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Vocal Cord Lesions - Know Its Types And Causes!
Written and reviewed by
MBBS, Diploma In Otorhinolaryngology (DLO), DNB (ENT)
ENT Specialist, Ghaziabad • 25 years experience
Vocal Cord Lesions - Know Its Types And Causes!
Vocal cord lesions can be described as non-cancerous growths on the vocal cords. They are also known as vocal fold lesions. These lesions can make the patient’s voice sound hoarse and lead to a loss of vocal range. Patients may also feel the need to take frequent breaks while using their vocal cords. In addition, they may experience bouts of coughing and a shooting pain that goes from one ear to the other. Vocal cord lesions can be categorized under 4 heads and can affect both men and women.
Vocal Cord Polyps
These are the most common types of vocal cord lesions. They can occur on one or both vocal cords. These lesions appear reddish in colour and may resemble blisters. Vocal cord polyps are typically caused by overusing the vocal cords. When the vocal cords hit each other repeatedly, they can become inflame and irritated and lead to vocal cord polyps. A single traumatic event such as shouting for a long time can also cause vocal cord polyps. Some types of polyps such as polypoid corditis are also caused exclusively by smoking.
Vocal Cord Nodules
Vocal cord nodules can be described as small callus-like growths on the vocal cords. These are typically caused by repeated irritation of the vocal cords because of overusing them. Vocal cord nodules are usually located on both vocal cords. If left untreated, these nodules can stiffen and affect the patient’s voice.
Vocal Cord Cysts
Cysts refer to fluid or mucus filled sacs. They may also have a semi-solid core. These are the least common of all vocal cord lesions. Cysts usually result out of an irritation on the vocal cords. This obstructs the glandular ducts and leads to a buildup of mucus around the vocal cords. As the mucus gets clogged and cannot be removed, a cyst develops. Cysts can have a significant effect on the patient’s voice.
Vocal Cord Scars
Whenever injured, the body tries to heal itself. In repairing an injury to one of the vocal cords, scar tissue may form. This is less pliable as compared to normal tissue and affects the vibrations created. Thus, the person may experience a change in his or her voice. Unlike other forms of local cord lesions, scar tissue cannot be treated with medication or therapy. In cases where it seriously affects a person’s voice, surgery may be considered to remove the scar tissue.
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Software is valuable and becoming more so. The more valuable it becomes, the more it is a target for attack, and as Sun Tzu famously wrote, "All warfare is based on deception."
Because we’re depending more on our software to provide vital functions for our lives, including using Bitcoin to store our money, it's more important than ever that we counter deception in software by verifying its authenticity. Otherwise, we may be victims of bad software such as the Bitcoin-stealing trojan detected in downloadable versions of popular Mac applications such as BBEdit, Pixelmator, Angry Birds, and Delicious Library.
The process of authentication requires technical proficiency and takes a bit of effort but it’s worth the peace of mind.
• This article assumes the use of macOS but the technique can be performed on Linux and Windows as well.
• You should have proficiency using the command line.
• I recommend you purchase an HSM such as the YubiKey.
How do we determine authenticity? In the old days it was done with seals and impressions:
Today it can be done digitally and the terminology has changed slightly:
I certify authenticity of the document by affixing an impression created by my seal.
I certify authenticity of the file by signing it with my key.
We can observe a signature created by the software maker with her key, but that raises a new question: How do we know the key is actually hers? In the digital world we can use the authentication process again: The software maker’s key can be certified as authentic by someone else. If you trust the other person, you know the software maker’s key is authentic, that her signature on the software is authentic, and in turn that the software is authentic. Altogether, it looks like this:
Chain of Trust
your signature → your friend’s key → your friend’s signature → stranger’s key → …* → stranger’s signature → software maker’s key → signature → software
*There may be a number of strangers between you and the software maker in the chain of trust.
When many people sign each other’s keys to facilitate this process, they create multiple interweaving chains of trust. We call these chains the Web of Trust. To know that software you care about is authentic you need to join the Web of Trust.
This document is a series of step-by-step instructions for how to verify that software is authentic using Bitcoin-Qt as an example.
1. Download and install GnuPG if you haven’t already.
2. For increased security I recommend you generate your keys on an HSM such as the YubiKey. If you just bought a YubiKey, first configure it to require button-press authorization for cryptographic operations.
3. Create your own key pair if you don’t already have one.
1. Be sure to generate the keys directly on the HSM (instructions for YubiKey).
2. Use a keysize of 4096 bits as the Debian developers do.
Example: Bitcoin-Qt
1. Go to the download page.
2. Download the file bitcoin-0.8.5-macosx.dmg.
3. Click Verify release signatures on the download page to find signed hashes of the program.
4. Download the hashes (the file SHA256SUMS.asc, download using this link).
5. Open Terminal.
6. Check that the hash matches the file:
$ shasum --check SHA256SUMS.asc
shasum: bitcoin-0.8.5-linux.tar.gz: No such file or directory
bitcoin-0.8.5-linux.tar.gz: FAILED open or read
bitcoin-0.8.5-macosx.dmg: OK
shasum: bitcoin-0.8.5-win32-setup.exe: No such file or directory
bitcoin-0.8.5-win32-setup.exe: FAILED open or read
shasum: No such file or directory FAILED open or read
shasum: WARNING: 3 of 4 listed files could not be read
1. Notice that the line containing the file you downloaded ends in OK.
2. Verify the signature on the hashes:
$ gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc
gpg: Signature made Thu Sep 12 21:27:02 2013 ART using RSA key ID 1FC730C1
gpg: requesting key 1FC730C1 from hkp server
gpg: key 1FC730C1: public key "Gavin Andresen (CODE SIGNING KEY)" imported
gpg: next trustdb check due at 2015-08-18
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
gpg: Good signature from "Gavin Andresen (CODE SIGNING KEY)"
Primary key fingerprint: 2664 6D99 CBAE C9B8 1982 EF60 29D9 EE6B 1FC7 30C1
1. Notice that there is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner. This tells you that you need to join the Web of Trust in order to know that the program is authentic.
How to Join the Web of Trust
Start by joining Keybase. It's an excellent free service that's promoting the web of trust.
1. Authenticate someone you know by signing their key. Before signing someone’s key, you should do the following while having a conversation with them. Ideally this conversation should happen in person, but having it over video conferencing is OK. Do not have the conversation over SMS, email, nor the telephone.
1. Download the key.
1. Ask your friend for their Key ID. They can see it in GPG Keychain by double clicking on their key. It’s OK for them to send you their ID via email or other means.
2. Download the key with the menu item Key/Lookup key on key server….
2. Verify the identify of the key owner.
1. Double click on the downloaded key and look at the fingerprint.
2. Ask the key owner to read to you the fingerprint from their screen and confirm that it matches exactly the one on yours.
3. Prove that the owner is in control of their key*.
1. Create a random file for the owner to sign:
$ gpg --gen-random 0 1000 > nonce
1. Send the `nonce` file to them and ask them to sign it. They can sign the file with this command: <blockquote class="terminal">
$ gpg --detach-sign nonce
1. You will see the message `You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key`. If you have entered your passphrase recently then you won’t actually be asked for your passphrase again.
1. Ask them to send the signature (`nonce.sig`) to you. Place it in the same folder as your `nonce` file.
1. Verify the signature: <blockquote class="terminal">
$ gpg --verify nonce.sig nonce
gpg: using RSA key 0x29D9EE6B1FC730C1
gpg: Good signature from "Gavin Andresen (CODE SIGNING KEY)" [unknown]
1. Look for a `good signature` and make sure the `Primary key fingerprint` matches the fingerprint of the key from step 1.2.
1. Sign the key using Key/Sign….
2. Send the key, along with your new signature, to the keyserver with Key/Send public key to key server.
3. Have your friend authenticate you by repeating the process with your key.
1. Delete the files nonce and nonce.sig before starting the process again so they don’t get mixed up with the new versions.
4. Congratulations, you’re now in the Web of Trust. Repeat this process with as many people as you can to increase your integration into the web and to increase your confidence in the authenticity of the keys. |
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SKIN Whitening
Group VII
Skin Colour
The colour of human skin is influenced by both internal and external
factors but is primarily due to pigments, is melanin, produced by melanocytes of the basal layer of the dermis.
A secondary contributor to skin color is the hemoglobin located in the
blood capillaries of the dermis.
Skin and Melanin
Skin is made up of cells which all have the basic structure of a
nucleus, which contains the genes, surrounded by cytoplasm, which has a different composition depending on the cell type.
The skin pigment melanin is made in specialised cells called
melanocytes that remain at the base of the epidermis. Melanin is packaged into tiny bundles called melanosomes, which are transferred to adjacent skin cells, via the melanocytes arm-like projections.
Skin and Melanin
These melanosome particles become arranged like an umbrella over
the nucleus giving protection to the DNA against ultraviolet rays from the sun.
When epidermal cells travel towards the skins surface, they carry their
melanin with them, and it remains even after the nucleus is lost. It is this melanin which is mainly responsible for the colour of an individuals skin.
Two types of melanin are produced, namely eumelanin which is a dark
brown/black pigment and pheomelanin which is a lighter reddish/yellow pigment.
Changes in the amount of each pigment produced is also under
genetic control and the ratio of eu- to pheo-melanin is responsible for variations in both skin and hair colour.
Thus the melanocytes of pale-skinned redheads produce lots of
pheomelanin, whilst those of people with a range of skin colours from beige to black and with hair from blonde to brown to black produce more eumelanin than pheomelanin
Melanin protects the skin from the harmful rays of sunlight, which is
made up of visible and invisible light.
It is UVA and UVB that cause damage to the skin, but melanin protects
the skin from damage by reflecting and absorbing some of the UV energy.
In the absence of melanin, UV energy penetrates deep into the skin
where it can cause small amounts of damage to the DNA in the nucleus of the still living epidermal cells.
Skin Colour
In areas where UV radiation was highest, peoples skins were darkest
and vice versa.
UV exposure does not only induce skin cancer but has other
consequences which may have contributed to the development of skin colour variation over long periods of time.
UV rays are also known to break down folate (vitamin B6) in the blood
vessels just beneath the skin.
Skin Whitening
Skin-whitening products have been widely used in the cosmetic field
and clinic therapy
Whitening agents, such as hydroquinone, kojic acid, and ascorbic acid
derivatives have shown efficacy in a variety of hyperpigmentary disorders
The ideal depigmentating compound should have a potent, rapid, and
selective bleaching effect on hyperactivated melanocytes, carry no short- or long-term side effects, and lead to a permanent removal of undesired pigment
The transcription and activity of tyrosinase, TRP-1, TRP-2, and/or
The uptake and distribution of melanosomes in recipient keratinocytes Melanin and melanosome degradation and turnover of pigmented
Tyrosinase Inhibition
Tyrosinase is a copper enzyme, which catalysis both the hydroxylation
of monophneols to o-diphenols and the oxidation of o-diquinones to oquinones.
whitening agents act spesifically to reduce the function of this enzyme by means the following mechanisms : interference with this transcrription and/or glycosylation, inhibition by different modalities, reduction by products and post-transcriptional control
hydroquinone, kojic acid, azelaic acid, paper extract mulberry, arbutin, licorice extract, ellagic acid
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)
with redox properties can have depigmenting effects by interacting with o-quinones, thus avoiding the oxidative polimerative of melanin intermediate or with copper at the active site. all ascorbic acid is oxidized
Product Reduction and
Therefore, that melanin cannot be formed by action of tyrosinase until
ascorbic acid, magnesium L-ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (VC-PMG), thioctic acid, alpha tocopherol
Inhibition of Melanosomes Transfer
The activation of protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR2), a seven
transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor, which is expressed in keratinocytes and not in melanocytes, was found to activate keratynocytes phagocytosis, enhancing melanosome transfer
Inhibition of Par-2 cleavage by serine protease inhibitor, such us RWJ50353, completely avoids the UVB-induced pigmentation of epidermal analogs
Ex : niacinamides, RWJ-50353, soybean tripsin inhibitor,
Skin Turnover Acceleration
The capacity of several compounds to disperse melanin pigment
and/or accelerate epidermal turnover can result in skin lightening
Topical apllication has beenshown to reduce the visibility of age spots
without reducing their size or number, and can be useful in the tretment of melasma
ex: alpha hydroxy acids, linoleic
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Cinnamic Acid A naturally occuring aromatic fatty acid of low toxicity, has a long history of
human exposure.
the cinnamic acid was found to induce cells differentiation as evidenced by
morphological changes and increased melanin production in melanoma cells
Sophocarpidine Sophocarpidine function as an uncompetitive inhibitor, compared to aloin
and cinnamic acid, which are mixed-typed inhibitor
Sophocarpidine, aloin, and cinnamic acid, can not only bind to the enzyme,
but also to the enzyme-subtrate complex as well
Hydroquinone inhibits the conversion of dopa to melanin by inhibiting
the tyrosinase enzyme.
Inhibition DNA and RNA synthesis, degradation of melanosomes, and
destruction of melanocytes.
Concentration 2%-10% Side effects : allergic contact dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, and
post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and nail discoloration
Kojic Acid
A fungal metabolic product, is incresingly being used as a skinlightening agent in skincare products marketed in Japan since 1988
The mode of action of kojic acid is to suppres free tyrosinase, mainly attributable to chelation of its copper. Kaand its derivate have better inhibitory effect on tyrosinase than any other skin whitening agent It has been used alone in concentration 2-4% and it has also been combined with HQ 2% in an AHA gel base
Ascorbic Acid
Interferes with different steps of melanization, by interacting with
copper icons at the tyrosinase active site and reducing dopaquinone and DHICA oxidation. Melanin can be changed from jet black to light tan by the reduction of oxidized melanin
Quickly oxidised and decomposes in aqueous solution and is thus not
generally useful as a depigmenting agent
Magnesium-L-ascorby-2-phosphate (VC-PMG) is a vitamin C
derivative that is stable in water, especially in neutral or alkaline solution containing boric acid or it salt
Niacinamide has no effect on tyrosinase activity, melanin synthesis, or cell number in melanocyte monoculture system, and no effect on the proliferation of keratinocytes.
Niacinamide downregulated the amount of melanosomes transferred from melanocytes to surrounding keratinocytes in a coculture system by approximately 3568%. a niacinamide moisturizer was effective in reducing hyperpigmentation and in increasing lightness of basal skin color compared with control moisturizer.
The efficacy of topical niacinamide for decreasing facial hyperpigmentation and lightening skin color in vehicle-controlled protocols was evaluated.
Alpha Hydroxy Acid
In low concentrations, AHAs decreased corneocyte cohesion, leading
to sloughing of dead cells and stimulation of new cell growth in the basal layer. In higher concentrations, they cause epidermilysis.
AHAs have been reported to be effective in treating pigmentary lesions
such as melasma, solar lentigines, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
The mechanism of this effect might be due to epidermal remodeling
and accelerated desquamation, which would result in quick pigment dispersion. GA and LA might work on pigmentary lesions not only by accelerating the turnover of the epidermis but also by directly inhibiting melanin formation by inhibiting tyrosinase in melanocytes.
Thank You |
"Supreme good is like water."
Tao Te Ching - Chapter 8
Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu.
The Taoist Classic by Lao Tzu
Translated and Explained
Supreme good is like water.
Water greatly benefits all things, without conflict.
It flows through places that people loathe.
Thereby it is close to the Way.
A good dwelling is on the ground.
A good mind is deep.
A good gift is kind.
A good word is sincere.
A good ruler is just.
A good worker is able.
A good deed is timely.
Where there is no conflict, there is no fault.
Clearly, this chapter continues the reasoning of the previous one, concerning the nature of good deeds. The unselfish one makes good deeds out of reflex, without thinking. That's automatic, when following the Way. For the rest of us, it's more complicated.
But we don't need to concern ourselves with the intricate fabric of ethics, when we try to make good deeds. What is far more important is that we discover what action is really for the better, and what might be for the worse. We need to understand the mechanics between action and consequence, in order to choose the former wisely.
Lao Tzu uses the example of water, one of the basic elements of nature, existing in tremendous abundance. Because it's such an important part of nature, it cannot do wrong. It shows what is natural. So we should follow its example.
The essence of water is its yielding. It flows downwards, as if constantly aspiring to be the lowest of all, and it does so with a minimum of force, rounding obstacles instead of striking at them, caressing its surroundings instead of tearing at them. Water willingly floats downwards, and there is no place too low for it. Still, it's essential to all living things.
Although we all drink from it, the water of the world is continuously replenished, from above and from below. Without it, we would perish. Indeed, for something of this magnificent importance, it's right to be modest and yielding, not to provoke all of those who are dependent on it.
The Primordial Sea
Lao Tzu's choice of water as an example to us all makes additional sense, when we consider the significance of water in ancient myths and beliefs.
In most cosmologies of old, the sea was regarded as the original and eternal element of the world. The primordial sea occurs in many creation myths, and the act of creation is often one of emergence from that sea. The Earth and all its creatures are born out of the sea. This is true for the biblical creation in the first book of Genesis, as well as in many other myths around the world.
When Lao Tzu describes Tao, the Way, as something akin to water, this might be based on creation myths old already at his time, where the world was believed to have emerged from a primordial sea. If so, it could almost be said that Tao actually is that primordial water, at least in essence. The Way is the principle of water, the mother of all.
Indeed, present science agrees that the ancestors of all the living creatures on Earth emerged from the sea. That was the initial womb of life on Earth. So, we cannot go wrong if we make it our teacher of how to live our lives.
Complicated Matters Made Easy
Now, Lao Tzu uses the example of water, when listing what is to recommend for man in several important aspects of our lives. These recommendations are straightforward enough, mostly self-evident. But we should not be fooled by the simplicity of these advices. They are profound, and not that easy to follow.
To make our dwellings on the ground is making sure that they will stand, so that we can trust them to protect us. To keep our minds deep is to respect that there is no such thing as a simple problem and a quick solution to it.
About gifts, we must understand that no matter how grand they are, they need to be beneficial to the receiver of them, and they should be given without ulterior motive, only out of kindness. Otherwise they are not gifts, even if that's what we call them.
When we speak to each other, we need to have an honest intent – even if circumstances force us to lie. Especially, we should not misuse our praise. We must always mean it, or we rob ourselves of words to use when that's indeed the case. It may be polite of us to greet everyone we meet with a compliment, but this is just decoration that must be used with care, or we are blinded by it. There are so many moments in life when words are precious, so that's how they should always be treated.
Any ruler needs to be just, no matter how difficult that may be at times. Any ruler. That includes a parent settling an argument between the children, as well as an emperor deciding the fate of his captured enemy. Ruling is an act of responsibility, never to be taken lightly.
Sometimes very grave decisions have to be made, maybe so much so that no compassionate man or woman can bear to make them. But there is no blame if the decisions are just. Then, the unfortunate ones who had to make them will be able to live with the memory.
On the other hand, if such a decision is unjust, it will forever gnaw on the one who made it. No matter if we call it conscience or something else, this gnawing is a malady with little hope of a cure. The unjust ruler may survive such decisions, maybe even seemingly profit tremendously from them, but at length the gnawing will take its toll. It can easily plague a whole life, all the way to the very bitter end.
A worker who is not competent at his craft, whatever it is, will not be very pleased with the result, nor will he enjoy all those daily hours spent on it. We need to cultivate our abilities and try to excel at our work, or there is no satisfaction. Since we all spend most of our days at work, it's very important to us that we feel fulfilled by it.
Sadly, there are so many professions nowadays, where people are regarded as little more than machines, expected to produce the simplest things in high quantities, as if that's all they can. Lao Tzu would not approve. We need to be able, and to feel able, which means that we must be allowed the chance to explore our abilities properly. Otherwise we cannot take pride in what we do, and we fail at being pleased with how we participate in society.
If there is one thing of primary importance with a good deed, it has to be its timeliness. Neither too early nor too late will do. But timeliness also means that we are alert to the needs of others, so that we can help them when the time comes. To be timely is to always be compassionate. It does not at all mean that we should postpone a good deed until we are certain that the time is good for it. We should always be eager to help each other. Then we will do so just in time, without thought.
If we practice such a compassionate alertness instead of constantly watching the clock, it will be fine. That's true also for other considerations. The important good deeds usually need little planning, but they need to be done even when there are obstacles. That's timeliness, as well. It's done when it needs to be done, no matter what.
The final line of this chapter returns to the principle of the water and its yielding nature. It finds its way through any terrain. This is possible also for our actions. There is always a way to act that doesn't collide with the intentions of others. If there is not, then we have already traveled far too long down the wrong path.
The ideal for any solution should be that everyone involved is pleased with it. Otherwise, it's probably not the final solution. In the world of business, this is called a win-win situation. Any business deal should be such, or the price of it will rise for all those involved, in one way or other.
The essence of a conflict is that some want to get what others don't want to give up. This really means that we focus on the other one's loss, rather than on our own gain. If we concentrate on the gain, we are sure to find a solution where it is shared. If we don't have that goal, we are just as sure to share the loss.
Therefore, the very best way to find a solution is not to search for one's own gain, but for that of the others involved. If you begin by understanding and respecting that, you will be surprised by how easy it is to reach an outcome beneficial to you, as well. If all people do the same, the world will shine.
© Stefan Stenudd.
Tao Te Ching Explained
The 81 Chapters of Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
translated and explained by Stefan Stenudd.
Tao Te Ching Explained
James Legge's Tao Te Ching
Aleister Crowley's Tao Te Ching
The 1st Chapter of Tao Te Ching in 76 Versions
Lao Tzu - Legendary Author of Tao Te Ching
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Russia launches non-terrifying satellite that focuses Sun's solar rays onto Earth
Mayak bird so bright it may outshine Venus, Jupiter
Mayak, the Russian word for "beacon," is a standard tiny CubeSat probe. It will deploy 170 square feet (16 square metres) of reflective Mylar material in a pyramid shape that will reflect the Sun's light as it tumbles through its orbit.
The satellite will be brighter in the sky than the International Space Station (ISS) and may even appear brighter than Venus or Jupiter. Basically, a sorta crap version of the Icarus space laser in James Bond low-point Die Another Day.
The satellite is one of 73 new orbital platforms lofted by a Russian Soyuz rocket on Friday that have been deployed over three separate orbits. Mayak is circling the planet at about 600 kilometres (372 miles) high and will be moving in a pole-to-pole orbit.
Mayak is a crowdfunded effort by the Moscow Polytechnic University, which raised over $34,000 to get the satellite aloft. An Android app has been built that allows them to track the progress of the satellite in the few months that it'll stay aloft.
But there's more to this than orbital willy waving by satellite designers – there are some serious goals. Mayak's movements will be measuring the density of the atmosphere and its effects on the Mylar envelope and the satellite's progress.
It's hoped that the data will assist with the design of larger devices that can be attached onto larger pieces of space junk and used to bring them down from orbit so that they can burn up in the atmosphere. Such junk is a growing issue and has caused its own problems for the ISS.
But that's a fair way away yet. In the meantime, enjoy the occasional glimpse of something new in the sky, while it lasts. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2019 |
Segregation Of Duties In Accounting
The segregation of duties concept disallows the assignment of responsibility to one person for the acquisition of assets, their custody, and the related record keeping. Segregation of duties is one of the most effective tools for internal controls. It means that no one person should be responsible for doing all the jobs in an organization.Distribution, authorization, recording and custody of assets should be performed by different employees.
For instance, one person can place an order to buy an asset, but a different person will record the transaction in the accounting books. In segregation of duties, it is much more difficult to commit fraud, since at least two or more people must work together to in carrying out the duties - which is far less likely than if one person is responsible for all aspects of an accounting transaction.
ALSO READ: Duties Of Accountants
Although, segregation of duties improves security, breaking tasks down into separate components can negatively impact business efficiency i.e it is time-consuming and increase costs, complexity and staffing requirements. Because of these reasons, most organizations apply Segregation of Duties to only the most vulnerable and the most mission critical elements of the business. Segregation of duties also means separation of duties
The following are examples of segregation of duties:
CASH: In this case, one person opens envelopes containing checks, and another person records the checks in the accounting system. This helps to reduce the risk that checks will be removed from the company and deposited into a person's own checking account.
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: In this case, one person records cash received from customers, and another person creates credit memos to customers. This often helps to reduce the risk that an employee will divert an incoming payment from a customer and cover the theft with a matching credit to that customer's account.
ALSO READ: Who Is A Chartered Accountant? What They Do
INVENTORY: In inventory, one person orders goods from suppliers, and another person logs in the received goods in the accounting system. This will help keep the purchasing person from diverting incoming goods for his own use.
PAYROLL: In payroll, one person compiles the gross and net pay information for a payroll, and another person verifies the calculations. This also help to keep a payroll clerk from artificially increasing the compensation of some employees, or from creating and paying fake employees.
One of the misconception about the segregation of duties is that it reduces the amount of accounting errors. This will only happen if there is duplicate data entry, or if multiple people verify each others' work. Although this is not the goal of the segregation of duties concept, which is targeted at giving certain tasks to one person, and other tasks to another person - the concept is not designed for the duplication of tasks, so accounting errors are not likely to be reduced. |
Coloured onion
Coloured onion
Family: Liliaceae
Genus: Allium
Species: A. cepa
Onion belongs to the family of Liliaceae. Develops numerous superficial roots of a whitish color. The leaves are hollow and bulging at the bottom. The bulb is formed by thickening of the basal part of leaves divetano fleshy, white, red or purple. The second year flowering stem that forms the top of the door to an inflorescence umbel composed of many flowers that form a capsule containing 1-2 seeds of black or brown and irregularly shaped. Below some varieties from coloured group.
Growing Sheet
Scientific name Allium cepa
Productivity cycle Annual
Recommended Seeding In Pots
Number of seeds 2
Sowing Depth 1.00 cm
Distance between rows 25 cm / 40 cm
Distance between rows 15 cm / 25 cm
Estimated number of plants/sqm 30.00
Average growing time 140 gg / 180 gg
Average sprouting time 10 gg / 15 gg
Produce per sqm 2.00 kg / 4.00 kg
Estimated growing sqm per person 1.2
Ideal Sprouting Temperature (C°) 5 °c - 26 °c
Min. Temperature (C°) 5 °c
Soil pH 6.00 / 7.00
Can be grown in pots yes
Delicious variety, large and elongated red-purple bulb, pinkish-white pulp
Milan coppery red
Excellent variety, heavy weight, white pulp, sweet and fragrant. Store well
Milan coppery red
Golden roundish bulb, delicate flavor, stores well
Stuttgarter riesen
A late variety of German origin, very easy to grow and therefore suitable for vegetable gardening beginners. The onions are average to large in size, globe-shaped and slightly flattened. The skin is copper-coloured. The flesh is white, compact and has a particularly good flavour.
Stuttgarter riesen |
37.5 adult body temperature
37.5 adult body temperature
Denis Wilson, MD developed the concept of Wilson 's Temperature Syndrome in after observing people with symptoms of low thyroid and low body temperature, yet who. Fever, also known as pyrexia and febrile response, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set-point. Blanketrol® III hyper-hypothermia system offers simple programmable body temperature regulation & still keeps the control in the caregiver’s hands. Care guide for How To Take An Ear Temperature. Includes: possible causes, signs and symptoms, standard treatment options and means of care and support.
How To Take An Ear Temperature - What You Need to Know
Hello this site has so much great information!! The above information is an educational aid only.
37.5 adult body temperature
Low temperatures can be due to WTS. Fever can also be behaviorally induced by invertebrates that do not have immune-system based fever. Analyzing movements during sleep also helps in determining sleep quality and irregular sleeping patterns.
Calibration is a process of measuring voltage and resistance real values.
However, you may still be able to get pregnant. My Dr treats symptoms over labs thankfully, but he does not want to raise past 4 grains and we are meeting in a week or two to discuss other options. First early morning dose is easy, empty stomach. However, unfortunately there is no guarantee that anyone on our list will be a good match for you. But the serial buffer in Arduino is limited.
37.5 adult body temperature
When its around It is very user-friendly and contains many powerful built-in features and is expandable with plugins and extensions. The e-Health Sensor Shield V allows Arduino and Raspberry Pi users to perform biometric and medical applications where body monitoring is needed by using Care guide for How To Take An Ear Temperature. In fact, you may only have one. "As evidence of the importance of radiant heat exchange to the body’s thermal equilibrium, physiologists have discovered that living human skin has.
Low body temperatures can affect people differently, and can be the cause of many different symptoms: Low temperatures can contribute to constipation but nausea is not a common symptom of low body temperature, but who knows, maybe it is contributing in your case. These enzymes ultimately mediate the synthesis and release of PGE2.
Fever - Wikipedia
Archived from the original on 29 September It is best to measure blood pressure when you are relaxed and sitting or lying down. An introduction to clinical emergency medicine 2nd ed. The measurement of glucose and blood pressure data has not been implemented in this example because both processes use UART communication and can cause malfunction.
37.5 adult body temperature
Includes: possible causes, signs and symptoms, standard treatment options and means of care and support. Ask the pharmacist if you have any questions about the medicine you receive at the pharmacy. I looked at the symptoms list and realized i have majority of them but i always thought that it was just normal for my body or were caused by something else.
Do you think your T3 treatment will help him?
What is a normal oral temperature range
On Linux, it will be the "libraries" folder in your sketchbook. Ive had numerous blood tests to be told everything is normal i know there is something wrong and im convinved something is wrong with my thyroid, i have started to take my temp and its never no higher then Wilson I have also cold hands but my upper body temperature is always and cause my sweating all the time.
37.5 adult body temperature
Veterinary immunology and immunopathology. Low temps explain symptoms, normalizing the temps often correct the symptoms.
Categories you should follow
Lupron is used in men to treat the symptoms of prostate cancer. Libraries are often distributed as a ZIP file or folder. Hopefully, you could be managed successfully around that.
37.5 adult body temperature
To install the library, first quit the Arduino application. This would go on …and on! For installing eHealth library , uncompress eHealth.
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Since they are not medical doctors, how do they administer and therapeutically monitor the patient while using t3 cytomel? Just walking was exausting for me. Device Compatibility This shield is tested and fully compatible with the following boards: I have hypothroidism and was on 50mg Eltroxin and my pulse rate was typically 50 — 60 previously.Denis Wilson, MD developed the concept of Wilson 's Temperature Syndrome in after observing people with symptoms of low thyroid and low body temperature, yet who.
The Scudder Brothers Company. You can find more information about how to use KST on this video tutorial. When no respiration is detected, the screen will advise of a risk of apnea.
37.5 adult body temperature
I saw initial improvement at 2 grains, including temps closer to normal but still low, and then, some improvement at 3. By sending a command to the serial port we can select one of them.
Lupron Injection: Uses, Dosage & Side Effects - qlipe.com
Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you. Sudden massive weight gain Fatigue-feeling tired all of the time Cold hands and feet Headache in back of neck Heavy periods Muscles aches Lymphedema Joint pain-popping in and out.
Its utility in the diagnosis of a myriad of cardiac pathologies ranging from myocardial ischemia and infarction to syncope and palpitations has been invaluable to clinicians for decades. Some limited evidence supports sponging or bathing feverish children with tepid water.
37.5 adult body temperature
Place the sphygmomanometer on your arm biceps zone as shown in the image below. I never felt well and 10 years on taking T4 closes my whole body down and I am in pain. Ive been type 1 diabetic for 11 years. Images with 3G Module tutorial. I do know that Nature Throid is synthetic and from an animals thyroid and what I have read is that it gives you all the T hormones instead of the pharmacy ones only giving you T4.
Could this syndrome have an association with inability for TSH to rise appropriately? In the next tables you can see a complete comparative between eHealth v2 and the two different models of MySignals.
37.5 adult body temperature
1. I am assured, that you have deceived.
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The practice of carrying out activities without depleting resources unnecessarily or via harmful practices, the concept of a sustainable building can be a very broad term to cover. Basically, it is fulfilling present needs without having a negative and long-lasting effect on the future.
For some, they have applied the term to even broader social terms. But, for the sake of this blog here at Heritage Builders, we take it to mean the direct loss of finite materials and not a grander social problem.
So, outside of the broader use of the term what does sustainability mean for your building project?
Philosophy of Sustainability
The issue of sustainable building work can actually be a very complex and contentious issue. With many people taking very stark stances on the subject. From the outset of the project, it must be considered, as it cannot be included halfway through without causing irreversible damage. After all, the environmental impacts of even one building project are massively significant.
As part of the philosophy of sustainability, the effort to plan for it should be the focus in the very first stages of planning. From beginning to end, sustainability should be a key element of your plans. Consulting designers and builders to help limit the materials used can also be a good way to ensure sustainability is managed from the outset.
Construction of a sustainable building project
New Regulations for New Buildings
An environmental impact assessment can be carried out before the project begins physically. However, this is often used to justify consumption of materials rather than an impartial assessment in most cases. If one is conducted then it should be done so with the intention of discovering the true impact and trying to avoid it as best as possible.
Already existing environmental policies that are in place for your client will also have to be considered, as these could affect the project in unexpected ways. If a sustainability incentive is already underway, you must ensure your building project does not undermine or set it back in any way. Building regulations in certain areas, funding and planning legislation may also have an effect and needs to be taken into account.
However, sustainability is not only limited to the actual construction itself. It can also be affected by the waste from the project. If the proper recycle and disposal protocol is followed, then the waste from the project can be much less impactful on the environment.
Builder working on a construction site
So, you should always be focusing on both the impact of the project itself and then the potential waste of the project. Doing so will ensure the sustainability of your project as a whole.
At Heritage Builders Limited, we specialise in laying, installing, maintaining and repairing a variety of patios in the Leicester area. So, if you would like to know more information, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch today. You can give us a call on 01509 814 123and we will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. |
Dancing Robot Is A Chaotic Itinerant
Japanese company ZMP have developed a dancing robot prototype that makes up its own moves. The Miuro robot looks like a cross between a Space Odyssey pod and a dumb-bell, and is fourteen inches long. When fed with some music, Miuro responds spontaneously to the beats with an intricate dance based on complex mathematics.
Unlike previous dancing robots, its movements are not pre-programmed. The software behind the dance is based on a principle scientists refer to as “chaotic itinerancy” – similar to the patterns observed in bees moving from flower to flower. This allows Miuro to respond spontaneously and unpredictably to auditory stimuli. ZMP president Hisashi Taniguchi believes they will one day create “a new form of life that moves freely…in ways human beings can’t predict. We’re hoping to turn Miuro into the ultimate virtual pet.”
Dancing Robot
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HomeDefinitionWhat is the Difference Between SERVO Drives & VFDs?
What is the Difference Between SERVO Drives & VFDs?
On the controller side, the servo controller can calculate a complex path and maintain the position along that path with varying loads and speeds. Many servo controllers are multi-axis or can be daisy chained to make multi-axis moves to follow complex paths.
Some VFDs now have encoder inputs but do not have the high speed computing power to calculate complex high speed paths. Since, as mentioned above a regular AC motor lacks the performance to make such a move there is no need for it. The pulse or encoder feedback is used mainly for greater speed control and zero speed detection.
Some new VFDs do some position control but very low performance compared to servo control. The new Hitachi vector drives will go to a position and hold it so technically it could be called a servo control. There are servo hydraulic and air valves with various feedbacks and performances. But when people talk about electric servo motors they are talking permanent magnet and servo controller.
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Parallel movements in Russia were Suprematism, where Kasimir Malevich also created non-representational work, notably a black canvas. The Jack of Diamonds group with Mikhail Larionov was expressionist in nature.
Dadaism preceded Surrealism, where the theories of Freudian psychology led to the depiction of the dream and the unconscious in art in work by Salvador Dalí. Kandinsky's introduction of non-representational art preceded the 1950s American Abstract Expressionist school, including Jackson Pollock, who dripped paint onto the canvas, and Mark Rothko, who created large areas of flat colour. Detachment from the world of imagery was reversed in the 1960s by the Pop Art movement, notably Andy Warhol, where brash commercial imagery became a Fine Art staple. Warhol also minimised the role of the artist, often employing assistants to make his work and using mechanical means of production, such as silkscreen printing. This marked a change from Modernism to Post-Modernism. Photorealism evolved from Pop Art and as a counter to Abstract Expressionists.
Subsequent initiatives towards the end of the century involved a paring down of the material of art through Minimalism, and a shift toward non-visual components with Conceptual art, where the idea, not necessarily the made object, was seen as the art. The last decade of the century saw a fusion of earlier ideas in work by Jeff Koons, who made large sculptures from kitsch subjects, and in the UK, the Young British Artists, where Conceptual Art, Dada and Pop Art ideas led to Damien Hirst's exhibition of a shark in formaldehyde in a vitrine.
Some important movementsEdit
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Longtime Californ
Free Essay Sample «Longtime Californ»
The longtime Californ is an article that seeks to reveal the history of the experiences of the ethnic groups in California (Nee and Nee, 1972). In addition, it also presents the roles of the ethnic minorities within the cities of the Pacific Coast.
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The article explains the emotional story of San Francisco’s Chinatown which is the largest Chinese community within the United States. The author has explained this by using the life history of the people living in these cities; for instance Tom Yuen, who explained that they lived like prisoners. They had no freedom to go where they wanted, they ate their meals standing, their mails were inspected before being sent and this left them with no privacy. Moreover, the authors have used the commentaries of these people to explain the development of the American Chinese community. Tom says that in the village people were trying to live on nothing but cut down on the meat. He further explains that if families had a lot of children, the parents were selling the youngest ones so they could sustain the family.
The answer is satisfactory as voices of the people interviewed ranging from the garment workers to the youths and the local politics give a comprehensive history that reveals the immigration problems that are experienced by people living in small areas and minimal resources. It is apparent from the article that Chinatown is a community that is created and hugely isolated from the rest of the society due to racism, language barriers as well as fear of Chinese labor. Evidently, the people of China had to struggle in an attempt to overcome the hardships, such as the movement of the anti-Chinese labor. This is so as they would be able to attain equality in the American society.
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The Fashion Revolution: who made your clothes?
The Fashion Revolution: who made your clothes?
On 24th of April 2013, a giant clothing manufacturing factory in Daka, Bangladesh, collapsed due to extremely bad conditions of the building and the big crowd of workers. Over 1,100 people were killed, and nearly 2,400 got injured. While some cracks in the walls had been noticed some weeks before, no action had been taken.
Poor working conditions and environmental concerns
The disaster in the Bangladeshi Rana Plaza factory is just one among many that we usually do not hear about. Textile factories are very much likely to catch fire due to the use of inflammable materials and a lack of safety measures for its workers, such as proper protections against air pollution or the risk of employee deafness.
Despite the danger that is going to work for many workers in the Global South, not much has changed over the years. Whenever workers plan to strike, they face repression by their employers. Moreover, if they manage to strike, workers often risk losing their jobs due to the lack of worker rights and unions that support the cause.
Due to the high pressure on international textile companies to produce in a sustainable way, some have moved part of their production back to Western countries. However, here workers encounter new challenges. For example, Bulgarian textile workers recently denounced their low wages and the high pressure in term of digital control of their daily task for higher efficiency. In many Western countries, production quotas seem to be set for robots instead of humans, while the salaries and working conditions remain inadequate.
The fact that the fashion industry is one of the most globalised and polluting industries on Earth is well known as well. In 2015, for example, 15.2 billion tonnes of CO2 was produced by the fashion industry alone. Moreover, the processing of cotton and other fibres requires chemicals, which often end up in nature. It takes 2,720 litres of water to make a t-shirt – that is how much we normally drink over a 3-year period. It is an inconvenient truth for those who love fashion and those who make a profit off it, and a big worry for those that are concerned about the environmental impact of fashion.
The Fashion Revolution
The story about the Bangladeshi factory that collapsed made worldwide news and exposed some of the huge problems tied to our constant hunger for fast fashion. It triggered a ‘fashion revolution’ by so-called “pro-fashion protesters”. Carry Somers, a British fashion designer and the driving force behind the Fashion Revolution movement, could not stand it anymore. Something had to be done. The 24th of April was renamed Fashion Revolution Day, calling for more ethical fashion industry and reviewing the movement’s achievements and goals.
The Fashion Revolution movement is not created by consumers against the industry. Instead, it is an inner revolution of the whole industry. It involves everyone, including consumers and people who work in the fashion industry, and is aimed at making all of us more conscious of the human and environmental effects of the clothing we buy.
The pro-fashion protesters use a solution-based approach, focusing on research and creativity rather than victimisation or boycotting. The two arms that coordinate the revolution from the UK are a charitable arm, the Fashion Revolution Foundation, and a non-profit social enterprise, Fashion Revolution CIC. The Fashion Revolution’s Country Offices, (mainly) staffed by volunteers, implement the actions coordinated by the Global Coordination team at national level. Each Country Coordinator takes on board a large number of initiatives and in cooperation with national stakeholders and many other volunteers that support the fashion revolution week maximise the impact of the regional and global strategy.
So far, the #whomademyclothes campaign has been successful. In 2018, 3,838 brands and retailers shared information about their suppliers and pictures of their workers with the hashtag #imadeyourclothes through social media. Moreover, the Fashion Revolution has managed to engage 275 million people all over the globe, through social media and videos, and through participation at events. Numerous influencers and celebrities have joined the movement to share their views.
As consumers become more conscious of the human and environmental impact of clothes, the demand for sustainable clothing is growing. Brands, producers, retailers, media, schools, and others are joining this cause and raise awareness through education, research and campaigns. The aim is to reach a balance between profits, fair working conditions and sustainable production methods.
During the yearly Fashion Week, consumers are encouraged to ask fashion producers for transparency in their manufacturing processes by tagging them in social media posts and asking them #whomademyclothes. Manufacturers and retailers should respond with concrete and accurate information, using the hashtag #imadeyourclothes.
Moreover, inspired by the #whomademyclothes, YouTubers started their own trend. Under the hashtag #haulternative, they present their latest ‘new’ clothes. These are either second hand, reused or bought from a sustainable retailer.
Sustainable brands and collections
As the problems of fast fashion become increasingly apparent, sustainable brands are emerging. These companies’ production cycle looks like this: a new collection is launched, all clothes are sold, and only then a new collection is developed and produced based on the demand. This production cycle also means that there is a certain measure of exclusivity; only certain customers will wear their clothes as they are produced in limited editions.
Sustainability deception
While some companies make genuine improvements to their manufacturing methods, others try to take advantage of the new interest in sustainable products. Some brands, for example, call on their consumers to bring their old clothes in exchange for a discount on their next expenses. Genius, right? Used clothes, which can even be from other brands, are taken in and used for the production of new clothing. No need to manufacture new materials, as these can be taken from your used sweater or jeans. This should mean a reduction of the use of resources and reuse of the material already in use to be sold once again to costumers.
While this sounds great, it does not solve the problem that is an overloaded market. Moreover, much of this clothing is actually never re-used. If you would check the tag in those new collections that are presumably “eco-friendly”, would you find that these are entirely made out of recycled clothes? Does it show the percentage of organic material on it? Is it mixed with other material?
In reality, the so-called reuse of used clothes is an example of “greenwashing” in the fashion industry. Companies pretend to be sustainable and concerned about the environment, just to make more money. The discount you receive at some shops when you hand in old clothing, for example, is only meant to get you to buy new clothing there.
How to switch to slow fashion
We are all accountable for the impact that fashion has on people’s lives and on the environment. So, how can we make a difference? Here are some simple and effective steps (Awareness, Consciousness and Change) to help you switch to a more sustainable way of fashion consumption, without renouncing the latest trends.
Start with your closet – Awareness:
1. Empty your closet. Yes, take it all out.
2. Start with the current season. Try all of your clothes on and see how they feel.
3. Check the “made in…” tag of your clothes.
4. Count how many clothes you own that are “made in” developing countries. How many are from Western countries?
When shopping – Consciousness:
1. Check the tag that is attached to different types of clothes. Where were they made?
2. Were these clothes “made in” developing countries?
3. Check your favourite brands’ online shops. Do they have a sustainable collection made from recycled or biological material? And are products fairly produced?
4. Bring your shopping list and own bag along.
5. Buy only what you really need and what you will use for a long time.
Find an alternative – Change:
1. Awareness is key: learn more about who made your clothes.
2. Consume consciously: apply the five Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle) before buying new things .
3. Shop second hand: use what it was already produced, thereby will be decreasing the demand for new articles and preventing products from ending up in landfills.
4. Choose fair and sustainable brands.
May you wish to deepen your knowledge and become a fashionable revolutionary, check the Fashion Revolution’s guide (4).
The world is calling for fashion revolutionaries. So be curious. Find out. Do something.
Posted by Abigail Moreno Ginés in Current Affairs, 0 comments
Declining birth rates; problem or solution?
Declining birth rates; problem or solution?
Recently, the Hungarian government announced that women who had four or more children no longer had to pay income taxes. This measure is the latest in a series of efforts to stop declining population rates. Hungary is not the only country to struggle with a shrinking population, which is a phenomenon in most regions of the world. What are countries around the world doing to counter diminishing populations? Do this kind of measures work? And are declining populations really a problem?
Fertility measures; a short history
Towards the end of the 1960s, it was expected that the earth’s population would reach 16 billion by 2050. Today, however, the world population is expected to be around nine billion by that time. As many countries’ birth rate fell over the last decades, this was perceived as good news. It was widely accepted that countries’ and families’ wellbeing was threatened by having large numbers of children.
When fertility rates started dropping, however, it was expected that it would stop at 2 children per woman, thereby maintaining population levels. Instead, in many countries, they kept declining. In the USA, for instance, the rate was 1.8 children per women in 2016, and in Canada, it was 1.6 per women. In Europe, women have 1.6 children in general, with France (1.92) having the highest rates and Spain and Italy having the lowest rates (1.34). Singapore has an extremely low birth rate, with just 1.14 children per woman
However, all of this does not mean that the Earth’s population is shrinking. In fact, in 2016, the average birth rate for all women in the world was 2.46 children, meaning that the Earth’s population is still growing. This high fertility rate is in large caused by high birth rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the birth rate is now 4.85 children per women. While this is still very high, it is a big difference from 1960, when it was 6.65 children per woman.
For countries that saw birth rates drop below 2 children per women, this creates a whole new set of problems. As populations will shrink, governments are afraid that it will cause economic stagnancy because of a loss in productivity, and a decrease in tax revenues can cause troubles in financing retirement and healthcare programs.
Hungary’s anti-migration approach
While most European countries are compensating for their declining population growth by taking in migrants, Hungary is strongly opposed to such a solution. Instead, it is trying to increase its birth rate. Currently, Hungarian women have 1.45 children on average, which is not enough to keep up the population size. Moreover, now that Hungary is part of the EU, Hungarians are free to work in other countries, and many have left for EU countries where wages are higher. The declining birth rate and increased migration result in a declining population and rising labour shortages.
In February, Hungary announced a new set of measures to counter the low birth rate of Hungarians. The Hungarian approach is to make life cheaper for big families. Interest on mortgages and car payments for families will be reduced, and it will be easier for families to get loans. The number of daycares will be increased, to encourage mothers to work. For grandparents, there is a benefit as well. They are now allowed to share maternity leave with their daughters. But most importantly, and also most controversially, Hungarian women with four or more children will no longer pay incomes tax.
In a speech to announce these new measures, Hungary’s president Victor Orbán said that Hungary is ‘living in times when fewer and fewer children are being born throughout Europe’. While other European countries respond to this new challenge with immigration, ‘Hungarians see this is in a different light’. According to Orban, Hungary does not need numbers, but more Hungarian children. Moreover, Orbán said that to depend on migration to keep up the current size of the population would be surrender and that he does not want the ‘colour of Hungarians to be mixed with those of others’.
These are not the first measures that Hungary took to save itself from the dangers of a declining population. It awarded university scholarships only to Hungarians that promised to stay in Hungary after graduation, and it offered citizenships to ethnic Hungarians living outside of Hungary to motivate them to move to Hungary. Moreover, recently Hungary passed a law increasing the amount of overtime that employers can ask of their workers to compensate for significant shortages of employees. The law that is now called the ‘slave law’ and has been widely protested dictates that workers can now be asked to work up to 400 hours of overtime a year.
The irony of China’s fertility control measures
Only a few years after ending its policies to limit the number of children that Chinese were having which started in 1979, the Chinese government is now urging women to have more children. As the country’s birth rate has plummeted, it is now estimated that the labour force could lose 100 million people between 2020 and 2035, and then another 100 million from 2035 to 2050.
In 1979, China’s famous one-child rule was first introduced. The law was met with much resistance, especially from the countryside. In 1984, rural families whose first child was a girl were allowed to have a second child, and some exceptions were made for minorities. In 2013, parents who were only children themselves could have a second child, and in 2016 the ban was lifted entirely.
While one would expect that birth rates would quickly increase after the lift of the ban, decades of one-child policy are now showing their implications. For one, these restrictions led to an uneven gender balance, as traditional preference for boys led to illegal sex-specific abortions on female foetuses. Ironically, the lower proportion of women is now one of the reasons for China’s low birth rate. There are simply fewer women to marry and have children. Moreover, as whole generations have grown up as an only child, many Chinese see it as normal to have only one child. It has proven to be hard to change this mindset. Moreover, while the costs of education and housing have grown, Chinese adults are usually the only person to take care of their parents, putting extra financial and social pressure on young families. And as a new generation of working independent women stand up, the divorce rate is rising as well.
China is now taking action to halt the plummeting birth rate. In 2018, laws were proposed to give tax breaks to young families and to give subsidies for housing and education. Some regions such as Jiangxi Province are even tightening abortion laws and making it more difficult to have a divorce. This poses a danger for China to fall from one extreme (not allowing families to have more than one or two children) to another extreme.
More creative approaches
While some countries take traditional measures to increase birth rates, others take a more creative approach. In Georgia for instance, all single men and women, including those who are divorced or lost a spouse, are entered into a nationwide dating website.
A specifically creative approach was taken by Denmark. In 2014, it ran an ad campaign urging Danes to ‘Do It for Denmark’. People could book a holiday using an “ovulation discount”. If they were able to prove that they conceived on vacation, they would win a baby supply for three years and a child-friendly holiday. In 2015, future grandparents could even buy vacations for their adult children in hopes that they would conceive a child during the vacation.
Another example is Singapore, which has a stunningly low birth rate of only 1.14 children per woman. In 2012, Singapore authorities worked with Mentos to put together ‘National Night’ to encourage couples to let their ‘patriotism explode’. There was even a rap: ‘Singapore’s population, it needs some increasing. So, forget waving flags, August 9th we be freaking… I’m a patriotic husband, you’re my patriotic wife, let’s do our civic duty and manufacture life’.
Russia saw a sharply declining population after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2007, it decided to do something about this problem. It declared 12 September the National Day of Conception and awarded prizes such as refrigerators, money and cars to women who had a baby exactly nine months later on Russia’s national day, 12 June. The policy seems to have worked. Whereas the birth rate was 1.2 in 2000, in 2012 it was 1.7.
Romania: a harsher approach
A less jolly approach was taken by Romania in the 1960s. Instead of offering benefits for families, Romania chose to fine any men or women above 25 years of age who did not have children. This tax was regardless of marital status and could amount to up to 20 per cent of their income. Moreover, it was made virtually impossible to get a divorce, police were active in hospitals to ensure that no illegal abortions took place, and the import of birth control was halted. While these measures were effective, the effect was lost as soon as police were no longer installed in hospitals.
In the 80s, even stricter measures were taken during the Nicolae Ceausescu regime. Women were subjected to monthly gynaecological exams to detect pregnancies and ensure that these came to term. ‘Demographic command units’ would interrogate childless individuals and couples about their sex lives, and access to abortion was made even more difficult. To have access to an abortion, a woman had to have had five children who were still under her care, or she had to be over 45 years of age.
Do fertility measures actually work?
While many countries are taking measures to increase its population’s birth rate, the success of such measures is often unclear. So far, it looks like financial support or paid leave has a positive, but limited impact on birth rates. Evidence suggests that the most effective measure that governments can take is to provide quality childcare services.
Sweden has been quite successful in its measures to increase fertility. Here, women receive much support to help them combine their lives as a parent and as a working woman. For instance, daycare is subsidised and parents who take time offer their children are guaranteed to have a job when they return.
In France, families receive tax breaks, substantial financial support, social assistance and housing subsidies. Parents can take up to three years of parental leave, receive a stay-at-home allowance of approximately 50% of the minimum wage during this time, and then return to their employed in the same position. The French and Swedish approach seems to be working, as these countries have the two highest birth rates in the EU (respectively 1.92 and 1.85 children per women).
However, fairly similar measures have been much less successful in Germany and Austria, where families enjoy increased family leave and receive general child allowances over three or four years after the arrival of a new baby. Instead of rising birth rates, these measures mainly affected the timing of childbearing. Moreover, while in Canada it was found that an increase in child allowance of 1000 Canadian Dollars a year led to an increase in birth rates of 17 per cent, this increase was only temporary and was later compensated with decreased birth rates.
Singapore, with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, has developed the most comprehensive pro-fertility policies in Asia. Through cash payments, co-saving plans tax rebates for working mothers, insurance for children and housing subsidies, families with two children can now enjoy benefits of about US$ 118,000 by the time both children turn 13. Moreover, paid maternal and paternal leave has been considerably increased, and childcare is subsidised. But somehow, these policies have noted the desired effect. In 2000, at the start of Singapore’s fertility policy, the birth rate was 1.6 children per women. In 2018, it was just 1.14.
What makes fertility measures successful?
Determining the success of fertility measures is extremely difficult because of the many factors that influence the decision to have children. Just some examples are the perception of motherhood and gender roles. In many European countries, for instance, over the last few decades, women have been pressured to combine motherhood with a job. The status of women became more and more based on her employment and their success in ‘having it all’. Now, it has been proven to be very difficult to convince women of the value and status of motherhood.
Another factor is people’s perception of prosperity and poverty. While families in Singapore are much better off than just a few decades ago, many Singaporeans feel that they are not. This leads them to delay and even opt out of having children.
Maybe, we should consider a very different approach in which we use fertility and family policies to give families options to make their own decisions. Perhaps we should judge the success of family policies on whether or not they succeed in making families happy. After all, having options to facilitate having a big family is great. Being forced to have a big family is not.
Are falling birth rates really a problem?
While countries in the world are fighting decreasing fertility rates, maybe we should wonder whether this is really a problem. With growing ecological, environmental pressure, ageing populations, and migration patterns is a growing population really what we need?
One often used argument to explain why decreasing fertility rates are a problem is that we need a big working population to compensate for the ageing of our population. After all, a smaller workforce means fewer contributions to retirement and social funds. However, increasing the number of children will not help take care of our ageing population. It will take 25 years or so for these children to grow up and enter the workforce. By this time, demographics will have changed, and the size of the older generation will be smaller. Moreover, having more children will immediately increase the number of dependents (children and people of age) that rely on the working population for support, thereby even increasing the burden on the current working population.
Furthermore, traditional ideas about the need for big populations are based on former times, in which public health was less advanced and young men faced the risk of being drafted for bloody and costly wars. Nowadays, both children and adults are much less likely to become seriously ill or die before growing old, and wars take much less human lives. This all means that, while the number of new babies is decreasing, the adult population is not.
Another argument that is often heard is that when the population gets smaller, so will our economic productivity and with that our welfare. However, because of artificial intelligence, huge working populations is no longer essential to being economically productive. Because of the significant role that technology now places in production, future economies will still be able to be productive, even with smaller working populations. Moreover, as the population declines, there will be more resources per person, which means that economic wellbeing will increase.
Additionally, as migration patterns enhance, new influxes of migrants can help solve shortages in the labour force. As migrants often have higher fertility rates, this might even help increase birth rates.
Finally, as our environmental footprint and the world’s population is still increasing, the human race’s survival might depend on putting a stop to population increase. It is a well-established fact that humans are causing climate change and depleting the earth’s resources. There is a real risk that if we do not change, nature will do it for us.
In fact, being child-free is the most effective way to decrease our environmental footprint. As people in developed countries have a particularly high ecological footprint, we should really consider if it is that bad if fertility rates are decreasing here.
Want to read more?
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Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
The dangers of activism in Honduras
The dangers of activism in Honduras
Honduras is known as one of the most dangerous and violent countries in the world because of high levels of crime and gang violence. It is the most dangerous place on earth to be an activist, especially since the coup in 2019. More than 120 environmental activists were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2017 and many others were threatened, attacked or imprisoned. These were ordinary people who stood up against big companies who planned to build dams and mines or other projects on their land.
Global Witness showed that these projects are at the heart of conflicts that are linked to Honduras’s rich and powerful elites, including politicians. Their investigation uncovered back-door deals, bribes, and lawbreaking used to impose projects and silence any opposition.
Moreover, for many years, the USA has been providing financial aid to Honduras via the USAID programme for poverty relief. In 2016, for instance, the programme contributed 100 million USD in aid. While some of this money went into projects expanding education and strengthening health services, another part of it goes to the Honduran military and police. These are heavily involved in efforts to silence human rights defenders and activists, implying the USA in these crimes.
So, who are Honduras’s brave faces of change and resilience. Activists and communities who stand threats, attacks and imprisonment to fight for their rights and their land.
Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres; taking up her mother’s fight for indigenous rights in Honduras
In March 2016, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres took over her mother’s role as an advocate for the rights of indigenous groups and environmental justice. After years of threats, her mother Bertha Cáceres was murdered in her home. She was the co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH), which fights for the environmental, social, health, economic and educational rights of Honduras’s largest indigenous group, the Lenca people.
Bertha Cáceres fought against a dam project from Desarollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA). This project was planned to be built along the Gualcarque River, which is considered sacred waters to the Lenca people. After the murder, the dam’s investors decided to withdraw from the project.
Over the last years, Bertha Cáceres’ family and community have been fighting for justice for her murder. Last November, after a long process plagued by delays and accusations of cover-ups, seven men were convicted. The court found that the men were hired by executives within DESA.
After her mother’s death, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres left her Latin American Studies to take up leadership of COPINH. In May 2017, she was elected general coordinator, the same position that her mother had held. Ever since, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres has been protesting big development projects that threaten the rights of indigenous people. But of course, this position comes with threats and attacks. A few weeks into her new role, she and members of COPINH were attacked. Their vehicle was held by armed attackers who tried to force them off the road and over a cliff.
Moreover, other members of COPINH have also faced threats, and some even have been murdered. Alan Garcia was protesting the DESA dam project in 2013, three years before the murder of Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, when he was shot in the chest by the military. In the same attack, Tomas Garcia, Alan’s father and one of the leaders of the protest, was shot multiple times at close range after which he died (8). Nelson García was shot in the face when going to his family home in north-west Honduras shortly after the death of Bertha Cáceres and Lesbia Yaneth Urquia’s body was found abandoned on a rubbish dump only a few months after.
For a full report on DESA and the situation of the Lenca community, read this report by Global Witness.
The Tolupan Community
Living in very remote areas, the Tolupan people of northern Honduras have limited access to basic services, and poverty levels are high. Ever since they took a stand against illegal logging and mining operations approximately ten years ago, they have experienced threats, criminalisation, and community members have been murdered.
While Honduran communities have a right to be a part of the decision in case of projects taking place on their land, the Tolupans were not consulted when illegal mining and logging permits were given out. When the community protested these developments, a criminal case was filed against their leaders for ‘obstructing the implementation of forestry management plans’. While this case was dismissed and the judge emphasised that local communities have a right to be consulted, illegal logging and mining have continued since then.
When in August 2013 the community held a peaceful sit-in to stop mining and logging trucks from passing through their land, they first received threats to leave by text message. A week later, the protesters were approached by gunmen who worked for the mining project, who opened fire on them. Armando Fúnez Medina and Ricardo Soto Fúnez, two community leaders, were killed. Another leader, María Enriquate Matute fled to her home but was found and killed by the gunmen.
A year later, the house of indigenous Tolupan leader Santos Córdoba was broken into. After Santos was killed, his corpse was burned down, and his children were threatened at gunpoint. Moreover, in June 2015, another Tolupan leader, Erasio Vieda Ponce, was killed by the same hitmen who had killed protesters in August 2013. Meanwhile, these protesters are still walking free.
While members of the community have been granted emergency protection by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), this does not mean they are safe. The implementation of protection measures is the responsibility of the Honduran state, which has not made many efforts to do so. For instance, after filing a police complaint for receiving debt threats, Luis de Reyes Marcía was murdered in April 2015. His wife, Consuelo Soto now lives in hiding, after hitmen shot at her house.
Click here for a full report on the situation of the Tolupan community.
Concepción Gutiérrez
In the hills of Nueva Esperanza near the Carribean coast, the last six years have been coloured by a conflict over the build of an iron oxide mine. The Buena Vista I mine threatens to drastically change the environment and way of life for locals that live from the land. When the build of the mine started in 2013, locals organised a protest movement to stop it. While the movement was peaceful, its leaders immediate started to receive death threats, and the community was visited by armed men that fired warning shots in the air.
Concepcíon Gutiérrez was one of the leaders that were threatened. In July 2013, 12 armed men entered her home. They threatened to kill her because she refused to sell her land to the company. Concepcíon had already received death threats before and was under the protection of two international human rights observers. The observers were taken hostage and were made to delete all photographs they took to make Concepción’s case. The female observer was sexually harassed, and the community was threatened not to report the violence to the police. Still, Concepción continues to defend her land and stand up to authorities.
For a full report on Concepción’s situation, read this case study by Global Witness.
The Garifuna and their struggle with tourism
On Honduras’s, northern Caribbean coast lives a small community of descendants of black slaves that were brought to the Caribbean in the 18th century. These 150 Garifuna families live in little wooden shacks on the beach at Barra Vieja, next door to a brand new luxurious Indura hotel. While this land used to be part of the Jeanette Kawas National Parks, the borders of the park were redrawn to allow for this construction.
From the start of this development project, the Minister for Tourism, Ricardo Martínez Castañeda has been pushing for the removal community, calling them ‘illegal squatters’. To justify the eviction of the Garifunas, the Honduran government has brought legal charges against them, saying that they were illegally occupying the land and that the Garifunas is not an indigenous population. Members of the community were found to be not guilty, and the IACHR ruled that the Honduran State violated the community’s right to consultation when agreeing on tourism projects on Garifuna.
However, this has not stopped the project from building hotels and expanding. In 2014, it was even announced that two more luxury hotels would be built, meaning that the whole community will have to move.
For a full report on the situation of the Garifunas, click here.
Interested in human rights issues? Check out these articles about women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and human rights violations in Libya.
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
EU policies and human rights abuses in Libya
EU policies and human rights abuses in Libya
Imagine being an Eritrean refugee. First, you make the difficult decision to leave your country because of the indefinite national service that basically makes Eritreans slaves of their country. You might flee to Sudan or Israel, where you face the risk of forced return. Or you escape to Ethiopia, along with 390 other Eritreans each day. Here you will stay in a refugee camp with approximately 900,000 other refugees, waiting for a decision on whether or not you can get asylum in another country. Fleeing to Somalia is not an option either, as Somalians are massively fleeing the country because of drought and famine.
So, instead of fleeing to a neighbouring country, you decide to flee to Europe. After all, in Europe, you will have the chance to build a better life for yourself and your family. You cross the border to Ethiopia, where you enter a refugee camp and wait until you are approached by smugglers to take you to Libya. These smugglers offer you a zero down-payment to get you to Libya. In reality, this means that the smugglers will pressure your family to pay once you reach Libya.
The trip starts with what is often called the most challenging part of the trip to Europe. Packed up with 35 others in a pick-up truck, you are driven through Sudan to Libya. This trip takes six to thirteen days, during which the car drives 24 hours a day. Once you reach Libya, you stay in an Eritrean smuggler’s house. Here, you wait until you can finally make the trip to Italy. Smugglers now contact your family to collect the payment. Out of fear for your safety, your family will probably pay.
Then, you finally get on that boat that is supposed to get you to Italy. Just a little bit longer until you can apply for asylum. But, only a few hours in, you get picked up by the Libyan Coast Guard, who receives support from the European Union (EU) to prevent refugees from reaching Europe. The Coast Guard takes you to a detention centre in Libya, where you will be detained and tortured. Sounds horrible, right? Yet, it happens on a daily basis.
Europe’s Libya deal
In February 2017, after Europe had seen the biggest influx of refugees in years, the EU made a deal with Libya to stop refugees from coming to Europe. EU now provides financial support to the Libyan Coast Guard, in exchange, the Libyan Coast Guard now locates refugee boats that try to reach Italy and takes their passengers to detention centres in Libya. Here, it aims to ‘[assist] voluntary returns of stranded migrants to their countries of origin and [to] support the evacuation of those in need of international protection’.
While this sounds like a good deal, these Libyan detention centres are accused of subjecting refugees to serious human rights violations and indefinite detention. Once refugees find themselves in detention centres, there is no system of judicial review for refugee applications. The only way out is via the IOM’s ‘voluntary’ return programme, which pushes people in need of international protection to return to their home countries, the place they fled because of violence.
The EU is aware of human rights violations and inhumane circumstance that take place in these centres. It made efforts to improve conditions and treatment, but the effects of these efforts were found to be negligible. The EU, however, continues to invest in the Libyan Coast Guard so that it can intercept and detain more refugees. By carrying on with the Libya deal, despite being aware of the human rights violations that stem from it, the EU has become complicit in the human rights abuses in Libyan detention centres.
Besides making a deal with Libya to prevent refugees from reaching Europe, the EU also started blocking nongovernmental rescue operations by putting up legal and bureaucratic obstacles. The Libya deal in combination with the challenges for rescue operations has increased the chances of dying while crossing from Libya to Italy from 1 in 42 in 2017 to 1 in 18 in 2018.
The unstable situation in Libya
While the EU treats Libya as a safe country, the political situation in Libya is far from stable. After Gaddafi’s 42-year rule was toppled in 2011, the country ended up in a power vacuum. Ever since, no authority has been in full control. In 2016, a UN-backed government was installed, but there are still competing political and military factions, making Libya a highly unsafe country.
This became painfully clear last August, when rival militias tried to take control of Tripoli, and the city experienced the worst fighting in years. Tripoli’s Abu Salim detention centre was threatened by militias, causing its guards to flee and abandon refugees or release them on to the streets. It was reported that refugees had to drink toilet water to survive and went days without food. Meanwhile, ‘released’ refugees were stuck on front lines, shot at or abducted by suspected traffickers. In some cases, refugees have even been forced to become actors in the Libyan war. Armed militias pulled them out of the centres to make them move heavy weapons or bullets. Anyone who resisted was beaten.
Best intentions?
EU policymakers and leaders justify the deal with Libya by saying that it is necessary to assert control over Europe’s external borders and to break the business of smugglers. Supposedly, it is also meant to protect migrants by preventing dangerous boat migration. But in reality, it is clear that the deal is intended merely to avoid the legal responsibilities that arise when migrants and asylum seekers reach EU territories. And in doing so, the EU closed an agreement with unstable governments and is complicit in human rights violations.
It makes one wonder why, only 80 years after World War 2 in which millions of European faced similar threats as current refugees, European seem to have forgotten how other countries opened their doors for them. Back then, not only did European refugees find a safe haven in countries such as the USA, but these countries also cared enough to intervene in the conflict.
While the EU is putting vast amounts of money to avoid its legal responsibilities in terms of refugees, what is it doing to fix the problems that caused refugees to flee? What is it doing to end the system in Eritrea where young people have no other perspective than to live in poverty and suppression? What is it doing to stop weapon supplies to conflict regions?
Moreover, climate change is expected to threaten people’s livelihoods, especially in regions such as Africa and the Middle East. Therefore, the next decades will likely see many more refugees, fleeing because of famine, drought and poverty.
European values
The European Union was built on the values of respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy equality, and the role of law. And yet, by maintaining the Libya deal, the EU manages to knowingly be complicit in human rights violations and to avoid its legal responsibilities in hosting refugees. Maybe, the EU should have a new look at its values and reconsider its Libya deal.
Interested in human rights articles? Check out these articles on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and on LGBTI rights in the Netherlands!
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
Female genital mutilation; stats, obstacles and solutions in 2019
Female genital mutilation; stats, obstacles and solutions in 2019
Last week marked a milestone for the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM). A mother of a three-year-old girl became the first person to be convicted of FGM in the United Kingdom. The cutting of the little girl took place during the summer of 2017.
While this practice had been outlawed for more than three decades, the UK had never had a conviction for it. The crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Campaigners hope that the new conviction will encourage other victims to come forward and report the crime.
Female genital mutilation, also called female genital cutting or female circumcision, is the ritual putting or removal of some all of the external female genitalia. There are a few different types of FGM, which all typically includes the partial or total removal of the clitoris.
FGM is a way to control women’s sexuality and to ensure virginity before marriage and fidelity afterwards. It is also meant to increase male sexual pleasure. It is internationally recognised as a human rights violation. FGM is practised in households at all educational levels and social classes. Moreover, it occurs among many religious groups, including Muslims, Christians and animists.
The physical and emotional pain of FGM
Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
After girls have been cut, they might experience health problems, discomfort and pain for the rest of their lives. Examples are difficulty urinating, frequent pain and infections, menstrual problems, kidney damage and failure, cysts and abscesses, pain during sex and infertility. The more immediate effects include severe pain, infections such as hepatitis B and C, and organ damage.
Moreover, when women who have undergone FGM give birth, they face higher health risks. They are at higher risk for adverse effects during childbirth, and genital mutilation in mothers also has adverse effects on their newborn babies. One to two babies per 100 deliveries dies as a result of FGM. Moreover, when giving birth, scar tissue might tear and afterwards the vagina is often “ sewn up” again, causing additional pain for women.
Moreover, FGM also leaves its mark on the mental wellbeing of girls and women. Studies have found that girls can experience immediate psychological trauma caused by the pain, shock and the use of physical force by those performing FGM. In the long-term, girls can experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and memory loss. About 80% of women who have been cut suffer from mood or anxiety disorders. Because of the continuous pain caused by FGM, there is a higher risk of depressed mood, with reduced functioning, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, and even suicidal tendencies.
What is the scale?
FGM is practised in 42 countries in Africa, the Middle East and in Asia. Moreover, it is also prevalent in communities from those countries in for example the UK, USA, and Europe. 200 million women and girls worldwide live with the consequences of FGM. Research has shown that 44 million of these survivors are younger than 15 years old. Every year, about 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of FGM.
FGM in Africa, the Middle East and Asia
In the four countries where FGM is most common, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Guinea and Somalia, nearly every girl between the ages of 15 and 49 has been cut. But things seem to be slowly changing. In the 10 countries with the highest rates of FGM, its prevalence is declining. Whereas in 1985, 51 per cent of women aged 15 to 19 had undergone FGM, in 2000 this was 46 per cent, and in 2016 it was 37 per cent.
Moreover, 63 per cent of men and 67 per cent of women in countries where FGM is common think that this practice should be history. However, because of population growth in the most affected countries, the actual number of girls could actually be increasing despite a decline in the practice.
But while FGM practices are decreasing in practising countries, its prevalence outside of practising countries is growing because of migration.
FGM in Europe
Each year, 180,000 girls and women in FGM practising communities in Europe are at risk of FGM. In France, for example, between 24,000 and 43,000 girls face the possibility to be cut. It is estimated that about 500,000 women in Europe have experienced FGM.
The EU made a plan to tackle FGM in Europe with actions to increase understanding of the status of FGM in the EU, promote social change to prevent FGM, and support Member States in prosecuting FGM more effectively. Moreover, in 2015, the EU supported 17 projects that address FGM in 18 countries, spending 8 million Euros of EU funding.
FGM in the USA
FGM is on the risk in the US. Since the 1990s, the number of girls and women who either had undergone FGM or were at risk of it has more than tripled. In 2012, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that there were more than 500,000 women and girls at risk of being a victim of this procedure. It seems that this increase is caused by the growing number of migrants from countries where FGM is most common. These girls and women mostly live in California, New York and Minnesota.
In 1996, a federal law was passed to make it illegal to perform FGM in the US. In 2013, this law was amended to also outlaw taking a girl out of the US to inflict FGM abroad. However, on 20 November, a federal judge in the USA declared a federal law banning female genital mutilation unconstitutional. He dismissed several charges doctors and others in the first US criminal case against FGM. According to the judge, the practice is a criminal assault, which means it can only be regulated at state level.
While 27 states have laws prohibiting FGM, this could turn the 23 states that do not have such laws into ‘destination states’ for cutting. This is a realistic scenario, as the dismissed cases showed that victims were often taken across state lines to undergo this mutilation. Anti-FGM state laws often include clauses criminalising “vacation cutting”, which is the practice of taking girls out of the country to have FGM performed.
FGM Canada and Australia
In Canada, FGM is forbidden under the Criminal Code since 1997. This law prohibits FGM practices in the country, as well as taking girls out of the country to be cut. Any person guilty of the assault can be imprisoned for up to 14 years. In Australia, FGM is a criminal offence as well.
While it is clear that FGM is practised in Canada and Australia, there is little to no data on the practice. It is unclear how prevalent FGM is, and prosecutions are rare.
Obstacles and solution to end FGM
Unfortunately, there is a global lack of data and research about FGM. In many countries and regions, it is unclear how often and how it is practised, how many girls are at risk, and how many people live with the consequences. Moreover, while research most often focuses on the physical harm of FGM, there is much less information available on the physiological and emotional harm.
This lack of knowledge prevents the creation of effective policies to fight FGM. Moreover, whereas there are grassroots organisations who aim to stop FGM practices, these often do not have enough funding to have a big reach and impact. More research about FGM is needed to create an incentive to develop proper policies and to fund anti-FGM organisations.
Another factor that stands in the way of ending this horrendous practice is the lack of knowledge in the professional community. Many medical and social workers are not aware of what the practice entails, how to recognise its signs, and what to do in case they come across women and girls at risk or who live with the consequences of FGM. This lack of knowledge prevents victims from getting the help they need, and offenders from being prosecuted. FGM should be a standard part of the education of healthcare and social workers, to identify victims.
The most critical factor in the fight against FGM, however, is awareness within practising communities. Many women who have undergone FGM as girls and who are surrounded by women who have as well do not realise that these practices are harmful and not needed. For them, it is just normal for girls to be cut. Only when they learn about the physical and emotional harm and the abnormality of the practice, they realise the horrendous nature of it.
There are many stories of women who were cut and participated in this practice until they realised how harmful and necessary FGM is and became anti-FGM activists. As FGM is a highly culturally-sensitive topic, the power to eradicate this practice lies in the hands of these women. These women are familiar with the culture and customs, which gives them the tools to change minds in their own communities.
Are you interested in women’s rights? Be sure to check out this article about women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, and this article about contraceptives as a tool to fight poverty!
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
Elections in El Salvador: shifting from left to right?
Elections in El Salvador: shifting from left to right?
On 3 February, Salvadorans will cast their votes in the first round of the presidential elections in El Salvador. In case no president is directly elected during that first round, the top 2 candidates will have a runoff on March 10.
Although El Salvador has a multi-party system, it has been ruled by two parties since the end of the civil war in 1992. The Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) governed from 1992 to 2009, after which the left-oriented Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), which was a guerrilla movement until the end of the war, took over. But the two-party rule seems to be ending now. The FMLN lost support after it could not meet the high expectations that arose after finally getting the presidency in 2009.
Nayib Bukele
The new candidate to watch is Nayib Bukele, who is only 37 years old. According to some poles, he might flat out win the first round of elections.
Bukele entered politics and the FLMN in his late twenties and was first elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán in 2012. In 2015, he was elected mayor of San Salvador, the country’s capital. Bukele’s rise to the top of his party seemed inevitable, but at the end of 2017, he was expelled from FMLN. The reasons were his criticism towards the party on social media and an incident in which Bukele was verbally aggressive towards a female FLMN member by calling her ‘a witch’ and ‘damned traitor’.
In response, Bukele tried to create his own party, called Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas). When the El Salvadorian electoral court failed to approve the party in time for the presidential election, he aligned with the Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA), as a final option to be able to run for president during the 2019 elections.
This was an unexpected move from Bukele’s part. Whereas he was affiliated with left politics for most of his career, he is now partnered with a centre-right party. GANA’s norms and values seem to be completely different from Bukele’s values. For instance, while Bukele promises to end corruption, GANA has been plagued by corruption scandals and supported the candidacy of ex-president Antonio Saca who was sentenced for corruption in 2014.
Of all presidential candidates, Bukele surely is the savviest on social media. He announced his candidacy via a video on his Facebook page, which has over 1.3 million followers. This is about 20 per cent of the El Salvadorian population. Soon, the video had more than a million views. He has managed to position himself as a brand and appeals to young people by marketing himself as someone who is cool.
But while Bukele has gained much popularity, his critics and opponents are worried. Bukele follows the anti-political trend, seen in countries such as Brazil and Mexico lately; he distances himself from the establishment. For example, while he is officially running with GANA, he never mentions their name during rallies. Instead, he asks his supporters to vote for el golondrino (the swallow), which is his nickname.
Just as then presidential candidate Jair Bolsanaro in Brasil, Bukele relies heavily on social media for his campaign. Instead of doing press conferences and interviews, he only uses social media through which he directly addresses his followers. By doing so, he manages to avoid all opportunities to be questioned, and for his ideas to be assessed on its feasibility.
Bukele does not see any problem with his sudden switch from a leftist to a rightist party. In his opinion, the divide between left and right is outdated. Opponents, however, see it as a sign that Bukele is an opportunist who is looking to string along any party in order to accomplish his personal ambitions. They criticise Bukele for not having a clear political programme. By refusing to publicly debate with other presidential candidates, he avoids any real scrutiny.
Salvadorian problems: poverty, climate change and gang violence
One of El Salvador’s main problems is poverty. According to the World Bank, nearly one in three Salvadorans live in poverty. As one of the most industrialised countries in Central America, Salvadorian cities have become a centre for economic, medical and commercial activity. While this sounds positive, it leaves people in rural areas with less and less access to resources. Another reason for poverty is the decreased revenue from coffee. El Salvadorian coffee farms have been hit by coffee rust, a fungus that kills coffee beans. As coffee is a large part of the Salvadorian economy, this has had a detrimental effect on the nation’s economy, and on agricultural profits in rural areas.
Poverty is likely to grow in El Salvador, as climate change is expected to have major effects on the country’s agriculture. Because of its location, El Salvador is highly susceptible to changes in weather, and as the Earth’s temperature rises, its crop yield is expected to drop by 30 per cent by 2050. Since agriculture accounts for 17.3 per cent of total employment, this will increase poverty rates. But El Salvador does not have time until 2050 to counter the effects of climate change, as drought has already affected over 80,000 people. Over the next few years, farming in El Salvador will become only more difficult.
Another major problem are high rates of crime, which further increases economic instability and stagnation. El Salvador has the highest homicide rate in the world for youth under 19. Much of these high crime rates are caused by gang violence and drug trafficking. According to the magazine World Finance, about 70 per cent of businesses are subject to gang-related crime, contributing to the stagnation of the economy. Moreover, the threat of gang violence causes some Salvadorans to flee the country.
Crime and gang violence are expensive. It was estimated that in 2011, crime cost El Salvador’s government about two billion US dollars, which is 10.8 per cent of the country’s GDP. By 2014, this even increased to four billion US dollars, 16 per cent of the GDP.
Understandably, these are problems that leave Salvadorans in discontent and desperation. While political parties have been promising improvements and prosperity for years, the population has seen little to no improvements and distrust in politics has grown. It is no wonder that a fresh face such as Bukele’s, with his social media presence and radically different approach to politics, sparks people’s interest. Afterall, he is a totally different figure than every other politician over the last few decades.
Moreover, while the older generation of voters who generally support the FNML and ARENA is ageing, a new generation born after the civil war has become eligible to vote. This generation is not yet decided on what party to support, and Bukele is appealing to them. He seems to be one of them; on his Instagram, he coveys an image of both the serious politician and a spirited millennial.
Will Bukele be the next Salvadorian president?
While El Salvador is in desperate need of change, the question is whether Bukele would be able to deliver it, and what change would look like under his regime. So far, he has not given any concrete plans for turning the country around.
By avoiding debate and interviews, Bukele has managed to expose very little about his views for the country. Where does he stand on issues such as LGBTI-rights, foreign relations, women’s rights, indigenous communities? We do not know. In fact, on Nuevas Ideas’ website, there is no information at all about Bukele’s political plans and standpoint. Instead, visitors can leave a message about how they would like to see the country run. There is also no way to predict how his new shift from the left to the right will influence his politics.
Moreover, in contrast to the FMLN party, the GANA party is small and has not had a president before. Should Bukele be elected, he might have trouble filling his cabinet and the bureaucracy. To complicate matters more, the small size of his party might decrease his negotiating power within the government.
But Salvadorans are fed up with lying politicians and corruption scandals. This frustration might just lead them to vote for Bukele, regardless of his lack of political plans and unusual political tactics. So, will Bukele be the next president of El Salvador? We will have to wait and see what happens on 3 February.
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
‘I have faith in our generation’; youth march for climate justice in Brussels
The outrage of youth was sparked when Belgium voted against new EU energy efficiency guidelines after 75,000 people attended a climate march in December. Soon, a movement called Youth for Climate emerged, which called for students to skip school and march for climate justice. While its first marches were small, their size has been quickly growing. Today, during the third climate march, approximately 32,000 young people marched.
‘I just realy want us to be heard’
While climate change does not affect Luna personally yet, she is afraid that it will be a problem for her future children. ‘There are solutions, and still, we do not tackle the issue because we are too lazy, or because it will cost money to do so.’ She hopes that Belgium’s new government, which will be elected in May, will make tackling climate change a priority and will invest in solutions.
At the same time, she is also afraid that politicians do not take this youth movement serious. In her experience, adults think they need to explain to young people how things work. They think they can reassure them by showing some data and making some new promises. We will have to wait until after the elections to see whether politicians take youth serious or not. But if the new government proceeds to neglect climate change policies, Luna predicts that there will be more protests by Youth for Climate.
A photo impression of today’s march
Do you want to know what you can do to counter climate change and environmental pollution? Check out these articles about the Zero Waste movement and the UN Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World!
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
The struggle for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia
The struggle for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia
A Saudi teenager named Rahaf Mohamed al-Qunun has made international headlines recently. She tried to flee to Australia after she renounced Islam and was threatened to be ‘slaughtered’ by her cousins. Denouncing Islam is a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. Rahaf also reported that she was physically and mentally abused by her family and that she was being forced in an arranged marriage.
After she managed to make it to Thailand, her passport was taken by Saudi diplomats during her layover. She then locked herself up in an airport hotel room. From there, she tweeted about her situation to attract the attention of international media and the United Nations.
Wait! Weren’t women rights approving in Saudi Arabia?
This might all come as a bit of a surprise. Recently, Saudi Arabia made headlines because of its improvements in women’s rights. In June, women got the right to drive, and last week it was announced that women will now be notified by text if their husband divorces them. Under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s regime, women’s rights seem to be advancing.
But critics say that these improvements are mainly superficial. Women’s rights are severely restricted by the country’s guardian system in which each woman is set under the control of her husband or a male relative. While this system is not embedded in the law, most Saudi institutions comply with. Women need their guardian’s approval for all major decisions, such as getting a passport, travelling, and signing a contract.
Not only does the guardian system severely restrict freedom of choice on a daily basis, but it also puts women in a dangerous position of dependence and possible violence. Women need their guardian’s approval to seek justice if they faced sexual abuse or violence, even if the violence is of the hands of their guardian. This effectively forces women to stay in violent marriages and family situations.
To be fair, the guardian system has loosened up a bit recently, and women can now access health care and education without a guardian’s permission. Since these law reforms, women are also allowed to open a business.
However, as women are still financially and socially dependent on their husband and male relatives, the effectiveness of these new rights are questionable. What happens when a woman starts a business against her husbands’ wishes? If doing so makes her face the risk of abuse or divorce, she might not want to carry through with it.
Yay, women can finally drive.. right?
Recently, Saudi Arabia had the dubious honour of being the last country in the world to give women the right to drive. But while women’s newly won right to drive seemed like a significant step forward, women still depend on their guardian’s permission to obtain a driver’s license.
The new right to drive is a part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s programme called Vision 2030. This plan sets out economic and social reforms to reduce Saudi Arabia’s economic reliance on oil. One of the plan’s components is to get more women to enter employment to increase economic growth, and the right to drive is a way to do so.
At least nine women’s rights activists who protested the female driver’s ban are still stuck in prison. According to Amnesty International, these women are being tortured and sexually harassed. Last December, Twitter suspended the account of activist Loujain al-Hathloul’s father. He had been tweeting about the alleged sexual harassment and torture that his daughter faces in a Saudi government prison.
In reality, the ‘right’ to drive, is more of a gift than an actual right. All of this begs the question whether women can now drive because of a Saudi wish for a more equal society, or just because it might be economically beneficial.
Other so-called improvements
This week, it was announced that women are now informed by text if their husbands are divorcing them. Before, husbands could divorce their wives even without ever letting them know. While this seems to be a big step forward, this law is superficial and hollow. It does not guarantee the right to alimony after the divorce or the right to custody of a woman’s children.
Furthermore, there are still many things that women flat out cannot do in Saudi Arabia. One of these things is to ‘show their beauty’ in public. Saudi Arabia uses a dress code based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Women are expected to wear an abaya – a long cloak- and a headscarf. If women expose too much skin or wear make-up, they are often harassed for it.
Women’s interaction with men who they are not related to is restricted as well. Most public buildings have separate entrances for men and women, and public places such as transportation, and parks, are mostly segregated. Interacting with unrelated men can lead to criminal charges against both parties, but women usually face harsher punishment.
Shallow improvements meant to mask a fundamentally patriarchal system
While recently it seemed as is women’s rights were advancing in Saudi Arabia, these improvements are in fact pretty shallow. Newly won rights, such as the right to drive, are ultimately meant to mask a system in which men have ownership of women. And while this ‘progress’ is made in the name of equality and human rights, the motivating factor behind it seems to be mainly economical.
The power of social media
Fortunately, al-Qunun’s situation worked out so far. Because of her tweets, she was noticed by the U.N. Refugee Agency, and granted asylum in Canada. While this does not entirely guarantee her safety, at least she has the chance to build a new life in another country.
Other women who managed to flee Saudi Arabia were not so lucky. In 2017, for instance, 24 years old Dina Ali Lasloom managed to reach the Philippines before she was returned to Saudi Arabia against her will. She was trying to escape a forced marriage. No one heard from her after she arrived in Saudi Arabia.
Social media might have been the key to success in al-Qunun’s escape. Since she managed to attract international attention, Saudi Arabia’s options to take her back to the country were limited. In fact, in a video that al-Qunun posted, a Saudi Arabian official is heard saying that he wished they had taken her phone, instead of her passport. Would al-Qunun have managed to find asylum and to stay out of the hand of her family if it had not been for her tweets?
A growing number of Saudi Arabian women realise the potential of social media as well. Ever since al-Qunun managed to escape Saudi Arabia, women started tweeting. Under an Arabic hashtag that translates as ‘remove the guardian system, or we will all migrate’, women share their experiences living in Saudi Arabia. As the hashtag says, they threaten to leave the country if the guardian system is not removed. Let’s hope their protests are being heard.
What can you do?
Unfortunately, the restriction of women’s rights is not the only problem in Saudi Arabia. Other issues include the general lack of respect for human rights, the ongoing war in Yemen, and the murder on journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But hey, this does not mean we should sit and wait until human rights magically improve in Saudi Arabia. There is plenty that you can do.
For instance, you can use social media to raise attention for women’s and human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, and to put pressure on its government by sharing posts and articles! And you can help human rights organisations with their Saudi Arabia campaigns. To get you started, here is an e-mail campaign by Amnesty International UK to free Saudi female activists. Be sure to sign it!
Interested in women’s rights? Check out articles about the relationship between contraceptives and poverty and about the re-appropiation of the word ‘bitch‘.
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments
Putting an end to family homelessness in the Czech Republic
Putting an end to family homelessness in the Czech Republic
A bed made of cardboard boxes, worn-out clothes, a bottle of cheap wine; several stereotypes that come to mind when talking about homelessness. Walking the streets in Czech cities, one might think that only a few people face homelessness – lost souls who have not been lucky enough in their lives.
However, the term homelessness does not only include those without a roof over their head. The European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion, also used by Czech authorities, identifies four types of living situations (roofless, houseless, insecure, inadequate) considered as homelessness. According to this typology, people living in women’s shelters, in accommodation for immigrants, in insecure housing or in extreme over-crowding are perceived as homeless as well.
Most Czech homeless people are hidden from sight in temporary facilities with extremely poor living conditions. For instance, it was reported that in a collective housing facility in Karvina, 13 families had to share one shower and one toilet and adults slept on the floor.
The Czech paradox: More people in need of accommodation despite economic growth
The Czech economy is currently in excellent condition. Moreover, the percentage of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the Czech Republic is the lowest among EU member states (12.2 per cent in 2017 comparing to the EU average of 22.5 per cent), and the unemployment rate has not been lower in 22 years. In spite of the current period of prosperity, 200 000 individuals do not have stable housing. This is approximately two per cent of the Czech population and includes 20 000 children.
To make matters worse, the number of homeless people is growing in the Czech Republic. The main cause is that there is no law on social housing and bad living conditions for people in financial distress. Since the Czech government acts too slowly, many municipalities have decided to tackle the situation themselves, declaring war on homelessness. A promising project called Housing First, introduced in many cities across the globe, has proven to be a powerful tool to fight homelessness. Recent results from the City of Brno, the first Czech city to implement Housing First, showed that its results in local conditions are also undoubtfully positive.
What is Housing First about?
Housing First is an innovative tool designed for people who need significant help to enable them to leave homelessness. It was developed by Dr Sam Tsemberis in New York in the early 1990s. Since then the concept has been successfully implemented in several countries in North America and Europe. Its success rates are high; it has been shown that the model ends homelessness in at least eight out of every ten cases.
Contrary to more traditional approaches, in Housing First, homeless people are offered housing as soon as they enter the programme, regardless of their situation. The project is based on the idea that housing is not only a human right, but also the essential first step to solving all problems related to homelessness, such as drug abuse, health problems, and money problems. When participants have moved into the new house, aid workers do whatever it takes to keep them living there. Only then, the next step is focused on improving their health, well-being and social situation.
This approach is different from traditional homelessness services, which often require a person in need to follow social competency training and to commit to a long-term cooperation with NGOs or national authorities before housing is provided. In Housing First, accommodation is offered unconditionally. The assumption is that only when someone has formed a home base, has he the ability to tackle other personal problems.
Photo by Barbora Kleinhamplová.
Photo by Barbora Kleinhamplová.
The first pioneer in the Czech Republic
The City of Brno (population 380 000) which owns and controls access to 29 000 flats, approved a strategy to end family homelessness: to make it rare, short and non-recurring. Since 2016 various traditional and experimental approaches have been tested for outcomes. The Housing First approach has been one of them. Thus, Brno has become the first Czech city to experiment with the tool.
Before the trial run of the Housing First project was launched, a family homelessness registry was conducted in April 2016. The results showed that there are 421 homeless families in Brno, and two-thirds of them are Roma. Once homeless, these families are often considered unfit as tenants by both private and public landlords and have little access to housing.
Between September 2016 and June 2017, 50 of these 421 families were randomly assigned to the Housing First program through a lottery organised by City Council for Health and Social Affairs. To be able to measure the impact of the Housing First approach, the project was accompanied by a randomised control trial lead by the University of Ostrava. Consequently, other 100 families were randomly assigned as a control group. Both intervention and control groups were surveyed at baseline, and after six and twelve months several preselected indicators were registered and compared.
Promising but not surprising results
The trial period ended in June 2018, and the final report was published by the University of Ostrava in December 2018. So far, the results of the project are promising.
One year after the start of the program, 96 per cent of families still lived in the house they were assigned. During this first year, families who were not selected for the Housing First programme were on average homeless for roughly nine months, while this was only 0.16 months (less than 5 days) for families who benefited from the program. Overall, families participating in the program had 5.6 m2 more living space per person.
Unsurprisingly, the Housing First intervention did not only improve housing circumstances. It also had a positive effect on health and well-being. It was found that the health conditions of participants in the program improved, whereas the condition of the control families worsened. Stress levels were significantly lower in participants, especially in mothers. And both parents and children in the intervention slept better and longer.
Moreover, participating mothers were 4.5 times less likely to have high levels of psychological distress than mothers in the control group, and had a lower incidence of depression. The use of antibiotics was 2.23 times lower in people that participated in the program. In the intervention group, fewer children were placed in institutional care and foster care. Children spent more time with their families and were more likely to be happy in school.
The program was financially viable as well. The cost-benefit analysis showed that the housing first program could save public money. In fact, it was estimated that 106 emergency room visits, 51 emergency service calls and 39 cases of hospitalisation were prevented thanks to this intervention.
Although the results of the Housing First trial are promising, the intervention is not a quick fix for all problems. Life satisfaction, for example, improved significantly during the first six months of the program but was still lower than in the general population. And, while the financial situation of families in the program got better, most of them were still not able to cover their basic needs. Of course, many of the problems causing and stemming for homelessness need time and professional help in order to be solved. It is therefore essential that help remains available for a substantial period of time after participants have moved into their new house.
Photo by Barbora Kleinhamplová
“It is just better when I come home [from work] compared to the hostel. You are at home, it is clean, the food is prepared. I eat, I can have a shower, I have my privacy.” Photo by Barbora Kleinhamplová.
Brno’s success inspires other Czech cities
The project results demonstrate that the Housing First approach can thrive in Czech conditions and can be a useful tool to reduce (family) homelessness. The concept implementation was closely watched by media, elected officials and experts from all over the country. Inspired by Brno’s success, several Czech municipalities, such as Liberec and Ostrava, have already launched their own Housing First projects.
Posted by Dominik Plihal in Current Affairs, 0 comments
Contraceptives: a tool to fight poverty?
Contraceptives: a tool to fight poverty?
In Delaware USA, at every doctor’s visit, women are now asked if they plan to get pregnant soon, even if the visit has nothing to do with their reproductive health. If a woman answers no, she gets whatever form of birth control she wants on that same day, free of charge. This new approach aims to reduce unwanted pregnancies to help women escape poverty.
Whereas Delaware used to have the nation’s highest rate of unplanned pregnancies, this number is estimated to have declined with a whopping 24 per cent since the start of the program three years ago. Its key to success seems to be its same day ‘delivery’ of birth control. This is important, as many hurdles prevent women from coming back for a new appointment. For instance, it can be hard to take time off at work or to find someone to baby sit while they are at the doctor’s office.
A similar program is conducted in Colorado USA. Here women can choose to have a contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD) or implant placed without charge. So far, 30 000 devices have been placed and the results are promising. The age at which women become pregnant significantly increased. Whereas first, half of all births to the most unfortunate women in Colorado occurred before the age of 21, this age increased to 24 after only five years of the program. This result caused Colorado to climb ten spots up in the US ranking for lowest teen birth rates. But that is not all. Not only did teen births drop with 40 per cent between 2009 and 2015, but the number of abortions also decreased by 35 per cent. Moreover, more than 80 million dollars were saved on Medicaid costs. Unsurprisingly, the success of these programs inspired others. Washington and Massachusetts are now starting similar programs.
Access to contraceptives: not a given
Nowadays, the benefits of birth control are clear, and its use is fairly accepted. A rare exception is the Roman Catholic Church, which formally forbids the use of all contraceptives. In the USA, 99 per cent of sexually active women aged 15 to 44 used contraception at some point in the past.
Unfortunately, reliable contraceptives are not a given for many women. In the EU, there are large disparities in access to birth control. While in Belgium and France 91 per cent of women have access to contraceptives, other countries score much lower. In Andorra, for example, only 18.8 per cent and in Greece, only 38.2 per cent of women have access. Religion, costs of birth control, health insurance coverage and infrastructure are just some examples of factors that can prevent women from accessing contraceptives.
Worldwide, over 200 million women do not use any or use risky contraceptive methods, even though they do not want to get pregnant. This is often due to lack of access, money, or information. It is estimated that, if these women had reliable contraceptives, the number of unintended pregnancy would drop from 89 million to 22 million yearly. Moreover, 45 per cent of pregnancies in the USA are unplanned, and 65 out of every 1000 women aged 15-44 in developing regions unintentionally got pregnant in 2014 (23). In the EU, on average 6 out of 1000 women aged 15 to 17 become pregnant. This is usually unintentionally, considering their young age.
The complex relationship between contraceptives and poverty
While many women do not have reliable access to birth control, its role in preventing poverty is increasingly acknowledged. In the USA, the concept of birth control as a tool to increase economic mobility first emerged in the 1970s, after contraceptives and abortion became legal. Quickly after, women’s careers and educational attainment started to improve. Ever since, it has played a role in poverty reduction. In fact, it was found that women who have legal access to birth control are significantly less likely to experience poverty later in life.
But, as poverty is a complex topic, its relationship with unplanned pregnancies is not yet fully understood. Thanks to research and political interest, we are now starting to explore the dynamics.
Protecting the health of women and children
One of these dynamics is the effect that prevention of unplanned pregnancies has on health. Unfortunately, pregnancy does not come without health risks for both mother and child. And, as it turns out, these risks are even higher in case of unintended pregnancies. A mother’s likelihood of facing maternal depression and anxiety, for example, is higher in case of unplanned pregnancy.
Especially young women face risks when they get pregnant. In fact, complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in teenage girls. Moreover, when teenage girls get pregnant, this poses risks to the baby as well, especially in developing countries. Here, babies are at higher risk of dying and low birth weight, preterm delivery, and severe neonatal conditions. Moreover, the use of condoms, an easy-to-use method of contraception, prevents HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Clearly, by preventing unintended pregnancies, birth control helps protect the health of women.
Additionally, a share of unwanted pregnancies inevitably leads to abortions, whether safe and legal, or unsafe and illegal. Yearly, approximately 3.9 million unsafe abortions take place worldwide, contributing to maternal mortality and health problems. The use of birth control prevents unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Whatever your stance on abortions, preventing them is a worthwhile cause.
Improving educational and economic chances
Unintended pregnancies most often happen in young women. As raising children demands time and money, this can force them to drop out of school, decreasing their future earnings. But not only parents are affected by unintended pregnancy. Children born after unplanned pregnancies are more likely to stop their education early and to earn less later in life.
By preventing unintended pregnancies, birth control gives women a chance to stay in school, thereby improving their career perspectives. In fact, it was found that American women who have unrestricted access to contraception during their late adolescence were 17 per cent more likely to be enrolled in university at age 21.
Curiously, women and girls do not necessarily need to use contraceptives themselves to experience positive effects. Just the proximity of contraceptives and family planning services can be beneficial. It is shown that access to contraceptives encourages girls to plan better futures by investing in education, especially in developing countries. As it allows women to exert control over their reproductivity, all of the sudden it is worthwhile to stay in school. In Malaysia, for example, it was found that just the availability of family planning services made girls remain in school six months longer. And in Indonesia, it was found that girls have higher attendance and accomplishments in school when these services were available in their neighbourhoods.
Additionally, when contraceptives become more accessible, employers are more likely to hire women, as they are less likely to miss time at work. Because of the chances that occur when women have access to birth control, it has the ability to reform economies.
Other positive effects
While reducing poverty is extremely expensive, reducing unplanned births is fairly easy and cheap, and has the potential the render huge returns. Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in contraception, the costs of pregnancy-related healthcare is reduced by $ 2.20. Looking further at the socioeconomic effects, universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services might return $ 120 for every dollar invested in it.
Moreover, birth control gives women (and their partners) more control over their lives, and may lead to better outcomes for children. Of course, the decision whether to have kids or not should never depend on whether you can afford birth control or not. Children deserve to be born into a family where they are wanted, and where parents have the resources needed to take care of them.
Additionally, birth control might affect the relationship between unintended pregnancies and staying in abusive relationships. Women in abusive relationships are two to three times more likely to be forced into pregnancy and to have an abortion. After giving birth, they are more likely to stay in the abusive relationship, risking their own lives and wellbeing, and their children’s.
The potential of contraceptives in developing countries
Access to birth control is especially a problem in developing countries. Here, it is estimated that 214 million women and girls do not have access. If these girls and women had access to proper contraceptives, approximately 67 million unintended pregnancies and 76,000 deaths could be prevented each year.
You could argue that access to birth control is especially needed in developing countries. Populations are growing quickly here and resources are very limited. Since many people already live without sufficient resources to meet their needs, restraining population growth is necessary.
However, increasing the use of contraception in these areas is not as easy as it seems. Even if birth control is freely accessible, factors such as religion, education and social norms affect whether or not girls can use them. In some cultures, for instance, having many children is considered a symbol of status. Of course, the unequal position of women in some places also plays a role.
The dark history of state contraceptive programs
All the positive effects of birth control aside, state contraceptives programmes have a dark history that should not be ignored. In the 20th century, 33 American states had programs of compulsory sterilisation in the name of eugenics and wellbeing. In 1976, it was found that 25 to 50 per cent of Native Americans were sterilised between 1970 and 1976. It is suspected that some of these sterilisations took place during other surgical procedures without the consent of the patient. In Nazi Germany, the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring resulted in thousands of forced sterilisations. While these laws and events seem to be things of the past, more recently, judges offered reduced sentences to defendants if they agreed to be sterilised or use birth control.
Acting on the belief that limited reproduction of the poor would be beneficial for society, these programs violated reproductive rights, especially those of people of colour and with disabilities. Even today, black women are more likely to feel pressured to use birth control and healthcare professionals are more likely to suggest IUDs to black and Latina women.
Another risk of contraceptives programs is that the high pressure to succeed can cause clinics to ignore the wishes of patients and pressure them to use contraceptives whether they want it or not.
Our understanding of poverty
Obviously, poverty and its relation to birth control is a complicated topic. The question remains whether unintended pregnancies cause poverty, or poverty causes unplanned pregnancies. For example, while there is no difference in sexual activity, a poor woman is over five times more likely to unintentionally get pregnant than an rich woman. And the age at which women have children is related to their socioeconomic status as well. For instance, places where women have children earlier in life have bigger gender pay gaps. It seems that unintended pregnancies is as much of a sign as a consequence of poverty.
The risk of framing contraceptives as a tool to fight disparities is that it can simplify our understanding of poverty. Structural factors, such as racial discrimination and the availability of social services, lie at the heart of poverty and need to be addressed. These issues will not go away simply by increasing access to birth control and reducing unintended pregnancies.
The power of education
Another important, and often underestimated, factor in reducing unplanned pregnancies is education. Merely teaching girls how to read enables them to use contraception and to understand sex education resources. Girls who have received a high amount of education are less likely to become pregnant early in life and to enter into child marriage, and more often have future healthy pregnancies. Moreover, it should be taught that pregnancies and the use of contraceptives is the responsibility of both men and women, instead of solely a woman’s responsibility.
Full of potential.. and risks
It is clear that contraception has a huge potential to change people’s lives and decrease conditions of poverty. But there is a thin line between enabling women to take charge of their reproductive health and violating reproductive rights. Any program offering forms of birth control should be based on the consent and wishes of each individual patient. Moreover, the aim of such programs should be to give women the means to take control of their lives, not to fix society’s poverty.
Furthermore, access to birth controls should not be seen as a single remedy for poverty. It should always go hand in hand with regular education, scientifically-based sexual education for both genders, and action to tackle structural causes of inequality. Only then, contraceptives will be fully effective in preventing poverty and creating chances for women and children.
Posted by Chantal Verdonschot in Current Affairs, 0 comments |
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Eat Antioxidant Foods to Reduce Disease Risks
Antioxidants are great for you body as they help to protect you from heart diseases and cancer. Here are 10 foods that have antioxidants.
Exercise & Fitness By Arka Roy ChowdhuryMar 31, 2014
Antioxidants for you
Why are we so worried about antioxdants? Well, the thing is that antioxidants are the prized possession for your health. They have the ability to fight heart disease, cancer and ageing. There are foods that contain antioxidants and those that would be of great help to you. Here are ten foods that have antioxidants in them and those that will help you to keep your heath tip top.
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Red Beans
It is true that all beans have great health benefits, but the fact is that the colourful ones have an added advantage. Therefore the red bean! Beans contain eight flavoboids that are plant substances which act as nature's dye and gives many fruits and vegetables its colours. These plant chemical act as antioxidants in order to protect you against heart diseases and cancers. Red beans must be eaten at least twice a week.
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Your delicious cheese cake has them, so why not you try eating them just as they are! Blueberries are very good for your health and are loaded with a healthy plant chemical called anthocyanins. This gives them their beautiful colour and also protects your heart. Blueberries are also believed to have a positive impact on your night vision and may also reduce blood glucose levels.
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Pinto Beans
Beans are very good, yes, they are naturally low in fat and they conatin no saturated fat, trans fat or cholesterol. These beans are high in protein, fiber, iron, folic acid, and potassijm. Therefore, the pinto beans protect you from heart disease and cancer.
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After speculationing for years, doctors now believe that cranberries prevent you from harmful bateria to stick to the walls of the urinary tract and therefore evading the possibility of infections. Researchers have also said that cranberries are high on antioxidants and other phytonutrients that are needed to protect the body against heart disease, cancer and even memory loss.
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Here is another kind of berry that has a rich black colour and is hence known as blackberry. These contain a plant chemical which gives them this deep colour and that is which acts as antioxidants. Blackberries are rich in vitamin C and fiber and this has been shown to reduce the risk of certain types of cancer and heart disease.
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Prunes are good source of fiber and they also have good antioxidant properties that help people to age slow both in mental and physical terms. Diseases can be avoided with the help of this tasty super food.
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The strong smelling gralic is a great choice for you. There are numerous health benefits of garlic that have been known to be beneficial. Raw garlic has been used as a natural antibiotic to kill off some strains of harmful bacteria, and also it is useful for decreasing blood pressure and cholesterol.
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The pretty red tomatoes are considered to be by far the best source of a powerful anti cancer agent known as lycopene. The research actually shows that lycopene is a powerful disease fighter than vitamin E and beta carotene. Lycopene requires fat for optimal absorption to occur. So, put healthy fat olive oil in your food and play the trick in order to increase your lycopene levels.
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Green Tea
Green tea is good for you, it is high on catechin polyphenols and they work in the body with other chemicals to heighten levels of fat oxidantion and thermogenesis. On an avergae you should consume a minimum of three cups of green tea per day for losing weight. Green tea is also known to have preventive against cancer, heart disease and high levels of cholesterol.
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The delightful fishprovides omega-3 fatty acids and evidences show that omega 3s coming from fish may be helpful in preventing imflammatory diseases such as coronary heart disease. You should ideally eat sardines, salmon, oysters, mackerel, tuna steak, wild rainbow trout, shark steak, albacore tuna, and herring.
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Published In
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Publication Date
Winter 2008
Social mobility -- Oregon -- Portland Metropolitan Area, Equality -- Oregon -- Portland Metropolitan Area, Regional economic disparities, Oregon -- Portland Metropolitan Area -- Social conditions
The American Dream is a story of opportunity and equity where anyone, regardless of station or starting point, can fulfill his or her potential. It promises that if you work hard and play by the rules, not only will your basic needs be met, but you can advance. Opportunity is about having a shot regardless of gender, race, or class, and equity is about fairness, not about sameness. Equity and opportunity play a pivotal role in the American Dream. Nationally, however, people seem to be working harder but falling behind. Opportunities to succeed are not equally available. What is the state While the American Dream is commonly understood to include equal access to opportunity and reward for effort, more specific attributes have come to include the desire for a home, a job that pays enough to support a family, upward mobility, a secure retirement, and opportunities for your children (the next generation) to succeed. How are we, in the metroscape, doing on those measures?
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Lecture Outline
Patterns of Reproduction in Plants
Lecture Outline
What are the general patterns of reproduction in plants?
Plants have two multicellular generations that alternate to create their life cycles.
In animals, the diploid phase of the life cycle is multicellular, and the haploid
phase of the life cycle is represented only by sperm and eggs
In plants, there is a cyclical alternation of generations: a diploid, multicellular
sporophyte generation utilizes meiosis to produce haploid spores, which
grow into a multicellular gametophyte generation that produces gametes,
which unite to form a diploid zygote, which matures into a sporophyte
Gametophytes are haploid and use mitosis to produce gametes in specialized
reproductive structures:
o Eggs are produced in female reproductive structures called archegonia
o Sperms are produced in male reproductive structures called antheridia
In nonvascular plants, and several phyla of vascular plants, spores are
produced in spore cases called sporangia
The haploid generation dominates in nonvascular plants, such as mosses,
whereas in vascular plants, such as ferns, conifers, and flowering plants, the
sporophyte generation dominates
In nonvascular plants, the gametophyte generation is dominant.
The nonvascular plants comprise three phyla: mosses, liverworts, and
Mosses
o In mosses (phylum Bryophyta), the gametophyte is a small green plant
with leaflike structures that grows in moist or boggy places
o A slender sporophyte grows out of the parent gametophyte
o Each sporophyte bears a sporangium, within which haploid spores are
produced by meiosis
o Ripe spores are released and fall to the soil, where they germinate and
grow into gametophytes
o Female gametophytes produce a small, flask-shaped archegonium at the
top of the plant, while male gametophytes produce antheridia at their tops
o Sperm are released following a rain, and they swim into the neck of an
archegonium, one sperm fertilizing one egg
o After fertilization, the diploid zygote develops into a young sporophyte
within the archegonium
o The cycle begins anew when the embryo grows out of the archegonium
and differentiates into a sporophyte
Liverworts and Hornworts
o Liverworts (phylum Hepatophyta) resemble the human liver, and their life
cycle is very similar to that of mosses
o Hornworts (phylum Anthocerophyta) has elongated sporophytes that
protrude like horns from the creeping gametophyte
In vascular plants, the sporophyte generation is dominant.
Whisk ferns, club mosses, horsetails, and ferns do not form seeds
o A mature fern plant produces spores by meiosis in clusters of brownish,
dot-like sporangia (called sori) under the leaves
o Ripe spores disperse when the sporangia burst and those that settle on
moist soil will germinate, or sprout, into haploid heart-shaped
gametophytes (each one called a prothallus)
o Antheridia and archegonia develop on the underside of the gametophyte,
and eggs and sperm are produced
o Because eggs and sperm ripen at different times on the same gametophyte,
sperm from one plant usually swim to and fertilize eggs on an adjacent
gametophyte, producing a diploid zygote
o The zygote develops into an embryo, and then matures into the large fern
plant with which you are familiar
Conifers, cycads, ginkgoes, and gnetophytes form naked seeds
o The most familiar representative of this group of plants, called
gymnosperms, is the pine tree
o The pine tree, the diploid sporophyte generation, bears specialized
sporangia called cones
o Male cones produce microsporocytes, which undergo meiosis to form
haploid pollen grains, each of which is a male gametophyte
o Female cones produce megasporocytes, which undergo meiosis to form the
haploid female gametophytes, each of which contains an egg
o Air-borne pollen grains get stuck in the sticky sap produced by the female
cones, and when the pollen grain comes in contact with the female
gametophyte (called an ovule), it produces a pollen tube that slowly grows
into the ovule – to the egg
o Sperm produced within the pollen tube fertilize the egg, and the zygote
grows into an embryo
o During this time, the female ovule enlarges, and grows into the familiar
pine seed, which falls from the cone when it dries up and the scales open
o The seed germinates, and the embryo continues to grow and eventually
becomes a new pine tree
Angiosperms form protected seeds
o Angiosperms are flowering plants
o The conspicuous flowering plant is the diploid sporophyte generation
o The flower contains male stamens and one or more female pistils
o Meiosis produces haploid microspores within the anther of each stamen
o Microspores develop into haploid pollen grains, which are the male
o At the base of the pistil is the ovary, which holds the ovule
o Each ovule contains a single megaspore which produces the female
gametophyte, which, when mature, is called the embryo sac
o Eight cells develop within the embryo sac, one of which is the egg
o After a pollen grain lands on the pistil (either wind-borne or carried there
by an insect or bird), the pollen grain produces a long tube that grows
down the style of the pistil
o The pollen tube penetrates the ovule, and one sperm produced within the
tube fertilizes the egg nucleus, producing a diploid zygote, which
undergoes mitosis and develops into an embryo plant
o Another sperm nucleus from the pollen tube combines with two nuclei in
the embryo sac to produce a triploid endosperm nucleus, which develops
into nutritive tissue to feed the embryo
o The embryo is surrounded by nutritive tissue and the rest of the ovule,
which constitutes a seed
o The ovary ripens into a fruit, which attracts animals, which play a role in
dispersal of the seeds
o When the seed reaches favorable conditions, it germinates, and the
enclosed embryo will grow into a new plant
How does pollination take place?
Animals and wind help pollinate plants.
The two primary means for accomplishing pollination involves the wind and
insects, but birds, such as hummingbirds, and mammals in the form of tropical
bats are also effective pollinators
Flowers have evolved showy colors and fragrant nectars that attract
pollinators in search of food
While feeding on the nectar of one flower, pollen adheres to the insect’s body,
and is transported to the next flower visited
How do seeds develop, become dispersed and germinate?
Seeds develop from ovules, and fruits develop from ovary walls.
The seed consists of the embryo plant, the nutritive tissue surrounding the
embryo, and the outer covering of the ovule, which hardens into the seed coat
While in the seed, the embryo develops embryonic leaves, called cotyledons
Monocots, such as corn and wheat, develop a single cotyledon, while dicots,
such as beans and peanuts, develop two cotyledons
A fruit is a mature ovary of an angiosperm, consisting of the seeds, the tissues
connected with them, and their coverings
Animals, wind and water help in seed dispersal.
Many fruits are edible, and attract animals that consume them and scatter the
seeds in their fecal droppings
Some fruits have sticky surfaces, and stick to an animals body, to be deposited
somewhere later
Some fruits, such as those of dandelions and maple trees, are blown away by
the wind
Some fruits, such as coconuts, are carried away by the ocean
Germination begins when the seed takes up water and begins to sprout.
The first step in seed germination occurs when it absorbs water, which helps to
break open the seed coat and also stimulates metabolism in the embryo
Usually the first portion of the embryo to emerge from the germinating seed is
the radicle (young root)
Next, the epicotyl, the portion of the shoot above the cotyledons, undergoes
rapid elongation
In grasses, the first leaves are protected by a sheath called a coleoptile
The hypocotyl, the shoot below the cotyledons, next begins elongation
Multiplication of the cells (by mitosis) in the tips of the stem and roots
continues growth of the young seedling
What are types of vegetative propagation in plants?
Underground runners and stems are two types of vegetative propagation.
Vegetative propagation is an asexual reproductive process in which a new
plant develops from a portion of a parent plant
Some plants, such as irises and grasses, use underground stems, called
Other plants, such as strawberries, have horizontal stems that grow above the
Underground tubers, such as potatoes, can grow a new plant from each of it
“eyes,” which are lateral buds
In some plants, such as African violets, new plants may arise from portions of
a leaf
Using cell culture techniques, scientists can grow plants from individual cells.
Scientists are able to take individual cells or groups of cells from a plant and
use them to grow a new plant on a petri dish
Related flashcards
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NASA Launches Ambitious Twin Study to Discover Effects of Space Flight
Judy Lau
Staff Writer
Illustration by Hector Lizarraga, Staff Illustrator
In March 2015, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Scott Kelly will partner up with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko on a one-year mission to the International Space Station in hopes of exploring the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.
What separates Kelly from the other astronauts is that he has a twin brother named Mark, who is a retired astronaut. In this experiment, Scott will serve as a test subject, spending one year circling Earth at 17,000 miles per hour. Meanwhile, Mark will remain behind as the control variable, according to NASA.
“We will be taking samples and making measurements of the twins before, during, and after the one-year mission,” said Craig Kundrot of NASA’s Human Research Program at the Johnson Space Center. “For the first time, we’ll be able two individuals who are genetically identical [sic].”
The study plans to focus partially on the comparison of the blood samples that are collected from Scott and Mark before, during, and after the one-year mission. Physiological and psychological testing will also be conducted during these intervals.
Living in space is known to have effects on the human body such as muscle loss and decreased bone mass. However, scientists are unsure of the effects of space on the human body at a smaller scale. Scientists believe that it could affect our DNA or alter how we age, according to Mirror. This experiment also harkens back to Einstein’s “Twin Paradox” theory, which posits that the traveling twin should return younger than his brother.
The 12-month study will mark the first time two humans have stayed abroad the International Space Station for such a long period of time; normally, each mission lasts no longer than six months. Scientific and technical experts reviewed 40 study proposals submitted in response to the announcement and have selected 10 proposals. The 10 different institutions across seven states will receive a combined $1.5 million over a three-year period, according to NASA.
NASA hopes that by discovering the effects of space travel, it will open the door to further exploration and study of the cosmos. Space is slowly evolving into a new resource that is being explored in hopes of enhancing human life and survival. For example, NASA chief Charles Bolden outlined a series of stepping stones to Mars, including obtaining an asteroid and “bringing it into the Moon’s orbit by 2015, growing plants in space and using 3D printers for onboard repairs,” according to Metro News.
These steps in advance of a three-year return trip would bring scientists new samples as well as a valuable testing ground for technologies necessary for manned missions. Bolden stated, “If this species is to survive indefinitely we need to become a multi-planet species. We need to go to Mars, and Mars is a stepping stone to other solar systems.”
Additionally, Bolden revealed that there were more plans under development, including NASA’s Solar Electric Propulsion System, which uses beams of electrically-charged atoms to navigate deep space. In order to make these plans a reality, the space agency chief stated that increased funds would be needed from the White House.
NASA’s planned twin project, set to launch in 2015, may be the first step in finding an alternative source of life and survival outside of Earth. With increased research and financial support, further exploration of the universe may not be far away.
Judy Lau
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Examples of Physics in Our Everyday Lives
physics tuition singapore
Apart from hard work and determination, modern education is probably the most important factor for success. You go to school to learn new concepts and to understand why things are the way they are in the world. Since the onset of formal education, many have graduated from school and gone on to achieve massive feats.
In educational institutions, you get to learn concepts from kindergarten to university, each level gradually increasing in complexity. You start learning science at a very young age, it branches out into biology, chemistry and physics and delves even deeper in tertiary institutions.
Depending on what you are most interested in, some of the things you learn in school may seem more important than others. Physics is a subject that many people struggle with and fail to see its usefulness in everyday life. In reality, physics applies to many aspects of our daily lives.
In this piece, we will look at practical examples of how Physics applies in everyday life.
It is next to impossible to go a whole day without communicating with someone else over the phone, either through a phone call or a text message. The invention of the telephone is credited to Alexander Graham Bell in the 19th century who applied physics concepts like electrical currents and sound waves to transmit signals. Without physics, the phone would not exist, and you would still be relying on telegrams and messenger pigeons to communicate.
Without a doubt, everything you can achieve in life is useless if you are not healthy enough to enjoy your wealth. Biology may be responsible for diagnosing our ailments and dictating a course for treatment, but physics play an equally important role in developing the equipment for surgery and diagnosing our illnesses.
Each day, you find yourself with the need to travel or move from one place to another either from home to work or school, from one client to another, you name it; transport is essential in human life. Whether you use public transport, your car, the train or by air, physics played a massive part in the invention of all these modes of transport.
You are probably reading this article in your home or your office. The huge buildings you see today are possible because engineers have applied physics and math to ensure they do not topple over with the slightest resistance. In Japan, the knowledge of spring technology has been able to give rise to earthquake resistant buildings.
Many people cannot imagine themselves living in a world where there is no electricity; the mere thought of it is frightening. Energy is needed to power all technological inventions. The more technology develops and advances, the more energy is required. In the future, many things will depend on electricity including transportation. Electricity generation relies on scientific processes like the turning of turbines in hydroelectric and geothermal power generation.
Sound is the vibration of molecules. Even when we talk, the oscillations occur at different frequencies and that is what our brains and ears hear. Through physics, scientists have been able to understand how sound works and develop technology such as speakers and public address systems. Even the earphones you use every day to enjoy your music can be credited to physics and its concepts.
Home Appliances
Having a television, refrigerator, stereo system, microwaves and all the other electrical devices you have at home make life better for you. Physicists are the people that developed technology that made it possible for all these appliances to work.
Physics is essential to human life, and almost all technological advances made by humanity depend on physics concepts. Gaining a deeper understanding of physics isn’t impossible. Attending a-level physics tuition will give you a better grasp of the crucial laws that form the basis for all physics concepts. Physics tuition complements what you learn in school, making you a better student. |
I am currently working through Dr. Andrew Ng’s Machine Learning course on Coursera.org. It is a great introduction to the subject and I have learned a lot so far. In this post I will give an overview of some basic Machine Learning concepts.
What is Machine Learning?
One day a Statistics Professor met an Algorithms Expert and they fell in love. They had a child and named it Machine Learning.
Jokes aside, Machine Learning describes taking Statistics and Algorithmic theory and using them to make decisions/predictions from data. There are two main types of Machine Learning - Supervised and Unsupervised. We’ll focus on Supervised Learning.
Supervised Learning
Training a model with a known data set
For example, email spam classifiers can be built using Supervised Learning techniques. To build such a classifier, you can use a data set consisting of emails that have already been manually classified as SPAM or NOT SPAM. With this data you would train a model (more on this later) to learn from these examples and identify features and respective weights that indicate whether a given email is likely to be spammy.
This initial data set is referred to as the Training Set. The efficacy of the trained model can be tested with a Test Set, which includes a set of emails that the classifier has never seen before. Calculating the performance of a classifier is not necessarily trivial. For example, if I build a spam classifier that classifies emails correctly 99% of the time, this might sound great. But in reality, what if only 1% of the emails in the test set were spam? If that is the case, then my classifier has made no improvement whatsoever over an unfiltered inbox.
There are various metrics to consider when examining the performance of a model. I’ll define some common metrics in the context of our Spam Classifier:
Precision: count of emails accurately classified as spam / count of all emails classified as spam
Recall: count of emails accurately classified as spam / count of all spam emails.
Precision tells us the proportion emails our model misclassifies as spam (false positives). Recall tells us the proportion of spam emails that our model missed (false negatives).
When building a classifier, we must maintain a balance between precision and recall. Building a model with 100% recall is easily done by classifying every email as spam. Building a model with 100% precision is quite easy as well. We only need to be extremely certain an email is spam before classifying it as such, even if that leads to many other spam messages getting through the filter.
The balance between precision and recall is commonly quantified with a parameter called F1 Score, F-score or F-measure . It is defined as:
F1 Score: 2 * (Precision * Recall) / (Precision + Recall)
In my next post on Machine Learning, I will cover the basics of various Supervised Learning methodologies: Linear and Logarithmic Regression, Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines (SVMs). |
historical village, Alabama, United States
Cahaba, historic village, Dallas county, southwest-central Alabama, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Selma. Founded in 1819 as the first capital of Alabama, Cahaba thrived until floods forced the state government to move to Tuscaloosa in 1826. The site of a Confederate prison camp during the American Civil War, Cahaba remained the seat of Dallas county until it was replaced by Selma in 1865. Only ruins of the original buildings remain, but the area is now preserved as Old Cahawba Archaeological Park. The Cahawba Festival is held in May.
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When a popular democratic leader takes over the reins of government from a previously despotic government, they are transformed from the sacred to the profane. Icons don't govern, people do. They do so as politicians, and both people and politicians are necessarily messy. South Africa's Nelson Mandela escaped much of this by virtue of his singular story, eschewal of political life after only one term, and by attempts to avoid the excesses of politics in favor of moral leadership. Majority rule feels good to be at the helm of, but it is not without cost. Mandela's own voice on the HIV/AIDS crisis that has left South Africa devastated could have been stronger during his term and afterwards. His speech could have been louder regarding the general sexual violence that still plagues South Africa. And the horrors of Winnie Mandela were something he was never entirely rid of. Still, his place in history is secure at this point, regardless of the tint and tilts of time passing. Without his leadership and inspiration, there is no doubt that South Africa would not be looking at the opportunities it now has. Indeed, without Mandela, one can imagine that civil society would have disintegrated in South Africa under warring factions divided by class, race, clan, and loyalty. Mandela was the only one who might have woven these diverse fabrics into the quilt of potential that the country now has to merely achieve.
Burma's Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a good figure to think about in analogy to Mandela. She wasn't on Robben Island, but was greatly isolated in decades of house arrest while Madiba had the solidarity of other prisoners around him. I have always felt that she might be able to do for Burma what Mandela did for the Republic of South Africa. In fact, I predict that she will do just that and, forgive me for hoping so, perhaps even more expertly since she'll have been able to learn more over time and examples of more recent history than the liberation of South Africa allowed then.
What now for Aung San Suu Kyi? She has been freed from house arrest, is free to travel, and has been free to run in (and win) an election for a seat in the new parliament in Burma. It is my hope that she might be able to assume the presidency after the 2015 elections there. Marrying an Englishman might looked on askance where the Brits still flex imperial occupation as in Ireland, but only in Burma does it seem that it actually precludes one from being president.
In 2015, the year of Burma's next major election cycle, Aung San Suu Kyi will be turning 70 years old, a year younger than Hillary Clinton will be in 2016 but a year older than Ronald Reagan was in his first term in office. Burma is a young nation with more than a quarter of the population being under 15 years old and is growing fast. Challenging circumstances enough get more so as the country will inherit a circumstance with widespread unhappiness. There remains considerable disenfranchisement among ethnic minorities, which make up the bulk of the country's borders; inter-religious violence has plagued the nation for the past several years; the entrenchment of military and crony interests is severe; and the basic failures to provide functional infrastructure for education and healthcare is a chronic and worsening concern.
Critics of her and her party (a different issue to some degree) are widespread and acrimonious. How can she fail to speak more strongly on behalf of minority human rights? How can she not oppose economic agreements? How can she not have her party induct younger generations to train for the difficult task of getting things right? How can she not fail to do more for any number of things? As a longtime supporter and an organizer on her behalf, it is very painful to watch. Having said such, it must be more painful for her to hear and is an egregious failure to focus on the real goals. The de facto-regime faction in Burma's parliament still controls virtually all of the country's power internally and externally. Complaining to Aung San Suu Kyi for not magically solving everything ignores the exigent realities. She is a party member and doesn't have the ability to issue edicts that the party must obey or suffer for, albeit she is a powerful one. She is not able to magically transform the existing prejudices of her society without building coalitions from the ground up, and coalitions in politics are not the same thing as coalitions in national symbology. She has journeyed from the impervious status of icon to the rather more troublingly compromising world of politics, and not as a wizard president but as a member of a parliament that is still finding its way in the world. There is evidence aplenty that much of the difficulties that she has faced has either been the result of the length/depth of problems or of the need to move slowly to slow and turn around a lumbering failure of a government. The formerly-military (and still partly so) government may very well have laid some of these traps for her and for her party to fail. Don't buy it. Support her and her candidates in 2015.
If you have supported human rights, if you have supported democracy in Burma, if you believe in the vibrancy and decency of both diversity and the individual, then you must continue to support Aung San Suu Kyi to become the president of the nation that she has given so much for and has fought so long in. You may be able to criticize her behavior on some policies and practices. Indeed, think of how much stronger South Africa might have been if there had been outspoken criticism on things that might have been done better. But make no mistake, South Africa without Mandela would have failed. Burma needs and deserves Aung San Suu Kyi to have its best chance to succeed and prosper. This is not only a question for Burma, but for all of Asia and by extension all the world. We endorse Aung San Suu Kyi for Burma's president in the next election. We hope that every global citizen does too. Aung San Suu Kyi has said herself that she is not a saint, but a politician. If you expect more of her, then give her the power to do more. We feel that she is the best and brightest hope that Burma has had for decades to achieve its deserved status as a human rights defender and diverse democracy. We support her and think you should too. |
What Is the U-6 Rate?
The U-6 rate is the unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers who have quit looking for a job and part-time workers who are seeking full-time employment. The U-6 rate is considered by many economists to be the most revealing measure of a country’s unemployment situation since it covers the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed, underemployed and discouraged.
Understanding the U-6 Rate
The official unemployment rate used by the U.S. government and recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is called the U-3 rate. This is the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed and has actively sought employment within the past four weeks. The portion of the unemployed that has not looked for a job in the past four weeks is no longer considered unemployed but is considered "marginally attached."
The U-6 rate, on the other hand, factors in this marginally attached percentage of the labor force in its unemployment calculation. The marginally attached group includes discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for work. This group includes workers who have unsuccessfully looked for work sometime in the past twelve months. Marginally attached workers also include people who have returned to school or become disabled, in which case they may or may not return to the labor force.
In addition to the marginally attached category, the U-6 rate also includes the underemployed in the labor force in its metrics. The underemployed represent people who would prefer full-time jobs but have settled for part-time jobs due to economic conditions. While the U-3 rate considers this category of workers to be employed, the U-6 considers the group unemployed. For this reason, the U-6 rate is considered a indicate of the state of the economy because it consists of people who would like full-time jobs but have been unsuccessful in their job search.
Both the U-3 rate and U-6 rate are published by the BLS in the monthly job report, which is used by market watchers to gauge the health of the economy. To calculate the official unemployment rate, the U-3, the BLS divides the total unemployed by the total labor force participants. For example, the December 2016 monthly rate report indicated that the total number of people that were unemployed was 7.53 million, and the civilian labor force consisted of 159.64 people. The unemployment rate was, therefore, calculated to be 7.53 ÷ 159.64 = 4.7%.
In the same December 2016 report, people that were marginally attached to the labor force was 1.68 million. The total number of workers with part-time jobs for economic reasons was 5.6 million. When calculating the U-6 rate, the marginally attached group is added to both the numerator (total unemployed) and denominator (total labor force). In addition, part-time workers are added to the numerator only, since they have already been included as part of the labor force. The real unemployment rate, U-6, In February 2018 was 8.2 percent. |
Newly developed drug compound may help treat Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
The new study, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, challenges some conventional wisdom regarding how patients with this disease lose the ability to move their limbs.
The study appears April 20 in the journal Science.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most common inherited degenerative disease of peripheral nerves. The disease affects about one in 2,500 individuals worldwide, and there are no treatments for it. The researchers studied a form of the condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A, which is caused by specific genetic mutations.
These patients have inherited mutations that affect mitochondria, the energy factories of cells. Healthy mitochondria fuse together and exchange mitochondrial DNA. This healthy mitochondrial "sex" is impaired in this disease because of mutations in a protein called mitofusin2, which governs mitochondrial fusion.
Because they can't fuse, the mitochondria of people with this disease appear small, granular and clumped when viewed under a microscope. Until now, the small size was thought to be the main problem in the disorder. Small energy factories can't produce enough fuel to keep nerves alive, so the cells slowly die off, the thinking went. But senior author Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, the Philip and Sima K. Needleman Professor of Medicine, suspected something else was going on.
Dorn knew the genetic mutations in this disease aren't confined to nerves; rather, they are present in all of the mitochondria in every cell of the body. Nerve cells and, for example, heart muscle cells burn energy at high rates and need healthy, robust mitochondria for fuel. A cardiologist by training, Dorn wondered why patients with the disease don't have heart problems.
"This disease starts with nerve loss in the feet, moves up the legs, then to the arms, but it doesn't have major effects elsewhere," said Dorn, also director of the School of Medicine's Center for Pharmacogenomics. "People with Charcot-Marie-Tooth eventually may need wheelchairs, but they have normal lifespans.
"We found that the problem isn't mitochondria that are too small, but mitochondria that can't travel distances. In heart cells, mitochondria are packed like sardines and don't need to move much, so there's no problem with energy supply," he said. "But for mitochondria to make it down a person's leg -; following the sciatic nerve from the lumbar spine to the foot -; that's akin to a 500-mile trip. If a person can't constantly renew mitochondria, over the years the nerves start to atrophy. Once the nerves die, the muscles atrophy as well."
With distance identified as a key factor, the ideal animal model to study this disease, Dorn quipped, is the giraffe. But since that's not an option and mice don't develop symptomatic Charcot-Marie-Tooth (because mice are small and their mitochondria don't have far to go), Dorn and his colleagues extracted sciatic nerves -; the longest nerve in the body -; from mice and set up a way to compare the speeds of mitochondria moving up and down the nerves.
Co-first author Antonietta Franco, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher, found that mitochondria in the mouse nerves with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A mutations were almost static, moving very little in the time frame observed, even when sped up with time-lapse photography. In contrast, mitochondria moving along the nerve axons of normal mice, viewed under the same time-lapse conditions, resembled an aerial shot of a highway.
The researchers then added a drug compound to the nerves with the static mitochondria. This drug, which they designed, works something like a chemical key that unlocks mitofusin2 and boosts mitochondrial fusion. The work developing the drug compound was led by co-first author Agostinho G. Rocha, PhD, a staff scientist.
"After about 15 minutes of exposure to the compound, the mitochondrial traffic began to pick up," Dorn said. "And after an hour, it looked like the normal nerve. We also found that the drug doesn't have an effect when added to normal nerves. Mitochondria appear to have a speed limit."
While the researchers know this drug boosts the ability of diseased mitochondria to fuse to one another, Dorn said it's possible this is not what lets them move. It may be that the unlocked form of mitofusin2 also lets mitochondria couple to what Dorn calls the railroad tracks of cells. But more research is needed to answer that question.
Dorn said these findings may be relevant for other neurodegenerative disorders in which mitochondria are impaired, including other types of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
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Royal Women of Slave Dynasty
Qutub-ud-din Aibak was the first ruler of the early Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, popularly known as the Slave dynasty. His eldest daughter was married to Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha, another slave of Muhammad Ghori. When she died Qabacha married Aibak's youngest daughter. Aibak's second daughter was married to Sultan Shams-ud-din Iltutmish.
Khudawanda-i-Jahan Shah Turkan was the wife of Sultan Shams al-Din Iltutmish and mother of Rukn-ud-din Firuz. She was the first royal lady taking active part in political matters. She was originally a Turkish hand-maid, but her bounty, benevolence and charity towards the Ulama, Sayyids, priests and recluses was very great.
Shah Turkan, wife of Iltutmish
After the death of Iltutmish in 1236, the maliks and grandees of the kingdom placed his eldest [surviving] son Rukn-ud-din Firuz on the throne. When he acquired the imperial dignity, Rukn-ud-din devoted himself to pleasures and the affairs of the kingdom fell into disorder. Shah Turkan then began to assume the decision of state affairs. She had been jealous of other ladies of Iltutmish's harem. As she acquired great power and influence; she took revenge of them and murdered many of them. Shah Turkan and Rukn-ud-din blinded Qutb al-Din, the infant son of Iltutmish, and finally put him to death. The minds of the people turned against them and revolts occurred in many parts of the country. Prince Ghias-ud-din Muhammad Shah, the younger brother of Rukn-ud-din, and the governor of Oudh (Awadh), raised the first revolt. Malik Izz al-Din Salari, the governor of Budaun, Malik Ala-ud-din Jani, governor of Lahore, Malik Kabir Khan, the governor of Multan, and Malik Saif-ud-din Kuji, the governor of Hansi, entered into a confederacy, which broke out into open rebellion. Rukn-ud-din marched from Delhi to suppress the rebellion. The wazir Nizam-ul-Mulk Junaidi became frightened fled from Delhi and retired towards Kol and joined the confederates. The Sultan mean time marched towards Kohram; but on reaching Mansurpur seven of his principal chiefs deserted him, and retired with their troops to Delhi. Meanwhile in Delhi Shah Turkan conspired against Raziyya, the crown princess, to put her to death. The people of Delhi rose in her defense. Shah Turkan was imprisoned and Raziyya was placed on the throne. The people joined Raziyya and swore their allegiance to her, and placed her on the throne.
Turkan Khatun was the chief wife of Iltutmish, (most probably the daughter of Qutub-ud-din Aibak) and mother of Sultan Raziyya.
Sultan Raziyya, daughter of Iltutmish. She married Malik Ikhtiyar al-Din Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda.
A daughter of Iltutmish and sister of Sultan Muizz-ud-din Bahram was married to the Amir-i-Hajib Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-din Aitegin.
Another daughter of Iltutmish was married to Malik Iz-ud-Din Balban-i-Kashlu Khan.
A wife of Iltutmish and mother of Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, married Saif-ud-din Kutlugh Khan after Iltutmish's death.
Ghias-ud-din Balban married his daughter to Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud. |
Congratulations to Our miniDOT Winners
PME miniDOT Winners 2018
PME is proud to support continued research of the natural environment. This fall we gave grad students the opportunity to submit their research proposals for the chance to win a miniDOT logger to assist them in their research.
After reviewing all of the great submissions, our CEO, Kristin Elliot, generously decided to give away three miniDOT loggers instead of the planned two. Please see the chosen winners and their research plans below and stay tuned for updates as their research data comes in!
Rachel Pilla | Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
This miniDOT logger will be used to study temperature and oxygen dynamics in lake ecosystems, where external stressors such as climate change are influencing water quality, trophic interactions, and oxygen availability. In lakes and oceans across the world, oxygen depletion has become increasingly prevalent, leading to anoxic “dead zones” and mass fish kills in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Erie.
Rachel is pursuing research to understand the drivers of oxygen depletion in these lakes. In recent years, her lab has observed never before seen deep water oxygen depletion during summertime in their clearest study lake. This has prompted much of this research and interest in a comparison across different types of lakes.
In north temperate lakes such as these, oxygen availability is influenced by vertical mixing of oxygen to deep waters and oxygen consumption via respiration, which determines both the prevalence and extent of oxygen depletion throughout the year. During wintertime, ice cover creates inverse stratification that limits vertical mixing of oxygen to deep waters by creating a density barrier to mixing. This can lead to oxygen depletion in deep waters where oxygen consumption is high but cannot be replenished due to inhibition of vertical mixing. After the ice melts in the spring, the lakes have a mixing period that replenishes oxygen in the water column. As air temperatures rise in late spring, the summer stratified period begins, which again prevents vertical mixing of oxygen to deep waters. This, combined with high oxygen consumption rates in deep waters, leads to oxygen depletion and potentially complete anoxia. The relative timing and duration of these mixing vs. stratification periods are large determinants of oxygen depletion in lakes.
The miniDOT logger will be deployed in one of the three lakes located in the Pocono Plateau region of northeastern Pennsylvania for year-round measuring of temperature and dissolved oxygen every 10 minutes.
Dissolved oxygen data is the main variable of interest in her goal of measuring the rate and extent of oxygen depletion during winter ice cover and summer stability. Rachel plans to use the change in dissolved oxygen data as one method of estimating the mixing and stratified periods. For example, a stark increase in deep water dissolved oxygen indicates the onset of spring or fall mixing. Conversely, a continuous decrease in deep water oxygen indicates oxygen depletion occurring during a stratified period. The temperature data will also complement these measures in estimating the timing of these events. During ice cover, you can expect to see colder surface water temperatures compared to deep water temperatures due to inverse stratification. During mixing periods, the temperature throughout the water column should be approximately equivalent. An increasing surface temperature in late spring is indicative of onset of summer stratification and should coincide with the beginning of deep water oxygen depletion. The high-frequency nature of these loggers is imperative in estimating the timing of mixing vs. stratified periods, since they can occur rapidly, and weekly or monthly manual sampling can easily miss the start of any of these events, making the miniDOT logger ideal for her research.
Ariel Pezner | Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
This logger will be used in two complementary ways. First, the miniDOT will be used in a field experiment to continuously record dissolved oxygen and temperature conditions near outplants of the coral Oculina valenciennesi at one of four depths. The logger will be attached to a structure containing tiles with attached coral nubbins in order to continuously characterize the changes in dissolved oxygen and temperature at the site throughout the summer and fall.
The logger will then be used in a mesocosm aquarium experiment where Ariel will test the effects of hypoxia, ocean acidification, and their interactions on coral calcification. The logger will help monitor and characterize the oxygen and temperature conditions in the experimental units for the duration of the study.
Both the field and lab experiments in this study will take place in Bermuda. The field study will take place at Devil’s Hole, a ~25 m deep sinkhole in Bermuda’s Harrington Sound, which experiences annual seasonal hypoxia beneath the thermocline. In the field experiment, the miniDOT logger will be deployed at a shallower transplant site (approx. 9 m) next to the coral nubbins to continuously record the dissolved oxygen and temperature conditions that the corals experience over the course of the deployment. This will complement data recorded by a SeapHOx deployed at the deeper site. The field experiment will run for approximately 4-5 months (June – October) in order to capture the full seasonal hypoxic event in Devil’s Hole.
In the mesocosm study, the logger will be placed within one of each aquarium treatment tanks at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences to continuously record the dissolved oxygen concentrations and temperature experienced by the corals under manipulated conditions. The mesocosm experiments will run for 2-3 days in order to capture two full 24-hour cycles of incubation.
As a result of climate change and coastal eutrophication, hypoxic events are predicted to become more prevalent and oxygen minimum zones are expected to expand across the globe. Despite substantial literature on hypoxic events in temperate zones, only two studies have examined the effects of widespread hypoxic events on coral reefs. In addition, hypoxic events are often associated with local ocean acidification as the high rates of respiration that can lead to reduced O2 concentrations also lead to high pCO2 and low pH.
Environments such as estuaries and tide pools regularly experience these conditions, and studies of organisms from these systems show that hypoxia and acidification synergistically affect physiological processes. However, no studies have examined the simultaneous impacts of hypoxia and ocean acidification on corals, despite the likely co-occurrence of these stressors in the field. Continuous oxygen data is necessary to (1) track the seasonal hypoxic conditions experienced at Devil’s Hole in the field and therefore experienced by the corals naturally and (2) to accurately characterize the oxygen conditions experienced in the experimental aquaria in the mesocosm study. Together with collected biological data such as calcification rates, high frequency dissolved oxygen time series data will help clarify the extent to which coral calcification and physiological processes are impacted by low oxygen conditions and thus how corals may fare under future change.
Annie Adelson | University of California, San Diego
The miniDOT logger will be used as part of a larger field campaign on a coral reef. The goal of this campaign is to determine what initiates hypoxic events in tropical bays and to examine the role of advection in its breakdown. Coastal oxygen depletion has been primarily studied in temperate waters, though research suggests that its occurrence in the tropics is underreported. While similar in some respects, fundamental differences in the tropics lead to alternate mechanisms controlling hypoxic events, including annual patterns in solar radiation and rainfall. Oxygen is less soluble in warmer water, and hypoxia on coral reefs may work synergistically with stressors like ocean acidification and elevated temperatures to increase likelihood of mortality. The paucity of comprehensive observations of hypoxia in the tropics demonstrates a critical need for research to understand the dynamics of these events.
The logger will be deployed for three months in Bahía Almirante, a semi-enclosed tropical embayment on the Caribbean coast of Panama, which has recently experienced widespread coral bleaching events due to low oxygen levels combined with warming. Bahía Almirante is home to critical research on corals, mangroves, and seagrasses.
The goal of Annie’s work is to develop a predictive understanding of the dynamical processes that determine the magnitude and duration of hypoxic events in tropical bays. Oxygen data is a critical piece of this puzzle.
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Scientists recreate Near Death Experience
"What happens when you die? As she lay blindfolded in a seat in a dimly lit room, Anna* came close to finding out.
But Anna wasn’t dying, or even close to death, when she entered what she described as an alternate realm. Instead, she was among 13 volunteers who had agreed to take the powerful hallucinogenic dimethyltryptamine (DMT) for a study conducted by the psychedelic research group at Imperial College London, U.K.
The researchers, who watched Anna surf her consciousness in the low light of the research room at one of the world’s most prestigious research institutions, pumped the volunteers with the psychedelic to learn how close DMT could bring a person to the sensation of skirting death.
DMT’s trip is said to mimic the feeling of almost dying so accurately that those who take it describe hallucinations that mirror near-death experiences—psychological events reported by people who have come close to or believe they have come close to dying.
For the first time ever, the scientists measured the similarities between a DMT trip and near-death experiences. Their results were published in the Frontiers in Psychology in August.
The hallucinogenic (which occurs naturally in our bodies) is better known as the main ingredient of ayahuasca, the brew traditionally sipped in spiritual ceremonies of some indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. In recent years, such rituals have also become popular with a sizable minority of Western tourists looking to expand their psychological horizons. Tellingly, ayahuasca translates from the Quechua language as “the vine of the dead” or “the vine of the soul.
As DMT takers traverse what some call “the dome” of their trip, intense, transcendent, psychedelic hallucinations unfurl. Similarly, although there is no accepted definition for a near-death experience, because each experience is unique, common aspects include reported out-of-body experiences, a feeling of inner peace and the sensation of passing into another world.
Obviously, no one knows what it feels like to die, as no one has yet made it back from death. Near-death experiences are therefore probably the closest we’ll ever come to finding out. And DMT could be an important tool for exploring this part of our minds.
Christopher Timmermann, a Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London and lead author of the study, told Newsweek the team used DMT in a controlled research environment to safely induce radical shifts in consciousness and chart the experiences of participants.
“By doing so we might get a fuller picture of the limits of consciousness and how these experiences correspond to brain activity,” he said.
“By giving people DMT we hope to get a fuller picture of the limits of human consciousness.
Within minutes of DMT being pushed into a vein in Anna’s arm, she felt disembodied, she told Newsweek. Hit with a quiver of panic, she reminded herself to breathe. Calmer, she entered the tunnel that is so often described by those who have faced death. When she reached the end, Anna popped into a place where time and space were configured in a way she didn’t know was possible.
Experimental ambient music washed into Anna’s ears to soothe her as she dropped into what she dubbed a “cosmic soup," while the octopus-sucker-like sensors of an electroencephalogram imager documented her brain activity.
The research was part of a broader program by Imperial’s psychedelics group dedicated to understanding the potential therapeutic uses of such compounds to treat mental illness, said Timmermann.
Imperial is among the institutions leading the charge in what is known as the psychedelic renaissance. Evidence has accumulated to suggest that drugs more commonly associated with youth counterculture, including LSD, magic mushrooms, ketamine, MDMA and peyote ibogaine, could counter disorders such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in controlled medical settings. These studies, stressed Timmermann, are conducted in a safe laboratory environment, and self-medicating with psychedelics is not recommended.
In a 2016 study published in The Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers at New York University and Johns Hopkins University found that just one dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, eased symptoms of anxiety in cancer patients for eight months when compared with a placebo.
“DMT and psilocybin are very similar molecules and induce similar subjective effects. Therefore, it is intriguing to speculate on the therapeutic potential of DMT, however much research is needed to explore these ideas further,” said Timmermann.
After their trip, the participants in Timmermann’s study were quizzed on what they saw and felt. Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Did they see, or feel surrounded by a brilliant light? Or sense they were in some other, unearthly world? The team compared their responses with a sample of people who had reported near-death experiences.
Most of the study's DMT users said they were initially engulfed in a sensation of warmth, and a vibration in their bodies. Geometrical patterns were then followed by the sensation of “being somewhere else,” punctuated by a “fundamental quality of deep importance,” said Timmermann. Some, Anna included, felt they had communicated with foreign entities, in encounters charged with a deep sense of emotion and gratitude.
“Many of them struggled to find the words for the details and what they encountered,” said Timmermann.
When the team compared the experiences of participants to those who had reported near-death experiences, they found a “striking overlap” in almost every item of the questionnaire. The main difference came in the participants being knowingly involved in a study, versus the shock and distress of a near-death experience. As a result, near-death experiences were more likely to be accompanied with a feeling of crossing a point of no return when compared with DMT trips.
The findings are "remarkable," said Timmerman. “These results really grounded our results even further and are, in our opinion, important as they may open up further doors into the study of both the NDE [near-death experience] and the DMT experience."
Anna remembers little of the specifics of her trip, but several images lingered in her mind when she descended from her high. “One image I do remember is lots of books flipping open and rainbows zooming out,” she said.
“I felt a presence lift my head and tell me to pay attention: 'You came to discover something.' But it was a juxtaposition because I felt disembodied at the same time. It was a strange paradox.”
As was required of participants in order to qualify for the study, Anna had previously dabbled in other hallucinogens, like LSD and mushrooms, which can keep a user high for as long as a quarter of a day. But nothing she had ever experienced came close to her intense, comparatively short, 20-minute DMT trip.
The normal laws of physics didn't apply. I was walking around my consciousness in a lucid dream.
“Imagine dreaming and things morph and the normal laws of physics don't apply. I was walking around my consciousness in a lucid dream," she recalled.
Anna was faced with a figure of a lonely girl sitting in a gray, cold and gloomy scene, and became overwhelmed with the sense of how important compassion, love and empathy were. "It was as if I was being shown everything is interconnected and there are lots of lessons to learn."
This heightened sense of compassion, the researchers noted, seemed to stick long term, both in DMT takers and those who had near-death experiences. More than a year after Anna took DMT in March 2017, she still felt compelled to be more giving to others, she said.
Still, despite the apparent benefits, the evidence to explain why DMT creates a similar effect to a near-death experience is scarce, said Timmermann.
“There have been hypotheses stating that because we are able to synthesize DMT naturally in our bodies, then in extreme situations (as in near-death experiences) there will be a massive release of DMT in the brain that may cause NDEs.
"Another alternative is that similar states of consciousness can be reached through different mechanisms. Both DMT and NDEs could induce similarly dramatic effects in the brain but through differing starting points,” he said.
So, what exactly happens when you die? We're still not sure, but DMT could at least be one of the less permanent ways of indulging one's curiosity. "
Terrence McKenna's favorite (in the book of "10,000 Classic Needless To Says").
I remember the very, very first time that I smoked DMT. It was sort of a benchmark, you might say, and I remember that this friend of mine that always got there first visited me with this little glass pipe and this stuff which looked like orange mothballs. And since I was a graduate of Dr. Hofmann's, I figured there were no surprises. So the only question I asked is, 'How long does it last?' and he said, 'About five minutes.' So I did it and... [long pause, audience cheers] there was a something, like a flower, like a chrysanthemum in orange and yellow that was sort of spinning, spinning, and then it was like I was pushed from behind and I fell through the chrysanthemum into another place that didn't seem like a state of mind, it seemed like another place.
And I wondered, Where Am I? And What Is Going On? It occurred to me that these must be holographic viral projections from an autonomous continuum that was somehow intersecting my own, and then I thought a more elegant explaination would be to take it at face value and realize that I had broken into an ecology of souls. And that somehow I was getting a peek over the other side. Somehow I was finding out that thing that you cheerfully assume you can't find out. But it felt like I was finding out. And it felt.. and then I can't remember what it felt like because the little self-transforming tykes interrupted me and said, "Don't think about it. Don't think about who we are... Think about doing what we're doing. Do it! Do it! DO IT NOW!!!"
And what they meant was use your voice to make an object. And as I understood, I felt a bubble kind of grow inside of me. And I watched these little elf tykes jumping in and out of my chest; they like to do that to reassure you. And they said, "Do it." And I felt language rise up in me that was unhooked from english, and I began to speak...
My little auditory tyke Ling Ling always tells me to "don't think about different things" and be with her. But that only lasts so long as the mind is a stream of non-stop thoughts. She gets very frustrated with me. Says she is controlling my mind. lol!
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What is The DASH Diet?
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Along with exercise, diet plays a huge part in managing high blood pressure (hypertension). Hypertension becomes more prevalent as you get older in part due to age-related decline in kidney function (kidneys become less efficient at regulating sodium). Consequently, seniors can become more sensitive to sodium levels in the blood which leads to fluid retention and puts additional strain on the blood vessels thus increasing blood pressure (BP).
Hypertension affects around 66% of people aged 65 years and older and according to the Framingham Heart Study, 90% of adults who do not suffer from high blood pressure at age 55 can develop the condition later on. You can refer to this blood pressure chart for more information on the latest blood pressure guidelines set by the American Heart Association.
Why Diet Is Important
Nonpharmacologic approaches to control hypertension largely involve lifestyle changes to diet and exercise. In addition to staying active and keeping off excess weight with exercise, eating foods with nutrients that promote good blood vessel health can help you maintain a healthy BP.
The DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)
The DASH diet is the most doctor-recommended diet for hypertension. It essentially involves consuming more fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and nuts and cutting back on anything that’s high in cholesterol, trans fat, and saturated fat. Although you shouldn’t completely eliminate red meat, sodium, and sweets, you do have to limit them. This diet is all about getting the important nutrients with the recommended portion size.
The DASH-Sodium Diet
With the DASH diet, you pay particular attention to your sodium intake and aim to consume no more than 2,300 milligrams/day (1 teaspoon), with an even lower 1,500 milligrams/day (0.75 teaspoons) goal having shown greater effectiveness in lowering blood pressure as well. However, you want to lower sodium consumption gradually to give your body ample time to adjust and to prevent complications like hyponatremia wherein there’s a very low sodium level in the blood.
Important Tips To Keep In Mind
1. Read food labels so you can choose which foods have lower sodium content (those with 5% or less are preferable).
1. Track what you eat by listing down every food you consume along with the serving size. This will make it easier to ‘cut back’ on the portions.
2. Although canned fruits are generally okay, check whether the manufacturers have put additional sugar in or not.
3. Add a serving of fruits and vegetables to every meal and try to limit your meat to only six ounces/day.
4. Skip salt when cooking pasta or cereal. Keep in mind that one teaspoon of table salt already contains 2,325 mg of sodium.
5. For snacks, go for fruits, fat-free yogurt, or unsalted nuts.
6. Avoid fast foods or canned goods because these are usually laden with fat and sodium.
7. Be mindful of how the food was prepared and avoid frying as much as possible. You can broil, poach, or roast your food instead.
8. Not everyone has the same caloric needs and that is why you will need your doctor’s help in determining how many calories you need on a daily basis.
9. Supplement your diet with exercise. Even low-impact exercises like yoga, tai chi, dancing, and swimming can make a difference.
Sample Plan For a 2,000-calorie Diet
• Grains (6-8 servings/day): ½ cup cooked rice or 1 slice of whole wheat bread (no added butter or cheese)
• Fruits (4-5 servings/day): ½ cup fresh fruit or 1 medium-size fruit
• Vegetables (4-5 servings/day): ½ cup raw or cooked vegetables or 1 cup raw leafy vegetable
• Dairy (2-3 servings/day): 1 cup skim milk or 1 cup low-fat yogurt
• Poultry, fish, or lean meat (no more than 6 servings per day): You can eat salmon or tuna or if you want skinless chicken, bake or grill it instead of frying it. Also, it should not exceed six ounces per day.
• Nuts, legumes, and seeds (4-5 servings per week): ⅓ cup nuts or ½ cup cooked beans
• Fats and oils (2-3 servings/day): 1 teaspoon margarine or 2 tablespoons salad dressing
• Sugary food or drinks (no more than 5 servings per week): 1 cup lemonade or ½ cup sorbet
What are the foods you need to avoid?
• Deli meats
• Canned soup
• Condiments
• Processed foods like bacon and ham
• Popcorn and potato chips
• Carbonated drinks
• Pizza
You probably have a clear idea of what to avoid and what to incorporate into your diet but the one thing you’re most likely confused about is the serving size. The DASH diet has been proven effective and if you need some guidance on how to maximize its effectiveness, consult with your physician or dietitian.
Lionakis, N., Mendrinos, D., Sanidas, E., Favatas, G., & Georgopoulou, M. (2012). Hypertension in the elderly. World Journal of Cardiology, 4(5), 135–147.
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Watermelon juice can treat dehydration
Watermelon is a fruit that contains a lot of natural water. The usual fruit harvested during the dry season, in addition to a very refreshing also contains many beneficial nutrients to maintain a healthy body and beauty care. Benefits of watermelon juice to treat dehydration is probably the common things that you already know.
Dehydration is a condition in which your body is experiencing dehydration. This could happen if your body secrete more fluid than you consume. The body can lose fluids when you breathe, sweating, urination and bowel movements. And this process can be speeded up if you exercise, heavy physical work, being in a hot environment, have a fever, or diarrhea.
Watermelon juice can treat dehydration
Water is a vital to the health and beauty of the body as a whole. More than 50% of human body weight consists of water / fluids. Every cell, tissue, and organ in the body requires sufficient water to be able to work and function optimally. Water will also lubricate joints, launch a process of disposal, and regulate body temperature remains stable. Symptoms of dehydration include infrequent urination, dry mouth, thirst, headache, confusion, and dizziness.
Simple method to tell if you are dehydrated or not is to look at your urine. If colorless or light yellow, it means your body is fine. However, if the dark-colored urine, then most likely you are dehydrated. Certainly a way to cope with the body to increase the intake of water, or eating fruits that contain lots of water such as watermelon.
Approximately 92% of the water content of watermelon is a natural. In addition to direct consumption, this fruit can also be consumed in juice form. When eating watermelon or watermelon juicing, make sure to include a piece of fruit flesh is white near skin watermelon. This section will be known content of citruline a very high, amino acids are compounds that help blood flow and good for healthy heart.
In addition, watermelon juice is also rich in vitamin A, B6, C, and lycopene. Lycopene is an phytonutrients which is an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and eye disease caused by macular degeneration. Specifically to overcome dehydration, watermelon juice is also high in potassium, which is an important mineral that regulates water balance in the cells and kidneys.
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Pretty much everyone came across someone having a bad breath problem or suffered themselves with the halitosis health issue. Also known as bad breathing, helitosis problem is very commonly seen and often led to very embarrassing situations.
Often, people do not know the cause of their condition and not sure whether they have a cure.
Offensive smell from the mouth may be due to various reasons. The main reason is the presence of anaerobic bacteria in the biofilm formed on the tongue. These bacteria degrades the proteins present in the food resulting in the production of some offensive gases like hydrogen sulphide,skatol ect.
Natural mouth freshener
Natural mouth freshener
Tips to fix bad breath issue
Bad odor from the mouth in the early morning is seen in almost all individuals. This can be controlled by maintaining oral hygiene. Even after cleaning the mouth some individuals may suffer from bad breath due to some problem in the mouth or in the nearby areas.Some general disease condition can also produce bad breath. Exact cause has to be identified and should be treated accordingly.
Some common measures to cure or reduce bad breath are discussed below:
1) Food habits
Protein containing food articles are known to produce bad breath. Example; meat, milk, fish, egg etc. If these food articles are taken proper cleaning is essential.Some food articles are known to produce particular smell which may be unpleasant for others. Raw onion is the best example.It is said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away and a raw onion a day keep every body away.Small food articles taken in between can also cause bad smell(nuts,fried items etc). maintaining regularity in food timing is the most important thing.
2) Try some mouth fresheners
Natural and artificial mouth fresheners can reduce the intensity of bad breath to some extent.Spicy articles are commonly used for this purpose.Chewing spices like clove,cumin seed,cardamom,cinnamon,ginger etc are useful. All citrus fruits can reduce bad odor.Mouth fresheners and chewing gums are available in the market.these products are also helpful ,but some may cause damage hence should be used with caution.
3) Practice tongue cleaning
White or yellowish coating on the tongue can cause bad breath.This is more well marked in the morning and should be removed twice daily with the help of a tongue cleaner. Tongue cleaner must be used gently without damaging the taste buds on the tongue.
4) Make use of tooth picks
5) Do regular gargling
6) Check your oral hygiene
Mouth should be kept clean every time to reduce the bacterial action.After food gargling with lukewarm water is very essential.Even after small food articles like snacks,sweets,biscuits cleaning with water is needed.Brushing should be done twice daily.It is said that early morning brushing is for beauty and bed time brushing is for good health.
7) Maximize your water intake
8) Refine your brushing techniques
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Are creating a thesis for a paper
thesis statements for a research paper by erg15656
Inexperienced academic writersoften get lost when they aretrying todecide on a thesis for a paper that uses comparison and contrast. Assumingthat the purpose of comparison and contrast is to discover similaritiesand differences, they formulate a thesis that says something like "XandY have important similarities and differences" or "X is very similarto/differentfrom Y." For example, "The Republican and Democratic platformsforthe 1960 American presidential election were very similar." Readersof college-level papers with such a thesis might rightly ask "So?" or"Whocares?" because college-level writing requires that you what you know rather than simply repeating it.
How to Write a Thesis Statement for a Research Paper by dnq20364
This would be a fine thesis for a paper about your internship because it states what you learned and three things that you can cover in your body paragraphs. You could then complete the paper by including some antidotes from your internship.
thesis statement for a research paper Lynuz
thesis statement for a research paper | Wells & Trembath
The most common use of a cause and effect thesis is in a paper or essay written in the form of a cause and effect paper. This sort of essay is often written for classes in secondary or post-secondary education and can be written in a number of different ways. The thesis for a paper or essay should typically present the argument being made in a way that is clear and will serve as a general guide for the reader throughout the rest of the paper. |
Monday, August 10, 2015
Through History with The Monday Quiz: the 1080s
Once more into the High Middle Ages!
1. In 1084, Kyansittha became king of the Pagan Empire at the death of his father, Anawrahta – remember him? During Kyansittha’s long, prosperous reign, much of the modern language and culture of his society continued to coalesce, for instance with Theravada Buddhism predominating but not overwhelming elements of Ari, Mahayana, and Hindu practice. Considered a peer by other major players like the Chola, Song, and Khmer Empires, the Pagan Empire was the forerunner of what modern state?
2. As the Seljuk Turks continued their conquest of Asia Minor at the expense of the Byzantines, they captured a famous city in 1084. One of the great cities of the early Roman Empire – probably the third largest city in the world, for a time – it was also an important city in early Christianity. It would eventually dwindle to almost nothing after centuries of sieges, sackings, and earthquakes, although there is a sizeable Turkish town there today. What’s the city?
3. After a life of astonishing military and diplomatic adventures, Robert Guiscard died in 1085 as the Duke of Apulia and Calabria and the Count of Sicily. He was not, however, a local boy. Where was Robert Guiscard from, and what group did he lead to the conquest of southern Italy?
4. In 1086, the famous “Domesday Book” commissioned by England’s King William the Conqueror was completed. What is the Domesday Book, anyway?
5. Also in 1086, the Almoravids, who had been called into Spain by Abbad III of Sevilla, defeated Alfonso VI of León and Castile at the Battle of Sagrajas. This victory halted the “Reconquista,” the Christian conquest of Muslim Spain, for several decades. Those Almoravids… we’ve seen them before. Where did they come from, again?
6. The original Tripitaka Koreana was carved onto woodblocks in 1087 during the Third Goryeo-Khitan War. It is the world's most oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, and there are apparently no known errors in its more than 50 million characters.
Of what country is the Tripitaka Koreana a national treasure?
And, given this example, what would you figure "Hanja script" is?
7. In 1087, William the Conqueror died. Since his second son, Richard, had died in a 1075 hunting accident, it was his third son inherited the throne of England, becoming William II. But wait a minute! His oldest son, Robert, was still alive! What could he have got that was arguably better than the throne of England?
8. In 1088, the brainy Chinese scholar Shen Kuo published his Dream Pool Essays. It includes this passage.
In recent years there was a landslide on the bank of a large river in Yong-ning Guan near Yanzhou. The bank collapsed… and under the ground a forest of bamboo shoots was thus revealed…. with their roots and trunks all complete, and all turned to stone…. Now, bamboos do not grow in Yanzhou…. On the Jin-hua Shan in Wuzhou there are stone pine-cones, and stones formed from peach kernels, stone bulrush roots, stone fishes, crabs, and so on, but as these are all native products of that place, people are not very surprised at them. But these petrified bamboos appeared under the ground so deep, though they are not produced in that place….. This is a very strange thing.
What modern-sounding explanation did Shen Kuo propose for this very strange thing?
9. In 1088, the oldest European-style university still operating today was founded in the north of Italy. Over the years, its faculty is said to have included Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Nicolaus Copernicus, Albrecht Dürer, Paracelsus, Luigi Galvani, Guglielmo Marconi, and Umberto Eco, so that’s pretty good. But how’s the football team doing this year?
What university are we talking about?
10. David IV, called “David the Builder,” came to the throne in 1089. Over the course of his reign, David would gradually force the Suljuk Turks to the south until his kingdom included almost the entire Caucasus. This Golden Age of success and prosperity would last through the 1184-1213 reign of David’s granddaughter Tamar; in subsequent centuries the kingdom would fragment and be subsumed by neighboring empires before emerging again as an independent state in the twentieth century. Of what country was David IV the King?
King David IV "The Builder"
Last Week's New Monday Quiz: the 1070s
1. Chola was a South Indian empire; earlier in the century we saw them get control of Sri Lanka, across the strait.
2. That's the Bayeaux Tapestry, and it documents the Norman Conquest. Of England, that is.
3. The Suljuk Turks won at Manzikert, and the Byzantines didn't.
4. Mozarabic dialects, Visigothic language; this is stuff happening in Spain.
5. The German Rome would be Cologne.
6. King Iziaslav Yaroslavich was the first, and the second-to-last, king of the Kievan Rus, although the title would be revived as an honorific and kicked around the crowned heads of Europe in subsequent centuries.
7. The Almoravids are said to have toppled the Empire of Ghana, although its all very up for debate. They didn't help. Mali and Songhai are still way in the future.
8. Skalds like Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld were Norse epic poets. Bards, if you will.
9. The "Walk to Canosa" was made by the Holy Roman Emperor (Henry IV), elaborately humbling himself before the Pope (Gregory VII) in a classic act of political theater. They were forever at odds about who got to appoint bishops, you might remember.
10. The Rubáiyát, and the awesome mathematics, were of Omar Khayyám.
11. The Pala Empire was centered around what is now Bangladesh.
Now that one was a real shock and awe quiz! And incidentally, if you think they are hard to take, try writing one sometime. Unwise Owl is back in form with 8 marks (7 and two halfs), bringing the Through History With the New Monday Quiz cup back to the Southern Hemisphere. Maybe someone can wrest it away for the North this week? We'll find out!.
Steve Finnell said...
When the Ethiopian eunuch said "what hinders me from being baptized," did he mean what hinders me from being immersed, poured, or sprinkled?
Acts 8:36 As they were going down the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Here's some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn't be immersed?" (CJB-Complete Jewish Bible)
Acts 8:36 And , as they went on their way, they came to certain water; and the eunuch said, Look, here is water; what is there to hinder me from being immersed? (TBVOTNT-The Better Version of The New Testament by Chester Estes)
There are no translations of the Bible that translates Acts 8:36 as..."What hinders me from being poured or sprinkled."
The only place water baptism is expressed as sprinkling and pouring is in books written by men. Do preachers, pastors, priests, and the early church fathers have the authority to change immersion to sprinkling or pouring?
If preachers, pastors, priests, and the early church fathers have been given the authority to change immersion to sprinkling or pouring, then why can they not change water to olive oil or milk. The example of a man-made verse of Scripture. (Acts 8:36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some olive oil or milk. And the eunuch said, "See here is olive oil or milk. What hinders me from being poured or sprinkled?")
God has not authorized any preacher, pastor, priest, nor the early church fathers to change immersion to poured or sprinkled.
God inspired one book, the Bible.
Michael5000 said...
That's as may be, Steve, but you're going to have to be a bit more on-topic if you want to get any points in the quiz.
Michael5000 said...
And incidentally, Steve? Your point only works if you construe the Greek etymological root of "to baptize" in its literal meaning of soaking. If you construe it, not unreasonably in a scriptural context, to mean basically "to baptize" in the modern sense -- that is to say, to perform a religious ritual with water -- then your argument goes up in smoke. You will think that this is a tautology, I suspect, but if you really spend some time thinking about it you may recognize the circularity of your own reasoning.
Not that I have a dog in that fight. Thanks for stopping by.
Anonymous said...
Am I in the wrong place? Has no one else entered the Quiz this week? Discouraged by Steve?
1 -
2 - Aleppo
3 - Normandy - The Normans
4 - Census of English land holdings
5 -
6 - Early Japanese characters
7 - Again Normandy & maybe Paris too. Those Normans got around.
8 - Plate Techtonics!
9 - Univ. of Padua
10 - Yugoslavia
pfly said...
Well. Glad I got the Seljuks last time. And Cologne and bards. But hey, I knew Mali was probably wrong and thought briefly about saying Ghana, before deciding Ghana was too far south. And wow I got Chola wrong. I didn't know any South India/Sri Lanka state had control of the Malay Peninsula.
Anyway, okay, let's see...
1. Of course I remember Anawratha! We ued to play volleyball at Leeds. Theravada, eh? Would this be Burma again?
2. Looks like the location of Antioch on the map. But isn't Antioch more than just a sizable town today? Can't think of anything else.
3. I believe the Normans conquered Sicily and southern Italy. Where was Robert Guiscard from? I'd guess Normandy.
4. The Domesday Book is a meticulous survey of all the domes in England. I mean land. It was an account of the land/resources of Bill's new kingdom. For tax purposes mainly, I think.
5. I think the Almoravids were from Morocco, no? The dudes who beat on Ghana, I bet. Apparently they could be summoned by Abba.
6. Given the mention of Goryeo, not to mention Koreana, I'll say Korea. The script looks like Chinese characters to me. Can I also point out the oddness of the phrase "world's most oldest"?
7. Aw, no more questions about Bill after this decade? I'm guessing Robert got the throne of France.
8. Modern sounding? Um...UFOs? Hmmm, I don't know. Climate change?
9. That'd be the, um, university of, uh, Florence? That's not really northern Italy though, is it? Nor is Pisa, right? So...Verona? Parma? ...picture doesn't look like those places, I think. Not Milan. Leghorn? No, too silly. Certainly not Venice or Genoa. What's left? Baloney? I mean Bologna?
10. Christian kingdom in the Caucasus region? Georgia or Armenia? Let's say Armenia.
UnwiseOwl said...
Wow, I missed a week:
1) Pretty sure that this is Burma again. The pagan kingdom, what dudes.
2) You have me stumped here, I think I'll guess Tarsus, 'cause I guess that might have been important to early Christians? Seem to recall it was...well, somewhere it Turkey
3) He was a Norm.
4) A list of who owned what in England and how the king owned it really. If 1066aat is to be believed.
5) I get my ids mixed up...are these the fellows from that short-lived outpost in Silicy?
6) Definitely Korea, and given the similarity of the word to 'kanji' lets go for Chinese-style characters
7) bah. No idea. Climate change? That'd be funny. Yep...the world heated up and the stone bamboo defrosted...tastes good...
8) Maybe King of France? Gotta gets your wars of succession from somewhere.
9) No idea, soccer teams? Let's go...Venice.
10) pffh...maybe Georgia?
Now to wait a few hours and do the next one! |
Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets and inscriptions. It was initiated by Johannes Bureus (1568-1652) who was very interested in the linguistics of the Geatish language (Götiska språket), i.e. Old Norse. Rune Origins and their theories is today a volatile area of discussion amongst runologist has and will always be a hotly debated subject. Amongst rune scholars the origins of runes will continue to remain a mystery due to the scant availability of evidence both in archaeology or the written text. Consider that lack of proof absolute does not necessarily equate to a consensus of verification to the contrary. There are four general theories as to the origins of the runes and they all have their own sets of flaws.
1. The Roman (or Latin) Theory
2. The Indeginous Theory
3. The Greek Theory
4. The North-Italic (or Etruscan) Theory
The Roman Theory
This theory was first presented in 1874 by L.F.A. Wimmer and states that the runes are a result of the adaptation of the Roman alphabet. It is assumed that the ancient Germanic people, who came into contact with Roman culture through the invasion of the Teutones and Cimbri, were familiarized with the Roman written alphabet as early as the 2nd century B.C.E. They then adapted the Roman alphabet into the runes and put it to use, spreading it by the means of trading routes into Scandinavian countries and then eastward from there. The one thing that we need to watch in this theory is the fact that there is little evidence of the runes near Roman lands at such a time. However the spread of the runes into Scandinavian countries and from there eastward may mean that the adaptation of the Roman alphabet wasn't complete until the runes had begun to spread northward.
The Indigenous Theory
First put forward in 1896 by R.M. Meyer and popularised by National Socialist Germany, this theory states that the runes were an original "alphabet." Not only were they said to be original but they were also said to have been the groundwork on which the Greek and Phoenician alphabets were created. This theory no longer holds much value to it due to the fact that the earliest Phoenician writings can be dated back to around the 13th or 12th century B.C.E., while the earliest runic inscription dates back to the 1st century C.E.
Perhaps a better indigenous theory lies here: Who could read and write runes in an almost illiterate society is subject of an often recurring debate. If one abandons the idea of a purely symbolical, magical or religious purpose of adding runes to objects, the answer is that at least the former mercenaries had learned to read and write, especially the officers. On the other hand there must have been literate people, more specifically craftsmen, among the foederati. The literate officers and soldiers must have constituted a small group. This would tie in very well with the observance that runic objects are sparse and emerge from widely separate places. Runic writing may have started as a soldier’s and/or craftsmen’s skill. This might explain the curious meaning of the word “rune” secret, something hidden from outsiders. The runic legend shows very simple information, but it may be that the art of writing was sort of “secretive”, the prerogative of a specific group only, and not necessarily linked to magic or religion
The Greek Theory
The North-Italic Theory
This theory by C.J.S. Marstrander in 1928 was strengthened in 1937 by Wolfgang Krause. The theory goes that the Germanic people living in the Alps came into contact with the North-Italic (or Etruscan) alphabet and adapted it. Then the Cimbri come into contact with the "new" alphabet and pass it on to the Suevi who carry the runes up the Rhine river to the North Sea, Jutland and beyond. The only real "problem" with this scenario is that the encounter would have taken place two to three hundred before any runic inscriptions that are already dated. But this doesn't mean that it couldn't have happened. Items made of wood may have been carved with the runes and may have long since decayed. Obviously, simply asserting that the runes derived from the Etruscan alphabet can hardly be taken as evidence a "vast Etruscan trading network," when there is otherwise no sign that such a network existed anywhere close in time to the development of the runes. If such a network *had* existed, of course, the Etruscan theory would seem much stronger. The Etruscans, who occupied much of north-central Italy in the first millennium B.C., traded far and wide in the Mediterranean. Their prosperity and taste for luxury supported a long trading chain leading north to the Baltic Sea for prized amber. That, some experts speculate, may account for the migration of a common Etruscan man's name, Lars, to Scandinavia.
In his work, "The Runic System as a Reinterpretation of Classical Influences and as an Expression of Scandinavian Cultural Affiliation" Carl Edlund Anderson states: The creation of the runic system almost certainly owes something to interaction between Roman and Germanic culture, though the mechanisms at work are subject to much debate. Debate over the runic system’s origins has produced an enormous body of scholarship.
1. The oldest commonly accepted runic inscription is found on a spearhead from Øvre Stabu (Illerup, Norway) and is dated to about CE 175.
2. There is a fibula from Meldorf (in Ditmarschen) dated to around CE 50 that contains what may be a runic inscription, though this is not universally agreed upon.
3. It is often assumed that a system of writing must have been forming for at least a century or so before the earliest surviving examples, so it might be concluded that the runic system was formulated at some point between the beginning of the RIA (c. BCE 50 ) and the time of the Øvre Stabu inscription. It is clear that the runic characters were inspired in part by Mediterranean writing systems—Roman, Greek, North Italic, or possibly some combination of these—but there has been no firm consensus on this point.
4. Certainly it seems likely that the Roman script was the writing system best known to the Germanic peoples during the period when the runic system was developed. Accompanying discussions of the runic system’s graphical origins are arguments concerning its geographical origins Von Friesen’s theory that runes derived from Greek characters looked east to the Gothic territories, while scholars arguing for North Italic origins have pointed towards the Alps. Moltke, who looked to a largely Latin source for the runic characters, suggested a runic origin in Denmark. His argument may not have been wholly uninformed by patriotism, but is lent considerable weight by the fact that virtually all runic inscriptions pre-dating CE 400 are Scandinavian, with only few inscriptions found in northern Germany and the Gothic regions of eastern Europe.
5. Plausible though a southern Scandinavian origin during the ERIA is, it seems unlikely that questions regarding the time and place of the runic system’s origins will ever be universally agreed upon. There is a fair amount of graphic variation in the characters of the Older Fuþark, yet it must be conceded that they exhibit remarkable uniformity over time considering the evident lack of any institution enforcing the maintenance of orthographic standards in the early Germanic world. When other features, such as the number and ordering of the characters, become discernible, they are also surprisingly uniform. Although the earliest surviving inscription containing the entire fuþark dates to c. CE 400, similarities between the number and ordering of the characters in later fuþark inscriptions suggests these elements may be of considerable antiquity.
6. That such uniformity existed in the runic system has led some scholars to propose a point-origin for the Older Fuþark in some creative individual,
7. or development by a particular group over some period of time;
8. in this context, if the Meldorf inscription were not truly runic, it might nevertheless represent a use of Roman characters in the early stages of development into runic characters.
9. Yet it seems likely that whatever process created the runic system was essentially complete by the time of the earliest inscriptions, c. CE 200.
Many scholars have attempted to identify a setting in which runes were initially
developed. Erik Moltke suggested Danish merchants, while Otto Höfler suggested bands of élite warriors. It is, in fact, most common for a culture’s script to have some kind of magico-religious function alongside its primary secular, utilitarian function. The runic system is unlikely to have been an exception. Much has been made of the word erilaz/erila which appears on a number of Older Fuþark inscriptions. The word apparently designated some kind of office, perhaps even that of runemaster. Some have suggested a connection with the Eruli tribe (or tribes), implying that they were famous for their runic skills, or that they had invented runes.
The inscriptions bearing the word erila date no earlier than c. CE300 , however, and any such identification based on these inscriptions must be exceedingly tenuous. Moreover, no classical source attributes such literary skills to the Eruli
Rune Origins
This volatile area of discussion amongst runologist has and will always be a hotly debated subject area. Amongst rune scholars the origins of runes will continue to remain a mystery due to the scant availability of evidence both in archaeology or the written text. However it must be said that similarities exists of runes being like the Latin and Greek alphabets systems and therefore given rise to theories that the runes must have come from these alphabets. More information is coming to pass to suggest that the age of the runes must have been older then previously believed. At this point they are being connected to some of the earliest writing systems. I must point out that the following information is not new and actually already known but ignored for some time by academics. This begs the question of why? I shall therefore attempt only to stimulate the reader with some qualifying recent although not new thoughts on the subject. I leave it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. It really depends on whose theories you choose to believe.
The Golden horns of Gallehus were two golden horns, one shorter than the other, discovered in North Slesvig, or Schleswig, in Denmark. The horns were believed to date to the fifth century (Germanic Iron Age). The horns were made of solid gold and constructed from rings, each covered with figures soldered onto the rings, with yet more figures carved into the rings between the larger figures. These figures probably depict some actual events or Norse saga which is now unknown to us. The most probable theory is that the illustrations comes from Celtic mythology rather than Norse: the horns portray a man with horns and a necklace, very similar in appearance to the Celtic god Cernunnos (especially compared to the Cernunnos portrait on the Gundestrup cauldron, also found in Denmark), and several iconographic elements such as a he-goat, snakes and deer, commonly associated with Cernunnos. Several other archaeological findings from southern Scandinavia also show influence from Celtic religion.
The first horn (the long, intact one) was 75,8 centimeter measured on the outer perimeter, the opening diameter was 10,4 centimeter, and weighed 3,2 kg. This horn was discovered on July 20 1639 by a peasant girl named Kirsten Svendsdatter in the village of Gallehus, near Møgeltønder when she saw it protrude above the ground. She wrote a letter to the Danish king Christian IV of Denmark who retrieved it and in turn gave it to the Danish prince (also named Christian), who refurbished it into a drinking horn. The Danish antiquarian Olaus Wormius wrote a treatise named De aureo cornu on the first Golden horn in 1641. The first preserved sketch of the horn comes from this treatise. In 1678 it was described in the scientific journal Journal de Savants.
Odenstedt argues for a theory based on A. Baeksted's book "Målruner > og troldruner, 1952. He writes:
"It has been claimed that the reason why none of the supposed runic letters, list of customers, etc., have been preserved is that they were written on wood and have all rotted away. But against this it may be objected (as Baeksted did) that it is not feasible to postulate that what has been lost had an entirely different character from what has been preserved. Germanic spiritual culture was traditionally oral. The art of writing was a luxury which Germanic people had seen Romans practice and which they no doubt envied and tried to imitate, with very limited success."
Ref: Odenstedt, Bengt. On the Origin and Early History of the Runic Script. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1990
The magic of runes
"The possible limited reserve of the runes to a small section of society would have in effect removed their 'correct' interpretation and use from amongst the respective society in general thereby creating an aspect of mystery if they are associated with practitioners of divining or healing. Their use as transmitters / receivers of information to a small, specialized, section of society may permit such speculation that they may have been carved on wood and used for example, for divination".
Wolfgang Krause in his work “Die Sprache der urnordischen Runeninschriften" favoured magical explanations for rune inscriptions that seemed undecipherable.
Quite the case, for example Galdr derives from the same stem as gala “to crow” and galen “mad” and was performed in a shrill voice, which must have acted suggestively. Moreover, the galdr had its own metre called galdralag, the metre of spells. Two types of galdr have survived in a manuscript of Merseburg. The first tells of women, who watch the battles and who are able to tie or loose the feared war-fetter. This charm could have been recited before battle, with a view to invoking these powers to decide the outcome of the struggle. It alludes to a recurrent topic in a martial situation, magic fetters, suddenly being thought to chain the warrior invisibly to the spot, so that he would easily fall victim to his enemies. The force of this magic fetter is demonstrated expressively in Hár›ar saga ok Hólmverja, (where Hár is trying to escape from his enemies when he is hit by the war-fetter and paralysed:
The ‘war fetter’ came upon Hár, but he cut himself free once and a second time. The ‘war fetter’ came upon him for the third time. Then the men managed to hem him in, and surrounded him with a ring of enemies, but he fought his way out of the ring and slew three men in so doing.
The fourth time the “war fetter” falls over him, he is overwhelmed and killed, uttering the word, “a mighty troll decides in this”.
We should not think that fear, but a feeling of immobility, not unlike the kind we may experience in nightmares, when we want to run away but cannot move, caused this kind of paralysis. The galdr ends with the words: “Dash out of the fetters! Run from the enemies!” in order to cure the paralysis. The second galdr is more related to the healing hands combined with the magic spells, although the patient in this case is a horse:
Phol and Wodan went to the forest
Then Baldr’s (or the lord’s) horse sprained its foot.
The invocation goes to the goddesses and the gods:
then Sinhtgunt, the sister of Sunna charmed it,
then Frija, the sister of Volla charmed it.
then Wodan charmed it, as he was well able to do.
According to Hávamál he once learnt nine wise songs and he masters eighteen spells, corresponding to the secret wisdom as earlier mentioned, which was special for the kings.
It is probably Wodan who utters the very essence of the galdr:
Be it sprain of the bone,
be it sprain of blood,
be it sprain of the limb:
bone to bone,
blood to blood
sinew to sinew
limb to limb,
thus be they fitted together.
These lines are most interesting and scholars have earlier drawn attention to the fact that they appear in several charms in Old Irish stories and moreover in Kalevala, where Lemminkäinens mother joined her son’s severed limbs together, restoring him to life, a formula derived from the Finnish neighbours. The oldest known expression goes back to the Vedic poem Atarva-Veda and it as a medium in the healing process as far as we know from Sigrdrifumál. This galdr is considered to have its roots in an Indo-European tradition of healing. It survived in folklore with the change to Christ’s horse broken, and there are many variants of the charms in this version. We do not know what kind of galdr Oddrún sang to ease Borgny’s pains, but after the change of religion in the North the women in labour invoked the Virgin Mary. She had the certain key to lock up their loins, as these spells say literally. Holy relics were also used to deliver the baby, but there was a striking difference between the Old Norse customs and the Christian. The pain should not be eased, since this was a result of Eve’s sin, but the help still was there to bring the child into this world and to holy baptism. To ease the pain resulted, according to folk belief, in the birth of a were-wolf or a mare. Oddrún’s bitter, strong galdr therefore might continue as a secret.
It has been suggested that the word rúna suggests “secret” and the letters were thought as originating from the gods to special persons, who were said to ráda rúnom “to rule and to master the secret letters". The word ráda thus implies a special knowledge, which means that the runes had to be understood by the magician or the healer. One famous example of this occurs in Egils saga Skalla-grimsonar.
Ref: Healing hands and magical spells by Britt-Mari Nasstrom
11th International Saga Conference |
Skyscape Blog
Getting to the heart of diabetes
A common form of diabetic heart disease is coronary heart disease. In coronary heart disease, plaque collects on the walls of the arteries that bring blood to the heart. The plaque buildup narrows the blood vessel, restricting blood flow.[2] This can lead to chest pain and heart attacks.[3] Another type of diabetic heart disease is cardiomyopathy: a thickening and stiffening of the heart muscle, restricting the ability of the heart to pump blood.[4] Cardiomyopathy is a major cause of heart failure.[5]
So why are diabetics so vulnerable to heart disease? The answer is complex and multifaceted.[6] When a patient’s diabetes is badly managed, long periods of high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and accelerate heart disease.[7] The chronic inflammation that characterizes diabetes also contributes to heart disease.[8]
Another reason diabetes and heart disease are so tightly linked is that they may both emerge from the same cluster of risk factors.[9] Obesity, high triglyceride levels, high HDL cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and high fasting glucose levels are all part of metabolic syndrome, which contributes to both diabetes and heart disease.[10]
As a healthcare provider, make sure your patients understand these connections and what they can do about it. The American Heart Association considers diabetes to be one of seven major controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease.[11] The key word here is “controllable.” By exercising, eating healthy, and managing their weight and blood glucose, patients with diabetes can avoid or delay the development of heart disease.[12]
Diabetes and heart disease are both examples of chronic disease: a condition lasting more than a year, and requiring ongoing medical care or limiting activities of daily life. Chronic disease is on the rise—six in ten Americans lives with a chronic disease.[13]
From physical health to emotional, social, and cognitive health, chronic disease is complex to manage.[14] But nurses have a special role in the battle against chronic disease. Nurses are the largest workforce in the healthcare, and often have close and long-term relationships with the patient, family, and community. This means that the nurse is perfectly poised to partner with patients in treating chronic disease.
Here are the ways to help your patients understand and manage their diabetes:
• Educate your patients about the connections between diabetes and heart disease. Despite how common diabetic heart disease is, many patients with diabetes have no idea that they have an elevated risk of heart disease.
• Screen yearly for all risk factors of heart disease. In some patients, heart disease first presents as elevated cholesterol levels. In others, high blood pressure may be the first warning sign.[15]
• Encourage lifestyle changes. Help your patients create healthy meal plans, and talk to them about the benefits of exercise.[16]
• For patients who smoke cigarettes, smoking cessation is key. People with diabetes who smoke are much more likely to have serious health issues from diabetes.[17]
• Consider medication for heart disease. Statins or Aspirin can lower some patients’ risk of heart disease.[18]
[1] http://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/diabetes/why-diabetes-matters/cardiovascular-disease--diabetes
[2] https://medlineplus.gov/coronaryarterydisease.html
[3] https://medlineplus.gov/coronaryarterydisease.html
[4] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/diabetic-cardiomyopathy-5-tips-for-cutting-your-risk/
[5] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16841-cardiomyopathy?_ga=2.47253543.1441191425.1542862496-1264230567.1542862495
[6] http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/3/160
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2674740/
[8] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161102080309.htm
[9] http://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/metabolic-syndrome/why-metabolic-syndrome-matters
[13] https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm
[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376024/
[15] https://www.diabeteseducator.org/docs/default-source/living-with-diabetes/tip-sheets/cardiovascular-disease/cvd_whatisthelink_updated_11-17d56ee436a05f68739c53ff0000b8561d.pdf?sfvrsn=4
[17] https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/diabetes.html
[18] http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/41/Supplement_1/S86
Topics: diabetes, patient, coronary heart disease, exercise, sugar metabolism, heart disease, blood, healthcare provider
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The problem:
The solution in Swift:
import Foundation
var number = 2520
var found = false
while found == false {
var counter = 0
for var iterator = 2; iterator < 21; iterator++ {
if number % iterator == 0 {
} else {
println("\(number) is not the number")
if counter == 19 {
found = true;
} else {
number = number + 2
println("\(number) is the number!!")
Comments on making this code more efficient, making it more cleaner or violations of best practices would be highly appreciated.
== false
while found == false
We'd prefer to see either this:
while !found
or this:
while notFound
(where in the second example, we reverse the boolean logic you've used)
Vertical White Space
A blank line between every line of code is not productive. It adds wear to my scroll wheel and makes your code harder to digest.
Instead, we should think of blank lines as a way of taking a breather. They should separate logical chunks of code within a function or method.
Single Responsibility
I'd guess that this is all simply dumped into a playground, which is fine. But we can still write functions in the playground. And we should.
We've got quite a lot of nesting. Any time we have nesting is an indicator that we should be refactoring into functions.
Most importantly, functions have names. Using functions allows us to write more readable code without using comments because we're breaking our code up into small logic chunks that make sense together and giving each of these chunks a name (the function name).
Also, breaking our code into these chunks makes sure we don't choke on the elephant.
Semicolons are optional in Swift.
Before anything else, we should be consistent. Using semicolons on two lines and omitting on other lines has the potential to be confusing. If you want to use semicolons, you need to use them everywhere.
But this is Swift, and in Swift, we prefer omitting semicolons. I don't use semicolons anywhere in Swift.
Traditional for Loops.
We should basically never use these in Swift. I can't think of any scenario which requires their usage. First of all, from a style and readability standpoint, this is actually harder to read than the Swift alternatives, which make more sense from a plain-English point of view. The only reason the traditional for loops are even remotely readable is because of the decades of history that the C language has dumped on us.
We should vastly prefer something more like this:
for iterator in 2...20 {
// do something with 2 through 20 inclusive...
And beyond the style comment, these Swift loops are actually faster than the traditional for loops. (And this explains how I manage to never use semicolons in Swift.)
var versus let
var declares a variable. let declares a constant.
We should always prefer let to var. The only time we should use var is when we're confident we will need to modify the value. Very few of your values need to be modified and most can be declared as let values.
Magic Numbers
Your code is littered with magic numbers. Rather than magic numbers, we should declare constants and name all of these numbers. Although, if we properly broke our code up into functions, most of these magic numbers would go away in place of function input arguments.
The only magic number in here we can't really get rid of is 0. Any time a number's best variable name would simply be the name of that number, it's not really a magic number. The only number for which this actually applies in your code is 0.
However, with that said, we can take care of zero with a function in this case:
extension Int {
func isMultipleOf(divisor: Int) -> Bool {
return self % divisor == 0
We still have 0 in here, but it's wrapped inside a very small, very concise, very aptly named function that describes exactly what's going on here.
In summary...
Of course, this answer hasn't addressed any performance concerns. I've only addressed style concerns. I think style is one of the most important things to get right very early, before you've dug yourself into lots of bad habits.
For examples on what this might look like both in terms of better style and better performance, you can check out my question regarding this very same Project Euler challenge.
I'll be glad to help you with performance issues, but others have already addressed this, and I wouldn't really be able to say anything besides "go look how I did it, plus the performance-related answers I got". I wanted to emphasize Swift-style however, because I'm not sure how likely it is that any performance-related comments will be applicable to the next Swift code you write, but all of these style-related comments will absolutely be applicable.
And the better your style it is, the easier it is for both yourself and any reviewer to look at and focus on performance issues.
You are using a brute force attack to solve this problem but you should better think about it and use some maths.
Right now you are checking if the number is evenly dividable by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc.
If you reverse the logic for instance you first check if it is evenly dividable by 20 you know that the number is also evenly dividable by 2, 4, 5 and 10.
If 18 is evenly dividable you know that this is also true for 3, 6, 9.
So by checking these 2 numbers you will know the result of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 too.
Altogether you need to check only the numbers from 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12 and 11 which will result in 100% performance improvement.
Based on the great comment from @MartinR stating
Actually you need only to test for 19, 17, 13, 11, 7, 5, 9, 8
this can be enhanced further by using his second comment
What you really want to do (but that has been pointed out in many answers to similar questions, e.g. codereview.stackexchange.com/a/25204/35991), is compute the "least common multiple" of the numbers 2, ..20
There's a few things to point out:
• You've got extraneous lines, you don't need to seperate them with an empty line (In most cases)
• for var iterator = 2; iterator < 21; iterator++, this should be iterator <= 20 instead, as you're testing between less than or equal to 20, not less than 21. (They perform identically, but, it's a maths thing)
• number = number + 2: you can use the += operator instead of var = var +: number += 2
• is magic and doesn't need semi-colons at the end of a line, so the following examples have extraneous semi-colons:
• found = true;
• break;
Your Answer
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Advice 1: How to find kinetic energy
Kinetic energy is the energy of the mechanical system, which depends on the speed of movement of each of its points. In other words, the kinetic energy represents the difference between the total energy and the rest energy of the system, that part of the total energy of the system, which is caused by movement. Kinetic energy divided by the energy of translational and rotational motion. The unit of measurement of kinetic energy in SI system is Joule.
How to find kinetic energy
In the case of translational motion all points of the system (body) have the same speed, which is equal to the velocity of the center of mass of a body. While the kinetic energy of the system Tpost equal to:
Tpost = ? (mk Vс2)/2,
where mk is the body mass, VC is the speed of the center of mass.Thus, when the forward movement of the body kinetic energy is equal to the product of body weight to the square of the velocity of the center of mass, divided by two. The value of the kinetic energy does not depend on the direction of movement.
In rotational motion, when the body rotates around any axis Oz, the speed of any point determines the equation: Vk = ?hk, where hk is the distance of this point to the axis of rotation ? - the angular velocity of the body. If we substitute the equation that determines the velocity of a point at the expression and make the overall multipliers of the bracket, we will obtain the equation of the kinetic energy of the system while the rotational motion: TVR = ? (mk ?2 hk2)/2 = ? (mk hk2) ?2/2Выражение made in brackets represents the moment of inertia of the body about the axis around which the rotation of the body. Here you will receive: TVR = (Iz ?2)/2, where Iz is the moment of inertia of the body. Thus, when the rotational motion of the body, its kinetic energy is equal to the product of the moment of inertia of the body about the rotation axis to the square of its angular velocity divided in half. The direction of rotation of the body does not affect the value of its kinetic energy.
In the case of a perfectly rigid body is full of kinetic energy is equal to the sum of the kinetic energies of translational and rotational motion:T = (mk Vc2)/2 + (Iz ?2)/2
Kinetic energy is always positive quantity.
Advice 2 : How to calculate the amperage
Current, voltage, power and resistance are linked by defined relations. Any of these four quantities can be calculated if you know at least two others. When the other three known variables, the information becomes redundant.
How to calculate the amperage
Before performing any calculations, be sure to move all the existing condition of the problem data to the SI system. The voltage must be expressed in volts, current in amperes, resistance in ohms, power in watts. Most often these values are used the prefixes "micro" (one millionth, sokraschenno - MK), "Milli" (one thousandth, abbreviated m), "kilo" (one thousand, abbreviated K), mega (million, abbreviated as - M) and "Giga" (one billion, short - G).
To find the force of the current at a known voltage and resistance, use Ohm's law to the partial circuit by the calculation according to this formula:I=U/R where I - current, U - voltage, R - resistance.
If you know power and resistance, use the following ratio:U=RI, P=UI, hence P=R(I^2)Hence, I^2=P/R and so I=sqrt(P/R), where I - current, P - power, R is the resistance.
At a known voltage and power calculations spend so:P=UI, hence I=P/U where I - current, P - power, U - voltage.
After the calculation is finished, set the result of SI in the units in which it is required to Express the conditions of the problem (often it is milliamperes, or microamperes).
If the calculations are made in the report for the laboratory work, the result of their if necessary, check on a real laboratory plant, because the voltage and force current can be changed easily, respectively, by a voltmeter and ammeter. If used with high voltage measurement be made with caution. Measure resistance by ohmmeter when the power is off installation. As for allocated load heat output, then its measure is not so easy, because it requires a calorimeter.
If you are studying in high school or in higher education, the teacher may require you in the design of the problem solution to calculate the error of measurements and calculations the conventional manner.
Advice 3 : How to calculate reactive power
Reactive power current can be obtained only in circuits with alternating current, in which there are inductors, capacitors, or both. The vast majority of cases, the reactive power does not perform useful work, and is spent on generation of electromagnetic fields. Many devices specify the power factor, which is denoted Cos(φ). It is easy to calculate the reactive power consumed by the device knowing power. If such a coefficient, it can be calculated independently.
How to calculate reactive power
You will need
• - power factor;
• tester.
Calculate the reactance for this:
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According to the National Safety Council, the odds of dying in a “motor vehicle incident” are one in 112. The odds of dying from “air and space travel incidents” are one in 8,357.
The implication here is that flying is safer than driving.
You’ve probably heard this before. Economists love to cite this fact. It has shock value. It shows why impressions and emotions can be wildly misleading (flying certainly seems more dangerous than driving). What matters is how often people are actually killed or injured, not our feelings about which is more dangerous.
But what the National Safety Council’s graphic doesn’t explain is that these are aggregates. Their calculated odds of dying in a car accident does not control for the quality of the driver. If you don’t wear a seat belt and don’t stop at stop signs, I’m sure your odds are much higher. If you are safer than the average driver, then your odds are lower.
Of course, it’s not likely anyone is such a great driver (and, for that matter, that everyone driving around him or her is just as careful and considerate on the road) that their odds of death by car are lower than those of death by plane. One in 112 is a far cry from one in 8,357. But the point of this is to encourage you to take statistics like this with a grain (or several) of salt. Statistics on risk can be highly misleading. |
Regardless of what may be causing them, server errors are without doubt frustrating both for users visiting your website and for you as the website owner. While some HTTP errors are more common than others, it’s always good to be prepared for any error that your web server may throw at you. Luckily, HTTP Error 406 Not Acceptable is not as common as 404, 500 or 301 HTTP codes are, but you may encounter it nonetheless, and when you do, the cause is usually one of the following two: a content type negotiation problem or misunderstanding or a mod_security rule setting problem, the latter being the most common of the two.
This article sheds light on why a server returns a HTTP error 406 Not Acceptable and what can you do to fix the underlying problem.
Stop Getting Errors on Your Website!
HTTP Error 406 Caused by an Accept Header Problem
When a client (web browser) wants to load a webpage, first it needs to obtain the IP address of the server. To this end, it does a DNS lookup, which translates the domain.com to an IP address. The DNS might return multiple IP addresses; in that case, it will pick the first one and establish a TCP Socket connection to port 80 or 443 to that IP address. Upon a successful connection, it will write the HTTP request data (e.g. GET / HTTP/1.1, Host: domain.com, Accept: text/html, User-Agent: Mozilla …).
error 406 not acceptable example
The server, after it receives a request, depending on the Accept header, it might return a 406 status code indicating that it cannot send the data in any of the formats mentioned in the client’s Accept header. This rarely happens in real life because most web browsers will accept anything signaled by */* in the Accept header of the request. This is a last resort effort, the clients usually signal what content type they want to receive, and they define a priority list, */* us usually with the lowest priority (q=0.5). For example, the client sends the request because there is an img tag in the html, it will signal it to the server that it’s expecting an image in the first place. Accept headers can have various types (accept-encoding, accept-charset, accept-ranges, accept-language, etc.), specifying the characteristics of the data they accept. For example, a web browser may be able to process only HTML or GIF files, so if the web server would not be able to return data in any of these formats “understood” by the client, it will display a 406 Not Acceptable error code.
The reverse can also happen: if a web server doesn’t know the request extension, it may search for another application installed on it to see if that would be able to serve the file. If there isn’t any other application that can serve the file, it will return a 406 Not Acceptable error. The server also will return a 406 when it is not sure about the MIME type of the requested file. This can be quite useful as it might prevent leaking of sensitive information commonly kept in exotic file extensions like .ini, .kdb, .pass, etc.
How to Fix It?
Given that a 406 status code can be a content type negotiation mismatch issue, you need to implement certain changes so that the server has a MIME type associated with the request extension.
If you are running an IIS based web server, you need to make sure that the IIS recognises your extensions. You can add new extension to IIS simply by editing the MIME types. You can add for example *.less and set its MIME type to text/css. This is the most straightforward solution to a 406 Not Acceptable HTTP error returned by the server. If you are running Apache as your webserver, you can add MIME types in the .htaccess file or your VirtualHost configuration. An example for the .less file would be “AddType text/css .less ”.
Alternatively, you can make changes in the Accept header of your browser so it knows the MIME type handled by your server. Making changes to the Accept header can also help, however, it’s a less viable solution than changes made on the server side.
HTTP Error 406 Caused by a mod_security Rule Setting Problem
The other scenario in which you may be met with a 406 status code is when a mod_security rule is enabled on an Apache server. It’s a type of web application firewall (WAF) program enabled by default on the hosting accounts of some web hosting providers. For example, InMotion Hosting has mod_security enabled on all their Apache based hosting accounts to protect web applications from common attacks like XSS or SQL Injections, as these types of security holes can easily creep into web applications. The mod_security continuously scans the server and the incoming request and the outgoing response for violations of rules it has set. If an action that violates the rules set in the mod_security occurs (a violation caused by a site, page or function), the server will send a 406 Not Acceptable error.
How to Fix It?
Disabling mod_security for each of your domains individually or disabling certain rules in Mod_security will help fix the error. If your hosting account comes with cPanel, the easiest way to turn off mod_security is via the modsec Manager plugin. Alternatively, you can use command line in SSH. If you want to disable specific rules or your hosting account does not come with the option to disable/enable mod_security, you need to get in touch with your web hosts’ customer support team to do it for you.
Albeit an infrequent HTTP error, a 406 Not Acceptable error can make an appearance here and there, and when it does happen, it’s most probably caused by a mod_security rule setting problem rather than an Accept header problem. If you’re not comfortable dealing with this issue alone, don’t hesitate to contact the web hosting company your website is hosted at as they can easily get to the root of the problem and fix the error for you.
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“I think schools could help a lot in teaching what a healthy relationship is.”
Arabella is a 17 year old student with a passion for fine arts. As other young women of the same age, she has experienced forms of aggressive male sexual behaviour and she thinks that gender stereotypes and a low awareness of what sexual violence is could be challenged through compulsory sexual and relationships education in schools. Arabella thinks people should have a better understanding of discrimination against black women, as they experience racism and sexism.
Focus on policy:
What is the government’s current policy on sex and relationship education (SRE)?
SRE in the UK is compulsory from age 11 onwards in some form. Yet this predominantly looks at sex from a scientific perspective and is fairly narrow in its scope. Parents are able to withdraw their children from all elements of sex and relationship education if they choose. The type of SRE that is required differs depending on what type of school you look at. Primary schools do not have to cover sex and relationships outside of the science curriculum, academies do not have to cover SRE and council run secondary’s have to cover sexually transmitted diseases for 14-16 year olds.
What are the issues with SRE and what is PSHE?
Legislation on sex and relationship education was last introduced 15 years ago and many feel that the existing legislation is inadequate. In February 2015 the Education select Committee backed calls for compulsory PHSE (Personal, social and health education) and sex education. The committee was in favour of a comprehensive approach to sex and relationships, with sufficient teaching time and specialist training for teachers. The need for consent to be taught in schools has been emphasised by various women and education organisations. In addition to this in an age of social media and increased access to internet pornography many feel the curriculum needs to take into account these factors in order to safeguard children.
Many feel that high teen pregnancy rates, STD rates and rape cases in the UK are a consequence of having an inadequate SRE in schools. In comparison with other western European countries that have in place more comprehensive SRE and a more open approach to conversations about sex and relationships. Campaigners argue that mirroring the approach taken to SRE in the Netherlands where the focus is on instilling a sense of knowledge and responsibility in young people in regards to their sexual activity. Campaigners believe this empowers young people to make better decisions and statistics tend to reflect this.
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7 out 10 girls over 13 report being harassed by boys at school.
7 out of 10 girls over 13 report being sexually harassedpowered by fairdealforwomen-violence-against-girls
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Proteins Flashcards Preview
MCAT Biology > Proteins > Flashcards
Flashcards in Proteins Deck (9):
What are the 4 levels of protein structure?
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary
What is the 1st level of protein structure?
Primary: refers to the amino acid sequence.
Amino acids are linked linearly by peptide bonds
What is the 2nd level of protein structure?
Secondary: refers to the conformation adopted by local regions of the protein chain.
Chains fold into alpha helixes or beta sheets through hydrogen bonding
What is the 3rd level of protein structure?
Tertiary structure.
Additional folding caused by hydrophobic (interior) and hydrophilic (exterior) interactions
What's is the 4th level of protein structure?
Quaternary structure. Consists of more than one chain. Subunits are joined together by noncovalent bonds
What determines the structure of a protein?
The amino acid sequence determines the 3D structure and all of its other properties
What are the interactions that help create protein tertiary structure?
1) hydrogen bonding, 2) disulfide bonds, 3) hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions, 4) ionic interactions, 5) Van der Walls forces, and 6) proline turns
What are the protein dewatering agents?
What do you need to do to re-nature a protein?
Remove the dewatering agent |
The Curiosity of Perception
On February 26, 2015, this photo became an Internet sensation as people argued about whether the colours of the dress were blue and black or white and gold. People in my workplace at the time, defended their position and couldn’t understand how others didn’t see what they did.
According to the Wikipedia article on this item, the phenomenon revealed differences in human colour perception which have been the subject of ongoing scientific investigation in neuroscience and vision science, with a number of papers published in peer-reviewed science journals.
Unfortunately, some perceptions aren’t as black and white (or white and gold!) as the dress conundrum–or as easy to understand.
What is Perception?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines perception as the way we think about or understand someone or something. It’s the ability to understand or notice something easily. Perception describes the way that we notice or understand something using one of our senses. It’s part of being human, and one of the ways that we make sense of our world. But how does it play out in daily life?
Perception in Practice
If we are always using our sense of perception, do we ever run into problems? Unfortunately, yes. Our perceptions can lead us down the path of judgement–which can encourage separation from others rather than inclusiveness.
An Exercise
Take a moment and imagine that you are on a crowded bus. It’s the beginning of the day and you’re travelling to work. On the bus is a father with two young children. The man is starring into space as his children run up and down the aisles, yelling at the top of their lungs. The boys appear to be unkempt–dirty faces and rumpled clothes. Their father ignores them as they ask a woman sitting near to them if they can have a bite of her muffin.
Many people’s first perception could be that the “father is incompetent”. Why isn’t he parenting his children? We may think that the children are badly behaved and neglected. We wonder if there is a need to call Family and Children’s Services.
How does our opinion change, if we know the story of this small family? What if we were able to read this man’s mind to discover that he had been at the hospital all night sitting with his dying wife? That this visit would be the last time that the boys would see their mother? Suddenly, we see the situation from a place of compassion, and a desire to help may take hold of us.
It comes down to perception.
Perception in the Bigger Picture
There is a concept about perception that I encountered years ago in the Utne Reader. The writer was exploring how the citizens of one country could be convinced to wage war against the people of another. She suggested that the first step was to change the population’s perspective of the proposed enemy–a movement from seeing them as people to “Them”. “Us” were the ‘good guys’–honest, hardworking, family-focused, ‘in the right‘. Over time, “Them” became demonized–a ‘not “Us”‘. The writer posited that it’s easier to be willing to hurt others when we don’t see them as human.
Again, it comes down to perception.
Perceptions and Thought Patterns in Health
Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness writes about the connection between perception (thoughts) and health.
Kabat-Zinn states:
“Although we are often unaware of our thoughts as thoughts, they have a profound effect on everything we do and they can have a profound effect on our health as well, which can be better or worse.”
The writer goes on the explain that in his opinion there are two basic filters on the world–optimism and pessimism. Individuals who are more pessimistic tend to blame themselves for negative events in their lives and see them as lasting for a long time. When encountering a negative event or failure, pessimistic thinking may look like: “I always knew I was stupid and this proves it; I can never do anything right.”.
Individuals who have a more optimistic perception of negative events tend not to blame themselves and if they do, see them as short-term ones that will be resolved. Rather than catastrophizing, i.e. having sweeping global statements about the event, they see the event as having specific consequences related to the incident.
From a mental health perspective, Kabat-Zinn cites research showing that individuals who have a highly pessimistic perception/style are at a significantly higher risk for becoming depressed when they encounter a negative event than are those who have a more optimistic way of thinking.
It appears that our perception of the world and what we think about those perceptions has an effect on our health.
Working With Perception in Therapy
One of the gifts of therapy is the opportunity for a change of perspective. Often the binds and broken relationships that we find ourselves in can be connected to judging a person, place, historical event or situation and then creating stories based on our perceptions. These stories become the narrative that runs through our lives. Changing perspective helps us to change our stories.
There is a story of a young woman who lost her memory due to a stroke. Until her memory returned she had no judgments about anything from her past. One day she met a man who introduced himself as her father. Until that time, the daughter had chosen to end the relationship with her Dad due to a serious misunderstanding. However, because of the brain trauma, she was able to look at everything from a place of ‘beginner’s mind’–i.e. it was all new. Because she didn’t know the history, she was able to develop a positive relationship with her Dad that continued once she became well.
In Life Review Therapy the therapist helps the client to look at past, painful events from the perspective of the current day. Like the example of the young father on the bus, the client is able to fill in the pieces of missing information and in doing so re-frame stories that they may have been telling themselves.
When couples come to therapy, a lot of the work involves helping each partner to see situations, conflicts and past hurts from the perspective of the other. In the process, each person can gain an understanding of how misunderstandings arose, the repercussions of shared actions and a greater love and respect for the resiliency of themselves, each other and their relationship.
At it’s core, therapy is mostly about stories–the stories that a client tells are the clay that is molded by the therapist and client together to create something new. A thought that I’ve often heard clients express, sometimes in a state of bemusement is: “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”.
It’s all about perspective.
Now, for a lesson in perspective from childhood…enjoy!
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A recent study examined data of the train and bus operators of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The male employees took home more money than the women, but the difference was due to their choices, not sexism.
The MBTA is a union shop with uniform hourly wages for men and women. All employees adhere to the same rules and enjoy the same benefits. Promotions are based purely on seniority, not performance. Men and women with the same seniority have the same options for scheduling, routes, vacation, and overtime. The rigid work rules prevent managers from giving preferential treatment to men.
At time-and-half pay, overtime had a significant effect on the earnings. The men worked 83 percent more overtime hours than the women and were twice as likely to accept an overtime shift on short notice. About twice as many women as men never worked overtime.
Under the Family Medical Leave Act, men took 48 percent fewer unpaid hours off than women. Women disproportionately chose to take undesirable routes if it meant working fewer nights, weekends, and holidays. In comparison with childless workers, fathers worked more overtime and mothers took more time off.
Throughout the nation, women generally avoid high-paying jobs that are dangerous or require strength. They generally favor lower-paying fields. Mothers are more likely than fathers to choose flexibility over career advancement.
Women are said to make 80 cents for every dollar made by men. This is probably true, but it’s mostly because of personal choices, not sexism.
Archie Richards
Concord, NH |
Cutlery Equipment Information Sheet
Equipment advice for using cutlery
Cutlery Equipment Information Sheet
Mealtimes are an important aspect of family life. Children begin to develop self-feeding skills from birth. Self-feeding is a very complex task and it is common for children to have difficulty using cutlery to feed themselves. It usually takes until a child is 7 years old before they can successfully use cutlery to feed themselves without being too messy. There are a variety of tools that can be used to support children with mealtimes if they continue to find these skills challenging. Many of these are readily available and are not seen as specialist equipment.
There are a number of options in terms of cutlery. Spoons, forks and knives with thick and/or textured handles are easier to hold. A spoon, fork or knife with a short handle is easier to control. Encourage your child to try a variety of standard cutlery in the first instance. Consider the weight of the cutlery.
If your child is having difficulty placing their fingers in the correct places on cutlery you can put a sticker or a dot of nail varnish on the back of the knife or fork to show where their index “pointer” finger should go.
Caring Cutlery has an indentation where the index finger is to be placed and is ergonomically designed to fit the hand. This comes in junior and adult sizes and some other brands make something similar so shop around. |
The nuclear atom
IB Chemistry: The nuclear atom
Atomic theory is just that - a theory - but it is a very good one! Humans will never be able to see atoms as an atom is smaller than the wavelength of visible light. However scanning tunnelling microscopy does provide direct evidence to support the existence of atoms. This uses a very fine probe with a tungsten tip to scan a solid surface. It records the minute changes in current due to uneven surfaces when a potential...
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The industrial revolution and its effects on the fall of humanity
They were also used to power municipal water supply pumps. Summary of the Factory Acts Children 8 and younger could not work in factories.
Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. Explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
Matthew Crabtree, interviewed in Mule spun thread was of suitable strength to be used as warp, and finally allowed Britain to produce highly competitive yarn in large quantities.
This is still a subject of debate among some historians. Many settled in neighboring countries chiefly Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Prussiaand quite a few went to the United States. However, the high productivity of British textile manufacturing allowed coarser grades of British cloth to undersell hand-spun and woven fabric in low-wage India, eventually destroying the industry.
So he made a detailedmap showing where victims lived in the area: The French imposed reforms and incorporated the territory into France.
Hayes as a major result of the French Revolution across Europe. Simultaneously, governments will gain new technological powers to increase their control over populations, based on pervasive surveillance systems and the ability to control digital infrastructure.
Influence of the French Revolution
Too close a spacing caused the fibres to break while too distant a spacing caused uneven thread. The government, capitalists believe, should not intervene to tax or regulate businesses.
Responses to the Industrial Revolution
This helps explain why so many workers are disillusioned and fearful that their own real incomes and those of their children will continue to stagnate. The foundry cupola is a different, and later, innovation. Western countries and businesses typically controlled world trade and took direct or indirect control of key industries in less developed countries, enriching themselves in the process.
Thompson argues that this fails to account for the vast numbers of unemployed. Since young adults were especially likely to be sold, parents and children were frequently separated leading most slave communities to act collectively by respecting all elders and nurturing all children like one large family.
Use of lime or limestone required higher furnace temperatures to form a free-flowing slag. Belgian men were drafted into the French wars and heavily taxed.
Snow applied the scientific method to the situation and hypothesized that cholera spread through the use of tainted water. Other countries in Asia and the Americas—such as China, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina—began to develop key economic sectors for export in the global economy.The most dramatic uprising against the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution in Britain began around what was left of the deforested Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, the land of the fabled Robin Hood.
Effects of the Industrial Revolution
You will learn more about the rise and fall of socialism in Russia in future chapters. This era is now referred to as the.
22b. Cotton and African-American Life
The cotton gin was not Eli Whitney's only contribution to the Industrial Revolution in America. He also started the first factory which used interchangable parts in manufacturing. With a growing free black population in northern and border states, 95 percent of the country's African American population was enslaved in Influence of the French Revolution Jump to navigation Jump to coups within the government and the eventual Bourla-papey forced Napoleon to sign the Act of Medallion which led to the fall of the Helvetic Republic and the restoration of the Confederacy.
paving the way for Belgium's leadership role after in the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution in its raw where humanity altered its framework of mint-body.comty’s curiosity to create newer and more efficient means of production through reorganization of the business structure and of new technology created an entirely new society.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond
While Great Britain was the first to transfer to an industrial economy. Over the period of the industrial revolution, the death rates in Britain began to fall and people began to live longer.
This might be surprising given that the newly crowded cities were rife for disease and illness, with an urban death rate higher than the rural areas, but overall health improvements and a better diet (from improved food.
Effects of the Industrial Revolution. Working Conditions; Living Conditions; Urbanization; it’s time to consider its effects on people. We learned that industrial production increased tremendously, bringing wealth and power to Great Britain throughout the 19th century.
Here humanity attains its most complete development and its most.
The industrial revolution and its effects on the fall of humanity
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Quaid-e-Azam and Fatima Jinnah
At Quaid’s Service is a biographical account written on the life of M. Rafi Butt. It deals primarily with the life and times of the young entrepreneur. The 1930’s and 1940’s were dominated by the conflict and aftermath of World War II. Thus, most of the focus of that era had been war-centric, and very few texts provided a prospective view on the culture of the Pakistanis, who gave birth to this country and their struggle against insurmountable odds to survive. Even fewer texts provide an insight into the dealings and preparations for the nation of Pakistan to become a state, along with all stately machinations and responsibilities, and virtually no text exists of the Quaid’s laborious ‘behind the scene’ plans to physically realise that successful, progressive Muslim homeland he saw in his visions.
The book tells Pakistan’s tale from a very different perspective. It is the story of a young Punjabi entrepreneur, who demonstrated economic genius on numerous occasions and had garnered great success in a culture where the odds were stacked almost relentlessly against the Muslims.
Born in 1909, in Lahore, Rafi’s father died while he was still at the young tender age of 16. He had to take over his father’s surgical instruments and supplies business, and soon developed it into an empire within a decade. Rafi went on to establish the Central Exchange Bank in Lahore, in 1936, and expanded it into other cities of the undivided India as well. He travelled extensively to the US and Europe in order to discover the latest innovations in the industry, and kept Jinnah informed on any economic and industrial revelations that could aid the future of Pakistan after its establishment.
It also provides a vivid and unique account of Lahore in the 1930’s and 1940’s, along with the names, places and independent accounts of the happening of the Muslim elites at the time of the Pakistan Movement. The Quaid was a messiah to the masses, but to the elites he was still a politician. Since Rafi was a high flyer in the Indian society, he had an insider view of the way the elites saw the Quaid and Pakistan.
At the same time, it narrates a story of how Jinnah inspired the youth of all segments of the Muslim society, and promised them that if they would follow him they will inherit a homeland with freedom, security and opportunity.
Pakistani Blue Helmets In The African Nation
KINSHASA, Congo—I am serving with the UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo. The contribution of Pakistani civilians and military in this country under the UN has earned a lot of respect for Pakistan. I have attached a recent photograph of JINNAH PUBLIC SCHOOL here in Bukavu which is the capital city of South Kivu Province. The school is named after the leader of the Pakistan Independence Movement, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
The school was established by Pakistan Army officers and soldiers as a gift to the people of Congo.
Pakistani Blue Helmets in Congo are earning respect and honor for Pakistan through service to humanity.
The effort is acknowledged by the people of this war-torn country in Central Africa.
The school is more commonly known here as the Jinnah School.
The students here sing the Pakistani national anthem every year during their annual function at Jinnah School. When I saw this scene for the first time, I had tears in my eyes.
What was the birth name of the Quaid-i-Azam? Where and when was he born?
Mahomedali Jinnahbhai was the birth name of the first child born to Mithibai and Jinnahbhai Poonja. The date was December 25, 1876, the place Wazir Mansion in Karachi. Later, Mohammad Ali Jinnah changed his spelling when he went to England for higher studies.
Where was the Quaid-i-Azam educated in his early years?
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was educated at the Sindh Madrasatul Islam in Karachi, briefly at the Gokal Das Tej Primary School in Bombay; and finally at the Christian Missionary Society High School in Karachi.
Which profession did the Quaid-i-Azam choose before entering politics?
Jinnah was a lawyer by profession who won many cases due to his brilliance in law. He is by far the most successful lawyer to have become a head of state. According to those who saw him in action, few lawyers commanded a more attractive audience than he. In fact, an angry Justice Martin once addressed him during a case as ‘Mr Jinnah, you are not addressing a third-class magistrate!’
‘There isn’t a third counsel before your Lordship,’ came the astute reply.
Why is the cap worn by the Quaid-i-Azam now known as Jinnah Cap? When did he first wear it?
Jinnah was a man of excellent taste. The styled suits he wore before 1937 were stitched in London and suited him to perfection. However, he sported a sherwani and a Qaraquli cap in 1937 during a session of All-India Muslim League in Lucknow which was meant to signify his commitment to Allama Mohammad Iqbal’s dream of a separate nation for Indian Muslims. The Qaraquli cap is now known as Jinnah Cap.
What were the favourite sports of the Quaid-i-Azam?
Billiards and cricket. In one of his famous pictures that have now become iconic, he is shown playing billiards. Before the creation of Pakistan, he was also a member of the Orient Club in India where he used to play chess and billiards.
What other interests did the Quaid-i-Azam have apart from politics?
During his first trip to London, Jinnah developed a special interest in acting. He acted in some Shakespearean plays during his stay and at one time even seriously considered taking up acting as a profession. However, he was destined for more as we all came to know.
There is a road in Turkey named after the Quaid-i-Azam. True or false?
True. One of the longest streets of Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is named Cinnah Caddesi after him. In the Turkish language, “Jinnah” is spelled “Cinnah”.
Source: Dawn News
Quaid-e-Azam viewing the parade at RPAF Risalpur - 1948
Privileged to be the first A.D.C. to the Quaid-i-Azam for the first seven months, I cherish the memories of many unforgettable moments of being in his service: The flight from Palam (Delhi) airport to Karachi on August 07, 1947; feelings of achievement and pride on setting the first step on Pakistani soil; the state drive on August 14; historic Royal Proclamation formalising the birth of Pakistan; hauling down of the Union Jack that flew for over a hundred years on top of official buildings and unfurling of the Pakistan flag for the first time in its place on the Sindh Assembly building on August 14. These are some of the cherished moments of my life.
When I went to take leave of Quaid-i-Azam before I left for Risalpur to serve the Air Force I took with me one of his photographs to be autographed by him as a memento. He looked at it and went to his private study and came back with his prized photograph, dressed in a three-piece suit and standing in front of the marble fireplace in the living room of his Malabar Hill residence in Bombay. This photograph was taken by the photographer of Life and Time magazines in 1945 and was their copyright. Quaid-i-Azam liked the photograph.
The government approached the magazines for permission for the photograph to be adopted as the official photograph. The magazines refused permission and sent six complimentary copies. Quaid-i-Azam brought one of those copies for me. When he was about to ink his autograph I ventured to suggest that he may kindly autograph it on his suit leg where it would be more prominent. He looked at me with his penetrating eyes as if saying, “You fool, I do not want to spoil the crease of my trousers” and without saying anything, autographed it on the carpet that he was standing on.
The second visit of the Quaid-e-Azam was in 1936 during which he hinted to his first visit, saying that he had visited Kashmir ten years earlier too. In 1936 the Quaid-e-Azam addressed a meeting held in connection with Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of the Holy Prophet (SAW) at the Mujahid Manzil, Srinagar. The Muslim Conference (at that point of time was led by Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and Sheikh Abdullah) in welcome address to Jinnah appreciated his role as lover of Hindu-Muslim unity. Mr. Jinnah reciprocated the sentiments and said that the Muslims were in majority in Kashmir but it was their duty to ensure that the minority community that is, the Hindus of Kashmir would get justice and fair play at the hands of the majority community of Kashmir.
Mr.Jinnah, who was once proclaimed as ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, had been disillusioned by that time and in his speech regretted that some of the leaders of the majority community in British India had not been able to give such an assurance to the Muslim minority. That showed that the Quaid-e-Azam was not satisfied with the concept of Hindu-Muslim unity in British India.
The Muslim Conference, which represented the Muslims of the State 1936, was converted into National Conference in 1939 as its leaders had come under the influence of Nehru. Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, who had joined hand with Sheikh Abdullah in 1939 to found National Conference, realized his mistake within three years. He returned to the Muslim Conference, which had been revived by 14 other leaders from Jammu and Kashmir. Soon many others joined the revived Muslim Conference and once again it became a force to reckon with.
The main and the last visit of the Quaid-e-Azam to the State of Jammu and Kashmir took place in 1944. During this visit he attended a reception by the National Conference headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Sheikh Abdullah had thought that with the help of Dogra administration and the active and crafty Hindus he would suppress the pro-Muslim League elements in the State and assure Mr. Jinnah that the Kashmiris, Hindus as well as Muslims, were believers in One Nation Theory of the Congress. A Hindu nationalist Jialal Kilam presented the address of welcome to the Quaid-e-Azam. The Quaid-e-Azam thanked the National Conference leadership for the right royal reception given to him but at the same time said that it was not a reception for his person, but to the All India Muslim League, the party of ten crore Muslims of India of which he was President. This annoyed the Hindu leader so much that he left the stage in distress.
Do you think you know much about Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah,
The Father of Pakistan Nation ?? Take this quiz to find out.
Quaid-e-Azam with lady workers in Bombay
Without Washington, there would certainly be the United States.
• Democracy is in the blood of Muslamans who look upon complete equality of man. I give you an example. Very often when I go to a mosque, my chauffeur stands side by side with me. Muslamans believe in fraternity, equality and liberty. (Speech at Kingsway Hall, London. 14.12.1946)
• There are no people in the world who are more democratic even in their religion than the Muslamans. (All India Muslim League Session, Lucknow, 1916)
• It is my belief that our salvation lies in following the golden rules of conduct set for us by our great law giver the Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Upon Him). Let us lay the foundation of our democracy on the basis of the truly Islamic ideals and principles. Our Almighty has taught us that our decisions in the affairs of the state shall be guided by discussions and consultations. (Sibi, 14.02.1948) |
principles of programming language
Bubble Sorting with example in C/C++/Java
Bubble sorting is one of the simplest sorting algorithm that we can use to sort an array or a structure. Though it is so simple to implement in a C program, bubble sort is also considered as an inefficient sorting algorithm. Bubble sort comes handy in [...]
How is ARM Programming Different?
Programming ARM MCUs – What is Different? There are very, very few engineers or electronics enthusiasts who started programming with ARM microcontrollers right away. Most come to ARM looking for higher processing capabilities, with a background in simple 8-bit MCUs. In the previous article on How [...]
Difference between Procedure Oriented and Object Oriented Programming
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It also appears to be involved in carbohydrate protein
It also appears to be involved in carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism. Choosing a wide range of foods also helps to make meals and snacks more interesting. However, for most people it is probably enough to just eat a healthy diet without obsessing over the exact proportions and getting plenty of exercise. In, the food and beverage industry spent over $billion lobbying congress against several regulations including those that would decrease the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids, and potential soda electricians rotherhithe read more taxes.
Nonetheless, this is just one potential health risk to take into consideration if you're still considering eating fish. The foods we eat provide energy and nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, and water. These nutrients include protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, vitamins, and minerals.
I bother to feed my children a healthy diet and I just keep going. Healthy foods that are rich in fiber can help reduce overall calorie intake in situations like this, as they can help you feel full. If a person eliminates trans fats from the diet, this will reduce their levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Maintain your muscle mass by eating protein throughout the day. And as an added bonus, they're low in fat and high in other good things, like fiber and protein, meaning they'll keep you fuller longer.
It is great to use in salad dressings, and to add flavor to meals. Yes, sign me up for the newsletter. Phone apps can be helpful for this, but it is important how we interpret the information they give us.
Summary fats form in chemically processed oils and are linked to all sorts of chronic diseases. So while switching to a healthier diet is not easy, the benefits are definitely worth it. A well-balanced, healthy diet helps kids grow and learn. Jan runs, a personal and business health and nutrition consulting service that provides simple, practical advice on how to eat delicious, nutritious food that enables you to live a long and healthy life. However what does a balanced diet actually mean.
At the same time, global population health is increasingly pressured by several forms of malnutrition. Avoid sugary food and drink, such as sweets, biscuits, cakes and fizzy drinks. Weight loss companies and social media have made millions of dollars selling us these beliefs We've learned to expect that eating right has to be difficult and that without a lot of effort, we can never succeed. After the month of calorie-controlled eating, we'll have more meal plans to help you eat healthy food that's still budget-friendly, quick, easy and delicious. See for a further discussion of each of these components, current intakes, and shifts that are needed to help individuals align with a healthy eating pattern. Related malnutrition; an evidence-based approach to treatment. Amino acids are the building blocks for a healthy body. The average adult eats calories per fast food meal-and underestimates what they ate by calories.
Really good quality protein can be found in animal sources such as breastmilk, meat, eggs, chicken, cheese and milk. Sugary drinks and hot drinks with added sugar or syrup contain lots of calories and sugar, and adding cream means extra fat.
A vegetarian dietdiet of were given a diet of hard bread and vegetables. Detox diets vary a huge amount in the different plans they ask you to follow, what to eat, what not to eat and in some cases telling you to take various detox-ing agents. Some chemicals are a natural part of the meat, and others are made when the meat is p or cooked at high temperatures. Simply eat when you're hungry and be sure to choose healthy and nutritious foods. That idea would be like stating that humanity today would be living three times longer compared to the ancestors since today's people eat more fast food. Limit processed meats, such as wieners and luncheon meats, which are also high in fat, sodium, and nitrates Healthy fats contain essential fatty acids like omega-and omega-that cannot be made in the body and must come from the diet. Eating healthily does not mean that you have to spend hours in the kitchen peeling and chopping vegetables.
Here are tips to help you find the best foods for your body and your budget. Frozen fruit and vegetables can be used as their vitamin content is retained. Watercress may only have calories per cup to kale's calories per cup, but you would have to eat much more watercress to even come close to receiving the same amount of nutrients that you get from kale. In fact, taking phytonutrients, like lycopene and beta-carotene, in supplement form because may increase the risk of cancer. Summary sugar provides empty calories and is believed to be a leading cause of diseases that kill millions of people each year. For fresh, frozen or canned fruit and vegetables, a portion is g, but a portion of dried fruit is around g and only counts once a day. Rare, raw or undercooked meats and poultry.
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A Silver-Green Ribbon Runs Through It
Bedrich Smetana translated the rippling of the waves into music. © Charles Thibo
Water, light, morning mist, magic by the moonlight, fairies – we have seen all that already, right? Well, those are the eternal subjects of the Romantic era, which hasn’t halted before the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and what is today the Czech Republic. And all those elements appear in another piece of music, that has fascinated me since I heard it first at school. Eternal gratitude again to my music teacher.
Bedrich Smetana, born in 1824 in Bohemia, composed the symphonic poem “Vltava” as part of the cycle “Ma Vlast” (My Homeland) in November and December 1874 and it follows the Romantic tradition in describing natural phenomena with melodies: the sources that unite to become the river Vltava (“Moldau” in German), how the Vltava winds itself first through countryside dominated by woods and farmland (peasant wedding included), how nymphs dance on it at night, how it flows on through a countryside with castles and fortresses and how it finally crosses the city of Prague past the High Castle, seat of the Czech kings.
My teacher was right: to encourage young people to listen to classical music, you must start with something that they can make sense of, not with abstract compositions like Bach’s pieces for violin for example, brilliant no doubt, but not suited to trigger a first interest in classical music. Like Tchaikovsky’s overture “1812”, Smetana’s “Vltava” is perfectly suited for such purpose as the composer has succeeded in rendering the different snapshots of the river by distinct melodies.
The cycle “Ma Vlast” has actually six parts: The Vysehrad (the High Castle), Vltava, Sarka (a rebel leader), From Bohemian Woods and Fields, Tabor (a city name) and Blanik (Mountain of Peace). The cycle was first performed as a whole in 1882 in Prague. Unfortunately, by that time Smetana was too ill to attend the performance. He gradually became deaf and by 1874 he had to renounce to all official posts. Upon the recommendation of the German composer and pianist Franz Liszt, Smetana had been made the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Gothenburg (Sweden), where he had emigrated for political reasons. Back home by 1861, he led the orchestra of the Czech National Theatre. All that came to a halt in 1874.
Smetana can be considered as the founder of a specific Czech musical tradition. Besides “Ma Vlast” he composed several operas and quartets for violin, a piano trio, a symphony in E Major and three more symphonic poems. The recording of “Ma Vlast” that I favour has been recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Levine.
© Charles Thibo
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Roman War Diaries - The Battle of Actium
Claudia Miclaus Feb 28, 2019
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The Battle of Actium is a demonstration of intelligence and strategy coupled with the surprise element - malaria.
First, let's start with some facts that everybody with a little knowledge of history should know. The Roman Empire was the greatest empire that ever existed, and probably the greatest empire that ever will be. It was the Romans that first had the idea of being a republic.
The Battle of Actium was the last battle in which the Roman Republic used its navy, probably just as well because they didn't have real reasons to be proud of their navy. The first couple wars in which the Romans used its navy proved to be disastrous.
Compare that to the fact that the Roman Empire had the greatest army the world had ever seen, Rome struggled along with its crippled navy until a grappling engine was invented that made it possible for the Roman soldiers to board the enemy ships.
Things were looking up, now they did not have to really fight that much with the navy, all they had to do was to get their ships close enough to get the men on the shore. Then the army would do the rest.
This system took some time to develop and it didn't really get going until Rome's final naval battles were fought. The Battle of Actium is one of the last and the above strategy was employed during the sea battles. The navy started to degrade towards the end of the Roman Empire but during this battle it was at the height of its power and strength.
It was actually a civil war, there was the side that supported Mark Antony and there was the side that supported Octavian, this war was fought during September in the year 31 BC, and it was fought next to a Roman Colony near Greece.
Octavian was the adopted son of Caesar, the problem started when Caesar had a baby with Cleopatra named Caesarion, this was pressure enough but then Mark Antony decided that Caesarion was the rightful heir and he declared this in a nice loud voice.
This started a lot of fighting in the senate but in the end, they stripped Mark Antony of his power and sent him on his way, at the same time declaring war on Cleopatra.
Mark Antony had lost the war before he ever began fighting; while Antony was waiting for Octavian to arrive at the gulf of Actium, there was a malaria outbreak aboard the ships that killed a lot of oarsman.
That with the fact that the supply lines had been cut, Antony was left with a severely demoralized crew, not to mention that he was undermanned and the type of ships he had, demanded a big crew to successfully maneuver.
When Octavian arrived, he had fresh crews and small light ships that were easier to maneuver compared to the huge ships that Antony had. As the battle progressed, Antony's general Delius defected to the other side taking the battle plans with him.
Things only got worse from there. Eventually Antony had to leave the protection of the shoreline and go after Octavian because his ships would constantly stay out of range.
The battle was being lost however, and when Cleopatra saw this, she decided that she did not want to stick around and see, so she retreated. When Mark Antony realized this, he too got on a small ship and managed to escape, abandoning his entire fleet to certain death.
Because of the defeat at Actium, over half of Antony's army later on deserted him, leaving him with almost no one to fight for him. This coupled with the fact that a mix-up in communication left Antony with the belief that Cleopatra had been killed pushed Antony to the point of committing suicide.
When Cleopatra got the news, she too committed suicide so as not to be paraded in the streets of Rome as a sign of Octavian's victory. The war was won and Octavian was named the first citizen of Rome. Rome was no longer a republic but an Empire....
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In Ireland, a Proposal to Decrease the Waiting Period for Divorce
IAALS Intern
“It is no secret that high-conflict litigation, particularly over a protracted period of time, only serves to increase hostility between a couple,” said Josepha Madigan, a member of the Irish Parliament who is advocating for a decrease in the time it takes to get divorced in the country. Current law requires married couples in Ireland to separate for four years before applying for divorce; the change would cut that time in half and allow for application after only two years.
Madigan says the current four-year waiting period for divorce in Ireland has shown itself to be “cumbersome, draconian, and downright awkward for those stuck in limbo between separation and divorce.”
The frustration facing Irish couples seeking divorce undoubtedly resonates with couples here in the United States. Some states take longer than others to complete the divorce process, yet no matter the state, couples are often faced with a long, emotionally draining, and costly journey before reaching a final resolution.
“Matrimonial litigation, by its very nature, is difficult for separating and divorcing couples,” Madigan says. “Why make it any more difficult?"
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Donald in Mathmagic Land Worksheet Movie Summary: Donald Duck, holding a hunting rifle, passes through a doorway to find that he has entered Mathmagic Land. This fantasy land contains trees with square roots, a stream flowing with numbers, and a walking pencil that plays tic-tac-toe.... (more details for Donald in Mathmagic Land)
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Tenants in Common Agreements
Houses image by jeremyhowell from Fotolia.com
Tenants in common is a home ownership. Tenants in common is used primarily when there is more than one owner and the parties are not related or have not equally contributed to the financing of the premises. It assures that when one of the partners dies that his share goes to the person he designated as his heir, not automatically to the other owner or owners as would be the case in a joint ownership agreement.
Any number of people can be on a tenants in common agreement. They need not be related to each other. Each party can own a different percentage of the property.
All of the owners have the same rights to access the property no matter what is their ownership percentage. The income from a property is split between all of the owners according to their ownership percentage. Each owner is responsible for paying her share of the expenses based on the percentage of her ownership.
All of the owners have to agree in order to sell the property. Individual owners can sell their percentage to anyone they choose. If an agreement cannot be reached, one of the owners can request a court order to sell the property and if one is issued, the property will be sold and the proceeds divided according to each owner's percentage of ownership.
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Backyard Birds
Feature Articles
Backyard Birds
By Ragoo Rao, Ethologist
The Purple Swamp Hen is a large water hen with a distinctive heavy red bill and forehead shield. It has red eyes and a deep blue head and breast with black upper parts and wings. In bright sunlight the plumage shines with an intense blue sheen.
These birds use a variety of mating systems, ranging from monogamous mating to communal mating. A distinct characteristic of these birds are that male birds just meekly obey the commands of the dominant females when it comes to mating rights and building a family. Males are just slaves here. Read this Weekend Star Supplement to know more.
The Amazons of Bird Kingdom: Where mating rights of females matter and not the males
Edgar Rice Burroughs (Sept. 1, 1875 to March 19, 1950) was an American fiction writer best known for his celebrated and prolific output in the adventure and science-fiction genres, the most famous being the Fictional Character “Tarzan- The Ape Man”.
In one of his creations on the adventures of Tarzan, he mentions and writes the confrontation of Tarzan with a secretive and undiscovered “All Women Race”- The Amazons – Mythical Warrior Women. They would, when the need arises, capture men, enslaving them to fulfill their need to continue their race. The Women would fight fiercely with each other to have the privilege of mixing with the enslaved men and procreate.
A fascinating story, enjoyed by many and the heroism of Tarzan in getting all the slave men released. This is fantasy to be read or narrated only in science fiction or mythical adventures. There can be no such happening in reality except may be in some species of animals where there are Amazon-like females and slaves like males.
The final kick to defeat the contender and emerge alpha winner.
One such example that can be sighted and witnessed in our lakes — Hebbal Lake, Kukkarahalli Lake, Karanji Lake, Bogadi Lake, Lingambudhi Lake and Hinkal Lake — where Amazon-like females literally battle for mating rights with males, who have no say in the matter. A male has to meekly and blindly listen to the winning female. This is the social structure of a species of waterfowl – Purple Swamp Hens – the Amazons of Bird Kingdom.
The Purple Swamp Hens – Porphyrio porphyrio, also called Purple Gallinule in some other countries, resident dwellers of swamps and lakes, are domestic chicken-sized birds. As the name suggests, they are deep purple coloured with high glossy hues. The beak is red with a frontal disc also in bright red, giving them an attractive appearance. Long reddish legs help them in wading through the water and they are expert swimmers too.
The winner female offering herself to the selected male.
Though weak in flying, they can fly with amazing speed for short distances. (Recently these species inhabiting our region, have been reclassified and given a sub-species status and called as Grey-headed Swamp Hens – Porphyrio Poliocephalus. Purple Swamp Hens are frequently spotted on the roadside and often crossing the road. As they like to be near water, the water in roadside ditches attracts them. Purple Swamp Hens are in fact highly adaptable to changing environments – they can run, swim, fly and hide from predators.
READ ALSO ‘Santrupti’ - A garden with a difference
They are omnivores, eating a wide variety of both plants and small animals including seeds, insects, frogs and aquatic vegetation. They will also eat eggs and small mammals and have the strength to pull up reeds and feed on the soft stems.
The selected male mates with the winning female.
Frequently sighted foraging in the shoreline of the lake or foraging in the cleared paths beside lakes, these birds are wary but curious about approaching anything or anyone cautiously and inspecting. Once a person is familiar with the birds, they shed their fear and just go about their lives ignoring or accepting the person. Their mainstay of food being aquatic plant shoots and occasionally crustaceans, they have very dexterous feet, with long toes. Their feeding on the water plant shoots are a sight to watch. They hold the shoot with one foot, like Primates holding something in their palms and eat.
Somewhat akin to parrots holding a chilly or a fruit with one foot and eating.
Another bout for second-rung females.
Like all life, the Swamp Hens also have to procreate. And this is where they show their Amazon-like behaviour. Living in small groups and flocks, and sometimes solitary also, the Swamp Hens have their breeding season in the post monsoon times of plenty. When food is abundant, the water levels in swamps are high and the lush reed beds growth is good, the Swamp hens are triggered into breeding modes.
During breeding season, their purple color grows more intense due to hormonal changes. While the females start getting more aggressive, the males don their best glossy feathers. Bands of females are formed and they look around for males that are willing. When one or occasionally two or more males are sighted, the female bands confront any other rival females in the vicinity.
The selected male mates with the winning female.
After much of sizing up the opponents, very much like our karate or taekwondo contestants and a few mock attacks, the real battle starts. The highly-hormone-charged females take a direct head-on attack with their rivals, cheered and supported by their respective sisters-in-flock, with loud calls and eager to join hands, rather legs.
READ ALSO Birds and Butterflies of Mysuru: Weaver Bird’s world, a philandering father and a devoted mother...
Exited and fully charged, the duel starts, very much like our kick-boxing combats. The battle goes on with lethal kicks and murderous rage. The atmosphere is thick with fury and feathers flying around. The dominant Amazon female is so aggressive that she leaps into the air and tramples the contender with powerful legs. The battle goes on until one team of contenders scamper away from the battle ground. The meek males watch this battle mutely standing at the battle ground. They are unable or not evolutionarily programmed to have any say in the matter. In the end they happily submit themselves into the winning Amazon females.
A close-up of Purple Swamp Hen female in prime breeding condition with beak and frontal shield turning deer red to show her breeding condition.
The Amazon team leader moves to a clearing, meekly followed by the male and when she consents with her crouching posture, he discharges his nature-ordained duty of procreation. The females take their turn in getting the services of males by hierarchy. The Swamp Hens, once the battling and mating frenzy is over, are all in parental Mode.
Next, the nest building starts. A nest is a collection of dry aquatic plants, all laid out like a platform deep inside the reed-beds and the females lay six to twelve pale yellowish eggs blotched with dark brown marks. Both males and females build nests and many females lay eggs in any nest communally. The warring birds are all friends now.
The winning female calls loudly to challenge any other contenders.
The incubation of the eggs for around 23 to 27 days is done by birds of both sexes like a single joint family. Whoever is free takes on the work and lets the other go for feeding or defending the nests from predators. The chicks are also fed and cared for in the community. It’s a co-operative effort to raise a clutch. The chicks grow up fast under the care of the entire extended family and get ready to do their roles – either an Amazon female or a meek male or a devoted and dutiful joint family member.
With all this drama of life, happening exactly like in the mythical creations of many writers, in our own backyard lakes of Mysuru, a thing we should all cherish and protect the stages on which the drama of life is played, as nature- ordained. That is the beauty of our lakes. Lakes were created hundreds of years back. We can either destroy them or pass them on to the next generation in a healthy and vibrant form. The choice is ours.
The Alpha female after being victorious selects a nesting site in the reed bed.
After the breeding season is over, the tired males go their way and start losing their sheen and deep colours.
In the prime of breeding colours, the Swamp Hen displays its iridescent colours to attract males.
One of the nesting and brooding females, defending her territory from intruders by ‘Drooping Wing’ display as a sign of threat.
June 30, 2018
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How To Become A Skyscraper
What Is A Skyscraper?
There are two definitions of a Skyscraper.
1. a relatively tall building of many stories, especially one for office or commercial use.
In an article published in May 2014, by BBC titled Future - How high can you build a skyscraper? It was stated that “By 2050, 75% of us will be living in cities, which means that building into the clouds is a serious business.” (BBC.com, 2014) Skyscrapers however, could not have been built without Elisha Graves Otis's invention. Otis opened a small factory on the banks of the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York, on September 20, 1853, to make elevators, fully equipped with his newly invented automatic safety device. The world's first safety elevator for passengers, installed in 1857 in a New York store. (americaslibrary, n.d.)
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Some Of The Worlds Tallest Skyscrapers
#6. Standing at 1,776 feet tall and 104 stories, One World Trade Center is not only the tallest building in the city of New York City, and the United States, but also the entire Western Hemisphere.
#2. The Shanghai Tower, with 121 floors that stand 2,073 feet tall, is the second tallest building in the world. The construction of Shanghai Tower began in 2006 and took eight years of work before its completion in March of 2014.
#1. The Burj Khalifa, originally known as the Burj Dubai, towers above the city's already burgeoning skyline. It has 163 floors and a height of 2,717 feet tall, and is the tallest building in the world. (Writer, 2017)
Becoming A Skyscraper
I think there is something we can learn here, we can learn how to become a Skyscraper. So, what is a Skyscraper? A Skyscraper is always in the clouds. You've probably heard someone say, “get your head out of the clouds” for a Skyscraper, that's where they belong. The view point is much different, you see the clouds but also what's past them. Whereas others, can only see the conflict out issue before them. A Skyscraper can see past the mountain of adversity whereas others, can't even fathom there's more on the other side.
Click here for three keys on how to effectively set goals!
How do you become a Skyscraper?
Location, location, location.
Know the location you're in so that you may best serve those in that location. Also, know the location you're heading towards so that you may plan for possible roadblocks. (Foresight)
Solid Foundation.
A building is only as strong as its support. Surround yourself with people that will nourish your vision. A weak foundation will bring forth frustration and inconsistency. In fact, it will become a wheel were inconsistency brings forth insecurities which give birth to frustration. The Skyscraper (that could have been) will stay at ground level.
Investors are not just those that financially support the mission. The greatest currency we all have access to is time. Some invest their time weight and others miss manage it, becoming bankrupt emotionally in the process. When you have good investors, they will deposit in you something that is much more valuable than gold.
Burj Khalifa (the current tallest building in the world) took 5 years to build. This takes time. To become a Skyscraper, you must understand that there will be growing pains. It will require the support of many and time is of the essence. We cannot rush time, he is still undefeated. However, we cannot hope to make the dust system due to our misadministration of time. It's the greatest currency we have, let's be good stewards of it and respect the process.
Your vision must be so big it scares people! They'd either be scared to lose an opportunity to be a part of something so big or scared to take on the challenge. A vision is just that, something you see. To become Skyscraper, you've got to have your head in the clouds and see what no one else is seeing.
Bonus Tip:
Have a working compass in this journey. Your compass is your morals, the things you stand for. As Malcolm X once said, “if you stand for something, you'll fall for anything”. The biggest things that has caused the ruins of many Skyscrapers is that they forgot their North.
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The spectre of Charlemagne (Karl der Große) has tantalised demagogues in the western part of Eurasia for centuries. The dream of recreating his short-lived empire has cost countless millions of lives. European history is littered with the shades of failed empires. The result of personal egos, they were bound to fail when the egos dimmed.
The latest attempt at defying history is being made by the EU. Many, including Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, suggest it is modelled on the USSR. Undoubtedly, it shares a religious zeal with that failed empire. In organizational terms it has borrowed much too. Its Commission like the Politburo dictates whilst the European Parliament pretends to oversee it, as did the Supreme Soviet the Politburo. EU functionaries enjoy special privileges, as did Soviet ones.
However, I think we need to look further back in history to find the model. It is now the ghost of Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen - the Iron Chancellor of Prussia that quickens the pulse of a new generation of imperial activists. A Prussian nationalist, he used the Zollverein to achieve his goal of Prussian hegemony. The Zollverein created an economic union without a political one. Bismarck seized the opportunity this offered to exclude and diminish Austria. The EU is following the same path to nationhood, with the USA as the new Austria.
It is claimed that Bismarck united German-speaking people in their own sovereign country. In reality, he created a Prussian empire. By engineering wars with Denmark and then Austria he was able to invade and annex Schleswig, Holstein, Hanover, Hesse, Nassau and Frankfurt. Saxe-Lauenburg was annexed and subsequently forced into union with Prussia. Saxony, although invaded by Prussia, escaped annexation until 1871 and the creation of the Prussian (German) Empire.
Throughout his machinations, Bismarck used the Zollverein as the foundation stone of his imperial ambition. For centuries, German-speaking people had been part of the Holy Roman Empire led by Austria. Although dissolved by Bonaparte, Austria remained the leading German speaking state. This was anathema to Bismarck. To exclude and marginalize Austria, he engineered a war with France and the Prussian Empire was born out of the Zollverein.
In many ways, the present Franco-German axis is a rerun of the past. Like children playing pass the parcel, they have chucked neighbouring countries to and fro for centuries. Germans happily fought for Louis XIV and for Bonaparte too, until they saw his game was up. Prussia turned its coat in time to gain the victor's spoils of the Confederation of the Rhine. Germany had its turn when the Vichy government proved a willing helpmate.
Following Bismarck's script, the rulers of the new EU Empire edge closer and closer to political integration. They have learned the lesson well. Other empires have failed because they were founded on conquest and political coercion. Prussia's empire succeeded at the beginning because it seemed to offer economic gains. Like Bismarck, the modern imperialists are distrustful of democracy and rule through a strong, well-trained bureaucracy. They espouse the theocracy of 'the new European citizen.' But it is not easy to dissolve people's identities into a new nationality. Economic union has been difficult for some, and monetary union catastrophic for many. The beneficiaries are Bismarck's German successors. They have cleaned up financially, benefiting from a grossly undervalued Euro that has impoverished most of their competitors. Macron's government, like its Vichy predecessor, is reduced to carrying the German briefcase and supporting the creation of the Fourth Reich.
True to Bismarck's script, after economic and monetary union, the EU plan is for fiscal, political and military union. Fiscal union is inevitable if the Euro is to survive. Political union requires only a few tweaks. Military union is the cherry on the imperial cake. Eurocorps established in 1992 by Germany and France, and confirmed by the Treaty of Strasbourg in 1994, is its embryo. An army has always been the EU's aim. Article 42.3 of the Treaty of Lisbon requires member states to: "make civilian and military capabilities available to the Union …. to contribute to the objectives defined by the Council." All coordinated by the European Defence Agency. Already, they have Europol and a militarised police force EUROGENDFOR.
Now, Macron and Merkel call for an EU army that will defend the EU against enemies including the USA. They are supported by the EU Commission whose spokesperson said,
"The commission last year (2017) launched a €4.5bn defence fund…"
With a few honourable exceptions, notably the UK, EU members of NATO have failed to live up to their obligations. They are unwilling to pay for their defence, a defence that has kept the peace since 1945 though they can find the money for their own self-aggrandizing army. It is a vivid example of EU priorities.
On November 9th this year, France's Finance minister Bruno Le Maire, told the French-German Business Forum:
"Europe has a choice: nationalism or sovereignty ……. I think Europe has to become an empire again; between the American empire and the Chinese empire."
On the Euro he said it is
"the future of Europe. With Brexit, the Euro Area will account for 85% of European wealth…Every state which isn't a member and saw Britain as an ally… will be led sooner or later to join the Euro Area."
Achieving the EU Empire, he explained is:
"not the responsibility of friendly countries …like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland or Sweden; it will be the responsibility of France and Germany." So much for opt-outs and respect for treaties!
Those with even an elementary knowledge of history will wonder how Europe can become an Empire again, for whenever was it one? This is EU speak at its most Orwellian. Le Maire made much of the need for European Sovereignty; an Imperial dream in which Germany aided by France controls the vassal states that comprise 67% of the empire's population.
Note: Sovereignty for an elite few but servitude for the many sows the seeds of future strife.
The EU elite believe they have cleverly engineered an empire from which there is no escape; an empire established without a democratic mandate and without asking its subjects opinion. But, there is always an escape from injustice. Democrats should be alarmed that the EU already possesses a paramilitary force.Add to that an EU army and we come to Bismarck's end game. The Prussian Empire came into being not through the economic advantages of the Zollverein, but military force; as its founder declared: through "Blood and Iron." Those seeking to repeat history should take time to consider its lessons lest they unleash tragedies on this century equal to those of the last.
After 'Bloody' Mary and Phillip of Spain lost Calais, England turned to the world, and despite having to intervene to stop continental despots from subjugating our neighbours, we have kept our distance from European affairs. Apart from Gibraltar, we never sought expansion in Europe. According to de Gaulle, Churchill told him
Together with the USA, after WW2 we imposed democracy on Germany. Sadly, it seems that too many Europeans are incapable of accepting democracy - as we define it. Perhaps, the EU is simply the manifestation of their preferred way.
For Britain, joining the Common Market was a tragic mistake, one accomplished by lying to the people and ignoring democratic procedure and expectations.We faced an existential threat when Churchill led us. We face one now, for, again, we have leaders and a civil service, who lie to us and thus destroy our democracy and sovereignty.
It is time for democrats - irrespective of political party - to join together to defend our values. Together we must heed the words of our greatest son and choose freedom and the open sea. |
Mar 01, 2019
Use “Momo Challenge” as an Opportunity to Better Protect Your Children Online
Father and son learn using a tablet
While mentions of the “Momo Challenge” started surfacing more than six months ago, conversations about the topic seem to have peaked on social media this week.
According to media reports, the "Momo Challenge" is an alleged form of cyberbullying that includes the spread of a frightening image and graphic instructions for young people to hurt themselves or others. While the validity and reach of this social media phenomena are questioned by internet experts and law enforcement officials, and being denounced by some as a hoax, the “Momo Challenge” has raised the attention of parents who might be wondering how to help keep their children safe when they’re using apps and online resources like YouTube.
Stacy Behmer is the manager of digital learning for Grant Wood Area Education Agency, and she works with a team who spend their days helping teachers and administrators incorporate technology and tools into their classrooms to support research-based instructional practices. She says, “Online sites, apps and streaming resources are launching and evolving so quickly that some parents feel ill-equipped to help their children use them safely. When discussions of something like the ‘Momo Challenge’ start popping it, it just heightens that concern for parents and reinforces the importance of communicating with kids about online safety.”
Behmer notes that her digital learning team members often use vetted resources to guide their work in districts, and she encourages parents to turn to them as well. “The parent guides available from these organizations can provide step by step instructions to help provide parents with detailed actions that can lead to positive learning for parents and students to keep them safe.”
Parents can find guides and resources at:
And other resources like:
• Family Link (for Android devices)- Create a Google Account for your child that's like your own and lets parents manage apps, keep an eye on screen time and set timers on the device.
• Circle- A tool to help families manage content and time online, on any device.
• Family Online Safety Institute
At a minimum, Behmer suggests:
1. Create a plan
“There are so many advantages to using technology to enhance learning for students,” says Behmer, “but it needs to be incorporated in a thoughtful and planful way. Set age-appropriate time limits, guidance on what can be viewed and what cannot, and stick to those rules.”
2. Establish boundaries
Beyond setting time limits for young people, parents also need to change the settings and access levels of many tools to help ensure their children aren’t unintentionally opening themselves to content that may be inappropriate. In YouTube settings, parents can turn on ‘restricted access’ and turn off ‘suggested auto-play’, or the scroll of suggested content that will appear next to what a child is watching. YouTube also has a kids version that offers additional filtering and buffering of its content.
3. Monitor access
Behmer notes that hackers can get around settings, so there is no foolproof way to ensure you’re screening all content your child is accessing. However, there are many ways to keep track of what a child is watching. “Regardless of the validity of this particular challenge, there have been other unsafe challenges and there likely will be more. Parents can and should have access to a child’s device and accounts and should regularly review the viewing history and applications,” she adds. “If something is inappropriate, report or block it to help reduce the likelihood of that content surfacing again.”
“Make sure you have conversations with your child about using online tools and resources safely,” added Behmer. “If you have younger children, gently mention that they should be sure to talk with their parents or teachers if they encounter something that is scary or strange. Parents of older children should have an even more honest and open dialogue about keeping themselves safe online. No matter what the age, parents should let students know who to go to when they come across something that isn’t appropriate online.” |
• 1st Semester Vocabulary:
HFZ - Healthy Fitness Zone
5 Health-Components of Fitness:
Aerobic Capacity
Muscular Strength
Muscular Endurance
BMI - Body Mass Index
Flexibility - The ability of the joints to move through their full range of motion.
Aerobic Capacity - The ability of the cardio-respiratory system to work over a long period of time "with oxygen".
Muscular Strength - The ability of a muscle to generate force over a short period of time.
Muscular Endurance - The ability of a muscle to generate force over a long period of time.
Body Composition(BMI) - The relative amount of fat body mass to lean body mass.
Pace - The rate of speed in walking and running.
Self-Control - the act of controlling your reactions, physical and emotional (body control, verbal control, physical control).
Relationships - your peers, your classmates, and/or small groups.
Sequence - putting movement in an order, beginning, middle and end.
Rhythm - a repeated pattern of sounds and/or movement.
Frequency - How often you should exercise.
Intensity - How hard or strenuous you should exercise.
Time - How long you should exercise.
Type - Refers to the type of activity.
Cultural diversity - the differences that exist in the world, our society or your school.
MyPlate - tool for making appropriate nutritional decisions.
2nd Semester Vocabulary:
Skills Components - agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, speed
Agility - Being able to change directions quickly under control.
Balance - The ability to keep the body in a steady position.
Coordination - Smooth and efficient movement using more than one part of the body at the same time.
Power - The ability to use strength quickly, it involves both strength and speed.
Reaction time - How quickly you respond to something.
Force - any influence that changes the motion of an object.
Speed - The ability to perform a movement or cover a distance in a short period of time.
FIT(T) - Principles of fitness training:
frequency, intensity, time, type
Weight Transfer - shifting your weight from one side to another or one body part to another body part.
Manipulative skills - kicking, throwing, striking, catching, dribbling, volleying and punting.
Resting Heart Rate - the number of heart beats at rest (before you move).
Offense - Team with possession of the ball/puck; team attempting to score
Defense - Team trying to keep the opponent from scoring points/goals/runs
Game Strategy - Using skills or techniques to compete better in a game or activity.
Practice - Doing a skill over again to become better |
What is a Damp Proof Course (DPC)?
A damp proof course is a layer in the walls of your property that help prevent moisture from move up the walls and into the living area. This is commonly referred to as rising damp.
What is rising damp?
To understand the importance of a DPC and what it does, we need to understand just what rising damp is and how it causes problems. In a property with no DPC or retrofit works, water will rise up through capillary action, up through the wall and over time, make plaster pop and crumble, create damp spots on internal walls, and eventually lead to mould and worse.
It was recognised hundreds of years ago that this could be a big issue. So what can you do to combat this problem?
Slate and plastic DPC’s
When a property is built, it is fairly easy to combat future rising damp problems. A damp proof layer can be fitted to create barrier between the bricks at floor level, and the bricks above, stopping that moisture from climbing up the walls and entering the home.
Slate is the oldest kind of DPC material, and has been used for a very long time, but any durable water resistant material can potentially be used, and of course the cheapest, most widely available method these days is a plastic membrane.
You can find your DPC by taking a look at the external wall. Look down at ground level and look up about 6 inches or so up the wall. Somewhere around here you will see a thin black line of either slate or plastic running horizontally across the brick work. This is your DPC. Sometime this is going to be tricky to spot, as the DPC might have worn into the wall in the case of plastic, or painted, rendered etc.
What if you don’t have a DPC?
The majority of homes will have DPCs, especially any built in the last 100 years. Some DPC’s can get damaged however, and can then become susceptible to damp penetration. For example, where a house settles over the years, the slate course may crack and allow moisture to begin moving upwards. Fortunately, there are some remedial actions that you can take to help deal with this.
The obvious way to tell if your property’s DPC is not working correctly is to check for damp spots around the home, but unfortunately it is often tricky for the layman to know what is rising damp and what is condensation based damp. These are two very different kinds of damp requiring different solutions.
If you suspect that your home may have a damp problem, it is probably worth getting a survey from a damp expert, who will be able to tell what your damp is being caused by and what actions can be taken to help deal with it.
What can be done about rising damp and damaged DPC’s
There are now a wide array of different chemicals and gels that can be ‘injected’ into the walls to create an artificial DPC. This is much cheaper than having to install a physical DPC into an existing wall, and can do the job just as well. We recommend that you get a professional to do this, though it is possible to DIY if you have some knowhow.
How much does DPC injection cost?
For a typical Victorian mid terrace, where we tend to see many of these remedial actions you are looking at a cost of £500-800. This will be for the cost of materials and a days labour on site. The price will vary with the length of the wall to be injected and the system that is being installed. The process is fairly clean and simple, and once the job is done, it will last for many years.
Have a question or would like to find out more?
What are you enquiring about?
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Home - Back Issues - The Team Contact Us
Linking Young Minds Together
Volume 2 Issue 13| March 28, 2010|
News Room
Photo Feature
Science Feature
Last & Least
Star Campus Home
Last & Least
Experience machine
and unreal reality
Dr Binoy Barman
PHILOSOPHERS George Berkeley and David Hume asserted that our knowledge consists of perceptions. We live in a world of perceptions, which form the fabrics of reality. According to them, reality is nothing but only perceptions rushing into our brains through the highway of experience. We know the external world through our sense-based perceptions and without them we are entirely clueless.
Consider the process of 'knowing' or knowledge. Our five senseseye, ear, skin, tongue and noseget input from the external world and send them to brain for analysis. It is a process from sensation to perception to conception. Upon completion of the process, we can know something or gain knowledge of it. I know about you through my senses. As I can see, I know you are male or female, beautiful or ugly, slim or fat, tall or short, smiling or gloomy, wearing shirt-pants or salwar-kamiz. I know about music through hearing -- Tagore, Nazrul, Lalon, Pop and Jazz. I know honey is sweat and neem is bitter via tasting. Through touching, I can know whether you are warm or cool like the day or night -- soft or hard like flower or stone. By way of smelling, I know mother is cooking biriani or khichiri or the bathroom is dirty or fresh. All my knowledge has come through my experiences of senses. So knowledge is made up of, as John Locke made it clear, experience-based ideas.
The process of gaining knowledge is natural. Exposed to natural environment, human beings automatically gain knowledge through their senses. All knowledge is stored in the brain as perceptions. Now one can ask: is it possible to create perceptions artificially? Scientists say, yes, it is possible. Perceptions can be created in the brain stimulating the neurons there in different ways, for examples, electrically or chemically. Mild electric shocks can be given in particular locations of the brain so that the person will get various sensations and perceptions. Medicines can also be applied to arouse sensational feelings in the brain. People may get artificial experiences in this way. Famous Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield conducted many such experiments with brain stimulations, giving his patients assorted experiences without any involvement of senses.
Some ingenuous people really have gone a long way in this regard. They have imagined 'experience machine' to pump artificial experiences into people. American philosopher Robert Nozick describes such a machine, which has been recognised by Steven Spielberg's film 'Minority Report'. The machine allows us to have any pleasurable experiences we like, so vividly created in our minds that we take it to be reality.
Just think you can experience the excitement of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when he was addressing a historical Dhaka gathering on March 7, 1971. You can see how it will feel like writing 'Geetanjali' of Rabindranath or proposing the general relativity theory of Einstein. You can also feel the pride of elegant beauty of Aishyariya Rai or the hatred of Saddam Hossain towards Gegore W. Bush. You can even become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh or the President of USA. You can feel the pain or pleasure of taking or giving birth. Maybe, you can experience death before you die. The experience machine has all the experiences in digitised form, and once injected into your brain you will get the experience as simulation, I mean, as appearing real.
The experience machine offers people an opportunity to enter what is called virtual reality. It may be a big business as found in the 1999 movie 'Strange Days' where experiences recorded from people's cerebral cortex are traded. People take shelter in the bliss of 'unreal reality' to escape the harshness of 'actual reality'. Not a bad idea! But there is danger. Constant engagement in artificial reality may spoil the power to distinguish it from the practically real. Existence is lost in the haze of hallucination. If you have watched 'The Matrix', you know how people can be trapped in simulation from which they can scarcely come out.
How fervently people aspire for experiences other than their real own! Some resort to narcotics like heroin, marijuana and cannabis. Some take to liquor of different brands -- wine, whisky or vodka. In our country many taste phensidyl only to derive a different type of feelings. The recent scourge of yaba is a manifestation of the same psychological problem. It is the dozy dizziness what people like. They want to drift in the sea of dreaminess away from the reality of life. They want to flee from themselves and hide in the cave of 'unreality'. Drugs have the potency to cause a sort of fake feelings. That is why these are called 'chemical experience machine'.
It is akin to invoking Plato's shadow reality in a different garb. The Greek philosopher identified the real world, as we experience it in the usual way, as an unreality. To him, the abstract, the unreal, is the real. The visible world is just a shadow. Reality exists as form, universal and unchangeable, beyond the reach of individual mind. It is off-limits to human senses. We are blind despite our full vision of two eyes. Experience machine will also make the unreal real. People will be oblivious of their own existence. Ultimately they will take shelter in Plato's cave.
Though experience machine is still a fiction, it is expected to be a fact in future with great advances in computer science on one hand and brain science on the other. Then we will be able to download our experiences in computers and get them back into brains. We would be able to swap experiences with each other. I will be you, and you will be me, literally. How exciting it will be if you can measure your sweetheart's intensity of love for you! Or what an embarrassment if you know how intensely a person hates you for breaking his/her heart! Nothing will remain hidden. All thoughts will flash out with the high-tech computer scanning and analysis. No dishonest or evil thoughts can be concealed. The corrupt people will be identified forthwith and the court trial process will be easier with the maximum possibility of justice. Beware you, the corrupt mind, making plans for killing or other misdeeds. You cannot escape the long hand of experience machine!
Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2010 |
Guillain-Barré Syndrome
What is Guillain-Barré syndrome?
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a disease that affects nerves throughout the body and limbs. It is usually triggered by an infection. It is named after Dr Guillain and Dr Barré who were two of the doctors who first described this syndrome early in the last century.
Who gets Guillain-Barré syndrome?
GBS is rare but may affect anyone. It occurs more commonly in early adulthood and the elderly. It is also more common in women immediately after they have given birth.
Every year about 1,500 people develop GBS in the UK.
What causes Guillain-Barré syndrome?
Most cases of GBS start within three weeks of an infection. Some of the infections that are known to be related to GBS include Campylobacter jejuni (which can cause bowel infection and diarrhoea), Epstein Barr virus (which causes glandular fever – also called infectious mononucleosis), cytomegalovirus (usually causes no symptoms) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection (a bacterial infection that can cause a cough, cold or pneumonia) – but there are probably others. For example, HIV and influenza A virus are also possible infections that have been linked to GBS. (Note: the vast majority of people who get these infections do not develop GBS.) Rarely, GBS has been reported after certain vaccinations.
GBS is an autoimmune disease. The immune system normally makes antibodies (small proteins) to attack bacteria, viruses, and other germs. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system makes antibodies that can attack tissues of the body and cause damage to them. In GBS, the preceding (earlier) infection stimulates the body to produce antibodies to attack the infecting germ. But, it is thought that a tiny part of the infecting germ and tiny parts of nerves in the body have similar structures. In some people, the antibodies that attack the germ also mistake the nerves as germs. So, the antibodies also attach to, and damage, the nerves, causing inflammation of the nerves and leading to GBS. If a nerve is damaged, then the muscles which the nerve supplies stop working.
Note: there are various other autoimmune diseases. Most tend to run a chronic (persistent) course once the immune system is triggered. For example, rheumatoid arthritis. However, GBS is different in that the disease activity seems to be time-limited. That is, the immune system reacts to a recent infection which can cause nerve damage, but then settles down again. This is why most people with GBS fully recover.
What are the symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome?
• Pain. About 1 in 2 people with GBS develops either nerve pain or deep aching muscle pain. This tends to be worse with movement and at night.
• Autonomic symptoms. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for body functions like sweating, breathing, heart beating and digestion. In GBS, nerves within this system may be affected, causing problems with blood pressure, pulse, vision and lack of sweating.
How does the disease progress?
Usually, the weakness and sensory symptoms gradually become worse and spread up the body. Symptoms typically peak in severity 1-4 weeks after first starting. The severity of symptoms and when they peak can vary from person to person, but often symptoms can be severe. In many cases, both arms and legs become so weak that they cannot be used at all. In addition, in about 1 in 4 cases, the muscles of the chest become so weak that breathing is affected. If this occurs, you will need support to breathe with a ventilator (a breathing machine) in an intensive care unit. Swallowing may be affected and you may need to be fed via a tube passed into your stomach.
Once symptoms peak, they tend to remain in a stable plateau phase for a while. Typically, this is for several days. Then the symptoms gradually start to ease off as the damaged nerves begin to heal. The time it takes to recover varies greatly from person to person, but it is often several months.
How is Guillain-Barré syndrome diagnosed?
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample. This is the fluid that surrounds your spinal cord and brain. A sample of this is collected through a needle in your back and will usually show a high amount of protein and not very many white blood cells (blood cells that increase in infection) if you have GBS.
Other tests including blood tests, spirometry (a test to show how well you breathe in and out) and an electrocardiogram (ECG – records the electrical activity of your heart) may also be suggested. These can help to check for complications of GBS and to monitor progress.
What is the treatment for Guillain-Barré syndrome?
Some specific treatments that may be given include one or more of the following.
Plasma exchange
However, plasma exchange is done less commonly these days since treatment with immunoglobulin has been shown to be probably just as effective, is easier to give, and seems to cause fewer side-effects.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prevention
Pain relief
This may be with particular drugs that work well for nerve-related pain, such as gabapentin and carbamazepine.
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy
These may also be helpful treatments for GBS. Physiotherapy may help with pain relief and may also help to prevent or treat muscle stiffness that may develop. Occupational therapists help people achieve as much as they can for themselves. For example, they may help someone recovering from GBS to walk by themselves again with the aid of a walking stick.
Support and counselling
Low mood can be a problem for many people with GBS. You may find it helpful to talk through some of your feelings with a counsellor and to get support from them. The Guillain-Barré Syndrome Support Group (contact details below) provides information and support to those affected by GBS.
A note about steroids
In general, steroids are not thought to help much in the treatment of GBS and so are not routinely used. However, there is some research that suggests that steroids given intravenously (into a vein) at the same time as immunoglobulin treatment may help to speed up recovery. More research is needed about this.
What is the outlook (prognosis) for Guillain-Barré syndrome?
It is rare to have GBS a second time.
Further help and information
Guillain-Barré Syndrome Support Group
Ground Floor, Woodholme house, Heckington Business Park, Station Road, Heckington, Sleaford NG34 9JH
Helpline: 0800 374803 Web: www.gbs.org.uk
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Do we produce enough food already?
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of giving the George Morris AgriFood Policy lecture at the University of Guelph. I primarily focused my talk on the benefits of food and agricultural technologies and the importance of productivity growth for solving our future world food problems.
At the conclusion of my talk, an audience member played devils advocate asked an important question that deserves more widespread discussion. In short, the question was something along the lines of the following: don't we produce enough food already? It is a question reflected in many popular writings. This headline, for example, is "We Don't Need to Double World Food Production by 2050." Here's Mark Bittman writing in the New York Times: "The world has long produced enough calories . . .". Here's Bittman again under a headline in the same outlet "Don't Ask How to Feed the 9 Billion" because, in his words, "The solution to malnourishment isn’t to produce more food."
Here are my main main thoughts on this line of thinking:
1) Even if we produce enough calories today to meet today's population, that doesn't mean we produce enough for tomorrow's population. Productivity growth is gradual and incremental, and if we found ourselves in a situation of needing more food, the new technologies to produce them cannot be created over night. This is particularly true of our ability to produce in the future is hampered by climate change.
2) There is no binary category of "enough food." Greater food production leads to lower food prices and lower food insecurity. I haven't yet met a food consumer who wouldn't prefer paying lower food prices, holding quality constant.
3) I may be true in an accounting sense that we produce enough calories today to meet total caloric needs. But accounting isn't economics, and we need to consider the incentives of the system that produces the sufficient calories today relative to an alternative system that is either less productive or involves widespread redistribution. Massive redistribution of food can destroy the incentives of people to produce the food. One cannot disentangle the fantastic productivity of our current system with the market forces that led to it's origin. Stated differently, there is no reason to imagine we'd produce the same number of calories if "the system" were changed to one with massive confiscation/redistribution. Brady Deaton altered me to this fascinating paper in the Journal of Political Economy showing that 75% of the increase in China's agricultural productivity after 1978 was due to strengthening of individual incentives.
4) It's important to look at productivity through the lens of sustainability. Higher productivity means getting more (or the same) amount of food output using fewer inputs and resources. Are people really wanting to argue that they'd prefer systems that require more of our natural resources - more land, more water, more fossil fuels? Since when is lower productivity and inefficiency preferred? Even if "enough" food is produced today, improved productivity means we can keep producing the same quantity but shrink agricultural's footprint on the land, use less water, fewer pesticides, etc.
5) If the solution to the food problem is simply shipping food from high productivity countries and sending (or stated more pejoratively "dumping") in lower productivity countries with hungrier citizens, this may harm the livelihoods of producers in low productivity countries and reduce their incentives to adopt efficient forms of agriculture.
6) If places like the US decided to forego new food and agricultural technologies and farmers were forced or incentivized to adopt lower productivity systems, what would happen to patterns of global trade and production. US farmers compete with farmers all over the world to serve US consumers and consumers worldwide. Not only would such policies likely reduce US exports, it would make imports relatively more attractive. Is the solution then import tariffs to prop up our lower productivity system?
7) One can go back to writings from over 100 years ago and find claims that the problem of production and scarcity had essentially been solved, and all that was needed was a heavier handed state to ensure "fair" distribution (e.g., see Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, published in 1888). Imagine the world we would live in today if that premise were widely accepted back in 1888 - that the state of production was "good enough" and we could stop worrying about growth and progress. How much growth would we have lost out on had we stopping innovation in 1888? We'd still be hand-picking cotton, planting with mules, eating much more salt- and vinegar-cured meats, and more. What will the food and agriculture future look like in 2088, and what will we give up if we stop working on productivity-enhancing technologies today? |
Monday, March 10, 2014
What is an implant?
"How does an implant work?" I get asked this a lot when discussing treatment options with my patients. Simply put, an implant is a titanium screw that is placed into your jaw to replace a broken or missing tooth. Implants have become a routine and predictable service that dentists can offer their patients. Before implants were used, the other options to replace a missing or broken tooth were to make a bridge (a non-removable option that was made by placing crowns on the teeth on either side of the missing/broken tooth), make a partial denture to replace that one missing tooth, or do nothing.
Used with permission from BIOMET 3I
In the image to the right you can see how an implant mirrors a tooth. The left part of the picture shows a natural tooth, with the white outer layer enamel, and the darker underlying dentin. This picture also looks like how a dentist would shave a tooth down to make a crown for a tooth; by removing the enamel, and leaving a plateau of dentin in the middle to allow for the crown to fit over it.
Now, when an implant is placed, it replaces the root of the tooth only. In order to replace the rest of the tooth (the crown), the dentist and the lab need to fabricate a restoration that replicates the natural tooth.
The dental implant crown, as shown in the picture, can be either be one piece (a screw-retained implant crown) or two pieces (a cement-retained implant crown). The dentist and the lab will work together to determine what is the best way to restore the tooth based on each specific situation. No matter which option is selected, the restoration will fit snugly with the implant, and it will at some point be held together with a screw that connects the restoration to the implant.
If the restoration is one piece, the crown sits directly on top of the implant, and is held in place by a screw that tightens the crown to the implant; a screw-retained implant crown. No cement is used to hold the crown in place like it would if it was being placed on a tooth. A hole is made through the middle of the crown when it is being made by the lab to allow the dentist to tighten the crown to the implant with the screw. Once the crown is fully seated and tightened, the dentist will place a bonded filling to cover the hole.
If the restoration is two pieces, the abutment replicates the plateau of dentin that remains on your tooth when you have a crown; and the crown sits on top of the abutment. The implant screw is used to tighten the abutment to the implant, and the crown is cemented onto the abutment just like a crown is cemented onto a tooth; a cement-retained implant crown.
Implants are a great option for many patients. It allows me to offer an opportunity to replace a missing or broken tooth that minimizes affecting other teeth that can become compromised by placing a bridge, and it doesn't have to be removed nightly like a partial denture. Besides replacing missing teeth, implants can be used to help stabilize dentures; but that's a topic for another day.
If you think you need an implant, and you want to find out more, please contact our office to set up an appointment for a consultation at your earliest convenience. 973-543-6666 or
1 comment:
1. Thank you so much for this write up. It's been awhile that i have been thinking to implants. I searched for dental implants India to get the best treatment. I am really concerned about my teeth and want to go through and know as much before taking the big decision. |
Interesting – it’s a powerful word.
~ Liz
Transition and Distraction
“That music reminded me of when my grandmother died last summer,” a second grade girl confided in me.
Today was the day for a listening and drawing experience with Stravinsky’s The Firebird. My young students enjoy listening when there is an implied story line in the music, and this music is full of drama. I briefly introduced Stravinsky to my 2nd graders, telling them a few facts about his life that would pique their interest. He came from a musical family with a father who sang opera and a mother who played piano. He was born in Russia and grew up with Russian fairy tales and folk tales.
The six short sections of The Firebird Suite (1919 version) make it a perfect listening piece because each section has a distinct and contrasting character. For example, the first section is moody and ominous, and sets the scene for an adventure. The second is dramatically different, with frenetic energy. As the children listen to each section they are instructed to notice the images in their minds. On a paper divided into six boxes they draw those images, and create their own story for the music. The result is like an over-sized comic strip, but without any words.
The Firebird of course was a well-loved Russian folk tale before it was a ballet accompanied by Stravinsky’s music. (The ballet actually is a composite of several stories.) A prince catches an intriguing, flame-colored bird. The bird begs for his freedom and promises a gift. A bright feather is left as he flies away. This feather is later used when all hope is lost in a battle with demons.
Stravinsky composed the music to illustrate the folk tale and the action of the ballet. The classroom listening exercise invites the children to do the reverse. They use the music to inspire the creation of a new story. Later on they will hear the actual Firebird tale, but I am most interested in first forging a personal connection to the music. Unfortunately there isn’t time or patience to have each child tell the details of their story to the whole class, but 2 by 2 they can share their stories with each other. The stories have caves, monsters and volcanoes. There are princesses and weddings. There are battles, weapons and coffins.
Section 5 of The Firebird, “Berceuse,” is the slow lament that especially touched my second grade student mentioned above. She brought her paper up to me at the end of class, and I noticed that section 6 was empty. She apparently had been caught up in the emotion of the 5th section and had stopped drawing. “Berceuse” had carried her away to a place of loss and grief.
What is it about that section of music that calls up such memories? I have found that many students draw pictures of dead warriors or coffins for that section. What is it in the shape of Stravinsky’s melody or his choice of instruments that stirred my student’s heart and communicated the profound grief of death? For that matter, what is it in section 4 that brings images of battle to my students over and over? Musical notes written on the page almost 100 years ago are brought to life by French horns and oboes and strings. Rhythmic patterns and melodic lines bypass words and story line, and communicate directly with the heart.
~ Liz |
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China Wraps up Combustible Ice Mining Trial, Setting World Records
China on July 9 completed a 60-day trial of mining gas hydrates, commonly known as combustible ice, in the South China Sea, marking breakthroughs in human's search for alternative clean energy sources.
Started from May 10, the mining operation in waters near the Pearl River estuary has beaten previous expectations and set world records in both the length and total amount of extraction, according to the China Geological Survey Bureau.
The trial exploration produced over 300,000 cubic meters of gas - mainly methane, with an average daily extraction of more than 5,000 cubic meters of high purity gas, and a highest daily output of 35,000 cubic meters, said the bureau.
Meanwhile, 6.47 million sets of experimental data were recorded.
China declared its first success in collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea on May 18, which usually exists in seabed or tundra areas with the strong pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability.
The substance can be ignited like solid ethanol, which is why it is called combustible or flammable ice.
China Geological Survey Bureau's deputy director Li Jinfa said combustible ice will play a vital part in China's energy security and economic development.
"It is considered a strategic alternative to oil and natural gas in the future," Li said. "Not just China, the world at large sets eyes on it."
He said other countries like Japan had also begun mining combustible ice, but operations were suspended due to a significant amount of sand entering the production wells.
Chinese scientists this time invented a new technique to prevent sand from disrupting the exploration. Other adjustments were also made to ensure commercial explorations.
Environmental tests showed that there were no methane leaks. Neither did geological hazards occur.
China began research in combustible ice in 1998. The latest exploration showcased a number of breakthroughs.
"China is leading the world in combustible ice exploration, whether it is about theory, techniques, machinery, or engineering," said Ye Jianliang, director of Guangzhou Marine Geological Bureau.
"The trial will have a big impact on the world's energy sector," he said.
Li said his bureau will double the efforts on research to prepare for combustible ice's commercial production, with emphasis on ocean ecology protection and "green" exploitation of the new energy. Regulations on exploitation management and industrial policy are also being drawn up.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2017)
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Enlargement liver : Medical Symptom Description
Enlargement liver: Enlargement liver is listed as an alternate name or description for symptom Enlarged liver. For a medical symptom description of 'Enlargement liver', the following symptom information may be relevant to the symptoms: Enlarged liver (symptom). However, note that other causes of the symptom 'Enlargement liver' may be possible.
Enlarged liver (symptom): Swelling of the liver.
Enlarged liver (symptom): A swollen liver is the symptom of many possible disorders, and needs prompt professional medical investigation. It is often related to a similar symptom: swollen spleen. There are many condition that may cause swollen liver or enlarged liver, including liver disorders such as hepatitis and various other diseases not directly related to the liver.
More information on symptom: Enlarged liver:
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Home > World Food Situation > FAO Cereal Supply and Demand Brief
World Food Situation
FAO Cereal Supply and Demand Brief
Monthly release dates for 2019: 7 February, 7 March, 4 April, 9 May, 6 June, 4 July, 5 September, 3 October, 7 November, 5 December.
World cereal production to increase in 2019, but stocks to still decline slightly in 2019/20
Release date: 09/05/2019
Early prospects point to a likely rebound of 2.7 percent in global cereal production in 2019, following a decline registered in 2018. Based on the conditions of crops already in the ground and on planting intentions for those still to be sown, and assuming normal weather for the remainder of the season, world cereal output is forecast to reach a new record level of 2 722 million tonnes (including rice in milled equivalent), that is 71 million tonnes higher than in 2018. Among the major cereals, wheat, maize and barley would account for most of the rise in cereal production, with projected year-on-year increases of 2.5 percent, 2.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. Global rice production is likely to remain close to the 2018 all-time high.
World cereal utilization is set to increase by 1.5 percent in 2019/20, and reach a high of 2 722 million tonnes, matching the forecast production. The expansion would be most pronounced for coarse grains, with their utilization expected to be up 1.3 percent from 2018/19, largely driven by strong demand for animal feed and industrial applications. Global food consumption of cereals is also expected to increase, by at least 1.1 percent, due to the continued rise in world population. Food consumption of rice and wheat, the two leading staples, is projected to increase by 1.7 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.
Based on FAO’s first forecasts for cereal production in 2019 and total utilization in 2019/20, world cereal stocks would need to be drawn down marginally, by 0.7 percent, to 847 million tonnes, the lowest volume since 2016/17. Lower coarse grains and, to a lesser extent, rice inventories would account for most of the anticipated contraction in world cereal reserves. By contrast, wheat stocks are set to increase, to their second highest level on record. However, the decline in cereal stocks would only result in a small drop in the global cereal stock-to-use ratio, to a four-year low of 30.1 percent.
World trade in cereals in 2019/20 is forecast at close to 413 million tonnes, up just 0.5 percent (2.0 million tonnes) from the estimate for 2018/19, but still 1.9 percent (8 million tonnes) below the 2017/18 high. Most of the anticipated decline is associated with a likely drop in maize trade; whereas trade prospects for most of the other cereals are positive, especially for wheat and rice. Against a backdrop of overall comfortable supply and demand balances for nearly all the cereals, their international prices are likely to remain under pressure, at least through the first half of the 2019/20 season.
For more detailed analysis, see the May issue of Food Outlook
Summary Tables
Download full dataset
1/ Production data refer to the calendar year of the first year shown. Rice production is expressed in milled terms.
2/ Production plus opening stocks.
3/ Trade data refer to exports based on a July/June marketing season for wheat and coarse grains and on a January/December marketing season for rice (second year shown).
4/ May not equal the difference between supply and utilization due to differences in individual country marketing years.
5/ Major wheat exporters are Argentina, Australia, Canada, the EU, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United States; major coarse grain exporters are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the EU, Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United States; major rice exporters are India, Pakistan, Thailand, the United States, and Viet Nam. Disappearance is defined as domestic utilization plus exports for any given season. |
Table 4. Summary of psychoactive substance effects
Table 4. Summary of psychoactive substance effects
Substance primary mechanism of action tolerance and withdrawal prolonged use
Ethanol Increases the inhibitory effects of GABA and decreases the excitatory effects of glutamate. Reinforcing effects probably related to increased activity in mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Tolerance develops due to increased metabolism in the liver, and changes to receptors in the brain.
Withdrawal from chronic use can include shaking, perspiration, weakness, agitation, headache, nausea, vomiting, seizures, delirium tremens.
Altered brain function and structure, particularly in prefrontal cortex; cognitive impairments; decreased brain volume.
Hypnotics and sedatives Facilitate the actions of endogenous inhibitory neurotransmitters. Tolerance develops rapidly to most effects (except anti-convulsant), due to changes in brain receptors.
Withdrawal characterized by anxiety, arousal, restlessness, insomnia, excitability, seizures.
Memory impairment.
Nicotine Activates nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Increases dopamine synthesis and release. Tolerance develops through metabolic factors, as well as receptor changes. Withdrawal characterized by irritability, hostility, anxiety, dysphoria, depressed mood, decreased heart rate, increased appetite. Health effects due to smoking are welldocumented; difficult to dissociate effects of nicotine from other components of tobacco.
Opioids Activates receptors called mu and delta opioid receptors. These receptors are abundant in brain areas involved in responses to psychoactive substances, such as in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Tolerance occurs due to short-term and long-term receptor changes, and adaptations in intracellular signalling mechanisms.
Withdrawal can be severe and is characterized by watering eyes, runny nose, yawning, sweating, restlessness, chills, cramps, muscle aches.
Long-term changes in opioid receptors and peptides; adaptations in reward, learning, stress responses.
Cannabinoids Activates cannabinoid receptors. Also increases dopamine activity in the mesolimbic pathway. Tolerance develops rapidly to most effects.
Withdrawal is rare, perhaps due to long halflife of cannabinoids.
Long-term exposure to cannabis may produce long-lasting cognitive impairment. Risk of exacerbation of mental illness is also present.
Cocaine Cocaine blocks the uptake of transmitters such as dopamine, thereby prolonging its effects. Perhaps short-term acute tolerance occurs. There is not much evidence of withdrawal, however, depression is common among dependent persons who stop using the drug Cognitive deficits, abnormalities in specific regions of the cortex, impairments in motor function, and decreased reaction times have been found.
Amphetamines Increases release of dopamine from nerve terminals and inhibits the reuptake of dopamine and related transmitters. Tolerance develops rapidly to behavioural and physiological effects. Withdrawal is characterized by fatigue, depression, anxiety and intense craving for the drug. Sleep disturbances, anxiety, decreased appetite; alterations in brain dopamine receptors, regional metabolic changes, motor and cognitive impairments (13, 14).
Ecstasy Increased serotonin re lease and blockade of reuptake. Tolerance may develop in some individuals. Most common withdrawal symptoms are depression and insomnia. Damages brain serotonin systems, leads to behavioural and physiological consequences. Long-term psychiatric and physical problems such as impairments of memory, decision- making and selfcontrol, paranoia, depression and panic attacks (15, 16).
Inhalants Most likely affects inhibitory transmitters, similarly to other sedatives and hypnotics. Mesolimbic dopamine activated. Some tolerance develops, but is difficult to estimate. There is increased susceptibility to seizures during withdrawal. Changes in dopamine receptor binding and function; decreased cognitive function; psychiatric and neurological problems.
Hallucinogens Different substances in this class act on different brain receptors, such as serotonin, glutamate, and acetylcholine receptors. Tolerance develops rapidly to physical and psychological effects. There is no evidence of withdrawal. Acute or chronic psychotic episodes, flashbacks or re-experiencing of substance effects long after substance use.
Source: WHO Neuroscience of Psychoactive Substance Use and Dependence, Summary (2004),
Global use of psychoactive substances and burden to health, p.18-19
Related publication:
Psychoactive Drugs homePsychoactive Drugs Tobacco, Alcohol, and Illicit Substances
Other Figures & Tables on this publication:
Table 1. Prevalence of smoking among adults and youths in selected countries
Table 3. Percentage of total global mortality and DALYs attributable to tobacco, alcohol and illicit substances
Depressants – overview of effects
Table 5. Pharmacological treatments for substance dependence
Table 2. Annual prevalence estimates of global illicit substance use, 2000-2001Table 2. Annual prevalence estimates of global illicit substance use, 2000-2001
Figure 3. A terminal button and synapse
Figure 4. Two types of chemical synapses
Table 4. Summary of psychoactive substance effectsTable 4. Summary of psychoactive substance effects
Figure 5. Mesolimbic dopamine pathway
Box 3. Risk and protective factors for substance use
Figure 1. Adult (15+) Per Capita Alcohol Consumption by Development Status
Figure 2. Mechanisms relating psychoactive substance use to health and social problems
Box 4: Types of psychotherapies and behavioural interventions
Box 1: Injecting substance use and HIV/AIDS
Box 2: Criteria for substance use dependence in ICD-10 |
What do you think when you hear the word safe?
I think whatever your definition is, is how your group feels. I think safety in a small group is one of the biggest things we need to think about. Allowing students to feel safe in small groups should be one of the main roles of a small group leader. When a student feels safe, they are more willing to open up about certain areas in their life that they normally would not be open to talk about in other settings.
One thing I have had to deal with a come to terms with is that not every student feels safe in all the situations we ourselves as leaders feel safe in. For example, I like it when people are up front with me. I respect that, I respond best to that. So I used to approach all of my students up front and direct, thinking that all would respond in the ways I do. I learned the hard way, this is not the case. As leaders, we need to learn how to approach our students to allow them to feel they are in a safe place in our groups and they are willing to be open, honest and real with us and their peers.
If we are not aware of how we are making students feel by how we approach them, and we don’t make them “feel safe” then we are missing out on a great opportunity to minister to our students.
1. Fellowship all year long. Routinely include strategies and activities in your lessons, allow students to express their thoughts and ideas, build relationships, and practice collaboration. We played Celebrity before we talked about identity. It was fun, but it went along with the message.
2. Have Non Negotiables. One of my non negotiable is talking about any personal stuff outside of our group. This is something that needs to be enforced and known that it will be dealt with if broken.
3. Admit When You Don’t Know. Students appreciate when we show our humanity. Saying “I’m not really sure. But I” get back to you” is powerful stuff.
4. Remain Calm at All Times. Once we lose it with a student, it takes a long time to rebuild that feeling of safety and trust within those four walls. Take a few breaths. It’s worth it.
5. Take Every Opportunity to Model Kindness. They will follow.
7. Model Vulnerability. They will appreciate this. If we are asking kids to write and talk about times they have felt scared, alone, confused, etc., we need to be willing to do the same. This is a major key. Why lead them to somewhere you are not willing to go yourself?
8. Follow Through with Consequences. A consequence must proceed a non-negotiable. Students need to know there’s a consequence for those serious infractions. They need proof they are safe.
9. Smile Often. It’s not all serious business. You’d be surprised at how a smile can make someone feel safe.
10. Laugh. Fun is huge! Laughter breaks down walls!
So how does one make students feel safe in a group setting? What does making a student feel safe mean? What would you say? how do you do this with your group? |
How to Install Python on Windows | codingboost.com
How to Install Python on Windows
Robert Torok September 23, 2018
How to Install Python on Windows
Python is a general-purpose programming language that is widely used almost everywhere, most notably in:
• Data Mining and Machine Learning
• Web development (Django and Flask)
• Automation (scripting)
In case you're a beginner, it's also a great language to get familiar with programming. Perhaps the language you should start with. Python has a very elegant and friendly syntax which makes the learning process easier compared to other programming languages.
This short post helps you download and install Python on your Windows based computer.
Well, let's get started! The installation process is fairly straightforward. Open https://www.python.org and navigate to the Downloads section where the latest stable version is available for download. Go ahead, click the button to start the download.
Python homepage
The download process should not take too much time, the installer of Python 3.7.0 takes only 25 megabytes of space.
Once the download is finished, start the installer.
It's by default unchecked, however, it's highly recommended that you add Python to the PATH environment variable. This will allow you to run Python everywhere (every directory) without exactly specifying Python's executable location.
You should have Python in your Start menu once the installation is finished:
Appearing in Start menu
In order to verify that Python has been successfully installed, open a command prompt (pres Windows button + R, type cmd and hit enter). In the command prompt type python then hit enter. If everything goes well, the interactive Python console welcomes you:
Python shell
That's it! Congratulations, you've successfully installed Python to your computer.
In case Python doesn't start, you might see something like the following error message:
Executable not found
This means the python executable was not found in the PATH environment variable. This happens if the Add Python to PATH checkbox was not selected during the installation process.
Of course, you could just re-install Python and select the checkbox, however, it's really not the best way to solve this problem. Instead, you can also extend the PATH variable with the python executable's directory.
In order to do this, open the Start menu and start typing environment variables:
Environment variables
Open it, then click the Environment Variables button:
Finding out the directory
Select the Path variable for your user and click Edit:
Setting the PATH variable
Add the directories where the python executable is located. Basically, it should be in the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Programs directory, however, it might vary depending on the actual Python version.
To figure out what the exact directory of your Python executable is, locate Python in your Start menu, right click on it and select Open file location. This will bring you to the Python shortcut's directory, which is still not the executable's direction - to find it out, click on the Python shortcut file's properties and copy the Target variable:
The correct path variable
Once you have the location, add the following entries to the Path variable:
• %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\Scripts\
The variable set properly
Click OK, and you're done. |
Surveys provide a direct measure of the presence of radioactive material inadvertently spilled on a person, surface or piece of equipment and are an indication of the radiation hazards during an experiment. It is vital that individuals working with radioactive materials are aware of accepted procedures for performing such surveys. Radiation Safety considers twice background levels of removable contamination to be a level of contamination generally requiring cleanup.
Tools & Resources |
1. 12
Adding the ruby tag because this is also a good example of quickly analyzing encrypted data in Ruby.
2. 4
I’m really impressed with this, but then again I don’t do much reverse engineering.
Seems like the vulnerability in Snapchat could be mostly mitigated by preventing the MITM with the use of some kind of certificate pin within the Snapchat client.
I’m curious whether it’s common practice to pin the actual cert or to just pin the known CA cert to verify against? I think it’s enough to pin the CA cert for most applications, since you are already implicitly trusting your CA not to grant a cert representing your entity to another party. Using a self-signed certificate and pinning it would also be a solution I think.
But if you are a mobile developer using HTTPS for network communication I’d be interested in what you have implemented.
1. 3
You’re correct about the two possible solutions. Moxie wrote a great article explaining how to do this for Android applications.
The choice of using a self-signed certificate or trusting a single CA certificate depends on the traffic profile of your application. If your application only talks to servers that you control, it’s in your best interest to take the time and generate self-signed certificates. If your application needs to talk to servers outside of your control (such as a browser or IM client), trusting a single CA certificate is the way to go.
1. 1
If the server is out of your control even pinning the CA cert is a little risky. The owner could install a new cert signed by a new CA at any time. I would recommend against this unless you have some assurance from the service provider that the CA won’t change.
1. 1
I believe you could work around this by trusting a wide set of known, good CAs. Basically whitelist all the legit CAs - So if the owner changes from Verisign, to Digicert, for instance, you won’t have to change anything. But it does prevent someone malicious from trying to install an self-signed CA.
2. 1
I always feel like I’m missing something when I read an article that involves installing a CA on the victim’s phone/computer. If you have that kind of access, aren’t there a myriad of other things you could do? Can someone help me understand why things like this are notable if they require installing a CA like this?
1. 1
Installing the certificate on his phone was just a way to fool Snapchat into validating his proxy that he setup. The “victim” here isn’t the owner of the phone, it’s the application itself.
It’s interesting to note that a user can essentially bypass SSL out from under an app; this might not be that exciting to MITM yourself for most apps, but for Snapchat it allows the user direct access to the data they’re trying to restrict from the user.
Stories with similar links:
1. Snapchat: not for state secrets via jcs 6 years ago | 6 points | 1 comment |
Is Rural Economy the Next Frontier of Growth?
At least 1% of every Indian city and town population is homeless! Urbanization represents one of the greatest challenges of our times, causing environmental degradation, consuming enormous energy and producing carbon emissions. Fundamental changes to the way we think about and build cities if they are to become places where all people can thrive.
Urban cities evolved by taking examples of rural cities so, let’s Create Smart Villages Before Building Smart Cities. By moving people and businesses to smart villages, revenue, resources and job opportunities will increase in rural India, while cities can decongest they will move when the same level of facilities and infrastructure is available keeping sustainable development in mind. |
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The Future
Seoul wants to have the world’s very first museum dedicated to robotic science. And the city authorities have decided on the best possible way to build it: use robots, of course.
The museum, designed by Turkish architectural firm Melike Altınışık, is designed to be one of the most recognizable buildings in the center of the Changbai New Economic Center, a newly redeveloped area in the center of northern part of the city.
Its organic form, a semi-sphere that seems to flow in waves to reveal a glass and steel base, will be built by robots. According to the firm’s design principal Melike Altınışık, the building has been conceived as a temple to robotic innovation, so the best way they could materialize that ethos was by using robotic arms to assemble the new space.
First, a team of robots will mold the curved metal plates that form the museum sphere using a 3D building information modeling system (basically a CAD system that works with solid objects in real 3D space rather than represent the objects with 2D plans). Robots will assemble the plates, welding and polishing the metal to obtain its final surface appearance.
Then another team of robots, the architectural firm says, will 3D-print concrete to build the public area surrounding the museum.
This process will start in early 2020, with the museum opening its doors about two years after that.
My only question is: Are they using robots to build the robot builders, and, if so, who will build the robots that build those robots and would this infinity loop cause a tear in the space-time continuum that will suck the entire museum into a black hole?
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The Future
These 3 Computing Technologies Will Beat Moore’s Law
Many smart investors I talk to genuinely believe it to be the truth.
If you accept this widespread lie, you’ll likely make poor decisions when investing in disruptive companies.
Here, I’ll explain the real truth and why it matters to disruption investors.
Your Smartphone Is More Powerful than an Early ‘90s Supercomputer
Your smartphone can do the job of a whole collection of gadgets.
It’s a phone, camera, camcorder, Walkman, watch, wallet, radio, global map, TV, VCR, and computer all in one.
And keep in mind, all a supercomputer does is crunch numbers. We have “Moore’s law” to thank for this.
Named after Intel founder Gordon Moore, it observes that computing power doubles roughly every two years.
This has led to exponential growth in computing power.
As you may know, exponential growth “snowballs” over time. It builds momentum and eventually leads to vertical gains, as you can see here:
For the past few decades, computing power has more or less followed this path.
This Is the Driving Force Behind Moore’s Law
Moore’s Law says the number of transistors that can fit on a computer chip doubles about every two years.
Transistors allow computers to compute. The more transistors you cram onto a chip, the more computing power it has.
Again, for the past 50 years, this has more or less held true. Back in 1965, only 64 transistors fit on the world’s most complex computer chip.
More than 10 billion transistors can fit on today’s chips.
Moore’s law is responsible for many of the giant stock market gains in the past few decades.
Leaps in computing power enabled big disruptors like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon to achieve huge gains like 50,800%, 159,900%, and 111,560%.
And along the way, the companies that make the computer chips have gotten rich, too.
Taiwan Semiconductor, Micron Technology, and Intel achieved gains of 1,014%, 3,256%, and 35,050%.
Conventional wisdom is that Moore’s law will continue to snowball. As progress gets faster and faster, you can understand why many folks think we’re headed for a tech utopia.
It’s a great story. But it’s not quite true.
Moore’s Law Will Break Down
Moore’s law isn’t really a law. Gravity is a law. Moore’s law is an observation and a forecast.
As I mentioned, since 1965, it has held true. But here’s the key…
Within the next few years, Moore’s law will break down.
You see, although today’s transistors are microscopic, they still take up physical space. There’s a limit to how small you can make anything that occupies physical space.
We are now approaching that limit with transistors. So the progress predicted by Moore’s law must slow.
In fact, Moore’s law is already slowing down. Many technologists predict it will totally break down between 2022–2025.
Does that mean progress will stop?
Not a chance.
New technologies will pick up where Moore’s law leaves off. There are three exciting computing technologies in development you should know about.
3D Computing Hits the Market Later This Year
What does a city do when it runs short on land? It builds skyscrapers.
By building “up,” you can create real estate with the footprint of a one-story building, but one that holds 100X more people.
Something similar is just getting underway in computing.
You see, the “guts” of computers have always been two dimensional. Flat computer chips sit on a flat motherboard. Nothing moves in 3D. There’s no “up” or “down” inside a computer chip.
That’s now changing. In December, Intel (INTC) introduced its new 3D chip technology. It plans to begin selling it later this year.
Tech reporters are touting it as “how Intel will beat Moore’s law.”
Chips stacked in 3D are far superior to ones placed side by side. Not only can you fit multiples of transistors in the same footprint. You can better integrate all the chip’s functions.
This shortens the distance information needs to travel. And it creates many more pathways for information to flow.
The result will be much more speed and power packed into a small space. Eventually, 3D chips could be 1,000 times faster than existing ones.
DNA Computing Is a Bit Further off, but Its Potential Is Mind-Boggling
DNA carries the instructions that enable life.
As incredible as it sounds, DNA can be used for computing. In 1994, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California used DNA to solve a well-known mathematical problem.
One pound of DNA has the capacity to store more information than all the computers ever built.
A thumbnail-size DNA computer could theoretically be more powerful than today’s supercomputers.
I won’t get deep into the science here. DNA computing is still very early stage. But several companies, including Microsoft (MSFT), are working to push the technology forward.
Quantum Computing Could Be the Ultimate Disruption
The science behind quantum computing will bend your mind. To understand its potential, all you really need to know is this.
The basic unit of conventional computation is the bit. The more bits a computer has, the more calculations it can perform at once, and the more powerful it is.
With quantum computing, the basic unit of computation is called a quantum bit—or qubit.
Bits behave linearly. To get a 20-bit computer, you might add 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2.
Qubits are different. Every qubit doubles computing power.
So, a 10-qubit computer could do 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 calculations at once, or 1,024.
A 100-qubit quantum computer could perform over 1,000 billion billion billion simultaneous calculations. Those numbers are too big for humans to comprehend.
In theory, a small quantum computer could exceed the power of a regular computer the size of the Milky Way galaxy.
With enough computing firepower, a quantum computer could solve any problem.
If we ever achieve far-out goals like controlling the weather, colonizing Mars, or reversing human aging, quantum computing will likely be the driving force.
There Are No Pure-Play Quantum Computing Stocks
They’re all private or have been scooped up by larger companies.
Many of the big tech players are developing quantum computing technology. Microsoft, IBM, Google (GOOG), and Intel are a few.
Google looks to be in the lead.
In March 2018, it unveiled its Bristlecone quantum processor, which the company thinks could achieve “quantum supremacy.”
Quantum supremacy is the “tipping point” for quantum computing. It’s the point when a quantum computer can beat a regular one in a useful task.
So far, scientists haven’t been able to crack this. But once quantum supremacy is reached, progress should take off very quickly.
This is yet another great reason to consider investing in Google.
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The Future
NVIDIA’s Accelerated Computing Platform To Power Japan’s Fastest AI Supercomputer
Tokyo Tech is in the process of building its next-generation TSUBAME supercomputer featuring NVIDIA GPU technology and the company’s Accelerated Computing Platform. TSUBAME 3.0, as the system will be known, will ultimately be used in tandem with the existing TSUBAME 2.5 system to deliver an estimated 64.3 (in aggregate) PFLOPS of AI computing horsepower.
On its own, TSUBAME 3.0, is expected to offer roughly two times the performance of its predecessor. TSUBAME 3.0 will be built around NVIDIA’s Pascal-based Tesla P100 GPUs, which are not only more efficient, but also higher-performing than previous-generation Maxwell GPUs in terms of performance per watt and performance per die area. It is estimated that TSUBAME 3.0 will deliver roughly 12.2 petaflops of double precision compute performance, which would place it among the world’s 10 fastest systems according to the most recent TOP500 list.
Tokyo Tech Supercomputer
A Rendering Of The Tokyo Tech Supercomputer. Image Credit: NVIDIA
The system’s architect, Tokyo Tech’s Satoshi Matsuoka said, “NVIDIA’s broad AI ecosystem, including thousands of deep learning and inference applications, will enable Tokyo Tech to begin training TSUBAME 3.0 immediately to help us more quickly solve some of the world’s once unsolvable problems.”
TSUBAME 3.0 is being designed with AI computation in mind, and is expected to deliver more than 47 PFLOPS of AI horsepower on its own.
“Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a key application for supercomputing,” said Ian Buck, vice president and general manager of Accelerated Computing at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA’s GPU computing platform merges AI with HPC, accelerating computation so that scientists and researchers can drive life-changing advances in such fields as healthcare, energy and transportation.”
TSUBAME 3.0 is expected to be completed this summer. It will be used for education and research at Tokyo Tech, and for information infrastructure for top Japanese universities, though there are plans to make the system accessible to private-sector researchers as well.
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The Future
When 5G is here, a wireless supercomputer will follow you around
AT&T (T) on Tuesday detailed its plan to use “edge computing” and 5G to move data processing to the cloud, in order to better support these new technologies.
“[Edge computing] is like having a wireless supercomputer follow you wherever you go,” AT&T said in a statement.
Rather than sending data to AT&T’s core data centers — which are often hundreds of miles away from customers — it will be sent to the company’s network of towers and offices, located closer to users.
Currently, data is either stored in those data centers or on the device itself.
“[Edge computing] gives the option now to put computing in more than two places,” Andre Fuetsch, president of AT&T Labs and chief technology officer, told CNN Tech.
For example, let’s say you’re wearing VR glasses but the actual virtual reality experience is running in the cloud. There could be a delay in what you see when you move your head if the data center is far away.
AT&T aims to reduce lag time by sending data to locations much closer to you. (AT&T has agreed to acquire Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. The deal is pending regulatory approval.)
5G networks will be driving these efforts. Experts believe 5G will have barely any lag, which means a lot of the computing power currently in your smartphone can be shifted to the cloud. This would extend your phone’s battery life and make apps and services more powerful.
In the case of augmented and virtual reality, superimposing digital images on top of the real world in a believable way requires a lot of processing power. Even if a smartphone can deliver that promise, it would eat up its battery life.
With edge computing, data crunching is moved from the device to the “edge” of the cloud, which is the physical points of the network that are closer to customers.
5G will also enable faster speeds and could even open the door to new robotic manufacturing and medical techniques.
AT&T is rolling out edge computing over the “next few years,” beginning in dense urban areas.
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Updated 06/29/17
1. Distinguish Between Hunger and Habit
The first step in making major changes is self-awareness. "There are people who make conscious decisions about food because they think it's healthy, and there are people who make decisions about food because it makes them feel good or they've created habits," LeVeque explains.
How should we define habit, exactly? "If they have decided to eat something three or more days in a row, it's dangerous. It's almost like Pavlov's dog. It becomes something that's hard to break," LeVeque says.
If you've picked up some bad dietary habits along the way, don't fault your willpower completely—your brain is also to blame, says LeVeque: "You take a bite out of a brownie, and you're like, Oh my god. There's a release of dopamine in your brain. It's a reward hormone; it makes you want to do that again and repeat that habit."
"You brain wants dopamine, but it doesn't want a whole bunch of dopamine, so what ends up happening is the receptors in your brain down regulate," she adds. "For example, your brain's getting dopamine every single day at 3 p.m. for a brownie. Eventually, your brain is like 'We're getting too much dopamine,' so it down-regulates one of the receptors. Now, as the human with access to the brownies, you eat two brownies to get the same dopamine high that you used to get when you had one. Eventually, over time we need more of the same stimulant to get the same high."
2. Stop Using Food as a Reward
Habits aren't the only reason we get stuck in unhealthy food cycles. "It also goes back to your childhood," LeVeque shares. "My little sisters and I would get out of church—because we were bribed to go—and we would get a Slurpee the size of our face. It was like, 'That was so boring and horrible; here's your reward for going!' That was my suburban childhood: You got through something boring; here’s a reward. You did something good; here’s a reward. It's your birthday; here's your cake. That’s part of our culture, to celebrate, but I always think it's important to ask yourself, Who am I celebrating?
Is it your birthday? Did you score the goal? Is this something that you need to celebrate every single week?"
3. Replace Habits Before You Remove Them
Once you've identified emotional eating and existing habits, it's time to make some nutritious swaps. "If you're totally depriving yourself, you're going to binge. So you want to think, How can I have the things that I love, in a healthier version?” LeVeque advises. Create new habits to replace your old, like tea instead of that four p.m. cup of coffee. “When you do it enough, you will get to a point where you love it more than your previous habit," she adds.
Have a sweet tooth to combat? "I'm obsessed with my smoothie formula because I feel like we can make any flavour out of it," she tells us. "I have a blueberry muffin formula, so if someone has the habit of going to Starbucks and getting a blueberry muffin and a latte, I'm like, 'Okay, how can we do this at home?' Maybe we're having coffee and a little bit of almond milk, and you're making a smoothie that actually has protein, fat, and fibre, instead of it just being sugar and carbohydrates."
Luckily for us, the internet abounds with healthy swap inspiration these days. "I'm pretty obsessed with all of the little tips and tricks people are using, from zoodles and spaghetti squash, to cauliflower pizza crust to black bean brownies to keto fudge," LeVeque says.
4. Add Healthy Changes in Increments
"I think changing our relationship with food is a really hard thing to do, but I'm always asking people to add to their lives," LeVeque suggests. "All you have to do is say, What can I add to my plate to add nutrition to my body?” she explains. This focus on healthy additions—instead of deprivation from what you "can't have" makes eating a more positive, goal-oriented experience.
It's also helpful to set small, incremental goals. "I think working through a day is one of the best ways to change your relationship with food," she shares. "You don't have to be perfect from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. How can we start building habits in the first three hours of your day, and the second three hours of your day, and the third three hours of your day?
"Maybe for the first five days, you say, I'm going to track my water. Once that becomes a habit, I want you to just commit to making a smoothie that has some greens in it in the morning and limits your fruit. Just for five days," LeVeque says. "And what ends up happening is people are like, Oh, that was really easy, and I feel really awesome, so I'm just going to keep doing that.
"When the good things start making you feel better because you've added them to your life, then you can continue to add more things to your life. But when someone says, 'Starting tomorrow, I'm going to drink 2 to 3 litres of water, make a FabFour smoothie, go to yoga, pack my lunch, and meal-prep all my dinners,' that becomes an overwhelming thing."
And if you're joining us on the #MyNextThirty challenge, LeVeque has some encouragement. "The greatest thing about 30 days is you go through the emotional detachment to that food, and it's almost like, you can now see the forest through the trees."
We'd love to hear what you think of Kelly's philosophy.
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Why Noise Can Be a Pain in Multiple Sclerosis
Noise sensitivity and MS
One of the features of multiple sclerosis (MS) you don’t hear about much (pun intended) is noise sensitivity, also known as hyperacusis. Yet while it appears from my inquiries and from exploring the forums that hypersensitivity to noise and sounds is a common issue among MSers, there also seems to be amazingly little literature on the topic.
Everyone’s experience with hyperacusis is unique, but generally it is characterized by an increased sensitivity to everyday sounds in the environment, such as barking dogs, honking horns, traffic, clapping, and rattling dishes. The most irritating and disturbing sounds are usually high-pitched noises like a smoke alarm or screaming young children.
Read more about MS triggers
Some people with hyperacusis become so bothered by this problem they develop phonophobia, or fear of noise. This phobia can cause them to try to completely avoid situations and places that can have distressful noise. Unfortunately, that can lead to people becoming afraid to leave their home and being unable to cope in the real yet noisy world.
Hyperacusis and MS
According to the limited literature I could find on the subject, hyperacusis in MS can occur in one or both ears and happens in people who otherwise have normal hearing. The hypersensitivity is associated with demyelinating lesions present in the central auditory area.
One report explained the findings of three individuals with normal hearing, hyperacusis, and MS. One of the patients experienced sharp pain in his cheek whenever the phone rang while another felt intense sensations from various nonverbal sounds. The third individual experienced annoying echoes and problems with directional hearing.
All three patients underwent measurement of their brainstem auditory evoked response to measure their brain wave activity as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brainstem.
Also read about MS and an antioxidant drug
The three individuals all showed changed auditory evoked potentials with suggestions of a lesion in the brainstem. The subsequent MRI then revealed demyelinating lesions in the ipsilateral pons and in the central auditory pathway.
How to deal with hyperacusis
In the study just mentioned, the authors suggested the use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which include Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro (escitalopram), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Zoloft (sertraline), but they can cause significant side effects. Another suggestion was acoustic lenses. Some people have reported some success using ear plugs or wearing ear muffs.
Read about MS and vitamin E
From what I can see, little research has been done on the issue of hypersensitivity to sound in multiple sclerosis. Has anyone found effective ways to deal with the pain of noise sensitivity in MS?
Weber H et al. Central hyperacusis with phonophobia in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis 2002 Dec; 8(6): 505-9
Photo: BarelyFitz/Flickr
My son wears noise canceling earphones 90% of the time but even then things like unloading the dishwasher bothers him.
I'm currently relapsing, with Tysabri's rebound effect involved. Recent MRI showed over 16 new, contrast-enhancing brain lesions, spread through several parts of my brain and brain stem. It's caused right sided facial paralysis, vision changes in the right eye, hearing loss in the right ear, and numbness/paresthesia sensation in my left leg and across the lower back. In terms of hearing, sound is very muffled in my right ear with a constant, low-volume, high pitched ringing noise overlaying what I can hear out of it. I can hear sounds in that ear, but they're muffled and not clear. I have a 3 year old daughter and the other day she came up behind me on the couch and yelled "surprise!" in that ear and it was literally excruciating. I've been avoiding using the phone on that side too, not only because of the hearing loss, but just any direct sound going into that ear causes physical pain, which kind of surprised me, to be honest. Thank you for posting this article... now I know I'm not the only one that has experienced this. :)
Interesting. My neurologist (the 3rd one) is just now cautiously looking into a diagnosis of MS. Not that I really want one, but it seems the only logical answer to me. Anyway, about a month ago I started noticing that when I am on the cell phone, I have to turn the sound way low because it hurts my ears, when before, it was up all the way. Then things like the sound of my kids is sometimes SO irritating that I would rather not be around. (Very sad). I willemtiom this to the dr at my next visit in January.
I use noise cancelling earphones with music or an audiobook which doesn't irritate my ears. I do need to be careful with the choice because the pitch of some voices make it worse. I find Stephen Fry particularly soothing
I was diagnosed with Relapsing remitting MS in 2007 at the age of 53. I have chosen to stay off MS medication after trying Avonex, Rebif and Gilenya. Fortunately, The worst complaint is muscle weakness and balance problems forcing me to walk with a cane. I began to experience sensory sensitivity this past year so I started researching this condition and found that I probably had a magnesium deficiency. I have never taken vitamins in my life due to my healthy lifestyle but having MS has changed the way my body functions. I began a regimen of taking 200 mg of magnesium per day as well as 1000 mug of B12 for muscle and bone strength and D3 for an increase in seratonin. I began this regimen in January 2016 and have already noticed a difference! I sleep better even with traffic and street noises in the background. My legs are a bit stronger as evidenced by my cooking time in the kitchen. Worth investigating.
I was diagnosed with relapsing remitting ms In 2008 I don't take treatment but have z diet with no wheat fairly gluten no rice no potatoes and no legumes I recently am feeling sensitive and nauseous to sound to the point of it making me feel sick even the sound of a coffee machine or someone opening a can or talking really effects me Not sure what to do as I'm used to listening to loud sounds as I dance but struggling to do this
I'm so glad to have found this site. I have had RRMS well controlled for 20+ years but at certain times noise at lower frequencies produce a rippling shingles type reaction across my skin. Am I alone???
I was diagnosed 2 years ago at age 48, totally unexpectedly. I have been sensitive to sounds for the past few years but recently this has intensified. I was sitting next to my son who was crunching a lollipop and couldn't think until he stopped. The family chewing at the dinner table sounds so amplified I wanted to run from the kitchen. Another son was humming a happy tune and I had to lecture myself internally to keep from screaming at him. At the same time, the TV seems muted and I keep asking to have the volume turned up. I grew up in a city with ambulances and sirens, I used to filter out all kinds of things. This is very different. I am also easily startled by sounds now. Thank you for writing about this. |
Game Day: Are you prepared?
nutrition for highschool athletes.
High School athletes usually fly by their seat when it comes to nutrition. And yes, while most of them are getting enough nutrition here in the USA to avoid being malnourished, a better nutrition “plan” will take their game to the next level. Want to perform even better on game day? Want to have "good nutrition" instead of just "good enough nutrition"? Don’t worry, Sports Nutrition Coach Joey, CSNC, CSCS has your back! Let’s dig into a better nutrition strategy for a game day.
That big game day starts first thing in the morning, before you leave for school! Athletes need good carbohydrates and good protein sources first thing in the morning. Carbs and protein in the morning give your body glucose to fuel your brain for school and performance on the field later in the day. With steady levels of “fuel”, your body will maintain homeostasis, which means that all systems of your body will be working together correctly. Just some examples of this combination are: PB&J Sandwich, a protein smoothie with some fruit in it, overnight oats (made the night before and put in fridge from simple ingredients oats, fruit, “milk”, protein powder, nuts), hardboiled eggs and fruit, or low sugar and high protein yogurt with fruit on the side. And don't forget a large glass of water! Hydration in the morning is very important!
Lunch is more of the same, with some with good quality sources of carbohydrates and protein (and some good fats also). This can be; a bigger sandwich with a piece of fruit, or a salad with chicken or eggs on it with a piece of fruit. If you are lucky to have a hot school lunch, try to grab chicken, potatoes, and some fruit! Again, keep glucose running through your body so it can use it for fuel, your body’s most preferred fuel source!
Before the big game or practice we usually need another feeding or “snack”. This can be (depending on how much time before your game or practice) dried fruit and nuts, protein bar (get the ok by Coach Joey on these as most are just candy bars in disguise), beef/turkey jerky with some fruit, packed peanut butter sandwich with some fruit. Again, lots of liquid in the form of water, or milk. For some of the older athletes that already drink coffee, and since many go to the local coffee shops in between school and games, bring a scoop of protein powder and mix it into your coffee with a piece or two of fruit on the side. This is a great way to get your caffeine fix with some quality protein and carbs (not just carbs and sugar!).
With these nutritional strategies you'll know you (or your athlete) will perform at your best! Don’t forget after the game or practice you need nutrition to help recover for the next day’s practice or game also!
Joey Taraborelli, CSCS, CSNC |
An In-Depth Guide to the Differences Between SAN and NAS
An explanation of storage area networks and network attached storage
An illustration of the differences between SAN and NAS.
SAN vs. NAS Technology
To reduce the costs that occur with traditional file servers, NAS devices generally run an embedded operating system on simplified hardware and lack peripherals like a monitor or keyboard and are instead managed through a browser tool.
A SAN commonly utilizes Fibre Channel interconnects and connects a set of storage devices that are able to share data with one another.
Important NAS and SAN Benefits
Given that the network attached storage device is attached to the network, all the other devices on that same network have easy access to it (given that proper permissions are set up). Because of their centralized nature, NAS devices offer an easy way for multiple users to access the same data, which is important in situations where users are collaborating on projects or utilizing the same company standards.
This is useful not only to ensure that users do not lose data, since the NAS can be backed up on a regular schedule regardless of the end-user's ability to back up, but also to give other network devices a place to keep large files, especially large files that are often shared among other network users.
Without a NAS, users have to find another (often slower) means to send data to other devices on the network, like over email or physically with flash drives. The NAS holds many gigabytes or terabytes of data, and administrators can add additional storage capacity to their network by installing additional NAS devices, although each NAS operates independently.
However, SANs are not always physical. You can also create virtual SANs (VSANs) that are defined by a software program. Virtual SANs are easier to manage and offer better scalability since they're hardware independent and controlled entirely by easy-to-change software.
SAN/NAS Convergence
As internet technologies like TCP/IP and Ethernet proliferate worldwide, some SAN products are making the transition from Fibre Channel to the same IP-based approach NAS uses. Also, with the rapid improvements in disk storage technology, today's NAS devices now offer capacities and performance that once were only possible with SAN.
When SAN and NAS are joined together into one device in this way, it's sometimes referred to as "unified SAN," and it's often the case that the device is a NAS device that simply utilizes the same technology behind SAN. |
The Powerful Benefits of Adding Music to Sports Training
The Powerful Benefits of Adding Music to Sports Training
Music is a powerful tool used by many athletes to help get them into the perfect mindset for training and competing. The question is, just how powerful is music to an athlete’s performance? The answer for many athletes is VERY.
In recent studies, music has shown to help athletes reduce feelings of fatigue, increase their tolerance to pain, and improve their mood and motivation. In addition, athletes who tap into the right music find it easier to block out feelings of panic and worry and in some cases redirect their focus to feelings of confidence and success.
Recently, coaches have started using music more in their training programs as a way to improve the experience of hard and often monotonous physical training. One effective way to enhance team performance is for the coach to use inspirational or upbeat music for high intensity workouts and softer music for recovery periods. Music must be updated consistently and the athletes should be surveyed to see what music they like. A more effective approach for coaches is to have each athlete create and listen to a play list of their favorite music for specific parts of their training and visualize the impact that each song will have in those moments.
Is music always the solution to improved training and performance? No. Research has shown that music can decrease an athlete’s attention when learning new skills. Also, the benefits of music depends on how athletes associate themselves with their environment. Some athletes prefer to associate themselves with everything in their environment while others prefer and in many cases need distractions or ways to separate themselves from many of the things in their in environment. Science has shown that athletes who need to dissociate themselves from the environment (and in many cases, their perceptions of their environment) tend to benefit the most from music.
Overall, music is something that I encourage all athletes to explore when evaluating their thoughts and feelings about their training and competition experiences.
Patrick Alban B.S., M.S.
SPMI President |
What Is Wireless Simultaneous Interpretation System?
- Aug 14, 2018-
The wireless simultaneous transmission system currently has three modes of low frequency transmission, infrared transmission and ultra-high frequency transmission.
1. Low-frequency transmission simultaneous transmission system: Also known as electromagnetic induction type interpretation system, it is a loop line in the listening range, which is fed by a high-power audio amplifier to generate a strong audio electromagnetic field. The listener listens to headphones that are driven by the input core coil and amplifier. This system is simple and inexpensive, but has poor sound quality and stability. Because low-frequency electromagnetic fields can penetrate ordinary buildings and thus have poor confidentiality, they are especially suitable for museums, science museums, and some large convention and exhibition centers that require multiple sub-sites to use the same set of simultaneous transmission systems. Disadvantages become advantages.
2. Infrared transmission simultaneous transmission system: Infrared (IR) refers to electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength exceeding red visible light, and its frequency is above 2 MHz. Infrared rays do not penetrate the wall, so they are confidential and resistant to radio interference and eavesdropping. Due to its stable performance and better sound quality, it has become the mainstream equipment of the simultaneous transmission system. In recent years, a development trend of infrared simultaneous transmission technology has shifted from the earlier BAND II (45 kHz to 1 MHz) frequency band to the higher BAND IV (2 to 6 MHz) frequency band to avoid energy-saving lamps. Interference caused by high frequency driven light sources. In addition, the BAND IV frequency band has wide frequency response characteristics, high signal-to-noise ratio, and less channel interference, which has better sound quality.
3. UHF transmission simultaneous transmission system: This mainly refers to the broadband-based G-band digital simultaneous transmission system developed in recent years. Taking the GONSIN 2.4 GHz wireless digital simultaneous transmission system as an example, the system uses an encrypted transmission technology called Direct Sequence Spread Spec-trum (DSSS), which has reliable anti-eavesdropping function. The receiving range is 80~100 m, and you can choose to answer 2~16 kinds of voices (8 kinds of voices are standard). Compared with the infrared transmission system, the advantage is that the reception is non-directional, unobstructed, and is not easily interfered by the radiation of the energy-saving lamp, and the requirements for the venue environment are relatively loose.
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Worn Out Summary and Analysis
Elizabeth Siddal
Summary and Analysis
Elizabeth Siddal was a pre-Raphaelite poet and artist whose poems went largely unpublished during her lifetime. Chronic illness, addiction, and her tumultuous relationship with poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti marred her short-lived career. She most famously modeled as Ophelia in the eponymous painting by John Everett Millais.
Siddal’s “Worn Out” is a five-stanza lyric that features metaphors, romantic imagery, and a balladic verse structure. It explores the theme of lost love through the perspective of a weary speaker who is unable to reconcile her desire for solitude with her failing relationship.
• The first stanza opens as the speaker lies against her lover’s chest and reflects upon how worn down she feels by their relationship. Her lover tries to offer her comfort, but his empty words only exacerbate her restlessness and despondency.
• In the second stanza, the speaker reveals the paradox of her situation, suggesting that she is a bird with a broken wing but still must find a way to “fly away from thee.” She is nameless in this stanza, dehumanizing herself to nothing more than a “startled thing,” as if she were trapped by her fears and her inability to assert herself.
• The third stanza reinforces the speaker’s negative complex towards giving and receiving love. She refers to their love as a violent force that began “long ago.” The speaker says that she was struck down by feelings for him “amid the blinding snow.” Just as the seasons change, so have her feelings. This fall amid “blinding snow” may also refer to a past betrayal.
• In the fourth stanza, the speaker describes her physical ailments as a result of her impending heartbreak. Each description reveals how physically and emotionally weary the speaker has become, creating a sense of hopelessness and exhaustion.
• In the fifth stanza, the speaker is still in her lover’s arms, falling asleep. She hopes he will leave without waking her, despite knowing that his departure will only distress her further.
The Speaker’s Exhaustion
“Worn Out” conveys a sense of exhaustion from the opening verse, where the lover’s vitality and strength contrast the speaker’s weariness and physical attachment: “Thy strong arms are around me, love / My head is on thy breast.”
The speaker is “worn down,” as suggested by the title. This weariness permeates the poem on both a physical and metaphorical level: she lays in his arms, desiring comfort in his embrace, yet she cannot find peace because her “soul has no rest.”
She compares herself to a “broken” bird who must “fly away from thee,” introducing the paradox of her situation: She wants to flee this heartbreak but does not feel she has the agency to do so. Given her wearying dilemma, the speaker turns to sleep as a means of survival. Sleep offers her a way of avoiding how hopeless she feels, knowing the pain and necessity of love and its absolution. Though she begins the poem in her lover’s arms, she ends with the hope for sleep, a solitary act.
The Speaker’s Sense of Self
The heart of this poem is in its contradictions of self, whereby the speaker expresses her desire to leave but reveals her emotional detachment, and perhaps, the true reason why this relationship is falling apart: “I cannot give to thee the love / I gave so long ago.”
She calls herself a “startled thing,” likening herself to a weak or fearful object, one that is “struck down” and “blinded” by the brutal and powerful phenomenon of love. The blindness of love connotes medieval imagery of Cupid and his unpredictable arrow, suggesting how love has taken its physical toll on her.
She uses kinesthetic imagery to depict the physical manifestations of her pain and loss of self: “failing heart,” “weary eyes of pain,” and “a faded mouth that cannot smile.”
The Speaker as a Martyr
“Then leave me, saying no goodbye,” the speaker entreats her lover, revealing her futile outlook on their disintegrating relationship. Though she implies that their love began “long ago,” she would rather he leave without her knowing, without so much of a goodbye. If she is conscious when he goes, she’ll “weep,” emphasizing that the speaker does not actually want him to leave.
The slow unraveling of her true emotional state casts her initial longing for insensibility into a different light. She wants him to leave, but perhaps not because she no longer loves him. Instead, she may believe she is saving him from herself.
She references her “failing heart” and physical deterioration, whether from illness or this metaphorical heartbreak, blaming herself for the demise of their relationship. “Then leave me, saying no goodbye,” she asks of him, showing him the only gesture of affection she can manage.
She does not have the capacity to leave, but gives him the ability to do so. However, her martyrdom is no less painful or easy for her, as implied by her final request that he “keep thine arms around [her]” until she falls asleep.
Her choice of diction elucidates her true feelings: She calls him “love” twice—in the first and last stanzas—when asking him to hold her, as if she needs his physical touch to keep from falling apart. Her weariness comes full circle, as the speaker both begins and ends the poem with her unfulfilled desire to leave. |
Youtube > Professors
There is a lot of crazy stuff happening in today’s world. One of those things is the fact that Youtube can often teach kids more on a subject matter than a professor can. Many people will disagree with this, but that is because they are clinging to the past. Youtube is one of the largest search engines in the world. They have thousands of videos on every topic out there. Professors can’t keep up with that! They are just one person with one brain.
At the college level in school, students don’t get near as much time with their professors. They have to keep up in class and learn outside of class in groups and by using their books. More and more students every year are using youtube to show them how to understand something or to simply inform them on a subject.
Yes, our software is ultimately what can help students in their math classes, but Youtube is also a fantastic way to learn, especially with calculus based math. Watching a video allows a person to learn at their own pace because they can pause and go back whenever they want. Youtube has close to millions of videos for math that simply break down problems step by step for the viewer. Don’t think that using youtube to teach you mathematics is in any way cheating. You are being taught how to problem solve by a person who is more knowledgable than you. It just so happens that the process is through a video being played on a screen. So take advantage!
Bottom line is, if you don’t already, we are encouraging you to start using youtube to understand and solve problems. We aren’t saying don’t listen to your professors, because they can be of value to. Youtube is just simply just a better way to learn. Embrace change and start learning the more efficient way. |
What To Eat And Avoid When You Have Diarrhoea?
When you experience watery stools or abnormally loose stools, you are said to have contracted diarrhoea. The main causes of diarrhoea are bacterial, viral or parasitic infections, food allergies and food intolerance. People suffering from chronic digestive conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease may experience diarrhoea on a regular basis. Whatever be the reason, it is important to seek medical help to understand the underlying cause of diarrhoea and treat it accordingly to replenish the body's nutrient and electrolyte balance.
One important thing to taken care of while having diarrhoea is what you eat. If you come to know that certain foods are causing you diarrhoea, you will have to avoid them and choose things that help soothe your stomach.
The common diet for diarrhoea is the BRAT diet which stands for bananas, rice, apples and toast. These are bland foods that will not aggravate your digestive system and help to firm up the stool.
1. Bananas
2. Rice
3. Apples
4. Toast
5. Mashed potatoes
6. Yogurt
7. Lean chicken
8. Oatmeal
9. Vegetables
Bananas are bland fruits and are easily digestible, making them a perfect choice of food when you have for an upset stomach. They are rich in pectin, a soluble fibre that aids in absorbing liquid in the intestines and thereby allowing smooth passage of the stool.
Bananas help in slowing down diarrhoea and reduces constipation at the same time. In addition, the high levels of potassium in bananas help to replace electrolytes in the body that is lost when you have diarrhoea.
Opt for white rice instead of brown rice as they are high in fibre and can make diarrhoea worse. So, plain white rice is the best choice as it's easily digestible, high in carbohydrates and acts as a binding food which aids in firming up your loose stool.
Rice also can further reduce the amount of stools and improve rehydration during diarrhoea.
Apples can also be eaten when you have diarrhoea. It is because of the soluble fibre known as pectin that absorbs excess fluid in the bowel and thus making your stool firm and easier to pass.
Eating white bread toast is another way to deal with diarrhoea. The reason is that white bread has very little amount of fibre so it is easy to digest. It soothes your stomach and the carbohydrates in it work as a binding agent making it easier for the stool to pass smoothly. Also as a spread to use on the toast, go easy on the butter, margarine, honey and jam.
Peeled potatoes are the best comfort foods for diarrhoea. When you have diarrhoea, your energy levels go down. So, consuming potatoes that are high in carbohydrates will provide your body with the required energy.
Potatoes are also rich in potassium which helps in replacing the lost electrolytes in the body. The best way to consume potatoes is to steam or boil them and adding a little salt for flavour. Avoid adding any kind of spices or oils as they will irritate your sensitive stomach and can cause cramps.
Usually when you suffer with diarrhoea, it is better to avoid any kind of dairy products. But, yogurt is an exception because it contains gut-healthy bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum. Yogurt has the ability to restore the beneficial bacteria that the body flushes out with diarrhoea.
Choose plain yogurt rather than flavoured ones.
To get most of the nutrients, go for steamed white meat chicken without skin as it's a good source of protein. Just avoid using any oil or butter while cooking it. You can also opt chicken broth as it contains essential nutrients and electrolytes that can help to replace the lost nutrients and soothe your stomach at the same time.
Oatmeal is another binding food for diarrhoea. It contains soluble fibre which acts as a bulking agent for your stool when you have diarrhoea.
Consume plain oatmeal with bananas as having oatmeal with milk, sugar or honey might irritate your stomach and cause intestinal cramping.
During diarrhoea, your body requires essential nutrients apart from carbohydrates and protein. Carrots, green beans, beetroot, peeled zucchini are good to have when you have a loose stomach. They contain soluble fibre and essential nutrients that will revive your body and they are less likely to cause gas as well.
Avoid having, pepper, peas, cauliflower and broccoli as they are more likely to cause gas and harder to digest.
There are certain foods that you need to avoid to prevent prolonged diarrhoea.
1. Fatty foods
2. Milk, butter, cheese or ice cream
3. Sugary foods and artificial sweeteners
4. High fibre foods
5. Alcohol, caffeine and carbonated beverages
6. Gas-producing foods
Fatty foods have saturated fat that can speed up intestinal contractions and can cause an adverse reaction in your stomach. These foods include fried and greasy foods, creamy foods, fatty cuts of meat, and foods which have gravy.
These dairy products contain lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. An enzyme called lactase is reduced when you have diarrhoea and therefore if you consume lactose while having diarrhoea, it will go undigested resulting in gas, bloating, nausea and prolonged diarrhoea.
Consumption of sugar may disrupt the already sensitive bacteria in the colon, thereby making diarrhoea worse. Also artificial sweeteners should be avoided as they have a laxative effect and contributes to gas and bloating while worsening diarrhoea.
So, till you recover avoid diet soda, sugar-free candy, gum, etc.
Though soluble fibre acts as a binding agent for loose stool, too much fibre can make your stomach worse and increase the symptoms of diarrhoea. Avoid consuming insoluble fibres present in foods like whole grain cereals, whole grain bread, nuts and seeds.
These foods have a GI irritant and they should be avoided when you have diarrhoea. These drinks also cause dehydration of the body which is a no-no during diarrhoea. Hydration of the body is important to replenish the lost fluids from those repeated bowel movements. So, drink plain water or coconut water instead.
Certain foods like beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, are known to cause gas which can worsen diarrhoea. So, until your stomach has settled down avoid these gaseous foods.
In addition, fruits like pears, plums, dried fruits (apricots, raisins, prunes) and peaches should also be avoided. Instead go for blueberries, strawberries, and pineapple.
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பனைமரம் - Panaimaram |
Why are Heat Sink Systems so important?
A heat sink is needed to control the temperature around a lighting device and can be vital in facilitating a long working life for the product.
When the design of a device does not effectively distribute unwanted heat away into the surrounding air, a heat sink is used to control the temperature.
It absorbs excessive heat and dissipates it away. They are commonly used in lighting because the high temperature from the luminaire (especially conventional technologies which gave off almost as much heat as they did light!) can degrade the working life.
LED is a great technology as the light gives off far less heat, which helps preserve the product as the heat does not degrade it over time, but a good heatsink is important as it helps preserve life further.
Sedna’s heavy duty flood light, the TITAN™ is an example of a luminaire with a highly efficient heatsink, using an advanced design aluminium multi-fin heat sink system.
For more information about any of our products, heatsinks or LED technology then get in touch.
Back to education |
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For centuries, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Britain and other Western European countries ran global empires that steered or influenced the course of world events.
These nations operated from a position of strength: They possessed the military might to force their will upon weaker countries—and were not afraid to use it. “Peace must be kept by force.”
The question, today as in the past, is not whether nations are willing to resort to force but whether they believe they can get away with it when they do. Victory is as much a curse as a blessing. Take the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a country that not two Americans in a million could have found on a map and where no direct American interest could be identified, other than the fact that the Soviets were there.
A world in which autocracies make ever more ambitious attempts to control the flow of information, and in which autocratic kleptocracies use national wealth and resources to further their private interests, may prove less hospitable to the kind of free flow of commerce the world has come to appreciate in recent decades. The widespread flowering of democracy around the world in recent decades may prove to have been artificial and therefore tenuous.
The international system is an elaborate web of power relationships, in which every nation, from the biggest to the smallest, is constantly feeling for shifts or disturbances. Since 1945, and especially since 1989, the web has been geared to respond primarily to the United States. Not now. The Russia-Ukraine and Syria crises, and the world’s tepid response.
The general upheaval in the greater Middle East and North Africa, the growing nationalist and great-power tensions in East Asia, the worldwide advance of autocracy and retreat of democracytaken individually, these problems are neither unprecedented nor unmanageable. But collectively they are a sign that something is changing, and perhaps more quickly than we may imagine.
Since the end of World War Two the Inequalities of the world are widening.
For nearly 70 years the U.S. has maintained a nuclear deterrent second to none but it has learnt recently that to influence other people’s and other nations without simply annihilating remains one of the most difficult of all human tasks.
These days we have tribal religious terrorism attacks on the West, and against non-Muslims in particular, that are sensationalized in the media while those afflicting non-Westerners and Muslims are normalized and treated as business as usual, generating limited public interest and, in turn, limited outcry from activists and institutions that could actually affect change.
We have Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria committing a massacre of unbelievable proportions in Borno State. Over the period of a few days, the terrorist group killed more than 2,000 people in the town of Baga, as well as 16 neighboring towns and villages, burning entire communities to the ground.
In all likelihood, you probably didn’t hear about it until just now.
The last month has been one of horror for France. After a three-day rampage in which terrorists killed 17 people both at the Charlie Hebdo offices and at a Jewish kosher supermarket. An estimated 3.7 million French citizens took to the streets of Paris in a solidarity march for free Speech. Two Tunisian journalists, Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, were beheaded by Islamic State militants in Libya and received almost no coverage for their sacrifice.
Yet these statistics do not take into account that the deaths tolls were only from the coalition reports. icasualties.org has listed 4,770 coalition troops (4,452 American and 179 British) who have died in combat in Iraq since 2003, and 2,441 soldiers (1,566 American, 364 British, and 56 French) who died in Afghanistan since 2001.
It is worth mentioning the number of pro-Saddam forces that died in Iraq: 16,595 security forces from the post-Saddam era, 1,764 private contractors, 1,002 Sons of Iraq, and between 38,778 and 70,278 other supporters of the regime. Civilians suffered the greatest number of deaths. The Iraq Body Count documented between 100 and 110,000 civilians who died violent deaths since 2003 the estimated number of victims from the Iraqi War could range from 100,000 to over one million.
In Afghanistan, there were 7,500 casualties from Afghan security forces – 200 were from the Northern Alliance, and more than 38,000 were either part of the Taliban or insurgents.
It’s no wonder that Iran wants to acquire a nuclear weapon, which will more than likely lead other powers in the region to do the same. As to why they would want to is beyond comprehension, other than self-destruction.
A nuclear war head might be useful to destroy an incoming Asteroid but it is useless in stopping MILLIONS of Rwandans being hacked to death with nothing more than farming implements.
In total, the War on Terror has cost $1,283 billion since 2001.
In this series of post I am asking the Question: What is the use of maintaining a Nuclear Arsenal in a world where power has little to do with War heads.
We saw in the first post on the subject that Britain failed to prevent the rise of German hegemony twice in the twentieth century, leading to two devastating wars that ultimately undid British global power.
The conclusion of WWII ushered in the Cold War, which left Europe caught between the competing interests and politics of America and the USSR. With their economies and infrastructures in shambles—and no longer possessing the military means to impose their national will—were relegated to being minor players on the world stage.
The next country in the Nuclear Club of today is France.
Like Britain France suffers from not be able to recognizes that the post-French world is a reality — and embraces and celebrates that fact that is not a Superpower.
Prior to World War II France tended to consider the United States as another nation among many, one lacking a worthy cultural heritage and, for all its size and wealth, not in the same class as France and other European powers. The war changed all that. The U.S. was suddenly a Super-Power, then the sole super-power and as a powerful player in European and word affairs, consequently a major threat to French power and influence.
The French are typically characterized as being passionate, sophisticated, globally minded, whimsical, diplomatic, stylish, proud, impractical and refined. One of France’s national symbols—the strutting, preening rooster—evokes the country’s grandiose showiness and sense of self-importance.
France still maintains a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines and strike planes – and more than 300 warheads. These submarines are gradually being adapted to carry a new ballistic missile – the M51 – and between now and 2015 a new nuclear warhead will also be deployed.
Why bother? other than reaffirming the country’s reintegration into Nato’s command structure.
France ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1998 and dismantled its nuclear test site in the South Pacific. France also stopped producing plutonium and enriched uranium for weapons and dismantled the production facilities for these materials. In 2010, France and Britain agreed to pursue closer cooperation in nuclear matters, establishing for the first time a joint simulation center to for their nuclear arsenals. France and the United Kingdom intend to save money by pooling certain support activities for their nuclear forces. An additional motivation may be sending a signal of mutual political backing for each country’s long-term commitment to war-prevention through nuclear deterrence.”
Since the late-1980s France has eliminated approximately half its nuclear warheads and all of its ground-based delivery systems. It currently spends the equivalent of 1.56 per cent of gross domestic product on defense that is to creep ever so slowly to €32.51 billion in 2019.
French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll in 1970
Are the French people still comfortable with being a nuclear power?
French policy on nuclear disarmament has explicitly stressed the idea that the goal should not be simply the abolition of nuclear weapons but the achievement of increased security for all.
However in France there is an absence of any real political debate about the future of its nuclear arsenal. Few French politicians challenge the relevance of nuclear deterrence.Support for the deterrent is deeply rooted in French society and history, ever since it became a nuclear power in the 1960s.
One is the difficulty of integrating non-European immigrants (especially Muslims) into a thoroughly European (and majority Catholic) nation. To make multiculturalism the new model for France. It would no longer be up to immigrants to adopt French culture, but for France to abandon its own culture, language, history and identity to adapt to other people’s cultures…’”
The country’s nuclear deterrent does nothing to reduce its unemployment rate of nearly 11 percent and a public debt that is 95 percent of GDP.
Quarrelsome” is the word that best described the French character. This is sometimes called “isolationism.”
The future demands that we learn to see ourselves and our nations “from the outside in” — the way others see us.
Terrorism is often defined as unlawful violence or systematic use of terror against civilians or politicians for ideological or political reasons, with the intention to create fear. Terrorism is practiced by nationalistic groups, religious groups, revolutionaries and ruling governments.
The dynamic nature of terrorism means individual events are impossible to predict,”
Security must be sought through change. Ben Franklin, said “Any nation who gives up some freedom to gain a little security, will deserve neither and lose both.”
Europe/USA are founded on “Genocidal Expansionism” Not “Isolationism.”
If we are to learn anything from the elections in Greece people are where power rests, not in Nuclear Deterrents. It is quite obvious Governments must invest in this source of Power by removing Inequalities of opportunity and stop wasting revenues on worthless Warheads.
American ignorance of the outside world, however, pales in comparison to our infamous “monolingualism.”It is as if after it emerged as the only global superpower following the Cold War, the United States decided that the defense of its interests — and the effective management of global conflict — would not require Americans who understood the world in terms other than their own.
September 11 brought home the horrible cost of shortchanging international education.September 11 may have awakened Americans to the degree to which we are disliked and resented around the world.
“We are what connect you to the world. The solution to end terrorism is international educational exchange.”international education can produce the leaders needed by the global knowledge economy — and the profound changes it will bring about.
our country will retain its identity and its autonomy, likewise its capacity to assume its place in command and wield influence over planning, policy and strategy. between 2014 and 2025, of 364 billion euros 2013 to the « Defence » mission. It is a substantial effort considering the context of public finances.
The White paper acknowledges the defence industry as a driver of competitiveness for the French economy and employment. With 4.000 companies, revenues of almost 15 billion euros, and a workforce of about 165.000 France’s avowed goal of creating a multi-polar world, attributing it to France’s superpower
“envy.”the United States may appear to be the world’s only superpower, spending more than the next 15 nations combined on military power.
Europe is no longer dependent on the United States for any real security or defense needs.the United States still relies on European bases and infrastructure for non-NATO missions.
Remember that the United States has had very little success in helping create stable democracies in any part of the world over the last two decades, to help balance an increasingly powerful China, check Taliban-like extremists and terrorists in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, help stop nuclear proliferation in Iran — and stabilize the world oil market.
China has neutralized U.S. power Elsewhere, the troubled underdeveloped regions of the world, struggling with disorder, bad governance and arrested development, if not outright poverty, do not seem to be the beneficiary of American dominance.terror cannot be eradicated by military action alone.We need to ask ourselves not only why they hate us, but also why we did not know they hated us so much.
September 11 exposed an international knowledge gap
25% of college-bound high school students surveyed did not know the name of the ocean that separates the United States from Asia. 80% of those questioned did not know that India is the world’s largest democracy.83% — could not find Afghanistan or Israel on a world map. An even a larger number — 87% — could not locate Iraq or Iran.Less than half could find the United Kingdom, France, or Japan on a world map. Less than two-thirds could correctly identify a much larger landmass — China.
most boundaries in the Arab world, had been arbitrarily drawn by the British Empire.
twenty-first-century Europeans, for all the wonders of their union, seem incapable of uniting against a predator in their midst, and are willing, as in the past, to have the weak devoured if necessary to save their own (financial) skins.
A liberal world order, like any world order, is something that is imposed, and as much as we in the West might wish it to be imposed by superior virtue, it is generally imposed by superior power.The world economy, and the American economy, lurched from crisis to crisis.France cannot ignore its obligation to rethink its military model, the functioning of its defence, |
Century Film Project
Celebrating the movies our ancestors loved
Month: January, 2016
Censorship in 1916
There is a lot of confusion today over what “censorship” means, much of which I think is because the word itself has fallen out of fashion and become an accusation rather than a useful description of anything. One hundred years ago, people who felt that they had the ability to judge what other people should read, watch, or experience were far less shy about calling openly for censorship, and this kept things more honest. Today they call for “ratings systems” and laws for the “protection of children” (how could anyone be against protecting children?), which makes it all much more slippery.
CensoredNo industry wants to be restricted from doing business as freely as possible, and in a capitalist society censorship ultimately means placing restrictions of some kind on the ability of cultural industries to sell their wares. Whereas the publishing industry was an established force in the early twentieth century, the embryonic motion picture industry had less power, prestige, and legal protection. As a new technology, it was ripe for criticism from all quarters. People really weren’t sure what the long-term results of exposure to moving images would be (any more than they are today about the long-term effects of texting or the internet). Would children’s eyesight be damaged? Would their literacy suffer? Would they lose respect for parental authority? Would they all become criminals? No one knew, but some were willing to suggest the most dire of possible consequences.
Of course the motion picture industry didn’t take all this lying down, small and new though it was at the time. Motion picture exhibitors, distributors, and producers were making money hand over fist and they used some of that money to protect their own interests by forming associations and leagues dedicated to fighting motion picture censorship. One of their strongest allies was the magazine Moving Picture World, which I frequently cite in my reviews. The Moving Picture World was created as a news magazine for exhibitors, the owners of nickelodeons and movie palaces (and chains of such venues), so that they could keep up with trends in the industry, hot new titles, and technical advances. It also became a strong advocate against censorship, as we can see from this editorial page from the first issue of 1916 (click on it to blow it up so you can read it), where it talks about censorship at the local, State, and federal levels:
MPW EditorialIt opens with concerns about local censorship in Oregon, my state of residence. I regret that it doesn’t specify the towns it mentions: one in which local exhibitors called for censorship to forestall worse censorship and one in which “young girls” comprised the censor board. Still, it exemplifies the frustration distributors had to feel when faced with different standards of censorship for each town where they wanted to sell their product. This also led to multiple different re-edited and re-cut versions of each film being distributed, infuriating the creators and confusing historians to this day. In a later paragraph, news about an exhibitors’ convention in New York is an entry to a call for visible opposition to State-wide censorship bills soon to be introduced in Albany. One of these bills would close all movie theaters on Sunday, one of the most profitable days for exhibitors, but also a contested day because of its association with church-going. In speaking about the “modern Sunday,” the editor means the secularization of leisure time, still an important issue at the time. The editorial ends with a petition against Federal Censorship, and by encouraging readers to find “citizens who are not in any way connected with the motion picture industry” to sign it. While dealing with local and State censorship is egregious, the MPW claims that Federal Censorship would “drive not hundreds, but thousands of exhibitors out of business.”
What they aren’t mentioning in all of this is the critical Supreme Court decision of the previous year. On February 23, 1915, the case Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio was resolved in the State of Ohio’s favor. Ohio had set up a State Censorship Board in 1913, and Mutual, sick of having to re-cut films for each and every state they sold to, took them to court. In the decision, the Court stated, “the exhibition of moving pictures is a business, pure and simple, originated and conducted for profit … not to be regarded, nor intended to be regarded by the Ohio Constitution, we think, as part of the press of the country, or as organs of public opinion.”
SCOTUS-oldsenateThis is really important: so far as the highest court in the land was concerned, motion pictures had no free speech protections. This remained the case until the decision was overturned in 1952. So, during pretty much the whole “studio era” or what is now often called the “Classic” or “Golden Age” of Hollywood, movies could be legally censored by governmental organs. Which has a lot to do with what was produced and why, but we can get into more of that history as this project continues. For now, I want to look at some aspects of the court’s decision.
The biggest distinction they’re making is that films are businesses, and not therefore “part of the press…or organs of public opinion.” This is at least as bizarre to me (but also the reverse) as the Citizen’s United decision that spending money is the same thing as free speech. For some reason, the fact that newspapers are profitable businesses is completely ignored. They are elevated to a public good, treated as something apart from the business interests, as if they were publically-funded institutions like libraries or the post office, which by this interpretation would also presumably qualify for free speech protection. It’s unclear how the Court found this distinction between “press” and “business” in the Constitution in the first place, but the implications are staggering. Apart from this, they are ignoring (probably because Mutual’s lawyers never brought it up) the existence of documentaries and newsreels, which would become an important “organ of public opinion” within a few years, and had also been seen as the major purpose of motion pictures by many (including the Lumière Brothers and J.P. Chalmers, the author of the article for Moving Picture World) just a few years before.
12068530171690234341director chair.svg.medThere’s another aspect to all of this, which is the question of “movies as an art form.” While directors, actors, and others were arguing fervently that cinema should be taken seriously as a new art form, this doesn’t seem to have even entered into the conversation. Again, I believe this is because the lawyers for Mutual didn’t broach it. It says something about how the industry’s leaders saw themselves: they presented themselves to the Court as a business, and the Court responded in kind. Talk about “art” was all very well for the rubes, but they didn’t expect the idea to be taken seriously at a higher level, is how I read this.
A different decision by the Court a year earlier would have meant a very different editorial for January, 1916. Instead of calling for greater organization to fight hundreds of local censorship ordinances, the focus would have been on clarifying the constitutional limits of government interest in free expression and in local cases that still had not been resolved. The question of film as an “organ of public opinion” or an art form could have been taken more seriously, becoming a matter for serious, high-level discussion, rather than semi-serious ad copy. And, I would say, the growing dominance of the United States film industry would have been a more positive thing, as more creative and innovative product might have become available to inspire artists all over the world. But, history is the study of what did happen, not what didn’t, and from here we study an era in which censorship was an accepted fact of movie making life in the United States.
A Life for a Life (1916)
Uh oh, columns!
Uh oh, columns!
Life for a Life2
Director: Evgeni Bauer
Camera: Boris Zavlev
Run Time: 1hr 8 Min
Playing Cards (Alternate) (1896)
This remake may be the first example of colorization of a previously-made film. However, unlike Ted Turner, the Lumière Brothers did not take a “classic” black & white movie and add color, they re-shot the whole thing and added color! Try doing that with the opening sequence to the “Wizard of Oz,” Ted!
Playing CardsAs in the original “Card Party” we see a group of three men sitting around a table, playing cards. One of them is wearing a green cap or beret and the other has a green vest. A woman in a colorful dress sits behind them, apparently kibitzing, and she is the one served wine by the maid. As the men continue their playing, she pours out several glasses of wine for them, and the one nearest her is distracted from the game to take the glass of wine. Another man stands in the background, watching the game and also passing out the glasses once the woman has finished pouring.
When I watch this, I find that my attention is on the woman for most of the movie. It could be her pink checked dress that distracts me, but I find her actions more visually interesting than those of the men, engrossed as they are in a game that I don’t know and can’t follow. The question of “what will happen with the wine” is more compelling to me than “who’s winning the game.” The colors are somewhat subdued, suggesting either deterioration or a two-color process. The colors are also limited only to certain garments, no attempt was made to hand-color the entire scene. I have compared this to the original, but I’ve been unable to identify any of the actors as being the same men, so I’m not sure who’s in this, but the Lumières often used neighbors and family members for their movies.
Director: Auguste or Louis Lumière
Camera: Auguste or Louis Lumière
Cast: Unknown
Run Time: 50 secs
You can watch it for free: here.
Arrival of a Train (Alternate) (1896)
Again, this is a Lumière remake of one of their best-known films. As with “Leaving the Factory” there is more than enough information to make it clear that this is not a simply “re-take” done at the same time as the better-known “Train Coming into a Station,” but it also isn’t meant to be an entirely different film.
Arrival of a TrainHere, the camera is set quite far back on the platform, and the train travels across the screen at an angle away from it, toward the right corner. We only see a few seconds of the train in motion before the doors open and people flood out onto the platform. The crowd passes by the camera, and we see rows of people as they go by, making this similar to watch to “Leaving the Factory,” which also shows crowds of people as they pass. The people we see are mostly men, mostly middle-aged, and mostly well-dressed. As in “Leaving the Factory,” everyone wears a hat. Many of the men have mustaches, some have beards, and only a few younger men are clean-shaven. The women are consistently above forty five, while the men’s ages vary greatly. From the way people are dressed, it appears that this is winter – we see many overcoats and furs. Again, many people look at the camera, although no one stops to stare at it (they’d probably get knocked over by the crowd behind!).
Arrival of a Train1There is a well-known story that when the original “Arrival” was screened, people panicked, fainted, or ran away from the screen, fearful of being crushed by the moving train. It is tempting to suggest that this is the reason why the Lumières remade it with the camera at a more discreet distance, but unfortunately the current consensus is that this story is a myth. It’s still conceivable that they were trying for a less “dramatic” effect by moving the camera and emphasizing the crowd, rather than the train itself. Or, it could be that they couldn’t get permission to use the close position because this station was so much busier than La Ciotat, where the first one was filmed, and they needed to keep back from the crowd of passengers departing. At any rate, the two films make an interesting contrast and show the difference that can be achieved through a very small change in camera angle.
Director: Auguste or Louis Lumière
Camera: Auguste or Louis Lumière
Cast: Unknown
Run Time: 50 secs
You can watch it for free: here.
Leaving the Factory (Alternate) (1896)
Director: Auguste and Louis Lumière
Camera: Auguste or Louis Lumière
Cast: Unknown
Run Time: 50 secs
You can watch it for free: here.
Alice in Wonderland (1915)
Alice in Wonderland4This was (at least) the third version of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s fantasy to be brought to the screen in the silent era, and it would be followed by many more versions, good and bad, in years to come. I suspect that the print that is readily available today is incomplete, but as always we have to judge based on what evidence we can find.
Alice in WonderlandAlice (played by Viola Savoy, who is a bit too old for the part, in my opinion) is established in her “normal” world, with her mother and older sister. Her mother is working in the kitchen making tarts, and Alice drops some playing cards on the floor. Then her sister takes her outside, and she sees a rabbit, a cat in a tree, an owl, and a pig. Then she lies down for her nap. As soon as she “enters Dreamland” the white rabbit appears and beckons for her to follow. She follows him down a rabbit hole and up to a set of doors, and a mouse tells her how to get through to the garden on the other side. Once through, she joins an animals’ convention, but she scares them away, bragging about her cat’s ability to chase mice and birds. Then she finds the rabbit at his house, goes inside and finds his fan and gloves, but he has already rushed off to the Duchess. Next she meets the caterpillar on his mushroom, and he has her recite “You Are Old, Father William,” which we see acted out by people in funny costume.
Alice in Wonderland3Alice arrives at the Duchess’s house just in time to see the arrival of an invitation to the Queen’s Croquet Game. She meets the Duchess, whose cook is overly fond of pepper and is making everyone sneeze. When the Duchess’s baby sneezes, she beats him, but Alice takes the child away, and it turns into a pig. She then meets the Cheshire Cat, who appears and disappears several times until his body disappears, leaving his grinning head behind. Now, she enters the Queen’s garden and sees low-ranking cards (the gardeners) painting white roses red. The Queen arrives and orders them to be executed, but Alice joins her for croquet. The cards serve as arches, the ball is a hedgehog, and the mallets are flamingos. Alice does well, but the Queen orders her beheaded, then loses all control and orders the headsman to behead everybody. Alice escapes in the confusion, and the Queen takes her to meet the Gryffon and the Mock Turtle, who show her the Lobster’s Quadrille. Finally, she returns to the Queen’s Court in time to see the Knave tried for stealing tarts. She cries, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”and awakes in the garden with her sister.
Alice in Wonderland2Overall, this movie doesn’t live up to the high standards of 1915, but since it was released in January, we have to give it some slack. The camera doesn’t move, there are no close-ups, and the only real editing that takes place is between narration of the “Father William” poem and its depiction. Otherwise, cuts only happen when the action moves to a new location, but that does happen quite frequently, giving it a sense of motion above that of many similar movies. Its production standards are similar to the “Ozfilms of 1914, and while the effects aren’t as good, the costumes are better, it sticks closely to its source material and tells its story more effectively than those films did. The still image at the “Silent Era’s” page for this movie shows the mad tea party, but this doesn’t occur in the version I was able to watch, suggesting that it may have been longer originally. Viola Savoy is quite grown-up and is actually taller than some of the adult actors, while I’ve always felt that Alice is meant to be a young girl. In general, however, this should please fans of the book and of early cinema.
Alice in Wonderland1Director: W.W. Young
Camera: Unknown
Cast: Viola Savoy, Herbert Rice
Run Time: 42 Min
You can watch it for free: here (scroll to the bottom of the page)
The Rink (1916)
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Camera: Roland Totheroh
Run Time: 24 Min
The Pawnshop (1916)
PawnshopA fun piece that Charlie Chaplin made for Mutual late in 1916, this one puts an emphasis on running gags and longer vignettes, with the central plot taking a backseat. It has similarities to a number of earlier Chaplins, including “Work,” “The Bank,” and “The Floorwalker.”
Pawnshop_Lobby_Card,_1916Charlie is an assistant in a pawnshop, run by an older man in wearing a skullcap (kippah, yarmulke, or taqiyah). He is sent to do some dusting and winds up making a bigger mess and getting into a fight with his co-worker (John Rand). He goes outside with a large ladder to clean the sign over the shop, and winds up hurting Rand several more times, and running afoul of a local cop. Once he and Rand have avoided the cop, they begin fighting again, to the dismay of Edna Purviance, the shopkeeper’s daughter. Charlie pretends to be hurt and gets her sympathy, but the shopkeeper wants him fired. He has a change of heart and lets him stay. Several customers come in, in succession. First, an old man (Wesley Ruggles) tells a tale of woe and hardship and how he must pawn his dead wife’s wedding ring. Charlie feels sorry for him and offers five dollars, but only has a ten. The man pulls out a huge wad of bills to make change. Another customer is a thief (Eric Campbell), who persuades the shopkeeper to show him all of the fancy jewelry he keeps in the safe. Then, a man (Albert Austin) shows Charlie an alarm clock he wants to pawn. Charlie can’t get it to work, so he dismantles it piece by piece in front of the man, then sweeps the mess into his hat and gives it back to the man. After he leaves, the thief tries to hold up the store with a gun, but Charlie is hiding behind him and knocks him on the head, saving the day.
Pawnshop1Although there is some good stuff in this movie, a lot of it feels recycled, such as the bit about Charlie using his slapstick skills to stop a robbery and the cleaning sequence which is very similar to “The Bank.” One brief gag I didn’t mention was a quick re-do of the opening to “The Bank,” where Charlie opens a safe and takes out his workclothes. This, time, about halfway through, he goes to a safe, quickly turns the combination seemingly at random, and takes out his lunch. It isn’t as funny or surprising this time. My favorite parts were the whole ladder sequence and the scenes where Charlie is “helping” (or being bilked by) the customers. His character is less “innocent” and likeable than in “The Vagabond,” for example, but one still sees him as sympathetic – he’s a victim of circumstances and it’s hard to blame him if he wants to get back at some of the people who mistreat him. The romance between him and Edna is decidedly downplayed in this movie.
Pawnshop2Director: Charlie Chaplin
Camera: Roland Totheroh
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Wesley Ruggles, John Rand, Albert Austin, Eric Cambell, Henry Bergman
Run Time: 24 Min
Behind the Screen (1916)
As with “A Film Johnny,” and “His New Job,” this Charlie Chapin short from Mutual Film takes us inside a film production studio for laughs. It starts off innocently enough, but escalates the mayhem throughout, reaching a point almost unseen, even in the original Keystone comedies that gave Chaplin his start.
Behind the ScreenThe movie begins with Edna Purviance on a film set, asking someone (possibly an Assistant Director), “Can I be an actress, please?” The answer is, predictably, no, and the camera holds on her face long enough for us to feel her disappointment Then we are introduced to the stagehand (Eric Campbell) and his assistant (Charlie). The assistant does all the work, while Eric sits and naps. Every time he walks past the camera tripod, Charlie manages to hook it with his foot and bring the camera crashing to the ground. He nearly knocks over a large column on the set (a gag taken from “His New Job,” but done better here). After a particularly grueling task of moving a dozen chairs and a piano, Charlie sits down for a moment and the stagehand and Assistant Director accuse him of loafing. During lunch break, Eric eats an enormous amount of food, while Charlie only seems to have a few pieces of bread. His neighbor (Albert Austin) eats green onions and breathes on Charlie, leading him to put on a prop helmet from a suit of armor. Albert throws the onions into the helmet. Charlie does a drumming routine with some drumsticks and all of the plates from his boss’s meal. When the Assistant Director finds all of the stagehands passed out from food coma after lunch, he wakes them up and they strike. Eric and Charlie refuse to join the strike and Edna gets the bright idea of dressing as a boy so she can be a stagehand.
Behind the Screen1The Assistant Director thanks the few strikebreakers for staying on, and puts them to work. Charlie’s first job is to pull a lever that opens a trap door after a gun is fired. He keeps missing the cue and pulling it when actors or crew members are standing on the door, sometimes closing it while they are trying to climb out of the pit, trapping their heads or extremities between the doors. Soon, the actors all have black eyes and bruises from falling into the pit on top of one another. The Assistant Director’s pants are split when he tries to pull someone out of the pit, and he asks Edna to repair them, to her horror. Charlie, meanwhile has figured out that Edna is a girl, and a pretty one at that, and kisses her, causing Eric to mock him mercilessly, presumably for being gay. A costume drama is being filmed by the “dramatic department” right next to a set where the “comedic department” is testing a “new idea – one character throws a pie at a character, who ducks, then throws a pie back at the first one. Eric and Charlie are called in to help test this innovation, with the result that pies fly into the throne room of the dramatic piece. Meanwhile, the strikers are cooking up a dynamite plot to blow up the studio. With everyone distracted by the mounting pie fight, they are able to sneak in, placing the dynamite under the trapdoors and kidnap Edna along the way. When Charlie finds Edna in danger, he rescues her, knocking the striker and incidentally his boss into the pit. The dynamite goes off, and Charlie and Edna kiss.
Behind the Screen2This movie is a return to the most madcap variety of Chaplin movie, with much of it being based around chases or violence, and few pauses for character development or sympathy. I was actually quite disappointed that Edna’s character never got to act – her sad face at the beginning of the film is the best acting we see here. The ending reminded me of “Dough & Dynamite,” one of the most violent of the Keystone movies. A number of the gags here are from earlier movies, but often expanded upon or improved. Charlie does a wonderful “dance move” each time he pulls the lever for the trap door, which adds to our anticipation of the comedic result.
Behind_the_ScreenA good bit of this movie centers around a pie-fight, something that we haven’t seen much of to date in this project, unless we count the single pie-in-the-face that Ben Turpin took eight years earlier in “Mr. Flip.” Still, Charlie’s placement of it ironically as an “invention” at this time demonstrates that it was already a recognized trope. My first thought was that perhaps it was something established by clowns in 19th Century circuses, and that may be so, but here Charlie clearly places it in the “comedic department” of a movie studio, suggesting that he is making fun of contemporary examples, perhaps from Keystone or Essanay, his former employers. There is no doubt that Fritzi, at “Movies Silently,” is right to point out that not all silent comedies had pie fights, but the evidence is strong that there were more of them than I’ve seen so far.
Behind the Screen3The reviewer for Moving Picture World said: “While this Chaplin effort will doubtless evoke much laughter from a certain class of audience, it is not one to be strongly recommended. There is throughout a distinct vein of vulgarity which is unnecessary, even in slapstick comedy. A great deal of comedy is intended to be extracted from a pie-slinging episode which occurs during the rehearsal of a couple of scenes in a moving picture studio.” This time, I think I can understand some of this reaction. The emphasis on the splitting of the man’s pants, his showing his bottom to a girl (Edna) and the subsequent gay-joke would all seem to be pushing the envelope for 1916. There are several other moments where butts are, as it were, the butt of a joke or gag, and I suspect that this is the sort of thing that middle class audiences reacted against in slapstick at the time. Certainly, this is not a “refined” piece of comedy, whether we’d really be offended by its “vulgarity” or not today, but is intended to be simplistic mayhem, done with artful timing and physical skill.
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Camera: Roland Totheroh
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Eric Campbell, Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Lloyd Bacon, John Rand, Wesley Ruggles, Leo White
Run Time: 24 Min
The Count (1916)
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Camera: Roland Totheroh
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Eric Campbell, Edna Purviance
Run Time: 24 Min
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Climate Challenges
Climate Challenges
Climate change challenges facing Rhode Island are well summarized in the 2012 report of Rhode Island’s Climate Change Commission.
Rising Sea Levels: One of Rhode Island’s biggest assets and most prominent features, its coastline, is changing rapidly. The average sea level has risen 7 inches globally in the last century due to the greenhouse gas effect trapping heat in the atmosphere. The rate of sea level rise in the Northeast is increasing 3-4 times faster than the global average, thereby making Rhode Island particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. Since 1930, sea level has increased in Rhode Island by an average of 1 inch per decade. The Newport tide gauge has risen 10.6 inches between 1930 and 2011, with a reported 2.73 mm (.11 inch) sea level rise per year since 1930. By 2100, sea level in Rhode Island is expected to rise another 3 – 5 feet above 1990 levels.
Rising seas threaten properties, ecosystems, drinking water supplies, public health, and infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and utilities. Rhode Island is the ocean state, with over 400 miles of coast line. Over 2,700 houses in Rhode Island are within 3 feet of mean high tide, which means they are currently at risk of flooding with even moderate storms, and under threat of permanent inundation by the end of the century. Yet coastal residents and property owners are not the only ones threatened. Destruction of public infrastructure can leave whole communities disconnected from goods, services, and employment, reducing the economic viability of the entire state. Further, when roads are flooded during storms, evacuation becomes more dangerous and costly.
Although erosion is a natural process, tourist beaches that are important to local economies must be continually maintained by importing sand. This is a yearly process that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars after each storm. A temporary and expensive fix, sand importing has unpredictable results in protecting coastal property and unknown impacts on local ecosystems. When homes and infrastructure are threatened, the common response is to build hard protective structures such as seawalls – yet those too are prone to failure.
Learn More: Rhode Islands Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and RI Sea Grant have led state efforts to understand and respond to sea level rise.
Beach SAMP: To help communities protect people, property, and infrastructure (including drinking water supplies, utilities, and roadways), the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), with the University of Rhode Island, various state and local agencies, stakeholders, and coastal residents, is developing the Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan (Beach SAMP). This plan will provide science-backed policies and planning tools to improve the state’s resilience.
River Flooding: With climate change increasing the severity and frequency of storms, Rhode Island will be faced with an increase of inland river flooding events. As Rhode Islanders learned during the floods of March 2010, flooding can be extremely damaging to homes, infrastructure, and the surrounding environment, bringing hardship to the citizens and economy of Rhode Island. River flooding can result from spring snow melts in combination with heavy rains, hurricanes or dam breeches. Rhode Island will become more vulnerable to the impacts of increased precipitation and river flooding in the upcoming years. Approximately 14% of Rhode Island’s 1,100 square miles of land area is flood-prone.
Rhode Island is vulnerable to flooding events due to a combination of factors. In addition to the worsening of storms and increases in precipitation due to climate change, flooding in Rhode Island is exacerbated by its built environment. The natural environment minimizes the risks and hazards presented by flooding events. Forested watersheds absorb water during storm events and release it slowly over time, reducing both the velocity and the volume of water that may impact a community. Vegetation removal and land development increase the vulnerability of Rhode Islanders to river flooding. Development within floodplains decreases the capacity of the natural environment to mitigate flooding; large areas of impervious surfaces prevent the water from seeping into the ground, forcing it to run along the surface, damaging homes, buildings, and crucial infrastructure.
Learn more:
Heat waves: Over the last 100 years, summer temperatures in Providence have increased 3.3° F. As average temperatures continue to rise, Rhode Island will experience longer heat waves and a drastic increase in the number of extreme heat days. The annual number of hot days (over 90° F) is predicted to grow from about 5 today to about 50-60 by 2100. If we continue on our current emissions pathway, Rhode Island’s summers will resemble those of Georgia. Cities will experience 2-4 weeks of temperatures over 100° F during an average summer. Extreme heat can create economic hardship in our state. The costs of operating emergency cooling centers, increased demand air conditioning and electricity, and of developing emergency heat alert systems will pose an economic burden on Rhode Island. Increased energy consumption not only puts pressure to the electricity grid, but raises the emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases that are causing climate change in the first place.
Heat waves are particularly problematic for urban areas, where they bring an increased risk of heat-related deaths and illnesses. Development in cities means that buildings, roads, and impervious surfaces have replaced open land and vegetation. Materials such as concrete, brick, and asphalt are more effective at absorbing and retaining the sun’s energy than plants and vegetation. Buildings and vehicles also produce energy, which contributes to the warm temperatures of urban areas. By removing green areas, surfaces are no longer permeable and moist. These physical changes cause urban areas to become warmer than surrounding rural areas. This is known as the urban heat island effect.
Excessive heat stresses the human body’s physiological systems and can lead to heat stroke, dehydration, and even death. Heat stress can manifest in rashes, fainting, cramps, and exhaustion. High temperatures can stress the body’s ability to regulate temperature and blood pressure. Heat is responsible for dilating the blood vessels near the skin and causing the heart to pump faster in order to maintain blood pressure. As a result, the body can experience cardiovascular problems and decreased blood flow to the brain. Excessive sweating caused by heat can also result in salt and fluid loss, which leads to dehydration. Heat stroke can cause seizures, coma, and death.
Health Impacts
Respiratory: Climate change means warmer summers. Rising temperatures worsen air pollution and increase the number of “bad air days”. Pollutants released by vehicle tailpipes, power generation, factories, and other sources react with sunlight to form ozone smog. As temperatures rise, this process is intensified and ground level ozone is worsened. Ragweed and other allergens in the air also increase with climate change, as carbon dioxide levels contribute to increased plant pollen production. Warmer temperatures will also increase the length of allergy season, with earlier spring blooms and later frosts.
Populations exposed to smog and air pollution are at risk of suffering eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation. These include outdoor workers, children, the elderly, and those who exercise outside. As temperatures rise, people with respiratory and cardiovascular disease will also be at heightened risk. Long-term exposure to pollution increases sensitivity to allergens, triggers asthma attacks, and impairs lungs. A recent study by MIT showed that air pollution causes 200,000 early deaths each year in the U.S.
Vector-borne: The threat posed by ticks and mosquitoes is already a concern for Rhode Islanders. Climate change will expand the range of vectors that carry and transmit diseases like Lyme disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and the West Nile virus. Warmer temperatures, longer summers, and changes in rainfall patterns will allow insects to become active for longer seasons and in wider areas. Global changes will continue to increase heat, precipitation, and humidity.
Mental health: Research has shown that climate change will also threaten our mental health. Millions of people are predicted to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other psychological symptoms in response to the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves have been shown to increase rates of anxiety and depression. Sea level rise and more intense storms displace communities and are associated with stress, depression, grief, and post-traumatic stress. After Hurricane Katrina, affected communities exhibited an increase in the rates of depression, domestic violence, and suicide. Long-term exposure to heat waves has been associated with an increase in interpersonal violence, anxiety, and depression.
As with other challenges, children, the elderly, the poor, and those with existing mental health conditions will be particularly vulnerable. Experts predict that an estimate 200 million Americans will be exposed to serious psychological distress from climate-related events and incidents. As climate change continues to impact peoples’ homes and livelihoods, issues of mental health will become more relevant.
Vulnerable Infrastructure
Wastewater Treatment: Rhode Island’s 19 wastewater treatment facilities treat approximately 100 million gallons of sewage from homes and factories each day. The Rhode Island Climate Change Commission’s 2012 progress report on adaptation found that climate change puts Rhode Island’s wastewater infrastructure at risk due to sea-level rise, increasingly frequent and severe storm events, and increased precipitation and flooding. Since sewage treatment facilities are often located in floodplains and on shorelines, any flooding due to increased precipitation or a storm surge can cause untreated sewage to flow directly into our state’s beloved ponds, rivers, and bays. Sewage influx causes harmful aquatic blooms, disrupts marine environments, and increases human exposure to waterborne diseases. Septic systems, used by many Rhode Island residents, are likely to experience salt-water intrusion, as sea level rise raises the groundwater table. Salt-water intrusion, along with warming soil temperatures, makes the sewage treatment process less effective.
Drinking Water Supplies: Rhode Island sources 85% of its drinking water from surface reservoirs, which can be inundated with salt water by a storm surge. Our freshwater resources, essential to all Rhode Island residents, could become contaminated by the intrusion of saltwater due to sea level rise. Saltwater intrusion also threatens coastal wells in the southern and eastern parts of the state. Along with increasing precipitation, climate change can also bring about drought periods that limit access to drinking water and decrease agricultural output. The sewage outflow issues explained above can also threaten drinking water resources. It is estimated by SafeWater RI modeling that between now and 2022, Rhode Island will have to put $52.8 million toward repairing water utilities that are damaged by sea level rise, coastal and riverine flooding, and severe storms. The water supplies of Bristol County, Jamestown, and Newport are the most vulnerable in the state.
Energy Facilities: Energy facilities located along the coast, such as the Manchester Street Power station, are threatened by sea level rise, flooding, and storm damage. Flooded basements in buildings can cause power outages for whole communities. Additionally, Rhode Island’s maritime ports are crucial for coal and petroleum products that currently satisfy the state’s appetite for fossil fuels – yet these same ports are threatened with permanent inundation by sea level rise. |
Chinese Food Culture Essay
782 words - 4 pages
When in Rome, do as the Romas Thurs say, an English idiom, it says: Who dwells in a foreign country
should adapt to its environment. Countries do not differ only in language, currency and climate, but
also the customs and traditions are often different.
What we mean by manners and customs?
Habits are behaviors that are common in a country. They are socially demanded and expected.
In contrast to the practices that a habit of an individual, for example, clothing habits, or habits of a
social community within my. To the cultural traditions also include behaviors such as eating habits.
Chinese table manners
The first was said, many Chinese like to smoke and eat. And not just before ...view middle of the document...
What Chinese table manners while eating permit
Chinese like to eat and let it go well like eating. It sees and hears when one is sitting next to. As
Europeans like a so-maches behavior seem strange to strange. However, one should keep in mind that
our European table manners in the land so nothing more than arbitrary gewachsende list of dos and
don'ts. Ultimately, that is all a matter of habit.
Most famous is the fact that the Chinese do not respect eating particularly on the noise. One should not
interfere with a clear lip smacking or slurping like this but it is in China to the food. That does not
mean you understand sheer "slurping" his own word, no more, but only that gelegendliche noise is
nothing to be ashamed of themselves, or that would violate good manners and table manners.
Just as it is allowed to talk with your mouth full or right to smoke while eating (like sometimes
simultaneously). If you want to clean the teeth with a toothpick, then one should keep a hand over her
mouth as a screen, while the other removed the toothpick with the teeth of food particles.
Food and...
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'Opening his coat which he had bundled up in his arms.' 'A dirty black haired child.' This is when
Heathcliff is brought into the story, we don't know where he came from, what life he had been living and who are his parents.
Supernatural events are a common feature of a gothic novel. Wuthering
Heights show this feature through the appearance of Cathy many years after her demise. 'Stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch instead of which, my fingers crossed on the fingers of an ice cold hand.' I believe that the appearance of Cathy's ghost keeps the readers interested and makes them wonder, as many people do not know what to think or believe when they hear of supernatural events as there is no prove that supernatural beings do or do not exist.
The gothic genre that Emily Brontë has used within Wuthering Heights is also portrayed through the overwrought emotion many of the characters have. Heathcliff shows a lot of raw and overwrought emotion throughout the novel. Through most of the novel he shows a loathing towards Hindley, because of the heartlessness Hindley showed him.
When Cathy starts to show her feelings for Edgar, Heathcliff begins to despise Edgar and show jealously towards him as he has the love of
Cathy. Like most gothic novels, most of the emotions in Wuthering
Heights tend to be fear, terror, jealousy, sadness and hatred. Happy emotions in gothic novels tend to come to an end causing massive amounts of
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Relational Database System ( Rdbms ) Essay
1079 Words Sep 30th, 2015 5 Pages
A relational database is a group of data which classified into a set of tables that can be accessed in several ways without having to reconstruct the tables’ oftenly.Relational Database was proposed by Edgar Codd around the time 1969 since then it has become very prevalent for commercial applications. In the 20th century there were countless Relational Database System (RDBMS) ,take for instance: IBM.DB2 and Oracle.
The following are the main terms and concepts related to the named model:
1. Attributes –they describe the facts, details or characteristics of an entity. The attributes that maybe contained in an invoice might be name, number and paid/unpaid.
2. Table –this is where data is stored for processing and output .The table is defined as a collection of correlating data consisting of rows and columns. For example, the CUSTOMER or PURCHASES table may entail the customer first name, last name, address and the product that the customer purchased or wishes to purchase.
3. Field-this is a column in a table that is constructed to save and maintain particular information about records that are stored in the table. They can include name, age and salary fields.
4. Record- commonly called a record, usually referred to as a ‘slot’ or space that resides in a table, it is most commonly recognized as a horizontal entity. For instance, the CUSTOMER’s table will consists of numerous related records.
Cust_Fname Cust_Age Cust_Address
Stacy 20 Clarkia Drive
5. Reports-this is…
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Social and Political Aspects in Kipling and Dickens' Writing Styles
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Social and Political Aspects in Kipling and Dickens' Writing Styles
The Victorian period started from 1830 to 1901, and it was known for various aspects. These aspects are distributed between authors and writers of this era. The Victorian period is so called due to Queen
Victoria who ruled Britain successfully, and the city of London expanded from about two million people to six and a half at the time of her death. Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling are representatives of Victorian literature; each of them is concerned with specific social and political issues of that era, and these issues are shown in their stories. Charles Dickens story is “Great Expectations” and
Rudyard Kipling’s story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”.
…show more content…
As is known, children at that time were made to work and they were forced into workhouses because their living status was low. This is what we can call “child abuse”. Charles Dickens’ story deals mostly with humans in the British culture. Rudyard
Kipling’s story deals with animals which are used figuratively and that is, to represent the people of India at that time of the
Victorian period. These animals respect their masters and respond to their demands especially that they sacrifice themselves for white people. So in “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Rikki saves the family members’ lives by killing the snake.
Social aspects in Britain lead children to steal and be criminals in order to live and satisfy their desires. Besides that, there was no education. That’s why children were not taught manners or even learned how to respect. As for Pip he was forced to steal food for the convict, to submit to his demands. Otherwise he would get something he does not like, and therefore once a child gets into a life of crime it is hard for him to get out of the cycle.
But Kipling’s story is different, it represents India as foreign society for Teddy, who he can not cope with, and at the same time he tries to control Rikki and put him under his
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(1890) T. Thomas Fortune, “It Is Time To Call A Halt,“
Timothy Thomas Fortune
Timothy Thomas Fortune
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New York City newspaper editor T. Thomas Fortune in 1887 called upon African Americans to form an organization to fight for the rights denied them. Three years later the National Afro-American League, became the first black civil rights organization in the United States. One hundred forty one delegates from twenty-three states met in Chicago in January, 1890 to officially launch the League. Fortune gave the keynote address. The text of the speech, originally printed in his newspaper, the New York Age, appears below.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Afro-American leagues, we are met here to day, representatives of 8,000,000 freemen, who know our rights and have the courage to defend them. We are met here to day to emphasize the fact that the past condition of dependence and helplessness upon men who have used us for selfish and unholy purposes, who have murdered and robbed and outraged us, must be reversed. It is meet and proper that we have met for such high purpose upon the free soil of Illinois. It was here that Elijah Lovejoy, the first martyr to freedom's sacred cause, died that we might be free. It was here that Abraham Lincoln lived, and in this soil he sleeps, having died 'that the Nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from earth.' It was here that John Alexander Logan,' like Saul of Tarsus, was convicted of his error in persecuting the people of the Lord, and buckled on his sword and went forth to lead the volunteer hosts in freedom's fight, pausing not until struck down at his post of duty by the angel of death; he, too, sleeps in the imperial soil 'where law and order reign,' 'where government is supreme. And we do not forget the living sons of this soil who fought in freedom's ranks when we mention here the names of Gen. Walter Q. Gresham, or Private Fifer, the Chief Executive of this Commonwealth, and of his generous opponent, Gen. John M. Palmer. Upon such historic ground, surrounded by the spirits of such famous dead, and cheered by the presence of such living friends of the black soldiers who followed where they led :
`Into the jaws of death, Into the mouth of hell'
borne down in the wild charge, baptized with fire and shot and shell, contending like heroes for freedom's priceless smile, shall we not take fresh courage? Shall we not bravely buckle on the armor and march with unhesitating step, with unfaltering hearts to the convention before us for absolute justice under the constitution? By the name of Elijah Lovejoy, embalmed in song and story, by the name of Abraham Lincoln, which shall illustrate and illuminate the pages of history brightest in the annals of our glory; by the names of the black heroes who died at Battery Wagner, Fort Pillow and the awful crater at Petersburg by the names of these honored dead I conjure the spirit of universal emancipation to be with us here, and to enthuse us with the devotion to high principle which Wm. Lloyd Garrison emphasized when he exclaimed, 'I am in earnest; I will not equivocate, I will not retreat a single inch and I will be heard. Fellow members of the League, I congratulate you upon your presence here. I congratulate you upon the high resolve, the manly inspiration, which impelled you to this spot. I congratulate you that you have aroused from the lethargy of the past, and that you now stand face to face, brave men and true, with the awful fact that 'who would be free themselves must strike the blow.' I congratulate you that you now recognize the fact that a great work remains for you to do, and that you are determined, with the countenance of Jehovah, to do it. And, finally, I congratulate myself that I have been chosen as the humble spokesman to voice at this time and in this manner the high resolves which move you as one man to perfect an organization which shall secure to ourselves and to our children the blessings of citizenship so generally denied us. The spirit of agitation which has brought us together here comprehends in its vast sweep the entire range of human history. The world has been rocked in the cradle of agitation from Moses to Gladstone. The normal condition of mankind is one of perpetual change, unrest and aspiration a contention of the virtues against the vices of mankind. The great moving and compelling influence in the history of the world is agitation, and the greatest of agitators was He, the despised Nazarene, whose doctrines have revolutionized the thought of the ages. The progress of mankind has been greatest in eras of most unrest and innovation. Iconoclasm has always been the watchword of progress. It was an idle dream of the poet that a time would ever come in the history of the race
"When the war drum beats no longer, When the battle flag is furled, In the parliament of nations, The federation of the world.
Equally fatuous was Longfellow's lament that
Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts Given to redeem the human mind from error, There were no need of arsenals and forts.
Apathy leads to stagnation. The arsenal, the fort, the warrior are as necessary as the school, the church, the newspapers and the public forum of debate. It is a narrow and perverted philosophy which condemns as a nuisance agitators. It is this sort of people who consider nothing to be sacred which stands in the pathway of the progress of the world. Like John crying in the wilderness, they are the forerunners of change in rooted abuses which revolutionize society. Demosthenes, thundering against the designs of Philip of Macedon upon the liberties of Greece; Cicero, holding up to scorn and ridicule the schemes of Cataline against the freedom of Rome; Oliver Cromwell, baring his sturdy breast to the arrows of royalty and nobility to preserve to Englishmen the rights contained in Magna Charta; Patrick Henry, fulminating against the arrogant and insolent encroachments of Great Britain upon the rights of the American colonies; Nat Turner, rising from the dust of slavery and defying the slave oligarchy of Virginia, and John Brown, resisting the power of the United States in a heroic effort to break the chains of the bondsman these are some of the agitators who have voiced the discontent of their times at the peril of life and limb and property, Who shall cast the stone of reproach at these children of the race? Who shall say they were not heroes born to live forever in the annals of song and story? Revolutions are of many sorts. They are either silent and unobservable, noiseless as the movement of the earth on its axis, or loud and destructive, shaking the earth from centre to circumference, making huge gaps in the map of earth, changing the face of empires, subverting dynasties and breaking fetters asunder or riveting them anew. Jesus Christ may be regarded as the chief spirit of agitation and innovation. He himself declared, 'I come not to bring peace, but a sword.' St. Paul, standing upon Mars Hill, read the death sentence of Grecian and Roman mythology in the simple sentence, 'Whom ye ignorantly worship Him I declare unto you.' A portion of mankind remains always conservative, while the other portion is moved by the spirit of radicalism; and no man can predict where the conflict may lead when once the old idea and the new one conflict, and must needs appeal to the logic of revolution to arbitrate between them. Few Romes are large enough to hold a Caesar and a Brutus. The old idea and the new idea, the spirit of freedom and the spirit of tyranny and oppression cannot live together without friction. The agitator must never be in advance of his times. The people must be prepared to receive the message that he brings them. The harvest must be ripe for the sickle when the reaper enters the field. As it was in ancient Greece and Rome, so it is in modern Europe and America. The just cause does not always prevail. The John Browns and Nat Turners do not always find the people ready to receive the tidings of great joy they bring them. Martin Luther, opposing the vice and corruption and superstition of the religion of his times, putting in motion influences which aroused all Christendom, needed only to have failed in his self imposed reformation to have died by the tortures of the thumbscrew and the rack of the Inquisition. Nothing succeeds like success, nothing is more severely condemned than failure. Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head of a million soldiers, firmly seated upon the throne of the Bourbons of France, is courted and flattered and feared by the whole of Europe. Whipped at Waterloo, his vast armies scattered and demoralized, exiled to a rock in the Atlantic Ocean, chained as Prometheus, all pronounce him a Corsican adventurer, a base upstart, a human monster. It does not pay to fail. Napoleon Bonaparte was the avenging Nemesis of the medieval conditions of government and society. He heralded the reaction against abuses in civil and ecclesiastical administration which had been the slowly developed fungi of centuries. It was terrific, but it was necessary. It is always the most drastic medicine that kills the deep seated disease or the patient. We yet live in the swim of that tremendous revolution. To it we may trace the dominating impulses that lead to the independence of the United States, the independence of Hayti and San Domingo, the independence of the South American Republics, the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies, the liberation of the Russian serfs, the abolition of slavery in this country, the recent manumission of Brazilian slaves, and that agitation for larger individual freedom, battling against the incubus of conservation, whether in the garb of tyranny in the state, oppressions of the nobility, superstitious and unjust assumptions of priestly inquisitors, as in Europe, or of arrogant and insolent intolerance, as in the United States. Agitations are inevitable. They are as necessary to social organism as blood is to animal organism. Revolutions follow as a matter of course. Each link in the long chain of human progress is indelibly marked as the result of a revolution. The thunder storm clarifies the atmosphere and infuses into the veins of all animal life new vigor and new hopes. Revolutions clarify the social and civil atmosphere. They sober the nation; they sharpen the wits of the people; they make rights and privileges which have been the bone of contention all the more precious, because of the severe labor which consecrated them anew to ourselves and to our posterity. The benefits that come to us as the rewards of our genius, untiring industry, and frugality are more highly and justly prized than benefits that come to us by indirection and without our seeking. The spendthrifts of our society are those who reap where others have sown, who spend what others have toiled to amass. The aspirations of the human soul, like the climbing vine, are forever in the line of greater freedom, fuller knowledge, ampler possessions. These aspirations find always opposing aspirations. It is true of nations seeking after greater reforms. To accomplish these agitation is necessary. The imperial eagle, the emblem of our National prowess and unconquerable aspiration, builds his nest in the loftiest peaks of the highest mountains. He knows his supreme power and he exercises it. His eaglets, when they burst from the chrysalis which had nurtured their infancy, gaze first into the face of the lordly sun. The first law of the eagle's nature is aggressiveness. Resistance remains the most pronounced characteristic of his existence. Wherein does the eagle differ from the strong nations of the world? The revolutionary intuitions of mankind are fundamental and sleepless. It is because of this fact that agitators like the Roman Gracchi, the German Luther, the British Cromwell, the American John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison, for examples, cut such a considerable figure in the history of every nation and every epoch. It is the discontent, the restlessness, the sleepless aspiration of humanity, voiced by some braver, some more far seeing member of society, some man ready to be a martyr to his faith or wear the crown of victory, which keep the world in a ferment of excitation and expectancy, and which force the adoption of those reforms which keep society from retrograding to the conditions of savage life, from which it has slowly and painfully moved forward. There can be no middle ground in social life. There must be positive advancement or positive decline. Social growth is the slowest of all growths. Fellow members of the League, it is matter of history that the abolition of slavery was the fruit of the fiercest and most protracted agitation in the history of social reforms. Begun practically in 1816 by Benjamin Lundy, having been the chief bone of contention at the very birth of the republic, the agitation for the emancipation of the slave did not cease until Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. When emancipation was an established fact, when the slave had been made a freeman and the freeman had been made a citizen, the Nation reached the conclusion that its duty was fully discharged. A reaction set in after the second election of Gen. Grant to the presidency in 1872, and terminated after the election of Mr. Hayes in 1876, when the Afro American citizen was turned over to the tender mercies of his late masters deserted by the Nation, deserted by the party he had served in peace and in war, left poor and defenseless to fight a foe who had baffled the entire Nation through four years of bloody and destructive war. Patient as a slave, heroic as a soldier, faithful to every trust as a citizen, and faithful above all to the country his valor aided to consecrate anew to the great destiny treason had attempted to destroy, and to the great party God had used to consummate His gracious purposes, even when that party had deserted him, had offered him as a sacrifice upon the altar of expediency and selfish advantage, the Afro American in every situation has proved himself true to the duty imposed upon him true to his country, true to his friends, rising always and at all times to the sublime principles which are at the bed rock of the Federal union. In sunshine and in storm, in the prosperity of peace, and in the convulsion and devastation of war, he has shown that he is a man and a brother. His sublime faith in the Government, his implicit obedience to the law, his undeviating devotion to the party which led him as Moses led the children of Israel out of the house of bondage all this, the noblest conduct of which men are capable, has been used against him as a crime instead of a virtue, as a badge of servility rather than as an ensign of the greatest nobility, hitching upon him the sobriquets of cowardice and ignorance. Is it cowardice in a society governed by law to wait upon the eternal justice of the law to vindicate its outraged majesty? In the Afro American it has been so charged. Is it a crime, a badge of ignorance, to be loyal to friends and consistent in hatred of tireless foes? In the Afro American it has been so charged. Ladies and gentlemen, we have been robbed of the honest wages of our toil; we have been robbed of the substance of our citizenship by murder and intimidation; we have been outraged by enemies and deserted by friends; and because in a society governed by law, we have been true to the law, true to treacherous friends, and as true in distrust of our enemies, it has been charged upon us that we are not made of the stern stuff which makes the Anglo Saxon race the most consummate masters of hypocrisy, of roguery, of insolence, of arrogance, and of cowardice, in the history of races. Was ever race more unjustly maligned than ours? Was ever race more shamelessly robbed than ours? Was ever race used to advance the political and pecuniary fortunes of others as ours? Was ever race so patient, so law abiding, so uncomplaining as ours? Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to call a halt. It is time to begin to fight fire with fire. It is time to stand shoulder to shoulder as men. It is time to rebuke the treachery of friends in the only way that treachery should be rebuked. It is time to face the enemy and fight him inch by inch for every right he denies us. We have been patient so long that many believe that we are incapable of resenting insult, outrage and wrong; we have so long accepted uncomplainingly all that injustice and cowardice and insolence heaped upon us, that many imagine that we are compelled to submit and have not the manhood necessary to resent such conduct. When matters assume this complexion, when oppressors presume too far upon the forbearance and the helplessness of the oppressed, the condition of the people affected is critical indeed. Such is our condition today. Because it is true; because we feel that something must be done to change the condition; because we are tired of being kicked and cuffed by individuals, made the scapegoats of the law, used by one party as an issue and by another as a stepping stone to place and power, and elbowed at pleasure by insolent corporations and their minions, corporations which derive their valuable franchises in part by consent of these very people they insult and outrage it is because of the existence of these things that we are assembled here to day determined to perfect an organization whose one mission shall be to labor by every reasonable and legal means to right the wrongs complained of, until not one right justly ours under the Constitution is denied us. Ladies and gentlemen, I stand here today and assert in all soberness that we shall no longer accept in silence a condition which degrades our manhood and makes a mockery of our citizenship. I believe I voice the sentiments of each member of the League here assembled when I assert that from now and hence we shall labor as one man, inspired with one holy purpose, to wage relentless opposition to all men who would degrade our manhood and who would defraud us of the benefits of citizenship, guaranteed alike to all born upon this soil or naturalizated by the Constitution which has been cemented and made indestructible by our blood in every war, foreign or domestic, waged by this grand Republic. And it is our proud boast that never in the history of this government has an Afro American raised the hand of treason against the star spangled banner. Loyal in every condition to the flag of the Union as slave, as contraband of war, as soldier and as citizen we feel that we have a right to demand of the government we have served so faithfully the measure of protection guaranteed to us and freely granted to the vilest traitor who followed Robert E. Lee. There are Afro American veterans in every State in the Union, of whom it may be said:
If you ask from whence they came, Our answer it shall be, They came from Appomattox And its famous apple tree.
In the name of these veterans, who like their white comrades went back to their homes after the toils of war and mingled in the pursuits of peace, aiding by their industry to pay the enormous debt contracted to vindicate the right of every man born on this soil to be free indeed in the name of these veterans who wore the blue, we appeal here to day to the loyal people of the Nation, to frown upon the manifold wrongs practiced upon us, and to give their sympathy and their support to the movement we have met to inaugurate to combat these wrongs. It is a reproach to this Nation that one man entitled to the protection of the laws should be outraged in his person or in his property, and be unable to get redress. It is a shame and disgrace to the entire people that the arm of the government, which is long enough to reach the naturalized Irishman in British dungeons, toward off the conscriptions of the German government when it would lay unholy hands upon a naturalized German-I say it is a shame and a disgrace that the government has the power to protect the humbles of its citizens in foreign lands and has not the power to protect its citizens at home-if we have a black face. Venerable prelates of the church have been insulted and outraged by corporations; refined and delicate women have been submitted to the grossest indignity on the public highway; men and women are lynched and flogged every day; and a million voters are practically disfranchised, have no representation in Federal or State legislature; and we are told by the supreme court of the land that the government which made the citizen and conferred co-equal rights upon him has no power to protect him in the vital matters here recited. If this be true, if it be true that the power which can create has no power to protect the creature, then it is high time that it secure to itself the necessary power. We appeal to the Nation, which fears a righteous God and loves justice, to judge if our contention here is unreasonable, and we demand of the party now in power, which has promised so much and which enjoyed our best confidence and our support in the past, that it make good the promises made, that it pay us for our confidence and support in the or abide the consequences. We are weary of the empty promises of politicians and the platitudes of national conventions, and we demand a fulfillment of the stipulations in the bond as a condition of our further confidence and support. We do not mince our words here. For the constitutional opponents our rights we have no faith, no confidence, and no support, and of possessed friends we here demand that they perform their part of the contract, which alone can justify the sacrifices we have been called upon to. If it cannot do this, then it has ceased to be the party of Lincoln, of Sumner, of Wilson, and of Logan, and deserves to die, and will die, that another party may rise to finish the uncompleted work, even as the Whig party died that the Republican party might triumph in the Nation. I am no hero worshipper. Parties are not things [unintelligible] [But are brought] into existence by men to serve certain ends. They are the creatures not the creators of men. When they have fulfilled the objects for which were created or when they prove false to the great purpose of their creation, what further use are they? None certainly to us if they do not give us in return for our support the measure of justice and consideration in party management and benefits commensurate with the service we render. I do not speak here as a partisan; I speak as an Afro American, first, last, and all time, ready to stab to death any party which robs me of my confidence and vote and straightway asks me 'what are you going to do about it?' I have served the Republican party, the Prohibition party, and the Democratic party, I speak with the wisdom of experience when I declare that none of them cares a fig for the Afro American further than it can use him. In seeking to rebuke false friends we often make false alliances. If we shall serve the party and the men, as Afro Americans, who serve us best, in the present posture of our citizenship, we shall follow the dictates of the highest wisdom and the most approved philosophy. It will be sound policy on the part of the Leagues here assembled to leave the local Leagues free to pursue such political course in its immediate community as the best interests of the race will seem to dictate. In National affairs it does not seem wise to me for the League to commit itself officially to any party. Let parties commit themselves to the best interests of Afro American citizens, and it will then be time enough for us to commit ourselves to them. We have served parties long enough without benefit to the race. It is now time for parties to serve us some, if they desire our support. I am now and I have always been a race man and not a party man. Let this League be a race league. To make it anything else is to sow the seed of discord, disunion, and disaster at the very beginning of our important work. We stand for the race, and not for this party or that party, and we should know a friend from a foe when we see him. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time that I confine myself to the special matters which have moved us to congregate in this proud city of the West. There come periods in the history of every people when the necessity of their affairs makes it imperative that they take such steps as will show to the world that they are worthy to be free, and therefore entitled to the sympathy of all mankind and to the cooperation of all lovers of justice and fair play. To do this they must unequivocally show that while they may solicit the sympathy and cooperation of mankind, they have the intelligence and courage to know what are their rights and manfully to contend for them, even though that sympathy and cooperation be ungenerously denied them. I am in no sense unmindful of the vastness of the undertaking; but this instead of being a drawback, is rather an incentive to prosecute the matter with more earnestness and persistence. I now give in consecutive order the reasons which in my opinion justify the organization of the National Afro American League, to wit: 1. The almost universal suppression of our ballot in the South, and consequent 'taxation without representation,' since in the cities, counties and States where we have undisputed preponderating majorities of the voting population we have, in the main, no representation, and therefore no voice in the making and enforcing the laws under which we live. 2. The universal and lamentable reign of lynch and mob law, of which we are made the victims, especially in the South, all the more aggravating because all the machinery of the law making and enforcing power is in the hands of those who resort to such outrageous, heinous and murderous violations of the law. 3. The unequal distribution of school funds, collected from all taxpayers alike, and to the equal and undivided benefits of which all are alike entitled. 4. The odious and demoralizing penitentiary system of the South, with its chain gangs, convict leases and indiscriminate mixing of males and females. 5. The almost universal tyranny of common carrier corporations in the South railroad, steamboat and other in which the common rights of men and women are outraged and denied by the minions of these corporations, acting under implicit order in most cases, as well as by common passengers, who take the matter in their own hands as often as they please, and are in no instances pursued and punished by the lawful authorities. 6. The discrimination practiced by those who conduct places of public accommodation, and are granted a license for this purpose, such as keepers of inns, hotels and conductors of theatres and kindred places of amusement, where one man's money, all things being equal, should usually be as good as another's. 7. The serious question of wages, caused in the main by the vicious industrial system in the South, by the general contempt employers feel for employees, and by the overcrowded nature of the labor market. These matters reach down into the very life of our people; they are fundamentally the things which in all times have moved men to associate themselves together in civil society for mutual benefit and protection, to restrain the rapacious and unscrupulous and to protect the weak, the timid and the virtuous; and whenever and wherever a condition of affairs obtains when these principles are disregarded and outraged, it becomes the imperative duty of the aggrieved to take such steps for their correction as the condition of affairs seems to warrant. I know, ladies and gentlemen of the league, that those who are looking to this organization, people in every section of the country, for some sensible action which shall assist in solving the great problems which confront us, as well as the croaking, skeptical few, who do not expect that we shall be able to advance or to accomplish anything which shall survive the hour of our adjournment, have their eyes upon us. I have confidence in the great race of which I am proud to be a member. I have confidence in its wisdom and its patriotism [unintelligible] self sacrifice for the common good. I have faith in the God who rules in the affairs of men, and who will not leave us alone to our own devices if we shall make an honest effort to assist ourselves. Thus fortified in my faith, what have I to propose as remedies for some if not all of the evils against which we have to contend? It shall not be said that I have called you here to a barren feast; it shall not be said by friend or foe that I am an impracticable visionary, a man chasing shadows a man who denounces the fearful structure in which we abide and would tear it down without offering at least a substitute to replace it. I have pondered long and seriously on the evils which beset us, and I have sought, as light was given me, for an antidote to them if such there be. I lay them before you, and you are here to adopt or reject them. I propose, then, 1. The adoption by this league of an Afro American Bank, with central offices in some one of the great commercial centres of the republic and branches all over the country. We need to concentrate our earnings, and a bank is the proper place to concentrate them. And I shall submit a bank scheme which I have devised in the hope to meet the requirements of the situation. I propose (2) the establishment of a bureau of emigration. We need to scatter ourselves more generally throughout the republic. I propose (3) the establishment of a committee on legislation. We need to have a sharp eye upon the measures annually proposed in the Federal and State legislatures affecting us and our interests, and there are laws everywhere in the republic the repeal of which must engage our best thought and effort. I propose (4) the establishment of a bureau of technical industrial education. We need trained artisans, educated farmers and laborers more than we need educated lawyers, doctors, and loafers on the street corners. The learned professions are overcrowded. There is not near so much room at the top as there was in the days of Daniel Webster. And I propose (5) lastly the establishment of a bureau of cooperative industry. We need to buy the necessaries of life cheaper than we can command them in many States. We need to stimulate the business instinct, the commercial predisposition of the race. We not only want a market for the products of our industry, but we want and must have a fair, and a living return for them. To my mind the solution of the problems which make this league a necessity is to be found in the five propositions here stated. Their successful execution will require the very highest order of executive ability and the collection and disbursement of a vast sum of money. Have we brains and the necessary capital to put these vast enterprises into successful motion? I think we have. There are 8,000,000 of us in this country. Some of us are rich and some of us are poor. Some of us are wise and some are foolish. Let us all the rich and the poor, the wise and the foolish resolve to unite and pull together, and the results will speak for themselves. Let us destroy the dead weight of poverty and ignorance which pulls us down and smothers us with the charity, the pity and the contempt of mankind, and all other things will be added unto us. I think this League should have its stronghold in the Southern States. It is in those States that the grievances we complain of have most glaring and oppressive existence; it is in those States that the bulk of our people reside. The League in the North and West will serve to create public opinion in those sections and to coerce politicians into taking a broader view of our grievances and to compel them to pay more respect to our representations and requests than they have ever done before. This will follow fast upon organization and capable management; because we have learned by experience that intelligent sympathy can only be created by intelligent agitation, and that the respect of politicians can only be secured by compulsion, such alone as thorough organization can bring to bear. In the North and West we are not restrained in the free exercise of the ballot, but aside from this, what Benefit accrues to us? Elections come and pass, parties are successful or defeated, but the influence of the race remains simply worthless, the victor and the vanquished alike treating us with indifference or contempt after the election. Every year the indifference and contempt are shown in more pronounced and different ways. It is only by proper organization and discipline that anything to our advantage can be accomplished. In the South like results will follow, save in larger measures, and perhaps at greater cost to individual members of the League, since free speech and action are things which must be fought for there. It cannot be denied that in the South free speech and free action are not tolerated. The white men of that section, in defiance of all constitution and law, have taken affairs into their own hands, and crush out, or attempt to do it, all opinions not in accord with theirs. And this is not only true in matters of a political nature, but of an economical nature. It is stated by those who ought to know that the colored laboring masses of the South are fast falling into a condition not unlike in its terrible features the chattel slavery abolished by constitutional enactment. We have it in the newspapers and we have it from the lips of our own men fresh from all sections of the South that the condition of the Afro-American laborers of their section is simply atrocious and appalling, that the employers of such labor, backed up by ample legislation are by all the machinery of the law, and tyrannical in the conduct of their affairs, in so far that colored laborers have no 'appeal from Caesar drunk to Caesar sober.' The people suffer in silence. This should not be. They should have a voice. The grievances they are forced to suffer should be known of all the world and they must be. An organization national in its ramifications, such as we propose, would be such a voice, so loud that it would compel men to hear it; for if it were silenced in the South, it would be all the louder in the North and the West. Whenever colored men talk of forming anything in which they are to be the prime movers and their grievances are to be the subjects to be agitated, a vast array of men, mostly politicians, and newspaper editors, more or less partisan, and therefore interested in keeping colored voters in a helpless state as far as disorganization and absence of responsible leadership can effect this, cry aloud that `colored men should be the last persons to draw the color line.' So they should be; so they have been; and they would never have drawn any such line, or proposed that any such line be drawn, if white men had not first drawn it, and continue to draw it now in religion, in politics, in educational matters, in all moral movements, like that of temperance for instance. We have not drawn the color line. The A.M.E. Church, did its founders establish it because they did not care to worship with their co religionists? Not a bit of it. They established that magnificent religious organization as a rebuke and a protest against the peanut gallery accommodations offered by white Christians, so called, to colored Christians. The same spirit actuated the founders of the Zion A.M.E. Church and the Colored M.E. Church. It was not the colored Christians, but the white Christians, who, to their eternal shame and damnation, drew the color line, and continue to draw it, even unto this hour. Turn to the Masonic, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias orders did colored men draw the line in these? Did they set up colored lodges all over the country because they did not wish to fraternize with the white orders? The answer can be inferred when it is stated that white Masons, white Odd Fellows and white Knights of Pythias even at this hour refuse to fraternize with or to recognize the legality or regularity of the orders their actions caused Afro Americans to establish. Do Afro Americans desire separate Grand Lodges in the Temperance Order? Did they ask for such? No! But the British and American Good Templars have re united, and the only condition on which the American order would consent to reunion was that the British order would acknowledge that its action of thirteen years ago in seceding from the order on the color question was not odious and unsound in principle. Ladies and gentlemen, let us stand up like men in our own organizations where color will not be a brand of odium. The eternal compromises of our manhood and self respect, true of the past, must cease. Right is right, and we should at no time, or under any circumstances compromise upon anything but absolute right. If the white man cannot rescue our drunkards and evangelize our sinners except by insulting us, let him keep away from us. His contamination under such conditions does us more harm than good. It is not we who have drawn the color line. That is pure nonsense. Take our public schools take the schools and colleges throughout the land; who draw the color line in these? Is there an Afro American school of any sort in the South where a white applicant would be refused admission on account of his color? Not one! Is there a white school in the South where a colored applicant would not be refused admission on account of his color? Not one! The thing is plain. The white man draws the color line in everything he has anything to do with. He is saturated with the black mud of prejudice and intolerance. Leadership must have a following, otherwise it will run to seed and wither up, be of no benefit to the race or to the persons possessing the superior capacity. An army without a general is a mob, at the mercy of any disciplined force that is hurled against it; and a disorganized leaderless race is nothing more than a helpless, restless mob. All those men who have profited by our disorganization and fattened on our labor by class and corporate legislation, will oppose this Afro American League movement. In the intensity of their opposition they may resort to the coward argument of violence; but are we to remain forever inactive, the victims of extortion and duplicity on this account? No, sir. We propose to accomplish our purposes by the peaceful methods of agitation, through the ballot and the courts, but if others use the weapons of violence to combat our peaceful arguments, it is not for us to run away from violence. A man's a man, and what is worth having is worth fighting for. It is proudly claimed that 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.' Certainly the blood of antislavery champions was the seed of Garrison's doctrine of 'the genius of universal emancipation.' Certainly the blood of Irish patriots has been the seed of Irish persistence and success; certainly the blood of Negro patriots was the seed of the independence of Hayti and San Domingo; and in the great revolution of our own country the cornerstones of American freedom were cemented with the blood of black patriots who were not afraid to die; and the refrain which celebrates the heroism and martyrdom of the first men who died that the American colonies might be free will reverberate down the ages.
Long as in freedom's cause the wise contend Dear to your country shall your fame extend; While to the world the lettered stone shall tell Where Caldwell, Attucks, Grey and Maverick fell.'
Attucks, the black patriot he was no coward! Toussaint L'Overture-he was no coward! Nat Turner-he was no coward! And the two hundred thousand black soldiers of the last war they were no cowards! If we have a work to do, let us do it. And if there come violence, let those who oppose our just cause 'throw the first stone.' We have wealth, we have intelligence, we have courage; and we have a great work to do. We should therefore take hold of it like men, not counting our time and means and lives of any consequence further than they contribute to the grand purposes which call us to the work. And now, ladies and gentlemen, in concluding the pleasant task set before me here by your kindness, I would reduce the whole matter, so far as this league is concerned to the following proposition: A large portion of our fellow citizens have determined that the material, civil and political rights conferred upon Afro Americans by the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Federal Constitution shall not be enjoyed by the beneficiaries of them. To all practical intents and purposes these rights have been denied and are withheld, and especially so in the Southern States. That the majority shall not rule; that the laborer shall be robbed of his wages without redress at law; that the citizen shall enjoy no common and civil rights a brute would not scorn; that the principle[s] of taxation and representation are inseparably correlated is without force is fact, as regards Afro Americans here is the work before us. As the agitation which culminated in the abolition of African slavery in this country covered a period of fifty years, so may we expect that before the rights conferred upon us by the war amendments are fully conceded, a full century will have passed away. We have undertaken no child's play. We have undertaken a serious work which will tax and exhaust the best intelligence and energy of the race for the next century. Are we equal to the task imposed upon us? If we are true to ourselves, if we are true to our posterity, if we are true to our country, which has never been true to us, if we are true to the sublime truths of Christianity, we shall succeed we cannot fail. We shall fight under the banner of truth. We shall fight under the banner of justice. We shall fight under the banner of the Federal Constitution. And we shall fight under the banner of honest manhood. Planting ourselves firmly upon these truths, immutable and as fixed in the frame work of social and political progress as the stars in the heavens, we shall eventually fight down opposition, drive caste intolerance to the wall, crush out mob and lynch law, throttle individual insolence and arrogance, vindicate the right of our women to the decent respect of lawless rowdies, and achieve at last the victory which crowns the labors of the patient, resourceful, and the uncompromising warrior. And may the God of Nations bestow upon us and our labors His approving smile and lead us out of the house of bondage into the freedom of absolute justice under the Constitution. |
Minimum wage cut for youth seen as early Reagan-labor confrontation
Labor's first confrontation with the Reagan administration and a more conservative Congress could come early in 1981. At issue: allowing employers to hire young workers at less than the minimum wage.
Although unions will oppose it stubbornly, approval of a lower "youth opportunity wage" now appears likely. In 1977, proposals to lower the minimum for teen-agers lost by one vote in the US House of Representatives and by five in the US Senate.
President-elect Ronald Reagan and a majority in the new 97th Congress favor lowing the minimum wage for young people as a way to relieve the high youth employment rate, now slightly more than 18 percent.
Business strongly supports a differential, arguing that employers would be willing to hire more young, inexperienced workers if they did not have to pay the full minimum rate. The minimum wage now stands at $3.10 an hour but rises on Jan. 1 to $3.35 an hour. Some have suggested that rate would be reduced to between $2.50 and $2.75 an hour.
But organized labor objects to a subminimum for the young. It challenges the effectiveness of "legal pay discrimination" against teen-agers as a way of putting a significant number to work. To the extent that it does, says the AFL-CIO, youth employment gains would be made "by substituting cheaper teen-agers for older workers."
"The only beneficiary of a subminimum wage for the young would be the employer," Ray Denison, the federation's legislative director, is telling hold-over and newly elected members of Congress.
The youth rate would be only a first step in a general attack on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the minimum wage law, says Clara Schloss, research consultant on the minimum wage for the AFL-CIO.
"If you single out teen-agers, who is next --pitting one group of workers against another. A youth subminimum could be a beginning of the end of the law, " she argues.
The US Chamber of Commerce and other business and conservative groups advocate broad changes in the minimum wage law. But they likely will concentrate on the youth wage differential "to open the labor market to thousands of unskilled or inexperienced workers, particularly young minority workers," who are losing jobs now because of the high cost of employing them.
When the minimum wage law was adopted 42 years ago, the act set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. It has been amended six times to increase the minimum and to broaden the law's coverage. The last amendment, in 1977, provided for annual increases in the minimum over a four-year period.
Prior to the Nov. 4 election, liberals in the 96th Congress were set to propose increases in the minimum wage to $4 or more over the next several years. But a number of the principal sponsors of the proposals were defeated. As a result, chances of a new drive for higher rates are now considered slight.
Instead, business is readying a campaign "to hold the line on inflationary increases in the minimum wage and to provide practical alternatives that will encourage rather than discourage, employment of workers on the low economic rung ," in the words of the Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Reagan earlier this year appeared to back a full review of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as proposed by business interests. He said last January that the 1938 law "has caused more misery and unemployment than anything since the Great Depression." Later, bidding for blue-collar votes, he modified his position and urged only revisions that would set lower minimum standards for teen-agers.
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Is AI Headed For Another Winter?
Digital earth 5G AI technology
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has experienced several periods of severe funding cuts and lack of interest, such as during the 1970s and 1980s. They were called “AI winters,” a reference to the concept of nuclear winter where the sun is blocked from a layer of smoke and dust!
But of course, things are much different nowadays. AI is one of the hottest categories of tech and is a strategic priority for companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft and many others.
Yet could we be facing another winter? May things have gone too far? Well, it’s really tough to tell. Keep in mind that prior AI winters were a reaction to the fact that many of the grandiose promises did not come to fruition.
But as of now, we are seeing many innovations and breakthroughs that are impacting diverse industries. VCs are also writing large checks to fund startups while mega tech companies have been ramping their M&A.
Simply put, there are few signs of a slowdown.
A New Kind of AI Winter?
History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes, said Mark Twain. And this may be the case with AI -- that is, we could be seeing a new type of winter. It's where society is negatively affected in subtle ways over a prolonged period of time.
According to Alex Wong, who is the chief scientist and co-founder of DarwinAI, the problem of bias in models is major part of this. For example, AI is being leveraged in hiring, which involves screening for candidates based on large numbers of resumes.
“While this approach might seem data driven and thus objective, there are significant gender and cultural biases in these past hiring practices, which are then learned by the AI in the same way a child can pickup historical biases from what they are taught,” said Alex. “Without deeper investigation, the system will start making biased and discriminatory decisions that can have a negative societal impact and create greater inequality when released into companies.”
But this is not a one off. Bias is really a pervasive problem, corrosive and often goes undetected. In fact, a big reason is the culture of the AI community, which is more focused on striving for accuracy rates – not necessarily interested on the broader impact.
Another factor is that AI tools are becoming more pervasive and are often free to use. So as inexperienced people build models, there is a higher likelihood that we’ll see even more bias in the outcomes.
"An intern can write a couple lines of code in Python to create a sophisticated model in TensorFlow," said Nick Caldwell, who is the CPO of Looker. "This was something that may have taken days or even months for a data sceintist to do not long ago."
What To Do?
Explainability is about understanding AI models. True, this is difficult because deep learning systems can be black boxes. But there are creative ways to deal with this.
Consider the following from Christian Beedgen, who is the co-founder and CTO of Sumo Logic:
“Early in our development of Sumo Logic, we built a generic and unsupervised anomaly detection system to track how often different classifications of logs appeared, with the idea that this would help us spot interesting trends and outliers. Once implemented, however, we found that -- despite a variety of approaches -- the results generated by our advanced anomaly detection algorithms simply were not meaningfully explainable to our users. We realized that the results of sophisticated algorithms don't matter if humans can't figure out what they mean. Since then, we've focused on narrower problem states to create fundamentally simpler -- and therefore more useful -- predictive machinery."
It was a tough lesson but it wound up being critical for the company, as the products got much stronger and useful. Sumo Logic has gone on to raise $230 million and is one of the top players in its space.
What Next?
Going forward, the AI industry needs to be much more proactive, with an urgency for fairness, accountability and transparency. A way to help this along would be to include building features in platforms that provide insights on explainability as well as bias. Even having old-school ethics boards is a good option. After all, this is common for university research.
“AI-influenced decisions that result in discrimination and inequality, when left unchecked by humans, can lead to a loss of trust in AI, which can in turn hinder its widespread adoption, especially in the sectors that could truly benefit,” said Alex. “We should not only strive to improve the transparency and interpretability of deployed AI systems, but educate those who build these systems and make them aware of fairness, data leakage, creator accountability, and inherent bias issues. The goal is not only highly effective AI systems, but also ones that society can trust.”
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Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
Sacrum Imperium Romanum (Latin)
Heiliges Römisches Reich (German)
The Holy Roman Empire at its greatest extent during the Hohenstaufen dynasty (1155–1268) superimposed on modern state borders
CapitalVienna (Reichshofrat from 1497)
Prague (1346–1437, 1583–1611)
Regensburg (Reichstag (Imperial Diet) from 1663)[b]
Wetzlar (Reichskammergericht from 1689)
For other imperial administrative centres, see below.
Common languagesLatin (administrative/liturgical/ceremonial)
Roman Catholicism (800–1806)
Evangelical Lutheranism (1555–1806)
Calvinism (Reformed) (1648–1806)
see details
GovernmentElective monarchy
• 800–814
• 962–973
Otto I (first)
• 1792–1806
Francis II (last)
LegislatureImperial Diet
Historical eraMiddle Ages
Early modern period
• Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Romans[a]
25 December 800
2 February 962
• Conrad II assumes crown of Burgundy
2 February 1033
25 September 1555
24 October 1648
2 December 1805
• Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor forced abdication
6 August 1806
Preceded by
Succeeded by
East Francia
Kingdom of Germany
Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Prussia
Austrian Empire
Confederation of the Rhine
The Holy Roman Empire (Latin: Sacrum Imperium Romanum; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich) was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.[3] The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.[4][5][6]
On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient Western Roman Empire in 476. The title continued in the Carolingian family until 888 and from 896 to 899, after which it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar I, in 924. The title was revived again in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne[7] and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries.[8][9][10] Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire,[11][12] while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning.[13][14] Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role.[5][11]
The exact term "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, but the concept of translatio imperii,[d] the notion that he—the sovereign ruler—held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome, was fundamental to the prestige of the emperor.[5] The office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. The mostly German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected one of their peers as "King of the Romans", and he would later be crowned emperor by the Pope; the tradition of papal coronations was discontinued in the 16th century.
The empire never achieved the extent of political unification as was formed to the west in France, evolving instead into a decentralized, limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of sub-units: kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, Free Imperial Cities, and other domains.[6][15] The power of the emperor was limited, and while the various princes, lords, bishops, and cities of the empire were vassals who owed the emperor their allegiance, they also possessed an extent of privileges that gave them de facto independence within their territories. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806 following the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by emperor Napoleon I the month before.
Double-headed eagle with coats of arms of individual states, the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire (painting from 1510)
In various languages the Holy Roman Empire was known as: Latin: Sacrum Imperium Romanum, German: Heiliges Römisches Reich, Spanish: Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico, Italian: Sacro Romano Impero, Czech: Svatá říše římská, Polish: Święte imperium rzymskie, Slovene: Sveto rimsko cesarstvo, Dutch: Heilige Roomse Rijk, French: Saint-Empire romain.[16] Before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire.[17] The term sacrum ("holy", in the sense of "consecrated") in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was used beginning in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa ("Holy Empire"): the term was added to reflect Frederick's ambition to dominate Italy and the Papacy.[18] The form "Holy Roman Empire" is attested from 1254 onward.[19]
In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin: Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Germanicæ),[20][21] a form first used in a document in 1474.[18] The new title was adopted partly because the Empire had lost most of its Italian and Burgundian (Kingdom of Arles) territories to the south and west by the late 15th century,[22] but also to emphasize the new importance of the German Imperial Estates in ruling the Empire due to the Imperial Reform.[23] By the end of the 18th century, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" had fallen out of official use. Besides, contradicting the traditional view concerning that designation, Hermann Weisert has stated in a study on imperial titulature that, despite the claim of many textbooks, the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" never had an official status and points out that documents were thirty times as likely to omit the national suffix as include it.[24] This, or the shortened "Roman Empire of the German Nation", is often used in Germany to refer to the Holy Roman Empire.
In a famous assessment of the name, the political philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) remarked sardonically: "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."[25]
Other Languages
беларуская (тарашкевіца): Сьвятая Рымская імпэрыя
客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî: Sṳ̀n-sṳn Lò-mâ Ti-koet
Bahasa Indonesia: Kekaisaran Romawi Suci
interlingua: Sacre Imperio Roman
Lingua Franca Nova: Impero Roman Santa
Bahasa Melayu: Empayar Suci Rom
Nedersaksies: Heilige Roomse Riek
Nordfriisk: Hilag Röömsk Rik
oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча: Muqaddas Rim imperiyasi
Piemontèis: Imperi Roman Sacrà
Simple English: Holy Roman Empire
slovenščina: Sveto rimsko cesarstvo
srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски: Sveto Rimsko Carstvo
татарча/tatarça: İzge Rim imperiäse
West-Vlams: Illig Rôoms Ryk |
What is morning depression and its causes
हिंदी में पढ़ें
What is morning depression and its causes
Photo credit: jmlalonde.com
Morning depression is kind of mental depression but as the name suggests it happens in the morning only. This type of illness is also called melancholia. It is hard to diagnose this problem and in most cases, people ignore it, as they think of it as a normal day to day problem. However, morning depression is a serious condition as it affects the productivity of the person and it takes away their will to be happy. Morning depression can be caused by many reasons, like irregular sleeping routine, mental stress or even health issues. Morning depression is just your body’s way of reminding you that you need to refocus your energy on improving your condition. (Also read: What are the everyday habits that are making your depression worse)
The causes of morning depression
Dysfunctional sleeping cycle
Sleeping routine is one of the most important things to maintain a healthy mental state. In most cases, the morning depression is a result of lack of a proper sleeping cycle. Many people nowadays work in the night shifts, which ruins their biological clock leading to morning depression.
Unhealthy Circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythm is basically your body’s internal clock. In case of morning depression, the body actually finds it hard to function and maintain a normal and healthy circadian rhythm. This causes morning depression. (Also read: Can depression run in the genetics of the family)
Change of season
Some people find the change of seasons depressing, especially winter. There is lack of light in winter, making it hard to get the required dose of vitamin D. Therefore, in many cases, it leads to morning depression in the winter season.
Sometimes the work stress gets very overwhelming, due to which the person feels demotivated to go through the day.
Signs of morning depression
• Difficulty in getting out of bed
• Lack of energy and motivation in the morning
• Feeling exhausted throughout the day
• Being in negative and cranky mood the whole day
• Lack of appetite
• No willpower to work and go through the day
• Feeling upset about little things
• Constant mood swings and stress. (Also read: How music therapy can help to fight the depression)
Disclaimer / Terms of Usage
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Numbers, Science with Bread, and Flour
Children are naturally little scientists. They are curious about the unknown and enjoy investigating new ideas. The class’s study of bread began at the same time seasonal illnesses peaked. To help teach the children the importance of hand washing, I used bread to illustrate how quickly germs spread. A perfect way to introduce the scientific method and have a good time learning! We discussed the proposed experiment and defined the vocabulary. The new terms that were explained were: control, hypothesize, and purpose. First, the class and I made the observation that germs are everywhere, that there are good and bad germs, and that we pass a lot of germs with our hands. Next we asked how quickly do germs on our hands spread? The class decided that the germs will spread fast on the bread that they were going to touch with dirty hands. The class took a vote, and we tallied the votes, to decide how long we are going to watch the bread; the conclusion was to watch the bread for a month. The experiment called for touching bread with clean and dirty hands then to put the bread in plastic baggies for observation. There were three slices total. One slice was the control, the slice that nothing happened to and would be used to compare, it was handled with a glove. The second slice, the “clean” slice, I put in the baggie with freshly cleaned hands. The third piece, the “dirty” slice, was passed around the class; their unwashed hands handled the slice and passed it from one child to the other. After the handling of the dirty slice, the children cleaned their hands. The goal of this experiment is to see that germs spread quicker on the slice of bread handled by dirty hands. Therefore, germs spread a lot faster when we do not wash our hands. Hopefully the take away from this experiment is we all need to keep our hands clean to minimize the spread of germs!
Since we have begun our bread study, I added flower in the sensory bin. I have never seen the class this excited about the sensory bin, and we have had some fun things in it this year. Sensory play enhances learning through hands-on activities that stimulate the child's senses. This is a great way for children to explore the world they live in and take the bread study to the next level. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.
Number (and letter) recognition take a lot of practice. Ideally, the children learn and review the numbers and letters in many different ways so as to anchor it in their memory. Many parents have asked me over the years for ways to help their child learn their numbers and letters. The biggest tip I can give is to review them out of order. Yes, learning the order is absolutely important, however, by reviewing and learning the number/letter out of order, you can see that the child is really focusing on the number/letter and not just rotely counting or singing a song. Sometimes the songs and rote memorization can distract the child from focusing on specific number or letter.
The numbers 11-20 tend to give this age group a hard time, I have seen it year in and year out. I devised a game to help teach the individual numbers and order of the numbers. It also gives me the opportunity to include a number line in the conversation. Each child received a number card, out of order, and I randomly called numbers 8-20. As I called the numbers the children had to look at their card to see if it was the number I called. If it was the one I called, they had to look at the students already in line and find their place. This hits several skills we are working on in a fun new way. One of the joys of teaching is seeing the excitement on students faces when a concepts clicks.
The semester is ramping up and we are looking forward to making memories and learning as much as possible!
Mrs. Claire
Claire Gordon |
What Are Bunions And How Can They Be Treated?
By The Foot and Ankle Group
June 08, 2016
Category: Foot Health
Tags: bunions
Whether due to injury, overuse or a medical condition, foot pain can be a frustrating experience which makes walking and even just bunionsstanding more difficult. Bunions are a common source of foot pain from which about 30% of older adults suffer. Luckily, this condition is treatable with help from your Philadelphia, PA podiatrist.
What is a bunion?
A bunion is a bony growth located at the base of the big toe. The bunion grows outward towards the inside of the foot, causing a lump. As it grows, the bunion pushes the big toe toward the smaller toes, eventually causing the foot to deform. Due to its location, the bunion takes the brunt of the body’s weight, causing pain, swelling and irritation. Additionally, the bunion’s shape causes rubbing against the shoe. Though the cause of bunions varies, it is widely agreed that narrow, tight and high-heeled shoes contribute to their growth, along with genetics.
How can I tell if I have a bunion?
Bunions characteristically present themselves as a large lump on the inside of the foot below the big toe. However, there are other symptoms of bunions which include:
• pain around the lump
• swelling or irritation around the lump
• soreness in the front part of the foot
• reduced range of motion in the big toe
• calluses around the big toe
How are bunions treated in Philadelphia?
Many cases of bunions simply need proper monitoring to prevent them from becoming larger. Wearing shoes with a wide toe box to accommodate the shape of the bunion decreases the chance of irritation. Avoiding high-heeled or narrow dress shoes also helps decrease the odds of the bunion growing. Icing and elevating the foot once or twice a day alongside over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen helps relieve swelling. Your doctor may recommend prescription orthotics to help evenly distribute your body weight onto your foot. In severe cases, bunion surgery removes the whole growth and realigns the toes.
For more information on bunions, please contact your doctor at The Foot and Ankle Group in Philadelphia, PA. Call (215) 332-5300 to speak with an associate about scheduling your appointment today! |
A substance, C7H17NO3, that is derived from choline and is released at the ends of nerve fibers in the somatic and parasympathetic nervous systems, where it mediates the transmission of nerve impulses.
(ˌæsɪtaɪlˈkəʊliːn; -lɪn)
(əˌsit lˈkoʊ lin, əˌsɛt-)
a short-acting neurotransmitter, widely distributed in the body, that functions as a nervous system stimulant, a vasodilator, and a cardiac depressant.
Abbr.: ACh
a•ce`tyl•cho•lin′ic (-ˈlɪn ɪk) adj.
A neurotransmitter that triggers activity by muscles or secretory glands.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.acetylcholine - a neurotransmitter that is a derivative of cholineacetylcholine - a neurotransmitter that is a derivative of choline; released at the ends of nerve fibers in the somatic and parasympathetic nervous systems
neurotransmitter - a neurochemical that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse
References in periodicals archive ?
They also demonstrated blocking acetylcholine receptors disrupts learning and memory.
Acetylcholine, cholinergic antagonist-atropine, histamine, and H1 antagonist-pheniramine maleate were procured from SD-Fine Chemicals Pvt.
As we age, acetylcholine levels in the brain naturally decrease, but Alzheimer's causes a dramatic multiplier effect that takes us from being forgetful to a different level, says Dr.
While there is no blood test to determine low levels of acetylcholine, there are signs:
45 percent respectively indicating that acetylcholine and serotonin causes an increase in contractility of isolated ileal smooth muscle in comparison to paroxetine which has a depressant effect on motility.
In conjunction, RPI-78M is expected to be beneficial in neuromuscular disorders where the activity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor has been compromised.
apple juice, theorized to increase acetylcholine levels; and
Finally, to determine the interaction of hydroalcoholic extract of ginger and the cholinergic system, the experiment was continued as follow: after seen of relaxation effect of extract for 30 minutes, acetylcholine as the cholinergic agonist with dose of 2 x [10.
The KRONUS Acetylcholine Receptor BINDING and BLOCKING Autoantibody test kits utilize an [I.
Serotonin (95% of the neurotransmitters found in GI tract) can stimulate cholinergic neurons to release acetylcholine which results in smooth muscle contraction.
Doctors that see patients exposed to sarin gas will usually administer intravenous drugs like atropine to block the muscle effects and pralidoxime, which reinvigorates the body's ability to break down acetylcholine.
The first was to enhance the acetylcholine production in synapses. |
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