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(redirected from microorganism) The two-character ISO 3166 country code for MACAU. References in periodicals archive ? She said that these microorganisms are everywhere and are inhaled into the lungs all the time. Bacteria and yeast is activated in the Activation Tank to make effective microorganisms used in the organic solution. Their labs discovered a new genus of marine microorganisms that could have applications for use against pests, weeds and plant diseases. This dictionary of pathogenic microorganisms, published by the American Society for Microbiology, is simple and useful. The advantage of DNA technologies: they can generate a DNA profile of every individual human, animal or microorganism. Also, various microorganism species are important when food safety and spoilage are involved. The self-contained Authenticult packaging contains a lyophilized microorganism pellet, a reservoir of hydrating fluid and an inoculating swab. McLean, VA) has patented a method using probiotic microorganism in the manufacture of a composition for the prevention or reduction of gastrointestinal Campylobacter infection in a mammalian animal.
Sunday, November 27, 2011 Somewhere Over the Rainbow Shut off the beacons, cause we know what's out there Forever quarrel between the sky and I --The Sky and I, Scarlet Grey As a mother, you learn to think on your feet, especially when your kids hit the "question everything" stage. My son recently asked me how to make a rainbow. When the fruit of my loins appeared unmoved by my explanation involving water droplets and sunshine, I told him that rainbows were magical conduits to Oz. And he was appeased. In its most basic form, the rainbow is a multicolored arc created when sunlight is refracted then reflected inside droplets of atmospheric moisture. Not just a rainy day phenomena, rainbows can occur anywhere there is a combo of light and mist: waterfalls, Elmo sprinklers, and even at night (called a moonbow). A classic rainbow. Sprinkler rainbow. A moonbow. Rene Descartes is credited with describing the physics of the rainbow in 1637 by using a sphere to represent a single droplet of water. As sunlight hits each droplet (sphere) of water, angles of refraction occur. Here’s the physics: Water droplets must be of a certain size for this refraction to occur. If the microscopic droplets that make up clouds were a little larger, we could have technicolor skies. Since my grasp of physics is fairly limited, I’m moving on to something I’m a little more comfortable with--fiction. Almost every culture has folklore tied to the rainbow. The sight of a rainbow usually represents one of three things: a connection to the gods, a serpent, or as in Hindu cultures, an archer’s bow belonging to a god. The first written description of a rainbow occurs in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of an ancient Sumerian king from around 3000 B.C. They were described as both a divine sanction of war and as a symbol of immortality gained from service to the gods. Norse mythology tells of the Bifrost--a rainbow bridge that connected Asgard, the realm of the gods, with Midgard, the physical earth. Friedrich Wilhelm Heine's "The Battle of the Doomed Gods". Bifrost is in the background. Greek myth utilized the rainbow as a multicolored escalator for the minor messenger goddess Iris, wife of Morpheus. Unfortunately, the news she brought over the rainbow was often bleak--it was her spilling the beans about Helen's abduction that started the Trojan War. Pierre Narcisse Guerin's Morpheus and Iris. In the Judeo-Christian story of Noah, the rainbow represents God’s promise that he would never destroy the world again via flood. Several cultures use rainbows to represent the ascension of souls to heaven. North American Indians have referred to rainbows as “pathways of souls.” The Japanese call it a “floating bridge of Heaven.” Ancient Slavs saw the rainbow as something more menacing, bringing death and bad luck. According to their beliefs, a person touched by a rainbow would become a demon. Australian aborigines thought rainbows were great serpents sent after rains to claim unsuspecting victims and create mischief. Since they were connected to water, these serpents represented life and the struggle of man with the often harsh conditions of life in the outback. Artist Peter Eglington's rendition of the Australian Rainbow Serpent A few unique myths exist about rainbows. Some are familiar, such as the story of the Leprechaun’s pot of gold. Others are tales about the resilience of the human spirit and the power of love. In Hawaii, the rainbow was actually the aura of a maiden named Kahalaopuna, reflected as she danced in the skies. She took two chieftains as lovers, but one, Kauhi, became insanely jealous and killed her. When her spirit guides tried to rejoin her soul with her body so she could ascend to Heaven, Kauhi retaliated by burying her body beneath the tenacious roots of a koa tree so she could not be reached. Her other lover, Mahana, found her body and with the help of a kahuna returned her spirit to her. Only his true love made it possible for the maiden to be whole again. Together, they tricked the evil Kauhi into admitting his crimes and he was later burned in an oven. And that totally makes me think of rainbows. I must admit, my favorite myth comes from Bulgarian legend, in which walking beneath a rainbow will change your gender. Steven Tyler gives some plausibility to the Bulgarian myth in his rainbow duds. Dude Looks Like a Lady, indeed. The rainbow has made its appearance throughout history as a symbol of political and social upheaval. As early as the 16th century, a rainbow flag was used by the German Peasants' War to signify hope and change. Fast forward to the mid twentieth century, when Italy used a rainbow flag as a sign of peace during protests against nuclear weapons. Probably the most recognizable modern rainbow flag is used as a symbol of the gay pride movement. Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, designed the original in 1978 with eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, and violet. They represented, respectively, sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Turquoise and pink were later removed due to problems with mass manufacturing those colors at the time. The pride flag as Baker initially created it. Rainbows continue to be symbols of diversity. The National Rainbow Coalition was a political organization that grew out of Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign. He appealed to the disadvantaged voter from a broad spectrum of races and creeds. The Rainbow Coalition merged with Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in 1996 and still is involved in a variety of social initiatives. A rainbow initiative I miss a lot. In gypsy dream lore, rainbows are thought to represent a connection between the earthly self and the higher enlightened self--a symbol of redemption and hope. Seeing a rainbow is always sort of a spiritual experience for me--it evokes positive vibes and a mental check of my blessings. But not near as much as it does for this guy. 1. Ohhhh I did not know that about moonbows!! I learned something new. Okay, many new things. Anyway, fact is I've seen those before, and now I know what the heck I was looking at! Rainbows are awesome. 2. But what does it MEAN?!? My lyric O' the day: "Double rainbow, double, double rainbow..." 3. My mom told me that rainbows was a reminder that God wouldn't kill us with a flood. Yeah, he'd probably use fire. =) Talk about hiding from rainbows. LOL 4. Ref: I told him that rainbows were magical conduits to Oz. And he was appeased. Sometimes the magical reasons are what we want to hear most. :) 5. That was Steven Tyler? So weird. I like the explanation you gave your son the best. 6. Whoa! I had to watch all the way to the end of that video just to see if he survived (thank goodness for the puppy intervention--I did hear barking, didn't I?) I loves me some rainbows, too, and love the myths. I'm with your son when it comes to Descartes, though! 7. The Steven Tyler photo will haunt me all day... 8. Rainbows are beautiful, aren't they? And they can be found everywhere. My favorites are the double rainbows. There's also the rainbows in the puddles of oil on the ground. Thanks BTW, I'm going to be singing, Somewhere over the Rainbow, all day now. :) So glad you told your son the truth...everyone knows rainbows lead to OZ and the rest is just man-made stuff. The other night I saw a moonbow...pretty spectacular. Have a good one. :) 9. I was waiting for the double rainbows YouTube video! Never gets old. :) I didn't know moonbows had a name. Fascinating. 10. I like that quote you started out with. I'm partial to moon bows, of course. My nephew came to visit me during his 'question' phase when we lived in DC. We went to the Smithsonian where they had this display of cavemen and a bear and one of the cavemen was dead. Nice. My nephew kept asking me about it and soon I had a whole gaggle of kids -- why, why, why. I said how they were hunting the bear, yada, yada. Why, why, why. What finally appeased them all was saying they didn't have supermarkets back then. "Ohhh!" Until I got to that point, I sure was cursing the Smithsonian. 11. Oh, I would have been sorely disappointed if the double rainbow guy didn't show up on your post! I love moonbows, though I rarely see them. 12. Wow, Julie, great post. The ways rainbows pop up in various cultures is really interesting, esp. since they often represent interaction between heaven and earth, either as a blessing, a walkway or a bridge. 13. Other than the Biblical meaning, I did not know much about rainbows. We are fortunate to live in a river valley (close to a river) and are treated to lots of spring and summer single and double rainbows out our back window. 14. Oh, SHEESH! I thought your comment about Steven Tyler was funny... until I got to that double-rainbowboy. I was laughing so freakin' hard! Gah! He had me laughing at the same time I was embarrassed and fearful for my gender! (Hug-A-Tree but Marry-A-Rainbow!) Honestly... close your eyes and that video sounds like it's a soundtrack to some XXX porn movie or something! Sadly, I never once had sex that was even half as exciting and satisfying as that double-rainbow was for that "guy" [sic?]. Damn, that was funny! For his sake I must hope that he was flying on LSD ["Look at all the pretty colors!"], otherwise his enthusiasm is almost terrifying. ~ D-FensDogg 'Loyal American Underground' 15. I always learn the coolest, most fascinating things here. My nephews keep asking me questions like this of late. I'm looking here first when I need an answer to see if you've covered it. :) 16. Everything you ever wanted to know about Rainbows...but were afraid to ask! Fascinating stuff!! :) 17. Rainbows are so fascinating with their breath-taking beauty and sudden appearances in the sky. I’ve always loved gazing at them, and vividly remember the first time I’ve seen a “full” rainbow—a perfect half-circle. This has happened during my college years, when I was driving in countryside with a friend. We are fortunate with our front door facing directly to the spot where rainbows quite often occur: I just open the door and holler at the kids to come see the newly-formed rainbow. It’s always spectacular. Thank you for combining and sharing all these wonderful rainbow facts and mythological meanings! I knew about a few but you just introduced me to a whole amazing spectrum of rainbow knowledge! :-) 18. I didn't know there were such things as moonbows . . . until I read this post! :) 19. Rainbows always make me smile. BTW I've passed a blog award on to you. Stop by my blog to check it out. 20. Hi Julie, I love rainbows. They are such a positive reminder that we are not alone. Everybody sees their own personal rainbow. When you look at one, you are seeing the light bounced off of certain raindrops, but when the person standing next to you looks at the same rainbow, they may see the light reflecting off other raindrops from a completely different angle. Everyone sees colors differently according to light and how their eyes interpret it. Colorful post! 21. Good ole Reading Rainbow. I can't believe there isn't anything like that on TV anymore. Or even weekly children's book segments on Ellen or Rosie or The Talk. Many viewers are stay at home moms or grandparents. Anyhoo, I recently saw a clip of Jimmy Fallon dressed up as Jim Morrison singing the Reading Rainbow song and it was hilarious! 22. Another great post!! :) As a kid,I always loved racing towards the rainbow on my bike.. 23. Great post. I knew a few of the myths but you dug up some I hadn't heard before. Beyond the science I love the magic of seeing a rainbow and I'm always left with a positive feeling. 24. I'd walk under a rainbow to be a man for a day. So long as I could walk back under it and become a woman, again. I love being a woman but am infinitely curious about the inner workings of a man. 25. Fascinating post. I've actually seen a moon-bow before, but I didn't know what it was until I read this. Thanks for sharing! 26. This post should be required reading for all children, and their parents. I will think of you the next time I'm lucky enough to see a rainbow. Julie 27. That's nice, nevertheless, we must think summore about what we all will face at death's hour, leaving this whorizontal playing field - you know, of course, one-outta-one croaks. So lemme gonna wanna giveth unto thee (like my onomanopaeia words?) a factual representation of the Great Beyond --- Miss GorgeousGirl, would you allow me to kiss your adorable feets in Heaven? I'd so love to do such a marvelous, wonderfull endeavor for five weeks or more. Meet me Upstairs, girl. See 'MySoulAccomplishment' first, an effusive, yummy story I wrote yeeers ago about love make’n in Heaven. And, yes, if we have the desire, anything is possible Upstairs. So, believe, girly, and you SHALL be rewarded in The End. Love you --- No, you don’t gotta with me or anyone; only a physical option for those who wanna make physical love a part of their physical eternity, dear. God bless you. 28. As usual, you are a FOUNT of knowledge. Thank you for these wonderful tidbits. I knew some of these, but I also didn't know a lot of them. Rainbows, so multifaceted! :) 29. oh, stephen tyler. Dude looks like a lady indeed 30. Awesome teaching on rainbows. I feel so educated now on the matter, And I'll skip the Bulgarian rainbow! 31. As always, super informative and amazingness. I love rainbows, but holy moly, not as much as that guy. That was....WOW!! haha. We once had a full rainbow right outside our house, it went from one side of our sidewalk to the other (about 10 feet) it was awesome.
Air retaining From Wiki \| Prana Breath Jump to: navigation, search Air retaining is holding your breath after inhaling. How it works Retaining the air helps your blood to get maximum oxygen from the air inhaled, while CO2 level remains high enough. Before retaining Perform full inhaling. Air retaining process 1. Exhale 5-10% (up to 20% if you have any heart problems) of the air you have in your lungs to prevent dizziness. 2. You may close your nostrils with your fingers if you feel more comfortable this way. • If you feel you could retain the air for longer time easily, increase "sec per unit" value or increase the ratio index for "retain" (see the tips about training complexity). • If you find very hard to retain the air for the time you have in your pattern, please adjust the training complexity in more appropriate way. NB! The training should not be performed with great efforts, by force, but should be pleasant and refreshing. Yet if you would like to have constant progress, smoothly increase the training complexity. After retaining Please proceed to full exhaling. Be careful using air retaining in your breathing sessions if you have severe inflammatory processes, mental illnesses or disorders. Avoid any effort in air retaining if you have a tendency to hypertension. NB! In case of having any chronic diseases please consult your doctor.
Manuscript Details Ontology and Neo4j Graph Database Authored By Mr. Gopal Pramanik In general, Ontology (pronounced ahn-TAH-luh-djee ) is the study or concern about what kinds of things exist - what entity there are in the universe. It derives from the Greek onto (being) and logia (written or spoken discourse). It is a branch of metaphysics, the study of first principles or the essence of things.In information technology, ontology is the working model of entities and interactions in some particular domain of knowledge or practices, such as electronic commerce or the activity of planning. In this usage, an ontology is a set of concepts - such as things, events, and relations - that are specified in some way (such as specific natural language) in order to create an agreed-upon vocabulary for exchanging information. Neo4j is a NOSQL graph database which is used to store more complex in form of nodes, its properties where these nodes are made in relationship with another nodes as required in Ontology. This is the very new concept we are seeing now days used on large scale. This graph database is developed by Neo Technology and they are still working on it to enhance it in order to make it usable for real application. Graph databases are a powerful tool for graph-like queries, for example computing the shortest path between two nodes in the graph. Other graph-like queries can be performed over a graph database in a natural way (for example: graph's diameter computations or community detection).
Monday, April 30, 2012 Common Error: Downtown Hello! Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll look at another Common Error that's pretty easy to correct. But first, I have a question: Where do you live? If you said something like "San Ramón downtown" or "Palmares center," then this post is for you! Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities. (Image) Common Error: Use of the word "Downtown" DON’T say this:"I live in San José downtown." "When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying in the center." "I live in Palmares center." WHY?"Downtown" is certainly a word, but it's normally not used in this way in English (click here for more general information about the word). Downtown normally refers to a large city's historical and/or commercial core. In other words, it's a way to describe part of the city, which makes the word work like an adjective. Therefore, it should normally go before the city's name, along with any other words that describe an area in a city. For example: Downtown New York City is amazing on New Year's Eve. He moved to East Saint Louis. It's not safe to walk around downtown San José at night. You can also use the word by itself: We need to take a train or a taxi to go downtown. Also, notice that I said it's normally used with large cities. Palmares may be a nice town, but it only has one stop light in the whole town. To say "downtown Palmares" just sounds strange. You could say "I live in the center of Palmares," but it would be clearer to say the name of your neighborhood or district. You can also describe the location, especially in small towns. In Spanish, a similar concept is "centro," or the center of the city. But in English this sounds strange sometimes. If you do say "center," it usually indicates a building or complex, or possibly the geographic center of a place: We went to a performance last night at the Lincoln Center. Madrid is in the center of Spain, but Barcelona isn't. INSTEAD, SAY THIS:-"I live in downtown San José." -"When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying downtown." -"When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying in (name of neighborhood)." -"I live in Palmares, near the bus station." A map of downtown Denver, Colorado. Denver is nice, but it's confusing to drive downtown, since all the streets are at 45-degree angles from the surrounding roads. (Image) Friday, April 27, 2012 Pronunciation Poems - /I/ as in hit, sit, and fit - /i/ as in heat, seat, and feet - /æ/ as in cat, fat, and Matt Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Crime Vocabulary, Part 1 Hello! On Monday we looked at the difference between steal and rob, and I said that today we'd go over more vocabulary related to these words. Today we'll look at words that describe criminals who steal, and we'll also look at the names of some of the crimes. A duck stealing money from a distracted woman's purse. Do you know what to call the criminal and the crime in this situation? If not, continue reading! (Image First of all, you can use the word "criminal" to describe any person who commits a crime. You can also call a criminal a delinquent, but that word isn't as common, and a delinquent often doesn't seem as serious as a criminal. Another common word for a person who steals or who is corrupt is crook. In each of the crimes we'll look at today, a criminal steals money or valuables (like jewelry, wallets, purses, or anything else that is expensive and valuable). Let's look at some specific crimes: Finally, if a criminal runs past a victim and steals the victim's purse or bag, the crime is usually called purse snatching ("snatch" can mean "to take quickly"). In this case, the criminal is called a purse snatcher. A very undramatic purse snatcher stealing a victim's purse. (Image) A common type of theft is pickpocketing. In this crime, a pickpocket steals a victim's wallet or other valuables from his or her pocket, purse, backpack, or bag ("to pick" can also mean "to take"). You can also say that a pickpocket picks a victim's pocket, even if it's a bag or purse. This crime is especially common in places with crowds (big groups of people) and on public transportation in some big cities. A pickpocket stealing a victim's wallet. (Image) If a thief breaks into a house or car while the owner is gone, the crime is often called burglary and the criminal is a burglar. You can also call a burglar a "thief" or a "robber," too. There are a few other types of stealing that are unfortunately fairly common. If a criminal steals a car that is unattended, it's called car theft. However, if the victim is driving the car, and the criminal forces the victim to surrender the car, the crime is called carjacking, and the criminal is a carjacker. If something similar happens on an airplane (which is certainly not as common, fortunately), it's called a hijacking In fact, it's not necessarily "correct" but in modern English, any time a criminal takes control of a vehicle or some kind of system, it's sometimes referred to as a "hijacking." For example, you may hear someone say, "Someone seems to have hijacked my bank account, because now I'm missing 500 dollars!" If a criminal steals a person of any age, the criminal is a kidnapper and the crime is kidnapping. This is true even if the victim isn't a kid (child). You can also say the word "sequester," but it's definitely not as common, and it sounds more like a legal word than an everyday word. Finally, if a criminal takes a victim's personal information and then impersonates the victim, the crime is called identity theft. Unfortunately, this seems to be becoming more common in some places. So, that's a lot of vocabulary, right? If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section. Thanks for reading, and stay safe! Monday, April 23, 2012 Common Error: "Steal" vs. "Rob" Hello, and welcome again to "Mistake Monday"! Today we'll look at a Common Error that I've noticed in some of my classes: confusing the words steal and rob. Today we'll talk about how to use these two words correctly, and on Wednesday we'll look at some words related to crime and criminals. Robin Hood is a famous character in English literature. According to the legend, he robbed the rich and gave to the poor. Even though he stole many things, it was for a good reason. (Image Credit) Common Error: steal vs. rob DON’T say this:"The criminals stole my house." "My backpack is gone! He robbed it when I wasn't looking!" "She stole me fifteen dollars." WHY?Both "steal" and "rob" are verbs. Their tenses are: to steal - stole - has/have stolen to rob - robbed - has/have robbed -The word steal is used when a criminal takes objects from a person, car, house, etc. -If you say steal, it's normally followed by the object that was taken. -The word rob is also used when a criminal takes objects from a person, car, house, etc. -The difference is that when you say rob, it's normally followed by the owner of the stolen object, or the location where the objects were stolen. INSTEAD, SAY THIS:-"The criminals robbed my house." -"He stole my backpack when I wasn't looking!" -"She stole fifteen dollars from me." -"She robbed me and stole fifteen dollars." -"Someone stole my car stereo last night, but at least they didn't steal the car. It was the first time I was ever robbed." Wednesday, April 18, 2012 False Friend: Sopa vs. Soap Hello, and-- wait, is it Wednesday?! Whoops! It's Word Wednesday, so I need to write a False Friend, and quickly, since it will be Thursday in one hour. Let's see, here's a good one, and it even came up in a class earlier today. It's often a pronunciation problem, but if you change the pronunciation, you change the word. But first... QUICK! What is in this picture? If you said "soup," you're excused to go. If you said "soap," then you should probably read the rest of today's post: False Friend: sopa vs. soap This SPANISH word... Looks like this ENGLISH word... ...but they are DIFFERENT because... Sopa in Spanish is "soup" in English. It is what you order in a restaurant, and the word rhymes with "loop" and "stoop." On the other hand, "soap" in English is jabón in Spanish. You use it to wash and clean your hands, for example. "Soap" rhymes with "hope," "rope," and "dope." So, now that you've read this post, you can eat a nice bowl of soup... but first, be sure to wash your hands with plenty of soap! Hmm... just to check, QUICK! What is this a picture of? If you said "soup," then you should probably start reading at the top again, and repeat as necessary! Thanks for reading, and have a great day! (Image Credits: First and Second Picture) Monday, April 16, 2012 Common Error: "I" vs. "Me" Welcome to Mistake Monday! This error is actually common among native English speakers, so it's probably a good one to look at. The question is, when should you say "I," and when should you say "me"? "I" is the subject; "me" is the object. (Image credit) It seems like an easy answer: "I" is a subject pronoun and "me" is an object pronoun. But it gets a little more complicated when you are talking about more than one person. For example, we can say "Mark and I," but can we say "I and Mark"? What about "The audience was looking at Mark and I"? Here are some tips for both English learners and native speakers: Common Error: "I" vs "me" DON’T say this:"Me and Paul are brothers." "That car belongs to Angela and I." "Miguel and me are going to go to a movie." "Her and I are in the same English class." WHY?As we mentioned before, "I" is a pronoun used for a subject, and "me" is a pronoun used for an object. The same is true for the combinations of "he" and "him," "she" and "her," "we" and "us," and "they" and "them." If you have more than one subject or object and don't know which word to use, try eliminating one of them. For example, in the sentence above, "Miguel and me are going to go to a movie," eliminate Miguel. Does the sentence make sense? ("Me are/is going to a movie"... no, it doesn't make sense). If not, then you need to use a different pronoun. In the other example, "That car belongs to Angela and I," eliminate Angela: "That car belongs to I"... hmm, this also doesn't make sense, so I should use "me" instead. Note: when using "I" or "me," it's usually more common to put your name second or at the end of a list, if you're talking about more than two people. INSTEAD, SAY THIS:-"Paul and I are brothers." -"That car belongs to Angela and me." -"Miguel and I are going to see a movie." -"She and I are in the same English class." Friday, April 13, 2012 Fun Friday: Two Ideas Today I wanted to share two interesting things you can do to have a good time while practicing English: 1. Play Scramble (Image from game's iTunes page) If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, this is a fun little game that you can play with friends (or even with me... look up my name or send me an email if you want to start a game with me). It's very similar to a game called Boggle, where have two minutes to find words by connecting letters. I've been playing it with some friends, and it's pretty fun (and a little addictive). You can find it on iOS/iTunes here, and a similar game on Android phones here. 2. Check out Costa Rica Outsider I recently started this website about Costa Rica. It's not a tourism website, but it does talk about strange and interesting aspects of Costa Rican life. Since many of Sitzman ABC's readers either live in Costa Rica or have visited (or would like to visit), the site may be interesting for you. I've written about local customs, the president's visit, Easter week, and even Juan Santamaría. If you have any comments or suggestions for posts, or if you'd even like to write a guest post yourself, please tell me. You can find the site by clicking here, or you can also follow or "like" it on Facebook or Twitter if you prefer. So, that should keep you busy for the rest of the weekend! Have a good one, and thanks for reading! Wednesday, April 11, 2012 False Friend: Resumen vs. Resume (and Résumé) False Friend: resumen vs. resume This SPANISH word... Looks like this ENGLISH word... ...but they are DIFFERENT because... The words resume and résumé are completely different. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! Monday, April 9, 2012 Common Error: "How is...?" First of all, if I ask... Ms. Bloom: Good afternoon, class! Students: Good afternoon. Ms. Bloom: (1)________________ ? Students: Fine, thanks! Ron: She's still in the hospital, remember? Ms. Bloom: (3)________________ ? So, what were your answers? Here are some suggestions: (3) - What is she like? Monday, April 2, 2012 Easter Break Good afternoon, everyone!
Utapau (pronounced /'jutəpaʊ/) was an arid sinkhole world in the Utapau system of the Tarabba sector in the Outer Rim Territories. Utapau was the homeworld of the Pau'ans and the Utai, more commonly referred to collectively as Utapauns. These species lived in the many giant sinkholes that dotted the planet's scrub-covered surface. 51,000 light years from the core, Utapau orbited a single sun and was itself orbited by nine moons. It was composed of a small molten metallic core, with a rocky mantle and rocky, calcareous crust. Surface water made up only 0.9% of the planet, although most significantly, a vast subterranean ocean encircled the planet below the crust. Although extensive surface oceans once covered the planet, they leaked away to the subterranean ocean through the readily eroded crust through vast caverns that were once giant magma chambers. In turn, the erosive sea has contributed to the giant sinkholes throughout its windswept and grassy habitable areas. The resulting vast mineral deposits below the ocean are a great source of wealth for the planet. Sinkholes on Utapau were a common geological feature that appeared in areas where the rock below the surface of the land is made from substances like salt beds, limestone, carbonate rock (which is referred to as a karst landscape) that can be dissolved by ground water flowing through them. This rock can also be weakened by acidic rain. When these rocks dissolve, large spaces develop underneath until it gets too big and the land above the gap collapses. Naturally-occurring sinkholes are also created by long periods of drought, or when caves with underground streams naturally give way Utapau was a peaceful world that attempted to remain neutral in times of galactic conflict. The sinkhole world was shared by two symbiotic near-Human races whose common ancestors settled the planet at some point after 57,000 BBY. The languid, gray-skinned Pau'ans composed only thirty percent of the planetary population but served as the port masters, bureaucrats, and patricians of the world. The stubby, humble Utai composed the Utapaun labor class, which maintained the windmills of their sinkhole cities and served as handlers for the native varactyl and dactillion dragonmounts. Originally, the Pau'ans and the Utai colonists lived separate lives; the Pau'ans on the unremarkable surface, the Utai deep underground. In the 10,000-year span before the Clone Wars, the planet's climate began to change, causing stronger and stronger hyperwind storms. This forced the Pau'ans to move underground, re-establishing relations with the Utai people and adding their own, unique touch to the Utai cities. The sinkhole communities soon became a mix of Pau'an and Utai architecture, such as the form known as Ossic.These cities were built into the crevasses and rocky ledges that lined the edges of the sinkholes. The mixed population of Utai and Pau'ans were divided into city states, with occasional border skirmishes and small wars occurring between separate sinkhole communities.However, thanks to the efforts of Utapaun nobles such as Timon Medon the various cities were brought together and Utapau was unified.To fuel the modest energy needs of the sinkhole cities, many large windmill farms were erected on the wind-blasted surface. These farms were responsible for generating over 99% of the energy consumed by the Utapaun communities. The massive sinkhole settlement of Pau City. During the Great Galactic War, Utapau became one of the many battlegrounds between the Galactic Republic and the resurgent Sith Empire.Around 50 BBY, an offworld water-mining company discovered supposed healing elements in the underground water lakes of Utapau; the export of this water brought Utapau into the galactic community. For millennia, a rumor had persisted that the planet was one of the birthplaces of the Jedi Order.This legend added to the sales pitch, but the water was soon discovered to have no extraordinary powers and the business ended.In the time before the Clone Wars, the planet also served as the headquarters of Buuper Torsckil Abbey Devices Ad blocker interference detected!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Killer Asteroid Politics This past weekend, a group of scientists and former astronauts met in San Francisco to discuss the possibilities for averting disaster if one of the hundreds of known potentially hazardous asteroids were found to be on a collision course with the Earth. They were motivated, in part, by the recent discovery that one such asteroid -- known as "99942 Apophis" -- will skim very close to the Earth in 2029, and has a significant chance of actually hitting the Earth seven years later. The central question is: if precise observations during the 2029 passage reveal that Apophis will hit in 2036, what should we do about it? You might think that these astronomers are just being alarmist. After all, there have been several recent occasions when the news media report on an asteroid that might hit the Earth -- only to retract the claim a few days later, after additional observations rule out a collision. The primary source of these reports is a list maintained by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Consider the position of the scientists. They are certainly aware that additional observations will often rule out a future impact -- but if they withhold the early predictions they are accused of a cover-up. So instead they update their predictions continuously, the newspapers report on an uncertain impact, and the astronomers are accused of fear-mongering. It's a no-win situation. Considering the possible consequences of an asteroid impact, I would rather know about it as far ahead of time as possible. It's similar to the early predictions by meteorologists tracking the path of a hurricane. The uncertainties grow larger as they extrapolate the observations further from the storm's current location -- but the advance warning helps residents of the potentially affected areas to begin preparing for the worst. In the case of Apophis, this might mean placing the entire planet on alert, but at least we would have seven years to devise and execute a plan for avoiding doomsday. The age of the dinosaurs came to a sudden end when a large asteroid struck near the Yucatan peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. If humans are smart enough, we can avoid a similar fate. No comments:
Sunlight exposure could help lower blood pressure, which in turn reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. New research suggests sunlight affects the levels of the "messenger molecule" nitric oxide (NO) in the skin and blood, this effectively reduces blood pressure, a University of Southampton news release reported. "NO along with its breakdown products, known to be abundant in skin, is involved in the regulation of blood pressure. When exposed to sunlight, small amounts of NO are transferred from the skin to the circulation, lowering blood vessel tone; as blood pressure drops, so does the risk of heart attack and stroke," Martin Feelisch, Professor of Experimental Medicine and Integrative Biology at the University of Southampton said in the news release. A healthy balance is important when it comes to sunlight exposure because catching too many rays has been linked to skin cancer. Researchers suggested decreasing sunlight exposure could be "disadvantageous" because of its link to other health consequences, some of which can lead to heart conditions. Cardiovascular disease (which is often linked to high blood pressure) is responsible for 30 percent of deaths globally every year. High blood pressure has been known to vary with "season and latitude," and the rates are higher during winter in regions farther away from the equator. In order to make their findings the team exposed 24 healthy individuals to ultraviolet light from tanning beds over the course of two 20-minute sessions. In another study the volunteers were exposed to only the heat from the tanning lamps. The team found ultraviolet ray exposure dilates blood vessels, which lowers blood pressure. It also changes NO levels without interfering with vitamin D levels. Levels of NO stored in the upper skin are believed to "mediate" these effects.
orSign up Follow us: Can YOU solve these maths challenges for six-year-olds? 2017-August-31 Source: Chinadaily.com.cn Do these five maths challenges fill you with dread or do they seem less scary than the ones you remember from your school days? If you sailed through them with full marks, it's because they are from the new Asian-style maths teaching techniques that are designed to be simpler and make children sharper, with many British schools starting to weave them into their own lesson plans. The approach focuses on deepening understanding by using physical objects and pictures to explore traditional maths symbols, as well as spending more lesson time developing reasoning and problem-solving skills. These particular examples are from the free full curriculum that Tes - a school resource body - produces for years 1-6 of primary school. So can you figure out the answers? The answer are: 1. 54kg 2. 24 3. 19 4. 13/30 5. 多3颗 Tes has launched a collection of maths education resources to help more schools looking to use the Shanghai and Singapore approach. Discussing the new techniques, Laura Beeson, Assistant Head Teacher at Primrose Hill Primary School in London, said: 'We are still on the start of our mastery journey. 'It is important that we don't see the Shanghai approach as simply a method that we can pick up and use in our own school settings. 'The differences both within our school systems and culture are vast. It is up to us as practitioners to look at the fundamental values of the approach and see how they can be implemented in our own UK school settings. 'Finding resources that contain that variation of the same concept is one of the main barriers for our teachers. The Tes primary maths mastery space is a central place to look for this - giving teachers a starting point.' Source: 何芊芊 & Yaning from language.chinadaily.com.cn Editor: Steven Scan to share on WeChat Scan to follow us on WeChat Question submitted,Thank You! Q:Where can I enjoy Cantonese cuisine? Key Words Home\|About us\|Contact us\|Southcn.com © 2015 WWW.NEWSGD.COM. All rights reserved.
100 terms Ch 1-4 Test Abnormal Psychology Butcher 15th ed Ch 1-4 Test What makes defining abnormality difficult? There is no one behavior that serves to make someone abnormal. What is a reason for classifying mental disorders? A classification system allows information to be organized. Which of the following is a disadvantage of having a classification system for mental disorders? When a label is used to describe an individual's behavior, information about the person is lost. According to the DSM-IV's definition of mental disorder, impairment in one or more areas of functioning (disability) may be present but is not a necessary condition for making a diagnosis. What is a culture-specific disorder? A disorder seen only in certain cultures Why is it important to know how many people have diagnosable mental illnesses? Such information is needed to plan for the provision of adequate services. What does it mean if a disorder is said to be highly prevalent? It is common. Why is it believed that the NCS survey used to estimate the prevalence of mental illness underestimated that prevalence? Measures of several types of disorders were not included. A major finding from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) was that over half of the people with a history of one serious disorder had two or more comorbid disorders. The trend toward deinstitutionalization in recent years means that people are hospitalized more briefly and then treated on an outpatient basis. Which of the following mental health professionals has a medical degree? The psychiatrist Why is it important to have some understanding of what causes a psychological disorder? The selection of a treatment approach is largely determined by assumptions about causality. Why is it dangerous to make conclusions based on case studies? Conclusions based on so little data are likely to be flawed. An important FIRST step in studying a particular disorder is determining the criteria for identifying people who have the disorder. Why is a representative sample desirable? The more representative a sample is, the more generalizable the data. Why are correlational (observational) research designs often used in abnormal psychology? It is often unethical or impossible to directly manipulate the variables involved in abnormal psychology. What type of research design begins with the identification of individuals who are likely to develop a particular disorder? What is the value of using an ABAB design? The effects of a single form of treatment are studied twice in the same subject. Which of the following would most likely be explored with an experiment? The effectiveness of a new treatment for depression What did Seligman find by studying dogs exposed to uncontrollable shock? Seligman found that uncontrollable shock led the dogs to behave much like depressed humans. A researcher who provides a certain treatment for one group and withholds treatment from a completely comparable group is using the ________ research method. Which variable is manipulated in an experiment? A significant positive correlation is found between variables x and y. Which of the following may be safely inferred? as x increases, y increases A psychologist wishes to test the hypothesis that the experience of chronic physical pain can cause clinical depression, but the Ethics Committee of his university won't allow him to conduct a study in which he inflicts pain on the subjects. What kind of research design might best allow the psychologist to test this hypothesis while circumventing the committee's objection? To determine whether certain characteristics are true of people in general, and not just of people with mental disorders, it is important to use a control group. What is trephining? An ancient practice in which a hole was drilled in the skull to release evil spirits. The belief in the four humors as a means of explaining temperament proposed that mental disorders were the result of an imbalance. One of Aristotle's most major contributions to psychology was his description of consciousness. What is Galen credited with? Recognizing that psychological disorders could have both biological and psychological causes What trend was observed during the Middle Ages in Europe? Supernatural explanations for mental disorders grew in popularity. Compared to the West, in the Chinese "Dark Ages," views of mental illness began at a more sophisticated level but regressed, like the West, to belief in the supernatural forces, although not for as long or with as negative a reaction to patients. The fact that episodes of mass madness peaked at the time of the Black Death illustrates that phenomena that impact the society and its structure may also affect mental health. Recent historical reviews of the literature indicate that the typical accused witch in the Middle Ages in Europe was an ill-tempered, impoverished woman. The early asylums were primarily warehouses for the mentally ill. "Bedlam" in London was one of several hospitals for the mentally ill in different countries that exhibited their patients for profit. Philippe Pinel believed that mental patients were ill and needed to be treated as such - with kindness and caring. Who is considered the founder of American psychiatry? Benjamin Rush Dorothea Dix is credited with establishing numerous humane mental hospitals in many countries. The moral management treatment focused on the moral and spiritual development of mental patients rather than their disorder. What is Clifford Beers known for? He publicized the brutal treatment that many mental patients received. During the first half of the twentieth century, mental hospital care would best be characterized as Which of the following served to publicize the plight of the mentally ill in the mid 1940s? The publication of "The Snake Pit" The rationale behind deinstitutionalization was a concern that prolonged hospitalization could keep patients from being able to adjust to and function in the outside world. the discovery of the cause and later a cure for general paresis (syphilitic insanity) Kraepelin is credited with identifying different types of mental disorders. The Nancy School advanced the recognition that psychological factors were involved in the development of mental disorders. A catharsis is an emotional release. Behaviorism was a reaction to what the behaviorists perceived as a lack of scientific rigor in psychoanalysis. The central principle of operant conditioning is that the consequences of behavior influence its likelihood of being repeated. The study of hypnosis and its relationship to hysteria was the starting point for Understanding the causes of mental disorders is important because such knowledge might make both the prevention and cure of mental disorders possible. While having a gene for Parkinson's disease guarantees that Parkinson's disease will develop, this is not the only factor that can lead to Parkinson's disease. In other words, the presence of the gene is a ________, but not a ________. sufficient cause; necessary cause Childhood abuse is commonly seen in those who develop dissociative disorders later in life. Childhood abuse would best be described as a distal contributory cause. Etiology is the causal pattern of a disorder. According to Freud, a person who does not appropriately resolve each psychosexual stage would be ___________ at that stage. John Bowlby's attachment theory emphasized the quality of parental care in forming attachments. A diathesis can best be described as a contributory cause. A protective factor is an influence that modifies a persons response to environmental stressors. What is the focus of the field of developmental psychopathology? To understand what is within the range of normal development so as to have a better understanding of what is abnormal. Norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and GABA are all neurotransmitters that are involved in psychopathology. Cortisol is a hormone that the adrenal gland produces that mobilizes the body to deal with stress. Mental disorders are almost always influenced by multiple genes. This means they are Attractive children and unattractive babies tend to be treated differently. In other words, an infant's physical phenotype may alter how others respond to him or her. What type of genotype-environment correlation is this an example of? If trait is highly heritable, it would be expected that the concordance rate for monozygotic twins would be greater than the concordance rate for dizygotic twins. Which of the following strives to describe the location of genes responsible for mental disorders? Association studies Neural plasticity is the flexibility of the brain - existing neural circuits can change or new ones can be made. Suppose that, using linkage analysis, a researcher finds that family members with a high likelihood of developing depression also are very likely to be of below average height. This would mean the gene for depression is probably located near the gene for height Defense mechanisms help a person feel less anxious, but because they usually work by distorting reality, they are not always adaptive. Which of the following is a criticism of traditional psychoanalytic theory? Lack of scientific evidence The behavioral perspective has been criticized for focusing on symptoms. Cognitive-behavioral psychologists believe that abnormal behavior results from distorted thinking and information processing. The four parenting styles described in the text differ along two dimensions, warmth and control. The style associated with the most positive developmental outcome is best described as ________ in warmth and ________ in control. high; moderately high A major factor associated with a child's rejection by peers is overly aggressive behavior. Cross-cultural research on stress demonstrates that responses to stress vary cross-culturally. A psychologist who takes an eclectic approach is most likely to make which of the following statements? "I will accept any explanation from psychoanalytic to biological as long as it works." Which of the following explanations for the relationship between SES and abnormal behavior is supported by the existing data? a. Low SES may cause abnormal behavior. b. Abnormal behavior is more likely to go untreated in those of low SES c. Recovery from loss of a job may be more difficult for those exhibiting signs of mental illness. d. All of the above All of the above Which of the following statements regarding assessment is true? An adequate assessment should include as much information as possible. One advantage of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) over the CAT scan is that the MRI provides better differentiation and clarity. Which of the following would be used to reveal a dysrhythmia in brain activity? The reliability of the assessment interview may be enhanced by the use of rating scales. Psychological tests are dependent on the competence of the clinician who interprets them. The use of standardized psychological tests permits the clinician to determine how a client's behavior compares to some reference group. "Projective" and "objective" are two types of ________ tests. The aim of a projective test is to assess the way a patient perceives ambiguous stimuli. Which statement about the Rorschach is accurate? A considerable amount of training is required to administer and score it accurately. What would determine whether the WISC-III or the WAIS-III is used to test intelligence? The age of the client The MMPI is a structured approach to personality assessment. The empirical keying approach to making a test like the MMPI involves picking items that differentiate between different groups, no subjective judgment is needed. A key feature of the MMPI-2 is that the clinical scales measure the same properties of personality organization as they always have. A valid test measures what it is designed to measure. Which approach to the classification of abnormal behavior uses statistical criteria to differentiate between normal and abnormal? If a diagnosis is made by comparing subjects to a "model" of an illness, which type of classification scheme is being used? Since it was first published, the DSM has become more objective. Which axes are rarely used in most clinical settings? Axes IV and V One criticism of diagnostic labels is that they can influence both other people's and the diagnosed person's perception of themselves in negative ways. The DSM acknowledges that a DSM diagnosis is only the first step, much more is needed to determine treatment. While the DSM is designed to be a categorical classification scheme, the existing criteria tend to lead to a prototypal approach. Research by Exner and others has shown that the Rorschach can be scored by computer, thereby increasing its reliability. Which of the following is an assumption of a categorical approach to abnormal behavior? Each disorder has unique symptoms. Which of the following would best address recent criticisms of the TAT? Use more modern pictures
Curated Visualisations: The Rise of Disney For our group project on curating visualisations, my team and I decided to look at the various Disney animation movies (excluding Pixar movies), all the way back to ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’, and see what made different movies successful over others. To achieve this, we set out to look at three different areas of Disney films – the different characteristics, the profits that were made and their ratings, and the effect that stereotypical gender roles in Disney characters had on a movie’s performance at the box office. We used IMDb as the main database of all the Disney animation movies from 1937 to the present day. After spending a few grueling hours studying and sorting through each film, we created a spreadsheet on Google Sheets that contained the necessary information: movie names, year released, the estimated budget, gross income for the United States of America (we only included the income from the United States of America as some of the films did not all include worldwide gross income), and calculated the profit made. For the sections on characteristics, we added genres, whether or not a film is a musical, the targeted audience, the gender of the protagonist, and rating from IMDb. We also colour-coded the spreadsheet to represent the different eras of the movies. Here is the link to the spreadsheet: Success Rates In viewing of the difference between the budgets and the profits made over the course of nearly eighty years, we used the chart tools in Google Sheets to create a basic barchart of the budgets and profits. In the beginning of Disney’s empire of childhood dreams, there was the Golden Age. This was the burst of popularity to animation films. The company gained much profit from ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’ and ‘Pinocchio’ but suffered greatly when ‘Dumbo’ was released to the public. It is barely visible in the chart. Disney quickly regained profit during the animated films of the Silver Age, which brought along the beautiful movies ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Its profits halved during the Bronze Age with the likes of ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘The Fox & the Hound’. However, with the rising budgets for new animation techniques, the Renaissance Era’s profits skyrocketed with ‘Beauty & the Beast’ and ‘Aladdin’. It is during this era that we see ‘The Lion King’ being the most profitable of Disney’s animated movies. This was the last film that Disney saw such income. As the Post-Renaissance came to light, the budgets were increased while the profits decreased. In the United States, Disney started to undergo serious losses as their profits went below zero. It struggled for several years until a new era began. This Revival Era carried Disney into a new age. As the company adapted their techniques to 3D animation, their profits soared and ‘Frozen brought in massive numbers in the USA alone, second to ‘The Lion King’. Top 10 Most Profitable Movies Taking out the top 10 most profitable movies and comparing them with their ratings, we can see which movie is the most successful. While ‘Frozen’ has a profit of nearly $250,000,000, it only has a rating of 77%. This evidently makes ‘The Lion King’, with 87% the most successful Disney animation movie based on its profit and rating. There is a significant difference between the rating of ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Frozen’ even though they are both almost equally successful in terms of profit. Observing the 2016 film ‘Moana’, we can see that it is the least profitable movie but is rated higher than ‘Frozen’. Why is this the case? We need to ask ourselves if IMDb are basing their ratings on statistics or perhaps biased opinions. Having looked at the top ten movies that have had the most profit from their original budget, we can try and articulate why these movies were so popular among the public. With ‘The Lion King’ taking lead and ‘Frozen’ closely following, do these movies have anything in common that Disney could use to make future successful movies? Actually, studying at all these successful movies, we can observe what they all have in common. These movies show a clear indication that having catchy, empowering music can have a dramatic impact on the success of the movie. The majority of these top-ten movies have compositions of music included and has proven that music is an ideal characteristic to have within a movie. However, when we look at ‘Bambi’ and ‘101 Dalmatians’, they do not include their own music but still were successful. Maybe it’s because they are both “animal based” movies? But if we go back to the original dataset, the movie ‘Dumbo’ (which is an animal based movie without music) only made a $650,000 profit, which in comparison to these movies, is quite low compared to the other animal-based films. From analysing the dataset, a pattern has formed. In nearly every era, there is at least one substantially successful movie with music and one without. In the Golden Age, it was ‘Snow White’ and ‘Bambi’. In the Silver Age, it was ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘101 Dalmations’. ‘The Lion King’ swept the floor in the Disney Renaissance Era and ‘Lilo & Stitch’ in the Disney Post Renaissance Era. Finally in the Disney Revival Era, ‘Frozen’ with it’s most popular song ‘Let it Go’ and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ without the need to include original music compositions to still be successful. One important characteristic that every movie has a form of, is love. Love has without a doubt made Disney the root of all it’s success. Disney has evolved as time as went on, showing the world that love comes in all shapes and all forms. Going from the classic and traditional prince and princess love, to forbidden love, to friendship, and to family. Looking at this pattern, we can see that Disney is trying to change to meaning of what “love” is as time goes on and has shown it is appealing to the public at a very successful level. We can see in the below visualisation that the top 10 most profitable movies are dominated by the genres romance and family, perhaps this pattern will be the way Disney strives on for the future. Effects of Gender Roles Some of the most popular Disney classics starting with ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’ right up until the 1990’s with ‘Aladdin’ having its same plot revolving around gender stereotypes. In a lot of these movies there is a female lead, usually a princess who is portrayed as a damsel in distress. From being cursed, poisoned, and being held captive in a tower, it is only ever handsome strangers that free these princesses from their predicaments. These stereotypes tell young boys that they had to be strong, brave, and above all else handsome in order to be loved by a girl. On the contrary girls were told that to be a like one of the Disney princesses you generally had to be naive, passive, and incomparably beautiful. As time moved forward people began to break away from these stereotypical ideologies about gender roles. Then there was a change in the way male and female characters were portrayed in Disney movies. The first and most brazen movie to cater this change was ‘Pocahontas’. ‘Pocahontas’ who is the lead role takes on a slightly different version of a princess; she is the chief’s daughter of a Native American tribe. Throughout the movie we see Pocahontas as a stubborn and independent young woman. This was a drastic change from the princesses before her. At the end of the movie she is also shown saving the life of her true love. Before ‘Pocahontas’, princesses always had to be saved by a man. The period in which ‘Pocahontas’ was released was known as the Renaissance Era. During this period, Disney saw a huge growth in company profits and Disney began making movies that were targeted towards everyone in their fanbase, not just for girls. In the Post-Renaissance Era, Disney lost millions on almost every movie they released. During this period it seemed that Disney was making movies targeted mainly towards a male audience. Disney is now in their Revival Era, where there is a focus on creating more gender-neutral movies and they are once again earning profits at a supernormal rate. They also break down the old gender stereotypes as they create emotional male characters showing that it’s okay for boys to need help too, and create strong female characters that show how strong women truly are. From studying the data represented to us from IMDb, we can see the rise of Disney from the year 1937 to the present day. In looking at the the movie rating compared to the overall profit from each movie, we can assume that ‘The Lion King’ is the most successful film. With their ideologies changing with the current generation, Disney is reforming the meaning of love – going from the all too familiar prince and princess romance to the love that only lingers in family. Also with the changing of gender roles, Disney is showing awareness that men don’t need to be ‘handsome’ and ‘strong’ and women don’t need to be ‘beautiful’ and ‘passive’. With these stereotypes changing, children are becoming more accepting to different traits. In more recent films, Disney has included more gender-neutral protagonists, such as ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ and ‘Zootopia’. They are breaking down the outdated stereotypes by introducing strong female leads and emotional male characters. Not only were we able to analyse the data and create visualisations of Disney’s overall success, but we also saw patterns that Disney is making by the obvious trial and errors they have attempted over the years. We can see that they are learning from their mistakes and is now on the rise once again. This entry was posted in Digital Humanities, Heritage & Culture. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a Reply
You searched for: “anachronism anachronism (s) (noun), anachronisms (pl) An error in the order of time. © ALL rights are reserved. Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons. obsolete, obsolescent, anachronism, archaic, archaism obsolete (ahb" suh LEET, AHB suh leet") (adjective) Unfashionable, no longer current or useful: "The use of a horse drawn carriage for everyday travel is obsolete." obsolescent (ahb" suh LES uhnt) (adjective) Being no longer useful or fashionable: "Gas lights in houses are now obsolescent and dangerous." anachronism (uh NAK ruh niz'uhm) (noun) 1. Something that is chronologically out of place with the rest of a context: "Knights in armor are an anachronism in today's sporting events." 2. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or an historical order: "The novel has one anachronism after the other." archaic (ahr KAY ik) (adjective) Characteristic of or belonging to a former or earlier time: "There are some archaic expressions used in this book that are charming." archaism (AHR kee iz" uhm, AHR kay iz" uhm) (noun) Something that is characterized as old fashioned or is no longer used: "Wearing a bloomer as an article of clothing is an archaism which belongs in the history books." It is an obsolete notion to wear a bustle which has become obsolescent for daily wear. It is somewhat of an anachronism, like wearing lace mitts to the opera because lace mitts are archaic, something my great grandmother wore; however, now they are just considered an archaism best left for the manikin in the museum. Word Entries containing the term: “anachronism an anachronism in his own time *
Report on the adaptation actions for a changing Arctic in the Barents Area 26.4.2017 15:15 Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has released the Barents Area assessment report, a result of four years of research towards understanding the adaptive capacity of the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Russian Arctic. The Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic (AACA) report carefully documents environmental, climatic and social information to highlights the interactions between them. This knowledge supports and informs decision makers, communities and businesses, helping people adapt to the inevitability of the warming climate. The Barents Area Report, one of three requested by the Arctic Council, proposes how best to meet these changes with efficient adaptation. Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland is one of the partners in the AMAP programme and co-writers in the report. Change and arctic opportunities Change is coming to the Arctic, and communities must adapt. Both opportunities, fisheries and shipping routes opening, and challenges, extreme weather, are some key challenges to adaptation. • The Gulf Stream makes Barents one of the warmest Arctic areas and the Barents Sea will be the first Arctic region to be free of sea ice year around. • Retreating sea ice edges are opening new grounds for trawling and transport routes while impacting fish and animals dependent on sea ice. • Rainfall, flooding, avalanches and landslides will increase. Expected change The Barents Sea covers almost million and a half square kilometers of water has an important role for the atmosphere and the movement of ocean currents. Global warming in the Arctic occurs more than double than the rest of the world and research has projected the Barents Sea will be the first year round ice-free region. As the Barents Sea opens, cooperation is essential. Fisheries rely on international cooperation and agreements for success when fish stocks migrate to new waters and new fish stocks appear because of increased ocean temperatures. Some fish species (e.g. Atlantic cod and haddock) will shift northwards due to climate change, while Arctic species will retreat and decrease. Animals who need sea ice will loose their habitat while open water animals, like baleen whales may benefit from the warming. The open water will also change the weather, causing heavier rainfall. On the open sea, extreme wave heights and storms of over 100 km long could result. However, polar lows should decrease in the future. More rain will fall in winter. On land, the rain will fall on snow, causing natural hazards. Landslides and avalanches will increase and flooding will become more frequent and heavier. The rain on snow will freeze in layers, making it difficult for reindeer to reach their food through ice. As a result, more reindeer will die, impacting the people who depend on them. The warmer temperature will continue to melt the frozen ground, permafrost, causing damage to infrastructure. Economic demand also becomes part of the picture - without it, there is no way to reap the benefits of additional ocean and land advantages. Adaptation foundations and processes Beyond natural factors, global, social, economic, political and cultural changes also directly affect adaptability. A complex web of issues from nature, economics and government directly affect local communities. "Using these resources means great responsibility for safeguarding local and indigenous communities." Dr. Grete Hovelsrud, Nord University, Bodø. From the many people in the Arctic, Indigenous communities face a greater range of challenges including loss of identity, language, traditional food culture, and land. Beyond global warming there are everyday issues of poor economy and challenges of working with the mainstream authorities. By addressing these issues now, policy makers could avoid worsening them in the future. More information: AACA report Research Professor Monica Tennberg Arctic Centre, University of Lapland monica.tennberg@ulapland.fi, +358 040 019 2005 Social Anthropologist Grete Hovelsrud Nord University, Bodø, Norway grete.hovelsrud@nord.no, +47 95 80 60 46 Senior Researcher Annika E. Nilsson Stockholm Environment Institute annika.nilsson@sei-international.org +46 73707 8541 AACA Barents co-chair Marianne Kroglund Norwegian Environment Agency marianne.kroglund@miljodir.no, tel: +47 48005055
Visual Studio VS 2008+ Visual Studio Code Metrics Code Metrics There are various metrics that can be calculated for source code. These can help to determine its complexity, readability or maintainability. When you are involved in code reviews, it can be useful to determine such metrics for the code being examined. This can help you to identify problem areas and rectify issues before they become too embedded in the software. Visual Studio 2008 introduced a set of five automatically calculated metrics, which continued to be present in Visual Studio 2010 and 2012. Unfortunately they are not available in all editions of the integrated development environment (IDE). Visual Studio 2008 users require one of the Team System editions. Users of later versions must have either the Premium or Ultimate editions in order to generate metrics. The five available metrics are: • Maintainability Index • Cyclomatic Complexity • Depth of Inheritance • Class Coupling • Lines of Code The following sections describe each of these metrics, before explaining how you can generate them. Maintainability Index The maintainability index gives an indication of how easy it should be to understand and modify the code. The index gives a value between zero and one hundred with lower numbers indicating code that may be more difficult to work with. This metric is the only one that is also presented graphically within the IDE. A value below ten is shown with a red icon. If you have code with such a low maintainability index you should investigate it and rectify the problems as soon as possible. A yellow icon, indicating a maintainability index between ten and nineteen also indicates code that requires attention. When the index is twenty or more, the icon turns green. This is quite a low cut-off for an indicator that many people would assume means good maintainability. In general you should aim for a much greater value than twenty. The maintainability index is based upon several other values. They include the cyclomatic complexity and lines of code metrics, which we'll see in a moment. The index also considers the Halstead Volume, described by Maurice Howard Halstead. This is a measure of the computational complexity of algorithms, determined by the number of operands and operators used. Fewer of each leads to better maintainability. To improve the maintainability index for some source code you can reduce the number and complexity of operations in each unit of code, lower the cyclomatic complexity or decrease the number of lines of code. Cyclomatic Complexity The cyclomatic complexity is a measure of structural complexity. It is related to the number of possible routes through a unit of code. A simple method with no branching cause by if or switch statements will have a very low cyclomatic complexity. Each additional conditional processing command increases the complexity and decreases the code's readability. The actual value for cyclomatic complexity varies according to the version of Visual Studio used to calculate it. Visual Studio 2010 and later versions increase the value when encountering catch statements. Visual Studio 2008 does not. A rule of thumb is that no individual method or property should have a cyclomatic complexity that is greater than ten. Lower numbers are preferred but higher values can be acceptable in some cases. This rule does not apply to classes or structures, as their complexity is derived from the total complexity of their contained members. To reduce the cyclomatic complexity you should consider refactoring to extract methods. This may change a single method with a value of ten into two methods, each with lower complexity. If a method has a high value due to a large set of switch cases you might consider refactoring the code to use a design pattern, such as the Strategy pattern. Depth of Inheritance Depth of inheritance describes the number of classes from which a specific type inherits functionality. The idea is that if more types exist in an inheritance hierarchy, the code will likely be more difficult to maintain as a result. However, a high depth of inheritance can also indicate a greater level of code reuse. This means that it is difficult to say what a good depth is. Microsoft does include a code analysis rule (CA1501), which generates a warning when an inheritance hierarchy is more than four levels deep. However, the documentation for this rule says that it is acceptable to ignore the warning. It's also worthy of note that many .NET framework classes, some of which you may decide to subclass, have a larger depth of inheritance. 13 April 2013
Action-Reflection: Change Activity In leadership classes and organizational development courses, often conversations will go the route of theory. Theory is important because it can explain behavior. But, from a strategy standpoint, theories can only go so far. One way to groom leaders in the classroom is to give them activities that they actually “do” outside of class. It really works well if you tie the actions to a graded discussion or writing exercise. Here is a great activity to experience the reality of change management: 1. A change activity. In this one, ask your students to “change” up something about their day. This can be things like: 1. Park in a different parking spot than where you normally park (at work, at church, at grocery store, etc) 2. Sit in a different spot in a meeting 3. Drive a different way (to work, to school, to church, to the grocery store, etc) 4. Order something different off of your favorite restaurant menu 5. Or, you can come up with a change of your own, but it must be approved before taking action 2. It is recommended that the student make one change, on at least four days of the week. A student could choose to repeat the one change, if the firs time the change was attempted, they failed. (I.e., a student could decide to drive to work a different way, BUT they could experience forgetting to actually do it) The results can show students that habits are POWERFUL. More importantly, there are some changes people can make easily, and there are some that can be incredibly hard. If a change is tied to something a student is more emotionally attached to, the change can be very hard. This is an important dynamic to understand in leading others in big change efforts in organizations.
The Seal of Hong Kong.Thousands of students and others protested the implementation of ‘patriotic education’ in Hong Kong’s schools during the ten-day period before Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election in an attempt to force the cancellation of the planned curriculum which is both controversial and contrary to what many feel is Hong Kong’s spirit of freedom. Among criticisms of the proposed materials are that it glosses over controversial aspects of Chinese history and tries to brainwash students into becoming patriotic mouthpieces for the regime in Beijing. Ultimately, Hong Kong’s new chief Leung Chun-ying decided not to promote the new curriculum, perhaps bowing to local pressure. Under Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ rule the city has retained a degree of sovereignty since being handed over by the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Though elections are free and other parties can run for seats, it is impossible for any pro-democracy parties to gain a majority of the seats. Even though Leung Chun-ying caved to local pressure in a move that many would consider a sign of the influence and power of the local pro-democracy parties, they ultimately only gained 27 of the 70 available seats. Not only is a pro-democracy majority impossible, but Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement is somewhat directionless and poorly organized. In contrast, pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong tend to play up Chinese nationalist sentiment and are well-oiled political machines. The most successful democrats in the elections were those considered somewhat radical, so some on the pro-democracy side have concluded that the answer is become even more radical with more demonstrations in the future. [The Economist]
Personal computer Science Principles Computer & TechnologyA personal computer is a programmable machine developed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The specific sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the laptop to solve more than one particular kind of difficulty. An crucial class of pc operations on some computing platforms is the accepting of input from human operators and the output of outcomes formatted for human consumption. The interface between the personal computer and the human operator is recognized as the user interface. Desktop PCs with touchscreens mean that navigating documents, the web and software has never ever been less complicated. All of our desktop Pc variety comes with Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 pre-installed, so you’re ready to go as soon as you get it house. Desktop PCs have even got colourful, with red, blue, white and silver models to choose from alongside classic black. There’s lots of storage for endless computer software, apps, downloads, pictures, films, music and much more with up to 3TB storage capacity. Built-in Bluetooth and WiFi give you ultimate wireless connectivity. As for processing power, choose from dual- and quad-core Intel® Core, Pentium, and Celeron processors, or the newest AMD processors, while the most recent AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce deliver gorgeous graphics. Also, even if we admit that this thesis is correct, you have not replied to my remark that the Church-Turing thesis only talks about computation, so that if it is correct it only means that the computational energy of our brain is the identical as that of computers. But nothing at all proves that every thing our brain does can be seen as computation. What about dreams, intuitions, love? I do not claim that these factors can not be observed as computations, but I believe that at the extremely least it really is not clear that they can. Millennium young children are not burdened by the complexity of the laptop nor the comparatively slow evolution of technology. They have by no means recognized a time when disk space was an situation. Slow transmission of graphic screens is a foreign idea to these kids. They have constantly had quite interactive computers that were capable of handling most any activity, (or tasks), that were asked of them. With this level of technology getting second nature to them, they are capable to imagine future directions for the technology without having getting burdened by thoughts that one thing cannot be accomplished. They have every single cause to think that something can be accomplished by technology and they are likely correct! These of you who use integrated graphics and merely want a processor capable of handling all of today’s newest games will locate that Intel’s Haswell fourth generation i5-4670k or third generation i5-3570k are more than up for the challenge. In other words if you had a $600 spending budget for your GPU and CPU, in this scenario, you’d be better off placing $400 towards your graphics card.
Space Plant Vase The Space Plant Vase is a plant container that has a hollow tube for water to go in. However, the water will not just slide down the tube like on earth. This is why there is an extra piece to push the water down the tube and into the soil. There should be soil in the container or else the water will go out the small opening in the top for the plant to grow out of. The soil will absorb the water before it gets the chance to escape out the top. You can attach velcro to any of the sides (Not bottom or top) except the one that has the tube on it. This model can be used on any space station needed. This can be used any time to grow plants in space. Download model Our 3D viewer requires a WebGL enabled browser Share this submission to
Ernest Hemingway 1899 - 1961 American Author Hemingway was a novelist and short-story writer who wrote in a virile and extrovert style. His literary work is distinguished for his concise stylistic purity, emotional veracity and dramatic vision. As a young man Hemingway served with the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in France in the last year of WW I. Later he worked as a journalist, covering the Greco-Turkish war for the Toronto Star. He made frequent trips to Spain and the Austrian Alps but for the most part was based in Paris. His novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (1926) gained him instant acclaim, while his next novel, 'A Farewell to Arms' (1929), advanced him to the front ranks of contemporary writers. He returned to the US in 1927 but in 1937 Hemingway went to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War, an event that led to his story 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. Later he won the Pulitzer prize for fiction for his novel 'The Old Man and the Sea' written in Cuba. In his later years Hemingway became prone to mental depression, and eventually a form of paranoia; he committed suicide by shooting him-self at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. www link : Hemingway Page
Building Disney’s Beast Building Disney’s Beast Beauty and the Beast Starlight Theatre 2016-07-15 CATEGORY: Broadway TAGS: Beauty and the Beast Starlight Theatre The journey to creating Disney’s Beauty and the Beast began with an 18th-century French fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. It was this story that Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, used to create the original 1991 Disney movie. Once the screenwriter molds the story, the Disney design team takes over. Disney lovingly creates appealing characters for every movie. The development of these characters begins with exploring all options for hair, eyes and body structure. Glen Keane was the Disney supervising animator for Beauty and the Beast. His other credits include The Little Mermaid, Tarzan and UP. Developing the Beast was a true challenge to Keane and his team. They even traveled to Europe to get a firsthand look at the environment in which the story would take place. After his analysis of the environment, Keane kept coming back to one thing - the wilderness surrounding the story. He decided all pieces of the Beast would stem from that wilderness and wild animals around the world, including boars, gorillas, lions, bears and more. To build the Beast, he started with the head of a buffalo, the mane of a lion, the brow of a gorilla, tusks of a wild boar, arms and body of a bear and lastly, the legs and tail of a wolf. However, the one piece that is not animal in nature is the Beast’s eyes. To keep the Beast relatable and appealing, Keane decided to keep the eyes of the prince. In this way, the audience sees emotion in those bright blue eyes as the story unfolds.
Internet Explorer 7 Safari (Mac and PC) Post Archive 2017 (0)2012 (1)2011 (36) Rate This Post Total votes: 5 Blogger Profile Dangerous Experiments Blog RSS Feed RSS Add to My Yahoo Add to Google Recent Comments Jan 08, 2013, 7:58pm Jan 08, 2013, 7:50pm Jan 08, 2013, 7:24pm Nov 15, 2012, 3:04pm Aug 15, 2012, 5:07pm Monday, June 20, 2011 This week's guest blogger is Rachana Bhatawdekar. She's a budding astrophysicist currently traveling Europe and Asia. You can find her and a bunch of sciency tweets on twitter as @astrogeek03. When astronomers look in to deep space they can ‘look-back’ in to time, billions of years. Now I can understand it can take light a while to get here, but how did WE get here, considering we originated in the big bang just like all the stuff created whose light reaches us many years later? Was the emergence of life unavoidable? Is it the result of a process that would have had to occur sooner or later? Or else is it the outcome of coincidences so improbable that time spans much longer than the age of the Universe would be insufficient to explain it by a random process? Of course, when one has plenty of time, even the improbable becomes possible. When one plays dice for a very long time, one always ends up by throwing a double six three times in a row. Credit: Andrew C. The theory of evolution of species initially gave rise to much disbelief. In the 19th century, this was in part because geological periods were believed to be much shorter. Today, it is probably because the disbelievers cannot imagine the immensity of the time lapse corresponding to four billion years. However, the recent phylogenetic studies have convinced all serious scientists that evolution is no longer in doubt. The most important unsolved problem is the time span needed to produce the first bacteria. Between the decline in the number of large cometary impacts and the existence of the first fossil bacteria there cannot be much more than 200 million years. In our ignorance of the mechanisms needed to assemble the first self-reproducing cell, can we assume that a sufficient time has elapsed? Most biologists answer in the affirmative. But in 1970 the French biochemist Jacques Monod wrote a widely read book entitled Chance and Necessity wherein he expressed the opinion that the origin of life was the result of a very unlikely chance that would not repeat itself elsewhere. However, Monod was unaware of all the more recent evidence that suggests otherwise. Salmonella Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH Other scientists have addressed the residual problem of the time span needed to put together the first bacteria. In particular, the well known British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle and his Sri-Lankan collaborator N. Chandra Wickramasinghe have endeavored to demostrate that it is utterly impossible to build a bacterium in so little time. This is a useful effort, because it compels us to reexamine the situation. They started from the three-dimensional form of an enzyme, which gives it its specificity (for instance, its ability to fit the shape of another molecule in the way a key fits a lock). They computed that there is a 1 in 1015 chance of assembling amino acids by chance to build the required geometric solid. Then there is at most 1 chance in 105 of positioning the active site of the catalyst at the best solution. Thus, there is only one chance in 1015+5 = 1020 of obtaining the required enzyme that is able to function. Trying to assemble it by chance at the rate of 1000 combinations per second would require 3 billion years ! This is not the problem, because it could be tried in a billion different locations in the early seas. Only three years would then be required for the enzyme to form by chance in at least one location. The problem lies in the fact that, in order to make a basic bacterium, about 2000 enzymes are required, each having a specific shape and a different catalytic action. In order to make them all by chance, at least 10202000 = 1040,000 trials are needed. The huge improbability of assembling a bacterium by chance within the 100 or 200 million years available on the primitive Earth is used by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe as the starting point for their hypothesis that bacteria preexisted in comets. We now return to their probability assessment to show where it is misleading. As a matter of fact, their computation is based on pure chance. They attach equal probabilities to all possible cases, which comes down to constructing a bacterium all at once from nothing. Despite its small size, it is true that a bacterium would be nearly as complicated as a Boeing 747, but there is no reason to assemble either a Boeing or a bacterium in a single operation. Of course, the difficulty lies in the nature of the evolutionary process, when all evolving proteins must help one another and act in concert for the sake of the whole organism. Credit: NIGMS Research has begun to elucidate this question; it seems to imply that the emergence of life comes from the collective properties of the polymers that show catalytic features. This explains the recent interest in the fact that RNA is autocatalytic. Eigen has recently helped to clarify the problem. He has studied the way in which what he calls chemical ‘hypercycles’ can evolve. The main point of a hypercycle is that it involves several chemical reactions coupled by several feedback loops acting upon one another. The simplest feedback loop (e.g. in a central heating system) gives a false sense of finality. When many feedback loops are coupled, this feeling is even more marked, because the system seems to ‘know’ how to influence the future. Chemical hypercycles have now been studied in the laboratory, and their spontanenous evolution in the course of time shows natural selection in action, as if it ‘knew’ the way to build more stable and more complex hypercycles. Lets say there are three reaction products A, B and C that act indirectly upon each other. A catalyses the reaction leading to B, B does the same for C, and C for A, closing the feedback loop. If some of the reaction products A’, A’’,A’’’ etc. are less fit to survive, they trigger the disappearance of their whole cycle. The same happens for B’, B’’, B’’’ and for C’, C’’, C’’’ etc. If A survives, this is because it has selected the right choices for B and C, and vice versa. The hypercycle is therefore a machine for selecting and encoding the proper information for survival at least expense, and beginning with zero information. In a word, it is the Darwinian mechanism of evolution of the species and of survival of the fittest that has just been moved back to the level of a purely chemical process. Laboratory experiments have now shown that the short period of time needed to begin early life on Earth is not a problem. With a simplified enzyme including only few amino acid residues and maybe some fragments of RNA, a hypercycle could have produced the first ‘protobionts’ in much less than 100 million years. Thus the way would have been open for the first bacteria to appear. All this can be summarized by emphasizing that Prigogine’s ‘dissipative structures’ that are needed for life can be developed from scratch, with no previous information needed, by using Eigen’s hypercyles to set in motion the evolution of species and the survival of the fittest, at an extraordinarily simple chemical level. Earth Credit: NASA Thus, genetic information is coded from the beginning by the survival of the most suitable chemical process, and it accumulates in small stages which are the most probable at each time point. The questions raised by those who feel intuitively that life is a phenomenon too complex to emerge simply by chance no longer stand up, and the quantitative statement of this problem, as expressed by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe, has proved to be totally misleading. We can in fact readily accept that ‘life’ is a very probable physico-chemical phenomenon that will appear soon after the prerequisite conditions are met. On the Earth, it could easily have emerged in the time available after the biosphere emerged as a result of the cometary bombardment. This post has been viewed: 3821 time(s) Blog Comments Raymond Christopher Qual Guest Comment A very interesting article! However, your focus seems to be on the emergence of bacteria as the start of life, If we are to consider the formation of autocatalytic RNA as part of the process towards life, what about the place of viruses in the evolution of life? RNA is a fundamental part of viruses, and it is possible that in one of the billions of pools across ancient Earth the RNA could have reacted with enzymes to form primitive strands of DNA. Also consider the possibility that these early pools of enzymes and autocatalytic RNA could have imitated some of the functions we've come to expect from cells until outside reactants, such as changes in pH or H2O that could have come from comet impacts, forced changes in the interaction of "native pool" reactants. Through millions to billions of years such changes would amount to the tried and true stimulus - response, an environmental change forcing a corresponding change in the reactions and formations of RNA /DNA /enzymes. It could be said that the formation of life was an effort by these primitive enzymatic "pools" to escape extinction, and that subsequent mutations seen in the formation of various life forms as an effort by the RNA /DNA /enzymes that make up all life to duplicate the effect of the billions of pools on ancient Earth - to give the molecules that make up our cell nuclei the broadest and best possible chances of surviving all that the universe is throwing at it! And those changes has thus far culminated with humans - what better survival adaptation for the RNA /DNA /enzymes than to evolve a being that can escape Earth spanning extinction events? Speaking of the universe throwing stuff at the pre-life enzymatic pools, and specifically comets, I dismiss the idea that Earth was seeded with bacteria from comets since it still does not answer the question of how life came to be, and is a cop-out on trying to find the real answer to life's emergence. I'm a science fiction writer with one of my three degrees being an associates in biology, and it's always a pleasure to discuss the possibilities of how we, and life, came to be. Thanks to Labspaces for tweeting a path to this article. :) R. C. Qualls Rosie Redfield Guest Comment The events leading to the first bacterial cells could have started whenever chance processes produced somethng that natural selecion could act on (something with replication and heritable variation). Eigen's hypercycles are one way to do this. Torbjörn Larsson Guest Comment Life's "dangerous experiment"; much appreciated! - Whenever I hear of Monod (which I haven't read), I get the feeling that he isn't considering an actual statistical process! It sounds more like a dynamic process, where in a vast phase space that is frequently revisited he puts a small volume where there is 'life'. It is trivial that when you look at stochastic processes, a simplest possible Poisson process model for abiogenetic attempts is both suitable and informative. Life within ~ 1 Gy out of ~ 5 Gy history makes a normalized delay of ~ 0.2, and since exponential distributions stacks their probability mass so early this actually looks to have 3 sigma testability!? In a deterministic interpretation, abiogenesis attempts are frequent and/or they are easy. Conversely from P.m. ~ 30 % of ~ 5 Gy old habitable worlds could have life, which rapidly rises to ~ 100 % over some delays (< 1 Gy) time. So informative, while bad stats (1 data-point). - The death under the impact tail has been vastly exaggerated. ["Microbial habitability of the Hadean Earth during the late heavy bombardment", Oleg Abramov et al, Nature 2009.] Cells multiply and spread faster than sterilization ("life is a plague"). In later papers there is a "goldilocks" crustal habitable zone ~ 1 km down that fails crust buster sterilization. Life could have started out right away. Mantle diamond inclusions @ ~ 4.3 Ga tells of a vast reservoir of light 13C with fractionation that only the acetyl-CoA pathway reach @ ~ - 50 o/oo. (Fischer-Tropsch abiotic reactions reach a steady ~ - 30 o/oo 13C fractionation; see McCollom et al IIRC.) - Some biologists with what looks like chemical expertise like Orgel has criticized the viability of autocatalytic cycles. They "leak" nonfunctional side product and IIRC extinguish. (Don't have the ref handy.) Has this changed, which lab experiments are we discussing? Torbjörn Larsson Guest Comment Just for kicks (and since I can quickly adapt a recent comment of mine), here is my take on the necessity of chemical evolution: DNA-protein cell machinery, RNA or ATP biosynthesis before the first membranes, the first enzymes are examples of (not fully exclusive) common evolutionary chicken-and-egg problems. Luckily such problems conveniently bottleneck possible pathways to a smaller set. Bottom up, chemical network enzymes are a natural outcome in newer scenarios. High-temperature reactions seems to be much faster than orthodox theory believed from scant data. This temperature dependence gives a self-selection for enthalpic pre-proteinous enzymes. ["Impact of temperature on the time required for the establishment of primordial biochemistry, and for the evolution of enzymes", Stockbridge et al, PNAS, 2010.] Now looking top down, we see that pathways meet. The first modern metabolic networks originated with purine metabolism, and specifically with the gene family of the P-loop-containing ATP hydrolase fold. ["The origin of modern metabolic networks inferred from phylogenomic analysis of protein architecture", Caetano-Anollés et al. PNAS, 2007; "Rapid evolutionary innovation during an Archaean genetic expansion", David et al, Nature, 2010.] That is, ATP sits at the intersection between a cooling and/or hydrothermal vent active Earth prometabolism and the nucleotide protometabolism. (That later seems to have been exaptated by modern proteinous metabolic genes as coenzyme/energy currency.) Minimum change of traits picks ATP use before RNA evolution. * Note that this is an (informal) test of a phylogenetic pathway. Abiogenesis is actually slightly testable today as far as I can see; and see my previous comment. I think Shostak's spontaneous assembling protocells may be testable as well; they are necessary both for RNA polymerases self-replication (since their promiscous nature are prone to self-extinction otherwise) or mature ATP biosynthesis (cellular metabolism). They too straddles the RNA world gap. Guest Comment You might find this interesting: Life might be rare despite its early emergence on Earth: a Bayesian analysis of the probability of abiogenesis - :) Torbjörn Larsson Guest Comment [ - Is this thing still on? Thumps thread. An answering comment makes him jump. - Why, so it is!] Thanks, Rachana. Yes, I was actually currently looking for such models, it is again much appreciated! I will look it over. unfortunately I don't know much about bayesian modeling as regards stochastic processes, I have only the basic stuff under my vest. I do know bayesian modeling is emulated by hidden markov models, so there should be some connection. Torbjörn Larsson Guest Comment I don't want to make this a comment dump, but I added something on a whim last time that doesn't hold up. The claim that self-assembled membranes is a chicken-and-egg problem for cellular ATP production specifically is wrong. I was thinking of modern metabolism, where chemiosmosis over membranes stand for the majority of ATP production. However, ATP is also a net product out of glycolysis in the cell cytosol, not dependent on membranes. On the contrary one can entertain the notion that glycolysis is another early trait. As far as I can see it is claimed to be extant in all cells, and incorporates key steps for both anabolic and catabolic pathways. It is also notable in this context of abiogenesis and early ATP that the steps that lies around the start of the pay-off phase (later stage of glycolysis) are populated by DHAP and GADP. <a href="">DHAP and GADP have been claimed to be abiotic products of formaldehyde in alkaline fluids with FeS</a> (say, in hydrothermal vents). Add Comment? Comments are closed 2 weeks after initial post.
Cheap & indigenous adsorbents based approach to drinking water purification The idea of this project is to look for the alternatives of expansive absorbents like activated carbon and other purification methods like RO. One way of doing this is to use indigenous substances like rice husk, neem leaves for adsorbing the impurities. The project mainly aim at making a list of such substances, testing them and finally come out with DIY(Do-It-Yourself) type of manual that can guide any literate person to make an efficient water filter by just using the available resources around him. The project is divided in 3 phases. The first phase which has been completed focused on doing an extensive study of research papers available and developing a database of all the indigenous and cheap substances which can act as a potential adsorbent. In the second phase we are currently testing 5 such substances (Rice husk, Egg shells, Wheat barn, neem leaves, coconut husk) in lab for their effectiveness in removing common impurities like fluoride. In the final phase we would use the most effective of these tested adsorbents in designing a cheap and compact water filter. Electricity from waste heat of gas stove This is the most recent project taken up by Parishodh Pilani team. The aim of the project is to utilize waste heat from a flame of gas stove and convert it into electricity using a thermoelectric effect. This project is vey feasible considering as much as 50% of heat produced from stove is wasted while cooking and also hand there is a huge shortage of electricity in our country forcing my towns and villages to spend nights in darkness. The electricity produced from this model can be stored using batteries and can be later used for lighting and other purposes. Work would be done mainly on increasing efficiency, reducing costs and improving design so that it can be easily incorporated in any gas stove. Rope Pump The aim of this project is to completely develop an economical and portable storage system for biogas (in modular form) to be used for kitchen purposes. This will provide a fuel solution to a large section of the rural population, while making use of a renewable energy source. It involves: 1. Enhancement of biogas quality in least possible cost such that it is sufficient for storage and use in kitchen. This consists of Wobble number optimization and heat capacity enhancement. 2. An economic pumping mechanism for storing the sufficiently enhanced gas into acceptable volumes. Contact details:
Part of a Series: Cleaning the Overton Window A Distinction: Descriptive Versus Predictive Theory It’s critical to remember that what Overton has provided with his theory is a description of how large-scale political change happens over time: the window shifts left or right, or contracts or expands, changing the policies considered politically feasible. Other theorists have also proposed a predictive hypothesis about how groups might move the window, with most suggesting that groups standing ‘outside’ the window are necessary for change in public opinion to occur (Daniel Loxton has made the same distinction between the descriptive and predictive versions of the theory in the past). It is reasonable to ask what data is available to justify the accuracy of both the description and the predictive hypothesis. This post deals with the theory as a description of our political reality: is there really a “window” of feasible policies, does it change over time as suggested, and what does the theory leave out of the equation? Is the Overton Window an Accurate Description of How Political Change Occurs? Descriptively, the theory looks fairly good at first glance. It is clearly the case that the range of politically feasible positions in given policy areas does change over time. We can all think of major political issues in which now-accepted ideas were once considered outrageous, and we can point to the individuals and groups who first advocated those ideas. Consider Prohibition: this was a major intrusion of the government into people’s private lives – a policy far to the left on Overton’s scale – which received sufficient public support to make it feasible for politicians to enact through an amendment to the Constitution. But today, such a brazen intervention by the government into personal decisions regarding alcohol would be unthinkable, and no politician would be able to advocate prohibition of alcohol in today’s political climate and maintain public support. When is comes to government regulation of alcohol consumption he Overton Window has shifted quite far to the right (in the direction of less government control). An international comparison makes the case even clearer: in the UK the age required to purchase alcohol is 18, rather than 21 in the US. Fifteen US States ban underage consumption of alcohol, even with the permission of a guardian, whereas this is legal in the UK. And these policies seem reasonably popular with their relative publics: the US public does not support lowering the drinking age to the UK’s 18, and supports even stricter penalties for underage drinking (source). In the UK, the idea of raising the drinking age to 21 does not seem to receive majority support, and repeated calls to do so have been rejected by both English and Scottish Parliaments. It seems clear that the Overton Window as regards government involvement in the purchase and consumption of alcohol is further to the left in the USA than in the UK – the UK public are less supportive of government intrusion into this area of life than the US public seem to be. But, if the situation were to change, it is conceivable that different policy options would open up on both sides of the Atlantic, just as the political landscape in the USA is massively different now to how it was at the time of Prohibition, enabling politicians to find support for a different range of policies at different points along the scale. It seems that the Overton Window can indeed shift left or right along the scale. I also believe it to be true that, at different times and in different nations, a wider or narrower range of policies is politically feasible. On a wide range of issues, for instance, there is a narrower Overton Window in the US when compared with many European countries. In the UK, for instance, you can find people in Parliament who are socialists who advocate, with significant public support, statist policies which are far to the left of anything the most left-wing democrat could feasibly propose, such as the . And while our right-wing isn’t nearly as right as America’s, you can still find the odd MP promoting broadly libertarian policies. It is my view t hat , in the UK, the Overton Window is simply wider on a large number of issues, such that a broader range of policies is feasible. So, something like the Overton Window of political feasibility certainly exists, and it does contract, widen, and shift over time. It probably does so slowly, as Overton suggests, and is shifted most often by social change movements who apply constant pressure to public opinion rather than by individual leaders. This description seems to fit the observed political environment today, makes sense of international comparisons, and changes in policy over time. Empirical support for this position is offered by Page and Shapiro (1983), who note that “public opinion is often a proximate cause of policy, affecting policy more than policy affects public opinion”. What the Overton Window, as Descriptive Theory, Does Not Address Of course, this single theory it doesn’t explain everything about political change. First, there are many factors relating to the feasibility of a policy which are not related to public support for that specific policy. Politicians frequently get elected because of their likability, their family heritage, their party affiliation (which can develop at a time when the party’s policies were very different, and continue to inform voting decisions for a lifetime), their wealth – a host of factors other than their policy platform – and are then free to advocate for an unpopular policy at least until the next election. The public are also notoriously contradictory about their policy preferences, with opinions on key political issues dependent, often, on how the issue is presented (a topical review of polling regarding views of gun control, for instance, can be found here). Zaller, in The Nature and Origin of Public Opinion (1992), provides an excellent rundown of research regarding how wildly public opinion on an issue can seem to change simply due to the wording of a poll. There are also issues on which the public has “no meaningful opinions” (as Burstein points out) – applying Overton’s theory to such policies would be a misstep, since it is not public opinion so much as special interests who are driving policy here. Further, it is clear from the above analysis that the theory Overton developed has a limited scope – and here is where some prominent atheist authors begin to make some errors, in my judgment. It concerns how specific policy positions related to a given issue – an issue which can be represented in a scale measuring the level of government intervention – become more or less politically feasible. It therefore, in its original formation, has nothing whatsoever to say about how, for instance, maligned social groups seek greater acceptance in society. To attempt to apply Overton’s theory to explain how atheists are becoming progressively more accepted in American public life would be to misunderstand it as originally stated, and therefore to use it to develop a strategy to improve acceptance of atheists in society (as atheist blogger Adam Lee does in this article for The Modern Rationalist) would be a misstep. To suggest that the theory is about “extremists making centrists more reasonable by comparison” (as Greta Christina writes) is to introduce a concept to the theory which the original formulation does not posit. To suggest that, by making “the very concept of atheism a respectable part of the public debate”, the “Overton Window” has shifted (as Sean Carroll suggested in Discover Magazine) is to misread the theory. To apply it to policy areas where no scale of government intervention can be applied (policy areas like equal marriage rights for queer people, for example, as Adam Lee does here) is to risk confusing the matter. These errors share a similar problem: they take a theory designed to describe a limited fact of political life and use the name of that specific theory to attempt to describe a much wider range of political situations. This may not cause a problem – many theories initially developed to describe a limited phenomenon can be fruitfully expanded to explain much more. But expanding the range of a theory requires argumentation which demonstrates why the new situation being described is analogous to the original situation – and none of the authors linked, as far as I can tell, attempt to justify the way they have broadened Overton’s theory. Rather, they use the term “Overton’s Window” as if it always had, and was intended to have, the meaning they ascribe to it. This is problematic because essential distinctions between disanalogous phenomena can be missed if a cogent case is not made as to why a theory designed to explain phenomenon A can be accurately applied to also explain phenomenon B. Furthermore, the theory is about positions, not directly about persuasion. The theory, properly understood, says nothing about persuasive strategy. It is not a theory which has any bearing on debates over tone, or the use of ridicule, or framing. It cannot guide us when designing a billboard or an ad campaign relating to a particular message. To the extent that it addresses extremes at all it is about extreme policy positions (positions far out of the mainstream of current acceptability) not extreme ways of presenting policy positions (extreme rhetoric, for example). This is important, because the idea of the Overton Window is often misunderstood and used to justify harsh rhetoric and other persuasive strategies which much communications research shows to be ineffective. This question – of the strategic implications (if any) of the descriptive theory – will be the focus of the next post in the series. I Used to Think Like Dave ..." Why Are People Prejudiced Against Atheists? 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Cover Page Copyright, 1912, by Charles Scribner's Sons Published October, 1912 Decorative Image Why do the bells of Christmas ring? Why do little children sing? Therefore bells for Christmas ring, Therefore little children sing. Decorative Image Decorative Image Decorative Image Dedication v Christmas Hymn 3 The Symbol and the Saint 5 Christmas Eve 21 Joel's Talk with Santa Claus 23 The Three Kings of Cologne 39 The Coming of the Prince 41 Chrystmasse of Olde 60 The Mouse and the Moonbeam 62 Christmas Morning 83 Mistress Merciless 86 Bethlehem-Town 105 The First Christmas Tree 107 Star of the East 118 Facing Page For he was so generous that he gave away all these pretty things as fast as he made them 12 So Barbara fell asleep 54 "But why shouldn't I be merry?" asked the little mauve mouse. "To-morrow is Christmas, and this is Christmas eve" 64 "'What sound was that?' cried Dimas, for he was exceeding fearful" 78 The strange allegory of the lame boy's speech filled her with awe 90 But, with her babe upon her knee, Naught recked that Mother of the tree 106 To seek that manger out and lay Our gifts before the child— To bring our hearts and offer them Unto our King in Bethlehem! 118 Sing, O my heart! Sing thou in rapture this dear morn Whereon the blessed Prince is born! 2 Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, And close thine eyes in dreaming 20 "This must be the house where the prince will stop," thought Barbara 46 Share thou this holy time with me, The universal hymn of love 84 "Nestle down close, fold your hands, and shut your dear eyes!" 101 "They are killing me!" cried the tree 115 Cover Page Sing, O my heart! Sing thou in rapture this dear morn Whereon the blessed Prince is born! Decorative Image Sing, Christmas bells! Say to the earth this is the morn Whereon our Savior-King is born; Sing to all men,—the bond, the free, The rich, the poor, the high, the low, The little child that sports in glee, The aged folk that tottering go,— Proclaim the morn That Christ is born, That saveth them and saveth me! Sing, angel host! Sing of the star that God has placed Above the manger in the East; Sing of the glories of the night, The virgin's sweet humility, The Babe with kingly robes bedight,— Sing to all men where'er they be This Christmas morn; For Christ is born, That saveth them and saveth me! Sing, sons of earth! O ransomed seed of Adam, sing! God liveth, and we have a king! The curse is gone, the bond are free— By Bethlehem's star that brightly beamed, By all the heavenly signs that be, We know that Israel is redeemed; That on this morn The Christ is born That saveth you and saveth me! Sing, O my heart! Sing thou in rapture this dear morn Whereon the blessed Prince is born! And as thy songs shall be of love, So let my deeds be charity By the dear Lord that reigns above, By Him that died upon the tree, By this fair morn Whereon is born The Christ that saveth all and me! Decorative Image Decorative Image "Yes," said Norss. "And thou art Norss?" she asked. "I am Norss; and I come seeking my bride," he answered.[9] Remembering then the spirit's words, Norss said: "What symbol have you, Faia, that I may know how truly you have spoken?" as fast as he made them. "We shall see," said Faia. "The same dream had I,—an angel appearing to me and speaking these very words."[14] "But what of the symbol?" cried Norss. Decorative Image Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, And close thine eyes in dreaming. Decorative Image Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, The evening shades are falling,— Hush thee, my dear, dost thou not hear The voice of the Master calling? Deep lies the snow upon the earth, But all the sky is ringing With joyous song, and all night long The stars shall dance, with singing. Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, And close thine eyes in dreaming, And angels fair shall lead thee where The singing stars are beaming. A shepherd calls his little lambs, And he longeth to caress them; He bids them rest upon his breast, That his tender love may bless them. So, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, Whilst evening shades are falling, And above the song of the heavenly throng Thou shalt hear the Master calling. Decorative Image Decorative Image One Christmas eve Joel Baker was in a most unhappy mood. He was lonesome and miserable; the chimes making merry Christmas music outside disturbed rather than soothed him, the jingle of the sleigh-bells fretted him, and the shrill whistling of the wind around the corners of the house and up and down the chimney seemed to grate harshly on his ears. "Humph," said Joel, wearily, "Christmas is nothin' to me; there was a time when it meant a great deal, but that was long ago—fifty years is a long stretch to look back over. There is nothin' in Christmas now, nothin' for me at least; it is so long since Santa Claus remembered me that I venture to say he has forgotten that there ever was such a person as Joel Baker in all the world. It used to be different; Santa Claus used to think a great deal[24] of me when I was a boy. Ah! Christmas nowadays ain't what it was in the good old time—no, not what it used to be." As Joel was absorbed in his distressing thoughts he became aware very suddenly that somebody was entering or trying to enter the room. First came a draught of cold air, then a scraping, grating sound, then a strange shuffling, and then,—yes, then, all at once, Joel saw a pair of fat legs and a still fatter body dangle down the chimney, followed presently by a long white beard, above which appeared a jolly red nose and two bright twinkling eyes, while over the head and forehead was drawn a fur cap, white with snowflakes. "Ha, ha," chuckled the fat, jolly stranger, emerging from the chimney and standing well to one side of the hearth-stone; "ha, ha, they don't have the big, wide chimneys they used to build, but they can't keep Santa Claus out—no, they can't keep Santa Claus out! Ha, ha, ha. Though the chimney were no bigger than a gas pipe, Santa Claus would slide down it!" It didn't require a second glance to assure Joel that the new-comer was indeed Santa[25] Claus. Joel knew the good old saint—oh, yes—and he had seen him once before, and, although that was when Joel was a little boy, he had never forgotten how Santa Claus looked. Santa Claus looked kindly at Joel Nor had Santa Claus forgotten Joel, although Joel thought he had; for now Santa Claus looked kindly at Joel and smiled and said: "Merry Christmas to you, Joel!"[26] "Thank you, old Santa Claus," replied Joel, "but I don't believe it's going to be a very merry Christmas. It's been so long since I've had a merry Christmas that I don't believe I'd know how to act if I had one." "Let's see," said Santa Claus, "it must be going on fifty years since I saw you last—yes, you were eight years old the last time I slipped down the chimney of the old homestead and filled your stocking. Do you remember it?" "I remember it well," answered Joel. "I had made up my mind to lie awake and see Santa Claus; I had heard tell of you, but I'd never seen you, and Brother Otis and I concluded we'd lie awake and watch for you to come." Santa Claus shook his head reproachfully. "That was very wrong," said he, "for I'm so scarey that if I'd known you boys were awake I'd never have come down the chimney at all, and then you'd have had no presents." "But Otis couldn't keep awake," explained Joel. "We talked about everythin' we could think of, till father called out to us that if we didn't stop talking he'd have to send one of us[27] up into the attic to sleep with the hired man. So in less than five minutes Otis was sound asleep and no pinching could wake him up. But I was bound to see Santa Claus and I don't believe anything would've put me to sleep. I heard the big clock in the sitting-room strike eleven, and I had begun wonderin' if you never were going to come, when all of a sudden I heard the tinkle of the bells around your reindeers' necks. Then I heard the reindeers prancin' on the roof and the sound of your sleigh-runners cuttin' through the crust and slippin' over the shingles. I was kind o' scared and I covered my head up with the sheet and quilts—only I left a little hole so I could peek out and see what was goin' on. As soon as I saw you I got over bein' scared—for you were jolly and smilin' like, and you chuckled as you went around to each stockin' and filled it up." "Yes, I can remember the night," said Santa Claus. "I brought you a sled, didn't I?" "Yes, and you brought Otis one, too," replied Joel. "Mine was red and had 'Yankee Doodle' painted in black letters on the side; Otis's was black and had 'Snow Queen' in gilt letters."[28] "I remember those sleds distinctly," said Santa Claus, "for I made them specially for you boys." "You set the sleds up against the wall," continued Joel, "and then you filled the stockin's." "Let me see," queried Joel. "There was mine, and Otis's, and Elvira's, and Thankful's, and Susan Prickett's—Susan was our help, you know. No, there were only five, and, as I remember, they were the biggest we could beg or borrer of Aunt Dorcas, who weighed nigh unto two hundred pounds. Otis and I didn't like Susan Prickett, and we were hopin' you'd put a cold potato in her stockin'." "But Susan was a good girl," remonstrated Santa Claus. "You know I put cold potatoes only in the stockin's of boys and girls who are bad and don't believe in Santa Claus." "At any rate," said Joel, "you filled all the stockin's with candy and pop-corn and nuts and raisins, and I can remember you said you were afraid you'd run out of pop-corn balls before you got around. Then you left each[29] of us a book. Elvira got the best one, which was 'The Garland of Frien'ship,' and had poems in it about the bleeding of hearts, and so forth. Father wasn't expectin' anything, but you left him a new pair of mittens, and mother got a new fur boa to wear to meetin'." "Well, it was as much as I could do to lay still," continued Joel, "for I'd been longin' for a sled, an' the sight of that red sled with 'Yankee Doodle' painted on it jest made me wild. But, somehow or other, I began to get powerful sleepy all at once, and I couldn't keep my eyes open. The next thing I knew Otis was nudgin' me in the ribs. 'Git up, Joel,' says he; 'it's Chris'mas an' Santa Claus has been here.' 'Merry Chris'mas! Merry Chris'mas!' we cried as we tumbled out o' bed. Then Elvira an' Thankful came in, not more 'n half dressed, and Susan came in, too, an' we just made Rome howl with 'Merry Chris'mas! Merry Chris'mas!' to each other. 'Ef you children don't make less noise in there,' cried father, 'I'll hev to send you all back to bed.' The idea of askin' boys an' girls to keep quiet[30] on Chris'mas mornin' when they've got new sleds an' 'Garlands of Frien'ship'!" Santa Claus chuckled; his rosy cheeks fairly beamed joy. "Otis an' I didn't want any breakfast," said Joel. "We made up our minds that a stockin'ful of candy and pop-corn and raisins would stay us for a while. I do believe there wasn't buckwheat cakes enough in the township to keep us indoors that mornin'; buckwheat cakes don't size up much 'longside of a red sled with 'Yankee Doodle' painted onto it and a black sled named 'Snow Queen.' We didn't care how cold it was—so much the better for slidin' downhill! All the boys had new sleds—Lafe Dawson, Bill Holbrook, Gum Adams, Rube Playford, Leander Merrick, Ezra Purple—all on 'em had new sleds excep' Martin Peavey, and he said he calculated Santa Claus had skipped him this year 'cause his father had broke his leg haulin' logs from the Pelham woods and had been kep' indoors six weeks. But Martin had his ol' sled, and he didn't hev to ask any odds of any of us, neither." "I brought Martin a sled the next Christmas," said Santa Claus.[31] "Like as not—but did you ever slide downhill, Santa Claus? I don't mean such hills as they hev out here in this new country, but one of them old-fashioned New England hills that was made 'specially for boys to slide down, full of bumpers an' thank-ye-marms, and about ten times longer comin' up than it is goin' down! The wind blew in our faces and almos' took our breath away. 'Merry Chris'mas to ye, little boys!' it seemed to say, and it untied our mufflers an' whirled the snow in our faces, jist as if it was a boy, too, an' wanted to play with us. An ol' crow came flappin' over us from the cornfield beyond the meadow. He said: 'Caw, caw,' when he saw my new sled—I s'pose he'd never seen a red one before. Otis had a hard time with his sled—the black one—an' he wondered why it wouldn't go as fast as mine would. 'Hev you scraped the paint off'n the runners?' asked Wralsey Goodnow. 'Course I hev,' said Otis; 'broke my own knife an' Lute Ingraham's a-doin' it, but it don't seem to make no dif'rence—the darned ol' thing won't go!' Then, what did Simon Buzzell say but that, like's not, it was because Otis's sled's name was 'Snow Queen.' 'Never did see[32] a girl sled that was worth a cent, anyway,' sez Simon. Well, now, that jest about broke Otis up in business. 'It ain't a girl sled,' sez he, 'and its name ain't "Snow Queen"! I'm a-goin' to call it "Dan'l Webster," or "Ol'ver Optic," or "Sheriff Robbins," or after some other big man!' An' the boys plagued him so much about that pesky girl sled that he scratched off the name, an', as I remember, it did go better after that! "About the only thing," continued Joel, "that marred the harmony of the occasion, as the editor of the Hampshire County Phoenix used to say, was the ashes that Deacon Morris Frisbie sprinkled out in front of his house. He said he wasn't going to have folks breakin' their necks jest on account of a lot of frivolous boys that was goin' to the gallows as fas' as they could! Oh, how we hated him! and we'd have snowballed him, too, if we hadn't been afraid of the constable that lived next door. But the ashes didn't bother us much, and every time we slid side-saddle we'd give the ashes a kick, and that sort of scattered 'em." The bare thought of this made Santa Claus laugh.[33] "Goin' on about nine o'clock," said Joel, "the girls come along "Goin' on about nine o'clock," said Joel, "the girls come along—Sister Elvira an' Thankful, Prudence Tucker, Belle Yocum, Sophrone Holbrook, Sis Hubbard, an' Marthy Sawyer. Marthy's brother Increase wanted her to ride on his sled, but Marthy allowed that a red sled[34] was her choice every time. 'I don't see how I'm goin' to hold on,' said Marthy. 'Seems as if I would hev my hands full keepin' my things from blowin' away.' 'Don't worry about yourself, Marthy,' sez I, 'for if you'll look after your things, I kind o' calc'late I'll manage not to lose you on the way.' Dear Marthy—seems as if I could see you now, with your tangled hair a-blowin' in the wind, your eyes all bright and sparklin', an' your cheeks as red as apples. Seems, too, as if I could hear you laughin' and callin', jist as you did as I toiled up the old New England hill that Chris'mas mornin'—a-callin': 'Joel, Joel, Joel—ain't ye ever comin', Joel?' But the hill is long and steep, Marthy, an' Joel ain't the boy he used to be; he's old, an' gray, an' feeble, but there's love an' faith in his heart, an' they kind o' keep him totterin' tow'rd the voice he hears a-callin': 'Joel, Joel, Joel!'" "I know—I see it all," murmured Santa Claus very softly. "Oh, that was so long ago," sighed Joel; "so very long ago! And I've had no Chris'mas since—only once, when our little one—Marthy's an' mine—you remember him, Santa Claus?"[35] "Yes," said Santa Claus, "a toddling little boy with blue eyes—" "Like his mother," interrupted Joel; "an' he was like her, too—so gentle an' lovin', only we called him Joel, for that was my father's name and it kind o' run in the fam'ly. He wa'n't more'n three years old when you came with your Chris'mas presents for him, Santa Claus. We had told him about you, and he used to go to the chimney every night and make a little prayer about what he wanted you to bring him. And you brought 'em, too—a stick-horse, an' a picture-book, an' some blocks, an' a drum—they're on the shelf in the closet there, and his little Chris'mas stockin' with 'em—I've saved 'em all, an' I've taken 'em down an' held 'em in my hands, oh, so many times!" "But when I came again," said Santa Claus— "His little bed was empty, an' I was alone. It killed his mother—Marthy was so tender-hearted; she kind o' drooped an' pined after that. So now they've been asleep side by side in the buryin'-ground these thirty years. "That's why I'm so sad-like whenever Chris'mas comes," said Joel, after a pause. "The[36] thinkin' of long ago makes me bitter almost. It's so different now from what it used to be." "No, Joel, oh, no," said Santa Claus. "'Tis the same world, and human nature is the same and always will be. But Christmas is for the little folks, and you, who are old and grizzled now, must know it and love it only through the gladness it brings the little ones." "True," groaned Joel; "but how may I know and feel this gladness when I have no little stocking hanging in my chimney corner—no child to please me with his prattle? See, I am alone." "No, you're not alone, Joel," said Santa Claus. "There are children in this great city who would love and bless you for your goodness if you but touched their hearts. Make them happy, Joel; send by me this night some gift to the little boy in the old house yonder—he is poor and sick; a simple toy will fill his Christmas with gladness." "His little sister, too—take her some presents," said Joel; "make them happy for me, Santa Claus—you are right—make them happy for me." How sweetly Joel slept! When he awoke, the sunlight streamed in through the window[37] and seemed to bid him a merry Christmas. How contented and happy Joel felt! It must have been the talk with Santa Claus that did it all; he had never known a sweeter sense of peace. A little girl came out of the house over the way. She had a new doll in her arms, and she sang a merry little song and she laughed with joy as she skipped along the street. Ay, and at the window sat the little sick boy, and the toy Santa Claus left him seemed to have brought him strength and health, for his eyes sparkled and his cheeks glowed, and it was plain to see his heart was full of happiness. And, oh! how the chimes did ring out, and how joyfully they sang their Christmas carol that morning! They sang of Bethlehem and the manger and the Babe; they sang of love and charity, till all the Christmas air seemed full of angel voices. Carol of the Christmas morn— Carol of the Christ-child born— Carol to the list'ning sky Till it echoes back again "Glory be to God on high, Peace on earth, good will tow'rd men!" So all this music—the carol of the chimes, the sound of children's voices, the smile of the poor little boy over the way—all this sweet music crept into Joel's heart that Christmas morning; yes, and with these sweet, holy influences came others so subtile and divine that in its silent communion with them, Joel's heart cried out amen and amen to the glory of the Christmas time. Decorative Image Decorative Image From out Cologne there came three kings To worship Jesus Christ, their King. To Him they sought fine herbs they brought, And many a beauteous golden thing; They brought their gifts to Bethlehem town, And in that manger set them down. Then spake the first king, and he said: "O Child, most heavenly, bright, and fair! I bring this crown to Bethlehem town For Thee, and only Thee, to wear; So give a heavenly crown to me When I shall come at last to Thee!" The second, then. "I bring Thee here This royal robe, O Child!" he cried; "Of silk 'tis spun, and such an one There is not in the world beside; So in the day of doom requite Me with a heavenly robe of white!" The third king gave his gift, and quoth: "Spikenard and myrrh to Thee I bring, And with these twain would I most fain Anoint the body of my King; So may their incense sometime rise To plead for me in yonder skies!" Thus spake the three kings of Cologne, That gave their gifts, and went their way; And now kneel I in prayer hard by The cradle of the Child to-day; Nor crown, nor robe, nor spice I bring As offering unto Christ, my King. Yet have I brought a gift the Child May not despise, however small; For here I lay my heart to-day, And it is full of love to all. Take Thou the poor but loyal thing, My only tribute, Christ, my King! Decorative Image "Whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r!" said the wind, and it tore through the streets of the city that Christmas eve, turning umbrellas inside out, driving the snow in fitful gusts before it, creaking the rusty signs and shutters, and playing every kind of rude prank it could think of. "How cold your breath is to-night!" said Barbara, with a shiver, as she drew her tattered little shawl the closer around her benumbed body. "Whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r!" answered the wind; "but why are you out in this storm? You should be at home by the warm fire." "I have no home," said Barbara; and then she sighed bitterly, and something like a tiny pearl came in the corner of one of her sad blue eyes.[42] But the wind did not hear her answer, for it had hurried up the street to throw a handful of snow in the face of an old man who was struggling along with a huge basket of good things on each arm. "Why are you not at the cathedral?" asked a snowflake, as it alighted on Barbara's shoulder. "I heard grand music, and saw beautiful lights there as I floated down from the sky a moment ago." "Why, haven't you heard?" exclaimed the snowflake. "I supposed everybody knew that the prince was coming to-morrow." "Surely enough; this is Christmas eve," said Barbara, "and the prince will come to-morrow." Barbara remembered that her mother had told her about the prince, how beautiful and good and kind and gentle he was, and how he loved the little children; but her mother was dead now, and there was none to tell Barbara of the prince and his coming,—none but the little snowflake. "I should like to see the prince," said Bar[43]bara, "for I have heard he was very beautiful and good." "That he is," said the snowflake. "I have never seen him, but I heard the pines and the firs singing about him as I floated over the forest to-night." "Whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r!" cried the wind, returning boisterously to where Barbara stood. "I've been looking for you everywhere, little snowflake! So come with me." And without any further ado, the wind seized upon the snowflake and hurried it along the street and led it a merry dance through the icy air of the winter night. Barbara trudged on through the snow and looked in at the bright things in the shop windows. The glitter of the lights and the sparkle of the vast array of beautiful Christmas toys quite dazzled her. A strange mingling of admiration, regret, and envy filled the poor little creature's heart. "Much as I may yearn to have them, it cannot be," she said to herself, "yet I may feast my eyes upon them." "Go away from here!" said a harsh voice. "How can the rich people see all my fine things[44] if you stand before the window? Be off with you, you miserable little beggar!" "Go away from here!" said a harsh voice. It was the shopkeeper, and he gave Barbara a savage box on the ear that sent her reeling into the deeper snowdrifts of the gutter. Presently she came to a large house where there seemed to be much mirth and festivity. The shutters were thrown open, and through the windows Barbara could see a beautiful Christmas-tree in the centre of a spacious room[45]—a beautiful Christmas-tree ablaze with red and green lights, and heavy with toys and stars and glass balls and other beautiful things that children love. There was a merry throng around the tree, and the children were smiling and gleeful, and all in that house seemed content and happy. Barbara heard them singing, and their song was about the prince who was to come on the morrow. "This must be the house where the prince will stop," thought Barbara. "How I would like to see his face and hear his voice!—yet what would he care for me, a 'miserable little beggar'?" So Barbara crept on through the storm, shivering and disconsolate, yet thinking of the prince. "To the cathedral," laughed the wind. "The great people are flocking there, and I will have a merry time amongst them, ha, ha, ha!" And with laughter the wind whirled away and chased the snow toward the cathedral. "It is there, then, that the prince will come," thought Barbara. "It is a beautiful[46] place, and the people will pay him homage there. Perhaps I shall see him if I go there." "This must be the house where the prince will stop," thought Barbara. So she went to the cathedral. Many folk were there in their richest apparel, and the organ rolled out its grand music, and the people sang wondrous songs, and the priests made eloquent prayers; and the music, and the songs, and the prayers were all about the prince and his expected coming. The throng that swept in and out of the great edifice talked always of the prince, the prince, the prince, until Barbara really loved him very much, for all the gentle words she heard the people say of him. "No!" said the sexton gruffly, for this was an important occasion with the sexton, and he had no idea of wasting words on a beggar child. "But I will be very good and quiet," pleaded Barbara. "Please may I not see the prince?" "I have said no, and I mean it," retorted the sexton. "What have you for the prince, or what cares the prince for you? Out with you, and don't be blocking up the door-way!" So the sexton gave Barbara an angry push, and the child fell half-way down the icy steps of[48] the cathedral. She began to cry. Some great people were entering the cathedral at the time, and they laughed to see her falling. "Have you seen the prince?" inquired a snowflake, alighting on Barbara's cheek. It was the same little snowflake that had clung to her shawl an hour ago, when the wind came galloping along on his boisterous search. "Ah, no!" sighed Barbara in tears; "but what cares the prince for me?" "Do not speak so bitterly," said the little snowflake. "Go to the forest and you shall see him, for the prince always comes through the forest to the city." Despite the cold, and her bruises, and her tears, Barbara smiled. In the forest she could behold the prince coming on his way; and he would not see her, for she would hide among the trees and vines. "Whirr-r-r, whirr-r-r!" It was the mischievous, romping wind once more; and it fluttered Barbara's tattered shawl, and set her hair to streaming in every direction, and swept the snowflake from her cheek and sent it spinning through the air. Barbara trudged toward the forest. When[49] she came to the city gate the watchman stopped her, and held his big lantern in her face, and asked her who she was and where she was going. "Into the forest?" cried the watchman, "and in this storm? No, child; you will perish!" "But I am going to see the prince," said Barbara. "They will not let me watch for him in the church, nor in any of their pleasant homes, so I am going into the forest." The watchman smiled sadly. He was a kindly man; he thought of his own little girl at home. "No, you must not go to the forest," said he, "for you would perish with the cold." But Barbara would not stay. She avoided the watchman's grasp and ran as fast as ever she could through the city gate. "Come back, come back!" cried the watchman; "you will perish in the forest!" But Barbara would not heed his cry. The falling snow did not stay her, nor did the cutting blast. She thought only of the prince, and she ran straightway to the forest.[50] Decorative Image "What do you see up there, O pine-tree?" asked a little vine in the forest. "You lift your head among the clouds to-night, and you tremble strangely as if you saw wondrous sights." "I see only the distant hill-tops and the dark clouds," answered the pine-tree. "And the wind sings of the snow-king to-night; to all my questionings he says, 'Snow, snow, snow,' till I am wearied with his refrain." "But the prince will surely come to-morrow?" inquired the tiny snowdrop that nestled close to the vine. "Oh, yes," said the vine. "I heard the country folks talking about it as they went through the forest to-day, and they said that the prince would surely come on the morrow." "What are you little folks down there talking about?" asked the pine-tree.[51] "Yes, he is to come on the morrow," said the pine-tree, "but not until the day dawns, and it is still all dark in the east." "Yes," said the fir-tree, "the east is black, and only the wind and the snow issue from it." "Keep your head out of my way!" cried the pine-tree to the fir; "with your constant bobbing around I can hardly see at all." "Take that for your bad manners," retorted the fir, slapping the pine-tree savagely with one of her longest branches. The pine-tree would put up with no such treatment, so he hurled his largest cone at the fir; and for a moment or two it looked as if there were going to be a serious commotion in the forest. "Hush!" cried the vine in a startled tone; "there is some one coming through the forest." The pine-tree and the fir stopped quarrelling, and the snowdrop nestled closer to the vine, while the vine hugged the pine-tree very tightly. All were greatly alarmed. "Nonsense!" said the pine-tree, in a tone[52] of assumed bravery. "No one would venture into the forest at such an hour." "Indeed! and why not?" cried a child's voice. "Will you not let me watch with you for the coming of the prince?" "No, of course not," said Barbara; "I have come only to watch with you for the prince." Then Barbara told them who she was, and how cruelly she had been treated in the city, and how she longed to see the prince, who was to come on the morrow. And as she talked, the forest and all therein felt a great compassion for her. "Nestle close to me, and I will chafe your temples and body and limbs till they are warm," said the vine. "Let me rest upon your cheek, and I will sing you my little songs," said the snowdrop.[53] And Barbara felt very grateful for all these homely kindnesses. She rested in the velvety snow at the foot of the pine-tree, and the vine chafed her body and limbs, and the little flower sang sweet songs to her. "Whirr-r-r, whirr-r-r!" There was that noisy wind again, but this time it was gentler than it had been in the city. "Here you are, my little Barbara," said the wind, in kindly tones. "I have brought you the little snowflake. I am glad you came away from the city, for the people are proud and haughty there; oh, but I will have my fun with them!" Then, having dropped the little snowflake on Barbara's cheek, the wind whisked off to the city again. And we can imagine that it played rare pranks with the proud, haughty folk on its return; for the wind, as you know, is no respecter of persons. "Dear Barbara," said the snowflake, "I will watch with thee for the coming of the prince." And Barbara was glad, for she loved the little snowflake, that was so pure and innocent and gentle.[54] "Tell us, O pine-tree," cried the vine, "what do you see in the east? Has the prince yet entered the forest?" "The east is full of black clouds," said the pine-tree, "and the winds that hurry to the hill-tops sing of the snow." "But the city is full of brightness," said the fir. "I can see the lights in the cathedral, and I can hear wondrous music about the prince and his coming." "Yes, they are singing of the prince in the cathedral," said Barbara sadly. "Yes, the prince will come through the forest," said the little snowdrop gleefully. Then all at once there was a strange hub-bub in the forest; for it was midnight, and the spirits came from their hiding-places to prowl about and to disport themselves. Barbara beheld them all in great wonder and trepidation, for she had never before seen the spirits of the forest, although she had often heard of them. It was a marvellous sight. So Barbara fell asleep So Barbara fell asleep. "Fear nothing," whispered the vine to Barbara,—"fear nothing, for they dare not touch you." The antics of the wood-spirits continued but an hour; for then a cock crowed, and immediately thereat, with a wondrous scurrying, the elves and the gnomes and the other grotesque spirits sought their abiding-places in the caves and in the hollow trunks and under the loose bark of the trees. And then it was very quiet once more in the forest. Then the pine-tree and the fir shook down the snow from their broad boughs, and the snow fell upon Barbara and covered her like a white mantle. "You will be warm now," said the vine, kissing Barbara's forehead. And Barbara smiled. Then the snowdrop sang a lullaby about the moss that loved the violet. And Barbara said, "I am going to sleep; will you wake me when the prince comes through the forest?" And they said they would. So Barbara fell asleep.[56] "The bells in the city are ringing merrily," said the fir, "and the music in the cathedral is louder and more beautiful than before. Can it be that the prince has already come into the city?" "No," cried the pine-tree, "look to the east and see the Christmas day a-dawning! The prince is coming, and his pathway is through the forest!" The storm had ceased. Snow lay upon all the earth. The hills, the forest, the city, and the meadows were white with the robe the storm-king had thrown over them. Content with his wondrous work, the storm-king himself had fled to his far Northern home before the dawn of the Christmas day. Everything was bright and sparkling and beautiful. And most beautiful was the great hymn of praise the forest sang that Christmas morning,—the pine-trees and the firs and the vines and the snow-flowers that sang of the prince and of his promised coming. "Wake up, little one," cried the vine, "for the prince is coming!"[57] But Barbara slept; she did not hear the vine's soft calling nor the lofty music of the forest. A little snow-bird flew down from the fir-tree's bough and perched upon the vine, and carolled in Barbara's ear of the Christmas morning and of the coming of the prince. But[58] Barbara slept; she did not hear the carol of the bird. "Alas!" sighed the vine, "Barbara will not awaken, and the prince is coming." Then the vine and the snowdrop wept, and the pine-tree and the fir were very sad. The prince came through the forest clad in royal raiment and wearing a golden crown. Angels came with him, and the forest sang a great hymn unto the prince, such a hymn as had never before been heard on earth. The prince came to the sleeping child and smiled upon her and called her by name. Then Barbara opened her eyes and beheld the prince. And it seemed as if a new life had come to her, for there was warmth in her body and a flush upon her cheeks and a light in her eyes that were divine. And she was clothed no longer in rags, but in white flowing raiment; and upon the soft brown hair there was a crown like those which angels wear. And as Barbara arose and went to the prince, the little snowflake fell from her cheek upon her bosom, and forthwith became[59] a pearl more precious than all other jewels upon earth. And the prince took Barbara in his arms and blessed her, and turning round about, returned with the little child unto his home, while the forest and the sky and the angels sang a wondrous song. The city waited for the prince, but he did not come. None knew of the glory of the forest that Christmas morning, nor of the new life that came to little Barbara. Come thou, dear Prince, oh, come to us this holy Christmas time! Come to the busy marts of earth, the quiet homes, the noisy streets, the humble lanes; come to us all, and with thy love touch every human heart, that we may know that love, and in its blessed peace bear charity to all mankind! Decorative Image God rest you, Chrysten gentil men, Wherever you may be,— God rest you all in fielde or hall, Or on ye stormy sea; For on this morn oure Chryst is born That saveth you and me. Last night ye shepherds in ye east Saw many a wondrous thing; Ye sky last night flamed passing bright Whiles that ye stars did sing, And angels came to bless ye name Of Jesus Chryst, oure Kyng. Decorative Image God rest you, Chrysten gentil men, Faring where'er you may; In noblesse court do thou no sport, In tournament no playe, In paynim lands hold thou thy hands From bloudy works this daye. But thinking on ye gentil Lord That died upon ye tree, Let troublings cease and deeds of peace Abound in Chrystantie; For on this morn ye Chryst is born That saveth you and me. Decorative Image Whilst you were sleeping, little Dear-my-Soul, strange things happened; but that I saw and heard them, I should never have believed them. The clock stood, of course, in the corner, a moonbeam floated idly on the floor, and a little mauve mouse came from the hole in the chimney corner and frisked and scampered in the light of the moonbeam upon the floor. The little mauve mouse was particularly merry; sometimes she danced upon two legs and sometimes upon four legs, but always very daintily and always very merrily.[63] "Ah, me!" sighed the old clock, "how different mice are nowadays from the mice we used to have in the good old times! Now there was your grandma, Mistress Velvetpaw, and there was your grandpa, Master Sniffwhisker,—how grave and dignified they were! Many a night have I seen them dancing upon the carpet below me, but always the stately minuet and never that crazy frisking which you are executing now, to my surprise—yes, and to my horror, too." "So it is," said the old clock. "I had really forgotten all about it. But tell me, what is Christmas to you, little Miss Mauve Mouse?" "A great deal to me!" cried the little mauve mouse. "I have been very good a very long time: I have not used any bad words, nor have I gnawed any holes, nor have I stolen any canary seed, nor have I worried my mother by running behind the flour-barrel where that horrid trap is set. In fact, I have been so good that I'm very sure Santa Claus will bring me something very pretty."[64] This seemed to amuse the old clock mightily; in fact, the old clock fell to laughing so heartily that in an unguarded moment she struck twelve instead of ten, which was exceedingly careless and therefore to be reprehended. "Why, you silly little mauve mouse," said the old clock, "you don't believe in Santa Claus, do you?" "Of course I do," answered the little mauve mouse. "Believe in Santa Claus? Why shouldn't I? Didn't Santa Claus bring me a beautiful butter-cracker last Christmas, and a lovely gingersnap, and a delicious rind of cheese, and—and—lots of things? I should be very ungrateful if I did not believe in Santa Claus, and I certainly shall not disbelieve in him at the very moment when I am expecting him to arrive with a bundle of goodies for me. "I once had a little sister," continued the little mauve mouse, "who did not believe in Santa Claus, and the very thought of the fate that befell her makes my blood run cold and my whiskers stand on end. She died before I was born, but my mother has told me all about her. Perhaps you never saw her; her name was Squeaknibble, and she was in stature one[65]of those long, low, rangy mice that are seldom found in well-stocked pantries. Mother says that Squeaknibble took after our ancestors who came from New England, where the malignant ingenuity of the people and the ferocity of the cats rendered life precarious indeed. Squeaknibble seemed to inherit many ancestral traits, the most conspicuous of which was a disposition to sneer at some of the most respected dogmas in mousedom. From her very infancy she doubted, for example, the widely accepted theory that the moon was composed of green cheese; and this heresy was the first intimation her parents had of the sceptical turn of her mind. Of course, her parents were vastly annoyed, for their maturer natures saw that this youthful scepticism portended serious, if not fatal, consequences. Yet all in vain did the sagacious couple reason and plead with their headstrong and heretical child. "For a long time Squeaknibble would not believe that there was any such archfiend as a cat; but she came to be convinced to the contrary one memorable night, on which occasion she lost two inches of her beautiful tail, and received so terrible a fright that for fully[66] an hour afterward her little heart beat so violently as to lift her off her feet and bump her head against the top of our domestic hole. The cat that deprived my sister of so large a percentage of her vertebral colophon was the same brindled ogress that nowadays steals ever and anon into this room, crouches treacherously behind the sofa, and feigns to be asleep, hoping, forsooth, that some of us, heedless of her hated presence, will venture within reach of her diabolical claws. So enraged was this ferocious monster at the escape of my sister that she ground her fangs viciously together, and vowed to take no pleasure in life until she held in her devouring jaws the innocent little mouse which belonged to the mangled bit of tail she even then clutched in her remorseless claws." "Yes," said the old clock, "now that you recall the incident, I recollect it well. I was here then, in this very corner, and I remember that I laughed at the cat and chided her for her awkwardness. My reproaches irritated her; she told me that a clock's duty was to run itself down, not to be depreciating the merits of others! Yes, I recall the time; that cat's tongue is fully as sharp as her claws."[67] "Be that as it may," said the little mauve mouse, "it is a matter of history, and therefore beyond dispute, that from that very moment the cat pined for Squeaknibble's life; it seemed as if that one little two-inch taste of Squeaknibble's tail had filled the cat with a consuming passion, or appetite, for the rest of Squeaknibble. So the cat waited and watched and hunted and schemed and devised and did everything possible for a cat—a cruel cat—to do in order to gain her murderous ends. One night—one fatal Christmas eve—our mother had undressed the children for bed, and was urging upon them to go to sleep earlier than usual, since she fully expected that Santa Claus would bring each of them something very palatable and nice before morning. Thereupon the little dears whisked their cunning tails, pricked up their beautiful ears, and began telling one another what they hoped Santa Claus would bring. One asked for a slice of Roquefort, another for Neufchatel, another for Sap Sago, and a fourth for Edam; one expressed a preference for de Brie, while another hoped to get Parmesan; one clamored for imperial blue Stilton, and another craved the fragrant boon of[68] Caprera. There were fourteen little ones then, and consequently there were diverse opinions as to the kind of gift which Santa Claus should best bring; still, there was, as you can readily understand, an enthusiastic unanimity upon this point, namely, that the gift should be cheese of some brand or other. "'My dears,' said our mother, 'what matters it whether the boon which Santa Claus brings be royal English cheddar or fromage de Bricquebec, Vermont sage, or Herkimer County skim-milk? We should be content with whatsoever Santa Claus bestows, so long as it be cheese, disjoined from all traps whatsoever, unmixed with Paris green, and free from glass, strychnine, and other harmful ingredients. As for myself, I shall be satisfied with a cut of nice, fresh Western reserve; for truly I recognize in no other viand or edible half the fragrance or half the gustfulness to be met with in one of these pale but aromatic domestic products. So run away to your dreams now, that Santa Claus may find you sleeping.' "The children obeyed,—all but Squeaknibble. 'Let the others think what they please,' said she, 'but I don't believe in Santa Claus.[69] I'm not going to bed, either. I'm going to creep out of this dark hole and have a quiet romp, all by myself, in the moonlight.' Oh, what a vain, foolish, wicked little mouse was Squeaknibble! But I will not reproach the dead; her punishment came all too swiftly. Now listen: who do you suppose overheard her talking so disrespectfully of Santa Claus?" "Oh, no," answered the little mauve mouse. "It was that wicked, murderous cat! Just as Satan lurks and lies in wait for bad children, so does the cruel cat lurk and lie in wait for naughty little mice. And you can depend upon it that, when that awful cat heard Squeaknibble speak so disrespectfully of Santa Claus, her wicked eyes glowed with joy, her sharp teeth watered, and her bristling fur emitted electric sparks as big as marrowfat peas. Then what did that blood-thirsty monster do but scuttle as fast as she could into Dear-my-Soul's room, leap up into Dear-my-Soul's crib, and walk off with the pretty little white muff which Dear-my-Soul used to wear when she went for a visit to the little girl in the next block! What upon[70] earth did the horrid old cat want with Dear-my-Soul's pretty little white muff? Ah, the duplicity, the diabolical ingenuity of that cat! Listen. "In the first place," resumed the little mauve mouse, after a pause that testified eloquently to the depth of her emotion,—"in the first place, that wretched cat dressed herself up in that pretty little white muff, by which you are to understand that she crawled through the muff just so far as to leave her four cruel legs at liberty." "Yes, I understand," said the old clock. "Then she put on the boy doll's fur cap," said the little mauve mouse, "and when she was arrayed in the boy doll's fur cap and Dear-my-Soul's pretty little white muff, of course she didn't look like a cruel cat at all. But whom did she look like?" "Like the boy doll," suggested the old clock. "No, no!" cried the little mauve mouse. "How stupid you are!" exclaimed the little mauve mouse. "Why, she looked like Santa Claus, of course!"[71] "Oh, yes; I see," said the old clock. "Now I begin to be interested; go on." "Alas!" sighed the little mauve mouse, "not much remains to be told; but there is more of my story left than there was of Squeaknibble when that horrid cat crawled out of that miserable disguise. You are to understand that, contrary to her sagacious mother's injunction, and in notorious derision of the mooted coming of Santa Claus, Squeaknibble issued from the friendly hole in the chimney corner, and gambolled about over this very carpet, and, I dare say, in this very moonlight." "I do not know," said the moonbeam faintly. "I am so very old, and I have seen so many things—I do not know." "Right merrily was Squeaknibble gambolling," continued the little mauve mouse, "and she had just turned a double back somersault without the use of what remained of her tail, when, all of a sudden, she beheld, looming up like a monster ghost, a figure all in white fur! Oh, how frightened she was, and how her little heart did beat! 'Purr, purr-r-r,' said the ghost in white fur. 'Oh, please don't hurt me!' pleaded Squeaknibble. 'No; I'll not hurt you,'[72] said the ghost in white fur; 'I'm Santa Claus, and I've brought you a beautiful piece of savory old cheese, you dear little mousie, you.' Poor Squeaknibble was deceived; a sceptic all her life, she was at last befooled by the most palpable and most fatal of frauds. 'How good of you!' said Squeaknibble. 'I didn't believe there was a Santa Claus, and—' but before she could say more she was seized by two sharp, cruel claws that conveyed her crushed body to the murderous mouth of mousedom's most malignant foe. I can dwell no longer upon this harrowing scene. Suffice it to say that ere the morrow's sun rose like a big yellow Herkimer County cheese upon the spot where that tragedy had been enacted, poor Squeaknibble passed to that bourn whence two inches of her beautiful tail had preceded her by the space of three weeks to a day. As for Santa Claus, when he came that Christmas eve, bringing morceaux de Brie and of Stilton for the other little mice, he heard with sorrow of Squeaknibble's fate; and ere he departed he said that in all his experience he had never known of a mouse or of a child that had prospered after once saying that he didn't believe in Santa Claus."[73] "Well, that is a remarkable story," said the old clock. "But if you believe in Santa Claus, why aren't you in bed?" "That's where I shall be presently," answered the little mauve mouse, "but I must have my scamper, you know. It is very pleasant, I assure you, to frolic in the light of the moon; only I cannot understand why you are always so cold and so solemn and so still, you pale, pretty little moonbeam." "Indeed, I do not know that I am so," said the moonbeam. "But I am very old, and I have travelled many, many leagues, and I have seen wondrous things. Sometimes I toss upon the ocean, sometimes I fall upon a slumbering flower, sometimes I rest upon a dead child's face. I see the fairies at their play, and I hear mothers singing lullabies. Last night I swept across the frozen bosom of a river. A woman's face looked up at me; it was the picture of eternal rest. 'She is sleeping,' said the frozen river. 'I rock her to and fro, and sing to her. Pass gently by, O moonbeam; pass gently by, lest you awaken her.'" "How strangely you talk," said the old clock. "Now, I'll warrant me that, if you[74] wanted to, you could tell many a pretty and wonderful story. You must know many a Christmas tale; pray, tell us one to wear away this night of Christmas watching." "I know but one," said the moonbeam. "I have told it over and over again, in every land and in every home; yet I do not weary of it. It is very simple. Should you like to hear it?" "Indeed we should," said the old clock; "but before you begin, let me strike twelve; for I shouldn't want to interrupt you." When the old clock had performed this duty with somewhat more than usual alacrity, the moonbeam began its story: "Upon a time—so long ago that I can't tell how long ago it was—I fell upon a hill-side. It was in a far distant country; this I know, because, although it was the Christmas time, it was not in that country as it is wont to be in countries to the north. Hither the snow-king never came; flowers bloomed all the year, and at all times the lambs found pleasant pasturage on the hill-sides. The night wind was balmy, and there was a fragrance of cedar in its breath. There were violets on the[75] hill-side, and I fell amongst them and lay there. I kissed them, and they awakened. 'Ah, is it you, little moonbeam?' they said, and they nestled in the grass which the lambs had left uncropped. "A shepherd lay upon a broad stone on the hill-side; above him spread an olive-tree, old, ragged, and gloomy; but now it swayed its rusty branches majestically in the shifting air of night. The shepherd's name was Benoni. Wearied with long watching, he had fallen asleep; his crook had slipped from his hand. Upon the hill-side, too, slept the shepherd's flock. I had counted them again and again; I had stolen across their gentle faces and brought them pleasant dreams of green pastures and of cool water-brooks. I had kissed old Benoni, too, as he lay slumbering there; and in his dreams he seemed to see Israel's King come upon earth, and in his dreams he murmured the promised Messiah's name. "'Ah, is it you, little moonbeam?' quoth the violets. 'You have come in good time. Nestle here with us, and see wonderful things come to pass.'[76] "'We heard the old olive-tree telling of them to-night,' said the violets. 'Do not go to sleep, little violets,' said the old olive-tree, 'for this is Christmas night, and the Master shall walk upon the hill-side in the glory of the midnight hour.' So we waited and watched; one by one the lambs fell asleep; one by one the stars peeped out; the shepherd nodded and crooned, and crooned and nodded, and at last he, too, went fast asleep, and his crook slipped from his keeping. Then we called to the old olive-tree yonder, asking how soon the midnight hour would come; but all the old olive-tree answered was 'Presently, presently,' and finally we, too, fell asleep, wearied by our long watching, and lulled by the rocking and swaying of the old olive-tree in the breezes of the night. "'But who is this Master?' I asked. "'A child, a little child,' they answered. 'He is called the little Master by the others. He comes here often, and plays among the flowers of the hill-side. Sometimes the lambs, gambolling too carelessly, have crushed and[77] bruised us so that we lie bleeding and are like to die; but the little Master heals our wounds and refreshes us once again.' "I marvelled much to hear these things. 'The midnight hour is at hand,' said I, 'and I will abide with you to see this little Master of whom you speak.' So we nestled among the verdure of the hill-side, and sang songs one to another. "'Come away!' called the night wind; 'I know a beauteous sea not far hence, upon whose bosom you shall float, float, float away out into the mists and clouds, if you will come with me.' "But I hid under the violets and amid the tall grass, that the night wind might not woo me with its pleading. 'Ho, there, old olive-tree!' cried the violets; 'do you see the little Master coming? Is not the midnight hour at hand?' "'I can see the town yonder,' said the old olive-tree. 'A star beams bright over Bethlehem, the iron gates swing open, and the little Master comes.' "Two children came to the hill-side. The one, older than his comrade, was Dimas, the son of Benoni. He was rugged and sinewy, and over his brown shoulders was flung a goat[78]skin; a leathern cap did not confine his long, dark curly hair. The other child was he whom they called the little Master; about his slender form clung raiment white as snow, and around his face of heavenly innocence fell curls of golden yellow. So beautiful a child I had not seen before, nor have I ever since seen such as he. And as they came together to the hill-side, there seemed to glow about the little Master's head a soft white light, as if the moon had sent its tenderest, fairest beams to kiss those golden curls. "'Have no fear, Dimas,' said the little Master. 'Give me thy hand, and I will lead thee.' "Presently they came to the rock whereon Benoni, the shepherd, lay; and they stood under the old olive-tree, and the old olive-tree swayed no longer in the night wind, but bent its branches reverently in the presence of the little Master. It seemed as if the wind, too, stayed in its shifting course just then; for suddenly there was a solemn hush, and you could hear no noise, except that in his dreams Benoni spoke the Messiah's name. exceeding fearful." "'Thy father sleeps,' said the little Master, 'and it is well that it is so; for that I love thee Dimas, and that thou shalt walk with me in my Father's kingdom, I would show thee the glories of my birthright.' "Then all at once sweet music filled the air, and light, greater than the light of day, illumined the sky and fell upon all that hill-side. The heavens opened, and angels, singing joyous songs, walked to the earth. More wondrous still, the stars, falling from their places in the sky, clustered upon the old olive-tree, and swung hither and thither like colored lanterns. The flowers of the hill-side all awakened, and they, too, danced and sang. The angels, coming hither, hung gold and silver and jewels and precious stones upon the old olive, where swung the stars; so that the glory of that sight, though I might live forever, I shall never see again. When Dimas heard and saw these things he fell upon his knees, and catching the hem of the little Master's garment, he kissed it. "'Greater joy than this shall be thine, Dimas,' said the little Master; 'but first must all things be fulfilled.'[80] "All through that Christmas night did the angels come and go with their sweet anthems; all through that Christmas night did the stars dance and sing; and when it came my time to steal away, the hill-side was still beautiful with the glory and the music of heaven." "No," said the moonbeam; "but I am nearly done. The years went on. Sometimes I tossed upon the ocean's bosom, sometimes I scampered o'er a battle-field, sometimes I lay upon a dead child's face. I heard the voices of Darkness and mothers' lullabies and sick men's prayers—and so the years went on. "I fell one night upon a hard and furrowed face. It was of ghostly pallor. A thief was dying on the cross, and this was his wretched face. About the cross stood men with staves and swords and spears, but none paid heed unto the thief. Somewhat beyond this cross another was lifted up, and upon it was stretched a human body my light fell not upon. But I heard a voice that somewhere I had heard before,—though where I did not know,—and this voice blessed those that railed and jeered and shamefully entreated. And suddenly the[81] voice called 'Dimas, Dimas!' and the thief upon whose hardened face I rested made answer. "Then I saw that it was Dimas; yet to this wicked criminal there remained but little of the shepherd child whom I had seen in all his innocence upon the hill-side. Long years of sinful life had seared their marks into his face; yet now, at the sound of that familiar voice, somewhat of the old-time boyish look came back, and in the yearning of the anguished eyes I seemed to see the shepherd's son again. "'The Master!' cried Dimas, and he stretched forth his neck that he might see him that spake. "'O Dimas, how art thou changed!' cried the Master, yet there was in his voice no tone of rebuke save that which cometh of love. "Then Dimas wept, and in that hour he forgot his pain. And the Master's consoling voice and the Master's presence there wrought in the dying criminal such a new spirit, that when at last his head fell upon his bosom, and the men about the cross said that he was dead, it seemed as if I shined not upon a felon's face, but upon the face of the gentle shepherd lad, the son of Benoni.[82] "And shining on that dead and peaceful face, I bethought me of the little Master's words that he had spoken under the old olive-tree upon the hill-side: 'Your eyes behold the promised glory now, O Dimas,' I whispered, 'for with the Master you walk in Paradise.'" Ah, little Dear-my-Soul, you know—you know whereof the moonbeam spake. The shepherd's bones are dust, the flocks are scattered, the old olive-tree is gone, the flowers of the hill-side are withered, and none knoweth where the grave of Dimas is made. But last night, again, there shined a star over Bethlehem, and the angels descended from the sky to earth, and the stars sang together in glory. And the bells,—hear them, little Dear-my-Soul, how sweetly they are ringing,—the bells bear us the good tidings of great joy this Christmas morning, that our Christ is born, and that with him he bringeth peace on earth and good-will toward men. Decorative Image The angel host that sped last night, Bearing the wondrous news afar, Came in their ever-glorious flight Unto a slumbering little star. "Awake and sing, O star!" they cried. "Awake and glorify the morn! Herald the tidings far and wide— He that shall lead His flock is born!" The little star awoke and sung As only stars in rapture may, And presently where church bells hung The joyous tidings found their way. Share thou this holy time with me, The universal hymn of love. "Awake, O bells! 'tis Christmas morn— Awake and let thy music tell To all mankind that now is born What Shepherd loves His lambkins well!" Then rang the bells as fled the night O'er dreaming land and drowsing deep, And coming with the morning light, They called, my child, to you asleep. Sweetly and tenderly they spoke, And lingering round your little bed, Their music pleaded till you woke, And this is what their music said: "Awake and sing! 't is Christmas morn, Whereon all earth salutes her King! In Bethlehem is the Shepherd born. Awake, O little lamb, and sing!" So, dear my child, kneel at my feet, And with those voices from above Share thou this holy time with me, The universal hymn of love. December 25, 1890. Decorative Image This is to tell of our little Mistress Merciless, who for a season abided with us, but is now and forever gone from us unto the far-off land of Ever-Plaisance. The tale is soon told; for it were not seemly to speak all the things that are in one's heart when one hath to say of a much-beloved child, whose life here hath been shortened so that, in God's wisdom and kindness, her life shall be longer in that garden that bloometh far away. You shall know that all did call her Mistress Merciless; but her mercilessness was of[87] a sweet, persuasive kind: for with the beauty of her face and the music of her voice and the exceeding sweetness of her virtues was she wont to slay all hearts; and this she did unwittingly, for she was a little child. And so it was in love that we did call her Mistress Merciless, just as it was in love that she did lord it over all our hearts. Upon a time walked she in a full fair garden, and there went with her an handmaiden that we did call in merry wise the Queen of Sheba; for this handmaiden was in sooth no queen at all, but a sorry and ill-favored wench; but she was assotted upon our little Mistress Merciless and served her diligently, and for that good reason was vastly beholden of us all. Yet, in a jest, we called her the Queen of Sheba; and I make a venture that she looked exceeding fair in the eyes of our little Mistress Merciless: for the eyes of children look not upon the faces but into the hearts and souls of others. Whilst these two walked in the full fair garden at that time they came presently unto an arbor wherein there was a rustic seat, which was called the Siege of Restfulness; and hereupon sate a little sick boy that, from his birth, had been lame,[88] so that he could not play and make merry with other children, but was wont to come every day into this full fair garden and content himself with the companionship of the flowers. And, though he was a little lame boy, he never trod upon those flowers; and even had he done so, methinks the pressure of those crippled feet had been a caress, for the little lame boy was filled with the spirit of love and tenderness. As the tiniest, whitest, shrinking flower exhaleth the most precious perfume, so in and from this little lame boy's life there came a grace that was hallowing in its beauty. Since they never before had seen him, they asked him his name; and he answered them that of those at home he was called Master Sweetheart, a name he could not understand: for surely, being a cripple, he must be a very sorry sweetheart; yet, that he was a sweetheart unto his mother at least he had no doubt, for she did love to hold him in her lap and call him by that name; and many times when she did so he saw that tears were in her eyes,—a proof, she told him when he asked, that Master Sweetheart was her sweetheart before all others upon earth.[89] It befell that our little Mistress Merciless and Master Sweetheart became fast friends, and the Queen of Sheba was handmaiden to them both; for the simple, loyal creature had not a mind above the artless prattle of childhood, and the strange allegory of the lame boy's speech filled her with awe, even as the innocent lisping of our little Mistress Merciless delighted her heart and came within the comprehension of her limited understanding. So each day, when it was fair, these three came into the full fair garden, and rambled there together; and when they were weary they entered into the arbor and sate together upon the Siege of Restfulness. Wit ye well there was not a flower or a tree or a shrub or a bird in all that full fair garden which they did not know and love, and in very sooth every flower and tree and shrub and bird therein did know and love them. When they entered into the arbor, and sate together upon the Siege of Restfulness, it was Master Sweetheart's wont to tell them of the land of Ever-Plaisance, for it was a conceit of his that he journeyed each day nearer and nearer to that land, and that his journey thitherward was nearly done. How came he[90] to know of that land I cannot say, for I do not know; but I am fain to believe that, as he said, the exceeding fair angels told him thereof when by night, as he lay sleeping, they came singing and with caresses to his bedside. I speak now of a holy thing, therefore I speak truth when I say that while little children lie sleeping in their beds at night it pleaseth God to send His exceeding fair angels with singing and caresses to bear messages of His love unto those little sleeping children. And I have seen those exceeding fair angels bend with folded wings over the little cradles and the little beds, and kiss those little sleeping children and whisper God's messages of love to them, and I knew that those messages were full of sweet tidings; for, even though they slept, the little children smiled. This have I seen, and there is none who loveth little children that will deny the truth of this thing which I have now solemnly declared. The strange allegory of the lame boy's speech filled her with awe The strange allegory of the lame boy's speech filled her with awe. Of that land of Ever-Plaisance was our little Mistress Merciless ever fain to hear tell. But when she beset the rest of us to speak thereof we knew not what to say other than to confirm such reports as Master Sweetheart [91]had already made. For when it cometh to knowing of that far-off land,—ah me, who knoweth more than the veriest little child? And oftentimes within the bosom of a little, helpless, fading one there bloometh a wisdom which sages cannot comprehend. So when she asked us we were wont to bid her go to Master Sweetheart, for he knew the truth and spake it. It is now to tell of an adventure which on a time befell in that full fair garden of which you have heard me speak. In this garden lived many birds of surpassing beauty and most rapturous song, and among them was one that they called Joyous, for that he did ever carol forth so joyously, it mattered not what the day soever might be. This bird Joyous had his home in the top of an exceeding high tree, hard by the pleasant arbor, and here did he use to sit at such times as the little people came into that arbor, and then would he sing to them such songs as befitted that quiet spot, and them that came thereto. But there was a full evil cat that dwelt near by, and this cruel beast found no pleasure in the music that Joyous did make continually; nay, that music filled this full evil cat with a wicked thirst for the[92] blood of that singing innocent, and she had no peace for the malice that was within her seeking to devise a means whereby she might comprehend the bird Joyous to her murderous intent. Now you must know that it was the wont of our little Mistress Merciless and of Master Sweetheart to feed the birds in that fair garden with such crumbs as they were suffered to bring with them into the arbor, and at such times would those birds fly down with grateful twitterings and eat of those crumbs upon the greensward round about the arbor. Wit ye well, it was a merry sight to see those twittering birds making feast upon the good things which those children brought, and our little Mistress Merciless and little Master Sweetheart had sweet satisfaction therein. But, on a day, whilst thus those twittering birds made great feasting, lo! on a sudden did that full evil cat whereof I have spoken steal softly from a thicket, and with one hideous bound make her way into the very midst of those birds and seize upon that bird Joyous, that was wont to sing so merrily from the tree hard by the arbor. Oh, there was a mighty din and a fearful fluttering, and the rest flew swiftly away, but Joyous [93]could not do so, because the full evil cat held him in her cruel fangs and claws. And I make no doubt that Joyous would speedily have met his death, but that with a wrathful cry did our little Mistress Merciless hasten to his rescue. And our little Mistress belabored that full evil cat with Master Sweetheart's crutch, until that cruel beast let loose her hold upon the fluttering bird and was full glad to escape with her aching bones into the thicket again. So it was that Joyous was recovered from death; but even then might it[94] have fared ill with him, had they not taken him up and dressed his wounds and cared for him until duly he was well again. And then they released him to do his plaisance, and he returned to his home in the tree hard by the arbor and there he sung unto those children more sweetly than ever before; for his heart was full of gratitude to our little Mistress Merciless and Master Sweetheart. Decorative Image Now, of the dolls that she had in goodly number, that one which was named Beautiful did our little Mistress Merciless love best. Know well that the doll Beautiful had come not from oversea, and was neither of wax nor of china; but she was right ingeniously constructed of a bed-key that was made of wood, and unto the top of this bed-key had the Queen of Sheba superadded a head with a fair face, and upon the body and the arms of the key had she hung passing noble raiment. Unto this doll Beautiful was our little Mistress Merciless vastly beholden, and she did use to have the doll Beautiful lie by her side at night whilst she slept, and whithersoever during the day she went, there also would she take the doll Beautiful, too. Much sorrow and lamentation,[95] therefore, made our little Mistress Merciless when on an evil day the doll Beautiful by chance fell into the fish-pond, and was not rescued therefrom until one of her beauteous eyes had been devoured of the envious water; so that ever thereafter the doll Beautiful had but one eye, and that, forsooth, was grievously faded. And on another evil day came a monster ribald dog pup and seized upon the doll Beautiful whilst she reposed in the arbor, and bore her away, and romped boisterously with her upon the sward, and tore off her black-thread hair, and sought to destroy her wholly, which surely he would have done but for the Queen of Sheba, who made haste to rescue the doll Beautiful, and chastise that monster ribald dog pup. Therefore, as you can understand, the time was right busily spent. The full fair garden, with its flowers and the singing birds and the gracious arbor and the Siege of Restfulness, found favor with those children, and amid these joyous scenes did Master Sweetheart have to tell each day of that far-off land of Ever-Plaisance, whither he said he was going. And one day, when the sun shone very bright, and the full fair garden joyed in the music of[96] those birds, Master Sweetheart did not come, and they missed the little lame boy and wondered where he was. And as he never came again they thought at last that of a surety he had departed into that country whereof he loved to tell. Which thing filled our little Mistress Merciless with wonder and inquiry; and I think she was lonely ever after that,—lonely for Master Sweetheart. I am thinking now of her and of him; for this is the Christmas season,—the time when it is most meet to think of the children and other sweet and holy things. There is snow everywhere, snow and cold. The garden is desolate and voiceless: the flowers are gone, the trees are ghosts, the birds have departed. It is winter out there, and it is winter, too, in this heart of mine. Yet in this Christmas season I think of them, and it pleaseth me—God forbid that I offend with much speaking—it pleaseth me to tell of the little things they did and loved. And you shall understand it all if, perchance, this sacred Christmas time a little Mistress Merciless of your own, or a little Master Sweetheart, clingeth to your knee and sanctifieth your hearth-stone.[97] When of an evening all the joy of day was done, would our little Mistress Merciless fall aweary; and then her eyelids would grow exceeding heavy and her little tired hands were fain to fold. At such a time it was my wont to beguile her weariness with little tales of faery, or with the gentle play that sleepy children like. Much was her fancy taken with what I told her of the train that every night whirleth away to Shut-Eye Town, bearing unto that beauteous country sleepy little girls and boys. Nor would she be content until I told her thereof,—yes, every night whilst I robed her in her cap and gown would she demand of me that tale of Shut-Eye Town, and the wonderful train that was to bear her thither. Then would I say in this wise: At Bedtime-ville there is a train of cars that waiteth for you, my sweet,—for you and for other little ones that would go to quiet, slumbrous Shut-Eye Town. But make no haste; there is room for all. Each hath a tiny car that is snug and warm, and when the train starteth each car swingeth soothingly this way and that way, this way and that way, through all the journey of the night.[98] Your little gown is white and soft; your little cap will hold those pretty curls so fast that they cannot get away. Here is a curl that peepeth out to see what is going to happen. Hush, little curl! make no noise; we will let you peep out at the wonderful sights, but you must not tell the others about it; let them sleep, snuggled close together. "Shug-chug! Shug-chug! Shug-chug!" That is what the locomotive is saying, all to itself. It knoweth how pleasant a journey it is about to make. Oh, many a time hath it proudly swept over prairie and hill, over river and plain, through sleeping gardens and drowsy cities, swiftly and quietly, bearing the little ones to the far, pleasant valley where lieth Shut-Eye Town. So sayeth the locomotive to itself at the station in Bedtime-ville; for it knoweth how fair and far a journey is before it. Then a bell soundeth. Surely my little one heareth the bell![99] So soundeth the bell, and it seemeth to invite you to sleep and dreams. How sweetly ringeth and calleth that bell. "To sleep—to dreams, O little lambs!" it seemeth to call. "Nestle down close, fold your hands, and shut your dear eyes! We are off and away to Shut-Eye Town! Ting-long! Ting-a-long! Ting-long! To sleep—to dreams, O little cosset lambs!" And now the conductor calleth out in turn. "All aboard!" he calleth. "All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!" he calleth in a kindly tone. But, hark ye, dear-my-soul, make thou no haste; there is room for all. Here is a cosey little car for you. How like your cradle it is, for it is snug and warm, and it rocketh this way and that way, this way and that way, all night long, and its pillows caress you tenderly. So step into the pretty nest, and in it speed to Shut-Eye Town. "Toot! Toot!" That is the whistle. It soundeth twice, but it must sound again before the train can[100] start. Now you have nestled down, and your dear hands are folded; let your two eyes be folded, too, my sweet; for in a moment you shall be rocked away, and away, away into the golden mists of Balow! "All aboard!" "Toot! Toot! Toot!" Slowly moveth the train, yet faster by degrees. Your hands are folded, my beloved, and your dear eyes they are closed; and yet you see the beauteous sights that skirt the journey through the mists of Balow. And it is rockaway, rockaway, rockaway, that your speeding cradle goes,—rockaway, rockaway, rockaway, through the golden glories that lie in the path that leadeth to Shut-Eye Town. "Toot! Toot!" So crieth the whistle, and it is "down-brakes," for here we are at Ginkville, and every little one knoweth that pleasant waking-place, where mother with her gentle hands holdeth the gracious cup to her sleepy darling's lips. "Nestle down close, fold your hands, and shut your dear eyes!" "Ting-long! Ting-a-long! Ting-long!" and [102]off is the train again. And swifter and swifter it speedeth,—oh, I am sure no other train speedeth half so swiftly! The sights my dear one sees! I cannot tell of them—one must see those beauteous sights to know how wonderful they are! On and on and on the locomotive proudly whirleth the train. The bell calleth anon, but fainter and evermore fainter; and fainter and fainter groweth that other calling—"Toot! Toot! Toot!"—till finally I know that in that Shut-Eye Town afar my dear one dreameth the dreams of Balow. This was the bedtime tale which I was wont to tell our little Mistress Merciless, and at its end I looked upon her face to see it calm and beautiful in sleep. Then was I wont to kneel beside her little bed and fold my two hands,—thus,—and let my heart call to the host invisible: "O guardian angels of this little child, hold her in thy keeping from all the perils of darkness and the night! O sovereign Shepherd, cherish[103] Thy little lamb and mine, and, Holy Mother, fold her to thy bosom and thy love! But give her back to me,—when morning cometh, restore ye unto me my little one!" But once she came not back. She had spoken much of Master Sweetheart and of that land of Ever-Plaisance whither he had gone. And she was not afeard to make the journey alone; so once upon a time when our little Mistress Merciless bade us good-by, and went away forever, we knew that it were better so; for she was lonely here, and without her that far-distant country whither she journeyed were not content. Though our hearts were like to break for love of her, we knew that it were better so. The tale is told, for it were not seemly to speak all the things that are in one's heart when one hath to say of a much-beloved child whose life here hath been shortened so that, in God's wisdom and kindness, her life shall be longer in that garden that bloometh far away. About me are scattered the toys she loved, and the doll Beautiful hath come down all-battered and grim,—yet, oh! so very precious[104] to me, from those distant years; yonder fareth the Queen of Sheba in her service as handmaiden unto me and mine,—gaunt and doleful-eyed, yet stanch and sturdy as of old. The garden lieth under the Christmas snow,—the garden where ghosts of trees wave their arms and moan over the graves of flowers; the once gracious arbor is crippled now with the infirmities of age, the Siege of Restfulness fast sinketh into decay, and long, oh! long ago did that bird Joyous carol forth his last sweet song in the garden that was once so passing fair. And amid it all,—this heartache and the loneliness which the years have brought,—cometh my Christmas gift to-day: the solace of a vision of that country whither she—our little Mistress Merciless—hath gone; a glimpse of that far-off land of Ever-Plaisance. Decorative Image As I was going to Bethlehem-town, Upon the earth I cast me down All underneath a little tree That whispered in this wise to me: "Oh, I shall stand on Calvary And bear what burthen saveth thee!" As up I fared to Bethlehem-town, I met a shepherd coming down, And thus he quoth: "A wondrous sight Hath spread before mine eyes this night,— An angel host most fair to see, That sung full sweetly of a tree That shall uplift on Calvary What burthen saveth you and me!" And as I gat to Bethlehem-town, Lo! wise men came that bore a crown. "Is there," cried I, "in Bethlehem A King shall wear this diadem?" That shall be lifted on the tree And freely shed on Calvary What blood redeemeth us and thee!" Unto a Child in Bethlehem-town The wise men came and brought the crown; And while the infant smiling slept, Upon their knees they fell and wept; But, with her babe upon her knee, Naught recked that Mother of the tree, That should uplift on Calvary What burthen saveth all and me. Again I walk in Bethlehem-town And think on Him that wears the crown. I may not kiss His feet again, Nor worship Him as did I then; My King hath died upon the tree, And hath outpoured on Calvary What blood redeemeth you and me! But, with her babe upon her knee, Naught recked that Mother of the tree. Decorative Image Once upon a time the forest was in a great commotion. Early in the evening the wise old cedars had shaken their heads ominously and predicted strange things. They had lived in the forest many, many years; but never had they seen such marvellous sights as were to be seen now in the sky, and upon the hills, and in the distant village. "Pray tell us what you see," pleaded a little vine; "we who are not as tall as you can behold none of these wonderful things. Describe them to us, that we may enjoy them with you."[108] "How I should like to see the angels!" sighed the little tree, "and how I should like to see the stars dancing among the clouds! It must be very beautiful." "What beautiful music!" cried the little tree. "I wonder whence it comes." "The angels are singing," said a cedar; "for none but angels could make such sweet music." "But the stars are singing, too," said another cedar; "yes, and the shepherds on the hills join in the song, and what a strangely glorious song it is!" The trees listened to the singing, but they did not understand its meaning: it seemed to be an anthem, and it was of a Child that had been born; but further than this they did not understand. The strange and glorious song continued all the night; and all that night the angels walked to and fro, and the shepherd-folk talked with the angels, and the stars danced and carolled in high heaven. And it was nearly morning when the cedars cried out, "They are coming to the forest! the angels are coming to the forest!" And, surely enough, this was true. The vine and the little tree were very terrified, and they begged their older and stronger neighbors to protect them from harm. But the cedars were too busy with their own fears to pay any heed to the faint pleadings[110] of the humble vine and the little tree. The angels came into the forest, singing the same glorious anthem about the Child, and the stars sang in chorus with them, until every part of the woods rang with echoes of that wondrous song. There was nothing in the appearance of this angel host to inspire fear; they were clad all in white, and there were crowns upon their fair heads, and golden harps in their hands; love, hope, charity, compassion, and joy beamed from their beautiful faces, and their presence seemed to fill the forest with a divine peace. The angels came through the forest to where the little tree stood, and gathering around it, they touched it with their hands, and kissed its little branches, and sang even more sweetly than before. And their song was about the Child, the Child, the Child that had been born. Then the stars came down from the skies and danced and hung upon the branches of the tree, and they, too, sang that song,—the song of the Child. And all the other trees and the vines and the ferns and the mosses beheld in wonder; nor could they understand why all these things were being done, and why this exceeding honor should be shown the little tree.[111] When the morning came the angels left the forest,—all but one angel, who remained behind and lingered near the little tree. Then a cedar asked: "Why do you tarry with us, holy angel?" And the angel answered: "I stay to guard this little tree, for it is sacred, and no harm shall come to it." Decorative Image The little tree felt quite relieved by this assurance, and it held up its head more confidently than ever before. And how it thrived and grew, and waxed in strength and beauty! The cedars said they never had seen the like.[112] The sun seemed to lavish its choicest rays upon the little tree, heaven dropped its sweetest dew upon it, and the winds never came to the forest that they did not forget their rude manners and linger to kiss the little tree and sing it their prettiest songs. No danger ever menaced it, no harm threatened; for the angel never slept,—through the day and through the night the angel watched the little tree and protected it from all evil. Oftentimes the trees talked with the angel; but of course they understood little of what he said, for he spoke always of the Child who was to become the Master; and always when thus he talked, he caressed the little tree, and stroked its branches and leaves, and moistened them with his tears. It all was so very strange that none in the forest could understand. "Dear angel," cried the tree, "can you not hear the footsteps of some one approaching? Why do you leave me?" "They are killing me!" cried the tree "They are killing me!" cried the tree. "Alas," cried the vine, "they have come to destroy the tree, the pride and glory of the forest!" "They are killing me!" cried the tree; "why is not the angel here to protect me?" But no one heard the piteous cry,—none but the other trees of the forest; and they wept, and the little vine wept too. Then the cruel men dragged the despoiled and hewn tree from the forest, and the forest saw that beauteous thing no more.[117] But the night wind that swept down from the City of the Great King that night to ruffle the bosom of distant Galilee, tarried in the forest awhile to say that it had seen that day a cross upraised on Calvary,—the tree on which was stretched the body of the dying Master. Decorative Image Decorative Image Star of the East, that long ago Brought wise men on their way Where, angels singing to and fro, The Child of Bethlehem lay— Above that Syrian hill afar Thou shinest out to-night, O Star! To seek that manger out and lay Our gifts before the child— To bring our hearts and offer them Unto our King in Bethlehem! Star of the East, the night were drear But for the tender grace That with thy glory comes to cheer Earth's loneliest, darkest place; For by that charity we see Where there is hope for all and me. Star of the East! show us the way In wisdom undefiled To seek that manger out and lay Our gifts before the child— To bring our hearts and offer them Unto our King in Bethlehem! Decorative Image Decorative Image Produced by Jason Isbell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
Malware Library. Threats targeting Macs. Computer Worms on Mac: What You Need to Know about This Type of Malware The most threatening aspect of computer worms as a type of malware is that they are self-replicating. Where viruses sometimes need to hook up to a specific type of computer program or be actively controlled by a hacker in order to work, worms are so dangerous because they start cloning themselves pretty much the moment they hit your computer. The goal of worms is twofold: first, they seek to exploit known vulnerabilities in an operating system; second, they seek to spread as far as they can, using computer networks, email attachments, file sharing networks, and any number of other methods to move from one computer system to the next. What Worms Are Used For: An Example That’s not to say that worms are exactly the mindless cancer of the computer world. On the contrary, these malicious programs do send data back to a control server, and they can be controlled to help hackers achieve specific goals. For instance, when a website goes down as part of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, the root cause is often a worm that has infected a large number of machines. The hacker who created the worm is then able to create a botnet army with these compromised computers, and can use them to flood a specific target site with huge amounts of traffic or data, essentially killing the bandwidth of the target and resulting in a denial of service for the site. DDoS attacks are difficult to protect against for website administrators, simply because the attack is coming from so many different sources. All of the machines infected with the worm are essentially part of the attack, making it impossible to block specific IP addresses or even distinguish legitimate traffic from malicious traffic. Worms in History One of the most notorious computer worms in history was also one of the first. Written by a graduate student at Cornell University, the worm in question—called the Morris worm—was launched in November 1988, and quickly spread from computer to computer. Like other worms since, the Morris worm operated by exploiting known vulnerabilities in a specific operating system—in this case, Unix. Though originally intended as a harmless technology test, the worm was coded in such a way that it would infect some computer systems more than once, which resulted in computer crashes, denial of service attacks across the Internet, and potentially up to $10 million in damage. The estimate is that the Morris worm infected about 10% of the computers connected to the Internet at the time. While it’s unlikely that a worm could ever have such a far-reaching impact today—thanks to our knowledge of worms and the cyber-security safeguards that are in place on most computers and networks—it’s still frightening to think of the kind of a damage that a worm could do if it infected 10% of the Internet in 2015. Worms on Mac OS X Luckily for Mac users, worms still haven’t really made their way to OS X. In the past few years, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of trojan horses, keyloggers, and other types of malware that can infect machines running Mac OS X. However, a Google search for “Mac worms” should reveal that there are no major worm infections to worry about on Mac… yet. According to a Wired article published in August 2015, researchers have created “the first firmware worm that attacks Macs.” What this article essentially proves is that there is nothing about Macs on either a hardware or software level that will prevent worms from infecting OS X computers or spreading from one Mac to the next. A firmware worm hell-bent on attacking Macs could be particularly damaging, since, as the Wired piece notes, fixing the issue would require users to open up their Macs and “electrically reprogram the chip.” Granted, not all worms would impact a Mac’s firmware. Firmware consists of programs or data that are installed to a system’s read-only memory (ROM), after which they cannot be removed. Many worms, while dangerous and destructive, do not have this level of permanence. Still, the point is that the potential is there for Macs to be hit with a catastrophic worm attack. So how can you protect yourself from worm infection? Since worms exploit known operating system vulnerabilities, always keeping your Mac fully up-to-date with all updates and security patches should reduce the likelihood of a worm being able to exploit your machine. Beyond updates, just use common sense in using the Internet: don’t open emails or attachments from people you don’t know or don’t trust, don’t use public file sharing networks, don’t click on links that look spammy, and always run firewall and antivirus software on your system.
Computers – How Important Are They? Computers today are currently overpriced and still in an experimental phase well out of reach of the typical consumer. Computers seem to be designed to waste our time by unnecessary loading redundant data and shockingly slow components made by improvement of archaic concepts. This is standard on most computers. On the other hand, computers today are much more user friendly. Most computers will run virtually their entire productive lives without needing any regular maintenance at all. Computers are not like cars,which need oil changes, tune-ups, and similar maintenance work. The problems which do crop up with computers are almost always software-based, and those are the very problems which it’s virtually impossible for a maintenance technician to fix. Computers were never built to control us even though that is how it appears. The ones we know and love have not been around all that long. They are small, fast, reliable, and extremely useful. Did you know that in 1983 there were approximately 2 million personal computers in use in the United States. The first home personal computer was not sold until 1977. A typical computer contains numerous types of memory including RAM, ROM, virtual, cache, and various long-term storage devices. Each type of computer memory serves a specific function and purpose. RAM,or random-access memory unlike ROM works only when the computers turned on. This memory is vital to the computer because it controls the moment by moment processes of the computer. Unlike today’s computers, early personal computer only needed about 64K of RAM. RAM and ROM may be very important parts of the computer; however, without storage devices like hard drives and disk drives your computer would not be near as useful. The most common forms of Storage Devices found on your home computer are floppydisk or floppy Hard disk(the drive) or HDA round plastic surface that is coated with magnetic film. The hard drives function is to store all the files, and software the computer will ever use. If someone had to find the brains of the computer they would most likely say its the microprocessor. The processor is the one part of the computer that is most important tot he computer. To a great extent a computer is defined by the power of its microprocessor. Output and Input is important but equally important is the ability to read what the computer is doing. The computer output devices are used to serve the user. However most computer come with speakers and a printer which are excellent output devices. Input devices can be built into the computer, like the keyboard in a laptop, or it can be connected to the computer by a cable. The computer is nothing more than a logic machine which can do no more than its programmer programs it to do. It cannot make independent decisions or do anything that a person couldn’t do. The computer’s speed in solving problems of logic, however, has made the “impractical” practical and the “impossible” possible. Programming a computer means establishing an algorithm, which is nothing more than a combination of logical steps that represent a solution to a particular problem. This generally means putting those steps into one of the computer languages, such as FORTRAN, COBOL or Microsoft BASIC. A lot of home computer advertising has led people to believe that they can program a computer but unless you are qualified to do this, I would leave it to someone that is. Users can expand the functionality of their computers by adding memory, networking, multimedia, security and wireless modules. In the process of giving us incredible capabilities, computers also made us jump through hoops in order to use those capabilities. Before embarking on any expensive outlay for equipment, “you should get some exposure to computers. NOTE: Sometimes, I think the computer spoils today’s generation because it’s so easy–at least physically. If you really want to take the work out of looking for that right Spyware Protection from a Spybot [] go to the Internet and get a Free Spybot Download [] or a Spybot Search and Destroy Download [] to prevent your vital information from being ripped from your computer. Article Source:
Interesting Facts About Paraguay Find thousands of shopping-related forums Interesting Facts About Paraguay Here are some main fact about Paraguay including the people, the weather, and travel. Here are a few interesting facts about Paraguay. Its official name is The Republic of Paraguay. Paraguay is one of the smallest and more isolated countries in South America. It has a population of about 1.7 people. Asuncion is the capital of the country and is considered the most important city in Paraguay. The official language is Spanish and Guarani. The dominant religion of the Paraguayan people is Catholic, but the country recognizes the separation of church and state. Guarani is the national currency. The smallest coin with any practical use is valued at ten cents. According to the U.S Department of State, the country’s economy relies mainly on the exports of cotton, grains, soybeans, sugar, cattle, and timber. Paraguay weather The temperature in Paraguay fluctuates from moderate to hot during most of the year. The average temperature in Paraguay is 75 degrees. In the eastern region of the country the climate is a little more humid and rainy while the eastern area is much dryer. During the summer temperatures can reach 105 degrees. But there are times when temperatures can fall to 0 degrees centigrade. The winter months are mild and short. The Paraguayan people Most Paraguayan people are a mixture of Spanish and Indian descent. The majority of Paraguayans live in the eastern region of the country in Ansucion. The natives are friendly, polite people and very accommodating to tourists. They will eagerly engage tourists in a conversation about football. The two main foods consumed by Paraguayans are corn and cassava. Many of the meals prepared contained these ingredients. The arts and culture of Paraguay is strongly influenced by the Spanish. The two main musical beats are the Polka which has an upbeat vibration and Guarania which has a slower tempo. The popular Polka dance is originated during European colonization. Engraving and drawing techniques were introduced to the people by a Brazilian artist name Livio Abramo. Tourist Attractions Paraguay has geographical, political, and economical down falls but still have many natural attractions. Paraguay is filled with dense forests, wilderness, and national parks. The Ruins in Chaco culture, the Rio Parana, the beautiful Aguazu waterfalls, and the main city of Ansucion are the main attractions for any tourist. The main roads are in good condition for traveling to some areas in Ansucion. To get to other places like Aguazu waterfalls air travel is available. Paraguay has an embassy in the United States located in Massachusetts. Need an answer? Get insightful answers from community-recommended in South America & Central America on Knoji. You have 0 recommendations remaining to grant today. Comments (0)
Kaiso! Kaiso! If Soca is the heart beat of Trinidad & Tobago Carnival, then Kaiso, Cariso or Calypso as it's now widely known is its soul. Imported from West Africa by those enslaved to West Indian cocoa, sugar and coffee plantations, the music provided a tremendous resource.It preserved spiritual ties with the Mother Land while illuminating a path for survival in a new world. We'll even go as far as saying, if there was no Kaiso, the Afro-Trinidadian person would not be. Heck! We'll even venture to say that without Kaiso, there would be no Carnival, not as Carnival exists today! It is said that the name Kaiso derived from the Hausa word "Kai", used to convey disapproval or to admonish. The people would gather around the griots, who would level scathing criticism against the slave-masters and plantation owners. The griot chanted and the people responded in kind "Kaiso!Kaiso!". Gradually, chantwells, who were primarily female, and who song mainly in French Creole, perfected the call and response in the Calinda (stick-fighting) arena. By the late 1700's this type of folk song was known as Cariso and it, along with stick-fighting, was a signifiant element of Carnival celebrations. The music would evolve even more to become the vocal weapon of choice against every manner of social ill from the grim realities of emancipation to the idiocy of politics. Other etymologists suggests that there is yet another origin for the name Kaiso. According to this school of thought, the word comes from the Ibibio people who comprised much of Trinidad's slave population. Among the Ibibios and probably other Africans, it became a popular past-time to engage in a certain dance. A couple of folks would plant sticks into the ground at opposite ends and lay a pole across the top. The contenders, male or female, would display their most impressive rhythmic moves while doing their best to not touch the pole, which lay precipitously above. Cheering them on was the collective refrain "Kaiso! Kaiso!" "More! More! Go!Go!". Eventually, the dance became Limbo and the term was adopted in reference to a music that became synonymous with the Caribbean person's ability to treat the most serious of subjects with uncanny humor. Post a Comment
Fair Process – Better Decisions Through Higher Engagement by: Robert Paul Schwippert We work with leaders who make decisions every day. Often, they must decide on complicated issues which involve many stakeholders and consequently they struggle to make effective decisions. On the one hand, they want to engage their stakeholders/team members to build upon various inputs. On the other hand, they want timely decisions which avoid endless conversations of differing opinions. In addition, they fear losing control of the process. So how do we reconcile this dilemma and come to high quality decisions that are supported by those involved? Ludo van der Heyden (INSEAD) researched the topic and concluded that fairness is a key element to engagement in a decision. This means that if the decision process is perceived as fair, then individuals are more likely to support the decision even if they personally did not favour this option. Fairness is instrumental to supported decisions. So what does that mean a team or department’s decision-making process? What constitutes fairness and how can we facilitate a process that is regarded as fair? Fair process leadership is summarized by the following key phases: · Engage employees from the start onwards in the decision-making process. Give stakeholders and employees a voice and make sure your involvement is authentic. Take time to involve the wider group of people · Explore various options and do not close off to new and wild ideas. Generate many new ideas and keep an open mind to a variety of opinions -even those that may not appeal to you in the beginning. Use your inquiry skills to understand options in depth. · Explain the framework that you use for making the decision and why you as a leader made that choice. Set expectations up front about your role in the process. It is perfectly justifiable to seek wide inputs, but still maintain responsibility for making the final decision – you are the leader. · Execute the decision taken and focus on discipline. This requires a different leadership approach, instead of the open approach in the phases above it may be required to be more directional and focus on effective execution – not going back to re-open the discussion at this stage. · Evaluate the outcome is and identify learnings. What could we have done differently and what changes could we make. How could we approach this better next time? The model above is circular rather than linear. Once you make the evaluation you probably want to re-engage your stakeholders and together find options for the next step etc., making it a continuous process rather than a one – off. There is much more to be said about the leadership styles that support this fair process, but we have seen that applying this framework can already make a big difference for teams. So… next time you are confronted with a difficult decision … try it and you will be amazed by the result!
Geleceğin Ustaları It is not known exactly where and where marbling art has started. However, there are some sources showing that marbling art was performed Turkmenistan, Samarqand in 13th century and in Herat region at the east of Iran in 14th century. Marbling art spread from the east to the west by using Silk Road and other trade routes just like paper. The oldest marbling art whose date was determined belongs to year 1447 and is at Topkapı Palace. Many marbling art artist was trained in Ottoman period. During this period, papers with marbling art on them were used as base for state documents and and official letters. The main objective in doing this was to prevent the falsification attempts along with the aesthetic values; and the mentality of putting complicated patterns on valuable papers such as checks, notes and money bill is based on this.
Sunday, 3 April 2016 Urban Composting - What is a Compost and What are the Benefits of a Compost? Hello! Urban composting - is one of my favourite topics - nothing compares to an earthy smell of a finished compost! What is a compost? Why should we compost at home? "Compost is the oxidative (with oxygen) decomposition of a mix of organic matter." - Dr. Elaine Ingham ... and the emphasis is on the oxidative decomposition. I think anyone who grows food at home should make compost - it's soo much fun and so rewarding!! Healthy soil is the first priority when growing plants of any kind. Helping beneficial microbes and plants to perform their duties as they feed each other (I would call that a perfect relationship) in the root zone. Sustainable way of growing own food, we need to look after life in the soil - and that means we need to give more than we take. We need to make own compost and build a balanced ecosystem in the soil. Compost that has all beneficial microbes in the aerobic (with air) soil environment. Compost doesn't stink - instead it smells like a forest floor. So - how do you make compost in suburban backyard? First you must understand steps you need to take and then ACT. Anyone who is willing to do some reading or if you prefer to watch videos, can learn how to compost. Here's a great video below on Urban Composting with Dr. Elaine Ingham by Valhalla Movement . You'll learn about: • Composting methods - thermal composting and worm composting. • Sourcing starting materials to your compost. • C:N ratio (carbon:nitrogen) - how much 'browns','greens' and 'party food' to use in your compost. Optimum temperature and - moisture level in the pile and how to measure them. • What is compost leachate, compost extract and compost tea?...and much more. Take a first step on making your own compost at home by watching this video. Heli Iso-Aho Tuesday, 17 November 2015 Enjoy the videos and happy gardening! Monday, 28 September 2015 Why Do We Rotate Crops - Do We Really Need to Do That? Why Weeds Are Happily Growing Instead of Our Crop? Hello! Why do we rotate vegetable crops? What does it mean and do we really need to rotate crops? Why weeds are happily growing instead of our crop? Why do we need life in the soil? Did you know that there is millions of microorganisms in the teaspoon of a good compost! I find it incredibly exciting. So, what are these millions of tiny organisms doing in our soil? Nature has a specific job for them. Every organic vegetable grower I have spoken with, rotate their vegetable crops. What is a crop rotation? It's about rotating different plant families annually in the vegetable garden beds. Why do we do that? Do we really need to rotate our crops? How to build a right soil structure? Who actually builds structure of a soil? Yup! So many questions. To follow last two videos - here are the next two videos from livingwebfarms by Dr. Elaine Ingham where she will answer all those questions and more...Enjoy! Heli Iso-Aho Tuesday, 21 July 2015 Why Do We Buy Fertilisers to Grow Plants if There is More Than Enough of Nutrients and Minerals Already in Our Soils? Hello! Why do we buy fertilisers to grow plants if there is more than enough nutrients and minerals already in our soils? I remember when I was a kid, we grew some of our food and ornamental plants in our backyard and in the community garden plot. All food we grew, we ate in the short period of time or we made preserves. Nothing got wasted. Any garden or organic 'waste' we composted and the compost was the 'fertiliser' we used in the garden to grow plants. We never bought fertilisers. What is a fertiliser? It's a chemical or natural substance added to a soil to increase its fertility. Soils is the topic that gets me excited - that's probably why I used to play in the mud a lot as a kid :-) I had so many questions in my mind about soils that I decided to research the topic. What is a Soil? Why is it that we buy inorganic or organic fertilisers to grow our plants? Do we actually need these fertilisers? What is it that we actually need to do to retain fertility and water in our soils? Are the fertilisers only 'a band aid' for a short time gain? What happens in the soil when we use these fertilisers? What is it that our soils actually are lacking of and why? Why are we running out of clean water and topsoil? What is happening in our fresh water? After researching a bit I found these videos below from Living Web Farms titled with Life in the Soil with Dr. Elaine Ingham and Life in the Soil with Dr. Elaine Ingham - Soil Food Web - Dr. Elaine Ingham is a microbiologist from . Oh boy, did she blew me away with her knowledge - and even she has an academic background - with her easy to understand language. Wow, now more than ever...I really love my compost with those millions of hard working beneficial microbes which are such a crucial part of turning nutrients available to my plants. My plants are feeding 'cakes & cookies' (exudates) to beneficial microbes in the root zone and return microbes are releasing soluable (available form) nutrients to my plants - to me that sounds like a perfect relationship. Thank you Dr. Ingham for sharing your knowledge :-) Hope you enjoy these videos as much I did :-) Heli Iso-Aho Sunday, 1 March 2015 Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) - The Start Of the Rest Of My Life Wow! It's done. I have finished my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course with Geoff Lawton and ready for the start of the rest of my life. The whole learning experience was incredible and sometimes overwhelming. At nights I couldn't stop thinking about the topics we went through earlier that day and in the mornings as I woke up I continued my thoughts from the night before....crazy feeling :-) Now being back at home and driving around the neighbourhood, I am looking at landscapes around the country side and start to think about rain water harvesting, dam sites with connecting swales on contour. Looking at suitable spots for a house with a possibility of an access road on contour and so on....before the course I never saw the possibilities that were right there... Anyway, if you are interested in permaculture this video may interest you. It's a video from Happy Dancing Turtle where Geoff Lawton gives a talk on Urban Agriculture. Enjoy! Heli Iso-Aho Saturday, 13 December 2014 "Plant The Rain Before Planting Trees" - Brad Lancaster Enjoy the video! Heli & Allan Iso-Aho Wednesday, 3 December 2014 What is Chop & Drop? Let's look at the benefits of Chop and Drop method: • This way you save on other organic fertilizers Heli & Allan Iso-Aho
Thursday, October 3, 2013 Clinical Trials Underway for a Vaccination of Celiac Disease Recently a privately-held biotechnology company called ImmusanT, announced that it has started clinical trials to study Nexvax2. ImmusanT hopes that Nexvax2 will be the first successful therapeutic vaccine for celiac disease. According to an article written by ImmunsanT, “the goal is for Nexvax2 to restore celiac patients’ immune tolerance to gluten, reduce inflammation in the nutrient-absorbing villi that line the small intestine, return the intestine to a healthy state, and allow patients to eat a normal diet.” Currently, there are no approved medicines available for people with celiac disease, and therefor they must completely eliminate gluten-containing foods from their diet. Why is this important? As an autoimmune disorder, celiac disease harms the digestive process of the small intestine. Consumption of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, will make the immune system of a person with celiacs to respond by getting T cells to fight the offending proteins, thereby damaging the small intestine and preventing the absorption of important nutrients. As mentioned, the single option for those with celiac disease is to eliminate gluten from the diet. As much as a bread crumb of gluten can cause damage or discomfort. The result is a a highly restrictive diet, as gluten is found in more than just bread. Even soy sauce can have gluten. Consequently, nearly half the people on the diet still have damage to their small intestine. This disease will also contribute to weak “educational performance and failure to thrive in children.” Most with celiac disease are undiagnosed or untreated. If gluten is consumed the disease can also “increase risk of fractures and osteoporosis, problems during pregnancy and birth, short stature, dental enamel hypoplasia, dermatitis, recurrent stomatitis and cancer.” Which is why “there has been tremendous enthusiasm about Nexvax2 from patients and the medical community” ImmusanT's study is a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled. Participants are given “ascending doses of Nexvax2 for the induction of gluten tolerance in patients on a gluten-free diet.” According to Patrick H. Griffin, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of ImmusanT, “We are kicking-off a robust clinical program that we hope demonstrates Nexvax2 dramatically reduces the body’s immune response to dietary gluten so patients can resume a normal diet and return to good health.” Until a vaccine is created, Kay's Naturals encourages everyone with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity to maintain a gluten-free diet. It is out hope that our entire line of gluten-free products will help make you successful. For more information on our gluten-free snacks and cereals go to website.
Sunday, 25 December 2011 Freudian Dream Interpretation (1) - Self-Analysis & Dreaming The art of self-analysis Self-analysis is the interpretation of one's own preconscious and unconscious material (for example, dreams; parapraxes; memories; fleeting thoughts; and intense emotions). Psychoanalysis was to a great extent, the resultant theoretical paradigm developed from Freud's self-analysis between 1895 and 1902. The analysis of his own dreams supposedly brought Freud confirmation of what he found in the dreams of his analysands and, reciprocally, he argued that he better comprehended their dreams on the basis of his own (the subjective bias in Freud’s interpretation of the dreams of others is one aspect of his work which has come under the more intense academic criticism). Freud's self-analysis only became systematic after the death of his father in October 1896, and from that point onwards, it complemented and sustained his project of writing a book on the interpretation of dreams (eventually published in 1899). The method of self-analysis developed by Freud included four steps: recording the material obtained; breaking it up into sequences; free associating on each of the sequences; and finally, forging links based on the associations produced - these links thus taking on an interpretive significance. In his first conception of psychoanalytic training, Freud assumed that what was needed was a preliminary experience of self-analysis based on his model. Later, he took the position that the experience of a personal analysis should be required of all future analysts. The risk of self-analysis is that it favours narcissistic self-satisfaction or obsessional rumination. Self-analysis could never be a purely solitary mental activity: Freud developed it in the course of a scientific, emotional, and fantasy exchange with his friend Wilhelm Fliess from Berlin. An active self-analysis takes place within the context of interrelations (with family or analysands, for example). Furthermore it presupposes a subjective commitment to remain in analysis despite the development of personal crises. Self-analysis can be fruitful if it prolongs the psychoanalytic work of which it is an echo. The main difficulty is the neglect of transference/counter-transference relationships. One solution to this problem might be an 'introjection' of the image of the analyst as an ideal object, with whom an interior dialogue may then be pursued – like an imaginary session with a fictional analyst (a technique apparently used by avant-garde novelist and playwright, Samuel Beckett). * The beginnings of Freudian dream interpretation: the initial dream of psychoanalytic movement Freud’s first interpreted dream was “Irma’s Injection” (24th July 1895) and it was this experience – which he saw as a landmark in his career as a psychoanalyst -which enabled him to recognise dreams were a form of imaginary wish fulfilment. Didier Anzieu (1975) has argued that Freud’s ‘Irma’s Injection’ dream contains symbolism reflecting condensed themes associated with mid-life crisis. Indeed, the ‘Irma’s Injection’ dream has attracted substantial academic scrutiny, leading to the assumption that this was in fact the base point of Freud’s psychoanalytical movement, cementing his status as the ‘First Analyst’. Due to the fact The Interpretation of Dreams (conceived in 1886; drafted in 1899 and published in November of that year) was dated ‘1900’ to celebrate the turn of the century, this text has been distinguished as an important work of literature marking a new modernist culture. The perceived significance of the psychoanalytic movement in the transition to modernism and modern culture and learning, was not lost on Freud himself, who wrote to Fliess around this time, confiding that he imagined his own commemoration by way of a plaque one day being placed at Bellevue, Himmelstrasse, Vienna which would be inscribed: Here, on July 24, 1895, the secret of the dream revealed itself to Dr Sigmund Freud. This wish was fulfilled, in 1977 when the plaque was indeed placed there. One view of Freud’s self-analytical work, typically that held by historians and students of the psychoanalytic movement, is that it was both heroic and revolutionary – with “Irma’s Injection” marking a conceptual breakthrough and the ‘cornerstone’ of Freud’s exploration of the previous unchartered depths of the human psyche. It may be that Freud’s own beliefs that he was responsible for revolutionising psychiatry within a wider framework of substantial cultural shift which allowed him to attribute such fundamental value to his ‘pilot dream’ which became the paradigm for all subsequent interpretation. Therefore, Freud’s interpretation of “Irma’s Injection” (the dream itself is incidental – it is the interpretation of its content in which Freud’s great psychoanalytic breakthrough lies) has been referred to as the ‘great creation myth’ of the psychoanalytic movement containing the genetic code for all successive theory and practice. In terms of ‘initial dreams’ (as such significantly enlightening experiences are referred by some dream analysists), Carl Jung stated: “It frequently happens at the very beginning of the treatment that a dream will reveal to the doctor, in broad perspective, the whole programme of the unconscious”. This should be borne in mind when considering the interpretation of “Irma’s Injection”. Despite notable acclaim within twentieth century history and the transition to a zeitgeist of modernism and modernity in European culture, numerous academic studies have sought to deconstruct the ‘Freudian myth’. For example, some scholars have highlighted inconsistencies throughout Freud’s published dream interpretations – for example, at times Freud appears to be concerned with sharing the truth, whilst at others he is discreet, making attempts to censor personal material by anonymisation and fragmentation of his accounts. It is also said that Freud attributed parts of his own dream recollection/interpretations to various analysands and tended to ‘cut-up’ their dreams, dispersing fragmented excerpts throughout his texts, rather than presenting them in a logical or linear narrative. Anzieu rearranged the disparate passages of Freud’s self-analysis to reproduce a dynamically different chronologically ordered discourse which enables a subsequent reading of Freud’s theories in light of biographical explanations. By the time Freud embarked on self-analysis he was 40 years old; with a decent professional reputation (if a somewhat mediocre career) and the majority of his academic output in the sphere of neurology, as opposed to psychiatry. He had recently made the decision to become celibate with the approaching birth of his sixth child. He was concerned with the subject of neurosis and psychosomatic disorder and suffered from persistent thoughts of death; periods of depression and various phobias, leading to Anzieu suggesting that the resultant self-analysis could be viewed as a “defensive elaboration of his depression”. Freud’s shift in focus from physiological to psychical theories of mental disturbance, and the extensive time dedicated to the therapy of his analysands, were partly responsible for his isolation from the scientific community. I do not propose to undertake to provide a biographical account of Freud’s personal and professional life, as I could do neither justice within the confines of my project. Nor do I wish to summarise the entire psychoanalytic movement as this is not of assistance to myself, nor my readers, who would benefit from reading Freud’s texts (especially the Interpretation of Dreams (1899); and For the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (1914)) directly alongside a critical text, such as Didier Anzieu Freud’s Self-Analysis (1975), referred to above. My purpose is providing a backdrop to my own project of self-analysis. Many commentators have noted that Freud’s self-censorship with regard to personal affairs often distorts a reading of his work and enables various theories to be read into the vague or limited material he offers by way of explanation. This will become evident upon studying Freud’s interpretative account of his dream further. Of course, I highly recommend reading Freud’s lengthy analysis of “Irma’s Injection” from the primary source itself (which is easily accessible being regarded as a ‘modern classic’ by most publishers – I first purchased The Interpretation of Dreams for a pound from the classic literature stand in a small provincial bookstore back when I was a high school student and it’s available in most libraries and online, so there’s no excuse for not skimming through, even for the non-Freudian dream analysts!) In any case, I’ve summarised Freud’s interpretation of his seminal dream, adding my own annotation where necessary. * A brief history of dream interpretation Prior to Freud, dream theories tended to fall into two broad categories: the mystical (psychic) and the biological. Some felt that dreams might hold clues to mental states, but because the content of dreams can be very confusing, exactly what this might mean was uncertain. Freud put the ability to make sense of a dream into the hands of the dreamer. During the 19th century, a French doctor Alfred Maury, speculated, following the use of self-experimentation (self-analysis), that external stimuli are the catalyst to all dreams (Schulze, 1997). Modern dream interpretation can trace itself directly back to Maury’s development of the concept of the unconscious. Another profound influence from the 19th century was Joseph Breuer, whose work, though not directly dream-related, inspired Freud. However, although Freud is heralded as the ‘father’ of dream interpretation, the art of using dreams to uncover hidden meaning, has extensive historical and cross-cultural heritage. The Sumerians, the first cultural group to reside in Mesopotamia, left dream records dating back to 3100 BC. According to these early writings, deities and royals (such as the 7th century BC scholar-king Assurbanipal) paid careful attention to dreams. Within Assurbanipal's archive of clay tablets, portions of the story of the legendary king Gilgamesh were found. In this epic poem – one of the earliest known classical stories – Gilgamesh reported his recurring dreams to his goddess-mother Ninsun, who made the first recorded dream interpretation. His dreams were taken as prophecy and used to guide actions in the waking world. These attitudes recorded in the Gilgamesh epic provide a valuable source of information about ancient dream beliefs. The ancient Hebrews believed dreams were connections with God. The biblical figures Solomon, Jacob, Nebuchadnezzar and Joseph were all visited in their dreams by God or prophets, who helped guide their decisions. It was recognized and accepted that the dreams of kings could influence whole nations and the futures of their peoples. The Talmud (written between 200 and 500 AD) includes over 200 references to dreams. It states that "dreams which are not understood are like letters which are not opened". The ancient Egyptians also gave the dreams of their royal leaders special attention since gods were more likely to appear in them. Serapis (the Egyptian god of dreams) had temples in which dream incubation occurred. Before going to these temples, dreamers would fast, pray and draw to help ensure enlightening dreams. The Chinese considered the dreamer's soul to be the guiding factor of dream production. The ‘hun’ (spiritual soul) was thought to leave the body and communicate with the land of the dead. They also practiced incubation in dream temples, which served a political purpose through the 16th century. Any high official visiting a city reported to a temple on the first night to receive dream guidance for his mission. Judges and government officials were also required to visit dream temples for insight and wisdom. The Sacred Books of Wisdom, or Vedas, (written in India between 1500 and 1000 BC) stated that dreams of violence were thought to lead to success and happiness if the aggression was pro-actively handled in the dream, even if the dreamer gets hurt in the process. If the dreamer remains passive and becomes hurt by his own passivity, however, it was considered a bad omen. The Upanishads (written between 900 and 500 BC) articulates two perspectives on dreams. The first maintains that dreams are merely expressions of inner desires. The second closely resembles the Chinese belief of the soul leaving the body and being guided until awakened. It was also thought that if the sleeper was awakened abruptly, the soul might not return to the body quickly enough and the sleeper could die. The earliest Greek view of dreams was that the gods physically visited dreamers, entering through a keyhole, and exiting the same way after the divine message was delivered. The fifth century BC marks the first known Greek book on dreams, written by Antiphon, an Athenian statesman. During this century, the Greeks developed the belief (through contact with other cultures) that souls left the sleeping body. The practice of dream incubation was as important to the Greeks as it was among Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Chinese. Aesculapius was a Greek healer who was believed to be the son of Apollo. He was linked with cults that began the practice of incubation and was believed to visit sleepers, miraculously curing them. A shrine to Aesculapius was established at Epidaurus in the fifth century BC. There are thought to be around 410 Aesculapian sanctuaries near Athens, generally being active from the sixth century BC until the third century BC. Hippocrates (469 - 399 BC), the father of medicine and Socrates' contemporary, wrote On Dreams. His theory was simple - during the day, the soul receives images; during the night, it produces images. Therefore, we dream. Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) thought that dreams could be indicators of conditions within the body and did not believe they were divinely inspired. He hypothesised that external stimuli are absent during sleep, so dreams are manifestations of a profound awareness of internal sensations which are expressed as dream imagery. Galen, a Greek physician born in 129 AD, emphasised the need to observe dreams carefully for clues to healing. He was so trusting of dream messages that he carried out operations on the basis of his dream interpretations. Artemidorus (his contemporary) wrote on The Interpretation of Dreams (Oneirocritica). This text is said to be the best source for the dream interpretation practices of antiquity known to us. His theory is extensive, but within the five books he wrote, he describes two classes of dreams: somnium (which forecasts the future); and insomnium (which deal with contemporary matters and are affected by the state of the body and mind). He stated that the dream interpreter should have information about the dreamer including: 1. images that are natural, lawful and customary for the dreamer: 2. circumstances at the time of the dream; 3. dreamers occupation and personality. The western post-classical view of dream interpretation was very different from the antique one. During the European Middle Ages, dreams were often studied in the context of their relationship to God. Questions typical of the period were ‘Are dreams sent by God to a person of superior virtue? Or are they sent by demons to a person who has fallen from grace?’ Beginning with the dawn of the Christian era until the time of Sigmund Freud, dreams were not regarded as important. As society became more structured, dreams fell into disrepute, particularly due to the powerful influence of organised religion - churches had little appreciation for the use of dream interpretation. Freud’s seminal text The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) was published during the rise of the modernist movement – the intellectual and cultural revolt against conservative values of realism which saw the views associated with the Enlightenment diminish with the rise of secularism – or the ‘death of God’. * The basic methodology of Freudian dream interpretation When we become tired of receiving of and responding to stimuli from environment we try to fall asleep. The main characteristic of psychical state of a sleeper is therefore a withdrawal from reality and cessation of taking all interest in it - we try to fall asleep by disconnecting from all sources of external stimuli and minimising input from environment. Of course, an absolute withdrawal in which we would cease to perceive our environment is not possible; the sleeper does not have a 'switch'. Therefore stimuli from our environment disturb us also during sleep, and our mentality is forced to respond to them - with dreams. Freud derived dream symbols from the resistance of dream interpretation. He noticed that resistance regularly occurred with certain elements of dreams - even in dreams of mentally healthy people. He claimed that formation of visual answer on stimulus (dream) is not coincidental and further, the manifest layer of dream content contained associative connections to the deeper layer of latent content. Freud called these manifest elements ‘symbols’ - to which he ascribed constant (although not generic and inflexible) meaning. The dream symbols are in his opinion more or less sexual. Number ’3’in the symbolic language dreams has meaning relating to a man's sexual organs. All dream ideas which consist of three parts (‘triadic’ or ‘tripartite’) have phallic connotation. Phallus is symbolically substituted with all things that are similar to it by their form - namely long things that jut out such as mountains; rocks; sticks; umbrellas; poles; trees...Then objects for which the penetration in the body and harming is characteristic - for example, weapons; knifes; daggers; lances, sabres; swords; and fire arms. Obviously, the phallus is also substituted with objects from which water runs – pipes; watering-cans; fountains; gushing champagne bottles etc; and with objects that can be lengthened, combusted or erected - hanging lights; extensible pens; aerials; balloons; airplanes; helicopters; rockets, etc. are symbols of erection. Less evident male sexual symbols are reptiles and fish, especially the symbol of snake. A hat and a coat as well as various machines and appliances have the same masculinised meaning. Female genitalia are symbolically represented with hollow objects or receptacles that can contain things – shafts; pits and caves; vessels and bottles; boxes; suitcases; tins; pockets; closets; stoves; ships...The same holds for houses with entrances; passages and doors; churches; chapels; castles; mansions; fortresses and even landscape itself. The material such as wood and paper as well as objects made of them - a table, a book... symbolise the same. Typical female symbols among animals are molluscs, such as snails and mussels and their shells – as they visually resemble the female sex organs and orifices. Apples, peaches and fruits in general symbolise breasts. All kind of playing (playing instruments also); sliding; slipping and breaking branches are symbols of masturbation. The teeth falling out and extraction of them are symbols of castration as a punishment for masturbating (castration's complex). Various rhythmical activities such as dance; riding; raising and threatening with weapons etc symbolise sexual intercourse itself. Typical activities that symbolise sexual intercourse are also climbing and going down the ladder or stairs and running inside a house. The queen and king or empress and emperor and similar relations symbolise parents. The fall into water or raising out of it symbolises birth. Falling in dreams may symbolise the giving in to sexual desires; or relate to a childhood incident of falling where the child was comforted by a parent. Many dreams which seemed puzzling before, become more clear when considering Freud's symbols and the censorship of dream. Although dream symbols allow for direct interpretation of dreams, this does not assist in accessing the unconscious mind. The dream can be understood, Freud held, only in light of the dreamer's associations to it. After recalling the dream, the dreamer should make ‘free associations’ stimulated by certain elements of the manifest dream content, allowing the spontaneous flow of thoughts and feelings. There should be no attempts to censor or control the output of the free association exercise, as "a rule that must not be broken: when telling [dreams] s/he must not leave out any idea even if s/he gets one of four objections: that idea is irrelevant, too senseless, that is not connected with the issue or is too embarrassing" (Freud, 1977). On the methodology for the psychoanalytical interpretation of dreams, Freud stated: Freud identified distorting operations which he claimed were applied to repressed wishes in forming the recollected dream. It is due to these distortions (the so-called ‘dream-work’) that the manifest content of the dream differs so greatly from the latent dream thought reached through analysis - and it is thus by reversing these distortions that the latent content is uncovered. Condensation - one dream object stands for several associations and ideas. Representation - a thought is translated to visual images. Symbolism - a symbol replaces an action, person, or idea. To these might be added ‘secondary elaboration’ - the outcome of the dreamer’s natural tendency to make some sort of ‘sense’ or ‘story’ out of the various elements of the manifest content as recollected. (Freud stressed that it was not merely futile, but actually misleading, to attempt to ‘explain’ one part of the manifest content with reference to another part as if the manifest dream somehow constituted some unified or coherent conception). Freud considered that the experience of anxiety dreams and nightmares was the result of failures in the dream-work. Rather than contradicting the ‘wish-fulfilment’ theory, such phenomena demonstrated how the ego reacted to the awareness of repressed wishes that were too powerful and insufficiently disguised. Traumatic dreams (where the dream merely repeats the traumatic experience) were eventually admitted as exceptions to the theory. Due to the lengthy nature of this particular post, I’ve made the editorial decision to break it down into several smaller articles. Please see my next post on Freud’s “Irma’s Injection” dream and the method of psychoanalytical interpretation of dreams. No comments: Post a Comment
Skip to main content History 314 - The Colonial Moment in African History: Class Assignment Class Exercises Goals for today: 1. Work on developing your topic: • Find one reference article or essay that can give you background information on your topic. • Create a concept map of your topic. 2. Find books and articles on your topic in Sherlock. As you are exploring the resources that we discuss today look for keywords, synonyms and words related to your topic. Note features found in various tools that can help you refine your search strategies to get more relevant results. It is a good idea to take a few notes about your experience today as part of your assignment will be to discuss the process you used in researching and creating your paper. © 2014 Whitman College Penrose Library \|
A Meteor Shower and 8 More Can’t-Miss Sky Events in October Get ready to see the Green Giant, meteor showers, and more this month. View Images A bright meteor streaks the sky during the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, photographed near the histroic city of Damghan, Iran. The coming month brings shooting stars, pretty planets, and plenty more reasons to look up at the night sky. You’ll even have the chance to catch the eerie pyramid-shaped zodiacal light. So dust off those binoculars and mark your October calendar! Mercury at it Best—Week of October 1 Skywatchers this week get a chance to get their best view of the year of Mercury, the trickiest planet to spot with just your unaided eyes. Check out the innermost planet in the solar system just after it passes its greatest elongation September 28, which is the farthest the planet can get from the sun from our vantage point on Earth. About 45 minutes before sunrise, hunt down the most challenging planet to see with the naked eye. Mercury is the smallest major planet in the solar system, only slightly larger than Earth’s moon. And it lies so close to the sun that it takes only 88 days to complete one orbit around the star. To spot Mercury, look for a faint star-like object eight degrees above the horizon—equal to the the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length. The planet will be at its most visible because it will be higher in the eastern sky, away from the glare of the rising sun, than on any other morning in 2016. And here’s a viewing tip: Binoculars will help you initially track down the faint planet and crescent moon in the glare of the morning twilight. Also even a small telescope can also reveal Mercury as a disk that appears half lit, like a tiny version of the quarter moon. Here are some of the other exciting astronomical wonders in store for sky-watchers this week. View Images The zodiacal light is a triangular glow seen best in night skies free of overpowering moonlight and light pollution. Zodiacal Lights—October 1-15 Starting about an hour before sunrise on Saturday, October 1, and lasting the next two weeks, keen skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere can hunt down one of the most elusive astronomical phenomena visible in the sky: the zodiacal light. This pyramid-shaped beam of light is easily mistaken for the lights of a far-off city just over the dark horizon in the countryside, and has also been called “false dawn.” But this light is more ethereal; it is caused by sunlight reflecting off cosmic dust between the planets. Amazing to think that today we’re peering at billions of dust-sized particles that were left behind after the planets formed about five billion years ago. Orionids Ramp Up—October 2 In the pre-dawn hours, the Orionid meteor shower kicks off with a sprinkle of shooting stars. But the best of this sky show will peak on the 21st with as many as 20 shooting stars per hour. Even if you’ve never heard of the Orionid meteor shower, you’ve probably heard of its source. The shooting stars you’re seeing now are part of the debris shed from the most famous of all Earth's icy visitors, Halley’s Comet. (Learn more about the Orionids.) Moon and Venus—October 3 A half-hour after your local sunset, look toward the very low southwestern sky for a razor-thin crescent moon pairing up with bright star-like Venus. The two objects will only be five degrees apart—equal to the width of your three middle fingers held together. View Images The green ice giant Uranus will be at its biggest and brightest in our skies for all of 2016. Uranus Primetime—October 15 The green ice giant Uranus officially reaches opposition, which means the outer planet will be at its biggest and brightest in our skies for the entirety of 2016. Uranus will appear opposite the sun in the sky and rises in the east after sunset in the constellation Pisces. Nearby, the full moon will make it easier to find the tiny disk: look for the planet less than four degrees underneath the moon. Both objects should fit easily into the field of view of a standard pair of binoculars. You can try spying Uranus, which is at magnitude 5.7, with the naked eye if you’re in dark countryside. You may, however, find it easier to pick out its tiny green-blue colored disk with binoculars or a small telescope. Its distinctive hue is caused by absorption of the red portion of the spectrum of sunlight by molecules of methane in its atmosphere; blue and green are reflected back to our eyes. View Images Look in the eastern sky for a gibbous moon close to the orange star Aldebaran—the red eye of the constellation Taurus, the bull. Bull’s-Eye Winks—October 18 After darkness falls, look toward the eastern sky for a gibbous moon positioned close to the orange star Aldebaran, which is the red eye of the constellation Taurus, the bull. Lucky skywatchers across Mexico, Central America, southeastern Canada, the eastern United States, southern Europe, and Northwestern Africa should actually see the moon cover, or occult, Aldebaran. Orionids Peak—October 21 Look for the Orionids to reach their most prolific, with numbers reaching upwards of 20 shooting stars per hour visible from dark locations. The meteors appear to radiate from the northern part of the shower’s namesake constellation Orion the Hunter, which rises in the northeast just before local midnight for mid-northern latitudes at this time of year. Orion is one of the easiest star patterns to recognize thanks to its three bright stars that line up in a perfect row, marking the mythical figure's belt. View Images In the pre-dawn hours, look east to see the thin crescent moon hanging underneath the bright star Regulus, the heart of the constellation Leo. Moon and Lion’s Heart—October 25 In the pre-dawn hours, face due east and watch the thin crescent moon hanging underneath the bright star Regulus, which marks the heart of the constellation Leo, the lion. The two bright objects will be less than two degrees apart—a bit wider than your thumb held at arm’s length. View Images Jupiter and the moon will appear close to each other, and will be visible to the naked eye. Jupiter and Moon—October 28 Once again the moon catches up with a planet, but this time it's the largest planet in the entire solar system and one of the brightest in the night sky. Jupiter and the moon will make for a stunning sight with just the naked eye—and this is a great photo opportunity against the brightening dawn skies due east. Saturn and Venus—October 30 Just as the evening twilight sets in, look for Venus and the much fainter Saturn to make a pretty pairing in the low southwest skies. Joining them is an orange star named Antares, the eye of the constellation Scorpius. Binoculars will help show the planetary pair in all their glory, while a small telescope will reveal Saturn’s rings and the tiny disk of Venus too. Clear skies!
Networking / Beginners Text Messaging and Short Message Service (SMS) In addition to the IM software available for computers, text messaging also provides the capability of sending electronic messages using software that's bundled on many different handheld technologies. These include wireless handheld devices like the Blackberry, Palm Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers, and cell phones that support text messaging.Text messaging services may use protocols like SMTP, but more often the Short Message Service (SMS) is used. The SMS allows users of the service to send small electronic messages to one another through a Short Message Service Center (SMSC). When a client sends a text message, it is received by the SMSC, which attempts to send it on to the intended recipient. If the recipient is unavailable (such as when their cell phone or other device is turned off ), the SMSC will do one of two things: it will either store the message in a queue until the recipient goes online and then reattempt sending it, or it will simply discard the message. The messages sent using SMS are limited to 140 bytes, meaning that you can send a message that contains 160 7-bit characters. However, despite the limitation, longer messages can be sent using SMS in which each message is segmented over multiple text messages. Information in the user data header identifies each message as a segment of a longer message, so it can be reassembled by the recipient's device and displayed as a complete, longer message. SMS also has the capability of sending binary data, and is commonly used to distribute ring tones and logos to cell phone customers. Because of this capability, programming code and configuration data can also be transmitted to a user's device using SMS, causing potential security problems. As we'll see in the next section, Java programs downloaded and installed on devices could contain malicious code, as could other messages with attached files. Text messaging is widely used in companies, with businesses often providing a BlackBerry or other device with SMS capabilities to management, IT staff, and other select personnel. While it allows these individuals to be contacted at any time, it also presents security issues that are similar to Instant Messages.This includes the ability to transmit sensitive information over an external (and possibly insecure) system. Also, unlike IM for a computer, most devices that can download files or have text messaging capabilities don't have any kind of anti-virus protection. As such, you must trust that the SMSC server or other servers providing data are secure.The same applies to other services accessed through these devices. For example, devices like the BlackBerry can access e-mail from Novell GroupWise, providing a connection to an internal network's e-mail system. While viruses designed to attack cell phones and other devices that support text messaging are almost non-existent, more can be expected as the technology improves and more software is supported. Cell Phone and Other Text Messaging Device Viruses Viruses that infected cell phones and other text messaging devices were once considered urban legends. While you'd hear of one from time to time, they would ultimately result in being a hoax. As software can now be downloaded and installed on these devices however, the situation has changed. In June of 2000, the Timofonica virus was designed to send messages to users of the Spanish cellular network, Telefonica. E-mail messages were sent to people's computers over the Internet, coaxing them to open an attachment. Once opened, the program would send a text message to randomly selected cell phones. While this was a fairly innocuous virus, it was a first step toward viruses that attack cell phones. As cell phones and other devices supporting text messaging became more configurable and supported more software, actual viruses were written to directly attack these devices. The Lasco.A virus appeared in 2005 with the ability to attach itself to .SIS files on devices using the Symbian OS. When a user installed an infected file on their device, the virus would be activated. What made the virus particularly interesting is that it would send itself to any Bluetooth-enabled devices in the vicinity. Other users would receive a message stating that they had received a message, and ask if they would like to install the attachment. If they accepted, they too would be infected, and activate the worm each time their device turned on. [Previous] [Contents] [Next]
Olga's Gallery Charles III, King of Spain Charles III (1716-88), King of Spain (1759-88), the younger son of Philip V and Isabella of Parma, was one of the most successful enlightened despots of the 18th century. He became Duke of Parma in 1731, in 1734 he conquered Naples and Sicily and became king over them as Charles VII, King of Naples and Sicily. When he succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand VI to the throne of Spain in 1759 he handed over Naples and Sicily to his third son, Ferdinand. He had an administrative talent and could choose good ministers, such as the Count de Aranda and the count de Floridablanca. He reorganized the government and established a council of ministers. His aim was to increase the power of his government in order to achieve the reforms needed to strengthen Spain and preserve its colonial empire. At home he reformed the nation’s economy, strengthened the crown’s authority over the church, and expelled the Jesuits. His foreign policy was less successful. During the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) he sided with France against Britain and lost Florida, but regained it in 1783 by siding with the Americans during the War of Independence (1775-83). Charles died on Dec. 14, 1788. He was succeeded by his son, Charles IV. See: Francisco de Goya. Charles III in Hunting Costume. Anton Raphael Mengs. Charles III. Home Artist Index Country Index
ELDU and Withdrawal Time Whenever a drug is used in animals, there is a potential for drug residue in edible tissues and other foods consumed by humans. Edible tissues and food products include muscle, liver, kidney, fat, skin, milk, eggs, and honey. Human health effects of drug residues in foods include: How do we protect consumers from drug residues? Before a company can bring a livestock drug to market, it must have undergone a rigorous drug approval process and submitted data to the FDA that shows the drug is safe and effective for the animal, safe for the environment, and safe for consumers when used according to the label. The tolerance is the legally allowed concentration of a drug residue, established for individual tissues or other food products. Once a tolerance is established, a withdrawal time can be determined. Tolerances for livestock drugs are established by the FDA, while tolerances for livestock pesticides are established by the EPA. Withdrawal Time Withdrawal time is the period of time from when a drug is administered to when the drug concentration falls below the tolerance. Every approved livestock drug has a withdrawal time, which only applies when the drug is used according to the labeled directions. Having a labeled withdrawal time does not mean there will be no drug residue in the edible tissue or food product. It means that if there are residues, they will be at or below the established tolerance level. If a drug is used in any manner different from the label (ELDU), the withdrawal time is affected. For example, if a higher than labeled dose is used, it can dramatically change when the residue concentrations fall below the tolerance. Because of this, the only way a drug can legally be used extra label is when it is prescribed by a veterinarian, who must also issue an extended withdrawal interval. An Extended Withdrawal Interval must be scientifically based. A veterinarian may contact FARAD with questions regarding withdrawal interval of drugs when used extra label. FARAD has also developed a Withdrawal Interval Lookup Tool which provides FARAD recommended withdrawal intervals for selected extra label uses of a limited number of drugs. Withdrawal Interval Lookup Access recommeded withdrawal intervals from published FARAD digests. AVMA ELDU Algorithm Use the ELDU Algorithm developed by the AVMA. Submit a Withdrawal Request Access FARAD's online withdrawal request form
a ceremonial flight of aircraft over a given area Also called (esp US) flyover Read Also: • Flyposting /ˈflaɪˌpəʊstɪŋ/ noun 1. the posting of advertising or political bills, posters, etc in unauthorized places • Fly press noun 1. a hand-operated press in which a horizontal beam with heavy steel balls attached to the ends gives additional momentum to the descending member used to punch or compress material • Fly-rail noun 1. Furniture. a horizontally swinging bracket for supporting a drop leaf. 2. Also called fly-rail, working rail. Theater. the upper row of pins or cleats on a pin rail, used for tying off or fastening lines of scenery to be flied. • Fly-river [flahy] /flaɪ/ noun 1. a river in New Guinea, flowing SE from the central part to the Gulf of Papua, about 800 miles (1290 km) long. noun 1. a river in W Papua New Guinea, flowing southeast to the Gulf of Papua. Length: about 1300 km (800 miles)
Keep your kippas man! A kippah (plural: kippot) or yarmulke pronunciation (also called a skullcap) is a thin, slightly-rounded skullcap traditionally worn at all times by observant Jewish men! There are different proposed etymologies for the word yarmulke. According to most mainstream etymologists, it is a Yiddish word (ירמולקא) deriving from the Polish word jarmułka, meaning “cap”, ultimately possibly of Turkish origin. Others propose that it is derived from an Aramaic phrase, yarei malka, meaning “fear of the King [i.e. God],” or from the Hebrew, ya’arei me’Elokai, “those who tremble before the Judge.” Headcoverings for men In many places in the Bible, a man was supposed to cover his head. However, in the English mistranslations, Rav Shaul seems to be writing against this practice, at Korintim Alef / 1 Corinthians 11. “11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.” Consider that in Torah, the Levites were to cover their heads as a sign of submission to HASHEM. In fact, Vayikra / Leviticus 21:10-11 even states that the Kohen haGadol (the High Priest) was never to uncover his head, not even for the death of a relative. And then in the Prophets we read that when Abshalom chased David out of Yerushalayim, David went barefoot, and covered his head. Also, In Yechezkel / Ezekiel 44:18 we read that the Kohanim (Priesthood) in the Beit HaMikdash in the kingdom of King Messiah will be wearing linen turbans on their heads. But if Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua HaMashiach did not come to do abolish the Torah or the Prophets, then how can Rabbi Shaul write that a man is not supposed to cover his head? It makes no sense. When we read the mistranslation of this passage in the English, we read: [4] Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered brings shame to his head. [5] And every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered brings shame to her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. [6] For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaved (and it is), [then] let her be covered. [7] For indeed a man should not cover his head, since he is the likeness and esteem of The Eternal One, but the woman is the esteem of man. Korintim alef 11:4-7. (ISR) However, when we take this passage back to the Greek translation of the Hebrew/Aramaic originals, we see something very different than in the mistranslation into English: [4] Every man praying or prophesying down over (his) head having shames the head of him (speaking of a veil). Every but woman praying or prophesying uncovered with the head, shames the head of herself, one for it is and the same with being shaved. If for not is covered a woman, also let her be shorn. If but shameful for a woman to be shorn or to be shaved, let her be covered. A man for indeed not ought to be covered the head, the image and glory of [The Eternal One] being. Korintim alef 11:4-7 (Green’s Interlinear). The key to understanding this passage is twofold: 1. Rabbi Shaul was not writing against the practices and traditions of the forefathers (the Patriarchs), as recorded in the Torah. He would not, and he could not, or else he would be contradicting the very words of King Messiah, who did not come to abolish the Torah (Mattitityahu 5:17-20). 2. Rabbi Shaul is writing against the tradition of a man veiling his face, as was the custom of the Corinthians of that day, and in particular, the male cult prostitutes. How can we know this? Let us read further in the same chapter (Korintim alef 11): [14] Does not nature itself teach you that if a man indeed has long hair, it is disrespect to him? [15] And if a woman has long hair, it is esteem to her, because long hair has been given to her over and against a veil. [16] If, however, anyone seems contentious, we do not have such a habit, nor do the assemblies of The Eternal One. (ISR) This English rendering makes absolutely no sense. Rabbi Shaul had a Nazirite Vow at this time, and he would have had very long hair. It was no disrespect to him, or he would not have done it. Also note that a woman’s long hair (in this wrong translation) is given to her over and against a veil. But let us take this to the Greek, and we will see something even more interesting: [14] Does not herself nature teach you that a man indeed if adorns the hair, a dishonor to him it is [?] [15] A woman should but adorn the hair, a glory to her it is. Because the beautified hair instead of a veil has been given to her. [16] If but any thinks contentious to be, we such a custom do not have, neither the congregations of The Eternal One. Read this carefully. Shaul is saying that men should not adorn their hair (or veil their faces), which were the practices for the male cult prostitutes of that day. Basically Shaul is saying that men should be men (and cover their heads, as is the practice of the Patriarchs), and women should be women, and dress like women (covering their heads). Rabbi Shaul is also saying that a woman should adorn her hair, because beautified hair can serve for her, instead of a veil. But, if anyone should prove contentious, the Hebrews do not have such a custom of decorating the hair in place of a head covering. But what is the Hebrew custom, as preserved by the Jewish people? The Hebrew custom is that the men cover their heads, and the women wear long, comfortable, flowing head coverings. (And as a further note, in the Torah, Ribqah [Rebecca] veiled her face once she had become engaged to be wed to Yitzak.) So once again we see that Shaul is easily misquoted to suggest that the Torah and the traditions of the Patriarchs have been done away with. But in actual fact, Rabbi Shaul is working very diligently to teach the Torah, and the traditions of the Patriarchs. ***** A final historical note: The Talmud says that the purpose of wearing a kippah is to remind us of God, who is the Higher Authority “above us” (Kiddushin 31a). Alfred Edersheim in his book “[Yeshua] the Messiah” on pages 426-431 describes the dress of the time period of the Second Temple. He says, “In regard to the covering of the head, it was deemed a mark of disrespect to walk abroad, or to pass a person, with a bared head. Slaves covered their heads in the presence of their masters. The ordinary covering of the head was the Sudar, a kerchief twisted into a turban. A kind of light hat was also in use, either of a light material or of felt. The Sudar was twisted by rabbis in a peculiar manner to distinguish them from others… We read besides of a sort of a cap or hood attached to some kinds of outer or inner garments…of the outward appearance of [Yeshua]..His headgear would probably be the SUDAR wound in a kind of turban or perhaps the Maaphoreth, which seems to have served as a covering for the head, and to have descended over the back of the kneck and shoulders” so, here from historical references we can see that Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua HaMashiach probably wore some sort of head covering. For today, Kippah as identification Often the color and fabric of the kippah can be a sign of adherence to a specific religious movement. The Israeli Religious Zionist community is often referred to by the name kippot serugot (Hebrew כיפות סרוגות), literally “knitted kippot,” though they are typically crocheted. Modern Orthodox Jews often wear suede or leather kippot which require clips to hold them in place. Members of most Haredi groups usually wear black velvet or cloth kippot. Because of this, men who wear these kippot are sometimes referred to as kipot shekhorot (Hebrew כיפות שחורות), literally “black kippot”. In addition, in general, the larger the kippa, the more right-wing politically and the more observant the wearer is. And by contrast, the smaller the kippah, the more modern and even liberal the person may be. During the High Holidays, many wear white kippot. The tradition to wear a kippah is not derived from any biblical passage. Rather, it is a custom which evolved as a sign of our recognition that there is Someone “above” us who watches our every act. We at Beth HaDerech do follow this tradtion faithfully. Keep your kippas man! You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Semiotics and Street Names Semiotics is the study of signs and their relationships with what they signify, each other, and their users. A street name is a sign that signifies a street(1). What sorts of semiotic relationships exist between street names and streets? Charles Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of semiotics, distinguished three types of signs based on how they signified: • Icons are signs that “serve to represent their objects only in so far as they resemble them in themselves.” In other words, an icon is a sign that signifies something because it has something in common with it. For example, the Air America logo includes an outline map of America in the background. That outline map is supposed to represent America because they have the same shape. • Indexes (also called indices by Latin plural fanciers) are signs that “represent their objects independently of any resemblance to them, only by virtue of real connections with them.” This “real connection” could take a number of forms; the sign and its signified could be associated by cause and effect, or by frequent co-occurrence in time and/or space. The canonical example is smoke and fire; smoke is caused by fire and just about always appears right after it, so smoke is an index of fire. A more complicated relationship exists in America between being black and living in a city; after the white flight of the ’50s and ’60s, cities became blacker, and the word “urban” came to signify not only “relating to cities” but also “black” (cf. the National Urban League). Because of their frequent spatial association, cities came to index black people. • Symbols are signs that “will be interpreted as denoting the object, in consequence of a habit.” In other words, symbols are only connected to what they signify insofar as people are used to thinking they are connected. The American flag represents America not because it has anything in common with America, and not just because it’s often seen in America, but simply because it is designated as representing America and therefore everyone associates them. Of course, it does have 50 stars (for the states) and 13 stripes (for the original colonies), which makes it not so much a pure symbol as a symbol adulterated with a bit of icon. The above quotes are from the Commens Dictionary of Peirce’s Terms. Street names can signify their streets through any of these three types of relationships. Below I have listed the types of street names I can distinguish, beginning with icons, moving through indexes, and ending with symbols. 1. Descriptive adjectives: The most iconic street names are those that simply describe the street. They are the kind of names you might use as descriptions for the street even if there were no such thing as permanent street names. Many cities have a South Street, a Broad Street, or a Main Street, all of which fall into this category. (Of course, South Street may not be particularly far south, Broad Street may just be named after a guy named Broad, and Main Street may not be the center of life in the city, but let’s ignore these cases.) A few more examples: in 19th-century Washington, DC, Boundary Street (now Florida Avenue) marked the northern boundary of the city. In that city’s Maryland suburbs, East-West Highway runs in the direction you’d expect it to. In Detroit and its suburbs, streets like 7 Mile Road, 8 Mile Road, 9 Mile Road, etc., are named for their distance from downtown Detroit. 2. Descriptions of surroundings: Now we are already into the indexes. Some streets are named for nearby landmarks: many cities have a Railroad Ave near the tracks or a Water Street by the waterfront. Canal Street in Manhattan is named for a canal it replaced. Smith Street in St. Peter Port on the British island of Guernsey was named for the blacksmiths that once operated there. Central Park South in Manhattan is named for the park it forms one border of. It is common for a neighborhood to have a street named for it, either running through it or along its borders: Hyde Park Boulevard, Lawndale Avenue, Edgewater Avenue, Woodlawn Avenue, and Kenwood Avenue are some examples from Chicago that run through the neighborhoods they are named for. 3. Destinations: In centuries past streets were often named for their destinations. For example, Chicago’s Milwaukee Avenue is named for its eventual destination. This practice is continued today only in highway names, since city streets are no longer meant to carry intercity traffic. For example, downtown Los Angeles includes highways named Hollywood Freeway, Santa Monica Freeway, Harbor Freeway, San Bernardino Freeway, and Pasadena Freeway, all of which take you to the named destinations. Some streets are named for their destinations top-down style—using the kind of perspective only a planner would employ. Maryland’s Baltimore-Washington Parkway, for example, could not have received that name from residents of either Baltimore or Washington; it dates from a period when highway construction was already a joint state-federal affair. Compare this to Milwaukee Avenue, a name obviously chosen by Chicagoans. 4. Honoring historical connections: Some streets are named for people who lived or worked along them, or events that took place nearby. For example, Victor Hugo lived on the avenue in Paris that now bears his name. It was renamed for him before he died, and according to Wikipedia his address in his last days was “Mr Victor Hugo, In his avenue, in Paris.” Washington, DC’s Anna J. Cooper Circle and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue are named for the black pioneers who lived and worked nearby. Paris’s Avenue du Général Leclerc is named for the first French general to enter Paris during its liberation in August 1945. Its southern terminus is at the Porte d’Orléans, the gate by which Leclerc entered the city, where it widens into the Place du 25 Août 1944. New York City’s Amsterdam Avenue is named for the Dutch city that previously stood there. The Holland Tunnel, however, is named not for the previous colonizing power but for the engineer who did not live to see its completion. Similarly, the Outerbridge Crossing between Staten Island and New Jersey is named not because it is the southernmost bridge between New York and New Jersey, but for Port Authority chairman Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge. 5. Systematic names: At this point we are getting close to symbols, signs with arbitrary connections to what they signify. Systematic street names are non-arbitrary relative only to other street names. For example, Second Street is the most common street name in the U.S. The name “Second Street” signifies something about the street relative to other numbered streets, but nothing about the street on its own. Many American cities have numbered streets, and some have far more complicated grid systems. Some of these make use of alphabetical order, like those in Denver and parts of San Francisco. A sort of alphabetical grid exists in the outer sections of Chicago; for example, there is a mile of streets whose names begin with K between Pulaski Road and Cicero Avenue, followed by a mile of L streets between Cicero and Central, and so on, extending out to the Ps on the Northwest Side. Washington, DC’s grid system is one of the most complex I’ve ever heard of, the kind of thing a mathematician would come up with. North-south streets are numbered, but east-west streets are not. Instead, they are named for letters of the alphabet (A through W), and when that runs out they are named for two-syllable words in alphabetical order (Adams, Bryant, Channing…), then three-syllable words in alphabetical order (Albemarle, Brandywine, Chesapeake…), and finally plant names in alphabetical order (Aspen, Butternut, Cedar…).Thus each street name that follows the grid signifies something about its location relative to other gridded streets. 7. Arrays of arbitrary names: Washington, DC also has one avenue named for each state plus Puerto Rico, but they are in no particular order and thus each street name really signifies nothing about the street. Similarly, many cities and suburbs, such as Wilmette, Illinois, have a series of streets named for prestigious colleges. Sometimes entire developments will have a theme, whether intentional or not (e.g., “banal nature-themed words”). I am not sure if I am really justified in separating this category from the following one. 8. Entirely arbitrary names: Many names, of course, are entirely arbitrary and have nothing whatsoever to do with the street they signify. The French playwright Molière, who was born, lived, worked, and died in Paris, has streets named for him in Lyon, Cannes, Toulon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Rennes, and dozens of other French cities. Similarly there are Washington Streets in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and probably thousands of other American cities that were not even founded when Washington lived. These street names are associated with their streets purely through the power of convention, making them symbols by Peirce’s definition. Of course, to those who use these streets regularly, many street names really function as symbols. Many residents of Chicago’s Milwaukee Avenue would be surprised to learn that it actually can take you to Milwaukee (it appears to be slanting in the wrong direction), and it would be easy to stroll down Avenue Victor Hugo in complete ignorance of the fact that the author lived and died there. Not to mention streets like Philadelphia’s South Street, Chicago’s North Avenue, Providence’s West Street, and Houston’s East Street, which are not located at or particularly near the named extremity. For some of these street names it was once different, for others not, but today they are mostly arbitrary signs. Questions for commenters: Have I forgotten any categories of street names? Do you agree that category three, streets named for their destinations, are indexes? (1) In Ferdinand de Saussure’s terms, the street name itself is a signifier, while the street is the signified; together they make up the sign. Cross-posted from Empire Avenue. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s %d bloggers like this:
Antioxidants in Beer Make It an Alternative Therapy Beer lovers revere their evenings when accompanied by a large glass of beer. There is no other beverage on the world that has garnered such admiration and is still emerging. Conversation starts with a beer and ends with numerous on the way, this is how a beer lover endorses his love for the beverage in beer brewing countries. Why not? Beer is not just an alcoholic beverage but the antioxidants in beer prove to be favorable for human health. There are people who dislike its taste and smell and prefer anything else over it, but as they say ‘the survival of the fittest’ this phrase is apt in this context regarding beer, the weaklings are not made for the cut. There is a lot about beer that is not disclosed and therefore this beverage is comprehensively misconstrued. People need to realize that if a food item is known for negative effects then it is also endowed with some positive outcomes. Antioxidants in beer are the answer to dubious theories. Measure the percentage: One thing that you might be unaware about is the fact that in reality beer is good for health. Studies have disclosed numbers that exhibit a 30 to 60% reduction in possibility of heart ailments in men and women who are regular consumers of beer. The same figures were quoted for people having heart disease and were regularly consuming beer because it assisted in reduction. There is an inculcated nexus amid beer and diabetes which is how Diabetes was curtailed by 36% in diabetic people. Apart from this the bone structure is strengthened as beer comprises of silicon mandatory for developing robust bones. There have been redundant studies about beer being good for certain tenacious plagues. Earlier it was conjecture but curious scientists furthered their research and discovered the potency of antioxidants to suppress the development of cells that can be cancerous incubated in the human body. Other than this, even tumors are hindered by beer and forced out. The body acts as an incubator for cancer and tumor nodes when it is unhealthy and ill. Lack of exercises, movement and unhealthy food makes your body weary and finally due to lack of necessary nutrients falls abate to such medical afflictions. When this happens the free radicals take advantage and nurture cancerous cells in the shady parts of the body like the digestive system, colon, intestinal tract and cardiovascular system. These organs are kept unclean as the immune system fails to react to the free radicals because of absence of nutrients. Eventually the immune system malfunctions slipping into dormancy. Once this phase is over, the free radicals stimulate the growth of cancerous cells enlarging them into lumps. These lumps endanger your life by lunging you to be victimized by cancer or tumor. To get rid of such deadly conditions, it is of utter importance that you incorporate a healthy balanced diet daily. Intake of vegetables and fruits that are enriched with antioxidants lace your body with required nutrients, vitamins, minerals and metal compounds required to counteract seditious diseases. Antioxidants in beer are imbedded with vigorous strength and are able-bodied to mutilate such baleful ravages. Sunlight, radiation, stress, junk food and pollution are environmental elements that influence free radicals. When a person is exposed to these elements, the assimilation of such factors stimulates the growth of free radicals. Radicals are produced in clusters and swindle in the body destroying the immune system which leads to auto-immune disorder that is self destruction of the immune system. A person’s immune system when pressurized by free radicals will destruct its own cells thus malfunctioning entirely with no hope of recovery. Beer is healthy but that not mean that you consume barrels at one time. The antioxidants in beer will benefit you only if you consume it in moderation and not go overboard. More Articles
by Whit Gibbons May 31, 2009 According to an overstatement I read in the newspaper last week, we should all fear the Komodo dragon, a type of monitor lizard that reportedly can run almost 20 miles an hour. It was described has having teeth like serrated kitchen knives and venom that "can kill a person within hours." Some of the scary hype about these magnificent predators is undeserved and probably indicates a slow week of international news. They are indeed the largest lizards in the world and do have redoubtable teeth. And two people have died from Komodo dragon bites in the last two years, which is a tragedy for the victims and their families. But these magnificent reptiles occur naturally in only one place on earth, the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Not much of a threat to most of us. Far more people are killed by dogs and horses in the United States every year. Exaggeration is to be expected if the point is to make the case that these animals are something to fear. Anyone in the close vicinity of a Komodo dragon should certainly have a healthy respect for it and exercise some common sense. This is a large carnivore, with impressive teeth, and a bite from one can be serious because of bacteria in the mouth that can lead to infection. But implying that Komodos have venom more potent than that of some snakes is, at best, hyperbole. Venom is not injected and is unlikely to be a cause of human death. Also, maybe some can run as fast as stated in the article I read. However, according to Walter Auffenberg, a scientist who studied these giant monitor lizards on their native islands many years ago, they can run up to 11 miles an hour. Most people would be faster than they are. Climb a tree and you will be safe from the big ones. I take issue with indicting a free-ranging reptile in its native habitat for doing what comes naturally. I know someone who has been to Komodo twice and actually seen these impressive lizards in the wild. Cris Hagen of the Savannah River Ecology Lab has photographed them, had one try to lumber into a cabin he was staying in, and watched several of them as they scavenged a dead goat. But if you stay a safe distance from the big beasts, the same way a person visiting a ranch gives bulls a wide berth, you should be quite safe. For those who want to use Komodo dragons as evidence that our dominion over the beasts of the field is being threatened, I suggest they turn their attention to Florida and the Nile monitor, a native of parts of Africa with habitats and climate similar to Florida's. These close relatives of the Komodo dragon have gained a foothold in southern parts of the state and have now established breeding colonies. Nile monitors have a constantly flicking forked tongue and long claws. They reach lengths of seven feet and can stand up on their hind feet to survey an area. Nile monitors are formidable creatures. They are able to climb trees and have a rudder-shaped tail for swimming. They dig burrows to avoid extremes of weather, hot or cold, and use the burrows as nesting sites, where a female can lay up to 60 eggs. Nile monitor populations appear to be expanding rapidly. They reach adulthood in only three years and are increasing in some places to more than 200 adults per square mile. Because of their predatory nature, large size, and reports that they are very intelligent and hunt cooperatively, Nile monitor lizards are considered by some conservationists as a major threat to Florida's native wildlife, not to mention small pets. I object to media accounts demonizing animals such as Komodo dragons that are simply behaving in a natural and normal manner in their native habitat. The case of the Nile monitor, however, may be a bit different. Although they, too, are behaving as they have for the past hundred million years, one might plausibly argue that humans should have the right of way in southern Florida because they arrived there a couple of centuries before the big lizards. If you have an environmental question or comment, email (Back to Ecoviews)
November 11, 2008 Prof Recounts Kristallnacht Story on 70th Anniversary Print More Last night, Prof. Emeritus Edgar Rosenberg, English and comparative literature, recounted his childhood experiences of a night of terror, known to German Jews as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Seventy years ago, on Nov. 9, 1938, Nazis destroyed synagogues, smashed Jewish shop windows and burned Jewish books, leaving German cities littered with glass, broken furniture, and strewn shop items. [img_assist\|nid=33466\|title=Gather ’round\|desc=Prof. Emeritus Edgar Rosenberg, English and comparative literature, shares his personal memories to commemorate the 70th anniversary in RPCC last night.\|link=node\|align=left\|width=\|height=0] In the informal setting of a Robert Purcell study lounge, Rosenberg read to the 20 students in attendance from an excerpt that he wrote which describes the events he experienced as a 13-year-old boy. He began with the date “November 9th” and explained that its significance ranges from 1808, when Bavarian Jews were first allowed to carry arms, to Kristallnacht, to 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. Rosenberg then took his audience through the events that he witnessed. He heard his front door banged open by Nazis, whom he referred to as “brown shirts,” his father yelling back at the officers, and the sound of the door slam shut as they stormed out. And he saw the Jews of his city forced to stand in subzero weather in the middle of the night, and then at about 5:30 a.m., Rosenberg describes how “the sky had turned crimson — the synagogues burned.” After the synagogues went up in flames the Chief Rabbi of the town was forced by the Nazis to trample a Torah in the city square. Rosenberg trailed his story from Furth, his city in Germany to Switzerland, all the way to Washington Heights, New York, always with his younger brother at his side. He explained that if his family had not escaped when they did (his father immediately after Kristallnacht, Rosenberg and his brother six months later, and his mother shortly after) they would have all been deported to concentration camps. But despite the description of many horrific details, Rosenberg’s story was not a typical somber tale of a Holocaust survivor. Rather, it was sprinkled with lighthearted snippets about his childhood love for history, and a frequent reference to a South American puzzle that his brother busied himself with during the course of the events. John Lauricella PhD ’93 shared his views: “It was interesting in that it recounts horrific events with wit and a light touch. It’s never somber and I think that’s a great talent because the events are certainly horrifying enough.” Rabbi Ed Rosenthal, executive director of Hillel, said: “As the years go by and there are fewer people who have survived it becomes even more important to hear first-hand accounts. There will a time when there won’t be any survivors [still alive] and people are going to say that [the Holocaust] never happened.” The idea for the lecture was brought to Cornell Hillel by Rosenberg himself. Rosenberg also came up with the idea to commemorate Kristallnacht 20 years ago, for the 50th anniversary, when he put together a panel with several other professors. Rosenberg explained, “This is something which is important and I am one of the very few people who has the authority or the authenticity to speak about the subject.”
Biotin is a member of the B complex family, but is not actually a vitamin. It is a coenzyme that works with them. Also known as vitamin H and coenzyme R, it was first isolated and described in 1936. It is water soluble and very unstable; it can be destroyed by heat, cooking, exposure to light, soaking, and prolonged contact with water, baking soda, or any other alkaline element. The body obtains biotin from food and can also synthesize this nutrient from bacteria in the gut. General use: Biotin is utilized by every cell in the body and contributes to the health of skin, hair, nerves, bone marrow, sex glands, and sebaceous glands. Apart from being a vital cofactor to several enzymes, biotin is essential incarbohydrate metabolism and the synthesis of fatty acids. It is also involved in the transformation of amino acids into protein. Biotin plays a role in cell growth and division through its role in the manufacture of DNA and RNA, the genetic components of cells.Adequate biotin is required for healthy nails and hair, and biotin deficiency is known to be a factor in balding and the premature graying of hair. It has been claimed that, as part of an orthomolecular regime, it can reverse the graying of hair. When PABA and biotin are taken together in adequate amounts they can restore hair color. Biotin supplements will also effectively treat weak, splitting nails.Biotin can be a valuable tool to combat yeast infections, which are notoriously difficult to fight. In their book The Yeast Syndrome, John Parks Trowbridge and Morton Walker describe how adequate levels of biotin can prevent Candida albicans from developing from its yeast-like state into fungal form, in which it sends out mycelium that further invade body organs.Seborrheic dermatitis, or Leiner’s disease, which is a non-itchy, red scaling rash affecting infants during the first three months of life, is also treated with biotin and other B complex vitamins.Biotin has been used in conjunction with other nutrients as part of weight loss programs, as it aids in the digestion and breakdown of fats.High doses of biotin are sometimes used by the allopathic medical profession to treat diabetes since it enhances sensitivity to insulin and effectively increases levels of enzymes involved in glucose metabolism. In 2002, one company started clinical trials testing a combination of chromium picolinate and biotin for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Biotin is also used to treat peripheral neuropathy, a complication of diabetes, and patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who suffer from metabolic deficiencies.Biotin can be found in beans, breads, brewer’s yeast, cauliflower, chocolate, egg yolks, fish, kidney, legumes, liver, meat, molasses, dairy products, nuts, oatmeal, oysters, peanut butter, poultry, wheat germ, and whole grains. The recommended daily allowance for adults in the United States is 30 mcg. Daily requirements are estimated at 30 mcg for adults and 35 mcg for women who are nursing. Supplementation ranges from 100-600 mcg per day, and can be obtained in the form of brewer’s yeast, which contains biotin as part of the B complex, or as an individual biotin supplement. The body needs biotin on a daily basis since it is not stored to any great extent. Biotin requirements increase during pregnancy and lactation. In 2002, an investigation outlined the need for supplemental biotin during pregnancy. Nearly 50 % of pregnant women appear to be deficient in biotin, which could result in birth defects (at least according to animal studies). Researchers suggest that biotin be included in prenatal multivitamin formulas. Those taking antibiotics should supplement their diets with biotin. Certain individuals are at risk for biotin deficiency, including infants fed biotin-deficient formula or with inherited deficiency disorders, patients who are fed intravenously, and anyone who habitually eats a lot of raw egg whites, because they contain a protein called avidin, which prevents the absorption of biotin. Mild deficiency Because it is synthesized in the gut, deficiency symptoms of biotin are rare. However they may include weakness, lethargy, grayish skin color, eczema (which may include a scaly red rash around the nose, mouth and other orifices), hair loss, cradle cap in infants, muscle aches, impaired ability to digest fats, nausea, depression, loss of appetite, insomnia, high cholesterol levels, eye inflammations, sensitivity to touch, anemia, and tingling in the hands and feet. Extreme deficiency Symptoms of extreme biotin deficiency include elevation of cholesterol levels, heart problems, and paralysis. When extreme deficiency is a problem, the liver may not be able to detoxify the body efficiently, and depression may develop into hallucinations. Infants may exhibit developmental delay and lack of muscle tone.Biotin deficiency could result in a loss of immune function, since animal experiments have shown that biotin deficiency resulted in a decrease in white blood-cell function. Because biotin is essential to the body’s metabolic functions, any deficiency could result in impaired metabolism as well. There have been no reports of effects of overdose of biotin, even at very high doses, primarily because any excess is excreted in the urine. Side effects There are no side effects associated with biotin supplementation. Coenzyme-A non-protein organic compound that plays an essential role in the action of particular enzymes. Lactobacillus-A bacteria present in the gut of healthy people. Mycelium-Fine thread-like tendrils sent out by a fungus to seek nutrition, capable of invading body organs. Peripheral neuropathy-Weakness and numbness of the nerves in the fingers and toes, which may progress up the limb-often a complication of diabetes. Biotin works in conjunction with all the B vitamins, which are synergistic, meaning they work best when all are available in adequate amounts.Raw egg white contains the protein avidin, which prevents absorption of biotin.Sulfa drugs, estrogen, and alcohol all increase the amount of biotin needed in the body. In addition, anticonvulsant drugs may lead to biotin deficiency. Long term use of antibiotics may prevent the synthesis of biotin in the gut by killing off the bacteria which help the body produce biotin. Supplements of lactobacillus may help the body make sufficient amounts of biotin after long term antibiotic use.
Friday, July 13, 2012 Teapublicans: Building A Bridge To The 19th Century By bfrederk There is a range of possible democratic systems: at one end is an emphasis on individual rights, limited government, separation of powers, and checks and balances. This is the system our Framers put together. This is 'original intent.' This is what libertarians and Teapublicans favor. They lament that we have strayed from this founding vision. Starting with FDR and the New Deal, government has become too big. They see health care reform as continuing this historical aberration. This is what they mean when they say they want to 'take our country back.' At the other end of the spectrum of possible democratic systems is majority rule. No separation of powers, no checks and balances, just the people electing parties to the parliament and those parties passing legislation. Most democratic systems around the world are on this end of the spectrum. Most democracies do not have federalism, executive vetoes, judicial review, or an upper house with a supermajority decision rule. Most democracies can actually do things. They are not paralyzed by partisan and institutional gridlock. They can respond to their current realities and act to protect their citizens. Our democratic system is not even close to this end of the spectrum, but since the 1930s it has slowly moved in that direction. We could not reconcile our constitutional tradition of limited government with 20th century realities: global depression, the cold war, and changing cultural values of race and gender. We could not establish economic safety nets, act as a global superpower, or pursue civil rights without accumulating more power at the national level. We altered our constitutional understanding of the commerce clause, the necessary and proper clause, the supremacy clause, and the commander-in-chief powers to deal with these 20th century realities. We simply had to do this - imagine our lives if we had no Social Security, no Medicare, no NATO, no access to foreign oil, and no civil rights laws. We adapted our democratic system to 20th century realities. We did not govern ourselves according to original intent. Now we face 21st century realities. The most important contemporary reality is interdependence at community, state, national, and global levels. We are all living on this planet together: our decisions influence the lives of others, and others' decisions influence our lives. (The health care debate is so important because it is so typical of contemporary life - the decision to not buy health insurance raises health care costs for the rest of us. We are interdependent. We are all in this together.) We do not live in an 18th century frontier world of self-sufficiency. We no longer live in a world where we can live the life we want as long as the government leaves us alone. Limited government in the 21st century means our food will not be safe. It means that college will be unaffordable for millions. It means that 50 million people will not have health insurance. It means that an unregulated Wall Street can tank the global economy. It means that we cannot build infrastructure and create jobs in tough times. It means that women and minorities cannot make discrimination claims. It means that we cannot stop spewing carbon into the atmosphere. It means - literally - that we cannot adequately govern a 21st century society. But this is what the Teapublicans are offering us. They prefer a vision of government that not only prevents us from adequately governing a 21st century; they want to roll back our 20th century governing as well. The conservative movement to 'take our country back' by returning to a 1920s understanding of federalism and the commerce clause can undo things that other democracies take for granted. Take a look at what is going on. The Teapublicans are building a bridge to the 19th century. They have allowed corporate money to flow into politics. They are taking voting rights away from minorities and the poor. They are dismantling union rights. They use xenophobic language regarding immigration. They want to deny contraception to women. Their proposed budget dismantles Medicare, savages safety nets, and cuts taxes on the rich. Next year a challenge to the Voting Rights Act is going to the Supreme Court. Basic things like minimum wage laws, worker safety laws, and civil rights laws are next. Their agenda goes beyond repealing health care reform. Their agenda is to repeal the last 80 years of progressive legislation. Their agenda is to repeal all 20th century movement in the direction of majority rule. This is a strategy that guarantees the eventual extinction of the Teapublicans. It simply is not a plausible governing strategy for a truly democratic society in the 21st century. But it sure can do a lot of damage in the short run. Originally posted to bfrederk on Tue Jul 10, 2012
Thursday, May 12, 2016 Secularization of An Islamic Republic When the British colonized South Asia, the native population were believers in God. The Mughal Empire was disintegrating. There were many regions ruled by Muslim monarchs. The Muslims residents lived according to their centuries old traditions. Their culture was a mixture of Persian, Turkish, Afghan and Indian influences. Arabic was a foreign language for them and they were dependent on their scholars to interpret religion for them. The scholars for the most part were answerable to the ruler and presented the ruler’s version of Islam. The people were taught to read the Quran for blessings but were not aware of what they read. The rulers were not interested in educating the general population in the religious sciences. Most centers of learning were fixated by jurisprudence rulings about matters instead of the principles of religion. The societies were for the most part deprived from the fresh wisdom from the study of the Quran. In fact, the religious elite considered it haram to translate the Arabic Quran until the time of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi. The British arrived with their technology, civilization, religion, culture and education and set about establishing their institutions for its dissemination from Calcutta to Delhi and beyond. The Muslims were in no position to oppose the civilizational onslaught. There were two main reactions from the Muslims. One group said that they will completely boycott the Western influence and culture. This group dispersed to the corners of society and study to the teaching of the religious sciences. The Darul Uloom of Deoband represents this group. Traditionally, its students have been blind to modernity. The second group led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan said that they cannot avoid the knowledge which presented itself to them. He argued that they will study Western knowledge, take whatever fits Islam and discard all that does not. Modern Muslim education institutions were established in India and then in Pakistan based on this philosophy. In theory the attitude of this group was right, but in practise the students of these institutions were mesmerized by Western civilization and the hard physical sciences like physics. They applied the methodology of Western scientific inquiry to explain their own religion. As it was, the practise of Islam was lost in the decadent Muslim monarchies. These educated elite then set about explaining religion based on their own warped reasoning rather than through the understanding and practise of the Prophet (SWAS). There were very few students of this system who mastered Western knowledge better than the Westerners and excelled at it to the degree that they were able to see the inherent flaws in it. One such student was Muhammad Iqbal who then used inspiration of Quran and Hadith to realize flaws in Western thought and the centuries of decay which has characterized the Muslim civilization. He realized that the sources of Islam had the basis of a system of life which was inherently stronger, just and better. He outlined the methodology Muslims needed to regain the intellectual heritage through his seven lectures in the “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”. His poetry yearned to wake up the Muslims. Other than Iqbal, the majority of the graduates of this education system were Muslim versions of their colonial masters especially in later times. Other than the feudal landowners, in time they became the Muslim elite. It was such elite who were the leaders of the movement to create a modern nation state for the Muslims in South Asia – Pakistan. The theoretical basis on this state was to be the system of life of Islam. That was the rallying point for all the Muslims of South Asia. When the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was created in 1947, most of its citizens were cultural Muslims in the image of the Muslims ruled by the Muslim monarchs of pre-colonial South Asia. They were completely depended on the ulema to explain the religion to them. The fact that they never attempted to learn Arabic and have a personal relation to the Quran, has resulted in a very strong Pakistani clergy in a religion in which there is no place for clergy. Whereas the Muslim clergy in India suffered deprivations and state oppression, their counterparts in Pakistan flourished in the Islamic Republic. Their waistlines expanded and they become notorious as “halwa eaters”. For the most part this clergy was educated in Deoband style madrasas and were alien to modern thought. Hence the gulf between modern education and religious education separated the society into people of very different thought processes. Using the masses, the clergy exerted their influence to make sure that the underpinnings of the new state was in theory based on Islam. Thus the constitution states that the sovernity of the State belongs to Allah and that no laws in the legislation can be made contrary to the Quran and Sunnah. But in practice all this has shown itself to be just lip service to Islam. The average Pakistani – educated or illiterate – is deeply sentimental about Islam even if they do not understand the principles of Islam. This sentiment is in fact not for religion, per se, but can be better understood as a form of nationalistic fervor. Pakistan has managed to produce very few scholars who tried to reconcile the education from the modern secular West to the principles of the Quran and Sunnah. Maulana Fazlul Rahman Ansari was appointed by Ayub Khan for this task. After years of struggle he left Pakistan disillusioned to become the Distinguished Professor of Islamic Studies in the University of Chicago in the 70s. He was severely criticized back home by the Mullahs. By and large, the people of Pakistan have been left ignorant of Arabic and dependent on a clergy to represent their religion, as the Hindu clergy did before them. A clergy who in out of touch with modernity. Due to their historical distance from forming a personal understanding of the message of the Quran in its source language, the revelation does not have the miraculous effect of their individual hearts to establish and grow eemaan. For the most part, the average Pakistani is stilled entangled in the legalistic complication of religious rulings. External form of Islam has become way more important to them than its essential wisdom and guidance. Due to a power struggle the clergy has divided itself based on sectarian and ideological differences and since people are ignorant to the basic message of their religion, they blindly follow the clergy who denounce all other groups to be misguided and destined to Hellfire. There are frequent infighting among the followers of these groups so much so that they refuse to pray behind one another. The participation of religious groups in national elections has resulted in smear campaigns of one Islamic party against another. The question of leadership prevents them from contesting elections as a united body. In this backdrop, to the average educated Pakistani the bickering among its clergy and the general state of their followers, results in disenchantment with formal religion. To many, the ignorance of the clergy to modern thought and their blind followers, their infighting and their power politics, distances them from religion. Many await for the ideal Muslim leader to help save them. They elect one corrupt politician after another – each one turning out worse than the other. They do not realize that salvation lies in their own hands. Each Pakistani can change his destiny by educating and reforming himself. If he has secular education, he can seek religious education and vice versa. Since the ideology of the State is theoretically Islam, every Pakistani pays lip service to it, but to most deep down they know that this is a farce. Thus Pakistani society is a society in which hypocrisy in institutionalized. When the 2005 earthquake happened in Pakistani, I made a general appeal in the oil company I was working in Abu Dhabi for donations. Soon afterwards, I was approached by my manager, a UAE national who had studied Mechanical Engineering in US. He was a practicing Muslim. He used to pray dhur in congregation and was in Makkah in the last 10 days of every Ramadan. He told me that Pakistan is cursed by Allah because Pakistanis made an oath to establish it on the basis of Islam and had shown themselves to by hypocritical in this pledge. This earthquake, according to him, was a punishment, so was the floods, the dismemberment of the country, the electricity crises, the law and order situation, the ethnic and sectarian strife, the domination of India and other countries, corrupt leadership, etc. According to him, Pakistanis deserved what they were getting. In the absence of any practical ideology, the Pakistani state has become a failed state. It consistently ranks among the top most corrupt countries of the world. Its rulers set the example for its population by looting the nation. The son in law of the politician who promised to provide every poor Pakistani bread, cloth and housing, used his father in laws popularity to win the election and soon became the richest Pakistani in the land. In this state of affairs, the average Pakistani equates the failure of the State with the failure of its ideology, i.e. Islam. The War on Terror and the subsequent emergence of terror groups in the name of Islam has also led the whole society to secularize en mass. The world media from the West and India is beamed into Pakistan, exposing the average Pakistani to secular liberalism. Many seek escape from their painful state by immigration. Most of those who immigrate lose their religion in one or two generation. Those who try to hold on can seldom do so till the third generation. The Pakistanis who are in diaspora throughout the world should realize that they are there due to divine collective punishment from Allah like the Jews were punished before them and were dispersed throughout the world. Their salvation is still the same. They have to change themselves and their children to change their destinies. As Pakistanis (for the most part) have proved themselves to be a hypocritical people, they will do well by associating with Muslims from other countries rather than themselves. Their repentance should include a complete cut off from the hypocritical culture they grew up in. A complete disassociation with Pakistani culture by cutting off all satellite channels in their homes is a good step. If their children lose the Urdu language they should not grieve, but rather take the opportunity to replace the language of hypocrisy with Islam’s source language – Arabic. They will benefit more if they stay away from traditional Pakistani religious groups in the West. It is better for them to join a heterogeneous jamaat with good representation of indigenous Muslims and indigenous or second generation Imams. Rather than follow the Pakistani formula of success for their children, they must realize that role of their children in the West is not to become cogs in the secular machinery of the West, but rather to become agents of positive change by reforming Western society as Iqbal had envisioned. The West is already technologically very advanced. The effect that your child will have as a Computer Scientist in such a society is insignificant as compared to the role he can have by intellectually challenging the extreme nature of this civilization due to its distance from religion. Thus as spiritual doctors, you children can serve their host society better as it is their own society. As callers to religion, they have a lesser chance losing their way of life and in the process reconcile the modern with the religious in a manner that your intellectuals in Pakistan failed to do. Perhaps then may Allah forgive us. Friday, February 5, 2016 A Call to Duty (Translated from Urdu by Abu Abdullah -- from Shaoor - e - Hayat (author Maulana Yusuf Islahi)) There is no doubt that you pray regularly with obligation; keep the fasts; carefully pay the obligatory charity; if capable, you go for the pilgrimage; you are very sensitive about halal and haraam; you are very careful about piety and cleanliness. All this because you are aware of your being a Muslim. Thank God, you are not alone in this. There are hundreds of thousands like you in the Muslim nation that follow the rulings of the Shariah. Despite our characteristic helplessness, even today Muslims follow their religion and its worship more than the followers of any other religion. Even today, there are hundreds of thousands of individuals among the Muslims whose lives are enviable examples in terms of their piety and their sense of duty. They are those whose lives and characters are as clean as a mirror, whose piety is beyond any doubt and in whom the society lays its trust. In fact, no other religion can produce people of their stature. It is also a fact that the population of Muslims is the second most in the world. They have all sorts of resources and means. They have coal, petroleum, iron and gold. They are also wealthy and there are many parts of the world in which they are in the government. But it is also a hard reality that despite their religiosity, wealth and government, they are the most disgraced and ineffective of people. They do not have any opinion, plans, rank and importance. On a personal level you may certainly find in them hundreds of thousands whom humanity can be proud of, but on a collective level they have no stature in the world. You are an individual in the Ummah. Your future is tied to its future. Does your conscious prompt you that the Ummah should be dragged out of this humiliated state and return to its former glory? Did you ever wonder, what is the reason for this worthlessness and humiliation? In fact, the Ummah has forgotten the duty for which Allah had created it. The Musllim Ummah is not a self-made nation like other nations. Allah created it for a specific plan and great reason. Allah has enjoined it a mission which was the same as that of the messengers. The sequence of prophets ended with that of Muhammad (SWAS). There will not be a prophet after him (SWAS). The duty of delivery of the way of life (deen) to humanity is incumbent upon this Ummah. This is the reason for its existence. It is for this purpose that Allah has enjoined this Ummah for and it is in this duty’s fulfillment that its destiny is set. Allah says: “You should be such an Ummah that calls to good”. (Ale Imran) The meaning of “good” is any good deed and positive concern which all of mankind has considered it as such. Allah’s revelation also has considered it so. “Good” is all those good deeds, the sum of which is the correct way of life (deen), which all messengers of Allah have always brought forth for all slaves of Allah. The Ummah’s duty is to call humanity to this message without any bias. They should carry it out with the same feelings and desire that the messengers did it. That is because this is the mission that Allah has enjoined on this Ummah. The similitude of calling to the right way with respect to the Ummah is like that of the heart in a human body. The human body is of good till the heart in it is working. If this heart stops beating then the human body becomes a pile of earth. This is because the heart is the provider of healthy blood to the rest of the body, thus keeping it alive. If the Ummah is carrying out this duty with fervor by promoting the right factors according to Allah’s plans and wrong factors are being discarded, the good is being enjoined and bad is dying, then it means that the Ummah is alive. It means that greatness, prestige and high stature is its destiny. But if the Ummah is forgetful of this duty and becomes insensitive to the work of the true way of life (deen), then it is deprived of all life. So how can a dead nation reach the stature of prestige and greatness? With respect to Allah all the Ummah’s importance is when it fulfills the demands of the duty for which Allah has made it great. If it neglects this purpose and it does not have the sense left in it as to the duty Allah has created it for, then Allah does not care who is trampling on it and who is humiliating it. The expensive watch strapped on your wrist is certainly a blessing for you. You have placed it in its place because it tells the right time and you use it for organizing all your tasks in their proper times. If it always tells you the right time, then you beautify your hand with it and take proper care of it. You will not wish that even a drop of water falls on it; its sensitive glass to be hit by something. But the worthiness of the watch, its protection and care, etc. is valid only while it tells the right time. If it stops working time and again, sometime it runs half an hour fast; at other times an hour slow; you are fooled by it time and again; your schedule is affected by it; the purpose for which you put it on your wrist is not fulfilled; would you like to keep it on your hand and you protect it in the same manner? Certainly you will decide that this is not a watch but a collection of metallic parts. The proper place for it is not on the honorable hand but rather a recycling bin. Then you do not care what happens to it while it is being recycled; how it is opened and how its metal is melted. According to you, its proper status was due to the fact that it told the right time or not, because its creator created it for that purpose and you spent a small fortune to buy it. Allah created the Muslim Ummah for the purpose that they propagate His deen to the rest of humanity, spread the good in the society and erase the bad. As long as they are carrying out this duty, they will gain Allah’s victory and protection. He will be its protector and overseer and will honor it with greatness and high stature. But if the Ummah is neglectful of this duty, neither its big population, nor its wealth and government will be of any good to it. Its excess in verbal glorification of Allah, extra prayers and Allah’s remembrance cannot lead it to honor. Neither does individual religiosity prevent the anger of Allah from descending upon it. If everywhere there is deviation from the truth and the slaves of Allah forget Allah and follow their desires so that they only care for themselves then you should realize that soon Allah’s wrath is near and nobody can escape His reach. Jabir (RA) has said that the Prophet (SWAS) said: “Allah (SWT) said to Jibreel to destroy such and such a town. Jibreel said: Lord, in it is one of your slaves who has not disobeyed you even a wink of an eye. Allah said: Yes Jibreel, destroy him as well as the others, because all the town disobeyed and he was not affected by it.” If this hadith causes you internal restlessness then value that feeling and supplicate to Allah that He increases this restlessness. Your duty is calling you and this restlessness can propel you to fulfill your duty. Friday, January 15, 2016 A Peep into the Pakistani Psyche Sunday, January 10, 2016 Holding Onto Hope
• anonymous Why did the Britain, France, and the United States embrace the policy of appeasement? They believed that if they appeased Hitler’s demands, he would stop any future pursuits of territories. They believed appeasement could buy them time to increase their own military capabilities. Appeasement meant they had the power to dictate whether the Soviet Union and Italy gained any power in the annexed territories. The leaders thought that a policy of appeasement would deter other countries from taking aggressive actions in Europe. • Stacey Warren - Expert • schrodinger • GenTorr They felt they were not strong enough to go to war and they would loose and the people of Britain didn't want to They wanted to stop Hitler from going to war with them by giving him what he wanted The people wanted peace (fear of another world war) They thought Hitler's complaints were resonable especially about the Treaty of Versailles since it was probably too harsh on the Germans After the Great Depression, Britain and France had their own internal problems. They failed to co-operate to check Hitler. They felt that the USSR (Russia) was a greater threat to them. They therefore hope that by allying with Hitler, they may defend together against the USSR. • GenTorr So A Looking for something else?
Seychelles should do more to become a green destination While the natural beauty of Seychelles cannot be questioned, the attitude of its people towards the environment can. Tourists choose to come to Seychelles because of its natural beauty but more and more of them are complaining about how Seychellois are not paying enough attention to the environment. During the last Safety and Security quarterly report compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), tourists were appalled at the amount of littering everywhere. Those who participated in the survey noted that more can and should be done if Seychelles is to become a ‘green destination.’ For the tourists who more than anything frequent the sandy white beaches of the islands noted that while the beaches are clean, its surroundings are not. They were very specific about the discarded polysterene take away boxes and plastic bags they saw dumped into the environment. The tourists have even recommended that ‘polysterene take away boxes should be banned for better preservation of the environment.’ For many Seychellois the beach is the place to go for social gatherings where food and drinks are in abundance, but how many, take away all of their rubbish when they leave? “Emphasis should be placed on not littering, especially near and on beaches areas.” Another pertinent issue for the tourists who participated in the survey was that of recycling. They pointed out that there is no information on recycling, which means people are not separating their rubbish. “Rubbish should be separated and differentiated to ensure that the islands remain ‘green’.” Source: LSH 2-12-16
Energy Modeling and Efficiency in the Built Environment Fossil fuels are the main energy source for community and industrial activities. The world petroleum fuel production in the year 2007 was approximately 179 quadrillion BTU, and increased to 181 quadrillion BTU in 2008. Of the fuels used, 17% is natural gas, 40% is coal and 43% is petroleum. Petroleum diesel, the highest contributor of petroleum derivatives, widely serves society’s needs in the form of heat, electricity and transportation fuel. Its high density and ease of transport make it an ideal source of energy. However, since petroleum diesel is currently the main energy source for industrial activities, it is quickly being depleted. Moreover, our society’s dependence on petroleum diesel has resulted in contributing to environmental disruption, i.e., global warming, which is occurring due to large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Example GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), which are generated from petroleum diesel production and consumption processes, resulting in several environmentally detrimental phenomena such as escalating temperatures, rising sea levels, declining lake and reservoir levels and extreme weather phenomena. Other pollutants from the consumption of petroleum diesel are particulate matters and volatile organic carbons (VOCs). Another concern related to the use of petroleum diesel is its recent increase in price, which is affecting industrial society and the global economy. However, one way to control or even solve global warming and economic problems stemming from petroleum diesel consumption is to substitute for it using sustainable renewable energy sources that have the potential to be produced on a scale as large as petroleum diesel without having any significant environmental impact. In order to do this and to reduce reliance on petroleum diesel, scientists have begun to investigate oil-crop biodiesel. Projects Members Projects under Energy Modeling & Efficiency in the Built Environment: Project B-01: A Comparative Analysis of Performance and Cost Metrics Associated with Diesel to Biodiesel Fleet Transition Project B-02: Regional Life Cycle Assessment of Soybean Derived Biodiesel for Transportation Fleet
Building a car powered by formic acid Home Technologist Online Building a car powered by formic acid What if an alternative to electricity was acid? Team FAST Formauto Junior Building a car that is powered by formic acid: that is the ambition of Team FAST, a multidisciplinary student team from Eindhoven University of Technology. Formic acid is basically a sustainable liquid that stores hydrogen but having more benefits compared to hydrogen and electric powered cars. By using formic acid as a fuel, Team FAST hopes to combine the strengths of electric and hydrogen powered cars without any of the drawbacks. Electric cars depend on batteries and thus have a limited range and a long charging time. An electric car can go further using hydrogen but the drawback here is that hydrogen is expensive to transport and store, and it also has to be transported under high pressure, which poses explosive risks. TECHNOLOGIST: What would happen in case of a road accident? TEAM FAST: We do take safety into consideration. The amount of acid won’t so much of a problem, considering it will only be small amounts and is neither flammable nor explosive: compared to fossil fuels or hydrogen this is a huge advantage. When you water down the solution it is definitely no problem, since the acid also exists in nature (plants and ants for example). One solution could be adding a base to neutralize the acid, and on top of that, we are planning to put the system in an extra safety box. Team FAST is a multidisciplinary team of 20 students. Their idea for a formic acid powered car won them one of the Eindhoven BRAINS awards for sustainability last year as well as a grant of €50,000 in the Dutch STW technology foundation’s Open Mind competition. High speed Formic acid – so called because ants (formica in Latin) and other insects can produce it – offers the possibility to store hydrogen easily. A chemical reaction, discovered last year by TU/e researchers, enables hydrogen and CO2 to be converted at high speed into formic acid, and vice versa. Due to the liquid nature of formic acid, hydrogen can be transported easily and cheaply. Equivalent to gasoline First car to run on formic acid In 2017/2018 Team FAST wants to have built the world’s first car powered by formic acid. They will do that by converting an existing hydrogen-powered car. In January 2016, the team presented the concept on a small scale car (about a meter long), which is able to drive on formic acid. Before the end of 2016, they hope to see a formic- acid-powered bus running down Eindhoven’s streets. Adapted from article by TU/e Online News Inspired by the wing of a butterfly, Danish scientists are developing a technology to mass-produce structural colours. Cool tech gadgets for the outdoors. Festival hacks, designed by engineering students. Businessman with a Dog Head Apps and treats for man's best friends!
Wednesday, 28 September 2016 POVs And Death A fictional narrative has either a single viewpoint character from beginning to end or alternating pov's. A narrative or a single section of a narrative can end with the death of its viewpoint character. One work by James Blish ends in mid-sentence. See here. Usually, a first person narrator is safe - how can someone be telling us the story if he is going to die at the end of it? - although there are exceptions even to this. I remembering discussing deaths of viewpoint characters when posting about SM Stirling's Conquistador. On a naturalistic hypothesis, we do not experience "blackness" or "darkness" after death. We do not experience period. Even when the author and his characters believe in a hereafter, to describe the hereafter is, in literary terms, to transform the narrative from mainstream fiction or any other genre into fantasy. Perfectly respectable - see Dante etc - but fantasy nonetheless. In naturalistic fiction, the viewpoint ends at death. "The last thing he heard was thunder. It sounded like the hoofs of horses bearing westward the Hunnish midnight." (Time Patrol, p. 465) Anderson's Ensign Conway inwardly converses with death, then we read: "KILLED IN ACTION: Lt Cmdr Jan H. Barneveldt, Ens. Donald R. Conway, Ens. James L. Kamekona.... "MOURN FOR: Keh't'hiw-a-Suq of Dzuaq, Whiccor the Bold, Nova Rachari's Son...." -Poul Anderson, Fire Time (St Albans, Herts, 1974), XV, p. 174. (Different naming styles among the aliens.) In a long battle scene in Against The Tide Of Years, SM Stirling introduces Garrett Hopkins to have him killed: "Blackness." (p. 361) 1. Kaor, Paul! I think the quote relating to King Ermanaric's death is an example of a naturalistic description of a man's death? I see your point about Garrett Hopkins death. Whether or not one believes in a hereafter, it is a literary defect to describe a deceased character as experiencing "blackness." If anything, it actually implies a hereafter, else how could Hopkins experience it? I had thought when Stirling uses "blackness" like that it was to indicate he did not believe in a real God or hereafter (despite treating honest believers with respect). Now I wonder if Stirling is at least not sure God is not real. Or am I over thinking this? The way Stirling used "blackness" in Hopkins' death might be his attempt at indicating he does not believe in a hereafter. Lastly, I have sometimes wondered had too many of his major characters implausibly surviving any number of battles and natural catastrophes. Or, alternatively, winning an implausible number of battles (as Marian Alston does). True, you need major view point characters in order to advance the plot of a book. But, if you have more than one such major character, I don't think killing him/her off would necessarily stall such a book. 1. Sean, Yes. Ermanaric thinks "midnight" before he dies but is not said to experience anything after it. I remember succumbing to a general anaesthetic. It was as if an irresistible force pushed me down into unconsciousness. I remember the last moment of consciousness and nothing more until I woke. That is what I expect to happen at death. 2. Kaor, Paul! That was probably what Stirling was trying to get across with his use of "Blackness" at Hopkins' death. And I do believe there is a hereafter. Which means I have to regretfully disagree with you.
Popular Pesticides Keep Bumblebees From Laying Eggs ( 137 An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Wild bees, such as bumblebees, don't get as much love as honeybees, but they should. They play just as crucial a role in pollinating many fruits, vegetables and wildflowers, and compared to managed colonies of honeybees, they're in much greater jeopardy. A group of scientists in the United Kingdom decided to look at how bumblebee queens are affected by some widely used and highly controversial pesticides known as neonicotinoids. What they found isn't pretty. Neonics, as they're often called, are applied as a coating on the seeds of some of the most widely grown crops in the country, including corn, soybeans and canola. These pesticides are "systemic" -- they move throughout the growing plants. Traces of them end up in pollen, which bees consume. Neonicotinoid residues also have been found in the pollen of wildflowers growing near fields and in nearby streams. The scientists, based at Royal Holloway University of London, set up a laboratory experiment with bumblebee queens. They fed those queens a syrup containing traces of a neonicotinoid pesticide called thiamethoxam, and the amount of the pesticide, they say, was similar to what bees living near fields of neonic-treated canola might be exposed to. Bumblebee queens exposed to the pesticide were 26 percent less likely to lay eggs, compared to queens that weren't exposed to the pesticide. The team published their findings in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. SpaceX Successfully Launches, Recovers Falcon 9 For CRS-12 ( 71 Another SpaceX rocket has been successfully launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center today, carrying a Dragon capsule loaded with over 6,400 pounds of cargo destined for the International Space Station. This marks an even dozen for ISS resupply missions launched by SpaceX under contract to NASA. TechCrunch reports: The rocket successfully launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 12:31 PM EDT, and Dragon deployed from the second stage as planned. Dragon will rendezvous with the ISS on August 16 for capture by the station's Canadarm 2 robotic appendage, after which it'll be attached to the rocket. After roughly a month, it'll return to Earth after leaving the ISS with around 3,000 pounds of returned cargo on board, and splash down in the Pacific Ocean for recovery. There's another reason this launch was significant, aside from its experimental payload (which included a supercomputer designed to help humans travel to Mars): SpaceX will only use re-used Dragon capsules for all future CRS missions, the company has announced, meaning this is the last time a brand new Dragon will be used to resupply the ISS, if all goes to plan. Today's launch also included an attempt to recover the Falcon 9 first stage for re-use at SpaceX's land-based LZ-1 landing pad. The Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth as planned, and touched down at Cape Canaveral roughly 9 minutes after launch. Device That Revolutionized Timekeeping Receives an IEEE Milestone ( 46 An anonymous reader writes: The invention of the atomic clock fundamentally altered the way that time is measured and kept. The clock helped redefine the duration of a single second, and its groundbreaking accuracy contributed to technologies we rely on today, including cellphones and GPS receivers. Building on the accomplishments of previous researchers, Harold Lyons and his colleagues at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology), in Washington, D.C., began working in 1947 on developing an atomic clock and demonstrated it to the public two years later. Its design was based on atomic physics. The clock kept time by tracking the microwave signals that electrons in atoms emit when they change energy levels. This month the atomic clock received an IEEE Milestone. Administered by the IEEE History Center and supported by donors, the milestone program recognizes outstanding technical developments around the world. Scientists Discover 91 Volcanoes Below Antarctic Ice Sheet ( 181 Reader schwit1 writes: Scientists have uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth -- two kilometres below the surface of the vast ice sheet that covers west Antarctica. The project, by Edinburgh University researchers, has revealed almost 100 volcanoes -- with the highest as tall as the Eiger, which stands at almost 4,000 metres in Switzerland. This is in addition to 47 already known about and eruption would melt more ice in region affected by climate change, the report added. Geologists say this huge region is likely to dwarf that of east Africa's volcanic ridge, currently rated the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world. And the activity of this range could have worrying consequences, they have warned. "If one of these volcanoes were to erupt it could further destabilise west Antarctica's ice sheets," said glacier expert Robert Bingham, one of the paper's authors. "Anything that causes the melting of ice -- which an eruption certainly would -- is likely to speed up the flow of ice into the sea. Slashdot Top Deals
Europe launches satellite to give Earth observation color vision Reuters News Posted: Jun 22, 2015 11:47 AM By Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe will on Monday will launch a satellite that will give its multibillion-euro Copernicus Earth observation project "color vision," delivering valuable images that could help forecast crop harvests and respond to humanitarian crises. The Sentinel-2a satellite, the second of a planned seven-member network, is to be launched aboard a Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana at 9:52 p.m. EDT (0152 GMT) Tuesday. From its orbital perch 488 miles (786 km) above Earth, the spacecraft will collect environmental data intended to help policymakers craft legislation and react to emergencies, such as natural disasters. The Copernicus project, for which the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) have committed funding of around 8.4 billion euros ($9.46 billion) until 2020, is described by ESA as the most ambitious Earth observation program to date. ESA launched the first satellites, Sentinel-1a, in April 2014, carrying radar equipment that can monitor sea ice, oil spills and land use even when skies are cloudy. Sentinel-2a, which will operate in tandem with another satellite to be launched in late 2016, carries high-tech imaging equipment that can capture a wider range of colors than other Earth observation spacecraft, such as France’s Spot 5 or the U.S. Landsat satellites. "We have not just all the colors that are visible, but also infrared, which is very good for monitoring vegetation," Volker Liebig, director of ESA's Earth Observation program, told Reuters. Sentinel-2a will also cover an 180-mile (290-km) swath of Earth and revisit the same point on Earth every 10 days, providing more up-to-date images than have been available, at a higher resolution of 10 meters. The images will be used for a wide variety of programs, including locating sites for refugee camps in humanitarian crises, monitoring the destruction or growth of forests and estimating fertilizer and water needs for efficient crop production. Liebig said ESA was working actively with international programs that seek to forecast harvests so the United Nations World Food Program can anticipate need and avoid shortages, which can cause spikes in food prices. "When you have the information two months in advance, you can organize transports. If it's only two weeks, it's very difficult," he said. Sentinel-2 is designed and built by a consortium of about 60 companies led by Airbus Defence and Space. (Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
When there is a missing tooth, if there is adequate amount of bone, a dental implant can be placed to replace the missing tooth. Implants are prosthesis with surgical component. Dental implant has multiple componants. In surgical stage a prosthesis is placed in the bone that acts as the root of the tooth. Later on when this prosthesis gets integrated to the bone, this process is called osteointegration, then restorative part will begin and a crown will be added to the implant via a connector. There are different implant systems with different lengths and width that can be used depending on the location of the jaw and amount of the bone. Some of the most well known implant systems are Straumann, Nobel BioCare, Zimmer.
Our Great Need Lesson 5 Through the senses Satan worked to successfully influence man’s mind. When, in defiance of God’s direct command, man chose to follow Satan’s suggestion, the way was open for Satan to gain control of his power of action. Made in the image of God, the human family lost their innocence, became transgressors, and as disloyal subjects began their downward career. 1. What was Adam promised would be the results of disobedience? Genesis 2:17 Note: A literal translation is, “dying thou shalt die,” meaning that upon the day of transgression sentence would be pronounced. In that day, man would pass from the status of conditional immortality to that of unconditional mortality. Just as before he chose to rebel against his Creator, thus separating himself from the source of life, he could be certain of immortality, so separated from Him, death became a certain reality. 2. What effect did this choice have on Adam’s children? Romans 5:12 Note: While in the Garden of Eden, Adam stood before God as the head of the race. He represented every person who would ever be born. As partakers of his body and mind, all his descendants were, through the great law of heredity, affected by what affected him. As all of Adam’s children were born after his sin, they could only inherit that which their father had to give them, so were born with a sinful, fallen nature. Notice that it does not say that all men die because of the guilt they received from Adam, but because they sin. It was not guilt from Adam that his descendants received, but a weakened, sin-loving nature. Yielding to Satan’s suggestions, our first parents opened the floodgates of evil upon the world. The evil that began in Paradise has extended down through the ages. 3. What is the condition of the natural heart (mind)? Jeremiah 17:9 4. How does this mind relate to spiritual truth? 1 Corinthians 2:14 5. How did sin affect the race as a whole? Genesis 6:5 6. What natural ability do we have to perform acceptable works? Jeremiah 13:23 Note: It is impossible for us to escape from the pit of sin into which we have fallen. The will, combined with human effort, may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but it cannot change the heart; it cannot purify the springs of life. There is no true excellence of character apart from God. The apostle Paul saw all this when he exclaimed, “I agree with the law that it is good.” “The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Romans 7:16, 12 (NKJV). But he adds in bitterness of soul, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” Verse 14 7. With what does the Bible compare our attempts to do good works? Isaiah 64:6 8. Instead of love for God, or an interest in others, who becomes the center of our affections? 2 Timothy 3:2 Note: Sin originated in self-seeking and every manifestation of selfishness is the outworking of this principle, for selfishness is the basis of all sin. 9. As men leave God out of their thinking, what do they become? Romans 1:21–22 Note: The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last the habits of wrongdoing become fixed and sin ceases to appear wrong any longer. 10. Separated from God, what is our condition? Ephesians 2:12 11. By doing good works, is it possible to offset the wrongs done and earn salvation? Galatians 3:11 12. In what only is there hope for anyone? John 3:7 Note: From the beginning of the world, men, instead of remaining under God’s influence, reflecting the moral image of his Creator, placed himself under the control of Satan’s influence, and was made selfish. Thus sin became a universal evil. A birth implies the beginning of a new life. This new life is not a modification of the old, but an entirely new life established on different principles. 13. How can this take place? Galatians 2:20 14. How often must this transaction take place? 1 Corinthians 15:31 15. By what term did Christ refer to this daily experience of death to self? Luke 9:23–24 Note: The cross is a symbol of death. Death, in the sense that is referred to here, is the death of self; it is the surrendering of the will to Christ. Without this death, there is a weaving of self into all that we do. Service for self takes a variety of forms. The apparent goodness that results may give the appearance of genuine goodness, but it brings no glory to God, for it is in reality the exalting of self in the name of serving God. Though apparently very active in service for the Lord, it is actually seeds of selfishness that are being sown, and in the end it is only corruption that will be reaped. 16. Using a different term, what did Christ ask us to bear? Matthew 11:28–30 Note: The yoke and the cross are symbols of the same thing—the giving of the will to God. Just as the cross symbolizes the cutting away of self from the soul—the denial of self—the yoke is a symbol of service and obedience to Christ’s will. We cannot follow Christ without wearing His yoke, without lifting the cross and bearing it after Him. The yoke of service to Christ is indeed light compared to the yoke of sin with its burden of guilt and shame. 17. What is the unanswerable demonstration of love given by God to reconcile a rebel race to Himself? Romans 5:8–10 Note: The cross speaks to the value which God has placed upon men, and of His great love wherewith He has loved us. Christ came to reveal to men to what extent the Son of God could submit to humiliation, self-denial, and suffering, in order to accomplish His divine purpose of working out the salvation of men. The cross of Calvary is an eternal pledge to everyone of us, that God wants us to be happy, not only in the future life, but in this life. But, while it speaks of His great love, it also testifies to the world, to angels, and to men, the immutability of the divine law. The death of God’s only begotten Son upon the cross in the sinners behalf is the unanswerable argument as to the changeless character of the law of Jehovah. Beholding Jesus upon the cross of Calvary arouses the conscience to the heinous character of sin as nothing else can. 18. When was the plan for saving man made? Revelation 13:8 Note: Jesus is called “the Lamb of God.” See John 1:29. A foundation is something you must lay before you can start to build. When it speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, it means that before there was a world in place, God had a plan for saving man should he fail to maintain his loyalty to his Creator and sin. Jesus would, in the giving of His life in man’s place, pay the penalty. Lesson Home◄Previous LessonNext Lesson► Print in Adobe Acrobat
Friday, December 11, 2015 Be Aware of the Statistics of the NIH Report Be Aware of the Statistics of the NIH Report We all need to be aware of the statistics in this report released February 2015 by the National Institutes of Health Pathways to Prevention Workshop: The Role of Opioids in the Treatment of Chronic Pain. This is the link, The statistics given regarding the amount of chronic pain sufferers in the USA have been overlooked by not just the media and the general public, but also by many attempting to make regulations without seeming to comprehend what this study affirms. Regulations that already affect many of us, and will affect the majority of US citizens due to the fact that 1 in 4 will be affected by chronic pain at some point in their life. Image result for NIH images Among the many other subjects covered, this report states that there are 100 million chronic pain sufferers in America. Of those, 25 million suffer with moderate to severe chronic pain. This report by the National Institute of Health also states that 2% abuse their prescribed narcotics! We cannot overlook that at all, but, what about the 98%? There are 98% of these sufferers that are using their prescribed medications APPROPRIATELY! Medications, that by the way, are needed to try and live somewhat of a functional life…a life shredded to pieces by chronic pain! A life some may describe as a "life of hell!" Many cannot comprehend such a life! It can be hard enough for those living with unending, all encompassing, overwhelming moderate to severe chronic pain to even comprehend the magnitude of such a reality! This report stated, "Yet, evidence also indicates that 40% to 70% of persons with chronic pain do not receive proper medical treatment, with concerns for both over-treatment and under-treatment. Together, the prevalence of chronic pain and the increasing use of opioids have created a “silent epidemic” of distress, disability, and danger to a large percentage of Americans. The overriding question is: Are we, as a nation, approaching management of chronic pain in the best possible manner that maximizes effectiveness and minimizes harm?" Why in this day and age are these numbers so high? Why are these people not receiving appropriated care? We hear about those abusing their medications all the time. Why does the media fail to notice the information of the NIH report? Why do we not hear of these 100 million human beings that are suffering? Of those, 25 million living in the anguish of moderate to severe pain! What are their stories? How are they being treated? Why doesn’t the media investigate the chronic pain sufferers within that 98%! Some of which are going from doctor to doctor pleading for help and compassion, only to be treated as drug seekers and abusers, degraded and demeaned, as well as ignored and verbally abused by many health care workers because of prejudices due to the 2% that are abusing their narcotics! Image result for drug abusers images Sadly, many are even accused by some family and friends as abusers. And then there are other people as well that don't even know us, but just have an "opinion!" All the narcotic users are generalized into one big group of "pill poppers," "druggies," "drug seekers," "using the system," "lazy," "faking," "taking the system for all you can!” etc. There are many faces of chronic pain, from very young, teens, twenties on up to the elderly. It has not respect for age, race, education or social status! I once heard an elderly woman in her 80’s tell me her daughter told her not to take the medication her physician prescribed her for pain from a fractured vertebrae, “because she would get addicted!” So the poor dear suffers every single day, all day long, hardly able to get out of her chair to get up and walk around due to this pain. Not only that, but she is even unable to sleep well! And this was based on the fact that 2% abuse their medications? Yes, this information is far reaching; it affects even the elderly, isolated in their homes! There needs to be an awareness of the appropriate use of a medication that helps people get up and be as functional as possible, not to be stuck in their recliner all day, unable to get up and walk around leading to increased weakness, decreased circulation, as well as many other side effects of being immobile. Chronic pain leaves so many grieving so many losses! Much more than you would even know unless you suffer from such a debilitating disease, or have a loved one that does. This is an article related to losses by those that live with moderate to severe chronic pain, Look at Our Losses . As a health care worker going through the process of finding appropriate care for chronic pain the past 5+ years I was appalled at how I was treated, how I was spoken to, yelled at and demeaned! Having treatments held back when I was having episodes of 8-10/10 pain, where I was curled up in a ball, could barely breathe, shaking and ended up vomiting from the pain on multiple occasions! And this is after it was documented by my surgeon that, "This patient will never be without pain!” As well as objective data that shows up on MRI's, and a Ct Myelogram It took me 15 months and having to push to be heard! I had to go to four different specialists before someone finally said, "Hey, let's see what we can do about this pain!" What is up with that! Especially when I had objective data of the damage nerves along my spine, as well as documentation by a surgeon! WHY is this happening to so many people! Whether we are part of the 98% or the 2% we all deserve to be treated with compassion and appropriate treatment with out being verbally and physically abused! Image result for grandma in pain images 1. How do I subscribe? I won't go into it again, as I am drained, but I have CRPS, Ehlers Danlos hyper mobility type, narcolepsy with cateplexy, Interstitial cystitis, and fibromyalgia. I developed the CRPS after two foot surgeries, the first botched and the second for reconstruction and bone grafting. I haven't been able to walk for 5 months, and was medically terminated in December. I was,am, an RN whose passion was in helping others get the treatment they so deserved. Im now lost and depressed, I haven't moved all day, no lights, no TV. If I turn on the lights Ican see all the things I need to do that I can't do anymore. I would love to subscribe 1. Mary, you can subscribe on the right and left side of the page in the area that says "subscribe here" or you can sign up on the left side of the page where it says to enter your email. I do want you to know I did see your comment on the Trial by Fire article as well and replied there. Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you find the articles helpful on your journey. Do you have a support group you belong too? It helps to have others that deal with this same horrid experiences. let me know if you need help finding one dear suffering friend. 2. I'm so happy I found this site today. I look forward to reading all of the topics listed. Particularly grateful to know that I'm not alone in my pain. Although it feels so incredibly lonely everyday. I like the cooking ideas and current information about legislation regarding pain medication. Although. I to find this incredibly disheartening. Thank you, Sharon 1. Sharon, thank you for letting me know you found this blog helpful! Let me know if you have not been able to find a support group that is fitting for you. Belonging to a support group is very helpful so you don't feel so alone in your pain. It is a very isolating disease. Thank you for reading the many articles I have written and telling me about it! It gives me encouragement to continue! Email me if you need help locating a support group!
Immune And Nerve Cells Work Together to Fight Gut Infections Immune And Nerve Cells Work Together to Fight Gut Infections Nerve cells in the gut play a crucial role in the body's ability to marshal an immune response to infection, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. "The immune system and neuronal system don't act independently," said senior author David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. "They are working together." "These guys are dancing like a tango," Klose said. The cells' close proximity led the researchers to wonder if they may be communicating. That's when they discovered that the ILC2 cells had a receptor for a protein called neuromedin U (NMU), which acts as a messenger for the nerve cells. In laboratory experiments, the investigators found that exposing ILC2 cells to NMU causes the ILC2 cells to multiply rapidly and secrete chemicals called cytokines that may help trigger an immune response or cause inflammation. Administering NMU to mice infected with a gut parasite triggered inflammation and a powerful immune response that helped the mice more quickly expel the parasites. Conversely, mice genetically engineered to lack receptors for NMU were more susceptible to the parasites, allowing them to multiply rapidly in the rodents' gut. The study shows that the NMU-producing nerve cells help prime the ILC2 cells, enabling them to rapidly and effectively respond to infection, medicalxpress reports. The findings may have important implications for scientists studying inflammatory diseases, including asthma, food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease. Artis said it was too soon to say whether NMU itself or its receptors could be treatment targets, but he said studying these pathways might lead to potential new therapies for these diseases. "Where we are most excited is thinking about multiple chronic inflammatory diseases that might be related to this neuronal-immune axis and where we might be able to intervene," Artis said. topics from There is no comment
The Wikipedia article of the day for July 1, 2017 is Canada. Canada is a North American country with ten provinces and three territories, bordering three oceans. The world's second-largest country by total area, it is sparsely populated and highly urbanized. One-third of its people live in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver metropolitan areas, and most of the rest live in other urban areas, including in Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Hamilton, and the capital, Ottawa. The British North America Act of July 1, 1867 (now celebrated as Canada Day) united the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in the semi-autonomous federal Dominion of Canada, which became largely independent with the Statute of Westminster 1931. Bilingual in English and French at the federal level, Canada is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. Its advanced economy is the tenth largest in the world. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. Next Post »
Structured Scintillator (Left) Illustration of the source of parallax errors in pinhole gamma camera. (Right) Laser pixelated scintillator for use with pinhole SPECT camera with the pixels focused towards the pinhole in order to minimize parallax errors. RMD has developed a technique for laser pixelation of scintillator to fabricate structured scintillators for specific imaging applications. For example, the spatial resolution in small animal pinhole SPECT cameras is limited by parallax errors in the scintillator, particularly towards the edge of the field of view. We can overcome these errors using a focused cut scintillator. Scanning electron microscope micrographs of an RMD injected-capillary plastic scintillator. Scintillator injection techniques enable us to inject scintillator materials (such as CsI-based, NaI-based and plastic scintillators) into fine capillary arrays for high resolution, high efficiency gamma-ray imaging and neutron detection. The capillaries may be parallel, with uniform diameter, or may be focused on a point or region in space in front of or behind the scintillator structure, with uniform or varying diameter. This structure eliminates optical crosstalk between neighboring pixels, thereby resulting in high spatial resolution, regardless of sensor thickness. Capillary diameters may vary from 25 microns to over 2 mm, depending on the resolution requirement and the material to be injected. This process is suitable for alkali halide and plastic scintillators.
The argument that Joseph Hall and John Marston were the earliest (sixteenth century) doubters of Shakespeare’s authorship was first developed by the Baconians: those non-Stratfordians who favour Sir Francis Bacon as the true author, or at least the chief co-ordinator, of the works we know as Shakespeare’s. H.N. Gibson, who argued against a range of authorship candidates in his book The Shakespeare Claimants (1964), concluded that B.G.Theobald, who developed this argument, was ‘probably correct in his identification of the poems concerned’ and called the argument ‘the one piece of evidence in the whole Baconian case that demands serious consideration.’ Marston and Hall appear to believe that Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were written under a pseudonym. Nicknaming this author Labeo, Hall writes in the first satire of Book II of Virgidemiarum: For shame write better, Labeo, or write none Or better write, or Labeo write alone. He seems to think that whatever Labeo has written, he has written it in conjunction with somebody else. He castigates Labeo as someone who ‘abjures his handsome drinking bowl’ because ‘the thirsty swain with his hollow hand’ has ‘conveyed the stream to wet his dry weasand [throat]’. Here he is referencing the Greek philosopher Diogenes, also known as the Cynic, who had rid himself of all his possessions except his drinking bowl, but cast this off too when he saw a peasant cupping his hands to drink. This is a perfectly workable metaphor on its own for someone who has cast elements of their life aside. But in the context of a possible reference to Venus and Adonis (which will shortly be established), it may refer to the prominent quote from Ovid which fronts that work, relating to the Castalian spring, close to the Oracle at Delphi, where Roman poets went to receive inspiration. Then switching to italics for emphasis, Hall says: Write they that can, tho they that cannot do: But who knows that, but they that do not know? At first sight, ‘they that cannot [write] do’ brings to mind Robert Greene’s ‘he that cannot write true English’ needing to make himself ‘the father of’ plays. In this case, the second line of the couplet is translated as the secretive (and deniable) nature of the ‘underhand brokery’. But another interpretation is that bad writers write even though they cannot write (well), and being bad writers, don’t have sufficient judgement to know they can’t write. Hall’s general criticism of Labeo’s poetry suggests this second interpretation is quite likely. Yet there is a genuine accusation that Labeo is not writing under his own name, but someone else’s. In the first satire of Book IV, Hall says: Labeo is whipped, and laughs me in the face: Why? for I smite and hide the gallèd place. Gird but the Cynic’s Helmet on his head, Cares he for Talus, or his flail of lead? Long as the craftie Cuttle lieth sure In the black Cloud of his thick vomiture; Who list complain of wronged faith or fame When he may shift it on to another’s name. ‘Hide’ in the second line doesn’t mean conceal, but ‘thrash’ – another verb to go with ‘whipped’ and ‘smite’. The reference to the ‘Cynic’s Helmet’ is another reference to Diogenes the Cynic. It was reported that ‘when asked what he would take to let a man give him a blow on the head, he said “A helmet”’; Labeo is protected from being whipped, and just how he is protected, Hall is about to make plain. ‘Talus, or his flail of lead’ is a reference to the iron man in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590/1596), who, with a metal flail, ‘threshed out falsehood, and did truth unfold’.[1] And what follows is Hall’s unfolding of truth. The cuttlefish is known for defending itself from its enemies by squirting a cloud of black ink. Labeo, says Hall, ‘lies sure’ in a defensive cloud of black ink. ‘List’ is used in the archaic sense of ‘likes to, desires to or chooses to’ and Hall says that Labeo, concerned with the issues of ‘wronged faith or fame’ is protecting himself by ‘shift[ing] it on to another’s name.’ Whether or not Labeo is the author Shakespeare, this is undoubtedly another piece of fairly explicit 16th century evidence supporting the idea that using another person’s name was a known practice in this dangerous era (an era when ‘fame’, especially if linked to issues of religious faith, could be deadly). Though Venus and Lucrece are not identified by name, references to the stylistic elements of both Shakespeare poems in other passages addressed to Labeo make them strong candidates as Hall’s target. What are these elements? Read on. [1] Edmund Spenser, The Fairie Queene, IV, i, 37-44. Click Here to Subscribe and we’ll notify you about new content.
Presentation is loading. Please wait. Presentation is loading. Please wait. As You Like It Day One Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike. Similar presentations Presentation on theme: "As You Like It Day One Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike."— Presentation transcript: 1 As You Like It Day One Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike 2 Papers I will put no (or few) marks on your papers. Everyone will receive a printout of comments. Please number your paragraphs and pages, underline your thesis statement, and boldface your topic sentences. (The introduction and the conclusion do not have topic sentences.) Use Courier New 12-point. Grades: –9-10, A: Project is very nicely on track. –8, B: Project is on track but has some problems. –7, C: Project has some serious problems. –6, D: Project is seriously off track and/or does not meet the minimum length requirement. Issues to watch out for: –Focused topics: MUST HAVE –Literalism/plot summary: PLEASE AVOID –Thesis statement: ESSENTIAL Must be a controversial idea Should not contain 3 lumps/topics. –MLA Format 3 Thesis Statement Qualification: Although/Despite.... Controversial idea about the focused topic. I will argue that... A reason why: because.... 4 Controversial Idea It is not a fact. It is not a generalization. It is not a question. It answers a question that starts with “how” or “why” (not “what”). It is a point (something not self-evident) about your focused topic. It will help you to include “I will argue that” in the main clause of your thesis. The thesis must include and be about the focused topic! 5 MLA Format Proper use of the slash mark. –Use it ONLY for verse, not for prose. –Always put a space on either side of it. –The word after the slash mark should be capitalized as it is in the play. –Do not use the slash mark in set-off quotations (double-indented quotations). Instead, put one line of verse on one line of text. –Do not observe line breaks for prose (there really is no such thing). Citations –Act.scene.line: 1.2.34 or I.ii.34. –1.2.34-36, not 1.2.34-6 –1.2.154-56, not 1.2 154-156. –Here you are “quoting Shakespeare” (1.2.34). –Do not put the play title in the citation if it is clear from the context what play you are referring to. 6 A Correct Works Cited Entry (Be sure to double space!) Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. 5 th ed. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. 1,091-1,149. Print. 7 How To Do a WC List When You Have More Than One Play Works Cited Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 5 th ed. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. Print. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Bevington 1,091-1,149. ---. Othello, the Moor of Venice. Bevington 1,150-1,200. 8 Other Sources Psychology, philosophy, history, philosophy, mythology, etc.: these are okay to include. Cite them in the text and put them on the WC list. Do not read any Shakespeare criticism. 9 Review Shylock’s attitude: –His hatred of Christians parallels Christians’ anti-Semitism. –Ironically, he believes that a pound of Antonio’s flesh is enslaved to him. 10 Review Q: Is Portia saying that mercy is God-like in order to appeal to Shylock’s Jewish beliefs? A: She is saying that mercy is God-like in order to create at least the appearance of appealing to Shylock. It may be, however, that all the mercy talk rubs him the wrong way, and we explored the possibility that she may know this and be floating an offer that seems genuine but is calculated to elicit a negative answer. Q: Re. the love of law: Does Shylock agree more with the Old Testament (justice) than the New Testament (mercy) and therefore feel that mercy should not be shown? A: There is also mercy in the Old Testament; however, Shakespeare and his original audience probably believed the following homology to some degree: Old Testament:justice:Jews::New Testament:mercy:Christians. It may be that Shylock, preferring a supposed Old Testament ethic, holds out for justice. Thus Portia’s NT allusions help set him up. But this reading reflects a cultural stereotype about Jews, not necessarily their actual world view. Q: Do the Jewish and Christian faiths intertwine in Portia’s mercy speech? A: Yes. The speech alludes to passages in both the Old and New Testaments, and some of the imagery is common to both Jewish and Christian traditions. 11 Review Act 5: Problematic –No restorative return. –Troubling allusions in the “love duet.” All is now well with the lovers, but there is a hint that there may be trouble in Jessica and Lorenzo’s marriage at some future point. –And we established music as an important motif in the play, especially the “music of the spheres.” –A sense that all of life is disappointing; thus the comic ending is more qualified than in MSND. 12 Outline for AYLI Day One: –Orlando’s opening speech. –Duke Senior’s speech at the beginning of 2.1. Day Two: –Video of 4.1 –Group discussion of this question: What does Rosalind teach Orlando about women, love, lust, and marriage in 4.1? Library Day: Analysis Paper due Day Three: –We will spend our final day using the play to illustrate ways of taking the midterm examination, which will take place after our history unit. 13 Probable Omissions: Think about these things on your own. Jaques’s speeches (on deer in 2.1 and on satire in 2.7). The way in which the “downstairs” action relates to the “upstairs” action (Silvius and Phoebe as well as William and Audrey have relationships that illuminate those of the upper-class and royalty). The interesting animal imagery in Orlando’s rescue of Oliver. (We may have a chance to discuss this on review day. If you are writing a paper on this topic, be prepared to share.) 14 Orlando’s Opening Speech Will two volunteers read it for the class? Let’s read it twice. Discussion: –What does the speech tell you about Orlando’s situation? –What else do you know about Orlando? 15 What We Know About Orlando Young country gentleman (beard, 3.2.205); therefore NOT a proper match for Rosalind, who is royalty. Third son of the late Rowland de Boys (1.1.54-55). His inheritance is supposed to be 1,000 crowns (about ₤250, which is about $400). Without education, he cannot sustain his gentility. Has to rely on his brother’s support and good will. Why Oliver is treating him badly: –1.1.155-61 –1.3.75-77 –POINT: Orlando and Rosalind share the same predicament. This is a great example of Shakespeare’s use of doubling. 16 “Yet am I inland bred / And show some nurture” (2.7.96-97). An “inland” man is a civilized man. “All these implications—remoteness from city or court, barbarousness, wildness, lack of education, rusticity—are present in what the ‘inland’ man is not.” Source: Madeleine Doran, “‘Yet am I inland bred,’” Shakespeare Quarterly 15 (1964), page 104. 17 Question What key concept from today’s reading in the Bedford Companion informs Orlando’s opening speech? 18 Primogeniture in Bedford 263-65 “The eldest son, despite his apparent advantage, was in a sense trapped, having no real option but to await the death of his father so that he could succeed to guardianship of the estate. The younger children fared much worse, dependent as they were on the goodwill of their father to provide for them. In the case of daughters, this meant money for a dowry with which to attract a husband; in the case of younger sons, an education or a living, or at least the means to marry well. But sometimes goodwill was hindered by a lack of resources. Owing to financial hardships or entails (legal restrictions deriving from earlier wills that controlled the use of property or income), some apparently wealthy fathers were unable to provide for their younger children.  19 “An Heir and a Spare” “A younger son was sometimes regarded as insurance against the death of the eldest son— Lawrence Stone compares such a boy to ‘a kind of walking sperm bank’—and many of these young men attended the university and became clergymen. But the problem was pervasive enough in England in the 1590s for Falstaff to joke about drafting the ‘younger sons of younger brothers,’ men who were at the bottom of the economic ladder and hadn’t a shilling to give in the way of a bribe to escape military service.” 20 Younger Sons Orlando relates to protest literature by and for younger sons. Younger sons suffered downward social mobility, poverty, and inability to marry or late marriage. They also had fewer children. Younger sons had to work for their living. POINT: The younger son is to the elder son as a son is to a father or as a peasant is to a lord. In other words, the elder son is a father-figure. Source: Louis Adrian Montrose: “‘The Place of a Brother’ In As You Like It: Social Process and Comic Form,” Shakespeare Quarterly 32 (1981): 28-54. 21 Wrestling Match The public wrestling event is like an Oedipal struggle: Oliver has the father’s authority, and Orlando has the father’s native virtue (he has his father’s intellect, manliness, and virtue— “O you memory / Of old Sir Rowland!” at 2.3.2-3 vs. lines 19-21). Orlando’s natural goodness shines through despite the impediments that he suffers. 22 More on the Wrestling Match If each son has one or more characteristics of the father, then some degree of the Oedipal wish will be achieved no matter how the wrestling match turns out. A son will triumph over some element of the father no matter who wins. 23 Questions Who else is a disenfranchised younger brother? What are a younger brother’s possible responses? (See especially 2.3.31-33.) 24 Answers Frederick is also a disenfranchised younger brother. As Oliver oppresses Orlando, so Frederick oppresses Oliver (who thus gets a taste of his own medicine). As for Frederick, seizing Oliver’s lands parallels usurping the dukedom from his brother. A younger brother has the potential to take direct action against an older brother: this potential is active in Frederick and latent in Orlando (except for his grabbing Oliver by the throat at 1.1.52). Fratricide, priesthood, and thievery (2.3.31-33). Probably also military service. 25 Bedford Companion 267 “If the estate was extremely large, the father normally made financial arrangements for the daughters and younger sons; if it was extremely small, these younger children might be so disadvantaged that they would have to remain unmarried. For younger sons in particular, this was considered a reasonable option, for they could find ways of supporting themselves—by teaching, taking religious orders, or even going to sea.” 26 A Further Question How do you think that Shakespeare’s original audience would have responded to Orlando’s situation? 27 Possible Answers All of these issues relate to primogeniture, and for Shakespeare’s original audience it is a gripping way to open the play because people in that audience suffered from it. People would have sympathized with Orlando. If you’re not a white male with property, you lack full social identity. Younger sons are disenfranchised, and the situation of women is even worse. 28 The Forest It is this position of disadvantage that the experiences in the forest will transform. Orlando is not a proper match for Rosalind because he is a gentleman, and she is royalty. Their union probably wouldn’t be possible without their meeting in the forest. 29 Moreover In the forest, the effects of primogeniture are reversed, as the next slide. If you don’t want to spoil the ending, skip the next slide. 30 Details –Oliver gives up their father’s lands to Orlando. –Orlando will become heir to a dukedom by marrying Rosalind. –In other words, Orlando’s gentility is preserved, and his material well-being is enhanced. –It is as if he is reborn as his father’s heir in the forest. 31 So the Question Is… What is it about life in the forest that enables this transformation? See Duke Senior’s speech at 2.1.1ff. Let’s read it out loud. Then get into FOUR small groups and discuss it for 5-7 minutes. (Questions are on the next slide. Each group starts with a different question.) 32 Questions About Duke Senior’s Speech at 2.1.1ff. 1.How does Duke Senior describe nature? Is he describing an absolutely ideal state? Is this Eden? 2.What benefits or advantages does the rural setting offer? 3.How long have the exiles been here? Is this a timeless place? Cf. 3.2.297. 4.Is the forest a dangerous place? 33 Possible Answers 1.This is not an absolutely ideal state. Nature is fallen. 2.Social equality (“brothers and co-mates”) makes possible the union of Orlando and Rosalind. And things signify properly vs. the “painted pomp” of the court. 3.Time does exist in the woods, but the woods may be to kairos (time’s quality) as the court is to chronos (time’s quantity: clock time). Time is relative in the woods. 4.Surd evil (surdus, Latin: deaf) vs. moral evil at court and manor. 34 The Forest of Arden (1.3.105) Mary Arden was Shakespeare’s mother. Ardennes Forest in France. This forest, though spelled Arden, is the setting for Thomas Lodge’s Rosalind. There are lions and snakes there. But if this is Robin Hood’s forest (1.1.112), then we are in England. Or not: There are no olive or palm trees in England (see palm at 3.2.173 and olive at 4.3.78). But these trees do have religious significance: olive, peace; palm, spiritual victory and Palm Sunday. 35 Point This is a good place! But it is a forest of the imagination. Cf. the forest in MSND and the Bohemian seacoast in The Winter’s Tale. 36 More on Arden Forest “... the great Forest of Arden had been cut down, pasture and mixed woodland having replaced the endless woods rich in mystery and folklore.” Our play, “in its disorienting shifts between woodland and pastoral landscapes, juxtaposes the romanticized Arden that stirred his imagination as a child with the realistic Arden that Shakespeare... witnessed as an adult.” “Twelve other scenes set in the Forest of Arden offer an alternative landscape, a world of enclosure, of sheep and shepherds, landlords and farmers, landed peasants and the less fortunate wage earners.... When Oliver seeks Rosalind he does so ‘in the purlieus’—Shakespeare here using the technical term for parts of royal forests that were no longer wooded.” Source: James Shapiro, A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, page 242 37 Consequence From Shapiro, page 243-44: We get “the grim fate of Corin, unexpected in a comedy, who is so impoverished that he can’t even feed or lodge his guests.... Shakespeare reduces Lodge’s tenant farmer to a wage earner who will be homeless and unemployed as soon as his master can sell off the cottage and the enclosed ‘bounds’ for a quick profit (3.5.106).... Its quiet recognition of the threat of social dislocation helps explain why at so many points As You Like It seems to anticipate the next play Shakespeare set in England, King Lear.” 38 The Pastoral Tradition Arcadia and Eden are in the background— idealized nature, refuge from everyday life. (Arcadia is the classical analogue for Eden.) Harmon and Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 9 th ed., 369-70: Pastoral means “a poem treating of shepherds and rustic life, after the Latin for ‘shepherd,’ pastor.” The major pastoral poem that influenced AYLI was Spenser’s The Shepeardes Calendar, in which Rosalinde (the final “e” is correct) is the love object. 39 Points About Pastoral Literature Rural characters mirror and critique what happens in the city. The Duke’s speech certainly does this. Thus the woods are to civilization as the theater is to London. Pastoral literature presents ideals toward which the civilized world should strive. 40 Examples of Critique Jaques, we are told, laments the plight of the deer in 2.1. Orlando tries to rob the Duke’s party in 2.7. 41 So… The forest has the same effect on the characters as the play presumably has on its audience: –It provides a temporary refuge. –And we return to our lives with a sense that goodness has been affirmed. Virtue triumphs. –See Jaques’s theater metaphor at 2.7.139: “All the world’s a stage,” and so forth. 42 Another Activity Fill in the following chart: Court Manor Country Characters Relationships Characteristics GL%20305/305%20AYLI%20Chart.doc 43 POINT We don’t see Duke Senior’s original situation at the court, and we don’t see the characters’ return to the court (or, for that matter, to the manor). But, much as with the woods in MSND, we know that the country has had a profoundly transformational effect on the characters who journey there.  44 More In other words, the green world helps to transform relationships warped by abuses of primogeniture (see Orlando’s opening speech in 1.1) into a more just egalitarian set of relationships (Duke Senior’s opening speech in 2.1). Problems  the transforming effect of the “green world”  renewal in society (even if the characters have not yet returned to civilization). MV: Problem:Venice::resolution:Belmont. There is no restorative return to Venice. END Download ppt "As You Like It Day One Slide Show ENGL 305 Dr. Fike." Similar presentations Ads by Google
Kelly Page 2e.8 Great Canadian Art & Artists Canadian Heroes by JD Kelly 2 Great Canadian Heritage Treasure Canadian Heroine On October 22, 1692, Madeleine de Verchères was 14 years old and working , with a group, in the fields outside the fort, near Montreal, when the Iroquois attacked. She alone survived, to run back to the fort, shouting - not, as some books would have you believe "To Arms! To Arms!" but actually, "Aux armes! Aux armes!" Inside were only two frightened soldiers, an old man, crying children and screaming women - they had just watched their husbands and sons being killed! In spite of the overwhelming sense of fear, rising panic, and utter hopelessness that reigned, Madeleine organized the defence of the fort, with her 12 year old brother, getting everyone to shoot guns, and a cannon, to keep the Indians at bay. At night she posted sentries who called out constantly that all was well. The ruse of a large garrison worked well for eight days - the Indians feared to make an all out attack. Then a relieving force from Montreal rescued them. Madeleine de Verchères Defends Fort, 1692 - JD Kelly Orig. personal Artist's Proof - Size - 36 x 44 cms Found - Aberfoyle, ON Titled in JD Kelly's hand, Original printer registration marks, Prov - JD Kelly friend collection JD's passion for French-Canadian history is evident in all his paintings, even though the nuances of the language escaped him, with three mistakes in three words! At least "Varshair" was a creative phonetic approximation! Simply Fabulous! JD has powerfully captured the essence of the story in this fabulous picture: Madeleine at the centre of the action, tamping home a load, her younger brother ready with the powder horn and extra balls in the pail - oops some have fallen on the floor - a wounded man reaching for another load of powder from someone pouring powder from a barrel. In the background the wailing women's cries mix with the clouds of smoke from the guns. The painting captures a truly frightening time for French-Canadians, who were living in perilous few numbers on the edge of the wilderness, what with merciless Iroquois and warlike Americans - Phipps would attack Quebec only four years later - on all sides. How could such a tiny group of people possibly escape annihilation? The answer - with the right stuff of Canadians like Madeleine de Verchères (1678-1747). JD Kelly - 1862-1958 - 8 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Simply Fabulous: Canada's finest sculptor ever, Louis-Philippe Hébert, created, what remains Canada's largest bronze statue, in honour of Madeleine de Verchères. There is no finer statue in Canada, certainly not in Italy. In the hands of the master, Madeleine's dress just seems to blow gently in the breeze, as if it were thin silk, instead of hard metal. Her pose is uplifting, seemingly advancing, but not aggressively so; her weapon not threatening, just ready, should danger threaten; a fine face, a graceful figure, a symphony in motion, a stunning portrayal of a heroine for all time and all places. Canada's own Joan of Arc, but where in France is there a statue that can match this glorious celebration of a life, born in the fire of a foundry of the union of man and material and the imagination of a creative comet motivated by an energizing idea from Canadian history... Above, the statue stands on the location where the event took place, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River at Verchères near Montreal. Great Canadian Heritage Treasure Radisson et Groseilliers This huge Kelly tour de force features two French explorers who were brothers-in-law, and who created great merriment among generations of English-speaking Canadian students who know them as Radishes and Gooseberries, which were, of course, their actual names in French. No pictures survive of them so JD Kelly has given us his idea of what they probably looked like, after his usual, careful research. He pictures them on the American side of the St. Mary's River, consulting with an Indian about their next trek inland in search of richer fur-trapping country. They had set out in 1659, to check out the possibilities of the lands below Lake Superior - which is where JD set his picture - and decided the most valuable area was up towards Hudson's Bay instead. Radisson and Groseilliers, JD Kelly Orig. gouache wc - Size - 75 x 95 cm Found - Toronto, ON Radishes & Gooseberries! Unfortunately the French Governor of Canada saw their wilderness excursions as a threat, not an opportunity for New France. He wanted people to stay around the St. Lawrence River Valley, and develop that area, not spread their population thinly, hither and yon, making the colony weak and at the mercy of the warlike Americans. He even imprisoned Radisson for a while for trapping without a license. In disgust the partners went to New York where an entrepreneur, spell-bound by their tales of the furs found in the interior, took them to England. There the King was intrigued by their enthusiastic certainty that a northern ship route - circumventing the French who controlled access via the St. Lawrence River route - was possible to the rich fur country in the interior. In 1668 he sent them off in two ships to get into Hudson's Bay and prove their point. Only Groseilliers in the Nonsuch made it, and spent the winter there on the shore of Hudson's Bay gathering a cargo of pelts - the other ship - with Radisson aboard - had to return, forcing him to waste the winter in England. When Groseilliers came back the following spring, in 1669, with a load of fine furs, an agreement was drawn up to capitalize on this great development, and a charter was issued to grant a company rights to permanently exploit the region for its furs. And the rest, they say, is... the birth of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1670. One of the greatest British companies of all time, founded by two Frenchmen. Well, not exactly... Some berate Radisson and Groseilliers for having mixed loyalties, first seemingly to France, then to England. Not exactly right... JD Kelly celebrates them for what they were, in actual fact, neither French nor English, but uniquely free-spirited - some would say free-booting - Canadians. Copyright Goldi Productions Ltd. - 1996, 1999, 2005
Reports and News call us today contactus Home > News > EKG Machine Schiller Medilog FD5 plus EKG Machine GE Marquette Refurbished EKG Machine MediTech 308s EKG Machine EKG Machine An EKG machine is a valued piece of medical equipment, and used medical equipment utilized at doctors' offices, hospitals and health offices to produce electrocardiographs. The EKG itself is painless for the patient. Tests evaluate electrical impulses between heartbeats as transmitted by the heart. Each pulse happens when nerve centers feel contractions and relaxations of the heart muscle. An EKG machine is a valued piece of medical equipment and used medical equipment with advances being made all the time in portability and reliability. Often, this piece of medical equipment is re-sold as used medical equipment since it has a long shelf life, although newer models show ever-improving features. Important in responding to heart disease, or heart attacks, an EKG machine is key in testing heart function. The used medical equipment is also used in check-ups for patients suspected of being susceptible to heart disease or regular health maintenance programs. Many times, patients lie on an examination table for tests. Sometimes, they walk on treadmills or perform a series of exercises and tasks while being tested with an EKG machine. Technicians go through a protocol on the medical equipment, used medical equipment and with the patient to yield reports showing the health of the heart. From 3 to 12 electrodes (or leads) are attached to the arms, legs and chest of patients. Leads measure the heart's electrical impulses from different angles. The technician then starts the device that records the waves and changes electrode placement from time to time. Abnormal test sections are marked for extra study by the doctor. Augusta Waller led the effort developing the first EKG testing device in 1877. Willem Einthoven invented an instrument called a string galvanometer that could monitor electric waves produced by the heart. The combination of the two devices led to the first modern EKG monitoring units. Early models were bulky, table-sized affairs while today's medical equipment and used medical equipment are lightweight and compact becoming ever more so. EKG machines can create 3-D beating heart models. Patients even attach electrodes to their bodies and transmit impulses by phone or computer for analysis. These pieces of medical equipment and used medical equipment today can measure fetal heart beats. They have become among the most widely distributed medical equipment and used medical equipment when even a few years ago they were more difficult to find. Discount EKG Machines Mortara ECG Machine Used EKG Machines For Sale
In response to the release of the new quad-core CPUs by Intel, AMD launched its Quad FX platform. Contrary to what many people could think, Quad FX isn’t a new AMD quad-core processor, but a platform, as we will describe in this article. Check it out. Intel released their first quad-core processor, Core 2 Extreme QX6700, in November 2006. At the beginning of this year Intel has already announced three more quad-core CPUs: Core 2 Quad Q6600, Xeon X3220 and Xeon X3210. So far AMD didn’t release any quad-core CPU. The solution found by AMD to counter-attack Intel’s quad-core CPUs was to release Quad FX platform, formerly known as 4×4. This platform uses two dual-core Athlon 64 FX CPUs and several other “heavy” specs, as we will see in the next pages. Thus a Quad FX PC has two dual-core physical processors working in parallel, for a total of four CPU cores on the system. These two CPUs are interconnected using a dedicated coherent HyperTransport bus. In summary, Quad FX platform is essentially a SMP (Symmetrical Multiprocessing) system with two dual-core Athlon 64 FX CPUs. It is important to note that from the software point of view dual-core and quad-core technologies are also symmetrical multiprocessing technologies. On Intel quad-core CPUs the cores are organized in pairs. The cores of each pair can exchange information directly between them – the same way it happens on dual-core CPUs from AMD and on Core 2 Duo CPUs from Intel – but in order to exchange information with any one of the cores located on the other pair they need to access the CPU external bus – what is exactly what happens on Quad FX platform, where the CPUs talk to each other using an external bus, the coherent HyperTransport bus. In order to clarify the difference between Quad FX platform and the architecture used by Intel quad-core processors, see Figures 1 and 2. Intel Quad CoreFigure 1: Architecture currently used by Intel quad-core CPUs. AMD Quad FXFigure 2: Architecture used by Quad FX platform from AMD. As you can see comparing Figures 1 and 2, Quad FX platform has some advantage on memory access. On Intel quad-core CPUs the CPU external bus (a.k.a. FSB, Front Side Bus) is used for accessing the RAM memory, other devices present on the PC and for the communication between each pair of cores. The communication between each pair of cores can be done up to 8 GB/s. On Quad FX platform the CPUs use a dedicated communications channel (the coherent HyperTransport bus), which transfers data up to 4 GB/s in each direction. What is important here is that the HyperTransport bus provides two communications channels, one in each direction. Also, since on AMD processors the memory controller is embedded on the CPU, the memory is accessed using a dedicated bus, separated from the channel used by the CPU to access the rest of the PC. As Quad FX platform uses symmetric multiprocessing architecture, each CPU accesses its own RAM memory. Processors used on Quad FX platform can also access the memory that is controlled by the other CPU, as we will explain in the next page. A detailed explanation about Intel’s quad-core architecture can be found on our article Intel Quad-Core CPU Overview and Roadmap. Let’s see the details of this new platform.
The “Gilded Age,” also referred to as the “Roaring Twenties” expanded the United States’ economy so much that the average family income practically doubled. During the twenties, the unemployment rate was low and the economy felt stable, but due to unsound financial practices of the time, the economy was heading toward ruin. Investing in the stock market was a trend at this time accessible to everyone, from the wealthy to the middle class to businesses and companies all over the country. Many more Americans than before were enjoying upgrading their lifestyles, and investing their money was a step in that direction growing in popularity every day. The stock market was overbought, overused, with many people investing blind, without understanding what they were getting into or how to invest wisely. As the stock market began to decline, a troubling number of people were excessively buying stock on margin to try to keep their investments afloat, but margin trading is dangerous even when the market is in good shape. To buy on margin, investors borrow most of the money needed to trade, hoping to make it back so that they can repay that debt and then end up with a small profit. At this time, margin trading wasn’t regulated to prevent outcomes like Black Tuesday, and everyone borrowed a lot of money from banks to put into the stock market. But when the stock market only grew much worse, plummeting, and then completely crashing, suddenly everyone’s investments were gone. Their stock wasn’t worth anything, losing all of the money that they had invested, and then to compound this problem, the investors were also drowning in debt. The repercussions of the reckless margin investing were like shock waves going through the entire nation. When investors were unable to pay back their loans, their finances were ruined, but so was everyone else’s. We may not realize it, but in many ways, we are all connected. When the stock market and investors lost everything, banks did too. So much money had been loaned out for margin trading that many banks had to declare bankruptcy. Additionally, when companies lost their investments, millions of employees who had not personally invested were affected just as strongly because as the companies failed and went bankrupt, they lost their jobs. Many factors exacerbated the national crisis, making the thirties a truly memorable time for the United States. For example, extreme drought conditions and the lowering of prices paid for crops crippled farmers all across the agricultural states. More on that next time.
While many in America were enjoying the short-lived prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, farmers across the country were already struggling to stay afloat. Before the Great Depression began, crop prices had already been decreasing, an ongoing drought was causing farmers to look elsewhere for water, and farmers’ cost of living was going up. A census revealed that at least 80 percent of Arkansans during the twenties and thirties relied upon agriculture for their income. More than that relied upon their own personal gardens to feed their families throughout the year. Half of the 80 percent who relied upon cash crops to get by were sharecroppers, a practice that was becoming more and more obsolete with each passing year. When you consider how it must have been for many in Arkansas during this time, it’s a little scary and sad to think about. For many farmers in Arkansas, the cash crop of choice was cotton. Cotton grows well here, especially in the Delta along the Mississippi River. Cotton needs moderate rainfall throughout six months of the year, and hot, dry summers. The cotton plants need (one example of what works best) sandy, well-drained soil with clay underneath. Yes, that sounds like every bit of ground I dug up, playing as a kid. What happened to hurt the selling prices in the twenties before the market crashed and made everything worse? The truth was that in some ways, it almost was as if everything that could go wrong, did. One of the biggest problems was that farmers grew too much. During this time, tractors were starting to become more and more popular, for they projected to save farmers time and money over a long period of time. While in theory this was true, the use of more and more machinery on large farms led to more and more crops being grown, and the market became flooded to the point where the value for each crop plummeted, going down by 30 percent, 50 percent, even 75 percent or more. The other downside to the country’s increase in mechanization during and after WWI was that the need for sharecroppers and farm laborers decreased and decreased until they were almost completely phased out. The cotton market itself was damaged in the 1920s, when man-made fibers, such as rayon, first became available. Rayon, which is made from wood pulp, was much cheaper to produce than cotton (or wool) and played a role in the textile economic crisis at this time. With the onset of man-made fibers not only being possible but a cheaper option, the development of other man-made fibers began. All of this only served to further lower the demand for cotton, making matters worse. And then, Arkansas, along with all of the agricultural states in the South, went through some of the worst drought conditions ever recorded from 1930 to 1931. More on that next time.
Should we really blame the media? The media has always been to blame for major issues such as anti-social behaviour, cyber-bullying and violence. However, is it really justified to blame the media for how these issues were formed? Yes, the media may have been a key factor in how these problems occurred however, can we really blame media industries for how audiences interpret the information being conveyed? Messages can become easily mixed. From the duration between the speaker giving a speech to the audience who take on its certain effect, a ‘noise source’ comes into play changing how the message is interpreted resulting in the alteration of the lasting effect audience members are left with. Take Chinese Whispers for example, just because the end message doesn’t match up to the start, should we blame the first speaker? Or can we believe that somewhere in the middle someone had misinterpreted the message changing the initial idea? Should we blame the media due to a misinterpretation? An example of this theory is perceived through the popular social media site, Instagram. A site originally created to be a simple photo-sharing app. Today a ‘trending hit’ on this application is Fitspo. Fitspo (short for fitspiration) is portrayed images of active, strong and fit women to promote proper exercise and healthy eating (urban dictionary definition). Yet, instead is progressively promoting impossible standards. Fitspo has influenced a huge audience in a negative manner where instead of loving and appreciating their body types, are being conformed to ‘the perfect size’. Body image has always been a confronting issue reflecting on young teenagers and adults, usually resulting in eating disorders and unhealthy ideals. The users of Instagram influence the innocent and manipulate how they perceive themselves and how they perceive ‘healthy living’. The popular media platform has become a target for women and the ideal size they perceive. It is a fine line between motivation and manipulation. Fitspo has greatly affected today’s society and can be seen as “… A movement that triggers obsessive behaviour and another impossible body standard for women…it’s everywhere. It’s growing. And it has the potential to screw up the body image of a whole generation of women.” (Kate Spies, 2015) Fitspo impacts an individual’s lifestyle by making them constantly rethink decisions such as what they ‘should’ be eating instead of what they want to eat, when they ‘should’ be exercising instead of when they want to exercise. They are replacing the wants with unnecessary ‘needs’. Although is it appropriate to blame the media platform as a whole or should we be punishing the users of the site? It was not their intention to create such an impressionable development influencing viewers worldwide. The participating users who had originally started the fitspo movement have, in a way, misinterpreted the key idea behind Instragram. Just because Instagram engagers have used the media site in an unfavourable manner does not mean the specific media site is to be blamed. It is the misinterpreters who have initially created this issue not the media. Omg-theykilleddrory.tumblr, 31 July 2011, Top Definition: Fitspo, Urban Dictionary, viewed 15 March 2015 Katie Spies, 25 February 2015, #Fitspo: 2015’s Most Dangerous Body Image Movement, Mamamia, viewed 17 April 2015 One thought on “Should we really blame the media? 1. l totally agree with your argument here. The fact that the media simply acts a platform so individuals are able to interact but is then blamed for the content that is displayed and exchanged is silly. Where it’s obviously the people utilising the medium that is the problem rather than the medium itself. I admit that people believe its easier to blame the media rather then themselves because there will obviously be no reaction, but what people have to understand and admit is that with or without the media bulling, violence and anti-social behaviour is going to happen either way. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Transnational Cinema Transnational cinema is a term used to describe the effect global forces, such as cultural homogenisation and globalisation, have had on film productions around the world. These forces contain a series of negative impacts shifting the cultural diversity we can see in movies today. Hollywood is a huge influence when it comes to filmmaking and production. The immense success Hollywood films made have effected filmmaker’s perceptions. Instead of worrying about the way one’s country/ nation will be represented they are instead concerned about profits and global accessibility. This is ultimately why films around the world are highly impacted by western culture. An example of this is Bollywood. Bollywood is a popular Indian film industry that makes twice as many films as Hollywood. These Bollywood films are usually kept quite traditional in the religious and cultural aspects of India. However, it has increasingly become highly influenced by the western culture, such as Hollywood, possibly to appeal to a larger audience. Although, Hollywood movies have seen extreme success their main goal is to continue to grow popular in the Asia Pacific Region and essentially expand their audience. According to Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014 U.S./Canada made $10.4 billion in the Global Box Office, while China came in second making a total of $4.8 billion. Hollywood is increasingly expanding their target market by appealing to China’s values and preferences, in the hopes of expanding their audience and achieve profit growth. Despite India producing twice as many movies as Hollywood, India placed sixth making 1.7 billion (MPAA, 2014). This result may be the main reason why Indian films are including well-known Hollywood characteristics. We can see the impact western culture has had on other countries and their film productions. However, foreign films have also had an impact on Hollywood. It has not been uncommon for Hollywood to re-create and re-make international films into something of their own. In February 2015, Paste Magazine conducted a list called ’10 Foreign Films with Horrible U.S. Re-makes’. The list demonstrated the ways in which cultural appropriation can have negative outcomes. “Hollywood has often been criticised for its inability to come up with new ideas, instead offering a wide array of remakes and sequels that already have built-in audiences… too often they are so sanitized and pop-culture injected that there’s nothing left of the original film’s magic.” (Paste Magazine, 2015) The list includes: • Gin Gwai/ The Eye (Chinese)Untitled • Taxi (French) • Ju-on/ The Grudge (Japan) • Death at a Funeral (British) • Oldboy (Korean) • Gojira/ Godzilla (Japan) • Anthony Zimmer/ The tourist (French) • Janghwa, Hongryeon/ The Uninvited (Korean) • Wings of Desire/ City of Angels (German) • The Wicker Man (British) It is clear that cultures around the globe have been affected by the factors that make up Transnational Cinema. Globalisation and cultural homogenisation have highly influenced the way in which films are made and the characteristics involved. The integrating of cultures has had both positive and negative outcomes, however both are subjected to the alternate audiences. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Trillions of ‘ghost particles’ move through your body every second – but you would never know it. Known as neutrinos, they are one of the fundamental particles that make up the universe. They are also some of the least understood as they interact very weakly with everything else, so detecting them is difficult. But now researchers have observed the mysterious particles changing into different states, and hope their discovery will help answer fundamental questions about our universe. New measurements, collected at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, have shed light on outstanding questions regarding properties of the mysterious neutrinos. Reseachers at Michigan State University presented their results today at the American Physical Society Meeting in Washington. See Also: The first private space station Billionaire closer to mining the moon for trillions of dollars in riches Astronauts BRAINS change shape during prolonged missions The incredible two BILLION pixel image of the universe that reveals the celestial cat’s paw meeting the cosmic lobster Is there a UFO parked at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Labs? Could Wormholes Really Work? Probably Not Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Explained (Infographic) (Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
Scientists IDs genesis of animal behavior patterns March 26, 2009 by Elizabeth Thomson Map of the area off Georges Bank studied by MIT engineers and colleagues. Image / Makris Lab, MIT; Ratilal Lab, NU The work, conducted using a novel imaging technique, "provides information essential to the conservation of that vast oceanic shoals inhabit," the team writes in the March 27 issue of Science. It also confirms theories about the behavior of large groups of animals in general, from bird flocks to . Until now those theories had only been predicted through , computer simulations and laboratory experiments. Schematic showing general setup of the imaging system used to study fish shoals. Graphic / Makris Lab, MIT; Ratilal Lab, NU For example, the team found that once a group of fish reaches a critical population density, it triggers a kind of chain reaction resulting in the synchronized movement of millions of individuals over a large area. The phenomenon is akin to a human "wave" moving around a sports stadium. "As far as we know, this is the first time we've quantified this behavior in nature and over such a huge ecosystem," said Nicholas C. Makris '83, PhD '91, leader of the work and a professor of mechanical and ocean engineering. The resulting shoals of can extend some 40 kilometers or approximately 25 miles across the ocean. Makris' principal collaborators on the work include Purnima Ratilal PhD '02, a professor at Northeastern University, J. Michael Jech of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Olav Rune Godoe of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Other collaborators are from MIT, Northeastern and the Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Off Georges Bank The researchers focused on off Georges Bank near Boston during the fall spawning season. They found that the formation and movement of large shoals of the fish constituted a kind of daily evening commute to the shallower waters of the bank where they spawn under cover of darkness. Come morning, the fish head back to deeper water and disband. The work was conducted using Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS). In 2006, Makris and colleagues published a paper in Science introducing OAWRS, which they invented, and initial observations made with it. OAWRS allows the team to take images of an area some 100 kilometers (approximately 62 miles) in diameter every 75 seconds. This is a vast improvement over conventional techniques such as fish-finding echo-sounders, which Makris compares to "watching one pixel on a movie screen" while the new technology allows you to "see the entire movie." Both OAWRS and conventional methods rely on acoustics to locate objects by bouncing sound waves off of them. With conventional techniques, survey vessels send high-frequency sound beams into the ocean. In contrast, the new system uses much lower frequency sound that can travel much greater distances and still return useful information with signals far less intense. Toward conservation Makris sees potential in using OAWRS to better monitor — and conserve — fish populations. Large oceanic fish shoals provide vital links in the ocean and human food chain, he explained, but their sheer size makes it difficult to collect information using conventional methods. Ron O'Dor, co-senior scientist of the Census of Marine Life (CoML), commented that "OAWRS allows us to gather information such as geographical distributions, abundance and behavior of fish shoals and to better understand what constitutes healthy fish populations ... which can be implemented by policymakers to better monitor and improve conservation of fish stocks." CoML is an international scientific collaboration engaged in a 10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the oceans. It aims to release the first Census of Marine Life in 2010. Could OAWRS be exploited to find and take more fish, rather than conserve them? Makris believes that it would be virtually impossible. For example, he said, it cannot be used in stealth. "Thieves do not like to work in broad daylight or with the lights on, and OAWRS [essentially] turns the lights on in the ocean making it possible for everyone to see what is happening there and do something about it." He also emphasized that permission from each government would be needed to use it in any nation's territorial waters or in internationally regulated waters. Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news : web) Explore further: One fish, two fish: New MIT sensor improves fish counts Related Stories Expedition discovers marine treasures February 14, 2006 An underwater mountain that forms the world's third-largest atoll has some of the richest diversity of marine life ever found in the Caribbean, according to scientists who recently explored the area. Study reveals secret sex life of fish February 22, 2006 Recommended for you Big brains in birds provides survival advantage: study September 25, 2017 Given how proud we are of our big brains, it's ironic that we haven't yet figured out why we have them. One idea, called the cognitive buffer hypothesis, is that the evolution of large brains is driven by the adaptive benefits ... 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11 Historical Coincidences Almost Impossible To Believe Check weird coincidences of History that are handpicked for its uniqueness. History, Strange History, Weired History, Impossible History, Historical Coincidences, Hitler, Napoleon, Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, twins from Ohio, Hoover Dam, Bermuda, RMS Carmania, German SMS Trafalgar, Halley's Comet, Mark Twain, King Umberto I, WWI Coincidences are incredibly intriguing. Something happening with someone happens with somebody else at the same time with no possible connection. There have been numerous such coincidents throughout history and we have handpicked some of them for your reading pleasure below: 1. History repeats itself Source: Historiek Napoleon and Hitler were born 129 years apart (debatable) and came into power 129 years apart. They also both declared war on Russia 129 years apart from one another. 2. He wasn't kidding Source: Bashny On June 20, 1940, Soviet archaeologists uncovered the tomb of Tamerlane, a descendent of Genghis Khan. A warning inscription read "Whoever opens my tomb will unleash an invader more terrible than I." They opened it anyway. Germany invaded the Soviet Union two days later. 3. Twins Separated at Birth Who Had Incredibly Similar Lives Source: Firsttoknow 4. The Hoover Dam's first and last victims Source: Rarehistoricalphotos The first worker to die during the dam's construction was J.G. Tierny on December 20, 1922. The last person to die there was J.G. Tierny's son, who died on December 20, 1935. 5. We assume they tip either time Source: Mosthappy In 1975, a man was killed when he was struck by a taxi in Bermuda. An unlucky passenger in that taxi had to witness it. A year later, the same taxi driver was driving the same passenger when the taxi struck and killed the original victim's brother. 6. A giant mess of disguised ships Source: Greatships 7. Mark Twain's comet-framed life Source: Todayifoundout 8. The patient bullet Source: Unexplained-events When his sister committed suicide after a failed relationship, one man vowed revenge against Henry Ziegland, the man who'd broken her heart. He shot at Ziegland but missed, and the bullet lodged in a nearby tree. Years later, Henry was clearing that very land and used dynamite to remove the tree. The bullet was dislodged with considerable force, struck Ziegland, and killed him. 9. The twin deaths Source: Thechive 10. More twin mortality Source: Thechive On May 22, 1975, twins John and Arthur Mowforth both suffered from heart attacks. Living 120 km apart, they were admitted to separate hospitals and were not aware of the other's condition. They each died shortly after. 11. Not quite twins, but twin deaths Source: Phactual Title image: Kut News Entertainment Food Travel World Events Nagpur Pune Reacho Mukund Paithankar (WRITER)
Group Capsicum sp. breeding - Introduction pimientosLine 1: Breeding for fruit quality. The main objective is to select and develop new breeding lines and/or cultivars of peppers, with special emphasis in common pepper (Capsicum annuum) but also including other cultivated species (C. frutescens, C. chinense, C. baccatum, and C. pubescens), with high levels of antioxidants and vitamins. These include: ascorbic acid (vitamin C), flavonoids (phenolics), red and yellow/orange carotenoids (including vitamin A-precursors like α- and β-carotene, β-criptoxanthin). Furthermore, to make competitive these materials, our breeding efforts also include selection for high fruit set and yield under a range of growing conditions, including the study of abiotic stresses (low temperatures, hydric stress, saline stress, etc.) in all the mentioned traits. Breeding efforts for developing materials with high levels of dry matter and carotenoids, for the ground powder industry, are also done in our research group. Activities also include breeding for stability of carotenoid extracts under long-term storage conditions and against photoxidation. Finally, a research project devoted in the study and exploitation of genetic diverstity in Capsicum for pungency and aroma (capsaicinoids and odor-contributing volatiles) is being carried out during the last 5 years. This includes the study of the diversity of volátiles compoubnds in the genus Capsicum as well as establishing models of inheritance for individual and total volatiles. Line 2: Overcoming interspecific barriers within genus Capsicum. C. annuum plants can be affected by many different stresses from both biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic origin (e.g. sunscald, low temperatures, salinity, hydric stress). In this respect, several sources carrying resistancesor tolerances have been reported in other Capsicum species. Unfortunately, in many cases, sexual incompatibility between C. annuum and these species may difficult, or avoid, to transfer these genes from one species to the other. There are cases of prezygotic barriers (after pollination there is no fertilization and, consequently, no embryo) or postzygotic barriers (the embryo may begin its development but it aborts in inmature stages). In our research group we are testing and improving the efficiency of several strategies to overcome this range of incompatibility barriers invloving all the cultivated species of Capsicum: i) bridge crossings and ii) in vitro rescue of inmature embryos.
posted by . With regard to pattern baldness in humans (a sex-influenced trait) a woman who is not bacld but mother is bald, has children with a bald man whose father is not bald. what are their probabilities of having the following types of families? a) their first child will not become bald? b)their first child be a male who will not be bald? c)their first three children will be nonbald females? Respond to this Question First Name School Subject Your Answer Similar Questions 1. Biology-genetics tribbles were fictional animals featured in a certain , now ancient ,science fiction television series. Lets say that tribbles have an X-Y sex determination mechanosm like that of humans. the trait bald (Xb) is X-linked and recessive … 2. Biology This is a 2 factor cross punnett square- An albino, nonhemophilic man, marries a normally pigmented, nonhemophilic woman whose father was hemophilic and whose mother was albino. What kind of children can they have and in what proportion? 3. english this check my answer Words: Deterrent, implication, inequity, infirmity, infringe, innovation, revitalize, sparse, subjective, succinct, 1- 2 When the candidate for mayor saw the sparse turnout for his speech, he knew he had to do … 4. Algebra Using Proportionality How do figure out the average heights and weights for sheep and cows? 5. Algebra 6. Biology GENETICS PRACTICE PROBLEMS Worth 10 points each problem is either right or wrong 1. In humans, assume that brown eyes (B) are dominant over blue eyes (b). A blue eyed man, both of whose parents were brown eyed, marries a brown eyed … 7. biology a woman whose father had hemophilia and whose mother was normal married a man whose father did not have hemophilia but whose mother did . if the couple's first child was a son what are the chances that he would show the trait of hemophilia? 8. algebra Suppose that the odds in favor are 12 to 1 that a man will be bald by the time he is 60. State this as a probability. (Enter the probability as a fraction.) P(a man is bald by 60) Thank you 9. Physics A drop of rain of mass of 20kg strike a bald headed man what force did the man experience 10. English 1. I try not to stress out when things go wrong. 2. He went bald. 3. She went mad. ------------------- In Sentence 2 and 3, 'bald' and 'mad' are adjectives, so 'went' means 'became.' What about in Sentence 1? More Similar Questions
A tale of two songs A tale of two songs Tagore resented the idea of enforced patriotism and yet we insist on his anthem to be sung by those reluctant to Both came from Calcutta. Both became writers of great repute. Both were Brahmins: one orthodox, the other a liberal thinker. And both, in their own way, in their own time, were leading figures of what was known as the Bengal Renaissance. One was a career officer of the Government of British India, a deputy magistrate and then a deputy collector; a poet, novelist, journalist whose works remain among the finest in Bengali literature, one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta, a proud Hindu nationalist. The other, home educated; a poet, novelist, music composer, painter; recipient of a knighthood which he renounced in the wake of Jallianwala Bagh; a Nobel Prize winner, friend of the Mahatma and a leading figure in the freedom struggle, an outspoken liberal. Bankim Chandra wrote Vande Mataram in 1876. Five years later, it appeared in his novel Anandamath and went on to become the song of the freedom struggle. It was actually first sung in a political context by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. It finally became so popular as a marching song that the British banned it, making it even more popular. The first two verses of the song were adopted as our national song in October 1937, ten years before Independence, by the Congress Working Committee. Rabindranath Tagore wrote Jana Gana Mana thirty years later. It was first published in the Adi Brahmo Samaj journal which he then edited. It was publicly sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on 27 December 1911. The power of its words, the inclusiveness it spoke of, and the richness of its music, also composed by Tagore, and the amazing popularity it gained over the years ensured it was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as India’s national anthem on January 24, 1950. Gandhi loved Vande Mataram. Subhash Bose loved Jana Gana Mana and even got it translated by Mumtaz Hussain, a writer with the Azad Hind Radio and Col Abid Hassan Saffrani of the INA. When India became free on August 15, 1947 and Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the tricolor on the ramparts of the Red Fort, Captain Ram Singh Thakuri was specially invited to play the tune of Qaumi Tarana of the INA along with members of his orchestra. Contrary to the belief that all Muslims disapprove of it, Maulana Azad was a member of the Congress Working Committee that chose Vande Mataram as the national song. Today, the two songs are often seen as if in conflict, even though they are both widely loved. Jana Gana Mana is the song sung on all special occasions. We grew up with it. While Vande Mataram has become a rallying point for those who believe Hindutva is the way forward. After all, the song was originally a paean to Goddess Durga. So despite resistance from many Muslims, or perhaps because of it, singing Vande Mataram has become a proof of patriotism. Tagore’s skepticism about this is well known. He famously said “I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live”. While Bankim Chandra was inspired by the Sanyasi Rebellion of the 18th century when the ascetics rose against the British empire. In that sense, the two songs came from different schools of thought, different perspectives on the freedom struggle by two great thinkers. A third song exists. Iqbal’s Sare Jahan se Achha which was first published in the weekly journal Ittehad on 16 August 1904, 113 years ago today. Though it was written for children, it soon acquired the stature of an anthem opposing the British Raj. Even today the armed forces march to it, in a version set to music by Ravi Shankar. It is called the Taranah-i-Hindi and the Mahatma is said to have sung it over a hundred times when he was in Yeravada Jail. Muslims are always ready to sing this. But some are reluctant to sing Jana Gana Mana because it puts the nation before God. Even more are reluctant to sing Vande Mataram because they see it as an ode to a Hindu goddess – and also because it is being enforced on them. (Curiously, I think Tagore would’ve endorsed that point of view as he was against the very idea of enforced patriotism.) The UP government’s insistence that all madrassas celebrate I-Day by singing the national anthem and then send a video as proof of it has made things infinitely worse. So we now have two great songs (actually three if you count Iqbal’s anthem) embroiled in an unnecessary controversy even though the wise men who wisely chose them to inspire future generations had excised them in a way such that everyone can sing them. But then, as Tagore believed, a free nation must have a free will. As long as people respect the national anthem and stand up for it, does it matter if they actually sing it or not? That could remain a matter of personal choice. No, I am not saying this. The Supreme Court said that while deciding on a case where some students in Kerala were expelled for not singing the national anthem even though they had respectfully stood up for it. And no, they were not Muslims. POLLHave any lessons been learned from the monsoon mess? Pick your favorite and click vote 4 + 2 = Recent Messages () Please rate before posting your Review Sort By: Be the first one to review.
Saturday, 28 May 2016 The Survival of the Irminsul and its Connection to Ziu There has been much speculation over the years about the location of the historic Irminsul with the most popular choices being Eresburg and the Externsteine but I believe that it is a error to assume that there was only one Irminsul. I have now come to the conclusion that Irminsul columns are to be found all over continental Germania and England and indeed many of these pillars have survived down to the present day in the form of Jupiter Columns in Roman occupied Europe and indeed even in the humble marker crosses which are to be found all over rural England. Eugene Goblet d'Alviella in his most interesting The Migration of Symbols (1894) makes reference to the perrons/perons (French) or perroen (Dutch) of eastern Belgium which are stone columns usually surmounted by a cross. In particular he discusses the Perron of Liege: "The most celebrated of those perrons is still standing, above a fountain, on the market-place at Liege; it consists of a white marble column placed on a square base with five steps, guarded by four lions. The capital is surmounted by the three Graces, who support a Crown encircling a Fir-cone with a small Cross on its point." Some of my readers may already be aware that the Fir cone or Pine cone is a symbol of the Goddess Zisa, the consort of the ancient Germanic sky God Ziu. According to Nigel Pennick Cisa/Zisa had a shrine at Augsburg in Germany and her annual festival took place on the 28th of September. (The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Runes), the original name of this city being Zisenburg (A History of Pagan Europe, Pennick/Jones) or Zizarim (The Book of Primal Signs, Pennick). The Roman name of the city was Augusta Vindelicorum. The symbol of Zisa is the pine cone and many large stone pine cones survive from Roman times. Mr Pennick states that the Stadtpyr is the emblem of Augsburg and Her cone appears as a weather vane on the church of St. Peter-am-Perlach, which was built on the site of a holy hill dedicated to the Goddess. This Goddess is referred to extensively in Jacob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology Volume 1: So the combination of a pillar surmounted by a cone reinforces the identification of the column with Ziu and His consort Zisa. There is a strong argument for assuming that Irmin, Saxnot and Ziu are in fact different names for the same deity. All three are both highly important and ancient sky deities who reach far back into the Germanic past. If this theory is correct then I would suggest that it is Ziu who is the oldest form of this deity; Irmin and Saxnot being later developments. Indeed as a deity Ziu is so ancient that His existence can be traced right back to Proto-Indo-European times and He was clearly The God worshipped by the still undivided Aryans. He is the Welsh duw, the Latin deus, the Lithuanian dievas, the Sanskrit deva, the Avestan daevo (demonised as a 'false God' by the Zoroastrians), the Jupiter of the Romans and the Zeus of the Greeks. Our ancient Aryan ancestors would have called Him Dyeus, 'celestial being'. He was literally the Sky Father and this is particularly reflected in the Latin Iupiter (pronounced Jupiter), Dis-Pater, Deus Pater and the Greek Zeu Pater which is remarkably similar to the Sanskrit Dyauspitah. This deity's dominance as the primary God of the undivided Aryans diminished as the various Aryan tribes went their separate ways and evolved their own pantheons of Gods. The main area of operations of this God was in the daylight sky. As Jupiter is the Roman version of Ziu we have here a further connection between Ziu and Irmin as the Jupiter columns which are to be found in the Romanised parts of Germania are clearly a form of the Irminsul. Returning to The Migration of Symbols the author states: "Lastly, old chroniclers relate that in the thirteenth century the destruction of the Irminsul by Charlemagne was still commemorated at Hildesheim on the Saturday following the Sunday of the Laetare, by planting in the ground, on the cathedral square, two poles six feet high, each surmounted by a wooden object one foot in height, and shaped like a pyramid or cone. The young people then endeavoured with sticks and stones to overthrow this object. Does not this tradition directly connect the Irminsul, or rather the Irminsuls, with the stake which, surmounted by a Cone, is presented to our view in the Frankish buckle, just as the stone column of the Hildesheim cathedral links them with the perrons of Belgium?" Here the author is referring to Fir cones placed at the end of pillars and venerated by the Franks in eastern Belgium and north east France. Ziu was the God who presided over the ancient Thing so it is not surprising that we find miniature Irminsuls in the form of market crosses in the market squares of England and other Germanic countries where it was the tradition for public assemblies to be held. As Christopher Fee points out in his interesting book Gods, Heroes, & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain (2004): "Tiw was the protector of judicial assemblies; this fact is attested by a Roman inscription in Britain to 'Mas Thingus', who watched over legal proceedings, which were held on his day (Tuesday) of each week." Sunday, 15 May 2016 Wodan and the Brocken As I have mentioned several times before on this blog the Harz mountains in northern Germany which is situated in the German states of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) was a centre of Germanic heathenism for a very long time and in the later Middle Ages it became associated with 'witchcraft' which was simply a demonised and debased form of the ancient Germanic religion. In particular the Brocken or Brokenberg which is situated just inside the territory of Saxony-Anhalt stands at over 3,743 feet and is the highest point of the Harz. I have never climbed the Brocken as whenever I was in Germany the weather conditions were never appropriate but it can be seen for miles around. It is not surprising that this was the centre of the Cult of Wodan in ancient times as Wodan/Woden is more associated with mountains and forests than His Scandinavian counterpart, Odin. He is of course the Wild Hunter who haunts the German forests and mountains: "In Lower Saxony and Westphalia this Wild Hunter is identified with a particular person, a certain semi-historic master of a hunt. The accounts of him vary. Westphalian traditions call him Hackelbarend, Hackelbernd, Hackelberg, Hackelblock. This Hackelbarend was a huntsman who went a hunting even on Sundays, for which desecration he was after death (like the man in the moon) banished into the air, and there with his hound he must hunt night and day, and never rest. Some say, he only hunts in the twelve nights from Christmas to Twelth-day; others, whenever the storm-wind howls, and therefore he is called by some the jol-jaeger (from yawling, or Yule?) (page 921, Teutonic Mythology Volume 3, Jacob Grimm) Of course after the forced conversion of the Germanic peoples the Wild Hunter became associated with various historical or legendary personalities for this ancient Germanic archetype could not be eradicated from the German folk-soul. Interestingly in some Scandinavia folktales we also get a glimpse of this older and more terrifying Wuotan: "Wuotan appears riding, driving, hunting, as in Norse sagas, with valkyrs and einheriar in his train; the procession resembles an army. Full assurance of this hunting Wode's identity with the heathen god is obtained from parallel phrases and folktales in Scandinavia. The phenomenon of howling wind is referred to Odin's waggon, as that ofthunder is to Thor's. On hearing a noise at night, as of horses and carts, they say in Sweden 'Oden far forbi.' "(page 919, Grimm) However it is true to say that this ancient archetype has survived longer in the German speaking lands and it is only in folktales that we see this more ancient God, whose original name was Wode: Although primarily a Germanic deity we found a parallel deity in Indo-Aryan religion: The primary deity of the Germanic peoples has His origins in an ancient storm giant who our ancestors worshipped for thousands of years: "The primitive conception of Odin is the German storm giant Wode, leader of the 'wild army', O.H.G. Wuotis-her, i.e. the procession of the homeless dead through the air. The development Woden raises the name on to the same level as royal titles like Gothic thiudans and Scandinavia drottinn. (page 227, Our Forefathers the Gothonic Nations Volume 1, Gudmund Schuette) It should be remembered that where our mythology refers to 'giants' this is in essence a reference to an earlier race of divinities. This is equally true of other Indo-European mythologies such as the Greek mythology and its 'Titans'. It is said that in ancient times a giant 'portrait' of Wodan was situated on the Brocken. It may be that this image was a rock craving of the God. It is on this mountain that the sacred marriage between Wodan and Freya was celebrated. Sunday, 1 May 2016 The Germanic Physical Characteristics of the Caledonians and the Diamond Shape of Albion I have already dicussed the probability that the Germanic peoples had a presence in England thousands of years before the accepted date of around 449 CE. The Ancient Presence of the Germanic Peoples in Britain In addition to the presence of the Germanic peoples in England their presence is also to be found in other parts of the British Isles. http://celto-germanic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ancient-presence-of-germanic-peoples-in.html. The Germanic peoples brought their Cult of Woden with them and Woden appears to be the same daity associated with Gwydion. http://celto-germanic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/woden-as-gwydion-belgic-god-of-ash.html There is potentially further evidence for the presence of the Germanic peoples in Scotland. Certain interesting passages from Tacitus' Agricola seem to indicate this: "Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, is open to question: one must remember we are dealing with barbarians. But their physical characteristics vary, and the variation is suggestive. The reddish hair and large limbs of the Caledonians proclaim a German origin; the swarthy faces of the Silures, the tendency of their hair to curl, and the fact that Spain lies opposite, all lead one to believe that Spaniards crossed in ancient times and occupied that part of the country. The peoples nearest to the Gauls likewise resemble them." (Agricola 11, translated by H. Mattingley, revised by S.A. Handford, my emphasis) This physical description of the Caledonians is matched by an obervation by Eumenius who wrote that both the Picts and the Caledonians had red hair. However we must be cautious and bear in mind that Tacitus does not reveal the identity of the language spoken by the Caledonians Another interesting passage from Agricola concerns the perceived shape of England and the island of Britain: "The general shape of Britain has been compared by Livy and by Fabius Rusticus-the finest of ancient and modern writers respectively-to an elongated diamond or a double-headed axe. Such indeed is its shape south of Caledonia, and so the same shape has been attributed to the whole." (Agricola 10) This perception by the ancients of England or Britain as being diamond shaped is significant for the diamond is the shape of the Anglo-Saxon Ing rune and the Common Germanic Ingwaz rune. This rune is the rune of the God of the English, Ing. Indeed we have a mystery here for the association between the God of the English and the perceived shape of the homeland of the English are both encapsulated in this rune's shape. This is a powerful argument for the case that the English have always resided in Albion and that their supposed arrival in 449 CE was nothing other than a RETURN. One could thus argue that England or Britain is their Urheimat and not simply a territory colonised by Germanic tribes in the mid 5th century CE. To find therefore a people such as the Caledonians residing in the north of the island and being likened by Tacitus as Germans further strengthens the argument that these islands have always been in the possession of the Germanic peoples.
Arrows PreviousNext Lexical Leavings by Tom Gally Mark Spahn writes: The word unbeknownst is almost always used in the form of a phrase preceding a statement: "Unbeknownst to person, statement." Ever since I first encountered this word, I have assumed that it is always used in a jocular, humorous, or self-mocking way (as highfalutin, speechify, and snazzy are). Certainly unbeknownst sounds more deliberately old-fashioned than unknown, with its verb prefix be- and its archaic second-person singular verb ending -st (as in "thou hast"). But having seen it recently used in a non-ironic, non-jocular way, I looked up this word for the first time and found, to my surprise, that it is not marked as anything other than standard English: not informal, not humorous, not jocular. And according to one dictionary, the -st ending is not a "thou" verb ending but rather the same -st ending that is seen in amongst (or midst). Moreover, unbeknownst is listed as a variant of unbeknown (a word which I have never seen in print). Part of speech What part of speech is unbeknownst? All the English-language dictionaries I looked in say that unbeknown and its variant unbeknownst are adjectives. But the phrase "unbeknownst to person" is always used to modify the statement that constitutes the main clause of the sentence. So maybe unbeknownst to should be construed as a prepositional phrase that modifies a whole sentence (as an adverb does). Indeed, the PONS English-German dictionary labels unbeknown(st) as an adverb, which in my opinion does seem more accurate than calling it an adjective. The word unknown is certainly an adjective, and a sentence like "Unknown to anyone, he led a double life." seems vaguely ungrammatical (what noun does unknown modify?). But "Unbeknownst to anyone, he led a double life." seems perfectly grammatical. So it looks like the practical function of the prefix be- and suffix -st is to indicate that the word is being used as an adverb rather than as an adjective. (November 16, 2003)
Mason Bees The orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria) is a gentle beneficial insect that pollinates fruit trees and other early blooming flowers. It is found throughout most of North America. The orchard mason bee is usually slightly smaller than a honey bee and a shiny dark blue in color. The female uses existing holes in wood for a nest, especially in dead or decaying trees. She chooses holes slightly larger than her body, usually 1/4 to 3/8 inches in diameter. The bee first places a mud plug at the bottom of the hole, then brings in 15 to 20 loads of nectar and pollen which she collects from spring flowers, including apples and other fruits. When the female has provided a sufficient supply of food for the larva, she lays an egg and then seals the cell with a thin mud plug. She then provisions another cell, and continues in this fashion until the hole is nearly full. Finally the bee plasters a thick mud plug at the entrance. The female orchard mason bee lives for about a month and can produce one or two eggs each day. The larva hatches from the egg after a few days and begins to eat its provisions. When the pollen-nectar mass is completely eaten in about 10 days, the larva spins a cocoon and pupates within the cell. Near the end of the summer the bee transforms to the adult stage but remains in the cocoon throughout the winter. In the spring, when the weather has warmed up sufficiently, the bees chew their way out of the cocoon. Mason bee straws: The straws we use at House of Bees have an outer “guard” tube as well as an inner paper liner. Before putting the mason bee house outdoors, fold over the excess paper, and insert that end first. This closes the back of the straw and leaves an end that you’ll be able to use to easily remove the paper liner from the guard tube when processing the cocoons. Parchment paper can be rolled around a pencil or dowel and inserted into the guard tube, in place of the paper liner. Mason bee houses: Position the mason bee house where it will receive morning sunlight and is protected from weather, such as the south or eastern side of your home or other structure. You may also place the mason bee house on a dead tree or post in wooded areas near streams where there is a good supply of mud for nest construction. Mason bee calendar: February/March: Establish a location and install the bee house in an area where you’ll be able to observe them. The female bee will begin to fill the straws with eggs, pollen and mud. Mid-June: Remove filled straws (leaving guard tube and liner intact) and store in a warm, dry, sheltered location away from hot sun. This could be a shed, garage, or attic. It is important to move the straws to protect them from predatory wasps and woodpeckers. Handle the straws gently, and keep them level. September/October: Bees are now fully developed in their cocoons. Move the straws to a cool location, such as an unheated out-building, for winter hibernation. October through December: Open the straws to clean the cocoons and discard debris and mites. Do this in a cool, dry location. There are excellent videos on YouTube that show step-by-step details for this process. February/March: Place the bee house and cocoons outdoors in a sheltered location to start the process over again, to build a healthy mason bee population.
Friday, September 20, 2013 Paintings and Music of Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist. He began as an obscure graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s and evolved into an acclaimed Neo-expressionist and Primitivist painter by the 1980s. Throughout his career Basquiat focused on "suggestive dichotomies," such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. Basquiat's art utilized a synergy of appropriation, poetry, drawing and painting, which married text and image, abstraction and figuration, and historical information mixed with contemporary critique. Utilizing social commentary as a "springboard to deeper truths about the individual", Basquiat's paintings also attacked power structures and systems of racism, while his poetics were acutely political and direct in their criticism of colonialism and support for class struggle. 1 comment:
» » Geography of the Canary Islands Geography of the Canary Islands View in a larger map The Canary Islands lie just 93 mile (150 kilometer) off the northwest coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean but have been politically and culturally attached to Spain, 830 mile (1,350 kilometer) to the northeast, since the 14th century. Today the 7 islands, an autonomous region of Spain, are among the most popular holiday destinations for tourists from northern Europe. The islands’ proximity to Africa is apparent in their climate, an extension of the deserts of the Sahara. Some areas are semiarid, with abundant cacti and maspalomas (large sand dunes), while higher elevations host laurel and pine forests, with subtropical and tropical plants in the valleys in between. The islands are volcanic in origin and reflect this in their steep inclines and rugged cliffs. They vary in age and volcanic activity, from the oldest, Fuertaventura and Lanzarote in the east, to the most recently formed La Palma and El Hierro, furthest west in the chain. La Palma has 7 volcanoes that have erupted since the 15th century, most recently Teneguía, in 1971. It also has a large collapsed caldera in the center of the island (Taburiente), with a rim averaging 6,600 foot (2,000 meter) in height and an astronomical observatory. Between these extremes of old and new islands at the eastern and western ends of the chain, lie the largest and most populated of the Canary Islands, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Most of the beach resorts and nightclubs are on these 2 islands, but they too have their share of scenic ravines and mountain peaks—Pico del Teide is the highest point not only in the Canary Islands, but in all of Spain. Lastly, the small island of La Gomera, where isolation has best preserved the indigenous culture of the Guanches people, including their distinctive pottery made without a wheel, and the famous whistling language, Silbo, used by shepherds to communicate between sharp valleys and cliffs for centuries. The Guanches are believed to be immigrants from North Africa, but legends name them as the only survivors of the lost continent of Atlantis. The ancient Greeks knew of the islands, as the last known land after the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar). They were known as "the Happy Isles” before cartographers started calling them the Canaries—possibly due to the large hunting dogs (canis in Latin), still bred on the islands today (called verdinos or bardinos). But little was known about the islands until they were visited by a Genoese explorer, Lancellotto Malocello in 1312 (giving his name to Lanzarote). Ancient mariners drew the first meridian at El Hierro, marking the western edge of the world (today this is the west 18th). Spanish monarchs established control over all of the islands between 1402 and 1504 and resisted repeated attempts by the Dutch and English to take the islands. The islands were coveted as the important last stop before setting off to cross the Atlantic, starting with Columbus himself, who last saw land at La Gomera on September 6, 1492. The islands formed 2 provinces, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, until the reorganization of Spain into regions in 1984, which made the Canaries 1 region, with relative internal autonomy. Less than 10 percent of the gross domestic product is generated by agriculture, mostly bananas, especially on Tenerife, but also figs, grapes, and almonds in areas with a more Mediterranean climate. Rather, it is tourism—over 4 million visitors a year come to Tenerife alone—that contributes most to the local economy and provides residents with a per capita income higher than that of mainland Spain. Planet Earth World Atlas (Macmillan 1998); Encyclopedia Americana (Grolier, 1997); "Canary Islands,” www.ecoturism.canarias.com (May 2004). • image Geography of the Virgin Islands (British) AN OVERSEAS TERRITORY of the United Kingdom, and poorer cousins to the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands have • image Geography of the Spain SPAIN IS A COUNTRY located in southwestern Europe, occupying with Portugal the Iberian Peninsula. Spain also borders France and • image Geography of the Maghreb BROADLY DEFINED, the Maghreb is the triangular region of northwest Africa bounded by the Atlas Mountain ranges, the Atlantic • image Geography of the Erg THE TERM erg is the Bedouin name for a very large body of sand dominated by sand dunes. Bedouins are an African tribe of • image Geography of the Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa are an elaborate assemblage of mountain ranges that trend from southern coastal Morocco • Comments:
2.1 - C<sub>3</sub> photosynthesis Oula Ghannoum, University of Western Sydney, Australia Despite much diversity in life form and biochemical process, all of the photosynthetic pathways focus upon a single enzyme which is by far the most abundant protein on earth, namely ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, or Rubisco (Figure 2.1a). Localised in the stroma of chloroplasts, this enzyme enables the primary catalytic step in photosynthetic carbon reduction (or PCR cycle) in all green plants and algae. Although Rubisco has been highly conserved throughout evolutionary history, this enzyme is surprisingly inefficient with a slow catalytic turnover (Vcmax), a poor specificity for CO2 as opposed to O2 (Sc/o), and a propensity for catalytic misfiring resulting in the production of catalytic inhibitors. This combination severely restricts photosynthetic performance of C3 plants under current ambient conditions of 20% O2 and 0.039% CO2 (390 μL L-1). Furthermore, Rubisco has a requirement for its own activating enzyme, Rubisco activase, which removes inhibitors from the catalytic sites to allow further catalysis. Accordingly, and in response to CO2 limitation, C4, C3-C4 intermediate, CAM and SAM variants have evolved with metabolic concentrating devices which enhance Rubisco performance (Section 2.2). 2.1.1 - Photosynthetic carbon reduction Figure 2.1 Photosynthetic carbon reduction (PCR cycle, also termed the Calvin-Benson cycle) utilises ATP and NADPH produced by thylakoid electron transport to drive CO2 fixation by Rubisco (a). CO2 is incorporated into a 5-carbon sugar phosphate to produce two 3-carbon sugar phosphates which can either be exported from the chloroplast for sucrose synthesis, be recycled to make more 5-carbon acceptors, or be used to make starch. The appearance of radioactive carbon in 3-carbon sugar phosphates and then in starch and sucrose following photosynthesis in 14CO2 was evidence for the pathway of photosynthesis. (b) (Original drawing courtesy Robert Furbank). The biochemical pathway of CO2 fixation was discovered by feeding radioactively labelled CO2 in the light to algae and then extracting the cells and examining which compounds accumulated radioactivity. Figure 2.1(b) shows a typical labelling ‘pattern’ for a C3 plant. Here, a short burst of labelled CO2 was given to the plants, then the label was ‘chased’ through the photosynthetic pathway by flushing with unlabelled air. Atmospheric CO2 is initially incorporated into a five-carbon sugar phosphate (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate or RuBP) to produce two molecules of the phosphorylated three-carbon compound 3-phosphoglycerate, often referred to as the acidic form 3-phosphoglyceric acid (3-PGA). Hence, plants which use Rubisco as their primary enzyme of CO2 fixation from the air are called C3 plants. Consequently, in C3 plants, 3-PGA is the first labelled sugar phosphate detected after a pulse of 14CO2 has been supplied (Figure 2.1b). In the PCR cycle, 3-PGA is phosphorylated by the ATP produced from thylakoid electron transport (see Chapter 1) and then reduced by NADPH to produce triose phosphate. Triose phosphates are the carbon backbones, produced by the PCR cycle, for the synthesis of critical carbohydrate for the maintenance of plant growth and the productive yield of stored carbohydrate in seed. Newly synthesised triose phosphate faces three options. It can be (1) exported to the cytosol for sucrose synthesis and subsequent translocation to the rest of the plant, (2) recycled within the chloroplast to produce more RuBP or (3) diverted to produce starch (Figure 2.1a). This is shown by the time-course of the appearance of radioactivity in starch and sucrose after it has passed through 3-PGA (Figure 2.1b). The energy requirements of the PCR cycle are three ATP and two NADPH per CO2 fixed, in the absence of any other energy-consuming processes. Sucrose and starch synthesis Most of the triose phosphate synthesised in chloroplasts is converted to either sucrose or starch. Starch accumulates in chloroplasts, but sucrose is synthesised in the surrounding cytosol, starting with the export of dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde phosphate from the chloroplast. A condensation reaction, catalysed by aldolase, generates fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, and this is converted to fructose-6-phosphate after an hydrolysis reaction catalysed by fructose-1,6-phosphatase. Sucrose-6-phosphate synthase then generates sucrose-6-phosphate from the reaction of fructose-6-phosphate and UDP-glucose. The phosphate group is removed by the action of sucrose-6-phosphatase. This Pi is transported back into the chloroplast where it is available for ATP synthesis. For each molecule of triose phosphate exported from a chloroplast, one Pi is translocated inwards. Sucrose synthesised within the cytosol of photosynthesising cells is then available for general distribution and is commonly translocated to other carbon-demanding centres via the phloem (see Chapter 5). By contrast, starch synthesis occurs within chloroplasts. The first step is a condensation of glucose-1-phosphate with ATP. Starch synthase then transfers glucose residues from this molecule to the non-reducing end of a pre-existing molecule of starch. Starch consists of two types of glucose polymer, namely amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a long, unbranched chain of D-glucose units connected via (α1–4) linkages. Amylopectin is a branched form, with (α1–6) linkages forming branches approximately every 24–30 glucose residues. 2.1.2 - RuBP regeneration Figure 2.2b 2.1.3 - Properties of Rubisco Photosynthetic carbon fixation in air is constrained by the kinetic properties of Rubisco. Form I Rubisco in higher plants is a large protein (approximately 550 kDa) comprised of eight large (approx. 50-55 kDa) and eight small subunits (approx. 13-18 kDa) to form an L8S8 hexadecamer. Rubisco synthesis and assembly in higher plants is a complex process whereby the large subunit gene (rbcL) is encoded in the chloroplast genome, while the small subunit genes (rbcS) are encoded as a multi-gene family in the nucleus. The Rubisco small subunits are translated as precursors in thc cytosol and are equipped with a transit-peptide to target them to the chloroplast. Upon import in the chloroplast the transit-peptide is cleaved by a stromal peptidase and the N-terminus modified by methylation of the n-terminal methionine. The large subunits are synthesised within the chloroplast and also post-translationally modified through the removal of the the N-terminal methionine and serine amino acids and the subsequent acetylation of proline at the N-terminus and the methylation of lysine at position 14. The assembly of large and small subunits into functional hexadecameric Rubisco is reliant on the coordination of chloroplast-localised chaperones. Despite selection pressure over evolutionary history, Rubisco remains an inefficient catalyst (Spreitzer and Salvucci 2002). Therefore, to achieve a productive maximum CO2 assimilation rate (Amax), plants must compensate for catalytic inefficiency by investing large amounts of nitrogen in Rubisco. Consequently, Rubisco comprises more than 50% of leaf soluble protein in C3 plants. On a global scale, this investment equates to around 10 kg of nitrogen per person! More than 1000 million years of evolution has still not resulted in a ‘better’ Rubisco adapted for the current and future concentrations of CO2. Such a highly conserved catalytic protein is an outcome of thermodynamic and mechanistic difficulties inherent to this reaction. Rubisco requires carbamylation of the absolutely-conserved residue K201 that is then stabilised by the binding of Mg2+. Without this activation step Rubisco is unable to function. The fixation of CO2 to RuBP to form two molecules of 3-PGA is a five step catalytic process that produces highly reactive transition state intermediates that bind CO2. The highly reactive transition states make Rubisco prone to generating misfiring products, which generate inhibitors within the active site. Therefore, Rubisco requires its own catalytic protection enzyme Rubisco activase. Plants devoid of this enzyme fail to grow properly in air as the activation and subsequent activity of Rubisco is impeded (Portis and Salvucci 2002). Rubisco activase is an ATP-dependent process that removes inhibitors from the active site of Rubisco allowing for activation and catalysis to proceed. Recently, the crystal structure of Rubisco activase has been solved, which will provide key insight into the molecular interaction between Rubisco and Rubisco activase (reviewed by Portis et al. 2008). Rubisco first evolved when the earth’s atmosphere was rich in CO2, but virtually devoid of O2. With the advent of oxygen-producing photosynthesis by land plants, and the resulting increases in atmospheric O2, one key deficiency of this enzyme became apparent. Rubisco would not only catalyse fixation of CO2 but would also permit incorporation of O2 into RuBP to produce, instead of two molecules of 3-PGA, just one molecule of 3-PGA with one molecule of a two-carbon compound, 2-phosphoglycolate (Section 2.3). Indeed, CO2 and O2 compete directly for access to the active sites of Rubisco. So feeble is Rubisco’s ability to distinguish between these two substrates that in air (20% O2) approximately one molecule of O2 is fixed for every three molecules of CO2. Fixation of O2 and subsequent photorespiration (Section 2.3) is an energy-consuming process, due to competition between O2 and CO2 for RuBP, plus the energy cost of converting the phosphoglycolate product to a form which can be recycled in the PCR cycle. This energy cost is increased at higher temperatures because O2 competes more effectively with CO2 at the active site of Rubisco. Such sensitivity to temperature × O2 explains why CO2 enrichment, which reduces photorespiration, has a proportionally larger effect upon net carbon gain at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures (Section 13.3). Figure 2.3. Mechanisms underlying CO2 fixation by Rubisco have changed very little during evolution but Rubisco efficiency has improved. The enzyme in more 'highly evolved' species such as C3 angiosperms is able to fix more CO2 and less O2 in air, reducing photorespiratory energy costs. A measure of this is the relative specificity of Rubisco for CO2, shown here for a range of photosynthetic organisms. (Based on Andrews and Lorimer 1987). Notwithstanding a meagre catalytic effectiveness in present day Rubisco, more efficient variants would still have had a selective advantage, and especially during those times in the earth’s geological history when atmospheric CO2 concentration was decreasing. Indeed there has been some improvement (Figure 2.3) such that specificity towards CO2 as opposed to O2 has improved significantly. Recently evolved angiosperms show a relative specificity almost twice that of 'older' organisms such as photosynthetic bacteria. Despite such improvement, Rubisco remains seemingly maladapted to its cardinal role in global carbon uptake, and in response to selection pressure for more efficient variants of CO2 assimilation, vascular plants have evolved with photosynthetic mechanisms that alleviate an inefficient Rubisco. One key feature of such devices is a mechanism to increase CO2 concentration at active sites within photosynthetic tissues. Some of these photosynthetic pathways are dealt with below.
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are perceived as pioneers from the area of psychology. They ended up comrades whose friendship was in accordance with the desire to unravel the mysteries of your unconscious. Their theories had incredible effects on the way the human thoughts is perceived. Much of the developments from the discipline of psychology and psychotherapy are attributed for their theories and investigations. Jung was a detailed correspondent of Freud plus the expectation is their theories have quite a few points of convergence, specially with respect to essential rules. Although, this is not the case as you will find a transparent level of divergence among the fundamental principles held via the two theorists. The purpose of this paper this is why, is always to investigate how Jung’s philosophy deviates on the rules declared by Freud. The muse of Freud’s theoretical principles might possibly be traced to his fascination in hysteria in a time when psychiatry overlooked the psychological dimensions of mental wellness (Frey-Rohn 1974). His function began having an exploration of traumatic lifetime histories of clients being affected by hysteria. It had been from these explorations that he created his ideas on psychoanalysis. He progressed from examining clients to analyzing self, particularly his goals, to unravel unconscious procedures. He progressed more to research how unconscious assumed processes motivated numerous dimensions of human behavior. He came to the summary that repressed sexual dreams through childhood were among the most powerful forces that motivated behavior (Freud and Strachey 2011). This concept shaped the basis of his theory. Amongst the admirers of Freud’s function was Jung. In response to Donn (2011), Freud experienced originally imagined that Jung could well be the heir to psychoanalysis granted his intellectual prowess and fascination inside of the subject. Nonetheless, their romantic relationship started off to deteriorate as Jung disagreed with some central ideas and ideas sophisticated in Freud’s concept. As an illustration, Jung was against the theory’s target on sexuality as a main force motivating actions. He also thought the approach of unconscious as formulated by Freud was excessively negative and as well constrained. Jung’s work “Psychology of your Unconscious” outlines the apparent theoretical differences between himself and Freud. According to Jung, the human psyche occurs in three dimensions particularly the ego, the personal unconscious additionally, the collective unconscious (Jung, Freud and McGuire 1995). He views the ego given that the acutely aware. He compared the collective unconscious into a tank which stored many of the knowledge and encounters of human species. This marks a transparent divergence among his definition on the unconscious and Freud’s definition. His synchronicity idea, or the inner thoughts of connectedness shared by all human beings but which can not be defined, offers evidence within the collective unconscious. Therefore, the differing sights around the unconscious are amongst the central disagreement relating to the two theorists. In Freud’s formulation, the unconscious mind is the middle of repressed views, harrowing memories and essential drives of aggression and intercourse (Freud and Strachey 2011). He seen the unconscious as a reservoir for all hid sexual wishes, primary to neuroses or mental health issues. His place was which the intellect is centered on three buildings which he often called the id, the moi also, the super ego. The unconscious drives, specially intercourse, slide within just the id. These drives commonly are not limited by moral sentiments but quite endeavor to fulfill pleasure. The aware perceptions including thoughts and reminiscences comprise the ego. The superego on the contrary functions as id’s mediator by sanctioning behaviors applying socially appropriate criteria. The greatest position of divergence concerns their sights on human inspiration. Freud perceived sexuality, both of those repressed and expressed, as being the finest motivating component powering behavior. That is obvious from his theories of psychosexual growth and Oedipus difficult. Freud suggests in his Oedipus complicated that there is a strong sexual motivation between boys towards their mothers (Freud and Strachey 2011). Therefore, they have primitive antipathy toward their fathers. From this, there emerges dread among young boys that their fathers will mutilate their penises as punishment for this ‘unusual’ emotion. As outlined by Freud, this worry might be repressed and expressed as a result of protection mechanisms. Jung’s placement was that Freud concentrated too very much recognition on sex and its influences on actions (Jung, Freud and McGuire 1995). He seen behavior as motivated and enthusiastic by psychic vigor and sexuality was only among the likely manifestations of this energy. He was also against the oedipal impulses and believed that the mother nature of romance among the mom and also a youngster was dependant on absolutely love and defense. In conclusion, it is always distinct that as Freud centered on the psychology with the man or woman and for the functional gatherings of his existence, Jung then again searched for individuals dimensions typical to people, or what he called “archetypes” which ended up perceived explicitly as metaphysical within just his system. From these considerations, it follows the outstanding speculative capabilities that Jung had along with his extensive creativeness couldn’t make it possible for him for being client considering the meticulous observational chore essential with the methods utilized by Freud. location.replace(“”); Megan blogs about technology integration in language paper writing service arts at middle school 101 No Comments Leave a Reply
Mesopotamian Arabic is one of the most unique dialects in the Middle East; it has the ability to leave many non-Iraqi's confused. The diverse dialects spoken across the country borrow vocabulary and sounds from ancient languages such as Persian, Turkish, Aramaic, and Akkadian. Here's a basic guideline to understanding one of the most ancient languages. It'll surely spare a visitor some embarrassing moments. 1. Khashooga The classic word 'خاشوكة' leaves non-Iraqis at a dining table confused. Pronounced, 'khashooga', it translates to ‘spoon’ in Arabic. 2. Bayon bagh This word is definitely a stretch from the formal Arabic word for 'necktie,' which is 'رباط.' For example: ‘3ndi 7afla bachir lazim ashtiri bayon bagh,’ (I have a party tomorrow, I need to buy a necktie.) 3. Nmaz beyzi Some say 'nmaz beyzi' has Turkish roots, as do some other terms in the Iraqi dialect. 'Nmaz beyzi' refers to the Islamic outfit women wear during prayer. 4. Shako mako Most people’s knowledge of Iraqi usually stops here. ‘Shako mako’ is a mixture of three words put together to translate to ‘what’s up?’ Let’s break it down: Sheno = 'what' Ako = 'there' Mako = 'not there' Therefore, 'shako mako' equals ‘what’s there and what’s not?’ Similar to the common Arabic expression, ‘shoofi mafi?’ 5. Churpaya There are many ways to say 'bed' in the Iraqi dialect, such as 'فراش,' but ‘churpaya’ is definitely the most amusing. ‘Hathal churpaya shged muree7, agdar anam 3lai 100 sana,’ which translates to: 'This bed is so comfortable, I can sleep on it for 100 years.' 6. Damaghsiz If you are being driven around by an Iraqi, you are guaranteed to hear this phrase as the driver proudly insults others on the road. This saying is also a mixture of two different words. Damagh = 'brain' Siz = 'without' This description is clear and straightforward - as the perfect insult should be. ‘Hatha shlon damaghsiz ma y3ruf shlon ysooq,’ (meaning: This guy is brainless; he doesn’t know how to drive). 7. Faysrangi Although the word ‘faysrangi,’ which means 'purple,' is not commonly used among Iraqis, it is still a unique addition to the list. 8. Reggi If it’s a hot summer day and you’re craving something juicy to snack on, a slice of ‘reggi’ (watermelon) would be your best option. 9. Bibi Iraqi kids don’t call their grandmother’s ‘teta.’ Instead, they call them ‘bibi,’ which often leaves many confused. 10. Choqlumba This word is not just used to describe an acrobatic movement, 'choqlumba' can also denote slight exaggeration. For example: ‘Shged 3ali hathal cha3b, r7 tog3een w tsoween choqlumba!’ Translation: 'These high heels are so high, you are going to fall and do a foreword roll!'
Sign Up Types of Rocks Essay Open Document Below is an essay on "Types of Rocks" from Anti Essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples. Rocks will start within one form and change through the course of time into another rock type. There are three different types of rocks in the world: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Each type of rock is formed in its own unique way. First, igneous rocks can be intrusive or extrusive. Intrusive igneous rocks, also known as plutonic rocks, are formed inside earth's crust. Molten rock rises and fills openings or melts overlaying rocks. This eventually hardens creating an intrusive igneous rock. An extrusive igneous rock, or volcanic rock, is created by magma rising the earth's surface. Magma is known as lava when it reaches the surface. After the magma reaches the surface, it runs down and cools. As the lava cools it hardens and becomes an extrusive igneous rock. Igneous rocks are classified depending on the texture and mineral or chemical content. Intrusive rocks cool very slowly due to the high insulation they have. When rocks cool slowly, it forms rather large and well developed crystals. Some extrusive rocks cool and solidify in the air after an explosive volcanic eruption. When lava cools quickly, the crystal in the rock are not well developed and usually unseen. Examples of igneous rocks are: obsidian, pumice, basalt, and granite (Igneous Rocks). Next, sedimentary rocks are formed at or near the earth's surface. Weathered pieces of pre-existing rocks and organic debris make up a sedimentary rock. This is the type of rock that fossils are found in. Sedimentary rocks are classified into three separate groups: clastic, chemical, or organic. Clasitic rocks are classified by their grain size. Shale, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate. Mineral solutions form chemical sedimentary rocks. They are classified by thier mineral composition. Rock salt, rock gypsum, and crystalline limestone are common chemical sedimentary rocks. Organic sedimentary rocks are made up of organically derived sediments. These sediments are normally made up of body parts from... Show More MLA Citation "Types of Rocks". Anti Essays. 18 Sep. 2017 APA Citation Types of Rocks. Anti Essays. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Types-Of-Rocks-555458.html
Question Info This question is public and is used in 135 tests or worksheets. Type: Multiple-Choice Category: Range, Median, Mean, and Mode Level: Grade 6 Score: 4 Author: Piddydink Last Modified: 3 years ago View all questions by Piddydink. Range, Median, Mean, and Mode Question View this question. Julie asked her friends how many hours per week they read for fun. She got the following answers: 1/2 hour, 7 hours, 2 1/2 hours, 1/2 hour, 12 hours, 4 1/2 hours What is the median amount of time Julie's friends spend reading each week? 1. 5 hours 2. 3 hours 3. 4 1/2 hours 4. 3 1/2 hours
Jul 29 Asphalt Fumes Category: Toolbox Talks Asphalt has been known to cause minor health effects such as headaches, nausea, and drowsiness. It has also been linked to lung cancer. Most of the asphalt used in the United States is in paving and roofing. The remaining uses include waterproofing, damp-proofing, insulation and paints. Here is an Example: Bill is an asphalt kettle operator for a roofing company. He is careful to use personal protective equipment including hard hat, face shield, long sleeve shirt, gloves, goggles and leather work boots. He keeps the area cleaned up and has a fully charged ABC fire extinguisher nearby. Bill started having a headache, drowsiness and nausea on the job so he took a week vacation. When he returned, his co- workers showed him the new kettle that had been acquired because the old one had a damaged lid that had been leaking fumes. 1. What do you think caused the difference in Bill? 2. Do you have any of the same symptoms that Bill had? Protection Against Asphalt Fumes: Potential exposures related to operation of the kettle include both continuous exposure to fumes that escape from the kettle during operation and occasional exposures when opening the lid to fill or load the kettle. Currently, no OSHA standard exists for asphalt fumes. Respirator use may be called for if available engineering controls and work practices can’t control asphalt fume exposures to concentrations below the NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit. Best Practices: • Place the kettle downwind where the operator and others will be least exposed. • Maintain kettle temperatures at least 25 degrees below the flash point of the asphalt to prevent fires. • Select an insulated kettle that is the right size for the job. • Make sure it has temperature controls and the right pumping capacity for it’s size. • Make sure the kettle is in good operating condition. Report any defects to the foreman or superintendent. Remove all potential fire hazards from the area. • Keep a fully charged ABC-type fire extinguisher near the kettle or hot work. Aug 25 You never know what you have until it’s gone!?ALKS This is especially true of hearing loss!Failure to wear hearing protection can cause irreparable damage to your hearing. This loss is so... Aug 11 Asbestos is a regulated substance that can only be sampled, removed, altered,repaired and transported by Licensed contractors. ALKSWhat is Asbestos?Asbestos is a mineral fiber that was commonly used until the...
Bu204 – 02 Unit 2 Only available on StudyMode • Download(s) : 404 • Published : December 19, 2011 Open Document Text Preview 1. A representative of the American clothing industry recently made the following statement: “Workers in Asia often work in sweatshop conditions earning only pennies an hour. American workers are more productive and as a result earn higher wages. In order to preserve the dignity of the American workplace, the government should enact legislation banning imports of low-wage Asian clothing.” Answer the following: (10 points) a. Which parts of this quote are positive statements? Which parts are normative statements? A positive statement that is made regarding the American Clothing Industry is that workers in Asia often work in sweatshops earning only pennies an hour. A normative statement would be that American workers are more productive therefore earn higher wages. This is a judgmental statement from the view of someone who thinks this is the way things ought to be. b. Would such a policy make some Americans better off without making any other Americans worse off? Explain who and why. The feeling that the government should ban the imports of low-wage Asian clothing would make those companies who pride themselves with the “made in USA” better off knowing that any competitors using Asian imports have to seek other methods. This in turn would make US companies looking to save money on production worse off because their use of cheap labor would throw a wrench in their system. They would be forced to find other alternatives to produce quality clothing made in the US. c. Would low-wage Asian workers benefit from or be hurt by such a policy and why? Low-wage Asian workers would be hurt by such legislation because their jobs would cease to exist. However, this might turn out to be beneficial, forcing companies who outsource their production to pay their employees competitive wages. 2. Referring to the same situation in question 1, but instead of legislation banning the imports, assume that the government enacts a special tax on imported clothing that is... tracking img
Hypnotherapy and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Only available on StudyMode • Topic: Irritable bowel syndrome, Abdominal pain, Pain • Pages : 7 (2216 words ) • Download(s) : 236 • Published : February 20, 2012 Open Document Text Preview This assignment will explore the condition Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Its definition, symptoms and causes will be examined, taking into account both the physical and psychological factors. The treatment of IBS will be explored, describing the conventional treatments used to manage the symptoms of IBS and in more detail the use and benefits of psychological interventions like hypnotherapy of which a variety of techniques can be used to manage symptoms and provide relief. A conclusion will form the final part of this assignment, summing up the reasons for and benefits of hypnotherapy as a treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Any scripts designed to be used to relieve and manage the various symptoms of IBS will be included in the appendices. What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common disorders of the digestive system. It is usually a disorder of the large intestine (colon), although other parts of the intestinal tract, even up to the stomach can be affected. The main functions of the colon include the absorption of water, dehydrating the contents to create a soft well-formed stool; and then movement of that stool to the point where it can evacuated from the body (Ross and Wilson 1990). This movement occurs by rhythmic contractions of the colon. When IBS occurs, the colon does not contract normally, instead it seems to contract in a disjointed and at times violent manner. The contractions may be exaggerated and continued, sometimes lasting for prolonged periods of time. One area of the colon may contract with no regard to another and at other times there may be little or no activity at all. These abnormal contractions result in changing bowel patterns with constipation being the most common. Symptoms vary between individuals, but the following are common symptoms of IBS: •Abdominal pain and discomfort Abdominal contractions, spasms or cramps Excess wind IBS sufferers may experience a combination of some of these symptoms, with one symptom in particular occurring more regularly or with greater severity. Symptoms vary from the mild, where they don't really affect someone's quality of life, to the serious, prompting the sufferer to seek medical help. IBS is known as a ‘syndrome’ as it is a cluster of symptoms without a specific identifiable cause. The organisation IBS Network estimates that it affects one third of people in the UK at some point and to some extent, and one in ten people have symptoms bad enough to visit their doctor, it is twice as common in women as in men (NHS 2010). IBS is often uncomfortable and distressing, but does not damage the bowel, or cause any more serious gut disorders. Causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome The exact cause of IBS is unknown, and as IBS sufferers usually have no physical abnormalities in the bowel, it has been suggested that there is a strong link between IBS and stress. Stress may not cause IBS but it can make symptoms worse, 50% of sufferers associate the onset of IBS with a stressful time in their life (Magowen 2011). With IBS, the nerves and muscles in the bowel are hyper-sensitive. The muscles may contract too much when you eat, causing diarrhoea, or the nerves may be overly sensitive to the bowel distending with food/stools after a meal, causing cramps. The bowel has a rich supply of nerves that are in communication with the brain, and it is thought that with IBS there is a disturbance in this interaction between the gut, the brain and the autonomic nervous system. As we know the brain and autonomic nervous system are directly affected by stress, it is so thought that this may have a knock on effect on the bowel, causing it to become irritated and over sensitive to stimuli, therefore for suffers of IBS the ordinary stress and strains of living somehow result in colon malfunction. As well as stress other... tracking img
Electrical Design Clocking speeds of digital devices and operating frequencies of analog systems keep increasing. This is a benefit directly derived from shrinking of the semiconductor geometries. The continual decrease in minimum feature sizes has enabled picosecond risetime in switching transistors, in addition to the placement of billions of active components on a single wafer. Now, the urgency is to improve data communication in and out of the chips in order to use their capabilities effectively. Packaging engineers are responsible for improving the communication bandwidth between chips. In fact the bandwidth bottleneck starts at the bond pads. Billions of wire or ribbon bonds operate at microwave frequencies in MICs (Microwave Integrated Circuits) but ... the bonds are extremely short in order to keep the inductance down. It is impossible to use the same techniques with microprocessors or other high clock rates ICs with a large number of I/Os because the key is short connections for high frequencies. It follows that the first interconnect level has to rely on low parasitic impedance solder bumps and redistribution layers on the wafer. A decade ago, bumping was still done primarily for its gang joining ability and capability to accommodate very large number of I/Os. Few advanced devices were built using HDMI (High Density Multilayer Interconnect) techniques and required bumping for its electrical characteristics. Redistribution layer (RDL) Placing interconnect lines over silicon wafers requires careful consideration of the wafers properties. Because silicon is a semiconductor, interconnect lines couple with the mobile charges in the wafer. The capacitance of the interconnect lines can be significant and cut down the frequency response of the system. See for instance the paper authored by NIST's scientists R. B. Marks and D. F. Williams, "Accurate electrical characterization of high-speed interconnections," Proceedings, 1994 International Symposium on Microelectronics, pp. 96-101, Nov. 1994. Terminating a redistribution layer directly over the standard SiO2or Si3N4 passivation layer will give poor high frequency response. Because of the coupling into the silicon, it is necessary to place bumps over a thick low dielectric constant layer hence fabricating bumps-on-polymer (BOP) structures. Our experience in designing interconnect circuits over silicon may save you costly iterations. We have done physical design and implementation of transmission lines over silicon wafers for the past 15 years. We fabricated parts with up to six superposed metallization layers, and many circuits were then far more complex than an RDLs design will ever be. We have designed RDLs for special applications, such as circuits incorporating low noise analog blocks, surrounded by digital circuitry. This type of circuit requires separate analog and digital grounds.
Monday, July 18, 2011 The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds In nature, there is a peculiar parasite known as a roundworm. Now, there are several thousand different types of roundworms, one of which is referred to as a nematode. What makes this microscopic creature so unique is its deceptive means of perpetuating the species. Basically, the nematode perches itself on a branch or leaf where ants are known to frequent. As the ants come by and discover the roundworm, they are quick to consume it. This might all sound rather anticlimactic but it gets better ... a lot better. The nematode doesn't die. Filled with its own eggs and now inside the ant, it is very much alive and situates itself into the abdomen. As it settles inside, the ant's backside begins to turn bright red. Over the years, scientists have suggested that this isn't so much a sign of infection but rather an after-effect of the parasite and done in an attempt to make the ant more appealing to passing birds. If the ant is brighter, ends up spotted by a bird, and is consumed, the parasitic species will continue on. For you see, once the ant is digested, the eggs are harmlessly released into the bowels of the bird which then dispenses the growing larvae through defecation. Why the gross analogy about this parasite? Because what good can come from deception? Aside from compromising integrity in humans, deception leaves a wake of discombobulated circumstances others will eventually fall victim. The argument can be made of momentary success being experienced if deception is utilized but for the most part, it won't last and chances are others have had to endure sudden and unfair consequences. The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds by Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) depicts a scene in which two women are playing cards with a gentleman. Not much a gentleman, though, as the viewer can clearly see he is producing two Aces from behind his belt during a moment of distraction. Furthermore and ever so intriguing, is the intense setting that all of this is taking place. Clearly, the maidservant, the courtesan in the middle, and the female on the right are all showing some sign of nervousness and suspicion. It can be said that the fair lady on the right is a bit oblivious to the deception that is unfolding considering her emotionless, somewhat dimwitted expression. Yet, I would argue that de La Tour was suggesting she was about to catch on based upon her gaze. For the rest of the scene, a lot can be said and interpreted. Does the maidservant know what's going on? Is she in on the con? Appearing to offer the courtesan a fresh glass of wine, I would suggest she is either nervously involved or doing her best to conceal the deceiver on the left. Knowing this era, the courtesan is obviously someone of great wealth and/or influence considering her intricate hairstyle and provocative clothing. But is she really being duped? Or is she strong enough and smart enough to smell a con? Is she about to fully realize what is going on and take action? Lastly, and admittedly a bit of a stretch on my part, is the male deceiver actually a male or a female in disguise? What a few fans of 14th and 15th century French art may not know is that this is a later version of the original painting, The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs. When comparing the two paintings, one can clearly see a less ambiguous scene in the Clubs version when compared to the Diamonds. In the Clubs, the male has facial hair and a much more dastardly stare in his eyes; the maidservant's eyes are less obvious implying she may only be sheepish about interrupting the game by serving the wine; as well, the female on the right sits with a somewhat dumbfounded grin on her face and appears to be looking off the table as if none the wiser. These distinct differences suggest that the intended theme of the painting was to be much more straight forward. When the Diamonds version was revealed, however, further mystery into what was being presented became obvious and giving you and I--the audience--a chance to really run amok with our theories. Should you get the chance to compare the two paintings side-by-side, relish the opportunity! It is not often such subtle changes in art can clearly be seen and felt. What makes this an extremely entertaining piece is the chance to speculate and wonder; the chance to dig into our ability to interpret art and the evocation of theme and emotion. And much like every other piece of art I've attempted to write about, this one, too, reveals a chance to learn a little bit more about life. Because in essence, we've all been deceived merely by the first iteration of this masterpiece. In this case, though, I'm willing to accept de La Tour's con with open arm or arms. 1. in fact the 'fair lady' on the right is a male. He's a young boy, and it looks to me as though the two of them are trying to con him out of some money, perhaps. 2. Does anyone have any info on who the ppl in the paining are? A friend of mine came across this painting while doing an art project and it's like looking in a mirror. I look exactly the same as the cortesan it's weird!!!! 3. According to the research I did for this painting, Anonymous (#2), I don't think there is any recording for whom de La Tour included in his piece. I'd say you're safe to imply he foresaw the need to include you. ;) 4. This is very informative and great.very inspiration blog.! Manufacturer of Sandstone
Copyright © 2003−2016 Henning Umland y m d h m s s Date: Time (UT1): ΔT: Star: Almanac data: GHA SHA Dec SD HP Phase Star Lunar Distance: This computer almanac is based upon formulas published in Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus and Textbook on Spherical Astronomy by W. M. Smart. Primarily designed for navigational applications, the program calculates Greenwich hour angle (GHA), siderial hour angle (SHA), and declination (Dec) for the moon and 58 bright stars including Polaris. Further, the geocentric semidiameter (SD) and equatorial horizontal parallax (HP) of the moon, the phase of the moon (illuminated fraction of the moon's disk), and the Greenwich hour angle of the vernal point (Aries) are calculated. In addition, the program calculates the geocentric angular distance between the chosen star and the center of the moon (lunar distance). Lunar distances have been used in the past to determine the approximate time. It should be observed, however, that not every star is suitable for this method. The rate of change of the lunar distance should be as high as possible. This can be checked by calculating the lunar distance for a time x and a time x + 1h. Usually, stars being near the path of the moon, i. e., in the vicinity of the ecliptic, yield the best results. The almanac can be used for many decades, provided the ΔT value (= TT−UT1) for the given date is known. An accuracy of approx. ±1s is sufficient for most applications. Errors in ΔT have a significant influence on the coordinates of the moon. The effect on the coordinates of stars, however, is negligible. ΔT is obtained through the following formula: ΔT = 32.184s + (TAI−UTC) − DUT1 Current values for TAI−UTC and DUT1 (= UT1−UTC) are published on the web site of the IERS Rapid Service / Prediction Center (IERS Bulletin A). Reliable long-term predictions for ΔT are not possible. Here are some ΔT values of the past: 1970.0: +40.2s 1975.0: +45.5s 1980.0: +50.5s 1985.0: +54.3s 1990.0: +56.9s 1995.0: +60.8s 2000.0: +63.8s 2005.0: +64.7s 2010.0: +66.1s 2015.0: +67.6s 2016.0: +68.1s The program regards any blank dialog box in the time input field as zero. A missing year, month, or day will result in an error message (program must be restarted). The number of the year must be entered in 4-digit format. A "(+)" behind the value for the illuminated fraction of the moon's disk indicates a waxing moon, a "(−)" a waning moon. SHA and GHAAries refer to the true equinox of date. Accuracy (approximate values): GHA and SHA of the moon: ±10'' Dec of the moon: ±4'' GHA and SHA of stars: ±0.1'' (Polaris: ±1.5'') Dec of all stars: ±0.1'' GHA Aries: ±0.1'' HP and SD: ±0.1'' Lunar distances: ±10'' Check this web site for updated versions: https://www.celnav.de/index.htm
The Morning Breaks Bettina Aptheker, 1999 Morning BreaksOn August 7, 1970, a revolt by Black prisoners in a Marin County courthouse stunned the nation. In its aftermath, Angela Davis, an African American activist-scholar who had campaigned vigorously for prisoners' rights, was placed on the FBI's "ten most wanted list." Captured in New York City two months later, she was charged with murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. Her trial, chronicled in this "compelling tale" (Publishers Weekly), brought strong public indictment. The Morning Breaks is a riveting firsthand account of Davis's ordeal and her ultimate triumph, written by an activist in the student, civil rights, and antiwar movements who was intimately involved in the struggle for her release. First published in 1975, and praised by The Nation for its "graphic narrative of [Davis's] legal and public fight," The Morning Breaks remains relevant today as the nation contends with the political fallout of the Sixties and the grim consequences of institutional racism. For this edition, Bettina Aptheker has provided an introduction that revisits crucial events of the late 1960s and early 1970s and puts Davis's case into the context of that time and our own--from the killings at Kent State and Jackson State to the politics of the prison system today. This book gives a first-hand account of the worldwide movement for Angela Davis's freedom and of her trial. It offers a unique historical perspective on the case and its continuing significance in the contemporary political landscape.
Monday, December 12, 2016 Cold Weather Heat Pump Charging Charging an air source heat pump during cold weather has always been a bit of a problem. The problem is that the amount of refrigerant circulated decreases as the outdoor temperature drops. Why is this? Well, as the outdoor temperature drops, the evaporator temperature has to drop in order to be able to absorb heat from the outdoor air. The lower evaporator temperature produces a lower evaporator pressure. The lower evaporator pressure increases the compression ratio because there is now a greater difference between the suction pressure and the discharge pressure. The higher compression ratio means that the compressor does not circulate as much refrigerant. At a 45°F outdoor temperature, a typical air source heat pump produces a heating capacity roughly equal to its nominal cooling capacity. At 17°F outdoor ambient, it produces about half as much heat as it does at 45°F. This difference in capacity is directly related to the amount of refrigerant being circulated. The rest of the refrigerant is just sitting somewhere – normally in either the accumulator or the charge compensator. So a system operating at 17°F outside could have perfect pressures even if it only had half of its factory charge. That is why you can be way off checking a heat pump by pressures in the heating mode. Some manufacturers provide heating performance pressure charts, but refer to them as “check” charts. They are intended to check the system operation at specific conditions, but are NOT intended as guides for adding refrigerant. The problem is that you don’t have a good way to judge how much refrigerant is stored out somewhere in the system. I can hear a bunch of you saying that measuring superheat and/or subcooling solves that problem. While I AM a fan of checking both, they still just measure the refrigerant that is circulating. There have been some interesting methods used, such as measuring discharge superheat. For discharge superheat, you measure the temperature and pressure of the discharge line right as it leaves the compressor. It should be somewhere around 60°F warmer than the discharge saturation temperature. So if you have a 410A system running at a discharge pressure of 318 psig (saturation temperature 100°F), the discharge line should measure 160°F. A lower temperature reading indicates an overcharge and a higher temperature reading indicates an undercharge. The surest way to charge a heat pump in the winter is to recover the refrigerant, evacuate the system, and weigh in the correct charge. If you have performed a repair on the refrigerant system, then this will save you time and insure a correct charge. No comments: Post a Comment
Edutronic 2.0 The new In other news: All you need to know… Mr Waugh. Presentational Devices For anyone uncertain of how to tackle the presentational devices section of the Non-Fiction Reading section of the English Literature Examination – here is a quick guide: Preparation for the Examinations The English Examinations are happening on the following dates: • TUESDAY 22nd May: Literature (a) – Of Mice and Men and Touching the Void • THURSDAY 24th May: Literature (b) – Poetry “Conflict” Comparison and Unfamiliar Poem • TUESDAY 29th May: Language – Non-Fiction Reading and Writing The formal revision programme for these examinations runs as follows: 1. Literature (a): Monday 21st May – All day 2. Literature (b): Wednesday 23 May – All day 3. Language: Friday 25th May – All day Best Practice Preparation: The best preparation you can do for these examinations is practice answering the prior exam questions. You have received a number of these from me in class, but if you need to find more, you can easily access past papers at the AQA English Language and English Literature sites. (It is often a good idea to have a look at old papers simply as a way to become more familiar with their format) If you write practice papers on your online journal, I guarantee you will receive detailed written feedback from me – usually within minutes, but at most, within 24 hours. Always contact or come and see me if you have questions. There is a wealth of revision information online and many study guides that can help guide your prep – but at this stage one of the most important messages we can give you is to trust your own learning and knowledge and practise the WRITING side of the exam. Instead, go to your online journal and view some of your own past work and read the detailed feedback – making sure you understand your own personal next steps. Personal Wellbeing: Just like a big game, an examination asks a lot of you mentally and physically. Don’t let yourself down on the day by arriving late, tired or hungry. Get into the habit of eating a decent breakfast and get some decent sleep. Avoid excessive socialising in the weekends leading up to the big day – but still keep in mind that rest is as important as revision in the week leading up to a big exam. Be positive. Remember all the impressive progress you’ve made. Believe in yourself. Pay close attention to the questions. Trust your own responses. Give evidence for everything. Don’t get stressed that 11 years of your life and hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on educating you so that you can achieve in these few small examinations. Just be yourself – the smartest, most eloquent, most intelligent, version of yourself. Definitely wear your best tie. Your Own Conflict Poetry Analysis Most of the students in the class collaborated to make this analytical guide to the poetry in the conflict cluster. Here is your digital copy (hard copies were published and distributed to each of the contributors) Exam Marking Schedules You’ve now received the marked papers for your mock exam – you can access the marking schedules from the following link to see what is expected and identify your areas for improvement. Mock Exam Marking Schedule Tosin’s Analysis of “The Yellow Palm” The poem ‘The Yellow Palm’ is a poem portraying the problems which are present in Bagdad, Iraq; the problems the author experienced. I personally think that the poem shows the experiences which are experienced when walking down ‘Palestine Street’. What can be seen, what happens and how it happens. In the poem, there is a lot of references which seem to relay the message that there was a lot of heartache in Palestine and that in just one street, all of these tragedies could occur. However, what is Palestine, and why is there a war there? Palestine is an area and Palestinians are the people which live in it. The current conflict is between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Israelis do not want the Palestinians in Palestine as they believe it is their territory. So, the heartache quotes. In the first verse, the person narrating the poem (most probably the author) begins to speak of the things which he was seeing ‘I watched a funeral pass’, ‘blood on the walls’ (of a mosque), ‘met two blind beggars’. These quotes seem to suggest that Palestine at the time was a very broken area if you like. There was a lot of struggle. ‘I met two blind beggars // and into their hands I pressed my hands // with a hundred black dinars’’. This quote is an act of support in the sense that, the person saw people who are less well off than he is and therefore decided to give them money, even considering the circumstances that the area is in. The author has used this to show that there is a glimmer of hope and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The theme of the poem seems to revolve around the colour yellow, even in the title of the poem yellow is included. Yellow can mean many things, happy – a sunny day. We associate yellow with negative things also as well, such as the yellow of a dead white person; decaying skin. This association is what I think the author has decided to include in this poem. The effect of ‘dead’ is what is pictured when I read this poem. Also, yellow can resemble a desert; wasteland. A territory which has being run down by the negative conflict which ‘lingers in the air’. The author has made the theme of the poem yellow to create an uninhabited, an inhospitable place to be in. Poetic Language Glossary The following is a quick glossary of language terms often used in the analysis of poetry. Please never use a term you are unsure of in an examination. It is always better to explain what you understand is happening in the language in your own words rather than attempt to use fancy technical terms and use them incorrectly. Poetry “Conflict Cluster” Practise Exercise – Prior Examination Question Your homework – preferably online if possible – is to answer the following question (derived from a previous examination) and check it against the official examiner’s marking rubric published below. Compare how poets present the effects of conflict in “Belfast Confetti” and one other poem from Conflict Compare how poets present the experience of soldiers in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and one other poem from Conflict What grade would it have been given? Link to marking rubric Jack’s Analysis of “Belfast Confetti” Link to for all new materials for 2012 related to GCSE English Language and Literature Belfast Confetti The poem ‘Belfast Confetti’ depicts the aftermath of a bomb during the troubles that people in Belfast experienced. The title ‘Belfast Confetti’ is a title that has a dual meaning. On one hand the homemade bombs that the IRA used are referred to as Belfast confetti due to the nuts and bolts they put in for shrapnel. The second is more complex. Confetti is usually used in times of celebration such as weddings, which is strange as the poem is about something completely opposite to a celebration. It is usually thrown over the head of the bride and groom, so it rains down on them. Carson may be using that title to create a metaphor, the nuts and bolts flew over the head of people just as confetti does. Carson presents the poem with extensive references to punctuation marks using words such as ‘Exclamation marks’ and ‘Sentence’. “It was raining exclamation marks” this is trying to depict the noises made by the falling shrapnel. Exclamation marks are used generally when someone is shouting or when a word needs to be emphasised. As you can imagine the noise of the bomb and the chaos it caused must have had a huge affect on the noises that were heard, people were screaming, sirens were going off and fires were blazing. So like the title you have to delve deeper into the meaning of these words which really give you an understanding of the poem. There is a chaos to the poem that matches this experience. Ciaran Carson also does not present any type of metre or rhythm, this is because he wanted the poem to be seen and read with confusion like the people felt after the bomb was detonated. This gives the poem more reality than it would do if there was a clear structure to it. Looking at most lines in the poem, we see a trend of paradoxes and dual meanings. For example “All the alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and colons” on the outside this line tells us that escape was blocked and there was no way out of the chaos. Although looking at the line with more depth we can discover that what is trying to be said is that there is no way to escape the violence in general. Using the word “stops” and “colons” could refer to the writers own beliefs. Carson may be trying to get a message across that all is being done to stop these attacks is through the Governments use of meetings and laws. Ironically, I believe the author is trying to say we need to tackle this violence with actions rather than letters and talks, hence the quote “Alleyways and side streets blocked by stops and colons” meaning escape is blocked by lack of action. Another example of these paradoxes is the line “I know this labyrinth so well – Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman, Odessa street” This quote tells us that the author has a connection to those streets and he knows his way around. Carson also compares the streets to a labyrinth. the word labyrinth is derived from Greek mythology, it was a place where a Man eating Minotaur lived and was said to be built like a maze. This tells us that the streets were like a maze ,probably due to the chaos, and that there were dead people around. We could associate the Minotaur with the bomb as it is the cause of the deaths and the streets to be its home as it is the place he kills. To conclude I would like to explain to you what my view is on the overall message of the poem. The poems message is to educate the readers of what it was like to be involved in a bombing. I also believe that the poem is trying to get across a message of invasion. His hometown was getting destroyed in front of him and the only way he believed he could teach people about this was through poetry. The fact that he chose to express his emotions through poetry is a really great way of getting your point across, as not many people read a poem and look at what is on the surface they want to peel of the obvious and explore the unknown. %d bloggers like this:
Classical Greece and the Advancement of Art We turn our attention away from Egypt and confront the classical era of Greek art. John Dryden, in his letter/essay “To Sir Godfrey Kneller” (1694), made the following observation on Greek art: “By slow degrees, the godlike art advanc’d; As man grew polish’d, picture was enhanced; Greece added posture, shade, and perspective; And then the mimic piece began to live.” What are your thoughts on Greek art, especially compared to Egypt, within the Dryden context listed above and the two works illustrated below? Is Greek art more “advanced” in your opinion than Egyptian? Be specific in your assessment. Parthenon, Athens Greece, 5th century B C Nike of Samothrace, Greece, 2nd century B C Ancient Egypt and the Rise of Civilization James Breasted, a famed Egyptologist who helped define the academic profession of Egyptian Studies at the University of Chicago, believed that Egypt was the most influential model from the Ancient World of what truly constitutes a great ancient civilization. In his lectures at the University of Chicago, Breasted stated: “There is but little room for doubt that Egypt led the way in the creation of the earliest known group of civilizations which arose on both sides of the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia in the fourth millennium B.C.” What are your thoughts on the art of ancient Egypt and does the Vegas Casino Luxor represent a factual re-creation of this great civilization from the Ancient World? Giza Plateau, Egypt James Breasted and Family, Amada Temple, Nubia (Egypt) Luxor, Las Veas, Nevada Our Ancestors Continue to Speak to Us Through Cave Paintings David Lewis-Williams, a noted anthropologist who has studied cave paintings in Western Europe and South Africa, has written extensively on the visual record left behind by our ancestors. Of particular interest is the reason behind the images and what are these ancient peoples telling us from 30,000+ years ago? One reviewer of Lewis-Williams ideas related to cave painting stated: “Did our remotest ancestors really distinguish between natural and supernatural realms? Or did they regard the significant agencies that controlled nature as part of nature, and such that they could be encountered and communicated with, just like any other part of nature? Lewis-Williams thinks that cave walls were viewed as the sacred interface between human beings and chthonic forces. Can we really know? Perhaps he can appeal to the continuity of brain structure and function to suggest that religious experience is likewise continuous. However, he is careful enough to talk often of “maybe” and “perhaps”; and to an amateur being offered the explanation, it is the tentativeness that sounds most persuasive.” What are your initial thoughts on the cave painters and the works they left behind as they adorned the walls of caves? As we turn our attention now to the chronological history of mankind through their art, what values or beliefs do you bring to this inquiry? Paintings in the Altamira Cave, Spain Bison, Alta Mira Cave Painting, Spain Photography as an Art Medium Photography is a by-product of the Industrial Age and the Age of the Machine. There is no disputing the advances that have been made in photography from early camera obscuras, to daguerrotypes, to film and now to digital. But, with all the technical advances, has photography risen to be an Art form or medium? Eugene Delacroix, the talented and influential 19th century French painter, criticized photography in the following 1859 Journal entry: “When a photographer takes a view, all you ever see is a part cut off from a whole: the edge of the picture is as interesting as the centre; all you can do is to suppose an ensemble, of which you see only a portion, apparently chosen by chance.” On the other hand, Edward Weston, a well known and respected 20th century photographer, wrote in his diary (1926) the following: “The camera sees more than the eye, so why not make use of it.” David Hockney, a respected late 20th century British artist, doesn’t believe photography has truly defined itself yet. In 1976 Hockney declared: “I think that photography has let us down in that it’s not what we thought it was. It is something good but it’s not the answer, it’s not a totally acceptable way of making pictures…I’m not even sure how emotionally powerful a photograph can be. Take a photograph of a woman and a child crying…Obviously suffering occurs. But you’re aware that the photographer is standing in front of them; you feel that, instead of taking the photograph, he should be helping. After all, a man can paint a picture later; he could have helped and then painted the picture.” Below are three famous photographs taken in the 20th century during war (WWII and Vietnam). What are your thoughts on photography as an Art medium? Do you believe that photography is on the same aesthetic level of value and importance as a medium of Art as has been the case with painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, performance art or ceramics? Joe Rosenthal, Raising the American Flag on Iwo Jima (photograph) Eddie Adams, From the Vietnam War Suite of Photographs Nick Ut, an Associated Presss Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer
Nervous System Practice Questions 1. Oligodendrocytes are located in the _____. 2. Schwann cells are located in the _____. 3. Which of the following types of cells is the most common in the CNS? A. Astrocytes B. Oligocytes C. Neurocytes D. Celiac cells 4. Which of the following is a regulatory protein in the cytoplasm that helps the processes at the synapse? A. Calmodulin B. Protein kinase C. Ligand D. Gap protein 5. The primary effect of cocaine on the nervous system is that cocaine blocks the re-uptake of ____. A. Monoamines B. Transamines C. Catecholamine D. Monoamine oxidase 6. Which of the following amino acids can function as a neurotransmitter in the CNS? A. Leucine B. Glutamic acid C. Lysine D. Valine 7. Clostridium botulinum releases this enzyme that destroys peptide bonds. A. Amylase B. Endopeptidases C. Exopeptidases D. Protein kinase 8. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that attacks the _______ of neurons in the CNS. A. Myelin sheaths B. Axon terminals C. Sodium channels D. Nicotinic receptors 9. Which of the following is not considered a type of synapse? A. Dendrodendritic B. Axosomatic C. Axoaxonic D. Denoaxonic 10. The progression of a nerve impulse with the nodes of Ranvier is called _______. A. Saltatory conduction B. Transmission C. Unmyelinated conduction D. Relative conduction 11. Supporting cells located within the CNS are collectively called _____. A. Neuroglia B. Astrocytes C. Perikaryon D. Satellite cells 12. Which of the following types of cells line the ventricles and spinal cord? A. Astrocytes B. Schwann cells C. Ependymal cells D. Oligodendrocytes Answer Key 1. B 2. A 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. B 7. B 8. A 9. D 10. A 11. A 12. C Last Updated: 03/01/2017 © 2017 Copyright \| All Rights Reserved All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Keystone XL and the U.S. Dependence on Oil On November 6, 2015, Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL project. Why did he do this, and what does this mean for the U.S.? The Keystone XL Pipeline is subject to three permitting processes: the “presidential permit” for international borders, federal permits for intrastate borders, and state permits for interstate transport. In Texas Rice Land Partners, Ltd. V Denbury Green Pipeline (363 S.W. 3d 192. Texas 2012), we see that interstate permitting is governed at the state level and really resolves to eminent domain, which is determined by the states. In Texas, it was determined that a proposed pipeline must be a “common carrier”, meaning a transport pipeline available for public use, in order for private lands to be expropriated. Many other states follow Texas in this regard; however, the Keystone XL is a common carrier, so there are no issues there. Ultimately, the full development of this project relied on the presidential permit. Up until this last week, Obama had not signed this permit and even vetoed a congressional bill relating to it. In the past week, TransCanada Corporation – the Canadian company involved in building the pipeline – asked the U.S. to halt review of the pipeline altogether. Halting the review could have simply meant that this decision would be waiting on the next president to be elected. But Obama was not on board with that. He rejected TransCanada Corporation’s request and thus ended the seven year review process involved with this project. Figure 1. Map of the existing and proposed components of the Keystone Pipeline. To put into context, this pipeline is 1,179 miles long and connects the Alberta tar sands with the oil refineries in Houston (Figure 1). Part of this route is effectively already in place, however the new proposed Keystone XL would have expedited the connection between Hardisty, Alberta and Steele City, Kansas. This means that the tar sands could be transported more quickly and in bigger quantities to Texas. The Keystone XL had several major concerning issues associated with it: first, the tar sands crude oil are significantly dirtier in greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude oil; second, the oil would largely be exported and sold abroad; third, the risks to the American people as a result of the pipeline are very real. The Alberta tar sands are known to have a much higher release of greenhouse gas emissions than U.S. conventional crude oil, with life cycle assessments such as that by Brandt[1] demonstrating that Alberta tar sands oil is associated with as much as 1.75 times more carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of energy than conventional crude oil. It is widely known that even conventional crude oil has a significant impact on our climate, especially as it relates to its contribution to climate change. How could we possibly allow the Alberta tar sands, which are notably worse for the climate, to be burned as a fuel source? In the U.S., we certainly have a dependency on oil, but we are getting better – yearly oil consumption is decreasing compared to recent years, and domestic production has increased. If we had allowed the Keystone XL to be built, we would be supporting an industry that we are ideally aiming to minimize our dependence on. Supporters of the pipeline claim that the Keystone XL would have relieved our dependence on foreign oil from more unstable countries in the Middle East; however, I would claim that investing in the Alberta tar sands would have set us on a track to be more dependent on oil into the future, and when that supply ran low we would become desperately reliant on foreign oil. Now that Obama rejected the Keystone XL, he has indicated to the world that the U.S. is serious about considering the consequences of climate change. Although this is a step in the right direction, we should now push to invest in hybrid and electric vehicles so that our transportation fleet is less dependent on oil. Furthermore, the Keystone XL would have ultimately just been a gateway for Canada to export its oil abroad in the international market, with most of the risk falling on the U.S. Canada could build a pipeline going through Canada to their west coast, but has not done so. Both First Nations peoples and Canadians concerned about local and global environmental implications do not support that development. If built, the Keystone XL would only be a part of the transport process in sending Canadian tar sands to the international market. If even some Canadians do not support Keystone XL, why then should the U.S. take on the grunt work to develop a pipeline that delivers a dirty fuel to a more oil-hungry world? Furthermore, why should the U.S. take on the risk of explosions associated with oil transport, especially considering that it will not largely benefit from the process? To our benefit, Obama realized that the proposed Keystone XL is simply an infrastructure that would unnecessarily contribute to global warming and, without reaping any of the benefits, put Americans at risk. Now it is time for the U.S. to kick its addiction to oil by investing in a vehicle fleet that relies less on it. [1]Brandt, Adam R. “Converting Oil Shale to Liquid Fuels with the Alberta Taciuk Processor: Energy Inputs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Energy & Fuels (2009): 6253-258. Energy & Fuels. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
Morgan Tsvangirai On 11 February 2009, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai became the second Prime Minister of Zimbabwe since Independence. Robert Mugabe was Zimbabwe’s first Prime Minister, a position abolished in 1987 to make room for an executive presidency and unicameral parliament. Although Tsvangirai won the disputed first round of the 29 March Presidential election with 47.9% of the vote, he boycotted the mandated run-off after widespread violence against MDC supporters. Urgent negotiations finally culminated in the Zimbabwean parliament unanimously passing Constitutional Amendment 19 creating a transitional government and power-sharing arrangement between Robert Mugabe as President and Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Tsvangirai continues to serve as the President of the majority party in parliament, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Central to the vision of the MDC is (1) democratization, including a new people-driven constitution leading to free and fair elections and restoration of basic human rights and political and media freedoms, (2) humanitarian assistance to address the cholera crisis and chronic food shortages in particular, and (3) economic stabilisation, ending corruption, abuse of state power and state institutions.
What is the difference between radio waves and TV waves? March 20th, 2012 Question by ardy1234567: What is the difference between radio waves and TV waves? Does the FM radio works similar to a TV? I mean the way it transmits signals. Do they have the same signals that they receive? I am just a bit curious here. My Nokia 5310 XM has FM radio. I am just wondering If I can turn my cellphone into a TV by downloading some kind of java application that receives signals just like the built in FM radio. Best answer: Answer by John Yes, they are. They are both electromagnetic radiation. However they operate at different frequencies, so the receiving circuit needs to be built to receive that particular section of the electromagnetic spectrum. And even if they used the same frequencies, the circuit also needs to be different to decode and display the video vs. the radio. So no, you couldn’t just have an application to do it. Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments! Posted by admin One Response 1. steveophonic says: TV waves are much more complex than radio waves,although they can use the same frequency. The entire FM radio band is actually located between TV channels 6 and 7! But it’s not possible to do what you suggest. As far as I know,cellphones that play video do so by decoding digital formats,like MPEG,from the Internet. However, technology is coming that will enable mobile TV reception since transmission went digital last year. Chrysler has a setup like this coming out in some of it’s minivans. Trackback URL for this entry %d bloggers like this:
The Italian Almanac dolphin and baby dolphin Italian News - June 24 Baby dolphins sleep while swimming around, unlike their adult counterparts who have periods of stationary rest, a team of Italian researchers has found. The study, published in this week's issue of the international Nature magazine, followed months of observation and data collection by experts at the Genoa Aquarium in northwest Italy. "During their first year of life, young bottlenose dolphins sleep exclusively while swimming and, like all young mammals, have irregular sleep patterns, distributed both through the day and at night, for around 12 hours in total," said the research team, Guido Gnone, Tiziana Moriconi and Giorgia Gambini. "As they grow older, dolphins tend to reduce their hours of daytime sleep, while night sleep stabilizes at seven to eight hours. "This development in sleep patterns reflects that of land mammals, including that of human beings". The study overturns the findings of research published last year by US and Russian experts, which concluded that the constant movement of newborn dolphins and their mothers meant the mammals were barely sleeping. The American and Russian teams reached their conclusions after observing that baby dolphins keep both eyes open and don't spend any time floating. But the Italian researchers suggest that rather than not sleeping, newborns and their mothers have developed alternative forms of rest. They remain in continual motion yet still spend much time asleep, possibly part of a survival technique to ensure they remain warm in cooler waters.

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