction?
I was shocked. Personally, I don’t see a lot of good in Trump. On the other hand, I do believe that America needs to give him a honeymoon period, and I am a bit shocked at the immediate outrage of a lot of people.
Obviously, I don’t like Trump. I think he’s a narcissist and so forth, but you never know. There are a lot of Americans who are angry and feeling vulnerable, and they need a champion. He is a champion. At least they think he is. He needs to be given a chance to champion their cause.
Q: What image does a Trump presidency send to the rest of the world and, in particular, the Middle East?
I’m not sure we can use what he has said about the Middle East as a guide to what he’s going to do because when we look at the people he might appoint, many of them are people who were in favor of the invasion of Iraq. They are neocons of one kind or another, which contradicts everything that he’s said on the campaign trail. So, I’m going to make more sense of his foreign policy in the next two minutes than I think it warrants.
His initial discussion of the Middle East came about on the Libya question. He was very swift to critique Hillary Clinton’s overthrowing of Qaddafi. Basically, he said that regime change has been disastrous, and it’s caused the spread of extremism and chaos throughout the Middle East. We shouldn’t do it. This critique was not only for Libya; it was for Iraq. In a sense he was critiquing the thrust of the Republican Party’s foreign policy since George Bush: Don’t try to bring democracy to the Middle East, work with dictators, order. It’s about aman wa istiqrar [security and stability], which is the slogan of Bashar al-Assad.
Q: I want to try to make sense of the policy recommendations that Donald Trump has thrown out along the campaign trail. Let’s suppose that Mr. Trump taps you tomorrow to be his right-hand man on Syria policy. On Russia, Mr. Trump has repeatedly praised President Putin for his effectiveness in fighting the Islamic State, saying “if Russia wants to get rid of ISIS…let ’em get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?” By all indications, it seems that Mr. Trump is going to hand Syria over to Putin.
I would ask Trump: What is his objective? Is his objective to stop the killing and end the Syrian civil war or his objective to hurt the Russians and gain leverage in Syria for America? If he wants to hurt the Russians and the Iranians, if he sees them as a threat to American interests and wants to gain leverage on the Syrian battlefield, then I would say keep on sending arms and money to the rebels and encourage the Saudis and the Turks to keep funding them.
But I think that will prolong the civil war. Russia, Assad and the Iranians have a winning hand. They’re determined to create a Shiite crescent built upon Hezbollah, the Assad regime and the American-built government in Iraq. That’s what’s been emerging over the last decade. We’ve seen America try to pick it apart. There was the Israeli invasion in 2006 against Hezbollah, which failed, the efforts to destabilize Bashar in 2004, 2005 and the invasion of Iraq. America mistakenly thought this would build a more pro-America Middle East and end dictatorship and produce democracy. We’ve seen that fail miserably and there’s more dictatorship and extremism in the Middle East.
If America wanted to reverse Russian and Iranian positions, it would have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars, and I don’t think it’s going to do it. I don’t think it should prolong the Syrian civil war unless it means it. This would mean getting together an international force, occupying Syria in order to take the guns away from everybody, creating an occupation of sorts that would guarantee the safety of everybody in Syria, rebuilding the nation and staying there for 20-30 years. Then, you could possibly build another government—I don’t even know if it would be stable—but you could gamble on that.
But if you just are going to throw in more arms to the rebels—let’s say $10 billion every year—with the Saudis and Qataris, then you’re just going to prolong the civil war. You’re going to make sure that more people flee, and that’s what America has done so far. I think America has prolonged the civil war and has abetted the terrible destruction. They haven’t defeated Assad; they’ve only destabilized the region. They have permitted all of these rebel groups—who have very anti-American agendas—to spread, and we ultimately are not going to support them.
I don’t think that a political solution, the way that Washington and the Geneva Accords describe it, is realistic where you’re going to get Alawite officers sitting down with Nusra, Ahrar a-Sham and Jaish al-Islam to produce a hybrid security state. I think that’s completely pie-in-the-sky to have people who want Sharia law, and Alawite and other minority officers, sitting down together and agreeing on a form of future government in Syria. That never stood a chance.
The Assad regime is not capable of reform in a meaningful way. It’s capable of shrinking down to a small little spot or expanding over all of Syria. But it’s not capable of reforming, and I think Bashar has proven that to us. It will be the same authoritarian regime that is based on Baathist, one-party state, family and sectarian loyalties. That’s all he is capable of. Otherwise, the regime falls apart. Once you dissemble that basic formula that his father put together, authority will crumble.
If you look at the way Barzani or any of these other people have created political authority, it’s through patronage, family, and traditional loyalties. The Middle East, unfortunately, is stuck with this right now. And, here, America wants to come up with a formula for governance in the Middle East that doesn’t rely on these traditional loyalties but rather on a constitutional foundation, the rule of law and all of the other beautiful things that you’ve heard Hillary Clinton tell us about.
Q: Let’s go back to the fight against the Islamic State. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump’s position with regard to putting boots on the ground was indecipherable at best. At one point he said he would “listen to the generals,” deploying 20,000-30,000 American soldiers. He promptly walked that statement back no more than two weeks later. Given the two ongoing campaigns against IS in Raqqa and Mosul, would you tell Mr. Trump that such a heavy investment of American blood and treasure is necessary for the fight against the Islamic State?
I would tell him: You’ve got three offers on the table to take Raqqa. You’ve got a Kurdish offer through the PYD, you’ve got a Turkish offer that brings with it the rebels and you’ve got an Assad-Russia offer. All three have offered if they can get American backing. Of course, each one comes with political complications.
America has come up with a formula. Today, the Kurds—the Syrian Democratic Forces—are the only ones ready to do anything, so we’re going use them to surround and isolate the Islamic State in Raqqa. We will not order them to take Raqqa.
The Turks were asking us for up to six months to train and equip the rebels, who are incapable of taking Raqqa right now. Turkey wants to turn this hodgepodge of rebels, who they’ve been bringing up from Idlib, into a fighting force on the argument that you should have Arabs in Raqqa because it’s an Arab city. That’s a compelling argument.
America is going to wait the six months for stage two to kick in, and they’re theoretically going to find some deal between the Kurds and the Turks that will not destroy our relations with Turkey and will allow for the final conquest of Raqqa. That’s the best people can do right now. I take my hat off to the [American] generals. They’re using diplomacy as much as they can in order not to burn our relationship with Turkey, but they need to move. Urgency requires that they move with the Kurds.
Trump is going to inherit that policy, and it makes a lot of sense. The trouble is that this policy leads to the partitioning of Syria, which is a word that America doesn’t want to use. But America’s policies have always led to this kind of an outcome. If they don’t want Assad to re-conquer the rebel parts, somebody else will, and then you’re going to get a divided Syria. It may not be permanently divided. It may be like East and West Germany. It may only be divided until the Assad regime falls or a new order unifies Syria.
That’s the question that sits on the front burner for Trump. Does he want to encourage the Turks to spread a Sunni rebel regime over parts of northern Syria and, if so, how much? Does he want to let Assad retake some of that Islamic State territory? Or does he want the Kurds to do it and have an enlarged Kurdistan?
Q: Which offer would you take?
You have to have a hard talk with Turkey to find out what they are willing to accept. You have to sit down with the Russians and the Iranians as well. And you have to meet with the Iraqis because the Iraqi Popular Forces are not going to want a Sunni Arab state sitting between them and Aleppo. They are going to see that as a potential irredentist state. The Iraqi forces have said that they are going to follow the Islamic State into Syria once they’ve taken it out of Iraq. We’ve turned them into quite a competent fighting force, and so are the Iranians.
The Iraqis and the Iranians are not going to stand by with their hands in their pockets as America tries to turn rebels into a government in northeastern Syria that would become dependent on Turkey. Turkey wants a sphere of influence that would stretch also to Turkmen parts of Iraq.
To what extent does a Turkish sphere of influence over northern Syria and parts of Iraq help America? Do we want to help the Iraqi government re-conquer all of these territories and not let Turkey meddle in there? It’s so hard to know.
You need to figure out where you can make a deal and what can you do with the least amount of violence. If we get it wrong, you’re just going to perpetuate the war. America hasn’t wanted to make any decisions on these questions: partition, Kurdish autonomy, the Turks taking a hunk of Syria as their zone of influence with Sunni rebels or possibly re-legitimizing Assad at some point with the Russians.
But America has been moving towards a partition of Syria with a Kurdistan and trying to get the Turks to agree to some kind of Kurdistan, with the PYD is independent of the PKK. It’s not the same thing and they can live with them in Syria. We’re allied with the Kurds to a certain degree and I think we owe it to the Kurds to see that through.
When it comes to the rebels, I think the emergence of Nusra as a major force in the Idlib region and increasingly in Aleppo is a danger for the United States. Look at the curriculum in their schools and what they’re teaching their kids about Osama Bin Laden as a hero and that bombing the World Trade Center was a great thing. I don’t think America should be helping these people to continue that kind of education. We’ve tried to separate the moderate rebels from this kind of jihadi Salafist wing of the rebel movement but without any success. It’s possible that Turkey can do it, and that’s where America needs to sit down with its Turkish ally to discuss some kind of partition of Syria, I suppose.
We’re not going to overthrow Damascus, Russia and Iran. The United States must take responsibility for turning Iraq into a Shiite-dominated country that is backed by Iran. This changed the balance of power in the region. We tried to destroy Hezbollah and failed.
What I’m pointing out is that America has a long tradition of supporting Shiites against Sunni rebels in Iraq, and in a sense they want to reverse that in Syria, and they’ve found that it’s difficult to do it because Russia is doing the same thing. The real challenge for the United States in Iraq is to try to get the Sunni population to be brought back to cities after they’ve been driven out and the Islamic State has been destroyed. And we’re seeing a lot of success with that in Ramadi, and Tikrit where recent reports claim that about 90 percent of the Sunni population have been returned. And that’s very promising. The question is, how do you get that to be done in Syria?
How do we get the population of Aleppo to return once it’s taken by Russia and Assad? It’s going to happen, and America is not going to stop that. Can you repair? Do you want Syria to become North Korea? That’s where it’s headed today if the United States decides it wants to go against Putin and Assad by doubling down on sanctions and trying to force other countries from rebuilding relations with Assad. I think that’s a mistake. Assad is going to win unless America does some major heavy lifting. I think that’s the wrong policy to stick our heads in the ground.
Q: More than five years into the war, what should be the American strategy towards Syria under a Trump presidency?
Our first interest is not to get into a war with Russia and Iran that is prolonged and that will hurt the Syrian people. The Syrian people have been the victims of this ongoing Cold War between the Sunnis and the Shiites. We have stoked the flames of that war by continuing to help the Sunnis enough so that they can’t lose but not enough so they can win.
I don’t think we should try to win the war for the Sunnis by arming them. The only places that still have people in Syria are the government-occupied cities, which are chockablock full of refugees and everybody else who has already lived there. We would just drive those people out if we arm Sunnis to take those cities. That would be the most foolish policy and would lead to tons more refugees.
We do not want to drive Erdogan into the arms of Russia. Erdogan has played that card. He’s shown us that he can close [the airbase at] Incirlik or go to Russia. We have no interest in forcing him to do that. That may mean allowing him to expand his rebel-controlled part of Syria. He may exact that as a price, and that has to be negotiated with Russia. We need to sit down with Russia, Iran and Turkey and figure out how much Syrian territory Turkish proxies can take. But we’ve got to get the Kurds in there. We cannot forsake the Kurds. It’s going to be a delicate act of diplomacy.
Assad thinks he’s going to re-conquer all of Syria, and it’s possible. If he gets Russian and Iranian backing and if Turkey really is inimical to the PYD, then the PYD will have to go back to Assad. They’ll accept some kind of autonomy, but they’re going to have to accept Assad’s sovereignty the same way the Kurds in Iraq have done. It depends on Turkey’s stance. Obviously Turkey made peace with the Kurds in Iraq, but Erdogan may very well may not be willing to court that kind of autonomy because the PYD is so closely connected to PKK. That’s going to play into Assad’s hands because the Kurds are going to have to come back to him and hide under his umbrella.
Again, is it in America’s interest for the Turks to partition Syria with a northern enclave? If the difference between allowing the partition of Syria and making a deal with Russia is that we can keep Erdogan in our orbit, then maybe we have to do it.
Q: On a final note, Dr. Landis, one which I realize could be the subject of a book in of itself: What are your final thoughts on President Obama’s foreign policy legacy with regard to Syria?
President Obama and Hillary Clinton decided that Assad was going to fall and that they could carry out regime change smoothly in Syria without too much damage. This was a terrible mistake. They failed. I don’t think they failed because they didn’t shuttle enough arms in early enough. I think they were wrong to try to pursue regime change in the same way that Bush was wrong to try to pursue regime change in Iraq. The US belief that it could spread rule of law and institutional democracy in the Middle East as it exists today without spending a lot more money and time, decades, was naïve.
I think that Obama was correct to limit US involvement in Syria because it would have been endless, and would not have ended happily. Breaking down the very delicate and fragile state structures that have been created in the Middle East over the last 100 years since the emergence of nation states has not done anybody any favors. It takes a long time for authority, for legitimacy, to emerge again, and the Middle East is very fragmented along so many lines: sectarian, tribal, village, country, city, rich and poor. We’ve turned those lines into battle lines. People are killing along those lines.
Those lines were there. The dictatorships were horrible. Assad was brutal and so was Saddam Hussein and most of the monarchies and states in the Middle East because they lack legitimacy. Their publics are not united around a common national idea. To just wipe them away and expect that some kind of democracy and unity are just going to emerge in their place was very naïve. What has emerged is all of these traditional loyalties and fragmentation in a very brutal world.
I think Obama was smart to see the dangers and to try to resist. I fault him for not resisting hard enough for allowing Clinton to create the Friends of Syria, to tell Obama that Assad is going to fall and to get America involved in a war that it wasn’t going to win and wasn’t willing to win. America hasn’t taken responsibility, and it won’t take responsibility. In Iraq it’s failed to take responsibility. We haven’t taken responsibility in Libya, and we’re not taking responsibility for our assistance to Saudis in Yemen and helping to destroy that country.
I know that tons of elite Syrians were hoping that they could produce a democracy and bring justice, rule of law to Syria. They are brokenhearted. They look to the US as the only power that could possibly bring them back their homes. They wanted to come back and rule Syria, and they’re never going to do that now. America tried to do that in Iraq. We thought we could give it to the well-educated elites of Iraq: the Shalabi world. I think Shalabi probably spoke for a lot of Iraqis.
We haven’t been able to do that with the SNC that we help put together and that was populated by well-educated, well-meaning Syrians. Those are the people who believe that Obama has been a feckless leader and should have just crushed Assad and produced rule of law in Syria, democracy, and institutions. I think that’s very naïve. I think the liberals in the Middle East are small class of people. They become crushed in between various radical forces who are willing to use much more force than they are. They end up fleeing and becoming exiles, the White Russians of the modern Middle East. It’s a shame that America cannot put them in power and have them rule in places like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and Libya, but they can’t.
It was naïve to think that they could, and we’ve learnt a very horrible lesson with a big path of destruction behind it for which the United States is in part responsible.
The White Helmets
Read the Original Story
Vanessa Beeley
To condense our research on the Syria White Helmets, we have collated all relevant articles and interviews below. We condemn wholeheartedly any senseless murder but we recommend that there is serious public and political re-evaluation of the morality of funding a US NATO organisation established to further “regime change” objectives in Syria.
Clinton wants to do Libya again — now to Syria
Read the Original
By Tony Seed
Eric Zuesse (I’m sending this commentary on Craig Murray’s recent post to all news-media🙂
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and President Obama — and some NATO partners) did it previously to Libya, and here was the result (as discussed by the retired British career diplomat Craig Murray, at his craigmurray.org.uk, who has kindly allowed me to distribute it to other newsmedia) [and I as editor will add a few clarifiers and questions in brackets] (and then afterward, I shall add my own comments); so, here is Craig Murray:
When the neo-cons in the UK parliament and the serial warmonger Hillary Clinton call for a “no-fly zone” they actually mean the opposite. They mean that NATO should be given untrammeled access to the [Syrian] airspace to carry out mass bombings – but that nobody else [including the Syrian government] should.
We saw it in Libya. The argument goes like this. NATO aircraft need to enforce the no-fly zone. To do this in safety, they need to attack and destroy any ground-to-air weapons capabilities on the ground. That does not just include surface-to-air missiles, both carriage mounted and hand held, but anything that can be pointed upwards and fired. They need to take out by more bombing any stores that may house such weapons. They need to take out any radar installations, including civilian ones, that may pinpoint NATO aircraft. They need to destroy any runways and hangars, including civilian ones. They need to destroy by bombing all military command and control centres, including those in built-up areas. They need to destroy the infrastructure on which air defence relies, including electricity generation and water supply, including civilian assets.
A security council resolution could be tabled calling for the end of all military flights, by anybody, over Syrian airspace. The UK and US would oppose that, and so would all those Tories and Blairites pretending to advocate a no-fly zone in the House of Commons. That would show up the bastards for the evil hypocrites they are.
The extraordinarily honest “Moon of Alabama” blogger commented, a year ago:
I asked what purpose this media campaign [pumping a no-fly-zone] may have. It now seems clear that it is part of preparing the European public for all-out war on Syria, its government and its people.
The Guardian editors use the created migrant crisis to demand that “something” be done. They ridiculously first remind us that the false “no-fly-zone” campaign against Libya ended in a country ripped apart and more refugees only to then demand a similar campaign in Syria. Saner British voices remind us that “western” meddling in the Middle East is the source, not the solution for the current catastrophes.
Ministers will start to make a case for British military action in Syria next week — with Downing Street keen to take the “next step” against so-called Islamic State — the BBC understands.
France is, of course, on board
Obama won’t unleash the Syrian no-fly zone — and war against Russia, and the nuclear destruction of human civilization (World War III) — but he is instead leaving that to Hillary Clinton. Here is what she has said about it:
To the Council on Foreign Relations, on 19 November 2015:
To have a swath of territory that could be a safe zone … for Syrians so they wouldn’t have to leave but also for humanitarian relief, … would give us this extra leverage that I’m looking for in the diplomatic pursuits with Russia with respect to the political outcome in Syria. [She expects Russia to agree to join her war against Russia.]
During a debate against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries:
Syria: Army Captures Vast Region in Eastern Ghouta
Read The Original Story
Syrian Army troops and popular forces continued their advances in the key town of al-Reihan and its countryside, capturing more building blocks, factories and lands in Eastern Ghouta on Wednesday, military sources said minutes ago.
“Syrian government forces have inflicted a heavy death toll on the militants and captured Jame’a mosque, city hall, sports stadium, over 30 machinegun-equipped bunkers and defense positions and 15 large strongholds,” the sources said.
“The Syrian army soldiers have opened their way into an industrial zone in al-Reihan region and captured three factories that manufacture electrical devices, oil and electrical cables,” they added.
“Army’ engineering units have thus far defused a large number of bombs, explosive traps and landmines planted by the militants in buildings near the town’s graveyard,” the sources went on to say.
In relevant developments in the province on Tuesday, Syrian Army troops and popular forces ambushed a group of terrorists in Eastern Ghouta, leaving dozens of militants dead or wounded.
Syrian government forces carried out a successful ambush operation against the gathering of the Takfiri terrorists in the strategic village of Reihan near Douma, inflicting major losses and heavy casualties on them.
Based on local sources fierce clashes are underway inside the village as the pro-government forces are trying to capture Reihan.
“Jeish al-Islam terrorists have called on their comrades to rush to their aid,” the sources added.
“If the Syrian Army seizes back Reihan, they will surround Tal Kurdi and inch closer to surrounding Douma,” they pointed out.
BREAKING: Israeli Warplane and Drone Shot Down Over Golan Heights by Syrian Air Defences
Sept. 13, 2016 by Vanessa Beeley
Read The Original Story
The news is coming in of a statement from the Syrian Military Command, claiming that Syrian air defenses have brought down an Israeli warplane and drone illegally entering Syrian airspace in Quneitra. Quneitra is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in south-western Syria. It is situated in a high valley in the long disputed Golan Heights.
This report from Syrian Arab News Agency:
“Quneitra, SANA – The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces announced on Tuesday that the Israeli enemy’s air force attacked a Syrian military position in the countryside of the southern Quneitra province around 1:00 am on September 13, 2016. The General Command said the Syrian air defense forces responded to the attack and shot down an Israeli warplane to the southwest of Quneitra and an Israeli drone to the west of Sa’sa’. It noted that the Israeli attack came in support of the armed terrorist groups and in a desperate attempt to raise the deteriorating morale of their members due to the heavy losses they have suffered in Quneitra.”
“The Syrian army says it has shot down an Israeli warplane and a drone inside Syria following an Israeli attack on Syrian army positions in the south, state media report.
Israeli fighter jets had attacked two Syrian army cannons in the Golan Heights, where Quneitra is located, early on Tuesday morning. It was the fifth such attack in just over a week.
“Never believe anything until it has been officially denied” – Claude Cockburn.
Israel is denying that it’s aircraft was downed by Syrian air defenses, according to the Independent:
“Israel has denied the Syrian government’s claim to have shot down an Israeli fighter jet and drone at the start of a fragile seven-day truce in the country’s civil war.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) immediately refuted the report, saying a Syrian anti-aircraft battery had shot at its aircraft but missed their target.
“Early this morning, two missiles were launched from Syria after the IAF targeted Syrian artillery positions,” a spokesperson said. “IDF aircraft were not harmed.”
As 21WIRE has previously reported, over the past 4 years during the present Syrian conflict –multiple incursions and attacks have been carried out by Israel and its airforce inside Syria, including instances where the IDF has targeted Syrian civil infrastructure, as well as Syrian security and military installations on ground.
Is it a coincidence that this Israeli invasion of Syrian airspace come after a powerful statement from Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad, discussing reconciliation while visiting recently liberated Daraya, and promising that Syria will re-take all terrorist held areas? Particularly when one considers that it is effectively Al Nusra [Al Qaeda in Syria]that has occupied the illegally Israeli claimed areas of the Golan Heights. The same Al Nusra that is being treated in Israeli hospitals and that has never fired a shot in Israel’s direction. Report from SANA:
“In statements to the national media, the President said “Visiting Daraya today has plenty of meanings. They may be symbolic, but they are not addressed to the Syrian people as I and the Syrian people… have been in the same situation since the beginning of the crisis.”
He added that the Syrian people have been aware of the reality of the conspiracy and the existence of traitors and agents and the external factor and share the same feelings whenever an area is taken by the terrorists or liberated by the army or when a reconciliation agreement is achieved.
The President affirmed that the message of his visit to Daraya is addressed to those who have worked against Syria and bet on its collapse, especially those countries that got directly involved in conspiring against Syria and supporting the terrorists and the Syrian traitors and agents who chose to be part of the foreign plot.
“We as state, by coming to this area, also send a message to those [sides] that the Syrian state is determined to retake every area from the terrorists and restore security and safety,” stressed the President, adding that the state is also resolved to reconstruct all that has been destroyed physically and on the human level.
“We come here today to replace the false freedom they tried to market at the beginning of the crisis, including about Daraya, with the real freedom; the freedom that starts with restoring security and safety, goes through reconstruction and ends with the independent national decision,” said President al-Assad.
He reiterated that the message is addressed especially from Daraya “since there are some who were annoyed that [Daraya] was brought back home and had issued official statements, and they are Western officials.”
He addressed those parties saying “You are sad and extremely distressed, whereas we are happy; firstly because Daraya is back, and secondly because you are sad and distressed,” adding that the when the conspirators reach a point where they are feeling distressed, “it means that things are going in the right direction.”
The President dismissed as “malicious” and “dangerous” the talk about “demographic changes” being attempted by the Syrian state in the areas taken from the terrorists or where reconciliations happen.
He went on saying that this talk targets not only Daraya but Syria as a whole as it aims at creating the impression that the Syrian society is dismembered where social groups are at odds with each other to show that the Syrian cities are divided along sectarian, racial or religious lines.
The President, however, affirmed that there is no need to worry about this issue as this game has been played so many times and that it has now become difficult to market such a concept as “demographic change” because the Syrian people have high-level awareness and they have learned a lot throughout the crisis.
As for his message regarding the areas that are still under the gunmen’s control, President al-Assad called on the Syrians to walk towards reconciliation, stressing that experience, especially over the past three years, showed that the Syrian state has kept all its promises and has always been open for reconciliation and for stopping the bloodshed.
The doors of the homeland, he reiterated, will always be open to those who want to get back on the right track at any time and at all levels.
“However, those who are determined and insist on acting as tools in return for a handful of dollars, we simply say to them ‘the armed forces will continue their work unhesitant and undaunted and regardless of any internal or external conditions until restoring security and safety to all areas in Syria,” the President said.”
Israel has a history of denying its military losses or downplaying its defeats. The fact that the Military Command in Syria has made a public statement concerning their air defence reaction against this Israeli incursion into its airspace, particularly over the long-disputed Golan Heights, demonstrates that Syria has reached the end of its patience with Israeli aggression and lawlessness.
This is potentially a game-changer. It is a response to the US and Israeli hegemony in the region that cannot be ignored.
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A small church in the middle of Ermou Street
Right in the middle of Ermou Street, the main shopping street in Athens is the 1000 year-old Church of the Kapnikarea.
P7141183.JPGP7141180.JPGP7141181.JPGMosaic above the entrance to the Church of Kapnikarea.
We can tell from the architecture and artwork that this is an Orthodox church not a Catholic or Protestant church. It is short and square. The building has the four equal branches of the Greek Orthodox cross (like a plus-sign) while the cross that you’ll find in Catholic and Protestant churches has one branch that is longer than the other three.
The arches above the windows are another clue that this is an Orthodox church. Not until we began to use pointed arches, which are stronger than rounded arches seen on this church, could people build much taller structures and grander windows with wonderful stained glass.
The Orthodox Church is one of the three main branches of Christianity. The other two branches are the Catholic and Protestant Church. The Orthodox Church began to split with Catholicism in the 5th century CE, and this split became official in the 11th century CE in what is known as the “great schism.” When the Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century, the Eastern half became the Byzantine Empire, where the Orthodox Church thrived. While the Roman Catholic Church adopted many new traditions over the centuries, the Orthodox Church did not change much.
It is easy to tell the difference between an Orthodox Church and a Roman Catholic Church by just looking at them. Orthodox churches are smaller, have four equal branches, mosaics (like the ones we saw in Ravenna, Italy). Things that you won’s see in Orthodox churches that are common in Catholic churches are chairs or pews and statues. According to Orthodox tradition, mosaic images of Jesus Christ, the apostles and saints are ok, but making statues of any of these figures comes too close to idol worship, so they don’t allow statues.
Orthodox, by the way, means “right belief.”
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Memorialisation is the last but very important stage of the grieving process. Nowadays with such a large percentage of cremations, it is often over looked and its significance missed.
Memorialisation adds a sense of permanence to a loved one's life ensuring that the memories are kept forever providing peace of mind for those who want to remember. Memories are precious and at the time of bereavement very important for immediate family and friends, however, they are often lost for future generations. A memorial stands for all to see and visit thus sharing those precious memories with future generations of relatives and friends. Memorials are an important part of our community history. Cemeteries are a wealth of information on the role of families and people in their communities. Genealogists, historians and interested public use cemeteries to record information and derive a real insight into the life and times of our past.
Scattering remains without a memorial is a popular choice by people, but this fails to recognise that many friends and relatives needs a point of reference to grieve and remember. Those that scatter their loved one's remains often suffer from guilt because they have denied future generations the opportunity to visit, contemplate and remember those that we before them.
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©Pablo Picasso - Harlequin leaning 1901
Picasso Harlequin leaning 1901
Harlequin leaning
1901 82x61cm Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
« previous picture | 1900s | next picture »
From Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
Picasso revised the painting a great deal before settling on the final arrangement: he first depicted Harlequin without ruffs at the neck or cuffs; a large glass stood on the table where the match striker now appears; Harlequin's bicorne hat originally rested behind his right hand; and the floral wallpaper was more extensive and not hidden by the high banquette.
By 1901 Harlequin was a ubiquitous figure in popular culture. He usually carried a baton, or slapstick, and wore a black mask. However, Picasso gave his Harlequin a white face and ruffs: the attributes of Pierrot, the melancholy, cuckolded clown who inevitably loses his love, Columbine, to the nimble and lusty Harlequin. Many writers have suggested that the pensive mood of this picture and the series to which it belongs were the result of Picasso's brooding on the suicide of his friend Carles Casagemas, who, like Pierrot, was unrequited in love.
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Sunday, September 14, 2008
Learn about Authority in 5 minutes
Learn about Authority in 5 minutes
Q 1. Explain delegation of authority?
Ans. Delegation of authority may be defined as a process in which superior grants some part of his authority to his subordinate.
For Example: Mr. X delegates some part of authority to Mr. Y and says:
Mr. X (Superior) : Have you Produced 140 toys?
Mr. Y (Subordinate):I have produced it.
Q 2. Elements of delegation of authority?
Ans. There are three elements of delegation of authority:-
* Authority
* Responsibility
* Accountability
* (i) Authority: - Authority is the right/power to take work form others.
For example:- Mr. X is a superior he has right to take work form his subordinates i.e. Mr. Y and Mr. Z.
(ii) Responsibility: - Responsibility is the obligation to perform the assigned tasks.
For Example:- In above case Mr. Y and Mr. Z has to perform their respective tasks which has been assigned by the superior (Mr. X) to them.
(iii) Accountability:- It means answer ability of completing the assigned tasks.
For Example:- In above case Mr. Y and Mr. Z working as a subordinates completes . Their tasks respectively they must have to inform to Mr. X that they have completed the tasks.
Q 3. Explain Coordination?
Ans. It is an orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action for the pursuit of common goal.
For Example:- “Like thread in a garland”
“Like Blood in human body”
Q 3 . Explain Centralization and Decentralization?
Ans. Centralization means authority holding by top level management and does not require to delegate where decentralization means dispersal of authority for the achievement of business goals.
Q 4. Explain the problems in delegation of authority?
Ans. On the part of the subordinates:
1. Dependence on the boss
2. fear of criticism
3. Lack of information
4. lack of self confidence
On the part of the superior:
1. Lack of self confidence in subordinates
2. Lack of ability to direct
Q 5. Explain Prerequisites for effective
1. Clear cut objectives and standards of performance should be established.
2. Subordinates should be given orientation and training
3. Adequate controls should be established to enable subordinates to measure and evaluate their own performance
4. Proper guidance should be given to subordinates
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Jungian Psychology Series: Animals (part II)
The last article in this series examined how the animals that appear in our dreams sometimes function as symbols of the Self, Carl Jung’s term for the core of the psyche. The animals listed included snakes, owls, ducks, geese, swans, frogs, turtles, whales, dolphins, porpoises, fish, bugs and bees. To that list we could also add the following: lions, tigers, and bears (for they are the “rulers” of their animal communities like the Self is meant to be the “ruler” of the psyche); bison (because they symbolize wisdom and nourishment); eagles and hawks (because of their keen eyesight and over-arching perspective); and elephants (because of their intelligence, memory, and long life). In this article, we turn our attention to the ways in which animals can also serve as symbols of our instinctual life.
The following paragraphs examine some of the more common animals encountered in the dreams of North Americans. Primary focus is given to the archetypal (cross-cultural) meanings attached to these animals. It is important to keep this level of symbolism in mind as you work with your dreams. However, you will also want to explore your personal associations to the dream figures (animal or otherwise), for sometimes these associations will take priority over the archetypal perspective. The interpretation of any dream figure also varies with the specific events taking place in the dream, as well as the life context of the dreamer at the time of the dream. Finally, as you work with the animal figures in your dreams, try to remain true to the actual social and ecological nature of the animal being considered. For example, the dream-maker is more likely to use a wolverine to symbolize aggression than, say, a koala bear.
A man dreams: “I am leading a thin, tired horse out of the rain and into a barn.” Horses are often used as symbols of the body and one’s physical health. Like the horse, this man needs to nourish and rest his body. If you dream of a horse that is sick, diseased, or injured in some way, give some examination to your own physical health. Are you over-stressed or asking too much of your body? Are you listening and responding to its needs and innate wisdom? Horses can also symbolize your life energy and instinctual drives (the psyche as a whole). To dream of taming and riding a horse can symbolize the process of developing greater control over your instincts/passions, such as your sexual impulses, eating or drinking behaviors, aggression, or competitiveness. The symbolism of the horse can also be applied to events from your outer life. If you are kicked by a horse or bucked off of a horse that does not normally behave in this way, life may be conveying you the message that you are not listening to your body and deeper psyche. You might ask yourself if your ego is serving the needs of the body and the Self, or is it, rather, using the body to serve itself?
A young man dreamed, “I see an older man in a large concrete drainage pipe. He is trying to step on and kick some small animals. They look like cats to me, but he claims they were rats.” Because wild rats have a history of spreading diseases to humans (e.g., the Black Death of the 1300’s) and of contaminating food supplies with their droppings, they often symbolize a destructive energy or attitude within the psyche or one’s outer life. Cats, on the other hand, are symbols of the instinctual feminine. They can symbolize our feelings, but also the maternal instincts of nurturance, self-protection, and protection of offspring. Cats are excellent hunters and admirable fighters, and often retain a certain wildness and independence despite their domestication. Having ready access to the instinctual wisdom of a cat can be a great asset. If you dream of losing your cat, or of a cat being harmed, it may be helpful to contemplate how you can reconnect with and protect your relationship to your feminine instincts. (In the above dream, a harmful shadow figure is trying to interfere with the dreamer’s relationship with his inner feminine by tricking him into thinking it is something evil.)
A young woman dreams: “I am in a maze with Lucy, my dog. We are having a very hard time finding our way out.” It is said that “dogs are mans’ best friend.” Evidently this saying applies in the land of the unconscious as well. Because their hearing and sense of smell are much more refined than that of humans, dogs often serve as guides to the unconscious and the spirit world in dreams and myths. For example, among pre-Hispanic Mexicans it was believed that a dog guides its master’s spirit to the land of the dead following his/her death. To dream of being on a journey with a dog suggests the good fortune of a helpful ally as you negotiate life’s challenges. Ultimately, the dog symbolizes your instincts–your ability to hear the voice of your intuition and “sniff out” trouble, food, etc. As a watchdog, it can also be your assistant in learning how to protect yourself (“bear your teeth” so to speak) and set appropriate boundaries in your relationships. In this dream, the young woman has the assistance of her instincts on her life journey. Unfortunately, (and this shows how personal associations to dream figures can be crucial) her actual dog was quite skittish–afraid of people, and men in particular. The same was basically true of the dreamer, and so her life was a frustrating puzzle at the time of the dream.
A wild “cousin” of the dog, the wolf shares some of the dog’s positive attributes, such as a deep instinctual knowledge of the natural world. As a pack animal, the wolf can also be a symbol of loyalty, cooperation, and teamwork. Because of its wisdom and a healthy balancing of independence with interdependence, the “spirit of the wolf” can be a helpful guide on life’s journey. Unlike dogs, however, the wolf is also represented in a very negative light in a variety of myths and fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood being just one example). In our dreams, the wolf can sometimes symbolize a dangerously destructive force. It has been associated with war, chaos, gluttony and the blind, unchecked desire to devour, consume, and acquire. Although it is somewhat unpopular to speak negatively of wolves in this day and age, the psyche is not “politically correct,” and recognizes a duality in the symbolism of the wolf.
A woman dreams: “I see a fox running away from me. As he runs he looks back at me, and I see that he has the face of my husband.” Foxes and coyotes are known for their cleverness and cunning, their swiftness of thought and action. These can be positive attributes when used in the service of the Self. They can also be negative when used for egocentric purposes. Both animals can be symbols of the trickster as well. They can bestow the gift of being able to see humor in difficult situations. (In the above dream, the psyche was letting the dreamer know that her husband was up to no good. In fact, he’d been spending time with another “vixen.”)
A young boy dreamed: “I see a black widow spider coming towards me. I step on it, but others come marching behind it.” Spiders are sometimes used as symbols of the Self, especially when we hold a negative attitude towards the Self. We may see it as an annoyance or pest, for example. However, they can also represent a regressive force within the psyche, as they do in this dream. They can symbolize attitudes or behaviors that keep us from maturing and from developing our abilities and gifts. Fear, laziness, and addictive behaviors are examples. In this dream the spiders symbolized the boy’s fears. He needed to battle his fearfulness of life in order to grow.
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The church of St. Sophia is one of the largest medieval churches on this territory. St.Sophia church 11th c. - Cathedral of Ohrid archbishops. Fourth basilica built on this same spot (the oldest one being a roman basilica (courthouse). Present church was built in 1035 by archbishop Lav/Leon, front facade with the towers and the open galleries was built in 1317 by archbishop Gregory. The side porch was added when the church was turned into a mosque by the Turks. Inside is the biggest composition of 11th century frescoes preserved in the world. The main altar has scenes from the old testament and an emotional procession of angels bowing to Virgin Mary. The side altars have a fresco of the 40 martyrs (roman soldiers left to freeze because they didn't want to give up Christianity) which is very rarely depicted (in the left altar) and (in the right altar) portraits of Patriarchs from Constantinople, Jerusalem and Antioch, archbishops from Ohrid and Roman Popes (Ohrid archbishopric always flirted with the catholics, so it would keep its important position with the Orthodox church). The small square in front of it was the main forum in ancient times.
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3: 8/9
Unit 3: Regional & Transregional Interactions, c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450
Unit 3: Age of Accelerating Connections, 500-1500
TARGETS: Chapter 8 - Commerce & Culture
Document Study - Ibn Battuta & Marco Polo
DUEZ NOTES: Marco Polo - Document Study
DUEZ NOTES: Unit 3 - Introduction
DUEZ NOTES: Unit 3 - Silk, Sand, & Sea Roads
Duez Notes - CH 9: East Asian Connections
Duez Lecture - CH 9: East Asian Connections
Duez Notes - China & Friends
Duez Notes: CH 9 - Visual Sources
How to Memorize China's Major Dynasties
What's the best way to memorize China's major dynasties? Singing. It's guaranteed!
"History Teachers" Chinese Dynasties "Vogue"
We can't Vogue, but we can make a catchy song parody about early dynasties in China.
Crash Course: 2,000 Years of Chinese History
In which John introduces you to quite a lot of Chinese history by discussing the complicated relationship between the Confucian scholars who wrote Chinese history and the emperors (and empress) who made it.
Included is a brief introduction to all the dynasties in Chinese history and an introduction to Confucius and the Confucian emphasis on filial piety, the role the mandate of heaven played in organizing China, and how China became the first modern state.
Crash Course WH 2.0 - Japan Heian Period, 794-1185 CE
In which John Green teaches you about what westerners call the middle ages and the lives of the aristocracy...in Japan. The Heian period in Japan lasted from 794CE to 1185CE, and it was an interesting time in Japan. Rather than being known for a thriving economy, or particularly interesting politics, the most important things to come out of the Heian period were largely cultural. There was a flourishing of art and literature in the period, and a lot of that culture was created by women. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu was the classic piece of literature of the day, and it gave a detailed look into the way the Aristocrats of the Heian period lived. While this doesn't give a lot of insight into the lives of daily people, it can be very valuable, and the idea of approaching history from a cultural perspective is a refreshing change from the usual military or political history that survives from so many eras.
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Worldview Two: Living with limits, creating opportunities
by Richard Vodra
Americans are completing an era of solid growth, cheap and plentiful energy, and a friendly climate. Since society and the economy are based on the tangible use of real resources, not on money, limits to those resources change our future. Worldview Two lays out a framework to understand the limits we face, and to explore how we can change things for the better. There is an urgent need to do reasonable things to get ready. I am writing a series of chapters or essays around this theme, based on this outline. As this develops, there will first be a few paragraphs on each point, and then longer pieces. Check back to see how this is being developed, and offer any comments or suggestions as you have them.
1. Oil Drives the Economy
a. How energy works
b. There are two energy systems
i. Oil for transportation
ii. Coal, gas, nuclear, and others for electricity, heat, and power
c. Nothing happens without using energy
d. Energy and other resources, not money, are the key factors
2. How much oil there is for us
a. The oil “funnel”
i. Total production – and what counts as oil
ii. Net energy – using energy to create energy
iii. Net exports – exporting countries use more of their own oil
b. Where it comes from
i. Geographically
ii. Geologically
c. Where it goes
i. US and Europe
ii. China and India
d. Price, value, and production
3. How much we can use in the future
a. Production trends, and economic and political factors
b. Out of cheap oil, running out of affordable oil
c. Climate change and burning coal and oil
d. Save some for the future
e. Alternatives to oil
4. Economics and values
a. Is GDP the right measure of progress and success
b. What do we really value
c. What choices do we have
5. How we can prepare for the world of limits
a. Responses, not solutions
b. Lifestyle changes
c. Using what we have now to create a more secure future
d. Community, food systems
e. Finance and investment
6. But what about….
a. Shale oil
b. Natural gas
c. Electric cars
d. Exotic new technologies
7. This is not easy to deal with or think about
a. We are losing the future we expected
b. We are not used to confronting limits
c. The “free market system” did not, and will not, deal with this effectively
d. No society has successfully negotiated a crisis like this in advance
e. The problems affect everyone, and some responses require global action
f. We have dealt cooperatively to address major challenges in the past
[This is the outline for an introduction and overview to peak oil and related resource constraint issues.]
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Nikolai Bukharin and the Bolshevik Coup d'etat, the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, and the New Economic Policy
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Vladimir Lenin (and, uh, might I add, on his head, well, that's his hair col de sack), dictator of Russia from 1917 until 1924. He was also the founder and creator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union, which was formed on December 30, 1922. Lenin became it's first ruler. He was born in Simbirsk, Russia, on April 22, 1870, and died from a series of strokes in January, 1924 in Moscow.
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Czarist Russia was not a totalitarian state (mostly because the Czars didn't really try to encourage the masses of people to follow them), but shortly after he seized power Lenin introduced the Russian people to the full horrors of living in one. It was he who introduced totalitarianism into Russia. (It should perhaps be mentioned that Lenin wasn't a real Marxist and did not intend to follow and copy Marx's ideas. He only said that he was and parroted many of Karl Marx's sayings just to get the people to support him so that he could have his coup d'etat on Russia carried out and then from there begin to carry out all of the evil plans he had for the Russian people. But more on that will be on another page.) He created the Bolshevik Party in 1903 along the lines of a military style of discipline and hierarchy (that's called democratic centralism), the forced labor/concentration camps which were the forerunners of Stalin's Gulags, the all powerful bureaucracy and secret police which ruthlessly and mercilessly crushed all opposition to Lenin's monopolistic rule, and the transformation of the press, radio, cinema and theater (for the first time in Russian history the government held an absolute monopoly over this) into places for making and distributing state propaganda (this was later to be known as Socialist Realism in Stalin's time). Murderous terror and the belief in the slogan "The End Justifies the Means!" were also typical totalitarian methods used by Lenin. Not one of these were invented by Stalin. Even the brutal treatment of peasants and kulaks was begun by Lenin, not by Stalin. Lenin was even imperialistic, although the tendency to commit acts of imperialism is certainly not limited to totalitarian rulers. Stalin merely intensified what it was that Lenin had already created. During the seven years that Lenin was in power millions of Russians were to lose everything, including their very lives. Nikolai Bukharin was to witness all of this when he returned to Russia in May of 1917.
The events which led to the abdication of the Czar Nikolai Romanov the II began on March 8, 1917, when the proletariat from the capital city of Petrograd rioted in the streets. This revolution could have been called a true and popular proletarian revolution, since it involved a great majority of the industrial working class of the city. But it was not only the working class that was in favor of this revolution; it was a popular revolution in the sense that the majority of Russians from every one of the classes supported it: proletariat, peasant, nobility. Some of the things they wanted were more food and better working conditions, which meant shorter working hours and higher wages. Peasants wanted the right to control the land they worked on, and political revolutionaries wanted such democratic rights as the freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble. One of the biggest things they wanted though for generations, was the right to hold a federal election, in which the people would choose and vote for a party to be their government. This was to be the Constituent Assembly. The people also wanted to have their own councils, one for each city. These were called the Soviets (soviet is a Russian word, meaning both council and advice), and they were supposed to be made up of ordinary Russians which were democratically elected by their own people. (The people also wanted to have their own provincial Soviets as well.) The Czar did not grant any of these requests, however, and he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Alexei. (He afterward passed the throne to his brother Mikhail because his son had hemophilia.) The Provisional Government which took power then refused to recognize the continuation of the rule of the Romanovs, however, and the abdication occurred on March 15. It should be noted that no prominent Bolsheviks were in St Petersburg at that time, they were all living as emigres. So contrary to popular belief among Leninists, it was not the Bolsheviks who overthrew the Tsar; it was the common urban citizens.
Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov II. He was born a prince of Russia in 1868 and he came to the throne after his father's (Tsar Alexander III) death in 1894. He , his wife his ffour daughters and one son were murdered by the Bolsheviks in the Ipatiev House near Ekaterinburg in July of 1918.
Shortly after this revolution Nikolai Bukharin remarked, "There is no doubt whatsoever, that the Russian revolution will spread to the old capitalist countries and that sooner or later it will lead to the victory of the European proletariat." (Bukharin was right in a sense, for after the signing of the treaty of surrender by the Germans that ended World War One on November 11, 1918, the monarchies/autocratic rule of several European countries collapsed, for example the German Empire and the Austria-Hungary Empire broke down and resulted in the creation of new countries. It could be possible that these people may have gotten inspired by what had happened in Russia.)
Bukharin had largely cooperated with Lenin when he seized power on October 25, 1917 (his comrades Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev, later Politburo members, had been opposed to Lenin's seizure of power and had been expelled from the Party but readmitted shortly thereafter), although Bukharin did say that the revolution contradicted Karl Marx when he had said that communism could not develop in a behind, peasant country like Russia. (Although the events of October 25 are popularly referred to as the October Revolution, it was infact not a revolution at all, but a coup d'etat instigated not by a majority of the Russian people, but by a small minority of people who had actually been tricked by Lenin. In fact, most members of the Bolshevik Party were not of proletarian origin at all.) Bukharin disagreed basically with Lenin more though on this topic than agreed. For example, on September 27 the Provisional government decided to call a preliminary parliament to help out until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly was called. All democratic parties and organizations were able to participate in this. (Alexander Kerensky, who became Russia's prime minister on July 21, also invited the Bolsheviks.) When Lenin, who was in Finland at this time, heard that some members of his party were invited, he wrote them a letter in which he said, "You will be traitors and scoundrels if you do not at once assign the whole Bolshevik faction to factories and plants, and do not surround the "democratic conference" and arrest all the scum". When Bukharin and the other Central Committee members read this letter, which to them was threatening, they all at once decided to burn the letter. (Bukharin became a member of the Central Committee in July 1917. He also was put in charge of the Bolshevik party newspaper Pravda at this time as well. Interestingly, the name Pravda was actually taken from the name of Trotsky's paper when Trotsky was a Menshevik, in the early part of the 20th century. Trotsky was so annoyed that Lenin had stolen the name of his paper that he quit publishing.)
While the Bolshevik takeover in Petrograd had been largely bloodless, when Moscow was taken a few days later, several hundred people had perished in the fighting. According to his third wife, Anna Larina, Bukharin cried when he heard what had happened. He was a sensitive, soft, and emotional intellectual and he did not like violence.
When the Bolsheviks came to power in agricultural, poor, unindustrialized Russia where the industrial proletariat were only a small minority, one of the first things that Lenin wanted to do was to take the country he had just seized control of out of the war against Germany. (It's very possible that he did this because he wanted the time to establish his totalitarian dictatorship, and while he was still involved in a war establishing a brand new kind of political system into a country would be extremely difficult.) Many members of the Bolshevik party had different ideas about what to do with this issue about the first world war, particularly Bukharin, Lenin, and Trotsky. Lenin wanted to sign, and was prepared to sign any kind of peace treaty with the Germans, even if that meant agreeing to, and abiding by, German terms and doing exactly what the Germans wanted him to do. In other words, become submissive to the Germans.
Trotsky believed that the peace treaty with the Germans should not be signed, but however, they should not send an army into Europe in order to defeat the Germans either. He wanted the two countries to just end the war right there on the spot and establish "peace without winners and losers, peace without victors and vanquished." Bukharin, on the other hand, was head of "the largest and most powerful Bolshevik opposition to Lenin in the history of Soviet Russia," as the historian Stephen Cohen put it. These included a great majority of the members of the various city and provincial soviets, large organizations of the party and it's ordinary rank and file membership, members of the other political parties in Russia, and, as long as Trotsky and his group also was against Lenin's ideas, Bukharin and his friends also even had a majority in the Bolshevik Central Committee. Bukharin believed that Russia should continue to be heavily involved in fighting with the Allied countries (for example, Britain and France), and should send an army into Europe in order to fight against and defeat Austria and its ally Germany. If Russia did not do this, Bukharin believed, and the Germans should happen to win the war, and get what they wanted from Russia if Lenin signed a peace treaty on their terms, then Bukharin believed that imperialism would not stop there. (In other words, if they gave the mouse a cookie, he was going to want a glass of milk.)
Some of the people who supported Lenin's ideas were Iosif Dzhugashvili (Stalin), Yakov Sverdlov, Ivan Smilga, and Grigori Sokolnikov, who were all members of the Bolshevik Party. Some of the people who supported Trotsky and Bukharin's ideas were Nikolai Krestinsky, Karl Radek, Felix Dzerzhinsky, and Uritsky, who were also members of the Bolshevik Party.
Karl Radek. He had been a follower of Trotsky. For that he had been expelled from the Bolshevik Party in the 1920's and readmitted when the so called Left Trotskyite opposition (which included Zinoviev and Kamenev strangely enough, since both of them hated Trotsky with a passion) recanted and were readmitted to the Party ranks in approxiimately 1929-1930 and given small jobs within the Party. Radek was arrested later in December 1936 and hispast as a Trotskyite was held against him. He was put on show trial with Yuri Pyatakov in January 1937. He was not senteced to death but to ten years in the Gulag, presumably in return for the "evidence" he supplied against Bukharin (more on this later in another page). In about the year 1939, however, Radek was murdered. Bukharin 's wife, Anna Larina, thought that he was killed once Bukharin was already dead and could no longer find out about it.
Bukharin's group won the first voting on January 12. Fifteen voted for Lenin's idea, sixteen voted for Trotsky's idea, and thirty two voted for Bukharin's idea. Lenin, however, not being a believer in democracy and majority rule, wasn't going to let it end there. He had been used to getting his way since he was a little boy, had a head as hard as a rock, was stubborn by nature, and was going to get his way no matter what. His tactic was, if something didn't go his way, was to push and push, intimidate and even threaten his opponents into accepting his ideas. He did this now. He fiercely criticized Karl Radek and told him that he could be compared to a chicken. "A chicken," said he, "is afraid to step outside of a chalk circle drawn around her, but she can still say in her own defence that the circle was drawn by a strange hand." When the German army threatened to attack Russia if the peace treaty wasn't signed, Lenin used that against his opponents. Petrograd, he said, will become a German city and our government will fall, and then we will fail to establish our socialist country, the world's first socialist country.
So the party agreed to hold another voting on February 16. Again Bukharin and Trotsky's side won, this time on a voting of six to five. When these results were learned of by the Germans, they threatened to attack. Lenin's opponents were as usual unable to stand up and resist Lenin and his rock hard stubbornness, and they certainly did not want their country taken over by Germany, so when a second last vote took place Lenin came close to winning it this time. Lenin then threatened to resign from the central committee and the party, and he finally got his way when the last vote was held: Seven for him, and four for Bukharin's side. Trotsky, Dzerzhinsky, and some of the others did not vote this time, being intimidated by Lenin's threat to resign. The end of it was that the dictatorial Lenin got his own way, and the Brest Litovsk treaty was signed on March 3, 1918.
Lenin, true to his word, did everything the Germans wanted him to do. The Germans demanded that Lenin give them land in return for not invading Russia. Lenin willingly gave them all the land that stretched from Finland to the Ukraine to the Caucasus, which was approximately 1.3 million square miles). Party members such as Bukharin complained about this, but Lenin shrugged it off by saying that his actions were justified because well, what difference would it make anyhow? A proletarian revolution was going to occur in Europe soon anyway.
The New Economic Policy, or NEP, as it was known, was merely an attempt by Lenin to stay in power and to not become the target of a vicious coup d'etat carried out on him by the Russian people, who were quite dissatisfied with Lenin by the time NEP was declared by him in March 1921.NEP was born as a result of the severe economic and social crisis of 1918-1921. During that time, people lived even worse than they did when the czar was in power. In the city of St. Petersburg, there was no food for the workers. In fact, food was so scarce that people would arrive at the stores at five o'clock in the morning and wait around for over two hours before the store even opened. People's diets under Lenin were worse than they had been under the czar. In 1918, they had only half the bread they had under the czar, and one third the meat. Workers' conditions worsened under Lenin. The price on food went up, and workers' wages went down, to the point where their wages were 24 percent of the value they had been in 1913. By the time 1919 rolled around, their wages had dropped to as low as 2 percent. The average Russian industrial worker only earned enough to only feed him/herself and the family for only three days. It was so bad, in fact, that they were forced to put their wives and children on the street to prostitute themselves. Nearly half of these were offspring of the bourgeois families and nobility families. Alexei Peshkov, aka Maxim Gorky, a Russian writer, wrote in June of 1918 that "the famine of St. Petersburg has begun. Almost daily they pick up people who have dropped from exhaustion right there in the streets." The sanitary conditions of the city were so bad that the only beings who could thrive there were the rats and the cockroaches. It was hard to distribute things to the people, because the railways were shut down due to a lack of fuel and of course a lack of the supplies themselves. It was so bad that in order to get one engine running again, workers had to dismantle another engine, because no new parts were being made. In order to try and help themselves and their families, people fled the urban areas to settle in the countryside, hoping to get food from the fertile south. The proletarian class were becoming decimated, as something like a million workers were unemployed and as a result, left the cities to try to find a better life in the country. Thus Russia's working class-which hadn't been very big to begin with, a small minority of the population, in fact-became even smaller.
Alexei Peshkov "Maxim Gorky" Born in 1868, this Russian writer grew up in poverty and abuse and as an adult was extremely sensitive to the poor and the downtrodden. He often protected people from the Red Terror unleashed by Lenin in 1918-1919. He tried to save several of the Romanov grand dukes, princes, from being killed by the Cheka, the Leninist secret police. He emigrated from Russia after one of his friends, the poet Nikolai Gumilev, was killed by the Cheka. He returned to Russia in 1929. When his friend Lev Kamenev was arrested by Stalin in late 1935, Gorky made a nusance of himself pleading for his release. Gorky died in the summer of 1936, killed, some historians believe, by the chief of Stalin's secret police, who at that time was Genrikh Yagoda.
In the countryside, the paper money became absolutely useless as the price of food skyrocketed, and the peasants who lived in the countryside on their farms did not wish to sell their produce and food stuffs for paper money that was going to be absolutely useless anyway. They weren't even permitted to have their markets to sell and trade things amongst themselves, because Lenin had dismissed private trade as being one of the evils of capitalism and had abolished the market, making trade something that could be done by the Bolshevik Party only. (In fact, everything was taken away from the Russian people and made Bolshevized, for example, banks, factories, businesses, the universities, the judicial system and so on, were all Bolshevized. The peasants' markets, where they would trade food and other supplies amongst themselves, were therefore dismantled and declared to be illegal. The people also lost the right to have their own ideas and their own ways of thinking as opposition political parties were made illegal.) The peasants in the countryside also were hungry and did not have enough to eat. As one peasant named Semyonov had written to one of his friends in April of 1918, "I don't have nearly enough grain to feed myself or even to feed my cattle". So the peasants were forced to become traders, and this meant selling things and setting up their markets illegally.
The only way bartering could be legal was if the Bolsheviks organized a bartering and trading system themselves, run only by themselves, and not by, as Lenin called them, "private individuals." That's exactly what Lenin did, for he needed food for the cities to supply the proletariat with the supplies and food they needed. A group of city Bolsheviks would make an agreement with some group of country Bolsheviks, or a peasant village to exchange factory machines like farming tools, for food. This system sounded good, but here again the Bolsheviks faced another problem. Russia was a poor country, and neither the city nor the country had much in the way of materials with which they could use to barter with the other side. On top of all that, the failure of the Bolshevik government to give the people what they so desperately needed was creating protests, uprisings, and civil war in the country. Lenin needed a way out. He needed a scapegoat who could take the blame for the country's lack of food and supplies, and the civil war. This was another survival technique-a way for Lenin to avoid being overthrown in a coup d'etat, something to direct the people's anger onto, so they wouldn't blame him for all their problems. So Lenin claimed that the reason why there was a lack of food in the countryside was that rich greedy peasant "capitalists" were taking all the food and hiding it. Lenin called them "kulaks," meaning "fists". (Contrary to popular belief, Kulak is actually not a Stalinist word. It was, in fact, used first by Lenin long before Stalin even came to power. This was true for much of which historians claimed were invented by Stalin, when in fact, they were invented first by Lenin. Another example of this is the term "enemy of the people." I'll talk about that later.)
Acting on this claim, Lenin in May 1918 declared that all of the extra food that was supposedly being hoarded by kulaks was now to be declared the property of the Bolsheviks. With that the Grain Monopoly was launched. He, Lenin, sent out groups of Bolsheviks, who were called Food Brigades, to storm the peasants' villages and communes and take away their food by force. The brigades would first pose for a picture to be taken of them, before they left the cities. Then they would go into the countryside and do what one commissar called "organized robbery against the peasants." This was the essence of brutality. The whole system of nationalizing things and abolishing private trade and collecting grain from the peasants was known as "War Communism."
Members of one of Lenin's Food Brigades.
When the Food Brigades went to steal the peasants food, they would sometimes grab the peasants, make them get down on their knees naked on the floor, and both whip and beat them. In one country Russian province called Tambov, a brigade took horses away from the peasants and raped all the women because the peasants were unable to pay up. In another case a peasant man who was unable to pay up was forced to watch members of a food brigade rape his wife. This was when the civil war really began in the countryside (the Bolsheviks were known as Reds and their Russian opponents were called Whites). When the brigades arrived and committed their dirty deeds, the peasants actively resisted and fought against them. 200 approximately of these uprisings took place during July-August 1918. In one case groups of peasants attacked a brigade and made examples of them by displaying their killed and decapitated bodies outside in plain sight. Lenin passed the civil war in the countryside off by saying that it was only the resistance of the kulaks, who were expected to resist anyway, because they would naturally not want to give up all of the food they had hoarded. Desperate peasants would hide their precious food under the floorboards of their houses, in barns, in the woods, underground, and other places. War Communism killed off a lot of the countryside's people because they did not have any extra food to give the brigades. Most of the peasants of Russia were poor, so they only had enough food to feed themselves. Of course when Lenin's brigades took their valuable food supply, many peasants simply starved to death. The violence of the brigades toward the peasantry, and the violence of the peasantry in fiercely resisting the brigades violence killed a lot more people. The civil war taking place between Red Armies and White Amies throughout the country added more people to the already long list of deaths. Another cause of the deaths of thousands of others was the reign of terror created by Lenin and carried out by his Cheka during this time period called the Red Terror (I'll write more about them on my page about the Soviet secret police during the Lenin/Stalin periods).
NEP was signed and declared by Lenin on the 1st of March, but it was made official by the Tenth Bolshevik Party congress, which met from March 8 until the 16th. Lenin knew that he had to soothe the angry peasants, because, making up the country's majority like they did, there were far more of them than of Bolsheviks and their supporters, and Lenin could have been overthrown if the peasants took a mind to it. NEP was therefore a partial return to capitalism. It gave the peasants more control over their lives than they had before. For example, Lenin ended the forcible grain requisitioning of the peasants food by the Food Brigades, replacing it instead by a tax. (peasants were given tax rebates if and when they increased their productivity.) Once the peasants had paid their tax, they could then do what they liked with the rest of their food, feed themselves and sell it in the market that NEP now gave back to them (Lenin had hated the market because it was private trade to him and the essence of capitalism). They could also voluntarily give it to the government. The peasants also were permitted to own, open, and operate small businesses which had less than 20 workers in them. However, Lenin retained Bolshevik control over larger businesses, the bank system, and transportation. NEP, although the 1920's were called a "golden age" for the Russian peasants, was still though not a democracy. It was more like a deal "I'll make a deal with you. I'll give you this this, and this, and you keep me in power". NEP, sadly, did not come in time to stop three great disasters from occuring shortly on and after its signing: the Kronstadt Rebellion, the Great Famine of 1921, and the peasant revolt in the Russian province of Tambov.
The Tambov Revolt began in August 1920. In a village called Kamenka (in Tambov province) lived peasants who were a bit more wealthy than the others. Even so, though, about half of that population were going hungry, according to Bolshevik member Vladimir Antonov Ovseenko. One day one of Lenin's Food brigades arrived to take their "extra grain these greedy kulaks were hiding from the people." They demanded that the "kulaks" not only hand over the grain, but also pay a levy to the Bolshevik Party as well. Of course the peasants refused, grabbed up guns and pitchforks, and pounded members of the brigade until they had killed several of them. These revolting peasants were soon helped out by people living in nearby towns, and Lenin had to send in extra troops to try and put down the rebellion. The peasants organized themselves into an army and chose a man named Grigori Plezhnikov, who had opposed the monarchy and gentry in the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, to be their leader. In addition, the peasants chose the red flag to fight under (red in Russian society represented revolution and freedom, and also good fortune). The peasant army was also helped out by local members of the populist Socialist Revolutionary Party. The Bolsheviks were not really ready to put down a revolt because they had just come out of fighting in a war with Poland. Approximately they had only about 3,000 troops to use against the Tambov revolt. The peasants, taking advantage of this weakness, made straight for Tambov, and thousands of others joined them. The Bolsheviks managed to fight off the revolting peasants (they executed them, took their cattle and burning their forts), but that only made them angrier. One Bolshevik remarked "The whole population took to the woods in fright and joined the rebels." Even peasants once loyal to us had nothing to lose and threw in their lot with the revolt."
When the revolt spread through the southern part of Tambov, a man named Alexander Antonov became the revolting peasants' leader. Lenin later remarked that this revolt was his regime's biggest threat so far. Tambov's revolting army consisted of about 110,000 people, many of them not any older than twenty five. The strength of the army was possible because they had close ties with the villages, each of which was responsible for taking care of and recruiting their own armies. These armies engaged in guerrilla tactics. About which Bolshevik Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko commented: "They were scarcely vulnerable, extraordinarily invisible, and so to speak ubiquitous." Peasants and soldiers became one and the same. They could switch, meaning a peasant could become a soldier and vise versa. They had spies- women, men, and children. Their way of fighting was to run and hide on a hill or in a forest, wait for some Bolsheviks to come near, and then dash out, clip them, and dash back out of sight again before anyone hardly had time to know what had happened. The peasant armies also employed what today would be called the "scorched earth"strategy- they destroyed bridges, took down telegraph poles and hindered the passage of trains by destroying railway tracks. This was to deny the Bolshevik Reds their use. The peasants wanted to be able to govern themselves and to exercize sovereignty- the right to have their own free will. They wanted their own Soviets back.
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko. This Bolshevik announced to the world the end of the Provisional Government when they were overthrown on October 25, 1917 by Lenin's forces. An ex Trotskyite who was pardoned by Stalin and sent abroad in the 1930's to work as an ambassador, he was later recalled back to the USSR, where he was arrested and executed sometime in the later part of the 1930's.
Even though the peasants fought the Bolsheviks now, they were NOT allies of the White armies. They despised the whites. People such as Sapozhkov, Mironov, Serov, and Antonov, had fought with the Reds against the Whites. Antonov, in fact, had once been a Chekist, the Chief of the Cheka in the Kirsanov part of Tambov. He had broken with the Bolsheviks in summer 1918 and started his own revolting army. And, as the Bolsheviks had been cruel to the peasants, so the peasants were equally as cruel and committed nearly unspeakable acts against the Bolshevik people. In one case, they cut open the stomachs of Bolsheviks and stuffed them with wheat. In another, Bolsheviks were branded with crosses. The peasants wanted their requisitioned grain back, so they invaded Bolshevik mills and bread shops and took back their foodstuffs, which had been stolen from them in the first place.
By March 1921 the Bolshevik power in the countryside had been virtually eliminated. This was when Lenin launched the NEP. He realized that he was facing a revolutionary situation (as city workers were striking en masse at the same time), and that he could lose his power and control on Russia if he did not yield to peasant demands in some way. However, Lenin did not wish to let the peasants get away with what they had done, nor did he wish to stop Bolshevik violence against them. So he merely changed his fighters' strategy. Before, he had sent in one small group at a time to try and stop the Tambov rioters; now, he sent in one great big mass army to begin a campaign of mass terror against the rioters and those who supported them. The mass army also brought along propaganda in order to convert the others. Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who had just come from putting down another riot in Kronstadt Fortress (a naval base), was sent to command the first of Lenin's mass armies. 100,000 people strong, they began first in Tambov. They used spy aeroplanes to track peoples' movements. They used poison gas. And they took people as hostages and with them tried to force the rioters to do what they wanted. Tukhachevsky's army set up concentration camps and imprisoned prisoners there. When July 1921 arrived there were approximately 50,000 people in the camps, about 1000 of whom were children. Whole villages of people were held hostage and if the rebels did not surrender then they were killed and sometimes their homes were burned. During the whole Tambov rebellion, approximately 15,000 people were shot and about 100,000 people were either imprisoned or else they were deported to the Arctic Circle. Another strategy of Lenin's was to turn the peasants of Tambov against each other and split them up. In order to do this, Lenin decreed that any peasant and villages who condemned the rebels would be rewarded with salt, food, and other things they needed. Lenin hoped that the rebels would then turn on these villagers and lynch them for betraying them. Lenin also promised the rebels that if they surrendered they would receive amnesty. About 6,000 of them did. Lenin then broke his promise and imprisoned and/or killed nearly all of them. The Tambov revolutionaries were stopped by late summer. Antonov's army was stopped in June but Antonov escaped. He remained free and continued to fight the Bolsheviks until the summer of 1922, when he was finally captured and murdered by the Cheka. Among the fighters was a Ukrainian anarchist named Nestor Makhno. He turned tail and ran from Tambov in August 1921. He went to live in Romania with some of his followers. Along with this revolt, the Bolsheviks seized the opportunity to supress the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary Parties, both of whom opposed Lenin. Lenin arrested about 5,000 Mensheviks in 1921, and subjected the leaders of the SR party to a large public show trial (another invention of Lenin, not Stalin, was the 'show trial') in which many were executed and the entire party labeled as being "enemies of the people."
Mikhail Tukhachevsky, General and later Marshall of the Soviet Union. He was regarded as an excellent fighter, because he was familiar with the technologies of the 20th century's latest war machines. He was very highly thought of in Russia. In the middle of the 1930's, Stalin made promoted him to the rank of Marshall of the Soviet Union. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, he somehow sent a letter (possibly forged) which helped put the idea in Stalin's mind that Tukhachevsky was an enemy of the people of Russia. Tukhachevsky was arrested in May 1937 and put on trial with the other major military Russian commanders of the time. The ones who handed down the verdict of guilty punishable by death were their own peers. (Stalin liked to have friends send each other to their deaths.) On June 11, 1937, every one of the USSR's major military commanders, including Tukhachevsky, were executed. Their deaths signaled the start of the purge of the armed forces, in which some 35,000 members of the Red Army perished.
Nestor Makhno in 1921, during the Tambov Revolt.
The great famine also began in 1921. It was partly caused by human beings and the rest of it was due simply to nature. This famine took place in the Volga region where the crops had failed in 1920, and the winter was worse, with lots of heavy frost. To make matters worse (to add insult to injury, so to speak), the summer after that, 1921, there was a huge heavy drought! It turned the steppelands into one big dry-as-a-bone dustbowl. That spring the peasants suffered another harvest failure. Some of the crop had died, and the plants who had survived the frost were eaten by rats and mice. The peasants were used to harvest failures though, and had gotten themselves into the habit of storing food away in communal barns like pack rats. This normally would have been fine. Except when the peasants found out about the Bolsheviks and their requisitioning squads, they changed their tactics and grew only enough food to feed themselves, their villages and their animals. They feared the Bolsheviks would take their extras if they grew more. When Lenin passed off the lack of food as being the result of greedy kulaks hiding it, the Bolsheviks took even the little bits of food the peasants had. They had just enough to feed themselves, and when the Bolsheviks took it, there was nothing left. That, along with the failure of the harvest again in spring 1921, caused the famine.
The famine was the worst in the Volga where approximately 2 million people were dying. Typhus and cholera accompanied this and killed thousands more people. Many more people packed up and left for the towns, only to find that the Bolsheviks had put a stop to town in migration because they feared that disease might spread. Peasants still in the countryside ate whatever they could find. The list included cats, rats, dogs, grass, leaves, moss, weeds, flour made out of horse manure, and in desperation, many people even became cannibals. In the town of Pugachov, people would not even dare let their young ones out doors after dark because of the bands of cannibals running around.
Victims of the Volga Russian famine of 1921.
US president Hubert Hoover with American relief aid to Soviet Russia
Lenin did not want to acknowledge the famine until July of that year because it would have been extremely embarrassing. So he told the media to say that when NEP was introduced everything was OK then.So, if the people wanted to fix things, they had to do something about it themselves. Among those who helped with the relief effort were Maxim Gorky the writer, Ekaterina Kuskova, (one of the leaders of the Economist party who believed that workers should concentrate on improving conditions at work and in higher wages, and not concentrate on revolution. The Economists were a reformist party), doctors, engineers, and even Alexandra Tolstoya, the daughter of the famous writer Lev. Prince Georgi Lvov, even though in exile at the time, also helped out. (He had in addition helped people during the Samara famine of 1891.) Gorky sent word to the Americans that Russia needed help, and USA president Herbert Hoover sent in the American Relief Administration. After a while Lenin closed it down because Hoover wanted to be left alone to do his thing with no Bolshevik involvement and he also wanted all USA citizens to be let out of Soviet jails. Lenin pressured Gorky to leave Russia claiming it was for his health. In the summer of 1922 the ARA fed 10 million people every single day. The Americans thought it was disgusting that while they were feeding the Bolsheviks' people, the Bolsheviks had been storing away their own stocks of food in order to sell them abroad so they could buy needed industrial supplies. They had been squirreling away their own things while feasting away on supplies from the West.
The famine ended in 1922-1923, but not before there were about seven million orphaned and or homeless children. Gorky once wrote to lenin that there were "twelve year old children with three murders to their name." Gorky took the lead in helping these children and set up homes and schools for them. Members of the Bolsheviks allowed employers to hire them as child labor in the factories saying that it was "better to have them work then to have them living from crime in the streets". This was a way to take advantage of these children. Another way that the children were taken advantage of was by pimps enslaving them as prostitutes, and a third way was by recruiting them into the Red Army.
Kronstadt Fortress was a large naval base situated on an island in the gulf of Finland just off the Russian city of St. Petersburg (called Petrograd after World War I). Its population in 1921 was approximately 16,000. They were young sailors, many of them not any older than 23, and literate as well. They had supported the overthrowing of the Czar in March 1917, but during the summer they mostly kept to themselves, not really being governed by the Russian provisional government. They had their own Soviet but little military order. They decided to support Lenin, and when May began the Bolsheviks had gotten about 3,000 followers from them. With this the Bolsheviks and Kronstadters took control of their naval soviet, and declared themselves to be a Kronstadt Soviet Republic not under the provisional government but independent. They then came out to support Lenin in the rallies of June and July 1917. The Kronstadt sailors supported Lenin, at first, because they were attracted by his simple slogans, like All Power To The Soviets, which they thought were the democratically elected and run councils of the people, "Peace, Bread, and Land," which they thought they would get by following Lenin, an end to the first world war, and basically a happy prosperous socialist country.
Forts at Kronstadt.
Lenin did not keep his promises to the people, however, and when the Kronstadt sailors realized that he didn't, they rebelled. The result was a massive slaughter and destruction of this once proud and strong naval fortress. Here's what happened.By 1921 the sailors had grown dissatisfied with Lenin, although they fought with him in the civil war (because they felt the White Army was a bigger threat to them than the Bolsheviks). When the war was over though, and they returned to their base, Lenin took over their soviet and purged it of all the people with non Bolshevik views along with all other parties, and placed it under Bolshevik control. The Bolsheviks also started to live and behave something like feudal lords, in fact the bolshevik commander of the baltic fleet in Kronstadt, Fyodor Raskolnikov, returned there with his wife after the war in 1920 and lived an extravagant lifestyle complete with banquets, servants, chauffered cars, and a whole closet of clothes taken from the upper classes, much to the chagrin of the Kronstadt sailors, half of whom tore up their Bolshevik membership Party cards when they found out what was really going on. Others of the sailors objected to the Bolsheviks seizing grain from the peasantry, to the Red Terror, and to the savage way that the Bolsheviks delt with those of the peasants who fiercely objected to having their grain taken from them (because many of these sailors were of peasant origin). What they all wanted though, was a democracy. They wanted freedom of press, assembly, speech, good lives for all of the workers, and the right of the peasants to till their own land and take care of it as they saw fit, but not to use hired labor to do it. The Kronstadt sailors wanted their own little world, not subject to the control of a Russian government, but separate from Russia, with their own Soviet. They even agreed that Bolsheviks could take part if they weren't dictatorial in their practices.
The Kronstadters struck for these freedoms and desires at the same moment that they heard that strikes by workers were taking place in Petrograd to protest against the Bolsheviks. What an embarrassment for Lenin this was, that the same stronghold which had supported him for October 1917 was now against him. He tried to pass it off by claiming that these "strangers" weren't the real Kronstadters, that they were instead recent peasant migrants who had dressed up as the Kronstadters, and that the real ones had died in the Civil War. The Kronstadters called a meeting, in which they demanded to be given back their soviet and to organize an election to it. Lenin tried to tame these wild stallions by sending two Bolsheviks, Mikhail Kalinin and Kuzmin, to calm them down, but the Kronstadters paid them no attention and organized their election anyway. They were afraid though, and set about arming themselves at this time, as well as peppering their island with defences.
Mikhail Kalinin, President of the USSR from 1938 until his death in 1946.
When Kalinin and Kuzmin failed their mission, Lenin planned to crush Kronstadt by force. He had to do it quickly, though, because it was springtime, and the ice that separated Kronstadt island from the mainland would melt soon. So, on March 2, a Bolshevik army was sent to the shoreline just opposite of Kronstadt. At this time, March 5, Lev Trotsky gave the Kronstadters an ultimatum: Surrender or be put down by force. If they didn't, their families who lived in Petrograd and were arrested as hostages, would all be killed. Kronstadt refused to surrender, and Bolsheviks began their invasion on March 7. Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a civil war red army commander, was put in charge of the invasion. He had to first destroy Kronstadt's defences so that ground soldiers could cross the ice to the island. The ice crossing took place the next day, and Lenin sent members of the secret police, the Cheka, along with the ground infantry so none of them could try to run away. At this time Kronstadters published an article in their own newspaper: "By carrying out the October Revolution the working class had hoped to achieve its emancipation. But the result has been an even greater enslavement of human beings. The power of the monarchy, with its police and etc, has passed into the hands of new usurpers, who have given the people not freedom but the constant fear of torture by the Cheka, the horrors of which far exceed the rule of the monarchy...The glorious emblem of the toilers state-the sickle and the hammer- has in fact been replaced by the Communists with the bayonet and the barred window, which they use to maintain the calm and the carefree life of the new bureaucracy, the Communist commissars and functionaries. But the worst and most criminal of all is the moral servitude which the Bolsheviks have introduced: They have laid their hands on the inner world of the toiling people, forcing them to think in the way that they want. Through the state control of the trade unions they have chained the workers to their machines so that labor is not becoming a source of joy but a new form of slavery. To the protests of the peasants expressed in uprisings, and those of the workers, whose conditions have forced them to strike, the Bolsheviks have answered with mass executions and a bloodletting that exceeds even the Czarist generals. The Russia of the toilers, the first to raise the red banner of liberation, is drenched in blood..."
The Bolsheviks attack Kronstadt.
Lenin had the workers strikes first in Petrograd, then in Moscow, crushed, and then ordered the final attack against Kronstadt on March 16 (1921). 50,000 of the Bolshevik army were in on this attack. The sailors of Kronstadt could not hold up against this assault and on the 17th of March they surrendered. Hundreds were taken prisoner and thousands of others of them were executed. Some Kronstadt prisoners shouted at some workers carrying potatoes that they were all a bunch of traitors. "You sold our lives for "Communist" potatoes!" they shouted. "Tomorrow now you will have our flesh to eat with them!" The first big concentration camp built by the Bolsheviks was called Solovki, and it was on an island in the White Sea. Into this prison hundreds of Kronstadters were dumped and left to die a horrible death. Those who had managed to escape (8,000, approximately) were bribed by Lenin into coming back to Russia. They were promised amnesty. When they returned though,they were either killed or imprisoned.
This event, the destruction of Kronstadt, was proof to the world that the Bolsheviks were horrible tyrants. The father of Russian Marxism, Georgi Plekhanov, founder of Russia's very first Marxist party (formed in 1883) and later, one of the leaders of the Menshevik Party (formed in 1903) incidentally, had been trying to prove for years that Lenin was nothing more than an autocrat who was seeking to build an empire of destruction in Karl Marx's name and Plekhanov had been trying to stop him. GP had died a few years before the Kronstadt destruction (he died in 1918) but had he lived, this event would have been the proof that he needed to convince people of Lenin's true character and the fact that he was not following Marx really. GP's predictions of what the Bolsheviks would do once in power had come true.
Georgi Plekhanov, often called the Father of Russian Marxism.
During this time Bukharin and one of his fellow theorists, Evgeni Preobrazhensky, wrote the book "The A B C of Communism." This was meant to be a textbook for study by the workers and peasants. The ideas in the book weren't actually Bukharin's though because even though he wrote the book, the beliefs in it were actually the beliefs of Lenin. For example, in 1920 Lenin stated: "Classes are led by parties, and parties are led by individuals who are called leaders. This is the ABC of communism". Lenin went on to say: "The will of a class is sometimes fulfilled by a dictator...Soviet socialist democracy is not in the least incompatible with individual rule and dictatorship...What is necessary is individual rule, the recognition of the dictatorial powers of one man...All phrases about equal rights are nonsense."
Bukharin accepted 'war communism' as a matter of course when he was younger, from 1918 til 1921, when NEP was introduced. It was later, more than 10 years later, when Stalin wanted to introduce it again, that Bukharin saw the truth about what it would do to the people and his country. (That isn't unusual among famous people. Most of them had believed in things when they were younger they later regretted believing in when they were older. Karl Marx, George F Kennan, and Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi were three such people.) NEP was reviving the country by 1925. Peasants were voluntarily organizing themselves into collectives and wanted to build roads and schools and hospitals and the like. Bukharin was in charge of NEP when Lenin died. He had a chance to compare NEP to war communism when Stalin spoke of introducing it. He saw that NEP was far better and reviving the country than what Stalin proposed. And he realized that he had been wrong when he was "young and foolish". He did realize however, that Lenin was using the Cheka and the use of terror excessively and pleaded with him to tone down on the violence. Lenin paid him no mind.
In March 1919, Lenin formed the Political Bureau, known in history as the Politburo. This was a descision making body for the young government of Russia. Bukharin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Stalin, and Lenin were members of it.
In 1922, members of the previously outlawed Socialist Revolutionary Party were put on trial. The prosecutor for this public show trial trial was a man named Nikolai Krylenko. Here was a case where it was to be shown that Bukharin was quite different from Lenin. He pleaded with Lenin not to have the SR's shot. They were executed despite his protests. Lenin generally believed that for the sake of the protection of the revolution you could generally do what you wanted with "non - Party scum" as he once referred to them.
Bukharin had an adolescent, playful personality. One day he wanted to go hunting and he asked Lenin, who also loved to hunt, to come along. But Lenin was attending sessions of the Politburo at the time and couldn't go, he said, because he had to work. One day someone came in with a package for Lenin. When he opened it up, Lenin saw that it contained a dead bird. Lenin, who knew who it was from, shook his finger sternly at Bukharin the next time he saw him, but he could not help smiling.
At this time, Bukharin had been married to Nadezhda Lukina, a distant cousin of his who was somewhat older than he was. Her brother, Nikolai Lukin, had also been a revolutionary. The marriage did not last, however, and by the 1920's, they were divorced and Bukharin soon got married for the second time to a woman named Esfir Gurevich. They had a daughter, Svetlana, born approximately 1924.
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Latin America & Caribbean
Haiti cholera victims threaten to sue the UN
Cholera victims in Haiti
Image caption The victims include the families of the 8000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people who have fallen sick
Victims of Haiti's cholera epidemic have given the United Nations a 60-day deadline to start talks about billions of dollars worth of compensation or face legal action.
The UN is accused of negligently allowing peacekeeping soldiers to pollute Haiti's water with cholera.
A UN cholera expert agrees that this is "most likely" to be true.
The UN rejected an earlier call for compensation and continues to insist it is immune from legal proceedings.
The cholera epidemic began in Haiti in 2010 near a camp for UN soldiers, where there were leaking sewage pipes. Some human waste was also dumped near a river outside the camp.
The camp housed UN soldiers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. The UN's own cholera expert, Danielle Lantagne, has said that Haiti's outbreak is likely to have come from UN soldiers.
The victims include relatives of the 8,000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people who have fallen sick.
Lawyers for the victims say the UN is breaking international law.
They say they will open legal proceedings in New York with claims totalling many billions of dollars if the UN does not start talks within 60 days.
The UN's relative silence on the matter so far may be because it simply does not know what to do in the face of what could be a series of catastrophic and deadly errors, says the BBC's International Development Correspondent Mark Doyle.
More on this story
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How to Make a Deep-Freeze Root Cellar
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Make a deep-freeze root cellar by digging a hole in the side of a hill or straight into the ground, and putting cement or wood all the way around the walls. Keep fruits, vegetables and plants from freezing by building a root cellar with instructions from a sustainable gardener in this free video on gardening.
Part of the Video Series: How to Grow Plants & Flowers
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Video Transcript
Hi. This is Yolanda Vanveen and in this segment we're going to talk about how to make a deep-freeze root cellar. In the olden days, everybody grew their own food. And so they would collect their apples and their vegetables and their fruits and they would put them in a root cellar for the winter so that they didn't freeze and they could keep all of the food all winter long and eat out of it. And as we all know, we're all enjoying, a lot of the old customs are coming back. And so it's very easy to recreate a traditional root cellar. And basically all you have to do is either dig out a hole into the side of a mountain or actually dig out a hole into the ground. And as long as you put cement or blocks all the way around it in some wood to stop the moisture from actually filling in too much and you can go into it, then you can create your own root cellar. And it can be very complicated and you can have a big room or you can have just a very small cubby where you can crawl into. And you can save all of your flower bulbs and you can save all of your vegetables and your apples. And that way nothing freezes under the ground really hard. So it's cold enough for all of your bulbs and your fruits and vegetables stay fresh and not freeze at the same time. And that is the best way that you can store them, the best way possible in the world. And it's very easy to recreate a deep root cellar in your garden or in your backyard as well.
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Suffragists not snowflakes - courage not faintness of heart makes history.
by DR. ROBIN MCFEE August 29, 2017
"The best protection any woman can have... is courage"
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
I wonder, as we approach the 97th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote, if August 26th even holds significance anymore. How many women who voted, and who didn't vote, in the most recent presidential elections, appreciate the enormous sacrifices made to gain them a right that took generations of hard working people to achieve? And sacrifices were aplenty!
When we think of the movement granting voting rights to women Seneca Falls and the marches on Washington come to mind. However, if we look closer at our history, the sentiment for more equal treatment predates these events. Abigail Adams in a letter she wrote on 31 March 1776 encouraged her husband John and their contemporaries in the Continental Congress not to forget the nations women. In the letter she wrote " the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power in the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
It would take almost 150 years for her request to start taking shape, first in the form of the 19th Amendment. The vote was one of many hurdles women had to overcome. Property rights, university admission, job opportunities all would have to take their course through sustained efforts of visionary, courageous women and men. More than that, it took role models in every field, courageous pioneers who often had to overcome hardships to exemplify women had the capacity for great achievement. Consider Maria Mitchell - America's first woman astronomer of letters, who, atop a bank building on Nantucket was also the first woman to identify a new comet. Oh and this was before the Civil War! Indeed we have come a long way baby, and I am certain she would be both pleased at the progress women have made across performance cultures, and sorely disappointed at the trend towards snowflakism.
Dolly Madison did not need therapy when the Brits attacked. Neither did Abigail Adams. Somehow, if I could bring back from the grave all the remarkable role models I have named, they would go to campuses and demand women embrace challenge, allow discourse across the political and conversational spectrum, encouraging students to forge paths based upon what can be built, not what can be destroyed.
I am quite certain Anna Strong of Washington's spy ring, would take the snowflakes by the hand and ask them what do they fear in words that makes them cower or need therapy, or drives them to bully, physically intimidate and shout down their fellow students, especially their sister students, merely because of ideology. Where is the learning in that? Where is the concept of the great debate, a la Adams and Jefferson, or the Federalist debates, or Lincoln and Douglas?
August 26th is the anniversary of a hard-fought right many people - men and women - squander every local, state, and federal election cycle in the United States. Less than 7 out of 10 voted in the recent presidential elections. Local voter turnout is embarrassingly small in my county, and likely yours as well. Yet I wonder how many of our fellow citizens appreciate what most people across the planet cannot do - vote in free elections, or even have the opportunity to run for office. Moreover, I wonder what Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and similarly courageous women of conscience would think about contemporary society 2017. I wonder what my great, great, give or take a great, great aunt who also was a suffragist would say about the generations that followed.
The lyrics "you don't know what you've got ‘til it's gone" hold true, today, and every day. Little by little, our rights are being eroded, and we are letting it happen without much pushback. Free speech - the bedrock of our entire national enterprise since 1776 - remains continually threatened in academia, on the airwaves, in the streets, in social media. Freedom of speech is one of the tools women used to obtain the vote. If the conventional and popular narrative in 1918, 1919, and 1920 had prevailed without dissenting voices, as is the trend today, where would women be? Freedom of speech cannot be free unless it is allowed to offend, and it is through the offenses that we might just learn something. Don't take it from me, take it from a Founding Father....Thomas Jefferson. who shared with me just the other day in Philadelphia that "truth does not fear discussion."
While "Iron Jawed Angels" was a Hollywood interpretation of the suffrage movement, much of the film nonetheless was based upon factual events. Quite frankly it was not always pleasant to watch - but that was the point of course to remind generations long removed from the 1910's and 1920's, that great achievements come from courage, suffering, and sacrifice. Force-feeding, and institutionalizing women who were the most vocal in the suffrage movement did occur.
It takes sacrifice to make change. It takes effort to make a difference. Yet our children are being denied the opportunity to learn about their history - the good, the bad, the harsh and the happy. How are they to appreciate what often is taken for granted, as if it has always been this way? Instead of lively, open debate, our college students are infantilized, and treated like snowflakes, manipulated for purposes not to the benefit of education. Topics that offend or make uncomfortable or are against the popular ‘norm' of academia are silenced and vilified, instead of discussed and perhaps even profited by.
In the current mob mentality of destroying history, we might well remember the exhortations of Santayana; by ignoring our past, we have few reminders of our brightest eras and capacity for darkest hours.
Our adolescents have a great capacity for good, for volunteerism; fostering their being a snowflake did not, cannot, and will not make the United States a better place. Snowflakes can, however, be rescued from the toxic indoctrination and insecurity their professors have imposed upon them. Snowflakes can be inspired to use their education for the greater good. It is not like there aren't good role models....
Suffrage and women's rights leaders like Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Lucy Stone, sacrificers and pioneers of all generations such as Dolly and Abigail, Sophia Ripley, Margaret Fuller, the Rosie the Riveters, the WACs and WAVEs and WASPs, the 99's, Maria Mitchells, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mildred McAfee, Elizabeth Blackwell and so many other unsung heroines we are only now discovering. These women, and countless men who supported their efforts helped make the near miracle called the United States the greatest nation in the world. America remains a place where people come for education, medicine, inspiration, innovation, opportunity, even asylum because we are more than just another member country of the United Nations. In essence, these folks come because we are a near miracle, flaws and all. Our nation was created by men and women of voice and courage who saw what could and must be created, not what by whim or mob mentality can be destroyed.
As an aside, I am pretty sure the Founding Mothers would be pleased with women run enterprises like FSM that allow discourse for the spectrum of voices. There need to be more women driven media outlets.
Name me one snowflake who is not a relative who has accomplished something that benefits others history will recognize in 50 years. Yet you can name people who history has and will recognize. For the greater good we must all strive to be one of those who history will smile upon as making a difference. There is much more work to be done. Who will do it? One thing is certain - the spirit of suffragists not snowflakes will build a better America. After all, courage not faintness of heart makes history.
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FSM Archives
10 year FSM Anniversary
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how do car clutch work?
how does the car or automobile mechanisms work? How does a Car or automobile clutch work in motion?
automd7 years ago
A clutch is the mechanism for transmitting rotation, which can be triggered. It is a component of a car's engine’s transmission. It is designed to allow us to make the driver change gears while driving. And the clutch works because of the friction between the flywheel and the clutch plate.
lemonie7 years ago
Or for the single action clutch:<br /><a href=""> clutch</a><br /><br />L<br />
Re-design7 years ago
<a href="">This link</a> tells you exactly what you want to know. Go down to the middle ofthe page.<br />
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Germany's Energy Poverty How Electricity Became a Luxury Good
Part 2: The Regressive Energy Tax
Consumer advocates and aid organizations say the breaking point has already been reached. Today, more than 300,000 households a year are seeing their power shut off because of unpaid bills. Caritas and other charity groups call it "energy poverty."
Lawmakers, on the other hand, have largely ignored the phenomenon. In the concluding legislative period, the government and opposition argued passionately over a €5 increase in payments to the long-term unemployed. But no one paid much attention to the fact that those welfare recipients would subsequently see the extra €5 wiped out by higher electricity bills.
In this respect, at least, all of Germany's political parties are pushing for change. They want to close loopholes and more widely distribute the costs of clean energy subsidies. But even this improvement would translate into a relatively minor financial benefit to citizens. According to the SPD plan, an average household would see only about 70 cents a month in savings -- slightly less than under the plan Environment Minister Altmaier proposed a few months ago.
In the end, what actually drives up costs would remain unaffected: the haphazard expansion of wind and solar energy.
The Offshore Trap
Far out in the North Sea, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the island of Norderney, there is a large, bright yellow steel box. It's as wide as the Brandenburg Gate and taller than the Federal Chancellery building. It's essentially a giant electrical socket, which collects the electricity from the nearby offshore wind farms and transmits it to the mainland via a thick cable. The system, along with the cable, cost grid operator Tennet about €1 billion and is designed to last 20 years, although there is no data to show that this will actually be the case.
According to an official at Tennet, the company has no experience with such systems. It knows only one thing: There are always obstacles in the way.
In the case of Germany's offshore projects, those obstacles currently include weather and porpoises. In heavy seas, work on the wind farm is suspended. The same applies when porpoises and their young are spotted, because of the potential damage to their sensitive hearing by construction noise. As a result, there are still many spots where metal stumps protrude from the water instead of wind turbines.
Still, the government is pressing ahead with wind expansion, and the plans are breathtaking. By 2020, offshore wind turbines are expected to generate up to 10 gigawatts of electricity, theoretically as much as eight nuclear power plants. To attract investors, the government has created the best possible subsidy conditions, so that operators will be paid 19 cents per kilowatt-hour of offshore electricity, or about 50 percent more than from land-based wind farms. The government has also assumed the liability risk for the wind farm operators. If anything goes wrong, taxpayers will bear the cost.
Hidden Costs
As fascinating as the plan is for engineers, economically it's a potential disaster. Experts believe that because of the more challenging conditions, the power offshore wind turbines generate will be consistently two to three times as expensive as on land. Although the wind blows more consistently at sea, this comes far from offsetting the higher costs.
The less visible costs are also high. There is little demand for electricity in the thinly populated coastal region. New high-voltage power lines will be needed to transport the energy to industrial centers in western and southern Germany. The government already estimates the costs of expanding the grid at €20 billion, which doesn't include the additional ocean cables for offshore wind power.
Worse yet, it remains completely unclear whether the offshore facilities are even needed. The Federal Environment Agency believes it's enough to install modern turbines in the best terrestrial wind sites. It would also be cheaper.
But even if that were the case, the environment minister still believes consumers can expect to see rising prices. Experts say the miniscule impact wind energy has had on current prices is due to an uncooperative Mother Nature: 2013 has been an unusually windless year so far.
The Storage Conundrum
The Cossebaude reservoir is Dresden's largest and most popular open-air pool. On summer days, up to 8,000 sunbathers lounge on its sandy beach or cool off in the 10,000-square-meter (2.5-acre) lake.
Cossebaude is also part of the enormous Niederwartha pumped storage hydroelectric plant. At night or on weekends, when there is plenty of available power, lake water is pumped electrically through big pipes into a second reservoir 140 meters above the main reservoir. At noon, when electricity is scarce, the water is released from the higher-elevation reservoir, spinning giant turbines as it descends. The system generates electricity when the cost is high and consumes it when the cost is low. Plant operator Vattenfall makes its profit on the difference. When the plant was connected to the grid in November 1929, it was considered the technology of the future.
Now the power plant, along with the recreational lake attached to it, could soon be gone. The company plans to shut down the energy storage facility within the next two years. This is bad news for Dresden's swimmers, but it's especially detrimental to Germany's energy transition, which depends on backup power plants like the Niederwartha facility.
When the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, gas-fired power plants and pumped storage stations are supposed to fill the gap. A key formula behind the Energiewende is that the more green energy is produced, the more reserves are needed to avert bottlenecks.
This is true in theory, but not in practice. On the contrary, an ironic result of the green energy expansion is that many of the reliable pumped storage stations could be forced out of the market. There are roughly 20 of these power plants in Germany, with Vattenfall being the most important operator. The plants were very profitable for utilities for decades, but now the business has become highly unreliable. Dresden is a case in point.
When it's sunny and people are most likely to head to the lake, solar power is abundant and electricity prices drop. This means the pumped storage station earns less money, so the power plant is shut off. In 2009, for example, the turbines in Niederwartha were in operation for 2,784 hours. Last year, Vattenfall ran the facility for only 277 hours. "Price peaks that last only a few hours aren't enough to utilize the plant to full capacity," says Gunnar Groebler, head of Vattenfall's German hydro division.
No Incentives for Storage
Not surprisingly, the company invests very little in its pumped storage plants today. In Niederwartha, the buildings are filled with the musty smell of earlier floods, the paint is peeling from the walls and the reservoir leaks.
It would cost Vattenfall €150 million to modernize the plant. But company executives are hesitant, fearing they won't recoup that money with future profits. Vattenfall has also hit the brakes elsewhere, like in Hamburg suburb of Geesthacht. Plans to increase the capacity of the existing reservoir there have been put on hold. Instead, the plant is used only as a backup.
Meanwhile, competitors RWE and EnBW have also shelved plans to build a large pumped storage power station in the southern Black Forest. Trianel, an association of about 100 municipal utilities, withdrew from a similar project at Rursee Lake in the western Eifel Mountains in late June.
All this gives credence to the claim that Germany's energy reform is its own worst enemy. Despite the erratic expansion of wind and solar projects, the backup power capacity those projects require is lacking. One study found that Germany's expansion of renewable energy will require additional storage capacity for 20 to 30 billion kilowatt-hours by 2050. So far the storage capacity has grown by little more than 70 million kilowatt-hours. And hardly anyone is interested in maintaining the existing storage facilities.
At least that isn't the case in Dresden, where a grassroots movement is working to keep the old pumped storage facility open -- partly because of the popular swimming lake.
Discuss this issue with other readers!
34 total posts
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dtechba 09/04/2013
1. but wait
I thought wind and solar were cheap and limitless?
Inglenda2 09/04/2013
2. Are politicians being bribed?
S H 09/05/2013
3. Substandard propaganda
carambolagen 09/05/2013
4. Windgas
specialsymbol 09/05/2013
5. Energy costs
Show all comments
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Training Your Puppy Not To Nip
Puppies use their mouth a lot like children use their hands and their voice. They nip to interact and play and discover. Puppies need to learn another alternative with humans, but nipping is normal and can be shaped out with patience, consistency and repetition.
* Spread butter on your hand or arm and encourage your puppy to give “kisses.” Encourage friends and family to do the same.
* When your puppy is playful focus on toys and do not try to hold or pet him. Like babies they cuddle best when calm.
* Puppies like babies have five basic needs: to eat, drink, play, sleep and go potty. When a baby is needy they cry; puppies nip when they’re needy—when they’re overtired or need to go to the bathroom. Leave a drag lead on your puppy when supervised and re-direct him, don’t correct them.
* Remember corrections are often seen as confrontational play and make the matter much worse. When a puppy is nipping use butter or toys to re-direct their enthusiasm.
* Use a long line or indoor drag lead on your puppy and direct them away from you using a command like “Away!” Redirect them to an object or consider what else they might need.
Harsh corrections (muzzle squeezing or pinning) only frighten a puppy and make them more confrontational or fearful.
For more helpful hints on raising and caring for puppies refer to Sarah’s book You and Your Puppy, written with James DeBitetto, DVM.
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/kɔd napɔleɔ̃/
the English name for the Code Napoléon
Read Also:
• Napoleonic-wars
plural noun 1. the intermittent wars (1796–1815) waged by France principally against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. plural noun 1. the series of wars fought between France, under Napoleon Bonaparte, and (principally) Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria either alone or in alliances (1799–1815)
• Napoleon II
noun 1. (François Charles Joseph Bonaparte; Duke of Reichstadt) 1811–32, titular king of Rome (son of Napoleon I). noun 1. Duke of Reichstadt. 1811–32, son of Napoleon Bonaparte and Marie Louise. He was known as the King of Rome during the first French empire and was entitled Napoleon II by Bonapartists after Napoleon I’s death […]
• Napoli
[nah-paw-lee] /ˈnɑ pɔ li/ noun 1. Italian name of . /ˈnaːpoli/ noun 1. the Italian name for Naples
• Nappe
[nap] /næp/ noun 1. Geology. a large mass of rock thrust a considerable distance along a nearly horizontal fault plane or in an overturned anticlinal fold. 2. Geometry. one of the two equal sections of a cone. /næp/ noun 1. a large sheet or mass of rock, commonly a recumbent fold, that has been thrust […]
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Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Petrol from Tissue Paper
Petrol made from Tissue paper
Petroleum is basically a very necessary product in this century and is used for many purposes, it is not only used as a fuel but in making medicines, plastics and various other products which we make use of in our daily life.
Tissue Paper
Now talking about that whether petrol can be made from tissue paper might be surprising but yes now it is possible to make petrol from tissue paper, not exactly tissue paper but by using tissue paper waste we can now make petrol. Petrol Is a very important fuel without which technological advances might be stopped but now a girl in Pakistan did her thesis of in making petrol (bioethanol to be more specific) from tissue paper waste and she turned out to be successful.
The bioethanol which she produced can be used in car engines and thus can be used as an alternative. Bioethanol is better than petrol because it is an environment friendly fuel which means that less pollutants would be released into the environment, according to her when bioethanol is used about 80%-90% less greenhouse gases are released into the environment thus it would be an ideal fuel since it would not prove that much harmful to the environment.
According to her 150 ml of petrol (bioethanol) can be made from using 1 kg of tissue paper waste. Which means that huge quantities could be made if the manufacturing of petrol from tissue paper waste is done at a large scale.
Do you think that it is better to use petrol made from tissue paper rather than crude oil?
Health and Technology
Technology and Health (Benefits of Technology)
You might have noticed that technology is benefiting our health but how is it benefiting our health? Read the full article and you will find out that what good (virtuous) effects technology has on health.
The first thing is the internet factor, research has shown that more than 60% of people search health related things on the internet now this tells us why there are a lot of health sites, people do not only use it to search things like how to lose weight or how to gain muscles since these are very common but now medicines and health care products are being purchased through online stores and people are even able to solve their health related problems online by interacting with doctors who also now can be found on the internet that means it is reducing the need to go physically to a hospital to get a simple checkup as it can be if not entirely but still can be done to an extent online, check this life saving product which can be now used at homes :
Now coming on the next thing which has its own importance and which shows a major role in saving millions of lives and giving people more chances to survive, the advanced medical equipment and machines such as those used treat brain tumors, gamma knife surgery, heart pace makers and many more. Let’s not forget that without these medical appliances diseases would have been more severe to dealt with. So this is one major way in which technology is lending us a hand to stay healthy.
Next item which we can highlight in this article is the mobile technology which has improved to a great extent making communications cheaper and easily accessible that has also laid a new gateway to solving health problems just from simple touch on phone which means that if we can access doctors from anywhere in the world and get in touch with them although this might not be needed that much but still contacting doctors even in the same city at any hour of the day when we might have some problem regarding our health we can solve it without having to wait. So as communication gap has been over-come through technology it serves as a health service. Not only this technology gives doctors a better chance to specialize in their fields as well.
Apart from this we are able to access information about different diseases and get to know more about them, it helps us in taking precautionary measures which proves helpful to us. Moreover medical trends of different diseases are also taken in note by search engines such as Google which are helpful during research and possibly show how the success ratio by which a disease is controlled.
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Wearable Technology MC10 Biostamp
Wearable Technology : MC10 Biostamp
Mc10 Stamp (source :
Well first of all coming to what Mc10 Biostamp is actually, to put it in a simple manner Mc10 Biostamp is a very thin electronic sheet which is just like a sticker that can be laminated or put onto our skin. It is somewhat like a bandage which can be put onto our skin but its purpose is a little bit different that is, it is used to monitor rather than to be put onto a wound for healing. This is used to monitor our psychological data which includes our heart rate, the temperature of our body, the thing is that we can use this data to track multiple disorders one example can be like heart failure. Mc10 Biostamp is a cheap (not sure about the actual price)but a good quality monitoring system which we can use by remaining in the comfort of our home which means that we might not even need to go to the hospital for this purpose and we can simple make use of it right at our own place. The best thing about it is that it enables family members to keep a check onto let’s say a patient in their house so definitely it is a useful product especially for those who do not want to stay in the hospital for long time.
However it can be still used by doctors also to treat their patients, an added benefit of Mc10 Biostamp is that it can be used to monitor babies heart beats as well even though they seem to have soft skin but this work completely fine for them.
Now coming onto directly how it works, it works rather like a key logger since the Biostamp sends data through an app to the user and thus the user is able to easily monitor his/her own or of someone else’s health remotely.
The Mc10 Biostamp is going to be further worked on to take it to another level where it could be used as a permanent implantation inside the human body and other parts of the body where it cannot be used till now for example work is being done onto it to make it such a product which can replace the heart pace makers.
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Chinese New Year
by Ryan Lee
Krack-a-boooooommmm! It’s loud! That’s the sound of a fire cracker. It’s Chinese New Year, where we set off fireworks to scare away evil spirits.
Another tradition is the dragon dance. The dragon is a red and yellow costume that is used to scare away evil spirits. The Chinese believe that red is good luck.
Another red tradition is scrolls. Scrolls can be bought or you can make your own by using “scroll paper,” gold paint, and a paintbrush. The scrolls have good luck sayings on them; for example: “Everything will go your way!”
On the day before Chinese New Year, we have a feast that is called nian ye fan, or “New Year’s Night Feast.” In it are dumplings, rice cakes, and oranges, which mean good luck.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, children are given red envelopes, or hongbao. They contain money, and you put the red envelope under your pillow. The Chinese believe that the bad spirits don’t want to be crushed like the red envelopes, so they stay away from you.
At night, people might send up red lanterns. They also believe that how you behave on the first day of Chinese New Year will reflect on your luck during the whole year.
So, with all this in your head, will you have all good luck, all bad luck, or is it somewhere in between?
Ryan Lee is a third-grader in northern California. He learned to read at a very young age, and he enjoys writing a lot. Hero stories are his favorite. Although he likes to read and write, his favorite subject in school is math. Ryan also likes swimming and skiing. He enjoys listening to music, singing karaoke with his dad, doing Snap Circuit projects and assembling remote-controlled robots.
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What is Science Vocab
Home > Preview
The flashcards below were created by user deppe1998 on FreezingBlue Flashcards.
1. Dependent Variable
1) The variable in a functional relation whose value is dependent upon, or influenced by, an independent variable.
(2) A factor whose value changes when the independent variable is changed.
(3) The variable whose value is measured to determine the extent of the effect of another variable to it, as in an experiment.
2. Evidence
3. Experiment
1) A scientific test: a test, especially a scientific one, carried out in order to discover whether a theory is correct or what the results of a particular course of action would be
2) doing something new: an attempt to do something new or to see what will happen
3) use of repeated tests and trials: the use of tests and trials in order to make discoveries
4. Hypothesis
1) theory needing investigation: a tentative explanation for a phenomenon, used as a basis for further investigation
2) assumption: a statement that is assumed to be true for the sake of argument
3) antecedent clause: in logic, the antecedent of a conditional statement
5. Independent Variable
1) variable determining value of others: the variable in a mathematical statement whose value, when specified, determines the value of another variable or other variables
2) variable manipulated in an experiment: a variable that is manipulated in an experiment in order to observe the effect on another variable
6. Model
7. Observation
1) The act of noticing something or a judgment or inference from something seen or experienced
8. Prediction
1) a forecast or a prophecy.
Card Set Information
What is Science Vocab
2013-08-18 01:04:40
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The so-called mathematical miracle of the Quran
Some people claim there are mathematical miracles to the Quran in terms of number of times words appear to be the same. The reason I never bothered responding to such a claim is because it’s such a weak argument. It was never used historically and is an overall lame argument. Just because you find some patterns in the book does not mean it had a divine author. I am sure if you pick up any book including Shakespeare you will find some interesting coincidences, intentionally put in there or otherwise. If anyone actually spent the time to count the words you would see it’s really a case of cherrypicking and stretching the data to fit the narrative.
Math by Jeremy Mikkola
If we look at any text that is sufficiently long, we can find things that add up.
I ran a word counter on Romeo and Juliet which is around 2900 lines and found some interesting and funny coincidences:
• Time and Old 33 times
• Lord and God 31 times
• Eyes and Dear 27 times (like the phrase Qurata Ayun – Coolness of my eyes)
• Word and Scene 27 times
• World and Earth 20 times
• Peace and Married 19 times
• Faith and Blood 18 times
• Grave and Rest 16 times
• Pray and Slain 17 times
• Marriage and Gentleman 11 times
I’m sure if I spent more time, I could find some more funny coincidences. Not just word counting but looking at the n-th word and trying to attach meaning to it. Or counting the even and odd instances. The more time you spend, the more you will find.
We can do this with any book with some sort of results. Some people also claim the Bible has such “miracles” too in it.
The Quran is 6236 verses, which means there are far more possibilities for this to happen. So it should not be surprising if we find this occurring sometimes.
When it comes to Arabic text, it’s more complicated. Because a word can appear in many forms. For example the arabic word for day yawm (يَوْم) can be written as alyawm (today) or ayyam (أَيَّامٍ ) days or in the dual form two days yawmayn (يَوْمَيْنِ).
Regarding the miracle claim that day appears 365 times in the Quran, lets discuss this. First of all, there are 365.24 days in a year, but 365 is a useful approximation. In the Islamic Calendar, it doesn’t match at all, its closer to 354. Second of all, we will see how this 365 number is so inconsistently arrived at.
The question is, when we look for these patterns, are we applying the same consistent rules throughout the text? Or do we pick and choose specific instances in order to “make the miracle work” ?
The actual occurrence of the general word yawm is 475 times. This includes singular, dual and plural cases. There are 27 plural (days), 3 that are dual form (two days) and singular occurrences occur 445 times with all forms. This doesn’t give anything useful for this claim so the apologist continues on. Now the trick here is to add up basic versions which occur 274 times and those prefixed as al-yawm (today) which occur 75 times but leave out suffix forms. You might notice that adding these two together doesn’t result in 365 but 349, that’s because they include suffixed forms of yawn that are in the accusative form (which is written with a suffixed alif). This occur 16 times and they add it in to give them what they want. (Source: MobySac on Reddit)
There we go. Pick and choose the ones we like to make the miracle work. Seems like a lot of work to prove Allah right! Trust me, if I was an all knowing God, I am sure there is a better way I could have encoded the text with a checksum. I might even send two identical copies to two different parts of the world. But no such thing ever happened.
Another problem with this claim is that we know that there are multiple readings of the Quran. In this hadith in Bukhari, Umar hears Hisham reading the Quran differently than he remembers and gets angry and drags him to Muhammad to verify. Muhammad then says that the way he was reading it is approved by Allah as well.
Umar said:
I heard Hisham reciting Surat Al-Furqan during the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and I listened to his recitation and noticed that he recited in several different ways which Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) had not taught me. I was about to jump over him during his prayer, but I controlled my temper, and when he had completed his prayer, I put his upper garment around his neck and seized him by it and said, “Who taught you this Sura which I heard you reciting?” He replied, “Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) taught it to me.” I said, “You have told a lie, for Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) has taught it to me in a different way from yours.” So I dragged him to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and said (to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)), “I heard this person reciting Surat Al-Furqan in a way which you haven’t taught me!” On that Allah’s Apostle said, “Release him, (O `Umar!) Recite, O Hisham!” Then he recited in the same way as I heard him reciting. Then Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “It was revealed in this way,” and added, “Recite, O `Umar!” I recited it as he had taught me. Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) then said, “It was revealed in this way. This Qur’an has been revealed to be recited in seven different ways, so recite of it whichever (way) is easier for you (or read as much of it as may be easy for you). (Bukhari 4992, Emphasis mine)
So already we have a big problem. We already have shown that there isn’t one exact text of the Quran. Here are some different recitations:
• Hafs bin Asem (the most common one)
• Warsh
• And others
In these recitations, different words are used sometimes, or different forms of the same word, and even sometimes the verse numbering and count is different.
As well, we know that after Muhammad died, all the other copies of the Quran were burnt and only Uthman’s was saved and became the official “Quran” that we read today. We have to assume and trust that the companions didn’t mess this up. And there are also hadith in Bukhari stating that some verses were lost.
Harun Yahya’s site Mathematical Miracles of the Quran makes the following claim:
Apart from the miraculous characteristics of the Qur’an which we have looked into so far, it also contains what we can term “mathematical miracles.” There are many examples of this fascinating Qur’anic aspect. One example of this is the number of repetitions of certain words in the Qur’an. Some related words are surprisingly repeated the same number of times. Below is a list of such words and the number of repetitions in the Qur’an.
I decided to pick some of them and find out if these are actually true:
The statement of “seven heavens” is repeated seven times. “The creation of the heavens (khalq as-samawat)” is also repeated seven times
Okay lets take a look and see the 9 references to seven heavens in the Quran:
1. sabaa samawat هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things. (2:29)
The seven heavens and the earth and whatever … (17:44)
3. sabaa samawat فَقَضَاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَىٰ فِي كُلِّ سَمَاءٍ أَمْرَهَا ۚ وَزَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَحِفْظًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ
And He completed them as seven heavens within two days and inspired … in each heaven its command. And We adorned … the nearest heaven with lamps and as protection … (41:12)
4. sabaa samawat اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ الْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا
It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. [His] command descends among them so you may know that Allah is over all things competent and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge. (65:12)
5. sabaa samawat الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا ۖ مَّا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ مِن تَفَاوُتٍ ۖ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٍ
6. sabaa samawat أَلَمْ تَرَوْا كَيْفَ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا
Do you not consider how Allah has created seven heavens in layers (71:15)
7. samawati assabaah قُلْ مَن رَّبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ السَّبْعِ وَرَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ
Say, “Who is Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the Great Throne?” (23:86)
8. sabaa tariqan وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا فَوْقَكُمْ سَبْعَ طَرَائِقَ وَمَا كُنَّا عَنِ الْخَلْقِ غَافِلِينَ
And We have created above you seven layered heavens, and never have We been of [Our] creation unaware (23:17)
9. sabaa shidadan وَبَنَيْنَا فَوْقَكُمْ سَبْعًا شِدَادًا
And constructed above you seven strong [heavens] (78:12)
Well. That’s 6 times actually, using the specific phrase! To make it 7, you have to allow 23:86 which has the words in reverse order
The words “paradise” and “hell” are each repeated 77 times
Somewhat true if we pick and choose which forms of the noun to use. I used Quran Corpus search engine to help me with this as it can find all uses of a word in the original Arabic
Jahanam (hell): 77 times (proper noun)
Janat (heaven): 147 times
• الْجَنَّتَيْنِ (Janatayn – dual form) occurs 8 times.
• جَنَّاتِ (Janaat – plural form) occurs 69 times.
So in order to get 77, we have to add these two up. Seems a bit… arbitrary? If we wanted this to make the most sense, shouldn’t we look at the proper noun – janatin (جَنَّةٍ) ? Well no, because it only comes 51 times.
So what we find here is that we have to yet again pick and choose in order to make this work.
Instances like this one:
وَسَارِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous (Quran 3:133)
So in this case Allah is describing paradise, but since its using the singular, its not counted! There are 70 such examples where “janah” is not counted. In order to make this work, we have to again cherrypick the instances we allow, by only picking “gardens” (plural) and not the singular forms.
“Sun” (shams) and “light” (nur) both appear 33 times in the Qur’an.
Sun: 33 times
Nur: 43 times as the noun nūr (نُور)
The words “man” and “woman” are also employed equally: 23 times.
Man: 29 times as the noun rajul (رَجُل)
Woman: 26 times as the noun im’ra-at (ٱمْرَأَت)
(Also appears in other forms describing female believers, idolators etc.: Imraatun, Ajuzun, Dhati, Hamlin, Mushrikatan, Muminatan but these are not described as part of the “miracle” as it would be more than “rajul” then).
What does imraat mean anyway? It has various meanings – but in most cases its connected to another noun and refers to “wife of so and so.” For example:
إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّي ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
[Mention, O Muhammad], when the wife of ‘Imran (Imraatu Imran) said, “My Lord, indeed I have pledged to You what is in my womb, consecrated [for Your service], so accept this from me. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing.” (Quran 3:35)
So is Allah saying “a man is equal to a wife” here? Shouldn’t it “man and woman” or “husband and wife?”. Yet another example of cherrypicking to make this work.
Shall I go on? There you have it. This is the fallacy called “Begging the Question“.. You already assume there is a miracle, and then you go and make the facts fit your narrative. This is not a fair or impartial.
The web site (Also interestingly a Turkish site, just like the above) states:
In the Quran the word “balance” (mizan) and all its derivatives are used 23 times. In the Quran, “transgression” (israf) means the decline of the balance and is being condemned. The word “transgression” and all of its derivatives are also used in the Quran 23 times
• 16 times as the noun mīzān (مِيزَان)
• twice as the form IV verbal noun is’rāf (إِسْرَاف)
• 15 times as the form IV active participle mus’rif (مُسْرِف)
Now over here its close. But you see how arbitrary things are picked and then they try to make patterns out of it? It’s so silly.
Devil and Angel again, lets take a look:
• Singular (مَلَكًا) Malakan Around 9 times
• Dual ( الْمَلَكَيْنِ) Malakayn Two Angels – 1 time
• Plural (الْمَلَائِكَةُ) Malaikah Around 78 times
Devil: This one appears in many different forms with prepositions, sometimes referring to a single devil, or sometimes to “The devil” (Iblees).
• شَيْطَانٍ – Literally Shaytan – proper noun –
• شَيَاطِينِهِمْ – shayāṭīnihim – Their devils
• الشَّيْطَانِ – Ash-Shaytan – The Devil
“Devils” appears 18 times, “devil” 70 singular. To make this work, we have to add up the sums of all the forms of shaytan and malaikah. While it is interesting that it adds up, it really does seem like a coincidence here, with no real meaning.
Dunya (world): 74 times, Akhirah (hereafter): 133 times – no match
Additional resources:
35 thoughts on “The so-called mathematical miracle of the Quran
1. Another incompetent article for your incompetent blog …….you cant just write the translated word in a search and blindly just write down the number you get….even a novice knows that… ill prove your incompetence below but let me just say ive noticed that usually your mind processes things incompetently to mislead yourself and others but in this case its just incompetent research…. the only thing more shocking than the incompetence is the outright arrogance throughout the article and the shamelessness with which you posted it in public…Its easy for incompetent people to copy, paste and find short cuts to come to sensationalist conclusions……Let me list out the incompetence for you and i hope you atleast have the sincerity to not delete my comment
1. glimpses of your incompetence and your inability to share competent links are seen in earlier comments
2. there is a vast amount of research on the mathematical patterns in the Quran …. all of varying degrees of complexity ….you decided to deal with the easiest which is counting contrasting words…..i mean your article shows that not only were you lazy to do the actual research…you dont even know basic arabic as i will prove below
3. i specifically asked you to deal with Dr. Shabir Allys work….bcos i know there are many incompetent sites including your own….what is the point of getting information from an incompetent site and then doing your own incompetent research to add to the incompetence
4. i realised that since i was responsible for your stupid article which may now go on to mislead more of our gullible muslim youth i would have to deal with your incompetent mess….incompetent people always seem to have more time and means to spread their incompetence…. you gave out 4 examples to try to prove your arrogant claims….of which only 1 was mentioned by Dr. Shabbir Ally; SINGULAR FORMS OF MAN 24 times and SINGULAR FORMS OF WOMAN 24 times….so let me deal only with that especially since you used it to arrogantly slander islam …. this example alone is enough to sure you dont know what the hell you are doing
5. the sad thing about incompetent people is the hard work of competent people which takes years gets discredited..and incompetent people also see to have more time to spew out their incompetence…..i had to actually sit down for hours to do the research of only the words MAN and WOMAN …. just by looking at your figures i could see the incompetence… You said woman only appears 12 times in all its forms but i found 24 singular forms for woman and that alone is enough to disprove you….im no arabic expert but i know you dont know arabic bcos you listed out ‘dhati’ and ‘hamlin’ as separate whilst in the Quran you would have found they are actually written together to mean a ‘pregnant woman’
I dont know how you got the word MAN 29 times…….but you must have included MAN with all its derivatives like plural form…..remember arabic is not english and whilst in english man can be plural to include mankind in general or both male and female Shabir Ally specifically told you to only include the SINGULAR FORM of RAJUL …. its not his fault you dont know arabic grammar and how it works…..
Below i have listed for you the places in the Quran for SIGULAR FORM OF MAN 24 times and SINGULAR FORM OF WOMAN 24 TIMES…
6. As a bonus are you suprised you get death threats? ill just deal with the treason law (not just apostasy)…..we dont have an islamic country that implements the full islamic shariah including the political, economic, welfare, civil, criminal aspects of it….but some countries do have the criminal penal code….if you left islam and kept it to yourself then an islamic governement would not disturb you…but since you go out in public and deceive the youth with your incompetence in an islamic land you have 2 options….you could either repent and recant and be set free or you could leave that islamic land and spew your poison designed to mislead the youth elsewhere….
i sincerely hope this will make you reflect and keep your incompetence to yourself instead of deceiving people on youtube and your blog….. do something more productive wth your life…..religion is not a joke to lots of people…they take it seriously
1.) 27:23
2.) 4:12
3.) 33:50
4.) 37:135
5.) 4:128
6.) 3:35
7.8.) 2:178 ( appears 2 times maybe in variant singular forms)
9.) 40:40
10.) 16:97
11.) 22:2
12.) 24:2
13.14.15.) 2:221 (appears 3 times maybe in variant singular forms)
16.) 11:72
17.) 26:171
18.19.) 51:29 (appears 2 times maybe in variant singular forms)
20.21.22.) 24:3 (appears 3 times maybe in variant singular forms)
23.) 33:36
24.) 33:50
SINGULAR FORM OF MAN =24 times
1.) 33:4
2.3.4) 39:29 (appears 3 times)
5.6.) 40:28 (appears 2 times)
7.) 43:31
8.) 6:9
9.) 7:63
10.) 10:2
11.) 11:78
12.) 17:47
13.) 18:37
14.) 25:8
15.) 28:20
16.) 34:7
17.) 34:43
18.) 7:69
19.) 23:25
20.) 36:20
21.) 23:38
22.) 2:282
23.) 4:12
24.) 4:176
1. I do appreciate being told I’m wrong. But why are you insinuating that I deserve to be threatened or killed? Do you think the religion of truth needs violence to defend it? Does not the truth stand clear from falsehood?
This is part of the disease of Islam and Muslims. Your religion can’t stand up on its own without violence. You have to bully people into silence.
I’ll edit the article to make it stronger with more details now since you made some good points. Thank you
1. I looked through you list of random word matches…… you genuinely think the list compares to mine?
look a my list
it gives you the percentages of land and see
it uses precise contrasting words like dunya vs akhira and devils vs angels
it gives you days (singular form yawm) 365 times and month (singular form shahr) 12 times
dont these results resonate with you???
i have shown you how i got 24 singular form of male and 24 singular form of female…
you discussed evolution in the video where i first contacted you…so im sure you love science
did you know that chimpanzees and apes too i think have 24 pairs of chromosomes?
scientists wondered why humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes and why not 24 too….
Now we know that the human chromosome 2 is the result of a telomere-to-telomere fusion of two chromosomes. This event did not occur in chimpanzees and apes, hence we have one less chromosome pair.
To me technically its not wrong to think we too then have 24 chromosones and the fact i can grammatically find 24 results for man and 24 results for woman reminds me of this….. it just makes me appreciate God more
Sure you will be nitpicky and say its all nonsense….. its just coincidence,,,we have only 23 chromosomes…but not everyone thinks like you…..whats the big deal if muslims share this with others….why do u have an issue with that? especially when your results seem to be full of mistakes….i mean i only spent hours and looked at the results of MAN and WOMAN bcos that resonated with me….People dont have time to go thru all your other results and find the mistakes in them…
Besides muslims dont believe in the Quran just bcos we can interpret scientific or mathematical beauties into the Quran…. the Quran to us is not a mathematics book or a science book…. these are just signs we use to reflect over the creation and God etc…..
2. The fact that you ended your last comment with an implied threat or acceptance of violence shows how weak your argument is and how violent your mind is. But nevertheless, here is your response.
I edited the article to add more details. You asked where I got 29? I got it from here:
Its actually 73 times. You can also see it here:رجل
73 results again
Now go ahead and cherrypick the ones you like to make it add up to 24. I dare you.
1. just saw your comments…. Actually if you look in youtube someone else brought up the issue of violence in islamic countries to people who leave the faith…..i had intended to respond to him but never got around to….
just so happened i didnt bother re reading what i wrote in my long original comment…maybe i should have left it as a spearate comment to him instead of getting you involved….anyways i didnt mean it to sound personal and i apologize….id edit that too if i could here…
As i said the work you shared for free in your past life genuinely helped me…so my reasons for engaging with you are sncere….ill have a look now at your refutations
1. again it was a comment made to me in the same comment thread where i brought up shabir allys work…… i just copied the comment i made on youtube in the evolution video here so i understand why here in the blog it seems like i wrote that right out of the blue……
im new to this blog so wondering if i can edit comments i make here?
2. you dare me to make it 24……lol….i already spent hours looking at the arabic of each word and sharing my findings
luckily for me you shared your list and honestly if you cant play fair then this is going to be a never ending game….
first looking at the 29 results you gave me i thought i was going to have to try explaining why some of them are plural in arabic ….
Then i realised you could actually see that 5 of them were translated as MEN or TWO MEN in the translation ….so if you remove those 5 the results come to 24 i mean either you are just making me work extra hard in my limited time or you dont understand basic arabic and want me to do all the hard work explaining things so you can keep saying it was a mistake and skew the results
also regarding imraatu imran…….you know very well that imraat can be taken to mean woman…..and you should know that in arabic there is already a specific word for wife; zawja …..infact there are 4 instances where i found the Quran using this word but i didnt use them since they specifically mean wives….2 azwajakum and 2 azwajahum and anyway they are plural
i understand that when it comes with the word Imran you can translate it as wife of Imran….but again you have to be fair and understand just as a muslim would see the word imraat there and take it one way….you being a former muslim would take the translation and say it means wife…..
Also i gave you my list for 24 singular form of WOMAN…..obviously i got more results but some didnt fit ….. but i noticed you still kept it as 26…. i looked at my notes and since you have 2 extra results im assuming those are either;nisa’ or banaat which are again plural…
Again its easy for you to just use your software to find results….im the one who has to thouroughly spend time to look at all the words and keep correcting you
its obvious you are looking for things to be as clear as day,….. you want everything to fit 100 percent ……you dont seem to accept arabic is not english and that there are different rules and for me and other muslims these are just signs to help me reflect…..i dont need to these things to be 100 percent accurate and even if you keep finding silly reasons to say they dont match…my faith doesnt depend on these things…
Since you tried to address some other results Shabir Ally mentioned…let me be more specifc and tell you the precise forms i heard him say in the video….i had to rewatch the video and.looking at what you wrote obviously u didnt listen to him….. so i have to do double the work to be thorough
DAY (SINGULAR FORRM YAWM) = 365 times
SATAN (AL SHAYTAAN) = 68 times
ANGEL (AL MALAAIKAH) 68 times
DUNYA (this world) = 115 times
AAKHIRAH (next world) = 115 times
Again these are some of his results
itll take me hours to do the research again only for you to reject it again so maybe if you share your links with your results IA it will be quicker for me to look through them
1. Here is the list of 26 instances. There’s no nisa or banaat here. Check again:
(2:282:61) wa-im’ra-atāni and two women فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ
(3:35:3) im’ra-atu (the) wife إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي
(3:40:10) wa-im’ra-atī and my wife وَقَدْ بَلَغَنِيَ الْكِبَرُ وَامْرَأَتِي عَاقِرٌ
(4:12:56) im’ra-atun a women وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلَالَةً أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ
(4:128:2) im’ra-atun a woman وَإِنِ امْرَأَةٌ خَافَتْ مِنْ بَعْلِهَا نُشُوزًا أَوْ إِعْرَاضًا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا
(7:83:4) im’ra-atahu his wife فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
(11:71:1) wa-im’ra-atuhu And his wife وَامْرَأَتُهُ قَائِمَةٌ فَضَحِكَتْ فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَاقَ
(11:81:19) im’ra-ataka your wife وَلَا يَلْتَفِتْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ إِنَّهُ مُصِيبُهَا مَا أَصَابَهُمْ
(12:21:6) li-im’ra-atihi to his wife وَقَالَ الَّذِي اشْتَرَاهُ مِنْ مِصْرَ لِامْرَأَتِهِ أَكْرِمِي مَثْوَاهُ
(12:30:5) im’ra-atu The wife of وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ امْرَأَتُ الْعَزِيزِ تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ
(12:51:18) im’ra-atu (the) wife قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ الْعَزِيزِ الْآنَ حَصْحَصَ الْحَقُّ
(15:60:2) im’ra-atahu his wife إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ قَدَّرْنَا إِنَّهَا لَمِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
(19:5:7) im’ra-atī my wife وَإِنِّي خِفْتُ الْمَوَالِيَ مِنْ وَرَائِي وَكَانَتِ امْرَأَتِي عَاقِرًا
(19:8:8) im’ra-atī my wife قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَكَانَتِ امْرَأَتِي عَاقِرًا
(27:23:3) im’ra-atan a woman إِنِّي وَجَدْتُ امْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ وَأُوتِيَتْ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ
(27:57:4) im’ra-atahu his wife فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ قَدَّرْنَاهَا مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
(28:9:2) im’ra-atu (the) wife وَقَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ فِرْعَوْنَ قُرَّتُ عَيْنٍ لِي وَلَكَ
(28:23:14) im’ra-atayni two women وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأَتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ
(29:32:13) im’ra-atahu his wife لَنُنَجِّيَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَهُ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
(29:33:20) im’ra-ataka your wife إِنَّا مُنَجُّوكَ وَأَهْلَكَ إِلَّا امْرَأَتَكَ كَانَتْ مِنَ الْغَابِرِينَ
(33:50:28) wa-im’ra-atan and a woman وَامْرَأَةً مُؤْمِنَةً إِنْ وَهَبَتْ نَفْسَهَا لِلنَّبِيِّ
(51:29:2) im’ra-atuhu his wife فَأَقْبَلَتِ امْرَأَتُهُ فِي صَرَّةٍ فَصَكَّتْ وَجْهَهَا وَقَالَتْ عَجُوزٌ عَقِيمٌ
(66:10:6) im’ra-ata (the) wife ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا امْرَأَتَ نُوحٍ
(66:10:8) wa-im’ra-ata (and the) wife وَامْرَأَتَ لُوطٍ كَانَتَا تَحْتَ عَبْدَيْنِ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا صَالِحَيْنِ
(66:11:6) im’ra-ata (the) wife وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ
(111:4:1) wa-im’ra-atuhu And his wife وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ
1. wow you found all the exact words with IMRAA’T with the software 🙂
in your original article you said 12 times woman in all the various forms which is why i too looked for various forms such as ‘believing woman’ (mu’mina) etc….so my list is flawed and should be ignored
Now you found exactly the word IMRAA’T (WOMAN) which corresponds with the exact word RAJUL (MAN)
and the best part is of your 26 findings…2 of them are in DUAL FORMS OF WOMAN
its pretty much a repeat of the mistake of including DUAL FORMS of MAN
24 of your results are in SINGULAR FORM OF WOMAN
(in 4;12 its written ‘a women’ but it is actually ‘a woman’ in arabic… doesnt matter how they translate it into english….you have to look at the arabic
just like what i said about your 29 results for man)
just remove the following 2 verses bcos its in DUAL FORMS OF WOMAN
Shabbir ally said 24 SINGULAR FORMS OF MAN AND 24 SINGULAR FORMS OF WOMAN
so your results prove 24 SINGULAR FORMS OF WOMAN…you said we twist the findings but the fact is he always said SINGULAR FORMS
and also for the other words like 365 days and 12 months i said in singular form
you know what.. ………i saw the following 1 hour and 51 minute video long ago….and when you did your refutation i realised the need to see it again…so i watched the full thing again …… should do your due deligence in research before you publish anything about it so please atleast do the justice of atleast waching the following video…after all its obvious we have both spent alot of time on this so why not spend a little more time doing justice bcos it is misleading to claim you have looked into the mathematical miracles in the Quran by just dealing with contrasting words bcos that is just the tip of the ice berg
Dont worry its not only to do with contrasting words and if you are fed up of contrasting words then start watching from 25 MINUTES of the video…
it may start off random to you but keep watching till atleast 1 HOUR 17 MINUTES
if you want to go on to watch the Q&A thats upto you
Remember dont go to other unreliable sources
you brought up the 7 Qiraat including warsh ….you know the different ways of reciting the Quran and the different numbering systems (there are no missing verses but just a different numbering system)………Shabbir Ally also addresses that too in the video explaining how we are using the standard numbering system which is obviously the commonest and goes back to the 2nd and 3rd century of islam from scholars such as Hafs from Asim
2. whilst watching the video remember the difficulty it took us to try to find these words wth the computer….. the reason these numerical wonders were never used historically for the last 1400 years is bcos no one had any clue they existed….do u still really believe Muhammad pbuh thought of all this and wrote the Quran himself
Revisit the life and achievements of the prophet…..u may not agree with everything he did or everything he said ….he was only a human after all…. but you really need to find a way to explain how these wonders exist in the Quran….the Quran is a book of SIGNS…..not mathematics…not science….and dont hold the Quran responsible for mistakes muslim scholars or muslims make in understanding it
3. H, your last example for man (rajul) is 4:176, but this is plural isn’t it? It says rijalan wa nisaan (men and women).
Also it’s been noted that some miracle claims like this one include suffixes and prefixes (like this one), while others exclude them. 365 days they are excluded, but in contrast 12 months includes bi and waw prefixes.
With other common ones like akhira it includes verses where the word means something else entirely
This overview page details the various inconsistent methods
1. first of all id like to sincerely thank Abdullah Sameer for not blocking me…..most ex muslims would have done so by now…
Disclaimer…..i am an amateur and dont even know arabic grammar…..yet it is easy to disprove wikiislams claims
It is really disheartening that Abdullah Salam decided to go this route of contrasting words which requires detailed knowledge in arabic grammar……..
please look at the links i provided which show numerical wonders which dont require any knowledge in arabic grammar….As i will prove below arabic grammar is extremely complex and its easy for Anti isamic sites to just confuse and mislead people as i will show…this is why i insist you actually see my links of someone qualified explaining these things instead of getting incompetent refutations online
1.yes i admit my list is flawed 4:176 is plural… Abdullah Sammer shared the correct list
his list has 29 so exclude (2:282:59) (5:23:2) (16:76:4) (18:32:4) (28:15:10) bcos they are either dual or plural in arabic
you will note that (7:155:5) says men so it is translated as plural in english but if you actually click the translation corpus Quran will tell you it is not plural in arabic….
Like i keep mentioning just because something is translated as plural in english does not mean it is plural in the arabic…Wiki islam is mistaken
so there are 24 singular form of man and 24 singular form of woman
2.regarding 12 months i already mentioned in another comment that شَهْرًا is translated as month(s) or months bcos of the english grammar however it is singular in arabic bcos when you click the translation in corpus Quran it will tell you the word is not plural in arabic….again Wikileaks is mistaken
i had to do some searching on the internet and i found the list of the 365 days from an ANTI ISLAM site so its not biased
you can clearly see that the prefixes bi and waw are counted in 365 days also just like in 12 months….. and they attack us for other reasons which are dealt with in my other comments….again proving that Wikiislam is just wrong
3.if you look at the Abdullah Sameer list which i corrected for akhirah, u can clearly see i already excluded 17:7 29:20 38:7 28:70 53:25 and still came to 115… they are again wrong… If you go see the ones i excluded they have absolutely nothing to do with the comparison of dunya vs akhira….absolutely completely unrelated..
(following is from wikipedia and not a scholar….but i think it is sufficient to give depth)
Dunyā means the temporal world—and its earthly concerns and possessions—as opposed to the eternal spiritual realm, or the hereafter (ʾākhirah).[citation needed] Dunyā most literally means ‘closest’ or ‘lowest’. In the Qur’an, dunyā and ākhira represent oppositions in temporal, spatial and moral dimensions: now and later, below and above, evil and good, respectively
ʾĀkhirah (Arabic: الآخرة) is an Islamic term referring to the afterlife.[1] It is repeatedly referenced in chapters of the Quran concerning the Last Judgment, an important part of Islamic eschatology.
As you can see the Quran comparison of dunya vs akhrah is very compliacted……
I am no arabic expert but as you can see when we compare dunya vs akhira as just ‘this life’ and ‘after life’ it is not the accurate comparison……it is just a simplied way of saying it to the public…you must understand that in arabic the meaning goes far deeper…..and the english translation is just an interpretation of what is said…..the Quran is only the Quran in arabic
so if you look at Akhira….it includes not just the hereafter but the last day of judgement as well when we will all be resurrected in the islamic belief
(the day of judement is considered around 50,000 years…..itll sound absurd to you maybe but im just saying this so you dont think its a literal day
Dunya too is complex and deals not just with this life but this world and so according to my amateur opinion in the 2 verses they highlighted the dunya gain deals with this world
67:5 is ‘samaa ad dunya’ and samaa is do with sky/ space so again this world (if you see the translation it says heaven but again thats the problem is with the english… means heaven as in sky not paradise….arabic word for paradise is janna)
8:42 is ‘biludwatid dunya’ and biludwa is to do with a valley so again this world
Again these things are too complex for me as well……but if anything the takeaway message is you cant just use wiki islam as a refutation bcos as proven they are incompetent and we cant just take the translation to disprove the Quran……this is why we have scholars and volumes of books of research on this……
Again Shabbir Ally is a phd holder….so hes not going to put his reputation on the line with shoddy work….which is why the source is important
I hope you move on to see the numerical wonders that have nothing to do with grammar in the various links provided in the comment section….bcos honestly i dont know how much longer i will be able to refute this
2. here are egs of matching number of times contrasting words appear throughoout the Quran
Dunia (one name for life) 115 times
Aakhirat (one name for the life after this world) 115 times
Month 12 times,
Day 365 times
Sea 32 times,
Land 13 times
Sea + land = 32+13= 45
Sea = 32/45*100q.=71.11111111%
Land = 13/45*100 = 28.88888889%
Sea + land = 100.00%
Modern science has only recently proven that the water covers 71.111% of the earth, while the land covers 28.889%.
SATAN (SINGULAR FORM) 68 times
ANGEL (SIGULAR FORM) 68 times
more links on other type of mathematical miracles in the Quran
write youtube.c.o.m before the following links
1. The Islamic hijri calender too has 12 months if I am not wrong..and the hijri calender was used during the time of the prophet!! So it’s not a miracle at all!!
The sea land ratio is wrong too..
Sea is a part of the water ratio..the water to land ratio is 71:29… 96.5 % is saline water contained in the ocean
3. yes all these results are in the hafs version of the Quran….the warsh is available i think in north africa…..but not sure if its been studied for its own numerical beauties….i discussed the verse count with you in your youtube evolution video
Anyways i noticed u rejected one of the ‘seven heavens’ bcos the words are in reverse order 🙂 not sure thats a big deal ….anyways sometimes when translating things from arabic to english its not unusual to reverse the position of the words in english bcos sometimes things just make more sense that way in english…… like i keep saying english and arabic are very different languages
Anyways its obvious you are going to nit pick every single thing …… you can type in your software and get all the results….the grammar will probably be lost on you….and unfortunately my weekend is over so im not going to have hours pouring through why some of your results are not showing (you went from 12 times WOMAN to 26 times WOMAN) and at other times having to filter through the extra times where the grammar doesnt fit…. since you are in Canada and seem genuinely concerned maybe its best you contact or visit Dr Shabbir Ally from who i got the numbers
4. Since you gave your links to dunya and akhira i decided it wouldnt take that long to recheck…..
i mean they are words after all how badly can you screw that up
It turns out i am correct in the contrast of
DUNYA (this world) = 115 times
AAKHIRAH (next world) = 115 times
u screwed that up also due to 2 reasons didnt even check dunya correctly with your other software…….check this for 115 results for dunyaدُّنْيَا
2.your arabic seems poor…..considering your other basic mistakes i cant blame you for not knowing that sometimes the same arabic words have different meanings according to the context…so the reason you got 133 results was bcos u included the word when it referred to People (such as later peoples) or to even God Himself (one of His attributes is the Last)…..Remember i specifically said 115 times when contrasted with dunya……i personally think that makes the fact they match all the more impressive
Since your link has the arabic sentences also i just read them and since i understand Quranic arabic to a certain level i decided to give you the 18 times where it doesnt fit…
so then again we have akhirah 115 times……again i hope u dont nitpick and say it says 133 so im wrong bcos that is just crazy and will show you dont know basic arabic
Before i give you the list let me just say 2 things your original article you said the following:
Now, I don’t know about you. But I would be pretty angry. How did they miscount this so badly? Do they just assume people are too stupid to actually check this?
And then you went on to use your incompetent findings to justify asking and insinuatng that islam says woman are worth half that of men
Then i spent hours sorting that claim out so you cant blame me for getting angry…however i do apologize if i went too far
2.Also looking at your thoughts and ways of interpreting islam etc i see deep flaws and lack of the fundamentals …you always seem to take the negative interpretation…. it seemed to me you had a rigid fixed view of islam with impossible expectations of what it should be…and when things in islam didnt match your moral view or your expectation of what you thought islam was…it broke your faith…. you felt the scholars you heard deliberately lied to you about things they made mistakes in……like as if its all a conspiracy to convert people
offcourse these are my opinions so i cant prove your process of thinking about islam is incompetent… could just throw tht claim back at me…
instead i chose this route hoping you would atleast reflect more….
i hope you realise that its not good to be too arrogant in your conclusions against islam and muslims….there are different ways of doing things and different ways of looking at the same incident….dont be so sure that your view on islam is the correct view……atleast now have an open mind to look at Shabir Allys other mathematical findings in the Quran that are far more impressive that just contrasting words….. Again all im saying is keep an open mind and im sorry if im doing it too harshly
IN THIS LIST THE FOLLOWING DONT FIT……if any issues let me know
1.) 5:114
2.) 10:10
3.) 17:7
4.) 26:84
5.) 28:70
6.) 29:20
7.) 37:78
8.) 37:108
9.) 37:119
10.) 37:129
11.) 38:7
12.) 43:56
13.) 53:25
14.) 56:14
15.) 56:40
16.) 56:49
17.) 57:3
18.) 79:25
1. when i say شهر (shahr) that includes الشهر (al shahr) also obviously bcos both are singular
but not اشهر (ashar) bcos thats plural
MONTH (SINGULAR FORM; SHAHR) = 12 times in Quran (we have 12 months in a year)
2 MONTHS (DUAL FORM; SHAHRYN) = 30 times in Quran (we have some months with 30 days)
both from shabbir ally also..others he mentioned other contrasting words in the Quran
HOT = 4 times
COLD = 4 times
JESUS = 25 times
ADAM = 25 times
Verily, the likeness of ‘Isa (Jesus) before Allah is the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then (He) said to him: “Be!” – and he was [[ Surah 3 verse 59 ]]
Here is another stunning Numerical Miracle, from the 10s below, for you:
1. regarding yawm…if you include all the suffixes and plurals then as you mentioned you get 475
eg with suffix yawmaizin (that day) which are therefore 2 words in english
the best part is 475 turns out to be a product of 19 (19 times 25)
Again both 19 and 25 have their own significance if you look into Shabbir Allys analysis of all these numerical wonders
(the video 2;57 minute video above deals with your point about the muslim lunar calendar)
1. incase you think im cherry picking the relationship between the Qurans chapter numbers and its corresponding chapter verses….and say oh you are only using the relationship according to odd and even homogenous numbers vs non homogenous numbers bcos that is the only system that works and other ways have failed
here is a free book
it comprises a series of mathematical analysis investigating whether the Noble Quran has a specific numerical order in terms of both the order of chapters and the number of verses. It is the first volume of the series of 4 books covering the studies in this respect. The following section titles are contained in this current book:
1.*Odd and Even Numbers
2.*Surahs of which the number of ayats are greater than sequence number
3.*Surahs of which the number of ayats are smaller than sequence number
4.*Prime Numbers
5.*Sequence Numbers Set and Number of Ayats Set
6.*The numbers which are divided by two and not divided by three
7.*The numbers which are divided by three and not divided by two
8.*The numbers which are neither divisible by two nor by three
9.*The numbers which are divisible by two and three
10.*The numbers which are divisible by two
11.*The numbers which are divisible by three
12.*Sum of the Prime Factors
13.*Perfect Numbers
14.*Abundant Numbers
15.*Deficient Numbers
here is a quote from Shabbir Ally regarding the numerical wonder of the Quran Chapter- Quran verses relationship in the Quran
“You are speaking of a flawed method if you are asking about ‘pure probability’
But offcourse there is ‘pure probability’, there is ‘statistical probability’ and also ‘subjective probability’..
If we think of ‘subjective probability’ for the moment..that has alot to do with the nature of the subject that you are studying.. One says based on what i know of this subject, there is a very remote chance that it should come out like this and if it comes out like this then this is remarkable.
So we are dealing with that situation here, knowing the history of the Quran, how it came to be written down, how the verse numbers eventually came to be put in, it is remarkable that the verse numbers generate this kind of result”.
1. again to show you the consistency in the methods for getting
DAY (SINGULAR FORM) = 365 times in the Quran
we count يوم (Day) اليوم (the Day) يوما (Day)
MONTH (SINGULAR FORM) = 12 times in the Quran
we count شَهْرُ (Month) الشَّهْرَ (the Month) شهرا (Month)
even if in english they add ‘s’ thus translating it to plural to make it grammatically correct in english these are singular forms in arabic….bcos the rules in arabic are different… (same principle in rajul and imraat)
If you dont believe me then click the translation in the corpus Quran and see for yourself$hr#(2:185:1)
you will get 21 results of which only 12 results are singular
شَهْرُ (month) N – nominative masculine noun
الشَّهْرَ (the month) N – accusative masculine noun
the only confusing finding is شَهْرًا is translated as month(s) or months depending on the english
however when you click the translation it will tell you the word is
N – accusative masculine indefinite noun
we dont count أَشْهُرٍ which is translated as months bcos it is plural in arabic
and when you click the translation it will clearly tell you the word is plural
N – genitive masculine plural indefinite noun
5. only thing left for me to refute you is ANGEL and DEVIL
ANGEL (AL MALAAIKAH) 68 times
ANGEL (ALL DERIVATIVES) = 88 times
SATAN (AL SHAYTAAN) = 68 times
(68 times)
(68 times)
(88 times)$Tn#(2:36:2)
You are now fully refuted but as a bonus since you mentioned the sun 33 times …… read this upto the end for an amazing conclusion with figures that will blow your mind
for the full list from kaheel7
1. You aren’t refuting anything, you are just arbitrarily picking and choosing which forms of the words to use in order to make your point without being consistent in those rules whatsoever. Sometimes you use all forms of the word (including plural and dual) sometimes you use only singular nouns, sometimes you include the definite form. This can be described as “sharpshooter fallacy”.
1. yes but when contrasting 2 words i am consistent in the system for both
the only time i used plural forms were for when contrasting angels and demons 68 each
and i used all derivative forms for contrasting angels and demons 88 each
if i had used singular form for angels to get 68 times and plural form for demons to get 68 then you could say it was inconsistency
the other times when contrasting words i used the singular form…..such as the male 24 times and female 24 times…
when showing you day 365 times and month 12 times i again used the same system for both
if anything it adds to my cause that there are various numerical wonders throughout the Quran…and shows the variety and spectrum of the numerical patterns in the Quran…
if the patterns were all only in one grammatical form such as singular then you could claim it was intentionally put there by a man/ men or ask why would God restrict the numerical wonders to only one form……
The sharpshooter fallacy is characterized by a lack of a specific hypothesis prior to the gathering of data…..obviously in the case of the Quran they dont know what patterns to look for so they cant formulate a hypothesis beforehand… need to read the comment where i wrote of subjective probability
Also you cant dismiss it as interpretation as people do with scientific claims…. bcos these are based on mathematics and existing rules of arabic grammar…
i shared links to mathematical patterns in the Quran that have to do with arabic words and letters and not grammar rules as well…. so reflect over the signs of God
(2:118) Those who do not know say, “Why does Allah not speak to us or there come to us a sign?” Thus spoke those before them like their words. Their hearts resemble each other. We have shown clearly the signs to a people who are certain [in faith].
1. the very fact numerous meaningful patterns are even there are remarkable……
i mean just look at the random list you found in a shakespeare book…..not a single one even contrasts…
your list infact can be classified as sharpshooter fallacy and can be put down to coincidence bcos their presence has no real significance
1. ok fine i relooked at the results of angels and satan and you could say i compared
angels (plural) with satan (singular) and that theres an issue with that…..
fine i concede that finding and you can ignore the 68 times
if you are familiar with the Quran very rarely does God deal with individual angels and having the ingredient of faith makes one overlook that…..but i honestly think its nitpicking…..
if you want take only the 88 times where all derivatives of both angels and satans are used….
thats still impressive if you look at the overall grand scheme of things
6. Thanks for this wonderful post Abdullah Sameer. And do not be put off with idiots like H, They just cannot bear people, especially ex Muslims, exposing Islam for what it really is.
You are right, they resort to lame threats because they have a problem with ANYONE criticising Islam.
Islam is flawed. Hugely. And we really need people like you to educate the world about this.
Thank you again, and keep up the excellent work.
7. Yes, the Sun is mentioned 33 times while light is mentioned 43 times. But the word Sun is mentioned in the Quran only in their very simplest from too. And this is not so for the word Light at all ! Anyone who know basic arabic can clearly see this ! Only by counting the word light in their simplest form will we count exactly 33 word light, just like there are exactly 33 simple from of the word Sun in the Quran too !
So Mr Abdullah Sameer, are you sure you know anything about Arabic alphabet at all ?
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Sunday, September 1, 2013
Why should we save the rhino?
Rhinos are critically endangered at the turn of the 19th century, there were approximately one million rhions.In 1970, there were around 70,00.Today, there are fewer than 18,000 rhinos surviving in the wild.In 2005, some of us are lucky enough to be able to travel to Africa and Asia to see them in the wild.Rhinos have been an important part of a wide range of ecosystems for millions of years.Poachers kill rhinos for the price they can get for the horns, illegal logging and pollution are destroying their habitat, and political conflicts.When protecting and managing a rhino population, rangers and scientists in a account all the other species interacting with rhinos and those sharing the same habitat.When rhinos are protected, many other species are too, not only mammals but also birds, reptiles, fish and insects as well as plants.
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The World Heritage Society recently announced that Hellas's ancient Messeni will be submitted as a candidate for UNESCO’s world heritage site. The site has already been included on the nominations list of Greece that will be submitted to UNESCO in the next few days. It is reported that the most important monuments of the archaeological site will be: the Asklepieion, the Temple of Poseidon, the Sanctuary of Demeter and the Dioskouroi, the stadium and gymnasium of Heroon, where sons of noble families were trained, as well as the Theatre of Messeni, which has been cleared for a make-over.
Ancient Messeni (Αρχαία Μεσσήνη) is a local community within the regional unit of Messenia, and is located in the far south of modern Greece. Most of the area of Ancient Messene contains the ruins of the large classical city-state of Messene refounded by Epaminondas in 369 BC, after the battle of Leuctra and the first Theban invasion of the Peloponnese. The ancient city can be visited and is a major tourist attraction. In ancient times, it was founded by Helots (Spartan slaves) running from Sparta. The defensive wall they built around the city to keep them out still exists in some places.
According to UNESCO, World Heritage is the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy. Countries (or States Parties) submit nomination proposals to the World Heritage Committee. If the Committee determines, based on the recommendations of its Advisory Bodies (ICOMOS and IUCN), that the nomination meets at least one of the necessary criteria, then the property proposed by the State Party is inscribed on the World Heritage List. In general, the Committee adds about 25-30 sites per year to the list. Today there are 911 sites on the list, located in 151 countries around the world.
Once a country signs the Convention, and has sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, the resulting prestige often helps raise awareness among citizens and governments for heritage preservation. Greater awareness leads to a general rise in the level of the protection and conservation given to heritage properties. A country may also receive financial assistance and expert advice from the World Heritage Committee to support activities for the preservation of its sites. In the case of Messini, this would ensure that many generations to come can enjoy the wealth of beauty that Messini represents, and I for one, hope they get added to the list.
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• 铜币1636枚
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• 元老勋章
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更多 发布于：2013-06-29 17:57
回答：There isn't a good short answer to that -- it has to do with where the stable places are between the gravitational fields of two big things. (The Sun and Jupiter) You can do a good deal of math, and you'll find out that there are five special points called the "Lagrange points" where it's especially stable. Two of them, called L4 and L5, are particularly stable places, and those are where the two green lumps of asteroids live. A third one sits directly opposite Jupiter from the Sun; those three points form an equilateral triangle, and in fact every point along that triangle happens to be more stable than the points next to it. So if an asteroid is in that triangle, it'll stay there, but if it isn't, it will ultimately drift away, until it either gets caught in one of those points or just drifts off into the void or into the Sun. So if you wait a while, almost all the asteroids left are in one of these stable areas.
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Are You a Legal Professional?
Famous Whistleblowers
It’s no secret that government agencies and law enforcement rely heavily on whistleblowers to expose government and corporate corruption. Recognizing this vital role, whistleblower protection programs have been included in many state and federal laws. While most whistleblower cases don’t make the news, some have dominated the headlines, with fines on offenders reaching into the billions. Below are a few famous whistleblowers who exposed massive or egregious wrongdoing by corporations, individuals, and government organizations.
Edward Snowden: Outing the NSA
With films, video games, and songs created about him, Edward Snowden is probably the most famous modern-day whistleblower. While working for the National Security Agency (NSA) as a government contractor, he leaked vast amounts of classified information exposing secret global surveillance programs. He’s been labeled a hero whistleblower and an attention-hungry traitor. Regardless, his actions sparked a wide debate about government spying, national security, and individual privacy.
Snowden stated that he leaked the documents to the media rather than using internal reporting mechanisms because whistleblower protections would not have applied to him as a contractor. He was charged with violating the Espionage Act but fled to Russia where he was granted asylum.
Jeffrey Wigand: Exposing Big Tobacco
As Vice President of research and development at the country’s third largest tobacco company, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co., Jeffrey Wigand had significant access to the company’s scientific data and production goals. After he was fired over disagreements with the CEO regarding tobacco ingredients, he became a famous whistleblower when he appeared on 60 Minutes and stated that the tobacco company had intentionally manipulated the level of nicotine in cigarette smoke to make it more addictive. This sent shock waves across the country, especially at a time when the top tobacco executives were testifying to Congress that cigarettes were not addictive. Wigand’s story later served as the foundation for the film The Insider.
Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper: The Enron and WorldCom Scandals
In response to significant financial fraud perpetrated by large corporations, the government has enacted numerous laws regulating these businesses and strengthening protections for corporate whistleblowers. Two such whistleblowers are Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper, who helped expose fraudulent accounting practices at Enron and WorldCom, respectively.
Watkins first reported the accounting discrepancies to her boss, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, and later testified to Congress about the fraud. Cooper worked tirelessly as a Chief Audit Executive to expose $3.8 billion worth of accounting fraud at WorldCom. Both famous whistleblowers were awarded Time’s 2002 Person of the Year.
Mark Felt: Deep Throat and the Watergate Scandal
While the name “Mark Felt” may not be very familiar, the scandal he helped uncover has made him one of the most famous whistleblowers in U.S. political history. The Watergate scandal began when five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. At the time, Felt was the Associate Director of the FBI and leaked classified information as the anonymous source “Deep Throat” to Washington Post reporters, detailing the involvement and cover-up within the Nixon Administration.
This scandal eventually led to President Nixon resigning. While Felt was an anonymous whistleblower, there are whistleblower programs today, such as the Whistleblower Protection Program, that are designed to encourage and protect federal workers who help expose misconduct occurring in a government organization.
Frank Serpico: Exposing Police Corruption
If Al Pacino portrays you in a movie, chances are you did something noteworthy. Frank Serpico is another famous whistleblower who reported on widespread police corruption within the NYPD. He first made his reports internally to police investigators, and then to the New York Times, leading the city’s mayor to appoint a commission to investigate accusations of police corruption. Although he feared retaliation, Serpico was the first officer within the NYPD to report and testify about widespread, systemic corruption within the force, and his actions led to drastic changes within the NYPD.
Other Famous Whistleblowers
The list of whistleblowers whose actions have had significant ramifications could go on. Other famous whistleblowers include the following:
• Linda Tripp: helped expose the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky White House affair
• Chelsea/Bradley Manning: US Army soldier who leaked classified documents to WikiLeaks
• Coleen Rowley: outlined the FBI’s inaction with regard to pre-9/11 intelligence reports
• Brad Birkenfeld: exposed a multibillion-dollar international tax fraud scandal relating to UBS
• Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse: exposed illegality of no-bid contracts in Iraq by a Halliburton subsidiary
Thinking of Exposing Illegal Behavior? Contact a Whistleblower Lawyer First
Whether you’re helping to expose massive corporate corruption or reporting a coworker for sexual harassment, whistleblowing plays an important role in holding individuals, corporations, and government entities accountable for wrongdoing. However, many different state and federal laws, as well as your organization’s own policies, may apply to your situation. Be prepared and take appropriate action by contacting a local whistleblower attorney who can advise you on the protections available to you.
Next Steps
Contact a qualified whistleblower law attorney to make sure
your rights are protected.
(e.g., Chicago, IL or 60611)
Help Me Find a Do-It-Yourself Solution
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Adjective "viva" definition and examples
Definitions and examples
1. 'But it was the viva which frightened me to death.'
2. 'To decide his fate, he would have to face a viva, a personal interview with the examiners.'
3. 'The project viva turned out to be smooth sailing.'
4. 'I would love to be able to tell the story of my viva, but can't.'
5. 'He was said to be the ‘ablest historian of his year’, but he had failed to get a first, and seemed now to be acting out some endless redemptive viva.'
6. 'The clinical assessors studied 50 case records culled randomly from the past six months' activity, and on the second day I had a two hour viva on selected records.'
7. 'Our readers should know he cut a fine figure in subfusc on his way to his viva.'
8. 'When performance assessment did occur, as in specialty certification, the traditional viva dominated.'
Subject (someone) to an oral examination.
Long live! (used to express acclaim or support for a specified person or thing)
1. 'He ended his speech with: ‘Sophiatown forever, viva Sophiatown’, which was greeted with enthusiastic nods by the crowd of around 60 people.'
A cry of ‘viva’ as a salute or cheer.
More definitions
1. Italian, Spanish. (an exclamation of acclaim or approval): Viva Zapata! noun
2. a shout of “viva.”.
More examples(as adjective)
"easts can be viva."
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
A 'Good Night' Sleep!
After a long tiring day everyone want is a good and sound sleep. To take rest and get ready for another day. Many people are lucky to get a sound and fulfilling sleep.
Few are not that lucky, but some are really unfortunate in this matter. They suffer from a breathing disorder called Sleep Apnea -- A potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. The person can't sleep properly at night and as a result he feels tired, sleepy, depressed at day time. Sometimes the person is so sleep deprived that his brain shuts automatically for rest. It can cause serious accidents. It can be really dangerous.
There is a test that confirms Sleep Apnea. A CPAP Machine that helps proper breathing at night so that the person suffering can get a "good night" sleep. After getting some sleep the patient feels better. But he or she will have to use the CPAP machine with mask always to get proper sleep and rest.
A person sleeping with cpap machine and mask
Sleep apnea is a condition that causes brief, repeated pauses in breathing throughout the night. In addition to affecting your slumber, sleep apnea can threaten your heart health. Sleep apnea is a risk factor for high blood pressure, which raises the risk of both heart attacks and strokes. Sleep apnea also is more common in people who are obese.
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This Summer, Cure Your Child’s Dyslexia
If your child has not yet started to read, do not teach sight words. Instead, teach the letters of the alphabet. Once the child has mastered the alphabet, start teaching phonics. This approach prevents and cures dyslexia. I provide a link to an effective and free phonics method at my page on dyslexia.
In the late 1920s, there was a crisis in the public schools of Iowa. Suddenly, a large percentage of the children were failing to learn to read in school. Educators wanted to cast the blame for this problem on the children and their parents, rather than on themselves. For that reason, the problem was given a medical-sounding name: congenital word blindness. Of course, that name is silly. Congenital means present at birth, and no newborns can read. Reading is a skill that is learned after one learns to talk, not a natural ability that is normally present at birth. Today, we use a different medical-sounding name for the failure to learn to read in school: dyslexia, which means bad reading. Of course, that term was coined to describe the loss of the ability to read, in someone who had suffered a brain injury. It did not originally mean the failure to learn to read in school.
To find out the cause of Iowa’s epidemic of dyslexia, the Rockefeller Foundation sent a neurologist to Iowa: Dr. Samuel Orton. Orton found that the cause of the problem was simple. Iowa’s public schools had started using sight words instead of phonics for teaching reading. The schools with the longest lists of sight words had the least success in teaching reading.
Ever since the invention of the alphabet, children had been taught to sound words out letter by letter. Unfortunately, the schools in Iowa had started teaching children to memorize whole words, as if English words were pictograms, like Chinese characters, instead of being strings of letters that represent sounds. Orton found that the schools with the longest lists of sight words had the least success in teaching reading.
Dyslexia is not a brain disease. It is simply the result of using sight words instead of phonics for teaching reading. Of course, many children will learn to read even if a bad method of reading instruction is used in their school. Like many children, I figured out the phonics code on my own. I taught myself to read at age 4, by analyzing the spelling of the rhyming words in Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss. Other children are taught to read outside of school, either by their parents or by a tutor. The rest remain functionally illiterate. Those children and their parents are told that the problem is in the child’s brain, not the child’s school.
Some researchers claim that dyslexia is due to a problem with recognizing sounds. Yet the supposedly dyslexic children have no trouble in understanding speech. They just cannot read. Some researchers claim that dyslexia is due to abnormal eye movements. In reality, the poor readers are simply glancing all over the page for clues, instead of scanning the text from left to right. Some brain researchers have claimed that dyslexic children have abnormal patterns of brain activity on brain scans. Of course they do. Those scans reveal that the child does not know how to read. The child is trying to recognize words as shapes instead of decoding the words letter by letter.
Some teachers claim that the sight word method works better for some children. However, there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. Many teachers believe that children need a mix of phonics and sight words. But what children really need is a mix of phonics and spelling words. They need to learn the rules of phonics and to memorize the spelling of the words that break those rules. (Note that the whole language approach to teaching language arts suppresses the teaching of spelling, as well as neglecting phonics.) In my book Not Trivial: How Studying the Traditional Liberal Arts Can Set You Free, I explain why the sight word method keeps being used, even though it has long been known to be the cause of dyslexia and functional illiteracy. You can read more about the history of the problem on my page about the Reading Wars.
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AED Defibrillator Sales in Marin County
Marin county AEDs is now a distributor of AED’s also known as defibrillators. AED stands for Automate External Defibrillator.
AED Programs Q & A
What’s public access to defibrillation?
What is an AED?
The automated external defibrillator (AED) is a computerized medical device. An AED can check a person’s heart rhythm. It can recognize a rhythm that requires a shock. And it can advise the rescuer when a shock is needed. The AED uses voice prompts, lights and text messages to tell the rescuer the steps to take.
AEDs are very accurate and easy to use. With a few hours of CPR Training, anyone can learn to operate an AED safely. There are many different brands of AEDs, but the same basic steps apply to all of them. The AHA does not recommend a specific model. We offer classes in our classroom in Concord, CA or we can teach classes at your site in the East Bay.
What’s the AHA position on placement of AEDs?
The AHA strongly advocates that all EMS first-response vehicles and ambulances be equipped with an AED or another defibrillation device (semiautomatic or manual defibrillator). The AHA also supports placing AEDs in targeted public areas such as sports arenas, gated communities, office complexes, doctor’s offices, shopping malls, etc. When AEDs are placed in the community or a business or facility, the AHA strongly encourages that they be part of a defibrillation program in which:
• Persons that acquire an AED notify the local EMS office.
• A licensed physician or medical authority provides medical oversight to ensure quality control.
• Persons responsible for using the AED are trained in CPR and how to use an AED.
Why is notifying the local EMS office important?
Why should a licensed physician or medical authority be involved with purchasers of AEDs?
This is a quality control mechanism. The licensed physician or medical authority will ensure that all designated responders are properly trained and that the AED is properly maintained. He or she also can help establishments develop an emergency response plan for the AED program.
Why should people who are responsible for operating an AED receive CPR training?
Early CPR is an integral part of providing lifesaving aid to people suffering sudden cardiac arrest. CPR helps to circulate oxygen-rich blood to the brain. After the AED is attached and delivers a shock, the typical AED will prompt the operator to continue CPR while the device continues to analyze the victim.
If AEDs are so easy to use, why do people need formal training in how to use them?
An AED operator must know how to recognize the signs of a sudden cardiac arrest, when to activate the EMS system, and how to do CPR. It’s also important for operators to receive formal training on the AED model they will use so that they become familiar with the device and are able to successfully operate it in an emergency. Training also teaches the operator how to avoid potentially hazardous situations.
Can anyone buy an AED?
AEDs are manufactured and sold under guidelines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA may require someone who purchases an AED to present a physician’s prescription for the device.
My health club has identified a member physician willing to purchase an AED for the club. What’s the first step in the process?
Your local EMS system can help you find out about local and state protocols and requirements for AED training and use.
The police are the first responders in my community. Officials are reluctant to have them carry and use AEDs for fear of potential litigation. What legislation is currently in effect to protect first responders who use an AED?
If the person is a trained and licensed medical first responder (MFR), an established standard of care is outlined in the law, and those operating within these guidelines are protected under these laws. These same guidelines pertain to the personnel in your EMS system. If they are not trained and licensed MFRs, check the state laws to determine if lay rescuers are given limited liability immunity. If not, they may not be protected from litigation. Agencies should seek legal counsel before implementing a defibrillation program. California has a senate bill called Senate Bill 911 which protects rescuers while using an AED.
How much does an AED cost?
The price of an AED varies by make and model. Most AEDs cost between $1,500–$2,000. Safety Training Seminars sells the Heartsine AED which costs $1295.
What steps should an organization take to buy an AED for its premises?
Any person or entity wanting to buy an AED may first need to get a prescription from a physician. The AED should be placed for use within an AED program that includes these elements:
• Training of all users in CPR and operation of an AED (this can be achieved through the AHA’s Heartsaver AED Course).
• Physician oversight to ensure appropriate maintenance and use of the AED.
• Notifying local EMS of the type and location of AED(s).
Can AEDs be used on children?
Children over age 8 can be treated with a standard AED. For children ages 1–8, the AHA recommends the pediatric attenuated pads that are purchased separately.
Which AED model does the AHA recommend?
The AHA does not recommend a specific device. All AED models have similar features, but the slight differences between them allow them to meet a variety of needs. The AHA encourages potential buyers to consider all models and make a selection based on the buyer’s particular needs. The local EMS system can help you with this decision. There are many different companies that sell defibrillators such as: Zoll Medical, Philips Heartstart, Cu Medical, Defibtech Lifeline, Lifepak, Powerheart AED, and a few others. However, our favorite is Heartsine.
Heartsine AED Defibrillator Sales in San Francisco
Heartsine AED Defibrillator Sales in San Francisco
How can I enroll in a CPR or AED class?
The American Heart Association offers CPR and AED training through its network of Training Centers. Classes are offered in Marin County in Novato.
What kind of training on AEDs is available?
The AHA has developed a new Heartsaver AED Course that integrates CPR and AED training. The course is less than four hours long.
More infomation about purchasing an defibrillator. Call our San Francisco office at (415) 437-1600
Marin County AEDs Defibrillators
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Monday, December 26, 2005
Gerrymandering for Dummies
What is "gerrymandering?" It is the drawing the boundaries of state electoral districts (for U.S. Congress) in an unnatural and artificial way so as to gather together as many residents of a common socio-economic and political bloc as possible (to ensure the election of either a Republican or Democrat as their Representative).
A perfect example is the 12th District in North Carolina (ht: Mary Katherine Ham at Hugh Hewitt).
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Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Great Moments in Aviation, Part V
Meanwhile, across the English Channel, big things were also happening in England at the end of the 18th Century. The next important development in flight involves a man who is the most important figure in aviation that you've probably never heard of: Sir George Cayley.
Cayley was probably the first figure in aviation history to go about it in a scientific, systematic way. He spent a lot of time in the early 19th Century testing different wing shapes, finding out which ones worked best. He tested different configurations of wing and tail. His experiments led him to develop an efficient cambered airfoil, and he also discovered the beneficial effects of dihedral on a glider's stability. He set all of this out in his three-part treatise "On Aerial Navigation", published between 1809 and 1810. But, most importantly, in 1799 he etched this drawing onto a silver disc, preserved in the Science Museum of London:
The important thing about this image is that here, Cayley clearly separates the functions of lift, propulsion, and control. Prior flying machines attempted to do all with a flexible bird-like wing. This is the key conceptual breakthrough that eventually made powered flight feasible. Propulsion was a problem that Cayley never did solve, though. Although he experimented with gunpowder-fired internal combustion engines, they simply did not provide enough power-to-weight to make a flier work. He then turned his attention exclusively to gliders.
His diligent research paid off, though not quickly. He did not build a full-size man-carrying glider until 1853. But in 1853, man finally experienced gliding flight. It was a short flight, close to the ground, and nothing like soaring with the birds. Not yet. But a gigantic step had been taken.
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Java Reference
In-Depth Information
The next important piece of information is the search scope. This also is an attribute to the
class, and is defaulted to perform subtree searches.
The search method requires two pieces of information. The first is an array of strings that spec-
ify which attributes should be returned from the search. Here you must provide exactly which
attributes should be returned for each object that meets your search criteria. The second para-
meter to the search method is the search filter for this particular search.
After you have results from your search, you transfer them into a container object called
LDAPObject . This is not a standard object, just a simple container that makes it easier to return
the information to the client. The full listing of this class is in Listing 11.1.
import java.util.Hashtable;
public class LDAPObject {
protected String dn = null;
protected Hashtable attributes = new Hashtable();
public LDAPObject() {
public String getDn() {
return dn;
public void setDn(String dn) {
this.dn = dn;
public Object getAttribute(String attName) {
return (String)attributes.get(attName);
public void setAttribute(String attName, Object attValue) {
attributes.put(attName, attValue);
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Sunday, July 2, 2017
How Fireworks Work
It's almost the 4th of July and the fireworks will be out in force come Tuesday night. How do those things work? Let the chemistry experts explain!
Today fireworks displays are seen on most holidays. Have you ever wondered how they work? There are different types of fireworks. Firecrackers, sparklers, and aerial shells are all examples of fireworks. Though they share some common characteristics, each type works a little differently.
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The Canadian government plans to stop the circulation of the penny at the end of 2012 in an effort to cut costs.
The copper-coated coin is more expensive for the Royal Canadian Mint to produce than it's worth.
According to CNN, it costs the government 1.6 cents to produce each new penny. Eliminating it will save about $11 million a year.
There probably won't be a large part of the Canadian public that will mourn the passing of the penny, the general manager of Canadian Coin and Currency, Dennis Pike, told The Toronto Star. They just clutter up peoples' change jars.
It isn't likely that they will be worth much to collectors, Pike said. There are simply too many in circulation. Common, used Victorian-era Canadian pennies sell for as little as $3.
The penny will still be accepted as a form of currency indefinitely, but cash transactions will eventually be rounded to the nearest five cent increment.
If there's a rounding up, you'd see a rounding down somewhere else, Craig Wright, chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, told Businessweek.
The penny has simply outlived its purpose, Senator Irving Gerstein told Yahoo. It is a piece of currency, quite frankly, that lacks currency.
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How Did Cuba Make It Online ? | OCP Policy Center
Think • Stimulate • Bridge
How Did Cuba Make It Online ?
Otaviano Canuto , Samuel George | Posted : August 28, 2017
Dual transitions are under way in Cuba. The island is slowly opening its economy, and a new crop of younger political leaders, potentially more open to democratic norms, waits in the wings. A third transition, the rise of digital access, is also in an early stage. But it is this third transition that arguably has the most momentum and could significantly accelerate the first two.
Cuba’s digital transition has largely been bottom up. The citizenry’s curiosity and ingenuity have pushed Havana toward permitting greater online access. And as Cubans connect, they increasingly find economic opportunities and venues to share political dialogue, the latter of which is difficult to do in person. The connectivity also provides more exposure to international pop culture and markets, which Cubans find appealing. This, in turn, increases pressure for political normalization.
The old guard’s success in containing reform momentum owed much to personal allegiance and veneration. Their successors will not stand a chance against Beyoncé.
The Cuban Hacker Spirit
The US has enforced since 1962 a trade embargo on Cuba that not only prevents many American entities from trading with the island, but also bars American trade with non-U.S. entities that engage in commercial relations with Cuba. In this environment, scarcity in Cuba became a way of life.
Havana’s “old timers,” the 1950s and ’60s automobiles that still cruise the Malecon, have become a tourist attraction, but their existence attests to the Cuban response to the trade embargo. Few new cars have been imported, so come hielo or high water, the old ones must keep running.
See the new documentary: Cuba’s Digital Revolution
This Cuban spirit is playing a critical role in the island’s digital transformation. Many Cubans were vaguely aware of the internet in the first decade of the 21st century, but few could access it. Universities were the first and only access points for many millennials. Unable to connect beyond discrete locations at specific times, Cubans began to “backward engineer” the internet. They recreated online functions in an offline setting.
Take the story of Luilver Garcés Briñas. Frustrated by his inability to access Gmail outside his university, he built a program that converted emails to text messages, which are widely available in Cuba. Once he began receiving his emails by text, his buddies quickly wanted in. But not everyone had Gmail, and Luilver tinkered with the code so it could also text Yahoo! emails. He then went further, writing new code that could send updates of almost any kind to Cuban mobile phones. BBC political news, Yankees scores, celebrity gossip—all this and more could be scanned from the internet and texted.
A market for such services rapidly emerged. As the Cuban government began to permit private endeavors, in 2013 Luilver opened his own business named Knales (a play on the Spanish word for channels). The platform allowed costumers to sign up for the updates they wanted.
But how to pay for the services? After all, Cuba has no credit-card or e-commerce infrastructure. To overcome this challenge, Knales helped pioneer digital trade in cell-phone minutes. Mobile-phone access in Cuba is paid for by the minute at a standard price, allowing the minutes to become proxies for pesos, a fungible commodity that can be traded electronically. By exploiting this, Knales became a nationwide provider of information and demonstrated the Cuban hacker sprit by reverse engineering online banking—in cell-phone minutes rather than hard currency.[i]
Luilver was not alone in his endeavors. Starting as far back as 2001 other young Cubans began working to create an island-wide intranet now called SNET. They could not connect with the outside world, but they could link computers at home. A network originally of only a few computers in Havana expanded to include municipalities throughout the country. Users built knock-off versions of many globally popular programs such as Facebook, chat rooms and online gaming, which would at least connect Cuban communities.
Then came El Paquete, The Packet. Lacking cable TV, Netflix, HBO and YouTube, Cubans have been cut off from the wild wonders of modern flat-screen entertainment. They have been missing out on everything from Sean Spicer to “Keeping up with the Kardashians”.
Enter the Cuban hacker spirit to fill the void. El Paquete “dealers” offer a huge inventory of up-to-date digital content, from the latest episodes of Game of Thrones to yesterday’s Real Madrid-Barcelona FC football match. All is available for upload on hard drives.
Cubans may not be able to stream content, but they can usually procure a flash drive. With this drive, they visit the Paquete distributor and download a tailor-made packet of digital content as current as anything airing in the U.S. In essence, Cubans engineered access to digital entertainment without connecting to the internet.
Cuba Online
As Cubans continued to jigger access to internet content, Havana’s intransience to connectivity became untenable. In 2015, as then-U.S. President Obama spearheaded a policy of rapprochement, the Cuban government began opening “Wi-Fi parks” throughout the island. These public parks offer Wi-Fi connections that can be purchased by the minute (just as with cell-phone usage).
Using smart devices—not ubiquitous in Cuba, but not uncommon either—people can now connect to the worldwide web. The prices remain steep: An hour of internet time costs US$2 in a country in which many people officially earn between US$20 and US$30 a month. But that cost is dropping. In 2015 an hour online cost roughly US$5. Still, the sub-par connectivity means an hour can be chewed up just trying to upload a photo or two to Facebook.
For many Cubans, the government’s Wi-Fi parks represent an introduction to the No Collar Economy that has spawned online entrepreneurship. From restaurant-review apps such as AlaMesa to Revolico, the Cuban Craigslist, Cubans prepare content offline and then visit a Wi-Fi spot to upload it.
They are participating in the 21st-century digital economy, and this will have political implications. A more connected Cuba will almost certainly lead to a more democratic Cuba—as long as the US does not again restrict US corporate activity. If it does, American firms such as Sprint and Google may need to discontinue projects to improve the island’s connectivity. And Cuban hardliners would have an excuse to re-consolidate power. Curiously, US President Donald Trump has indicated that he will pursue precisely this counterproductive strategy.
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World War 2 Stories for Sheffield
The Third Reich
Part 3
Social welfare
To aid the fostering of a feeling of community, the German people's labour and entertainment experiences—from festivals, to vacation trips and traveling cinemas—were all made a part of the "Strength through Joy" (Kraft durch Freude, KdF) program. Also crucial to the building of loyalty and comradeship was the implementation of the National Labour Service and the Hitler Youth Organization, with compulsory membership. In addition to this, a number of architectural projects were undertaken. KdF created the KdF-wagen, later known as the Volkswagen ("People's Car"), which was designed to be an automobile that every German citizen would be able to afford. With the outbreak of World War II the car was converted into a military vehicle and civilian production was stopped. Another national project undertaken was the construction of the Autobahn, which made it the first freeway system in the world.
The Winter Relief campaigns not only collected charity for the unfortunate, but acted as a ritual to generate public feeling. As part of the centralization of Nazi Germany, posters urged people to donate rather to give directly to beggars.
The Nazi health care system also held as a central idea the concept of Eugenics. Certain people were deemed 'genetically inferior' and were targeted for elimination from the gene pool through sterilization (Hereditary Health Courts) or wholesale murder (Action T4). Medical information professionals used new processes and technology, like punch card systems, and cost analysis, to aid in the process and calculate the 'benefit' to society of these killings.
Women's rights
Women in the Third Reich were a cornerstone of Nazi social policy; however, this meant a sharp curtailment of women's rights. The Nazis opposed the feminist movement, claiming that it had a left-wing agenda (comparable to Communism) and was bad for both women and men. The Nazi regime advocated a patriarchal society in which German women would recognize the "world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home." Hitler claimed that women taking vital jobs away from men during the Great Depression was economically bad for families in that women were paid only 66 percent of what men earned. Simultaneously with calling for women to leave work outside the home, the regime called for women to be actively supportive of the state regarding women's affairs. In 1933, Hitler appointed Gertrud Scholtz-Klink as the Reich Women's Leader, who instructed women that their primary role in society was to bear children and that women should be subservient to men, once saying "the mission of woman is to minister in the home and in her profession to the needs of life from the first to last moment of man's existence.". The expectation even applied to Aryan women married to Jewish men—a necessary ingredient in the 1943 Rosenstrasse protest in which 1800 German women (joined by 4200 relatives) obliged the Nazi state to release their Jewish husbands. This position was so strongly held as to make it extremely difficult to recruit women for war jobs during World War II.
On the other hand, the women were expected to be strong, healthy, and vital; a photograph subtitled "Future Mothers" showed teenage girls dressed for sport and bearing javelins. A sturdy peasant woman, who worked the land and bore strong children, was an ideal, contributing to praise for athletic women tanned by outdoor work. Organizations were made for the indoctrination of Nazi values to German women. Such organizations included the Jungmädel ("Young Girls") section of the Hitler Youth for girls from the age 10 to 14, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM, "German Girls' League") for young women from 14 to 18, and the NS-Frauenschaft, a woman's organization.
The NS-Frauenschaft put out the NS-Frauen-Warte, the only approved women's magazine in Nazi Germany.
Despite its propaganda aspects, it was predominantly a woman's magazine, even including sewing patterns.
The BDM's activities encompassed physical education, including running, the long jump, somersaulting, tightrope walking, rout-marching, and swimming. Das deutsche Mädel was less adventure-oriented than the boy's Der Pimpf, but far more emphasis was laid on strong and active German women than in NS-Frauen-Warte. Also, before entering any occupation or advanced studies, the girls, like the boys in Hitler Youth, had to complete a year of land service.
Despite the somewhat official restrictions, some women forged highly visible, as well as officially praised, achievements, such as the aviatrix Hanna Reitsch and film director Leni Riefenstahl.
On the issue of sexual affairs regarding women, the Nazis differed greatly from the restrictive stances on women's role in society. The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct as regards sexual matters, and were sympathetic to women bearing children out of wedlock. The collapse of 19th century morals in Germany accelerated during the Third Reich, partly due to the Nazis, and greatly due to the effects of the war. Promiscuity increased greatly as the war progressed, with unmarried soldiers often involved intimately with several women simultaneously. Married women were often involved in multiple affairs simultaneously, with soldiers, civilians or slave labourers. "Some farm wives in Württemberg had already begun using sex as a commodity, employing carnal favours as a means of getting a full day's work from foreign labourers." Nevertheless, publically, Nazi propaganda opposed adultery and upheld the sancticity of marriage. Several films shot in this era altered their source material so that the woman, rather than the man, would suffer death for sexual transgressions, reflecting whose fault it was held to be. When attempts were made to destigmatize illegitimate births, Lebensborn homes were presented the public as for married women. Overtly anti-marriage statements, such as Himmler's statements regarding the care of the illegimate children of dead soldiers, were greeted with protests.
An example of the way in which Nazi doctrines differed from practice is that, whilst sexual relationships among campers was explicitly forbidden, boys' and girls' camps of the Hitlerjugend associations were needlessly placed close together as if to make it happen. Pregnancy (including repercussions on established marriages) often resulted when fetching members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel were assigned to duties which juxtaposed them with tempted men. Ilsa McKee noted that the lectures of Hitler Youth and the BDM on the need to produce more children produced several illegitimate children, which neither the mothers nor the possible fathers regarded as problematic.
Marriage or sexual relations between a person considered “Aryan” and one that was not were classified as Rassenschande and were forbidden and under penalty (Aryans found guilty could face incarceration in a concentration camp, while non-Aryans could face the death penalty). Pamphlets enjoined all German women to avoid sexual intercourse with all foreign workers brought to Germany as a danger to their blood.
Abortion was heavily penalized in Nazi Germany unless on the grounds of "racial health": from 1943 abortionists faced the death penalty. Display of contraceptives was not allowed, and Hitler himself described contraception as "violation of nature, as degradation of womanhood, motherhood and love."
Main articles: Art of the Third Reich and List of authors banned during the Third Reich
In 1933, Nazis burned works considered "un-German" in Berlin which included books by Jewish authors, political opponents, and other works which did not align with Nazi ideology.
German Nazi propaganda poster: "Danzig is German".
Despite the official attempt to forge a pure Germanic culture, one major area of the arts, architecture, under Hitler's personal guidance, was neoclassical, a style based on architecture of ancient Rome.[163] This style stood out in stark contrast and opposition to newer, more liberal, and more popular architecture styles of the time such as Art Deco.
Also to be constructed was a Triumphal arch, several times larger than that found in Paris, which was also based upon a classical styling. Many of the designs for Germania were impractical to construct because of their size and the marshy soil underneath Berlin; later the materials that were to be used for construction were diverted to the war effort.
Cinema and media
Main articles: Cinema of Germany, List of German films 1933-1945, Nazism and cinema, Panorama (German wartime newsreel), and Propagandaministerium
Despite the emigration of many film-makers and the political restrictions, the German film industry was not without technical and aesthetic innovations, the introduction of Agfacolor film production being a notable example. Technical and aesthetic achievement could also be turned to the specific ends of the Greater German Reich, most spectacularly in the work of Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1935), documenting the Nuremberg Rally (1934), and Olympia (1938), documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, pioneered techniques of camera movement and editing that have influenced many later films. Both films, particularly Triumph of the Will, remain highly controversial, as their aesthetic merit is inseparable from their propagandizing of Nationalsocialism ideals.[165] Irreplacable artists deemed fitting the National socialist ideals such as Marika Rokk and Johannes Heesters where placed on the Gottbegnadeten list by Joseph Goebbels during the war.
Starting with the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46, in which top Nazi leaders were tried for war crimes (and executed or given long prison terms), Hitler, Nazism, and (by the 1960s) the Holocaust became symbols of evil in the modern world. For the 21st century, Newman and Erber (2002) reported, "The Nazis have become one of the most widely recognized images of modern evil. Throughout most of the world today, the concept of evil can readily be evoked by displaying almost any cue reminiscent of Nazism, such as the swastika, the name of any of the principal Nazis, or their garb or affectations...." There is a high level of historical interest in the popular media as well as in academic world. Evans says it, "exerts an almost universal appeal because its murderous racism stands as a warning to the whole of humanity."
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Cultivating cucumbers where the sun don't shine
A Dutch company is tuning LEDs to grow stacks of fruit and vegetables indoors, sans sunlight. The vertical farming breakthrough could help feed billions and cut transport and land use.
There’s an old adage in the retail industry: “pile it high, sell it low.”
The same mantra may one day apply to the agricultural world, where “vertical farming” researchers are certainly advancing the “high” part of the equation. Horticulturalists around the world are developing techniques for growing crops on floor upon floor inside agricultural towers.
The concept, developed in the late 1990s by Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier, addresses the problem of how to feed a growing global population that the UN says will surge from nearly 7 billion today to 9.3 billion by 2050, and have limited land on which to grow food.
Not only does vertical farming save land, but it also slashes the CO2 emitted in transporting food, because it allows farmers to grow crops near the point of consumption.
But among the current shortcomings, the energy required to power indoor lights can wipe out those CO2 gains.
Now Dutch horticultural research company PlantLab thinks it has an answer. Inside a sunless, hangar-like facility in the southern city of Den Bosch, PlantLab has mounted energy-efficient LED lights over racks and rows of various vegetable and herb plants including tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchinis, radishes, peppers, peas, cresses, lettuces, tulips and orchids. Since each crop prefers a certain spectrum of light frequency, PlantLab tunes the LEDs to just the right wavelength that a particular vegetable prefers. (LEDs are current-driven semiconductors that lend themselves well to tuning). That holds the promise of adding a tremendous variety of crops in regions where nature today limits the choices.
There’s a preponderance of blue and red LEDs inside PlantLab, giving the place the look of a plant disco. And PlantLab, in partnership with another research firm, Imtech, claims the lights stimulate an impressive botanical dance as they nurture two-to-three times the growth compared to greenhouses.
PlantLab also deploys infra red light, relative humidity, air temperature, root and substrate temperature, and airflow to achieve what managing partner Marcel Kers calls "plant paradise." The environment has so far eliminated the need for pesticides, he says.
The company envisions supermarkets growing produce under the store and delivering it straight from LED beds to the customer counter. That would cut out both long haul transport and local deliveries.
PlantLab has made laudable strides toward piling the crops high. But the research and development isn’t cheap, nor is the energy efficient LED lighting. The world awaits the company’s ability to sell low.
Note: The idea for this story came on a clean technology tour of Amsterdam partially funded by the Dutch government.
Photo: PlantLab
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All Sorts of Diseases Animals Carry
It is Important to understand more about the usual kinds of wildlife diseases if you live nearby mountainous areas, frequently participate in outside activities, own pets, or work with animals. Infectious diseases carried by wild animals can be dispersed to both pets and humans. These are known as zoonotic diseases, and you will find more than 150 proven to exist. Carry on reading to learn about 3 specific zoonotic diseases which are frequently carried and spread from shared North American wildlife.
Virus-Infected Cells, Dna, DiseaseIt’s caused by a viral agent known as Rhabdovirus, And it’s transmitted through animal bite, which allows the contaminated saliva to put in the victim’s blood flow. Symptoms vary and slowly becoming worse as the disease progresses, but frequent symptoms often include fever, malaise, confusion, disorientation, muscle fatigue, convulsions, excessive drooling, panting, and eventually, death.
For Creatures, Rabies is nearly always fatal; after the disease has grown, there is absolutely no treatment or cure for dogs or cats. On the other hand, humans rarely die from Rabies since there are treatments out there for people who are bitten by a rabid animal. Common carriers include raccoons, coyotes, foxes, bats, and skunks.
Although Not as renowned as Rabies, Leptospirosis is yet another significant zoonotic disease carried and transmitted by wild animals. But unlike Rabies, Leptospirosis is not transmitted by infected saliva; instead, it is transmitted through contaminated urine of an infected animal. Transmission occurs when infected urine, dirt, or water comes into contact with abraded or damaged skin, or if ingested. From time to time, a dog might drink from an infected puddle on the floor.
Most human cases of Leptospirosis are light, and some People do not reveal signs of the infection at all. However, if left untreated, Leptospirosis can cause meningitis, which is a condition that causes the tissue membranes around the brain to swell. And this is sometimes fatal. Treatment for pets and humans normally includes antibiotics, salt and glucose alternative infusions, and in severe cases, dialysis.
Raccoon roundworm goes by many names, and it is not exclusively carried and spread from raccoons. Scientifically, it’s called Baylisascaris Procyonis. These are essentially worms that permeate the skin and localize in an area near the surface, causing inflammation, redness, itchiness, and pain. Transmission happens when the eggs of this parasite are ingested. They go into the intestinal track and migrate through the organs, towards the epidermis.
Ingestion of contaminated animal droppings are a common Cause of transmission, as well as, ingesting food or water that is contaminated with the roundworm parasite. Severity of the disease depends on how many and which organs that the parasites migrated to. Should they migrate to your eyes, brain, or spinal cord, then the damage may be irreversible.
Maintaining good Hygiene, vaccinations, and pet vaccinations are powerful methods for Protecting yourself, your family members, along with your pets from an infectious Wildlife disease. Also, professional wildlife control services can be Very beneficial because they can protect your home from potential
Opossum Problems?
In Comparison to common belief, opossums are not rodents. They are marsupials native to North America. At full maturity, opossums can weigh on average approximately 15 pounds and measure up to 2 feet in length. This is about the same size of a small dog. This alone can alarm anybody who crosses paths with an opossum since many suppose they are the size of rabbits or rats. Although not an animal known for viciousness, it can attack and bite in self-defense when it feels threatened. This is a bad situation since possums could be carriers of infectious diseases.Possum, Opossum, Marsupial, Animal
It Is not a good sign to catch sight of a possum on your property for lots of factors. Not only are they known carriers of infectious diseases, they cause property and landscaping damages also. Gardens, lawns, gutters, roofs, trash cans, and more are all common areas of a house ruined by opossums and other nuisance wildlife. Also, opossums do not like to travel much, so in the event that you see one, its den is most likely somewhere near. For this reason and more, it is wise to implement some methods to keep opossum off your property.
Get Rid of Opossums
The First step to maintaining possums off your premises is to remove all sources of food, water, and shelter. To achieve this, eliminate all pet food, bird seed, squirrel feeders, water bowls, trash cans, and some other kinds of water and food. Eliminating this common possum attraction and many others can cut the frequency at which they visit your property. You may also install motion sensor light and sound machines to frighten nocturnal wildlife off.
Because You don’t want to eliminate the fruits And vegetables in your backyard, install a fence around it rather. Try sprinkling coconut oil or cinnamon around the perimeter of your backyard for a natural wildlife repellant.
As for shelter, opossums Prefer to create their dens in concealed places, safe from predators. If there are critters living beneath particular regions of your home, they need to be drawn out with lure, and then the opening of the area needs sealed. This will make opossums go on and discover new shelter everywhere as they are not able to return to their place. Use marshmallows, boiled eggs, or canned tuna fish to lure them out of hiding, then utilize that time to seal up their access points.
Opossums Are great climbers and will also utilize trees for shelter and protection. They could climb trees and get rooftops if tree limbs may reach the surface of the house. Once nuisance wildlife gets access to your roof, they can find access inside attics or trigger major shingle damage. Trim tree limbs that are close or from the house for proper bird control. This will eliminate access to your roof and remove a probable hang-out place for possums.
Contact a Local wildlife control company for professional help eliminating pesky opossums. They retain the proper tools, training, and tools to Exclude nuisance wildlife and prevent their return. Some companies even Offer small attic and crawl space restorations and other repairs caused By creature damage.
If you In suburban locations, opossum inhabitants stay very healthy in this area. Many have adapted to decreasing pet food and trash for sustenance, and some conceal in residential constructions for security and warmth.Possum, Opossum, Marsupial, Animal
Opossums Together with their silver-grey fur and vulnerable tails, they can occasionally seem like overgrown rats. Opossums are omnivorous and will eat almost anything (that is the reason why they adore your crap). You’ll most often see opossums busy at night since they’re nocturnal.
Why They Are Pests
Opossums Are finally pests since they utilize human-provided tools to survive when individuals would normally prefer they’re not. Opossums eat almost everything, therefore scavenging for garbage or sneaking your pet’s food that is left out are especially easy means to allow them to maintain themselves. Along with trying to locate food, opossums frequently look for shelter and warmth in colder months, causing them to find their ways to attics, under decks and to sheds. This may cause a scary and undesirable experience for you, your kids or your pets.
Generally Speaking, opossums aren’t too dangerous. They are shy creatures who’d rather prevent a confrontation. Never corner an opossum or some other wild creature as their sole way off from you’re via you. Don’t ship your pets following opossums either; the opossum might not win that struggle, but be confident that they will combat and your furry friend will suffer because of that. If you stumble across an opossum near or in your house, please, do not attempt to eliminate it yourself; call an expert wildlife removal staff.
Can They Were Infection?
Armadillo Removal
The Only way to eliminate pesky opossums out of your surroundings is to snare them And eliminate them to some other environment. Do not attempt to do this yourself! You may only risk damaging yourself or damaging the animal. By Choosing a Professional wildlife removal group, you can be sure everybody Remains secure and that your distinct opossum won’t find its way back Into your dwelling. Along with removing and relocating any debatable Opossums, specialist wildlife elimination crews may also supply solutions To make sure that extra opossums and other wildlife don’t input Your home or alternative dwelling spaces in the long run.
Armadillos on Property?
Armadillos are known for their tough outer shell and quite sharp claws. They are really strong diggers and prefer places that are sandy or near water as they can dig more readily there. Armadillos are extremely determined and will find their way through many substances. They rely largely on their capacity to hear and smell when searching for grubs and worms. This is why they’re associated with pockets all around the exterior of peoples’ homes.Armadillo, Nine-Banded Armadillo
As a direct result of the armadillos burrowing and rooting while feeding, they are known as pests to folks who like to garden or maintain a lawn. They’ll dig tiny holes throughout the lawn in search of grubs and worms. Their burrows around the perimeter of buildings may be recognizable and may result in a significant amount of damage to the property. They can dig a hole as deep as 10-20 ft beneath a structure resulting in damaged or cracked foundations, and of course the destruction caused to any underground pipes or wires.
Although they are not a significant risk for transmitting diseases or pathogens, their low body temperatures cause them vulnerable to a plethora of ailments. Again, the very low body temperature makes them more at risk for the illness. This isn’t a concern unless their meat is eaten raw or handled without appropriate hand-washing techniques. This is generally not a problem for most people.
Trapping and removing armadillos out of the property is the only solution to the problems they create. Unlike Squirrel Removal, armadillos do not respond to lure, which makes it a little more difficult to coax into a trap. With just a little patience and sufficient experience, they can be correctly removed. Most prove to be unsuccessful, such as the very common use of moth balls. Moth balls aren’t effective at deterring armadillos although they are excellent human deterrents. The first step in discouraging armadillos out of the yard should be to rid the area of their main attractant and food source: grubs and bugs. This may be accomplished by using pesticides or calling your regional pest professional. Since they mostly make their way around by scent, homes that have dogs seem to be less affected by armadillos.
Trapping Armadillos
Armadillo, Zoo, Animal, Design, ExoticArmadillos Can be a hassle for those that love gardening. These nocturnal creatures can dig up a backyard whilst searching for worms and insects to feed on. Additionally, they are even able to dig their burrows beneath a house and wind up destroying the base of a home. As it’s possible to use a deterrent or build a fence to stop armadillos from entering your house, the very best method to eliminate them is via trapping and then moving them in the wild.
To successfully snare an armadillo, you’d Need to discover the animal’s behaviour. Get to know what period in regards to a backyard or comes from its burrow and what path it takes regular. This will let you formulate your strategy accordingly.
Generally, Armadillos are most active late in the evening and early hours of this morning. Thus, it is going to ask that you remain up and forget about getting a comfortable night’s sleep. Additionally, check the regional laws. In some jurisdictions, it’s illegal to snare armadillos.
The trap which you It’s a good idea to erect barriers on either side of the snare and also across the road leading to it. The ends of this barrier needs to be joined to the entry of the snare. This will avoid the armadillos out of taking a detour.
It Is the choice whether you would like to use a lure or not. There are many others who believe that because armadillos dig their food in the ground, putting a bait within a trap could be ineffective for snake removal. You may even consider adding dirt in the snare to make it seem more inviting. It’s strongly suggested that you put more than 1 trap at several places along the road that the armadillo takes. This will guarantee success.
After That the armadillo is ensnared, move it to the woods where there’s a Water supply close by. However, Be Sure That You Don’t touch the Armadillo with your bare hands since they take the leprosy-causing Use protective equipment to Manage the armadillo.
Squirrel Fun Facts
When Folks think of wild animals, one of the most picky favorites is the common squirrel. Squirrels are cute and funny daredevils; what is not to adore?
Squirrels 101Animal, Rodent, Squirrel
The Squirrels we’re acquainted with in eastern North America are technically eastern gray or simply grey squirrels. They are smaller rodents that spend their time between the trees and the floor. Trees are mainly their shelter from predators, although the ground is an all you can store-to-eat-later buffet. Squirrels conceal their foraged food locates in small caches to consume during leaner times, and they’ve amazingly excellent memories when it comes to locating these caches again. Squirrels tend to breed twice a year and give birth to little litters of pups, usually between 2 and 5.
Why They Are Pests
When They have the option, squirrels enjoy nothing more than to simply hang out in trees, being warm and safe. But human inhabitants of natural mosquito habitat has left the squirrels with few alternatives. They could either remain on the floor and be eaten by a predator (your cat or dog would happily take on the duty), fight fiercely among themselves for the few accessible trees, or adapt and use the “trees” humans make: our attics and walls that are hollow. Only a few people are fans of squatters in their homes, so it’s only natural to desire freeloading squirrels from your house too.
Are They Dangerous?
As any Suburban street can tell you, we’re FAR more dangerous to squirrels than they are to us. However, like all creatures, squirrels will do what they must to protect themselves if they feel threatened. A frightened squirrel can and will sting, so it’s safest for you and also for the squirrel to never come from close contact.
Squirrels can do serious harm To your property when they take up home. They like to dig into insulation to create nests for their own families, and they are able to really create a filthy situation with their droppings and urine. In addition to the, squirrels, like all rodents, need to gnaw on things to maintain their teeth filed down. They will happily gnaw on any portion of your house, even adding steel piping and electrical wires. Within a quarter of fires of unknown origin are believed to have been caused by rodents gnawing on cables.
Do They Were Infection?
Despite all Of the situations you’ve heard about squirrels and ailments, squirrels rarely act as disease vectors. It’s hard for squirrels to capture rabies because their size means they’re more likely to die from a rabid animal’s assault than live to pass on the virus.
Like all wild Animals, squirrels are susceptible to and tend to take parasites.
Since it can Be very difficult to tell precisely where all of your squirrel squatters Are drifting, live trapping is the best option to keep your house from Abruptly acquiring a odor of dead squirrel. A professional wildlife Removal staff will help greatly in the process of trapping and relocating Your problem squirrels. Professional Rat Removal experts also can recommend Steps to take to make certain any lingering squirrels may safely escape Your house while excluding new ones from penetrating. After It’s certain All the squirrels have left your house, identical wildlife experts can Help one to squirrel proof your home so that you don’t have some new surprise roommates.
How to Keep Squirrels off Your Feeder
Each Trial after trial of these feeders had me asking if this even possible. Envision the hour’s people have burnt from the pursuit of the Way to Keep Squirrels From Bird Feeder.Animal, Squirrel, Aviary, Possierlich
Until Meaning if you set the feeder at which there were not any squirrels or positioned just right than you might not see squirrels eating your prized birdseed. Some Anti Squirrel Bird Feeders only worked with fully charged batteries, and rarely worked in chilly weather, while some worked before the snowball figured out he can swing the feeder shaking all the seed into the ground.
Squirrels are very Through time I have observed every Squirrel Proof Feeder ever made along with hundreds of contraptions that never made it to the commercial market. The materials and designs used for these feeders were vast.
The problem with Raccoon Removal efforts to make an Anti Squirrel Bird Feeder is that when a squirrel can not reach the food easily, then they will chew through it. Most wild animals will get tired after many attempts to find food, but maybe not.!
One Part of the remedy is to come across a bird feeder made of metal that does not have any ninety degree corners or sides to allow easy chewing. Yes, squirrels can chew through metal, especially the thin metals utilized in most bird feeders. Besides the feeder closing up when a squirrel gets on it you also want the final mechanism sensitivity to be easily adjustable.
Making Things worse is that in case you let squirrels have their way with your claws they’ll eventually chew holes into your soffiting, roof overhang, of your home or chew into your outside buildings and sheds to store their paychecks for later feeding and also to raise baby squirrels. Talk about a wreck!!!
Another biological factor of squirrels, as well as Mice and rabbits, is they must chew on things (cable, wood, metal, trees, even rocks) to grind down there teeth. Unlike human adult teeth that a squirrels teeth keep growing and will need to be constantly ground down so as to eat and drink.
The question of the Way to Keep Squirrels Spent a lifetime trying to figure out this. A Anti Squirrel Bird Feeder Can be bought, made at home using a lot of trial and error, or you Could just change to Safflower Seed that the squirrels do not like, yet All the songbirds love.
Get Rid of Pesky Squirrels
Squirrel, Common Squirrel, EatingSquirrels Are the single most popular wild creature in all of North America. Anyone who resides in North America understands what this critter offender appears like: large bushy tail, gray or black coat, bloated cheeks and a loud chatter. Sound familiar? While they could be cute to check at, anybody with a squirrel difficulty knows precisely how annoying and damaging they may be. How do you examine your patience as well as the health of your lawn?
Do Squirrels can interrupt your peaceful existence in a lot of ways. Once they’ve eaten all of the fruits and vegetables which you worked hard to develop, but they also dig on your flower beds and on your yard.
If the Destruction outside the residence is not bad enough, squirrels may do much more damage in your residence. The customary location that squirrels enter into the residence is through the loft and then work their way to the walls. They could rip your insulation up and chew on electric wiring, which generates the perfect concoction to get a fire.
– Trapping squirrels functions, if You’ve Got the Patience and gear to view it through. There are numerous alternatives for mosquito traps such as single traps and numerous traps. Single traps that just capture one squirrel in a time aren’t exactly the best choice, if you don’t simply have one squirrel. A number of cubes are much better as they could catch numerous squirrels in 1 trap.
– entrance doors are a very You set the doorway beyond the hole and it permits the squirrels to depart, but not to go into.
– There Are Many repellents, both bodily And compound, on the industry but none of them operate. Physical deterrents include owl figurines that can do the job initially, however, the squirrels will immediately learn that they’re not likely to hurt them. Forget about the spray on chemical deterrents. Not only are they inefficient, but they’re costly.
– If you poison the mosquito, it might retreat to a difficult to reach location to expire which will make it tougher to you. It is also possible to harm other creatures that contact this toxin or eats the squirrel that’s been poisoned and may become poisoned indirectly. Never toxin a squirrel or another creature.
As you might not wish to spend the cash up front to get a service, it really is cheaper in the long term as you continually throw cash at the issue.
Squirrels Are frustrating and damaging little creatures, but with the appropriate Tools and knowledge, you can eliminate your squirrel problem once and for all. Remember, never attempt Bat Removal or to poison the creature and if You’re in doubt, always Call an expert to manage the issue.
Do Raccoons Benefit Us At All?
Nature, Animals, Bear, Raccoon, MealRaccoons Have a lot of traits and characteristics to respect. After all, they are intelligent, inquisitive, nimble critters with fluffy fur coats and brightly colored tails. And their babies are extraordinarily adorable! Although admirable and adorable, raccoons have been given a bad reputation for disturbing urban and residential neighborhoods. It isn’t their fault though; overdevelopment and growing property clearing has forced many species of wildlife out of their natural habitats, leaving them with only one option: foraging for food and searching for shelter one of our possessions.
Though It is not the creature’s Fault that they are trespassing and invading our residential and commercial properties, they do cause destruction and trouble. Because of this, individuals are not happy about having raccoons on their house under any circumstance. But could raccoons be beneficial to us at all? Or are raccoons only a blight to our neighborhoods and properties?
Raccoons as Pests
According to Pest Control Melbourne FL, Raccoons Are considered nuisance pests and wildlife since they’re called carriers of infectious diseases that may be dangerous for humans and pets. They also cause structural and landscaping harm that can be expensive and tedious to fix. But are raccoons a valuable asset to us in any angle? Yes perhaps; but do those benefits outweigh their capacity to cause danger and harm? Likely not.
Raccoons Do provide one advantage to our yards. They’re a fantastic pest management system for gardens and plants. Although raccoons in multiple numbers is an issue which should be addressed right away, 1 raccoon might be beneficial in ridding your landscape of pesky bugs, rodents, and more that destroy your fruits and vegetables. Raccoons eat small rodents like rats and mice, as well as, insects, wasp larvae, and much more. By planting foods which raccoons don’t like, you can have a pest-free garden, undisturbed by wild raccoons.
Raccoons on Your Premises
If You’ve got a raccoon problem in your premises, contact a nearby wildlife Removal and management firm to get them securely and humanely removed. If Service immediately to prevent further damages and expensive repairs. A Licensed company will retain the proper tools, training, and tools To effectively remove a raccoon problem before it gets too out of hand. Some companies also provide minor attic restorations and repairs Due to raccoon damage.
Evict Raccoons
The Facts about Raccoons
Using their dark mask and mischievous curiosity, raccoons always appear to be up to no good. As a consequence of this, a lot of people wake up the next morning to find their trash scattered across their front lawn. Raccoons prefer wooded areas close to a water supply as this is their normal habit, however, they have adapted very well to the urban environment. Instead of making their house in a tree, they often nestle in accessible areas in your home like an attic or chimney, or beneath a deck, house or shed. Since raccoons are nocturnal, it may take a very long time to even know that you’ve got a raccoon issue. But if a raccoon has forced it in to your home, it won’t take long to hear them scurrying around your mind. At this time it is a good idea to call a professional pest management firm that handles raccoon removal.
It could be tough to envision how a raccoon may get into your attic but low hanging or adjacent branches to your house provide easy access. Raccoons are persistent pests, therefore anything exposed or that can be detached, such as shingles, roof vents, chimneys, or fascia boards offer a possible entry in your dwelling. Raccoons locate attics for a great environment to raise their young because of the heat they provide and the abundance of materials that may be used to construct a nest. They will tear insulation off the attic walls and chew through electrical wires, in addition to ruin air ducts. They will use your loft as a toilet; feces will start to pile up and pee will seep down to your ceiling. If given the chance raccoons will raise numerous litters in your loft, so early detection and raccoon removal is crucial.
Raccoons Carry Lethal Diseases and Parasites
Raccoon removal is necessary because of the diseases that they take. The most common disorder is rabies. Raccoons also carry roundworms that can be located in Skunk Poop. Roundworm eggs are resistant to disinfectants and can stick to all types of surfaces. These eggs are really tricky to destroy, which is why hiring expert pest management is the optimal solution. Humans can get infected with the inadvertent ingestion or inhalation of the microscopic roundworm eggs. Children are prone to the consumption of roundworm eggs, as they have the propensity to consume dirt or put contaminated items in their mouth. Human exposure to diseases and parasites carried by raccoons needs proper medical attention.
The damage created by raccoons can be extensive, but the hiring of a raccoon removal practitioner as soon as raccoons are suspected can make all the difference. Some companies will provide raccoon removal and remediation or clean up services and repair the damages made by the pests. Not only will the damages have been repaired, but professional pest control companies work to prevent raccoons and other wildlife from entering your house in the future.
Sure you find the best pest management company to execute the raccoon elimination as some provides services that others do not. Some businesses offer exclusion, remediation, trapping, damage repair and preventative practices. It’s also important to discover a business which handles pests independently and invisibly.
Mammal, Raccoon, Mask, Bandit, FurHumane Raccoon Removal
Humane raccoon removal involves the placement of technical traps in key areas of infestation which are monitored over a time period. Once captured, strict state guidelines are followed to ensure the smallest amount of stress on the animal. After each of the pests are securely and humanely removed from the house, pest control company can then perform the necessary cleanup, damage repair and preventative measures involved with proper raccoon removal.
Raccoons are destructive Creatures, but all isn’t lost if you locate one taking up residence on your home. One call to the Perfect pest management company can make the raccoon Removal procedure fast and simple for both the homeowner and pest.
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Industrial Utility Efficiency
It is becoming a “best practice” to install a variable frequency drive (VFD) air compressor whenever one is replacing an old air compressor. As a result, real systems have fixed-speed and VFD air compressors, mixed. I have observed several VFD compressor sizing methods. In my last article, I referred to a common method: size one VFD compressor for the whole system. This can work. However, if it doesn’t meet a higher peak demand, one or more of the old compressors will be started, and a mixed system results. Another method is to replace a compressor with the same size, but with a VFD. If the compressor that was replaced is large, a big VFD is installed. If small, a small one.
Air Compressors
Air Treatment
Compressed air is dried to prevent condensation and corrosion which can disrupt manufacturing processes and contaminate products. Water is the primary promotor of chemical reactions and physical erosion in compressed air systems. A myriad of desiccant dryer designs have been devised to provide “commercially dry” air, air having a dew point of -40°F or less, to prevent corrosion. Desiccant dryers use solid adsorbents in granule form to reduce the moisture content of compressed air.
High speed bearing technology is applicable for aeration blowers operating at much higher speeds than the typical 60Hz, 3600RPM for cast multistage units. High Speed Turbo (HST) units are usually single stage (though some utilize multiple cores) and rotate from 15,000 to 50,000RPM. At such high speeds, standard roller bearings cannot offer the industry standard L10 bearing life. Two types of bearing technologies have come to dominate the wastewater treatment market for these types of machines: airfoil and magnetically levitated. Often the two technologies are compared as equals, however, in many significant ways they are not.
Compressor Controls
When a system has the right combination of VFD and base-load air compressors, how do you coordinate their control? What tells the air compressors to run and load, to have just enough (or no) base-load air compressors and a VFD running, all the time air is needed? Appropriate master controls are needed. These controls are often called “sequencers” or “master control systems”.
Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine interviewed Mr. Warwick Rampley, the National Sales Manager for Sydney (Australia) based, Basil V.R. Greatrex Pty Ltd. It’s not every day one is asked to deliver a system able to provide both a reliable compressed air dew point of -80°C (-112°F) and high purity nitrogen. We work with some excellent technology suppliers and have engineered a rather interesting system. Although our firm was founded in 1919, this application is one of the most demanding we’ve encountered. Basil V.R. Greatrex is a unique company as we focus only on compressed air measurement, compressed air quality and compressed air efficiency.
The design of wastewater treatment plants is changing, and it has something to do with LEGO® bricks. More specifically, it has to do with how large and complex LEGO structures are built. If you follow the instructions carefully, you build module after module, eventually piecing them together to create a fully functional and cohesive unit.
It’s one thing to move materials during the production process, but when it’s a finished product on the packaging line, choosing the right material handling system is essential. Getting it wrong results in squandered production time when product loss occurs, and wasted raw materials.
Cooling Systems
As a result of compressed air awareness training and a focus on energy management, two facilities in different parts of the world have reduced their compressed air demand substantially by removing vortex style cabinet coolers from some of their electrical panels and reworking the cooling systems. These facilities were previously unaware of the high cost of compressed air and how much could be saved if other methods of cooling were used. This article describes some of their efforts in demand reduction.
Knowing when to overhaul a unit is important, and there are certain signs indicating a unit needs attention. Performing routine fluid checks, taking oil samples and routinely checking for bearing vibration can unveil indicators suggesting an upcoming failure. Oil contamination with metal fragments usually indicates parts are wearing. It’s also important to take notice of airend temperature increases. If internal air compressor temperatures go up, it’s a good indicator the cooler may be failing.
The 2017 AICD Conference and Exhibition was held May 21-23 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The membership of the Association of Independent Distributors came together to share ideas and discuss business methods to help their businesses prosper. “The AICD has grown by 15% with 9 new distributor members,” said AICD President Phil Kruger. “The event provides both members and vendors with excellent educational and networking opportunities designed to help grow our businesses.”
As an end user, have you ever heard the message to put in the biggest VFD air compressor, and the system will always be reliable and efficient. Why do an audit? Just add up the compressors on site and put one VFD for that size or larger. Why have the complexity of multiple compressors, storage, sequencing, etc? Even better, put in two of them, one for the whole system, and one for back-up. If you could wave a wand, wouldn’t that be what every system should look like? Perfect peace and efficiency, with 100% confidence of reliability.
The 2017 Hannover Messe attracted 225,000 visitors with 75,000 coming from outside Germany. The over-arching theme of the event was the Industrial Internet of Things – or Industry 4.0, as it is known in Germany. Dr. Jochen Köckler, Member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe commented,“Over the past five days, Hannover has served as a global hub for all things related to Industrie 4.0. Every sector involved in the digitalization of industry was on hand to showcase its answers to the key question faced by industrial enterprises everywhere: How can I best get my company into shape for the digital future?
A complete compressed air system assessment should provide detailed information on both the supply and demand sides of the system. The supply-side refers to the equipment supplying compressed air – the air compressor, dryers, filters, piping and storage tanks. The purpose of this article is to illustrate what information we believe a factory should receive from a supply-side system assessment and more importantly – what information a plant should always know about their compressed air system.
A newly constructed ethanol plant experienced control gap issues shortly after comissioning. This article discusses the cause of the issue and how the problem was solved.
This article will talk about testing. I will assume a “typical” system, a screw air compressor mix with regenerative dryers. Testing has to be done at several stages and locations, due to the cobbled-together nature of a compressed air system.
A pharmaceutical product manufacturer spends an estimated $137,443 annually on electricity to operate the oil-free air compressors in its compressed air system. The compressed air system operates well and is providing the level of purification required. Our team visited the plant and identified a group of projects which could reduce compressed air demand and reduce energy costs by $42,248 – or 31% of current use.
A large pharmaceutical company needed huge flow rates of 30 psig air to aerate multiple fermentation processes which create food-grade materials. Flow could vary from about 12,000 scfm to 35,000 scfm. There were a variety of batch processes, mostly running independently. An hour-by-hour schedule for anticipated air flow is developed every afternoon for the next day. Based on that schedule, the boiler operators run the air compressors that can handle the load range for the whole day. In reality, the peak flow can be higher than anticipated.
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[kee-toh-jen-uh-sis] /ˌki toʊˈdʒɛn ə sɪs/
noun, Medicine/Medical.
the production of ketone bodies in the body, as in diabetes mellitus or low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets.
(med) forming or able to stimulate the production of ketone bodies: a ketogenic diet
ketogenesis ke·to·gen·e·sis (kē’tō-jěn’ĭ-sĭs)
The formation of ketone bodies, as in diabetes mellitus.
ke’to·gen’ic adj.
Read Also:
• Ketogenic diet
ketogenic diet n. A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that includes normal amounts of protein.
• Ketoheptose
ketoheptose ke·to·hep·tose (kē’tō-hěp’tōs’) n. A seven-carbon sugar containing a ketone group.
• Ketohexose
[kee-toh-hek-sohs] /ˌki toʊˈhɛk soʊs/ noun, Chemistry. 1. any of a class of sugars composed of six carbon atoms and a ketone group, as fructose. ketohexose ke·to·hex·ose (kē’tō-hěk’sōs’) n. A six-carbon sugar containing a ketone group, such as fructose. Also called hexulose.
• Ketol
ketol ke·tol (kē’tôl’, -tōl’) n. A compound having an alcohol and ketone group.
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Global Warming
Global Warming will shrink Mammals
A remarkable new study claims that global warming will have a major effect on humans in the future in one key way: it will shrink us. A new study claims that major warming events results in dwarfism in mammals, and even shorter periods of warming can result in patterns of shrinkage.
Scientists examined one of the largest of the hyperthemal periods, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), and found that while temperatures rose between nine and 14 degrees Fahrenheit, mammals shrank by 30 percent. So they started looking at other warming events to see if the trend holds.
By examining the molar teeth to gauge body size on ancient bones dated from different warming periods, researchers determined that two species they examined shrank 14 and 15 percent. Why does this happen? Scientists think it may be possible that CO2 levels diminished the nutrients in plant, and stunting the mammals’ growth.
Humans are eating wild mammals into extinction
Some 300 wild mammal species in Asia, Africa and Latin America are being driven to extinction by humanity’s voracious appetite for bushmeat, according to a world-first assessment released Wednesday.
The species at risk range from rats to rhinoceros, and include docile, ant-eating pangolins as well as flesh-ripping big cats.
The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, are evidence of a “global crisis” for warm-blooded land animals, 15 top conservation scientists concluded.
“Terrestrial mammals are experiencing a massive collapse in their population sizes and geographical ranges around the world,” the study warned.
This decline, it said, was part of a larger trend known as a “mass extinction event,” only the sixth time in half a billion years that Earth’s species are dying out at more than 1,000 times the usual rate.
Besides eating them, humans are robbing mammals of their natural habitats through agriculture and urbanisation, and decimating them through pollution, disease and climate change.
According to the Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of endangered species, a quarter of 4,556 land mammals assessed are on the road to annihilation.
For 301 of these threatened species, “hunting by humans” — mainly for food, but also as purported health and virility boosters, and trophies such as horns or pelts — is the main threat, according to the comprehensive review of scientific literature.
The likelihood of extinction, the team found, depends on body size: the bigger the animals, the greater the danger.
More than 100 primates, including gorillas and snub-nosed monkeys, and dozens of hooved animals from oxen to antelope, are at dire risk from hunting.
All 301 species identified are found exclusively in developing countries, with the highest concentration in southeast Asia (113), followed by Africa (91), the rest of Asia (61) and Latin America (38).
The countries with the most native species under siege from hunting were Madagascar (46), Indonesia (37), the Philippines (14) and Brazil (10).
IStock 42697638 MEDIUM
Ecological Armageddon
A new study has found that mammals vanish entirely from forest fragments after 25 years.
As tropical forests worldwide are increasingly cut into smaller and smaller fragments, mammal extinctions may not be far behind, according to a new study. “Our results should be a warning. This is the trend that the world is going in.”
Tropical forests are regularly cleared for logging, farming and cities. In most cases, the only original tree cover is reduced to isolated patches. Many of the original species of plants and animals may still survive in those fragments, but they experience new stresses. The edges of the fragments are no longer dim and humid, for example. The small size of the surviving populations also creates problems. Over the course of a few generations, a small population can accumulate harmful mutations that make them less fertile or more vulnerable to diseases.
Scientists have hypothesized that many species will gradually decline in forest fragments until they become extinct. Reducing a vast carpet of jungle to isolated patches thus creates a so-called “extinction debt” that nature will sooner or later collect.
Just five years after the dam was built, they could see a difference. Several species were more rare on the islands than on the mainland. Researchers returned to the same 12 islands in 2012 and repeated the survey. The first survey had found seven species of mammals. Traps on the island found only a single species: the Malayan field rat. This was a startling find for two reasons. One was the drastic crash in diversity. The other was that the Malayan field rat wasn’t on the islands when they first formed.
Malayan field rats thrive around villages and farms and other disturbed habitats. The rats trapped must have come from the surrounding rain forests, where they still remain scarce. When they swam to the islands, they found fragmented forests that they could dominate. “I thought, ‘Wow, what if this trend holds?’ And it did.” On most of the islands, all the native species were gone, replaced by the rats. Only on a few islands did some species still cling to existence. All the islands were suffering massive extinctions in about 20 years. “No one expected to see such rapid extinctions.”
“This study confirms for mammals what we’ve long known for birds.” Records of birds from forest fragments in the Amazon show species going extinct at a comparable rate. The fast pace of extinction in forest fragments gives an urgency to conserving the large swaths of tropical forest that still remain. “Our study shows we may need to do that very quickly.”
27zimmer articleLarge
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Regions with the merger (yeísmo) in dark blue, and regions with distinction in pink.[citation needed]
Yeísmo (Spanish pronunciation: [ɟʝeˈizmo]) is a distinctive feature of many dialects of the Spanish language, which consists of the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme /ʎ/ (written ⟨ll⟩) and its merger into the phoneme /ʝ/ (written ⟨y⟩), usually realized as a palatal approximant or affricate. It is an example of delateralization.
In other words, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨y⟩ represent the same sound /ʝ/. The term yeísmo comes from the Spanish name of the letter ⟨y⟩ (ye[1]). Now, over 90% of Spanish dialects exhibit this phonemic merger. [2] Similar mergers exist in other languages, such as Italian, Hungarian, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese or Galician, with different social considerations.
Occasionally, the term lleísmo (pronounced [ʎeˈizmo]) has been used to refer to the maintenance of the phonemic distinction between /ʝ/ (spelled "y") and /ʎ/ (spelled "ll").[3][4][5]
Most dialects that merge the two sounds represented by ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨y⟩ realize the remaining sound as a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ], which is similar to the ⟨y⟩ in English your, but it sometimes sounds like ⟨j⟩ in English jar, especially after /n/ or /l/ or at the beginning of a word. For example, relleno is pronounced [reˈʝeno] and conllevar is pronounced [koɲɟ͡ʝeˈβaɾ] or [koɲdʒeˈβaɾ].
In most of Argentina and Uruguay, the merged sound is pronounced as a sibilant [ʒ];[6] this is referred to as zheísmo. In Buenos Aires, the sound [ʒ] has recently been devoiced to [ʃ] (sheísmo) among younger speakers.[7]
Note that the same shift from [ʎ] to [ʒ] to [ʃ] (to modern [x]) historically occurred in the development of Old Spanish; this accounts for such pairings as Spanish mujer vs Portuguese mulher, ojo vs olho, hija vs filha and so on.
Extent of yeísmo and lleísmo[edit]
Yeísmo has always been common in much of Latin America, mainly in lowlands, and in large areas in Spain.[citation needed]
The distinction between /ʝ/ and /ʎ/ remains in the Philippines, Ecuadoran highlands, Andean Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the northeastern portions of Argentina that border with Paraguay. [8] The distinction is more common in areas with a common bilingualism with indigenous languages, such as Aymara, Quechua, and Guaraní.[9] In Spain, most of the northern half of the country and several areas in the south used to retain the distinction, but yeísmo has spread throughout the country, and the distinction is now lost in most of Spain, particularly outside areas with linguistic contact with Catalan and Basque.[10]
Minimal pairs[edit]
Yeísmo produces homophony in a number of cases. For example, the following word pairs sound the same to speakers of dialects with yeísmo, but they would be minimal pairs in regions with lleísmo:
• haya ("beech tree" / "that there be") ~ halla ("s/he finds")
• cayó ("s/he fell") ~ calló ("s/he became silent")
• hoya ("pit, hole") ~ olla ("pot")
• baya ("berry") / vaya ("that he go") ~ valla ("fence")
The relatively low frequency of both /ʝ/ and /ʎ/ makes confusion unlikely. However, orthographic mistakes are common (for example, writing llendo instead of yendo). A similar effect took place in the local name of the island of Majorca: Mallorca is a continental Catalan hypercorrection of the earlier Maiorca.[11]
Other languages[edit]
Similar phenomena occurred in other languages.
• In French, /ʎ/ turned into /j/, but the spelling ll was preserved, hence briller [bʁije].
• In Hungarian, /ʎ/ turned into /j/, but the spelling ly was preserved, hence lyuk [juk].
• In Swedish, /lj/ turned into /j/, but the spelling lj was preserved, hence ljus [jʉːs].
• In Portuguese, yeísmo is observed mainly among speakers of the Caipira dialect, who pronounce both /ʎ/ (spelled ⟨lh⟩) and /j/ (spelled ⟨i⟩) as [j]. Hence for those speakers teia "web" and telha "roof tile" are both pronounced as [teja], while in other dialects the later is [teʎa].
See also[edit]
1. ^ "La "i griega" se llamará "ye"" Cuba Debate. 2010-11-05. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
2. ^ Coloma (2011), p. 103.
3. ^ Álvarez Menendez (2005), p. 104.
4. ^ Schwegler, Kempff & Ameal-Guerra (2009), p. 399.
5. ^ Travis (2009), p. 76.
6. ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 258.
7. ^ Lipski (1994), p. 170.
8. ^ Coloma (2011), p. 95.
9. ^ Lapesa, Rafael. "El español de América" (in Spanish). Cultural Antonio de Nebrija.
10. ^ Coloma (2011), pp. 110–111.
11. ^ Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Institut d'Estudis Catalans (look up the term "Mallorca")
• Álvarez Menéndez, Alfredo I (2005), Hablar en español: la cortesía verbal, la pronunciación estándar del español, las formas de expresión oral, Universidad de Oviedo
• Coloma, German (2011), "Valoración socioeconómica de los rasgos fonéticos dialectales de la lengua española.", Lexis, 35 (1): 91–118
• Lipski, John (1994), Latin American Spanish, New York: Longman Publishing
• Navarro, Tomás (1964), "Nuevos datos sobre el yeísmo en España" (PDF), Thesavrvs: Boletín del Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 19 (1): 1–117
• Torreblanca, Máximo (1974), "Estado actual del lleísmo y de la h aspirada en el noroeste de la provincia de Toledo", Revista de dialectología y tradiciones populares, 30 (1-2): 77–90
• Schwegler, Armin; Kempff, Juergen; Ameal-Guerra, Ana (2009), Fonética y fonología españolas, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0470421924
• Travis, Catherine E. (2009), Introducción a la lingüística hispánica, Cambridge University Press
Further reading[edit]
• Pharies, David (2007). A Brief History of the Spanish Language. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-66683-9.
External links[edit]
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How to search files from the terminal on Linux
While there are many ways with which we can search and locate files and directories on Linux, the easiest and quickest is probably through the terminal. However, not many Linux users know about that, which leads to unneeded frustration. Here is a quick guide that will hopefully help you locate what you're looking for in your system.
Use the Locate command
The “locate” command is the first resort that a Linux user should utilize because it's much faster than anything else out there. The reason for this unmatched speed is that the locate command isn't actually searching your local hard disks for the files or directories that you need to find, but more like reads through the mlocate.db database file which contains all file paths in your system. To use locate, open a terminal and type locate followed by the file name you are looking for.
Search for files with locate command
Locate can also tell you how many times a search keyword is matched in the database. This is achieved by including a “-c” parameter in the command, which stands for “count”.
use locate to find how many times the keyword has matched
What users need to have in mind here is that “locate” needs the specific and exact name of the file you're looking for, contrary to other more flexible tools. That means that locate is great for finding something that you're sure about its name, but not so great for when you don't exactly remember the file name.
Locate needs the exact file name
Moreover, and since “locate” reads a database file, the results may be outdated and not completely true. To mitigate this issue, you can update your file paths database by typing “sudo updatedb” on a terminal session.
If after that you're still not getting what you were looking for, or you're simply overwhelmed by the number of the results, proceed to the next step which is the “find” command.
Use the Find command
The “find” command is a much more powerful but also slower searching utility. This is because contrary to the “locate” command, “find” actually searching your disks for the files and directories that the user is after. Find is perfect for when you're trying to locate a file or a directory but you can't remember its name, because “find” can search for files that belong to a certain user or group of users, files that were modified or accessed recently, files that of a specific size range, hidden files, executables, read-only files, and files with certain permissions. The best part is that a user is free to combine multiple of the above criteria in one “find” command, essentially narrowing down the results.
Speaking of narrowing down, the first thing that you want to do when running “find” is to tell it to search on a specific directory. This will speed up the search process significantly, but always depending on the size of the directory. If you know where the file might be, open the terminal, navigate to the directory and run “find . [filename]”. That dot tells find to search on the current directory. If you want to search your Home directory instead, replace the dot with “~/”, and if you want to search your whole filesystem, use “/” instead.
As an example, I want to search for a file that contains a poster in my download directory. I know that the filename contains the word “poster” in it, but I don't exactly remember the name. For this reason, I would navigate to my download folder through the terminal with “cd Downloads”, and then enter the command:
sudo find . -name "*poster*"
Here is the result:
Use the find command on Linux
This tells me that there is a pdf file named as “billy_poster copy” in the Downloads folder. If I didn't know where it was, “find” would still let me know that it's in the Downloads folder if I searched on a parent directory.
Search for files with find by file name
Now, if I replace the “-name” parameter with “-iname”, I could get results with no regards to letter case. That is something that is not there in “locate”, so another helpful element for when you're not sure about the filename.
Use -iname option in find command
Now, let's suppose that I am still searching for that same poster file, and the only thing that I remember is that it is less than 5 MB of size. The command that I would use in that case is:
find ~/ -size -5M
If I knew that it's higher than lets say 2MB, the command would be “find ~/ -size +2M”. The best part is that find supports boolean operators to make the search even stronger. For this example, I will use a command that combines my knowledge that the file is less than 5 megabytes in size, and also more than 2. The command for this would be:
find / -size -5M -and -size +2M
Find files by size
Last, let's suggest that we remember nothing about the file but we remember that we accessed it within three minutes ago. To find it, use the find command as:
find / -amin -3
This would be “find / -amin -30” for half an hour, and “-amin -120” for two hours etc. If you accessed the file two days ago, use this instead:
find / -time -2
This will display all files accessed during the past two days in the location of the search.
Find files by timestamp
I think the above covers most of the usual use case scenarios. For more info about the powerful “find” command, open a terminal and type “man find”. Good luck finding what you're looking for.
More examples on Linux find command can be found here.
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From: Anonymous
You're documenting text commands with text output...
And you thought it would be a good idea to post screenshots. WTF?
So, anyone who's visually impaired can't read any of your article's sample output.
Well done.
From: Bill Toulas
Hey "Anonymous"I believe that screenshots of terminals help people see if an output is normal or expected. Maybe in this case I exagerated, but if anyhting, you can always skip them. :)
From: Apona K.
No, I think he has a good point. Visually impaired people (aka blind) cannot have their text-to-speech programs read screenshots, only text.
So having printed output as text instead of picture is actually much more sensible in general.
From: markh
personally I use $find ~/ xxx | grep yyy
its super fast and I can drill down by piping to more grep commands
From: Scotsgeek
If you are going to post images of the terminal, PLEASE crop the image to the terminal only! We don't need to see the whole desktop! Even expanging the image makes it hard to read the text displayed in the terminal.
From: Bill Toulas
You are right, I will crop from now on. Thanks for your comment :)
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