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Native Americans
Below are categories for questions that have been answered by community members. Keep in mind that the following responses may represent many members of this group but do not represent all people in a community. Not all people from diverse populations conform to commonly known culture-specific behaviors, beliefs and actions. Each person is an individual, as well as a community member.
What cultural / ethnic / religious traditions or beliefs should law enforcement be aware of?
• There are more than 500 federally recognized tribes in the country, each with its own distinct culture and religion. They are all covered under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. Learning about these laws provide a better understanding of the Native American culture and their rights.
• Many Native Americans come to San Diego from other states to have a better life. They tend to experience culture shock as they move from a remote reservation into a big city, so it is important for officers to be trained on inter-generational trauma and culture shock.
• Some Native Americans carry a sealed medicine bag around their neck, which may contain one of the four sacred herbs: sage, tobacco, cedar or sweetgrass. This bag is used for medical purposes or to represent the individual’s beliefs, religion and culture. Ask to see what is inside when open, but when sealed, it is sacred and is not meant to be reopened. If opened, this is seen as disrespectful and may upset the person.
In certain instances, indigenous people roll their own tobacco in a paper like the paper used to role marijuana, so it is misconstrued as that.
• During Summertime, Indigenous communities have a ceremonial dance where some tribes do sacrifices (sacred act) or have piercings above their chest area and on their back. Those piercings can be misidentified as mutilation or self-harm.
• On the Navajo side, the Southern Indians of America ingest the peyote buds during a special religious ceremony which in certain places is illegal. Some individuals hold a card permitting them to ingest the buds.
What is the appropriate manner to greet you? (demeanor, non-verbal, body space, handshake, bow, male-female interaction etc.)
• There is always someone who speaks for the family; it could be the niece, the grandchild, or the grandmother. Unlike in many other cultures, it does not have to be a man. Many Native American tribes are matriarchal.
• It would be best to ask nicely to come in and let the family know why you are there and ask for the person to speak to.
• Out of respect when entering a home and there is an elder in the room, great them and acknowledge their presence even if they are not the person you will speak with.
• Some tribes do not shake hands with people they do not know to avoid any ‘negative energy’ a person may have. Out of respect, some Native Americans will not make eye contact, especially with respected people.
• In most households, a child or any adult at home may open the door slightly to check who it is then close it to inform the person in charge of the household.If grandparents who only speak their native tongue are visiting and the parent is not at home while the children are, the kids will not be able to translate for them.
Who should be addressed or acknowledged first? Who is the head of the household?
• Native Americans are known to have multi-generations living underneath one roof.
• Hair is covered under the federal law because it is sacred to the indigenous people, so it would be more respectful to ask to touch it, if needed to.
• It is important for the dispatcher to inform the officer that when they respond to a Native American call, have an advocate present, especially if the family does not speak English.
• Some tribal families may be receiving social services through state or tribal programs. Consider asking if they are receiving services or have a case/social worker they can call to mitigate or prevent an issue before there needs to be an intervention.
• Some tribal individuals and families conduct daily rituals with herbs that can smell like cannabis or other substances. Be aware of the difference.
What is your view / perception of law enforcement? What has been your community's experience with law enforcement?
• Officers may unknowingly disrespect an individual, which may cause them to shut down or not cooperate. This is a consequence of a long history of mistrust in law enforcement.
It is common in Native American communities to take a moment to think about an answer. The officers should be patient and not expect immediate answers.
• Native Americans are afraid of going to jail off the reservation. Furthermore, it is very hard for an indigenous person to see their family member talking with an officer alone. The whole family will congregate around that person to make sure their loved one is being respected and is comfortable with talking to the officer.
• If a third party, such as Child Welfare Services, needs to be called to an incident, the officer should inform that organization that they are working with a Native American household. There are laws that protect the children of the enrolled tribal members so a knowledgeable person of those laws should be present.
• Smiling and laughing is common in a traumatic incident such as domestic violence or sexual assault; this is the way Native Americans deal with such situations and it does not mean they are happy. Those individuals understand they have been victimized.
• Indians have many cultural items at home and sometimes travel with them. The officer should allow the individual to open and move around their belongings themselves. It is considered very demeaning if the officers touch those items.
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Optimized heat transfer solutions to meet emission reduction requirements
Vertical plate technology helps plants reduce carbon footprints
Author: Jean-Marc Reichling
(Originally appeared in Infovrac, September 2020)
Evolving environmental considerations are placing newfound pressure on bulk solid processors to improve operational efficiencies while simultaneously reducing their collective carbon footprint.
INFOVRAC Sept 2020 cover
Over the past decade, jurisdictions around the world have implemented increasingly stringent NOx reduction targets, as well as limitations on solid particles being released into the environment. This is requiring industry to pay more attention to in-stack emissions than ever before.
The path to increased sustainability has, likewise, renewed the need to reduce the amount of energy consumed per tonne of product produced. This makes sense given that any conversation revolving around carbon reduction leads back to the energy sources that keep today’s processing plants running. Most of the carbon monoxide and dioxide that is emitted from stacks come from the use of hydrocarbon energy resources. A reduction in energy consumption therefore makes it possible to reduce the amount of gC02/kWh being emitted by a plant.
Advances in indirect heat exchange technology for bulk solids are providing operators with efficient heat transfer solutions that reduce energy consumption and virtually eliminate emissions.
How it works
Pioneered by Canadian-headquartered Solex Thermal Science, the technology heats, cools or dries powders, crystals or granules indirectlyTypical applications include fertilizer, potash, sugar, polymers, oilseeds, salts and biosolids, to name a few.
Solex heat exchangerThe proprietary heat exchanger technology utilizes vertically oriented plates with internal channels through which the cooling or heating fluid flows. The configuration provides a large heat transfer area within a compact unit. The bulk solids flow by gravity between the plates, while a heat transfer fluid (e.g. hot water, steam, thermal oil) or refrigerant fluid (e.g. cold water, glycol water) flows counter-current through the plate’s internal channels. A mass-flow discharge device guarantees the uniform flow of the product through the exchangers, thereby producing a uniform temperature product at the discharge.
Solex uses a proprietary thermal modelling software to calculate product temperature profiles at every point through the heat exchanger to accurately predict performance. Capabilities include steam systems, multiple heat exchanger banks, co-current and counter-current flow of heat transfer media, drying evaporation loads, continuous flow and batch operations and more.
The benefits
Indirect heat transfer eliminates any contact between the bulk solids and the cooling fluid, thereby eliminating potential contamination (e.g. bacteria and odours). And because air flow is typically minimal, dust emissions are low.
Air requirements are also significantly less when compared to traditional technology used for heating or cooling, meaning the need for sophisticated air handling and cleaning systems is eliminated. The infrastructure, equipment and operating energy that are typically required with other technologies such as rotating drums or fluidized beds is not required with vertical heat exchangers.
In some cases, it is still necessary to use low volumes of dehumidified air to prevent the condensation of moist air during the heating or cooling process. Condensation must be prevented to avoid avoids products (fines) caking at the plate surface and, in turn, minimizes frequent cleaning and maintenance. It also minimizes caking during storage and shipping, particularly in the fertilizer (e.g. urea, NPK, AN, MAP, DAP, potash) and sugar industries.
Solex has extensive experience handling numerous different types of bulk solids, with more than 600 installations in 50-plus countries over the past 30 years – including numerous successful applications in France.
Solex vertical plate conditioner 02Because bulk solids flow by gravity through the exchanger, very little energy is required to move the product. In studies completed by Solex, vertical plate technology can reduce energy consumption by up to 90% when compared with fluid beds or rotary drums.
Waste heat recovery
Indirect plate-type heat exchange technology has the additional benefit of being able to use low-grade energy that would otherwise go to waste. In plants processing oilseeds such as rapeseed, soybean and sunflower, it is possible to recover low-grade heat from several sources and re-use that heat in the heat exchanger in a pre-heating step before the flaker or cooker.
In the polymer industry, heat exchangers are used to heat polymer granules in a step to remove most of the residual solvents. This eliminates the need for large holding silos that have traditional been used for this.
What’s next
Most recently, Solex has leveraged its decades of experience in bulk solids heat transfer to develop proprietary vertical plate conditioning technologyThe equipment incorporates indirect heat transfer together with air injection into the moving bed of solids to provide not only the heating or cooling needed, but also drying. Significant reductions in the solids moisture content can be achieved in this way.
About the author: Jean-Marc Reichling is a Global Sales Director with Solex Thermal Science. Over the past two decades, he has worked in variety of on-the-ground application roles in industries such as biosolids, fertiilzer, sugar and oil and gas. Since 2001, he has helped to establish Solex as a global leader in heat transfer solutions for sugar beet, cane and refining applications. In addition, Jean-Marc is also leading Solex’s work in Africa.
This entry was posted in Sugar and tagged Cooling and last updated on October 19, 2021
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Ecooler Technology
Units designed to meet the increasing demand for free-cooling applications, they optimise the benefits coming from the adiabatic saturation of the air adopting a water recirculation system and electronically commutated large-diameter fans.
The water and power consumption are thus minimised, resulting in C.O.P. maximisation and the possibility to use “free-cooling” applications throughout all the year.
• Self-draining system: no risk of water stagnation. All the water is automatically drained every 24 hours
• The system prevents the proliferation of legionella by avoiding droplets in the airflow.
• Ease of maintenance thanks to the full access to the inside of the unit; all the components of the hydraulic system are inspectable
1. EC fans Ø 1250mm
2. Main electrical panel
3. Humidity and temperature transducer
4. Feed actuated valve
5. Discharge actuated valve
Recirculation system
6. Water distribution pipes
7. Recirculation pump
8. Overflow
9. Drain
10. Make-up water
11. Self-draining drip
12. Water basin
13. Heat exchanger
14. Protection grids
15. Droplet separator
16. Evaporative cooling pad
17. Inspectionable water distributor
Adiabatic Saturation Theory
• Adiabatic saturation temperature is a thermodynamic property of humid air. It represents the temperature that can be achieved by air when it reaches saturation condition through an adiabatic transformation.
• The adiabatic saturation temperature falls – since evaporating water removes heat – though it is still higher than the dew temperature, as evaporation itself raises the partial pressure of water vapour.
Carrier psychrometric chart at p=1,013bar:
Ambient Air Condition TAMB: 32°C Relative Humidity R.H.:50 %
Air Condition Calculation TCALC: 24.2°C Relative Humidity R.H.:92 %Due to the adiabatic saturation made possible by the Industrial Adiabatic System, the Refrion design model provides an increase in relative humidity of ∆R.H. = 42% up to a maximum R.H. = 92%.
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The Buddha (also known as Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama or Buddha Shakyamuni) was a philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher, and religious leader who lived in ancient India (c. 5th to 4th century BCE). He is revered as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and recognized by most Buddhist schools as the Enlightened One who is believed to have transcended Karma and escaped the cycle of birth and rebirth. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. His teaching is based on his insight into ''duḥkha'' (typically translated as "suffering") and the end of dukkha—the state called ''Nibbāna'' or ''Nirvana''. The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan but eventually renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the mechanism which keeps people trapped in the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha then traveled throughout the Ganges plain teaching and building a religious community. The Buddha taught a middle way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Indian śramaṇa movement. He taught a spiritual path that included ethical training and meditative practices such as ''jhana'' and mindfulness. The Buddha also critiqued the practices of Brahmin priests, such as animal sacrifice. A couple of centuries after his death he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One". Gautama's teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the Suttas, which contain his discourses, and the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice. These were passed down in Middle-Indo Aryan dialects through an oral tradition. Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as ''Abhidharma'', biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about the Buddha's past lives known as ''Jataka tales'', and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras.
Names and titles
Besides "Buddha" and the name Siddhārtha Gautama (Pali: Siddhattha Gotama), he was also known by other names and titles, such as Shakyamuni ("Sage of the Shakyas"). In the early texts, the Buddha also often refers to himself as Tathāgata (Sanskrit: ɐˈtʰaːɡɐtɐ. The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata) or "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata), possibly referring to the transcendental nature of the Buddha's spiritual attainment.Chalmers, Robert
/ref> A common list of epithets are commonly seen together in the canonical texts, and depict some of his spiritual qualities: * ''Sammasambuddho'' – Perfectly self-awakened * ''Vijja-carana-sampano'' – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct. * ''Sugato'' – Well-gone or Well-spoken. * ''Lokavidu'' – Knower of the many worlds. * ''Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi'' – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people. * ''Satthadeva-Manussanam'' – Teacher of gods and humans. * ''Bhagavathi'' – The Blessed one * ''Araham'' – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge." * ''Jina'' – Conqueror. Although the term is more commonly used to name an individual who has attained liberation in the religion Jainism, it is also an alternative title for the Buddha. The Pali Canon also contains numerous other titles and epithets for the Buddha, including: All-seeing, All-transcending sage, Bull among men, The Caravan leader, Dispeller of darkness, The Eye, Foremost of charioteers, Foremost of those who can cross, King of the Dharma (''Dharmaraja''), Kinsman of the Sun, Helper of the World (''Lokanatha''), Lion (''Siha''), Lord of the Dhamma, Of excellent wisdom (''Varapañña''), Radiant One, Torchbearer of mankind, Unsurpassed doctor and surgeon, Victor in battle, and Wielder of power.
Historical person
Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most people accept that the Buddha lived, taught, and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara (, or c. 400 BCE), the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatashatru, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies. The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE. Within the Eastern Buddhist tradition of China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, the traditional date for the death of the Buddha was 949 B.C. According to the Ka-tan system of time calculation in the Kalachakra tradition, Buddha is believed to have died about 833 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not been accepted by all historians.
Historical context
According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, now in modern-day Nepal, and raised in Kapilavastu, which may have been either in what is present-day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. According to Buddhist tradition, he obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar. One of Gautama's usual names was "Sakamuni" or "Sakyamunī" ("Sage of the Shakyas"). This and the evidence of the early texts suggests that he was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. The community was either a small republic, or an oligarchy. His father was an elected chieftain, or oligarch. Bronkhorst calls this eastern culture Greater Magadha and notes that "Buddhism and Jainism arose in a culture which was recognized as being non-Vedic". The Shakyas were an eastern sub-Himalayan ethnic group who were considered outside of the Āryāvarta and of ‘mixed origin’ (''saṃkīrṇa-yonayaḥ'', possibly part Aryan and part indigenous). The laws of Manu treats them as being non Aryan. As noted by Levman, "The ''Baudhāyana-dharmaśāstra'' (–4) lists all the tribes of Magadha as being outside the pale of the Āryāvarta; and just visiting them required a purificatory sacrifice as expiation" (In Manu 10.11, 22). This is confirmed by the ''Ambaṭṭha Sutta'', where the Sakyans are said to be "rough-spoken", "of menial origin" and criticised because "they do not honour, respect, esteem, revere or pay homage to Brahmans." Some of the non-Vedic practices of this tribe included incest (marrying their sisters), the worship of trees, tree spirits and nagas. According to Levman "while the Sakyans’ rough speech and Munda ancestors do not prove that they spoke a non-Indo-Aryan language, there is a lot of other evidence suggesting that they were indeed a separate ethnic (and probably linguistic) group." Christopher I. Beckwith identifies the Shakyas as Scythians. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of influential Śramaṇa schools of thought like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of thought. In this context, a śramaṇa refers to one who labors, toils, or exerts themselves (for some higher or religious purpose). It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, as recorded in Samaññaphala Sutta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with. Indeed, Śāriputra and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the sceptic; and the Pali canon frequently depicts Buddha engaging in debate with the adherents of rival schools of thought. There is also philological evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Rāmaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. Thus, Buddha was just one of the many śramaṇa philosophers of that time. In an era where holiness of person was judged by their level of asceticism, Buddha was a reformist within the śramaṇa movement, rather than a reactionary against Vedic Brahminism. Historically, the life of the Buddha also coincided with the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley during the rule of Darius I from about 517/516 BCE. This Achaemenid occupation of the areas of Gandhara and Sindh, which lasted about two centuries, was accompanied by the introduction of Achaemenid religions, reformed Mazdaism or early Zoroastrianism, to which Buddhism might have in part reacted. In particular, the ideas of the Buddha may have partly consisted of a rejection of the "absolutist" or "perfectionist" ideas contained in these Achaemenid religions.
Earliest sources
No written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or from the one or two centuries thereafter. But from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 269–232 BCE) mention the Buddha, and particularly Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him the ''Buddha Shakyamuni'' (Brahmi script: 𑀩𑀼𑀥 𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻 ''Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī'', "Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas").In Ashoka's Rummindei Edict c. 260 BCE, in Another one of his edicts (Minor Rock Edict No. 3) mentions the titles of several ''Dhamma'' texts (in Buddhism, "dhamma" is another word for "dharma"), establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era. These texts may be the precursor of the Pāli Canon. "Sakamuni" is also mentioned in the reliefs of Bharhut, dated to c. 100 BCE, in relation with his illumination and the Bodhi tree, with the inscription ''Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho'' ("The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni"). Knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha come by way of texts which were not written down until many centuries after his death. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Afghanistan and written in Gāndhārī, they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. On the basis of philological evidence, Indologist and Pali expert Oskar von Hinüber says that some of the Pali suttas have retained very archaic place-names, syntax, and historical data from close to the Buddha's lifetime, including the ''Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' which contains a detailed account of the Buddha's final days. Hinüber proposes a composition date of no later than 350–320 BCE for this text, which would allow for a "true historical memory" of the events approximately 60 years prior if the Short Chronology for the Buddha's lifetime is accepted (but he also points out that such a text was originally intended more as hagiography than as an exact historical record of events). John S. Strong sees certain biographical fragments in the canonical texts preserved in Pali, as well as Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit as the earliest material. These include texts such as the “Discourse on the Noble Quest” (Pali: ''Ariyapariyesana-sutta'') and its parallels in other languages.
Traditional biographies
Biographical sources
The sources which present a complete picture of the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the ''Buddhacarita'', ''Lalitavistara Sūtra'', ''Mahāvastu'', and the ''Nidānakathā''. Of these, the ''Buddhacarita'' is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE. The ''Lalitavistara Sūtra'' is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The ''Mahāvastu'' from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the ''Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra'', and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The ''Nidānakathā'' is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa. The earlier canonical sources include the ''Ariyapariyesana Sutta'' (MN 26), the ''Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' (DN 16), the ''Mahāsaccaka-sutta'' (MN 36), the ''Mahapadana Sutta'' (DN 14), and the ''Achariyabhuta Sutta'' (MN 123), which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātaka tales retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The ''Mahāpadāna Sutta'' and ''Achariyabhuta Sutta'' both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.
Nature of traditional depictions
In the earliest Buddhist texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (''sabbaññu'') nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (''lokottara'') being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the ''Mahāvastu''. In the ''Sandaka Sutta'', the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the ''Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta'' the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty-five-year career as a teacher. Traditional biographies of Gautama often include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. ''lokottara'') and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the ''Mahāvastu'', over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". As noted by Andrew Skilton, the Buddha was often described as being superhuman, including descriptions of him having the 32 major and 80 minor marks of a "great man," and the idea that the Buddha could live for as long as an aeon if he wished (see DN 16). The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.
Previous lives
Legendary biographies like the Pali ''Buddhavaṃsa'' and the Sanskrit ''Jātakamālā'' depict the Buddha's (referred to as "bodhisattva" before his awakening) career as spanning hundreds of lifetimes before his last birth as Gautama. Many stories of these previous lives are depicted in the Jatakas. The format of a Jataka typically begins by telling a story in the present which is then explained by a story of someone's previous life. Besides imbuing the pre-Buddhist past with a deep karmic history, the Jatakas also serve to explain the bodhisattva's (the Buddha-to-be) path to Buddhahood. In biographies like the ''Buddhavaṃsa'', this path is described as long and arduous, taking "four incalculable ages" (''asamkheyyas''). In these legendary biographies, the bodhisattva goes through many different births (animal and human), is inspired by his meeting of past Buddhas, and then makes a series of resolves or vows (''pranidhana'') to become a Buddha himself. Then he begins to receive predictions by past Buddhas. One of the most popular of these stories is his meeting with Dipankara Buddha, who gives the bodhisattva a prediction of future Buddhahood. Another theme found in the Pali Jataka Commentary (''Jātakaṭṭhakathā'') and the Sanskrit ''Jātakamālā'' is how the Buddha-to-be had to practice several "perfections" (''pāramitā'') to reach Buddhahood. The Jatakas also sometimes depict negative actions done in previous lives by the bodhisattva, which explain difficulties he experienced in his final life as Gautama.
Birth and early life
stating that this is the Buddha's birthplace The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, in present-day India, or Tilaurakot, in present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only apart. According to later biographies such as the ''Mahavastu'' and the ''Lalitavistara'', his mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilavastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree. The earliest Buddhist sources state that the Buddha was born to an aristocratic Kshatriya (Pali: ''khattiya'') family called Gotama (Sanskrit: Gautama), who were part of the Shakyas, a tribe of rice-farmers living near the modern border of India and Nepal. the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. The early Buddhist texts contain very little information about the birth and youth of Gotama Buddha. Later biographies developed a dramatic narrative about the life of the young Gotama as a prince and his existential troubles. They also depict his father Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of (Pāli: Okkāka). This is unlikely however, as many scholars think that Śuddhodana was merely a Shakya aristocrat (''khattiya''), and that the Shakya republic was not a hereditary monarchy. Indeed, the more egalitarian ''gana-sangha'' form of government, as a political alternative to Indian monarchies, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism. The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called ''Buddha Purnima'' in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. According to later biographical legends, during the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode, analyzed the child for the "32 marks of a great man" and then announced that he would either become a great king (''chakravartin'') or a great religious leader. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave similar predictions. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha. Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. According to the early Buddhist Texts of several schools, and numerous post-canonical accounts, Gotama had a wife, Yasodhara, and a son, named Rāhula. Besides this, the Buddha in the early texts reports that "'I lived a spoilt, a very spoilt life, monks (in my parents' home)." The legendary biographies like the ''Lalitavistara'' also tell stories of young Gotama's great martial skill, which was put to the test in various contests against other Shakyan youths.
While the earliest sources merely depict Gotama seeking a higher spiritual goal and becoming an ascetic or ''sramana'' after being disillusioned with lay life, the later legendary biographies tell a more elaborate dramatic story about how he became a mendicant. The earliest accounts of the Buddha's spiritual quest is found in texts such as the Pali ''Ariyapariyesanā-sutta'' ("The discourse on the noble quest," MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at 204. These texts report that what led to Gautama's renunciation was the thought that his life was subject to old age, disease and death and that there might be something better (i.e. liberation, nirvana). The early texts also depict the Buddha's explanation for becoming a sramana as follows: "The household life, this place of impurity, is narrow - the ''samana'' life is the free open air. It is not easy for a householder to lead the perfected, utterly pure and perfect holy life." MN 26, MĀ 204, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Mahāvastu all agree that his mother and father opposed his decision and "wept with tearful faces" when he decided to leave. Legendary biographies also tell the story of how Gautama left his palace to see the outside world for the first time and how he was shocked by his encounter with human suffering. The legendary biographies depict Gautama's father as shielding him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering, so that he would become a great king instead of a great religious leader. In the ''Nidanakatha'' (5th century CE), Gautama is said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Chandaka explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic that inspired him. This story of the "four sights" seems to be adapted from an earlier account in the ''Digha Nikaya'' (DN 14.2) which instead depicts the young life of a previous Buddha, Vipassi. The legendary biographies depict Gautama's departure from his palace as follows. Shortly after seeing the four sights, Gautama woke up at night and saw his female servants lying in unattractive, corpse-like poses, which shocked him. Therefore, he discovered what he would later understand more deeply during his enlightenment: suffering and the end of suffering. Moved by all the things he had experienced, he decided to leave the palace in the middle of the night against the will of his father, to live the life of a wandering ascetic. Accompanied by Chandaka and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama leaves the palace, leaving behind his son Rahula and Yaśodhara. He traveled to the river Anomiya, and cut off his hair. Leaving his servant and horse behind, he journeyed into the woods and changed into monk's robes there, though in some other versions of the story, he received the robes from a ''Brahma'' deity at Anomiya. According to the legendary biographies, when the ascetic Gautama first went to Rajagaha (present-day Rajgir) to beg for alms in the streets, King Bimbisara of Magadha learned of his quest, and offered him a share of his kingdom. Gautama rejected the offer but promised to visit his kingdom first, upon attaining enlightenment.
Ascetic life and Awakening
in Bodh Gaya '' of the Buddha at Bodh Gaya, as recreated by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. All sources agree that the ascetic Gautama practised under two teachers of yogic meditation. According to MN 26 and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204, after having mastered the teaching of Ārāḍa Kālāma ( pi|Alara Kalama), who taught a meditation attainment called "the sphere of nothingness", he was asked by Ārāḍa to become an equal leader of their spiritual community. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice because it "does not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to knowledge, to awakening, to Nibbana", and moved on to become a student of Udraka Rāmaputra ( pi|Udaka Ramaputta). With him, he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness (called "The Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception") and was again asked to join his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied for the same reasons as before, and moved on. Majjhima Nikaya 4 also mentions that Gautama lived in "remote jungle thickets" during his years of spiritual striving and had to overcome the fear that he felt while living in the forests. After leaving his meditation teachers, Gotama then practiced ascetic techniques. An account of these practices can be seen in the ''Mahāsaccaka-sutta'' (MN 36) and its various parallels (which according to Anālayo include some Sanskrit fragments, an individual Chinese translation, a sutra of the ''Ekottarika-āgama'' as well as sections of the ''Lalitavistara'' and the ''Mahāvastu''). The ascetic techniques described in the early texts include very minimal food intake, different forms of breath control, and forceful mind control. The texts report that he became so emaciated that his bones became visible through his skin. According to other early Buddhist texts, after realising that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, Gautama discovered "the Middle Way"—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path. His break with asceticism is said to have led his five companions to abandon him, since they believed that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined. One popular story tells of how he accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Following his decision to stop extreme ascetic practices, MĀ 204 and other parallel early texts report that Gautama sat down to meditate with the determination not to get up until full awakening (''sammā-sambodhi'') had been reached. This event was said to have occurred under a pipal tree—known as "the Bodhi tree"—in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Likewise, the ''Mahāsaccaka-sutta'' and most of its parallels agree that after taking asceticism to its extremes, the Buddha realized that this had not helped him reach awakening. At this point, he remembered a previous meditative experience he had as a child sitting under a tree while his father worked. This memory leads him to understand that dhyana (meditation) is the path to awakening, and the texts then depict the Buddha achieving all four dhyanas, followed by the "three higher knowledges" (''tevijja'') culminating in awakening. Gautama thus became known as the ''Buddha'' or "Awakened One". The title indicates that unlike most people who are "asleep", a Buddha is understood as having "woken up" to the true nature of reality and sees the world 'as it is' (''yatha-bhutam''). A Buddha has achieved liberation (''vimutti''), also called Nirvana, which is seen as the extinguishing of the "fires" of desire, hatred, and ignorance, that keep the cycle of suffering and rebirth going. According to various early texts like the ''Mahāsaccaka-sutta,'' and the ''Samaññaphala Sutta,'' a Buddha has achieved three higher knowledges: Remembering one's former abodes (i.e. past lives), the "Divine eye" (''dibba-cakkhu''), which allows the knowing of others' karmic destinations and the "extinction of mental intoxicants" (''āsavakkhaya''). According to some texts from the Pali canon, at the time of his awakening he realised complete insight into the Four Noble Truths, thereby attaining liberation from ''samsara'', the endless cycle of rebirth. As reported by various texts from the Pali Canon, the Buddha sat for seven days under the bodhi tree "feeling the bliss of deliverance." The Pali texts also report that he continued to meditate and contemplated various aspects of the Dharma while living by the River Nairañjanā, such as Dependent Origination, the Five Spiritual Faculties and Suffering. The legendary biographies like the ''Mahavastu'' and the ''Lalitavistara'' depict an attempt by Mara, the Lord of the desire realm, to prevent the Buddha's nirvana. He does so by sending his daughters to seduce the Buddha, by asserting his superiority and by assaulting him with armies of monsters. However the Buddha is unfazed and calls on the earth (or in some versions of the legend, the earth goddess) as witness to his superiority by touching the ground before entering meditation. Other miracles and magical events are also depicted.
First sermon and formation of the saṅgha
According to MN 26, immediately after his awakening, the Buddha hesitated on whether or not he should teach the ''Dharma'' to others. He was concerned that humans were overpowered by ignorance, greed, and hatred that it would be difficult for them to recognise the path, which is "subtle, deep and hard to grasp." The Nyingma scholar Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche states the Buddha spent forty-nine days in meditation to ascertain whether or not to begin teaching. However, the god Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some "with little dust in their eyes" will understand it. The Buddha relented and agreed to teach. According to Anālayo, the Chinese parallel to MN 26, MĀ 204, does not contain this story, but this event does appear in other parallel texts, such as in an ''Ekottarika-āgama'' discourse, in the ''Catusparisat-sūtra'', and in the ''Lalitavistara''. According to MN 26 and MĀ 204, after deciding to teach, the Buddha initially intended to visit his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to teach them his insights, but they had already died, so he decided to visit his five former companions. MN 26 and MĀ 204 both report that on his way to Vārānasī (Benares), he met another wanderer, called Ājīvika Upaka in MN 26. The Buddha proclaimed that he had achieved full awakening, but Upaka was not convinced and "took a different path". MN 26 and MĀ 204 continue with the Buddha reaching the Deer Park (Sarnath) (''Mrigadāva'', also called ''Rishipatana'', "site where the ashes of the ascetics fell") near Vārānasī , where he met the group of five ascetics and was able to convince them that he had indeed reached full awakening. According to MĀ 204 (but not MN 26), as well as the Theravāda Vinaya, an ''Ekottarika-āgama'' text, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, and the ''Mahāvastu'', the Buddha then taught them the "first sermon", also known as the "Benares sermon", i.e. the teaching of "the noble eightfold path as the middle path aloof from the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification." The Pali text reports that after the first sermon, the ascetic Koṇḍañña (Kaundinya) became the first arahant (liberated being) and the first Buddhist bhikkhu or monastic. The Buddha then continued to teach the other ascetics and they formed the first : the company of Buddhist monks. Various sources such as the ''Mahāvastu,'' the ''Mahākhandhaka'' of the Theravāda Vinaya and the ''Catusparisat-sūtra'' also mention that the Buddha taught them his second discourse, about the characteristic of "not-self" (''Anātmalakṣaṇa Sūtra''), at this time or five days later. After hearing this second sermon the four remaining ascetics also reached the status of ''arahant.'' The Theravāda Vinaya and the ''Catusparisat-sūtra'' also speak of the conversion of Yasa, a local guild master, and his friends and family, who were some of the first laypersons to be converted and to enter the Buddhist community. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, who brought with them five hundred converts who had previously been "matted hair ascetics," and whose spiritual practice was related to fire sacrifices. According to the Theravāda Vinaya, the Buddha then stopped at the Gayasisa hill near Gaya and delivered his third discourse, the ''Ādittapariyāya Sutta'' (The Discourse on Fire), in which he taught that everything in the world is inflamed by passions and only those who follow the Eightfold path can be liberated. At the end of the rainy season, when the Buddha's community had grown to around sixty awakened monks, he instructed them to wander on their own, teach and ordain people into the community, for the "welfare and benefit" of the world.
The growth of the saṅgha
For the remaining 40 or 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, ascetics and householders, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. According to Schumann, the Buddha's wanderings ranged from "Kosambi on the Yamuna (25 km south-west of Allahabad )", to Campa (40 km east of Bhagalpur)" and from "Kapilavatthu (95 km north-west of Gorakhpur) to Uruvela (south of Gaya)." This covers an area of 600 by 300 km. His sangha enjoyed the patronage of the kings of Kosala and Magadha and he thus spent a lot of time in their respective capitals, Savatthi and Rajagaha. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it is likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardisation. The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the Dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vassa rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to flora and animal life. The health of the ascetics might have been a concern as well. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them. The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. According to the Pali texts, shortly after the formation of the sangha, the Buddha traveled to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, and met with King Bimbisara, who gifted a bamboo grove park to the sangha. The Buddha's sangha continued to grow during his initial travels in north India. The early texts tell the story of how the Buddha's chief disciples, Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna, who were both students of the skeptic sramana Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta, were converted by Assaji. They also tell of how the Buddha's son, Rahula, joined his father as a bhikkhu when the Buddha visited his old home, Kapilavastu. Over time, other Shakyans joined the order as bhikkhus, such as Buddha's cousin Ananda, Anuruddha, Upali the barber, the Buddha's half-brother Nanda and Devadatta. Meanwhile, the Buddha's father Suddhodana heard his son's teaching, converted to Buddhism and became a stream-enterer. The early texts also mention an important lay disciple, the merchant Anāthapiṇḍika, who became a strong lay supporter of the Buddha early on. He is said to have gifted Jeta's grove (''Jetavana'') to the sangha at great expense (the Theravada Vinaya speaks of thousands of gold coins).
Formation of the bhikkhunī order
The formation of a parallel order of female monastics (bhikkhunī) was another important part of the growth of the Buddha's community. As noted by Anālayo's comparative study of this topic, there are various versions of this event depicted in the different early Buddhist texts. According to all the major versions surveyed by Anālayo, Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, Buddha's step-mother, is initially turned down by the Buddha after requesting ordination for her and some other women. Mahāprajāpatī and her followers then shave their hair, don robes and begin following the Buddha on his travels. The Buddha is eventually convinced by Ānanda to grant ordination to Mahāprajāpatī on her acceptance of eight conditions called gurudharmas which focus on the relationship between the new order of nuns and the monks. According to Anālayo, the only argument common to all the versions that Ananda uses to convince the Buddha is that women have the same ability to reach all stages of awakening. Anālayo also notes that some modern scholars have questioned the authenticity of the eight gurudharmas in their present form due to various inconsistencies. He holds that the historicity of the current lists of eight is doubtful, but that they may have been based on earlier injunctions by the Buddha. Anālayo also notes that various passages indicate that the reason for the Buddha's hesitation to ordain women was the danger that the life of a wandering sramana posed for women that were not under the protection of their male family members (such as dangers of sexual assault and abduction). Due to this, the gurudharma injunctions may have been a way to place "the newly founded order of nuns in a relationship to its male counterparts that resembles as much as possible the protection a laywoman could expect from her male relatives."
Later years
According to J.S. Strong, after the first 20 years of his teaching career, the Buddha seems to have slowly settled in Sravasti, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala, spending most of his later years in this city. As the sangha grew in size, the need for a standardized set of monastic rules arose and the Buddha seems to have developed a set of regulations for the sangha. These are preserved in various texts called "Pratimoksa" which were recited by the community every fortnight. The Pratimoksa includes general ethical precepts, as well as rules regarding the essentials of monastic life, such as bowls and robes. In his later years, the Buddha's fame grew and he was invited to important royal events, such as the inauguration of the new council hall of the Shakyans (as seen in MN 53) and the inauguration of a new palace by Prince Bodhi (as depicted in MN 85). The early texts also speak of how during the Buddha's old age, the kingdom of Magadha was usurped by a new king, Ajatasattu, who overthrew his father Bimbisara. According to the ''Samaññaphala Sutta,'' the new king spoke with different ascetic teachers and eventually took refuge in the Buddha. However, Jain sources also claim his allegiance, and it is likely he supported various religious groups, not just the Buddha's sangha exclusively. As the Buddha continued to travel and teach, he also came into contact with members of other śrāmana sects. There is evidence from the early texts that the Buddha encountered some of these figures and critiqued their doctrines. The ''Samaññaphala Sutta'' identifies six such sects. The early texts also depict the elderly Buddha as suffering from back pain. Several texts depict him delegating teachings to his chief disciples since his body now needed more rest. However, the Buddha continued teaching well into his old age. One of the most troubling events during the Buddha's old age was Devadatta's schism. Early sources speak of how the Buddha's cousin, Devadatta, attempted to take over leadership of the order and then left the sangha with several Buddhist monks and formed a rival sect. This sect is said to have also been supported by King Ajatasattu. The Pali texts also depict Devadatta as plotting to kill the Buddha, but these plans all fail. They also depict the Buddha as sending his two chief disciples (Sariputta and Moggallana) to this schismatic community in order to convince the monks who left with Devadatta to return. All the major early Buddhist Vinaya texts depict Devadatta as a divisive figure who attempted to split the Buddhist community, but they disagree on what issues he disagreed with the Buddha on. The Sthavira texts generally focus on "five points" which are seen as excessive ascetic practices, while the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya speaks of a more comprehensive disagreement, which has Devadatta alter the discourses as well as monastic discipline. At around the same time of Devadatta's schism, there was also war between Ajatasattu's Kingdom of Magadha, and Kosala, led by an elderly king Pasenadi. Ajatasattu seems to have been victorious, a turn of events the Buddha is reported to have regretted.
Last days and ''parinirvana''
The main narrative of the Buddha's last days, death and the events following his death is contained in the ''Mahaparinibbana Sutta'' (DN 16) and its various parallels in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. According to Anālayo, these include the Chinese Dirgha Agama 2, "Sanskrit fragments of the ''Mahaparinirvanasutra"'', and "three discourses preserved as individual translations in Chinese". The ''Mahaparinibbana sutta'' depicts the Buddha's last year as a time of war. It begins with Ajatasattu's decision to make war on the Vajjian federation, leading him to send a minister to ask the Buddha for advice. The Buddha responds by saying that the Vajjians can be expected to prosper as long as they do seven things, and he then applies these seven principles to the Buddhist Sangha, showing that he is concerned about its future welfare. The Buddha says that the Sangha will prosper as long as they "hold regular and frequent assemblies, meet in harmony, do not change the rules of training, honor their superiors who were ordained before them, do not fall prey to worldly desires, remain devoted to forest hermitages, and preserve their personal mindfulness." He then gives further lists of important virtues to be upheld by the Sangha. The early texts also depict how the Buddha's two chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, died just before the Buddha's death. The ''Mahaparinibbana'' depicts the Buddha as experiencing illness during the last months of his life but initially recovering. It also depicts him as stating that he cannot promote anyone to be his successor. When Ānanda requested this, the ''Mahaparinibbana'' records his response as follows:
After traveling and teaching some more, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda (Buddhism)|Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his death and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Bhikkhu and von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms. The Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns. Modern scholars also disagree on this topic, arguing both for pig's flesh or some kind of plant or mushroom that pigs like to eat.Waley notes: ''suukara-kanda'', "pig-bulb"; ''suukara-paadika'', "pig's foot" and ''sukaresh.ta'' "sought-out by pigs". He cites Neumann's suggestion that if a plant called "sought-out by pigs" exists then ''suukaramaddava'' can mean "pig's delight". Whatever the case, none of the sources which mention the last meal attribute the Buddha's sickness to the meal itself. As per the ''Mahaparinibbana sutta,'' after the meal with Cunda, the Buddha and his companions continued traveling until he was too weak to continue and had to stop at Kushinagar, where Ānanda had a resting place prepared in a grove of Sala trees. After announcing to the sangha at large that he would soon be passing away to final Nirvana, the Buddha ordained one last novice into the order personally, his name was Subhadda. He then repeated his final instructions to the sangha, which was that the Dhamma and Vinaya was to be their teacher after his death. Then he asked if anyone had any doubts about the teaching, but nobody did. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All ''saṅkhāras'' decay. Strive for the goal with diligence (''appamāda'')" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). He then entered his final meditation and died, reaching what is known as ''parinirvana'' (final nirvana, the end of rebirth and suffering achieved after the death of the body). The ''Mahaparinibbana'' reports that in his final meditation he entered the four dhyanas consecutively, then the four immaterial attainments and finally the meditative dwelling known as ''nirodha-samāpatti,'' before returning to the fourth dhyana right at the moment of death.
Posthumous events
According to the ''Mahaparinibbana sutta,'' the Mallians of Kushinagar spent the days following the Buddha's death honoring his body with flowers, music and scents. The sangha waited until the eminent elder Mahākassapa arrived to pay his respects before cremating the body. The Buddha's body was then cremated and the remains, including his bones, were kept as relics and they were distributed among various north Indian kingdoms like Magadha, Shakya and Koliya. These relics were placed in monuments or mounds called stupas, a common funerary practice at the time. Centuries later they would be exhumed and enshrined by Ashoka into many new stupas around the Mauryan realm. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers. According to various Buddhist sources, the First Buddhist Council was held shortly after the Buddha's death to collect, recite and memorize the teachings. Mahākassapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the council. However, the historicity of the traditional accounts of the first council is disputed by modern scholars.
Tracing the oldest teachings
One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest versions of the Pali Canon and other texts, such as the surviving portions of Sarvastivada, Mulasarvastivada, Mahisasaka, Dharmaguptaka, and the Chinese Agamas. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility of drawing out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Tilmann Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. According to Lambert Schmithausen, there are three positions held by modern scholars of Buddhism: # "Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials." # "Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism." # "Cautious optimism in this respect." Regarding their attribution to the historical Buddha Gautama "Sakyamuni", scholars such as Richard Gombrich, Akira Hirakawa, Alexander Wynne and A.K. Warder hold that these Early Buddhist Texts contain material that could possibly be traced to this figure.
According to scholars of Indology such as Richard Gombrich, the Buddha's teachings on Karma and Rebirth are a development of pre-Buddhist themes that can be found in Jain and Brahmanical sources, like the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad''. Likewise, ''samsara'', the idea that we are trapped in cycle of rebirth and that we should seek liberation from this through non-harming (''ahimsa'') and spiritual practices, pre-dates the Buddha and was likely taught in early Jainism. In various texts, the Buddha is depicted as having studied under two named teachers, Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta. According to Alexander Wynne, these were yogis who taught doctrines and practices similar to those in the Upanishads. The Buddha's tribe of origin, the Shakyas, also seem to have had non-Vedic religious practices which influenced Buddhism, such as the veneration of trees and sacred groves, and the worship of tree spirits (yakkhas) and serpent beings (nagas). They also seem to have built burial mounds called stupas. Tree veneration remains important in Buddhism today, particularly in the practice of venerating Bodhi trees. Likewise, yakkas and nagas have remained important figures in Buddhist religious practices and mythology. In the Early Buddhist Texts, the Buddha also references Brahmanical devices. For example, in Samyutta Nikaya 111, Majjhima Nikaya 92 and Vinaya i 246 of the Pali Canon, the Buddha praises the Agnihotra as the foremost sacrifice and the Gayatri mantra as the foremost meter. The Buddhist teaching of the ''three marks of existence'' may also reflect Upanishadic or other influences according to K.R. Norman. According to Johannes Bronkhorst, the "meditation without breath and reduced intake of food" which the Buddha practiced before his awakening are forms of asceticism which are similar to Jain practices. The Buddhist practice called ''Brahma-vihara'' may have also originated from a Brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common in the sramana traditions.
Teachings preserved in the Early Buddhist Texts
The Early Buddhist Texts present many teachings and practices which may have been taught by the historical Buddha. These include basic doctrines such as Dependent Origination, the Middle Way, the Five Aggregates, the Three unwholesome roots, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. According to N. Ross Reat, all of these doctrines are shared by the Theravada Pali texts and the Mahasamghika school's ''Śālistamba Sūtra''. A recent study by Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the Theravada ''Majjhima Nikaya'' and Sarvastivada ''Madhyama Agama'' contain mostly the same major doctrines. Likewise, Richard Salomon has written that the doctrines found in the Gandharan Manuscripts are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools." These basic teachings such as the Four Noble Truths tend to be widely accepted as basic doctrines in all major schools of Buddhism, as seen in ecumenical documents such as the ''Basic points unifying Theravāda and Mahāyāna.''
Critique of Brahmanism
In the early Buddhist texts, the Buddha critiques the Brahmanical religion and social system on certain key points. The Brahmin caste held that the Vedas were eternal revealed (''sruti'') texts. The Buddha, on the other hand, did not accept that these texts had any divine authority or value.Tola, Fernando. Dragonetti, Carmen (2009). ''"Brahamanism and Buddhism: Two Antithetic Conceptions of Society in Ancient India."'' p. 26: "This also implied the denial of the Shruti provided with characteristics which grant it the status of a substance. All this carried with itself also the negation of the authority of all the sacred texts of Brahmanism. Buddhism does not acknowledge to them any value as ultimate criterion of truth, as depository of the norms which regulate man's conduct as a member of society and in his relations with the Gods. Buddhism ignores the Shruti, the very foundation of Brahmanism." The Buddha also did not see the Brahmanical rites and practices as useful for spiritual advancement. For example, in the Udāna, the Buddha points out that ritual bathing does not lead to purity, only "truth and morality" lead to purity. He especially critiqued animal sacrifice as taught in Vedas. The Buddha contrasted his teachings, which were taught openly to all people, with that of the Brahmins', who kept their mantras secret. He also critiqued numerous other Brahmanical practices, such astrology, divination, fortune-telling, and so on (as seen in the ''Tevijja sutta'' and the ''Kutadanta sutta''). The Buddha also attacked the Brahmins' claims of superior birth and the idea that different castes and bloodlines were inherently pure or impure, noble or ignoble. In the ''Vasettha sutta ''the Buddha argues that the main difference among humans is not birth but their actions and occupations. According to the Buddha, one is a "Brahmin" (i.e. divine, like Brahma) only to the extent that one has cultivated virtue. Because of this the early texts report that he proclaimed: "Not by birth one is a Brahman, not by birth one is a non-Brahman; - by moral action one is a Brahman" The ''Aggañña Sutta'' explains all classes or varnas can be good or bad and gives a sociological explanation for how they arose, against the Brahmanical idea that they are divinely ordained. According to Kancha Ilaiah, the Buddha posed the first contract theory of society. The Buddha's teaching then is a single universal moral law, one Dharma valid for everybody, which is opposed to the Brahmanic ethic founded on “one's own duty” (''svadharma'') which depends on caste. Because of this, all castes including untouchables were welcome in the Buddhist order and when someone joined, they renounced all caste affiliation.
Analysis of existence
The early Buddhist texts present the Buddha's worldview as focused on understanding the nature of ''dukkha'', which is seen as the fundamental problem of life. Dukkha refers to all kinds of suffering, unease, frustration, and dissatisfaction that sentient beings experience. At the core of the Buddha's analysis of dukkha is the fact that everything we experience is impermanent, unstable and thus unreliable. A common presentation of the core structure of Buddha's teaching found in the early texts is that of the Four Noble Truths. This teaching is most famously presented in the ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' ("The discourse on the turning of the Dharma wheel") and its many parallels. The basic outline of the four truths is as follows: *There is dukkha. *There are causes and conditions for the arising of dukkha. Various conditions are outlined in the early texts, such as craving (''taṇhā''), but the three most basic ones are greed, aversion and delusion. *If the conditions for dukkha cease, dukkha also ceases. This is "Nirvana" (literally 'blowing out' or 'extinguishing'). *There is path to follow that leads to Nirvana. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, the four truths schema appears to be based "on an analogy with Indian medical diagnosis" (with the form: "disease, pathogen, health, cure") and this comparison is "explicitly made in several early Buddhist texts". In another Pali sutta, the Buddha outlines how "eight worldly conditions", "keep the world turning around...Gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain." He then explains how the difference between a noble (''arya'') person and an uninstructed worldling is that a noble person reflects on and understands the impermanence of these conditions. The Buddha's analysis of existence includes an understanding that karma and rebirth are part of life. According to the Buddha, the constant cycle of dying and being reborn (i.e. saṃsāra) according to one's karma is just dukkha and the ultimate spiritual goal should be liberation from this cycle. According to the Pali suttas, the Buddha stated that "this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving." The Buddha's teaching of karma differed to that of the Jains and Brahmins, in that on his view, karma is primarily mental intention (as opposed to mainly physical action or ritual acts). The Buddha is reported to have said "By karma I mean intention." Richard Gombrich summarizes the Buddha's view of karma as follows: "all thoughts, words, and deeds derive their moral value, positive or negative, from the intention behind them." For the Buddha, our karmic acts also affected the rebirth process in a positive or negative way. This was seen as an impersonal natural law similar to how certain seeds produce certain plants and fruits (in fact, the result of a karmic act was called its "fruit" by the Buddha). However, it is important to note that the Buddha did not hold that everything that happens is the result of karma alone. In fact when the Buddha was asked to state the causes of pain and pleasure he listed various physical and environmental causes alongside karma.
Dependent Origination
In the early texts, the process of the arising of dukkha is most thoroughly explained by the Buddha through the teaching of Dependent Origination. At its most basic level, Dependent Origination is an empirical teaching on the nature of phenomena which says that nothing is experienced independently of its conditions. The most basic formulation of Dependent Origination is given in the early texts as: 'It being thus, this comes about' (Pali: ''evam sati idam hoti''). This can be taken to mean that certain phenomena only arise when there are other phenomena present (example: when there is craving, suffering arises), and so, one can say that their arising is "dependent" on other phenomena. In other words, nothing in experience exists without a cause. In numerous early texts, this basic principle is expanded with a list of phenomena that are said to be conditionally dependent. These phenomena are supposed to provide an analysis of the cycle of dukkha as experienced by sentient beings. The philosopher Mark Siderits has outlined the basic idea of the Buddha's teaching of Dependent Origination of dukkha as follows:
The Buddha saw his analysis of Dependent Origination as a "Middle Way" between "eternalism" (''sassatavada'', the idea that some essence exists eternally) and "annihilationism" (''ucchedavada'', the idea that we go completely out of existence at death). This middle way is basically the view that, conventionally speaking, persons are just a causal series of impermanent psycho-physical elements.
Metaphysics and personal identity
Closely connected to the idea that experience is dependently originated is the Buddha's teaching that there is no independent or permanent self (Sanskrit: ''atman'', Pali: ''atta''). Due to this view (termed ''anatta''), the Buddha's teaching was opposed to all soul theories of his time, including the Jain theory of a ''"jiva"'' ("life monad") and the Brahmanical theories of atman and purusha. All of these theories held that there was an eternal unchanging essence to a person which transmigrated from life to life. While Brahminical teachers affirmed atman theories in an attempt to answer the question of what really exists ultimately, the Buddha saw this question as not being useful, as illustrated in the parable of the poisoned arrow. For the Buddha's contemporaries, the atman was also seen to be the unchanging constant which was separate from all changing experiences and the inner controller in a person. The Buddha instead held that all things in the world of our experience are transient and that there is no unchanging part to a person. According to Richard Gombrich, the Buddha's position is simply that "everything is process". However, this anti-essentialist view still includes an understanding of continuity through rebirth, it is just the rebirth of a process (karma), not an essence like the atman. Perhaps the most important way the Buddha analyzed individual experience in the early texts was by way of the five 'aggregates' or 'groups' (''khandha'') of physical and mental processes. The Buddha's arguments against an unchanging self rely on these five aggregate schema, as can be seen in the Pali ''Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta'' (and its parallels in Gandhari and Chinese)''.'' According to the early texts, the Buddha argued that because we have no ultimate control over any of the psycho-physical processes that make up a person, there cannot be an "inner controller" with command over them. Also, since they are all impermanent, one cannot regard any of the psycho-physical processes as an unchanging self. Even mental processes such as consciousness and will (''cetana'') are seen as being dependently originated and impermanent and thus do not qualify as a self (''atman''). As noted by Gombrich, in the early texts the Buddha teaches that all five aggregates, including consciousness (''viññana'', which was held by Brahmins to be eternal), arise dependent on causes. That is, existence is based on processes that are subject to dependent origination. He compared samsaric existence to a fire, which is dynamic and requires fuel (the ''khandas'', literally: "heaps") in order to keep burning. As Rupert Gethin explains, for the Buddha:
The Buddha saw the belief in a self as arising from our grasping at and identifying with the various changing phenomena, as well as from ignorance about how things really are. Furthermore, the Buddha held that we experience suffering because we hold on to erroneous self views.
Worldly happiness
As noted by Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Buddha as depicted in the Pali suttas does not exclusively teach a world transcending goal, but also teaches laypersons how to achieve worldly happiness (''sukha''). According to Bodhi, the "most comprehensive" of the suttas that focus on how to live as a layperson is the ''Sigālovāda Sutta'' (DN 31). This sutta outlines how a layperson behaves towards six basic social relationships: "parents and children, teacher and pupils, husband and wife, friend and friend, employer and workers, lay follower and religious guides." This Pali text also has parallels in Chinese and in Sanskrit fragments. In another sutta (''Dīghajāṇu Sutta'', AN 8.54) the Buddha teaches two types of happiness. First, there is the happiness visible in this very life. The Buddha states that four things lead to this happiness: "The accomplishment of persistent effort, the accomplishment of protection, good friendship, and balanced living." Similarly, in several other suttas, the Buddha teaches on how to improve family relationships, particularly on the importance of filial love and gratitude as well as marital well-being. Regarding the happiness of the next life, the Buddha (in the ''Dīghajāṇu Sutta'') states that the virtues which lead to a good rebirth are: faith (in the Buddha and the teachings), moral discipline, especially keeping the five precepts, generosity, and wisdom (knowledge of the arising and passing of things). According to the Buddha of the suttas then, achieving a good rebirth is based on cultivating wholesome or skillful (''kusala'') karma, which leads to a good result, and avoiding unwholesome (''akusala'') karma. A common list of good karmas taught by the Buddha is the list of ten courses of action (''kammapatha'') as outlined in MN 41 ''Saleyyaka Sutta'' (and its Chinese parallel in SĀ 1042). Good karma is also termed merit (''puñña''), and the Buddha outlines three bases of meritorious actions: giving, moral discipline and meditation (as seen in AN 8:36).
The Path to Liberation
Buddha Statues from Gal Vihara. The Early Buddhist texts also mention meditation practice while standing and lying down. Liberation (''vimutti'') from the ignorance and grasping which create suffering is not easily achieved because all beings have deeply entrenched habits (termed ''āsavas'', often translated as "influxes" or "defilements") that keep them trapped in samsara. Because of this, the Buddha taught a path (''marga'') of training to undo such habits. This path taught by the Buddha is depicted in the early texts (most famously in the Pali ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' and its numerous parallel texts) as a "Middle Way" between sensual indulgence on one hand and mortification of the body on the other. One of the most common formulations of the path to liberation in the earliest Buddhist texts is the Noble Eightfold Path. There is also an alternative formulation with ten elements which is also very commonly taught in the early texts. According to Gethin, another common summary of the path to awakening wisely used in the early texts is "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishments of mindfulness and development of the awakening factors." The early texts also contain many different presentations of the Buddha's path to liberation aside from the Eightfold Path. According to Rupert Gethin, in the Nikayas and Agamas, the Buddha's path is mainly presented in a cumulative and gradual "step by step" process, such as that outlined in the ''Samaññaphala Sutta''. Early texts that outline the graduated path include the ''Cula-Hatthipadopama-sutta'' (MN 27, with Chinese parallel at MĀ 146) and the ''Tevijja Sutta'' (DN 13, with Chinese parallel at DĀ 26 and a fragmentary Sanskrit parallel entitled the ''Vāsiṣṭha-sūtra''). Other early texts like the ''Upanisa sutta'' (SN 12.23), present the path as reversions of the process of Dependent Origination. Some common practices which are shared by most of these early presentations of the path include ''sila'' (ethical training), restraint of the senses (''indriyasamvara''), mindfulness and clear awareness (''sati''-''sampajañña'') and the practice of ''jhana'' (meditative absorption). Mental development (''citta bhāvanā'') was central to the Buddha's spiritual path as depicted in the earliest texts and this included meditative practices. Regarding the training of right view and sense restraint, the Buddha taught that it was important to reflect on the dangers or drawbacks (''adinava'') of sensual pleasures. Various suttas discuss the different drawbacks of sensuality. In the ''Potaliya Sutta'' (MN 54) sensual pleasures are said by the Buddha to be a cause of conflict for all humans beings. They are said to be unable to satisfy one's craving, like a clean meatless bone given to a dog. Sensuality is also compared to a torch held against the wind, since it burns the person holding on to it. According to the Buddha, there is "a delight apart from sensual pleasures, apart from unwholesome states, which surpasses even divine bliss." The Buddha thus taught that one should take delight in the higher spiritual pleasures instead of sensual pleasure. This is explained with the simile the leper, who cauterizes his skin with fire to get relief from the pain of leprosy, but after he is cured, avoids the same flames he used to enjoy before (see MN 75, ''Magandiya Sutta''). Numerous scholars such as Vetter have written on the centrality of the practice of ''dhyāna'' to the teaching of the Buddha. It is the training of the mind, commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions, and leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (''upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi'')." Dhyana is preceded and supported by various aspects of the path such as seclusion and sense restraint. Another important mental training in the early texts is the practice of mindfulness (''sati''), which was mainly taught using the schemas of the "Four Ways of Mindfulness" (''Satipatthana'', as taught in the Pali ''Satipatthana Sutta'' and its various parallel texts) and the sixteen elements of "Mindfulness of Breath" (''Anapanasati'', as taught in the ''Anapanasati Sutta'' and its various parallels). Because getting others to practice the path was the central goal of the Buddha's message, the early texts depict the Buddha as refusing to answer certain metaphysical questions which his contemporaries were preoccupied with, (such as "is the world eternal?"). This is because he did not see these questions as being useful on the path and as not being "connected to the goal".
The early Buddhist texts depict the Buddha as promoting the life of a homeless and celibate "''sramana''", or mendicant, as the ideal way of life for the practice of the path. He taught that mendicants or "beggars" (''bhikkhus'') were supposed to give up all possessions and to own just a begging bowl and three robes. As part of the Buddha's monastic discipline, they were also supposed to rely on the wider lay community for the basic necessities (mainly food, clothing, and lodging). The Buddha's teachings on monastic discipline were preserved in the various Vinaya collections of the different early schools. Buddhist monastics, which included both monks and nuns, were supposed to beg for their food, were not allowed to store up food or eat after noon and they were not allowed to use gold, silver or any valuables.
Socio-political teachings
The early texts depict the Buddha as giving a deflationary account of the importance of politics to human life. Politics is inevitable and is probably even necessary and helpful, but it is also a tremendous waste of time and effort, as well as being a prime temptation to allow ego to run rampant. Buddhist political theory denies that people have a moral duty to engage in politics except to a very minimal degree (pay the taxes, obey the laws, maybe vote in the elections), and it actively portrays engagement in politics and the pursuit of enlightenment as being conflicting paths in life. In the ''Aggañña Sutta'', the Buddha teaches a history of how monarchy arose which according to Matthew J. Moore is "closely analogous to a social contract." The ''Aggañña Sutta'' also provides a social explanation of how different classes arose, in contrast to the Vedic views on social caste. Other early texts like the ''Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta'' and the ''Mahāsudassana Sutta'' focus on the figure of the righteous wheel turning leader (''Cakkavatti''). This ideal leader is one who promotes Dharma through his governance. He can only achieve his status through moral purity and must promote morality and Dharma to maintain his position. According to the ''Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta'', the key duties of a Cakkavatti are: "establish guard, ward, and protection according to Dhamma for your own household, your troops, your nobles, and vassals, for Brahmins and householders, town and country folk, ascetics and Brahmins, for beasts and birds. let no crime prevail in your kingdom, and to those who are in need, give property.” The sutta explains the injunction to give to the needy by telling how a line of wheel-turning monarchs falls because they fail to give to the needy, and thus the kingdom falls into infighting as poverty increases, which then leads to stealing and violence. In the ''Mahāparinibbāna Sutta,'' the Buddha outlines several principles that he promoted among the Vajjian tribal federation, which had a quasi-republican form of government. He taught them to “hold regular and frequent assemblies”, live in harmony and maintain their traditions. The Buddha then goes on to promote a similar kind of republican style of government among the Buddhist Sangha, where all monks had equal rights to attend open meetings and there would be no single leader, since The Buddha also chose not to appoint one. Some scholars have argued that this fact signals that the Buddha preferred a republican form of government, while others disagree with this position.
Scholarly views on the earliest teachings
Numerous scholars of early Buddhism argue that most of the teachings found in the Early Buddhist texts date back to the Buddha himself. One of these is Richard Gombrich, who argues that since the content of the earliest texts “presents such originality, intelligence, grandeur and—most relevantly—coherence...it is hard to see it as a composite work." Thus he concludes they are "the work of one genius." Peter Harvey also agrees that “much” of the Pali Canon “must derive from his he Buddha'steachings.” Likewise, A. K. Warder has written that “there is no evidence to suggest that it he shared teaching of the early schoolswas formulated by anyone other than the Buddha and his immediate followers.” Furthermore, Alexander Wynne argues that "the internal evidence of the early Buddhist literature proves its historical authenticity." However, other scholars of Buddhist studies have disagreed with the mostly positive view that the early Buddhist texts reflect the teachings of the historical Buddha. For example, Edward Conze argued that the attempts of European scholars to reconstruct the original teachings of the Buddha were “all mere guesswork.” Other scholars argue that some teachings contained in the early texts are the authentic teachings of the Buddha, but not others. For example, according to Tilmann Vetter, the earliest core of the Buddhist teachings is the meditative practice of ''dhyāna''. Vetter argues that "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition at a later date. He posits that the Fourth Noble Truths, the Eightfold path and Dependent Origination, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight". Lambert Schmithausen similarly argues that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the four ''dhyānas'', is a later addition. Also, according to Johannes Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight".
Physical characteristics
In early sources
Early sources depict the Buddha's as similar to other Buddhist monks. Various discourses describe how he "cut off his hair and beard" when renouncing the world. Likewise, Digha Nikaya 3 has a Brahmin describe the Buddha as a shaved or bald (''mundaka'') man. Digha Nikaya 2 also describes how king Ajatasattu is unable to tell which of the monks is the Buddha when approaching the sangha and must ask his minister to point him out. Likewise, in MN 140, a mendicant who sees himself as a follower of the Buddha meets the Buddha in person but is unable to recognize him. The Buddha is also described as being handsome and with a clear complexion (Digha I:115; Anguttara I:181), at least in his youth. In old age, however, he is described as having a stooped body, with slack and wrinkled limbs.
The 32 Signs
Various Buddhist texts attribute to the Buddha a series of extraordinary physical characteristics, known as "the 32 Signs of the Great Man" (Skt. ''mahāpuruṣa lakṣaṇa''). According to Anālayo, when they first appear in the Buddhist texts, these physical marks were initially held to be imperceptible to the ordinary person, and required special training to detect. Later though, they are depicted as being visible by regular people and as inspiring faith in the Buddha. These characteristics are described in the Digha Nikaya's ' (D, I:142).
Gautama Buddha in other religions
Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. However, Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and the concepts of Brahman-Atman. Consequently Buddhism is generally classified as a ''nāstika'' school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") in contrast to the six orthodox schools of Hinduism. In Sikhism, Buddha is mentioned as the 23rd avatar of Vishnu in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. Classical Sunni scholar Tabari reports that Buddhist idols were brought from Afghanistan to Baghdad in the ninth century. Such idols had been sold in Buddhist temples next to a mosque in Bukhara, but he does not further discuss the role of Buddha. According to the works on Buddhism by Al-Biruni (973–after 1050), views regarding the exact identity of Buddha were diverse. Accordingly, some regarded him as the divine incarnate, others as an apostle of the angels or as an Ifrit and others as an apostle of God sent to the human race. By the 12th century, al-Shahrastani even compared Buddha to Khidr, described as an ideal human. Ibn Nadim, who was also familiar with Manichaean teachings, even identifies Buddha as a prophet, who taught a religion to "banish Satan", although does not mention it explicitly. However, most Classical scholars described Buddha in theistic terms, that is, apart from Islamic teachings. Nevertheless the Buddha is regarded as a prophet by the minority Ahmadiyya sect, generally considered deviant and rejected as apostate by mainstream Islam. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Laozi. Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home-altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius. The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit ''Bodhisattva'' via Arabic ''Būdhasaf'' and Georgian ''Iodasaph''. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, ''Barlaam and Josaphat'', is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast-day 27 November)—though not in the Roman Missal—and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August). In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism, the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani. In the Baháʼí Faith, Buddha is regarded as one of the Manifestations of God.
Artistic depictions
Some of the earliest artistic depictions of the Buddha found at Bharhut and Sanchi are aniconic and symbolic. During this early aniconic period, the Buddha is depicted by other objects or symbols, such as an empty throne, a riderless horse, footprints, a Dharma wheel or a Bodhi tree. The art at Sanchi also depicts the Jataka narratives of the Buddha in his past lives. Other styles of Indian Buddhist art depict the Buddha in human form, either standing, sitting crossed legged (often in the Lotus Pose) or lying down on one side. Iconic representations of the Buddha became particularly popular and widespread after the first century CE. Some of these depictions of the Buddha, particularly those of Gandharan Buddhism and Central Asian Buddhism, were influenced by Hellenistic art, a style known as Greco-Buddhist art. These various Indian and Central Asian styles would then go on to influence the art of East Asian Buddhist Buddha images, as well as those of Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhism.
Gallery showing different Buddha styles
File:A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha, from railing of the Bharhut Stupa, Shunga dynasty, early 2nd century BC, Bharhut, Madhya Pradesh, India, sandstone - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05134.JPG|A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha, from railing of the Bharhut Stupa, Shunga dynasty, early 2nd century BC. File:Adoration of the Diamond Throne and the Bodhi Tree Bharhut relief.jpg|Adoration of the Diamond Throne and the Bodhi Tree, Bharhut. File:Descent of the Buddha from the Trayastrimsa Heaven Sanchi Stupa 1 Northern Gateway.jpg|Descent of the Buddha from the Trayastrimsa Heaven, Sanchi Stupa No. 1. File:Miracle at Kapilavastu Suddhodana praying as his son the Buddha rises in the air with only path visible Sanchi Stupa 1 Northern Gateway.jpg|The Buddha's Miracle at Kapilavastu, Sanchi Stupa 1. File:Bamboo garden (Venuvana) at Rajagriha, the visit of Bimbisara.jpg|Bimbisara visiting the Buddha (represented as empty throne) at the Bamboo garden in Rajagriha File:Andhra pradesh, la grande dipartita, da regione di amaravati, II sec.JPG|The great departure with riderless horse, Amaravati, 2nd century CE. File:MaraAssault.jpg|The Assault of Mara, Amaravati, 2nd century CE. File:27.3. Life scenes of Buddha-2nd century CE-Limestone-Amravati-Andhra Pradesh-Sculpture Gallery-Indian Museum-Kolkata- A1-A25070.jpg|Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2d century CE. Indian Museum, Calcutta. File:Isapur Buddha.jpg|Isapur Buddha, one of the earliest physical depictions of the Buddha, c. 15 CE. Art of Mathura File:The Buddha attended by Indra at Indrasala Cave, Mathura 50-100 CE.jpg|The Buddha attended by Indra at Indrasala Cave, Mathura 50-100 CE. File:Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2d century AD. Indian Museum, Calcutta.jpg|Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, 2nd century CE. File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|Standing Buddha from Gandhara. File:Tapa Shotor seated Buddha (Niche V1).jpg|Seated Buddha, Tapa Shotor monastery (Niche V1), Hadda File:Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG|Gandharan Buddha with Vajrapani-Herakles. File:BuddhaTriadAndKushanCouple.JPG|Kushan period Buddha Triad. File:Buddha Statue, Sanchi 01.jpg|Buddha statue from Sanchi. File:Four Scenes from the Life of the Buddha - Birth of the Buddha - Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century AD, Gandhara, schist - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05128.JPG|Birth of the Buddha, Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century CE. File:InfantBuddhaTakingABathGandhara2ndCenturyCE.jpg|The Infant Buddha Taking A Bath, Gandhara 2nd century CE. File:Buddha with radiate halo and mandorla.Gandhara.Met.jpg|6th century Gandharan Buddha. File:Upper Floor, Cave No. 6, Ajanta Caves - 1.jpg|Buddha at Cave No. 6, Ajanta Caves. File:Standing Buddha Installed by Buddist Monk Yasadinna - Circa 5th Century CE - Jamalpur Mound - ACCN 00-A-5 - Government Museum Mathura Golden background.jpg|Standing Buddha, c. 5th Century CE. File:Sarnath standing Buddha 5th century CE.jpg|Sarnath standing Buddha, 5th century CE. File:British Museum - Seated Buddha (Gupta period).JPG|Seated Buddha, Gupta period. File:Gal Viharaya 02.jpg|Seated Buddha at Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka. File:Clevelandart 1914.567.jpg|Chinese Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas, Wei period, 536 CE. File:Asuka dera daibutsu.jpg|The Shakyamuni Daibutsu Bronze, c. 609, Nara, Japan. File:Buddha Seguntang Palembang.jpg|Amaravati style Buddha of Srivijaya period, Palembang, Indonesia, 7th century. File:Seokguram Buddha.JPG|Korean Seokguram Cave Buddha, c. 774 CE. File:Buddha Mendut.jpg|Seated Buddha Vairocana flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani of Mendut temple, Central Java, Indonesia, early 9th century. File:Stupa Borobudur.jpg|Buddha in the exposed stupa of Borobudur mandala, Central Java, Indonesia, c. 825. File:023 Vairocana Buddha, 9c, Srivijaya (35212721926).jpg|Vairocana Buddha of Srivijaya style, Southern Thailand, 9th century. File:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|Attack of Mara, 10th century, Dunhuang. File:Naga-enthroned Buddha - Beyond Angkor - Cleveland Museum of Art (40887945882).jpg|Cambodian Buddha with Mucalinda Nāga, c. 1100 CE, Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia File:Thai - Buddha at the Moment of Victory - Walters 542775.jpg|15th century Sukhothai Buddha. File:Thai - Walking Buddha - Walters 542765.jpg|15th century Sukhothai Walking Buddha. File:Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius - Google Art Project.jpg|Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, c. from 1368 until 1644. File:Shakyamuni detail, Clevelandart 1991.9 (cropped).jpg|Chinese depiction of Shakyamuni, 1600. File:Shakyamuni Buddha with Avadana Legend Scenes - Google Art Project.jpg|Shakyamuni Buddha with Avadana Legend Scenes, Tibetan, 19th century File:Bodh Gaya - Wat Thai - Main Buddha Statue (9228460504).jpg|Golden Thai Buddha statue, Bodh Gaya. File:Gautama Buddha-1.jpg|Gautama statue, Shanyuan Temple, Liaoning Province, China. File:P1040704.JPG|Burmese style Buddha, Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon.
In other media
; Films * ''Little Buddha'', a 1994 film by Bernardo Bertolucci * ''Prem Sanyas'', a 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai ; Television * ''Buddha'', a 2013 mythological drama on Zee TV *
The Buddha
' 2010 PBS documentary by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere ; Literature * ''The Light of Asia'', an 1879 epic poem by Edwin Arnold * ''Buddha'', a manga series that ran from 1972 to 1983 by Osamu Tezuka * ''Siddhartha'' novel by Hermann Hesse, written in German in 1922 * ''Lord of Light'', a novel by Roger Zelazny depicts a man in a far future Earth Colony who takes on the name and teachings of the Buddha * ''Creation'', a 1981 novel by Gore Vidal, includes the Buddha as one of the religious figures that the main character encounters ; Music * ''Karuna Nadee'', a 2010 oratorio by Dinesh Subasinghe * ''The Light of Asia'', an 1886 oratorio by Dudley Buck
See also
* Early Buddhist Texts * ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' * ''Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta'' * ''Samannaphala Sutta'' * ''Mahaparinibbana Sutta'' * Great Renunciation & Four sights * Physical characteristics of the Buddha * Relics associated with Buddha * Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath & Kushinagar * Iconography of Gautama Buddha in Laos and Thailand * Knowing Buddha * Depictions of Gautama Buddha in film * Aniconism in Buddhism
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ** * * * * * * , 1120 pp. * * * * * * * * * *
Further reading
* * * * * * * * * * * * * The Buddha * * * * Early Buddhism * * Buddhism general * *
External links
* * * * * *
A sketch of the Buddha's Life
by Ven S. Dhammika
Parables and Stories of Buddha
Who was the Buddha?Buddhism for Beginners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddha, Gautama Category:5th century BC in religion Category:5th-century BC philosophers Category:6th-century BC Indian philosophers Category:Buddhas Category:Founders of religions Category:Indian male philosophers Category:Moral philosophers Category:Philosophers of ethics and morality Category:Philosophers of mind Category:Wonderworkers Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown Category:Avatars of Vishnu Category:People from Rupandehi District
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What are Javascript proxies?
We can see Javascript proxies as an extra layer we can add on top of an object, that allows us to add extra customization to that object.
Creating a javascript proxy is pretty straightforward:
let initialObject = { /* some plain object here */ };
let handler = { /* handler implementation here */ };
let proxyedObject = new Proxy(initialObject, handler);
Now, when we call something from the proxyedObject it will first search in the 'handler' for that something, and only if it does not find it there it will search into initialObject. Kind of how things worked with methods overloading in object-oriented programing.
For example, we can use a proxy to return a default message if we try to retrieve a value that was not defined in an object. For this, we will proxy the getters of that object.
let dog = {
name: "Spike"
const handler = {
get: (obj, property) => property in obj ? obj[property] : 'You don't have defined a property named ' + property;
const proxyDog = new Proxy(dog, handler);
// will print out Spike
// You don't have defined a property named age
In the above case the get: (obj, property) => ... method is called a trap.
Let's see one more example, this time with a setter. We want to block assigning an age that is not within a valid range.
let dog = {
name: "Spike",
age: 1;
let handler = {
set: (obj, property, value) => {
if (property === 'age') {
if (!Number.isInteger(value)) throw new TypeError('Use numbers only for age');
if ((value < 0) || (value > 30)) throw new RangeError('A dog can't live that long');
obj[prop] = value;
return true;
const proxyDog = new Proxy(dog, handler);
proxyDog.age = -1;
// will throw A dog can't live that long
proxyDog.age = 'very old';
// will throw Use numbers only for age
Using the Javascript proxy we can override not just setters and getters but also other methods like: deleteProperty, construct (the new operator), getOwnPropertyDescriptor etc.
PS: I've wrote more about usecases of Javascript proxies also here.
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Remembering to remember – what makes a good memory automatic?
One of the things I often hear people ask of the various people that train their memory is whether they ever still forget things. “Do you ever forget your keys??”, etcetera. Invariably the answer to these questions seems to be yes. So how is it that these memory geniuses can memorise thousands of digits in an hour, decks of cards in under 30 seconds and the names and faces of a hall full of people and yet still fail to remember something as simple as a set of keys or where they parked the car.
The answer is because there is a big difference between consciously applying a memory technique to a situation and unconsciously applying them automatically. I remember thinking a lot about this about 8 or 9 months ago because I wanted to get quicker at remembering things on the fly at work and it was frustrating me that I just didn’t seem to think about applying the techniques until after the event or even after the day had finished. Remembering to memorise someones name moments after they’ve told me was another example.
I realised that during my frantic working routine I didn’t consciously think about many of the things I was doing, in fact they were completely automatic, almost habitual. It was then it occurred to me that what I needed to start reading about and looking at was the formation of these habits and how I might alter them.
I found an audio book online called ‘The power of habit’ by Charles Duhigg which I listened to on the drive home to my parents. It went through the process of habit formation and contained quite a number of very interesting stories illustrating the main points very well. I realised this was the missing link between conscious application of the techniques and routine day to day use so I started practising.
It turns out the basal ganglia is a most useful bit of the brain in allowing you to pattern highly complex routines into a habit form. The drivers reading this will remember when they first learned their struggle to manage gears, steering, mirrors, and maneuvering all at the same time. Juggling your focus between them until eventually they seemed to embed themselves into your autopilot and you no longer needed to consciously process them.
Basal ganglia
Basal ganglia
In programming terms you might imagine writing a subroutine or set of subroutines to take the place of a manual task. It takes time to conceive how the routine might work but once written the code performs the function automatically. Then picture seeing the code evolve by itself, becoming more efficient each time its used.
Evolving code
Evolving code
People generally recognise the same process of learning in many sports, but few people tend to think about how we form our mental habits. They develop in exactly the same manner as the habits we form physically we just don’t see them happening in front of our eyes as we swing a tennis racket or change gears. In the case of memorisation they are just as important if you want to start applying what you’re learning in an automated way in the real world!
I won’t repeat the work of others but the key thing to remember is a habit starts with a trigger & grow stronger (more likely to occur as a habit) with repetition. The building of a habit is a conscious process at first as with learning to drive but over time it starts to embed and the subroutine gets written.
This is a Tigger not a trigger but I like tiggers so...
This is a Tigger not a trigger but I like tiggers so…
So how do you create the trigger and how do you then attach it to a situation where you need to remember something. Well I’m no expert in this area which is why I recommend you do your own reading but I’ll explain what’s worked for me so far. In my case I wanted to put a trigger in to kick off the thought to apply a number memorisation technique to trade references I saw on the screen of a user so I could plug them into my machine when I got back to my desk. The way I created this trigger was I’d visualise a likely scenario just before I went to bed in as much detail as possible and then play the event through in my mind where I applied the techniques. I did this for a couple of weeks and gradually it actually started to work!
Some of the other reading I was doing at the time suggested that the brain has the ability to pattern match. That is to say it will follow certain learned responses or habits based on a broadly matching range of different scenarios or stimuli(which I realised also meant triggers).
In an evolutionary context this was useful because it means that the automatic fear response you learned after the killer snake bit your best buddy helped you quickly react to other potentially dangerous snakes future rather than just that exact snake.
Cool snake
Cool snake
So my scenario replaying before bed seemed to fit this quite nicely and I’m happy to say its worked for me quite well. I’m still experimenting and apart from the book I mentioned there are some more expert people already working quite hard on this subject so its well worth looking into what they’re doing. Tiny Habits are a good example and I believe Mark Channon is currently working on integrating this into memory techniques.
As always I hope someone found that of use.
Happy memorising.
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The Official Blog of the
Sacco and Vanzetti: That Agony is Our Triumph
In Being a World Citizen, Current Events, Human Rights, NGOs, United Nations, World Law on August 23, 2019 at 9:02 PM
By René Wadlow
Letter of Bartolome Vanzetti (1888-1927) to Judge Webster Thayer who had condemned Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) to death for the murder of a guard and the paymaster of the Slater and Morill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts on April 15, 1920.
Sacco and Vanzetti, along with a third member of the Italian anarchist group involved in the robbery were electrocuted at midnight on August 23, 1927, after seven years of legal proceedings and an organized social campaign to prevent the execution led by some of the leading intellectuals of the time, especially the novelist John Dos Passos. Some 200,000 persons attended the funeral, and there were demonstrations in front of United States (U. S.) embassies in many parts of Europe. Since then, Sacco and Vanzetti have been symbolic figures in efforts to abolish the death penalty.
Two aspects of the trials and legal procedures have stood out in the anti-death penalty debates. The first is that it is often difficult to have a trial that is not influenced by emotions and the political currents of the times.
Both Sacco and Vanzetti had been members of an anarchist network led by the Italian anarchist writer Luigi Galleani who was living for some years in the New York area. He edited a journal calling for violent revolution. He was deported to Italy in June 1919, but his journal continued for several years after that. In the minds of many in the U.S.A. there was a link between anarchy and Bolshevism which had just come to power in Russia in 1917. There were fears that Bolshevism would spread. Moreover, both Sacco and Vanzetti had left for Mexico in 1917 and changed their names to evade draft registration which had been introduced in 1917 when the U. S. jointed the First World War. The prosecutor in the murder trial used the Mexico flight to demonstrate their lack of patriotism. In Massachusetts, there was a general anti-Italian feeling, even if individuals were not anarchist but family-loving Roman Catholics.
The second element of the case used in anti-death penalty efforts is that people are executed who are later found to be not guilty of the crimes for which they were executed. Research on the case continued long after the executions. It is highly possible that Sacco was in fact involved in the robbery and may have used the weapon he had with him. Vanzetti was not involved but rounded up as a member of the same Italian anarchist group which had robbed the pay of other shoe companies as well.
Thus the possibility of a person from a minority group, of the lower class, at a time of fear and international violence being convicted and executed is higher than if a person is part of the majority, has money to get a good lawyer, and the world situation is calm.
Studies in a good number of countries indicate that the death penalty has little impact on the rate of violent crimes. Thus, the Association of World Citizens has worked with others, especially in the United Nations bodies for the abolition of the death penalty.
Since the end of World War II, there has been a gradual abolition of the death penalty. In some countries, executions have been suspended in practice but laws allowing executions remain. In other countries, there has been a legal abolition. The abolition of executions and the corresponding valuation of human life are necessary steps in the development of a just world society.
Here’s to you, Nicola and Bart …
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Watershed Plans and TMDLs
• ADEQ-approved Clean Water Plans (CWPs)
• Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Reports/Implementation Plans (TIPs)
• Arizona Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) Watershed-Based Plans
CWPs (formerly Watershed Implementation Plans or WIPs) identify priority projects and strategies to mitigate specific impairments. These are watershed-based, holistic plans designed to protect and restore a watershed. The plan provides a careful analysis of the sources of water quality problems, their relative contributions to the problems, and alternatives to solve those problems. Watershed-based plans should also deliver proactive measures to protect water bodies. In watersheds where a TMDL has been developed and approved or is in process of being developed, watershed-based plans must be designed to achieve the load reductions in the TMDL. If a TMDL has not been developed, required load reductions must be estimated and included in the plan.
TMDLs identify source categories and load reductions necessary to meet standards. A TMDL is a scientific determination of the maximum amount of a given pollutant that a surface water can assimilate and still meet the water quality standards that protect human health and aquatic life. The TMDL program is designed to help an impaired stream or lake meet its water quality standards and support its designated uses, such as protection of aquatic life, drinking water, or fish consumption. Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act established authority for the TMDL Program and guides states on how to develop these plans for waters that do not meet water quality standards.
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Hare's-Ear Mustard
An annual overwintering plant of 20 to 70 cm in height with a bare stem of few branches, its flowers are yellowish to white. It grows in fields, fallow land, waysides, field borders, and railway embankments. It belongs to the group of what is known as ‘rare weeds’, which depend on habitats that are created by human activity, but are otherwise little fertilized or unfertilized.
Example of wildlife habitats:
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Which of the following did the prophet Ezekiel see in one of his prophetic visions?
In his visions, he saw Jerusalem, its Temple, and its kingdom restored to their former glory; his detailed description of the future Temple, provided by an angel serving as a guide, would later be consulted by the actual builders of the Second Temple (Ezekiel 40-42).
What did Ezekiel have a vision of?
Ezekiel’s prophecies conclude with a vision of a restored Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple’s form of worship would be reestablished in Israel, and each of the ancient tribes would receive appropriate allotments of land.
What is the prophet Ezekiel known for?
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet. In Judaism and Christianity, he is also viewed as the 6th-century BCE author of the Book of Ezekiel, which reveals prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, and the restoration to the land of Israel.
How many visions Ezekiel have?
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Was Ezekiel 37 a vision?
The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones (or The Valley of Dry Bones or The Vision of Dry Bones) is a prophecy in chapter 37 of the Book of Ezekiel. The chapter details a vision revealed to the prophet Ezekiel, conveying a dream-like realistic-naturalistic depiction.
Who are the four creatures in Ezekiel 1?
Ezekiel’s four living creatures
Each of Ezekiel’s cherubim have four faces, that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.
What are the wheels in Ezekiel?
The wheel-like image in the Book of Ezekiel and the cosmogram, Dr. Pruitt suggested, “represented the universe, and the path we travel through this world and the afterlife” and “it stands for the enduring connections between this world and the next, the power from above and below.”
What is the meaning of Ezekiel?
Ezekiel is a masculine Hebrew language name, meaning “God’s Strength.” It can be used as both a given name and a surname.
What was God’s promise to the Israelites in exile?
What does Ezekiel 38 say?
Did Ezekiel see God?
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What do the four faces in Ezekiel represent?
The four faces represent the four domains of God’s rule: the man represents humanity; the lion, wild animals; the ox, domestic animals; and the eagle, birds. … Three of the four faces are the same – man, lion and eagle – but where chapter one has the face of an ox, Ezekiel 10:14 says “face of a cherub”.
How many visions are there in the Bible?
eight major visions of the book of Revelation.
What is the meaning of Ezekiel 36?
Ezekiel 36 is the thirty-sixth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. … This chapter contains two prophecies, one conveying “hope for the mountains of Israel” (verses 1-15) and one declaring that Israel’s restoration is assured (verses 16-38).
What bones represent spiritually?
They are the last earthly traces of the dead, and seem to last forever: bones symbolize the indestructible life (it represents ressurection in Jewish tradition), yet also may represent mortality and the transitory. Flesh and bones can symbolize the earth.
Where is Gog and Magog?
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How are the debts divided?
Debts are divided exactly how assets are divided. Often, the Court will use debts to balance out the distribution of assets in order to make sure that everything remains equitable. The person who gets the car usually also gets the car loan; the person who gets the house usually also gets the mortgage. In addition to keeping this equitable, this also helps to inventive someone to pay the debt. After all, it’s hard to get motivated about paying for the car that someone else is driving.
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Cimmerian Timeline Part 56
Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 55
Loose ends for coming to the end of the timeline!
1115BCE: The Olympians recognized that the new toys they’d given their mortals were strong tools in the right hands and explosive mistakes in the wrong hands. To ensure the magical artifacts weren’t misused, Zeus created the Museum of Power in Nox. To guard the building, Poseidon set powerful enchantments around it and Hades brought Argus back from the dead to defend it.
742BCE: Enough vampires had arisen in Cimmeria to form a community centered in Crux. They pooled their resources to acquire blood to drink. They offered gold in exchange for blood. This collection of gold and blood grew into the Bank of Lamentation, one of the most securely guarded locations in Cimmeria.
647BCE: The blue dragons of Shacklack took advantage of the sand giant genocide to attack fire giant tribes in the desert. Without their sand giant allies, the fire giants had weaknesses in their defensive network. Many fire giants were wiped out, relocated, or swore fealty to the blue dragons.
646BCE: Chirrigar the fire giant’s tribe was wiped out. Without a home he wandered through the desert and came upon an abandoned scepter. He grasped the rod and felt tremendous power flow into him. He went to the cave of the dragon that had slain his tribe and killed it in return. Chirrigar claimed the dragon’s hoard for himself and then left Shacklack Desert to avoid retribution.
645BCE: Chirrigar spread the dragon’s wealth across Eastern Cimmeria. He told stories of a new city he was founding east of the Aral Sea.
644BCE: Chirrigar went east of the Aral Sea and planted a large piece of quartz he had found his dragon treasure hoard. The quartz grew into the stunning ice city of Dorrowsan.
520BCE: The old lich of Crux, Vectra, developed a new spell of unimaginable destruction. The magic was capable of wiping out all life within a three mile radius of the casting. Vectra demonstrated the spell and then opened negotiations with various governments to sell it. She sold copies of the devastation spell to Xoria, Persia, Ethiopia, and some of the Indian kingdoms.
Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 57
Cimmerian Timeline Part 51
Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 50
A little more mixing of history and fantasy. The Persians invaded Scythia in 513BCE to scare off the Scythians before the Persian invasion of Greece. In the real world the Scythians/Amazons just ran away and came back after the Persians left. In my version they ran away to their colony in Cimmeria. Also the founding of Tectoctar.
513BCE: The Persian Shah Darius declared war on the Amazons and other tribes north of the Black Sea to pre-emptively protect his borders during his future campaign in Greece.
512BCE: Facing overwhelming odds against the massive Persian army, the Amazons abandoned their homeland north of the Black Sea. Queen Idanthyrsia relocated the entire kingdom to Dradelden in Cimmeria.
509BCE: With the additional force at Dradelden the Amazons sought not just to extract tribute from Western Cimmeria, but to rule it outright. Queen Idanthyrsia personally led the strike against Cecilia and Makotako. Cecilia capitulated quickly. Makotako resisted and Idanthyrsia besieged the city.
508BCE: Aid for Makotako arrived from Gazeara. King Shardamar came to relieve his cousin with the army of Gazeara. Queen Idanthyrsia led the Amazons to engage both armies in battle and soundly defeated both. She personally slew King Cordant of Makotako. Idanthyrsia forced Shardamar to swear fealty to the Amazons and placed a subordinate as military governor of Makotako.
507BCE: Queen Idanthyrsia turned the Amazon war horde against the Xorian Kingdom. King Gigontaya of Xoria had made an alliance with King Aeetes of Colchis. The two armies stood together against the Amazons. The two sides maneuvered around each other, neither wishing to risk everything in a single engagement.
506BCE: General Tectoctar grew frustrated with King Gigontaya’s refusal to engage the enemy. He seceded from the Xorian Kingdom and took his army north.
Fearing that other generals might follow Tectoctar’s example, Gigontaya finally fought the Amazons in battle.Once again, Idanthyrsia slew a king in combat. She cut down Gigontaya, but Aeetes returned the favor and killed Idanthyrsia with magical blasts. With no other to match his power, Aeetes laid waste to the Amazon army. They retreated and peace terms were agreed upon.
Young Prince Demotinira succeeded his father to the crown of Xoria.
505BCE: Tectoctar settled his troops in Danar’s Swamp upon receiving a sign from Zeus. Tectoctar had his lieutenant general give him mind-reading powers to keep the troops in line as they founded their new city named after him, Tectoctar.
504BCE: The city of Tectoctar was well established within the marshes, but the strain of hearing everyone’s thoughts took its toll on General Tectoctar. He went insane and fled into the swamp, never to be seen again.
Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 52
Cimmerian Timeline Part 32
Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 31
841BCE: A group of humans, elves, and halflings settled a small village at a river junction in the Aractrashan Jungle. It was an important trading post for hunters and traders. Many visitors stayed at the village inn, the Inn of Lost Souls. The village was named Satronwook.
820BCE: Dionysus and Pan began their parade tour of the Caspian starting at the Persian trade post of Baku. They traveled northward, keeping the Sea on their right.
816BCE: Dionysus and Pan arrived at Satronwook. Dionysus created the famous alcohol fountain and the pair founded the drinking contest that now decides the leadership of Satronwook. The first winner was a halfling woman, Baradera, who the contest is named after. Dionysus crowned her and turned her into a magically intelligent panda. He gave Panda Baradera the command of a pack of blink dogs to enforce her decree for a single year until the drinking contest was held again.
815BCE: The Baradera of Satronwook crowned a new Panda, but Baradera was shocked to learn that she would not be transforming back into a halfling. Her true form would forever be that of a talking panda. The blink dogs served the new Panda, enforcing her decrees and those of all previous Pandas.
The novelty of Satronwook’s leadership and alcohol fountain attracted many people to the village and it grew into a sizable trading town.
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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 1
When the Olympians moved east they gave the Cimmerians additional magic power. These powers provided great entertainment for the Olympians, but were not without their costs. The Greek gods occasionally came into contact with other pantheons, most notably the Persian and Goblin pantheons. The additional power of mortals in Cimmeria attracted the attention of another semi-divine entity, the Lich-queen of the Githyanki.
The githyanki come from a place between dimensions known as the Astral Plane. They wield strange psionic magic and are led by an immortal despot, the Lich-queen. While immortal, her power still pales before a true god’s. She constantly hungers for more power. Any githyanki who rise above a certain level are summoned to the Lich-queen’s court to be consumed by their monarch. She absorbs their power into herself, becoming stronger by inches as she comes closer and closer to godhood.
The Lich-queen observed the growing power of the mortals in Cimmeria and sent a squadron of githyanki soldiers to investigate. They attacked the small town of Shalerton, kidnapping several residents to torture and interrogate for information about the new dimension they had invaded.
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Kingdoms Sprouting Up Part 3
Previous: Kingdoms Sprouting Up Part 2
Characters of Cimmeria: Preta
The high concentration of dragovinians in Nox has also put a great deal of pressure upon the common people in the capital city. The nobles and others gifted with dragovinian status don’t spend all their time drinking exotic imported blood. Usually they gain their sustenance from the weekly ceremony where citizens are forced to gather in dragovinian churches to “donate.” Bloodletting is spread throughout the populace to prevent injury or death, but the practice remains demeaning. Coupled with the everyday depredations of the dragovinians due to their naturally evil disposition and the people of Nox are ready to revolt. The dragovinian beasts prevent direct action within the city, so many people have fled the city to join the Rebellion in Bigby’s Forest.
After King Jevaninada II came to power his first act was to end the vampiric occupation of Jeutontic. He and Blendegad singlehandedly eliminated most of the vampires from the city. The city’s jubilant cries soon turned to sounds of anguish as the old vampires were replaced with new dragovinians. Many citizens tried to move to Persia, but Blendegad devoured all who fled the city. The people of Jeutontic bowed their heads and offered their necks to the new vampires while simultaneously plotting rebellion. The rebels’ efforts haven’t produced any tangible results yet and the introduction of dragovinian beasts to ceaselessly watch the streets and alleys of the city hasn’t helped matters.
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i just started self-studying arabic and i'm having trouble producing some of the sounds, specifically ض (ḍad), ظ (ẓa), ص (ṣad) and ط (ṭa). all four are pharyngealized fricatives/plosives and although i've looked up videos, i'm still unsure about how to produce them.
does anyone have any tips or resources on how to produce pharyngealized sounds?
Learning from a native speaker is obviously the best way, but unfortunately there are no native speakers of classical Arabic.
Believe it or not, the best sources of instruction here are the ancient ones, al-Farahidi and Sibawayhi.
First, all four are double stops. Both the back and the front of the tongue constrict the air flow. Saud, tta, and zha air fairly easy. Daud is a whole 'nother story - there's a reason they called it the language of Daud, it's a little unusual. When you make a Daud, you drive air on the sides of your tongue, while making a double stop.
So the trick is to drive air on both sides of the tongue. To see (feel) what this means, play around with English /l/. It ain't easy but try to make the air flow on the left side, then the right side, then both sides of your tongue. Once you can do that, you can do Daud- and I promise the locals will be awed (pun intended).
• P.S. I respectfully but strongly disagree with @fdb. It's enormously helpful to have a good description of what the vocal organs are doing. The sound of a language are vocal gestures, physical movements. We speak with our (entire) bodies. Would you take piano lessons from a teacher who said "just listen to what I play and try to imitate it"? Never. Treat your task as a mechanical one, just like teaching your fingers to play a C chord. Eventually it will become second nature, but until then pay close attention to what your mouth is doing when you try to make sounds. Adjust to taste.
– mobileink
Apr 28 '16 at 21:35
• 1
P.P.S. The YouTube video suggested by @Greg Lee is grossly inaccurate. Just one example: it is not the case that ta and tta have the same point of (front) articulation! The latter is not a variant of the latter, any more than English /d/ is a variant of English /t/. Or that Arabic /q/ is a variant of Arabic /k/! Beware of people who try to use English to explain Arabic.
– mobileink
Apr 28 '16 at 21:53
• I agree totally with your last point.
– fdb
Apr 28 '16 at 22:46
I do not think that suggestions on where to put your tongue or the like are going to be very useful. You need to listen to how Arabic speakers produce them and try to imitate it. Start with the dark l in الله and move on from there. If you want to get a good classical pronunciation listen to the Qur’an recitation on sites like http://www.quranexplorer.com/Quran/ and pick the slowest styles of recitation.
If you are not able to produce the pharyngeals by themselves, I would start there. This may sound frivolous, but I tell my students that in order to get a feel for these sounds, pretend that you are trying to cough up a piece of popcorn stuck in your throat! Once you get a feel for it, then try to sustain the sound for a short time. It's like an /h/ but higher. Since these are fricatives, you should be able to maintain them. Next, holding that same articulation, try voicing at the same time: sort of like "humming" the pharyngeal "h". Once you master that, try holding the pharyngeal while simultaneously making a /t/, /d/, or /s/.
• Do you know any Arabic at all? Are you really claiming that you produce ط by simultaneously saying ح and ت?
– fdb
Feb 13 '16 at 22:43
Disclaimer: I don't know Arabic, but this Youtube video video sounds good, to me. Except, I suspect there may be some confusion in the articulatory explanation given. What the speaker is describing is an articulation produced by retracting the root of the tongue, which I think is better described as uvularization than pharyngealization. Both of these are ways to narrow the pharynx, but retracting the tongue root does not necessarily use the pharyngeal muscles in the throat, which are used in swallowing.
For uvularization, the "deepening" of the tone, and the association with lip rounding, can be explained as being due to enlarging the cavity of the mouth. When the tongue is retracted, its front portion occupies less room in the oral cavity, and the larger cavity produces a lower pitched resonance. Lip rounding also produces a lower pitched resonance, but in a different way, since the oral cavity is in effect lengthened in front of the lips.
But I don't see why contracting the pharyngeal muscles should have this "deepening" effect on tonality.
The most important thing to have is good recorded materials, made by a native speaker (which nixes that YouTube vid). Qur'anic and Classical Arabic have no first-language speakers, but there are good Qur'an recitations (quite a number) as fdb mentions. The downside is that Qur'anic recitation is not natural speech, plus the room acoustics are not ideal for language learning. The Foreign Service Institute materials for Written Arabic are available online, which includes recordings: they also have Saudi and Levantine materials (also not ideal recordings, but more useful). The UCLA Language Materials page also links to various sources for Arabic, which largely reduce to the Georgetown materials, The UCLA phonetic archive has recordings of speakers of different dialects (not MSA, since there are no first language speakers of MSA). The transcriptions in the latter can be a bit idiosyncratic (I'm being nice -- one would need to re-transcribe some of the data), but the recordings are of some value in being acoustically reasonable-quality and covering a range of dialects.
Pronunciation of ظ is particularly variable, and one can encounter both [ðˤ] and [zˤ], but also it may be pronounced the same as ض which may be as [dˤ] or [zˤ] when produced by a native speaker of a dialect that historically merged those two phonemes.
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Ancient Hebrew, also known as Biblical Hebrew or Classical Hebrew, is the original language of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible also known as the Torah or Tanakh which is the religious text of Judiasm. … The Dead Sea Scrolls are the best example of Biblical Hebrew that exist today.
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Military Wiki
Chinese military before 1911
Participant in wars involving China
Active 2200 BCE – 1911 CE
Leaders Emperor of China
Area of
China, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Mongolia
Part of Chinese Empire
Opponents Donghu, Xirong, Vietnam, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qiang, Jie, Didisambiguation needed, Korea, Khitan, Gokturks, Tibetans, Jurchens, Mongols, Japan, and others.
Ever since Chinese civilization was founded, organized military forces have existed throughout China. The recorded military history of China extends from about 2200 BC to the present day.[1] Although traditional Chinese Confucian philosophy favoured peaceful political solutions and showed contempt for brute military force, the military was influential in most Chinese states. The Chinese pioneered the use of crossbows, advanced metallurgical standardization for arms and armor, early gunpowder weapons, and other advanced weapons, but also adopted nomadic cavalry[2] and Western military technology.[3] In addition, China's armies also benefited from an advanced logistics system as well as a rich strategic tradition, beginning with Sun Tzu's The Art of War, that deeply influenced military thought.[4]
History of military organization[]
The military history of China stretches from roughly 2200 BC to the present day. Chinese armies were advanced and powerful, especially after the Warring States period.[citation needed] These armies were tasked with the twofold goal of defending China and her subject peoples from foreign intruders, and with expanding China's territory and influence across Asia[5]
Pre-Warring States[]
During the Shang and Western Zhou times, warfare was seen as an aristocratic affair, complete with protocols that may be compared to the chivalry of the European knight.[7] States would not attack other states while mourning its ruler. Ruling houses would not be completely exterminated so descendants would be left to honor their ancestors.[8]
Warring States[]
An iron sword and two bronze swords from the Warring States period (403–221 BC)
By the time of the Warring States, reforms began that abolished feudalism and created powerful, centralized states. The power of the aristocracy was curbed and for the first time, professional generals were appointed on merit, rather than birth. Technological advances such as iron weapons and crossbows put the chariot-riding nobility out of business and favored large, professional standing armies, who were well-supplied and could fight a sustained campaign. The size of armies increased; whereas before 500 BC Chinese field armies numbered in the tens of thousands, by 300 BC armies regularly included up to a couple of hundred thousand drafted infantry, accompanied by cavalry. For example, during the Battle of Changping the state of Qin drafted all males over 15 years of age. Although these conscripts with one to two years of training would be no match individually against aristocratic warriors with years of experience, they made up for it with superior standardization, discipline, organization, and size.[10] Although most soldiers were conscripts, it was also common to select soldiers based on specific qualifications. The Confucian adviser Xun Zi claimed that foot soldiers from the Wei state were required to wear armor and helmets, shoulder a crossbow with fifty arrows, strap a spear and sword, carry three day's supply of rations, and all the while march 50 kilometers in a day. When a man meets this requirement, his household would be exempted from all corvée labor obligations. He would also be given special tax benefits on land and housing. However, this policy made soldiers in the Wei state difficult to replace.[11]
In addition, cavalry was introduced. The first recorded use of cavalry took place in the Battle of Maling, in which general Pang Juan of Wei led his division of 5,000 cavalry into a trap by Qi forces. In 307 BC, King Wuling of Zhao ordered the adoption of nomadic clothing in order to train his own division of cavalry archers.[12]
Ceramic statues of infantry and cavalry, from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD)
The structure of the army also changed in this period. While the Qin had utilized a conscript army, by Eastern Han, the army was made up largely of volunteers and conscription could be avoided by paying a fee.[18] Those who presented the government with supplies, horses, or slaves were also exempted from conscription.[19]
Three Kingdoms–Jin[]
Advances such as the stirrup helped make cavalry forces more effective.
A Chinese terracotta figurine of a cataphract horse and rider, created during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386 to 534 AD).
Era of division[]
Armed riders on horseback, a tomb mural from the Northern Qi (550–557 AD) period
In 581 AD, the Chinese Yang Jian forced the Xianbei ruler to abdicate, founding the Sui Dynasty and restoring Chinese rule in the North. By 589 AD, he had unified much of China.[26]
Tibetan tradition says that the Tang Dynasty seized the Tibetan capital at Lhasa in 650.[30] In 763 the Tibetans captured the Tang capital at Chang'an, for fifteen days during the An Shi Rebellion.
In 756, over 4,000 Arab mercenaries joined the Chinese against An Lushan. They remained in China, and some of them were ancestors of the Hui people.[31][32][33][34] During the Tang Dynasty, 3,000 Chinese soldiers, and 3,000 Muslim soldiers were traded to each other in an agreement.[35]
However, in the conquest of China, the Mongols also adopted gunpowder weapons such as the thundercrash bomb and thousands of Chinese infantry and naval forces into the Mongol army. Another weapon adopted by the Mongols were Saracen counterweight trebuchets designed by Muslim engineers; these proved decisive in the Siege of Xiangyang, whose capture by the Mongols precipitated the beginning of the end for the Song Dynasty.[43][44][45] The Mongol military system began to collapse after the 14th century and by 1368 the Mongols was driven out by the Chinese Ming Dynasty.[46]
The Mongols under Genghis Khan and Hulagu also brought Chinese artillery specialists within their armies who specialized in mangonels, to Persia.[47]
During the Mongol invasion of Iraq, 1,000 Chinese crossbowmen who utilized fire arrows participated in the invasion, along with the Mongol tribesmen.[48] In 1258 the commander of the Mongol Hulagu Khan's forces besieging Baghdad was a Chinese General Guo Kan.[49] The Chinese General Guo Kan was then made Governor of Baghdad by Hulagu, who also brought Chinese technicians specializing in hydraulics to engineer the Tigris Euphrates basin irrigation systems.[50] This resulted in the middle east being permeated by major Chinese influence during Hulagu's reign.[51]
Ming military institutions were largely responsible for the success of Ming's armies. The early Ming's military was organized by the Wei-suo system, which split the army up into numerous "Wei" or commands throughout the Ming frontiers. Each wei was to be self-sufficient in agriculture, with the troops stationed there farming as well as training.[52] This system also forced soldiers to serve hereditarily in the army; although effective in initially taking control of the empire, this military system proved unviable in the long run and collapsed in the 1430s,[53] with Ming reverted to a professional volunteer army similar to Tang, Song and Later Han.
At the Second Battle of Tamao (1522) Chinese ships knocked out two Portuguese ships, who were armed with gunpowder weapons, and forced the Portuguese to retreat.[55][56]
In 1662, Chinese and European arms clashed when a Ming-loyalist army of 25,000 led by Koxinga forced Dutch East India Company garrison of 2,000 on Taiwan into surrender, after a final assault during seven month long siege.[57] The final blow to the Company's defense came when a Dutch defector, who would warn Koxinga of a life threatening bombardment,[58] had pointed the inactive besieging army to the weak points of the Dutch star-shaped fort.[59] While the mainstay of the Chinese forces were archers,[57] the Chinese used cannons too during the siege,[60][61] which however the European eye-witnesses did not judge as effective as the Dutch batteries.[62] The Dutch lost five ships and 130 men in an attempt to relieve the siege of the fortress.[60]
Portrait of Wu Fu, Brigadier General of the Gansu Region. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk; 1760 AD; inscribed, and with one seal of the Qianlong Emperor.
The Qing, founded by Manchus, resembled the Yuan as another conquest dynasty. The Qing military system depended on the "bannermen" - Manchus who soldiered as a profession. However, the Qing also incorporated Chinese units into their army, known as the "green armies", and large number of Han Chinese and Koreans of Liao Dong(遼東) were enlisted into the Three Banner Army (booi ilan gusa), which were under direct command of the Manchu Emperor. Unlike the Song and Ming, however, the Qing armies had a neglect for firearms, and did not develop them in any significant way. In addition, the Qing armies also contained a much higher proportion of cavalry than Chinese dynasties, due to the fact the Jurchens were nomads before their rise to rule all of China.[63]
The Qing dynasty engaged a western power for the second time in Chinese history, during the Russian–Manchu border conflicts, again defeating them in battle. The frontier in the south-west was extended slowly, in 1701 the Qing defeated the Tibetans at the Battle of Dartsedo. The Manchus extended their power to the west, conquering modern Xinjiang and establishing a protectorate over Tibet. After the demise of the Zunghar Khanate, Manchu authority in Tibet faced only weak opposition. In 1792-1793 the Qing carried out the military campaign to drive the Gurkhas out of Tibet and only stopped their chase near Kathmandu. In 1841 the Sino-Sikh war ended with the expulsion of a Sikh army.
Military philosophy[]
Chinese military thought's most famous tome is Sun Tzu's Art of war, written in the Warring States Era. In the book, Sun Tzu laid out several important cornerstones of military thought, such as:
• The importance of intelligence.[66]
• The importance of manoeuvring so your enemy is hit in his weakened spots.[67]
• The importance of morale.[68]
• How to conduct diplomacy so that you gain more allies and the enemy lose allies.[69]
• Having the moral advantage.[69]
• The importance of national unity.[69]
• All warfare is based on deception.[70]
• The importance of logistics.[71]
• The proper relationship between the ruler and the general. Sun Tzu holds the ruler should not interfere in military affairs.
• Difference between Strategic and Tactical strategy.[68]
• No country has benefited from a prolonged war.[68]
• Subduing an enemy without using force is best.[68]
Sun Tzu's work became the cornerstone of military thought, which grew rapidly. By the Han Dynasty, no less than 11 schools of military thought were recognized. During the Song Dynasty, a military academy was established.
Military exams and degrees[]
Chinese Troops trained by Foreigners 1867-1868
China began to extensively modernize its military in the late 19th century. It purchased the most modern Krupp artillery and Mauser repeater magazine rifles from Germany, in addition to mines and Torpedoes. It used these with sniper, pincer, and ambush tactics, and China also began to reorganize its military, adding engineer companies and artillery brigades. Mining, engineering, flooding, and simultaneous multiple attacks were employed by Chinese troops along with modern artillery.[72]
Several western sources reported that the Imperial Chinese military under the direction of Li Hongzhang acquired "Electric torpedoes", which were deployed in numerous waterways along with fortresses and numerous other modern military weapons acquired by China.[73] At the Tientsin Arsenal in 1876, the Chinese developed the capacity to manufacture these "electric torpedoes" on their own.[74] Numerous modern ships equipped with Krupp guns, electricity, Gatling guns, torpedoes, and other modern weapons were acquired by the Qing dynasty from western powers. They were manned by western trained Chinese officers.[75]
The Chinese armies which received the modern equipment and training were the Han Chinese Xiang Army, the Muslim Kansu Braves,[76] and three Manchu Banner Divisions. The three Manchu divisions were destroyed in the Boxer Rebellion.[77] The Xiang Army employed the new weaponry to achieve victory in the Dungan revolt, with German Dreyse Needle Guns and Krupp artillery. The Lanzhou arsenal in China in 1875 was able to produce modern European munitions and artillery by itself, with no foreign help.[78] A Russian even saw the arsenal make "steel rifle-barrelled breechloaders".[79]
Chinese military officials were interested in western guns, and eagerly purchased them. Modern arsenals were established at places like Hanyang Arsenal, which produced German Mauser rifles and mountain guns.[80] The Nanjing arsenal was making Hotchkiss, Maxim, and Nordenfeld guns in 1892. A Frenchman reported that China had the ability to reverse engineer any western weapon they needed. A British also noted that Chinese were efficient at reverse engineering foreign weapons and building their own versions.In the first Opium War the Chinese copied the British weapons and upgraded their military hardware while the fighting was going on. Tianjin arsenal made Dahlgren guns, 10,000 Remington rifles monthly, as of 1872. Li Hongzhang in 1890 added equipment, allowing it to make Maxim Machine guns, Nordenfelt cannons, Krupp guns, and ammunition for all of these. China was extremely familiar with R&D on German military hardware.[81] Gatling guns and other artillery were purchased by the Chinese military from western countries.[82] Montigny mitrailleuse guns were also imported from France.[83]
In addition to modern equipment, Chinese weapons, like fire arrows, light mortars, dadao swords, matchlocks, arrows and bows, and halberds continued to be used alongside the western weaponry. Chinese forces used traditional Chinese weaponns to great effect. Chinese gingal guns firing massive shells were used accurately, and inflicted severe wounds and death on the Allied troops during the Boxer Rebellion.[84] In some cases, primitive weapons like Chinese spears were more effective than British bayonets in close quarter fighting.[85]
Chinese Qing Empire officers with the French Montigny mitrailleuse gun.
During the Boxer Rebellion, Imperial Chinese forces deployed a weapon called "electric mines" on June 15, at the river Peiho river before the Battle of Dagu Forts (1900), to prevent the western Eight-Nation Alliance from sending ships to attack. This was reported by American military intelligence in the United States. War Dept. by the United States. Adjutant-General's Office. Military Information Division.[86][87] Different Chinese armies were modernized to different degrees by the Qing dynasty. For example, during the Boxer Rebellion, in contrast to the Manchu and other Chinese soldiers who used arrows and bows, the Muslim Kansu Braves cavalry had the newest carbine rifles.[88] The Muslim Kansu Braves used the weaponry to inflict numerous defeats upon western armies in the Boxer Rebellion, in the Battle of Langfang, and, numerous other engagements around Tianjin.[72][89] The Times noted that "10,000 European troops where held in check by 15,000 Chinese braves". Chinese artillery fire caused a steady stream of casualties upon the western soldiers. During an engagement on the 11th, heavy casualties were inflicted on the French and Japanese, the British and Russians lost some men.[90] Chinese artillerymen during the battle also learned how to use their German bought Krupp artillery accurately, outperforming European gunners. The Chinese artillery shells slammed right on target into the western armies military areas.[91] The Chinese military victories shattered the western claim that a foreign army could occupy China without opposition from the Chinese.[92][93]
Equipment and technology[]
In their various campaigns, the Chinese armies through the ages, employed a variety of equipment in the different arms of the army. The most notable weaponry used by the Chinese consisted of crossbows, rockets, gunpowder weapons, and other "exotic weapons", but the Chinese also made many advances on conventional iron weapons such as swords and spears that were far superior to other contemporary weapons.
Chinese repeating crossbow (non-recurve version - ones used for war would be recurved)
The crossbow, invented by Chinese in the 4th century BC,[94] and by Greeks in the 5th century BC,[95] was considered the most important weapon of the Chinese armies.[citation needed] The mass use of crossbows allowed Chinese armies to deploy huge amounts of firepower, due to the crossbow's deadly penetration, long range, and rapid rate of fire[citation needed]. As early as the 4th century BC, Chinese texts describe armies employing up to 10,000 crossbowmen in combat, where their impact was decisive[citation needed].
Crossbow manufacture was very complex, due to the nature of the firing bolt. Historian Homer Dubs claim that the crossbow firing mechanism "was almost as complex as a rifle bolt, and could only be reproduced by very competent mechanics.[citation needed] This gave an additional advantage, as this made the crossbow "capture-proof" as even if China's barbarian enemies captured them they would not be able to reproduce the weapon[citation needed]. Crossbow ammunition could also only be used in crossbows, and was useless in the conventional bows employed by China's nomadic enemies.[citation needed]
In combat, crossbows were often fitted with grid sights to help aim, and several different sizes were used[citation needed]. During the Song Dynasty, huge artillery crossbows were used that could shoot several bolts at once, killing many men at a time[citation needed]. Even cavalrymen were sometimes issued with crossbows. It was recorded that the crossbow could "penetrate a large elm from a distance of one hundred and forty paces"[citation needed]. Repeating crossbows were introduced in the 11th century, which had a very high rate of fire; 100 men could discharge 2000 bolts in 15 seconds, with a range of 200 yards. This weapon became the standard crossbow used during the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties.[citation needed]
Gunpowder weapons[]
As inventors of gunpowder, the Chinese were the first to deploy gunpowder weapons. A large variety of gunpowder weapons were produced, including guns, cannons, mines, the flamethrower, bombs, and rockets. After the rise of the Ming Dynasty, China began to lose its lead in gunpowder weapons to the west.[96] This became partially evident when the Manchus' began to rely on the Jesuits to run their cannon foundry,[3] at a time when European powers had assumed the global lead in gunpowder warfare through their Military Revolution.[97][98][99]
Guns and cannons[]
Hand cannon from the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)
The first "proto-gun", the fire lance, was introduced in 905 AD. This consisted of a bamboo or metal tube attached to a spear filled with gunpowder that could be ignited at will, with a range of five metres. It was capable of killing or maiming several soldiers at a time and was mass-produced and used especially in the defense of cities. Later versions of the fire lance dropped the spear point and had more gunpowder content.[citation needed]
Traditionally interpreted as a wind god, a sculpture in Sichuan was found holding a bombard, and the date must be as early as AD 1128[100] These cast-iron hand cannons and erupters were mostly fitted to ships and fortifications for defense.
Cannon were used by Ming dynasty forces at the Battle of Lake Poyang.[101] Ming dynasty era ships had bronze cannon. One shipwreck in Shandong had a cannon dated to 1377 and an anchor dated to 1372.[102] From the 13th to 15th centuries cannon armed Chinese ships also traveled throughout south east Asia.[103]
Bombs, grenades and mines[]
High explosive bombs were another innovation developed by the Chinese in the 10th century. These consisted largely of round objects covered with paper or bamboo filled with gunpowder that would explode upon contact and set fire to anything flammable. These weapons, known as "thunderclap bombs" were used by defenders in sieges on attacking enemies and also by trebuchets who hurled huge numbers of them onto the enemy.[citation needed] A new improved version of these bombs, called the "thunder-crash" bomb, was introduced in the 13th century that was covered in cast iron, highly explosive and hurled shrapnel at the enemy. These weapons were not only used by Song China, but also its Jur'chen and Mongol enemies. In the history of the Jur'chen Jin dynasty, the use of cast-iron gunpowder bombs against the Mongols is described.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese technology had progressed to making large land mines, in which many of them were deployed on the northern border.
Flamethrowers were employed in naval combat in the Yangtze river, and large-scale use of the flamethrower is recorded in 975, when the Southern Tang navy employed flamethrowers against Song naval forces, but the wind blew the other way, causing the Southern Tang fleet to be immolated, and allowing the Song to conquer South China.[citation needed] During Song times, the flamethrower was used not only in naval combat but also in defense of cities, where they were placed on the city walls to incinerate any attacking soldiers.[citation needed]
During the Ming dynasty, the design of rockets were further refined and multi-stage rockets and large batteries of rockets were produced.[citation needed] Multi-stage rockets were introduced for naval combat.[citation needed] Like other technology, knowledge of rockets were transmitted to the Middle East and the West through the Mongols, where they were described by Arabs as "Chinese arrows".[citation needed]
In the 2nd century BC, the Han began to produce steel from cast iron[citation needed]. New steel weapons were manufactured that gave Chinese infantry an edge in close-range fighting, though swords and blades were also used[citation needed]. In addition, the Chinese infantry were given extremely heavy armor in order to withstand cavalry charges, some 29.8 kg of armor during the Song Dynasty. Unclear reference .[104][citation needed]
The cavalry was equipped with heavy armor in order to crush a line of infantry, though light cavalry was used for reconnaissance. However, Chinese armies lacked horses and their cavalry were often inferior to their horse archer opponents. Therefore, in most of these campaigns, the cavalry had to rely on the infantry to provide support.[105] Between the Jin and Tang dynasty, fully armored cataphracts were introduced in combat. An important innovation was the invention of the stirrup. From early Indian invention,[106][107] which allowed cavalrymen to be much more effective in combat; this innovation later spread to East north and west via the nomadic populations of central Asia and to west by the Avars. However, some believe northern nomads were responsible for this innovation.[108][109][110]
Some authors, such as Lynn White, claim the use of the stirrup in Europe stimulated development of the medieval knights which characterized feudal Europe. However, this thesis was disputed in the Great Stirrup Controversy by historians such as Bernard Bachrach,[111] although it has been pointed out that the Carolingian riders may have been the most expert cavalry of all at its use.[112]
Chemical weapons[]
[citation needed]
During the Han Dynasty, state manufacturers were producing stink bombs and tear gas bombs that were used effectively to suppress a revolt in 178 AD[citation needed] Poisionous materials were also employed in rockets and crossbow ammunition to increase their effectiveness.[citation needed]
The Chinese armies also benefited from a logistics system that could supply hundreds of thousands of men at a time.[citation needed] An important innovation by the Chinese was the introduction of an efficient horse harness in the 4th century BC[citation needed], strapped to the chest instead of the neck, an innovation later expanded to a collar harness. This innovation, along with the wheelbarrow, allowed large-scale transportation to occur, allowing huge armies numbering hundreds of thousands of men in the field.[citation needed]
Chinese armies were also backed by a vast complex of arms-producing factories. State-owned factories turned out weapons by the thousands, though some dynasties (such as the Later Han) privatized their arms industry and acquired weapons from private merchants.[citation needed]
A tiger tally or hǔfú (虎符), made of bronze with gold inlay, found in the tomb of the King of Nanyue at Guangzhou, from the Western Han Dynasty, dated 2nd century BC. Tiger Tallies were separated into two pieces, one held by the emperor, the other given to a military commander as a symbol of imperial authority and the ability to command troops.
In early Chinese armies, command of armies was based on birth rather than merit. For example, in the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period (771 BC–476 BC), command was delegated to the ruler, the crown prince, and the second son. By the time of the Warring States Period, generals were appointed based on merit rather than birth, the majority of whom were talented individuals who gradually rose through the ranks.[113]
Nevertheless, Chinese armies were sometimes commanded by individuals other than generals. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, the emperor instituted "Army supervisors" who spied on the generals and interfered in their commands, although most of these practices were short-lived as they disrupted the efficiency of the army.[114]
See also[]
1. Li and Zheng (2001), 2
2. H. G. Creel: "The Role of the Horse in Chinese History", The American Historical Review, Vol. 70, No. 3 (1965), pp. 647–672 (649f.)
3. 3.0 3.1 Frederic E. Wakeman: The great enterprise: the Manchu reconstruction of imperial order in seventeenth-century China, Vol. 1 (1985), ISBN 978-0-520-04804-1, p. 77
4. Griffith (2006), 1
5. 5.0 5.1 Li and Zheng (2001), 212
6. Griffith (2006), 23-24
7. 7.0 7.1 Sources of East Asian Tradition, Theodore De Bary(Columbia University Press 2008), p. 119
8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Pre-modern East Asia: To 1800: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, ed. Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall, and James Palais (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006), p. 29
9. Griffith (2006), 49-61
11. Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsun Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu, ed. Burton Watson (New York and London, 1967), p. 61
12. Graff (2002), 22
16. Li and Zheng(2001), 212-247
17. Li and Zheng (2001), 247-249
18. de Crespigny (2007), 564–565 & 1234; Hucker (1975), 166
19. Bielenstein (1980), 114.
20. Ebrey (1999), 61
22. Ebrey (1999), 62-63.
23. 23.0 23.1 Li and Zheng (2001), 428-434
24. Li and Zheng (2001), 648-649
25. Ebrey(1999), 63
26. Li and Zheng (2001), 554
27. Ebrey (1999), 76
28. Ji et al (2005), Vol 2, 19
29. Ebrey (1999), 92
30. Charles Bell (1992). "Tibet Past and Present". CUP Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. p. 28. ISBN 81-208-1048-1. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
35. Jean Alphonse Keim (1951). Panorama de la Chine. Hachette. p. 121. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
36. Li and Zheng (2001), 822
37. Li and Zheng (2001), 859
38. Li and Zheng (2001), 868
39. Ebrey (1999), 99
40. Li and Zheng (2001), 877
41. 41.0 41.1 Ji et al (2005), Vol 2, 84
42. James P. Delgado (2008). Khubilai Khan's lost fleet: in search of a legendary armada. University of California Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-520-25976-9. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
45. Stephen Turnbull (2003). Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400. Osprey Publishing. pp. 63–64. ISBN 1-84176-523-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
46. Ebrey (1999), 140
47. J. A. Boyle (1968). J. A. Boyle. ed. The Cambridge History of Iran (reprint, reissue, illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 417. ISBN 0-521-06936-X. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
48. Lillian Craig Harris (1993). China considers the Middle East (illustrated ed.). Tauris. p. 26. ISBN 1-85043-598-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
49. Jacques Gernet (1996). A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 377. ISBN 0-521-49781-7. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
50. Thomas Francis Carter (1955). The invention of printing in China and its spread westward (2 ed.). Ronald Press Co.. p. 171. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
52. Dreyer (1988), 104
53. Dreyer (1988), 105
54. Li and Zheng (2001), 950
55. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. China Branch (1895). Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for the year ..., Volumes 27-28. The Branch. p. 44. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
56. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. North-China Branch (1894). Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volumes 26-27. The Branch. p. 44. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
57. 57.0 57.1 Donald F. Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley (1998). Asia in the Making of Europe: A Century of Advance : East Asia. University of Chicago Press. p. 1821. ISBN 0-226-46769-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
58. Rev. WM. Campbell: "Formosa under the Dutch. Described from contemporary Records with Explanatory Notes and a Bibliography of the Island", originally published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. London 1903, republished by SMC Publishing Inc. 1992, ISBN 957-638-083-9, p. 452
60. 60.0 60.1 Andrade, Tonio. "How Taiwan Became Chinese Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century Chapter 11 The Fall of Dutch Taiwan". Columbia University Press. Retrieved 2010-06-28. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Andrade" defined multiple times with different content
61. Lynn A. Struve (1998). Voices from the Ming-Qing cataclysm: China in tigers' jaws. Yale University Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-300-07553-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
63. Li and Zheng (2001), 1018
64. Li and Zheng (2001), 1082
65. Li and Zheng (2001), 1133
66. Griffith (2006), 67
67. Griffith (2006), 65
68. 68.0 68.1 68.2 68.3 Griffith (2006), 63
69. 69.0 69.1 69.2 Griffith (2006), 62
70. Griffith (2006), 64
71. Griffith (2006), 106
73. Bret Harte (1886). Overland monthly and Out West magazine. A. Roman & Company. p. 425. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
75. Richard N. J. Wright (2000). The Chinese steam navy 1862-1945. Naval Institute Press. p. 76. ISBN 1-86176-144-9. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
77. Edward J. M. Rhoads (2001). Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861-1928. University of Washington Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-295-98040-0. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
78. Bruce A. Elleman (2001). Modern Chinese warfare, 1795-1989. Psychology Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-415-21474-2. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
79. John King Fairbank, Kwang-ching Liu, Denis Crispin Twitchett (1980). Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911. Cambridge University Press. p. 240. ISBN 0-521-22029-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
80. Henry Romaine Pattengill (1900). Timely topics, Volume 5. p. 153. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
81. Jane E. Elliott (2002). Some did it for civilisation, some did it for their country: a revised view of the boxer war. Chinese University Press. p. 409. ISBN 962-996-066-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
82. The Overland monthly. Samuel Carson. 1891. p. 435. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
83. "手動機槍". 百步穿楊- 槍械射擊狙擊戰史. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
84. Jane E. Elliott (2002). Some did it for civilisation, some did it for their country: a revised view of the boxer war. Chinese University Press. p. 527. ISBN 962-996-066-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
85. Jane E. Elliott (2002). Some did it for civilisation, some did it for their country: a revised view of the boxer war. Chinese University Press. p. 137. ISBN 962-996-066-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
87. Stephan L'H. Slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanza Chaffee, United States. Adjutant-General's Office. Military Information Division (1901). Reports on military operations in South Africa and China. G.P.O.. p. 533.,+it+was+learned+that+the+mouth+of+the+river+was+protected+by+electric+mines,+that+the+forts+at+Taku+were&hl=en&ei=uwZgTa6NJMP_lgev1tiYDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=June%2015%2C%20it%20was%20learned%20that%20the%20mouth%20of%20the%20river%20was%20protected%20by%20electric%20mines%2C%20that%20the%20forts%20at%20Taku%20were&f=false. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
88. Diana Preston (2000). The boxer rebellion: the dramatic story of China's war on foreigners that shook the world in the summer of 1900. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 145. ISBN 0-8027-1361-0. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
89. Wood, Frances. "The Boxer Rebellion, 1900: A Selection of Books, Prints and Photographs". The British Library. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
90. Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. F. H. Revell Co.. p. 448. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
91. Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. F. H. Revell Co.. p. 446. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
92. Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. F. H. Revell Co.. p. 443. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
93. Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. F. H. Revell Co.. p. 444. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
94. Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 41.
96. Tittmann, Wilfried (1996), "China, Europa und die Entwicklung der Feuerwaffen", in Lindgren, Uta, Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation (4th ed.), Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, pp. 317–336, ISBN 3-7861-1748-9
97. Michael Roberts (1967): The Military Revolution, 1560-1660 (1956), reprint in Essays in Swedish History, London, pp. 195–225 (217)
98. Parker, Geoffrey (1976): "The "Military Revolution," 1560-1660. A Myth?", The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 195–214
99. Kennedy, Paul (1987): The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, Vintage Books, ISBN 0-679-72019-7, p. 45
100. Gwei-Djen, Lu; Joseph Needham, Phan Chi-Hsing (July 1988). "The Oldest Representation of a Bombard". Technology and Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press) 29 (3): 594–605. doi:10.2307/3105275.
101. R. G. Grant (2005). Battle: a visual journey through 5,000 years of combat (illustrated ed.). DK Pub.. p. 99. ISBN 0-7566-1360-4.
102. Kenneth Warren Chase (2003). Firearms: a global history to 1700 (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-521-82274-2. Retrieved 16 December 2011. "Little is known about their armament, but Chinese ships did carry bronze cannon at this time, as evidenced by the wreck of a small two-masted patrol vessel discovered in Shandong together with its anchor (inscribed 1372) and cannon (inscribed 1377)."
103. Kenneth Warren Chase (2003). Firearms: a global history to 1700 (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 0-521-82274-2. Retrieved 16 December 2011. "Considering that Chinese ships armed with gunpowder weapons, including cannon, visited the region regularly from the 1200s to the 1400s"
104. Li and Zheng (2001), 288
105. Li and Zheng (2001), 531
106. Saddles, Author Russel H. Beatie, Publisher University of Oklahoma Press, 1981, ISBN 080611584X, 9780806115849 P.28
108. Albert Dien: "The stirrup and its effect on Chinese military history", Ars Orientalis, Vol. 16 (1986), pp. 33–56 (38-42)
109. Albert von Le Coq: "Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan: An Account of the Activities and Adventures of the Second and Third German Turfan Expeditions", London: George Allen & Unwin (1928, Repr: 1985), ISBN 0-19-583878-5
110. Liu Han: "Northern Dynasties Tomb Figures of Armored Horse and Rider", K'ao-ku, No. 2, 1959, pp. 97–100
111. Bernard S. Bachrach: "Medieval Siege Warfare: A Reconnaissance", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 58, No. 1 (January 1994), pp. 119–133 (130)
112. DeVries, Kelly; Smith, Robert D. (2007): Medieval Weapons. An Illustrated History of Their Impact, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1-85109-531-5, p. 71
113. Griffith (2006), 24
114. Griffith (2006), 122
Sources and further reading[]
External links[]
This article incorporates text from Encyclopædia of religion and ethics, Volume 8, a publication from 1916 now in the public domain in the United States.
This article incorporates text from The Moslem World, Volume 10, a publication from 1920 now in the public domain in the United States.
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Social Justice circa 2009
If you read some people, you might get the impression that the gospel and social justice are synonymous. But words change meanings, even if some people have trouble understanding that a reference to “race” in the 1930s is not the same as one in the 1880s or the 1980s.
Consider how only a decade ago, the Gospel Allies were talking about social justice in ways that no one could use after Michael Brown, Ferguson, and Black Lives Matter. For instance, Kevin DeYoung wrote a series on social justice in Scripture that found almost no reference to race. Here is how he summarized it last year (even!):
Several years ago, I worked my way through the major justice passages in the Bible: Leviticus 19, Leviticus 25, Isaiah 1, Isaiah 58, Jeremiah 22, Amos 5, Micah 6:8, Matthew 25:31-46, and Luke 4. My less-than-exciting conclusion was that we should not oversell or undersell what the Bible says about justice. On the one hand, there is a lot in the Bible about God’s care for the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable. There are also plenty of warnings against treating the helpless with cruelty and disrespect. On the other hand, justice, as a biblical category, is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good for the world. Doing justice means following the rule of law, showing impartiality, paying what you promised, not stealing, not swindling, not taking bribes, and not taking advantage of the weak because they are too uninformed or unconnected to stop you.
So for simplicity sake, let’s take biblical “social justice” to mean something like “treating people equitably, working for systems and structures that are fair, and looking out for the weak and the vulnerable.” If that’s what we mean, is social justice a gospel issue?
Even Thabiti Anyabwile seemed to be persuaded:
We seem to put social justice at odds with gospel proclamation. Many today don’t think these can easily coexist. They think that to fight for justice as the Christian church inevitably means the abandonment of the gospel. They may be correct. For since the Civil Rights Movement, the gospel has been thoroughly confused by too many in the African American church with liberation and justice itself.
To be sure, Anyabwile went on to question those who make too strong a contrast between the gospel and social justice:
to preach the gospel and have no concern and take no action in the cause of justice is as much an abandonment of the gospel as mistaken the gospel. How can a faithful gospel preacher preach the gospel before slaves and never wince at the gross barbarity of that peculiar institution? How can a man claim to live the gospel with fellow brothers in Christ and yet uphold laws that disenfranchise, marginalize, and oppress those same brothers?
Well, what exactly counts as taking action? Is it tweeting? Writing a post for a parachurch website? Calling a legislature? Standing outside an office with a placard?
What also is “upholding” laws that disenfranchise? If someone says nothing are they guilty of upholding existing laws? Or is it a case of speaking out or “taking action” against some laws but not others?
Abandonment of the gospel is a tad strong for a condition — “taking no action” — that is so arbitrary and inexact.
At the same time, once upon a time Anyabwile fully endorsed DeYoung’s point that Christians should stop using the phrase social justice:
Stop Using the Term “Social Justice”!
Not even John MacArthur and fellow signers went that far.
Something changed between 2009 and 2019. It could be that history clarified all the ambiguity (even if it did not change what the Bible — a fixed set of texts — says. Or it could be people have changed their minds. If Ferguson is the turning point, it sure would help to hear some reflection on ways in which a country that has persistently practiced racism only in 2014 became so egregious that now some people had to build up word counts and twitter followers.
Black Lives Matter and Evangelicals Together
H. L. Mencken explains the wonder-working power of morality:
Moralists, I respectfully submit, are not shrinking violets. They do not go “quietly about their business.” They are not avoiders of controversy. On the contrary, their eager seeking of controversy is one of their salient characters, and their gross abuse of opponents is another. The Lord’s Day Alliance and the Anti-Saloon League devote themselves almost exclusively to excoriation. Their one permanent theme is the villainy of their antagonists. And the vice crusade, for all its pious pretenses, puts nine-tenths of its faith in the policeman’s club. Its patron saints are Anthony Comstock and Tomas de Torquemada. Its central doctrine is that all men who question the efficacy of its moral bile means—for example, Brand Whitlock and Havelock Ellis–are heretics, atheists, voluptuaries and scoundrels.
The Captain Renault GIF
Black lives mattered before Trump?
An Anti-2kers Dream Come True
Thanks to our southern correspondent:
Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Vestavia Hills is trying to establish its own police force.
The move requires approval from state lawmakers. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Shelby County) cleared its first major hurdle Wednesday. The House Public Safety Committee gave its OK.
Briarwood Presbyterian Church calls this a way to create a safer campus in a fallen world.
“What do we do when other church affiliates come and ask for the same thing?” questioned Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham). “They’re not a college. They’re a church and they’re a church asking for police jurisdiction.”
Many questions were posed during Wednesday’s committee meeting.
“Who do the officers answer to?” asked Rep. Chris England (D- Tuscaloosa).
“They would answer to the leadership of the section of the church,” a representative from the church answered.
Rep. Connie Rowe (R- Jasper) is a former police chief. She supports allowing Briarwood to create its own force.
“They will conduct their own investigations,” explained Rowe. “They will conduct their own security. They will make their own arrests and instead of calling on the local law enforcement agency to take over the particular situation they’re trying to control, they will do that themselves. All they will utilize from their other law enforcement agencies is their lock up facilities.”
At a time when the PCA is repenting of racism and Black Live Matters is calling for reform of the police, has not the word “optics” entered the PCA thesaurus?
Cop In the Hood
What Good Do Church Statements Do?
I noticed today at Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley’s blog a statement by the Massachusetts’s bishops on opiate abuse:
How different is something as unspecified as this call to action from the sorts of complaints that students have been bringing against university administrations, such as the Black Students Union at Johns Hopkins University?
1. We demand a public address to be held by the administration (including but not limited to President Ron Daniels, Provost Lieberman, Provost Shollenberger, and the Board of Trustees) to The Johns Hopkins community in which President Ron Daniels will announce an explicit plan of action detailing how the following demands will be instated.
2. We demand that The Johns Hopkins University creates and enforces mandatory cultural competency in the form of a semester long class requirement for undergraduate students as well as training for faculty and administration.
3. We demand that the Center for Africana Studies be recognized as a Department.
4. We demand an increase in the number of full-time Black faculty members, both in the Center for Africana Studies and throughout other departments within the institution. Moreover, we demands equal representation of self-identifying men, women, and non-binary Black individuals within these positions.
5. We call on The Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts & Sciences to support the hiring of faculty concerned with the history, culture, and political position of peoples of African descent. Calls for diversifying faculty are important, but equally crucial is attracting faculty whose work creates a scholarly community dedicated to Africana studies.
7. We demand a transparent five year plan from The Johns Hopkins University Office of Undergraduate Admissions regarding the welcoming of and retention of Black students. We demand black bodies be removed from diversity marketing campaigns until Hopkins addresses the low quality of life here that many Black students experience and the problems with retaining Black students all four undergraduate years and then takes the necessary steps to resolve them.
8. We demand more Black professors within the Women, Gender and Sexuality program to add a new dimension to the Department on intersectionality and inclusivity that is currently being neglected and ignored.
Actually, in most cases the students’ demands are much more specific than the bishops’ statement. If Massachusetts were a Roman Catholic state, the call by church officials to governmental officers to look into a certain matter might make sense. Or, if the bishops sent a memo to the administrators and public health officials at Roman Catholic hospitals and medical schools and asked for policy recommendations, they might have more to say even while not exactly ministering God’s word. But at the end of the day is a statement like this from the church anything more than an indication that bishops care? Didn’t church members already know that?
That Clears It Up (for the PCA)
Advancing the Conversation?
It was not so long ago, after Michael Brown’s death, that lots of people in Reformed circles were calling for a conversation about race. After almost two years and after listening to some of the chatter, I am not so hopeful. Anyone who wants a version of how that conversation is going among people without faith — in this case a journalist and an Ivy League student newspaper editor — give a listen and embrace the suck.
But in the interest of avoiding a bad ending for the PCA, where the conversation has escalated more than anywhere else in NAPARC circles, I offer the latest musings on blackness from Michael Eric Dyson:
There is the symbolic blackness that the president perfectly embodies. By this I mean the representative sort, in which his blackness is the blackness of the masses; his lean body carries the weight of the race, and the words of James Baldwin meet those of pioneering scholar Anna Julia Cooper: To paraphrase Cooper, when and where a black figure like Obama enters, black folk automatically enter with him, as he bears what Baldwin termed the “burden of representation.” Like other symbolic blacks before him, Obama has no choice in the matter—one fittingly symbolized in nonnegotiable terms of existence that are nearly Cartesian: he is, therefore we are.
There is, too, substitute blackness, in which luminaries like Michelle Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder supply the blackness—the resonant cultural tropes, the signifying gestures, the explicit mention of race in context—that a figure like Obama, bound on all sides by demands and constraints, can barely acknowledge, much less embrace. Historical contingency and political necessity meld to determine Obama’s role, versus that of substitute blacks, when it comes to speaking about race: he can’t, but they can.
Then there is surplus blackness, which is too much blackness for many outside the race, and some inside it. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are some noted examples, figures whose blackness is never in question, even if the use and force of it depends on the situation at hand or the need of the group at the moment. If substitute blackness is a conditional stand-in for blackness, surplus blackness is the display of blackness—in fact, blackness as display. The nearly exclusive imperative of surplus blackness is to stand up for black folk in public, whether after a police killing of an innocent black or a neighbor-to-neighbor murder or a cry for racial justice in the courts. Obama’s symbolic blackness also sometimes takes up the cause of black folk, but more often judges them. When it comes to defending black people: he won’t, but they will.
Finally, there is subversive blackness, glimpsed most recently in the activism of Black Lives Matter, where the meanings of blackness compete and collide, where blackness is at once self-subverting and self-regenerating. Subversive blackness glances sideways at symbolic, substitute and surplus blackness, preferring, instead, to grasp what’s been left out of the official narratives of blackness and to fill in the blanks. It is perhaps summed up in Kanye West’s credo, “Everything I’m not made me everything I am,” which nicely captures the irreverence that Obama spurns but subversive blackness embraces: he isn’t, but they are.
I assume Michelle Higgins wants subversive blackness. But is that what Ligon Duncan, Jemar Tisby, and Sean Lucas were bargaining for?
Why This Won't End Well For Wheaton
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Guides for key topics in patient safety through context, epidemiology, and relevant AHRQ PSNet content. The Patient Safety 101 Primer provides an overview of the patient safety field and covers key definitions and concepts.
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Medication administration errors are a persistent patient safety problem. Increasing the safety of medication administration requires a multifaceted, system-level approach that spans all areas of health care delivery, such as primary, specialty,... Read More
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Long and unpredictable work hours have been a staple of medical training for centuries. However, little attention was paid to the patient safety effects of fatigue among residents until March 1984, when Libby Zion died due to a medication-prescribing error while under the care of residents in the midst of a 36-hour shift.
Popular media often depicts physicians as brilliant, intimidating, and condescending in equal measures. This stereotype, though undoubtedly dramatic and even amusing, obscures the fact that disruptive and unprofessional behavior by clinicians poses a definite threat to patient safety.
The vast majority of health care takes place in the outpatient, or ambulatory, setting, and a growing body of research has identified and characterized factors that influence safety in office practice, the types of errors commonly encountered in ambulatory care, and potential strategies for improving ambulatory safety.
Thousands of patients die every year due to diagnostic errors. While clinicians’ cognitive biases play a role in many diagnostic errors, underlying health care system problems also contribute to missed and delayed diagnoses.
Patient safety event reporting systems are ubiquitous in hospitals and are a mainstay of efforts to detect safety and quality problems. However, while event reports may highlight specific safety concerns, they do not provide insights into the epidemiology of safety problems.
Though a seemingly simple intervention, checklists have played a leading role in the most significant successes of the patient safety movement, including the near-elimination of central line–associated bloodstream infections in many intensive care units.
Discontinuity is an unfortunate but necessary reality of hospital care. No provider can stay in the hospital around the clock, creating the potential for errors when clinical information is transmitted incompletely or incorrectly between clinicians.
Being discharged from the hospital can be dangerous for patients. Nearly 20% of patients experience an adverse event in the first 3 weeks after discharge, including medication errors, health care–associated infections, and procedural complications.
Computerized provider order entry systems ensure standardized, legible, and complete orders, and—especially when paired with decision support systems—have the potential to sharply reduce medication prescribing errors.
Although long accepted by clinicians as an inevitable hazard of hospitalization, recent efforts demonstrate that relatively simple measures can prevent the majority of health care–associated infections. As a result, hospitals are under intense pressure to reduce the burden of these infections.
Providing safe health care depends on highly trained individuals with disparate roles and responsibilities acting together in the best interests of the patient. The need for improved teamwork has led to the application of teamwork training principles, originally developed in aviation, to a variety of health care settings.
Many victims of medical errors never learn of the mistake, because the error is simply not disclosed. Physicians have traditionally shied away from discussing errors with patients, due to fear of precipitating a malpractice lawsuit and embarrassment and discomfort with the disclosure process.
The list of never events has expanded over time to include adverse events that are unambiguous, serious, and usually preventable. While most are rare, when never events occur, they are devastating to patients and indicate serious underlying organizational safety problems.
High-reliability organizations consistently minimize adverse events despite carrying out intrinsically hazardous work. Such organizations establish a culture of safety by maintaining a commitment to safety at all levels, from frontline providers to managers and executives.
Unintended inconsistencies in medication regimens occur with any transition in care. Medication reconciliation refers to the process of avoiding such inadvertent inconsistencies by reviewing the patient's current medication regimen and comparing it with the regimen being considered for the new setting of care.
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The domestic cat (Felis catus) is the pet form of the dun cat. It is one of the most popular pets. In pedigree cat breeding, often only those animals that do not belong to a recognized cat breed are called domestic cats.
The characteristics of the domestic cat vary depending on the area of distribution. In the bred forms they depend on the breed standards, in the culture-following domestic cats they are subject to the respective selection pressure, which depends on the natural environmental conditions.
Domestic cats average about 50 centimeters in length (head-torso length) and 4 kilograms in weight with a wide range of variation from about 2.5 kg to about 8 kg. Males are slightly larger than females. The length of the tail is about 25 to 30 cm. An exception is the tailless Manx cat from the Isle of Man. The shoulder height is 30 to 35 cm. In areas of distribution with colder climate cats are generally heavier and larger, in warmer areas they are lighter.
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How a Millennial Like You Can Start a Zero Waste Lifestyle
In our generation today, we use plastic in our daily lives. Whether it’s using plastic spoons and forks at a fast food restaurant or simply using plastic bags for our groceries. Slowly, we can all reduce our usage of plastics. Though it does not happen overnight but if you start early, it can be part of the daily routine.
1. Start bringing your own utensils when you eat at restaurants.
Create a habit of bringing your own utensils when you leave the house. Even though the restaurants you’ll visit use silverware as their utensils, bringing your own will encourage you and other people to use their own. That way, when you’re at a restaurant that uses plastic spoons and forks, you have your own! It’s safe for the environment and safe for your sanitary.
2. Invest on an insulated water bottle.
Investing on a good water bottle will last you for years! Bringing your own bottle will help your drinks stay warm or cold when you’re on the go, and even save you money when you buy at drinks at coffee shops! There’s nothing better than saving your money for the long run!
3. Bring reusable bags when you go shopping.
It’s not easy carrying a lot of plastic or paper when you go shopping. Try bringing small and compacted reusable bags to keep your shopping in one handy compartment. It can also be useful when you go grocery shopping, who needs those plastic bags anyway?
4. Invest on stainless/bamboo straws.
Who doesn’t love drinking milk teas with pearls? Maybe even a nice smoothie in Jamba Juice? Slurp away your beverages on a nice cold stainless steel/bamboo straw and keep the turtles safe from the harsh plastic straws.
5. Start creating ecobricks.
Do you have a ton of plastics laying around your house? Help the children with their education and create an ecobrick. Not only are you removing the plastics in your home but you can also help create a school with your plastic bottles, tags and bags. If you want to learn more about ecobricks, visit Ecobricks Philippines’ facebook page.
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Question: Where Did The Idea Of Private Property Originated From?
How does private property help the economy?
What makes property private?
Why is private property important?
What’s the difference between private property and public property?
What are the two main types of property?
Real and Personal Property Overview There are two basic categories of property: real and personal.
“Property” means property of any kind, whether movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, and includes any right or interest in such property. Section 2 (11) of the Sale of Good Act, 1930 defines property as: “Property” means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property.
Who has property rights?
Property rights define the theoretical and legal ownership of resources and how they can be used. Property can be owned by individuals, businesses, and governments. These rights define the benefits associated with ownership of the property.
Is a driveway considered private property?
Unless You’re Rich. The decision runs contrary to other legal opinions that have held the driveways and surrounding areas outside a home as private property and protected under the Fourth Amendment. …
Why are property rights so important?
Secure property rights allow landowners to travel from their land for employment, and to let their land work for them. Property rights formalization is, appropriately, often linked with economic prosperity.
Do anarchists believe in private property?
What are the 3 types of property?
What are examples of private property?
Is private property natural?
Locke’s main theme was that the ownership of private property is a natural right of every individual and that this right pre-existed government. … Since human physical survival depends on the use of material objects, people have the right to determine the uses of these material objects.
What are the 4 property rights?
How does the government protect private property?
What is the concept of property?
Property, an object of legal rights, which embraces possessions or wealth collectively, frequently with strong connotations of individual ownership. … In law the term refers to the complex of jural relationships between and among persons with respect to things.
Can the US government take your land?
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China's top legislative body will deliberate "a draft decision" on whether to postpone the 10-day National Peoples Congress, due on March 5, 2020. As the nation grapples the pandemic brought by the novel Coronavirus, China is considering delaying the annual top parliamentary meeting. As of February 19, 2020, COVID-19 has killed 2,000 people and infected 74,000 more. This is according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The global spread of the virus has put many cities on lockdown and forced businesses to close indefinitely. China introduced quarantines, outdoor restrictions, and travel bans.
Enforcers require families living in affected areas, namely Wuhan, Qianjian, Xiantao, etc., to stay at home. Lockdowns and travel restrictions have affected roughly 170 million people. Almost 3,000 delegates will meet up in Beijing for the congress. China's ruling council may not take chances in having the virus spread among the parliament members of its highest organ of state power, according to The Sun Daily.
The Role of the NPC in China
The National People's Congress, which is usually abbreviated to NPC, is the most powerful legislative body in the country, under the Constitution of China. Annually, the parliament members meet up in full session for almost two weeks. They vote on important laws and select officials for important sectors.
The NPC is the state's ultimate power. As a legislative body, it is responsible for revising the constitution. It also selects and supervises the following organs:
• The President
• The State Council
• The CMC of the Central Military Commission
• The NSC or the National Supervisory Commission
• The SPC or the Supreme Peoples Court
• The SPP or the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate
The major organs of the government are the President, the State Council, and the National People's Congress.
Discuss this news on Eunomia
The PRC Constitution, as China's supreme political authority, guarantees the power of NPC. The PRC grants the Communist Party supreme control over the media, military, and state. On the contrary, the NPC makes basic laws and supervises the other government bodies.3,000 delegates comprise the National People's Congress. Every year, the members gather for a session that lasts for at least ten days, APF Beijing noted.
In Beijing, they unveil economic targets and pass legislation. If the congress will be postponed on March 5, 2020, it would be the first postponement since 1995. 1995 was the year that China adopted the schedule. For the last thirty-five years, the NPC session has been held every March 5. However, over 70,000 people residing in China have been infected by the COVID-19 virus, as of February 19, 2020.
Why the Chinese government may postpone annual parliament sessions
Scientists have stated that the virus COVID-19 has originated in a fish market in Wuhan. The city of Wuhan is home to 11 million people. The NPC has convened even on March 5, 2003, when SARS was infecting thousands of Chinese citizens.
However, this virus is far more problematic than the deadly SARS of 2003. The COVID-19 epidemic has killed over 2,000 people in just 2 months since the initial outbreak. The SARS virus, on the other hand, killed 774 people and infected 8,000 more.
Local government level meetings have also been delayed. Low-level conferences are supposed to be conducted before the National People's Congress. Cities on lockdowns, such as Qingdao and Guangdong, have postponed local meetings. Foreign affairs experts said, "if the parliament session will be postponed, President Xi Jinping will face difficulties in implementing measures to save China's plummeting economy. Planned state visits to other countries could also be pushed back.
How the postponement will affect China
According to Xinhua News, the two-session meetings on March 5, 2020, maybe postponed. The advisory body pends the final decision till February 24, 2020. If the NPC will be postponed, the Chinese government is indeed prioritizing fighting the COVID-2019 outbreak. In this case, the deliberations of China's key policy issues, which include its future economic outlook and annual military budget, will be delayed as well. The remaining months of 2020 will be challenging as much as its first quarter (Q1).
China's top leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, may face economic and political issues ahead. Zang Tiewei, a spokesperson for NPC, said, "Today is a critical moment for China.
In the fight to stop the epidemic, many NPC delegates are on the frontlines. As we speak, they are stopping the spread of COVID-19. It is a necessity to postpone the session meetings in March. This is a proposal that will be later discussed this February." Jan-Pierre said that it was practical for China to delay the sessions. Transport restrictions will make it hard for parliament members to go to Beijing.
Cabestan is a renowned political science professor in Hong Kong. He also said, "it can be dangerous to gather over 3,000 political elites in one place. Since the virus is airborne, cross-infection can occur." The epidemic has been affecting China's economy negatively. Multinational companies couldn't resume factory operations in the country.
As of writing, they are preparing to transfer assembly lines outside China. This costs thousands of dollars and high losses.
Tourism in the country has been greatly affected due to fears of contagion and travel restrictions. International and domestic tour groups in provinces fraught with casualties have been banned from operating. In addition, numerous airlines have reduced or canceled flights to China. Japan, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom have evacuated their citizens from Hubei and Wuhan. Another problem is the spread of misinformation. The World Health Organization (WHO) described this as an infodemic. According to CNN, residents of Wuhan became outcasts in their own country.
Hotels and neighbors shun them. Chinese people around the globe are now facing racial discrimination due to the notoriety of the virus.
Final words
Originating in the city of Wuhan, COVID-19 has spread to other countries and across the nation. As of February 19, the virus has claimed over 2,000 lives. Events and conferences have been postponed. China's ruling council is still deliberating whether or not to delay the National People's Congress on March 5, 2020. The country will face difficulties if it gets postponed. However, doing so will make China focus on the outbreak and safeguard the lives of the country's top leaders.
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And the Mysterious Unknowns of Other Historical(?) Figures
Creative Commons License
by Neil Godfrey
following on from the previous post . . . .
What is wrong with living with doubt and uncertainty as to the historicity of any figure of the past? Unless one is a fundamentalist or ideological nationalist whose very identity depends upon the literal certainty of past figures and events, what is wrong with simply accepting that we cannot know for certain if there was a historical Buddha, or Moses, or David or Solomon, or even Socrates, or Honi, or Hillel, or Muhammad, or Jesus . . .
What difference would it make? Certainly it would make an enormous difference to certain fundamentalists or believers whose personal identity hangs upon the certain reality of some such figure, but for scholars, for academics, for the general public…..? Very little, if anything, of history would have to be re-written. Maybe just the wording of a few lines here and there would need to be tweaked, that’s all.
Bart Ehrman and Maurice Casey, as I understand their publications, have misrepresented my reference to a quotation from Albert Schweitzer. My point is not that Schweitzer is casting doubt on the historicity of Jesus — not at all — but that he is saying that religious faith should not rest upon the mundane. Our certainty of what we know of the mundane can rarely be secure and the focus of spirituality belongs elsewhere. Albert Schweitzer’s conclusion in The Quest of the Historical Jesus (pp. 401-402, my emphasis):
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Neil Godfrey
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4 thoughts on “And the Mysterious Unknowns of Other Historical(?) Figures”
1. Scholars who loyally support an historical Jesus, have long been countered from deep within the churches themselves. By the churches’ stress on an invisible, non-material, or “spiritual,” God. And a Christ conceded to be not perhaps from history at all. But from, say, our spiritual longings and hopes and dreams; the “Christ of Faith.”
Schweitzer therefore articulated a deeply religious embrace of a concept which concedes that there might not have been a provable, real historical Jesus at all. As this popular concept suggests furthermore, that perhaps no such historical figure is even necessary, for Christianity to continue.
2. What would be great is if we could get some clarity about Biblical scholars’ belief about Jesus’ existence, and how this level of belief sits alongside other things we believe.
Like say, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you think Jesus existed? And compare it with others, like a 0 to 10 scale about whether Creationism is true, and/or a 0 to 10 scale on whether George Washington was the 1st president of the USA.
I personally would be a 6 out of 10 on Jesus’ existence, 0 out of 10 on Creationism, and 10 out of 10 on George Washington.
1. But if the probability that Jesus existed is 60%, the probability that he didn’t is only 40%. Then, if ten scholars agree that he existed, the probability that all ten are wrong would be .410 or .01%. At least, I think that must be the logic they use to reach such irrational degrees of certainty.
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Gdańsk is a city in the north of Poland in Pomeranian Voivodeship, near the place where the Vistula river meets the Baltic Sea. It is Poland's 6th largest city (population of 500 000 people) and the largest and most important sea port.[1]
It has existed since the 10th century and many times played a very important role in Poland's history. In the 19th century it was part of Prussia. This is where Solidarity, the movement which helped end Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, came to life.
Gdansk has a humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen climate classification).
The sixth Wikimania was hosted in this city in 2010.
Related pages
1. "About Port". Port of Gdansk Authority. http://www.portgdansk.pl/about-port/. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
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Assisted Vs. Unassisted Robotic Process Automation
Assisted Vs. Unassisted Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Several organizations have been implementing robotic process automation (RPA) to automate their business processes, increase overall productivity and achieve operational efficiencies.
RPA is an emerging technology that is increasingly playing an important role in enhancing business capabilities due to efficient operations. Smart technology provides a number of benefits such as reduced costs, improved accuracy and efficiency, and increased workforce productivity.
Despite the rising popularity of automation technologies, a great deal of confusion exists about the capabilities and limitations of RPA. Getting clear answers on the implementation of RPA is important to avoid any issues later down the road. The right information will help you determine the best way to leverage the technology to gain a competitive advantage.
Understanding Different RPA Technologies
An important thing to understand for businesses is that there are two types of RPA technologies. Choosing the right technology requires that you gain an understanding of the two types of solutions.
RPA solutions can be deployed in two modes: assisted and unassisted automation.
Assisted RPA Automation
Assisted RPA automation refers to the technology where the robot or automated application is deployed through the server to the workstation of the employee. The employee can access the system and control when and where the RPA should be deployed.
The method has evolved from a breed of productivity tools that were used by customer service agents to automate steps across different applications using robots on desktops. The automated RPA system was effective in minimizing the handling times that resulted in improved savings and customer experience. The implementation of the system reduced the time required for training call service agents.
Assisted technologies did not completely automate tasks. The technologies assisted individuals in carrying out their roles in an efficient manner. The accuracy and response time of the user increases by the implementation of assisted automation technologies.
Assisted RPA technologies can greatly reduce mistakes due to shortcomings of the system, keeping the system operators on the loop who are called to perform specific decision-making tasks. Implementation of assisted technologies results in improved operational efficiencies. The technology is suitable for critical tasks that cannot be delegated to the system. The tasks with a high risk of failure due to complex decision-making skills should be handled through assisted technologies.
In assisted technologies, there is a periodic return of user control to ensure smooth operations. The RPA technology assists individuals in carrying out the required tasks. Tasks that require quick, an immediate response, cannot be properly handled by automated systems. Examples of such tasks include flight control systems where sometimes,a rapid response can mean the difference between life and death. That’s why aircraft have assisted RPA technologies where the control oscillates between the pilot and the system.
Unassisted RPA Automation
Unassisted RPA automation does not require user intervention. The system works independently without any kind of intervention from the users. These robots work without any input from the users. They automate all back-office workflows, resulting in efficient business processes.
Unattended RPA automation doesn’t require any cooperation between the use and the user. Robots take complete control of the processes. They carry out tasks independently,allowing users to concentrate on other important tasks.
Employees don’t need to constantly check unassisted RPA systems. In other words, the employee does not have to go to the machine to log on and monitor the performance of the system. The systems take care of all tasks automatically, including resource allocation, prioritizing tasks, and diverting resources whenever required.
Unattended RPAs work 24/7 and execute tasks in the queues automatically. They only alert employees in case of critical system failure due to unavoidable factors. These systems provide a high level of automation that is expected of a modern automated solution. This type of RPA solution automates all mainframe, legacy, and other applications without the need to replace those solutions or create custom applications for each solution.
Unattended or unassisted automated solutions do not reside at the workstation of the employee similar to an assisted automation solution. The solution does not require actions, events, or commands from a user to perform specific functions. The automated RPA solutions do not oscillate between the system and the user resulting in optimum performance.
Summing It All Up
With unassisted RPA platforms, employees don’t have to move between different screens and interfaces. In contrast, they are required to interact with different systems in an assisted solution. The solution must be user-friendly and agile, allowing employees to move from one platform to another in a systematic manner. The same is not necessary for unassisted solutions.
Assisted automation tools are generally housed within a particular workstation or department. Unassisted automation tools, in contrast, can be accessed by different employees and administrators typically through a remote interface.
In real-life situations, assisted and unassisted RPA tools complement each other. Although companies can deploy different types of automation tools, they can get the optimum benefits by deploying a hybrid system consisting of both assisted and unassisted automation platform.
An integrated platform consisting of assisted and unassisted RPA solutions can work in tandem and streamline tasks. Each solution has unique benefits and integrating the two systems provide organizations with the ultimate flexibility, resulting in ease of scaling and operational efficiencies. However, the decision depends on different factors, including budgetary constraints, the importance of tasks, and cost-benefit analysis.
The main factor that should be considered when selecting RPA solutions is the value they provide across the value chain of the company. Assisted and unassisted RPA solutions suit different purposes and objectives.
Let the experts at Winjitwalk you through the steps required for the implementation of modern technological solutions. Our experts, with decades of experience in the industry, will help you select the best solution that is based on your requirements.
We can help you in making the right decision that provides ultimate benefits in terms of reduced costs and improved organizational efficiencies. Talk to our experts today to find out what technologies will bring maximum benefits to your company.
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Working with Loss and Grief in children
The death of a loved one is always difficult. For children, the death of a loved one can affect their sense of security. Like adults, children express loss by grieving and yet children may not demonstrate their grief openly as adults. Grief may affect their behaviour, the way in which they take in information, and their need for support.
This will depend on the child, their age, and their emotional maturity. It will also depend on who the child has lost to death. A child’s experience of grief varies depending on the type of loss and the developmental stage of the child. For example, moving to a new town may precipitate a grief response that is mild and transient, while grief from the loss of a parent most likely threaten the foundation of the child’s world. Young children express grief in vastly different ways from teens and adults.
Like any person, children express their grief by their behaviour, thoughts, emotions and physical reactions. The initial expressions of grief in children range from regression, temper tantrums, and exaggerated fears in younger children to physical symptoms, lack of concentration, and mood swings in older children. Grieving children may not dwell on the person who died and may continue to carry on with activities (for example: they may be sad one minute and be playful the next).
A child’s grieving period may be shortened because they will tend not to think through their own thoughts and feelings like adults (ruminate) and also the child may have trouble putting their thoughts into words compared to adults, due to their limited vocabulary. As a consequence, children will tend to favour their behaviour as a primary means through which to portray their grief.
Children’s Grief and Developmental Stages
2 -3 years: Children at this age tend to have no understanding of death and are more likely to react to separation from the significant person and changes in their world. Toddlers are generally curious at this stage about where things go and gain delight in disappearance and reappearance. The distress associated with changes in their environment due to the death of a loved one may result in the following reactions:
• Crying
• Searching
• Change in sleep
• Change in eating habits
How parents/carers can help children cope at this age: What we do is far more important that what we say to a child this age. Generally, a grieving infant needs large doses of tender, loving care… holding, cuddling and stroking.
3-6 years: With language and learning comes an interest in the world. Children at this age tend to be full of questions, often repeated. Children at this age tend to see death as a kind of sleep. They cannot fully separate death from life. Being dead may mean for a child at this age, to be living under different circumstances. For example, the child may continue to think that the deceased is still living despite witnessing the burial.
As a result the child may continue to ask questions about the deceased and wondering over such things like why the deceased is not getting hungry or how can the deceased eat when they are underground. Children at this age may equate death with punishment. They will tend to communicate their feelings and emotions through:
• Separation fears
• Tantrums
• Crying
• Fighting
How parents/carers can help children cope at this age: When talking about death to the child, it should be explained simply to avoid confusion. Role playing with animals, toys and puppets can help the child gain an understanding of the loss.
6-9 years: Children at this age have the mental capacity to comprehend simple concepts like germs and disease. So they have a better capacity to understand the basic causes of death than younger children. However, their emotional understanding can be incongruent whereby there is less sophistication in their beliefs and thoughts about how bad things happen.
So they may tend to fabricate their basic comprehension of the cause of death with other less realistic phenomena. Feelings of insecurity resulting from the death may be expressed in the reluctance to separate from surviving caregivers. Children at this age will tend to personify death and are likely to display the following:
• Anger
• Denial
• Irritability
• Withdrawal
How parents/carers can help children cope at this age: Children’s artwork can speak louder than words and free expression can be encouraged by taking this approach.
9-12 years: Children at this age will tend to have acquired a mature understanding of death. They will usually understand that death is final and have a better comprehension of the reality of cause. It is more along the lines of an adult understanding of death and will therefore often be accompanied by adult like behaviours such as feeling a sense of responsibility. They may have a strong need to control their feelings and may have difficulty doing so. The most common reactions are:
• Withdrawal
• Crying
• Isolation
• Sleep disturbance
• Longing
• Aggression
How parents/carers can help children cope at this age: Children of this age not only need support and comfort but can also be a source of comfort for others. Opportunities to be helpful to others during the crisis can actually help children deal with their own feelings.
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My watch list
Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.
Together with hematite, it has been mined as ore for the production of iron. Limonite is heavy and yellowish-brown. It is a very common amorphous substance though can be tricky to find when mined with hematite and bog ore.
It is not a true mineral and it is composed by a mixture of similar hydrated iron oxide minerals, mostly goethite with lepidocrocite, jarosite, and others. Limonite forms mostly in or near oxidized iron and other metal ore deposits and as sedimentary beds. Limonite may occur as the cementing material in iron rich sandstones. Also known as the Lemon Rock.
It is never crystallized into macroscopic crystals, but may have a fibrous or microcrystalline structure, and commonly occurs in concretionary forms or in compact and earthy masses; sometimes mammillary, botryoidal, reniform or stalactitic. The colour presents various shades of brown and yellow, and the streak is always brownish, a character which distinguishes it from hematite with a red, or from magnetite with a black streak. It is sometimes called brown hematite or brown iron ore.
It is named from the Greek word for meadow, in allusion to its occurrence as "bog-ore" in meadows and marshes.
The hardness is variable, but generally in the 4 - 5.5 range. The specific gravity varies from 2.9 to 4.3.
Uses of limonite
In the past bog ore or brown iron ore were mined as a source of iron. Iron caps or gossans of siliceous iron oxide typically forms as the result of intensive oxidation of sulfide ore deposits. These gossans were used by prospectors as guides to buried ore. In addition the oxidation of sulfide deposits which contained gold mineralization often resulted in the concentration of gold in the iron oxide and quartz of the gossans.
Limonite from occurrences with consistent color is used as the yellow-brown natural earth pigment ochre.
See also
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Limonite". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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My Pregnancy
Early Pregnancy Loss
First Trimester | Second Trimester | Third Trimester | Postpartum
The loss of a pregnancy during the first 13 weeks of the pregnancy (the first trimester) is called early pregnancy loss, miscarriage, or spontaneous abortion.
Early pregnancy loss is common. It happens in about 10% of pregnancies. About half of the cases of early loss are caused by a random event in which the embryo receives an abnormal number of chromosomes. This can originate for an abnormal egg or sperm; if there is the wrong number, development will not occur normally, sometimes resulting in the loss of the pregnancy. The likelihood of early pregnancy loss increases as a woman gets older and can occur in up to one third of pregnancies in women older than 40 years old.
Some women worry that they have done something to cause their pregnancy loss. Working, exercise, having sex, or having used birth control pills before getting pregnant do not cause early pregnancy loss. Morning sickness does not cause early pregnancy loss. Some women who have had an early pregnancy loss believe that it was caused by a recent fall, blow or even fright. In most cases, this is simply not true.
Smoking, alcohol, and caffeine also have been studied as causes of early loss. Some research suggests that smoking increases the risk, while other research suggests that it does not. Alcohol use in the first trimester may slightly increase the risk of early pregnancy loss, but the research is not clear. It is best to avoid smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Consuming 200mg or less of caffeine a day (the amount in two cups of coffee) does not increase the risk of pregnancy loss.
Bleeding and cramping are the most common symptoms of early pregnancy loss. A small amount of bleeding and cramping in early pregnancy is relatively common. Bleeding often stops on its own, and pregnancy continues normally. Bleeding and cramping also can be a sign of other pregnancy problems. It would be best to contact your OB/GYN if you begin to have bleeding and cramping.
We are here for you every step of the way. If medical issues arise during regular business hours, call your doctor’s office. After hours, call our 24/7 OB Hotline at 713-442-BABY (2229).
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Maps of World
Current, Credible, Consistent
Home / Armenia / Mount Ararat, Armenia
Mount Ararat, Armenia
Mount Ararat has its origin located in Eastern Turkey on the borders of Iran,Armenia, and Nachivan. Mount Ararat is a volcanic mountain in the ancient kingdom of urartu .
However, U rartu ceased to be exist after it was ruined by the Medes. Ararat came to be known as the popular site of the Armenians after Urartu eclipsed. Ararat and Armenia since then became a household name in Armenia.
The major high points of the MountArara t is the controversy surrounding the landing of Noah'Ark. There is popular a belief that Noah' Ark might have landed at the mount Arara t but the Bible dismissed this notion altogether.
Mount Ararat is said to be the largest single-mass or volume mountain in the world. Mount Ararat is a gigantic mountain with a height of 17,000 feet from the plains. As far as flora and fauna are concerned the Mount Ararat, boasts of native trees.
There are many views are on show regarding doubling of its size . A section of geologists opined that Mount Ararat took that gigantic leap in size as a post flood syndrome.
Noah's Ark at the Mount Ararat is simply a Babylonian myth. Urartu is synonimous to Mount Ararat. Urartu is the name of a a historical kingdom.
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Functional Medicine
Functional/Alternative Medicine
While traditional modern medicine works ideally for certain situations, like emergencies and first aid, functional medicine, also known as alternative medicine, does something far more important. It represents an evolution of how medicine works in the age of vast knowledge and advanced tools, which come together to provide a more systemic approach to medicine that focuses on the entire patient, and not a simple set of symptoms catered to a specific condition.
This type of healthcare is more comprehensive, and it is far more in line with the current lifestyles of most people. Doctors who practice functional medicine spend time understanding their patients on a large scale, discerning how their lifestyle impacts their health, as well as their environment and family history. The result is a stylized approach to medicine that is tailored to each individual, rendering the overall effect of medical treatment to be far more efficient by targeting the root issues causing any disease you might experience. This approach is essentially preventative in nature, since the idea isn't to cure an illness, but to create a body in which illness can not exist to begin with.
At its heart, there are six principles that guide the practitioners of functional medicine, which are listed below:
• Individuality
• Practitioners treat every patient as the unique individual they are, which includes taking genetic and environmental factors into account.
• Patient Centric
• Traditional modern medicine focuses on eliminating diseases, while functional medicine focuses on creating health.
• Balance
• All aspects of the patient must come into balance in order for optimal health to be achieved. Mind, body, and spirit must come into harmony in a dynamic way.
• Connections
• Functional medicine training includes the understanding that internal factors of health are all interconnected.
• Health Focused
• Functional doctors will work to create a level of health in your body that goes beyond the absence of disease. They understand how to work with your body to promote maximum vitality.
• Preservation
• By achieving optimal health at as young an age as possible, you increase your life span while simultaneously increasing the amount of healthy time you have left. Forcing your body to work harder at a young age only makes it harder to perform those same functions later in life.
One of the hallmarks of this integrative medicine style is that it allows the patient to have much more input. Doctor and patient work together to find an approach that suits the preferences of the patient, and the patient uses those preferences to guide therapeutic decisions. This creates a sort of partnership between the practitioner and the patient, which is thought to instill a sense of responsibility in the patient for their own health, in a more direct way than through most forms of modern medicine.
Functional vs Standard Medicine
The primary difference between these two forms of medicine is their final goal. The goal of standard western medicine is to diagnosis a disease based on symptoms presented in the patient, then treat the symptoms with a set of predetermined therapies, usually based on pharmaceutical drugs. However, the very definition of functional medicine is different from the standard form. The goal of functional medicine is to generate well-being through optimal health and a nourishing life.
You might notice that these two methods are so fundamentally different because functional medicine takes an approach that is so much wider in scale than standard medicine. Where standard medicine might treat symptoms, functional medicine treats the cause of the symptoms.
BBC Production on the Study of Herbal Medicine
(59 Minutes)
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Lesser bushbaby (galago moholi)
Thick-tailed bushbaby (otolemur crassicaudatus)
Bushbabies need your help and our help to survive.
Sometimes they need rescue, veterinary care, rehabilitation, release back into the wild, a sanctuary. Sometimes they need rescuing from the illegal pet trade, cruelty or neglect.
Don't break the law. Keeping indigenous wildlife without a permit is illegal.
Bushbabies need specialised care and a complex diet.
If you have a bushbaby that needs our help, don't hesitate to get in touch. All animals matter and we are here and happy to help.
We have many rescue, rehabilitation and release successes with both the lesser and greater bushbabies.
Call or email us to help your rescued bushbaby.
Released greater bushbabies captured on the night cam. Specialised rehabilitation and post-release monitoring and feeding stations ensures great results.
Bushbaby as pets?
The tiny "Nagapie" (night monkey in Afrikaans) are at risk due to humans wanting to keep them as inappropriate pets.
Cute and cuddly looking but did you know they mark their territories by urinating into a cupped hand and then rubbing this on the feet, bushbabies spread their scent wherever they move. They are also only active at night and need a very specialised diet.
Many species of nocturnal primates are increasingly threatened by illegal collecting for the pet trade. When transported outside of their natural range and climate, many bushbabies die. This is partly because they are adapted to a specific climate and landscape, but also because each species has a very specific diet, which they typically do not receive when they are kept as pets, by inexperienced keepers.
Furthermore the incorrect diet will result in mal-formed bones, kidney and liver damage, obesity and psychological impairments.
Bushbabies are very prone to respiratory problems if the correct temperatures are not maintained.
New owners often grow tired quickly; these are nocturnal primates and owners often get bored of them sleeping during the day and do not give enough gum or adequet insects needed to sustain them at night. When the novelty wears off the animals are often dumped in the nearest veld. Where they often do not survive as they do not know the landscape; dehydration and starvation.
If you see someone with an indigenous wild animals as a pet, get in touch. Or call your local SPCA.
Bushbaby in need?
When deciding whether or not to rescue; a general guideline especially concerning babies: watch and wait long enough to ensure that they were actually abandoned. If you are sure, then carefully pop them into a quiet, dark box and research until you find a facility which would rehabilitate them correctly. You may choose to spend a while asking, in detail, what the rehabilitation process would entail until you are satisfied that the animal will be well cared for!
Don’t be afraid to ask for progress updates!
Contact us if you see a bushbaby in need.
Save them from domestic animals, pet owners.... do not keep them as pets.
Keep the wild, in the wild.
Call or email us to help your rescued bushbaby.
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• Frequently Asked Questions
The Washoe County School District (WCSD) Board of Trustees, administration, and staff are committed to creating conditions for learning that are inclusive and equitable for all our students.
The District is committed to providing a world-class education, where students can gain more profound knowledge and appreciation of our diverse society, gain an understanding and respect of individual and cultural differences, and obtain skills for college and career readiness. The District’s core beliefs call for a robust education system that ensures the well-being of a community, which includes designing instruction to meet the needs of every child in our diverse student population.
WCSD is seeking public input from the community on the K-5 English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum supplementary materials. To collect all the community feedback, we have provided a formalized opportunity for all interested parties to provide their input. You can find this included on the home page of the District’s website – www.washoeschools.net. To provide our community with ample time to provide feedback, we have extended the public comment period to May 3.
1. Why should the District provide supplemental English Language Arts materials for K-5 classrooms?
The supplementary materials developed by Benchmark Education provide guidelines to expand and enhance the grade-level English Language Arts curriculum. Resources such as the ones created by Benchmark are tied to the texts that students are already reading as part of the English Language Arts curriculum. They contain reflective questions, are accompanied by sustained dialogue, and help teachers ensure that all student voices are heard and respected. It also helps deepen cultural understanding and knowledge about the history of our nation, which is critical to the formation of our students.
1. What is the social studies curriculum that the WCSD uses?
The District’s social studies curriculum, accessible on our district website, is grounded in Nevada Academic Content Standards and focuses on the history of our country. The District provides consistent support to teachers at all grade levels that focus on grade-level standards and high-quality learning materials used in classrooms.
1. Are the ELA supplementary materials for K – 5 grades aligned with the concept of Critical Race Theory?
No, the materials are not aligned with Critical Race Theory. There has been a lot of misinformation, and we want to be clear that this is false.
1. What learning experiences are included in the materials?
Integrated social justice learning experiences provide opportunities for valuing human dignity, fostering cultural diversity, and building critical thinking. These are crucial skills to developing 21st-century skills, global competencies, and college and career readiness.
1. How is the District preparing teachers to use these lessons?
The District’s departments of Curriculum and Instruction, Equity and Diversity, and Family-School Partnerships are working together to ensure elementary educators have the background knowledge, pedagogy, and content knowledge required to have and promote these critical collaborative conversations and experiences with Washoe County’s students.
1. Why is the District adding these materials now?
Our District continually updates and provides quality supplementary materials to teachers for instructional purposes. We recently updated the math curriculum for elementary- and middle school students and provided a new ELA and science curriculum for elementary school students. These updates include ongoing professional development for teachers to ensure these materials are implemented in each classroom. Our teachers work to check for student understanding and adjust their instruction as needed consistently and often.
1. Is there a cost for these lesson plans?
There is no cost for these materials since they are part of the original adoption of Benchmark Advance curriculum.
1. What if I have additional questions?
Should you have additional questions specific to the supplementary materials for ELA curriculum, please submit them using this form. District staff will try to answer as many questions as possible during their presentation at the May 25 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
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Little girl brushing her teeth
The Importance of Primary Teeth & Early Orthodontic Treatment for Oral Development
They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But did you know this applies to orthodontic treatment too. While braces are seen as a way to adjust your permanent teeth into their ideal position, early orthodontic treatment can prevent problems from occurring in the first place! This form of treatment, referred to as early interceptive treatment, can help guide your child’s oral development to avoid potential malocclusions and health risks.
Why Primary Teeth Are important
Because they’re temporary, primary teeth are often thought of by parents or children as less important than permanent teeth. This couldn’t be further from the truth! While it is true that they won’t need to last as long as permanent teeth, your primary teeth are significant for many reasons:
They Help Establish Dental Care Routines
Primary teeth are around long enough to develop issues like cavities, which means they need to be taken care of just the same as permanent ones. During early childhood, parents should encourage good oral health habits that will translate into lifelong dental health with their children’s permanent teeth.
Oral health care can start even before primary teeth erupt! Using a soft cloth and water, parents can get infants used to the feeling of brushing by gently wiping their gums, which helps keeps gums clear of bacteria that cause gingivitis.
They Aid in Speech Development
Making sounds is natural for children but learning how to speak a language and pronounce words properly requires a lot of practice. This is because the way we make sounds is complicated; speech requires coordination between the mouth, tongue, teeth and nasal cavities!
A healthy set of teeth makes a difference when it comes to developing clear speech and avoiding speech impediments. If primary teeth aren’t properly cared for, children can learn habits that cause issues like lisps, inability to form certain sounds and more.
Primary Teeth Prepare Your Mouth for Permanent Teeth
The most important aspect of primary teeth is that they hold the positions for permanent teeth. As you age, and adult teeth replace your baby teeth, they will generally come in where the baby teeth were positioned.
If a child loses a baby tooth early, either due to injury or severe decay issues, the remaining teeth typically shift to fill the new gap left by the lost tooth. This can lead to many different development issues, like large gaps between teeth, teeth erupting at severe angles and more.
How Early Orthodontic Treatment Helps
Around the age of seven, it’s recommended that children have an orthodontic exam. This gives an orthodontist time to see how your child’s teeth are developing while still leaving time for early orthodontic treatment. Almost all orthodontic issues caught in early exams lead to better prognosis and easier treatment.
Because the position of your child’s teeth will impact the development of their jaw, issues that are left untreated early may have permanent ramifications in their adult life. While treatment later in life can help mitigate or correct problems, the treatment cycles may be longer or more challenging. On the other hand, early treatment will reposition teeth to encourage natural, healthy development. This can completely more severe oral health issues years or decades later!
Remember to consider this exam even if your child isn’t displaying any obvious signs of issues! Orthodontists are trained specialists with years of experience at spotting things that even a general dentist could miss.
What Is Two-Phase Orthodontic Treatment?
One of the common approaches to early orthodontic treatment is what’s known as two-phase treatment. Your orthodontist will split the treatment between two phases, with separate goals in each stage:
The first stage’s primary goal typically to help with immediate issues and prevent problems associated with development when teeth are misaligned. A first-phase treatment may correct your child’s bite, help them chew or speak properly, and establish stable positioning for the teeth.
Phase two, which happens after your child has had time to develop and adjust to the phase-one treatments, is about putting the “finishing touches” on their treatment. In phase two, your orthodontist may focus on minor bite issues and adjusting the permanent teeth into their final positions.
Two-phase treatment is recommended in cases where a child’s primary teeth are likely to cause an issue with how permanent teeth with develop. By treating severe alignment issues early, it makes the second phase of the treatment easier and able to achieve better results than simply waiting for the permanent teeth to begin treatment.
Information on Types of Braces
Schedule a Free Consultation
Do you have questions about Invisalign or orthodontic treatment? We can answer your questions to keep your teeth and gums healthy – schedule a free consultation! Contact us online or call 440-842-8015
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• Right heart syndromes (RHS) as a cause of hemodynamic instability and shock are less common than left heart dysfunction, but recognizing them requires a high level of vigilance.
• RHS result from a combination of pressure or volume overload and impaired RV contractility. Progression to acute cor pulmonale (the combination of acute pulmonary hypertension with profound RV systolic and diastolic dysfunction) results in spiraling end-organ dysfunction.
• Plasma biomarkers are nonspecific but echocardiography is extremely valuable, not only for demonstrating the presence of RHS, but also for guiding hemodynamic management.
• The drug of choice for resuscitation to reduce systemic oxygen demand while improving oxygen delivery is dobutamine, initially infused at 5 μg/kg per minute. Systemically active vasoconstrictors may provide additional benefit.
• Inhaled nitric oxide or prostacyclin and oral PDE-inhibitors (eg, sildenafil) or extracorporeal mechanical assist devices may be beneficial in improving pulmonary hemodynamics and oxygenation, but may not improve survival.
In the majority of patients with shock due to “pump failure,” assessment is focused appropriately on the left ventricle. However, in a substantial minority of patients, right heart dysfunction is the cause of shock. Examples include acute pulmonary embolism (PE), other causes of acute right heart pressure overload (eg, acute respiratory distress syndrome [ARDS] treated with positive pressure ventilation), acute deterioration in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension, and right ventricular infarction. Although right ventricular infarction differs from the other right heart syndromes (RHS) in that the pulmonary artery pressure is not high, in many other regards right ventricular infarction resembles the other syndromes, so we will consider them together. Failure to consider the right heart in the differential diagnosis of shock risks incomplete or inappropriate treatment of the shock. It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of echocardiography, both in aiding the recognition of the right heart syndromes and in guiding management. In this chapter, we review the notable features that distinguish the right heart from the left, describe the themes that unify the acute RHS and allow their recognition, discuss the pathophysiology and differential diagnosis of RHS, and review their management.
The right ventricle (RV) has long been considered the “forgotten ventricle,” because under normal pressure and volume loading conditions the RV is thought to function as a passive conduit for systemic venous return. When the pulmonary vasculature is normal, right ventricular performance has little impact on the maintenance of cardiac output. In animal models, complete ablation of the right ventricular free wall has little effect on ...
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Windows 11 TPM Chips: Cramming More Power Into a Smaller Form
The minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11 have thrown most people into a tizzy. The Trusted Platform Module, or TPM, is at the heart of the confusion.
TPM chips are used to perform cryptographic functions that assure security at the hardware level and verify system authenticity at the boot. They also include various anti-tampering measures.
Windows 11 also requires all machines to include TPM 2.0 support, either built into the CPU or as a separate chip connected to the motherboard.
The news prompted PC owners to look for information on whether their device supported TPM and, if so, how to enable it in the BIOS. And adding fuel to the fire was the fact that Windows 11 can technically be installed on incompatible hardware.
However, one firm is perplexed by the TPM decision for a different reason. According to Jorge Myszne, founder and CEO of semiconductor startup Kameleon, “TPM is from 2003; it was adequate 20 years ago, but consider everything that has changed in terms of infrastructure over the last two decades.”
“The main challenge is that the TPM is a passive device; while you can store data there and nobody can see it, in order to do something with that data the software needs access. And if the software has access, an attacker can gain access too.”
Firmware security is a hot topic.
Kameleon, a startup launched in 2019 and backed by Xilinx, a leader in programmable SoCs, aims to turn the tables on cybercrime by offering the advantage to the defender. Despite this, the firm is developing a device known as a Proactive Security Processing Unit (ProSPU) that it hopes will be able to combat firmware attacks, which are growing in number and sophistication.
“The most common types of attacks take the form of applications that target the upper layers, but these have been fairly successfully blocked,” Myszne explained. “As a result, attackers are becoming more specialized, heading down the stack towards the firmware; attacks here are both difficult to detect and persistent.”
The vulnerability lies in the remote access software used by enterprise networks to connect to devices such as printers and network storage.
The malware is able to compromise these systems through this software, allowing an attacker to gain persistent access.
The drawback of attacks of this kind is that they cannot be recognized or stopped by computer programs.
At first, a system is booted in stages, with the smallest piece of code loading into the CPU followed by a larger pool of code, and eventually the operating system.
“Any compromise that takes place during this process is completely undetectable. Software isn’t even running yet, so it has no way of checking what’s going on,” noted Myszne.
The main issue with security is that, although it’s important, it isn’t given adequate attention. The solution to this problem, according to him, is to have a dedicated device in charge of the security of a system.
A security processor, for example, is responsible for establishing a “root of trust” by ensuring that all firmware is genuine in the same way as a GPU manages graphics and an AI TPU handles workloads.
A security processor with dedicated capabilities
Kameleon’s ProSPU aims to address the sorts of issues that arise as a result of TPM chips (and other equivalent technologies) relying on software for instruction, as they are passive. The ProSPU is in control of the system, performing active checks to ensure that each component of the boot process is genuine.
Myszne claims that there are already several chips on the market that do their own secure boot, but there is nothing else available that “pokes around in all of these areas.” In addition to establishing this root of trust, the ProSPU provides crypto services to program (such as key generation and management), as well as runtime security for detecting and preventing attacks.
The ProSPU is hidden away from hackers beneath the OS and has direct access to the memory. Because it doesn’t rely on APIs for access, an attacker can’t infect it.
“The first thing an attacker does is attempt to understand the system and defences. In this case, the defence is running on a different system entirely, with direct access beneath the software,” said Myszne.
“The attacker doesn’t know what’s going on and now needs to attack the system without an understanding of the defences. And because attackers don’t like risk, they will go elsewhere.”
Hardware security’s future
Mr. Myszne was asked about whether he thinks Microsoft made the wrong call when it required Windows 11 to support TPM 2.0. He agreed with this statement.
“If I was working on an enterprise-level operating system, then yes, but for a generic OS like Windows it’s a big bet, because there will be problems,” he said.
“Usually, TPMs are disabled by default, because they are difficult to manage; you need to know what you’re doing or else risk bricking your computer. How many people know how to fiddle with the BIOS safely?”
While Myszne agrees that a TPM is preferable to no protection at all, he believes the combination of undesirable user experience and an insufficient degree of security make the requirement more challenging than it’s worth.
“The system is not a single chip device as it used to be 20 years ago. We need hardware security infrastructure to evolve for the needs of today, as well as the needs of the next five to ten years.”
Kameleon predicts that the ProSPU’s alpha version will be released by the end of 2018, and that it will be in servers by H1 2022. Myszne believes that despite the fact that data center applications are most at risk due to the concentration of security concerns, ProSPU-style hardware will soon filter down into the consumer, industrial, and automotive markets.
“There’s a lot to defend out there,” he said.
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Hyperlinks And Accidental Copyright Infringement
Have you ever embedded a hyperlink on a webpage to someone else's copyright material? According to a case at the EU Court of Justice, there is a chance that you could be infringing copyright law, and we'll tell you why ...
So, firstly, what is hyperlinking? This involves placing a link on a webpage that redrects the person who clicked on it to the protected work of another. This was recently tested at the EU Court of Justice in the 'Svensson' case.
"A Dutch magazine website linked to a hidden zip file containing images of an unpublished photoshoot!
The hyperlink said that readers of their website could download the files "here". The publisher (owner of the copyrighted photos) took the magazine to a dutch court after they refused to remove the link to the copyrighted work. It was then referred upwards to the EU Court of Justice for clarification on copyright law.
The court decided, in line with EU copyright law, that two requirements needed to be satisfied if hyperlinking would amount to a copyright-infringing act:
- that it was an act of communication of a copyrighted work not belonging to the individual
- that this communication was to the public
On the first matter, this will more often than not always be satisfied as by using a hyperlink, you are making that work available to others. It is the second question that is not so straight forward.
A communication to the public has the underlying meaning of being a 'new' public from which the content creator intended his work to be for.
Therefore, each individual case needs to be looked at based on its facts and the audience that it reaches. In EU vs Svensson, the court found that there was not a new public, as the audience was much the same the original audience of the copyrighted work.
However, although in this case it was determined that the defendant was not infringing copyright laws, it does not mean all hyperlinking will be interpreted in the same way.
There are many reasons as to why the Svensson case cannot be taken as a 'get out of jail free card' that allows all to hyperlink without fear of infringement:
- The court did not assess a case which involved commercial use and economic gain. If you are hyperlinking someone else's work as part of your business or advertising methods, it is always better to get a license from them.
- A content creator/owner of the copyrighted work may have imposed their own terms and conditions on the website that you are hyperlinking to which means that despite being freely accessible, the contractual terms on which you are accessing it will prohibit certain use of that work. Contractual terms like this often expressly prohibit commercial use. Therefore, it is extremely important that this is taken into account and again, a license should be obtained.
- The court failed to consider what would happen if the work you are hyperlinking to was made available without the copyright owners permission. For example, if someone places a video on YouTube without a license or permission from the copyright owner. Then this will be an infringement in itself, and you will therefore be infringing work via the act of 'distribution'. This point also stands if someone that once gave permission for a video to be up then revokes that permission.
- If the copyright creator/owner of the copyrighted work has a restriction as to who can access their work using something like a paywall, a subscription or any other access limiting process, then by hyperlinking to that work, you are automatically infringing their copyright.
As you can see, there was a lot left open by the courts. This shows that copyright law is not as straightforward as some may think. Remember, even innocently hyperlinking to a Youtube Video may mean you are infringing copyright works although this would better apply to a hidden one rather than a public one.
"Get a license to be sure!"
Here at Display Rights, we are more than happy to help get you a license from one of our many partners so that you can access that copyright-protected material without having to worry about being open to future litigation.
If you feel inspired to find out more about anything we've said here, do call us on +44 1908 041290 or leave a comment below and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.
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LESSON 14.—p. 26.
43. Rule 1. EXERCISES. The PARTICIPLE substituted for the conjunction.
1. Most of his attempts having failed, he has ceased to plan new ones.
2. Alexander the Great, having ascended the throne, was eager to pursue the ambitious projects of his father with regard to Persia.
3. Being called to the exercise of the sovereign power at an early age, he evinced a great knowledge of government and laws.
4. Bernard, being armed with the authority of the pope, fanned the flame of military fanaticism.
5. Fixing my eyes on different objects, I soon perceived that I had the power of losing and recovering them, and that I could, at pleasure, destroy and renew this beautiful part of my existence.
4.1. Rule 2. EXERCISES. The CASE ABSOLUTE substituted for the verb and njunction.
1. Having returned from the excursion, he diligently employed the remainder of the evening in study.
2. The waters of the lake having been swollen by the continued rains, the Neva inundated the city of Petersburg, and. swept away the houses on its banks.
3. The evidences and the sentence having been stated, the
president put the question, whether a pardon should be granted.
4. The request huving been refused, the breach was widened by the obstinacy of both parties.
5. The deposed monarch not having been well treated by the Earl of Leicester, excited the public sympathy on his behalf.
LESSON 15. - p. 27.
45. Rule 3. EXERCISES. The verbs and the dependent words varied.
1. Settlements were formed, and colonies planted in the island by the Romans.
2. The Britons destroyed Camulodunum, the first Roman colony.
3. It was not foreseen by the Britons that their deliverers would become their conquerors.
4. In the course of their wars, many separate kingdoms were established by the Saxons.
5. The incursions of the Danes kept England in continual alarm.
6. By Ethelwolf's ordering a tenth part of the produce o landed property to the clergy, the church was elevated and enriched.
7. These united perfections being combined in this favoured child of nature, he may justly be considered the master-piece of creation.
46. Rule 4. EXERCISE. - The idea involved in the words erpressed by a periphrasis.
1. A description of the surface of the earth=Geography. 2. A withdrawal from the bustling world = Solitude.
3. The act of reclaiming men from a state of barbarism = Civilisation.
4. Extensive possessions= Wealth.
5. Continuous active employment=Industry.
6. A collection of the rules of a language arranged in systematic order= Grammar.
7. The coldest season of the year = Winter.
8. The inhabitants of a town or village=Populace.
9. A large vessel for conveying goods by water=a Ship.
10. A portable instrument that indicates the time = a Watch.
11. The science which treats of the sizes and motions of the heavenly bodies= Astronomy.
12. The largest extent of water = Ocean.
LESSON 16. - p. 29. 47. EXERCISE.
1. Demagogue, one who leads the people by exciting their passions.
2. Philosopher, a lover of wisdom. 3. Anarchy, want of government.
4. Genealogy, the descent of persons through a succession of ancestors.
5. Episcopacy, system of church-government under Bishops.
6. Biography, an account of an individual's life and character.
7. Geography, a description of the earth as it appears to the eye.
8. Discrimination, a nice discernment directed by circumspection
9. Discover, to come to the knowledge of something before existing but unknown.
10. Invent or create, to produce something that did not before exist.
11. Indolent, indulging in ease.
12. Industrious, regularly occupied in something.
13. Acquitted, he cleared himself by words from a charge of fault.
14. Excluded, he was debarred from participation.
15. Entranced, delighted beyond measure.
16. Ambitious, very desirous of power.
17. Amphibious, having the power of living in two elements. 18. Fickle, apt to change his opinions suddenly. 19. Decisive, forming a conclusion and acting upon it. 20. Changeable, subject to variation. 21. Reinvigorate, repairing the waste of the animal frame. 22. Premature, ripe before the natural time.
LESSON 17.- p. 29.
48. EXERCISES. -- 1. Appropriate adjectives or adverbs substituted.
a. He firmly remonstrated against their measures. b. His honourable character was soon apparent. — c. His liberality has justly been praised. d. Familiar conduct sometimes breeds contempt.
2. The same idea conveyed by a negation of the opposite, or the reverse; - a. A wise son is never a reproach to his father. - b. Titles and ancestry will never render a good man less illustrious. — I have not perused the book without pleasure and profit. — d. Guilt does not confer ease and freedom on the mind. - e. Be not deficient in courage against flatterers.
- f. Religion generally demands a cheerful aspect. g. No station is so low as to exempt men from duty. – h. I do not venerate the man whose heart is impure. — i. Too great a variety of studies does not strengthen the mind.
3. Different words substituted.
a. Folly may laugh, but a guilty conscience will sting. b. The doctrines of Christ are advantageous to the cultivation of the mind, as well as useful in their moral effects.
-0. The obligations which Christianity enjoins are, indeed, wonderfully adapted for producing that teachable temper and soberness of thought, those habits of untiring industry and patient research, which are positively essential in the pursuit of general knowledge. —d. To keep the spirit of religion warm and efficacious in your hearts, steadily continue in the duties of public and private prayer and in the regular perusal of the Bible. -e. In it you will discover that the Redeemer of the world has exhibited His commandments by the most pleasing and forcible allegories, recommended them by His own greatest and best of all examples, and strengthened them by the most terrible injunctions. f. There He discloses the great secrets of our deliverance from sin and misery by His death, and reveals the means by which base and fallen man may regain the favour of his offended Maker.
4. The order of the correspondent parts of the sentences re. versed.
a. She neglects her heart who studies her glass. — b. We have seldom any regard for religion in age, if we have no regard for it in youth. - c. We set out on the journey of life, full of spirit, and high in hope. - d. If the reward of the labours of the studious, the modest, and the good, were only to be expected from man, their expectations would be poor. -e. If fame only were all the garland that crowned her, virtue were a kind of misery.
[blocks in formation]
49. EXERCISES. — Euphemisms employed for the words printed in italics.
1. I dislike, or, have no fondness for that man; or, that man is disagreeable to me.
2. He was dismissed from his office.
3. He does not deal fairly, and she does not adhere to the truth.
4. He takes what is not his own, and is also a mean fellow. 5. John is not bold - is timid. 6. He has been put under confinement. 7. He was sent to the lunatic asylum. 8. He is poor. 9. He has contracted debts. 10. He is an excessive eater. 11. He despises everything. 12. The man was inebriated.
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6 Unexpected Causes of White Spots on Teeth
White, shiny teeth are considered healthy, beautiful teeth. But what happens to cause those dull, white spots on teeth, and are they healthy? Those white marks on teeth are usually the result of a loss of minerals in the enamel layer of the tooth. But why does it happen? Should you worry? Some surprising causes of those white spots are:
1. Bacteria Overgrowth
2. Too Much Fluoride
3. Nutritional Deficits
4. Some Medicines
5. Smoking…While Pregnant
6. High Fevers
Bacteria Overgrowth
Bacteria love to grow on teeth. Cavity causing bacteria particularly love to grow in the high acid environment that results from eating. Poor brushing technique lets the bacteria continue to flourish. Braces and other glued-in dental appliances can make it more difficult to brush well. It’s important to be vigilant about brushing well, particularly when wearing braces, to keep cavity-causing bacteria from stripping minerals away from teeth, causing white spots that easily progress to full cavities.
Too Much Fluoride
White spots on teeth
Normally, we think of fluoride as a good thing for teeth, and it is. But a condition called fluorosis can happen if you get way too much fluoride. The people most likely to suffer from fluorosis are children since their smaller bodies have lower capacities for fluoride. That’s the reason all toothpastes that contain fluoride advise carefully supervising children while brushing and using a pea-sized amount of cleaner. Of course, fluoride in proper amounts is still good for teeth, especially in childhood when teeth are growing in, so it’s important to check with your dentist if you have concerns about whether you or your child are getting the correct amount of fluoride. CariFree Gels come in fluoride-free and fluoride containing varieties to help meet your needs.
Nutritional Deficits
A diet short in calcium deprives your body of the building blocks of healthy enamel. In fact, several minerals that are part of a healthy and balanced diet help build up tooth enamel, and not having enough minerals available can mean you pay the price with white patches on your teeth. Interestingly enough, celiac disease, because it causes the intestines to malfunction and not absorb nutrients, can cause significant demineralized white spots on the teeth.
Some Medicines
We count on medicine to keep us healthy. Unfortunately, some medicines have been known to cause white spots on tooth enamel. That’s one reason why certain antibiotics are not approved for use in children. Make sure if you are pregnant or nursing to share that information with any doctor prescribing medication for you. Don’t share prescriptions, and use medications exactly as prescribed. If you do end up with white spots after medical treatment, see your dentist for help treating them (and making sure you’ve identified all possible causes).
Smoking…While Pregnant
As if we needed another example of the negative side effects of smoking, smokers are not just risking their own teeth. Pregnant smokers run the risk of damaging the unborn baby’s teeth. Teeth form early, well before the baby is born. So, save your baby from white spots and lifelong tooth struggles by avoiding tobacco while pregnant.
High Fevers
A high fever in a child can cause a dreaded white spot on a tooth, linked to the loss of minerals on that spot. High fevers during permanent tooth development can even contribute to contemporaneous hypoplasia. While it may not be your first thought to keep your child brushing their teeth through a bout with the flu, it is important to encourage proper hygiene when possible. Even a gentle swipe with the toothbrush and plain water can help rehydrate a dry mouth and remove some plaque acids.
How to Treat White Spots on Teeth
Whether it’s white spots on your teeth or white patches, see your dentist. He or she can help polish the teeth and whiten up the surrounding tooth for a better cosmetic appearance. In extreme cases, you and your dentist may find that applying veneers to the teeth (once they have been re-strengthened) gives you the cosmetic look you prefer. Remineralizing the white spot can strengthen it back up, helping to prevent a cavity from forming. CariFree tooth gels have bio-available nano-hydroxyapatite crystallites to help remineralize teeth and xylitol to help fight cavity-causing bacteria. Don’t ignore white spots. See your dentist today.
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Leaving white spots unattended may lead to serious consequences. Explore our resources for preventing and dealing with white spots on teeth and gums.
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What Does an Audiologist Do?
What does an Audiologist do?
One of the questions we often get from our patients is, “what does an audiologist do?”. Put simply, an audiologist is a qualified health care professional who diagnoses and manages hearing issues as well as issues with ear health and auditory discomfort. An audiologist is responsible for diagnosing and prescribing treatments to their patients and ensuring that correct duty of care is maintained throughout treatment.
At Dilworth Hearing, our team of highly-qualified clinicians work closely with doctors, ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, insurance companies, funding agencies (such as ACC, Veterans’ Affairs and the Ministry of Health), plus many global hearing aid manufacturers to deliver the best hearing experience possible to our patients.
We are also uniquely qualified to offer specialised paediatric audiology services for children from 6 months of age, plus cochlea implant services, urgent audiology services (e.g. Sudden Hearing Loss), tinnitus treatments, as well as ear wax removal on-site in most of our clinics. To find out which clinics offer each service, please call our friendly team on 0800 005 641 or see Hearing Tests for more information.
Unique to Dilworth Hearing is the long-standing relationships our audiology team have with the medical community of GPs and ear, nose and throat specialists. These relationships are important in ensuring that patients receive the best overall healthcare possible. As hearing loss can be a factor in other healthcare issues (such as dementia, vertigo/balance, mental health), it’s important that GPs have all of the relevant information available to make further healthcare recommendations.
Dilworth Hearing audiologists regularly visit GP practices, hold speaking spots in medical conferences, and are generally held in high regard by the medical community. Our team are encouraged to submit international research reviews and undergo additional training in specialist audiology areas such as tinnitus, cochlear implants, urgent audiology services, or paediatric audiology. Additionally, Dilworth Hearing provides approved training for medical professionals on a variety of audiology topics.
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My dinosaur project
Posted: August 8, 2015 by dylanchandra in Uncategorized
Text in the picture says:
Dinosaurs are giant reptiles* which tilted the earth from 590000 to 560000 years. That means they ruled the earth for 30000 treats. There were three periods, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Each period lasted 10000 years. Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops lived in Cretaceous. Scientists know about dinosaurs because of their bones and fossils*. Some dinosaurs are carnivores and some dinosaurs are herbivores.
The fastest they can get up to is 50 kilometres per hour. The slowest is 5 kilometres an hour. I learnt that Tyrannosaurus Rex means “king of the tyrant lizards” and Triceratops means “Three horned”.
Most scientists agree that a giant metroid hit the earth. Other scientists think different things.
1. Prakash Chandra says:
Very nice Dylan
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What is HIP (Host Identity Protocol)?
The Host Identity Protocol (HIP) is a host identification technology for utilization on Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The Host Identity Protocol gives secure techniques for IP multihoming and portable computing. It was created at the IETF in 1999 and their first stable version in 2007. HIP upgrades the first Internet architecture by adding a name space utilized amongst the IP layer and the transport protocols.
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Regularization in Neural Network
In the earlier era of machine learning, there used to be a lot of discussion on the bias-variance trade-off and the reason for that was we could increase bias and reduce variance, or reduce bias and increase variance. But back in the pre-deep learning era, we didn’t have many tools that just reduce bias or just reduce variance without hurting the other one.
But in the modern deep learning, neural network or big data era getting a bigger network almost always just reduces bias without necessarily hurting variance, so long as we regularize appropriately. Also, getting more data always reduces variance and doesn’t hurt bias much. But we can’t always get more training data, or it could be expensive. Adding regularization will often help to prevent overfitting, or to reduce the errors in our network.
So generally, high complexity models overfit the data having very low bias but high variance and low complexity models underfit the data having a high bias, but low variance. We want to balance the trade-off between bias and variance to get to that spot of having good predictive performance. In this tutorial, we will show how we can use regularization to automatically balance between bias and variance. We will show concepts like ridge and lasso regression and we will develop these ideas using logistic regression.
We use regularization to prevent overfitting how do we know that a model is overfitting? We have to find a quantitative measure that’s indicative of when a model is overfitting. Consider two models
$$\begin{aligned}\hat{y} &=x_1+x_2 \\ \hat{y}&=10x_1+10x_2 \end{aligned}$$
Our task is to separate two points (1,1) and (-1,-1) with a line using these models. We will use sigmoid activation function \(\). In the first model:
$$\begin{aligned} \hat{y}&= \sigma(w_1x_1 + w_2x_2 + b) \\\hat{y}&=\sigma(1+1) = \sigma(2)=0.880797 \\ \hat{y}&=\sigma(−1–1)= \sigma(−2)=0.1192\end{aligned}$$
Now in the second model, for (1,1) and (-1,-1):
$$\begin{aligned}\hat{y} &=\sigma(10(1)+10(1)) =\sigma(20)=0.99999 \\\hat{y}&=\sigma(-10-10) =\sigma(−20)=0.000000002 \end{aligned}$$
Looking for the first time at the probabilities one might think that since the second model is giving us better probabilities it is better model. But that’s not the case since second model is actually overfitting.
When we use sigmoid to the small values we get the first model which has a nice slope for the gradient descent. But when we multiply the linear function \(x_1 + x_2\) with 10 and take \(\sigma(10x_1 + 10x_2)\) our predictions are much better since we are closer to 0 and 1 but the function becomes much steeper and much harder to do gradient descent here since the derivatives are mostly close to zero and they are very large when we go to the middle of the curve. Therefore in order to do gradient descent we prefer model 1 more than the model 2. In a conceptual way the second model is too certain and it gives little room for applying gradient descent.
So, when models become overfit the estimated coefficients of these models tend to become really large in magnitude. Ridge and lasso regression just quantify overfitting through this measure of the magnitude of the coefficients and we will do this by modifying our cost function.
Lasso Regression or L1 Norm
So, in our desired total cost format we want to balance:
1. How well function fits data
2. Magnitude of coefficients
We have seen the magnitude of our estimated coefficients as an indicator of overfitting. So we can write down a total cost that has these two terms:
$$ \textbf{Total Cost} = \textbf{Measure of Fit} + \textbf{Measure of Magnitude of Coefficients}$$
where total cost is our new measure of the quality of the fit, and when we say measure of fit here, it means a small number indicates there’s a good fit to the data. On the other hand, if the measure of the magnitude of the coefficients is small this indicates the size of the coefficients is small and we’re unlikely to be in the setting of a very overfit model. So, what’s our measure of fit? For logistic regression, we try to minimize the cost function which is defined as: $$\text{Cross-Entropy} = – \frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^m y_{i}ln(p_i) + (1- y_i)ln(1-p_i)$$ Now we just need a measure of the magnitude of the coefficients which will tell us that the coeeficients are big. One way is just summing all the coefficients together. $$ \textbf{Magnitude of Coefficients} = \sum_{i = 1}^n w_i$$ Problem is if we take two coefficients \(w_1 = 1,527,301\) and \(w_2 = -1,605,253\) in our model and if we look at \(w_1 + w_2\), this is going to be a small number despite the fact that each of the coefficients themselves was quite large. We can fix this issue by taking the absolute value: $$ \textbf{Magnitude of Coefficients} = \mid w_1\mid + … + \mid w_i\mid = \sum_{i = 1}^n \mid w_i\mid$$ This is one of the well known solutions and defined as the lasso regression or \(L_1\) norm. So let’s consider the resulting objective, where we’re gonna try and search over all possible w vectors. To find the ones that minimize our cost function plus the \(L_1\) norm. So that’s gonna be our \(\hat{w}\), our estimated model parameters. But we’d like to be able to control how much we’re weighing the complexity of the model as measured by this magnitude of our coefficient, relative to the fit of the model. We’d like to balance between these two terms, and so we’re gonna introduce another parameter \(\lambda\). This is called a tuning parameter and this is balancing between this fit and magnitude. So, our cost function becomes $$\text{ERROR FUNCTION} = \frac{1}{m} \left(- \sum_{i=1}^m y_{i}ln(p_i) + (1- y_i)ln(1-p_i) + \lambda ( \mid w_1\mid + … + \mid w_n\mid ) \right) $$
Ridge Regression or L2 Norm
Another choice is to consider the sum of the squares of the coefficients $$ \textbf{Magnitude of Coefficients} = w_1^2 + … + w_i^2 = \sum_{i = 1}^n w_i^2$$ which is called the ridge regression or \(L_2\) norm. $$ \text{ERROR FUNCTION} = \frac{1}{m} \left(- \sum_{i=1}^m y_{i}ln(p_i) + (1- y_i)ln(1-p_i) + \lambda \sum_{i = 1}^n w_i^2 \right)$$
Now, there are many ways to implement ridge regression. We will just add \(L_2\) norm after our cost function. Here we will use \(\frac{\lambda}{2}\) instead of \(\lambda\) since it will be easier to implement. $$ \text{ERROR FUNCTION} = \frac{1}{m} \left(-\sum_{i=1}^m y_{i}ln(p_i) + (1- y_i)ln(1-p_i) + \frac{\lambda}{2} \sum_{i = 1}^n w_i^2\right) $$
Gradient Descent
So, how do we implement Gradient descent in regularization? Previously without reguliraztion our gradient descent was like: $$\begin{aligned}w_{new} &= w – \alpha * dw \\ dw &= \frac{dE}{dw} \end{aligned}$$ For \(L_1\) regularization the problem is the gradient of the norm does not exist at 0, so you need to be careful. As for the regularization term, if \(w_i>0\) then \(\mid w_i\mid = w_i\) and the gradient is \(+1\), similarly when \(w_i<0\) the gradient is \(−1\), so in summary $$\begin{aligned}w_{new} &= w – \alpha * dw \\ &= w – \alpha * (\frac{dE}{dw} + \frac{\lambda}{m}\frac{d\mid w\mid }{dw}) \\ &=\left\{ \begin{array}{c l} w – \alpha * (\frac{dE}{dw} + \frac{\lambda}{m}) & w>0\\ w – \alpha * (\frac{dE}{dw} – \frac{\lambda}{m}) & w<0 \end{array}\right. \end{aligned} $$
For \(L_2\) regularization $$dw = \frac{dE}{dw} + \frac{\lambda}{m}w $$ And then we just compute this update, same as before $$\begin{aligned}w_{new} &= w – \alpha * dw \\ &= w – \alpha * (\frac{dE}{dw} + \frac{\lambda}{m}w) \\ &= (1 – \frac{\alpha \lambda}{m}) w – \alpha \frac{dE}{dw} \end{aligned} $$
Balance Bias variance Trade-off
In the above equation, we see that if we take \(\lambda = 0\), we get the previous cost function without regularization. Now, let’s take \(\lambda = \infty\) and we have a massively large weight on this magnitude term. So, what happens to any solution where \(\hat{w} \neq 0\)? For solutions where \(\hat{w} \neq 0\), the total cost is \(\infty\). But for sure, if \( \hat{w} = 0\), then the total cost is minimum. So, the minimizing solution here is always \( \hat{w} = 0\) because that’s gonna minimize the total cost over all possible \(w\). So, we will be operating in a regime where \(\lambda\) is in between \(0\) to \(\infty\).
Now, let’s talk about this in the context of the bias-variance trade-off. And what we saw is when we had very large lambda, we had a solution with very high bias, but low variance and one way to see this is that, when we’re cranking lambda all the way up to infinity, in that limit, we get coefficients shrunk to be zero, and clearly that’s a model with high bias but low variance. On the other hand, when we had very small lambda, we have a model that is low bias, but high variance. And to see this think about setting lambda to zero, in which case, we just get our old solution. And there we see that for higher complexity models clearly you’re gonna have low bias but high variance. So what we see is this lambda tuning parameter controls our model complexity and controls this bias-variance trade-off.
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4 Ways Education Assistant Training Can Help You Keep a Classroom Organized
become an educational assistant
Working in special education means providing a supportive classroom, and that includes organization. Organization is more than making sure paper and pens are put away and everything is in order before the next day – it can also help prepare you to meet the individual learning needs of your students and provide a more structured classroom environment.
Whether you want to provide students with visual aids or reduce potential distractions, there are a variety of organizational methods you and your fellow educators can use to help your students learn and participate in and around the classroom.
If you’re interested in starting a career as an educational assistant, read on to find out how your training can help you and your classroom become more organized.
1. Positive Student Behaviour Support Begins with Good Organization
Supporting positive behaviour in the classroom is an important part of your work when you become an educational assistant. Although there may be days when positive behaviour seems to be the last thing on your students’ minds, staying organized can actually help you keep your class on the right track.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have trouble understanding how they are expected to act in the classroom. An organized room with physically defined spaces can help them better separate each setting, and even anticipate what a certain activity in that space means. Encouraging a deeper understanding of the current activity or lesson can cultivate a more positive response in students as they learn how to interact with and prepare for the context of each separate space.
2. Organization in the Classroom Can Reduce Student Distractibility
Many special education learners can be easily distracted. Educational assistant training emphasizes the important role that behaviour management plays in the special education classroom, and that includes reducing any auditory or visual distractions.
Educational assistants can use organization to minimize distractions in class
Educational assistants can use organization to minimize distractions in class
General clutter and even walls crowded end to end with posters or information can be a distraction to students with ASD because all of the unorganized elements are competing at once for their attention. Reducing excessive visual input can help minimize the stimulus students receive from their classroom environment, so it’s a good idea to only include the most relevant visual materials on the walls or desks, and put all the extra materials or supplies neatly away out of sight.
3. Educational Assistant Training Can Help You Organize Individual Learning Styles
Individualized learning is a core element of your educational assistant program and your classroom. Children with special needs often learn in very different styles, and organization can help you ensure they are learning in the best way possible.
Students at KLC can use organization to support individual learning styles
Students at KLC can use organization to support individual learning styles
Organization in the classroom can be as simple as labelling items with words and even pictures. Labelling each student’s materials, assigned seat, or personal items can help them tell which objects are theirs, and encourage them to have a more independent perspective of these items, as well as how they relate to themselves as individuals. “David’s chair,” for example, tells everyone in the room – David included – that this is his personal space to use during class.
4. Use Your Educational Assistant Training to Provide Visual Organization
Special education learners often rely on visual cues to better understand their classroom environment, and it’s important to make sure everything is organized in a way that provides plenty visual support.
If you choose to label areas of the classroom, you can also include pictures to help students understand where things are supposed to go as well as what they look like. This kind of visual cue gives them easily-accessible information that helps make abstract concepts more concrete. Visual aids such as a schedule or first-then board can provide students with a sense of structure, and encourages them to follow multi-step directions in order to achieve something they want.
Are you interested in starting a rewarding career in the classroom?
Contact KLC College for more information about our educational assistant course.
Learning Theories: A Quick Guide for Students in Educational Assistant Classes
educational assistant classes
Are you considering a career as an educational assistant? One important subject you’ll encounter during your training is learning theories. Simply put, a learning theory is a way of understanding how knowledge is acquired and retained, which makes it an extremely useful concept for educational assistants when helping students better comprehend new material.
If you pursue training to be an educational assistant, you will work under the supervision of the teacher to help students with their lessons. Since lessons are often built on the principles of at least one main learning theory, understanding the main tenets of a few important learning theories will be an asset in the classroom.
Read on for a look at the three main learning theories and how they can be utilized by educational assistants.
Educational Assistants Can Use Behaviourism to Help Students Learn Factual Material
Behaviourism focuses on knowledge and learning that is quantifiable and observable, such as facts and dates. Behaviourists favour a model of learning that focuses heavily on positive and negative reinforcement. For example, as an educational assistant, your responsibilities may include assisting with grading tests, which showcases behaviourism in action. A good grade on a test is a case of positive reinforcement as it encourages the student to remember the correct answers that led to that grade. A bad grade, on the other hand, is a type of negative reinforcement, which discourages a student from repeating an incorrect answer.
Grading is one way that educational assistants use behaviourism in the classroom
Grading is one way that educational assistants use behaviourism in the classroom
Behaviourism is a useful tool if you are helping students learn something for which there is always a correct answer, such as scientific facts, foreign language vocabulary and historic dates. However, it is less useful with teaching more abstract concepts, like comprehension and critical thinking.
Cognitive Constructivism is an Important Tool for Students in Educational Assistant Training
Cognitive constructivism (also called cognitivism) is a learning theory which argues that people construct knowledge based on what they already know, such as their previous learning, cultural background and their life experiences. Instead of viewing students as passive learners motivated only by positive or negative reinforcement, a cognitivist sees learning as a process of active discovery.
After educational assistant training, you can use cognitivism in a number of ways, including by helping students with learning difficulties. In such a case, a teacher, with your assistance as an educational assistant, may develop an individual program tailored to the abilities and knowledge of these students. You will then help put this program into action. For example, as an educational assistant, you may ask a student to repeat new material in his or her own words. Having a student put material into their own words is more effective than simply having them repeat material verbatim, since the latter doesn’t necessarily indicate that he or she has understood the lesson.
A lesson built on cognitivist principles is less concerned with drilling students with right answers and focuses more on creating an environment that allows them to discover new knowledge for themselves.
Social Constructivism Focuses on the Collaborative Nature of Education
Social constructivism shares the cognitivist belief that learners construct knowledge based on what they already know. However, this theory emphasizes that the way new knowledge is constructed is a collaborative process involving the community, society and fellow students.
Social constructivism sees learning as a collaborative effort
Social constructivism sees learning as a collaborative effort
Once you’ve completed your educational assistant classes, you may find social constructivism put into practical use in the classroom through group exercises. For example, the teacher may divide the class into groups and give each group an assignment, like a mathematical problem, to solve together. Your job as an educational assistant may be to help each group by observing the behaviour of students and ensuring they stay focused on the task at hand.
While an educational assistant ensures the groups stay on track, students ultimately work on the assignment with their peers. This sort of social constructivist teaching strategy combines elements of both behaviourism and cognitivism, since students are constructing new knowledge based on what they already know, and they are also being motivated through positive reinforcement from other group members.
Are you interested in pursuing a career as an educational assistant?
Contact KLC College to learn more about our career college.
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Nickel alloy UNS(1) N10276 is commonly used for pipes in the sulfur scrubbers of coal-fired power plants. The pipes in these sulfur scrubbers are exposed to both gaseous and liquid sulfuric acid at moderate temperatures (<3000F), necessitating the use of corrosion-resistant alloys. The biggest factor that controls the corrosion behavior of nickel alloy UNS N10276 is the microstructure. There are two primary options for changing the microstructure of cast alloys: chemical composition and heat treatment. This project focused on the effect of both chemistry and heat treatment on microstructure and corrosion resistance. Samples with three chemistries (low, mid, high) within the alloy’s specification were produced at the Virginia Tech foundry. Chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten were varied due to their known ability to influence the corrosion resistance of this alloy. Heat treatments at various temperatures, holding times, and cooling rates were evaluated. Samples were corroded in the vapor produced by a 20 wt% sulfuric acid solution in water at 930C.
The low and mid alloy chemistries exhibited weight losses, whereas the high alloy chemistry exhibited weight gains. Overall, none of the samples exhibited high corrosion rates (all were <0.114 mm/y). In terms of chemistry, none of the corrosion rates were statistically different from one another except for the mid and high alloy with an air cooled heat treatment. In terms of heat treatment, for the mid alloy chemistry, the corrosion rates from all three heat treatments were statistically different from that of the non-heat treated (as-cast). For the low and high alloy, none of the heat treatments caused corrosion rates to be statistically different from one another including the non-heat treated.
The heat treating temperature altered the shape of the intermetallic particles (µ and/or P phases) and the heat treating time affected both the shape and distribution of these intermetallic phases. The cooling rate, however, did not seem to affect them (this may have been a result of the small test specimen size). In addition, heat treating eliminated segregation that occurred during solidification.
Overall, varying the chemistry within the specification range had no statistically significant effect on corrosion resistance of cast nickel alloy UNS N10276 in the environment tested.
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Is Self Determination A Good Idea? Durham University Theory & History Of Ir Formative Assignment
1823 words - 8 pages
James Inge
Is self-determination a good idea?
In today’s international world order, self-determination is a good idea for a number of economic, political and social reasons. Post-World War Two notions of national self-determination and sovereignty, initially advocated by Woodrow Wilson, became integrated into international law and more reflective of the will of the people. Brownlie now sees the principle of self-determination as a definitive human right in deciding the question of the government and the governed, which the U.N. Charter confirms, specifically outlining the right to self-determination and the definition of the “peoples” such a right applied to. However, in reality, there are many countries where national self-determination has not provided an adequate solution, and further argument suggests that the effectiveness of self-determination is dependant on the way in which it is implemented.
At the centre of President Woodrow Wilson’s liberal world view was the idea of self-determination – ‘a free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims…the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined’ (Lieven, 1999, p.197). America’s growing status as a world power meant Wilsonianism language acted as an attractive model for other states to follow – one achievable with western support – legitimising the principle of self-determination and national sovereignty in world politics. This thinking would help bring about the secession of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and the Baltic states from Gorbachev’s Soviet Union (Lynch, 2002, p.421). Wilson believed that America had a moral duty to protect and free people from autocratic government, however his idea of providing self-determination was flawed in its roots of the ‘Anglo-American tradition of civic nationalism’ (Lynch, p.424), and he was unable to grasp the importance of distinguishing the nation from the peoples constituting the nation. This would plague his attempts to apply the principle in eastern Europe. Thus, Wilson’s interpretation was a bad idea as self-determination was only seen as the ‘right of communities to govern themselves, not the right of every ethos to its own polity’. (Lynch, p.435) As such self-determination only occurred along pre-existing boundaries as defined by previous colonial powers or federal systems – it was applied under uti possidetis juris, a principle of international law providing that newly sovereign states be within the preceding state structure. American foreign interests instead took priority – Wilson openly admitted that the self-determination would have to be put secondary to other diplomatic, strategic or economic considerations. This was the case with the USSR, where the policy of self-determination was not adopted in fear of interfering with the the territorial integrity of the state at a time when the Bolshev...
1583 words - 7 pages mechanisms are employed, to help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e., anxiety) or make good things feel better for the individual. · enables the person to control their impulses and demonstrate self-control, via mastery of the ego 2. Psychosexual development · Born with the id, but the Ego and super Ego develop in childhood · Pass through series of developmental stages, resolving conflicts · Each stage is associated with a part of the body (“erotogenic
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The Idea Of Human Rights For All Is A Relatively
1415 words - 6 pages democracy itself. (Guinier 349)? Guinier?s idea of political equality is very similar to Nussbaum?s idea of women?s rights. In today?s democracy, all human beings should be treated equally. As I have noted earlier, these ideals are all very good thoughts, however very unrealistic. Guinier wishes for a democracy in which all people have a say in governmental issues. To me, that sounds over-redundant. What else could Guinier ask for to make it fair? She
1339 words - 6 pages was able to gain enough votes to dominate during this time. However, there were factors other than the internal divisions of its opponents that allowed the Republican party to dominate between 1865 and 1912. One of these factors is that the Republican party had the support of big business. They gained this support by having more business friendly ideas than their opposition such as a laissez faire attitude and high tariffs. Their laissez faire
History Of Atomic Theory Essay
706 words - 3 pages "[Democritus:] Everything was composed of atoms, which moved randomly in a vacuum, in a void. They collided into each other by chance. This was the absolute negation of Aristotle's idea that everything had a purpose as divinely ordained [the theory of the Four Elements]."Dr. Hugh SalzburgChemistry HistorianThe idea that matter is composed of atoms goes back to the Greek philosophers, notably Democritus, and has never since been entirely lost
A Matter Of Perception: Treasure Island Is Good Or Bad
1095 words - 5 pages . Apparently it is writtenwell enough to gain fans throughout England. So it must be a somewhat good piece ofliterature. William Blackburn writes in his essay, "Much of Treasure Island is in brilliantlyhandled dramatic dialogue, salty enough to convey the tang of piratical talk yet chasteenough to pass muster with the most respectable of parents" (Nineteenth-CenturyLiterature Criticism, Vol. 63, pp.253). It is so wonderfully written that it is
It is a good trial I had very good grade until I increased my grade.. t - History - Essay
449 words - 2 pages Ana Sofia Foy History The Constitution The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, yet there was a struggle for its ratification that went on until 1790. Members of Congress believed that the Articles of Confederation, the first government of the United States, needed to be altered while others did not want change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central
Effects of Self-Service Technology on Supermarket employment - University, management - Assignment
2512 words - 11 pages first, will give the contextual history of self-service checkouts, which will be key in analysing the impact later. In the next section I will discuss the labour process theory discussing its links to Marxist thinking and capitalism. Finally I will look at technology as a prosthesis and aesthesis analysing the specific effects of the self-service checkout. 2. Historical Context Traditional grocers are completely different to modern supermarkets. The
A good Friend is a descriptive essay of 5 paragraphs - ENG - Descriptive essay
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1575 words - 7 pages what a market segment is), but also some evidence that you can apply that theory (e.g., by explaining how the theory is useful, and by giving good examples). In some respects, answering the application part of the question is more important. Most people can explain a simple theory like segmentation, but real knowledge is demonstrated when someone can apply that knowledge, and give good examples. 3. When reading the suggested answer below, note
758 words - 4 pages capital is made by foreign-born immigrants rather than UK citizens moving in. Finally, transportation is the last idea of a good living standard. Travel is a daily activity of every person nowadays, and London is a city in which urban traffic infrastructure is extremely developed. There are many kind of transportation in London, such as buses, underground, taxis, and cycling. Those sources can bring you to everywhere in London; additionally, the price
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How English in the Philippines developed through the years
Reading Time: 7 minutes
The history of how English in the Philippines started can be rooted back centuries ago when the Philippines became a colony of Spain and the USA. For about 500 years, the Philippines slowly developed from becoming a country with no primary language to becoming a multilingual nation with over 170 languages including English.
The Philippines first became a Spanish colony in 1521 for 300 years. Yet, despite ruling the country for three centuries, it could not do something that the Americans did in just 50 years. In contrast to the Spaniards who called Filipinos ‘Indios’, the Americans made the Filipinos understand with affection and heartily welcomed Filipinos as one of their own. The Americans called Filipinos “little brown Americans.” Thus, less than half a century later, the Filipinos built strong ties with them. Subsequently, they adopted the American form of government, embraced the American dream, and spoke the American language.
Interestingly, the Americans’ means of attack and assimilation was not through religion, but through Mass Education. In the annals of Philippine’s history, the Americans’ contribution to education was the best. Americans established schools in the Philippines and used English as the medium of instruction. In 1946, after the USA granted its independence, many Filipinos have actively campaigned for the Philippines to become the 51st state of the USA.
Today, English has become the Philippines’ official language in law and commerce. English in the Philippines took the nation to the global setting, as it’s now become the primary language for schooling. Filipinos use English via the mass media, the arts, social, business, and political interaction. The language continues to be a strong thread that binds the Philippines and the USA.
Why has English become so easy to learn and so easy to use in the Philippines? The following statements could surely tell us why.
1. The Americans continue to influence the everyday lives of Filipinos in many ways.
One major reason why English in the Philippines continued flourishing is because of the strong American influence on Filipinos. Filipinos patronize everything that’s from America – TV shows, movies, music, fashion, etc. Although the Philippines has several local TV networks, some Filipinos would still prefer watching American TV channels. Name a famous talk show host or maybe an American actor, and they surely know all of them!
english in the philippines3
2. For most Filipinos, English is not seen as a foreign language but a second language.
In a country with more than 110 million people who speak no less than 8 languages, English is the Philippines’ second language. However, in some areas, English is even more popular than Filipino, the country’s official national language. It might surprise you, but some would even consider English as their first language.
The prominence of English in the Philippines is viewed as a “bittersweet” American influence. Sweet because it’s an international language. Bitter for some Filipinos are already losing their national Filipino identity because of it. For instance, some Filipino children speak English like American kids but don’t know even a single Filipino word at all.
See also Filipino English Accent: Why do people love the Filipino English accent?
Long before children start schooling, some Filipino children are already responding to and speaking English words. Parents would coo their kids such baby talk as “close-open” (opening and closing of the child’s hands). Sometimes, they even ask babies to do “beautiful eyes” (fluttering the eyelashes in what is supposed to be a cute manner). Besides, some parents would prod their kids to exhibit their intelligence by correctly answering simple questions. Some common questions are “Point your nose, mouth, cheek, etc.?” or “Where’s the dog, cat, moon, etc.?”
English in the Philippines
3. English is the primary language in all Philippine Schools.
The Philippine education system has been using English as its primary medium of instruction. Filipino students must learn English from elementary to university level for them to understand their lessons at school. Because of this system, schools are reinforcing to students the notion that English is easy and available all the time. Consequently, learning English in the Philippines is an essential part of its education system. It is a tool for learning and a medium of communication.
Usually, before a Filipino child enters the nursery, he or she has already built a vocabulary of English. This includes body parts, names of animals and objects, action verbs, simple adjectives (dirty, good, bad). A typical Filipino child in a nursery school already knows polite expressions, nursery rhymes, and asking basic simple questions.
Additionally, for most middle and upper-class Filipino children, learning English always begins at home. Adults would teach English through snatches of English words and phrases heard over the radio and on TV. To a middle-class Filipino child whose parents are English speakers or have access to the internet and e-gadgets, English is not an alien tongue. Filipino children may not understand the fine distinction of the English language, but they’re starting to get familiar with it even at a young age.
4. English is important to the Filipino masses seeking employment abroad.
Filipinos’ skill and their cheap labor are in demand globally. But apart from that, other nations also applaud Filipinos outstanding command and comprehension of English. These innate qualities of Filipinos made them highly-requested in the manpower industry anywhere in the world. Why? Simply because foreign employers can easily communicate with them. English, after all, is a global language and luckily, Filipinos unraveled this code quite early and easily.
Unlike before, several agencies abroad are now considering the English proficiency level of all its applicants. This means that having a good English command is one of the primary requirements when going abroad. Most employers would prefer English-speaking workers even in countries that use another language like the Middle East, for instance.
5. English proficiency is associated with academic prestige and intelligence.
English in the Philippines is the language of power and progress. It is valuable not only because it is functional and practical but because it is an affordable item. It is a skill that can be used to increase one’s position, respectability, and marketability. In most cases, the better one’s ability to understand and use English, the better one’s chances of career advancement. This is true for both extremes of the socio-economic ladder.
See also Why Learn English Online? Here are 10 Reasons Why You Should!
Moreover, having a good command of English is a very important factor if you want to work in a good company in the cosmopolitan business district. And if you want to work overseas or migrate, you also need to pass several English proficiency tests like IELTS or TOEIC, for example. With the growing demand for English services, the establishment of ESL schools continued rising in recent years to cater not just to Filipino students but also to foreign students.
English in the Philippines: Interesting Facts You Need to Know
The challenges towards the use of English in the Philippines.
Although the English language catapulted the Philippines to the echelon of the most popular countries to learn English, the prominence of English in the Philippines is also facing several challenges. Among these are the following.
1. Purists and nationalists wanted to erase all traces of American colonial influence.
Filipino purists and nationalists are protesting for years to erase all American influence. They knew that the English language, rather than the dreams, can be so difficult to delete. Some Filipino activists viewed Americans, until today, as traitors and opportunists who have killed and enslaved Filipinos. Just like the establishment of US military bases, the English language had also become a symbol of the subtle but strong dominance of America. If not because of Mount Pinatubo’s eruption and the strong-willed Philippine Senate, the US Military bases would’ve never vanished. However, obliterating English is another matter.
2. The government wanted to replace English with Filipino as the medium of instruction in schools.
Although most Filipinos who understand the Filipino language are literate to it is not their mother tongue. Many of us have little use for it unless traveling to other areas in the country. Besides, the Filipino language is only of use when watching local movies and TV programs and reading comics and tabloids published in Manila. In recent years, the government has already been pushing campaigns to ‘filipinize’ the medium of instruction in school, law, and commerce. However, this campaign has not met with so much enthusiasm for success.
Explicitly, the Filipino, the national language, is 95% Tagalog spoken by those who live in Manila and its outlying areas. On the other hand, the rest of the country speaks their own dialects or languages. The “use-Filipino” campaign became unsuccessful since most Filipinos consider it as a form of domination by those living in the seat of political power.
Meanwhile, the use of English in the Philippines as the medium of instruction has been running for years already. In the Philippines, education receives the lowest budget yearly from the government. The long use of English textbooks and instruction would scramble the Philippine education system. Why? Because not many Filipino books are available and there are only less qualified teachers who could speak Filipino.
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Partial shading is worse than it sounds.
This post addresses a problem specific to solar PV modules that use string_inverters, which are the most common kinds of inverters. For an introduction to solar PV technology, see my previous post.
Every manufacturer will tell you to avoid obstructions to your array—trees,antennae, bird droppings, what have you. But they really mean it, and the reason might not be so obvious.
The long and short of it is that partial shading of one module can compromise the output of the entire array. Here’s how:
Remember that it’s the inverter’s responsibility to convert the DC power generated by the solar panels into AC power for use in the house. Well, one reason we use AC is because it’s especially easy to get along with. AC power is expressed as a ratio of voltage to current (volts to amps), and it can be converted between different ratios rather easily. This way it can conform to the requirements of everything from your washing machine to your cell phone charger. Each appliance’s voltage/current preference is determined by how it uses electricity to perform its tasks.
When a string inverter changes the DC power from a solar array into AC power for the house, it has to choose a voltage/current ratio, too. The optimal ratio is whatever ratio provides the most power, so it’s referred to as the maximum power point. Under varying conditions of temperature and sunlight, the maximum power point is constantly changing. Many solar inverters available today come with maximum power point tracking, a.k.a. MPPT, which means they’re constantly probing the system to find the right ratio and making adjustments in real time.
Now, at any given time, most string inverters can only accept one MPP—one voltage/current ratio—for all the modules under their charge. Partial shading means there’s at least one module that can’t generate at the power of the other ones. In this case, most systems have two options. The first option is to compromise: the inverter’s MPPT will choose a lower power point at which all the panels can generate together.* In this sense, the entire array is only as strong as its weakest link. The inverter’s other option is to refuse the power from the shaded module. This isn’t an ideal situation; it means the shaded module has to dump what current it is generating through a bypass diode so that it’s discharged peacefully. But think of the poor bypass diode… it would be like entering and exiting a building through the fire escape every day – your apartment’s not designed for that! Clearly though, either situation — the bypass or the lower power point — is undesirable.
There’s a technology called the microinverter that seeks, among other things, to avoid this problem altogether by giving each panel has its own small inverter. So if one module has partial shading, then it generates at whatever power point it can, and the others carry on in peace. Some microinverters are even built-in on the level of the solar cells. The technology has been around for a while, but only recently has it become economical.
String inverters are tried and true, but to keep things running smoothly, keep your panels sunny!
* For this reason as well, you’ll want to get more than one inverter if your array features modules with different orientations.
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The benthic fauna and diel variation in a shallow seagrass bed (Thalassia testudinum) were studied in Playa Mero, Venezuela Samples of organisms and sediments were taken using PVC cylinders, 5 cm in diameter, along a transect perpendicular to the coast Seagrass cover, shoot density and biomass were estimated. The sea grass cover was homogeneous a10ng the transect. The intermediate zone had the highest number of shoots and of above- ground and rhizome biomass. Composition and.abundance of benthic organisms were related with seagrass and sediment characteristics. Sediment organic matter contentand organism abundance were highest near the shore. Molluscs, polychaetes, oligochaetes and nematodes were the most abundant groups. Species richness-was higher in daytime (40 versus 28 at night). Gastropods were the most abundant organisms both at day and night while polychaetes and crustaceans increased during the day, and holoturids were more numerous at night.
Keywords: Segrass, macroinvertebrates, community structure, diel variation, Venezuela
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Christoph Helmig
Alcune aporie sulla dottrina platonica della metempsicosi nel Platonismo di epoca imperiale
• Abstract
Informations and abstract
Keywords: Transmigration of Souls; Embryology; Inheritance; Reason-principles (Logoi); Biology.
How can a theory of transmigration explain that we resemble our parents or grandparents? In Aristotle, a problem of this sort arises, because he maintains that in the process of procreation only the father provides the form, the mother being considered the material principle. How is it, then, that children are like their mother? The Neoplatonist Plotinus presented for the first time a new, revolutionary theory of procreation according to which both the mother and father contribute a set of "logoi" (reason-principles). The dominant reason-principles constitute the child's genetic material, as it were.
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Lomonosov consistently calls Russian language "российский" in his works:
Is there a reason why he does not use "русский язык," which is the proper name of Russian language in Russian?
• According to this: new.gramota.ru/spravka/trudnosti?layout=item&id=36_186 русский is used since 19 century, before that российский was used in all these cases.
– Artemix
May 30 '16 at 11:57
• @Artemix The same article says that Karamzin "resurrects" the use of "русский" ("возрождается народная форма прилагательного руской"). To me, this suggests that the name "русский язык" was used before and after Lomonosov's times. May 30 '16 at 12:04
• IIRC, before Lomonosov there were no "written russian", only Church Slavonic was used in literature. So, even if "folk" form existed before Lomonosov it had no written usage.
– Artemix
May 30 '16 at 12:15
• 2
@Artemix: Russian and its direct predecessors (as opposed to Church Slavonic) had been in continuous written usage since XI century.
– Quassnoi
May 30 '16 at 13:05
Россия is a hellenized form of the native Russian word Русь.
It was first attested in XIV century and had since been for some time a part of grand style rhetoric (высокий штиль), the one Lomonosov used in his scientific writings.
At the time, it was just a fancy way to say "Russian".
In the modern language, российский means something pertaining to the Russian state (российские законы, российская армия) while русский is something pertaining to the Russian people (русский язык, русский народ).
Same distinction holds for several other nations (германский / немецкий, латвийский / латышский etc.).
• 1
+1. In Ukrainian, "російський" means 'Russian' in both senses, "русский" and "российский", while "руський" means 'Ukrainian'.
– Yellow Sky
May 30 '16 at 13:41
• 3
@YellowSky, this is not true. "руський" - this word is used by some perverted ones, and stems from a political and historical concept, which tries to explain why wasn't such a great nation with 100000000 years history able to create its own state ever. So they invented the stupidest theory that Rus with its political center in Kiev was "ukrainian" and therefore "руський" = Ukrainian. This is not widely used even in the Ukraine. Serious historians simply laugh at this. So, please do not misguide other users. May 31 '16 at 17:13
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Save the Pine Bush Loses a Friend
by Tom Ellis
Labrador: Jim Learning of the Labrador Land Protectors, who spoke at the April 20, 2016 SPB dinner about his work to preserve rivers in Canada from needless destruction, died on April 16. He was 81. He was a Grand River Labrador board member and Nunatu-Kavut councilor.
Jim’s 2016 stop in Albany was part of his ten-day educational and advocacy tour on NY, New England, and Nova Scotia in which he pleaded with listeners to reject electricity imports from Quebec and Labrador. He said the provincial governments literally destroy rivers and river valleys constructing dams, power stations, and enormous reservoirs to generate electricity, to be transported often more than a thousand miles to distant markets where electricity users are unaware of the devastation that occurs where the power originates.
“I am begging you. Push back on taking our electricity.” He said, “it is not clean. Dams starve the sea of nutrients. We need a front to tell our government not to do this. I want to create a liaison between our group and your group.”
Jim was jailed for non-violently resisting dam construction in 2013 and 2017. After learning of his death, his colleague, Denise Cole, wrote that “he left us as an elder and he’ll stay with us as an ancestor.”
Jim was a strong advocate for an independent, united Labrador. Labrador is part of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). NL was a British colony until after World War Two when it became Canada’s tenth province. Labrador was a separate political entity from the island of Newfoundland until 1927 when the British government combined them without consulting Labrador’s aboriginal people. Labrador has less than one-tenth the human population of Newfoundland island but contains more than seventy percent of the province’s total land area. Labrador possesses immense quantities of iron ore, nickel, copper, uranium, and water. Labrador is thus dominated politically by Newfoundland whose politicians often treat it like a colony. It was Jim’s hope that Labradorians could control the destiny of Labrador and protect it from predator corporations.
Published in May/June 2020
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Karst [kahrst] topography is characterized by subterranean limestone caverns, carved by groundwater. It is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. Due to subterranean drainage, there may be very limited surface water, even to the absence of all rivers and lakes. Many karst regions display distinctive surface features, with sinkholes or dolines being the most common.
Some karst regions include thousands of caves, even though evidence of caves that are big enough for human exploration is not a required characteristic of karst. Serbian geographer, Jovan Cvijić (1865–1927) is recognized as the father of karst geomorphology. The international community has settled on ‘karst,’ the German name for Kras, a region in Slovenia partially extending into Italy, where it is called ‘Carso’ and where the first scientific research of a karst topography was made. The name has an Indo-European origin (from ‘karra’ meaning ‘stone’).
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Macbeth’s full name was Macbeth mac Findlaech. The was given the surname Macbeth, which means “son of life” in Gaelic and the mac Findlaech describes him together the child of Findlaech mac Ruaidri. His father had actually the condition of a topic king in Moray and was recognized as Mormaer that Moray. In the year 1005, Macbeth to be born in Moray throughout a time of civil war. Fifteen year after his birth his father to be killed, and also Macbeth was given refuge by his grandfather, King Malcolm of Scotland. In 1034, 14 years after the fatality of his father, Macbeth’s grandfather passed away, leaving his throne to one more grandson by the surname of Duncan. Duncan came to be deeply associated in Anglo-Norse affairs and also was connected in numerous failed conflicts against England. The reality of Duncan differs from the Duncan portrayed in the play Macbeth, who was created as being both gentle and also wise.
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Another difference in between the play and the actual background is exactly how Duncan died and also Macbeth became king. In Macbeth, Duncan was consistently stabbed to death. In reality, Duncan died by Macbeth’s hand during battle and possibly likewise with the assist of Thorfinn, his cousin. The annals that Tigernach state the Duncan to be “slain through his subjects.” the is thought that Macbeth was able to overthrow and succeed Duncan since of the disillusionment the his world who backed Macbeth.
Historical professionals hypothesize the Shakespeare derived his understanding of the history of Macbeth from functions such as History and Chronicles that Scotland by Hector Boerce, and Chronicle of Scotland by Raphael Hollinshed. The credibility the Hector Boerce’s job-related as a historic account is taken into consideration to it is in questionable, at best. Shakespeare appears to have shaped his check out of Lady Macbeth from Boerce’s work, which developed the photo of her as an angry woman.
Macbeth’s real wife to be a woman called Gruoch, whose lineage is disputed. She was, however, the widow that a guy named Gillacomgain, who either Macbeth or his people had formerly killed. Her marriage to Macbeth remained in all likelihood urged by politics, a move intended to develop peace between rival clans.
Boerce’s explicate of she was most likely to be inferred from the animosity she can have felt toward Macbeth as a an outcome of the fatality of she husband. Furthermore, there have actually been stories that indicate she conspired to kill her very own husband so that she might marry Macbeth and also place Lulach, she son, in Macbeth’s location after that died. There, but is no real evidence to support this theory.
In the play Macbeth, Macbeth die at the hands of Macduff, a nobleman and the Thane that Fife. After ~ Macbeth murdered Duncan, it to be Macduff who discovered the body. Later on his wife, Lady Macduff, to be murdered by Macbeth. Macduff encourages Duncan’s boy Malcolm to return indigenous England come Scotland to take the throne native Macbeth. Upon return to Scotland, Macduff confronts Macbeth and also kills him.
Macbeth’s fatality in the play different from Macbeth’s actual death in several ways. In reality, Malcolm had actually fled come England ~ the murder of his father and had become Edward the Confessor’s protegé. Edward sent out Malcolm and Earl Siward back to Scotland to take it the throne from Macbeth. It was Edward’s intention that Malcolm end up being the new, customer King of Scots. Although lock met in battle, Macbeth still lived, and also the battle is thought to have come to a stalemate v no clean victor.
In respectable 1057, the two eventually met again in battle in Lumphanan. That is here that Macbeth to be gravely injured by Malcolm and, together a result, passed away on august 15, 1057. That was prospered by his stepson Lulach, who was murdered through Malcolm less than a year later.
Over 5 hundred year after the death of Macbeth, Shakespeare wrote his beat entitled Macbeth. He created his own version the Raphael Hollinshed’s Chronicle of Scotland, yet wrote Macbeth as the rogue in order to appeal come the king who was that the Stuart family. This effort to please the king is noticeable in the the knavish Macbeth murders Banquo who established the home of Stewart and that the rightful succession is Fleance, Banquo’s son. That is climate revealed by thethree witches that the progeny of Banquo would preeminence what is include to be a linked England, Scotland and Ireland when Macbeth’s royal line ends.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare writes around three witches who provide prophecies to Macbeth. In reality, there were no witches, prophecies, or proof the Macbeth delved right into the mythological or the occult. Some, however, believe that his capital of the monastery top top Loch Leven could have been a authorize that he believed in ghost prophecies. Shakespeare’s addition of the occult into Macbeth was influenced by the works of Andrew de Wyntoun. It to be Wyntoun’s story of the “weird sisters” in Orygynale Cronykil that Scotland that are believed to have inspired the inclusion of the witches in his play. In fact, Shakespeare refers to the witches together the monster sisters.
They are an ext closely regarded prophetic Norse ladies than they room to noþeles Celtic. During that time, words “weird”
had a different definition than that does today. Prior to the 18th century the Anglo-Saxon variation of words was “Wyrd” which intended fate.
See more: The Great Contribution Of Tycho Brahe Was To _________., Exam 1 Quiz 3 Flashcards
With the in mind, the 3 weird sister were probably in reference to the three Norns, who were called Wyrd, Skuld, and Verdandi. In norse tradition, these three women, or Norns, spun mankind’s destiny from wherein they sat next to the world Ash Tree, or Yggdrasil. Together a result, some think that this suggests that the Orkney Jarls, that were adversaries of Macbeth, may have somehow affected the informing of his history.
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Quick Answer: What Type Of Property Is Money?
What are the two main types of property?
What are the two types of property recognized by law?
Is a home real property?
Real property includes things like your home and the land on which it lies, while personal property includes moveable goods. Your car, clothes, and most of your personal possessions are personal property. … If a contract regarding real property is not in writing, it will not be enforced in a court of law.
What exactly is real estate?
Can I withdraw money from my husband’s account?
What are the different types of property rights?
Types of property rightsOwnership. Owning land gives the owner all rights to the property. … Lease. A lease is a contract that allows certain individuals and/or organizations to use land for a particular purpose for the duration of the lease. … License. A license is written permission to enter and use another person’s land. … Easement.
What are the 3 types of property?
What are the 4 types of real estate?
Is a deed and title the same thing?
How can property be acquired?
Real property may be acquired by purchase, inheritance, gift, or adverse possession. Owners of property must know the breadth and limits of their ownership interests to understand their rights to profits derived from the land and their liability resulting from use of their land.
How is home buyout calculated?
What is property and its types?
Private and Public Property Besides that, a property is considered private property when it is owned by an individual or by a juristic person for personal use and benefit. Any tangible or intangible property owned by an individual or corporation e.g., land, building, copyrights, patents, etc.
What are the four properties?
There are four basic properties of numbers: commutative, associative, distributive, and identity. You should be familiar with each of these. It is especially important to understand these properties once you reach advanced math such as algebra and calculus.
What are the two primary types of property taxes?
What’s the best definition of real property?
The legal definition of real property is land, and anything growing on, affixed to, or built upon land. This also includes man-made buildings as well as crops. Real property is best characterized as property that doesn’t move, or that is attached to the land.
Is a house bought before marriage marital property?
When a person buys a home before he or she is married, this property is usually considered his or her own separate property. However, the other spouse may have a right to some of the home’s equity upon divorce despite this classification.
Is real property the same as real estate?
Real estate is a term that refers to the physical land, structures, and resources attached to it. Real property includes the physical property of the real estate, but it expands its definition to include a bundle of ownership and usage rights.
What is the best way to get into real estate?
How can I make a lot of money in real estate?
Can money property?
Property includes all assets and debts owned by both people, whether it is in both names, or just one person’s name. Property may include: the family home. cash.
What are examples of real property?
Examples of real property are:Buildings.Canals.Crops.Fences.Land.Landscaping.Machinery.Minerals.More items…•
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Siege of Belgrade (1456)
From Wikipedia
Siege of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár)
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe
Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
Ottoman miniature of the siege of Belgrade 1456
DateJuly 4–22, 1456
Result Hungarian victory
Status quo ante bellum
Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Mehmed the Conqueror ( WIA)
Zaganos Pasha
Karaca Pasha
About 4,000 trained troops [1]
A motley army of some 60,000 [1]
200 boats [2]
30,000; [3] higher estimates of 100,000 [4] [5]
200 vessels [6]
Casualties and losses
unknown 13,000 men [7]
200 galleys [8]
300 cannons [8]
The siege of Belgrade, Battle of Belgrade or siege of Nándorfehérvár ( Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár ostroma or nándorfehérvári diadal, lit. "Triumph of Nándorfehérvár"; Serbian Cyrillic: Опсада Београда, romanizedOpsada Beograda) was a military blockade of Belgrade that occurred July 4–22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror rallied his resources to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of Belgrade (Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár). John Hunyadi, the Count of Temes and captain-general of Hungary, who had fought many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades, prepared the defenses of the fortress.
As he had previously ordered all Catholic kingdoms to pray for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade, the Pope celebrated the victory by making an enactment to commemorate the day. This led to the legend that the noon bell ritual undertaken in Catholic and old Protestant churches, enacted by the Pope before the battle, was founded to commemorate the victory. [9] The day of the victory, July 22, has been a memorial day in Hungary ever since. [10]
Before Hunyadi could assemble his forces, the army of Mehmed II (160,000 men in early accounts, 60–70,000 according to newer research) arrived at Belgrade. The siege began on July 4, 1456. Szilágyi could rely on a force of only 5,000–7,000 men in the castle. Mehmed set up his siege on the neck of the headland and started heavily bombarding the city's walls on June 29. He arrayed his men in three sections: The Rumelian corps had the majority of his 300 cannons, while his fleet of 200 river war vessels had the rest of them. The Rumelians were arrayed on the right wing and the Anatolian corps were arrayed on the left. In the middle were the personal guards of the Sultan, the Janissaries, and his command post. The Anatolian corps and the Janissaries were both heavy infantry troops. Mehmed posted his river vessels mainly to the northwest of the city to patrol the marshes and ensure that the fortress was not reinforced. They also kept an eye on the Sava river to the southwest to avoid the infantry from being outflanked by Hunyadi's army. The zone from the Danube eastwards was guarded by the Sipahi, the Sultan's feudal heavy cavalry corps, to avoid being outflanked on the right.
Gothic fresco of the siege of Belgrade from 1468, in a Church in Olomouc (Czech Republic). Probably the oldest depiction of the battle; shows Giovanni da Capistrano and John Hunyadi.
When Hunyadi was informed of this, he was in the south of Hungary recruiting additional light cavalry troops for the army, with which he would intend to lift the siege. Although relatively few, his fellow nobles were willing to provide manpower, and the peasants were more than willing to do so. Friar John of Capistrano had been sent to Hungary by the Vatican both to preach against heretics and to preach a crusade against the Ottomans. Capistrano managed to raise a large, albeit poorly trained and equipped, peasant army, with which he advanced towards Belgrade. Capistrano and Hunyadi traveled together though commanding the army separately. Both of them had gathered around 40,000–50,000 troops altogether.
The outnumbered defenders relied mainly on the strength of the formidable castle of Belgrade, which was at the time one of the best engineered in the Balkans. Belgrade had been designated as the capital of the Serbian Despotate by Stefan Lazarević 53 years prior.
Fortress of Belgrade as it looked in the Middle Ages. The lower and upper town with the palace are visible.
The heroism of Titusz Dugovics grabbing the Ottoman standard-bearer while both of them plunge to their deaths.
The fortress was designed in an elaborate form with three lines of defense: the inner castle with the palace, a huge upper town with the main military camps, four gates and a double wall, as well as the lower town with the cathedral in the urban center and a port at the Danube. This building endeavor was one of the most elaborate military architecture achievements of the Middle Ages. After the siege, the Hungarians reinforced the north and eastern side with an additional gate and several towers, one of which, the Nebojša Tower, was designed for artillery purposes.
On July 14, 1456, Hunyadi arrived to the completely encircled city with his flotilla on the Danube, while the Ottoman navy lay astride the Danube River. He broke the naval blockade on July 14, sinking three large Ottoman galleys and capturing four large vessels and 20 smaller ones. By destroying the Sultan's fleet, Hunyadi was able to transport his troops and much-needed food into the city. The fort's defense was also reinforced.
But Mehmed II was not willing to end the siege and after a week of heavy bombardment, the walls of the fortress were breached in several places. On July 21 Mehmed ordered an all-out assault that began at sundown and continued all night. The besieging army flooded the city and then started its assault on the fort. As this was the most crucial moment of the siege, Hunyadi ordered the defenders to throw tarred wood and other flammable material, and then set it afire. Soon a wall of flames separated the Janissaries fighting in the city from their fellow soldiers trying to breach through the gaps into the upper town. The fierce battle between the encircled Janissaries and Szilágyi's soldiers inside the upper town was turning in favour of the Christians, and the Hungarians managed to beat off the fierce assault from outside the walls. The Janissaries remaining inside the city were thus massacred while the Ottoman troops trying to breach the upper town suffered heavy losses.
North wall of the Belgrade Fortress from the 17th century
The next day something unexpected happened. By some accounts, the peasant crusaders started a spontaneous action, and forced Capistrano and Hunyadi to make use of the situation. Despite Hunyadi's orders to the defenders not to try to loot the Ottoman positions, some of the units crept out from demolished ramparts, took up positions across from the Ottoman line, and began harassing enemy soldiers. Ottoman Sipahis tried without success to disperse the harassing force. At once, more defenders joined those outside the wall. What began as an isolated incident quickly escalated into a full-scale battle.
John of Capistrano at first tried to order his men back inside the walls, but soon found himself surrounded by about 2,000 peasant levymen. He then began leading them toward the Ottoman lines, crying, "The Lord who made the beginning will take care of the finish!" Capistrano led his crusaders to the Ottoman rear across the Sava river. At the same time, Hunyadi started a desperate charge out of the fort to take the cannon positions in the Ottoman encampment.
Siege of Belgrade (in Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár) 1456. Hünername 1584
Taken by surprise at this strange turn of events and, as some chroniclers say, seemingly paralyzed by some inexplicable fear, the Ottomans took flight. [11] The Sultan's bodyguard of about 5,000 Janissaries tried desperately to stop the panic and recapture the camp, but by that time Hunyadi's army had also joined the unplanned battle, and the Ottoman efforts became hopeless. The Sultan himself advanced into the fight and killed a knight in single combat, but then took an arrow in the thigh and was rendered unconscious. After the battle, the Hungarian raiders were ordered to spend the night behind the walls of the fortress and to be on the alert for a possible renewal of the battle, but the Ottoman counterattack never came.
Under cover of darkness the Ottomans retreated in haste, bearing their wounded in 140 wagons. They withdrew to Constantinople.
However, the Hungarians paid dearly for this victory. Plague broke out in the camp, from which John Hunyadi himself died three weeks later (August 11, 1456). He was buried in the Cathedral of Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia), the capital of Transylvania.
As the design of the fortress had proved its merits during the siege, some additional reinforcements were made by the Hungarians. The weaker eastern walls, where the Ottomans broke through into the upper town were reinforced by the Zindan gate and the heavy Nebojša tower. This was the last of the great modifications to the fortress until 1521, when Mehmed's great-grandson Suleiman eventually captured it.
Noon Bell
Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of the city. [12] [13] The practice of the noon bell is traditionally attributed to the international commemoration of the victory at Belgrade and to the order of Pope Callixtus III, since in many countries (like England and the Spanish Kingdoms) news of the victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon was thus transformed into a commemoration of the victory. [14] [15] [16] The Pope didn't withdraw the order, and Catholic and the older Protestant churches still ring the noon bell to this day. [13] [15] [16] [17]
This custom still exists also among Protestant and Orthodox congregations. In the history of the University of Oxford, the victory was welcomed with the ringing of bells and great celebrations in England. Hunyadi sent a special courier, Erasmus Fullar, among others to Oxford with the news of the victory. [18]
Part of Belgrade Fortress from the 17th century
Battle of Nándorfehérvár, Hungarian painting from the 19th century. In the middle Giovanni da Capistrano with the cross in his hand.
Stone in the Kalemegdan Park, in Belgrade, with engraved inscription on the place where Christian forces under command of John Hunyadi won the battle against the Ottomans in 1456.
The victory stopped the Ottoman advance towards Europe for 70 years, though they made other incursions such as the taking of Otranto between 1480 and 1481; and the raid of Croatia and Styria in 1493. Belgrade would continue to protect Hungary from Ottoman attacks until the fort fell to the Ottomans in 1521.
After the siege of Belgrade stopped the advance of Mehmed II towards Central Europe; Serbia and Bosnia were absorbed into the Empire. Wallachia, the Crimean Khanate, and eventually Moldavia were merely converted into vassal states due to the strong military resistance to Mehmed's attempts of conquest. There were several reasons of why the Sultan did not directly attack Hungary and why he gave up the idea of advancing in that direction after his unsuccessful siege of Belgrade. The mishap at Belgrade indicated that the Empire could not expand further until Serbia and Bosnia were transformed into a secure base of operations. Furthermore, the significant political and military power of Hungary under Matthias Corvinus in the region surely influenced this hesitation too. Moreover, Mehmed was also distracted in his attempts to suppress insubordination from his Moldovan and Wallachian vassals.
With Hunyadi's victory at Belgrade, both Vlad III the Impaler and Stephen III of Moldavia came to power in their own domains, and Hunyadi himself went to great lengths to have his son Matthias placed on the Hungarian throne.
While fierce resistance and Hunyadi's effective leadership ensured that the daring and ambitious Sultan Mehmed would only get as far into Europe as the Balkans, the Sultan had already managed to transform the Ottoman Empire into what would become one of the most feared powers in Europe (as well as in Asia) for centuries. Most of Hungary was eventually conquered in 1526 at the Battle of Mohács. Ottoman Muslim expansion into Europe continued with menacing success until the siege of Vienna in 1529, although Ottoman power in Europe remained strong and still threatening to Central Europe at times until the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
Literature and art
It is claimed that, after the defeat and while he and his army were retreating into Bulgaria, this sound defeat as well as the ensuing loss of no less than 24.000 of his best soldiers, angered Mehmed in such a manner that, in an uncontrollable fit of fury, he wounded a number of his generals with his own sword, just before getting them executed. [19] The Sultan later came into conflict with Stephen III of Moldavia, resulting in an even worse defeat at Battle of Vaslui and later a pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Valea Albă.
An English poet and playwright Hannah Brand wrote five-act tragedy about the battle and siege of Belgrade, which was first performed in 1791. [20] A fictional account from the viewpoint of a Christian mercenary is Christian Cameron, Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade from 2014 to 2015. [21]
1. ^ a b Kenneth M. Setton (1984). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571, Vol. 3: The Sixteenth Century to the Reign of Julius III. p. 177. ISBN 978-0871691613.
2. ^ Stanford J. Shaw (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280–1808. p. 63. ISBN 978-0521291637.
3. ^ Kenneth M. Setton (1984). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571, Vol. 3: The Sixteenth Century to the Reign of Julius III. p. 174. ISBN 978-0871691613.
4. ^ Andrew Ayton; Leslie Price (1998). "The Military Revolution from a Medieval Perspective". The Medieval Military Revolution: State, Society and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Society. London, England: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-353-1. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
5. ^ John Julius Norwich (1982). A History of Venice. Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1358. New York City, United States: Alfred B. Knopf. p. 269. ISBN 0-679-72197-5.
6. ^ Kenneth M. Setton (1984). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571, Vol. 3: The Sixteenth Century to the Reign of Julius III. p. 175. ISBN 978-0871691613.
7. ^ Norman Housley (1992). The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcazar (First ed.). p. 104. ISBN 978-0198221364.
8. ^ a b Tom R. Kovach (August 1996). "The 1456 Siege of Belgrade". Military History. 13 (3): 34. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
9. ^ Hunyadi and the noon bell ritual
10. ^ Anniversary of 1456 victory over Ottomans becomes memorial day
11. ^ Friedrich W.D. Brie (2012). The Brut; Or, the Chronicles of England. p. 524. ISBN 978-1407773421.
12. ^ Thomas Henry Dyer (1861). The history of modern Europe: From the fall of Constantinople. J. Murray. p. 85. Noon bell belgrade.
13. ^ a b István Lázár: Hungary: A Brief History (see in Chapter 6)
14. ^ Kerny, Terézia (2008). "The Renaissance – Four Times Over. Exhibitions Commemorating Matthias's Accession to the Throne". The Hungarian Quarterly. Budapest, Hungary: Society of the Hungarian Quarterly. pp. 79–90. On July 22, 1456, John Hunyadi won a decisive victory at Belgrade over the armies of Sultan Mehmed II. Hunyadi's feat—carried out with a small standing army combined with peasants rallied to fight the infidel by the Franciscan friar St John of Capistrano— had the effect of putting an end to Ottoman attempts on Hungary and Western Europe for the next seventy years. The bells ringing at noon throughout Christendom are, to this day, a daily commemoration of John Hunyadi's victory.
15. ^ a b "JOHN HUNYADI: Hungary in American History Textbooks - Title".
16. ^ a b [1]
19. ^ Radu R Florescu; Raymond T. McNally (1989). Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times. p. 80. ISBN 978-0316286558.
20. ^ Hüttler, Michael (2013). "Theatre and Cultural Memory: The siege of Belgrade on Stage". Open Access Research Journal for Theatre, Music, Arts. 2 (1/2): 1–13.
21. ^ "The Siege of Belgrade 1456, or why is history so complicated?". March 25, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
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Total Number of words made out of Quarts = 37
Quarts is an acceptable word in Scrabble with 15 points. Quarts is an accepted word in Word with Friends having 16 points. Quarts is a 6 letter medium Word starting with Q and ending with S. Below are Total 37 words made out of this word.
5 letter Words made out of quarts
1). quart 2). sutra 3). squat
4 letter Words made out of quarts
1). sura 2). ruts 3). rats 4). tars 5). star 6). rust 7). utas 8). qats 9). taus 10). tsar 11). ursa 12). arts
3 letter Words made out of quarts
1). tau 2). uta 3). tar 4). tas 5). uts 6). suq 7). sau 8). ars 9). art 10). qat 11). qua 12). ras 13). rat 14). rut 15). sat
2 letter Words made out of quarts
1). at 2). as 3). us 4). ut 5). ta 6). ar
Find Words which
Also see:-
1. Vowel only words
2. consonant only words
3. 7 Letter words
4. Words with J
5. Words with Z
6. Words with X
7. Words with Q
8. Words that start with Q
9. Words that start with Z
10. Words that start with F
11. Words that start with X
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Words made after changing Last letter with any other letter in quarts
quarte quarto quartz
Note There are 2 vowel letters and 4 consonant letters in the word quarts. Q is 17th, U is 21th, A is 1st, R is 18th, T is 20th, S is 19th, Letter of Alphabet series.
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800-words: How the federal government creates national security policy.
National security is always an issue in the United States. Here are the aspects and questions to address:
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1. Identify a current policy problem for American national security, and then state a preferred policy solution to it and why it’s preferred (This is your thesis statement).
2. Briefly explain two competing solutions to this problem while addressing the responsibilities of each level of government (federal, state, and local) and the three branches of the federal government (executive, legislative, and judicial).
3. Build the argument for why your chosen solution is preferable, what critics say about the solution, and finally why the critics are wrong.
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02 August 1914 – The Belgian Ultimatum
As the armies of Europe mobilize for war, the July crisis in the East is replaced with a new crisis in the West when the Kaiser sends an ultimatum to Albert I, the King of Belgium, demanding freedom of movement through that coastal nation’s territory — and threatening to treat the neutral country as a hostile power should they resist. The German high command has a complex, demanding war plan designed to circumvent France’s fortified frontier with a rapid advance through Luxembourg and Belgium. Across the English Channel, Britain guarantees Belgian neutrality. What began as a controversy between Austria and Serbia now involves five additional nations — thanks to the very alliances that have kept the peace in Europe for decades.
Even as Britain’s cabinet is still debating how to respond to the July crisis while unaware of this new crisis, the Admiralty is moving swiftly under Winston Churchill’s orders to take possession of two dreadnoughts that had been under construction for the Ottoman Empire. One of them is nearly complete, with five hundred Turkish sailors waiting nearby to sail her home. Of course, this angers the Turks, whose neutrality is balanced on a knife edge, and now a seventh nation tips towards war. It will not be the last.
In Munich, a young Adolf Hitler is still riding high from yesterday’s joyous public celebration of the Kaiser’s mobilization order. After the war, he would write: “I am not ashamed to say that, overcome with rapturous enthusiasm, I fell to my knees and thanked Heaven…for granting me the good fortune of being allowed to live at this time.” Tomorrow, he will request to be enlisted in the Bavarian Army despite having failed a physical for the Austrian army earlier this year. His name will later become synonymous with the horrors of a second war, because this one will not be enough to resolve the tensions sparking this conflagration.
Why blog about the Great War? Because if humans were a rational species, it ought to have been the last war ever fought. Hitler’s sequel is three times as murderous and fought in a truly global theatre, so the Great War instead loses its name and becomes World War I. Between these wars, there is a Twenty Years Crisis which diplomacy and best intentions will also fail to resolve. As you watch the news from Ukraine and Gaza today, remember that a Great War can happen again, regardless of how enlightened we think we are, because the international systems girding our precarious global peace are still far weaker than the crises we invent to test them.
A German "Big Bertha" 420mm cannon used in the siege of Antwerp.
A German “Big Bertha” 420mm cannon used in the siege of Antwerp.
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Egyptian Mau - best friend of the family
Egyptian Mau. This cat came to us from ancient times. Cat of the pharaohs. This wonderful spotted cat was walking around the world long before the new era. Judging by its ancient image, it has not changed a lot since then. In those far days, this cat was considered a sacred animal, so many images are saved. They were devoted to Bastet, the goddess of the moon, from which ancient Egyptians waited for help in love, home comfort, and fertility in agriculture. The dead cats then were buried in gold and silver coffins, and the killing of this animal was a serious crime. Since then, many centuries went by and the old cat almost extinct. About a century ago, felinologists from Europe decided to completely reconstruct the animal, who was worshiped in ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, their efforts were almost destroyed during the Second World War. Created supply of livestock was almost destroyed. Fortunately, the sacred animal in the past was lucky or there were higher forces, but some of the surviving cats got in the hands of Russian princess Natalia Troubetzkaya. During her stay in Italy, she even recorded them in the local branch of FIF. In 1958, the princess, who at that time lived in the United States, officially registered the first 10 cats of this breed. Then, the Egyptian Mau breed was first given stringent standards for color: smoky, silver, and bronze. Only these colors and later цуку adhered by for this breed. Finally, the breed recognized in 1977 in the CFA, and 15 years later in FIF. The сats of this breed are beautiful, graceful, and active. It has medium body size, but strong muscles. Legs of different sizes - the fore legs are a bit shorter than the hind. Not long, medium-sized tail. The head, like most African cats has a wedge shape. Due to the wide bridge of the nose, the cat's green eyes are widely set. Ears of the animal are large, of a triangular shape. The base of the ears have a wide, but closer to the tips they are sharpened. In "standard" cat, there is a “Scarab” on its forehead, and the two lines from the eyes to the ears of the cheeks. The hair is dense, feels like silk, with multicolored hair. It shines on the light. The body of the Egyptian Mau is covered with the roundish spots and patterns. The nature of a cat is different devotion to its master. They love to wake their owners up in the morning, licking his cheeks. The cat is very playful and has a strong sense of ownership. You should not take away from them their "cat toys". In addition to the sense of ownership, they have a highly developed instinct of a hunter. Cats of this breed constantly find something to play, and if there is a great opportunity to hunt for some "game", the animal will not give up this success. Egyptian Mau loves children. Egyptian Mau is gluttonous, so do not let it eat too much. Give it more water. Cats of this breed are often highly allergic to some food, so if you see your pet itches looking for insects - take it to the vet. This rare cat is a real gift for the family. It loves its masters, if feels they love it too, and it never betrays.
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9 Ways to Get Rid of Japanese Beetles without Harsh Chemicals
The story goes like this: in the early 1900s Japanese beetles were accidentally introduced into the American ecosystem via shipments from Japan. Unfortunately, these green and copper-colored beetles have very few natural predators in our country, which has led them to become one of the most widely spread and damaging garden pests in the U.S. Today.
Most active during the warmest summer months (mid June to late August for adults, fall and late spring for larvae), these beetles and their larval grub form can wreak havoc on your lawn. The adult beetles “skeletonize” nearly all forms of plant life, while their younger grub counterparts consume grass and other roots from below the soil. Because Japanese beetles eat in groups and feed from both above and below the soil, they can devastate entire lawns and gardens in no time. If Japanese beetles are destroying your lawn, or you’re just looking for ways to keep that from happening, here are 9 Natural Ways to Get Rid of Japanese Beetles
The tried and true method of handpicking Japanese beetles from your lawn or garden is still the most effective approach to controlling these pests. It can take some time, but the effect it can have on the health of your plants is well worth the effort.
For best results, do this in the early morning, when Japanese beetles are most active. Using gloves, pluck the beetles from grass and other plant life being careful not to squeeze or crush them (doing so could attract more beetles). Dispose of them by dropping them in a bucket of soapy water (2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap per 1 gallon of water)—this is one of the most humane ways to eliminate Japanese beetles.
Keeping guinea fowl around your lawn & garden is a proven way to limit not only Japanese beetle populations, but that of ticks and other pests as well. However, not everyone wants to keep these loud birds as pets. In that case, finding ways to attract ducks and other birds to your yard will do the trick.
Spraying your entire lawn with a soapy mixture of 2 tablespoons dish soap to 1 gallon of water will help force Japanese beetle larvae to the surface, which in turn will attract hungry birds (this should be done in fall and late spring, when Japanese beetles are in the larval stage of their life cycle). Continue this process weekly until no further larvae emerge from the soil.
Japanese beetles are most attracted to rotting and overripe plants, so keeping a healthy lawn and garden is key. Promptly remove diseased or otherwise dying plants, trees, fruits and vegetables before they attract additional beetles to your yard. Harvesting plants before they become appetizing to beetles is also crucial.
Row covers allow air, sun, water and other essential elements to reach your plants while keeping Japanese beetles out. Remember: To remain effective, the edges of the cover must be flush with the ground, or otherwise firmly sealed. If Japanese beetle grubs have already infested your soil, this method is not for you, as it will only serve to trap the beetles inside the cover with your precious plants.
One of the greener options for Japanese beetle control involves introducing parasitic roundworms into the soil. Also known as beneficial nematodes, these organisms can devastate soil-dwelling pests like Japanese beetle larvae. Once they’ve located and entered a host, these nearly microscopic worms release a bacteria that’s deadly to the young beetles. After killing their host they move on to another beetle, reproducing in the process.
For best results, introduce nematodes into your soil in late August or early September to attack the next cycle of beetles for the following year (while this is the optimal approach, nematodes can be added to the soil at any time, so long as the soil is sufficiently watered).
Note: the nematode species Heterorhabditis is said to be most effective against Japanese beetles. The nematode pest control method targets larvae, not adult beetles. Beneficial nematodes can typically be found at your local home & garden store.
While Japanese beetles enjoy eating a wide array of plant life, certain types are particularly attractive to these devastating pests. Inundating your garden with Japanese Beetles’ favorite food sources is just asking for trouble. Limit such plants as much as is reasonably possible. For a list of Japanese beetles favorite meals, click here.
Drop cloths can be highly effective at cutting down Japanese beetle populations. At night, cover your plants with a sufficiently large drop cloth. In the morning when beetles are most active, remove the cloth and dispose of the attached beetles using the aforementioned bucket of soapy water.
Most Japanese beetle traps are ineffective, usually only serving to attract additional beetles to your lawn & garden. However, a can of fruit cocktail can help quickly remove active beetles from your yard. First, ferment the cocktail by leaving it in the sun for a few days—this will make it more attractive to beetles. Next, place the can on top of a brick or bricks stacked inside a pail filled with water (it’s advisable to keep this trap far removed from the plants you’re trying to protect). The cocktail will attract the beetles, the water will drown them. It’s that simple.
Mix 4 tablespoons of dish soap with a quart of water inside a spray bottle. This simple solution makes for a great, all natural Japanese Beetle pesticide. Spray on any beetles you see on or around your lawn & garden.
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1. Gail Mccreight
The idea of using dish soap in a spray bottle sounds great to keep the beetles off my flowers. Will the dish soap hurt my hummingbirds? I had to stop using Seven pesticide because it harms the birds and bees that like the flowers too.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Nope, this should be perfectly safe for bees, butterflies and birds 🙂
2. I have used the dish soap/water spray for several years now and it will take care of Japanese Beetles nicely.
It also works on ants, Box Elder bugs and other pests.
3. Neil Windsor
I have found multiple larvae in my potato crop, they have eaten 2/3 of my potatoes. I have dug the spuds and have now tilled the soil where the potatoes were. What is a solution for eliminating them for the coming year in my garden plot. Will tilling the soil again in late fall help to eradicate them by bringing the larvae to the surface and killing with frost and freezing ground?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Great question! This will tell you exactly how to do it:
4. I have been using Neem oil diluted as a direct spray on my white grapes. It s not working but it seems to work on my neighbours’ roses. Thank you for the information above.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Our pleasure! We’re here if you need anything else whatsoever 🙂
5. What can I put on my new shrubs and small tree to prevent beetles? Our town is polluted with them and I don’t want them to ruin our new shrubs and tree. Thank you
6. I have had great success knocking them into a funnel over a jar with soapy water. They are quite inactive early in the a.m.. Having done this almost daily during the season for several years has reduced the number of beetles very well. Takes a few minutes each day to get them on the plants they love, and it works!
7. I have them on a crab apple tree. What is the best solution for it? They come in hundreds every year. I tried the chemical, but that didnt help much. Will the Soap Solution work? I researched other solutions and my next options are Neem Oil, Pyrethrin both of which are chemicals and expensive. Please help
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Customers have had excellent success treating them using our PCO Choice Spray, which we hear kills them on contact and helps repel afterward. That’s the easiest solution we know of 🙂
1. Nancy Scudella
Hi there. Where do I get this PCO Spray? I have beetles all over my yard & I have a small dog.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Right here on our website, Nancy 🙂 Here’s the link:
2. Does it harm bees?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Great question, Eric!
Glad to see you’re as concerned about our pollinators as we are 🙂 The answer is no, so long as you don’t spray them directly, the force of the water alone could harm them.
As an extra precaution, we suggest applying in the evening or early morning to avoid beneficial insects’ most active times of day
3. kathy milliken
what is pco spray and where can I get it?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi there!
You can find PCO right on this site here:
We’re here if you need anything else 🙂
2. I use a combination of dawn dishwashing soap and vegetable oil. So far it has kept my trees free of beetles
8. Hi,
Would adding neem oil to soapy liquid help? If so what’s the ratio? My beautiful roses are infested with Japanese beetles and seems like I am the only one who has this issue in the neighborhood.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Githa!
I’m not sure about the neem oil with the soap. But our customers have told us our PCO Choice spray can knock them down and fairly quickly.
9. How many tablespoons of Soap per Gallon of water?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, JB!
Aim for about 12
10. Earlier this year we planed a barefoot apple tree and it now has Japanese beetles. Is it to young to spray with soapy water?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi there, Tonya!
It should not be too young, no. I would also recommend trying our family-safe lawn spray, PCO Choice, we’ve heard great things from our customers about its efficacy against Japanese Beetles.
1. What are the ingredients in PCO Choice? And why is it named PCO? I noticed that you call it “family-safe” lawn spray. Where is PCO Choice obtained?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi there, Ben.
All of our products’ ingredients can be found on their respective product pages under the “additional information” tab (
PCO Choice stands for Pest Control Operators Choice.
PCO is obtained from us, we handmake it in small batches at our family-owned headquarters 🙂
11. Brenda Morris
Hi there…if I spray my grape vines with the soapy water and (of course it will) it gets on the grapes, will just washing the grapes rise them enough so I can still eat them…the japanese beetles are terrible on them.. I actually make jelly from them…also if I spray them with Neem spray, which is so suppose to be organic, can I still eat them? Thank you so much……
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Brenda,
We strongly recommend avoiding spraying the grapes directly and only spray the surrounding vines and bases of plants. For any beetles on the fruits themselves, simply pick them off and drop them in a bucket of soapy water and dispose of them that way.
12. Does it matter what type of dish soap you use?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Carey!
We also suggest natural dish soap 🙂
13. If the soapy water doesn’t repell them what is a natural repellent??? The soapy water does kill them on contact. But I don’t want to have to continue to space my plants everyday if it isn’t going to repell the bugs. Thanks.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Our customers tell us that our PCO Choice spray does both! Just spray twice the first month and monthly after that 🙂
14. What I’ve done is take a long sturdy stick and place it at the base of my rose bushes and just kind of hit it against the base of the bush in between the branches and they will scatter. Did this last year every time I would walk by them just about and it seemed like they got the message after several times! 🙂
15. Aislinn Cuvi
I saw quite a lot of white larvae in my yard deep inside the ground while doing some gardening. I am a little worried that they will kill my new crops so I was wondering if I can water the soapy mix into the ground of already established crop without damaging them. For instance I have some really great growing tomatoes and cucumbers I’m worried about.
16. Connie Hute
I have dinner plate hibiscus and hyacinths here in eastern Iowa which the Japanese beetles love! They devour not only the leaves but blossoms and buds. I have put down diamatatous earth and will go with dish soap and water spray. I makes me sick to my stomach to watch them devour my beautiful flowers! I also will give the fruit cocktail a run for the money! I will also tell my daughter-in-law about this as she has the same issue! I hate the nuggets with a passion! A dear friend has a large yard full of fruit trees, hyacinths and hibiscus which the critters just about destroyed at least half! She used the traps and I told her about the dish soap and fruit cocktail! I know she is anxious to try these!
17. Clare Bursky
I live in a condo. So far I ‘ve stepped on and killed10 beetles. Several have flown or run awat. I’m putting a borax powder around my walls and clorox inside my toilets and sinks. The beetles seem to reappear. Is there anything else that you can suggest? These beetles are residing on the first floor of my condo. My neighbors claim that my condo is the only one that has them. Thanks.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi there, Clare!
Sorry to hear about your beetle problem, but we’re here to help. Cedarcide Original will work great as a contact killer, as well as a deterrent if you spray trouble areas and possible entry points. Give us a call at 800-842-1464 if you need any more help or suggestions with the beetles, we’re always happy to talk customers through issues like this 🙂
2. Diane Printz
I have Oriental beetles that just appeared 4 days ago and are now overtaking my entire lawn! They are very aggressive also. How would you treat an entire lawn?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Our customers report success treating them using our PCO Choice Spray, which they say kills them on contact and helps repel after that. 🙂
18. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, my ivy is full of them, hundreds, too many to pluck off, and too high to reach! Just sprayed…….
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Wishing you the best of luck! Let us know if we can be of any more help
1. I’d like to know how much vinegar to add to the soap solution. My new apple trees are being devastated by the beetle 🙁
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Vinegar can be harsh on plant life. I would go with our family-safe, pet-safe lawn treatment PCO Choice or the above mentioned soapy water solution.
2. Leilani Luke
I used the water and soap solution as well as adding some white vinegar and boy did those beetles drop to the ground. They then flipped over on their backs and died. I like this natural solution as it doesn’t hurt the environment and it actually works…
Thank you for that recommendation……
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
That’s what we’re here 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Leilani!
2. Diane Reynolds
I have a 3 gallon sprayer so how much dish soap will I need
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi there!
Aim for about 12 tablespoons. Let us know if you need anything else 🙂
3. I use olive oil infused with garlic. I spray it on my basil and the Japanese Beetles can’t jump off fast enough.
4. How much vinegar? I use it to kill vegetation in the cracks of my sidewalk, why wouldn’t it kill my plants?
3. They love my lemon blossoms. And all my flowers. I’ll try dawn and water in a spray bottle
4. Amy Gambrell
My knockout Rose’s are covered with them. I just bought the home with 10 to 20 bushes they are on the top of them at 4:30 p.m.
5. How did it go, Karen? Thinking of getting this.
19. Ray Coleman
Just sprayed my roses. I use the soap and water for aphids. This is my first time having the beetles.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Awesome! Let us know if we can be of any more help 🙂
20. seng vang
I just tried the soap and water method and I’m so excited! I might have used too much soap (4 tablespoons in a tiny spray bottle) but it seems to be working as the beetles even seem like they’re dead. They fell off my rose tree and are no longer moving on the ground. Yay!!!
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Yay! We’re so glad to hear it. Let us know if we can be of any more help 🙂
1. Does the soap and water method kill beneficial insects or just the beetles?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Amy!
It should kill and deter the beetles, just be careful not to spray any beneficial insects directly and they’ll be just fine.
21. Laura A Rude
Can I use the soapy water solution on raspberry plants and still harvest the berries for consumption?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Good question, Laura!
I would test on a small area first or consult a local gardening resource for that one 🙂
1. Can I spray the soap solution on the actual new bloom and existing roses / flowers? Will it hurt the blooms??
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
I’d avoid the spraying any blooms, fruits, or veggies directly.
22. Denise Grosman
If the beetles are feeding on the fruit cocktail, how do they end up in the water?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Great question! If the trap is constructed correctly, they will never reach the fruit cocktail, the smell simply attracts them to the bucket, where they will slip and fall in the water. Let us know if you have any more questions 🙂
23. What is the amount of water to use with the dish soap?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Filling a typical 32 oz. spray bottle or smaller will do the trick 🙂
24. CJ anderson
Do you open the fruit cocktail? Place the can in water?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, CJ
Yep, that’s correct!
25. Anna Burley
The soap n water does work I tried it lastnight at my sister in law’s house and they scattered in a hurry.
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Anna!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
26. Tried the soapy water spray this morning. Scared two beetles away immediately. Just checked my rose bush a couple of hours later and it is crawling with Japanese beetles! 👎
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Hi, Laura!
To clarify, this spray works as a direct contact killer, not as a repellent. Most of these natural approaches were best in conjunction with one another 🙂
27. Nicole Ramey
Will the soapy spray hurt flowers and vegetation?
1. Jonathan At Cedarcide
Nicole, great question!
Generally, no, that should not hurt plant life. However, if you have especially sensitive or expenses plants, we would suggest testing on a small area first 🙂
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Rowland Hill: From unconventional headmaster to father of the modern postal service
Looking back at the great life of the inventor of the Penny Black.
Sir Rowland Hill invented the modern postage stamp
Sir Rowland Hill invented the modern postage stamp
First things first, this is not the man on the top of the column outside Shrewsbury's Shire Hall. That is General Rowland Hill, who became commander-in-chief of the British Army in 1828.
It is also not the Sir Rowland Hill commemorated in Hawkstone Park in Shropshire. That Sir Rowland Hill also led an interesting life, developing the Hawkstone estate in the 18th century.
This Sir Rowland Hill, who was dismissed as 'mentally backward' as a youngster, went on to become the father of the modern postal service, the inventor of the postage stamp, and one of the great reformers of 19th century Britain.
Born at 96, Blackwell Street, Kidderminster on December 3, 1795, he was the third of six sons born to schoolmaster Thomas Wright Hill and his wife Sarah.
While Rowland was still a child, the family moved to Wolverhampton and lived in Horsehills Drive, off Compton Road.
His father Thomas Hill was a well-known academic and radical political activist, who is said to have invented the single transferable vote electoral system. But although he was a learned man from a distinguished background, the family was actually quite poor and it was his childhood experience of the postal service that convinced him there must be a fairer way of dealing with the cost of mail.
Back in the 18th and early 19th century, it was the recipient rather than the sender of mail who was responsible for postal charges, and the fees were calculated by a complicated formula based on the distance the letter had travelled.
This meant an unsolicited letter from another part of the country could incur significant fees, and for somebody living at the margins an unexpected delivery could be the source of huge stress.
Rowland Hill was born in Blackwell Street, Kidderminster
As a child, Hill always remembered his mother’s fear of a letter arriving with heavy postage to be paid.
On one occasion he was sent out to sell a bag of rags to cover the cost of the postage.
These memories stayed with him for decades, and he was determined that nobody should ever have to live in fear of the postman again.
Rowland’s education was marred by scarlet fever which saw him fall behind in his studies, although his intellectual capacity was never in doubt.
By the time he was 12, he was a tutor in his father’s school Hill Top in Lionel Street, Birmingham, where he taught astronomy, navigation, architecture and mathematics.
He met his future wife Caroline Pearson when he was six years old, and the young lovebirds are said to have shared their first kiss inside a large culvert which passed under the Tettenhall Road.
A plaque commemorates Sir Rowland Hill outside the former post office in Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton
Caroline, or ‘Car’ as Hill nicknamed her, was the eldest daughter of Joseph Pearson, a wealthy industrialist in the town. The couple married on September 27, 1827, at St Peter’s Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton.
Initially, it looked like Hill would follow in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career in education. In 1819, he moved Hill Top to the wealthy suburb of Edgbaston where it was renamed Hazeldine. Its unorthodox and sometimes controversial teaching style proved to be highly successful setting a template for the educational aspirations of a fast-growing middle class.
The school, which owed a lot of its ideas to the chemist and philosopher Joseph Priestley, was equipped with both a science laboratory and a swimming pool.
In 1827, Hill and his wife Caroline moved to the Tottenham area of London where they set up another, even more unconventional school, Bruce Castle. There was no corporal punishment, and discipline was enforced by its own court of justice with pupils sitting as judges. At a time when most mainstream schools focused on teaching the classics, science, foreign languages and engineering were compulsory at Bruce Castle. Hill believed that the role of a teacher was not to impart facts but to give pupils a desire for learning. Among his pupils were the sons of Charles Babbage, the man who invented the computer. There was no questioning the school's outstanding results, but the offbeat approached raised one or two eyebrows among the educational establishment, provoking plenty of lively debate.
Rowland-Hill in 1836
Hill looked destined to spend the rest of his life as a schoolmaster, but his energy and desire for innovation meant he was soon seeking new fields.
At 38, he became the secretary of the South Australia Commission, an association which helped in the colonising of the country.
But it was his pamphlet proposing reform of the postal service which really set the cat among the pigeons. Heavily influenced by his own childhood, he considered the postal system outdated and unfair. While families such as his worried about how they would pay the postman, MPs and other high ranking people were able to send letters free of charge through the 'freepost' franking system. This was subject to widespread abuse, with members of the public frequently asking their MPs to frank their letters to avoid postal charges. He observed that the cost of sending a single-page latter from London to Edinburgh cost 1s 1½d, a considerable sum in those days. The cost to the Post Office, however, was calculated by Hill at a fraction of 1d.
He proposed that letters should be charged by weight not distance, that franking should be abolished and that postage should be paid by the sender, not the receiver.
The main points of his scheme were the introduction of a uniform low rate and prepayment. He also suggested that a 'bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp and covered at the back with a glutinous wash' should be used to show that postage had been paid.
The Penny Black was the first postage stamp, but proved easy to forge
His scheme went before Parliament in 1837 and an Act of Parliament gave the Royal Assent in 1839. Hill, who had hoped for a job at the Post Office, was instead given a two-year appointment with the Treasury where he was tasked with implementing his reforms.
He proposed that from January 10, 1840, a letter not exceeding half an ounce could be sent to any part of Britain, from any part of Britain for one penny. The first stamp, known as the Penny Black, went on sale in London on 1 May 1840, becoming valid for postage on 6 May.
One obvious weakness with stamps was the risk of criminals abusing the system by producing counterfeits, and it was for this reason that he suggested the first stamps should feature a portrait of Queen Victoria.
"There is nothing in which minute differences of execution are so readily detected as in a representation of the human face," he said.
"I would therefore advise that a head of the Queen by one of our first artists should be introduced."
The Penny Black was the first postage stamp, but it proved easy to forge
He proposed the portrait should be based upon a medal by William Wyon, and the design was engraved by Frederick Heath, with the labels being printed by Perkins, Bacon & Petch.
Postal reform was an immediate success. The number of chargeable letters in 1839 had been only about 76 million. By 1850 this had increased to almost 350 million and continued to grow dramatically. The modest postal charges initially led to a drop in revenue, but with the increase of letters it soon recovered. Adhesive postage stamps were gradually introduced throughout the world. With the change to charging by weight envelopes became normal for the first time.
Yet the revolutionary system was not universally welcomed. Many MPs, who had become accustomed to free postage, were not impressed, and hoped the scheme would fail.
And there were teething troubles. Despite Hill's best efforts, the Penny Black proved easy to forge. This was swiftly addressed by changing the colour, and the stamp then became known as the Penny Red.
The statue of Rowland Hill outside Kidderminster Town Hall
In 1842, a change in government led to Hill losing his post in the Treasury, and he joined the London and Brighton Railway Company. In 1854 he returned to the Government, this time as secretary to the Postmaster General, a position he held until his retirement in 1864.
During this time he introduced other reforms such as money orders, better rural services, travelling post offices and the Post Office Savings Bank.
By the time of his retirement, doubts about his postal reforms had been dispelled, and it was generally acknowledged that the universal service was an unqualified success. In recognition of his work the Treasury awarded him his full salary as a pension for life, plus a special parliamentary grant of £20,000.
His efforts were also recognised with a knighthood in 1860, and four years later he won the first Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. He was granted the freedom of London in 1879.
He died in 1879 at the age of 84 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He had one son, Pearson, and three daughters.
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Christopher Columbus' Jewish Roots Examined By Historians
As CNN reports, Columbus' will contained five provisions that some scholars believe to be evidence of the explorer's true faith:
Scholars also point to the real financiers of the voyage as evidence of the trip's purpose. While most schoolchildren grow up learning that the expedition was financed by Queen Isabella, historians say it was mostly paid for by two prominent Jews who had been forced to convert to Catholicism, Louis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez.
While these claims may be difficult to verify, the new portrait of Columbus painted by these scholars adds a complicated layer to the already convoluted sentiment toward the famed explorer. While he is lauded in the United States with a federal holiday and a receives a great deal of credit for discovering North America, his legacy has been tainted by charges of genocide and exploitation. But if Columbus' true intent was not imperialism, but freedom from religious trial, public perception of the man may shift yet again.
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Hello Students: DAY- 28 Evening Coffee with NEET
9.Why auricles have thinner walls than the ventricles?
= Auricles have thinner walls in comparison to ventricles because the major function of auricles is to receive blood and pump it to the respective ventricles.While the major function of ventricles is pump the blood out of the heart ,i.e.to lungs and to the body parts which requires a great force.
10.The wall of left ventricle is thicker than right ventricle.Why ?
= The left ventricle is thicker than the right ventricle because the left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood around the entire body through the Aorta while the right ventricle only pumps blood to the lungs through Pulmonary artery which is much shorter distance.
11.Why artery have thick elastic wall ?
= Arteries carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the different body parts.Blood emerges from the heart under high pressure.In order to withstand this pressure , arteries have thick and elastic walls.
12.Why valves are present in the veins?
= Unlike arteries veins contain valves that ensure blood flows in only one direction.But, Arteries don't require valves because pressure from the heart is so strong that blood is only able to flow in one direction.Valves also help blood travel back to the heart against the force of gravity.
13.Why lichens are called as bioindicator of air pollution?
= Lichens are very sensitive to Sulphur dioxide pollution in the air.So in the clean environment Lichens will grow abundantly.In polluted environment with SO2 ,lichens are absent .
14.What is an Intestinal infection due to E.coli ?
= E.coli is a type of bacteria that normally live in the intestines of people and animals.However ,some types of E.coli , particularly E.coli O157:H7,can cause Intestinal infection by Shiga Toxin.
15.How blood is stored in blood bank?
= Blood is collected into a plastic bag which contains anticoagulant Citrate -Phosphate Dextrose(CPD),Acid - Citrate Dextrose (ACD) with other preservative,additive solutions like SAGM( Saline, Adenine,Glucose,Mannitol).
Red cells are stored in refrigerators at 6°C for up to 42 days . Platelets are stored at room temperature in agitators for up to five days .Plasma is stored in freezers for up to one year.
Mr.R.Soundarapandian, MSc, MEd, MPhil,
PG Asst Zoology
SIR MCTM Boys Higher Secondary School,
Purasawalkam Chennai-84.
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Thu, October 28, 2021
Robert Mundell, Nobel laureate who inspired the euro, dies at 88
Robert Mundell, the Nobel Prize-winner and supply-side economist who was considered the intellectual father of the euro, has died. He was 88.
His death was confirmed by Sophia Johnson, assistant director of the program for economic research at Columbia University, where Mundell was professor emeritus.
A Columbia University professor of economics, Mundell won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1999 for his theory that flexible markets, including the free movement of labor and capital, are necessary for a single-currency zone to succeed. His research helped lay the foundation for the euro, set up by 11 European governments earlier that year.
"The political glue inside Europe to keep it together -- the euro -- is the best thing going for it since the creation of the Common Market," Mundell said in a 2012 interview with Bloomberg. "The end game is going to be deeper integration in Europe and more centralization of the fiscal authority."
Mundell was also considered an architect of supply-side economics, primarily focused on the lowering of marginal tax rates to incentivize the production and consumption of goods and services. President Ronald Reagan embraced that philosophy in the form of tax cuts and inflation control that helped produce economic growth of 7.3% in 1984, the strongest in three decades.
An advocate of free markets, open trade and limited government, Mundell supported fixed-exchange rates. In 2009, in the aftermath of the world's worst recession since the 1930s, he renewed his call for the European currency to be fixed against the dollar, saying exchange-rate swings had caused imbalances that led to the global financial crisis.
His views diverged with the late Milton Friedman, also a Nobel winner, who said that flexible exchange rates are more conducive to trade because they adjust automatically while letting a country control its own money supply.
Later in his career, Mundell proposed a world currency, the "DEY" -- a basket of U.S. dollars, euros and yen -- as a way to stabilize financial markets under a new international monetary system.
In the early 1960s, he laid out independently, with the late Marcus Fleming, a model that asserts a country can't simultaneously pursue a fixed exchange rate, free capital flows and an independent monetary policy -- the "impossible trinity."
The most relevant aspect of his work was the theoretical cornerstone for the euro. Europe needed unifying frameworks and institutions, such as the Economic and Monetary Union established by the 1991 Maastricht Treaty, to foster peace on the continent and compete with the U.S. and China. The euro, considered the biggest economic experiment of the 21st century, took the region's economic and political integration to the next level.
"It's very difficult to attribute such a complex project to a single person, but certainly in terms of intellectual inspiration, he has played a very important role," former European Central Bank board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in a February 2016 interview.
Robert Alexander Mundell was born Oct. 24, 1932, in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada, one of four sons to William Mundell and the former Lila Knifton. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia in 1953 and his masters a year later from the University of Washington in Seattle, according to Marquis Who's Who.
In 1956, he earned his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also became a postdoctoral fellow in political economics at the University of Chicago, where he met Friedman.
His academic career included stints at the University of British Columbia, Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Geneva's Graduate Institute of International Studies. In 1974, he joined Columbia University.
Mundell advised the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and was also a consultant to governments in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and China.
He was an outspoken critic on economic and political issues. In November 2008, he questioned President-elect Barack Obama's plan to raise U.S. income taxes for the highest earners, proposing instead a cut in corporate taxes to as low as 15% from 35%.
In December 2009, he said that Federal Reserve policies had helped trigger the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. by allowing the dollar to rise in the months before the investment bank's bankruptcy. A year later, he criticized the Fed's unconventional monetary policy actions, arguing it had been "negligent" in not anticipating so-called quantitative easing would have the undesired effect of pushing up the dollar.
Mundell was prepared for Europe's economic and currency union to be an ongoing process, and "he understood perfectly that you wouldn't have the perfect euro from the start," Bini Smaghi said.
"In facilitating the agglomeration of the European economies to rival those of the U.S. and China, Mundell's work was critical," said Stephen Jen, co-founder and chief executive of London-based Eurizon SLJ Capital and a former IMF economist.
Mundell was also an early advocate of getting the IMF to consider adding China's yuan to its Special Drawing Rights valuation basket, predicting it would eventually become a reserve currency. The yuan eventually won that status from the institution in November 2015.
Mundell and his first wife, Barbara Sheff, had three children: Paul, William and Robyn. After the couple the divorced, he married Valerie Natsios in 1998 and they had a son, Nicholas, according to Who's Who.
Published : April 06, 2021
By : Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Nancy Moran, Shobhana Chandra
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Slovenia Political System
According to, with capital city of Ljubljana, Slovenia is a country located in Southern Europe with total population of 2,078,949.
Where is Slovenia
Following the Constitution of 1991, amended in 2000, Slovenia is a unified state parliamentary-democratic republic. The head of state, the president, is elected in the general election for five years. He has primarily ceremonial functions and can be re-elected once. The real executive power is added to the prime minister and government. The government is based on and is responsible to the elected National Assembly (Državni Zbor). The Assembly, which has the legislative authority, has 90 deputies, elected for four years. The Italian and Hungarian minorities have the right to elect one representative each to the assembly. There is also a national council of 40 members, who can propose laws and ask the national assembly to reconsider e.g. legislative decisions. The Council consists of representatives of employers and employees, but also other interest groups; to a large extent it has a corporate feel.
Administratively, Slovenia is divided into 193 municipalities, of which 11 are municipalities. Municipalities can join forces with others in regional cooperation. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for how SI can stand for Slovenia.
The judiciary encompasses the Supreme Court, regional courts and district courts. In addition, there are separate labor courts and social courts, with a labor and social justice court. There is a separate constitutional court. The Supreme Court judges are elected by the National Assembly.
Presidents of Slovenia
Presidents of Slovenia since 1990.
1990-2002 Milan Kučan
2002-07 Janez Drnovšek
2007-2012 Danilo Türk
2012- Borut Pahor
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Meditation is normally known as “the relaxation of consciousness.” It is usually accustomed to acquire personal-clarity and knowledge. Meditation can be used to cut down stress and enhance very well-simply being. Here are some approaches meditation will help you:
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Concentration relaxation is an excellent method which can be used reflection to increase awareness while focusing. Meditation is often modified to the amount and anybody can meditate to be more conscious of their and theirselves area. Meditation can be carried out on your own, by way of led imagery or any other kind of meditating, by respiratory exercises, by employing mantras, and through creative or unique imagery. Anybody can meditate to obtain a more obvious and targeted considered and sensation.
There are many sorts of reflection techniques and they consist of really easy to tricky to perform. At first, you could use meditation procedures that entail relaxing of your physique and slower, peaceful motions on the vision and quieting in the intellect. As the ability in producing meditating knowledge increases, you will move into more intense, more complicated relaxation techniques, which can enhance your awareness and energy of concentration. Practicing meditating may take weeks or it can commence quickly and easily when you first experience set.
There are numerous primary advantages of meditating and the other assessment figured that relaxation is significant for controlling stress and stress. A confident relaxation expertise increases your ability to spend recognition, enhances your creative thinking, elevates your immune purpose, cuts down soreness and reducing stress, lowers potential risk of coronary disease and tumors, reduces strain and increases rest. Other studies show that meditation really helps to reduced high blood pressure levels, raises creativity and decreases the warning signs of despair. Meditation has been specifically proven to work in cutting inflamation related chemical compounds within your body, for instance cortisol.
Progressive relaxing is an additional kind of mind-calming exercise and it needs much more some time and perform than reflection does. You must understand how to do accelerating relaxing and how to incorporate it into your daily life. Progressive relaxing entails regulated muscular pressure designed to relax your body and mind decrease. It should take that you just quickly learn how to discharge these tensed muscle groups and loosen up your body the natural way and little by little. Progressive relaxing is shown to be an efficient procedure for reducing stress and it has been advisable as a manner of therapeutic after a stressful damage. Some health care medical doctors advocate developing relaxation for people which have neck area agony.
Walking mind-calming exercise can be another type of meditation and also it will involve taking progressive, rhythmic methods even though respiration deeply. This kind of deep breathing will involve using real mobility to obtain cognitive relaxation. A favorite strolling relaxation is performed in a very swimming pool or with a shore.
Whatever kind of reflection you ultimately choose, you could use meta-analyses to help with producing better knowledge and personal-understanding. Meta-analyses are designed to guide individuals discover ways to make their particular selections or how to greater use their wondering procedures in several occasions. Many individuals be able to use meta-analyses to generate healthy alternatives about them selves by utilizing specific questions to explore their inner ideas. Sometimes, the solutions given to these questionnaires give the most informative info.
Breathing reflection is among the most in-demand kinds of mind-calming exercise. A technique that men and women use breathing in deep breathing should be to rest perfectly inside a at ease seat and inhale and exhale slowly but surely throughout the nasal area when checking from just one to twenty. After counting, a person breathes deeply and targets the motion of these inhale thru their body. The purpose of this particular type of transcendental meditating is to concentrate the mind and body by using an thing or considered. When individuals apply this type of meditating, they are able to transform their practical experience on the planet all around them. Other common types of meditation include motto deep breathing, mindfulness reflection, accelerating pleasure, mindful consuming and 100 % pure meditating.
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Precisely what does It Surely Hostile being Queer? May text ‘queer’ an insult?
Yes, it’s an identity. But it also conveys a sense of people.
Specifically what does queer represent?
Queerness is definitely an umbrella phase definitely both a placement and a community for all those on the LGBTQIA+ array.
Would be the text ‘queer’ an abuse?
Whilst might’ve noticed the term made use of as an insult, the word “queer” has been recently reclaimed by your society getting empowering and produce a feeling of area, in place of deragatory, claims Amanda Pasciucco, AASECT certified love-making therapist.
Whom falls in the “queer” canopy?
To Pasciucco, queerness entails a junction of personal information. She includes that the phase queer shows an “individual whom self-identifies as either Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (additionally often named “questioning”), intersex, and or asexual, aka the LGBTQIA+ community. For Pasciucco by herself, she furthermore uses the + notice whenever referring to the queer people, to point pangender or pansexual persons, or even those invoved with renewable union areas, such as for instance polyamory, kink, or non-monogamy.
However, the definition of queerness furthermore may differ subject to the person check with. As Pasciucco points out herself, “To getting apparent, as an individual who a brand new in other love-making associations, you cannot assume all people who discover as queer assume that group like me, or individuals the benefit, really should be included in the community.” The phrase queer is actually intentionally vague (on that below) along with this sort of vagueness likewise arrives various perceptions.
Is definitely “queer” an erectile personality or a gender personality or can it be both?
Queerness is far more nuanced than a sex-related personality or gender recognition, says Pasciocco, which brings it’s active and a fluid movement, “beyond the binary of cisgender and hetereonormativity.” Queerness try intersectional! As Nicole Scrivano, among Pasciucco’s co-workers and an LMFT, mentioned in a blog site post:
“as queer girls, we all come several forms, identifications, and notion programs. A number of these identifications tends to be within sexuality identifications of bisexual, lesbian, gay, pansexual, etc. A Lot Of These identities become within gender: transgender, cisgender, nonbinary, femme, genderflexible, etc. Relational personal information including monogamous, polyamorous, swinging, open, etc. Queer ladies are on a spectrum of sex and erotic fluidity.”
To simply help express the definition of queer some more, right here’s a directly membership from journalist Sophie Saint Thomas on distinguishing as queer and far more regarding term:
“I’m queer,” we informed my favorite Tinder complement, who was simply an incredibly horny directly dude. Any time that mislead him, we added, “. and bisexual.” I evening folks of all men and women, but our queer identification is so more than a label to describe just who I meeting and have intercourse with. He looked relieved to understand that love with your had been up for grabs and therefore queer ended up beingn’t a synonym for gay, which, in 2019, can however befuddle the best of us.
Queer was a keyword that clarifies that I’m perhaps not immediately and ties me to the larger queer area, although it doesn’t categorize myself as homosexual. The vagueness from the name try intentional— queer is an identity designed for anybody not in the heterosexual majority and intended to be inclusive and produce a feeling of approval. Exactly what, exactly, does it suggest for queer? Could you getting queer? To express just what words mean, Cosmo talked with Kelly intelligent, PhD, a queer sexual intercourse professional, about how exactly queer developed from a gay slur to an encompassing—and even welcoming—word employed by users around the LGBTQ variety (and, controversially, actually some right individuals way too).
Okay, so what does “queer” suggest?
Dialect grows with culture, usually due to the brute force and fierceness of those who want to see modification. This sort of is the case for queer, a phrase mainly applied by the LGBTQ area to share a contrast from mainstream, heteronormative environment. “whenever I contemplate ‘queer,’ I just think ‘different,’” smart claims.
While all labeling used to illustrate one’s intimate orientation are particular to the average person, unlike homosexual (a fascination into the exact same sex), queer was an umbrella words which can be used by any individual beneath LGBTQ variety. Queer provides both an orientation and a feeling of people.
“The area piece says, ‘Because we’re many different, it is possible to enjoy all of our issues. I will acknowledge an individual for who you really are, and there’s electrical power in numbers,’” intelligent claims. “There’s a piece to it that does not enable isolation.” Some folks just who drop someplace in the midst of the sex-related positioning variety will explain by themselves as queer compared to bisexual (attraction to both your gender and sexes except that your individual) or pansexual (attraction no matter what gender). Other folks will use both and teach by themselves as “bisexual and queer,” as an example. The definition queer is made use of by those whoever gender does not decrease in the digital.
The celebration and use for the statement queer is one of reclamation. Lately, queer was still employed as a slur. “Back during the daytime, definitely as soon as ended up being growing up, the term ‘queer’ am a derogatory phrase,” clever says. “The reclamation from the statement is similar to, ‘This are that I am just. You don’t have to be like all other people; let’s observe the dissimilarities, and don’t just be sure to set me in any sort of container of the person you need to get me to be because I’ll regularly make an effort to break-down the bins.” It is well worth bearing in mind that although the statement queer is typically commemorated, some LGBTQ users continue to prefer to eliminate they because of its prejudiced records.
Regardless of the advance, the term queer is not without controversy—some men and women within polyamorous or kink communities identify as “queer” even if they appreciate only heterosexual commitments. “Mainly because it is one cock and something cunt, that doesn’t result in there’s certainly not some queer facet of a person,” clever claims.
While some concur that polyamorous sexualities depend as “different” (thus “queer”) other people feel that for a directly, poly individual depict on their own as queer is piggy-backing on many decades of LGBTQ activism to increase basic legal rights and celebrate her identifications. But keeping it easy, if a person represent by themselves as queer, it’s more often than not because their intimate orientation and/or gender comes under the LGBTQ union, as opposed to the heterosexual standard. You will find countless methods to diagnose as queer since there are people who would so—so if you feel you may well be queer and wish to acquire that, proceed forward with delight.
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French Polynesia And Bali
Publié le par salebatterymart
French Polynesia is an overseas country (pays d'outre-mer) of the French Republic. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory (Papeetē) (SONY PCG-5G2L battery). Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007.
The French frigate Floréal, stationed in Bora Bora lagoon.
The island groups that make up French Polynesia were not officially united until the establishment of the French protectorate in 1889. The first of these islands to be settled by indigenous Polynesians were the Marquesas Islands in AD 300 and the Society Islands in AD 800. The Polynesians were organized in loose chieftainships. (SONY PCG-5G3L battery)
European communication began in 1521 when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka in the Tuāmotu-Gambier Archipelago. Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen came across Bora Bora in the Society Islands in 1722, and the British explorer Samuel Wallis visited Tahiti in 1767. The French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768(SONY PCG-F305 battery), while the British explorer James Cook visited in 1769. Christian missions began with Spanish priests who stayed in Tahiti for a year from 1774; Protestants from the London Missionary Society settled permanently in Polynesia in 1797.
King Pōmare II of Tahiti was forced to flee to Mo'orea in 1803; he and his subjects were converted to Protestantism in 1812. French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834; their expulsion in 1836 caused France to send a gunboat in 1838(SONY PCG-5J1L battery). In 1842, Tahiti and Tahuata were declared a French protectorate, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed. The capital of Papeetē was founded in 1843. In 1880, France annexed Tahiti, changing the status from that of a protectorate to that of a colony.[7]
In the 1880s, France claimed the Tuamotu Archipelago, which formerly belonged to the Pōmare Dynasty, without formally annexing it(SONY PCG-5J2L battery). Having declared a protectorate over Tahuata in 1842, the French regarded the entire Marquesas Islands as French. In 1885, France appointed a governor and established a general council, thus giving it the proper administration for a colony. The islands of Rimatara and Rūrutu unsuccessfully lobbied for British protection in 1888(SONY PCG-5K2L battery), so in 1889 they were annexed by France. Postage stamps were first issued in the colony in 1892. The first official name for the colony was Établissements de l'Océanie (Settlements in Oceania); in 1903 the general council was changed to an advisory council and the colony's name was changed to Établissements Français de l'Océanie (French Settlements in Oceania). (SONY PCG-5L1L battery)
In 1940 the administration of French Polynesia recognised the Free French Forces and many Polynesians served in World War II. Unknown at the time to French and Polynesians, the Konoe Cabinet in Imperial Japan on 16 September 1940 included French Polynesia among the many territories which were to become Japanese possessions in the post-war world(SONY PCG-6S2L battery) – though in the course of the war in the Pacific the Japanese were not able to launch an actual invasion of the French islands.
In 1946, Polynesians were granted French citizenship and the islands' status was changed to an overseas territory; the islands' name was changed in 1957 to Polynésie Française (French Polynesia). In 1962, France's early nuclear testing ground of Algeria became independent and the Maruroa atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago was selected as the new testing site(SONY PCG-6S3L battery); tests were conducted underground after 1974.[10] In 1977, French Polynesia was granted partial internal autonomy; in 1984, the autonomy was extended. French Polynesia became a full overseas collectivity of France in 2004.[6][11]
In September 1995, France stirred up widespread protests by resuming nuclear testing at Fangataufa atoll after a three-year moratorium. The last test was on 27 January 1996. On 29 January 1996(SONY PCG-6V1L battery), France announced that it would accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and no longer test nuclear weapons.[12]
Main article: Politics of French Polynesia
Political life in French Polynesia has been marked by great instability since the mid-2000s. On 14 September 2007, the pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru, 63, was elected president of French Polynesia for the 3rd time in 3 years (with 27 of 44 votes cast in the territorial assembly).[13] He replaced former President Gaston Tong Sang(SONY PCG-7111L battery), opposed to independence, who lost a no-confidence vote in the Assembly of French Polynesia on 31 August after the longtime former president of French Polynesia, Gaston Flosse, hitherto opposed to independence, sided with his long enemy Oscar Temaru to topple the government of Gaston Tong Sang. Oscar Temaru, however, had no stable majority in the Assembly of French Polynesia, and new territorial elections were held in February 2008 to solve the political crisis(SONY PCG-71511M battery).
The Assembly of French Polynesia.
The party of Gaston Tong Sang won the territorial elections, but that did not solve the political crisis: the two minority parties of Oscar Temaru and Gaston Flosse, who together have one more member in the territorial assembly than the political party of Gaston Tong Sang, allied to prevent Gaston Tong Sang from becoming president of French Polynesia(SONY PCG-6W3L battery). Gaston Flosse was then elected president of French Polynesia by the territorial assembly on 23 February 2008 with the support of the pro-independence party led by Oscar Temaru, while Oscar Temaru was elected speaker of the territorial assembly with the support of the anti-independence party led by Gaston Flosse. Both formed a coalition cabinet(SONY PCG-7113L battery). Many observers doubted that the alliance between the anti-independence Gaston Flosse and the pro-independence Oscar Temaru, designed to prevent Gaston Tong Sang from becoming president of French Polynesia, could last very long.[14]
At the French municipal elections held in March 2008, several prominent mayors who are member of the Flosse-Temaru coalition lost their offices in key municipalities of French Polynesia(SONY PCG-7133L battery), which was interpreted as a disapproval of the way Gaston Tong Sang, whose party French Polynesian voters had placed first in the territorial elections the month before, had been prevented from becoming president of French Polynesia by the last minute alliance between Flosse and Temaru's parties. Eventually, on 15 April 2008 the government of Gaston Flosse was toppled by a constructive vote of no confidence(SONY PCG-7Z1L battery) in the territorial assembly when two members of the Flosse-Temaru coalition left the coalition and sided with Tong Sang's party. Gaston Tong Sang was elected president of French Polynesia as a result of this constructive vote of no confidence, but his majority in the territorial assembly is very narrow. He offered posts in his cabinet to Flosse and Temaru's parties which they both refused. Gaston Tong Sang has called all parties to help end the instability in local politics(SONY PCG-7Z2L battery) , a prerequisite to attract foreign investors needed to develop the local economy.
High Commission of the French Republic.
Despite a local assembly and government, French Polynesia is not in a free association with France, like the Cook Islands with New Zealand or the Federated States of Micronesia with the United States. As a French overseas collectivity, the local government has no competence in justice, education, security and defense, directly provided and administered by the French State(SONY PCG-8Y1L battery), the Gendarmerie and the French Military. The highest representative of the State in the territory is the High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia (French: Haut commissaire de la République).
French Polynesia also sends two deputies to the French National Assembly, one representing the Leeward Islands administrative subdivision, the Austral Islands administrative subdivision, the commune (municipality) of Mo'orea-Mai'ao(SONY PCG-8Y2L battery), and the westernmost part of Tahiti (including the capital Papeetē), and the other representing the central and eastern part of Tahiti, the Tuāmotu-Gambier administrative division, and the Marquesas Islands administrative division. French Polynesia also sends one senator to the French Senate.
French Polynesians vote in the French presidential elections and at the 2007 French presidential election(SONY PCG-8Z2L battery), in which the pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru openly called to vote for the Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal while the parties opposed to independence generally supported the center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, the turnout in French Polynesia was 69.12% in the first round of the election and 74.67% in the second round. French Polynesians voters placed Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of Ségolène Royal in both rounds of the election (2nd round: Nicolas Sarkozy 51.9%; Ségolène Royal 48.1%).(SONY PCG-8Z1L battery)
Between 1946 and 2003, French Polynesia had the status of an overseas territory (French: territoire d'outre-mer, or TOM). In 2003 it became an overseas collectivity (French: collectivité d'outre-mer, or COM). Its statutory law of 27 February 2004 gives it the particular designation of overseas country inside the Republic (French: pays d'outre-mer au sein de la République, or POM), but without legal modification of its status(SONY PCG-7112L battery).
[edit]Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of French Polynesia
French Polynesia has five administrative subdivisions (French: subdivisions administratives):
Marquesas Islands (French: (les) (Îles) Marquises or officially la subdivision administrative des (Îles) Marquises)
Leeward Islands (French: (les) Îles Sous-le-Vent or officially la subdivision administrative des Îles Sous-le-Vent) (the two subdivisions administratives Windward Islands and Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands) (SONY PCG-6W2L battery)
Windward Islands (French: (les) Îles du Vent or officially la subdivision administrative des Îles du Vent) (the two subdivisions administratives Windward Islands and Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands)
Tuāmotu-Gambier (French: (les) (Îles) Tuamotu-Gambier or officially la subdivision administrative des (Îles) Tuamotu-Gambier) (the Tuamotus and the Gambier Islands) (SONY PCG-5K1L battery)
Austral Islands (French: (les) (Îles) Australes or officially la subdivision administrative des (Îles) Australes) (including the Bass Islands)
Map of French Polynesia
Main article: Geography of French Polynesia
The islands of French Polynesia have a total land area of 4,167 square kilometres (1,622 sq. mi) scattered over 2,500,000 square kilometres (965,255 sq. mi) of ocean. There are around 130 islands in French Polynesia.[16] The highest point is Mount Orohena on Tahiti.
It is made up of six groups of islands. The largest and most populated island is Tahiti, in the Society Islands(Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery).
The island groups are:
Marquesas Islands
Society Islands
Tuamotu Archipelago
Gambier Islands often considered part of the Tuamotu Archipelago
Austral Islands
Bass Islands often considered part of the Austral Islands
Aside from Tahiti, some other important atolls, islands, and island groups in French Polynesia are: Ahē, Bora Bora, Hiva 'Oa, Huahine, Mai'ao, Maupiti, Meheti'a, Mo'orea, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Taha'a, Tetiaroa, Tupua'i, and Tūpai(Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery).
Main article: Economy of French Polynesia
The GDP of French Polynesia in 2006 was 5.65 billion US dollars at market exchange rates, the fifth-largest economy in Oceania after Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and New Caledonia.[4] The GDP per capita was 21,999 US dollars in 2006 (at market exchange rates, not at PPP), lower than in Hawai'i, Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia, but higher than in all the independent insular states of Oceania. (Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery)
French Polynesia has a moderately developed economy, which is dependent on imported goods, tourism, and the financial assistance of mainland France. Tourist facilities are well developed and are available on the major islands. Also, as the noni fruit from these islands is discovered for its medicinal uses, people have been able to find jobs related to this agricultural industry(Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery).
The legal tender of French Polynesia is the CFP Franc.
Agriculture: coconuts, vanilla, vegetables, fruits.
Natural resources: timber, fish, cobalt.
In 2008 French Polynesia's imports amounted to 2.2 billion US dollars and exports amounted to 0.2 billion US dollars.[17] The major export of French Polynesia is their famous black Tahitian pearls which accounted for 55% of exports (in value) in 2008. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery)
Main article: Demographics of French Polynesia
Tahitian girls, 1860–1879.
Total population on 1 January 2010 was 267,000 inhabitants,[2] up from 259,596 at the August 2007 census.[3] At the 2007 census, 68.6% of the population of French Polynesia lived on the island of Tahiti alone.[3] The urban area of Papeetē, the capital city, has 131,695 inhabitants (2007 census) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery).
At the 2007 census, 87.3% of people living in French Polynesia were born in French Polynesia, 9.3% were born in metropolitan France, 1.4% were born in overseas France outside of French Polynesia, and 2.0% were born in foreign countries.[18] At the 1988 census, the last census which asked questions regarding ethnicity, 66.5% of people were ethnically unmixed Polynesians(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery), 7.1 % were Polynesians with light European and/or East Asian mixing, 11.9% were Europeans (mostly French), 9.3% were people of mixed European and Polynesian descent, the so-called Demis (literally meaning "Half"), and 4.7% were East Asians (mainly Chinese).[1]
The Europeans, the Demis and the East Asians are essentially concentrated on the island of Tahiti, particularly in the urban area of Papeetē, where their share of the population is thus much greater than in French Polynesia overall. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery) Race mixing has been going on for more than a century already in French Polynesia, resulting in a rather mixed society. For example Gaston Flosse, the long-time leader of French Polynesia, is a Demi (European father from Lorraine and Polynesian mother).[19] His main opponent and former president, Gaston Tong Sang is a member of the East Asian (in his case Chinese) community. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery) Oscar Temaru, the current president, is ethnically Polynesian (father from Tahiti, mother from the Cook Islands),[21] but he has admitted to also have Chinese ancestry.[22]
Despite a long tradition of race mixing, racial tensions have been growing in recent years, with politicians using a xenophobic discourse and fanning the flame of racial tensions. The pro-independence politicians have long pointed the finger at the European community (Oscar Temaru, pro-independence leader and former president of French Polynesia(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery), was for example found guilty of "racial discrimination" by the criminal court of Papeetē in 2007 for having referred to the Europeans living in French Polynesia as "trash", "waste").[24] More recently, the Chinese community which controls many businesses in French Polynesia has been targeted in verbal attacks by the newly allied Gaston Flosse and Oscar Temaru in their political fight against Gaston Tong Sang(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery), whose Chinese origins they emphasize in contrast with their Polynesian origins, despite the fact that they both have mixed origins (European and Polynesian for Flosse; Polynesian and Chinese for Temaru).[25]
In April 2008, after the government of Gaston Flosse was toppled in the Assembly of French Polynesia and Gaston Tong Sang became the new president of French Polynesia, two French Polynesian labor union leaders made anti-Chinese remarks (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery) ("I'm not hiding from the fact that I wouldn't like our country to be ruled by someone who's not a Polynesian"; "a Chinese only thinks of the business leaders, because he is a businessman").[26] These anti-Chinese remarks caused a political furor and were widely condemned in French Polynesia. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery)
Historical population
Cemetery in the Tuāmotu.
French is the only official language of French Polynesia.[31] An organic law of 12 April 1996 states that "French is the official language, Tahitian and other Polynesian languages can be used." At the 2007 census, among the population whose age was 15 and older, 68.5% of people reported that the language they speak the most at home is French(Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery), 29.9% reported that the language they speak the most at home is any of the Polynesian languages (four-fifth of which Tahitian), 1.0% reported a Chinese language (half of which Hakka), and 0.6% another language.[32]
At the same census, 94.7% of people whose age was 15 or older reported that they could speak, read and write French, whereas only 2.0% reported that they had no knowledge of French.[32] 74.6% of people whose age was 15 or older reported that they have some knowledge of one of the Polynesian languages(Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery), whereas 13.6% reported that they had no knowledge of any of the Polynesian languages.[32]
Christianity is the main religion of the islands: a majority (54%) belong to various Protestant churches and a large minority (30%) are Roman Catholic. Slightly more than 50% of French Polynesia's population belongs to the Maohi Protestant Church, the largest Protestant denomination. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had 20,282 members as of 2009.[34] Jehovah's Witnesses had 2,656 publishers in Tahiti as of 2011.[35]
Main article: Transportation in French Polynesia
There are 53 airports in French Polynesia; 46 are paved.[36] The Faaa International Airport is the only international airport in French Polynesia. Each island has its own airport that serves flights to other islands. Air Tahiti is the main airline that flies around the islands(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery).
Notable people
Jacques Brel (1929–1978), Belgian musician, lived in French Polynesia near the end of his life
Jean Gabilou, singer (born 1944), represented France in the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), French impressionist painter, spent the last years of his life in French Polynesia
Maréva Georges, model, former Miss Tahiti 1990 and Miss France 1991
Pouvāna'a 'Ō'opa (1895–1977), Politician and Tahitian nationalist(Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery)
Henri Hiro (1944–1991), Film director and script writer, poet, ecologist, activist
Ella Koon, model (born 1979)
Marco Namouro, writer (1889–1968)
Fabrice Santoro, tennis professional (born 1972)
Marama Vahirua, footballer, cousin of Pascal Vahirua (born 1980)
Pascal Vahirua, former French international footballer (born 1966)
Célestine Hitiura Vaite, writer (born 1966) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery)
Main article: Music of French Polynesia
French Polynesia came to the forefront of the world music scene in 1992,[citation needed] with the release of The Tahitian Choir's recordings of unaccompanied vocal Christian music called himene tārava, recorded by French musicologist Pascal Nabet-Meyer. This form of singing is common in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery), and is distinguished by a unique drop in pitch at the end of the phrases, which is a characteristic formed by several different voices; it is also accompanied by steady grunting of staccato, nonsensical syllables.
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery). The province covers a few small neighbouring islands as well as the isle of Bali.
With a population recorded as 3,891,428 in the 2010 census,[3] the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. In the 2000 census about 92.29% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery), including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. Bali, a tourist haven for decades, has seen a further surge in tourist numbers in recent years.
Main article: History of Bali
Bali was inhabited by around 2000 BC by Austronesian peoples who migrated originally from Taiwan through Maritime Southeast Asia.[4] Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are thus closely related to the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery) Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.[6]
Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery). The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the complex irrigation system subak was developed to grow rice. Some religious and cultural traditions still in existence today can be traced back to this period(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery). The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined, there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests, and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century.
Tanah Lot, one of the major temples in Bali
The first European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1585 when a Portuguese ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung. (Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery)In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali and, with the establishment of the Dutch East India Company in 1602, the stage was set for colonial control two and a half centuries later when Dutch control expanded across the Indonesian archipelago throughout the second half of the nineteenth century (see Dutch East Indies) (Sony VGN-NR11S Battery). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various distrustful Balinese realms against each other.[9] In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.
The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive(Sony VGN-NR110E Battery) assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender.[9] Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 1,000 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders.[10] In the Dutch intervention in Bali (1908), a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung. Afterwards the Dutch governors were able to exercise administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact(Sony VGN-NR110E/T Battery). Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.
In the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, and artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature", and western tourism first developed on the island(Sony VGN-NR110E/S Battery).
Balinese dancers show for tourists, in Ubud.
Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. Bali Island was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops(Sony VGN-NR110E/W Battery). There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer. The island was quickly captured.[12]
During the Japanese occupation a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'(Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery). The lack of institutional changes from the time of Dutch rule however, and the harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule little better than the Dutch one.[13] Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch promptly returned to Indonesia, including Bali, immediately to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels now using Japanese weapons(Sony VGN-CR11S Battery). On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance. In 1946 the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia(Sony VGN-CR11M Battery), a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.
The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia(Sony VGN-CR11E Battery). Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting these traditional values. Politically, this was represented by opposing supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) (Sony VGN-CR21E Battery), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs.[9] An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto. The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. (Sony VGN-CR21S Battery) With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.[15]
As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency, and his "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form(Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery), and the resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country.[9] A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island, although tourist numbers have now returned to levels before the bombings(Sony VGN-CR31S Battery).
Topography of the island
Subak irrigation system
To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line(Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery), named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated(Sony VGN-CR42S Battery).
The Bali Starling is found only on Bali and is critically endangered.
Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna which is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the Yellow-crested Cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali Starling(Sony VGN-CR42E Battery), which is endemic. Others Include Barn Swallow, Black-naped Oriole, Black Racket-tailed Treepie, Crested Serpent-eagle, Crested Treeswift, Dollarbird, Java Sparrow, Lesser Adjutant, Long-tailed Shrike, Milky Stork, Pacific Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Sacred Kingfisher, Sea Eagle, Woodswallow, Savanna Nightjar, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Yellow-vented Bulbul, White Heron, Great Egret(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/L Battery).
Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild Banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali Tiger. The Banteng still occurs in its domestic form, while leopards are found only in neighboring Java, and the Bali Tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a Tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/P Battery) The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all Tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, while few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan Rusa deer and the Wild Boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian Muntjac, also occurs(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/W Battery).
Monkey Forest, Ubud
Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian Palm Civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R Battery). They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The Crab-eating Macaque, known locally as “kera”, is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three “monkey forest” temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/B Battery). They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands, such as Bali which is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan Langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. What is interesting about this species is that the young are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/L Battery). In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the Leopard Cat, Sunda Pangolin and Black Giant Squirrel.
Snakes include the King Cobra and Reticulated Python. The Water Monitor can grow to an impressive size and move surprisingly quickly(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/P Battery).
The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighboring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance Hawksbill Turtle, Giant Sunfish, Giant Manta Ray, Giant Moray Eel, Bumphead Parrotfish, Hammerhead Shark, Reef Shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/R Battery).
Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native. Among the larger trees the most common are: Banyan trees, Jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery). Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, Kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery).
A team of scientists has conducted survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea site of Bali. They have discovered 952 species of reef fish which 8 of them were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery)The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36 percent (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29 percent or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25 percent) with the highest coverage was found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.
Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 meters of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/L Battery)
Due to over-exploitation by the tourist industry which converse massive land, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 liters of clean water per second by 2015.[21] To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/P Battery). The 300 liters capacity of water per second will be channeled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.
Administrative divisions
Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia’s wealthiest regions. About 80% of Bali's economy depends on tourism; (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/R Battery) Note: non-referenced % in the article: in fact a great number of the population still lives thanks to agriculture although this situation is changing rapidly. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23 percent average, relatively quite low compare to about 5 percent average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/L Battery)The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry is slowly recovering once again.
Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island’s biggest employer;[25][citation needed] most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/P Battery), stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.
The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavors include lemon and other citrus notes. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/R Battery)Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana”. According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/W Battery). Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.[27]
The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud(Sony Vaio VGN-CR150E/B Battery), to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.
Kuta Beach is a popular tourist spot in Bali
An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi(Sony Vaio VGN-CR190 Battery). Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable(Sony Vaio VGN-CR190E/L Battery).
Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. At 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists. It is surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/L Battery). The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65 percent (last year 60.8 percent), so still capable for accommodates tourists for next some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels,[28] although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.
Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The award was presented in the show "World's Best Awards 2010" in New York, on 21 July(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/P Battery). Hotel Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran also received an award in the category of "World Best Hotel Spas in Asia 2010". The award was based on a survey of travel magazine Travel and Leisure readers between 15 December 2009 through 31 March 2010, and was judged on several criteria. Thermes Marins Bali, Ayana Resort and Spa, (formerly The Ritz-Carlton) got score 95.6 scored out of a maximum 100 of satisfaction index with spa facilities and services as No. 1(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/W Battery) Spa in the world by Conde Naste's Traveller Magazine for 2010 by their readers poll.[29] The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, rank in second after Greece. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/L Battery)
On August 2010, the film version of Eat, Pray, Love (EPL), which starred Julia Roberts, was released in theaters. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir of the same name. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/P Battery), has already fueled a boom in EPL tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.[31] Newly launched packages by luxury resorts and spas like Ubud Hanging Gardens and the cliff-top Ayana promise to recreate Gilbert's four transformative months on Bali in a few passing days with yoga classes, drawn-out beach dinners, massage therapy(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/W Battery). Other tours built around the book focus on curative group gatherings and self-discovery of the kind Gilbert had.[32] EPL helped boost Bali’s tourist numbers, together with the stable security situation on the island. Bali had 2.5 million visitors in 2010, exceeding their target of 2.3 million. That figure was also an improvement from 2009’s 2.2 million and 2008’s 1.96 million visitors. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21Z/N Battery) The Tourism Office admitted that they had done nothing to maximize the opportunity to promote Bali and surrender to the filmmakers to promote.[34]
Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. China tourists increased by 17 percent from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali.[35] In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18 percent compared to January 2011(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/B Battery), while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54 percent yoy.[36]
A major form of transport in Bali is the Moped
A coastal road surrounds the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar and enables cars to travel quickly in the heavily populated south. Bali has no railway lines yet(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/P Battery).
December 2010: Government of Indonesia has invited investors to build Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali amounted $30 million.[37] In 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) will anchor about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbor. The current pier is only 154 meters and will be a 300 to 350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/R Battery). The harbor would be safer than Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of a panoramic view of mountainous area with green rice fields.[38] In December 2011, the auction process will setlle and predicted Tanah Ampo to become the main hub for cruise ships in Indonesia in 2013.[39]
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by 2 ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometers railway along the coast around the island. It will be operated from 2015 onwards. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/L Battery)
On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port has received a "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine.[41] Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector.[42]
On May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/N Battery), Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/W Battery)
On 21 December 2011 officially kicked off the construction of the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which provide also with a special lane for motorcycle has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60 percent of shares was named PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometers toll road(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S battery). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million) and is expected to be finished by April 2013 before Apec Summit and the Bali Summer Summit 2013. The project will through 2 kilometers mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometer beach, both in 5.4 hectares area. Elevated toll road will be built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which will occupy 2 hectares of mangroves forest(">Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF battery), but will compensate by new plant of 300,000 mangrove tress along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also been kicked off on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with estimated cost Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget.
To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF battery).
The population of Bali was 3,891,428 (at the 2010 Census). There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.
A religious procession
Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 93.18% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (4.79%), Christianity (1.38%), and Buddhism (0.64%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W battery).
Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and in Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF battery). This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual(Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF battery). Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behavior.[51]
Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism(Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B battery), Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonize it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese.[52] Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards. (Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/S battery)
Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The word "bahasa" literally means language in Indonesian, and the most common spoken language around the touristic areas in Bali are Bahasa Indonesia, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/S battery), but migrant workers from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/T battery), for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.
English is a common third language (and the primary foreign language) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry. Other foreign languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/T battery).
Main articles: Music of Bali and Balinese art
The famous dancer I Mario, picture taken 1940.
Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence(SONY VGP-BPS10A battery). Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows. (SONY VGP-BPS10A/B battery)
Balinese dancers wearing elaborate headgear, photographed in 1929. Digitally restored.
Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. (SONY VGP-BPS10/S battery) Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation.[56] Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other in order to be heard(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ130E battery). Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.
Stone carvings in Ubud.
Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island’s largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ130E/B battery). Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.[58]
Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E/B battery), dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan(SONY Vaio VGN-SR11M Battery). This three-tiered system of classification was standardized in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists in order to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.
Tourism, Bali’s chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers(SONY Vaio VGN-SR12G/B Battery). The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists(SONY Vaio VGN-SR12G/P Battery). This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.[60]
Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. (SONY Vaio VGN-SR12G/S Battery) Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratization and decentralization of Indonesia since 1998.[61]
Heritage sites
Taman Ayun Temple, the Pakerisan Valley in Gianyar, rice terraces in Tabanan with the 'subak' system and Batukaru will be proposed to UNESCO as World Heritage sites by Bali administration(Sony VAIO VGN-SR21M/S battery).
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Madagascar And Republic of the Congo
Publié le par salebatterymart
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (Malagasy: Repoblikan'i Madagasikara; French: République de Madagascar) and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the southeastern coast of Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (SONY PCG-5G2L battery) (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth(SONY PCG-5G3L battery). The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population.
Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BCE and 550 CE by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around 1000 CE by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life(SONY PCG-F305 battery). The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands.
Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles(SONY PCG-5J1L battery). The monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island regained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed Republics. Since 1992 the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo(SONY PCG-5J2L battery). However, in a popular uprising in 2009 the last elected president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina in a move widely viewed by the international community as a coup d'état.
In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at just over 22 million, 90 percent of whom live on less than two dollars per day(SONY PCG-5K2L battery). Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs or Christianity. Ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascar's development strategy. Under Ravalomanana these investments produced substantial economic growth but the benefits were not evenly spread throughout the population(SONY PCG-5L1L battery), producing tensions over the increasing cost of living and declining living standards among the poor and some segments of the middle class.
In the Malagasy language, the island of Madagascar is called Madagasikara [madaɡasʲˈkʲarə̥] and its people are referred to as Malagasy.[2] However, the island's appellation "Madagascar" is not of local origin but rather was popularized in the Middle Ages by Europeans. (SONY PCG-6S2L battery)The name Madageiscar was first recorded in the memoirs of 13th-century Venetian explorer Marco Polo as a corrupted form of the name Mogadishu, the Somali port with which Polo had confused the island. On St. Laurence's Day in 1500, Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias landed on the island and christened it São Lourenço, but Polo's name was preferred and popularized on Renaissance maps(SONY PCG-6S3L battery). No single Malagasy-language name predating Madagasikara appears to have been used by the local population to refer to the island, although some communities had their own name for part or all of the land they inhabited.[8]
Main articles: Geography of Madagascar and Ecoregions of Madagascar
The terraced rice paddies of the central highlands of Madagascar (left) give way to tropical rainforest along the eastern coast (center) bordered by the shores of the Indian Ocean (right) (SONY PCG-6V1L battery).
At 592,800 square kilometres (228,900 sq mi),[9] Madagascar is the world's 47th largest country[4] and the fourth-largest island.[9] The country lies mostly between latitudes 12°S and 26°S, and longitudes 43°E and 51°E.[10] Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros and the French territory of Mayotte to the north west(SONY PCG-6W1L battery). The nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west.
The prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana separated the Madagascar-Antarctica-India landmass from the Africa-South America landmass around 135 million years ago. Madagascar later split from India about 88 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in relative isolation. (SONY PCG-7111L battery) Along the length of the eastern coast runs a narrow and steep escarpment containing much of the island's remaining tropical rain forest. To the west of this ridge lies a plateau in the center of the island ranging in altitude from 750 to 1,500 m (2,460 to 4,920 ft) above sea level. These central highlands, traditionally the homeland of the Merina people and the location of their historic capital at Antananarivo(SONY PCG-71511M battery), are the most densely populated part of the island and are characterized by terraced, rice-growing valleys lying between grassy, deforested hills. To the west of the highlands, the increasingly arid terrain gradually slopes down to the Mozambique Channel.[12]
The grassy plains that dominate the western landscape are dotted with stony massifs (left), patches of deciduous forest, and baobab trees (center), while the south is characterized by desert and spiny forests (right) (SONY PCG-6W3L battery).
Madagascar's highest peaks rise from three prominent highland massifs: Maromokotro 2,876 m (9,436 ft) on the Tsaratanana Massif is the island's highest point, followed by Boby Peak 2,658 m (8,720 ft) on the Andringitra Massif and Tsiafajavona 2,643 m (8,671 ft) on the Ankaratra Massif. To the east(SONY PCG-7113L battery), the Canal des Pangalanes is a chain of man-made and natural lakes connected by canals built by the French just inland from the east coast and running parallel to it for some 600 km (370 mi). The western and southern sides, which lie in the rain shadow of the central highlands, are home to dry deciduous forests, spiny forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands(SONY PCG-7133L battery). Due to their lower population densities, Madagascar's dry deciduous forests have been better preserved than the eastern rain forests or the original woodlands of the central plateau. The western coast features many protected harbors, but silting is a major problem caused by sediment from the high levels of inland erosion carried by rivers crossing the broad western plains. (SONY PCG-7Z1L battery)
The combination of southeastern trade winds and northwestern monsoons produces a hot rainy season (November–April) with frequently destructive cyclones, and a relatively cooler dry season (May–October). Rain clouds originating over the Indian Ocean discharge much of their moisture over the island's eastern coast; (SONY PCG-7Z2L battery) the heavy precipitation supports the area's rain forest ecosystem. The central highlands are both drier and cooler while the west is drier still, and a semi-arid climate prevails in the southwest and southern interior of the island.[12] Tropical cyclones annually cause damage to infrastructure and local economies as well as loss of life.[14] In 2004 Cyclone Gafilo became the strongest cyclone ever recorded to hit Madagascar(SONY PCG-8Y1L battery). The storm killed 172 people, left 214,260 homeless[15] and caused more than US$250 million in damage.[15]
Main articles: Wildlife of Madagascar, Flora of Madagascar, Fauna of Madagascar, and Agroecology in Madagascar
As a result of the island's long isolation from neighboring continents, Madagascar is home to an abundance of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. (SONY PCG-8Y2L battery)Approximately 90 percent of all plant and animal species found in Madagascar are endemic,[18] including the lemurs (a type of prosimian primate), the carnivorous fossa and many birds. This distinctive ecology has led some ecologists to refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent",[19] and the island has been classified by Conservation International as a biodiversity hotspot. (SONY PCG-8Z2L battery)
More than 80 percent of Madagascar's 14,883 plant species are found nowhere else in the world, including five plant families.[20] The family Didiereaceae, composed of four genera and 11 species, is limited to the spiny forests of southwestern Madagascar.[12] Four-fifths of the world's Pachypodium species are endemic to the island. Three-fourths of Madagascar's 860[20] orchid species are found here alone, as are six of the world's eight baobab species. (SONY PCG-8Z1L battery) The island is home to around 170 palm species, three times as many as on all of mainland Africa; 165 of them are endemic.[22] Many native plant species are used as herbal remedies for a variety of afflictions. The drugs vinblastine and vincristine, used to treat Hodgkin's disease, leukemia and other cancers, were derived from the Madagascar periwinkle.[24] The traveler's palm(SONY PCG-7112L battery), known locally as ravinala[25] and endemic to the eastern rain forests,[26] is highly iconic of Madagascar and is featured in the national emblem as well as the Air Madagascar logo.[27]
Like its flora, Madagascar's fauna is diverse and exhibits a high rate of endemism. Lemurs have been characterized as "Madagascar's flagship mammal species" by Conservation International. (SONY PCG-6W2L battery) In the absence of monkeys and other competitors, these primates have adapted to a wide range of habitats and diversified into numerous species. As of 2012, there were officially 103 species and subspecies of lemur,[29] 39 of which were described by zoologists between 2000 and 2008.[30] They are almost all classified as rare, vulnerable, or endangered. At least 17 species of lemur have become extinct since man arrived on Madagascar(SONY PCG-5K1L battery), all of which were larger than the surviving lemur species.[31] A number of other mammals, including the cat-like fossa, are endemic to Madagascar. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded on the island, of which over 60 percent (including four families and 42 genera) are endemic.[16] The few families and genera of reptile that have reached Madagascar have diversified into more than 260 species, with over 90 percent of these being endemic[32] (including one endemic family). (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) The island is home to two-thirds of the world's chameleon species,[32] including the smallest known,[33] and researchers have proposed that Madagascar may be the origin of all chameleons. Endemic fish of Madagascar include two families, 14 genera and over 100 species, primarily inhabiting the island's freshwater lakes and rivers. Although invertebrates remain poorly studied on Madagascar(SONY VGP-BPS8A battery), researchers have found high rates of endemism among the known species. All 651 species of terrestrial snail are endemic, as are a majority of the island's butterflies, scarab beetles, lacewings, spiders and dragonflies.[16]
Environmental challenges
Main articles: Deforestation in Madagascar and Illegal logging in Madagascar
Madagascar's varied fauna and flora are endangered by human activity.[34] Since the arrival of humans around 2,350 years ago, Madagascar has lost more than 90 percent of its original forest.[35] This forest loss is largely fueled by tavy ("fat")(SONY VGP-BPL8 battery), a traditional slash-and-burn agricultural practice imported to Madagascar by the earliest settlers.[36] Malagasy farmers embrace and perpetuate the practice not only for its practical benefits as an agricultural technique, but for its cultural associations with prosperity, health and venerated ancestral custom (fomba malagasy). (SONY VGP-BPS9 battery) As human population density rose on the island, deforestation accelerated beginning around 1400 years ago.[38] By the 16th century, the central highlands had been largely cleared of their original forests.[36] More recent contributors to the loss of forest cover include the growth in cattle herd size since their introduction around 1000 years ago(SONY VGP-BPS9/S battery), a continued reliance on charcoal as a fuel for cooking, and the increased prominence of coffee as a cash crop over the past century.[39] According to a conservative estimate, about 40 percent of the island's original forest cover was lost from the 1950s to 2000, with a thinning of remaining forest areas by 80 percent.[40] In addition to traditional agricultural practice, wildlife conservation is challenged by the illicit harvesting of protected forests(SONY VGP-BPS9A battery), as well as the state-sanctioned harvesting of precious woods within national parks. Although banned by then-President Marc Ravalomanana from 2000 to 2009, the collection of small quantities of precious timber from national parks was re-authorized in January 2009 and has dramatically intensified under the administration of current head of state Andry Rajoelina as a key source of state revenues to offset cuts in donor support following Ravalomanana's ouster. (SONY VGP-BPS9A/B battery) It is anticipated that all the island's rainforests, excluding those in protected areas and the steepest eastern mountain slopes, will have been deforested by 2025.
Habitat destruction and hunting have threatened many of Madagascar's endemic species or driven them to extinction(SONY VGP-BPS9/B battery). The island's elephant birds, a family of endemic giant ratites, went extinct in 17th century or earlier, most probably due to human hunting of adult birds and poaching of their large eggs for food.[43] Numerous giant lemur species vanished with the arrival of human settlers to the island, while others became extinct over the course of the centuries as a growing human population put greater pressures on lemur habitats and, among some populations, increased the rate of lemur hunting for food. (SONY VGP-BPS9A/S battery) A July 2012 assessment found that the exploitation of natural resources since the 2009 coup has had dire consequences for the island's wildlife: 90 percent of lemur species were found to be threatened with extinction, the highest proportion of any mammalian group. Of these, 23 species were classified as critically endangered. By contrast, a previous study in 2008 had found only 38 percent of lemur species were at risk of extinction.(SONY VGP-BPL9 battery)
In 2003 Ravalomanana announced the Durban Vision, an initiative to more than triple the island's protected natural areas to over 60,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi) or 10 percent of Madagascar's land surface. As of 2011, areas protected by the state included five Strict Nature Reserves (Réserves Naturelles Intégrales), 21 Wildlife Reserves (Réserves Spéciales) and 21 National Parks (SONY VGP-BPS10 battery) (Parcs Nationaux).[45] In 2007 six of the national parks were declared a joint World Heritage Site under the name Rainforests of the Atsinanana. These parks are Marojejy, Masoala, Ranomafana, Zahamena, Andohahela and Andringitra.[46] Local timber merchants are harvesting scarce species of rosewood trees from protected rainforests within Marojejy National Park and exporting the wood to China for the production of luxury furniture and musical instruments. (SONY VGP-BPL10 battery) To raise public awareness of Madagascar's environmental challenges, the Wildlife Conservation Society opened an exhibit entitled "Madagascar!" in June 2008 at the Bronx Zoo in New York.[48]
Main article: History of Madagascar
Early period
Malagasy ancestry reflects a blend of Southeast Asian and East African roots
Most archaeologists estimate that the earliest settlers arrived in outrigger canoes from southern Borneo in successive waves throughout the period between 350 BCE and 550 CE, making Madagascar one of the last major landmasses on Earth to be settled by humans. (SONY VGP-BPS11 battery) Upon arrival, early settlers practiced slash-and-burn agriculture to clear the coastal rainforests for cultivation. The first settlers encountered Madagascar's abundance of megafauna, including giant lemurs, elephant birds, giant fossa and the Malagasy hippopotamus, which have since become extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction.[50] By 600 CE groups of these early settlers had begun clearing the forests of the central highlands. (SONY VGP-BPL11 battery) Arabs first reached the island between the seventh and ninth centuries,[52] and a wave of Bantu-speaking East African migrants arrived around 1000 CE and introduced zebu, a type of long-horned humped cattle, which were kept in large herds.[36]
Irrigated rice paddies emerged in the central highland Betsileo Kingdom by 1600 and were extended with terraced paddies throughout the neighboring Kingdom of Imerina a century later. (SONY VGP-BPL12 battery) The rising intensity of land cultivation and the ever-increasing demand for zebu pasturage had largely transformed the central highlands from a forest ecosystem to grassland by the 17th century.[36] The oral histories of the Merina people, who may have arrived in the central highlands between 600 and 1000 years ago, describe encountering an established population they called the Vazimba. Probably the descendants of an earlier and less technologically advanced Austronesian settlement wave(SONY VGP-BPS12 battery), the Vazimba were assimilated or expelled from the highlands by Merina kings Andriamanelo, Ralambo and Andrianjaka in the 16th and early 17th centuries.[53] Today the spirits of the Vazimba are revered as tompontany (ancestral masters of the land) by many traditional Malagasy communities.[54]
Pirate cemetery at Île Sainte-Marie(SONY VGP-BPS13 battery)
Madagascar was an important transoceanic trading hub connecting ports of the Indian Ocean in the early centuries following human settlement. The written history of Madagascar began with the Arabs, who established trading posts along the northwest coast by at least the 10th century and introduced Islam, the Arabic script (used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as sorabe), Arab astrology and other cultural elements. (SONY VGP-BPS13Q battery) European contact began in 1500, when the Portuguese sea captain Diogo Dias sighted the island.[9] The French established trading posts along the east coast in the late 17th century.[14]
From about 1774 to 1824, Madagascar gained prominence among pirates and European traders, particularly those involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The small island of Nosy Boroha off the northeastern coast of Madagascar has been proposed by some historians as the site of the legendary pirate utopia of Libertalia. (SONY VGP-BPS13A/Q battery) Many European sailors were shipwrecked on the coasts of the island, among them Robert Drury, whose journal is one of the few written depictions of life in southern Madagascar during the 18th century.[56] The wealth generated by maritime trade spurred the rise of organized kingdoms on the island, some of which had grown quite powerful by the 17th century. (SONY VGP-BPS13B/Q battery) Among these were the Betsimisaraka alliance of the eastern coast and the Sakalava chiefdoms of Menabe and Boina on the west coast. The Kingdom of Imerina, located in the central highlands with its capital at the royal palace of Antananarivo, emerged at around the same time under the leadership of King Andriamanelo. (SONY VGP-BPS13/B battery)
Kingdom of Madagascar
Main article: Merina Kingdom
King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810)
Upon its emergence in the early 17th century, the highland kingdom of Imerina was initially a minor power relative to the larger coastal kingdoms[58] and grew even weaker in the early 18th century when King Andriamasinavalona divided it among his four sons. Following a century of warring and famine, Imerina was reunited in 1793 by King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810).[59] From his initial capital Ambohimanga, (SONY VGP-BPS13B/B battery) and later from the Rova of Antananarivo, this Merina king rapidly expanded his rule over neighboring principalities. His ambition to bring the entire island under his control was largely achieved by his son and successor, King Radama I (1810–28). Radama concluded a treaty in 1817 with the British governor of Mauritius to abolish the lucrative slave trade in return for British military and financial assistance(SONY VGP-BPS13A/S battery). Artisan missionary envoys from the London Missionary Society began arriving in 1818 and included such key figures as James Cameron, David Jones and David Griffiths, who established schools, transcribed the Malagasy language using the Roman alphabet, translated the Bible, and introduced a variety of new technologies to the island. (SONY VGP-BPS21A/B battery)
Radama's successor, Queen Ranavalona I (1828–61), responded to increasing political and cultural encroachment on the part of Britain and France by issuing a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar and pressuring most foreigners to leave the territory. Among those who continued to reside in Imerina were Jean Laborde(SONY VGP-BPS21B battery), an entrepreneur who developed munitions and other industries on behalf of the monarchy, and Joseph-François Lambert, with whom then-Prince Radama II signed a controversial trade agreement termed the Lambert Charter. Succeeding his mother, Radama II (1861–63) attempted to relax the queen's stringent policies, but was overthrown two years later by Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony (1852–1865) (SONY VGP-BPS21 battery) and an alliance of noble courtiers, who sought to end the absolute power of the monarch.[14] Following the coup, the courtiers offered Radama's queen Rasoherina (1863–68) the opportunity to rule, if she would accept a power sharing arrangement with the Prime Minister—a new social contract that would be sealed by a political marriage between them. (SONY VGP-BPS21/S battery) Queen Rasoherina accepted, first wedding Rainivoninahitriniony, then later deposing him and wedding his brother, Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony (1864–95), who would go on to marry Queen Ranavalona II (1868–83) and Queen Ranavalona III (1883–97) in succession.[63]
Over the course of Rainilaiarivony's 31-year tenure as prime minister, numerous policies were adopted to modernize and consolidate the power of the central government. (SONY VGP-BPS13AS battery)Schools were constructed throughout the island and attendance was made mandatory. Army organization was improved, and British consultants were employed to train and professionalize soldiers.[65] Polygamy was outlawed and Christianity, declared the official religion of the court in 1869, was adopted alongside traditional beliefs among a growing portion of the populace.[64] Legal codes were reformed on the basis of British common law and three European-style courts were established in the capital city. (SONY VGP-BPS13S battery) In his joint role as Commander-in-Chief, Rainilaiarivony also successfully ensured the defense of Madagascar against several French colonial incursions.[65]
French colonization
Primarily on the basis that the Lambert Charter had not been respected, France invaded Madagascar in 1883 in what became known as the first Franco-Hova War.[66] At the end of the war, Madagascar ceded the northern port town of Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) to France and paid 560,000 francs to Lambert's heirs. (SONY VGP-BPS13B/S battery)In 1890, the British accepted the full formal imposition of a French protectorate on the island, but French authority was not acknowledged by the government of Madagascar. To force capitulation, the French bombarded and occupied the harbor of Toamasina on the east coast, and Mahajanga on the west coast, in December 1894 and January 1895 respectively. (SONY VGP-BPS13B/G battery) A French military flying column then marched toward Antananarivo, losing many men to malaria and other diseases. Reinforcements came from Algeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon reaching the city in September 1895, the column bombarded the royal palace with heavy artillery, causing heavy casualties and leading Queen Ranavalona III to surrender.[69] France annexed Madagascar in 1896 and declared it a colony the following year, dissolving the Merina monarchy and sending the royal family into exile on Reunion Island and to Algeria(SONY VGP-BPS14 battery).
Under colonial rule, plantations were established for the production of a variety of export crops. Slavery was abolished in 1896, but many of the 500,000 liberated slaves remained in their former masters' homes as servants.[72] Wide paved boulevards and gathering places were constructed in the capital city of Antananarivo(SONY VGP-BPL14 battery) and the Rova palace compound was turned into a museum.[74] Additional schools were built, particularly in rural and coastal areas where the schools of the Merina had not reached. Education became mandatory between the ages of 6 to 13 and focused primarily on French language and practical skills.[75] The Merina royal tradition of taxes paid in the form of labor was continued under the French and used to construct a railway and roads linking key coastal cities to Antananarivo. (SONY VGP-BPS14/B battery) Malagasy troops fought for France in World War I.[9] In the 1930s, Nazi political thinkers developed the Madagascar plan on the basis of earlier proposals from Poland and elsewhere in Europe that had identified the island as a potential site for the deportation of Europe's Jews.[77] During the Second World War, the island was the site of the Battle of Madagascar between the Vichy government and the British. (SONY VGP-BPS14/S battery)The occupation of France during the Second World War tarnished the prestige of the colonial administration in Madagascar and galvanized the growing independence movement, leading to the Malagasy Uprising of 1947.[79] This movement led the French to establish reformed institutions in 1956 under the Loi Cadre (Overseas Reform Act), (SONY VGP-BPS14B battery) and Madagascar moved peacefully towards independence.[80] The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on 14 October 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution in 1959 and full independence on 26 June 1960. (SONY VGP-BPS22 battery)
Independent state
Philibert Tsiranana, first president of Madagascar (1960–72)
Since regaining independence, Madagascar has transitioned through four republics with corresponding revisions to its constitution. The First Republic (1960–72), under the leadership of French-appointed President Philibert Tsiranana, was characterized by a continuation of strong economic and political ties to France(SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). Many high-level technical positions were filled by French expatriates, and French teachers, textbooks and curricula continued to be used in schools around the country. Popular resentment over Tsiranana's tolerance for this "neo-colonial" arrangement inspired a series of student protests that overturned his administration in 1972. (SONY VGP-BPS18 battery)
Gabriel Ramanantsoa, a Major General in the army, was appointed interim President and Prime Minister that same year, but low public approval forced him to step down in 1975. Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, appointed to succeed him, was assassinated six days into his tenure. General Gilles Andriamahazo ruled after Ratsimandrava for four months before being replaced by another military appointee(SONY VGP-BPS22/A battery): Vice Admiral Didier Ratsiraka, who ushered in the socialist-Marxist Second Republic that ran under his tenure from 1975 to 1993. This period saw a political alignment with the Eastern Bloc countries and a shift toward economic insularity. These policies, coupled with economic pressures stemming from the 1973 oil crisis, resulted in the rapid collapse of Madagascar's economy and a sharp decline in living standards,[14] and the country had become completely bankrupt by 1979(SONY VGP-BPS22A battery). The Ratsiraka administration accepted the conditions of transparency, anti-corruption measures and free market policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and various bilateral donors in exchange for their bailout of the nation's broken economy.[82]
Ratsiraka's dwindling popularity in the late 1980s reached a critical point in 1991 when presidential guards opened fire on unarmed protesters during a rally(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S battery). Within two months, a transitional government had been established under the leadership of Albert Zafy (1993–96), who went on to win the 1992 presidential elections and inaugurate the Third Republic (1992–2010).[83] The new Madagascar constitution established a multi-party democracy and a separation of powers that placed significant control in the hands of the National Assembly(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T battery). The new constitution also emphasized human rights, social and political freedoms, and free trade.[14] Zafy's term, however, was marred by economic decline, allegations of corruption, and his introduction of legislation to give himself greater powers. He was consequently impeached in 1996, and an interim president, Norbert Ratsirahonana, was appointed for the three months prior to the next presidential election(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G battery). Ratsiraka was then voted back into power on a platform of decentralization and economic reforms for a second term which lasted from 1996 to 2001.[82]
The contested 2001 presidential elections in which then-mayor of Antananarivo, Marc Ravalomanana, eventually emerged victorious, caused a seven-month standoff in 2002 between supporters of Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ4000 battery). The negative economic impact of the political crisis was gradually overcome by Ravalomanana's progressive economic and political policies, which encouraged investments in education and ecotourism, facilitated foreign direct investment, and cultivated trading partnerships both regionally and internationally. National GDP grew at an average rate of 7 percent per year under his administration. In the later half of his second term(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E battery), Ravalomanana was criticised by domestic and international observers who accused him of increasing authoritarianism and corruption.[82]
Opposition leader and then-mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, led a movement in early 2009 in which Ravalomanana was pushed from power in an unconstitutional process widely condemned as a coup d'état. In March 2009, Rajoelina was declared by the Supreme Court as the President of the High Transitional Authority(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440N battery), an interim governing body responsible for moving the country toward presidential elections. In 2010, a new constitution was adopted by referendum, establishing a Fourth Republic, which sustained the democratic, multi-party structure established in the previous constitution.[83] Having been repeatedly postponed, presidential elections were last scheduled for 8 May 2013, while parliamentary elections and second-round presidential elections were set for 3 July 2013(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440E battery).
Main articles: Government of Madagascar and Antananarivo
Antananarivo is the political and economic capital of Madagascar.
Madagascar is a semi-presidential representative democratic multi-party republic, wherein the popularly elected president is the head of state and selects a prime minister, who recommends candidates to the president to form his cabinet of ministers. According to the constitution, executive power is exercised by the government while legislative(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ430E battery) power is vested in the ministerial cabinet, the Senate and the National Assembly, although in reality these two latter bodies have very little power or legislative role. The constitution establishes independent executive, legislative and judicial branches and mandates a popularly elected president limited to three five-year terms. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280E battery)
The last presidential election was held on 3 December 2006 and resulted in the re-election of Marc Ravalomanana, from whom executive power was unconstitutionally transferred to Andry Rajoelina in March 2009. There is currently no legitimately elected head of state in Madagascar. The public also elects the 127 members of the National Assembly to five-year terms(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 battery). The last National Assembly election was held on 23 September 2007. All 33 members of the Senate serve six year terms, with 22 senators elected by local officials and 11 appointed by the president. After taking power, Rajoelina dissolved both the National Assembly and the Senate, leaving the nation without a constitutional legislative body.[9] At the local level, the island's 22 provinces are administered by a governor and provincial council. Provinces are further sub-divided into regions and communes(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150E battery). The judiciary is modeled on the French system, with a High Constitutional Court, High Court of Justice, Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, criminal tribunals, and tribunals of first instance.[85] The courts, which adhere to civil law, lack the capacity to quickly and transparently try the cases in the judicial system, often forcing defendants to pass lengthy pretrial detentions in unsanitary and overcrowded prisons. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160 battery)
Antananarivo is the administrative capital and largest city of Madagascar.[9] It is located in the highlands region, near the geographic center of the island. King Andrianjaka founded Antananarivo as the capital of his Imerina Kingdom around 1610 or 1625 upon the site of a captured Vazimba capital on the hilltop of Analamanga. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ260E battery) As Merina dominance expanded over neighboring Malagasy peoples in the early 19th century to establish the Kingdom of Madagascar, Antananarivo became the center of administration for virtually the entire island. In 1896 the French colonizers of Madagascar adopted the Merina capital as their center of colonial administration. The city remained the capital of Madagascar after regaining independence in 1960(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E battery). In 2011, the capital's population was estimated at 1,300,000 inhabitants. The next largest cities are Antsirabe (500,000), Toamasina (450,000) and Mahajanga (400,000).[9]
Administrative divisions
Main articles: Provinces of Madagascar and Regions of Madagascar
Map of the regions and former provinces of Madagascar
As part of an effort to decentralize administration, Madagascar's six administrative provinces (faritany mizakatena), established under the French colonial authority in 1946,[87] were subdivided into 22 regions (faritra) in 2004. The regions became the highest subdivision level when the provinces were dissolved in accordance with the results of the 2007 referendum. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery) The regions are further subdivided into 119 districts, 1,579 communes, and 17,485 fokontany.
Main articles: Politics of Madagascar, Foreign relations of Madagascar, and Human rights in Madagascar
Since Madagascar gained independence from France in 1960, the island's political transitions have been marked by numerous popular protests, several disputed elections, an impeachment, two military coups and one assassination(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery). The island's recurrent political crises are often prolonged, with detrimental effects on the local economy, international relations and Malagasy living standards. The eight-month standoff between incumbent Ratsiraka and challenger Marc Ravalomanana, following the 2001 presidential elections, cost Madagascar millions of dollars in lost tourism and trade revenue as well as damage to infrastructure, such as bombed bridges and buildings damaged by arson. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery) A series of protests led by Andry Rajoelina against Ravalomanana in early 2009 became violent, with more than 170 people killed.[91] The installation of Rajoelina's transitional regime has, since March 2009, caused many bilateral donors and intergovernmental organizations to freeze aid and suspend regular diplomatic relations with Madagascar(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery), causing economic development to stagnate and reversing many of the gains achieved under the previous administration. In addition, modern politics in Madagascar are colored by the history of Merina subjugation of coastal communities under their rule in the 19th century. The consequent tension between the highland and coastal populations has periodically flared up into isolated events of violence(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery).
Madagascar has historically been perceived as being on the margin of mainstream African affairs despite being a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity, which was established in 1963 and dissolved in 2002 to be replaced by the African Union. Madagascar was not permitted to attend the first African Union summit because of a dispute over the results of the 2001(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery) presidential election, but rejoined the African Union in July 2003 after a 14-month hiatus. However, Madagascar was again suspended by the African Union in March 2009 following the unconstitutional transfer of executive power to Rajoelina.[93] Madagascar is a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the United States military. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery)Eleven countries have established embassies in Madagascar, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and India.[94]
Human rights in Madagascar are protected under the constitution and the state is a signatory to numerous international agreements including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery) Religious, ethnic and sexual minorities are protected under the law. Freedom of association and assembly are also guaranteed under the law, although in practice the denial of permits for public assembly has occasionally been used to impede political demonstrations. Torture by security forces is rare and state repression is low relative to other countries with comparably few legal safeguards(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery), although arbitrary arrests and the corruption of military and police officers remain challenges. Ravalomanana's 2004 creation of BIANCO, an anti-corruption bureau, resulted in reduced corruption among Antananarivo's lower-level bureaucrats in particular, although high-level officials have not been prosecuted by the bureau.[41]
Main article: Military of Madagascar
The rise of centralized kingdoms among the Sakalava, Merina and other ethnic groups produced the island's first standing armies by the 16th century(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery), initially equipped with spears but later with muskets, cannon and other firearms.[96] By the early 19th century, the Merina sovereigns of the Kingdom of Madagascar had brought much of the island under their control by mobilizing an army of trained and armed soldiers numbering as high as 30,000. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery) French attacks on coastal towns in the later part of the century prompted then-Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony to solicit British assistance to provide training to the Merina monarchy's army. Despite the training and leadership provided by British military advisers, the Malagasy army was unable to withstand French weaponry and was forced to surrender following an attack on the royal palace at Antananarivo. Madagascar was declared a colony of France in 1897. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery)
The political independence and sovereignty of the Malagasy armed forces, which comprises an army, navy and air force, was restored with independence from France in 1960.[99] Since this time the Malagasy military has never engaged in armed conflict with another state or within its own borders, but has occasionally intervened to restore order during periods of political unrest(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery). Under the socialist Second Republic, Admiral Didier Ratsiraka instated mandatory national armed or civil service for all young citizens regardless of gender, a policy that remained in effect from 1976 to 1991. The armed forces are under the direction of the Minister of the Interior[85] and have remained largely neutral during times of political crisis, as during the protracted standoff between incumbent Ratsiraka and challenger Marc Ravalomanana in the disputed 2001 presidential elections(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery), when the military refused to intervene in favor of either candidate. This tradition was broken in 2009, when a segment of the army defected to the side of Andry Rajoelina, then-mayor of Antananarivo, in support of his attempt to force President Ravalomanana from power.
The Minister of the Interior is responsible for the national police force, paramilitary force (gendarmerie) and the secret police(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery). The police and gendarmerie are stationed and administered at the local level. However, in 2009 fewer than a third of all communes had access to the services of these security forces, with most lacking local-level headquarters for either corps.[88] Traditional community tribunals, called dina, are presided over by elders and other respected figures and remain a key means by which justice is served in rural areas where state presence is weak(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery). Historically, security has been relatively high across the island.[41] Violent crime rates are low, and criminal activities are predominantly crimes of opportunity such as pickpocketing and petty theft, although child prostitution, human trafficking and the production and sale of marijuana and other illegal drugs are increasing.[85] Budget cuts since 2009 have severely impacted the national police force, producing a steep increase in criminal activity in recent years(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery).
Main articles: Economy of Madagascar and Tourism in Madagascar
During Madagascar's First Republic, France heavily influenced Madagascar's economic planning and policy and served as its key trading partner. Key products were cultivated and distributed nationally through producers' (Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery)and consumers' cooperatives. Government initiatives such as a rural development program and state farms were established to boost production of commodities such as rice, coffee, cattle, silk and palm oil. Popular dissatisfaction over these policies was a key factor in launching the socialist-Marxist Second Republic, in which the formerly private bank and insurance industries were nationalized; state monopolies were established for such industries as textiles(Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery), cotton and power; and import–export trade and shipping were brought under state control. Madagascar's economy quickly deteriorated as exports fell, industrial production dropped by 75 percent, inflation spiked and government debt increased; the rural population was soon reduced to living at subsistence levels. Over 50 percent of the nation's export revenue was spent on debt servicing. (Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery)
The IMF forced Madagascar's government to accept structural adjustment policies and liberalization of the economy when the state became bankrupt in 1982 and state-controlled industries were gradually privatized over the course of the 1980s. The political crisis of 1991 led to the suspension of IMF and World Bank assistance(Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery). Conditions for the resumption of aid were not met under Zafy, who tried unsuccessfully to attract other forms of revenue for the State before aid was once again resumed under the interim government established upon Zafy's impeachment. The IMF agreed to write off half Madagascar's debt in 2004 under the Ravalomanana administration(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery). Having met a set of stringent economic, governance and human rights criteria, Madagascar became the first country to benefit from the Millennium Challenge Account in 2005.[9]
Madagascar's GDP in 2009 was estimated at 8.6 billion USD, with a per capita GDP of $438.[9] Approximately 69 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line threshold of one dollar per day.[102] The agriculture sector constituted 29 percent of Malagasy GDP in 2011(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery), while manufacturing formed 15 percent of GDP. Madagascar's sources of growth are tourism, agriculture and the extractive industries.[103] Tourism focuses on the niche eco-tourism market, capitalizing on Madagascar's unique biodiversity, unspoiled natural habitats, national parks and lemur species.[104] An estimated 365,000 tourists visited Madagascar in 2008(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery), but the sector has declined as a result of the political crisis with 180,000 tourists visiting in 2010.
Natural resources and trade
Toy animals made from raffia, a native palm[105]
Madagascar's natural resources include a variety of unprocessed agricultural and mineral resources. Agriculture, including raffia, fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy. Madagascar is the world's principal supplier of vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang.[15] Other key agricultural resources include coffee, lychees and shrimp(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery). Key mineral resources include various types of precious and semi-precious stones, and Madagascar currently provides half of the world's supply of sapphires, which were discovered near Ilakaka in the late 1990s.[106] The island also holds one of the world's largest reserves of ilmenite (titanium ore), as well as important reserves of chromite, coal, iron, cobalt, copper and nickel. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery) Several major projects are underway in the mining, oil and gas sectors that are anticipated to give a significant boost to the Malagasy economy. These include such projects as ilmenite and zircon mining from heavy mineral sands near Tôlanaro by Rio Tinto,[107] extraction of nickel near Moramanga and its processing near Toamasina by Sherritt International,[108] and the development of the giant onshore heavy oil deposits at Tsimiroro and Bemolanga by Madagascar Oil(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery).
Exports formed 28 percent of GDP in 2009. Most of the country's export revenue is derived from the textiles industry, fish and shellfish, vanilla, cloves and other foodstuffs.[103] France is Madagascar's main trading partner, although the United States, Japan and Germany also have strong economic ties to the country. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery) The Madagascar-U.S. Business Council was formed in May 2003, as a collaboration between USAID and Malagasy artisan producers to support the export of local handicrafts to foreign markets.[110] Imports of such items as foodstuffs, fuel, capital goods, vehicles, consumer goods and electronics consume an estimated 52 percent of GDP. The main sources of Madagascar's imports include France, China, Iran, Mauritius and Hong Kong. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery)
Infrastructure and media
Main articles: Transport in Madagascar and Telecommunications in Madagascar
In 2010, Madagascar had approximately 7,617 km (4,730 mi) of paved roads, 854 km (530 mi) of railways and 432 km (270 mi) of navigable waterways.[6] The majority of roads in Madagascar are unpaved, with many becoming impassable in the rainy season. Largely paved national routes connect the six largest regional towns to Antananarivo, with minor paved and unpaved routes providing access to other population centers in each district(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery). There are several rail lines on the island. Antananarivo is connected to Toamasina, Ambatondrazaka and Antsirabe by rail, and another rail line connects Fianarantsoa to Manakara. The most important seaport in Madagascar is located on the east coast at Toamasina. Ports at Mahajanga and Antsiranana are significantly less used due to their remoteness. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery) The island's newest port at Ehoala, constructed in 2008 and privately managed by Rio Tinto, will come under state control upon completion of the company's mining project near Tôlanaro around 2038.[107] Air Madagascar services the island's many small regional airports, which offer the only practical means of access to many of the more remote regions during rainy season road washouts. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery)
Running water and electricity is supplied at the national level by a government service provider, Jirama, which is unable to service the entire population. As of 2009, only 6.8 percent of Madagascar's fokontany had access to water provided by Jirama, while 9.5 percent had access to its electricity services.[88] Two-thirds of Madagascar's power is supplied by hydroelectric power plants with the remaining one-third supplied by coal-burning plants. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery) Mobile telephone and internet access are widespread in urban areas but re
Radio broadcasts remain the principal means by which the Malagasy population access international, national and local news(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery). Only state radio broadcasts are transmitted across the entire island. Hundreds of public and private stations with local or regional range provide alternatives to state broadcasting.[86] In addition to the state television channel, a variety of privately owned television stations broadcast local and international programming throughout Madagascar. Several media outlets are owned by political partisans or politicians themselves(Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery), including the media groups MBS (owned by Ravalomanana) and Viva (owned by Rajoelina),[41] contributing to political polarization in reporting. The media has historically come under varying degrees of pressure over time to censor their criticism of the government. Reporters are occasionally threatened or harassed and media outlets are periodically forced to close. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery)Accusations of media censorship have increased since 2009 due to the alleged intensification of restrictions on political criticism.[95] Access to the internet has grown dramatically over the past decade, with an estimated 352,000 residents of Madagascar accessing the internet from home or in one of the nation's many internet cafes in December 2011. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery)
Medical centers, dispensaries and hospitals are found throughout the island, although they are concentrated in urban areas and particularly in Antananarivo. Access to medical care remains beyond the reach of many Malagasy(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery). In addition to the high expense of medical care relative to the average Malagasy income, the prevalence of trained medical professionals remains extremely low. In 2010 Madagascar had an average of three hospital beds per 10,000 people and a total of 3,150 doctors, 5,661 nurses, 385 community health workers, 175 pharmacists and 57 dentists for a population of 22 million(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery). 14.6 percent of government spending in 2008 was directed toward the health sector. Approximately 70 percent of spending on health was contributed by the government, while 30 percent originated with international donors and other private sources.[111] The government provides at least one basic health center per commune. Private health centers are concentrated within urban areas and particularly those of the central highlands. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW465J battery)
Despite these barriers to access, health services have shown a trend toward improvement over the past twenty years. Child immunizations against such diseases as hepatitis B, diphtheria and measles increased an average of 60 percent in this period, indicating low but increasing availability of basic medical services and treatments. The Malagasy fertility rate in 2009 was 4.6 children per woman, declining from 6.3 in 1990(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery). Teen pregnancy rates of 14.8 percent in 2011, much higher than the African average, are a contributing factor to rapid population growth.[111] In 2010 the maternal mortality rate was 440 per 100,000 births, compared to 373.1 in 2008 and 484.4 in 1990, indicating a decline in perinatal care following the 2009 coup. The infant mortality rate in 2011 was 41 per 1,000 births,[9] with an under-five mortality rate at 61 per 1,000 births.[112] Schistosomiasis(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery), malaria and sexually transmitted diseases are common in Madagascar, although infection rates of AIDS remain low relative to many countries in mainland Africa, at only 0.2 percent of the adult population. The malaria mortality rate is also among the lowest in Africa at 8.5 deaths per 100,000 people, in part due to the highest frequency use of insecticide treated nets in Africa. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery) Adult life expectancy in 2009 was 63 years for men and 67 years for women.
Main article: Education in Madagascar
Education access and quality were prioritized under Ravalomanana.
Prior to the 19th century, all education in Madagascar was informal and typically served to teach practical skills as well as social and cultural values, including respect for ancestors and elders.[14] The first formal European-style school was established in 1818 at Toamasina by members of the London Missionary Society (LMS). The LMS was invited by King Radama I (1810–28) to expand its schools throughout Imerina to teach basic literacy and numeracy to aristocratic children(Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery). The schools were closed by Ranavalona I in 1835[113] but reopened and expanded in the decades after her death. By the end of the 19th century Madagascar had the most developed and modern school system in pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to schooling was expanded in coastal areas during the colonial period, with French language and basic work skills becoming the focus of the curriculum(Sony VGN-NR11S Battery). During the post-colonial First Republic, a continued reliance on French nationals as teachers, and French as the language of instruction, displeased those desiring a complete separation from the former colonial power.[14] Consequently, under the socialist Second Republic, French instructors and other nationals were expelled, Malagasy was declared the language of instruction (Sony VGN-NR110E Battery)and a large cadre of young Malagasy were rapidly trained to teach at remote rural schools under the mandatory two-year national service policy.[114] This policy, known as malgachization, coincided with a severe economic downturn and a dramatic decline in the quality of education. Those schooled during this period generally failed to master the French language or many other subjects and struggled to find employment(Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery), forcing many to take low-paying jobs in the informal or black market that mired them in deepening poverty. Excepting the brief presidency of Albert Zafy, from 1992 to 1996, Ratsiraka remained in power from 1975 to 2001 and failed to achieve significant improvements in education throughout his tenure. (Sony VGN-CR11S Battery)
Education was prioritized under the Ravalomanana administration (2002–09), and is currently free and compulsory from ages 6 to 13.[116] The primary schooling cycle is five years, followed by four years at the lower secondary level and three years at the upper secondary level.[14] During Ravalomanana's first term, thousands of new primary schools and additional classrooms were constructed, older buildings were renovated(Sony VGN-CR11M Battery), and tens of thousands of new primary teachers were recruited and trained. Primary school fees were eliminated and kits containing basic school supplies were distributed to primary students.[116] Government school construction initiatives have ensured at least one primary school per fokontany and one lower secondary school within each commune(Sony VGN-CR11E Battery). At least one upper secondary school is located in each of the larger urban centers.[88] The three branches of the national public university are located at Antananarivo (founded in 1961), Mahajanga (1977) and Fianarantsoa (1988). These are complemented by public teacher-training colleges and several private universities and technical colleges. (Sony VGN-CR21E Battery)
As a result of increased educational access, enrollment rates more than doubled between 1996 and 2006. However, education quality is weak, producing high rates of grade repetition and dropout.[116] Education policy in Ravalomanana's second term focused on quality issues, including an increase in minimum education standards for the recruitment of primary teachers from a middle school leaving certificate (BEPC) to a high school leaving certificate (BAC) (Sony VGN-CR21S Battery), and a reformed teacher training program to support the transition from traditional didactic instruction to student-centered teaching methods to boost student learning and participation in the classroom.[117] Public expenditure on education was 13.4 percent of total government expenditure and 2.9 percent of GDP in 2008. Primary classrooms are crowded, with average pupil to teacher ratios of 47:1 in 2008(Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery).
Main article: Demographics of Madagascar
Ethnic diversity
Main article: Ethnic groups of Madagascar
Regional distribution of Malagasy ethnic sub-groups
In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at 22 million.[4] The Malagasy ethnic group forms over 90 percent of Madagascar's population and is typically divided into eighteen ethnic sub-groups.[9] Recent DNA research revealed that the genetic makeup of the average Malagasy person constitutes an approximately equal blend of Austronesian and East African genes(Sony VGN-CR31S Battery), although the genetics of some communities show a predominance of Austronesian or African origins or some Arab, Indian or European ancestry.[121] Austronesian origins are most predominant among the Merina of the central highlands,[92] who form the largest Malagasy ethnic sub-group at approximately 26 percent of the population, while certain communities among the coastal peoples (collectively called côtiers) (Sony VGN-CR31E Battery) have relatively stronger African origins. The largest coastal ethnic sub-groups are the Betsimisaraka (14.9 percent) and the Tsimihety and Sakalava (6 percent each).
Chinese, Indian and Comorian minorities are present in Madagascar, as well as a small European (primarily French) expatriate community. Emigration in the late 20th century has reduced these minority populations, occasionally in abrupt waves(Sony VGN-CR31Z Battery), such as the exodus of Comorans in 1976, following anti-Comoran riots in Mahajanga. By comparison, there has been no significant emigration of Malagasy peoples. The number of Europeans has declined since independence 68,430 in 1958,[80] to 17,000 three decades later. There were an estimated 25,000 Comorans, 18,000 Indians, and 9,000 Chinese living in Madagascar in the mid-1980s. (Sony VGN-CR41Z Battery)
The annual population growth rate in Madagascar was approximately 2.9 percent in 2009.[9] The population grew from 2.2 million in 1900[14] to an estimated 22 million in 2012.[4] Approximately 42.5 percent of the population is younger than 15 years of age, while 54.5 percent are between the ages of 15 and 64. Those aged 65 and older form three percent of the total population.[103] Only two general censuses, in 1975 and 1993(Sony VGN-CR41S Battery), have been carried out after independence. The most densely populated regions of the island are the eastern highlands and the eastern coast, contrasting most dramatically with the sparsely populated western plains.[14]
Main articles: Malagasy language and Languages of Madagascar
The Malagasy language is of Malayo-Polynesian origin and is generally spoken throughout the island. The numerous dialects of Malagasy, which are generally mutually intelligible, (Sony VGN-CR41E Battery) can be clustered under one of two sub-groups: eastern Malagasy, spoken along the eastern forests and highlands including the Merina dialect of Antananarivo; and western Malagasy, spoken across the western coastal plains. French became the official language during the colonial period, when Madagascar came under the authority of France. In the first national Constitution of 1958, Malagasy and French were named the official languages of the Malagasy Republic(Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery). Madagascar is a francophone country, and French is spoken among the educated population.[14]
No official languages were recorded in the Constitution of 1992, although Malagasy was identified as the national language. Nonetheless, many sources still claimed that Malagasy and French were official languages, eventually leading a citizen to initiate a legal case against the state in April 2000(Sony VGN-CR42S Battery), on the grounds that the publication of official documents only in the French language was unconstitutional. The High Constitutional Court observed in its decision that, in the absence of a language law, French still had the character of an official language.[123] In the Constitution of 2007, Malagasy remained the national language while official languages were reintroduced: Malagasy, French, and English. (Sony VGN-CR42E Battery) English was removed as an official language from the constitution approved by voters in the November referendum 2010.[1] The outcome of the referendum, and its consequences for official and national language policy, are not recognized by the political opposition or by the international community, who cite lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the organization of the election by the High Transitional Authority(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/L Battery).
Main article: Religion in Madagascar
Famadihana reburial ceremony
Approximately half of the country's population practice traditional religion,[9] which tends to emphasize links between the living and the razana (ancestors). The veneration of ancestors has led to the widespread tradition of tomb building, as well as the highlands practice of the famadihana, whereby a deceased family member's remains may be exhumed to be periodically re-wrapped in fresh silk shrouds before being replaced in the tomb(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/P Battery). The famadihana is an occasion to celebrate the beloved ancestor's memory, reunite with family and community, and enjoy a festive atmosphere. Residents of surrounding villages are often invited to attend the party, where food and rum are typically served and a hiragasy troupe or other musical entertainment is commonly present.[125] Consideration for ancestors is also demonstrated through adherence to fady(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/W Battery), taboos that are respected during and after the lifetime of the person who establishes them. It is widely believed that by showing respect for ancestors in these ways, they may intervene on behalf of the living. Conversely, misfortunes are often attributed to ancestors whose memory or wishes have been neglected. The sacrifice of zebu is a traditional method used to appease or honor the ancestors. In addition, the Malagasy traditionally believe in a creator god(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R Battery), called Zanahary or Andriamanitra.[126]
Almost half the Malagasy are Christian, with practitioners of Protestantism slightly outnumbering adherents to Roman Catholicism.[9] In 1818 the London Missionary Society sent the first Christian missionaries to the island, where they built churches, translated the Bible into the Malagasy language and began to gain converts(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/B Battery). Beginning in 1835 Queen Ranavalona I persecuted these converts as part of an attempt to halt European cultural and political influence on the island. In 1869 a successor, Queen Ranavalona II, converted the court to Christianity and encouraged Christian missionary activity, burning the sampy (royal idols) in a symbolic break with traditional beliefs. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/L Battery)
Today, many Christians integrate their religious beliefs with traditional ones related to honoring the ancestors. For instance, they may bless their dead at church before proceeding with traditional burial rites or invite a Christian minister to consecrate a famadihana reburial.[125] The Malagasy Council of Churches comprises the four oldest and most prominent Christian denominations (Roman Catholic, Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/P Battery), Lutheran, and Anglican) and has been an influential force in Malagasy politics.[128]
Islam and Hinduism are also practiced on the island. Islam was first brought to the island in the Middle Ages by Arab and Somali Muslim traders, who established several Islamic schools along the eastern coast. While the use of Arabic script and loan words and the adoption of Islamic astrology would spread across the island(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/R Battery), the Islamic religion failed to take hold in all but a handful of southeastern coastal communities. Today, Muslims constitute 7 percent of the population of Madagascar and are largely concentrated in the northwestern provinces of Mahajanga and Antsiranana. Muslims are divided between those of Malagasy ethnicity, Indians, Pakistanis and Comorians(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery). More recently, Hinduism was introduced to Madagascar through Gujarati people immigrating from the Saurashtra region of India in the late 19th century. Most Hindus in Madagascar speak Gujarati or Hindi at home.[129]
Each of the many ethnic sub-groups in Madagascar adhere to their own set of beliefs, practices and ways of life that have historically contributed to their unique identities. However, there are a number of core cultural features that are common throughout the island(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery), creating a strongly unified Malagasy cultural identity. In addition to a common language and shared traditional religious beliefs around a creator god and veneration of the ancestors, the traditional Malagasy worldview is shaped by values that emphasize fihavanana (solidarity), vintana (destiny), tody (karma), and hasina, a sacred life force that traditional communities believe imbues and thereby legitimates authority figures within the community or family(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery). Other cultural elements commonly found throughout the island include the practice of male circumcision; strong kinship ties; a widespread belief in the power of magic, diviners, astrology and witch doctors; and a traditional division of social classes into nobles, commoners, and slaves. Although social castes are no longer legally recognized, ancestral caste affiliation often continues to affect social status, economic opportunity and roles within the community. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/L Battery)Malagasy people traditionally consult Mpanandro ("Makers of the Days") to identify the most auspicious days for important events such as weddings or famadihana, according to a traditional astrological system introduced by Arabs. Similarly, the nobles of many Malagasy communities in the pre-colonial period would commonly employ advisers known as the ombiasy (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/W Battery) (from olona-be-hasina, "man of much virtue") of the southeastern Antemoro ethnic group, who trace their ancestry back to early Arab settlers.
The diverse origins of Malagasy culture are evident in its tangible expressions. The most emblematic instrument of Madagascar, the valiha, is a bamboo tube zither carried to Madagascar by early settlers from southern Borneo, and is very similar in form to those found in Indonesia and the Philippines today. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/P Battery) Traditional houses in Madagascar are likewise similar to those of southern Borneo in terms of symbolism and construction, featuring a rectangular layout with a peaked roof and central support pillar.[133] Reflecting a widespread veneration of the ancestors, tombs are culturally significant in many regions and tend to be built of more durable material, typically stone, and display more elaborate decoration than the houses of the living. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/R Battery) The production and weaving of silk can be traced back to the island's earliest settlers, and Madagascar's national dress, the woven lamba, has evolved into a varied and refined art.[135] The Southeast Asian cultural influence is also evident in Malagasy cuisine, in which rice is consumed at every meal, typically accompanied by one of a variety of flavorful vegetable or meat dishes. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/L Battery) African influence is reflected in the sacred importance of zebu cattle and their embodiment of their owner's wealth, traditions originating on the African mainland. Cattle rustling, originally a rite of passage for young men in the plains areas of Madagascar where the largest herds of cattle are kept, has become a dangerous and sometimes deadly criminal enterprise as herdsmen in the southwest attempt to defend their cattle with traditional spears against increasingly armed professional rustlers. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/P Battery)
Hiragasy dancer
A wide range of aural artistic traditions have developed in Madagascar. One of the island's foremost artistic traditions is its oratory, as expressed in the forms of hainteny (poetry), kabary (public discourse) and ohabolana (proverbs). An epic poem exemplifying these traditions, the Ibonia, has been handed down over the centuries in several different forms across the island(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/R Battery), and offers insight into the diverse mythologies and beliefs of traditional Malagasy communities.[139] This tradition was continued in the 20th century by such artists as Jean Joseph Rabearivelo, who is considered Africa's first modern poet,[140] and Elie Rajaonarison, an exemplar of the new wave of Malagasy poetry.[141] Madagascar has also developed a rich musical heritage(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/W Battery), embodied in dozens of regional musical genres such as the coastal salegy or highland hiragasy that enliven village gatherings, local dance floors and national airwaves.[142]
The plastic arts are also widespread throughout the island. In addition to the tradition of silk weaving and lamba production, the weaving of raffia and other local plant materials has been used to create a wide array of practical items such as floor mats(Sony Vaio VGN-CR150E/B Battery), baskets, purses and hats.[110] Wood carving is a highly developed art form, with distinct regional styles evident in the decoration of balcony railings and other architectural elements. Sculptors create a variety of furniture and household goods, aloalo funerary posts, and wooden sculptures, many of which are produced for the tourist market.[143] The decorative and functional woodworking traditions of the Zafimaniry people of the central highlands was inscribed on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21/B Battery)
Among the Antaimoro people, the production of paper embedded with flowers and other decorative natural materials is a long-established tradition that the community has begun to market to eco-tourists.[143] Embroidery and drawn thread work are done by hand to produce clothing, as well as tablecloths and other home textiles for sale in local crafts markets. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/L Battery) A small but growing number of fine art galleries in Antananarivo, and several other urban areas, offer paintings by local artists, and annual art events, such as the Hosotra open-air exhibition in the capital, contribute to the continuing development of fine arts in Madagascar.[145]
Sport and recreation
A number of traditional pastimes have emerged in Madagascar. Moraingy, a type of hand-to-hand combat, is a popular spectator sport in coastal regions. It is traditionally practiced by men, but women have recently begun to participate. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/P Battery) The wrestling of zebu cattle (tolon-omby) is also practiced in many regions.[147] In addition to sports, a wide variety of games are played. Among the most emblematic is fanorona, a board game widespread throughout the Highland regions. According to folk legend, the succession of King Andrianjaka after his father Ralambo was partially due to the obsession that Andrianjaka's older brother may have had with playing fanorona to the detriment of his other responsibilities. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21E/W Battery)
Western recreational activities were introduced to Madagascar over the past two centuries. Rugby is considered the national sport of Madagascar.[149] Football (soccer) is also popular. Madagascar has produced a world champion in pétanque, a French game similar to lawn bowling, which is widely played in urban areas and throughout the Highlands. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/L Battery) School athletics programs typically include soccer, track and field, judo, boxing, women's basketball and women's tennis. Madagascar sent its first competitors to the Olympic Games in 1964 and has also competed in the African Games.[13] Scouting is represented in Madagascar by its own local federation of three scouting clubs. Membership in 2011 was estimated at 14,905(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/P Battery).
The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo), also referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, is a country located in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Angolan exclave of Cabinda.
The region was dominated by Bantu-speaking tribes, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. Congo-Brazzaville was formely part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/W Battery) Upon independence in 1960, the former colony of French Congo became the Republic of the Congo. The People's Republic of the Congo was a Marxist-Leninist single-party state from 1970 to 1991. Multiparty elections have been held since 1992, although a democratically elected government was ousted in the 1997 Republic of the Congo Civil War(Sony Vaio VGN-CR21Z/N Battery).
Main article: History of the Republic of the Congo
The earliest inhabitants of the region were Pygmy people, who later were largely displaced and absorbed by Bantu-speaking peoples who found tribes during the Bantu expansions. The Bakongo are a Bantu ethnicity that also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those countries(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/B Battery). Several Bantu kingdoms—notably those of the Kongo, the Loango, and the Teke—built trade links leading into the Congo River basin.[3]
The court of N'Gangue M'voumbe Niambi, from the book Description of Africa (1668)
The mouth of the Congo was reached by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1484.[4] Commercial relationships were quickly established between the inland Bantu kingdoms and European merchants who traded various commodities(Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/P Battery), manufactured goods, and slaves captured from the hinterlands. For centuries, the Congo river delta was a major commercial hub for transatlantic trade. However, when direct European colonization of the African continent began in the late 19th century, the power of the Bantu societies in the region was eroded. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/R Battery)
The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 as a result of Pierre de Brazza's treaty with Makoko of the Bateke.[4] This Congo Colony became known first as French Congo, then as Middle Congo in 1903. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising Middle Congo, Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (the modern Central African Republic) (Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/L Battery). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital. Economic development during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural resource extraction. The methods were often brutal: establishment of the Congo–Ocean Railroad following World War I has been estimated to have cost at least 14,000 lives.[4]
During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, Brazzaville functioned as the symbolic capital of Free France between 1940–1943. (Sony Vaio VGN-CR23/W Battery)The Conference of 1944 heralded a period of major reform in French colonial policy. Congo benefited from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending as a result of its central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville.[3] It also received a local legislature after the adoption of the 1946 constitution that established the Fourth Republic(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S battery).
Following the revision of the French constitution that established the Fifth Republic in 1958, the AEF was dissolved and its constituent parts reformed into autonomous colonies within the French Community. During these reforms, Middle Congo became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1958[7] and published its first constitution in 1959. (Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF battery) Antagonism between the pro-Opangault Mbochis and the pro-Youlou Balalis resulted in a series of riots in Brazzaville in February 1959, which had to be subdued by the French army.
The Republic of the Congo was granted full independence from France on August 15, 1960. Fulbert Youlou ruled as the country's first president until labour elements and rival political parties instigated a three-day uprising that ousted him(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF battery). The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headed by Alphonse Massamba-Débat. Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected President for a five-year term.[3] The regime adopted "scientific socialism" as the country's constitutional ideology. (Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W battery)
In 1965, Congo established relations with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea and North Vietnam.[9] Massamba-Débat was unable to reconcile various institutional and ideological factions[9] and his regime ended abruptly with an August 1968 coup d'état. Marien Ngouabi, who had participated in the coup, assumed the presidency on December 31, 1968(Sony VAIO VGN-NW31EF/W battery). One year later, President Ngouabi proclaimed Congo to be Africa's first "people's republic" and announced the decision of the National Revolutionary Movement to change its name to the Congolese Labour Party (PCT). On March 16, 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as President of the Republic(Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF battery). Two years later, Yhombi-Opango was forced from power and Denis Sassou Nguesso become the new president.[3]
Pascal Lissouba, who became Congo's first elected president during the period of multi-party democracy(Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF battery), attempted to implement economic reforms with IMF backing to liberalise the economy. In June 1996 the IMF approved a three-year SDR69.5m (US$100m) enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on the verge of announcing a renewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in Congo in mid-1997.[11]
Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started to fight over power(Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B battery). As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On June 5, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. In early October, (Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/TC battery) the Angolan socialist regime began an invasion of Congo to install Sassou to power. In mid-October, the Lissouba government fell. Soon thereafter, Sassou declared himself President.[3]
In the controversial elections in 2002, Sassou won with almost 90% of the vote cast. His two main rivals Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas were prevented from competing and the only remaining credible rival, Andre Milongo(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/S battery), advised his supporters to boycott the elections and then withdrew from the race.[12] A new constitution, agreed upon by referendum in January 2002, granted the president new powers, extended his term to seven years, and introduced a new bicameral assembly. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/S battery), both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the single-party state. Following the presidential elections, fighting restarted in the Pool region between government forces and rebels led by Pastor Ntumi; a peace treaty to end the conflict was signed in April 2003.
The regime held the presidential election in July 2009. According to the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights, a non-governmental organization, the election was marked by "very low" turnout and "fraud and irregularities."[16] The regime announced Sassou as the winner(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/T battery).
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of the Republic of the Congo
See also: Foreign relations of the Republic of the Congo and Military of the Republic of the Congo
Congo-Brazzaville has had a multi-party political system since the early 1990s, although the system is heavily dominated by President Denis Sassou Nguesso; he has lacked serious competition in the presidential elections held under his rule(Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/T battery). Sassou Nguesso is backed by his own Congolese Labour Party (French: Parti Congolais du Travail) as well as a range of smaller parties.
Internationally, Sassou's regime has been hit by corruption revelations despite attempts to censor them. One French investigation found over 110 bank accounts and dozens of lavish properties in France; Sassou denounced embezzlement investigations as "racist" and "colonial"(SONY VGP-BPS10A battery).
Human rights
Main article: Human rights in the Republic of the Congo
As of 2008, the main media are owned by the government but many more privately run forms of media are being created. There is one government-owned television station and around 10 small private television channels.
Many Pygmies in Congo live in precarious conditions, to which UNICEF and human-rights activists have voiced their concerns [20] On 30 December 2010, the Congolese parliament adopted a law for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples(SONY VGP-BPS10A/B battery). This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent.
Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator, lying between latitudes 4°N and 5°S, and longitudes 11° and 19°E. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of Congo(SONY VGP-BPS10/B battery). It is also bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short Atlantic coast.
The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is the Kouilou-Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between two basins to the south and north. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure. (SONY VGP-BPS10/S battery)
Since the country is located on the Equator, the climate is consistent year-round, with the average day temperature being a humid 24 °C (75 °F) and nights generally between 16 °C (61 °F) and 21 °C (70 °F). The average yearly rainfall ranges from 1,100 millimetres (43 in) in south in the Niari valley to over 2,000 millimetres (79 in) in central parts of the country. The dry season is from June to August while in the majority of the country the wet season has two rainfall maxima: one in Mar-May and another in September–November. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15 battery)
In 2006–07, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society studied gorillas in heavily forested regions centered on the Ouesso district of the Sangha Region. They suggest a population on the order of 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas, whose isolation from humans has been largely preserved by inhospitable swamps. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15L battery)
Main article: Economy of the Republic of the Congo
Cassava is an important food crop in the Republic of Congo.
The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely on petroleum,[26] support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy. In 2008, oil sector accounted for 65% of the GDP, 85% of government revenue, and 92% of exports. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15M battery)
In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. The government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its petroleum earnings, contributing to a shortage of revenues. The January 12, 1994, devaluation of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in inflation of 46% in 1994, but inflation has subsided since. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15S battery)
Kinshasa seen from Brazzaville. The two capitals are separated by the Congo River.
Economic reform efforts continued with the support of international organizations, notably the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. When Sassou Nguesso returned to power at the end of the war in October 1997(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160E battery), he publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998, which worsened the republic's budget deficit.
The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic problems of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160E/B battery), despite record-high oil prices since 2003. Natural gas and diamonds are also recent major Congolese exports, although Congo was excluded from the Kimberley Process in 2004 amid allegations that most of its diamond exports were in fact being smuggled out of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo; it was re-admitted to the group in 2007(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17 battery).
The Republic of the Congo also has base metal, gold, iron and phosphate deposits.[31] The country is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).[32] The Congolese government has signed an agreement to lease 200,000 hectares of land to South African farmers to reduce its dependence on imports(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17G battery).
The Republic of the Congo's sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually uninhabited. Thus, Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with 70% of its total population living in a few urban areas, namely in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, or one of the small cities or villages lining the 534-kilometre (332 mi) railway which connects the two cities(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17L battery). In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for support and subsistence.[35]
Ethnically and linguistically the population of the Republic of the Congo is diverse—Ethnologue recognises 62 spoken languages in the country[36]—but can be grouped into three categories. The Kongo are the largest ethnic group and form roughly half of the population(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180E battery). The most significant subgroups of the Kongo are Laari in Brazzaville and Pool regions and Vili around Pointe-Noire and along the Atlantic coast. The second largest group are the Teke who live to the north of Brazzaville with 17% of the population. Boulangui (M’Boshi) live in northwest and in Brazzaville and form 12% of the population. Pygmies make up 2% of Congo's population(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18E battery).
Before the 1997 war, about 9,000 Europeans and other non-Africans lived in Congo, most of whom were French; only a fraction of this number remains.[35] Around 300 American expatriates reside in the Congo. Nearly 2,000 white South African farmers have expressed interest in going to Congo(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18G battery).
The people of Republic of the Congo are largely a mix of Catholics and Protestants, who account for 50.5% and 40.2% of the population respectively. The majority of Christians in the country are Catholic, while the remaining comprises various other Christian denominations. Followers of Islam make up 1.3% of the population, and this is primarily due to an influx of foreign workers into the urban centres. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18S battery)
Public expenditure on health was at 1.2% of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure was at 1.3%.[42] HIV prevalence is at 3.4% among 15–49 year olds.[43] Health expenditure was at US$ 30 per capita in 2004[42] A large proportion of the population is undernourished.[42] There were 20 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s (decade). (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18T battery)
Main article: Culture of the Republic of the Congo
Main article: Education in the Republic of the Congo
School children in the classroom, Republic of the Congo
Public expenditure of the GDP was less in 2002–05 than in 1991.[42] Public education is theoretically free and compulsory for under-16-year olds,[44] but in practice, expenses exist.[44] Net primary enrollment rate was 44% in 2005, much less than the 79% in 1991.[42] The country has universities. Education between ages six and sixteen is compulsory(SONY Vaio VGN-SR11M Battery). Students who complete six years of primary school and seven years of secondary school obtain a baccalaureate. At the university, students can obtain a bachelor's degree in three years and a master's after four. Marien Ngouabi University—which offers courses in medicine, law, and several other fields—is the country's only public university. Instruction at all levels is in French(SONY Vaio VGN-SR12G/B Battery), and the educational system as a whole models the French system. The educational infrastructure has been seriously degraded as a result of political and economic crises. There are no seats in most classrooms, forcing children to sit on the floor. Enterprising individuals have set up private schools, but they often lack the technical knowledge and familiarity with the national curriculum to teach effectively. Families frequently enroll their children in private schools only to find they cannot make the payments(SONY Vaio VGN-SR12G/P Battery).
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What Milk Is Best for Kids?
Milk can play a vital function in a kid’s nourishment, from a baby alcohol consumption breastmilk to a young child consuming grain with milk to a young adult placing milk right into a smoothie mix. Cow’s milk, particularly, offers a range of vitamins, minerals, as well as various other nutrients that children require to sustain development as well as advancement.
Types of Milk Although a lot of caretakers think about cow’s milk when they listen to words “milk,”there is currently a wide array of drinks that pass that name. The nourishment of the various sorts of milk differs substantially.
The various kinds of “milk” that youngsters could consume consist of:
Cow’s milk (whole, 2%, 1%, fat-free/skim; natural; compressed; vaporized; grass-fed; seasoned, such as delicious chocolate milk)Goat’s milkDairy choice (rice, almond, soy, coconut, cashew, hemp, oat)
Nutrition in Milk Cow’s milk normally has healthy protein, calcium, potassium, and also vitamin B12. Cow’s milk is strengthened with vitamin D(significance, it’s contributed to the cow’s milk throughout handling ). Vitamin A is included in reduced-fat, low-fat, and also non-fat milk. Due to the fact that these are very important nutrients for development and also growth, the AAP suggests that more youthful youngsters rise to 2 mugs of milk a day and also older youngsters obtain 3.
If children do not choose fluid cow’s milk, have lactose intolerance, or a family members is vegan, the nutrients discovered in cow’s milk are offered in various other foods. Children can still fulfill their everyday nutrient needs without milk, through a well prepared diet regimen that consists of various other foods abundant in healthy protein, calcium, potassium, and also vitamins An and also D. Foods made from cow’s milk, like yogurt, kefir, as well as cheese, are additionally an alternative for obtaining the nutrients from milk right into a youngster’s diet plan also if the youngster does not like fluid cow’s milk.
Non-Dairy Milk Alternatives If your youngster chooses a non-dairy milk choice, like almond or rice milk, go with a variation that strengthens the item with calcium and also vitamin D. Then, you’ll require to make sure to use various other foods throughout the day which contain healthy protein, because a lot of dairy-alternative milks are extremely reduced in healthy protein, along with the various other nutrients milk offers like vitamin A, potassium, as well as vitamin B12.
Milk Recommendations for Kids In basic, the majority of children take advantage of eating cow’s milk, or cow’s milk items, after they are 12 months old( if they do not have a milk allergic reaction ). Bear in mind that kids that are nursing a couple of times a day or that are still consuming formula do not always additionally require to consume alcohol cow’s milk. They do most likely demand added vitamin D if they are nursing as well as not obtaining vitamin D from one more resource.
How Much Milk Do Kids Need?It depends upon just how old they are, however the common referrals are:
1 to 2 years of ages: 2 mugs of milk each day3 years of ages and also up: 3 mugs of milk daily
Obviously, if your youngsters do not consume alcohol milk, you can replace various other points from the milk food team, such as cheese as well as yogurt or various other foods high in calcium and also vitamin D. Keep in mind that not all yogurts are strengthened with vitamin D and also most cheeses will certainly not be abundant in vitamin D.
Even if your children (over age 12 months) do consume alcohol milk, they will likely likewise require to consume a few other foods that are abundant in calcium and also vitamin D to get to the current suggested everyday allocation of 600 IU each day for vitamin D.
Using just milk to get to calcium suggestions isn’t a smart suggestion. Consuming alcohol greater than 3 mugs of milk a day can displace various other foods in a youngster; s diet plan, placing them in danger for iron-deficiency anemia along with various other nutrient inequalities.
Milk Allergy If your youngster has a milk allergic reaction as well as dislikes milk healthy proteins, after that they should not consume milk or eat milk items made with milk. Youngsters with a milk allergic reaction can establish signs and symptoms varying from hives to a lot more serious signs and symptoms, such as hissing, throwing up, looseness of the bowels, or perhaps anaphylaxis.
Youngsters with a milk allergic reaction must purely stay clear of all milk and also milk items and also rather rely on non-dairy food resources to obtain sufficient calcium as well as vitamin D in their diet plan. Some children do outgrow their milk allergic reaction.
Extra usual than a milk allergic reaction is a lactose intolerance, in which youngsters can endure some milk items, however create gas, looseness of the bowels, stomach discomfort, queasiness, as well as bloating if they consume way too many milk items or ones that are specifically high in lactose (the sugar that happens normally in pet milks).
Unlike in instances of milk allergic reaction, in which the kid responds to healthy protein in milk (also small quantities), kids with a lactose intolerance do not have sufficient of the enzyme needed to absorb lactose.
Youngsters with lactose intolerance can generally endure some milk items, though the quantity depends upon the specific youngster. As an example, a kid might just create signs and symptoms if he has an additional glass of milk, cheese pizza, or gelato, and so on, however he is great if he has milk with grain. Yogurt commonly has much less lactose, due to the fact that the fermentation procedure decreases it. Aged cheese have virtually no lactose. There are likewise cow’s milks and also cow’s milk items that have the enzyme that damages down lactose (lactase) included in them, so these items do not include any kind of lactose.
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Post-war direct recycling
More about this object
Escape and Evasion Map
The shortages on European markets remained severe after the war. However, from that point on, recycling re-started functioning in completely different conditions. The disarming countries had large amounts of unnecessary military products for military manufacturing.
While tanks, cannons, and empty shells had to be smelted in order to feed the peace-time industry, other post-war remnants could be recycled directly. With the abundance of demobilized military equipment such as uniforms, women across Europe were busy making everyday clothing from them, sometimes with very few alterations.
Very little alteration was required to convert RAF escape and evasion maps (printed on silk!) into women’s scarves in Great Britain, or German steel helmets to cooking or chamber pots. Such direct recycling was cost-effective, because it did not involve much industrial processing, and the only necessary investment was work and ingenuity.
Still later, in the 1980s, similar ingenuity proved to be valuable in the countries of Eastern Europe, which were struggling with chronic shortages. For example, Polish women were able to sew attractive dresses from cotton diapers.
How to cite this page
Slawomir Lotysz, 'Post-war direct recycling', Inventing Europe,
About this tour
Waste not, want not? Re-use campaigns from 'autarky' to recycling
Both the First and Second World Wars created shortages for the civilian populations in various European countries, when many imports were stopped and supplies were diverted to the military. For governments and military occupation authorities, this became a careful balancing act between civilians and the war effort. Apart from rationing what was left, propaganda campaigns were mainly addressed to housewives, encouraging them to make nations "autarkic" - self-sufficient. Such campaigns might well be considered the forebears of our current efforts to recycle.
What's like this?
Recling textiles
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Ethicool | The World Under Wings Book
A truly unique perspective - quite literally - on the state of planet earth, observed through the eyes of the artic tern.
This is a fascinating kids' book about the migration of the arctic tern and its efforts to uplift the world.
Recommended ages: for 2 - 10yrs old
Author: Tom Gregory
Illustrator: Tom Gregory
What is this picture book about?
When the Terns’ Arctic home starts melting away, they set out on an incredible adventure to learn how to save it. On their journey they’ll soar through the skies, overseas and under stars, crossing deserts and forests and meeting endangered animals along the way.
But on a planet in peril, is anywhere safe for them to call home?
Inspired by the Arctic Tern’s amazing real-life migration, this book is a great way to learn about the problems facing the planet and what we can do to help.
An excerpt from the story
"In the cold Arctic snow lived the Terns, swift and brave, they danced on the breeze over icebergs and waves. But they knew very soon they’d all have to flee, before their home melted into the sea. So they rose from their nests at the morning’s first light, ready to start their incredible flight.
They sped south under blue skies and bright shining stars, under Sun, under Moon, under Saturn and Mars. Chicks chirped with glee as they twisted and twirled, excited to explore the big wide world.
Soon the Terns soared over seas shining blue, but the state of the ocean could hardly be true. They saw whales trapped in plastic and fish caught in nets, from the large to the small they were all under threat...
... So the Terns hatched a plan to let everyone know, of the burning jungles and melting snow. Then they spread the word wide, over seas, over land, over hills, over valleys, over forests and sand.
From the heat of the desert, to the oceans that glisten, the Terns told their plan to whoever would listen. Then when the moment was right, they all cried out as one, “We need to change before more damage is done!”
Their call was so loud, trees shook with the words, it echoed round the Earth and the whole World heard.
At first the change was small but it grew day by day, as more and more people started changing their ways. They cleaned up the oceans, planted new trees, and powered their homes with the tides and the breeze..."
From the author, Sharna Carter: why do we need a kids’ book about sustainability?
It's so easy for our little ones to develop behaviours of over-consumption these days. After all, there is a whole world of material things at their fingertips, literally just a button-click away. It's so easy to buy something here and throw it away there, all without thinking about the consequences.
But what if we taught the joys of becoming self-sufficient? What if we could encourage our little tots to grow their own juicy fruits? And, even more, what if we could inspire them to share with others and relish in the feeling of generosity?
I think we can all do this. And that's why I wrote Watermelon Pip, a story I'm deeply proud of, and a truly gorgeous introduction to sharing and sustainability for the world's children.
Ethicool write about sustainability because we care about sustainability
The overwhelming majority of the world’s children’s books are produced in high-polluting factories, with non-recycled paper and petroleum-based ink, which is terrible for the environment. For Ethicool, that wasn’t an option - they couldn’t very well contribute to the problem they were trying to solve. That’s why Ethicool books are printed on recycled papers, using soy-based, environmentally safe inks.
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Horizontally opposed engine meaning
Horizontally opposed engine definition
An engine possessing two banks of cylinders that are placed flat or 180 degrees apart. This configuration gives a lower center of gravity which improves handling. As well it has a lower hood height to improve aerodynamics. Also called a "boxer" engine. Also see flat engine .
Automotive Dictionary Index
Automotive terms beginning with "H", page 10
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3D Printed Micro-Drones Are A Miracle To Behold
We cover a lot about 3D printing here at Bit Rebels. I think it’s because we feel this new technology is going to revolutionize the way we shop, repair and invent things in the near future. It seems everyone is talking about new 3D printer product launches, and they’re always more advanced upgrades that increase accuracy. We are still waiting for that next step where advanced circuitry can be 3D printed. That’s where these micro-drones come into the picture.
Researchers and inventors over at Harvard University have been developing their artificial bees for quite a while now. They are tiny micro-drones that are completely 3D printed and have insanely intricate technologies incorporated into them. Since they are not larger than your thumbnail, they can reach a wing flap frequency of up to 30 hertz. To simplify that, one could say that it’s a frequency where you can no longer see the wing’s contours.
The micro-drones can be mass produced and deployed in a rapid manner, which makes them perfect for large scale deployment. They are currently powered by an external power source, which makes them a little bit limited to where they can actually “fly.” They are 3D printed into a kind of ceramic, carbon fiber and plastic scaffolding that when done, pushes the micro-drones up, releases the lock mechanism and then releases the bee micro-drones. When you have a look at the video describing the manufacturing process, you will be amazed how advanced these micro-drones really are, despite the fact they are so small.
Future tiers of these micro-drones will have another form of incorporated power source as the tethering to a ground-based battery makes the micro-drones too heavy to fly. What they will be used for is not yet mentioned, but you can imagine they could be used for recon missions, tight space repairs and a whole lot of other endeavors. It depends solely on the number of features you can add before the micro-drones get too heavy to be able to fly. Technology is always getting smaller, so there is no doubt these will become really useful tools for certain kind of endeavors in the future.
Harvard University’s 3D Printed Bee Micro-Drones
• comment-avatar
Matt A, 9 years
How is this 3d printing? it’s made of layers of laser-cut metal and plastic, nothing to do with how normal 3d printers work.
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Tom 9 years
Awesome technology!
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Stainless Steel Metal Glossary
Heat Exchanger
A device that facilitates the efficient transfer of heat energy from one fluid to another. The fluids are often kept apart by solid barriers, either the walls of tubes, or the formed sheets of clam shell type heat exchangers. Typically a heat exchanger will have many tubes or clam shells assembled in either bundles or stacks connected by manifolds. One fluid flows outside the assembly whilst the other flows inside.
Heat, Cast, Melt
These terms are used interchangeably for the product of a single melting or refining furnace charge. Occasionally, if the furnace contents are cast into a number of different forms, these may be called separate casts.
Hollow, Tube Hollow
Interchangeable terms for a hot finished semi-finished product from either an extrusion or piercing process. They are the feedstock for cold drawing or cold reduced tube production.
Huey Test
A corrosion test for evaluating the inter-granular corrosion resistance of stainless steels by boiling in refluxed 65% nitric acid for five consecutive 48-hour periods, each period starting with fresh acid.
Capital Aluminium Extrusions Limited
Cleator Moor, Cumbria,
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Cats Bats and Pointy Hats
Crystal Spheres
The art of scrying has been around for thousands of years and is a well-known method of fortune telling. We find out how it works
The stereotypical image of scrying has long since been of elderly fortune tellers leant over a crystal ball, providing guidance. While crystal balls are indeed the most common form of this ancient art, there is much more to scrying than meets the eye. Using a crystal ball and its internal images to provide guidance into events is known as crystallomancy, and can also apply to gazing into reflective surfaces, such as mirrors and water. Its many different forms were first recorded in Ancient Egypt, when priests and priestesses of the great temples, as well as ordinary people at home, scryed in the oil which filled lamps or large barrels.
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The Cloverfields community is located in the Cox Creek watershed in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. Water flows from north to south over this region of Kent Island. The Cloverfields drainage area drains 1.12 square miles (717 acres) of land upstream of Ackerman Road. The entire watershed is contained within the Eastern Coastal Plain Region. Part of the drainage for the community, which follows historic patterns, now forms a blue line stream on google maps. A riverine floodplain exists on either side of this blue line stream which form the headwaters of Cox Creek. While most people view a river or stream only as the place where there is regularly flowing water, the reality is that the river and floodplain are one integrated system that have evolved over time to convey water and sediment downstream, with the floodplain serving to both store water and to slowly release it back into the main channel of the river as the flood passes, to ensure that the natural system downstream isn’t overwhelmed.
Constructed before modern day floodplain and building regulations, certain areas of the Cloverfields subdivision are vulnerable to tidal and riverine flooding. Depending on the degree of damage, flood events range from general nuisance flooding events that have low levels of inundation that do not pose significant threats to public safety or major property damage to major events that pose significant threats to public safety and severe property damage.
Digital elevation model of Cloverfields. Green and beige areas are low lying areas.
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Monthly Tech-Tip from Tony Hansen SignUp
Glaze Compression
Every solid has a coefficient of thermal expansion (COE), that is, an amount by which it expands and contracts on heating and cooling. If the thermal expansion of a glaze is too much more than the body it is affixed to, then it is basically "stretched on" and to relieve the tension it develops a crack pattern called crazing. If its COE is too much lower, however, it is under compression and bad things can happen!
The compression occurs while the piece is cooling in the kiln. When the glaze solidifies it acquires the characteristics of a solid. This might happen at 1500F, for example. As the piece continues to cool body and glaze are contracting. If the body is contracting more than the glaze it becomes more and more compressed. Some compression is actually desirable and strengthens the glaze-body combination (like prestressed concrete). However too much compression puts the piece under internal stresses seeking an opportunity to relieve themselves. In severe cases a piece will not survive cooling in the kiln without fracturing. When individual shards of such pieces are dropped onto a cement floor, for example, they can explode into hundreds of tiny pieces. Ware loss is most likely where the inside glaze on a vessel is under compression and the outside is not (or worse, is covered with a high-thermal-expansion-glaze that is is under tension). If the inside glaze is thick enough it can literally force the piece apart. In less severe mismatches, glazes will flake off areas where they wrap around contours (e.g. the lips of mugs), this is known as shivering. This can be serious if it occurs while a piece is being used and someone ingests a flake (having razor sharp edges).
The thermal expansion of glazes is a product of their chemistry. Glazes high in K2O and Na2O fluxes have high COEs. Glazes high in MgO, Li2O or ZnO have lower expansions (poorly designed glazes can also have wild COEs because of having too much or too little SiO2/Al2O3 or excessive levels of an oxide, like Li2O, that should be used sparingly). Using an account at you can enter your glazes and see the calculated thermal expansions (which most often explains why they do not fit). By duplicating a recipe and working on it side-by-side with the original you can increase one flux at the expense of another to effect a change in the COE. In industry, technicians often take a less technical approach, simply adjusting a recipe by trading a percentage of lower expansion frit for one having a higher one (this often introduces unintended side-effects). A best-case-scenario is where two base glazes are available, one of higher-than-needed COE and one of lower-than-needed. These can be blended to achieve the desired fit for the body being used. When opacifiers and stain additions change the COE the blend can be adjusted to compensate.
Related Information
Drip glazing and bare outsides: Deceptively difficult.
thick glaze drips on ceramic vessels
BEWARE of leaving outsides of functional ware unglazed
This mug is made from the strongest porcelain I have, it is so vitreous that the bare fired surface does not even coffee-stain. So I glazed it only on the inside. That created a time-bomb waiting for hot coffee! Three others did exactly the same. Four other mugs glazed on the outside were fine. Why? Glazes need to have a lower thermal expansion than the body so they do not craze over time. When ware is glazed inside and the compressive forces the glaze finds itself under keep it crack free and also significantly strengthens the piece (like pre-stressed concrete). But here there is no outside glaze to be counteract the inside one pushing outward. When suddenly heated it pushes even harder. Structural weak points, outside surface imperfections or pronounced contour or thickness changes provide crack-initiation-points to relieve the stress. The only way to make this inside-only-glazed technique work is carefully tuning the thermal expansion of the inside glaze. That means a lot of testing and a lot of broken pieces.
The glaze broke the bottom off the pot!
A example of a highly fluid cone 6 glaze that has pooled in the bottom of a mug (and crystallized). Glazes normally need to be under some compression to avoid crazing (by having a lower-than-the-body thermal expansion), but if they are thick like this the body does not have the strength to resist the extra outward pressure the glaze can be exerting at the base from the inside. The result here is a separated base. Conversely, if the glaze is under tension (having too high an expansion), the cracks that develop within it to relieve the tension are deep and wider and thus more likely to propagate into the body below. The ultimate result: Poor ware strength.
To gauge strength: Break pieces often. Pay attention to what happens.
A broken slip cast cone 6 mug
This is M340 casting, L3798H. The handle was just glued on with slip. I had questions about this new body. Are my glazes under compression? How well is the handle stuck on? Because I have broken so many pieces I know how they break. It is a good sign when there are no fractures along the handle joins. And when the handle is the last to go. And when the item breaks into large pieces rather than shattering into small ones. Try doing this on some of your pieces and you might be surprised. Either by how strong they are. Or by how easily they break.
A glaze is pushing outward from the inside of this cup
Pushing enough to break the walls off the base. The body is a high-manganese black-burning stoneware. It is not just the higher thermal expansion of the glaze that is putting it under compression (as evidenced by the vertical crack that is being pushed apart), but also the fact that the glaze is applied thickly.
Yellow stain has decreased the thermal expansion of the base glaze
That has put it under more compression on the inside, it is pushing outwards. All it took was some hot coffee. That put it under even more compression and the mug "popped" to relieve the tension.
A mug cracks before your eyes because of glaze compression
A highly vitreous, thin walled mug is glazed inside-only. The glaze has a thermal expansion that is too low and it is under compression, pressing outward. A tap with a spoon is enough to trigger a sudden crack. It opens under the pressure. Had it been glazed on the outside also it would likely survive, but this test still indicates that it would be better to raise the expansion a little.
Why is this vitreous low fire ware cracking out of the kiln like this?
Simply put: Glaze misfit. The glaze is under compression and it is pushing outward. That compression was created as the pieces cooled in the kiln. After the glaze solidified, somewhere above red heat, it became a glass and began to contract. The body, to which that glaze is attached by a glass bond, had its own rate of contraction and that rate was more than the glaze. So, it is a battle! But the glaze has some advantages here. It is on thick, giving it extra power to assert its thermal expansion. The body is over fired and has become brittle. The unglazed outsides, incised designs and varying thickness provide points of weakness where a failure can start. The body is trying to resist the relentless force but the odds of stacked against it and the pieces do not even make it out of the kiln. What if we make the glaze thinner, fire lower, make a more even cross section, glaze the outsides. All will help but if the glaze still does not fit, eventually pieces will fail anyway.
My clear glaze outside. Commercial white inside. But a big problem!
I know my outside glaze recipe fits this terra cotta. It does not shiver on sudden heating or craze on sudden cooling. And I have a gallon so I can dip-glaze the outside and it dries perfectly in seconds. But that inside glaze? It is under too much compression, so much so that it is literally forcing the piece apart (that crack exploded onto the scene with a loud ping a day after firing). But I do not know the recipe. And I had to paint it on in three coats. The painting was difficult and it took ten minutes to dry each coat. A better way to do a cover glaze would have been to simply add 10-15% Zircon to my clear recipe (I can even adjust if the added zircon lowers its expansion too much). To apply that would have been a simple pour-in and pour-out. Or I could make my own pint-jar of brush-on by using a mix of gum solution and water (instead of pure water).
Glaze under excessive compression can flake off the engobe
The amber glaze on the outside of the left mug contains 20% super-low thermal expansion Ferro Frit 3249 as the melter. With no underlying engobe it can form enough of a bond with the body that it does not flake off at the rim (even though it is under excessive compression because its low thermal expansion). This flaking is called "shivering". The engobe, which does not melt like a glaze, has a more fragile bond with the body (and the glaze is pushing enough to make that bond fail). The mug on the right employs 20% Frit 3195 melter instead, producing a glaze that fits better. I hammered both of these rims repeatedly with a metal object to stress them, that one on the right definitely fits better.
Why are these vessels cracking when hot water is poured in?
They are time-bombs. Why? Yes, they have even wall thickness, the glaze is not crazing and the clay is vitrified. But, they are glazed only on the inside and that is a problem here. The glaze is under some compression, that is why it does not craze. That means that it is pushing outward from the inside. Ware can be very strong under glaze compression, but only to a point. When a hot liquid is poured into containers like these the inside glaze is the first to thermally expand, creating more even compression. The porcelain is under tension already, being stretched by pressure from within. And ceramics do poorly under tension. And third: The outer surfaces have incised lines that provide irregularities for internal forces to exploit and start cracks at. It is a perfect storm waiting for hot water to trigger it. Making the pieces thicker would help. Increasing the glaze thermal expansion would help. But unglazed outsides and incised lines will always be a weakening factor.
A novel way to test glaze compression and glaze fit
Two coffee mugs, one cracked, the other shattered
These are made from L4005D red cone 6 stoneware. Both are cast and thin-walled (half of what a thrown piece would be). They were glazed only on the inside to encourage cracking/splitting if the glaze is under excessive compression (that is, the thermal expansion of the glaze is significantly less than that of the body). And that is what happened here. The piece on the left cracked after a couple of taps with a hammer. Notice how the crack has opened. The piece is "spring-loaded" (press it together and it reopens on release). The glaze is GA6-B. The piece on the right is glazed with G1214Z. It spontaneously blew in half, with a loud crack, a few 5 hours after exit from the kiln. On further taps with a hammer these pieces shattered into dozens of smaller ones! The white glaze is certainly under too much compression. Obviously, neither is under any danger of crazing. Is the compression too great on the dark glaze? It did not shatter the way the white one did on further taps. And, another thicker-walled piece exiting the same kiln was glazed inside and out with that glaze. It was very strong. The lesson: Glaze compression, if not too much, is good for ware strength - but pieces must be glazed both outside and inside. And, thin ware like this, is good for testing that compression.
Glossary Crazing
Glossary Glaze fit
Glossary Shivering
Shivering is a ceramic glaze defect that results in tiny flakes of glaze peeling off edges of ceramic ware. It happens because the thermal expansion of the body is too much higher than the glaze.
Glossary Calculated Thermal Expansion
Glossary Co-efficient of Thermal Expansion
By Tony Hansen
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With an introduction by Markus Brunnermeier, Director of the Princeton Bendheim Center for Finance
On Thursday, October 15, Christopher Sims joined Markus’ Academy for a lecture on “how to worry about government debt.”
Christopher Sims is a Professor of Economics at Princeton University and a 2011 recipient of the Nobel Prize.
Executive Summary
It’s not wise to quickly reduce debt primarily or solely through tax increases. The ratio of marketable debt to GDP dropped after WWII, but started to rise with the Reagan administration. It came down again with the Clinton surpluses, then shot back up to over 100% in recent years. The rise in the last year was particularly steep given the U.S. response to the pandemic. Still, Sims says, the optimal strategy is to keep debt steady and slowly reduce it over time. The cost of reducing debt by making taxes higher temporarily is not a good tradeoff.
We could be entering a period of significant inflationary pressures. Sims points out that many attribute inflation in the 70s to the Ford administration’s large deficits, and that those who do should be concerned today. When compared to today’s U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio, the amount of outstanding debt created by the Ford administration is relatively low. Today, the ratio of debt-to-GDP was high even before the pandemic, and the amount of the increase relative to size of the debt is even larger than the increase that occurred during the Ford administration.
In order for interest rate hikes to control inflation and have a contractionary effect, they must be accompanied by contractionary fiscal policy. For a long time up until the early 60s, interest expenses were 10% to 15%. They began to rise in the 70s, and then through a combination of increased debt and high nominal interest rates, the ratio of interest expense to total receipts shot up over 25% for several years. It was in this period that Congress put together budgeting rules requiring new expenditure proposals be matched by explanations of how to pay for them, resolving the fiscal situation for some time.
While we should be running high deficits in response to the pandemic, today’s debt does not have zero fiscal cost. When the real interest rate on debt is below the growth rate of the economy, the government can issue and roll over debt forever without backing it by new taxes and still see the debt-to-GDP ratio shrink over time. But this only applies when the government makes a one-time increase in debt unaccompanied by increased taxation. This is not the situation we’re in—even when it concerns pandemic relief spending. Given past, steady spending increases without tax increases, we unfortunately cannot view pandemic relief spending as a single, wartime increase in debt. Ultimately, these steady increases will affect the interest rate on debt and require dynamic solutions.
Today’s situation in Japan illustrates that for the price level to be stable and control inflation, policymakers must balance expectations of future fiscal policy against current debt. Spending on the pandemic, for example, has impacts not just on deficits today, but expectations for future fiscal policy. While Abenomics was meant to be a commitment to easy monetary policy combined with short-term fiscal expansion and medium-term fiscal adjustment, it’s unclear now whether the policy was ultimately expansionary or contractionary. Sims says many in Japan are aware they are approaching a situation where a major fiscal adjustment may be required.
Legislators may not take action until they see that the money they have to allocate is absorbed by interest costs. Sims says it wouldn’t take a very large increase in interest rates for this to happen and for debt service charges to reach 25% of total federal government receipts.
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Dental Autotransplantation: The Natural Alternative to Dental Implants
Main Article Content
Robert Norris Tito, DDS
Most traumatic dental injuries occur in the preteen males, with the maxillary central incisor being the most commonly avulsed tooth.1,2 When an incisor is lost, its ability to induce growth of the surrounding alveolar bone and gingival tissues is also lost. Therefore, in the maxillary anterior region of a young and growing patient, it is advantageous to replace a missing tooth with a natural tooth that can continue the process of bone induction as the patient continues growing through their teen years. There are currently two techniques to achieve this:
1) Orthodontic substitution
2) Auto transplantation. The methodology and necessary considerations pertaining to autotransplantation are the subject of this publication, and pertinent literature suggests that:
1. a) Ideal donor teeth should be single-rooted, such as a mandibular premolar.
2. b) Donor teeth should be ideally harvested when there is 2/3 to ¾ root development.
3. c) Surgical technique to avoid damaging the periodontal ligament of the donor tooth is absolutely critical.
4. d) Newly autotransplanted teeth should be stabilized for 6-12 weeks with a light orthodontic wire allowing physiologic movement. If the aforementioned protocols are followed, then a success rate of 90% or more can be expected.
Article Details
How to Cite
TITO, Robert Norris. Dental Autotransplantation: The Natural Alternative to Dental Implants. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 5, may 2021. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <>. Date accessed: 28 oct. 2021. doi:
Research Articles
1. Gassner R, Bösch R, Tuli T, et al: Prevalence of dentaltrauma in 6000 patients with facial injuries: implications for prevention. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 87:27-33, 1999
2. Andreasen JO, Ravn JJ: Epidemiology of traumatic dental injuries to primary and permanent teeth in a Danish population sample. Int J Oral Surg 1:235-239, 1972
3. Kristerson L: Autotransplantation of human premolars. A clinical and radiographic study of 100 teeth. Int J Oral Surg 14:200-213, 1985
4. Czochrowska EM, Stenvik A, Bjercke B, et al: Outcome of tooth transplantation: survival and success rates 17-41 years post-treatment. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 121:110-119, 2002
5. Czochrowska EM, Stenvik A, Album B, et al: Autotransplantation of premolars to replace maxillary incisors. A comparison with natural incisors. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 118:592-600, 2000
6. Czochrowska EM, Stenvik A, Zachrisson B: The esthetic outcome of autotransplanted premolars replacing maxillary incisors. Dent Traumol 35:221-234, 2002
7. Kvint S, Lindsten R, Magnusson A, et al: Autotransplantation of teeth in 215 patients. Angle Orthod 80:446-451, 2010
8. Slagsvold O, Bjercke B: Applicability of autotransplantation in cases of missing upper anterior teeth. Am J Orthod 74:410-421, 1978
9. Slagsvold O, Bjercke B: Autotransplantation of premolars with partly formed roots. A radiographic study of root growth. Am J Orthod 66:355-366, 1974
10. Andreasen JO, Paulsen HU, Yu Z, et al: A long-term study of 370 autotransplanted premolars. part II. Tooth survival and pulp healing subsequent to transplantation.
Eur J Orthod 12:14-24, 1990
11. Robertsson S, Mohlin B. The congenitally missing upper lateral incisor. A retrospective study of orthodontic space closure versus restorative treatment. Eur J Orthod 2000;22:697-710.
12. Graber DA, Salama MA, Salama H. Immediate tooth replacement. Compend Contin Educ Dent 2001;22:210-8.
13. Bernard, et al, Long-term vertical changes of the anterior maxillary teeth adjacent to single implants in young and mature adults. A retrospective study. J Clin Periodontol 2004;1024-1028.
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'; Molecular Hydrogen — Is it the Best Antioxidant You Can Take? – Dr Fundile Nyati
Hydrogen doesn’t have that downside, which is one of the reasons why it’s my favorite. Now, when we talk about molecular hydrogen, we are talking about the gas, the H2 molecule, which is two hydrogen atoms bound together.
The H2 molecule is the smallest in the universe, which allows it to diffuse through all cell membranes, including the blood-brain barrier and subcellular compartments, and into the mitochondria. It doesn’t need any transporter protein.
It also has no charge or polarity. As explained by LeBaron, that’s critical, because charged molecules cannot easily penetrate cell membranes. Charged molecules must go through a protein channel. All of this gives it superior cellular bioavailability.
Health Benefits of H2
Among the many health benefits of H2 is its ability to decrease excessive oxidative stress, inflammation and perturbations from normal homeostasis. The key word here is “excess,” because some oxidative stress and some free radicals are actually beneficial. For example, you metabolize food through the process of oxidation, and that oxidation is necessary for life to exist.
“This is an important word … when we talk about the benefits of molecular hydrogen because it seems to work through some similar processes of hormesis,” LeBaron says.
H2 Is a Selective Antioxidant
When it comes to oxidative stress, all you really want is a return to homeostasis. You don’t want to neutralize all free radicals. Many antioxidants have a high number of electrons that can easily and indiscriminately scavenge, react with and neutralize a wide range of radicals or oxidants. Molecular hydrogen, on the other hand, is selective, and thus only eliminates the excess, so that homeostasis is restored.
On the other hand, H2 readily reacts with the toxic hydroxyl radical — the most reactive and oxidative radical in the body — turning it into harmless water. Studies suggest H2 may be very helpful in cases of heart attack or stroke, for example, protecting against the oxidative damage from hydroxyl radicals that occur during reperfusion.1 In my view, molecular hydrogen should be implemented ASAP in all cases of heart attack and stroke for this reason.
H2 Is a Signal Modulator
“The Nrf2 is this protein that’s bound to another protein, Keap1, and when there’s an assault of oxidative stress, those two separate. Then the Nrf2 is able to diffuse into the nucleus of the DNA. It binds to the electrophile response or ARE, the antioxidant response element, portion of the DNA.
When it does that, that ends up leading to the production of a whole bunch of endogenous antioxidants like glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase … When we talk about antioxidation and detoxification, a lot of that is regulated and controlled by Nrf2. That is the master regulator. So, it is a key protein involved in many processes [and] hydrogen gas is able to activate the Nrf2 pathway.”
Importantly, though, contrary to other Nrf2 activators, H2 only activates Nfr2 if it’s actually needed. In this way, the risk of it suppressing beneficial free radicals like nitric oxide is minimized. Indeed, H2 appears to be one of the safest therapeutic options available. It’s downside potential is almost nonexistent.
“It tends to bring things back to homeostasis,” LeBaron says. “The further something is away from homeostasis, the higher the probability that hydrogen gas will be able to help bring that back into homeostasis. If something is already at a perfect level, well, then, you may see that hydrogen gas didn’t do anything …
How to Administer H2
The easiest way to get hydrogen gas into your system is to dissolve a molecular hydrogen tablet in water and drink it. In the interview, LeBaron warns us why we need to be skeptical and cautious about electrolysis machines, as they often don’t produce anywhere near the concentrations required. In clinical studies this is often 1.6 mg/L and above, which at first doesn’t sound like very much, but it is significant as LeBaron further explains:
“There are a couple of things to consider when you drink hydrogen gas. No. 1, 1.6 mg/L as a solubility doesn’t sound like very much … [but remember] that hydrogen gas is the smallest molecule in the universe. Of course, 1.6 mg doesn’t weigh very much because it’s hydrogen gas … but it’s actually a lot of molecules. In fact, there are more molecules in 1.6 mg of hydrogen than there are molecules of vitamin C in a 100-mg dose.
You have to compare molecules to molecules or moles to moles, not just weight to weight. What weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? Right? They weigh the same … So, when we look at molecular hydrogen, there is actually quite a bit.
Now, get this. When you inhale, say, a 3% hydrogen gas, then that’s going to increase the cellular concentration to a certain level. That exact same level, if we can calculate it based on Henry’s law and the dose you’re ingesting from drinking hydrogen water, that concentration in the cell can also be reached by just drinking hydrogen water.
Because if you drink all of it at once … [it] immediately increases the cellular concentration to the same level that you would get if you were inhaling hydrogen gas at 2% or 3% level … You’re also able enact various second messenger systems that maybe you’re not getting with inhalation.”
The study involved 60 subjects and lasted for six months and “significantly reduced blood cholesterol and glucose levels, attenuated serum hemoglobin A1c, and improved biomarkers of inflammation and redox homeostasis.” It even “tended to promote a mild reduction and body mass index and hip-to-waist ratio,” the study authors added.
Concentration and Frequency Matter
“Let’s say [you take] 6 mg of hydrogen and you’re going to take all 6 mg evenly in a 24-hour period. That means you’re essentially sipping on hydrogen water throughout the day.
If you do that, you may not get as good of benefits because you’re not getting a high enough dose of hydrogen in the body in order to reach the cellular concentrations required to induce those changes at the cellular level that you need.
I don’t know if it’s better to take 6 mg or 10 mg of hydrogen once a day or six times a day. Maybe the six or 10 times a day is going to be more effective, or just as effective, because you’re still getting spikes. But then again maybe not.”
Clearly, the studies need to be done to determine the best frequency, but until then, it would seem that customizing the dose to your personal circumstances might be more appropriate. So, if you’re in normal, nonstressful circumstances at home, not exercising much at all, then maybe once day is sufficient.
Synergistic Effects With Other Therapies
“When it comes to the sauna, I think that’s great,” LeBaron says. “I probably would do the hydrogen before anything … Again, [we’re] talking about this preconditioning hydrogen effect.
If I can just back up and talk about one study that I think helps at this stage, about NAD and NADH. These are very important molecules. The higher the ratio of the NAD to NADH, the better … In this interesting study,7 they used a toxin in a cell culture, and as would be expected, that NAD to NADH ratio decreased, and that ends up causing all of these pathological problems and cell death.
Well, that hydrogen gas will only be in there for 20 minutes, half an hour or 40 minutes, depending on the concentration. It’s not going to be there for very long. They found there was a therapeutic protective effect against that toxin for about 24 hours. It maintained that effect …
Taking these together, when we look at other things such as the sauna, the sauna really is quite a mild thing … [but] I still like the idea of taking the hydrogen before. When you’re talking about hyperbaric oxygen, then I think there’s even more rationale of taking the molecular hydrogen [30 to 60 minutes] before as a pretreatment, preconditioning …
Ketones, whether they’re endogenous or exogenous, are very beneficial for the mitochondria, as long as the mitochondria are ready for them. Ketones can also increase free radicals, at least initially, but this is also what’s very good, because in the long run they can decrease oxidative stress. Part of this is why you can upregulate the Nrf2 pathway.
So, there are some areas where ketones seem to work, as does hydrogen gas … Hydrogen [can also] induce and actually enhance autophagy9,10… By so doing, you’re going to get therapeutic protective effects from the hydrogen gas. However, there are other studies showing that hydrogen gas inhibits excessive autophagy.11,12
So, that’s how cells die, right? You have necrosis, you have apoptosis, and you have autophagic cell death. When you have too much going on — and a lot of drugs or interventions can potentially cause an excessive amount of autophagy — then that’s bad. Hydrogen gas … was able to prevent the excessive amount of autophagy being produced.”
Similarly, H2 gas can both increase and decrease mTOR activation,13,14 depending on what your body needs. Ditto for IgF1.15,16 What this means is that if you’re fasting or doing time-restricted eating, which activates autophagy, taking molecular hydrogen not only can optimize autophagy, but also lower it if too much is taking place. That could make long-term fasting much safer. What’s more:
Dosing Basics
The normal dose is one tablet — which is considered an appropriately high dose — in 500 mL or 16 ounces of water. That will give you a concentration of about 10 mg of H2 per liter (10 mg/L), which means you’re getting a dose of 5 mg. As soon as the tablet has dissolved, you’ll want to drink the whole glass before the cloud of H2 gas dissipates.
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Your enterprise is performing really well and is growing substantially. Imagine you’re rolling out a new product to meet the increasing demands. But do your teams have the necessary skills to pull off the project on time?
Rapidly changing market demands are quite common in the modern world. As your organization grows, your business strategies will continue to evolve. If you want your business to meet changing needs, you need to equip your workforce with the necessary skills. This is where a skill gap identification comes in.
Read on to explore the meaning of skills gap analysis, its importance and the way to conduct one.
1. What Is Skill Gap Analysis?
2. Why Conduct A Skills Gap Analysis?
3. For The Changing World Of Work
What Is Skill Gap Analysis?
To understand what a skills gap analysis is, let’s first look at the meaning of a ‘skills gap’. Essentially, a skills gap is the difference between the skills present in your workforce currently and the skills it needs to successfully execute their jobs. No matter which industry it is, organizations will always face a skills gap because of ever-changing business demands. Organizations can bridge the gaps through skill gap identification and necessary interventions.
A skill gap assessment or analysis is a strategy that helps organizations recognize and determine the types of gaps that exist in their workforce. It further helps in establishing training or hiring needs that will address those gaps, so that organizations can effectively reach their goals. By gaining valuable insights into the requirements of your workforce, you can help your organization keep pace with external demands.
Why Conduct A Skills Gap Analysis?
Also known as a competency gap analysis, a skill gap assessment is an effective way to check if your business is performing optimally. Here are some of the other benefits of a competency gap analysis:
1. Identifies Weaknesses
Every individual has unique strengths and weaknesses. Instead of overlooking setbacks, organizations should provide tools to address and overcome them. By performing a competency gap analysis, you can identify where exactly employees need additional guidance or training.
1. Offers Development
Employees are often unaware of training needs. Even if they are, they may not always be vocal about it. Sometimes, when employees start to feel a disconnect, they start looking for other opportunities. This is why it’s crucial to conduct a skills gap analysis as it will show people that you value their professional growth.
1. Increases Productivity
Probably the most crucial benefit of competency gap analysis is the increase in productivity and efficiency. Skill gap identification opens doors for several interconnected development needs such as time management, planning and organization of projects, and efficient budgeting. These matter while achieving larger business goals.
Now that you know that a skill gap assessment is crucial for your workplace, let’s see how to conduct a skills gap analysis:
1. Identify The Skills Needed
Whether it’s your current or future business strategy, the first step is to consider the skills needed to execute those strategies. You can begin by listing organizational goals and mapping skills to each of those objectives. Additionally, note down the desired level of proficiency needed for each skill.
For example, if your organization wants to maximize employee productivity, you need to prioritize project management or data collection and analysis skills.
1. Measure Skills
The next step is to check what are the skills that your employees already possess. By measuring the skill level, you can identify what’s most important. An effective way to do this is by using a numerical rating scale. By rating each skill level, you can gauge how proficient someone is or isn’t in a particular skill. Make note of gaps that need to be addressed.
1. Address Skills Gaps
The final step is to address the skills gap through different tools such as learning and development, upskilling or reskilling programs. By training, mentoring and guiding employees, you can help them advance their critical skills such as leadership, communication and critical thinking, among others.
For The Changing World Of Work
Organizing a skills gap analysis can be time-consuming but the effort is worth it. Harappa’s 10 on 10 Program is specially designed to help organizations tap into employee potential and drive peak performance. Whether it’s developing leadership or communication skills, powerful programs such as High Performing Leaders, Compelling Communication Program and First Time Manager Program are designed to drive organizational excellence. Help your employees build necessary 21st century cognitive, social and behavioral skills and drive high-performance behaviors at scale. Schedule a demo today!
Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as Who is a Project Manager, Must-Have Skills For Leadership, Top Behavioral Skills For Managers, Operational Manager Skills and Managerial Roles And Skills that will help organizations tap into their employees’ potential.
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Nimitz Diary Quiz
Question 1
What did the Naval War College Library unveil in February?
Question 2
What is Chester W. Nimitz famous for?
Question 3
Which of the following is not true of Chester W. Nimitz’s military career?
Question 4
What took place on September 2, 1945?
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Main Content
CORDIC-based approximation of sine
y = cordicsin(theta,niters)
y = cordicsin(theta,niters) computes the sine of theta using a CORDIC algorithm approximation.
Input Arguments
Output Arguments
collapse all
This example compares the results produced by the cordicsin algorithm to the results of the double-precision sin function.
Create 1024 points between [0, 2*pi).
stepSize = pi/512;
thRadFxp = sfi(thRadDbl, 12); % signed, 12-bit fixed point
sinThRef = sin(double(thRadFxp)); % reference results
Set the number of iterations to 10.
niters = 10;
cdcSinTh = cordicsin(thRadFxp, niters);
errCdcRef = sinThRef - double(cdcSinTh);
Compare the fixed-point cordicsin function results to the results of the double-precision sin function.
hold on
axis([0 2*pi -1.25 1.25])
plot(thRadFxp, sinThRef, 'b');
plot(thRadFxp, cdcSinTh, 'g');
plot(thRadFxp, errCdcRef, 'r');
gca.XTick = 0:pi/2:2*pi;
gca.YTick = -1:0.5:1;
ref_str = 'Reference: sin(double(\Theta))';
cdc_str = sprintf('12-bit CORDIC sine; N = %d', niters);
legend(ref_str, cdc_str, err_str);
Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains 3 objects of type line. These objects represent Reference: sin(double(\Theta)), 12-bit CORDIC sine; N = 10, Error (max = 0.005492).
After 10 iterations, the CORDIC algorithm has approximated the sine of theta to within 0.005492 of the double-precision sine result.
More About
collapse all
Increasing the number of CORDIC iterations can produce more accurate results, but doing so increases the expense of the computation and adds latency.
More About
collapse all
Signal Flow Diagrams
CORDIC Rotation Kernel
fimath Propagation Rules
CORDIC functions discard any local fimath attached to the input.
The CORDIC functions use their own internal fimath when performing calculations:
• OverflowActionWrap
• RoundingMethodFloor
The output has no attached fimath.
Extended Capabilities
Introduced in R2010a
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Oh deer, what can the matter be?
In Snow Leopard Fieldwork Diaries 8, I look at the snow leopard’s 3 main large prey species in Nepal. Think fast food, very fast food and extremely fast food.
Snow Leopard Research Nepal
Jonny writes about the snow leopard’s preferred prey in Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park.
Snow leopards are big cats. Weighing between 35kg/77lbs and 55kg/121lbs, and with an active lifestyle in a cold environment, they need to eat a lot of food to keep them going and keep them warm. Like all large felines, they tend to catch a big prey animal – like a wild sheep or goat – every couple of days if it’s available, and will often stay near the kill until it’s finished. A snow leopard killing three sheep-sized animals every two weeks could therefore get through around 75 in a year. That’s a lot of lamb chops.
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Health services in Canada are publicly funded. However, the use of health services, especially mental health services, by ethnic minority groups in Canada, has not been well studied.
The objectives of the study were to estimate the 12-month prevalence of mental health service use by ethnicities, overall and among those with major depression, and to identify factors associated with mental health services use in different ethnic groups in Canada.
Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS-1.1) were used. Participants included in this analysis were white who were born in Canada (n = 108,192), white immigrants (n = 10,892), Chinese (n = 1,785), South Asian (n = 1,214), and South East Asian immigrants (n = 818). Participants were selected using multiple staged, stratified random sampling procedures from household residents aged 12 years or older in ten provinces.
White people were more likely to have used mental health services than Chinese participants and those from South Asian and South East Asian regions. The Chinese participants appeared to be less likely to have used mental health services than those in the South Asian and South East Asian groups, in those without major depression.
In Canada, Asian immigrants are less likely to use mental health service use than white people. More studies are needed to examine factors affecting mental health service use in Asian immigrants living in North America.
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The analyses are done using the data from Statistics Canada. However, the opinions and views expressed do not represent those of Statistics Canada.
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Correspondence to JianLi Wang PhD.
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JianLi Wang is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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Tiwari, S.K., Wang, J. Ethnic differences in mental health service use among White, Chinese, South Asian and South East Asian populations living in Canada. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 866 (2008).
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• ethnic differences
• mental health service use
• major depressive episode
• prevalence
• Asian immigrants
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Big Red False Morel
Photo of two gigantic red false morels, cut and laying on a ground
Safety Concerns
Not recommended/not edible
Scientific Name
Gyromitra caroliniana
The big red false morel is reddish brown, with a convoluted, brainlike cap and a whitish stalk that is chambered inside. It grows singly or in groups in mixed woods. Late March–May. The cap is convoluted, brainlike, reddish brown outside, buffy tan inside; the cap margin is fused to the stalk; the interior is chambered. The stalk enlarges toward the base and is whitish, the texture grooved to smooth; it is chambered inside (not hollow). The spore print is clear to white. Spores magnified are elliptical, smooth.
Lookalikes: Missouri has at least two other species in genus Gyromitra, plus several other types with wrinkly, lobed, or folded caps.
• Gabled false morel (Gyromitra brunnea) is more lobed and saddle-shaped than brainlike, and it has a cap margin that is not fused to the stalk.
• The snow false morel (G. korfii, syn. G. gigas) resembles the big red false morel but has a very thick stem and squarish, blocky, tightly adhered cap. Cap color varies from tan or brown to rusty. It seems to be less common in Missouri.
• Elfin saddles (Helvella spp.) have caps that resemble saddles or ears, with lobes, folds, flaps, or wrinkles. The stems are often ridged or fluted. The color and form varies a great deal in this large genus, and some species look like false morels.
• Some people confuse true morels (Morchella spp.) with false morels, though spending just a little time comparing them and reading descriptions should prevent any confusion. All Missouri true morels are completely hollow inside.
Cap width: 1½–7 inches; cap height: 2–10 inches; stalk length: 2–5 inches; stalk width: 1–4 inches.
Where To Find
image of Big Red False Morel Distribution Map
Grows singly or in groups, on the ground, in mixed woods, often near dead trees or stumps.
Poisonous/not recommended. Potentially toxic mushroom. Mushroom aficionados debate the safety of false morels. Government agencies and health authorities must advise caution. Here are some of the many factors to consider:
• There are several closely related species known to contain the chemical gyromitrin, a potentially deadly toxin. These species are not always easy to tell apart. The species that has caused deaths (G. esculenta) occurs to our north and has not (so far) been found in Missouri, but it looks quite similar to Missouri’s false morels.
• The amount of gyromitrin in a false morel varies by the different species and, within each species, by local genetic strain. You cannot tell how much gyromitrin a false morel contains just by looking at it.
• The amount of gyromitrin that ends up in a dish varies by cooking technique and thoroughness of cooking. Also, different people may eat more or less mushroom in a serving.
• Different people have different sensitivities to gyromitrin. For example, while many Missourians have eaten the false morel G. caroliniana for years with no ill effects, some people do have a bad reaction to it.
• Finally, research is ongoing. Gyromitrin, including its presence in different mushroom species and its effects on humans, is not completely understood.
For these reasons, we cannot recommend eating any false morel mushrooms.
Life Cycle
Mushrooms exist most of the year as a network of cells (mycelium) penetrating the soil or rotting material. When ready to reproduce, the mycelium develops mushrooms, which produce spores that, once released, can begin new mycelia elsewhere. For at least part of its life cycle, this species is a saprobe, “eating” decaying materials such as dead leaves or wood. It also might be mycorrhizal, spending part of its cycle connected to tree roots in a relationship benefiting both tree and fungus.
“There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters!” The edibility and toxicity of this Gyromitra species is hotly debated among mushroom hunters. A lookalike species in states north of Missouri is certainly poisonous and has caused deaths. If you're considering eating any wild mushroom, learn all you can about it, make sure your ID is absolutely certain, and be sure to cook it thoroughly.
We cannot recommend that you eat false morels. If you nevertheless choose to do so, they must be thoroughly cooked in a well-ventilated room, since the fumes will also contain their toxin (similar to a chemical used in rocket fuel).
It’s possible to enjoy mushrooms just for their unique, bizarre, even beautiful looks. False morels can be breathtakingly huge.
Fungi and their fruiting bodies, mushrooms, are part of our natural environment. Their importance in forest ecosystems is monumental. Besides nourishing forest trees through symbiosis, they are also the wood rotters of the natural world, recycling nutrients back into the soil.
Media Gallery
Similar Species
About Mushrooms in Missouri
Mushrooms are a lot like plants, but they lack chlorophyll and have to take nutrients from other materials. Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals. They are in a different kingdom — the fungi. Fungi include the familiar mushroom-forming species, plus the yeasts, molds, smuts, and rusts.
Always be cautious when eating edible mushrooms. Be absolutely sure of the ID, and only eat a small amount the first time you try it to avoid a reaction..
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Heat-Related Illness in Children
How Heat Affects Kids
Here we are in summer and this year seems to be hotter than the last. They say that as time goes on, we can expect higher average summer temperatures and more extreme heat warnings.
With warmer temperatures, comes sun burns and heat-related illnesses especially if we are not prepared or take precautions. This already scares me as a mom trying to keep my kids safe. My daughter already seems to be more affected by being out in the sun/heat and it isn’t always easy to get those little people to wear their hats and long sleeved swim attire. Have you or your kids ever experienced a heat-related illness?
Children compose almost half (47.6%) of all heat-related illnesses. I believe it, my own daughter seems to be more susceptible to the heat than the rest of our family. But why is it that kids are more susceptible? When really young, babies do to loose heat very quickly and they do not sweat effectively – which is a bad combination in heat. Also, as kids get older they tend to be more active than adults and don’t hydrate by drinking enough fluids. They have a greater surface area to mass ratio, a slower rate of acclimatization and a lower rate of sweating – all combined provide a great risk to heat-related illnesses.
So how can we protect our kids?
Lather them up frequently with Sunscreen and/or get them to wear as much cover up as possible. ie. long sleeved swim shirts/swim pants/shorts and drink lots of water are obvious ways, but it’s easy to forget how much time our kids and ourselves are spending directly in the sun and heat.
Being prepared with shade casting tents or umbrellas when natural shade isn’t an option. Finding ways to keep cool ie pools, lakes, ocean, air conditioning, fans, misters etc.
What are the initial signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses and what should you do if you suspect them?
Heat rash/prickly heat forms when sweat ducts become blocked often due to being dressed too warmly. This is a common heat-related illness in babies. It causes discomfort and is itchy. Dressing your children for the elements (ie. not too warmly – cotton material) helps to prevent blocked sweat ducts, keeping the skin dry and cool will help. Often the rash goes away after 2-3 days. Source
Heat Cramps occurs often if you are exercising in the heat from a loss of electrolytes. Replenishing the electrolytes is key -sports drinks/pedialyte. Source
Heat Edema is a swelling of the legs and hands. Drinking more water, staying in a cool area with the part of the body elevated to allow for the fluids to drain. Source
Heat Tetany is hyperventilation and heat stress. If suspected remove the person out of the heat and helping them slow their breathing down. Source
Heat Syncope is when you faint due to lowered blood pressure. Often certain medications can contribute to lowering your blood pressure. Heat syncope is sometimes a symptom of a nervous system, metabolic, or cardiovascular problem that needs further medical evaluation. If you suspect heat syncope move the person to a cooler place if possible, allow them to sit or lie down, elevate feet to increase blood flow to the heart and ensure they are rehydrating. Source
Heat Exhaustion signs are nausea, lightheaded, fatigue, muscle cramping, dizziness. If you suspect heat exhaustion stop all activity and rest, move to a cooler place and rehydrate. Source
If heat exhaustion progresses to heat-stroke, that is a medical emergency and if left untreated can lead to death. Call 911 immediately. For more detailed information on the above listed illnesses see HealthLinkBC.
Signs of heatstroke include:
• Unconsciousness for longer than a few seconds.
• Confusion, severe restlessness, or anxiety.
• Convulsion (seizure).
• Symptoms of moderate to severe difficulty breathing.
• Fast heart rate.
• Sweating that may be heavy or may have stopped.
• Nausea and vomiting.
Play safe this summer!
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, all the information listed above has been collected from a variety of reputable sources (all listed above) and compiled here for your convenience.
Tina Evans
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Montana Audubon
Feed the Birds?
By David Cronenwett
One of my earliest memories of visiting a National Wildlife Refuge when I was young was a conspicuously placed sign along the trail; “Please do not feed the wildlife.” It’s self -evident message instantly made clear to my nine year old mind. A visitor to any National Park or other agency-managed natural area is quickly greeted with similar proclamations. Feeding wildlife creates dependency, can negatively alter behavior, sicken animals and in some cases seriously endanger people.
Deliberate feeding of wildlife then, is universally frowned upon, or is it? One notable exception of course, is the feeding of wild birds. Long ago, this pastime became a fully sanctioned, culturally enmeshed practice across society. One would be hard pressed to find a Euro-American community that is opposed to feeding birds, which brings avian beauty into the intimate reach of people for study and enjoyment. But as we are learning, even our most innocuous-seeming interactions with Nature can have unexpected results.
An estimated 550,000 tons of bird seed is intentionally set out each year by bird enthusiasts in Europe and North America and only recently have scientists begun to examine the issue. Part of the challenge of studying the ecological effects of supplemental feeding is simply trying to locate control populations without access to such food. Some of the results have been remarkable; aside from confirming a few common assumptions such as the transmission of disease and encouraging fatal window collisions, in some environments feeding birds is altering reproductive behavior and evolutionary trajectory.
A 2010 study in the UK demonstrated that males in some songbird populations with access to feeders tended to delay or completely forgo early morning singing during the breeding season. This behavioral shift has a direct impact on male paternity and overall reproduction since predawn singing is the primary way to attract females. Some ornithologists in Britain now suggest ending all supplemental feeding at winter’s end.
A more incredible example comes from new research in Germany. The Eurasian Blackcap Warbler population is splitting into two distinct groups; those that migrate north to the United Kingdom and those that go to ancestral wintering grounds in Spain. The “English” birds survive almost exclusively on food provided by humans and now exhibit consistently rounder wings and narrower bills better suited to access seed from feeders rather than traditional winter fare of olives and other Mediterranean fruits. Also, because the migration to and from the British Isles is much shorter than that of those wintering in Spain, when breeding season returns, the English birds return much earlier and tend to mate only with their own kind. In about thirty generations of blackcaps, early speciation due largely to human feeding is well underway.
This study raises profound questions about the human role in the natural world. Can the new population of blackcaps still be considered wildlife or do they now fall into the spectrum of human domestication with cats, dogs and cows? Do we now have an obligation to feed this emerging species “forever” if their survival depends on it? There is much we don’t know and haven’t bothered to think about but clearly, new questions raised of how feeding birds affects them is worthy of rigorous study and ethical reflection. We might begin by asking ourselves why we do it in the first place.
Human ecologist Paul Shepard was fond of using the term “The Others” to describe non-human life. Its double-entendre captures the notion that animals like birds inhabit the world with us, but also that their “otherness,” their profound differences from humans, makes them simultaneously unknowable. This paradox is worth keeping in mind when we decide how to interact with wildlife. Our overwhelming desire to be close to birds and other creatures, an impulse stemming from a sense of both kinship and love, may not always be the best thing for them. It is well established by history that we sometimes harm what we adore.
On the other hand, the close observation of birds can often lead to greater appreciation for them and ultimately, their conservation. Perhaps we will end up deciding that in some instances, even with possible deleterious impacts, the overall benefits of feeding wild birds outweighs the negatives. But a case needs to be made for further study and honest examination of the results as well as our own motivations. Indeed, the more we learn about Nature, the more we know we don’t know; so infinitely complex is our world.
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"Karmayoga does not mean ceaseless pursuit of karma. It truly consists in the Yoga orientation and discipline given to the buddhi and the mind. Constant preservation and application of Yogabuddhi while doing any work, alone makes one a Karmayogin."
The Guiding force of Narayanashrama Tapovanam & Center for Inner Resources Development
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Articles for Saadhana
Krishna extends the discussion on Yajna, the Yajna spirit and attitude, to show how it gives rise to greater fulfillment and benevolence in preserving and enriching both individual and collective life on earth. In doing so, he links yajna with Prajapati, the Creator, calling it His command for mankind. “Mankind was created together with Yajna,” says Krishna. This means men and women do not have any truthful right to exist without adopting and pursuing Yajna. Why is it so? Then again, why should Krishna bring in so much religiousness in his otherwise spiritual and philosophical discussion?
Verses 3.10 to 3.16 certainly give rise to such a question. At the same time the precepts and relevances brought home through them make the seeker think more deeply about the harmony between individual life and universal life. Mankind is compelled not to fall a victim to selfishness and greed which often give rise to the flair for domination. When such an unchecked note is allowed to flourish, the harm and destruction it brings about can be colossal.
There is an amazing difference between the ancient and the present man. The way human mind and intelligence have worked, the discoveries and inventions that have come to be as a result, are too obvious. In the process, man has interfered too much with the environment. The extent of water and air pollution man’s life-style has breathed into the surroundings stands to threaten the very life on the planet. What is the reason for such adverse ‘growth’? It is sheer lack of proper insight into life and the inseparable connections it has with the rest of creation. The call for Yajna, though at first seemingly religious, is an effective safeguard against all such slips and disharmonious developments.
Spiritual thinking and philosophical wisdom have in this land first emerged as a natural climax and culmination of religious life. Vedas bear evidence to this unnegatable fact. Vedic life was first given to the pious utterance of eulogistic hymns addressed to different celestial powers. But, before long it had its gradual transition to the Upanishadic thoughts and findings, in which spiritual search, philosophical reasoning and subjective introspection ranked supreme.
The religious stronghold in the minds of our people cannot be ignored or set aside. But the religious thinking and life has always stood interwoven with spiritual truths and findings. This is unique to our land. Thus the philosophical pronouncements of Krishna are always coupled with religious references and linkages. This is, however, no interception or disharmony. In fact, the discussions become more practical and fruitful to understand and practice, especially for the great multitudes of our people
सहयज्ञा: प्रजा: सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापति: ।
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ।।
Creating mankind with the scope and power of Yajna, Prajapati, the Creator, pronounced: “By this you grow and multiply. May the Yajna awareness act as a wish-yielding cow for you.”
Mankind will remain prosperous, useful to the earth and the world, and will also fulfil themselves and others, only as long as they reflect and pursue the Yajna spirit and purpose. The institution of marriage, as evolved in this country, has a lot to offer in the matter of knowledge and perception. The one great purpose of marriages, holds our tradition, is vamsa-vrddhi, preservation and progress of the lineage. This certainly means that man must have the timely concern and awareness about when and what for he should marry and what should follow the married life. If the country or the world requires more population, he can lend himself to parent more children. If the opposite is the situation around, then with discernment he must permit only a reduced population. Thus, to contribute more children or less is within the discretion of man.
Previously the families here were quite big and large in terms of the number of children. But child mortality, deaths from ill-health, disease and epidemics, destruction due to inter-kingdom wars, used to be quite common. Now in the changed context, these are almost extinct, or the minimum. Naturally, the present mankind should have the present updated view of having lesser children and population so that the earth will not be overloaded, meaning that its resources will not be overstrained or exhausted. Anena prasavishyadhvam: When Krishna says this, he means that mankind should always remain an ornament to the earth, earthly lives and Nature. The basic ignorance in this regard should be removed and a proper measure of enlightenment and caution should always adorn mankind’s thoughts, feelings and wishes.
Then only generation after generation will take their place to remain viable, healthy, prosperous, and contributory to the world.
The next pronouncement of Krishna should make any one think deeply about spiritual nature and potential of man. Although all the other forms of life have the same constituents as the human has, namely the material elemental body and the supra- material spiritual consciousness to animate and activate it, only in man the higher evolutes, namely the mind and intelligence, have attained newer dimensions. The depth and magnitude of the mind and intelligence are truly inestimable. Perhaps at no time will man be able to know fully how much is the power and possibility of his mind and intelligence.
By employing his immensely potent mind and buddhi, man can, says Krishna, draw to himself practically any favour or help to redress his grievance or fulfil his rightful wishes. He has to be non-possessive in doing so, and greed and domination should be scrupulously avoided.
How much can the right employment of mind and buddhi bring about fulfilment in life is best illustrated by the life of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya. The instance also shows how the pursuit of Yajna, in this case with a special focus to generate its spiritual power and relevance, can fill the gaps and needs of the usual life and by that it can also bring timely benediction to the society around.
Dasaratha first married Kausalya, from whom he had a daughter, whom he gave in adoption to Lomapada. But Kausalya did not bear any further child. The King married Sumitra next, and then again Kaikeyi. But, the plight of sonlessness did not change. None gave birth to any child. The throne of Ayodhya stood almost deserted. The King became anxious, burdened with the thought of Ayodhya’s welfare. To give a heir to the throne was the supreme task of the King. When the feelings become strong then the spiritual powers and laws begin to work in strange succession. He decided to perform the great Aswamedha Yaga, by which he proposed to set in motion the spiritual process which, according to tradition and reason, had the potential to help man in distress.
Sage Vasishtha was apprised of the move. Complimenting the King for his timely decision, the Sage advised him on how to go about the huge Yajna.
Aswamedha Yaga was performed in all zeal and piety. By its special graceful notes, all the three queens became pregnant and the King got four sons. The sons grew with the best of brotherhood and fondness that the world knows of. How did this happen ? At the root of the whole material creation is the play and process of the spiritual reality, to which at least all the visible powers of the world rightly belong.
In the land of Kerala, it is an oft quoted instance. It was the time of scholarliness, which almost worked as an infatuation. A Tamilnadu Pandit, Uddanda Sastri by name, came to Kerala and challenging all the Pandits defeated them outright. None could combat him in Vedantic discussion and debate. Kerala Pandits could not take the humiliation. They did not want to relent and give up hope. Looking for a Brahmin woman having the characteristics to ensure possible learning skills and potentials, they masterminded a course of austerity and spiritual disciplines, sitting around her and making her the incumbent of the spiritual grace. Selected chants and invocations were made. Havans were performed. The expectant woman took her part in all this by partaking of the Yajna prasada every day. Finally a son was born. He was the famous Kakkassery Bhattathiri of distinction.
He grew up revealing exceptional notes of intelligence right from very early age. It is said that in his childhood, he could identify the crows that used to take the ball of rice offered traditionally in the house every day before the housemembers took food. This was, by all standards, a rare trait. That, however, proved to be a harbinger of Kakkassery’s precociousness. The boy had hardly grown up to be an adult when the same Uddanda Sastri was held by him in a direct debate arranged by the elderly folk. And in a matter of minutes, the proud scholar was defeated by the young boy in the presence of those very scholars whom he had defeated miserably a few years back.
The instance, which is historic, clearly testifies to the fact and possibility of man’s own inner spiritual potential, to harness and manifest which, he himself has designed the specific means. Yajna, viewed in any manner, implies the spiritual relationship of man with the non-spiritual substances and laws in the world surrounding him. The behaviour of one and all of these non-spiritual contents ultimately owes itself to the one fundamental and wholesome spiritual cause. The effects can be manipulated by this supreme cause.
Thus, Krishna’s statement that the spiritual pursuit called Yajna has the potential to be a Kamadhenu for man, is absolutely true. But this only covers the power of benevolence Yajna holds for man, the individual, his life on earth. Does Yajna have any wider relevance and application ? Here too Krishna holds that when rightly developed and pursued, mankind’s collective Yajna assumes far greater dimensions. It can help and determine the overall welfare of this earth. It is here that the linkage between Yajna and rainfall is brought in. Rainfall always carries with it an unpredictable note, which often victimizes man badly. One wonders as to why should such a fate occur at all.
Evaporation of water takes place regularly and the formation of clouds is also a regular process. Why should the shedding by clouds be so irregular - inundating or scanty ? At times, defying all calculations, it is damagingly delayed too. Is this a situation wherein the hearts and minds of mankind can bring about any salutary change ? Will the clouds respond to man’s spiritual power and resignation ?
The question is an open one, in which the abstruse connection between material existence and its spiritual foundation is involved. It has to be admitted that objective scientific investigations cannot by their very nature penetrate into the delicate horizon where materiality obviously steps into something beyond and beneath. And it is this inaccessible but definite linkage that Bhagavad Gita and such other discussions take up, expose and explain. Their mission is primarily and ultimately this.
As long as the rational human has to believe in and accept the invisible internal mind, he has also to heed faithfully its timely deeper pulsations and exhortations. If the humans reflect and display in their behaviour an abundance of their Yajna virtue and obligations which Prajapati has gifted them with, the benign outcome will surely have its destined effect on the clouds hovering above. In this broader and higher aspect, Yajna has the power not alone to fulfil the individual’s needs and wishes, but also to contribute liberally and tangibly to the preservation and welfare of the earthly life as a whole.
Sage Valmiki, the author of Ramayana, who vouchsafes the truthfulness of his narration has something very relevant to say in this matter. Dandakaranya, he says, was a huge desert. When Sage Agastya stepped there for the first time, he was immensely afflicted by the sight. Moved at heart, he decided to remain there and plunge into his fond austerities. The spiritual vibrations found their response in the sky above. clouds collected all around and there followed continuous downpour. The whole region became lush green with plants and trees.
How could this be, one should wonder. Every form of life is a combination of the sentient inward spirit and the insentient outward matter. The connection or bond between the two is inextricable though ineffable. Of them, it is the sentient spirit that acts on the insentient counterpart, to make it vibrant and creative. The interaction normally takes place within repetitive specific parameters. But there can be occasions when a greater extent of interaction transpires. Dandakaranya’s plight responding to Agastya Maharshi’s kind austerities is only a rare but exemplary one. By citing it, Valmiki’s aim is to enlighten his readers and exhort them to seek the subtle higher redress when the gross lower ones fail or prove inadequate.
So Krishna’s linkage of the sublimity of Yajna with the behaviour of clouds has to be valued for what it distinctly reveals. Any extent of thought and reflection on this account will not be an excess.
(From the Series Essential Concepts In Bhagavad Gita)
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An online resource based on the award-winning nature guide –
Wilson’s Snipe
Shorebird Migration Well Underway
7-30-18 greater yellowlegs 286Contrary to what it’s called, the “fall” migration of shorebirds has been underway since early July, and is in full swing, peaking in August. Vermont is home to only a few breeding shorebirds (Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, American Woodcock). Most of the shorebirds we see this time of year are those migrating south after nesting in the Arctic.
Shorebirds move south relatively early compared to many migratory birds, in part, because the breeding season in the Arctic is quite short. In addition, those birds whose first nesting attempt failed tend to migrate soon afterwards rather than attempt a second nesting, due, once again, to the brief Arctic summer. Also, in several species one member of a pair often leaves before the young are full grown, sometimes even before the eggs hatch, leaving the remaining adult to raise the young.
The young of most shorebirds migrate later than the adults. There can be as much as a month between the peak passage of adults and that of juvenile birds. (Photo: Greater Yellowlegs)
American Bur-reed Flowering
7-23-18 bur weedAmerican Bur-reed, Sparganium americanum, is an aquatic, perennial plant that grows two to four feet high and looks a lot like a grass due to its narrow leaves (but isn’t). This member of the Cattail family grows in shallow water (up to a foot deep) in marshes and along muddy shorelines. The flower stem forms a zig-zag pattern with flower clusters at each stem juncture. The large, spherical female flowers are located on the lower part of the stem, with the smaller male flowers at the top.
Considered an important plant for conservation purposes, American Bur-reed has the ability to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wetlands. It can help prevent eutrophication by lessening the buildup of nitrogen (often from agricultural land) and phosphorus (households, industry) from runoff.
American Bur-reed spreads rapidly through its underground root systems of rhizomes, and is relied upon by many birds as an important source of food. Waterfowl, including Mallards, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater Scaup, Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, American Wigeons and Blue-winged Teal, consume the seeds, as do Soras, Virginia Rails and Wilson’s Snipe. Muskrats eat the entire plant. (Thanks to Kay Shumway for photo op.)
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The Foolishness of Striving for Perfection
Aylmer’s desire to make his wife perfect is doomed to failure because perfection, Hawthorne suggests, is the exclusive province of heaven and can’t be found on earth. In fact, the very success of Aylmer’s perfection-inducing potion may doom Georgiana to death. Because she becomes an ideal being, completely unmarred, she is no longer able to exist in this world. The desire for perfection not only kills Georgiana, it also ruins her husband because his desire to create the ideal woman becomes a fixation that prevents him from seeing the good in his wife. Eventually, her tiny imperfection is all he can see. It grows in his mind until the very sight of the beautiful Georgiana repulses him, a ludicrous turn of events. The wisest men in the story are those who understand that perfection is not a goal worth pursuing. These men, Georgiana’s admirers, never appear in the story, but Hawthorne stresses that their appreciation of her is far more sensible than Aylmer’s fixation on her single imperfection. For these men, Georgiana’s slight flaw only enhances her loveliness. In the same way that life seems more precious because we know we’ll die, Georgiana’s beauty seems more amazing because it isn’t seamless.
Science versus Nature
In a story full of wildly successful, almost magical, scientific experiments, it is untouched nature itself that is shown to be more powerful than any manmade creation. Aylmer has the ability to make lovely sights and amazing aromas from nothing, but he doesn’t have the ability to control his wife’s spirit or prolong her life. On the other hand, Georgiana does have some measure of power over her husband’s spirit, a power that comes not from science but nature. For example, when Aylmer’s spirits flag, he asks Georgiana to sing to him, and the beauty of her voice restores his good mood. Unlike her husband’s potions, her voice is entirely natural but has a much greater effect. In addition, Georgiana’s birthmark also demonstrates the power of nature because it captivates and intoxicates almost everyone who sees it. In the end, Aylmer’s attempt to control nature with science ends only in death and unhappiness.
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What To Do If You Get Black Algae in Your Pool
Black algae in your vinyl pool is a significant health hazard. You should know how to spot it, ban the use of the pool immediately, and take the necessary steps to get rid of it! Black algae can make your family, friends, and your pets sick by just swimming in water that is infected. But, the probability and the severity of illness is increased if you accidentally drink the infected water. Killing black algae is more difficult than killing other forms of algae because it isn’t technically algae–it is bacteria! If you think you may have black algae, it is a good idea to call experienced pool technicians at Prestige Pools to help you eliminate it.
What Is Black Algae?
Black algae are actually cyanbacteria and look like mold. When you see a group of tiny black dots or what appears to be big clumps of mold on the surfaces of your pool, you may have black algae. Black algae love porous surfaces like concrete, plaster, and gunite rather than the smooth surface of fiberglass and vinyl liners. When black algae begin forming, it develops specialized cells that affix deep into the pores of pool surfaces and it is difficult to kill. Chlorine alone won’t get deep enough into the pores of the pool.
How Does Black Algae Get in Your Pool?
Black algae can get into your pool by a carrier like a person, animal, or inanimate object. If someone in your pool has been in a natural body of water like a river, pond, lake, or the ocean and didn’t wash their swimwear afterward, then wore the swimwear into your pool, black algae can be transmitted into the pool. Or, if an innertube that was in the river or lake isn’t washed before it ends up in your pool, you can get black algae. Very seldom is black algae from airborne spores.
How Do You Kill Black Algae?
When black alga begins to attach itself to the pool surface, the propagating colony produces a waxy coat that prevents chlorine or algaecides from penetrating it. This makes it more difficult to eliminate than other common algae. You need to use an algaecide that contains a penetrating agent, which will get into the pores of the surface to cut through the waxy coat. These are the steps you should take to kill this menace:
1. Clean or Replace the Filter
You can backwash the pool filter or rinse the filter cartridge if there is only a small amount of algae. But, if the alga is plentiful, you will need either a filter cleaner or replace the filter.
2. Brush the Pool
You need to use a very stiff pool brush and scrub with as much “elbow grease” as you can muster. This breaks down the waxy protective layer of the algae.
3. Use Chlorine Tablets
Break a chlorine tablet and rub it directly onto the area with the algae. This gets to the roots and prevents it from coming back.
4. Shock Your Pool
Because the black algae are so difficult to kill, you need to use a much stronger dose of pool shock than normal. You can multiply the manufacturer’s recommended dose by four times. Some pool experts recommend using a calcium hypochlorite shock for killing black algae. It is a good idea to get advice from a specialist like Prestige Pools for suggestions on the amount of shock to use for your pool’s size.
5. Run the Pump
Running the pump disperses the shock in order to kill all the black algae. Run the pump for 24 hours. This will take the dead algae out, but unfortunately back into the filter.
6. Brush the Pool (Again)
While the chlorine level is high, during the 24 hours after the shock, brush the surfaces at least two more times. You can’t brush too much because this is what is getting the algae off the walls and floor.
7. Clean the Filter and Shock Again, If Necessary
By cleaning the filter a second time, you are removing the dying or already dead algae. This time, either backwashing or rinsing the filter should be sufficient, but continue to use a filter cleaner. If you still see remnants of black algae, shock the pool again. This time use a double dose of shock.
8. Brush the Pool Another Time (Or Two)
We can’t stress enough the importance of brushing the pool surfaces several times throughout this entire process. It is the only way to eliminate all of the bacteria. Black algae are more difficult to remove than any other type of algae, mold, or bacteria. So, brush, brush, and brush again like there is no tomorrow!
9. Test and Balance the Pool Water
Be sure to test and balance the water in the pool so you can keep the appropriate chemistry and prevent future outbreaks of black algae.
Contact Us To Get Rid of Black Algae!
As you can tell from this article, having black algae in your pool is not something to mess around with! Getting help from our experts at Prestige Pools can save you a lot of time and worry. Let us take care of the problem and give you peace of mind for the health of your family, friends, and pets. Call us at 919-779-1033 or contact us through our easy-to-use form below.
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I’ve been using circles with my Year 9 and 10 Spanish classes. At the start of class, we form a circle and start off with a ‘well-being’ or ‘personal interest’ type of question (in Spanish). Each student asks the person next to them the question, and the other person answers it. One person speaks at a time.
Questions: eg How did you feel yesterday? Today? (In this case… then followed up with a brief chat from me about how emotions and feelings change, so when having a bad day, the wisdom of knowing ‘this too shall pass’!!! I think they get it :0) OR What did you do on the holidays? OR just plain How are you?
Tomorrow, the first day back, we’ll do How do you feel about being back at school? or What do you like about school…dislike? OR What did you do on the holidays? Something like that!
The idea is to get those speaking Spanish, but almost more importantly to connect us as a group and actually care about one another. Also, we do this to break up the usual groups they tend to normally gravitate to and give everyone a voice. I have reminded them of that at the start, as well as the importance of HEARING (as opposed to passively listening to) what each person is saying… eye contact, empathy, looking at one another with interest. They are now asking at the start of class, ‘Are we going to do a circle?’ It’s really interesting! I kind-of think that they like it!
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Division by 9…
As we read earlier, 9 is a magic number.
And there must be something unique when we divide any number by 9. We are going to learn a method with which we can easily and quickly find the quotient and remainder in one line.
Let’s learn this with few examples. Example 1 and Example 2 covers simple examples and Example 3 covers special case where there are carries while finding the answers.
To find remainder:
Step 1: Find the digit sum of all digits of dividend. Digit Sum.
Remainder is this digit sum.
To find quotient : We move from left to right.
Step 1: The left most digit of quotient is the leftmost digit of dividend itself.
Step 2: The next right digit of quotient is the sum of above number in step 1 and 2nd next digit in dividend.
Repeat this pattern till you reach rightmost digit in dividend. The rightmost digit in dividend is not part of this pattern.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3: Special Case – When there are carries:
This method can be extended to any length of number divided by 9.
Let us practice with more examples:
Divide the following by 9:
a. 74b. 578c. 764
d. 32e. 45781f. 456789999
Published by Pankaj Kumar
Audacious, Sincere, Dependable and Always Can-Do.....
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The Islamic World
The Islamic World
Khalifa Uthman bin Affan - The Battle of Merv
The Battle of Merv
Yazdjurd crossed the Oxus and sought refuge with the Khaqan of Farghana. After the death of Umar, the Persians revolted against the Muslims and a greater part of Persia was lost to the Muslims. Availing of this opportunity, Yazdjurd with the help of a Turkish force reoccupied Merv.
Conspiracy against Yazdjurd
In spite of the reoccupation of Merv, Yazdjurd was not able to have a firm hold on administration. Neizak Tarkhan was the strongest and the most powerful chief in Khurasan, and when Yazdjurd wanted to win him over to his side, Neizak demanded that Yazdjurd should marry one of his daughters to him. Yazdjurd considered such demand to be an affront, and he gave a rude reply to Neizak. Thereupon Neizak led a force against Yazdjurd. Mahrweih the Governor of Merv was won over by Neizak. When the battle was at its thickest, and the forces of the Shah appeared to have the upper hand, Mahrweih with a large detachment crossed over to the side of Neizak. That turned the tide of the battle. The forces loyal to Yazdjurd fought heroically, but they were outnumbered, and were soon overpowered.
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How Learning Analytics is Beneficial for Universities and Students
How Learning Analytics is Beneficial for Universities and Students
Education Technology Insights | Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Learning analytics has the potential to revolutionize how people measure impact and outcomes in learning environments, enabling providers to innovate new approaches to teaching and learning excellence and arming students with further information to make the best educational choices.
FREMONT, CA: The term "learning analytics" refers to the process of measuring, collecting, analyzing, and reporting on data about learners' progress and the contexts in which they learn. By leveraging the increased availability of large datasets about learner activity and the digital footprints left by students in learning environments, learning analytics enable us to go beyond what data currently available can accomplish. Below are some benefits of learning analytics.
Improving the educational quality
Analytics have been used to enhance teaching. The value for improving education or planning future course offerings is a critical component of learning analytics. Learning analytics can provide teachers with more information about the educational content and activities and their teaching and assessment processes, allowing continuous improvement. By obtaining more data about the student experience, an institution may identify and address issues of concern to learners, such as insufficient feedback. Lecturers and tutors can use analytics to monitor their students' performance throughout the module; they can then adapt their instruction if they notice that some students are struggling.
Enhancing Retention
A better perception of data about learners and their learning assist universities in addressing high attrition rates, which have a detrimental effect on the lives of those affected and result in wasted institutional resources. Student data analytics can be used to forecast which students will drop out of school the following year. Retention has benefited from analytics. After identifying an at-risk student, individualized interventions such as advice or support from a tutor can be used to assist in retaining those students.
Providing students with the ability to exercise control
Another critical application of learning analytics is to provide students with more information about their progress and what they need to do to achieve their educational goals.
Learning analytics can empower students by allowing them to take control of their education, provide them with a more accurate picture of their current performance in real-time, and assist them in making informed study choices.
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Don’t get LED astray
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LED is a TLA. What? OK it’s a bit of a joke (TLA means “three letter acronym”). But this little quip sums up the industry’s approach to how it sometimes communicates with the consumer. It seems to think that throwing impressive looking acronyms at the consumer is a great idea.
TV technology is complex, and the manufactures make up all kinds of acronyms (usualy TLAs) to try give them a marketing difference from their competitors. Some of their technologies are really great, but sometimes you kinda wonder.
This blog doesn’t explore every technical buzz-word, but endeavors to debunk a common point of confusion.
Don’t get me wrong, acronyms have a valuable place when defining and explaining conformance to defined technology standards, and that’s fine. However, although many consumers are quite tech-savvy, a sprinkling of acronyms – designed solely to impress or befuddle the potential buyer – can lead to uncertainty and confusion.
In this article, we will try to debunk what are meant by LCD, LED and OLED.
Firstly, the meaning of these acronyms
LCD means “Liquid Crystal Display”. It’s the same base technology used in countless applications from kitchen timers, watches, laptops. A LCD (or part of it) is transparent until an electronic charge (voltage) is applied when it turns opaque/dark. The great thing about LCD is they it’s a cheap, reliable and low power technology.
LED means “Light Emitting Diode”. This is an electronic device that illuminates when powered up – again used in countless applications. LEDs have traditionally been made using very small amounts of quite nasty materials like arsenide (the common red-colour LED uses a compound called Gallium Arsenide Phosphate).
OLED means “Organic Light Emitting Diode”. These are a really terrific, advanced light source that use usually made using carbon and hydrogen. They are called “organic” because they use carbon. Because of their structure, OLEDs are very adaptable and can be made into curved shapes, or even flexible displays. Newer development include transparent displays – which could be useful to make “glass” that can display superimposed information. Imagine a pair of glasses that can show useful information to the wearer, without having the wear Google Glasses which many thought looked a little odd.
Why should you care?
An understanding of the technology means that you don’t glaze over when the TV shop salesman is liberally throwing acronyms around. So, lets explore how, for example, TVs are made, in simple terms.
LCD TVs operate by mounting an LCD in front of coloured filters which is in front of a white light (this light is a backlight that spans the rear of the LCD). Hence, as the individual pixels (a pixel being an individual “dot” of the millions in the screen) in the LCD switches to a clear state, the white light shines through the filter and out through the LCD at the front of the screen. The white light in these screens was traditionally a (fluorescent) light in the back of the TV. This is simple yet effective. In early LCD display, the LCD pixels could not switch on and off quickly enough and so we saw “ghosting” during rapid action TV like sport.
Another fundamental shortcoming of the LCD (when used in a TV) is that the LCD can never quite go completely opaque which allows some light to seep through. Hence, LCD displays could never quite achieve a total black (unlike, for example a Plasma display). These are usually the cheapest TV types.
LED TVs, in essence, is a simple upgrade to the LCD TV above where LEDs replace the fluorescent light. The same basic LCD operating method is the same. The key difference was a more consistent light spread and thinner displays. These were a little more expensive when first developed, but today you should not buy a TV that isn’t LED (or OLED – see below).
The thing to remember is that a “basic” LED TV is really an LCD TV (that is not a typo mistake) as the LEDs simply replaces the fluorescent backlight. Both the fluorescent and LEDs are situated at the edge of the screen so the only (but important) benefit is that the LED display can be thinner.
There is, however, another type of LED TV which uses an array of LEDs that spans the rear of the display – and in this case the LEDs in sections of the screen can be dimmed (in that local area) – if for example the picture has a consistent area of black in a scene. This LED display method is called “local dimming” – and its better than simple LED backlighting because it enables better blacks.
OLED TVs are very different. OLED screens are made from millions of individual LED pixels (display “dots”), thus doing away with the LCD panel and backlight. This means that these TVS can be very thin and with smaller bezels. In fact, because OLEDs are flexible, curved screens can be produced (actually quite easily). These screens are also more environmentally friendly as they use fewer hazardous metals. OLED displays are more expensive to buy, but we will see how long that situation persists as their manufacturing volume increases.
Actually, it’s my view that OLED was the key reason why Plasma are yesterday’s news. Plasma’s key benefit was “better blacks” but they used a lot of power (and boy they could get hot). Because individual OLED pixels are either illuminated or totally off, OLED TVs offer the same “blacks” at a much lower power than plasma, and are thinner lighter and cheaper. They are not, at this time, quite as bright though – but bright enough.
These are the key things to take away
• LED TVs are the same as LCD TVs, except the backlight comprises LEDs instead of fluorescent. They are not a “new generation” of technology.
• LED TVs are not the same as OLED TVs. Despite both have “LED” in the name, they are very, very different.
• Don’t let the TV salesperson get away with interchanging the words LED and OLED to bamboozle into you into buying a cheaper (LED) TV rather than having to explain OLED.
• OLEDs TVs are usually more expensive.
• OLED offers future possibilities that other technologies will struggle to deliver.
• Although the type of TV (LCD, LED, OLED) is very important, other factors like processing power, the selection of connections, and other considerations etc are also important.
If you can afford it, buy OLED. If you have to buy LED – buy LED with “local dimming”. Last choice would be “LED backlit”. Don’t bother with an LCD with florescent backlight until you just want a real cheapie TV to glance at in the garage whilst you work on the car.
Thinking about QLED versus OLED?
Read our guide here
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What You Should Know About Your Liver
The liver is the second largest organ in the body (your skin is the largest) and arguably the most popular one mentioned in yoga studios, health magazines, and wellness centers throughout the spring and summer season. Considering your liver is involved in nearly 500 bodily functions—including detoxification and producing important proteins such as enzymes, hormones, blood proteins, clotting factors, and immune factors—there’s no mystery why it’s important to honor and protect this essential organ no matter what season it is.
However, after the winter is over, it’s a great time (from the Ayurvedic perspective) to purge any or all unhealthy winter habits and wake up to the vibrant energy of the spring season. As a yoga teacher, nutritionist, and Ayurvedic Health Educator, I’m always a student and curious about the human body and how it operates. I’m always eager to learn what I can do to make it thrive.
The liver acts as a proverbial club bouncer, standing guard at the entrance; on a daily basis, the liver filters unwanted items out of your bloodstream such as drugs (over the counter and prescription), alcohol, cigarettes, environmental pollutants, caffeine, food additives, smog, chemical household cleaning products, plus ammonia and bilirubin (which are produced in the body as a result of protein metabolism).
Please remember that every toxic substance mentioned above will eventually be processed by your liver. If your liver can’t break down the toxins, they simply don’t go anywhere, which makes it harder for the liver to do its regular job. To help give your liver a break, please take extra caution with alcohol consumption. If alcohol is consumed on a regular basis, normal liver function may be interrupted, leading to chemical imbalances and depression. Liver cells may be destroyed or altered, resulting in fatty deposits (fatty liver which will be covered next month), inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis), and/or permanent scarring (cirrhosis). Mixing alcohol and medications may also damage the liver.
If you use alcohol to relax or reduce stress at the end of a long day, consider getting some exercise instead, then treating yourself to a “mocktail” (non-alcoholic drink) and see if these replacements help you to feel more clear and emotionally stable at the end of each day.
Diet: Liver-Supporting Nutrients
Vitamin C: Grapefruit, lemon, red bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts and strawberries.
Flavonoids: Beets, apples, blueberries, cabbage, parsley, tomatoes, strawberries, and white, green or black tea.
Selenium: Found in our soil and will vary greatly depending on where your food was grown and how healthy the soil is. Foods with concentrated selenium include brewers’ yeast, wheat germ, liver, butter, molasses, Brazil nuts, oats, garlic, mushrooms, radishes, and tomatoes.
Cruciferous Vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower.
Root: Turmeric (anti-inflammatory, helps the liver detoxify carcinogenic chemicals and stimulates the production of bile).
Herbs: Echinacea, dandelion, red clover, burdock, and milk thistle, which has a reputation for promoting the growth of new liver cells and might be worth exploring during a seasonal detox If you are considering a liver flush or cleanse, it’s important to make sure you stay hydrated and are also having regular bowel movements each day.
Daily bowel movements are essential because the chemicals and pollutants that get released in the body from the liver will end up in your stool for elimination. Slow or irregular elimination patterns may lead to further complications. During a detox phase, I often recommend mild laxatives such as Triphala (Indian formula found in most health food stores in capsule form), psyllium, flaxseeds, chia seeds, and prunes to ensure your colon is being emptied two to three times a day. I also recommend consulting with your local Ayurvedic practitioner (yogi health scientists) or nutritionist to support you in building a custom program that addresses your uniqueness and health goals.
As you can see there is a lot you can do in your daily life to support your liver. If you give your liver a break and limit the number of drugs, alcohol, pesticides, fatty foods, artificial sweeteners, and sugar in your diet on a regular basis, there would be less need to “detox” your liver. A balanced diet with regular exercise and hydration goes a long way in regard to the health of your organs.
Researchers Find Gut Microbiota and Mental Health Connection
Groundbreaking new studies are revealing the connection between gut health and mental health.
Researchers have known about the connection between the bacteria that live in your gut and the brain for some time, but when it comes to how closely they’re connected science has just scratched the surface. Now in a systematic analysis published in the journal Clinical Psychology Review researchers looked at 26 studies that assessed the role gut biology plays in anxiety and depression.
The findings showed people with anxiety and depression had different levels and types of microbes in their gut, compared to people without anxiety and depression. The digestive tract of people with anxiety and depression contained more pro-inflammatory bacteria species and had less of the type of bacteria that help regulate the central nervous system.
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The Magic of Plasticity: Why It’s Never Too Late To Learn!
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Some people believe the Earth is flat. Some people even believe that pineapple is a pizza topping. Others believe that younger people learn better than adults.
Whilst the first two beliefs are debatable (to put it mildly), the latter group may have a point…
Plasticity is the capability of the brain to adjust throughout your life. It’s strongly believed that once we hit 25, the brain’s plasticity solidifies. This makes it harder to create neural pathways, which can mean it’s tougher to learn new skills.
However, we believe it’s possible to break apart rigid neural patterns in the brain. We believe in the magic of brain plasticity!
Is Childhood The Golden Age Of Learning?
While the phrase; ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ isn’t set in concrete, it does bear a firm truth.
In its formative years, the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain which deals with memory and complex cognitive behaviour) is astonishingly adaptable and moldable. This malleable nature is referred to as neuroplasticity. Subsequently, children are able to absorb new information at a faster rate.
Most neurologists agree that the prefrontal cortex is fully developed by the age of 25. As the brain becomes more rigid it becomes harder to develop new skills.
For example, a lot of educational systems believe it’s easier to learn a new language from a young age. This study on language learning suggests that if you learn a foreign vocabulary after 18, you won’t ever achieve the same proficiency as native speakers.
But don’t fear if you are over 18 or 25 (oh, the memories!). At Growth Engineering, we believe you should never lose your thirst for knowledge, regardless of your age. That’s why learning is at the core of our award winning Academy LMS.
What Is Your Brain Age?
There is a simple test you can perform to measure the age of your brain. Whilst this shouldn’t be regarded as 100% scientifically accurate, it does indicate the agility of your reflexes.
Ask a person to drop a vertically positioned 30 cm ruler into your hand. Ensure they do not warn you of when they will let go.
Clutch the ruler as soon as you see/feel it drop. The lower the measurement, the quicker (or younger) your brain is. Check your answers here:
• Less than 10 cm = age 20
• 15 cm = age 25
• 20 cm = age 30
• 25 cm = age 35
• 30 cm or a complete miss = age 40+
Even if your brain is younger than you thought, it’s always good to keep on top of your brain. Which brings us to our next point: is it possible to claw back time and increase your brain’s plasticity?
Can You Make Your Brain Younger?
We’ve concluded that children learn at a faster rate due to the moldable nature of their brains. The good news is that it’s never too late to remold your brain to promote better learning! Here are some techniques to help rejuvenate your neuroplasticity:
Mental Stimulation
Brainy activities inspire new relations between nerve cells. This helps cultivate the magic of plasticity! There’s a whole assortment of mental gymnastics you can practice. Test your recall by memorising a list of items. Run through some mental arithmetic in your head. How about doubling a number (i.e. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 etc.)? Another great example is ‘gnicitcarp drawkcab gnilleps’, (or ‘practicing backward spelling’).
Learn To Play An Instrument
If you’ve always wanted to take up an instrument but never have, now might be the time…
Practising the piano (as well as other instruments) increases myelination. Myelin is a fatty substance which protects neurons and helps them move with ease. The more fluent your neurons move, the quicker your brain signals are conducted. This leads to better learning experiences.
Whether you practice violin, guitar or the didgeridoo, there’s there are several ways that performing music helps to keep your brain active. Examples include increasing blood flow to the brain. This is great for energy. It’s also been proven that musicians have better motor control skills.
Playing an instrument requires both sides of the brain to be active at the same time, giving it a great workout. In this sense, performing music can be an excellent warm-up for academic learning.
The adult brain can actually grow new brain cells each day. This process is called neurogenesis. Physical activity helps to trigger neurogenesis, thus creating plasticity.
Aerobic exercise can fix damaged brain cells. It can also double the amount of brain cells in the hippocampus. Aerobic exercises include:
• Swimming
• Running
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Rowing
• Dancing
• Kickboxing
• Circuit training
• Inline skating.
There are several reasons why meditation helps plasticity and the brain in general. Just some of the benefits include:
• Boosting creativity
• Boosting memory
• Greater mental health
• Stress reduction
• Better sleep
According to meditation specialists ‘Equisync,’ ‘Meditation is the neuroscientific community’s most proven way to upgrade the human brain’.
Meditation changes the brain’s structure and function. People who practice meditation have stronger neural connections between the different areas of the brain.
Final Word
Learning may be a slightly more complex process for those over the age of 25, but it’s not impossible. The magic of plasticity reshapes your brain pathways and eases the learning process. Follow our tips and you’ll be a plasticity paladin in no time!
Another thing that also eases the learning journey is engagement. Find out more about learner engagement with our FREE Engagement Engine Workbook!
Like this blog? This is part of a neuroscience collection. Check out our other recent neuroscience blogs here:
Three Ways To Improve Your Hippocampus Function
Two Easy Ways To Boost Your Cognitive Skills
Want to Learn Better? Then Get Some Sleep!
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If you have just begun a fitness program, or perhaps started up again after a long holiday break, you may have become really sore after exercising. You are probably experiencing delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Is this discomfort a necessary part of exercising? Get the scoop from two experts at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque—Johndavid Maes and Len Kravitz, PhD.
#1: What Is DOMS? DOMS is the
perception of pain and discomfort following exercise that involves increased intensity; longer duration; unfamiliar movements; or eccentric muscular work, such as downhill running or plyometrics. This discomfort is a normal response, and most people experience it to some degree.
#2: What Are the Causes and Symptoms of DOMS? For many years DOMS was blamed on the buildup of lactate (a metabolic by-product produced in the muscles from the breakdown of carbohydrate) after intense workouts, but recent research has demonstrated that the soreness following intense eccentric exercise is completely unrelated to lactate buildup. DOMS is actually brought about through tissue trauma caused predominantly by eccentric exercise. This type of exercise damages the muscle cell membrane, causing inflammation and leading to the formation of metabolic waste products that act as a stimulus to the nerve endings directly responsible for the sensation of pain.
Symptoms of DOMS can include pain, muscle tenderness, stiffness, swelling and loss of strength. Pain and tenderness usually hit the high point 1 to 3 days after exercise and subside within 7 days. Stiffness and swelling can peak 3 to 4 days after exercise and generally resolve within 10 days. Strength loss typically peaks within 48 hours after exercise; full recovery can take as long as 5 days. These symptoms are not dependent on each other and do not always occur together.
#3: What Can Help? Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)—such as aspirin and ibuprofen—were long considered a way to alleviate the symptoms of DOMS, since they were thought to combat the inflammation that occurs with exercise-induced muscle damage. However, because of inconsistencies in the research on NSAIDS and the possible side effects of their use, such as gastrointestinal distress and hypertension, these drugs no longer appear to be the best choice for treating this condition. Employing physical strategies seems to be a more consistent, effective way to keep soreness at a minimum. (See “Physical Ways to Decrease Soreness.”)
Understanding the causes, symptoms and treatment of DOMS may help you avoid its complications—so you can keep exercising!
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