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July 10, 2016 Gar Smith - Robots, Nature and the Singularity While there are links to the discussion on the future of killer robots, known as LAWS (lethal autonomous weapons systems), there are also three important differences to keep in mind. First, this was not an autonomous robot; both the robot and the explosive were remotely operated. Second, this was not a designed weapons system. There are many ground robots under development that are armed with weapons like machine guns and missile launchers, from the prototypes of the US MAARS to the Chinese Sharp Claw. But this was the case of using an older robot designed for something else. And, third, the concerns driving the "killer robots" debate center on whether we can prevent the unleashing of self-operating robots on the battlefield, for which militaries around the world are beginning to establish plans and doctrines. The debate is driven by a concern that such a future might cause both greater civilian harm and a lack of accountability. By contrast, this was an ad hoc use, just like the case in Iraq. There is no doctrine that planned this out, no training manuals that police were following, nor development programs for this use. It also doesn't appear to have risked civilian harm or raised accountability concerns of the kind that motivate the killer robots debate. There are links to that debate but they are more about the many different directions robot use might go to next. "We've got scientists who've built robots that use a microbial fuel cell to power themselves when they're released into the wild. And how do they power themselves? By using these microbial fuel cells to feed on the bodies of living creatures. Robots that eat, released in the wild. Now, Fox News recently reported that the Pentagon's Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, mark the acronym, it spells EDER, powers itself by gobbling up whatever organic matter it can find: grass, wood, even dead bodies. Now, the Pentagon's Maryland based contractor had to rush out with a press release saying that really, our EDER machine is a strict vegetarian, not to worry. But not before the National Post noted, headline: "Artificially Intelligent, Self-Fueling Killer Machines: What Can Go Wrong?" . . . The first robot was fielded in World War II. It's called the Goliath. It was a crawling remote-controlled bomb tethered to an electric leash, it was four foot squared, . . and you can ride up and into an enemy bunker and blow it up. In 2007, DARPA, our Defense Research Agency, introduced a Goliath of their own in Iraq. The Special Weapon Observation Remote Direct Action System, aka Swords, was a ground-based killer droid with video eyeballs and light machine gun on its top. During its first deployment in Iraq, however, the Swords droid reportedly turned their weapons on US forces and the experiment was abruptly cancelled. The Pentagon continues to deny this happened." - Gar Smith. (8:30 - 10:45 in the video below). "A U.S. Joint Forces Command study predicts the deployment of fully autonomous battlefield robots by the year 2025. And, sure, like humans, these super-strong, super-smart robots will occasionally make mistakes and kill innocent civilians, but unlike humans, they won't experience guilt or suffer from PTSD. On November 21, 2012, the Pentagon issued a fifteen page directive calling for an autonomous weapons system that once activated can select and engage targets without human supervision. But the Pentagon had already taken steps in 2005 to build a $130 billion dollar robot army. The Future Combat Systems program, the largest military contract on record at that time, was designed to replace human robots with mechanical terminators at one-tenth the cost. Eliminating humans from combat would save billions in combat pay and veterans benefits. The Navy, meanwhile, has already developed prototype missiles and ships that can seek out and engage the enemy without human oversight. But there is resistance." - Gar Smith (15:05 - 16:18 in the video below). Video Title: Gar Smith - Robots, Nature and the Singularity. Source: IntlForum. Date Published: March 20, 2015. Description:
K-Bearing stratospheric aerosols as indicators of low energy electromagnetic pollution Main Article Content During the past five years, a team of Agrogeological Division of the Hungarian Geological and Geophysical Institute has studied the nutrient elements potential of the East-Hungarian sandy soils. Among these elements, the natural potassium sources are insufficient, i.e. neither the soil forming sediments, nor the groundwater cannot satisfy the consumption of the plants. Therefore, the unique K-source seems to be the meteoric water. The authors consulting more than three hundred geochemical, ecological, meteorological, astrophysical and radiological articles, identified the origin of atmospheric K-bearing aerosols Thus, in this paper, the K-salts, as the main aerosol particles in ice and rain nucleation, with stratospheric origin were discussed, mainly based on references. In the stratosphere, the solid particles show a well expressed stratification: aerosols from desertic, volcanic and anthropogenic origin are concentrated mainly at 20 km altitude, the cosmogenic particles are observable at 50–60 km, while the measurements prove a relatively uniform distribution of K bearing particles, decreasing abruptly in the troposphere, under cloud formation level. K-bearing aerosols form micron sized, soft flakes built up by very thin acicular crystals. They represent ideal nuclei for ice split and rain drop formation. Therefore, we suppose, that the stratospheric potassium is formed by cosmic radiation induced Ar/K reaction, the reverse of K/Ar decay. The increased K+ content in rainwater (or snow) samples above of highly populated centers is explained by the same Ar/K reaction, which is induced by low energy electromagnetic waves (UHF smog) due to (experimented) their Tunnel effect. Article Details How to Cite KALMÁR, János; OHANESIAN, Varlan. K-Bearing stratospheric aerosols as indicators of low energy electromagnetic pollution. Geo-Eco-Marina, [S.l.], v. 24, p. 93-100, jan. 2019. ISSN 1224-6808. Available at: <http://journal.geoecomar.ro/geo-eco-marina/article/view/05_2018>. Date accessed: 20 mar. 2019. doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2549914.
Claims of superstition It happened in the Middle East over many centuries, whenever people suffered from leprosy. It happened in Europe, during the time of the Black Death. It happened in London, in 1666, when England’s capital city was destroyed by fire. It happened in Britain, in the 1800’s, when overcrowding and bad drains caused hundreds of thousands of people to die from typhus and cholera. It happened in New Zealand and throughout the world in 1919, when many people died from the influenza plague. It happened in our lifetime, when Aids arrived and fundamentalists thought God was punishing people for sexual misbehaviour. Whenever there is a plague or pestilence, there is always an initial reaction caused by superstition and ignorance. People forget that Jesus spent much of his time fighting disease, and Jesus implied that if disease comes from God, then it means Jesus is fighting God. A similar debate is reported in the Bible. In Matthew 12: 22-32, and Jesus went on to suggest that anyone attributing evil to God’s Spirit is committing an unforgivable sin. Christians should have long outgrown the idea that God is a God of vengeance who, like a bully, strikes people down whenever they think or act differently from the way God intends. When God cannot get his own way he doesn’t lash out with things like cancer, fires, Aids, earthquakes, and car crashes. Some years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury said, in the course of a sermon: “Reading Christian history should tell us as clearly as we could wish that there is hardly any church that has not been responsible at some point for another church’s suffering.” Churches have suffered, certainly, but so have countless people who make up the churches. Many people have suffered as a result of ignorant people’s rush to judgment.
Special Edition on ZAKAT UL-FITR Friday, June 08, 2018 Zakat ul-fitr is a type of sadaqah which must be paid by every Muslim, young and old, male and female, free and slave, at the end of the month of fasting (Ramadan). Al-Bukhari and Muslim relate from Ibn ‘Umar that he said: “The Prophet, upon whom be peace, enjoined the payment of one Sa’ of dates or one Sa’ of barley as zakat ul-fitr on every Muslim, young and old, male and female, free and slave.” The Purpose of Zakat ul-Fitr Zakat ul-fitr was made obligatory in the month of Sha’ban in the second year of the hijrah. Its purpose is to purify one who fasts from any indecent act or speech and to help the poor and needy. This view is based upon the hadith reported by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and ad-Daraqutni from Ibn ‘Abbas. The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace, enjoined Zakat ul-Fitr on the one who fasts to shield one’s self from any indecent act or speech and for the purpose of providing food for the needy. It is accepted as zakah for the person who pays it before the ‘id salah, and it is sadaqah for the one who pays it after the salah. Who Must Pay Zakat ul-Fitr Zakat ul-fitr is incumbent on every free Muslim who possesses one Sa’ of dates or barley which is not needed as a basic food for himself or his family for the duration of one day and night. Every free Muslim must pay zakat ul-fitr for himself, his wife, children, and servants. The Amount of Zakat ul-Fitr The required amount of zakat ul-fitr is one sa’ of wheat, barley, raisins, dry cottage cheese (aqit), rice, corn, or similar items considered as basic foods (qut). Abu Hanifah made it permissible to set aside, as a Zakat ul-fitr, an equivalent value and also said that if the payer pays in wheat, one-half of a Sa’ would be sufficient. Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported: “We used to give on behalf of every child, old person, freeman, and slave during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace, one Sa’ of food, or one Sa’ of dried cottage cheese, or one sa’ of barley, or one sa’ of dates, or one Sa’ of raisins as zakat ul-fitr. We continued to do so until Mu’awiyyah came to us to perform pilgrimage (hajj) or a minor pilgrimage ( ‘umrah). He then addressed the people from the pulpit and said to them: ‘I see that two mudds of wheat of Syria equals one Sa’ of dates.’ The people accepted that.” However, Abu Sa’id contended: “I would continue to give as I used to give, namely, one sa’ as long as I live.” This is related by most hadith narrators. At-Tirmizhi remarks: “Some of the scholars gave one Sa’ from every charitable item [which is accepted as a sound practice].” Ash-Shaf’I and Ishaq sustain this view but some other scholars gave one Sa’ from every charitable item except wheat, of which only half a sa’ would be sufficient. This is the saying of Sufyan, Ibn al-Mubarak, and the scholars of Kufah. When Zakat ul-Fitr is Due The jurists agree that zakat ul-fitr is due at the end of Ramadan. They differ, however, about the exact time. Ath-Thauri, Ahmad, Ishaq, and ash-Shaf’i (in his later opinion), and Malik (in one of his reports) are of the opinion that it is due at the sunset of the night of breaking the fast, for this is when the fast of Ramadan ends. Abu Hanifah, al-Layth, ash-Shaf’i (in his original opinion), and the second report of Malik say that zakat ul fitr is due at the start of fajr on the day of ‘id. These two different views acquire relevance if a baby is born after sunset but before dawn on the day of ‘id; the question then is whether zakat ul-fitr is obligatory for the baby or not. In accordance with the first view, it is not since the birth took place after the prescribed time, while according to the second view, it is due because the birth took place within the prescribed space of time. Paying Zakat ul-Fitr in Advance Most scholars believe that it is permissible to pay zakat ul-fitr a day or two before ‘id. Ibn ‘Umar reports that the Messenger, upon whom be peace, ordered them to pay zakat ul-fitr before the people went out to perform the ‘id prayers. Nafi’ reports that ‘Umar used to pay it a day or two before the end of Ramadan. However, scholars hold different opinions when a longer time period is involved. According to Abu Hanifah, it is permissible to pay it even before Ramadan. Ash-Shaf’i holds that it is permissible to do so at the beginning of Ramadan. Malik and Ahmad (in his well-known view) maintain that it is permissible to pay it only one or two days in advance. The founders of the four accepted Islamic legal schools agree that zakat ul-fitr is not nullified simply by not paying it on its due date. If such is the case, it becomes a debt on the one responsible for it until it is paid. They also agree that it is not permissible to delay it until the day of ‘id, but Ibn Sirin and Nakha’i say that this can be done. Ahmad says: “I hope that there is no harm [in the delay of its payment].” Ibn Raslan says that there is a consensus that its payment cannot be delayed just because it is a type of zakah. Thus, any delay is a sin and is analogous to delaying one’s prayers without an acceptable excuse. This is proved by the following hadith: “If one pays zakat ul-fitr before the salah, it is considered an accepted zakah. If he pays it after the salah, it is considered an ordinary sadaqah.” Distribution of Zakat ul-Fitr The distribution of zakat ul-fitr is the same as that of zakah-- that is, it has to be distributed to the eight groups of beneficiaries mentioned in the ‘ayah: “The alms are only for the poor ...” [at-Taubah 60]. The category comprising the poor is considered the most deserving. This is also supported by the hadith: “The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace, enjoined zakat ul-fitr as a purification for the one who fasts from any indecent act or speech, and as food for the needy.” Eid al-Fitr “festival of breaking of the fast”) is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). The religious Eid is the first and only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast. The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr is observed when the first new moon is sighted. This can lead to the festival being celebrated on different days in different parts of the world. While some Muslims wait to be able to see the moon themselves, many either use the calculated time of the new moon, or base it on the declaration made in Saudi Arabia. How is Eid al-Fitr celebrated? On the day of Eid, Muslims gather at mosques in the morning to perform the Eid prayer, before holding family gatherings and visiting friends. Muslims share feasts and sweets to mark the end of the fasting period, and greet each other by saying “Eid Mubarak” - which roughly translates as “happy Eid” or “blessed Eid.” The celebrations last for three days, and are seen as a time of forgiveness and of giving thanks to Allah for helping people to complete their spiritual fasting. Many Muslims display this thanksgiving by giving donations and food to those less fortunate than themselves. Many Muslims attend communal prayers and listen to a khutba or sermon on the first day of the month of Shawwal. These prayers are held outside or in large venues, such as sports arenas, in some places. Many Muslims may travel far to participate in these activities. Some communities organize different festivities, such as communal meals or events for children, on this day. If a Muslim has not given zakat al-fitr during Ramadan, he or she can give this on Eid-al-Fitr. Zakat al-fitr is a form of charity consisting of a quantity of food, such as barley, dates, raisins or wheat flour, or its monetary equivalent given to the poor. Many Muslims may also prepare festive meals to share, wear new clothes, visit relatives and give presents or candy to children. Cards can also be sent, often featuring the words “Eid Mubarak” (Blessed Eid).
Thursday, 23 July 2015 Diet for active kids Kids involve more than 18hrs /day in physical and mental activity, so we must provide healthy diet that helps them to maintain their nutrients level in body. Balance of nutrients boost their immunity that helps them to grow well and protect their body from diseases. we can catogerize kids diet by following ways: super diet( 2/day): almond milk: soak the almond in a milk helps them to grow their brain development. brown rice and stuffed chapati: helps them in growth of muscles and provide stamina for their cognitive and motor development. pulses: helps in fast wear and tear actions egg: provide muscle growth and strong their liver to restore basic major nutrients curd: increase the capability of digestive system. white butter: soothes system and improve their bowel movement fruit: provide multi vitamin for maintaining glucose cycle in a body mutton : improve rbc(red blood cell) level. exercise or running: make your kid more physically and mentally active cheating diet(1/15 days) pizza: give your kids psycological happiness and feel pampered. junk food choose from healthy and branded place to protect your child from infection. No comments:
Robertson's Word Pictures in the NT - Greek NT vers 1. Again. He had taught there before. See iii. 7-9. In the sea. Mark only. There was gathered (sunagetai). The A.V. misses Mark's graphic use of the present, "There is gathered." So Rev. vers 7. Choked (sunepnixan). The preposition, sun = com (together), carries the idea of com-pression. It yielded no fruit. Added by Mark. vers 8. That sprang up and increased (anabainonta kai auxanomenon). The Rev. literally renders the participles, growing up and increasing, thus describing the process more vividly. These two participles, moreover, explain the use of the imperfect tense ejdidou (yielded), denoting continuance. It began to yield and kept yielding as it increased. Thirty (eiv triakonta). Lit., up to thirty. vers 10. When he was alone. Mark only. They that were about him with the twelve. Mark only. Matthew and Luke, the disciples. vers 11. Unto them that are without (ekeinoiv toiv exw). The two latter words are peculiar to Mark. The phrase means those outside of our circle. Its sense is always determined by the contrast to it. Thus, 1 Corinthians v. 12,13, it is non-Christians in contrast with me. Col. iv. 5, Christians, contrasted with people of the world. Compare 1 Thessalonians iv. 12; 1 Tim. iii. 7. Matthew (xiii. 11), with less precision, uses simply ejkeinoiv (to them), the pronoun of remote reference. Luke viii. 10, toiv loipoiv (to the rest). vers 13. Peculiar to Mark. Parables (tav parabolav). The parables, which I have spoken or may hereafter speak. vers 14. The sower soweth the word. More precise than either Matthew or Luke. Compare Matt. xiii. 19; Luke viii. 11. vers 19. The lusts of other things entering in (ai peri ta loipa epiqumiai). Lusts not in the limited sense of mere sexual desire, but in the general sense of longing. The word is also used of desire for good and lawful things (Luke xxii. 15; Philip. i. 23). vers 20. Such as. A good rendering of the pronoun oitinev, which indicates the class of hearers. vers 21. A candle (o lucnov). Properly, the lamp, as Rev. Brought (ercetai). Lit., cometh. Doth the lamp come? This impersonation or investing the lamp with motion is according to Mark's lively mode of narrative, as is the throwing of the passage into the interrogative form. Compare Luke viii. 16. The lamp: the article indicating a familiar household implement. So also "the bed " and "the stand." Bushel (modion). The Latin modius. One of Mark's Latin words. See on Matt. v. 15. The modius was nearer a peck than a bushel. Bed (klinhn). A couch for reclining at table. Candlestick (lucnian). Rev., correctly, stand; i.e., lamp stand. See on Matt. v. 15. vers 22. Which shall not be manifested (ean mh ina fanerwqh). The A.V. makes Christ say that every hidden thing shall be revealed. This is wrong. He says that things are hidden in order that they may be manifested. Concealment is a means to revelation. vers 26. Should cast (balh). Lit., should have cast, the aorist tense, followed by the presents sleep and rise (kaqeudh and egeirhtai). The whole, literally, "As if a man should have cast seed into the ground, and should be sleeping and rising night and day." The aorist tense indicates the single act of casting; the presents the repeated, continued sleeping and rising while the seed is growing. Seed (ton sporon). The seed; that particular seed which he had to sow. Such is the force of the article. vers 27. Grow (mhkunhtai). Lit., lengthen; be extended by the seed lengthening out into blade and stalk. He knoweth not how (wJv oujk oiden aujtov). The Greek order is very lively: how knoweth not he. vers 28. Of herself (automath). Lit., self-acting. It occurs in only one other passage of the New Testament, Acts xii. 10; of the city gate which opened to Peter of its own accord. vers 29. Putteth in (apostellei). Lit., sendeth forth. So Rev. in margin. The rendering, putteth in, misses the figure. The verb is the same as that used of sending forth the apostles to reap the harvest of souls. See especially John iv. 38: "I sent (apesteila) you to reap." vers 30. Peculiar to Mark. With what comparison shall we compare it? (en tini authn parabolh qwmen). Lit., In what parable might we put it? Rev., In what parable shall we set it forth? Note the we, taking the hearers, with a fine tact, into consultation. vers 31. When it is sown (otan sparh). This phrase is repeated in verse 32. Here the emphasis is on otan, when. It is small at the time when it is sown. In verse 32 the emphasis is on sparh, it is sown. It begins to grow great from the time when it is sown. That are upon the earth. A little detail peculiar to Mark. vers 32. Groweth up. Mark only. Herbs (twn lacanwn). Rev., rightly, the herbs; those which people are wont to plant in their gardens. The word denotes garden - or pot-herbs, as distinguished from wild herbs. Lodge (kataskhnoun), See on Matt. viii. 20. Lit., pitch their tents. vers 33. Such. Implying that Mark knew yet more parables that were spoken at that time. As they were able to hear it. Peculiar to Mark. vers 36. Even as he was in the ship. Rev., boat. Just as he was, in the boat in which he was then sitting. Mark adds the detail about the accompanying boats. vers 37. Storm (lailay). So Luke. Distinctively furious storm or hurricane. Compare Septuagint, Job xxxviii. 1, of the whirlwind out of which God answered Job. See, also, Job xxi. 18. Matthew uses seismov, a shaking. See on Matt. viii. 24. Mr. Macgregor ("Rob Roy on the Jordan") says that "on the sea of Galilee the wind has a singular force and suddenness; and this is no doubt because that sea is so deep in the world that the sun rarefies the air in it enormously, and the wind, speeding swiftly above a long and level plateau, gathers much force as it sweeps through flat deserts, until suddenly it meets this huge gap in the way, and it tumbles down here irresistible." vers 38. A pillow (to proskefalaion). The definite article indicates a well-known part of the boat's equipment - the coarse leathern cushion at the stern for the steersman. The Anglo-Saxon version has bolster. vers 39. Peace, be still (siwpa, pefimwso). Lit., be silent! be muzzled! Wyc., rather tamely, wax dumb! How much more vivid than the narratives of either Matthew or Luke is this personification and rebuke of the sea as a raging monster. Ceased (ekopasen). From kopov, meaning, 1, beating; 2, toil; 3, weariness. A beautiful and picturesque word. The sea sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating. There was (egeneto). More strictly, there arose or ensued. The aorist tense indicates something immediate. Tynd. has followed. Calm. Wyc., peaceableness. vers 41. They feared exceedingly (efobhqhsan fobon megan). Lit., they feared a great fear. What manner of man is this? (tiv ara outov estin). The A.V. is rather a rendering of Matthew's potapov, what manner of (viii. 27), than of Mark's tiv, who. The Rev. gives it rightly: Who then is this? The then (ara) is argumentative. Since these things are so, who then is this? - Main Index Home \| About LW \| Site Map \| LW Publications \| Search Developed by © Levend Water All rights reserved
Biblical view and definition of stress Although I could not find biblical references using the word ‘stress’, it is evident that the Bible addresses stress using other terminologies including: distress, adversity, disaster, tribulations, ordeals, suffering etc. From a research point of view, stress is defined as ‘the harmful reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them’, a state of physical, psychological or social flaw which makes individuals feel unable to bridge the gap between the requirements and the expectations placed on them. ‘A mismatch of what one is capable of doing and what one is expected to do’ (Cooper 1998). However, the Christian meaning of the word stress differs from the worldly definition. This is because the appraisal of events differs. It has been suggested that stress, be individually defined and understood with reference to both the individual and his environment by (Marshall & Cooper 1981). In agreement, (Holroyd & Lazarus 1982) insist that the actual experience of stress is highly personal and dependent on one’s subjective appraisal of events. Arguably, stress means different things to different people and their way of managing it, is subjective and dependent on the person. Contrary to this belief, the bible states that the Christian is only exposed to as much pressure as they can cope with dependence on God and his power other than our own. They are also enabled to deal with all stress and problems that come their way. Hence the response of all Christians is the same “capable” despite the stressor type or the size of the stressor. As it were, the most stressful seasons in our lives reach the summit, the moment we realize we can’t do it all. Hence, the experience and management of the stress for Christians are fully dependent on God rather than the individual. Therefore, it is important to note that mediating stress requires us to take a good look at ourselves, identify our stressors and commit them to God in full trust other than losing our breath in anxiety and fear. Notably, the concept of individually defining or understanding life’s experiences is well displayed in the New Testament when Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do people say I am?” The disciples gave some answers including Elisha, John the Baptist, Jeremiah etc. Then Jesus further interrogated them: “But who do you yourselves say that I am ?” Jesus knew that their personal understanding of who he was would determine how they lived their lives after he was gone. Similarly, the personal understanding and belief of the Christian, will determine how they define and manage stress. Arguably, our position, view and approach to the stress will determine how we manage it. If we look at stress from God’s view and perspective, we will manage it in His way. On the contrary, if we view stress from our own platform, we will manage it according to our own view, feelings and strength. Therefore, let us strive to start from God’s perspective; it’s where the power is. Without His power, it’s too hard to rise up and overcome stress. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s %d bloggers like this:
Rain and water needed for crops and moisture. But we don’t need rain for floods and rising water levels. Rain. When and why did Yahveh start pouring it down on humankind on Earth? Rain is a matter of the right proportion and right timing. For so many years it seems nature has gotten it right. Now, we are beginning to wonder. Maybe not so much about nature as about humankind and our effect on rain. (Origin of Humankind, chapter 2.3) Today we’re going to see the overall transition from Genesis 1 to Genesis 2. Why the difference in style, characters, and details. I have focused on God’s name in Genesis 2.4, These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. We’ve seen that the LORD is Yahveh, the Eternal One who is the Word and manifested Himself as Jesus Christ. God is Elohim, plural composed of the God the Father and God the Son in a closely bound Family relationship. The overall Creation framework was laid out in Genesis 1-2.3. In seven days God restored Earth and created the male and female. Genesis 2 zooms in for a much closer look. Notice verse 4, heavens and earth are inversed leading into verses 5-6 which literally brings us down to Earth. Genesis 2.4 You’ll see why I’ve color coded this. Genesis 2 flashes us back to a rather surprising and somewhat enigmatic point preceding the creation of the first man on Day 6, broached immediately in the next verse 7. In resume, the context indicates a MIST went UP from the earth watering ALL the land, even BEFORE plants and grass grew and there was NO RAIN. All this, because there was NO MAN TO TILL the ground. The image below displays the Hebrew words before and rain with identical Hebrew letters מטר. (from right to left: mem, tet, raish). In the word before the מ is replaced by a ‘final ם’ (mem) when it is the last letter in a word, but it is the identical letter. Is it just by chance that these words have identical Hebrew letters, or is the author getting a message across? Genesis 2.5 A mist watered all the ground before the creations of the first man. Afterwards came the rain. Genesis 2.5 A mist watered all the ground before the creations of the first man. Afterward came the rain. Critics of Genesis 1 and 2 focus on these differences, inconsistencies, and contradictions because they don’t understand what’s going on here. There are none of these. Genesis 2 is a totally different perspective of aspects of the same subject as Genesis 1. And the passage in Genesis 2.5-6 is the transition between these two aspects. This transitional change from Genesis 1 to Genesis 2 is evidenced by various events. 1. Elohim becomes Yahveh Elohim which we’ve seen in the last two posts. 2. The mist before the man and the rain after the man (Gen 2.5). 3. The mist went UP from the Earth while the rain comes DOWN onto the ground (Gen 2.5-6). 4. No man to till the ground and then Adam to till the ground. 5. The use of the terms Earth in Gen 1, (28 times from Gen 1.1-2.6) and Ground in Gen 2, (24 times from 1.25-2.25) with the switch occurring in 2.5-2.7. 6. The animals are made from earth. Man is made from the ground. Yes, there are massive differences between Genesis 1 and 2. These differences have a double-fold purpose. Firstly, regarding Yahveh Elohim, His rulership over His Creation and secondly His intimate relationship with Humankind. For those of you who know your Bible what we have firstly, is Yahveh creating and modifying His Creation (mist to rain) in function of the arrival of humankind on Earth. Secondly, we have the Preeminent Spirit Being (the second man), creating the preeminent physical human being (the first man) and their initial steps together Here’s something else to think about. Like Yahveh Elohim, His created human beings (Adam and Eve, father and mother of you and I) have rulership and socialization characteristics. Audit of the Universe chapters 12 and 13 develop these subjects. Remember, God created humankind in His image. This means as Yahveh rules and socializes on His level so we humans rule and socialize on our human level. In addition, we will see, in Genesis 2, rulership and socialization between Yahveh and the first male and female. As you can envision, human rule and socialization are truly unique to humans. 1. Yahveh’s Rulership over His Creation There are two major changes that take place in how planet Earth is managed before and after the arrival of humankind. 1. Animals are vegetarian. When the animals were created on Day 6 they ate greenery. Obviously, today we know this is not the case. Animals kill and eat their prey. Animals can and do kill human beings and the opposite is definitely true. Killing animals and eating their meat is neither required nor prohibited. It is a free will decision. With regard to animal behavior, humans have no say in what animals do in the wild, amongst themselves. The animal kingdom maintains a balance of nature by subsisting off of predator and prey, keeping each other in check. They play an integral part in the fine-tuned ecological system. (Inventory/Audit). You have to grasp what the change from herbivorous to carnivorous entails. It involves both major body and major instinct modifications in many species. If God can create the creepy crawlers and beasts of the field He certainly can modify their digestive and instinctive systems and functions as He pleases. I almost feel like writing if you want to think of this as a fairy tale, then please do so. But, I believe we are beyond that in understanding the power of God. Some might be upset with the idea that God allows humans to kill animals. I remind you of Gen 1.28, God gave the male and female dominion over the animals. This means human actions with the proper respect for animals (and everything else) in the context of proper rulership. There is a right and wrong way of doing things including killing animals. Sam’s Reflexions If you have a hard time with what I’ve just written, I understand. However, I suggest you hold on and read next weeks post which will address the question of why the Bible is written the way it is. In particular, the information we are studying here in Genesis chapters 1-3. This content is very particular, very precious but also very strange, to say the least! Next week you’ll find out why it’s written this way. The second change in Yahveh’s rulership (today we refer to this a management) of planet Earth involves waterworks. Mist before, rain after the creation of humankind. 2. The water cycle with the mist coming UPwards and rain coming DOWNwards. Notice in Gen 2.6 that the mist waters the WHOLE face of the ground. When you study God’s Word, from His point of view you have to be asking yourself why would He include such details in an introductory context? Upwards? Whole face? He is revealing His benevolence for ALL the birds, creepy crawlers and animals that covered the whole face of the Earth. Rain, on the other hand, is for humankind and has a vastly different purpose. The book of Acts is very instructive in this regard to the relationship of rain to humankind. Acts 14. 16 Who [God-Yahveh] in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. God gives humankind rain. It comes down from heaven, the sky. Notice that God allows ALL nations to follow their own free will and walk their own ways, with their particular culture and mode of worship. That despite all they’ve done He has sent rain in due season (fruitful seasons) so that humans can benefit from full stomachs and gladness–a certain peace of mind. Verse 17 that this process of which rain is the basis is a witness to God. Mist coming upward, covering all Earth, all the time, would not have this effect on humans. Modifying Earth’s watering system implies an infrastructure change of the water cycle. When you think about meteorology and climatology, of which we think a lot nowadays, we should begin to realize what such an undertaking involves and means. This is a major shift in technology, if I may put it this way. Such is Yahveh’s management of Earth and its watering system. We’ll see that this change far beyond just giving us rain in due season for food and gladness. 2. Yahveh’s intimate relationship with Humankind The second aspect is the vegetarianism and fog come before humans and the change in animal nature and rainfall come after the creation of humans. WHY these major changes? They both impact humans in very fundamental ways. 1. Animals have a purpose within the relations of Yahveh with humankind Animals by their tame and ferocious behaviors teach us many lessons. The Bible even uses these faits accomplis to portray the sacrifice of Yahveh in Acts 8.32 referring to a sheep led to the slaughter portraying Christ. Yahveh Elohim’s humility and sacrifice are represented by the death of a lamb. God’s glory and strength are represented by a lion. False prophets and priests are portrayed by wolves in sheep’s clothing. But the key change in the nature of animals did take place and was done so because it has significant meaning that revolves around blood. Blood symbolizes remission of sin. BEFORE Adam and Eve sinned there was NO NEED for blood. That’s why animals were vegetarian. After sin entered the world there was a NEED for BLOOD as representative of the pardon of sin. Hence the change of animal nature and the allowance for humankind to kill animals. Sacrifices might appear barbaric (certainly not any more so than what we see how humans can massacre other humans) but they are there to help human learn lessons. I cannot expand on this here but will do so in the future. 2. Waters role in the relationship between Yahveh and humankind Water, via the early and latter rains, in due season is the key to abundant spring and fall harvests. Those harvests yield our year-round staples like wheat, barley, sorghum, and rice. Deuteronomy 11.14 tells us, That I [God-Yahveh] will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil. Seasons and their crops are referred to in Genesis 1. on the fourth day. I cannot develop this here but they are important time-markers for understanding God’s plan for humankind. Much more on this at another time. God uses water to draw attention to our behavior. People become introspective at a time of upheaval. I’m not saying God cause catastrophes. The pre-creation tohu and bohu was brought about by the rebellion of Lucifer. Similarly, human conduct can bring such retribution as we are witnessing. The most famous, and contested example of the use of water in this respect is Noah’s flood. Yahveh Elohim can and does use water to teach lessons as Exodus points out with blessings and plagues. Turning water to blood, parting the waters of the sea among others. Deut 11.17 and other verses show that withholding rain can be a corrective measure used by God to teach us lessons. Flowing water, because there is rain, also represent the power of God. John 7.38 says He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. These references to animal vegetarianism and mist before humans seem out of place unless you understand Biblewide context. I’ll develop this over the next couple of chapters of Genesis. This text is fundamental to the comprehension of the basics of our earthly environment and the special role humans play. In fact, these passages are particularly indispensable in that they begin to open up aspects of what you and I are. Adding details like mist/rain, up/down, before/after humankind are details that are added for a reason. We skim the Bible like reading some social network post. Or, we may read it not paying attention or not understanding these details. Or considering them unimportant. Or reading Bible commentaries that don’t comprehend the depth of Bible content. Or others that ridicule the whole concept of God being able to transmit information that no human being could even be aware of! No-one was there when the mist watered the ground. Once the first man was created that ceased, that’s what the Bible says. If we’re looking at this from a Godly theological point-of-view that’s what Genesis is telling us. I don’t know about you, but Godly theology is exciting, even exhilarating as it opens up real understand of who humans are and why Yahveh put us on Earth and in a relationship with Himself. This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 2.3 of the book Origin of Humankind Dig Deeper into The Explanation Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game. See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online. Purchase Inventory of the Universe at AmazonPurchase the Kindle version Google PlayBarnes@NoblesKoboiTunes Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now Since you read all the way to here… you liked it. Please use the Social Network links just below to share this excerpt of Inventory of the Universe, Rain falls on Earth Entirely Because Yahveh Initiated It Yahweh Elohim. Discover This Inseparable Relationship The Foolishness of God's Word is True Theology
Peruvian Vipertooth Peruvian Vipertooth A small, very dangerous dragon species native to Peru. habitat: mountains (?), probably eastern or northeastern Peru (see notes below) appearance: smooth, copper-colored, short horns fangs: venomous size: small (15 feet) food: goats, cows, but especially humans The history of the interaction between wizards and this dangerous breed is interesting. The Peruvian vipertooth dragon may be somewhat responsible for Peru becoming the Quidditch powerhouse that it is. The game is believed to have been introduced to the Peruvian magical community by European magizoologists who came to study the vipertooth (QA8). The breed is particularly dangerous to humans, and in the late 1800s, the International Confederation of Wizards sent a team of exterminators to Peru to reduce the population (FB). Dragon Pox originally was contracted by wizards in contact with Peruvian Vipertooth dragons (Pm). Given that the Vipertooth is native to Peru and that the wizarding world has successfully concealed its existence from Muggles, in fact, the only reasonable possibilities for the Vipertooth's native habitat are the western desert, the central mountainous region, and the eastern rainforests. The desert seems unlikely, since it runs along the seacoast and is a relatively small region. The central mountains are a possibility, but the eastern mountains and rainforests have relatively few Muggle inhabitants and are difficult for Muggles to reach (Columbia), so eastern/northeastern Peru seems like the Vipertooth's most likely location. Pensieve (Comments) Tags: danger dangerous disease venom
Internet Security Firewalls are powerful tools which can be used to limit the ports numbers which are exposed to the Internet. In the case of a WWW server, the only one which should be accessible should be port 80; also port 443 if you're using HTTPS. Some servers expose a wide variety of ports and protocols by default. While I consider this to be a huge mistake from an architectural standpoint, using a firewall can prevent external access to these ports. While internal servers are reasonably safe from hacking, external-facing servers need to be hardened against any possible attacks. I should admit my bias at the outset. I don't consider Microsoft's products to be very secure. One simply has to look at the frequency of security updates to the underlying software and applications. I wouldn't even dream of using IIS as an external server, for example. All I have to do is look at my Apache webserver logs to see the typical attacks which are designed to exploit security holes in IIS. Microsoft programmers also don't seem to have learned how to handle buffer overruns. That's one of the advantages of using Java over languages such as C and C++. The platform handles strings rather than requiring the programmer to allocate and manage a fixed-length buffer. I use an Apache/Tomcat combination as my front-line server. While it doesn't offer full J2EE functionality, it's a high-performance HTTP server combined with the reference implementation of a servlet container. You can use JDBC in order to interface to a database or RMI/IIOP to communicate with a back-end J2EE server. And that's one of the keys to designing a secure network architecture. Using a second firewall between your front-end and back-end servers, and limiting the ports which are exposed, ensures that there's no direct access to the back-end servers from the 'net. Front-end servers typically reside in what is commonly referred to as the "demilitarized zone" or DMZ. Here's a diagram. In this architecture, the external firewall would typically only pass requests for ports 80 and 443. If the back-end server was running Oracle and you were using JDBC and a flat application architecture then only port 1521 would be enabled on the internal firewall. Since the front-end servers should be equipped with dual network interfaces, it's easy to also limit access by IP address on the internal firewall. Finally, on robust systems such as RedHat Linux, you can use iptables to serve as the firewall. Since it functions at the network interface layer, you can actually combine the firewall and front-end functionality in a single server. The disadvantage is that you can't use load balancing in that scenario. The experienced among you will note that application architecture in the diagram above is n-tier. There are a few ways of stratify an applications but generally you have the servlet/JSP web interface layer, the business logic layer (typically implemented as EJBs) and the persistence layer. Of course you can add more layers to the architecture as required. If the webservers and appservers were physically separate machines then you could add a service layer on the webserver which would handle the communications with the EJBs on the appserver, performing lookups, caching home references, etc. Similarly, rather than using entity EJBs, you could utilize a persistence layer such as hibernate. Load balancing is another complex topic and actually impacts how one designs an application. There are two types of load balancers; statefull and stateless. In the first the load balancer examines the source of IP packets and routes requests to the same server every time. This can make it easier for developers to maintain session data on a single server. The drawback is that if a server goes down then the session data is lost and the users routed to that machine will have to login to the application again. What I consider to be a better approach is one which permits users to access any front-line server without regard to session persistence. And this is where load balancing impacts the application architecture. J2EE servers have the ability to persist session data to a database. Whether using URL rewriting or cookies, a session reference can be maintained by the client and servers can retrieve the data from the back-end database. If a developer opts to maintain a lot of data in the session then there's obviously going to a performance impact with my preferred approach. The solution is simple, however: keep your session data to a minimum. The caching capabilities of a modern RDBMS should be able to serve up the data in a fraction of a second. What I like about stateless load balancers is the ability to add front-end servers according to load or take them down for required maintenance with no impact to users. So now we have no direct access to the internal servers from the 'net. They're blocked by both port numbers and IP addresses. Using a reserved IP address range (such as 192.168.x.x) means that nothing coming from the net can masquerade as one of your front-end servers. Since only ports 80 and 443 are allowed in through the external firewall then they also couldn't access port 1521 on the internal firewall anyway. One of the dangers of not limiting access via the external firewall is that other protocols could be used to breach security on your front-end servers. Skilled hackers could then inject traffic on the second network interface to gain access to back-end servers. Security needs to be an overarching concern when building web applications. From using HTTPS when requesting personally-identifiable information to using encryption to store credit card numbers, people have a right to expect that a company is doing everything in their power to secure information. While some might suggest that the hackers are more capable than the custodians of information, I would disagree. We have learned much about ways to secure information. Tools and techniques exist to prevent access to sensitive data. We need to ensure that we apply them intelligently or else run the risk of a loss of faith in the entire e-commerce industry. Finally, it surprises me how many companies require skills in technologies which I consider to be obselete. Perl was the original language used to generate dynamic content on webservers. It was also used by UNIX system administrators for generating reports. It's not a strongly typed language so it's easy to make mistakes. PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page and was designed along similar lines. ColdFusion was an attempt to improve the situation but ultimately couldn't support applications at the enterprise scale, IMHO. The volume of concurrent requests on the 'net these days can tax even server solutions like J2EE. But at least J2EE is scalable and, with appropriate knowledge of how to architect solutions, can support incredible request volumes. Of course not everyone will agree with these conclusions. Some can reasonably suggest that solutions like WebSphere and WebLogic are too expensive, even though OSS solutions like Glassfish are readily available. My response would likely be that these same people might try to use something like MySQL rather than a solid RDBMS solution like Oracle or DB/2. There's a big difference between designing solutions which will serve hundreds or thousands of requests per day as opposed to millions or tens of millions. If your website is vital to your company and your cashflow, has to run 24x7x365 then you should select the most robust solutions available. As always, YMMV. June 1st, 2009 Copyright © 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 by Phil Selby
Bohrs Model of the Nuclear Atom The structure of the atom is completely nanophysical, requiring quantum mechanics for its description. Bohr's semi-classical model of the atom was a giant step toward this understanding, and still provides much useful information. By introducing, in 1913, a completely arbitrary "quantum number", Bohr [1] was able to break the long-standing failure to understand how an atom could have sharply defined energy levels. These levels were suggested by the optical spectra, which were composed of sharp lines. Bohr's model is planetary in nature, with the electron circling the nucleus. The model was based on information obtained earlier: that the nucleus of the atom was a tiny object, much smaller in size than the atom itself, containing positive charge Ze, with Z the atomic number, and e the electron charge, 1.6 x 10~19C. The nucleus is much more massive than the electron, so that its motion will be neglected. Bohr's model describes a single electron orbiting a massive nucleus of charge +Ze. The attractive Coulomb force F = kZe2/r2, where k = (4jt£0)_1 = 9 x 109 Nm2/C2, balances mev2/r, which is the mass of the electron, me = 9.1 x 10_31lcg, times the required acceleration to the center, v2/r. The total energy of the motion, E = mv2/2-kZe2/r, adds up to -kZe2/2r. This is true because the kinetic energy is always -0.5 times the (negative) potential energy in a circular orbit, as can be deduced from the mentioned force balance. There is thus a crucial relation between the total energy of the electron in the orbit, E, and the radius of the orbit, r. This classical relation predicts collapse (of atoms, of all matter): for small r the energy is increasingly favorable (negative). So the classical electron will spiral in toward r = 0, giving off energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. All chemical matter is unstable to collapse in this firm prediction of classical physics. 0 0 Post a comment
What is the Venus Project? Written by Darius Moravcik Very briefly, The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action for social change, a holistic global socio-economic system called a Resource Based Economy; that works towards a peaceful and sustainable global civilization. It outlines an alternative to strive towards where human rights are not only paper proclamations but also way of life. The Venus Project presents a vision not of what the future will be, but what it can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization. It calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture in which the age-old problems of war, poverty, hunger, debt, and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as unavoidable, but as totally unacceptable. Anything less will result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems found in today’s world. The Venus Project presents an alternative vision for a sustainable world civilization unlike any political, economic or social system that has gone before. It envisions a time in the near future when money, politics, self and national interest have been phased out. Although this vision may seem idealistic, it is based upon years of study and experimental research. It spans the gamut from education, transportation, cleaning sources of energy to total city systems. Many people believe what is needed is a higher sense of ethical standards and the enactment of international laws and treaties to assure a sustainable global society. Even if the most ethical people in the world were elected to political office, without sufficient resources we would still have many of the same problems we have today. As long as a few nations control most of the world’s resources and profit is the bottom line, the same cycle of events will prevail. As global challenges and scientific information proliferate, nations and people face, threats that transcend national boundaries. Overpopulation, energy shortages, global warming, environmental pollution, water scarcity, economic catastrophe, the spread of uncontrollable diseases, and the technological displacement of people by machines threatened each of us. Although many people are dedicated to alleviating those conditions, our social and environmental problems will remain insurmountable as long as few powerful nations and financial interests maintain control of and consume most of the world’s resources and the monetary system prevails. Earth is abundant and has plentiful resources. Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control is no longer relevant and is counter-productive to our survival. Today we have highly advanced technologies, but our social and economic system has not kept up with our technological capabilities. We could easily create a world of abundance for all, free of servitude and debt based on the carrying capacity of Earth resources. With the intelligent and humane application of science and technology, the people of the earth can guide and shape the future together while protecting the environment. We don’t have enough money to accomplish these ends but we do have more than enough resources.
Back to top In Hampton Roads, off Norfolk, Virginia, the Confederate Navy made a powerful effort to break the Union blockade with an attack led by the newly converted armored warship Merrimack, now christened the C.S.S. Virginia. The Virginia, under Captain Franklin Buchanan, and almost invulnerable to conventional cannon fire, led two other steamers, the Patrick Henry and the Thomas Jefferson to a comprehensive naval victory against the wooden fleet, destroying the U.S.S. Cumberland and the U.S.S. Congress, and disabling several others. (By John Osborne) Source Citation:
Treating Lead Poisoning: Seek Medical Advice / Alternative Medicines also Available Lead-free water, healthy foods that remove metals and sleep What is Lead Poisoning, History and Sources? Lead is a soft bluish grey metal that is highly toxic. Lead is a cumulative toxin that affects multiple body systems, including neurologic, hematologic, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and renal systems. Children 0 - 6, are particularly vulnerable to its toxic effects. Low levels of lead exposure can cause adverse cognitive effects, including poor academic performance and behavioral problems. The major sources of lead exposure for children are lead-based paint, contaminated dust, soil, toys, water and cosmetics. Food can contain lead from the environment or containers. See the picture on the right. Brief History: In 1887, children were diagnosed with lead poisoning. In 1960, the United Center for Disease Control began to identify acceptable levels of blood lead levels. In 1960, 60 mg/dcl lead was acceptable (chart below). However, the chart on the right shows the impact of lead poisoning at all levels. Since 1980, research shows that low levels of lead are harmful to children and begins to accumulate in the body. Based on public policy, it wasn't until 2012, that parents were notified that their child has lead less than 10 micro-grams. Lead Poisoning - Still a Public Health Problem for Families with ChildrenSu The Importance of Sleep Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being. Getting enough sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, and quality of life. Risk deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. Sleep helps repair your blood vessels. Lack of sleep can increase kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke. Source: U,.S. Health and Human Services website. Combating Toxins with Healthy Foods Diet has a great deal to do with removing toxins from the body that is obtained from the food, water, and air that we consume. Organic fruits and vegetables provide the nutrients needed to detox the body and remove toxins. Contact your medical clinician to test you and your family for environmental toxins. Eat healthy and organic fruits and vegetables to remove toxins, Drinking Water Water helps our bodies remove toxins. Water flushes toxins and waste from the body through urination and perspiration. Water helps reduce constipation and aids in bowel movements, which ensures that wastes are removed quality and regularly before they can become poisonous in the body. Blood is 92% water and it carries nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Drinking eight glasses of water daily can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and it can potentially even reduce the risk of breast cancer. Drinking enough water can lessen the burden on the kidney and liver by flushing out waste products. Research and Prevention Tips United States Center for Disease Control - Saving Lives and Protecting People - Your State and local Departments of Public Health U.S. Department Housing & Urban Development Scripps Health - Lead Poisoning Article Search Pathways and acceptable Levels of Lead over-time, Testing and Treatment of Lead Poisoning. Lead is ingested in the body through the nose, mouth and by touch. The pictures on the left shows the different pathways of lead into the body. Even though any level of lead was known to negatively impact children, and people, lead was used to produce gasoline, toys, cosmetics, and can be found in food, water and soil. It has taken years for advocates to influence and change laws to reduce or remove the use of lead. Children in poverty areas, especially minority children are highly impacted and suffer unequally from lead poisoning. Parents should have their children tested for lead poisoning up until adulthood. As children develop, they are more susceptible to poisoning. Children absorb 70% of lead and adults about 20 percent. Low levels of lead are detectable and can lead to disabilities, malformed bones, slow growth, and a drop in I.Q. High levels can cause seizures, coma and death. Federal law requires that all states require testing and reporting of children up to 6. Parents should advocate for results of those tests regardless of lead level to identify and treat low lead level before it becomes worse over time due to accumulation. Treatment of lead poisoning can be as simple as healthy nutritious foods, that are filled with calcium, iron and vitamin C. Provide lead-free water to remove toxins.
__________________ ____________________ Building a Friendship is like Planting a Garden A friend is someone who cherishes the special moments and memories of life with another person. A friend is a trustworthy companion. Friendship is a relationship which takes time to build. There are many steps and stages to achieving a true friendship. However, one can think building a friendship is like planting a garden. For many people, planting a garden represents, devotion and leisure. It takes patience to grow a garden, frustrations and hardships are also involved in the process. Firstly the seed is planted. The seed builds the foundation of a strong and stable plant. It has to be taken care of and watered daily. Then the shoots start sprouting, the plant is finally flourishing. One can see day by day the garden maturing. Then one day the garden starts to wilt, its dying. One has to tend to it and have the patience and determination to bring it back to life. It frustrates one to see the insects and predators preying on the beautiful garden that once existed. But hard work and devotion regains the gardens beauty and gives it life again. Soon a shoots blossom an bloom into beautiful flowers. The charm and divine beauty of the garden is a wonderful enlightening sight. Building a friendship has similar characteristics. One meets a person and plants the seed of friendship. The friendship builds and continues to grow stronger. It requires devotion of time and patience to achieve peak communication between the two companions. The struggle to keep a solid friendship includes many obstacles and hardships. But compromising, devotion and the willingness to endure is bound to payoff in the end. As Bernard Wolf quotes ^It takes a long time to grow an old friendship^. Friendship has its good and bad times. There comes a time when the relationship is just not working. It is preoccupied with disagreements and quarrels. It is on the verge of destruction. One must have the patience to deal with such frustrations. The willingness and determination to get the relationship working again come within. Compromising and persistence rebuilds the friendship and is once again reestablished. As Socrates once said ^Be slow to fall into friendship, but when thou art ! in, continue firm and constant^. The friendship is blooming and is finally on its peak. Its great to have a strong and stable relationship which allows the two companions to share the joys and memories of life together. If building a friendship can be compared to planting a garden then perhaps some of its frustrations and problems can be better understood. The true meaning of friendship is achieved by understanding its relativity to planting a garden. A person who builds a friendship as planting a garden can overcome the obstacles of it very easily. The symbolism becomes clear and precise. Friendship and planting a garden can both be said as ^give and take^. The more effort and persistence put into them the more stronger and everlasting happiness can be accomplished. Quotes: Search by Author
Sleep problems may cause ADHD ADHD, which is associated with many sleep-related disorders, including restless-leg syndrome, sleep apnea, circadian rhythm disturbance and delayed sleep phase syndrome, was until now thought to be separate issues. “There is extensive research showing that people with ADHD also tend to exhibit sleep problems,” said Sandra Kooij, Associate Professor at VU University Medical Centre in Netherlands. However, “based on existing evidence, it looks very much like ADHD and circadian problems are intertwined in the majority of patients”, Kooij added. According to the findings proposed at the 30th ECNP Congress in Paris, the association is because the day and night rhythm is disturbed, the timing of several physical processes is disturbed, not only of sleep, but also of temperature, movement patterns, timing of meals. “If you review the evidence, it looks more and more like ADHD and sleeplessness are two sides of the same physiological and mental coin,” Kooij said. In 75 per cent of ADHD patients, the physiological sleep phase — where people show the physiological signs associated with sleep such as changes in the level of the sleep hormone melatonin and changes in sleep-related movement — is delayed by 1.5 hours. Many sufferers benefit from taking melatonin in the evening or bright light therapy in the morning, which can help reset the circadian rhythm, Kooij explained. Researchers are working to confirm this physical-mental relationship by finding biomarkers such as Vitamin D levels, blood glucose, cortisol levels, 24 hour blood pressure and heart rate variability, which may help “to treat some ADHD by non-pharmacological methods, such as changing light or sleep patterns and prevent the negative impact of chronic sleep loss on health”, Kooij said. “We don’t say that all ADHD problems are associated with these circadian patterns, but it looks increasingly likely that this is an important element,” Kooij noted.
Carole, the owner of the "Dancing for Eels" painting, told appraiser Nancyt Druckman she had found it lying neglected on the floor of a Washington, D.C., antiques store. The story behind this intriguing 19th-century folk art oil painting of African Americans literally dancing for eels. The scene depicted in Dancing for Eels, ca. 1885, is so charming and idiosyncratic that it might be natural to assume it was the expression of a single painter's whimsy: With musicians and bystanders in the background, two African American men dance in a fish market. The title, painted across the bottom of the canvas, tells us what they are doing, though that wasn't much help to Carole, who found the painting lying neglected among some decrepit old frames on the floor of an antiques store in Washington, D.C. "I saw these two African American men 'dancing for eels' and I thought, are they dancing for food? For eels? I didn't know that was a thing." But the image was familiar to ROADSHOW appraiser Nancy Druckman — she'd seen versions of it before — who, at the Washington, D.C., ROADSHOW in August 2010, estimated the auction value of Carole's canvas at $6,000 to $9,000. An 1848 lithograph version of the _Dancing for Eels_ composition, by E. & J. Brown. (Image source: WGBH Media Library) The first version of Dancing for Eels, says Druckman, seems to have been a folk drawing from the 1820s that depicted two African American men dancing at New York City's Catharine Fish Market, a crossroads and meeting place for African Americans in the region. At the time, slavery was being abolished across the northern states, but it was a gradual process. New Jersey had enacted a law in 1804 that freed all African Americans born subsequent to passage; but as late as 1860, the state would still be home to a number of slaves. New York, on the other hand, abolished slavery entirely in 1827. Dancing for Eels shows the three communities of slaves, freedmen, and whites coming into contact as their places in society are beginning to change. After traveling into the city from farms in New Jersey, says Druckman, slaves would sell their produce at the Bear Market and meet up with free New Yorkers to socialize and gamble. Afterward, the slaves and freedmen would head over to the nearby Catharine Fish Market to dance and play music for whites in exchange for fresh fish or eels. The sight of men dancing for eels at Catharine Market became familiar enough to New Yorkers that, over the course of the 19th century, it served as source material for a number of lithographs and political cartoons. Carole's piece of folk art brings the life cycle of the image full circle, as it is almost certainly an interpretation of a lithograph that was itself an interpretation of the original piece of folk art. "The painting is such a sweet thing," says Druckman, who finds in the vibrant style of the unknown artist an energetic, raw beauty. "He probably would have seen zillions of lithographs of this composition; he's doing his own rendition of it." Had the painter been a formally trained artist — such as one of the lithographers who so precisely etched and colored hundreds of professional (and generic) images during the period — he would have felt bound by his training to produce a naturalistic representation of the scene. But the artist responsible for Carole's painting was free of these constraints. "The lines in the dock are really exaggerated," Druckman points out, "almost like pin-striping. The way he's depicted these lines gives you a sense of the energy and the rhythm of the dancers. So you're getting a visual-acoustical kind of combination. If he'd been trained, the planking would have just looked like planking. The extra surge of sound would be lost. That's exactly the kind of thing that makes folk art so interesting — the ability to use visual elements in an unrestricted way." The racial content is a little more difficult to parse. When she first saw the painting in the antiques store, Carole was attracted to its color palette, naïve joyfulness and obvious age. But beneath the scene of black men smiling and dancing for food were undercurrents that caused her to hesitate. "I don't collect that kind of thing," she says. "But the men in the painting, I realized, are not in blackface; they're just black men who've been given the simple treatment of folk art — though there was something reminiscent of blackface. So there's this complexity to it. But I read up on the background somewhat, and I don't see it with the same degree of negativity as I did when I picked it up off the floor." The men in the painting, says Carole, are certainly dancing for food, but they also seem to be dancing for pleasure. There is no sense of the men being forced to dance, and the only whites in the painting are well in the background. As she looked more deeply into the history of the painting, Carole learned that Catharine Market was a place where black and white culture mingled, perhaps not as freely as they do today, but not necessarily under a pall of racism. As slaves and freedmen danced for eels, they were keeping alive a culture of movement and dance that would survive slavery, adaptation, and co-optation by minstrels in blackface, and the Jim Crow regime, finally to be incorporated into the dance culture of the most globally successful form of pop music of the last few decades, rap and hip-hop. On the other hand, Carole points out, since the men in the painting are looking directly out of the canvas and into the invisible foreground, it's possible to read Dancing for Eels as having been painted from the perspective of someone who has paid the men to dance, in which case the reading changes somewhat. "So there's some ambiguity," she says. The ambiguity is what allows Dancing for Eels to be a magnifying glass that enlarges the intricate weaving of African American culture into a country that was just beginning to view blacks as fully human. We may not be able to escape seeing the painting as political, but the dancing men do not seem to be symbols in a racial narrative. They are simply dancing. A trained artist who'd come up through some academy of art may have created a superior illusion of three-dimensional space, but he would have felt a temptation to flatten the cultural image into a moral. Such a lithograph, says Druckman, despite expertly constructed visual trickery for rendering figures in space and creating depth, would be worth nowhere near the $6,000 to $9,000 she estimates Dancing for Eels, with its instinctive blending of the visual and the aural, would bring at auction. "It's got this off-beat quality to it — a folkiness that enhances the value. A lithograph would be worth something like $38," she says, "and not only because it would have been mass-produced." Author Ben Phelan
Yohanan ben Zakkai From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Yohanan Ben Zakkai) Jump to navigation Jump to search Yohanan ben Zakkai[a] (Hebrew: יוחנן בן זכאי‎, 1st century CE), sometimes abbreviated as Ribaz (ריב״ז) for Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was one of the Tannaim, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah. His name is often preceded by the honorific title, "Rabban." He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time. His tomb is located in Tiberias, within the Maimonides burial compound. He was the first Jewish sage attributed the title of rabbi in the Mishnah.[1] Johanan ben Zakai on the Knesset Menorah His home, at this time, was in Arav, a village in the Galilee, where he spent eighteen years.[6][7] However, although living among them, he found the attitude of Galileans to be objectionable, allegedly exclaiming that they hated the Torah and would therefore "fall into the hands of robbers."[6] Upon the destruction of Jerusalem, Jochanan converted his school at Yavne into the Jewish religious centre, insisting that certain privileges, given by Jewish law uniquely to Jerusalem, should be transferred to Yavne.[10] His school functioned as a re-establishment of the Sanhedrin, so that Judaism could decide how to deal with the loss of the sacrificial altars of the temple in Jerusalem, and other pertinent questions. Referring to a passage in the Book of Hosea, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice",[11] he helped persuade the council to replace animal sacrifice with prayer,[12] a practice that continues in today's worship services; eventually Rabbinic Judaism emerged from the council's conclusions. In his last years he taught at Bror Hayil, a location near Yavne.[13] His students were present at his deathbed, and were requested by him, in his penultimate words, according to the Talmudic record, to reduce the risk of ritual contamination imparted by a corpse: Put the vessels out of the house, that they may not become unclean[14] prepare a throne for Hezekiah, the King of Judah, who is coming[14] According to the Talmud, Yohanan ben Zakkai lived 120 years.[15] His students returned to Yavne upon his death, and he was buried in the city of Tiberias; eleven centuries later, Maimonides was buried nearby. In his role as leader of the Jewish Council, he was succeeded by Gamliel II. Jewish tradition records Yohanan ben Zakkai as being extremely dedicated to religious study, claiming that no one ever found him engaged in anything but study.[16] He is considered to be someone who passed on the teachings of his predecessors; on the other hand, numerous homiletic and exegetical sayings are attributed to him[17] and he is known for establishing a number of edicts in the post-destruction era:[18] 2. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Four Species shall be taken in the hand for the entire Sukkot (prior to the destruction, it was only taken for the entire holiday in Jerusalem and on the first of the holiday elsewhere) 3. After the destruction of Jerusalem, eating of chadash (new grain) shall be prohibited for the entire Day of Waving or yom haneif (the day that the omer sacrifice was offered, the sixteenth of Nisan; prior to the destruction, it was prohibited only up until the time of the waving on that day) 5. After the destruction of Jerusalem, witnesses for the new moon shall only go to the place of assembly, and not follow the Nasi or "prince" (prior to the destruction, witnesses were only accepted at the location of the Nasi in Jerusalem) 6. Kohanim (those of the priestly caste) may not go up[dubious ] to bless the people while wearing footwear 9. The identity of the ninth edict is disputed: If you have been studious in learning the Torah, do not take credit to yourself, since it is to this end that your were created.[20][21] Some of Rabbi Yohanan's comments were of an esoteric nature.[17] On one occasion he advises that mankind should seek to understand the infinity of God, by imagining the heavens being extended to unthinkable distances.[22] He argued that Job's piety was not based on the love of God, but on the fear of Him.[23] He was challenged to resolve several biblical curiosities by a Roman commander, who was familiar with the Torah, but whose name has been lost in confusion. Among the issues were the fact that the numbers[24][25][26] in the Book of Numbers didn't add up to their totals,[27][28] and the reasoning behind the ritual of the red heifer;[29] on this latter question the answer he gave didn't satisfy his own students, so he decreed that the ritual was one that shouldn't be questioned.[30] Yochanan opposed rebellion against the Roman power whom he recognized to be the fourth world power of the prophesied series of four in Daniel 7:23. In the Talmud he wrote, "Because it is written (Daniel 7:23); “It shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.” This is guilt-laden Rome, whose influence has gone out over all the world."[31] Preceded by Simeon ben Gamliel 70 - 80 Succeeded by Gamliel II See also[edit] Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue Wall Painting 1. ^ Sometimes transliterated as Johanan ben Zakkai, Yochanan ben Zakkai, or Yohanan ben Zaccai 1. ^ Hezser, Catherine (1997). The Social Structure of the Rabbinic Movement in Roman Palestine. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-3-16-146797-4. We suggest that the avoidance of the title "Rabbi" for pre-70 sages may have originated with the editors of the Mishnah. The editors attributed the title to some sages and not to others. The avoidance of the title for pre-70 sages may perhaps be seen as a deliberate program on the part of these editors who wanted to create the impression that the “rabbinic movement" began with R. Yochanan b. Zakkai and that the Yavnean "academy" was something new, a notion that is sometimes already implicitly or explicitly suggested by some of the traditions available to them. This notion is not diminished by the occasional claim to continuity with the past which was limited to individual teachers and institutions and served to legitimize rabbinic authority. 2. ^ Menahot 65a 3. ^ Baba Batra 115b 4. ^ Yadayim 4:5 5. ^ Parah (Tosefta) 3:8 7. ^ Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 16:8 (81b) 8. ^ Bavli Gittin 56a&b 9. ^ Bavli Gittin 56b 10. ^ Rosh Ha Shanah 4:1-3 11. ^ Hosea 6:6 12. ^ Rabbi Nathan, Abot 4 13. ^ Sanhedrin 32b 14. ^ a b Berakot 28b 15. ^ Sanhedrin 41a 16. ^ Sukkot 28a 17. ^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia, "Johanan ben Zakkai" 18. ^ Bavli Rosh HaShana 31b 19. ^ Rabbi Nathan, Abot, 31b 20. ^ Yerushalmi, Shemuel. Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (14:2). Jerusalem: Mesoret. 21. ^ Pirkei Abot 2:8 22. ^ Hagigah 13a 23. ^ Soṭah 5:5 24. ^ Numbers 3:22 25. ^ Numbers 3:28 26. ^ Numbers 3:34 27. ^ Numbers 3:39 28. ^ Bekorot 5b [1] 29. ^ Bemidbar Rabbah 19:8 30. ^ Bemidbar Rabbah 19:8 31. ^ Ginzberg, Louis. "Akiba ben Joseph". The Jewish Encyclopedia. 1. p. 304. in Froom, Le Roy (1948). The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers - Pre-Reformation and Reformation Restoration, and Second Departure. 2. p. 195. External links[edit]
Comparison of Schumann's "Mondnacht" with Brahms's setting of the same poem Term Paper (Advanced seminar) 2011 16 Pages Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Robert Schumann 2.1 Schumann in the context of das Lied 3. Johannes Brahms 3.1 Brahms in the the context of das Lied 4. Mondnacht by Eichendorff 5. Schumann's setting of Mondnacht 6. Brahm's setting of Mondnacht compared to Schumann's 7. Conclusion 1. Introduction To precede my comparison of Schumann's "Mondnacht" and Brahms's setting of the same poem I would like to begin with a brief introduction of the two composers. Their personal histories will be taken into account in order to show if any conclusions can be drawn on how their approaches to the compositions may have been influenced. I will also concentrate particularly on both composers’ roles in the context of the Lied of the 19th century. Within this context I will provide a short introduction to the poem Mondnacht and address its various different settings. In this approach will be considered both musical, as well as textual content. By the end of the paper I hope to provide a clearer understanding of how each of them composed their work and illuminate several differences and similarities. In order to not translate each quote taken from German sources and due to my German background I will be using the original quotes. 2. Robert Schumann Born in Zwickau on the 8th of June 1810, Schumann enjoyed his upbringing in a rather well-off family. As much as he was trained and exposed to the piano from an early age on, he also came into contact with major literature such as Jean Paul's, whose works he tried to emulate. After graduating from high school Schumann first started studying law but was inspired by a performance by Niccolo Paganini in Frankfurt to pursue a career as a piano virtuoso. He heard about the great piano pedagogue Friedrich Wieck and decided to cancel his studies of law in Heidelberg to join Wieck's studio and even move into his house in Leipzig. However, he soon withdrew his career goal due to frustrations with his ring finger and mechanically overworking it. Just as Weber, Berlioz, Liszt, Wolf or Wagner were involved in some sort of writing, Schumann too, started to focus on a career as a musical journalist which would turn out to built him a much stronger reputation than he had ever had as a pianist. Being sensible to the fact that music had become a more public affair he founded the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik with which he wanted to develop a new musical aesthetic centering around the vague ideal of the poetic/romantic of the time. The significance of Schumann's new journal was that it was independent of a publisher and only based on his artistic principles, which gave him artistic and idealist freedom as a writer. In 1835 Schumann fell in love with Clara Wieck. Although her father was strictly opposed to any sort of romantic entanglement for his talented daughter Schumann persevered for five years until the couple finally won a law suit against her father and was able to get married in 1840. This was also Schumann's important Liederjahr in which he started to compose his Liederkreis nach Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff op.39. Schumanns most prolific years of composition began in 1840 and peaked in 1849. His works included symphonic music, chamber music, and oratorio. After reoccuring health problems and an attempted suicide from a bridge over the Rhein in Düsseldorf in 1854, Schumann was committed to a mental institution. He died shortly thereafter, in 1856. 2.1 Schumann in the context of das Lied Although the gernre of 'Lieder' first originated simply as folk songs, the demands of new poetry at the turn of the 19th century demanded sophisticated style of musical accompaniment. Prior to Schumann, Schubert already begun to establish "a new aesthetic of the lied."[1] The major socio-political changes helped him to share his compositions with a stronger and broader middle class. He offered them songs in the form of "simple strophic lieder im Volkston"[2] that they could relate to but at the same time he used a progressive tonality that adapted fast enough to the changing needs and demands of the poetry and thus raised the bar of a new art form. "It was his project to elevate song to the rank of a major genre, and he did so with respect to every known category of song: folklike strophic song, extended through-composed songs (Gesänge), ballads, and the song cycle.[3] Starting in Schubert's time, composers "refined the musical means to express personal, subjective emotions and were fortunate enough to encounter the blossoming of a type of lyrics whose purpose it was to communicate subtlest shadings and nuances of feelings. In short, they found a type of poetry which suited their musical ambitions."[4] Composers at the time were very careful with their choice of poems and "neben der sorgfältigen Gedichtauswahl mit der Tendenz zu anspruchsvoller Lyrik und der möglichst aus dem (emotionalen) Gehalt der Textvorlage abgeleiteten Liedmelodik [gehörte] v.a. eine kunstvoll ausgearbeitete Begleitung." The piano parts became more important and even helped to convey the different meanings of the text with the help of "Vor-, Zwischen- und Nachspiele..."[5] as well as very harmonically expressive passages in order to elevate the Lied as mentioned before. "But Schumann was the first to ask the pianist to supply definitely solo interpretation."[6] The new literary movement and its aesthetics rediscovered and redefined the unity between "Wort, Gesang und Instrumentalmusik unter dem besonderen Vorzeichen einer neu definierten Sprachlichkeit der Musik"[7], which in return demanded a new approach by the composer. Schumann himself mentioned that this process was not possible prior to the new literary changes, because only these changes were able to influence the music making. He explains this, saying "Für das Lied hatte schon Franz Schubert vorgearbeitet, aber mehr in Beethovenscher Weise, dagegen in den Leistungen der Norddeutschen die Wirkung Bachschen Geistes sich kundgab. Die Entwickelung zu beschleunigen, entfaltete sich auch eine neue deutsche Dichterschule: Rückert und Eichendorff, obwohl schon früher blühend, wurden den Musikern vertrauter, am meisten Uhland und Heine komponiert. So entstand jene kunstvollere und tiefsinnigere Art des Liedes, von der natürlich die Früheren nichts wissen konnten, denn es war nur der neue Dichtergeist, der sich in der Musik widerspiegelte. (...) Und in Wirklichkeit ist vielleicht das Lied die einzige Gattung, in der seit Beethoven ein wirklich bedeutender Fortschritt geschehen."[8] With the help of his unique backgound in music and literature Schumann puts das Lied on yet another level. "He was indeed the first to approach song-writing form the definitely literary side."[9] He had the "Fähigkeit, klavieristische Virtuosität mit einer unerhörten Sensibilität für das Wort zu verbinden [...] Seine Herangehensweise läßt das Lied teilhaben am "neuen Paradigma der absoluten Kunstmusik, in bezug auf beides: Deren Kunstcharakter sowie deren Bestimmung für die Öffentlichkeit des professionellen Konzertsaales. Diese Ortsbestimmung plaziert Schumanns Lieder in den Entfaltungsprozeß der europäischen Moderne.""[10] The mutual effect and the deep understanding of music and literature from this same perspective is what influenced many composers after Schumann (e.g. Wolf). Schumann had written almost exclusively for piano prior to his Liederjahr in 1840. "It has always been recognized that Schumann was a piano composer turned to songwriting. A review of his songs in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, for example, noted that "Schumann's songs are...a continuation of his character pieces for piano... (...) if with Schubert the piano became equal to the voice, if still separate, with Schumann the voice and piano have become more integrated. The piano now sings as well... ."[11] The “abrupt” change was indeed not so abrupt after all as it also had to do with different external factors. One of them was his "constant source of inspiration"[12], Clara Schumann. Although this might be a vague source "one might still view Clara as a catalyst; she had been encouraging Robert to compose songs, for example, and he enjoyed hearing her sing."[13] Another factor was Schumann's financial situation. He "was deeply concerned that the public, and professional pianists (sometimes even Clara), did not appreciate his piano music, and that he needed to compose something to bring in more income and to satisfy Wieck. [14] 3. Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms was born in the ‘Hansestadt’ Hamburg in 1833. Like Schumann, Brahms enjoyed an early exposure to music. He first began earning money as a musician performing in bars as a pianist and soon after was able to put together his own little concerts. In 1853 Brahms met Schumann in Düsseldorf. After meeting him, Schumann was inspired to write about his remarkable talent in his essay Neue Bahnen that was published in the NZfM. Although Brahms was intimidated by the sudden publicity and the pressure that would accompany it this article would be the first put his name on the map in the musical scene. He engaged on concert tour with Clara Schumann and even moved into the Schumanns’ residence after Robert's health problems and attempted suicide. Brahms would have loved to have a more intimate relationship with Clara, but as long as Robert Schumann was still alive he was compelled to respect the traditional boundaries. After Schumann died, Clara however, distanced herself from Brahms and their relationship remained platonic. One year after Schumann’s death Brahms decided to move to Detmold. He composed several chamber music works and pieces for piano but after several disappointing performances and problems publishing his works, Brahms moved on to Hamburg. Despite his hopes that he might flourish at this new location he faced similarly disappointing results. Vienna seemed to be a promising city at the time, so Brahms decided to move south in 1862. However, he was traveling more than before and it took him another seven years to finally get settled in 1869. In Vienna Brahms finally established himself quickly as a pianist and composer. He enlarged his circle of friends and began promoting and conducting his works on concert tours in Austria, Germany and eventually the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Poland or Hungary. After working for only a short period of time for the Singakademie and the Musikgesellschaft in Vienna, Brahms decided to work solely as a freelance musician. Despite his comfortable financial situation by this time Brahms continued to lead a modest existance. One year after Clara Schumann death he grew very sick and died in Vienna in 1897. 3.1 Brahms in the context of das Lied Although Brahms became famous renowned mainly for his large scale works such as Ein Deutsches Requiem and his four Symphonies he also made an important contribution to the developing genre of the 19th century Lied through numerous and largely well-received compositions. In his opinion, the composition of a smaller scale work was no less demanding than their large- scale counterparts. "Für ihn erhob das Lied trotz seiner Zugehörigkeit zu einer 'Kleinform' keinen geringeren kompositorischen Anspruch als die Gattungen der Instrumentalmusik (...)." In contrast to Schumann's approach of composing many pieces simultaneously in only a short period of time, (as seen in his Liederfrühling), Brahms needed more time and described his process as following, "Wenn ich so den Anfang eines Liedes er- oder gefunden habe..., dann klappe ich meinetwegen das Buch zu, gehe spazieren oder nehme irgend etwas anderes vor und denke mitunter ein halbes Jahr dich daran. Es geht aber nichts verloren. Komme ich vielleicht nach langer Zeit wieder darauf, dann hat es unversehens schon Gestalt angenommen, ich kann nun anfangen, daran zu arbeiten."[15] Including 20 duets and 60 quartets he composed 284 art, folk and children's songs in a period of 45 years, "(...) das früheste erhaltene Lied, Heimkehr op. 7 Nr. 6, stammt vom Mai 1851, die letzten Beiträge, die Vier ernsten Gesänge op. 121, vom Mai 1896 (...)"[16], which means that he invested more time into Lied compositions than any of his contemporaries. Most of them were published in a collection of opus numbers. Probably many more existed, however, he "destroyed his music when he believed it failed to meet his high standards"[17] [1] Hallmark, German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century, p. 31 [2] Hallmark, p. 36 [3] Hallmark, p. 35 [4] Thym Jürgen. Solo Song Settings, p. 13 [5] Sandberger. Brahms Handbuch, p. 214 [6] Music and Letters. The songs of Schumann and Brahms, Some contacts and contrasts, p. 11 [7] Tadday. Schumann Handbuch, p. 400 [8] Tadday, p. 400 [9] Music and Letters, p.10 [10] Tadday, p. 401 [11] Hallmark, p. 87 [12] Hallmark, p. 78 [13] Hallmark, p. 78 [14] Hallmark, p. 78 [15] Jost. Brahms als Liedkomponist, p. 12 [16] Sandberger. Brahms Handbuch, p. 208 [17] Gorrell. The Nineteenth Century German Lied, p. 257 ISBN (eBook) ISBN (Book) File size 426 KB Catalog Number Institution / College University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music Mondnacht Schumann Brahms das Lied Title: Comparison of Schumann's "Mondnacht" with Brahms's setting of the same poem
The history of the Universe tells the story of a race between gravitation and expansion, until about six billion years ago, when dark energy becomes important. Image credit: NASA / GSFC. Is there really a cosmological constant? Or is dark energy changing with time? Constant? Not-a-constant? Or is there a fundamental flaw in the way we’re doing business? “If you’re puzzled by what dark energy is, you’re in good company.” Saul Perlmutter According to physics, the universe and everything in it can be explained by just a handful of equations. They’re difficult equations, all right, but their simplest feature is also the most mysterious one. The equations contain a few dozen parameters that are — for all we presently know — unchanging, and yet these numbers determine everything about the world we inhabit. Physicists have spent much brainpower questioning where these numbers come from, whether they could have taken any other values than the ones we observe, and whether their exploring their origin is even within the realm of science. One of the key questions when it comes to these parameters is whether they are really constant, or whether they are time-dependent. If they vary, then their time-dependence would have to be determined by yet another equation, which would change the entire story that we currently tell about our Universe. If even one of the fundamental constants isn’t truly a constant, it would open the door to an entirely new subfield of physics. Representative of the energy inherent to space itself, the cosmological constant (or dark energy) is thought to arise from the zero-point energy of empty space. It is assumed to be a constant, but that’s not necessarily true. Image credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Perhaps the best-known parameter of all is the cosmological constant: the zero-point energy of empty space itself. It is what causes the universe’s expansion to accelerate. The cosmological constant is usually assumed to be, well, a constant. If it isn’t, it can be more generally referred to as ‘dark energy.’ If our current theories for the cosmos are correct, our universe will expand forever into a cold and dark future. The value of the cosmological constant is infamously the worst prediction ever made using quantum field theory; the math says it should be 120 orders of magnitude larger than what we observe. But that the cosmological constant has a small, non-zero value that causes the Universe to accelerate is extremely well established by measurement. The evidence is so thoroughly robust that a Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery in 2011. The construction of the cosmic distance ladder involves going from our Solar System to the stars to nearby galaxies to distant ones. Each “step” carries along its own uncertainties; the Type Ia supernova step is the one that resulted in the 2011 Nobel Prize. Exactly what the value of the cosmological constant is, though, is controversial. There are different ways to measure the cosmological constant, and physicists have known for a few years that the different measurements give different results. This tension in the data is difficult to explain, and it has so-far remained unresolved. One way to determine the cosmological constant is by using the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The small temperature fluctuations between different locations and scales in the CMB encode density variations in the early universe and the subsequent changes in the radiation streaming from those locations. From fitting the CMB’s power spectrum with the parameters that determine the expansion of the universe, physicists get a value for the cosmological constant. The most accurate of all such measurements is currently the data from the Planck satellite. Three different types of measurements, distant stars and galaxies, the large scale structure of the Universe, and the fluctuations in the CMB, tell us the expansion history of the Universe. Another way to determine the cosmological constant is to deduce the expansion of the universe from the redshift of the light from distant sources. This is the way the Nobel-Prize winners made their original discoveries in the late 1990s, and the precision of this method has since been improved. In addition, there are now multiple ways to make this measurement, where the results are all in general agreement with one another. But these two ways to determine the cosmological constant give results that differ with a statistical significance of 3.4-σ. That’s a probability of less than one in thousand to be due to random data fluctuations, but admittedly not strong enough to rule out statistical variations. Multiple explanations for this have since been proposed. One possibility is that it’s a systematic error in the measurement, most likely in the CMB measurement from the Planck mission. There are reasons to be skeptical, because the tension goes away when the finer structures (the large multipole moments) of the data are omitted. In addition, incorrect foreground subtractions may be continuing to skew the data, as they did in the infamous BICEP2 announcement. For many astrophysicists, these are indicators that something’s amiss either with the Planck measurement or the data analysis. One way of measuring the Universe’s expansion history involves going all the way back to the first light we can see, when the Universe was just 380,000 years old. The other ways don’t go backwards nearly as far, but also have a lesser potential to be contaminated by systematic errors. Image credit: European Southern Observatory. But maybe it’s a real effect after all. In this case, several modifications of the standard cosmological model have been put forward. They range from additional neutrinos to massive gravitons to actual, bona fide changes in the cosmological constant. The idea hat the cosmological constant changes from one place to the next is not an appealing option because this tends to screw up the CMB spectrum too much. But currently, the most popular explanation for the data tension in the literature seems to be a time-varying cosmological constant. The different ways dark energy could evolve into the future. It’s assumed it will remain constant but if it increases in strength (into a Big Rip) or reverses sign (leading to a Big Crunch), other fates are possible. A group of researchers from Spain, for example, claims that they have a stunning 4.1-σ preference for a time-dependent cosmological constant over an actually constant one. This claim seems to have been widely ignored, and indeed one should be cautious. They test for a very specific time-dependence, and their statistical analysis does not account for other parameterizations that might instead be tried. (The theoretical physicist’s variant of post-selection bias.) Moreover, they fit their model not only to the two above mentioned datasets, but to a whole bunch of others at the same time. This makes it hard to tell why their model seems to work better. A couple of cosmologists who I asked about this remarkable result and why it has been ignored complained that the Spanish group’s method of data analysis is non-transparent. Any configuration of background points of light — stars, galaxies or clusters — will be distorted due to the effects of foreground mass via weak gravitational lensing. Even with random shape noise, the signature is unmistakeable. Be that as it may, just when I put the Spaniards’ paper away, I saw another paper that supported their claim with an entirely independent study based on weak gravitational lensing. Weak gravitational lensing happens when a foreground galaxy distorts the image shapes of more distant, background galaxies. The qualifier ‘weak’ sets this effect apart from strong lensing, which is caused by massive nearby objects — such as black holes — and deforms point-like sources to arcs, rings, and multiple images. Weak gravitational lensing, on the other hand, is not as easily recognizable and must be inferred from the statistical distribution of the ellipticities of galaxies. The Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) has gathered and analyzed weak lensing data from about 15 million distant galaxies. While their measurements are not sensitive to the expansion of the universe, they are sensitive to the density of dark energy, which affects the way light travels from the galaxies towards us. This density is encoded in a cosmological parameter imaginatively named σ_8, which measures the amplitude of the matter power spectrum on scales of 8 Mpc/h, where h is related to the Hubble expansion rate. Their data, too, is in conflict with the CMB data from the Planck satellite. The overlay in the lower left hand corner represents the distortion of background images due to gravitational lensing expected from the dark matter ‘haloes’ of the foreground galaxies, indicated by red ellipses. The blue polarization “sticks” indicate the distortion. This reconstruction accounts for both shear and weak lensing in the Hubble Deep field. The members of the KiDS collaboration have tried out which changes to the cosmological standard model work best to ease the tension in the data. Intriguingly, it turns out that ahead of all explanations, the one that works best has the cosmological constant changing with time. The change is such that the effects of accelerated expansion are becoming more pronounced, not less. In summary, it seems increasingly unlikely the tension in the cosmological data is due to chance. Cosmologists are justifiably cautious, and most of them bet on a systematic problem with either the Planck data or, alternatively, with the calibration of the cosmic distance ladder. However, if these measurements receive independent confirmation, the next best bet is on time-dependent dark energy. It won’t make our future any brighter, though. Even if dark energy changes with time, all indications point towards the universe continuing to expand, forever, into cold darkness.
Type safety with native JavaScript v02 Why everybody wants type safety and how to get it. Typecast example This is an update from the original article. It is shorter, simpler, more logical, and more correct. 1. Overview 2. What is type safety? Let’s see how easy it is to create a type error in Javascript using the terse semantic style popular in some fringe cults. This is awful code, so please don’t copy it. We’ll improve it as we go along. function repeats(counts, run) while(counts < 0) function reports(info) repeats('-3', reports) 3. Why do we want type safety? 1. They are easy to create 2. They are challenging to resolve 3. They are often serious Let’s look at each of these issues in turn. 3.1. JS type errors are easy to create JavaScript is missing almost all type controls because it was not originally intended to run large-scale applications. There are no type declarations, return types are not reliable, there is no static type-checking, and one must roll-their-own dynamic checking. 3.1.1 No type declarations 3.1.2 Return types are not reliable The return types of JavaScript expressions are often not reliable. Many JavaScript operators are polymorphic and will return values of different types dependant on the types of variables used. For example, the JavaScript ‘+’ operator can concatenate strings or add numbers or converts a string to a number. The return value can be suprising when varilable types are mixed as illustrated below. // Confirmed using Google V8 version var x, y; // expression // \| returned value \| Coercion \| Op x = 3; // \| 3 \| - \| This behavior (confirmed using Google V8 version; see node -e 'console.log(process.versions.v8);') is probably consistent across the across the four primary JavaScript engines (V8, IonMonkey, Nitro, Chakra) and the dozen of others. However less popular operators probably have some variance across the engines that can cause headaches. Other languages have less complex behaviors because they usually have stricter type checking, stricter coercion rules, fewer polymorphic operators, and fewer vendors. Perl, for example, uses the dot (.) operator to join strings and the plus (+) operator to add numbers. Perl also uses sigals (prefixes) like $, @, and % to indicate types and a special syntax to identify ‘wild-card’ (type-glob) references. 3.1.3 No static checking 00: ok \| x = 3; \| 01: ok \| x = 3 + 1; \| 3.1.4 Roll-your-own dynamic checking Static type checking does not work in all situations, especially when dealing with data from unknown or untrusted sources. In those cases we resort to dynamic type checking at run-time. Native JavaScript tools for this purpose are limited. For example, the typeof method does not distinguish between an object and an array. 3.2. Type errors are challenging to resolve // Almost useless names let total = watches / in_use; // Type errors in this assignment are pretty obvious let total_str = watch_list / use_bool; // Problems made obvious // - The return from a divide operation should be a number, not a string // - Dividing a list will result in NaN in most circumstances // - The boolean will coerce to 0 or 1 // Here is the problem fixed by using proper types let total_num = watch_list.length / use_count; Yes, the intended variable type is that important. We’ve had to maintain plenty of third-party modules where variable names provide no hint of type or purpose, or worse, are patently misleading. We’d rather name our variables sensibly and use the time saved to focus on new challenges. 3.3. Type errors are often serious As we have shown, type errors can result in severe application failures and security holes. Imagine some NodeJS code that doesn’t properly type-check its JSON API. One could implement a Denial Of Service (DOS) attack and shut down an entire cluster by simply sending strings instead of numbers in API requests. This stuff happens. 4. How do we get type safety in Native JavaScript? There are a few ways to improve JavaScript type safety. One approach involves using libraries or frameworks such as Flow or TypeScript that require transpiling or otherwise prepocessing the code. Here we propose a simpler solution that may be especially well-suited for smaller projects and requires only three steps. 1. Get typecast methods 2. Use typecasting 3. Name variables to indicate type 4.1. Get typecast methods npm install hi_score cd hi_score bin/xhi setup google-chrome ./index.html # Open the JavaScript console to access xhi._util_ functions You don’t have to use the whole library; you can just crib the methods from xhi.util.js if you want. Go ahead, you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings. The typecast methods are as follows and have all been thoroughly tested and quite well docmented in the project. castBool, castFn, castInt, castJQ, castList, castMap, castNum, castObj, castStr All typecast methods take one or two arguments. Only numbers, strings, and integers are converted between types and only when the conversion is unambiguous. Examples are shown below. return_data = castInt( 0 ); // 0 return_data = castInt( '0' ); // 0 return_data = castInt( 'a' ); // undefined return_data = castInt( [] ); // undefined Value Bool Fn Num Ary Obj Str ’’ FALSE 0 ’’ ‘0’ t 0 ‘0’ ‘1’ t 1 ‘1’ ‘20’ t 20 ‘20’ ‘ten’ t NaN ‘ten’ 0 FALSE 0 ‘0’ 1 t 1 ‘1’ NaN FALSE NaN ‘NaN’ [] t 0 [] {} ’’ false FALSE 0 ‘false’ null FALSE 0 ‘null’ true t 1 ‘true’ undefined FALSE NaN ‘undefined’ {} t NaN [] {} ‘0’ -Infinity t -Infinity ‘-Infinity’ Infinity t Infinity ‘Infinity’ The cast methods are they are predictable, explicit, and self-documenting. The only convert the most unambigous values. Blank cells are conditions where the failure value (undefined by default) will be returned. No exceptions are thrown by these methods. Value Bool Fn Num Ary Obj Str ’’ ’’ ‘0’ 0 ‘0’ ‘1’ 1 ‘1’ ‘20’ 20 ‘20’ ‘ten’ ‘ten’ 0 0 ‘0’ 1 1 ‘1’ [] [] [‘ten’] [‘ten] [10] [10] [10,20] [10,20] false FALSE function(){} function(){} true true {} {} -Infinity -Infinity Infinity Infinity 4.2 Use Typecasting function repeats(arg_counts, arg_run) var counts = castInt(arg_counts) var run = castFn(arg_run) while (counts < 0) function reports(info) repeats('-3', reports) The function is now impervious to most type errors. 4.3 Name variables to indicate type Typecasting handles run-time type checking. Most benefits of static checking can be realized by naming our variables to indicate their intended type. Most static type errors become self-evident if we adhere to this convention. Let’s rewrite our code using the name convention from the JS Code standard quick reference. function repeatFn ( arg_map ) { map = castMap( arg_map, {} ), int = castInt( map._int_, 0 ), fn = castFn( map._fn_ ), if ( ! fn ) { return; } fn( idx ); function printToConsole ( idx ) { console.log( idx ); } This code will now pass ESLint. Thanks to the naming convention we can tell that tell that fn should be a function and and idx should be an integer immediately without the need to read other code, add mark-up comments, or employ any transpiling. The full JS Code standard we use discusses why a simple naming convention can vastly reduce the need for comments. We think it’s an interesting and compelling read if you’re into that kind of thing. // BEGIN utility method /repeatFn/ // Example : repeatFn({ // _int_ : -3, // }); // Arguments : ( named ) // single execution of _fn_( idx ); // Returns : undefined // Throws : none function repeatFn ( arg_map ) { map = castMap( arg_map, {} ), int = castInt( map._int_, 0 ), fn = castFn( map._fn_ ), if ( ! fn ) { return; } fn( idx ); // END utility method /repeatFn/ function printToConsole ( idx ) { console.log( idx ); } Remember where we begged you not to copy our first code example? Copy this code instead. It is impervious to most type errors, readable, testable, maintainable, compressable, and well documented. We can use the in-line API docs along with tools like Istanbul and nodeunit to create tests for our type-safe repeatFn function. Check out the test suite for hi_score to see how this can be accomplished. 5. What about frameworks and libraries? How does this simple technique compare with Flow and TypeScript? We still intend to publish a sequel that will answer this question. Remember to use typcasting only when processing external data and inputs of public methods. Rely on the name convention to communicate intended type of variables in private methods and variables. Cheers, Mike Written on August 12, 2017
Science Worksheets and Study Guides Seventh Grade. Forces The resources above correspond to the standards listed below: Mississippi Standards MS.2. Physical Science: Develop an understanding of chemical and physical changes, interactions involving energy, and forces that affect motion of objects. 2.f. Describe the effects of unbalanced forces on the speed or direction of an object's motion. (DOK 2) 2.f.2. Gravity, friction, drag, lift, electric forces, and magnetic forces
homeless bench Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Google democratized information, Uber democratized car rides, and Twitter democratized publishing a single sentence. But to the World Bank, the powerful Washington-based organisation that lends money to developing countries, Silicon Valley's technology firms appear to be exacerbating economic inequality rather than improving it. It's not a new argument in California's San Francisco Bay, where protesters have blockaded Google's commuter buses and local activists try to curtail new development for tech company headquarters. But the 330-page report released on 14 January is perhaps the most high-profile examination of how specific American tech giants impact the global economy. "Second, some of the perceived benefits of digital technologies are offset by emerging risks," the report says. For instance, it says: "Many advanced economies face increasingly polarized labor markets and rising inequality - in part because technology augments higher skills while replacing routine jobs." "The economics of the internet favor natural monopolies, the absence of a competitive business environment can result in more concentrated markets, benefiting incumbent firms. Not surprisingly, the better educated, well connected, and more capable have received most of the benefits - circumscribing the gains from the digital revolution." The report goes on to say that many of the shortcomings of American tech firms can be overcome if governments can increase public access to the web. Technology firms such as Google and Facebook are working on projects to offer free internet to parts of Africa and India. For those projects to work, the companies need to offer internet access with no strings attached, the World Bank says. At one point, it calls out Facebook's recent efforts to provide free internet access to consumers in some countries - but only to access Facebook. "The recent trend to develop services in which some basic content can be accessed free of data charges (such as Facebook's Free Basics or Internet.org), while other content is subject to data charges, would appear to be the antithesis of net neutrality and a distortion of markets," the report says. "Nevertheless, some defend the practice as a means of extending internet use in low-income countries." In the US, politicians and nonprofits have often attacked Wall Street banks and oil companies as sources of corporate profits that don't help the rest of society. The World Bank report suggests it may not be long until tech joins their ranks. This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk
Home » Water Temperatures Are Changing in Casco Bay Water Temperatures Are Changing in Casco Bay Our CMS allows us to identify nuances in how the Bay is changing year-to-year in far more detail than we ever could before. Friends of Casco Bay’s newest workhorse—our Continuous Monitoring Station (CMS)—has been amassing hourly data on the health of the Bay for over two years now. Research Associate Mike Doan is excited to be able to look at the daily, weekly, and seasonal changes in the Bay in far more detail than ever before. Mike was able to make comparisons between the first two years of data, comparisons we will continue tracking year to year. For example, the graph above shows nuances we could not have documented before: A. The period of late summer-early fall of 2016 was warmer than the same time period in 2017. B. The winter of 2017-18 turned colder earlier, with water temperatures dropping below 0°C before the end of December. In the previous winter, water temperatures did not drop below 0°C until late January. C. Overall, spring and summer of 2018 were warmer than the same periods the year before. On July 20, 2018, we marked the second anniversary of when our Continuous Monitoring Station began recording data off Yarmouth near the coastal midpoint of Casco Bay. The data are providing insights into how climate change and ocean acidification may be affecting the health of our waters. The Station consists of a modified lobster trap that houses a data sonde and a carbon dioxide sensor, instruments that collect data on many different aspects of water conditions. Mike is the architect of our Cage of Science. “It’s been a lot of work to get to this point,” admits Mike, “and it is exciting to see the quality and quantity of data we are collecting.” Colleagues have taken notice of how he has been able to outfit an electronic station with accurate, high-tech monitoring equipment at reasonable cost. Several scientists already are using the continuous data. We look forward to building the long-term data set that will provide a more complete picture of a changing Casco Bay, information that can help our communities assess, mitigate, and adapt to those changes. Why is water temperature important? Temperature influences how much oxygen and carbon dioxide the water can hold, the rate of plant growth and decay, and the movement of currents. Temperatures also impact the geographic distribution of marine life. Menhaden (pogies), typically found in the mid-Atlantic, have been showing up in large numbers in Casco Bay. Lobstermen say that lobsters are remaining farther offshore, with fewer showing up in warmer water areas around inshore eelgrass beds. We are seeing species of phytoplankton that were never before documented in Casco Bay. Thanks to support from Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and generous donors, our Continuous Monitoring Station collects data once an hour, every hour, year round.
The Russian Revolution and National Self-determination Buy this Issue In an attempt to delegitimize calls for Catalan independence, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy once stated that no constitution in the world accepted the right to self-determination — except the Soviet Union. For Rajoy, this comparison denigrates the Catalan independence movement. For socialists, it speaks volumes about the liberatory nature of the Russian Revolution. The constitution born from that great revolution is the first and only one to accept the principle of national self-determination — an important democratic right that the majority of the Western capitalist democracies still deny 100 years later. Lenin and the national question In his 1914 text, “The Right of Nations to Self-Determination,” Lenin developed a Marxist position on the topic, making five central points (1): 1. The formation of nation-states came about in the period of bourgeois struggles against feudalism. A tendency developed from 1789-1870 to subsume regional particularities to the national market, based on a unified language and territory, developed. 2. Self-determination includes the right to decide whether to separate from a nation and form an independent national state. Lenin takes on those who argue for a “culturalist” interpretation — cultural autonomy without the right to separation. 3. Lenin poses an important question: Does supporting the right to self-determination imply supporting bourgeois nationalism? Social-Democrats believed it did, taking a sectarian stance on the national question. But Lenin argues,“Insofar as the bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation fights the oppressor, we are always, in every case, and more strongly than anyone else, in favor, for we are the staunchest and the most consistent enemies of oppression. But insofar as the bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation stands for its own bourgeois nationalism, we stand against.”1 In other words, the fight for self-determination is a fight against the bourgeois nationalism of the oppressor nation, but it does not imply support for the bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation. 4. Lenin argues that denying nations the right to separation is not the same as fighting nationalism, but is equivalent to favoring the nationalism of the oppressor nation, which imposes unity by force. 5. Finally, as internationalists, we fight for the unity of the working class across nations. It is not our objective to create new borders, but in order to unite the working class, the workers of the oppressor nations must fight against their own bourgeoisie that oppress other nations. Workers cannot be truly free if they are part of a country that oppresses others. The national question and the Russian Revolution At the beginning of the 20th century, there had not yet been a bourgeois revolution in Russia. The czarist empire was made up of diverse nationalities with a population of approximately 150 million people, 43% were considered Russian, while 57% were part of nations oppressed by the autocracy. These oppressed nations, such as Ukraine, Poland, and Georgia, were forcefully annexed, stripped of their language, and banned from practicing their own religion. The oppression of these nations at the hands of the Russian state fueled national liberation movements that were an unprecedented revolutionary force in the February Revolution. The provisional government that emerged from that revolution did not provide the right to self-determination and instead maintained Russian oppression over the other nationalities. Kerensky’s provisional government cloaked oppression with rhetoric about the defense of the revolution and justified coerced national integration as a war measure. Underneath these claims, the provisional government was actually defending the Russian bourgeoisie’s access to wealth; they were not willing to lose access to wheat, Ukrainian carbon, or the capitalists’ influence over other peoples. The provisional government prohibited the independent institutions of Finnish and Ukrainian nationalists, demonstrating that the “democratic revolution” would not keep its promises. In order to reach liberation, oppressed nations had to “link their fate with that of the working class. And for this they had to free themselves from the leadership of their own bourgeois and petty bourgeois parties – they had to make a long spurt forward, that is, on the road of historic development.” (2) In this sense, while not a revolutionary demand in and of itself, the question of self-determination could serve as a springboard to bring the working class to power. Given that the provisional government refused to grant this right to oppressed peoples, the demand could fuel a revolution if the working class were to take it up and fight for it. Section 9 of the Bolshevik program guaranteed the right to self-determination which Lenin emphatically defended during the revolution. In the History of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky argues that: “Only in this way could the Russian proletariat gradually win the confidence of the oppressed nationalities.” (3) One of the first measures taken by the Soviet government after taking power in the October Revolution was a decree of self-determination. Furthermore, the measures taken in favor of peasants were also supported by many of those living in oppressed nations, as they were predominantly rural. These were key elements that had allowed the Bolsheviks to gain the support of the working class and peasantry of oppressed nations, which had played a significant role in the defense of the revolution. Stalinism and the National Question The hardships of the Civil War and the isolation of the young Soviet state presented many problems for the USSR. Lenin was particularly worried about the growth of a bureaucracy within the state and the party. As expressed in the article in this magazine, “Thermidor in Moscow,” Lenin’s worries became reality. After the revolution, Lenin and the Bolsheviks made the USSR a voluntary federation. He wrote, “We recognise ourselves to be the equals of the Ukrainian SSR and others…and together with them and on equal terms with them enter a new union, a new federation…” (4) Lenin recommended caution and patience when dealing with oppressed nationalities. Stalin, who had been named Commissar for the Nationalities due to his Georgian roots, had a different set of politics. In 1921, despite Lenin’s objections, Stalin organized an invasion of Georgia, an independent predominantly peasant state government led by the Mensheviks. Lenin’s political method was one of conciliation in order to win over the confidence of the masses, so when Stalin proposed an invasion of Georgia to the Central Committee of the Party, Lenin strongly opposed the action. Without the backing of the Party, Stalin and his followers forcibly purged the Mensheviks from the Georgian government and confronted the Bolsheviks in Georgia, resorting to physical violence. These events occurred while Lenin was sick, but when he found out, “Lenin branded Stalin ‘a real and true national-socialist,’ and a vulgar ‘Great-Russian bully.’” (5) Lenin saw Stalin’s invasion of Georgia as a marked point of departure from the principles and program of the revolutionary Bolsheviks and the expression of bureaucratic and nationalist tendencies. After Lenin’s death, with the consolidation of the Stalinist bureaucracy and the physical elimination of the opposition, the Soviet state returned to rigid nationalist politics that denied other nations the right to secession, exposing the complete rupture of the Stalinist bureaucracy with Marx, who measured the caliber of socialists in oppressor nations by their attitude towards oppressed nations. Trotsky and the Federation of Socialist Republics of Europe In the midst of the first world war and only a few months before the outset of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky writes “The Programme of Peace.” In it, he explains that in the imperialist epoch the national bourgeoisies acts more and more as “inveterate gamblers being forced to divide the gold ‘justly’ among themselves in the middle of the game, in order to start the same game all over again with redoubled frenzy.” The feverish greed of the system requires imperialist nations seek to expand, acquire new markets and seize areas of influence from competing states. As Trotsky argues, this need to acquire new markets leads the system to it’s own bankruptcy with a never ending cycle of capitalist crisis. (6) In Trotsky’s view, imperialism, which expresses itself through looting and expansion of the market, is the tendency towards the internationalization of the modern capitalist economy. The working class shouldn’t counterpose this tendency with a “return” to reactionary national “sovereign” states, but instead struggle towards internationalist socialism. Trotsky claims that the working class “cannot allow the ‘national principle’ to get in the way of the irresistible and deeply progressive tendency of modern economic life towards a planned organization throughout our continent, and further, all over the globe.” (7) Thus, in imperialist capitalism, in order for the oppressed nations of Europe (and the world) to achieve self-determination, it is necessary to break the chains of the imperialist nations that are subjugating them. In 1917, this meant to deal a death blow to imperialist Europe which had been weakened and destroyed by World War I. Thus, self-determination and the free union of people can only be thought of as a part of the struggle towards a Federation of Socialist Republics of Europe; it can only be brought about through a unified struggle against the yoke of imperialist oppression. As Trotsky writes: “The United States of Europe — without monarchies, standing armies and secret diplomacy — is therefore the most important integral part of the proletarian peace programme.” (8) What does this mean for us today? As the fight for Catalan independence rages on, these discussions are anything but anachronistic. The countries of the European Union have been swept by xenophobic nationalist movements and neo-Nazi marches that are gaining strength. Brexit was a major blow to the European Union — the project of capitalist unity. On the other hand, the Catalan struggle expresses “the national question” as a demand of the masses. Sectors of the Spanish Left argue that one should not support “either camp” — Spanish nationalism or the Catalan independence movement — so as to avoid taking a nationalist position. However, as a reading of Trotsky and Lenin suggest, by not supporting the oppressed nation, one is supporting the privileges of the oppressor nation. In the case of Catalonia, refusing to support the independence movement means supporting Spanish nationalism and its repressive offensive. In the midst of the capitalist crisis and the crisis of the European Union, the national question is not a topic exclusively for academics in an ivory tower. As this article is being written, the Catalan masses are debating whether to follow their mild petty bourgeois leadership or to forge an independent path towards self-determination. In this sense, the Bolsheviks’ politics towards oppressed nations is a guide for action. *This article is based on the lecture “The Russian Revolution and Rights of Nations to Self-Determination” at ‘Cátedra Libre Karl Marx’ October 18th, 2017 in the Autonomous University of Madrid. Translated by Leo Zino and Sara Jayne 1. V.I. Lenin, “The Right of Nations to Self-Determination,” in Lenin: Collected Works, vol. 20, trans. Bernard Isaacs and Joe Fineberg (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972), 393-454, previously published in Prosveshcheniye, nos. 4, 5 and 6 (April-June 1914), 2. Leon Trotsky, “The Problem of Nationalities,” in The History of the Russian Revolution, vol. 3 (Monad Press, 1980), 3. Ibid. 4. V.I. Lenin, Questions of National Policy and Proletarian Internationalism (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1967), 223. 5. Yuir Buranov, Lenin’s Will: Falsified and Forbidden (Prometheus Books, 1994), 46. 6. Leon Trotsky, “The Programme of Peace,” Fourth International 5, no. 3 (September 1944): 279-286,, originally published in a Bolshevik press pamphlet (1917). 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. About author Josefina L. Martínez Historiadora \| Madrid \|
Highways England ecologist Leo Gurbert explained: "The grassland and scrub growing on parts of our verges is known as 'rank grassland' and doesn’t support a wide variety of species, particularly bees and butterflies, as it has limited biodiversity value. The planting is taking place at 11 sites on the A38 between Ashburton and Wrangaton and will create almost six hectares of new grassland which will be enhanced by planting native perennial species including; yellow rattle and bird's foot trefoil. Leo added: "As well as pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies the new areas should support further biodiversity such as invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals and it should improve the appearance of the road and journey experience for everyone using it.” The Highways England grassland planting schemes are now in their third year and a total of 10 hectares have been planted along the A30 and A38 in Devon and Cornwall. The seeds being planted this year have been sourced from a nearby farm to make sure the plants are as local as possible. The scheme is being delivered under Highways England’s national Biodiversity Plan which is being supported by a £30 million national investment programme over the next five years. The plan recognises road verges and associated land can be managed to provide great areas of wildlife habitat, relatively free from human access, that are often scarce in the surrounding landscape. These road verges can also be used to connect fragmented habitats in the wider landscape, enabling plant and animal populations to move and interact, and so become stronger and more resilient. The project also aligns with DEFRA’s National Pollinator Strategy and environmental charity’s Buglifes’ B-line initiative, which aims to create a nationwide network for pollinating species such as bees. The scheme involves three phases of work between Monday, 23 July and Friday, 28 Sept 2018. This work will be carried out overnight when traffic flows are at their lowest to keep disruption to a minimum and while most sites will require lane closures no delays are anticipated.
Cloze test practice-16 PASSAGE 16 (Questions 1-5) Directions: In the below given passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered. Five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case. __(1)__ over the world, rights related to information technology are already legally recognised and daily being violated, __(2)__ in the name of economic advancement, political stability or for personal greed and interests. Violations of these rights have __(3)__ new problems in human social system,such as the digital divide, cyber crime, digital security and privacy concerns, all of which have __(4)__ people's lives either directly or indirectly. It is important that countries come up with the guidelines for action to __(5)__ the incidence of malicious attacks on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic data and systems, computer related crimes, content-related offences and violations of intellectual property rights __(6)__, threats to critical infrastructure and national interests arising from the use of the internet for criminal and terrorist activities are of growing __(7)__ The harm incurred to businesses, governments and individuals in those countries in which the internet is used __(8)__ is gaining in __(9)__ and importance, while in other countries, cyber crime threatens the application of information and communication technology for government services, healthcare, trade and banking. As users start losing __(10)__ in online transactions and business, the opportunity costs may become substantial. [IBPS (SO), 2012] Select the appropriate word for blank 1. Select the appropriate word for blank 2. Select the appropriate word for blank 3. Select the appropriate word for blank 4. Select the appropriate word for blank 5. --Share with your friends --
Snake Poems Snake poems for those who feel fascinated by the snakes. Generally snakes instil fear but for some poets they have beauty of their own. Poems about snakes are about the dreadful experiences with snakes, like snake bite or encounter with snakes. Snake poetry also has the other side which glorifies the existence and beauty of this reptile. Poems on snakes talk about this individualistic reptile describing that it is the king of its own kingdom unaffected by the outer world. In our collection of snakes and reptile poems one can find these unique verses as enjoyable and interesting. Grasshopper And A Snake Grasshopper And A Snake short poem Grasshopper basking in the warmth of the sun Upon a rock. Slithering through a maze of alpine wildflowers looking for a likely sized creature to capture and feast upon saphonsifying her hunger. After secretly searching for near a mile Snake Eyes Like Snake Eyes Like Snake short poem Snake: A Creature So Amazing Snake: A Creature So Amazing short poem Poems you will love Snakes In The Garden Snakes In The Garden short poem A Farewell To Arms A Farewell To Arms short poem King Of The Sand Castle King Of The Sand Castle short poem He peeped out of his castle very frightened someone may call his name. He knew vice-versa they were afraid of him calling him venomous satan in snake skin. Saying he is the sinner of temptation hissing he nods that’s not King Serpentine King Serpentine short poem Serpent short poem Poems containing references to : Snake Love is a strange thing Love is a strange thing short poem Life Without Literature Life Without Literature short poem Double Curse Double Curse long poem Justice long poem No Excuse No Excuse prose poem Love And Lust Love And Lust long poem Pallbearer short poem If you come to me, I will show you my cupboard…….. photographs, paintings of old days, dead butterfly, dried snake skin, old is never gold, pain and anger…… broken leaves, dust around dead grasshopper, dead caterpillar, owl and mice. moon Barters A Call Barters A Call short poem My Silence: A Short Epic My Silence: A Short Epic long poem Lost In The Ocean Lost In The Ocean long poem Step Off The Cliff Step Off The Cliff prose poem The Devil Just Sold Out The Devil Just Sold Out short poem The Ashman Cometh The Ashman Cometh short poem Backtracking short poem Eve Speaks Eve Speaks short poem Death And Apollo Death And Apollo short poem Honeymoon with history was over. A two headed snake was sitting on a coin of leather in grass. Blue tongued jewel was going to serve the enormity of destination. Disquietingly, decomposed relics were coming out of the rubble. Coil of Birthdays short poem I’ll bake tonight a rounded cake to celebrate the wish I make I’ll light my candles with the Moon and let them glow in nightly gloom. I wish myself a better year, to feel and see what I can’t hear, Smashing The Road Signs Smashing The Road Signs short poem My garden cries for no reason. Kindness melts into rain of twisted petals. And that is it. Alone I whisper the translucent words, watching the death of dreams, living fossils. The sun bakes the seeds. The essence will not heal, In Our Breasts In Our Breasts short poem Apples short poem Anatomical Pieces Anatomical Pieces prose poem Golden End Golden End short poem The Rising Sun The Rising Sun short poem Road War Road War short poem Panacea long poem Stranger- I Am Stranger I Am long poem Standing down the pale grey sky on a dark road lonely bus stand and night of hot june , where dark is the only soul to talk , and millions of odd dust cleansing your feet . Not only feet Silent Prayers Silent Prayers short poem Mutation short poem Like black birds homing in twilight, to the tree my thoughts make a perfect landing. I lift the silence in sleep. A flying snake enters a pink room. A bullet pierces the heart. No acolytes, I will catch myself the Persistence short poem It never seems the right time. Watching night pursue the day. That one light spread across a blanket. That one rebellious soul that sees all but never says a word. You shy away, but still I chase. Wandering about until Snakes short poem Damned short poem The Vigil The Vigil short poem Floaters swim in acrid clouds, I watch myself killed by me, the image was real, oracular ashen grey, sitting on a sand dune I listen to the silence of bending and roaring faults, the life repeats the mistake, possessed, chasing Lilith prose poem Terror Trail Terror Trail short poem
Why Unisphere? An artist's rendering of the original concept for Unisphere. According to the February 15, 1961 edition of the Herald Tribune: Widest of the structural elements will be the equator. Somewhat narrower will be the strips representing the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Still others will from lines of longitude and latitude. They will be fixed to the sphere but appeare to be independent of it. A light representing a satellite, will move speedily along each orbit at different speeds and in opposite directions. Unisphere's base will be in the center of a 12-sided pool. One suggestion under consideration is that sculptures at the twelve corners of the pool represent the signs of the zodiac. These too would be in stainless steel. The concept is that verticle fountains will form a wall of water around the base of the sphere. Other fountains, at the edge of the pool, will arch inward. The fountains will be lighted from above and below. Source: "Remembering the Future," "Something for Everyone: Robert Moses and the Fair" by Marc H. Miller, published to accompany the 1989 Queens Museum exhibition "Remembering the Future: The New York World's Fair from 1939 to 1964." The visual theme center for [Robert] Moses's Fair was the Unisphere, a 140-foot high, 900,000-pound steel armillary sphere covered with the representations of the continents and encircled by three giant rings denoting the first man-made satellites that had recently launched the space age. The emblematic Unisphere was to serve the 1964/65 Fair as the Trylon and Perisphere had served its 1939 predecessor - as the centerpiece of the fairgrounds and as a visual logo for Fair publicity. Occupying the central spot in Flushing Meadow Park, where the Trylon and Perisphere once stood, the Unisphere was the creation of Gilmore Clark, a longtime collaborator on the Flushing Meadow Park ground plan and the 1939 Fair. The Unisphere's history was not without incident. One of Moses' first and most difficult tasks on assuming control of the Fair Corporation had been to come up with a visual logo to rival the highly successful Trylon and Perisphere. At first he hoped for an appropriate plan from the design committee, which included both Wallace Harrison and Henry Dreyfuss, the architect and designer who had created the Trylon and Perisphere and its interior exhibit, "Democracity." [Failing that,] Moses turned to Walter Dorwin Teague, the noted industrial designer who had served on the design committe of 1939, to submit a theme center idea. Moses's views on an appropriate central symbol are set forth in an August 21, 1960 memo to his assistant, Stuart Constable: It gets down to these alternatives. A. Pure abstraction. Absolutely nothing doing. Toss it out. B. Understandable abstraction symbolizing theme, with some significance or meaning for the average person. C. U.N. buildings. Kind of corny. Unoriginal. U.N. probably won't like it. Neither will some of our people, but its not impossible. D. Something from electronic or invention world. E. Throgs Neck or Narrows suspension bridge. F. Onward and upward symbol - Heaven knows what. G. Something else. Teague's proposal, "Journey to the Stars," was for a 170-foot-high steel and aluminum spiral with helium-filled star-shaped balloons floating above. The spiral was animated by moving lights. In its most abitious stage, a ride took people to the top. A related two-dimensional design was temporarily used as the Fair's logo, but in an August 12, 1960 letter to Gilmore Clarke, Moses expressed his disappointment with Teague's concept. "At the risk of being put down as a barbarian, I think it is a cross between a part of a make and break engine and a bed spring, or should I say between a Malayan Tapir and a window shutter." "Journey to the Stars" as envisioned by the design team at Walter Dorwin Teague Associates. Two-dimensional design of "Journey to the Stars" that was temporarily used as the Fair's logo. "The Galaxon" - another proposed Theme Symbol of the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. Another proposal Moses rejected was "The Galaxon," designed by Paul Rudolph, an innovated young architect and dean of the Yale University Department of Architecture. The 160-foot high 340-foot in diameter, saucer-shaped concrete structure, sponsored by Portland Cement, featured stations for star viewing, and was tilted at an 18-degree angle to offer an optimum view of the heavens. Like the Teague and Rudolph proposals, Clarke's giant globe, encircled by rings, celebrated the space age that had begun with the Russian launching of Sputnik in 1957 and continued in America after John F. Kennedy's election as president in 1960. The Unisphere was clearly the type of "understandable" structure "with some significance or meaning for the average person" that Moses had favored in his theme center memorandum. As the world's largest global structure, the Unisphere also appealed to Moses's love of gargantuan scale. Since building the structure required the aid of newly invented high-speed computers to work out complicated technological problems, it also appealed to the engineer in him. Comments by Robert Moses Robert Moses - President New York World's Fair 1964-1965 Corporation Source: Pamphlet: United States Steel Unisphere Ceremonies, March 6, 1963 We looked high and low for a challenging symbol for the New York World's Fair of 1964 and 1965. It had to be of the space age; it had to reflect the interdependence of man on the planet Earth, and it had to emphasize man's achievements and aspirations. It had to be the cynosure of all visitors, dominating Flushing Meadow, and built to remain as a permanent feature of the park, reminding succeeding generations of a pageant of surpassing interest and significance. And so we discarded startling abstractions and decided on a transparent, or shall I say diaphanous globe with orbits, with the contients outined, and ingenious lighting and other effects in place of revolving machinery. This symbol floating over the meadow is going around the world. It signifies the New York Fair everywhere. Its effect is instantaneous. It speaks volumes in a single picture. Source: Booklet: The Saga of Flusing Meadow, April 11, 1966 We were deluged with theme symbols - mostly abstract, aspirational, spiral, uplifting, flashing, or burning with a hard and gemlike flame, whose resembalance to anything living or dead was purely coincidental. I can comprehend the magnificent symbolism of a four-footed musical theme like that of Beethoven's Fifth but the symbolism proposed by the avant-garde at Flushing Meadow, even if it be ambrosia to the inteligentsia, was surely caviar to the general. Our U.S. Steel Armillary Sphere, the Unisphere, was derided by sour critics. They even said our wonderful fountains and magnificent night lighting were corny and we were accused of being crude, dull, defeated, uncouth Boeotians, lewd fellows of the baser sort. Artist John C. Wenrich rendering of the final design for Unisphere The Galaxon Source: Architectural Record, July 1961 The Galaxon, a concrete "space park" designed by Paul Rudolph, head of the Department of Architecture at Yale University, has been announced by the Portland Cement Association as "a proposed project" for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Its cost is estimated at $4 million. Commissioned by the P.C.A. as "a dramatic and imaginative design in concrete," the Galaxon consists of a giant, saucer-shaped platform tilted at an 18 deg angle to the earth and held high above it by two curved walls rising from a circular lagoon. The gleaming 300 ft diameter disc of reinforced concrete would hover in the air like some huge space ship. Visitors would be lifted to the center of the "saucer" by escalators and elevators inside the curved supporting walls. From the central ring they would walk outward over curved ramps to a constantly moving sidewalk on the disc's outside perimeter. The sidewalk would rise and fall from the 160 ft hight apex of the inclined disc, to a low point approximately 70 ft above the ground. A stage is projected from one of its two supporting walls and a restaurant, planetary viewing station and other educational or recreational features could be located at points along its top surface to make it an entertainment center. The Galaxon was among several designs displayed at an exhibition in New York of the use of concrete in so-called "visionary" architecture. More Content
Systematic name M5436 Brief description B cell receptor signaling pathway Full description or abstract B cells are an important component of adaptive immunity. They produce and secrete millions of different antibody molecules, each of which recognizes a different (foreign) antigen. The B cell receptor (BCR) is an integral membrane protein complex that is composed of two immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chains, two Ig light chains and two heterodimers of Ig-alpha and Ig-beta. After BCR ligation by antigen, three main protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) -the SRC-family kinase LYN, SYK and the TEC-family kinase BTK- are activated. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and phospholipase C-gamma 2 (PLC-gamma 2) are important downstream effectors of BCR signalling. This signalling ultimately results in the expression of immediate early genes that further activate the expression of other genes involved in B cell proliferation, differentiation and Ig production as well as other processes. Collection C2: curated gene sets CP:KEGG: KEGG gene sets Source publication Exact source hsa04662 Related gene sets External links Organism Homo sapiens Contributed by KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) Source platform EntrezGeneIds Dataset references Compendia expression profiles Human tissue compendium (Novartis) NCI-60 cell lines (National Cancer Institute) Advanced query Further investigate these 75 genes Gene families Categorize these 75 genes by gene family Show members (show 75 members mapped to 75 genes) Version history
What is it... Air pressure sensor Sensitive vertical seismometers are effected by atmospheric air pressure changes and thus must be isolated from the open atmosphere with some sort of sealed container with very strong walls. Some of these containers are known to be built with 1/2" thick steel or aluminum welded boxes. To better understand the effect of air pressure changes it would be ideal to be able to monitor and record atmospheric air pressure change with time. The first thought was to utilize a La Crosse Technologies weather station unit that displays barometric readings. The unit outputs via a serial port mounds of data every minute. The only problem was it was impossible to understand the data and La Crosse Technologies was not at all helpful for my wishes. Another solution was a differential air pressure sensor. Stephen Hansen, the Bell Jar built such a unit as shown in the article Infrasound Monitoring with a Micrograph An infra-sonic atmospheric pressure sensor was built along the lines of the reference with some small changes. The unit is shown in Figure. The differential air pressure transducer is an Ashcroft Model XLdp. The sensitivity is +/- 0.25" WC. Now 1 inch WC (water column) is equal to 2.49 milliBar , hence +/- 0.25" WC is equal to +/- .62 milliBar or +/- 620 uBar, a very sensitive unit. The output signal is a current loop of 4 to 20 millamp for the +/- 620uBar sensitivity. A 270 ohm resistor is inserted in the current loop and the voltage across the resistor is monitored. The sensors are readily available on Pressure sensoreBay in new condition for less than $100. See figure for a detailed view of the complete unit. The components are all 1/8" brass pipe fittings. Concept of the infra-sonic atmospheric air pressure sensor is to measure the difference in air pressure between a reference volume on one side and the pressure now. The reference volume consists of a 450 mL Thermos bottle with a defined calibrated leak. The calibrated leak in this case is a 30 cm length of 0.008" ID SS tubing. There are 2 needle valves in the unit. One is between reference volume and the open atmosphere. This is normally closed but opened to equalize the pressure on both sides when zeroing the sytem. The second valve is just below the opening to the atmosphere and is closed when calibrating the unit. The hypodermic syringe is used to calibrate the unit for sensitivity and calibrated leak time-constant. The syringe capacity is 0.5mL. Sensitivity calibration consists of making a quick 0.25 mL change in the syringe and noting the change in voltage across the current loop resistor. Boyle's Law PV=K (constant temperature) is used to note the pressure change for reference volume change. The reference volume time-constant is measured by monitoring the voltage with time. The time-constant was defined by when the voltage reaches 63% of the final value from the peak. In this case the time-constant was measured to be about 220 seconds when using the 30 cm length of 0.008" ID tubing. The unit is very temperature sensitive , so a very stable thermal environment is required.
Tests and Diagnosis By The Mayo Clinic Staff To diagnose atrial fibrillation, your doctor may do tests that involve the following: • Electrocardiogram (ECG). In this noninvasive test, patches with wires (electrodes) are attached to your skin to measure electrical impulses given off by your heart. Impulses are recorded as waves displayed on a monitor or printed. • Holter monitor. This is a portable machine that records all of your heartbeats. You wear the monitor under your clothing. It records information about the electrical activity of your heart as you go about your normal activities for a day or two. You can press a button if you feel symptoms, so your doctor can know what heart rhythm was present at that moment. • Event recorder. This device is similar to a Holter monitor except that not all of your heartbeats are recorded. There are two recorder types: One uses a phone to transmit signals from the recorder while you're experiencing symptoms. The other type is worn all the time (except while showering) for as long as a month. Event recorders are especially useful in diagnosing rhythm disturbances that occur at unpredictable times. • Echocardiogram. In this noninvasive test, sound waves are used to produce a video image of your heart. Sound waves are directed at your heart from a wand-like device (transducer) that's held on your chest. The sound waves that bounce off your heart are reflected through your chest wall and processed electronically to provide video images of your heart in motion, to detect underlying structural heart disease. * Name: Field not valid (required or bad value) * Email: Field not valid (required or bad value)
Custom Search Holozoic Nutrition A heterotrophic organism can obtain its food from other organisms in following three ways: 1. Holozoic nutrition 2. Saprophytic nutrition 3. Parasitic nutrition Holozoic nutrition Holozoic nutrition takes place in those organisms which take solid or liquid food through the mouth inside their body Examples of organisms having holozoic mode of nutrition are human beings, dog, cat, lion, deer, crow, frog and Digestion process of a Humanfish etc. This process takes place in following steps: 1. Ingestion The process of taking food inside the body is called ingestion. 2. Digestion In digestion the ingested food is converted into simple form with the help of digestive enzymes. 3. Absorption In this stage the food digested in second step is absorbed into the cells of body. 4. Assimilation Assimilation is the process of utilizing the food absorbed in third step by various cells of the body. 5. Egestion Egestion is the final step of holozoic nutrition in which the undigested food is removed from the body. Test Your Understanding and Answer These Questions: 1. Define ingestion. 2. What is assimilation? 3. Define digestion. 4. What is holozoic nutrition? Explain different steps of holozoic nutrition. Developers of Fun Science Rajan Gupta Rajan Gupta M.Sc, B.Ed. & LL.B. Teacher, Author & Innovator Rahul Jindal Entrepreneur & Innovator Rahul Jindal Share your comments / feedback here. Fun Science
h a l f b a k e r y account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write. On SuperCapacitance Exploring the physical limits (+3, -4) (+3, -4) [vote for, A "capacitor" can be a very simple device. It's first version was called a "Leyden Jar", and was invented in 1745 (see link). In modern form, just take an ordinary glass jar and wrap the outside with aluminum foil, and also put a layer of foil on the inside of the jar. Make sure the two layers don't come any closer to each other than the thickness of the jar. Also make sure the jar itself rests upon some sort of non-conducting surface, like a wood tabletop. Then attach one wire to each layer of foil, so that you can put some energy into this capacitor, and withdraw it later. Capacitors only store Direct Current electricity. If you hook this jar to a 9-volt battery, the battery will output some electricity that will be stored in the jar, until the voltage of the stored electricity equals the voltage of the battery. This could take several seconds. WARNING! CAPACITORS CAN BE DANGEROUS!!! You might be able to safely put your tongue across the terminals of a 9-vold battery, and feel a tingle, but if you do that to THESE wires, you could be burned or worse. The small battery is strictly limited in how fast it can deliver Amperage, the essence of a flowing electrical current; a capacitor is NOT so limited. An electrical short-circuit, such as one involving a wet tongue, is an invitation for a capacitor to dump all its stored energy AT ONCE. It's not the voltage that causes electrocution; most people can easily handle a 30,000 volt shock after scuffing shoes across a carpet on a cold dry day, and then touching a metal water pipe. It's amperage that kills, and most capacitors can easily dump dozens or hundreds of amps in an instant (and some capacitor banks are specially built to do millions of amps; see the Z-machine link). That carpet-scuffing shock involves only a fraction of an ampere; messing with Leyden jars has occasionally proved to be fatal. Historically, the total amount of energy that a capacitor can store has actually been rather small. If this seems surprising, it is a consequence of difference between "energy" and "power". Let us consider a dam holding back a lot of water, to make this difference clear. The total energy available is represented by the amount of water behind the dam. The power of the dam is represented by the rate at which water flows from the reservior through the dam. Even if no rainfall adds water to the reservior, the dam can produce power for a considerable time (much like a battery). If the dam is made to disappear, and the whole body of water rushes through its former location at once, that is a LOT more Power in action, but the total amount of Energy released would have been the same. Power is the RATE at which energy does things, and a shorted capacitor is always equivalent to that disappeared dam. Even without a lot of total Energy available, the Power it can exhibit can be formidable. It happens that the total Energy that a capacitor can store is directly related to the total surface area of the foil sheets. The thickness of the sheets doesn't matter; only the total area separated by an insulator matters. You can now make a MUCH MORE DANGEROUS capacitor at home this way, using two rolls of aluminum foil and two rolls of plastic wrap, all the same width, perhaps 30cm (edge view; ignore the dots): . ----------------Layer of foil-->(unroll) ----------------Layer of plastic wrap-->(unroll) Note how, at left, the two layers of foil are not "at the edge"; they must not be allowed a chance to contact each other. The layers also need to be offset from each other, as in this "top" view (ignore the dots): . ______edge of first foil layer _\|_____edge of both plastic layers \|\|-------dotted line is edge of other foil layer \|\|at far left is end of plastic layers \|\| . . all four layers are overlapping here in middle \|\|at near left is end of foil layers \|\|-------dotted line is edge of first foil layer \|______ edge of both plastic layers . \|_____edge of other foil layer Now return to the first sketch above, and start rolling up the four layers, from left to right. If you are unrolling the raw materials as you roll up the assemblage, you will find that the "outside" layers must be unrolled faster than the "inside" layers. This is natural. Stop when you become afraid of just how dangerous this capacitor is becoming. Make sure that the final ends of the foil layers remain completely insulated by the plastic wrap (cut the metal before cutting the plastic!). The final thick assembled roll, hopefully with plastic on the outside, will have metal foil sticking out of both ends of the body of the roll. At each end the extended metal foil can be squished down to a minimum size; you would attach wires to those points. The maximum voltage that a capacitor can store is related to the quality of the insulator between its conductors. Plastic wrap is pretty thin stuff, and probably can't be expected to withstand much more than 12 volts. IF IT CAN (and I'm not saying it will), then you could hook it up to an ordinary 12-volt car battery, and charge this capacitor. Don't be surprised if you get a big spark when you make the connection! BE AWARE that hydrogen gas that naturally occurs in the vicinity of lead-acid car batteries can explode if a big spark happens. (Have I made it clear: THIS IS DANGEROUS!!! ?) If the plastic wrap can't withstand the 12 volts, then you will see an even bigger bang when the capacitor self-destructs. If the plastic CAN withstand the 12 volts, then THE CHARGED CAPACITOR WILL BE QUITE DEADLY IF MISHANDLED. All by itself, a car battery can put out a dangerous amount of amperes, and all car batteries have warnings about it. But that is nothing compared to the flood of amperes this capacitor can release, when its two wires are shorted together. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! However awesome that particular capacitor may seem, IT IS STILL INADEQUATE for the purpose of storing a decent total amount of energy, such as you might want to use to power your air-conditioning system on a hot night. That is, if you had a method of gathering solar energy during the day, you would want to gather and store some extra for use at night. Batteries are seldom more than 75% efficient at storing and releasing energy; capacitors are almost 100% efficient. Therefore the search goes on, for ever-higher-capacity capacitors. Current versions are called "supercapacitors", or even "ultracapacitors". They've almost reached the point where you can power your cell phone with one for a decent amount of time (remember, the huge power surge I've talking about before involved an electrical short-circuit; when a proper electrical "load" is used, a capacitor works like a battery --just not as long-lasting, until very recently). A cell-phone supercapacitor would be cool because it can be charged at maximum rate (equal to a short-circuit discharge rate), and be fully charged in seconds. It also will be good for many thousands or even millions of charge-discharge cycles; capacitors have no moving parts (or even moving chemicals like batteries do) to wear out. MOST of the entire chemical-battery industry will be doomed when supercapacitors become capacious enough (likely within 5 years); plan your investments accordingly! And now it is almost time for the Idea this post is really about, for which all the preceding was background information. As mentioned, the amount of energy that a capacitor can store is directly related to the total surface area of its conductors. It also is related to the ability of its insulating layers to withstand voltage. The more voltage a fully-charged capacitor can handle, the longer it takes to "drop" to a useless level, when powering something. So, we want to constuct our Ideal Capacitor out of layers such that its conductors are as thin as possible, and its insulators are as resistive as possible. For the first, I recommend "graphene". This is the stuff, rolled up, of which carbon nanotubes are made. It is one layer of a chunk of graphite. It is one atom thick, a completely 2-dimensional array of hexagons, and an excellent electrical conductor. See link. For the insulating layer, I want to suggest something that I'm not sure is known to exist, but OUGHT to be able to exist. The chemical compound "boron nitride" should be able to form a 2-dimensional hexagonal lattice identical to graphene. I have a link that mentions "a repeating array of hexagons in 3-dimensional space", but that's not quite what we need here. PERHAPS the 3-dimensionality of the array is only minor, something like this: B< (the odd symbols represent chemical bond angles) __>N (ignore the underscores) I've portrayed a vertical zigzag; a horizontal zigzag would have all the borons on one side and all the nitrogens on the other side of the imaginary 2-dimensional plane between them. That will be good enough! Anyway, the boron-nitride chemical bond is a very strong bond, and such bonds always make excellent electrical insulators. Therefore we should seek to construct our Ideal Capacitor out of two layers of graphene, and two layers of boron nitride, rolled up very much as I described earlier for two layers each of aluminum foil and plastic wrap. Vernon, Feb 23 2009 Leyden Jar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar As mentioned in the main text [Vernon, Feb 23 2009] Z machine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_machine Graphene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene A little about Boron Nitride http://arstechnica....nly-momentarily.ars Boron nitride http://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Boron_nitride [xaviergisz, Feb 24 2009] Boron Nitride dielectric properties http://www.springer...t/v642715376h84up1/ It's a Springer Journal article on the material properties of Boron Nitride (hexagonal). [Jinbish, Feb 24 2009] 'Supercapacitor', press release by Rensselaer Polytech http://news.rpi.edu...o?artcenterkey=2280 Seems like they've done some carbon nanotube stuff to develop a supercapacitor. [Jinbish, Feb 24 2009] Mylar http://en.wikipedia...biaxially_oriented) Mylar is a "trade name"; the chemical name is rather longer. [Vernon, Feb 24 2009] Mylar's structure http://en.wikipedia...ylene_terephthalate A diagram is in this article [Vernon, Feb 24 2009] Dielectric http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric Not quite the same thing as an insulator. [Vernon, Feb 24 2009] HUGE Progress report! http://spectrum.iee...-mobile-electronics I suspect this technology will be found everywhere in just a couple years. [Vernon, Sep 30 2015] hyper capacitor http://www.hyper-capacitor.com/ Energy density better than lithium batteries. [travbm, Oct 29 2015] Cut out the unabridged history of the capacitor and put a link to a wikipedia article or something. phoenix, Feb 23 2009 So, to summarize - your idea is to make a capacitor "out of two layers of graphene, and two layers of boron nitride, rolled up". jutta, Feb 23 2009 I liked the capacitor background reading. Vernon's prose has a certain charm and it was educational for me. bungston, Feb 23 2009 //certain charm// Jinbish, Feb 23 2009 First, your thoughts on the lethality of capacitors charged to reasonable voltages are slightly whacky. (For what it's worth, your capacitor charged to 9V will behave very much like a 9V battery if you stick your tongue on it; this is because your tongue will have a resistance of a few hundred ohms: neither the internal resistance of the battery, nor the lack of any internal resistance in the capacitor, is relevant here). But, in general the background information about capacitors is fine. Oh, and the resistance (more particularly, the breakdown voltage) of regular Saranwrap is more than enough to handle a few hundred volts, as long as there are no nicks or holes in it. Regular mylar-film capacitors have thinner dielectrics and can be made to take hundreds or thousands of volts. However, the original idea here seems to be saying "make a better capacitor by using these two amazing materials, one of which I'm not sure exists, and neither of which I really know much about". Also, I'm pretty sure that bond- strengths are not the only relevant factor in deciding dielectric constant, breakdown voltage and what-have- you. MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 23 2009 What you're describing is called intercalated graphite, and there's quite a body of work on the stuff, though most is of basic research, rather than applied. I think the practical problem with this would be in controlling where the graphite sheets are electrically connected, and where they are not. colorclocks, Feb 23 2009 I think a layering of graphene and insulator would act like a semiconductor bandgap. So in a similar way that quantum dots act like semiconductors, this would be a quantum plane semiconductor. There would be lots of interesting applications such as photovoltaics and lasers. xaviergisz, Feb 24 2009 Having never heard most of the terms used I was glad you provided the tutorial and links. I doubt I would have ever stumbled across the term Leyden jar. Thank you. [Jinbish], if the HalfBakery allowed us to do italics and bold and underlining to stress a point, I would be happy to forego the caps. [MaxwellBuchanan], thanks for the data about plastic wrap. I don't mind having erred on the side of caution in the main text here. Next, please remember this IS the HalfBakery. We are allowed to talk about things we don't know all about. If we did, we would be posting at the Patent Office, instead of here. I AM aware, however, that likely the high-capacity device I described here would likely only be suitable for a couple of volts., mostly because of the thinness of the boron-nitride layer. [colorclocks], a cross-section of this proposed capacitor may resemble intercalated graphite, but I did try to specify a long long spiral of just four sheets, rather than lots of individual sheets. Vernon, Feb 24 2009 //We are allowed to talk about things we don't know all about.// Well, true enough and fair enough. It just seemed to me that this was innovative only in terms of using a different material, and the background on the material seemed a bit thin. I am now wondering whether a capacitor could be formed from layers of thinly-sliced dill pickle (conductor) and cheddar (insulator). MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 24 2009 Oh dear, I think I just ate a pastrami and pickle capacitor. On granary. I hope it wasn't charged. coprocephalous, Feb 24 2009 I'm with [MB], I'm afraid, [Vernon]. I also have a funny feeling that two layers with of BN aren't going to cut it. You'll just end up with a material that is 2 parts graphene and 2 parts BN and will act like a poor quality semiconductor in across the grain and a half decent conductor in the coaxial plane. That's not to say that such materials aren't interesting. As [xaviergisz] suggests, the quantum effects may be interesting and [colorclocks] suggests that there is work on such graphene materials. However, in terms of trying to reduce 'd' in the equation C∝A/d , I don't think this idea is going to make the cut. //On granary.// : Woff! I'd hate to see the back-EMF on that one! Jinbish, Feb 24 2009 Apparently graphite conducts only in the direction of the plane. If you had perfect graphene layers, would you actually need an insulating molecular layer? Loris, Feb 24 2009 [xaviergisz], thanks for the link; the alpha/hexagonal form of BN is exactly what I was trying to describe. [Jinbish], your link states, and I quote: "In the normal direction BN is also an excellent low-loss insulator." Other text in the article indicates the "normal" direction is perpendicular to the plane of hexagons, and that insulating property is exactly what we want in a capacitor-layer. I notice none of you thought to mention the possibility of building the proposed capacitor with extra layers of BN. That is, something like this: . ----------graphene sheet--> ----------boron nitride sheet--> Ignore the dots and roll the 6 layers up from the left, as described in the main text for 4. This doubles the distance between the graphene layers, allowing a higher voltage or less chance of tunnelling (or, perhaps more important for manufacturing, allowing any imperfection in one BN layer, that would allow current through it, to be placed next to a non-imperfect spot on the adjacent BN layer). Vernon, Feb 24 2009 [Vernon]: Ok - what's your point? Jinbish, Feb 24 2009 [Jinbish], in the main text I wrote, "we want to constuct our Ideal Capacitor out of layers such that ... its insulators are as resistive as possible." You seemed to be saying that one boron nitride layer can't be good enough. Therefore, use two (or even more). Simple. Vernon, Feb 24 2009 Is boron nitride particularly good as a dielectric? Is it better than, say, mylar? I think these are basic numbers that ought to have been in the idea to justify it; otherwise it's "build train wheels out of camembert", no? MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 24 2009 I think BN is a decent dielectric, which was why I provided the link. The thing that I am not quite sure about is 'why use these materials'? I understand that you can use graphene in layers of a couple of atoms deep, and possibly BN too - and then plugging that into C varies A/d gives you larger capacitances. The bit I don't get is that surely at such scales of thickness you get large leakage currents? <goes off to look up electrolytic capacitors... finds 'supercapacitors'> Ok - looks like some dudes have made a capicitor using aligned carbon nanotubes and a liquid electrolyte... (linky). I think that the right term is "Electric double-layer capacitor" and the capacitor isn't so much two distinct plates as a material that has distinct layers in it that produce the capacitance effect. Jinbish, Feb 24 2009 [MaxwellBuchanan], one way of looking at a dielectric is to think of how much voltage it takes to break its molecular bonds. It logically figures that the stronger the bonds, the better the dielectric. Mylar contains a mess of mostly carbon-hydrogen, carbon-carbon, and carbon-oxygen bonds. The bond strength of boron nitride is certainly greater than the carbon-hydrogen bond, and comparable to the other two (can't be almost as hard as diamond without it). Vernon, Feb 24 2009 I'm not sure that dielectric properties depend on bond strengths; copper is not a dielectric, whereas air is, to an extent. Anyway, how does BN actually compare as a dielectric to polythene or Mylar? This is presumably known? MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 24 2009 [MaxwellBuchanan], there are multiple factors. In copper there are atomic bonds and also there are loose electrons. An applied voltage directly affects the loose electrons. In water there are often dissolved ions that would also be directly affected. In other substances, such as air (or deionized pure water), bonds have to break to GET loose electrons. Perhaps we are confusing "dielectric" with "insulator"? I added a link. I'm pretty sure that for a capacitor, the ability to resist a flow of electrons, between the two conductor-sheets, is what we want more than anything else. It should be obvious that the more tightly-bound are the electrons of an insulating substance, the better for that purpose. Vernon, Feb 24 2009 There are indeed multiple factors, and I don't think we're confusing insulation with dielectric strength. As far as I can tell from the Wikipedia article on dielectric strength, there's no immediate correlation between bond strengths and breakdown voltage. If I had to guess, I would say that dielectric strength has a loose analogy with tensile strength. Tensile strength "should" depend on bond strengths, but in reality it seldom does; it has much more to do with crack-stopping properties of the material and on defects. Likewise, I suspect that dielectric strength has less to do with bond energies, and much more to do with the ability of the material to prevent avalanching of electrons at the point of incipient breakdown, and on the frequency of defects which will nucleate these avalanches. Anyway, no point labouring it. If you think BN will be a good dielectric, then that's OK. MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 24 2009 Hyper capacitors are being made today but not reached commercial production. travbm, Oct 29 2015 back: main index
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas, on 27 August 1908. His father, Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., had been a member of the Texas House and had recently lost several thousand dollars speculating in cotton. His mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson, raised on the outskirts of the little town of Blanco, was the daughter of Joseph Wilson Baines, an attorney. He had previously occupied the seat that Sam Johnson held in the House. Rebekah worked her way through Baylor College at Belton, where she found encouragement for her lively literary and cultural interests. When Lyndon was five years old, the family moved to Johnson City. Sam Johnson struggled to earn a living while Rebekah Johnson worked diligently to make ends meet. But there was never enough money, and Lyndon would often speak with disdain of the steady diet of grits, greens, cornbread, and fat-back of his early years. Although the family was never as hard up as Johnson later liked to say it had been, he developed what proved to be a lifelong sympathy for ordinary people whose lives were blighted by economic insecurity and deprivation. As a boy, Johnson resented having to wear homemade clothing that once included, to his unspeakable embarrassment, a Buster Brown suit. His mother did private tutoring in elocution in order to pay for dancing and violin instruction for him. He detested the training in both and eventually refused to have any more lessons. He would not be marked a "sissy." Ironically, in the White House his accomplished and tireless social dancing at public functions charmed and sometimes astonished his guests. Even as a youth, Johnson yearned to have a share in the rising wealth around him, which was based chiefly on the booms in oil and beef. Still he despaired of gaining even a foothold. He put in time working for farmers in and around Johnson City. For a period he was a printer's devil at a local newspaper. He also shined shoes in a barber shop. As he grew up he appeared to be both ambitious and aimless. Politics had begun to draw the boy's interest when Sam Johnson won back his old seat in the state legislature in 1919. Lyndon became a familiar sight at his father's side on the floor of the Texas House. Soon the youth was bent on becoming a politician as well as a millionaire. After a trip to California with some friends when he finished high school, he yielded to his mother's nagging advice to seek more education. He enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College at San Marcos, from which he was graduated in 1930. To support himself, he had interrupted his studies to take a teaching job at a "Mexican" school in Cotulla, Texas. One day, voting analysts would credit Johnson's close ties with the Mexican-American community with helping to put Texas in the Kennedy-Johnson column in the election of 1960. Johnson also taught briefly in Pearsall and Houston, where he won acclaim training students in public speaking and debating. But the world of politics proved irresistible. Johnson avidly seized an opportunity in 1931 to become private secretary to Richard Kleberg, son of the owner of the fabled King Ranch, who had just been elected to Congress. In Washington, Johnson quickly became as familiar with the labyrinths of the bureaucracy as he was with the landscape of his Texas hill country. Then, in 1934, he was married in San Antonio to Claudia Alta Taylor of Karnack, Texas, known invariably by her nickname, Lady Bird. Not yet twenty-two years old, Lady Bird Johnson brought much-needed stability to Johnson's life; her winsomeness combined with her shrewd judgment of people from the start helped significantly in furthering his career. Politically, Johnson was a child of the new opportunities that the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt opened for office seekers eager to have a hand in enlarging and redistributing the nation's resources. After a creative stint as director of the National Youth Administration in Texas, Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937 to fill the unexpired term of James P. Buchanan in the Tenth District. Already inured to the ways of Congress, Johnson took worshipful counsel from Speaker Sam Rayburn, also a Texan. In turn, Rayburn, who was unmarried, treated Johnson like a son and turned him rapidly into an "insider" despite his lack of seniority. Johnson served in the House until 1948, having been reelected five times on an ever-growing reputation for his craft in directing to his constituents a goodly share of the bounty that New Deal economic programs provided. Johnson interrupted his tenure in the House shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor to serve as a lieutenant commander, having been commissioned in the Naval Reserve in 1940. He was the first member of Congress to go on active duty in World War II. General Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Silver Star for "gallantry in action" when the patrol bomber Johnson was flying in was fired upon by Japanese Zeros near Port Moresby, in New Guinea. (Critics would later say that Johnson's political prominence rather than personal valor had won him the decoration. For the rest of his life, however, Johnson proudly wore the insignia of the medal in his lapel.) Almost immediately after receiving the award, Johnson responded to Roosevelt's directive that members of Congress leave military service and resume their legislative duties. After six months in uniform, Johnson was pleased to be back at his desk in Washington. Johnson won election to the Senate in 1948 (he had failed in a bid in 1941) by a margin of eighty-seven votes, a squeaker that earned him the sobriquet "Landslide Lyndon." He held the seat until he became vice president in 1961. He was minority leader for two years and majority leader from 1956 to 1960, acquiring formidable fame among supporters as a legislative statesman and among detractors as a wheeler-dealer. His selection by Kennedy to be vice president, despite much opposition in the Kennedy camp, was the outcome of a disappointing effort to obtain the nomination for president. As vice president, Johnson was ignored by many of the administration's prominent figures and was idle much of the time, his vaunted knowledge of Congress largely unused. Although he chaired some significant public committees and was sent on some missions abroad, he was convinced that most of his assignments were little more than busywork. He hid his smoldering resentment even as he made his initial appeal to the people as president an assurance of continuity of policies. Where Kennedy had urged in his inaugural, "Let us begin," Johnson, on 27 November 1963 in his first address to Congress, exhorted, "Today, in this moment of new resolve, I would say to all my fellow Americans, let us continue." hat Johnson lacked in Kennedy's urbanity, he made up for in energy so uncommon that one aide credited him with having "extra glands." Despite a severe heart attack in 1955—"the worst a man could have and still live," he liked to tell people—Johnson gave himself unstintingly to his work. Although he climbed into bed for a nap each afternoon, his long hours at his desk—spent mostly on the telephone—topped by his "night reading" left no doubt that he withheld nothing in fulfilling his duties. His desire to be embraced by the people and his constant sense of being unloved drove him to the limit relentlessly as he tried to earn his way into the company of the country's greatest presidents. He was tied to the reputation of Kennedy for his popularity in the beginning, and he struggled to create a devoted following of his own. The desire to show he was in charge made his first month in office frenetic. From 23 November to 19 December he saw in his office almost seven hundred people alone or in small groups. Possibly to suggest that the new chief executive was economy-minded, the White House let it be known that he went about turning out unused electric lights every night—causing him to be dubbed for a time "Light Bulb Johnson." Still shaken by the circumstances of his own elevation to the presidency, Johnson consulted with Speaker of the House John McCormack of Massachusetts, next in line of succession, regarding any unexpected turnover of the White House. About fifty pieces of proposed legislation were languishing in congressional committees, but the civil rights bill was the focus of Johnson's labors in the first several months. Its passage as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would thenceforth be the key-stone of Johnson's claim to fame as inheritor and keeper of the urban liberal base of the Democratic party. In seeking support for the bill's passage, he had beseeched Congress on sentimental grounds: "No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill." In short order, the bill that Kennedy had prepared had been made stronger by a number of amendments proposed by ardent advocates. The House passed the revised bill on 10 February. In the Senate it met a filibuster by southerners that lasted eighty-three days, ending on 10 June only with the enactment of a cloture resolution. The bill finally became law on 2 July. Johnson, feeling special responsibility as a southerner, had made the bill's passage a personal crusade. His efforts can only be called Herculean, for he cajoled and pulled strings to round up support from early in the morning to late at night, day after day, week after week. On more than one occasion in the White House, he upbraided opponents or fence-sitters by fairly screaming as he faced them down—often nose-to-nose, "Do you know what it is to be black?" The act set in place some of the most fundamental social changes in American history. Among its provisions, it forbade discrimination on account of race in places of public accommodation. It contained protection of the right of blacks to vote. It forbade discrimination on account of race or sex by employers and labor unions. Moreover, to help monitor the law's operation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established. To accelerate the desegregation of schools, the new law empowered the attorney general to challenge local discriminatory practices in court. Johnson, having pushed through what he considered Kennedy's bill, now went to work on his own legislative program. He began with the Economic Opportunity Act, the first salvo of a concerted "war on poverty," as he called it, that would become one of the hallmarks of his presidency. The act, signed into law on 20 August 1964, was funded with an appropriation of $948 million. It eventually authorized ten programs under the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) established as part of the White House office. The programs included a "domestic Peace Corps" to operate in depressed areas of the country, known as Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA); the Job Corps, designed as a make-work program for the hard-core unemployed; Head Start, to help deprived children compensate for their cultural disadvantages; and community-action programs to give poor people a hand in running government programs. When the session of Congress ended, Johnson, competing in his mind with the legislative achievements of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Hundred Days," declared grandly, "This session of Congress has enacted more major legislation, met more national needs, disposed of more national issues than any other session of this century or the last." Johnson was now hitting his stride in the work he was touted to be expert in—persuading Congress to act. The difficulties between the executive and legislative branches that Kennedy had been unable to surmount were apparently vanishing. As they did, so did the memory of Kennedy's New Frontier. Speaking at the University of Michigan on 22 May, Johnson unveiled his own vision of America: "In your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time." The possibility of giving life to such a vision brought popular support to the intense new president, who apparently was indeed able to fill Kennedy's shoes. The opinion polls showed Johnson more popular than his predecessor had been at the comparable time in his presidency. An uncommon feeling of confidence and unity seemed to pervade the nation, even though perceptive people could see that the excitement connected with the spate of legislation masked the troubles that were brewing in Vietnam. There the Communists in the northern part of the country were bent on overrunning the southern part, which the United States was committed to support. In international politics, Johnson was unschooled, and he seemed to lean on precepts gleaned from personal experience. "I know these Latin Americans," he told some newspaper reporters when he had been in the White House only a short while. "I grew up with Mexicans. They'll come right into your yard and take it over if you let them.. . . But if you say to 'em right at the start, 'Hold on, just a minute,' they'll know they're dealing with somebody who'll stand up. And after that you can get along just fine." Still, Johnson was no hothead or saber rattler. The besetting concern over Fidel Castro's regime gave Johnson an opportunity to show his mettle early in his administration. The Cuban dictator was demanding the return to Cuba of the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay. To underscore his determination, he shut off the water to the American installation. Johnson countered the move immediately by instructing the navy to establish its own water supply. The Cubans working on the base were simply ordered to spend their wages there or be dismissed. Johnson also showed moderation and self-control when nationalistic rioting took place in the Panama Canal Zone in early 1964. As demonstrators screamed, "Gringos, go home," President Roberto Chiari insisted that the time had come to revise the treaties governing United States-Panama relations. After the violence ended, Johnson agreed to enter into negotiations, declaring afterward that "it was indeed time for the United States and Panama to take a fresh look at our treaties." A United States-Panama treaty was finally signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, providing for Panama to assume full control of the canal at the end of 1999. Latin America presented persistent problems. The Alliance for Progress had created high expectations throughout the region, but it was not yielding the improved standard of living the masses of people had been led to expect. Trouble broke out in the Dominican Republic on 24 April 1965. The civilian government of Donald Reid Cabral came under attack from liberal and radical followers of Juan Bosch. Bosch, heading a reform party, had received 60 percent of the votes in a national election in 1962, but he had been ousted in a coup d'état. The new regime under Reid Cabral received the support of the Department of State, although its leader apparently had little popular support. Moreover, the country was in increasing economic difficulties. In April 1965 a group of young army officers raised the banner of revolt, aiming to restore the exited Bosch to the presidency. Civil war ensued as the senior army officers, backed by conservative elements, opposed the insurgents. In the fierce fighting that followed, the military seemed to be winning. But the pro-Bosch forces gained strength by arming civilians in the city. As the struggle raged on, more than a thousand Americans became trapped in the Embajador Hotel. Ambassador W. Tapley Bennett, concerned for their safety, expressed anxiety over a possible Castro-like government emerging. He cabled President Johnson, urging that troops be landed immediately in order to protect American citizens. On 28 April marines waiting offshore aboard an aircraft carrier were landed and quickly established a cease-fire in Santo Domingo. The following month the Organization of American States (OAS) agreed to station a peacekeeping force in the Dominican Republic to replace the marines. Johnson had possibly saved American lives and had prevented the rise of a Communist government. He was able, moreover, to withdraw the American forces gracefully when the OAS troops moved in. Still, he had lost some credibility as he sought to justify the steps he had taken. Two days after the dispatch of troops, he explained his actions on the ground that "people trained outside the Dominican Republic are seeking to gain control." On 2 May he identified the cause of the trouble as a "band of Communist conspirators." In private conversation Johnson stated that "we took out 5,641 people from forty-six nations—without even a sprained ankle.. . . If I hadn't acted, Castro would have had them all." Some Americans were inclined to agree with Bosch's assessment: "This was a democratic revolution smashed by the leading democracy of the world." Johnson had acted on his conviction that "the last thing the American people wanted . . . was another Cuba on our doorstep." Under Johnson, relations with the Soviet Union seemed less menacing than did those with the People's Republic of China, although Johnson himself was not afraid of China. In 1967 he said: "Why would the Chinese want to take on the United States of America? . . . It would be like an eleven-year-old colored girl from Tennessee going up against Jack Dempsey." And he added, "One way to avoid [war with China] is to quit talking about it." Johnson's dour view of the Soviets possibly had been modified by the cordial meeting he held at Glassboro, New Jersey, with Premier Aleksey Kosygin in June 1967, which may have accelerated progress in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty the president was seeking. Despite a folksy manner and intonation, which some Americans took as proof that he was only a regional man, Johnson knew that there was beyond the Pedernales a vastly different world full of treacherous risks. He sensed, too, that his place in history might ultimately depend on how he managed foreign affairs. He was no reader of history, but he had watched intently the doings of his predecessors and had an elephant's memory for their mistakes, particularly those that were politically expensive. He had seen how Truman's experience in "losing" China had hounded the Missourian to the end of his administration. He had pondered the frustration that Castro's coming to power had caused the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Moreover, Johnson could vividly recall—and the details were constantly at the tip of his tongue—the efforts of Franklin Roosevelt and his people to buck the isolationist tide in the late 1930s and early 1940s. For Johnson that experience was like a remembered time of terror he did not wish to relive. Forthright steps like those he had taken in the Dominican Republic would help prevent it. They became linked with the war in Vietnam when he called upon Congress on 4 May 1965 for the sum of $700 million in additional military appropriations for both undertakings. The Vietnam situation was a time bomb in the administration. Inherited from Kennedy and Eisenhower, like most of the problems Johnson faced, it gradually became an overwhelming force. During the campaign of 1964, it was beginning to move to the center of public attention. It had been creeping up slowly for years. At the time of Kennedy's assassination more than sixteen thousand Americans were stationed in Vietnam, and the danger of deeper involvement enlarged as the corruption and incompetence of the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem began to cause widespread unrest. Johnson himself had visited South Vietnam as vice president and had seen at first hand how heavily American prestige was already committed there. Scarcely become president, though, he was privately telling confidants (which we now know from his telephone taping), "I don't think it's worth fighting for." Johnson, nevertheless, was about to become "the Vietnam president," unable to win the war the way he understood it had to be fought and unable to extricate the United States on terms he believed acceptable. Still, he was determined: "I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went." Hardly settled into his own term of office in 1965, Johnson confronted on 6 February a Vietcong attack on the American barracks at Pleiku. Two days before the election a costly attack on the American installation at Bien Hoa had gone unanswered. Now American B-52 bombers assaulted North Vietnam, the beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, the program of gradually intensified air attacks. Johnson ordered that American dependents be evacuated from Saigon. At the same time, the American military presence in Vietnam was beefed up. At a news conference on 27 April, Johnson stated the issue as he saw it. The United States, he declared, is "engaged in a crucial issue in Vietnam.. . . Defeat in South Vietnam would deliver a friendly nation to terror and repression. It would encourage and spur on those who seek to conquer all free nations that are within their reach." The "domino theory" of the Eisenhower era received new reinforcement. If North Vietnam succeeded in taking over South Vietnam, said the president, "our own welfare, our own freedom would be in danger." He added: "This is the clearest lesson of our time. From Munich until today we have learned that to yield to aggression brings only greater threats and brings even more destructive war." He was certain that "this is the same battle which we [have] fought for a generation." He stood ready, he declared, to enter into unconditional discussions with the North Vietnamese. Even as he spoke so resolutely, the process was under way that would erode the Johnson administration and gradually turn the nation against him in scenes of fitful violence unprecedented in the history of the presidency. From the beginning of his presidency he was anguished over his plight, musing privately that "when I land troops they call me an interventionist [referring to his move in the Dominican Republic], and if I do nothing I'll be impeached." So, the troubling buildup in Vietnam continued. There were 33,500 American soldiers and marines in Vietnam in April 1965; there were 75,000 by the end of June. And the mission of the troops was gradually broadened from static defense to permit patrolling of the countryside. Even as the American troop commitment was growing, Johnson had grave doubts about the course he had set the country on. Anxiously, he asked former President Eisenhower: "[Do] you think that we can really get beat out there?" And he was saying to Lady Bird Johnson, his most trusted confidante: "Vietnam is getting worse every day. I have the choice to go in with great casualty lists or to get out with disgrace. It's like being in an airplane and I have to choose between crashing with the plane or jumping out. I do not have a parachute." In June, American forces took on an active role against the Vietcong in a zone northwest of Saigon. Nevertheless, the troops were instructed not to initiate offensive action. The air strikes, furthermore, were confined to nonindustrial targets some distance removed from Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, and Haiphong, its principal port. In July the military situation in South Vietnam worsened noticeably. The government was shakier than ever, and the Vietcong were pressing the attack. On 28 July the president announced that 50,000 more Americans would be sent to the war zone immediately. And he was looking further down the road: "Additional forces will be needed later, and they will be sent as requested." Johnson talked once again of the stakes: "If we are driven from the field in Vietnam, then no nation can ever again have the same confidence in American promise or in American protection." By the end of 1965, there were almost 185,000 uniformed Americans in Vietnam, and the end was not in sight. The war, moreover, was spreading beyond Vietnam. The United States felt free to take action in Cambodia if necessary to protect American troops in South Vietnam. The bombing of infiltration routes in Laos was being intensified. And the bombardment of the Ho Chi Minh Trail leading from North Vietnam was raising the specter of possible Chinese intervention in the war. Johnson and his intimates were unable to define what a victory would be, and they were terrified of "another Korea"—a war with an indecisive outcome. Instead of victory, they preferred the phrase favorable settlement —defined by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara as coming about when the North Vietnamese ceased feeding "the fires of subversion and aggression in South Vietnam" so that South Vietnam could gradually "expand its control and shape the outcome." The president continued to use the words winning and losing . Until early 1968 he believed what he had been saying in mid-1965: "I know the other side is winning; so they do, too. No man wants to trade when he's winning." So he concluded that the United States would have to "apply the maximum deterrent until [the enemy] sobers up and unloads his pistol." Johnson persisted in a mistaken conviction that Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese leader, was, like most other politicians, ready sooner or later to make a deal. At Christmastime 1965 the president conducted a worldwide effort—the "Johnson peace offensive"—aimed at commencing negotiations. Vice President Hubert Humphrey sped off to meet with Soviet Premier Kosygin in New Delhi; Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur Goldberg visited with Pope Paul VI, President Charles de Gaulle of France, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Great Britain; and Secretary of State Dean Rusk conferred in Saigon with South Vietnamese officials. The veteran diplomatic troubleshooter Averell Harriman went behind the Iron Curtain to present the position of the administration to ranking officials in Warsaw and Belgrade. The good offices of U Thant, the secretary general of the United Nations, were also earnestly enlisted. The peace offensive, launched with a dramatic and well-publicized halt in the bombing of the North, ended after thirty-seven days on 31 January 1966—an unmitigated failure. The war was beginning to threaten Johnson's prized consensus. The first sign had been the votes of Senators Ernest Gruening of Alaska and Wayne Morse of Oregon against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. But during 1965 other leading senators went into opposition. Two of the best known were William F. Fulbright of Arkansas and Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. Fulbright, who was opposed to the resumption of bombing after the temporary halt, voiced his fear of an "ever-increasing escalation in the fighting." Morse, the most caustic of the critics, boldly and angrily predicted that the American people "will repudiate our war in Southeast Asia." Johnson's response was more and more rancorous and hostile. He saw Americans as divided simply "between cut-and-run people and patriotic people." With deep sarcasm he said of his critics: "They have a real feeling for danger.. . . They see a fire and they turn off the hose because it is essential that we not waste any water." Mindful of Fulbright's opposition to the civil rights movement, Johnson pointedly explained the senator's opposition to the war as racist, asserting that the senator from Arkansas "cannot understand that people with brown skins value freedom too." Johnson never accepted the widely held view of the Democratic "doves" (opponents of the war) that the conflict was a civil war and that the Vietcong had won the allegiance of most South Vietnamese even before the North Vietnamese had began their large-scale infiltration. While Johnson and his people insisted that China was the puppeteer manipulating the assault on South Vietnam, the doves scoffed, maintaining that if the United States restrained itself and did not force North Vietnam to seek Chinese assistance, an independent Communist Vietnam might evolve. The doves rejected, too, Johnson's insistence that the United States had a solemn obligation to act under the provisions of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Johnson was adamant, taking pains to point out that Mike Mansfield of Montana, who had succeeded him as majority leader in the Senate and was increasingly opposed to the war, had been a signatory of the treaty establishing SEATO. A serious defection from the phalanx of Great Society supporters was the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. King had concluded that the prosecution of the war was assuming a higher priority than the pledged expansion of civil rights. But Johnson remained adamant, at increasingly heavy cost to the nation's tranquillity and to the base of power that had carried him to his recent electoral victory. By the end of 1966, the momentum of Johnson's Great Society program was slowing. Worse, the tide of domestic troubles—inflation, a price-wage squeeze, and mounting strikes—was rising, mostly because of the war in Vietnam. Yet the problems could not be managed unless the war ended. Besides, Johnson, having widened the war without calling for public sacrifice, continued to act as if the country could have "both guns and butter." The situation called for a cutback in domestic spending or an increase in taxes, but Johnson was unwilling to break up his immense majority in Congress by asking for either. The air war in Vietnam had clearly not produced the results sought. Johnson, increasingly testy, even became disenchanted with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chairman, General Earle G. Wheeler, also a victim of heart trouble, he felt kin to. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, that's all you know," Johnson several times complained in frustration. The search-and-destroy operations of the troops under General William C. Westmoreland, the American commander in Vietnam, did not seem to put a strain on enemy manpower. "Westy" now had almost 500,000 men in Vietnam, more than 3,000 helicopters, 28 tactical fighter-bombers, and large numbers of giant B-52 bombers. The Vietnam landscape was so heavily pockmarked by the aerial assaults that experienced pilots could fly to their targets by following bomb craters whose configuration had become familiar to them. In early August 1967, Johnson formalized to the generals his response to their latest request for troops—for 100,000 more. He would allow them 45,000 and thus bring to 525,000 the strength of the force in Vietnam by the middle of 1968. But he knew that progress in the war was not taking place. He asked Westmoreland, "When we add divisions, can't the enemy add divisions? If so where does it all end?" Expanding the war by calling up the reserves seemed out of the question. The American death toll was rising: by the end of 1967 it was approaching 500 a week. The cost of the war in 1967 was $25 billion, fueling what would prove to be a long cycle of inflation. Moreover, television news was for the first time in American history bringing the battlefield into the living room regularly. Millions were appalled at the use of napalm on villagers who seemed innocent victims of forces they could not comprehend. In the eyes of the world, the United States was Goliath mercilessly pummeling David. The war had significantly changed the public's judgment of Johnson. Once seen as a political magician with a sure mastery of people and circumstances, he now seemed battered by events out of his control and beyond his ken. His vaunted capacity for wearing out his young aides was being enlarged by a fury regarding any form of dissent within the ranks. And the people saw a president who wearily wrestled with the politics of the nation's problems rather than with the problems themselves. His ill-temperedness, sometimes combined with disingenuousness, made his public persona unattractive to many Americans. It stood in the way of bringing Johnson the public sympathy a beleaguered president traditionally receives, as Kennedy had received it after the fiasco at the Bay of Pigs. Not even Lincoln in the darkest days of the Civil War had faced such intense dissent and public doubts about his course of action. The opposition to the Vietnam War was given its most powerful expression by college students. One of their first responses had been the device of the teach-in—hours-long discussions of the war with many participants—the first of which took place on the campus of the University of Michigan on 24 March 1965—a one-day school moratorium during which professors spoke on the war instead of offering their regular lectures. The teach-in became familiar throughout the country. Moreover, it provided an opportunity for students to vent other grievances: against the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), against academic support of scientific work for defense purposes, against the exclusion of students from college decision making, and against a medley of real and imagined irritations. The public demonstrations, which may have been an important stimulus to draft resistance, seemed to merge with the uprising known as the youth movement. Johnson, who had never given up the fond hope of being remembered as a friend of education, was publicly taunted at student rallies, often with the stinging refrain, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Concurrently Johnson's relationship with the black community cooled noticeably. Some part of the disaffection was owing to the unpopular war, involving as it did the disruption of a land inhabited by people of color, but it also grew out of the alienation from a generally prosperous society of its black people, who did not share in the bounty, and out of a natural evolution of the civil rights movement from a call for integration to a demand for "black power." The neighborhoods of tenements and slums occupied by poor blacks in the North, now denominated ghettos, were notably marked by high unemployment and run-down schools. Even as the presidential campaign had gotten under way in 1964, a riot in New York erupted and lasted five days. In the next few years the nation experienced "long, hot summers"—riots and the threats of riots in major cities. The Watts district of Los Angeles burst into flames in 1965, and black communities exploded in Cleveland in 1966, in Newark and Detroit in 1967, and in Washington, D.C., in 1968. Anxiety over possible race war gripped many cities as the words "Burn, baby, burn" were reported to be the battle cry of the rioters. The nation was reaping a whirlwind resulting from its long neglect and indifference to the needs of the black poor. As the destruction, including looting and attacks on white policemen, firemen, and National Guardsmen, rent the air, it was easy to find a scapegoat: Johnson and his war in Vietnam. Both he and the struggle in Asia became more unpopular than ever. The president's response was to appoint the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, chaired by Governor Otto D. Kerner of Illinois. The report delivered to the president on 2 March 1968 blamed white racism for the troubles. The country, it declared, was dividing into two societies, one white, one black—"separate and unequal." Its recommendations included a call for open housing and other "massive" programs. Johnson praised the report, but it distressed him, too, for he said: "They always print that we don't do enough. They don't print what we do." Johnson felt stymied: the War on Poverty he had designed had spent more than $6 billion from 1964 to 1967, and poverty had not disappeared. Indeed, there was extensive proof of widespread malnutrition and even hunger in the country. Fresh evidence came to public attention just as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announced that he was proposing a new antiballistic missile defense system that would cost $5 billion. Johnson was now the object of the new accusation that he was unable any longer to discern the nation's true priorities. Many Americans insisted that poverty could be wiped out if the money being spent on the war were diverted to the home front. In October 1967 a mass protest by a group calling itself the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam descended upon Washington. The administration was torn: Should it call a new bombing halt to satisfy the growing opposition at home, or should it intensify the war in order to satisfy the "hawks," who were eager to smite North Vietnam decisively? Before the end of November, a public opinion poll showed that confidence in Johnson's management of the war had dropped to 23 percent—the lowest point yet. Nevertheless, public support of the war effort itself remained at about 45 percent between November and March 1968. The president and his principal spokesmen were finding it harder each week to avoid the chanting protesters, who seemed to be everywhere. For the first time in history, a president was unwelcome in public in most parts of the country, making him a veritable prisoner in the White House, "hunkered down" there, to use one of his favorite expressions. At the end of 1967 he traveled to Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan in four and a half days, returning to the White House on Christmas Eve after stopping off for a surprise meeting with the pope in the Vatican. Johnson was once again attempting to placate the doves. One means was to state a willingness to accept Vietcong representatives in discussions of the war at the United Nations. The immediate effect was to disrupt relations with South Vietnam, where President Nguyen Van Thieu expressed cold anger at Washington for seeming to have truck with the enemy. In his State of the Union message of 17 January 1968, Johnson could report that "Americans are as prosperous as men have ever been in recorded history." Still, he took note of the disarray in the country, as he added, "Yet there is in the land a certain restlessness, a questioning." Privately the president was gloomy and depressed. By now, even McGeorge Bundy, who as Johnson's first special assistant for national security affairs had been an architect of the first phase of the war, had come out against its continuation. The nation's discontent intruded into the White House itself when, on 18 January 1968, Mrs. Johnson held a luncheon for a group of white and black women who had been invited in order to discuss crime in the streets. One of the guests, Eartha Kitt, a prominent singer, rose shortly after the president had spoken briefly, to assert that young people were rebelling and smoking marijuana because of the war. "Boys I know across the nation feel it doesn't pay to be a good guy. They figure [that] with a [prison] record they don't have to go off to Vietnam." Johnson was furious over what he regarded as an affront to the presidency delivered in the White House itself and over the extensive coverage of the incident in the press and on television.
Colorism, or prejudice based on the relative skin tone, hair texture and facial features among persons of the same race, has played a role in American society since the days of slavery. Lighter skin black people were favored over those with darker skin. Lighter skin slaves were able to get jobs working in the slave owners’ home, while the darker skin slaves were forced to work in the fields. You may be wondering why this is being brought up when slavery was over a century ago. Slavery may be long gone, but colorism has found a way to stay. Growing up as a dark skin African—American woman, I have witnessed colorism from family members, friends and of course, on social media. Just like some girls who look like me, I’ve felt insecure because I didn’t look like the light skin girls. For some reason, it just seemed as if the light skin girls were always praised and in certain situations, this was the truth. Rappers and singers often showcase the light skin or “exotic” women, but it is rare to see them show off a darker skin and natural beauty in any of their music videos. Men just believe that the light skin, “redbone” girls are more beautiful and classy, whereas a chocolate-skin woman is known as being ratchet or ghetto. Colorism was highlighted with the separation of slaves, and now that slavery is over, the black community still uses it to separate the two. At the end of the day, if we were to go in front of people who are not in the same racial group, they would identify us all as black. “If you’re black, stay back; If you’re brown, stick around; If you’re yellow, your’e mellow; If you’re white, you’re all right,” Big Bill Broonzy sang about America’s Jim Crow system. This rhyme highlights what we already knowbeing black is synonymous with disapproval. We should all be able to shout out “My Black is Beautiful” and believe it without feeling disapproval from our own community. Women being told, “You’re pretty for a dark skin girl,” isn’t a compliment. You’re beautiful because that is who you are. Just a couple days ago, I was scrolling down my timeline on Twitter when I came across a post. The post was by an appreciation page for black women. The page was posting darker skin women and showcasing their beauty. In the comments, someone asked “What about the light skin women?” The page responded, saying they choose not to discuss why they post what they do and that they have their reasons. I don’t see the reason why we all can’t embrace each other’s beauty. We all come in different tones and shapes for a reason. If we all looked the same, the world would be bland. We shouldn’t discriminate against one another just because we look different and because of the way we are treated by people outside of our race, we cannot help that or choose someone’s preference. So, what is the difference between colorism and racism? “Colorism-prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on the color (shade or tone) of their skin. Racism- prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on their actual perceived race status. Colorism is a product or symptom of racism,” author Sarah L. Webb said. So, if you’re a colorist, you are basically a racist. Discriminating against those who look different than you or are darker than you is racist. Colorism takes a toll on people in the black community because people love the lighter skin women, and darker skin women are now starting to bleach their skin to gain acceptance. We need to put an end to this before we bring our children into this cruel world. We did not choose the color we are in and we shouldn’t be seen for our color. Our color does not define us. Under our skin, we are built the same, with the same potential, strength and intelligence. We need to embrace our beauty from within, because we are beautiful. Te’Kayla Pittman is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Atlanta, Georgia. Recommended for you Load comments
INA Bearing warehouses that make machines more efficient Several warehouse KOYO Bearing manufacturers are working with agriculture to create warehouses that make machines more efficient and efficient, including companies such as The bearings used in agriculture are determined to some extent by the machines in question, but as a rule they have to be highly developed, perfectly sealed and withstand extreme conditions. For example, machines like tractors must operate with precision and speed, but they must withstand harsh environments and climate and protect themselves as much as possible from dirt and corrosion, so they must be properly rolled. accept the challenge. FAG 11204TV Bearing In general, the types of bearings used in agricultural machines mainly include ball bearings, such as deep groove ball bearings, angular contact bearings and thrust bearings. Roller bearings are also used in agricultural machinery and include bearing types such as tapered roller bearings and needle bearings. Bearings play a crucial role in the performance of agricultural machinery. What are the bearings? As explains: "A roll is a device that allows relative movement between two or more parts, generally a rotary or linear movement, and the bearings can be classified globally according to the permitted movements and their principle of operation, as well as the directions of applied loads Due to the shape and small footprint of the bearings, they help to reduce friction between the moving parts of the machine, which makes them a critical factor in the efficiency of the machine.
01438 841300 Underground Utility mapping surveys are detailed accurate drawings identifying all underground utilities and service routes, including gas, water, telecommunications, electricity and drainage, as well as voids within a specified area. The underground utilities are normally shown on top of a topographical survey plan showing all above ground features such as buildings, boundaries, services covers and site levels. Normally presented digitally in CAD format, we are also able to provide scaled paper copies. Accurate information on services located underground is an important stage in the development of a site. Terrain Surveys offer a full range of underground tracing & mapping solutions to suit our clients needs. Whatever the project that you are considering, a thorough accurate survey drawing will reduce the risk of cable strikes and downstream mistakes caused by unforeseen issues. Utility Surveys Terrain Surveys 01 Healthcare Sector Measured Surveys Terrain Surveys 02 Leisure and Retail Sector Surveys Terrain Surveys 03 Utility Surveys Terrain Surveys 04 Contact Us Upload a plan Terrain Surveys Frequently asked questions: What is a utility survey? A utility survey uses Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electro-Magnetic Locators (EML), to analyse reflected signals from structures, services, buried objects beneath the ground. This creates an overall plan of what is locate underground this is then added to a topographical survey to create and accurate survey drawing for the client What is the difference between Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electro-Magnetic Locators (EML)? GPR works by sending a signal into the ground and listening for reflections from that signal. EML works by detecting the electromagnetic signal that is emitted by power cables, or the energy from nearby power cables which has ‘coupled’ onto metal services. What are the benefits of having a utility survey undertaken? • Reduce project planning time • Minimise risk • Comply with the health and safety regulation How effective is GPR? Due to equipment limitations and certain ground conditions, it is impossible to guarantee the overall effectiveness of GPR, this is why it should always be used in conjunction with standard electromagnetic techniques. Where can I find a specification of works for Underground Utility Survey Mapping? PAS 128 is a British Standards Institution (BSI) document that helps clients to set the required level of Utility Survey to fulfill their criteria, with the added assurance that the correct process of detection, verification and location of utility assets has been adhered to. Our Projects Enter your keyword
Using ARGC and ARGV In section Built-in Variables that Convey Information, you saw this program describing the information contained in ARGC and ARGV: $ awk 'BEGIN { > print ARGV[i] > }' inventory-shipped BBS-list -\| awk -\| inventory-shipped -\| BBS-list In this example, ARGV[0] contains "awk", ARGV[1] contains "inventory-shipped", and ARGV[2] contains "BBS-list". Notice that the awk program is not entered in ARGV. The other special command line options, with their arguments, are also not entered. But variable assignments on the command line are treated as arguments, and do show up in the ARGV array. Your program can alter ARGC and the elements of ARGV. Each time awk reaches the end of an input file, it uses the next element of ARGV as the name of the next input file. By storing a different string there, your program can change which files are read. You can use "-" to represent the standard input. By storing additional elements and incrementing ARGC you can cause additional files to be read. If you decrease the value of ARGC, that eliminates input files from the end of the list. By recording the old value of ARGC elsewhere, your program can treat the eliminated arguments as something other than file names. To eliminate a file from the middle of the list, store the null string ("") into ARGV in place of the file's name. As a special feature, awk ignores file names that have been replaced with the null string. You may also use the delete statement to remove elements from ARGV (see section The delete Statement). All of these actions are typically done from the BEGIN rule, before actual processing of the input begins. See section Splitting a Large File Into Pieces, and see section Duplicating Output Into Multiple Files, for an example of each way of removing elements from ARGV. The following fragment processes ARGV in order to examine, and then remove, command line options. verbose = 1 else if (ARGV[i] == "-d") debug = 1 else if (ARGV[i] ~ /^-?/) { ARGV[0], substr(ARGV[i], 1, ,1)) print e > "/dev/stderr" } else delete ARGV[i] To actually get the options into the awk program, you have to end the awk options with `--', and then supply your options, like so: awk -f myprog -- -v -d file1 file2 ... This is not necessary in gawk: Unless `--posix' has been specified, gawk silently puts any unrecognized options into ARGV for the awk program to deal with. As soon as it sees an unknown option, gawk stops looking for other options it might otherwise recognize. The above example with gawk would be: gawk -f myprog -d -v file1 file2 ... Since `-d' is not a valid gawk option, the following `-v' is passed on to the awk program.
1-877-626-8540 support@gronutrients.com Bringing Life To Your Malnourished Plant Bringing Life To Your Malnourished Plant GRO Nutrients® It is important to understand that wilting and drooping leaves means that there is a deficiency somewhere within the plant. A deficiency can come from one or multiple areas. The primary areas a plant receives nutrition from are: light (photon energy), atmosphere (CO2 and O2) and medium (H2O and mineral nutrients). Generally, a good watering routine entails that you water each plant once, at the start of the day when the sun comes up or when you turn on the lights. Saturate the medium well, until you see the first drops seep out of the bottom of the container. That will be enough water for the day. It is also a good idea to let the medium become fairly dry—at least near the surface of the medium—before attempting to water the plant again. It is important to remember that while the plant itself breathes in CO2, the roots beneath the surface breath in oxygen (O2) during the night cycle. This is an essential part to healthy plant growth and development. And a dry, aerated medium goes a long way in allowing air to permeate the root zone and roots to breathe in their precious O2. To fix the drooping, allow the medium to dry out overnight (completely) and use a thin stick (i.e., a skewer) to gently poke holes around the surface of the medium to help aerate—taking care not to damage any roots below. Poke around the edges, about an inch or two down, making a circling motion with the stick to make small holes. Take another thin stick and use it as a support stake, if necessary. Stake it near the base of the plant and rest or tie the main stem to it. Make sure the plant’s main stem and branches are not thin and spindly. If they are, this could also be a sign they are stretching for light. Make sure your plant is directly under the light source and receiving around 18 hours of light per 24 hours to help it vegetate. Additionally, it is essential that you feed your plant GRO Nutrients® BIO ROOTS. Follow the instructions and double the feed routine until you begin to see signs of revitalization. You are likely still a few weeks to a month away from being able to switch to a 12/12-light/dark cycle to induce flowering because of this setback with the drooping leaves. However, with some diligence and care, you can easily get your babies to bounce back and have a productive life cycle. If you are growing in soil, apply GRO Nutrients® ANCIENT BIOME substrates replenisher to rejuvenate your soil with powerful Amazonian organic nutrients. Blend with the soil and sprinkle around the base of your plant. Water immediately. Select Your Language
5G enable IoT With communications and data storage demanding more and more of our wireless networks with each passing day, it is clear that our current 4G network will soon by overtaxed. Anyone who has ever lost a signal when driving outside of populated areas knows all too well how limited our current networks are. And that’s to say nothing of the connection issues that exist on a day-to-day basis inside population centers. From weak signals to networks that are ill-equipped to serve everyone at once, there is clearly room for improvement. The only solution is an all-new fifth generation wireless network made up of multiple technologies working in harmony with each other to meet present and future needs: • A network with faster speeds and greater accessibility • A network that reaches everywhere, and is available to everyone • A network of the future Such a network could revolutionize the Internet of Things and bring about changes to a wide range of industries—including healthcare. Thankfully, this network is on its way. 5G: Faster data speeds meet universal access The two key features that will distinguish a 5G network from previous communication standards are speed and accessibility. Thanks to features such as improved encoding (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing or OFDM), wider bandwidths, higher transmission frequencies, advanced antenna technology, and a larger number of smaller cells working in conjunction, 5G technology will enable connection speeds that are up to 10X faster than currently possible, with drastically reduced latency rates. Additionally, near universal accessibility and availability is expected to be a key component of any 5G network with target goals of 100% coverage and 99% uptime. This will enable up to 100 times more connected devices than is currently possible. This is key in order to realize the full potential of the Internet of Things. There are still large swaths of the United States with little to no cellular coverage, particularly in the west and in rural areas. One of the key goals of a fifth generation network is to bring cellular coverage to everyone, regardless of where they live. This will benefit individuals, businesses, and government organizations alike. As of now, it could be argued that the Internet of Things is still in its infancy. Though a small number of appliances and other home gadgets can now access the cloud (such as refrigerators and thermostats), this is a rather poor example of what the IoT can and should be. In the near future, nearly all electronic devices will be Internet-enabled. This includes automobiles, handheld devices, appliances, cameras, wearables, and even infrastructure, public buildings, and homes. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is expected that spending in these areas will rise dramatically. As 5G technology provides greater connectivity, more and more uses for this technology are likely to surface. The technology opens up all sorts of possibilities and one industry that could benefit greatly is healthcare. Healthcare, the Internet of Things, and 5G Technology From monitoring newborns to facilitating health information exchanges, the IoT is already playing a role in healthcare. By leveraging the cloud, the healthcare industry is able to stay better connected with patients, provide better monitoring, foster patient engagement, and improve patient outcomes. But the applications are currently limited by the available technology. With 5G technology on the horizon, the healthcare industry could soon see exponential growth in this area. What might this technology be used for? Among other things, analytics, diagnosis, treatment, and population health management. These end results—improved analysis, treatment, and health management—can be accomplished in part thanks to a variety of IoT technologies, including wearables, cloud-connected healthcare monitoring and diagnostic tools, patient healthcare portals, mobile apps, and electronic medical records. These tools have the potential to improve diagnoses, patient monitoring, medical research, and patient care. But only if these tools are leveraged to their full potential—this is where a comprehensive 5G network comes in. Without the proper network in place, the potential of connected devices is limited. A new, more robust network could unlock this potential. One of the key hurdles currently facing the healthcare industry, and its adoption of IoT technology, is our 4G network. For larger data sets, it simply isn’t fast enough (in simple terms, large amounts of data require fast bandwidth). And the lack of wireless availability in many rural areas prevents widespread adoption. Thus, our current network is limited both in bandwidth and reach. 5G technology can provide a solution to both of these problems, through vastly improved bandwidth speeds and wider availability with greater uptime. Eliminate these hurdles, and you can open up the floodgates, enabling the technology to finally catch up with the idea. That is what 5G technology makes possible. Healthcare and the connected future Assuming 5G technology and the IoT reaches its full potential, it’s likely that your healthcare experience could soon take place online as much as in person. Wearable technology will enable you (and your doctors) to monitor your health in real time; electronic health records will ensure that all of your healthcare providers have access to the same information, and mobile apps will allow you to access medical and patient information right from your device. This technology also opens up the possibility for improved patient outcomes, on-demand treatment, and more affordable care. Though there are security issues to be solved and the issue of privacy to be dealt with, it’s clear to see the benefits that 5G technology could provide. By making it easier for patients and healthcare providers to communicate—and for healthcare providers to access patient information—a 5G network has the potential to bring forth an evolutionary leap forward that will benefit everyone. The degree to which this technology will be incorporated and adopted by the industry is anyone’s guess, and, at this point in time, impossible to say. After all, there are real practical hurdles to overcome, particularly with data sharing, privacy rights, and technological adoption. However, all that being said, it’s still a safe bet that the future of healthcare is a connected one. Are you ready? Leave a Reply
Bekijk de volledige versie : Configuration of a gateaway 13-01-2008, 18:07 Please i'm trying to figure out what to select on the configuration of my box: under dhcp server>used domain option i can select wan or wlan/lan. What can you tell me about the difference of having a wan or wlan/lan domain? I have also an option for macupd. I couldnt find much about these two, what are they aplication in a network? 15-01-2008, 22:10 none of you know this? 16-01-2008, 00:09 Well, it would be very helpful to know the router type/fw/fw-version and which howto aso was used. Anyhow: WAN=wide area network=internet LAN=local area network=your network read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_network And what is a domain? It is just the name of the network. A network address is for instance, but as you know there are billions of internet addresses. Nobody would be able to know the addresses - hence, names are used instead (like www.google.com), but your browser is asking the DNS (domain name system) server for the network address when you want see a web-site. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_system For macupd: maybe you use DD-WRT, then it would be better to use the ddwrt forum. Just a hint for what macupd is used: http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/rflow.php
Recreational Boating Safety – Shallow Water Boat Danger: End Swapping By Bob Currie, Vessel Examiner United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 081-06-08 One of the most popular styles of boats I see out on Galveston Bay is the shallow water boat. They are great fishing platforms, giving the occupants more room to move about that the average center console boat which has a 2 to 2.5 foot high gunnel. The shallow water boats have little or no gunnel, thus allowing the occupants to move more freely about the boat. In addition, they all have power jack plates to help them negotiate very shallow water. Most have enough power to really scoot over the water from reef to reef. Flotilla 081-06-08 is based at Coast Guard Station Galveston. The Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed civilian component of the US Coast Guard and supports the Coast Guard in nearly all mission areas. The Auxiliary was created by Congress in 1939. For more information, please visit End Swapping Event An end swapping event occurs when a boat enters into a turn and loses its ability to maintain steerage contact with the water and in some cases violently spins out. The end swapping event can and often does result in ejection of boat occupants, resulting in injury and in some cases death. End swapping occurs during turns made at speed. Boats Prone to End Swapping The boats most prone to end swapping are boats specifically designed for shallow water fishing. The majority of these boats are mostly flat deck with little or no gunnels or railings, and in general have a center console with seating at the console. An example of this style of boat is the Texas Flats style of boat. Other types include tunnel vee boats, flats skiffs, and sleds. From a distance they look like a surfboard with a motor flying across the bay. The boats generally have enough horsepower to propel the boats at speeds above 40 mph, with some boats reaching 50 mph and higher. The average speed at which end swapping becomes a concern is 25 mph. Boat Design Issues The Coast Guard has done extensive studies regarding the propensity of certain boat hull designs to swap ends during a turn. The boats at issue are intended to operate in shallow water. These boats all have the same four design characteristics that set them up for dangerous end swapping when a turn is made. First, they have incorporated a tunnel along the center line in the aft portion of the hull to permit the engine to operate in an elevated position on a jack plate. Second, they have a high dead rise or deep vee in the forward part of the hull. Third, they tend to have very little, if any, containment for the occupants and operator. Finally, they use an oversized anti-ventilation plate on the outboard engine. Outboard Ventilation Ventilation is the propeller sucking in air. When this happens, all thrust is lost. This may happen because you have the engine trimmed up too high. It can occur when the boat is jumping waves and the back of the boat is actually coming up near the surface of the water. In the case of end swapping, it occurs when you make a sharp turn and as the boat leans the propeller comes too close to the surface. Another reason for ventilation during a turn is due to the flow of water through the tunnel. The tunnel is designed to direct water flow to the propeller, and during a turn that direction of flow is interrupted if the turn is sharp and made above a certain speed. The speed at which ventilation occurs depends on how high the engine is raised by the jack plate and how sharp the turn is made. The Coast Guard has found that the speed of concern is 25 mph, but ventilation can occur at speeds lower than 25 mph. When forward thrust is lost during a turn, the bow digs in and the boat makes a 180 degree spin. This 180 spin can cause occupants to be ejected and the boat can even flip over. It should be noted that when ventilation occurs the engine will over-rev and severe engine damage may occur. If your engine ventilates, reduce throttle immediately, even if you are not in a turning situation. Boat Loading Most center console boats have a seat just forward of and attached to the center console. They usually have either an ice chest or live well below the seat. Forward loading of the boat tends to make the boat more prone to end swapping, so it is not recommended that this seat be occupied when under way, especially in shallow water, as shallow water running also tends to lower the bow and make it more prone to digging in. Coast Guard Evaluation and Testing When the Coast Guard began to see an increase in boating accidents due to end swapping, they initiated a study to determine why this was happening. Their first realization was that end swapping occurred mostly on shallow water boats. They began testing hull designs in order to better understand this phenomenon. They used the ABYC (American Boating and Yacht Council) H-26 Powering of Boats Standard, which prescribes procedures for testing of boat hull turning characteristics. The particular procedure they used is called the Quick Turn Test, and is used for testing boats capable of exceeding 30 mph and controlled by a steering wheel rather than a tiller. Boat Modification Another part of the Coast Guard study was to determine if modifications could be made to reduce or eliminate the end swapping tendency. After trying different modifications, the Coast Guard found that adding two 72-inch skegs 4.5 inches tall allowed boats that had previously failed the quick turn test to pass the test. The increased hull-to-water contact provided by the skegs improved the directional stability of the boat and greatly decreased the tendency of the stern to end swap. What This Means for You I like to fall back to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry for advice when possible. He always had good advice. In this case it would be “A boater has got to know his boat’s limits.” If you have one of the boats discussed here, your biggest weapon against end swapping is knowledge. Know whether your boat has a tendency to end swap; read your boat’s manual. The study of this phenomenon is fairly recent, so if your boat was manufactured before 2016 your manual may not make mention of end swapping, but it may mention how it handles during turns, and it may make recommendations on such. It is sure to discuss ventilation and cavitation and how the two phenomena occur, and that knowledge will add to your arsenal to prevent end swapping. The Coast Guard has recommended that manufacturers discuss end swapping and apply a label with the boat’s maneuvering speed, A boat’s maneuvering speed is the maximum speed at which the boat is capable of completing the maneuvers required by the ABYC H-26 Powering of Boats standard. If you can’t find that speed for your boat in your manual, you can contact the manufacturer for that information. Not all shallow water boats are constructed the same, so it is not possible to pick a specific speed and say it is hazardous. Coast Guard testing has shown a swap end event is possible at speeds as low as 25 mph. It is well know that a boat’s performance changes as you go into shallow water. Generally it runs at a lower trim angle, and that alone makes the boat more prone to the bow digging in and causing an end swap. When you add speed and the propensity of an outboard to ventilate when the jack plate is raised, you have all the conditions necessary for an end swap to occur. Armed with this knowledge and by becoming more familiar with your own boat’s operating characteristics, you can reduce the chance that you will be involved with a dangerous end swap. For more information on boating safety, please visit the Official Website of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division at Questions about the US Coast Guard Auxiliary or our free Vessel Safety Check program may be directed to me at I am available to perform free Vessel Safety Checks, and I will come to your location to perform them. SAFE BOATING! Facebook Twitter Leave a Reply Site by
UPS to protect HDD Question: Do I really need a UPS? Answer: Only if you value your data. Question: Isn’t a surge protector good enough? Answer: Probably not Question: Yeah but it’s a really good one! Answer: It really doesn’t matter and here’s why….. A surge protector is a device that filters out high voltage surges on your electrical service. Most work on the simple principle that when the voltage gets too high, it actuates a mechanism that trips the circuit thus shutting off the power supply and protecting your valuable electronic equipment. These range in price from a couple dollars at Walmart to $100+ at stores like Best Buy. And while they may wow you with high numbers about how many Jules they protect against they are pretty much all the same thing, the expensive ones just have a few more bells and whistles. In fact recent studies have found that even the most expensive offer little more protection than your typical $5 piece of Walmart junk. There is another type of surge protector known as a TVSS (Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor) that does offer better protection and is vastly more expensive, you might see these wired into the electrical panels of server rooms. But even these don’t offer full protection for your computer. Here’s why….. The most devastating power related issue to your hard drive (your data) isn’t power surges. It is true that a good lightning storm can sometimes destroy a few hard drives, however it’s not as common as you might think. Your computer’s power supply is generally pretty good at filtering out those spikes. It’s actually more common that your power supply itself goes bad and fries a drive (which neither a surge protector nor a UPS can protect against). Since ~2000 hard drive manufactures began installing TVS diodes on hard drive PCB’s to protect against these types of power spikes. Other drives began using sensitive 0 Ohm resistors that easily burn out to limit the damage caused to the drive. While the drive may stop functioning after such an event the data is rarely damaged, and it’s often just a matter of a quick PCB repair to get your files back. At our lab this type of repair only costs $400-500. – Data Recovery Prices Power outages on the other hand can severely damage the data area of your drive. Generally when your utility goes down it’s not a smooth instant blackout. First the power goes out for a couple seconds, then back on, then it flickers a few times, and finally goes out completely. When it get’s restored the same process happens again just in the reverse order. When this rapid on-off-on-off happens it causes your drive to go haywire internally. Normally when a drive loses power, such as when you unplug it, it has just enough energy left from the rotating platters to seat the heads back to their resting position. However with rapid cycling of the power, sometimes they don’t make it and they get stuck to the platters. This inevitably causes some destruction of data. In a lab such as ours here in Rhode Island we can usually still get back most of your files, but you may lose a considerable chunk, and occasionally all of it. Also the price of recovery tends to be much higher and take much longer. Fortunately that’s where a UPS may keep the data recovery man away. A UPS works on a much different principle than a surge protector. On a surge protector the power you are running on is directly comping from the power company until it trips, making it susceptible to rapid power cycling. However a UPS is different. When connected to a UPS you’re not actually connected to the grid. Your computer is actually always running off of the battery which is separately being charged from the power grid. Not only does this provide much better protection against surges (because the batter absorbs them), but you also are protected from rapid power cycling. And even when the battery goes dead, your computer will get a smooth, single, power shutoff that won’t cause your drive to fail. Even if you never setup the feature to auto-shutdown your computer before the battery runs out, it’s still 100x more protection than a surge protector. At least as far as data recovery issues are concerned that is. Summary: Do I really need a UPS for my computer? Answer: YES! Cough up the $100 bucks and get at least a small UPS, cuz if you have to come see me (the data recovery man) it’s gonna cost you more. Pin It on Pinterest Share This
How building data protection regimes can counter disinformation Online disinformation and computational propaganda can have major effects, particularly in volatile political environments where public opinion can be shifted to a narrative pushed by a group with access to personal data from target populations. The power of online systems to shift elections or referenda is the lesson of many recent political campaigns in history. That reality has shown the importance of strong institutions, laws that are capable of shifting with ongoing technological and political innovation, and better corporate governance. Read More… A Force Multiplier for Democracy in the Digital Age Read More…
Located on the right side of your lower abdomen, the appendix is a tiny finger-like extension from the colon. Medical science does not know its exact function, but this tiny organ can become swollen and infected, causing appendicitis. Pain in the lower right abdomen that becomes increasingly severe is an indication that the appendix may be inflamed and infected, indicating the need for medical intervention. It is not always apparent what causes appendicitis but an obstruction in the bowel may be a cause. Other times appendicitis occurs after a digestive tract infection. Quick treatment for an infection in the appendix is usually required, as it can burst as it becomes filled with pus. Once the appendix bursts, intestinal contents leak into the abdominal cavity, causing further dangerous infection. Symptoms of appendicitis include the digestive troubles of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, but most noticeable is the increasingly sharp pain that begins around the navel and then moves to the lower right abdomen. Sudden movements and even walking can make the pain worse. A low fever may also be present as the body tries to fight the infection. Anyone can have appendicitis, but it is most common in people between the ages of 10 and 30. Any severe pain in the abdomen should be diagnosed and treated by a doctor. Patients in the Ft. Myers, Florida area and elsewhere should quickly seek medical attention if the pain worsens. The doctor will take blood and urine tests and does imaging testing to diagnose the problem. An appendectomy is generally performed, removing the infected appendix. If the organ is abscessed, this may be addressed first. Recovery time varies, but it takes several weeks to heal after an appendectomy.
Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Why does metal heat up under presssure? 1. Mar 11, 2009 #1 I was asked by some of my students (6th grade) why does metal heat up under pressure? For example, when you hammer a piece of metal repeatedly, it is hot to the touch. 2. jcsd 3. Mar 11, 2009 #2 friction caused by the insides of the metal moving around when its deformed cause it to heat up. 4. Mar 11, 2009 #3 User Avatar Staff Emeritus Science Advisor Heat (thermal energy) is simply the kinetic (vibrational) energy of atoms in a substance. When one strikes a hammer against another solid material, the kinetic energy (and momentum) are transferred from the moving hammer to the solid material (mass). Assuming that the mass does not move, the kinetic energy of the moving hammer is transformed into sound (acoustic energy, or pressure waves) and heat (thermal energy) in mass of the solid and the hammer. A hammer blow (impact) is an example of an impulsive load, i.e. the force (and pressure) are applied over a very short time. One can also generate heat by friction, which is a shear force. Friction dissipates energy as heat. 5. Mar 12, 2009 #4 Thank you. I actually ended up having a conversation with one of my physics professors about this. She also said that it was the mechanical energy from the hammer transfered into the metal and causing the molecules of the metal to vibrate and oscilate and thus converting the mechanical energy into thermal energy.
Skip to main content reviewed 1/2/2019 Knee pain: True or false? True. Knee pain can be caused by disease or injury. But when it's due to disease, osteoarthritis is the most common reason. Osteoarthritis occurs when the shock-absorbing cartilage between the knee's 2 bones wears away. It usually occurs in people who are at least 50 years old. False. Every excess pound that you carry puts about 5 extra pounds of pressure on your knee whenever you use the stairs. If you're overweight, talk to a doctor about how losing weight could help protect your knees. Sometimes knee pain can be treated at home with over-the-counter pain relievers and rest. If the pain continues for more than 3 days, however, call a doctor. Prevent knee problems Sources: American College of Sports Medicine; American Physical Therapy Association; National Institutes of Health Related stories
• Ask Steven A game of two balls, and tennis' shortest finals Steven Lynch May 10, 2010 Uruguay were much too strong for Argentina in the first World Cup final © Getty Images Is it true that two balls were used in the 1930 World Cup final after a dispute? asked Jared Michaels from Bedford Rather remarkably, it does seem to be true. After Argentina and the hosts Uruguay qualified for the climax of the first World Cup in 1930, they couldn't agree on the make of ball to be used in the final. Neither side would give ground, and it was eventually agreed that each side should supply the ball for one half. An Argentinian ball was used for the first 45 minutes, and at half-time Argentina led 2-1. Then the Uruguayan ball came into play, and whatever the difference was, it worked - Uruguay scored three times with it, and ran out 4-2 winners. What was the shortest-ever Grand Slam singles tennis final? asked Nichiketa Guha via Facebook We don't have precise timings for many early finals, but the shortest known one was the 1922 Wimbledon ladies' final between the great French player Suzanne Lenglen and the Norwegian-born American Molla Mallory. Mrs Mallory won the first two games - but Lenglen swept the rest to win 6-2 6-0 in a match Wimbledon's records peg at 23 minutes (some accounts say it was over in 20). Three years later Lenglen beat Britain's Joan Fry in the final in 25 minutes, also 6-2 6-0. The shortest final in recent years was Steffi Graf's 32-minute demolition of Natasha Zvereva (6-0 6-0) in the 1988 French Open final. For the men, the shortest Grand Slam final I can find was at Wimbledon in 1881, when Willie Renshaw hammered the Reverend John Hartley 6-0 6-1 6-1 in 37 minutes. In 1936 Britain's Fred Perry beat the injured Gottfried von Cramm of Germany 6-1 6-1 6-0 - I think I have seen this match described somewhere as lasting only 37 minutes as well, but Wimbledon's records give it as 40. Was Henry Cooper the first boxer to knock Muhammad Ali down in a pro fight? asked David Truelove from Accrington Henry Cooper's famous knockdown of Muhammad Ali (who was still called Cassius Clay at the time) came at the end of the fourth round of their first fight, at Wembley Stadium in 1963. Ali recovered, helped by a kerfuffle over a cut in his boxing glove which earned him some extra time, and stopped Cooper in the next round. But that was actually the second time Ali had been on the floor in his professional career: his first knockdown came against another American, Sonny Banks, in February 1962. Ali went down in the first round, but recovered to put Banks on the canvas in the second and win in the fourth. Ali was subsequently knocked down by Joe Frazier (1971) and Chuck Wepner (1975). Did anyone ever run a mile in exactly four minutes before Roger Bannister broke the famous barrier? asked John Richardson from Lincoln The world record at the time of Roger Bannister's historic race at Oxford in 1954 was four minutes 1.3 seconds, set by the Swedish athlete Gunder Hagg in July 1945. Bannister lowered the record to 3:59.4, so at that point no-one had ever run a mile in exactly four minutes. The first man to clock four minutes dead did not do so until 1958. This was another Briton, Derek Ibbotson, who had himself lowered the world mile record in July 1957 to 3:57.2 - a mark that stood for just over a year before the great Australian Herb Elliott smashed it (3.54.5). Later in 1958 Elliott won a race at White City in London - and Ibbotson was fourth in exactly 4:00.00. Jack Nicklaus was Mr Consistency in the majors © Getty Images I know (because you answered the question recently!) that no-one has ever won all four of golf's majors in the same year. But has anyone ever finished in the top ten of all four in the same year? asked Chris Cazalet from London A total of 14 different golfers have managed this. The most recent year it was achieved was in 2005, by Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods. Tiger also did it in 2000, but the record for consistency in this regard goes to Jack Nicklaus, who finished in the top ten of all four majors in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977. The others to have managed four top-ten finishes in the same year are Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson (both 2004), Sergio Garcia (2002), Ben Crenshaw (1987), Tom Watson (1975, 1977 and 1982), Hale Irwin (1975), Miller Barber (1969), Doug Sanders (1966), Gary Player (1963 and 1974) and Arnold Palmer (1960 and 1966),. The first person to do it (and it has only been possible since the Masters was instituted in 1934) was the American Ed Dudley in 1937: he was third in the Masters, fifth in the US Open and sixth in the British one, then reached the last 16 of the US PGA Championship, which was a matchplay event at the time (so he might be said to have finished joint ninth). Dudley, Sanders and Barber never did win a major - and Garcia has not done so yet. Who was Harry Sunderland, and has any rugby league player won the trophy named after him more than once? asked Tim Varley from London Harry Sunderland was an Australian rugby league administrator who eventually moved to England, where he was Wigan's manager for a time. After he died in 1964 it was decided to name the man of the match trophy (voted for by members of the Rugby League Writers' Association) in the Championship final in his honour: this was first awarded to Terry Fogerty of Halifax in 1965. From 1975 the trophy went to the man of the match in the Premiership final, and since 1996 to the man of the match in the Super League grand final. Only two players have won it twice: Alan Tait of Widnes in 1989 and 1990, and Andy Farrell of Wigan in 1996 and 1997. © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Steven Lynch Close
The Essentials of Contracting – Breaking Down the Basics The Importance of Government Contracting Governmewnt contracting involves businesses and companies employed directly or indirectly by the government to be providing goods and services and there are rules and regulations that the business or the company has to strictly follow in order to avoid risking the governments wrath. In the signed contract, the government normally has specifications for most of the products and services needed by the government on a regular basis, which allows convenience in the business between you and the government. There are lots of opportunities which are always available for government contractors and in order to make this a simpler matter to deal with, the government has to implement very strict rules and regulations that enable the business contractors for the government take part in the business activities with the government and as matter of fact, this is very essential for the smooth running of any government. Government contractors play a very important role in the government in the numerous ways which are going to be discussed in detail in the following paragraphs. The government itself and also its agencies rely mainly on the private contractors for most of its needs such that without these private contractors, there wouldn’t be a stable government so it is a benefit that the contractors have since it is a guarantee that the government will have to come to them for supplies of their goods and services. This promotes peace in the government because with equality issues resolved there are very few things that other sectors of the government can conflict about. By ensuring that even the small businesses get a equal share of government contracts it ensures that there is development in the different parts of the economy of the country or state. The government contracting administrations also work with other federal government agencies to ensure that a certain percentage of the government contracts are given to small business owners and also to help the federal agencies to reach and achieve certain goals they have set. What No One Knows About Law Contracting: 10 Mistakes that Most People Make
School has officially started, and with it, a slew of new after-school activities. There are so many options, from football, soccer, gymnastics, cheer… But what about art? Many studies have been done over the years on the benefits on the arts for students. The specific results have varied but all of them to come to a similar conclusion in the end: participating in the arts is highly beneficial for children. Let’s count the reasons why! A lot of the studies have shown that students participating in some sort of arts program–whether it’s fine arts, theater, dance, or music–perform better in school. For the most part, they have higher graduation rates and higher grades. One particular study, taking place over the course of 11-years, focused on at-risk children participating in arts programs. Those who did participate were much more likely to stay in school. They were also more likely to participate in outside activities, win awards, and generally achieve greater academic success than the children who did not participate in arts programs. Art not only engages children and improves their performance in school, but also helps them to develop important skills they will need as they grow. For example, it hones creativity, which in turn helps with problem solving. An adult who is able to come up with creative solutions has an advantage over an adult who sticks to tried and true methods; this starts in childhood. Something as basic as coloring in a coloring book, where a child has to focus on staying in the lines, or something more complicated, like learning to read music, helps children to become more detail oriented. It also fosters critical thinking; being able to look at a creation and judge whether it’s finished, whether it needs fixing, how to fix it–also an important skill for later in life. In a world that keeps getting busier and busier, the arts also allow children to have a creative outlet, thus relieving stress (especially if the chosen genre involves movement and exercise, like theater or dance). Having a form of creative outlet also gives them a coping mechanisms for whatever life throws at them, whether in childhood or adulthood. Being able to express oneself through art has helped many a person get through difficult times in their lives. Art engages children. It motivates them to do more, try harder. And children enjoy art, so not only are they learning and improving, but they’re also having fun doing it. And, does it need to be said? It gets those kids away from their devices, if only for an hour at a time. Want to know more? Our Founder/Director/Resident Awesome, Judy Richardson, recently did an interview with ATX Woman about bringing theater and dance to underprivileged kids. We’d love for you to check it out! And tune in to this blog next week, when we explore the different types of art and the specific benefits of each to our kiddos. %d bloggers like this:
Maxim Travel Books > Asia > Download A Sociolinguistic History of Early Identities in Singapore: by Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew PDF By Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew What function does race, geography, faith, orthography and nationalism play within the crafting of identities? What are the origins of Singlish? This publication deals an intensive research of outdated and new identities in Asia's so much worldwide urban, tested during the lens of language. Show description Similar asia books Asian Godfathers Few teams are extra secretive than the Asian "godfathers," the tiny team of obscenely prosperous businessmen who regulate the commercial fates of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Mysterious, smart, and ruthless, those tycoons represented 8 of the twenty-five wealthiest humans on this planet within the Nineties and so they proceed to command multibillion-dollar own fortunes, controlling every thing from banking and actual property to transport and gambling--yet their names wouldn't be common to standard readers of The Wall road magazine. Cleanliness and Culture: Indonesian Histories Contemporary years have proven a rise in curiosity within the learn of cleanliness from a old and sociological standpoint. lots of such experiences on bathing and washing, on retaining the physique and the streets fresh, and on dirt and the wrestle of airborne dirt and dust, concentrate on Europe. In Cleanliness and tradition awareness shifts to the tropics, to Indonesia, in colonial instances in addition to within the current. The Vietnam Nationalist Party (1927-1954) This booklet offers learn targeting the Vietnam Nationalist social gathering (Việt Nam Quốc dân đảng) from 1927 to 1954. It elaborates at the party’s institution, political ideology and organizational constitution, the Yen Bai rebellion, the party’s downfall, and its position within the Vietnamese Revolution. Findings are offered systematically and comprehensively, counting on authentic and unofficial, in addition to family and international assets, together with texts from localities and hometowns of significant figures within the association. Bali & Lombok ”The mere point out of ‘Bali’ conjures up innovations of paradise. It’s greater than a spot it’s a temper, an aspiration, a tropical mind set. ”—Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Lonely Planet author writer Sample text 8 This section discusses Malay-, Chinese-, Tamil- and English-medium education and their respective contributions to a racially-minded identity. Malay-medium schools The Malays were the only racial group provided free elementary education by the British, who were themselves influenced by a paternal and humanitarian sense of obligation to protect and preserve what they viewed was the way of life of the “rightful” people. The Malays were educated in the medium of Malay, ostensibly to ensure the continuation of their close bond between the traditional institutional structure and the Malay language. What is the meaning of the syllabus Tji with which all the names here begin? Oh I do-on’t know. I sink it means pless. Yes, I sink zo. Pleis, town like as de English town in de namen Stock-town, Darling-town and Norzamp-town. I sink it means dat. O-yes! : 174). Reith’s rather confident depiction may be seen as representative of the then Victorian conviction between a nation’s language (the way a language should be written and/or pronounced) and its effects on the morals of a person. Census taking The census, acknowledged widely as a scientific and objective instrument, played a part in legitimating linguistic and racial differences between the ruler and the ruled. Download PDF sample Rated 4.81 of 5 – based on 46 votes
Chewing each morsel 40 times may result in weight loss People around the world stress on the need of chewing food properly. While majority of them, do this to ensure their small children don’t choke while eating; some others stress on proper chewing for health reasons. Call it traditional wisdom OR inference taken from years of observation OR some ancient science of wellness, people all over the world; unanimously believe that ‘proper chewing is good for health’. In some cultures like India, where ancient wellness science of Yog (now the term being anglicized as Yoga), seen to be guiding many in their daily lives, says this regarding chewing – “The right way of ingesting(taking the food down the throat) food is to follow this rule of thumb – Drink what is solid and Eat what is liquid.” In simple words, the above wisdom is regarding chewing, which says that – a person should chew a solid food, to that extent, until it gets a liquid consistency, and hence can be get down the throat as water. When the person consumes some liquid food, then he/she should pretend as if he/she is eating a solid food. The liquid should be moved inside mouth, from one corner to the other, with biting motions of the teeth; and then ingest the liquid. Irrespective of where one lives and how the knowledge is acquired; cultures have stressed on the importance of chewing in their unique words and examples. In recent times, proper chewing has been linked to keeping a normal body weight and to weight loss as well. Here proper or prolonged chewing is stressed on, for some logical reasons. The logic goes like this: If a person chews each morsel for a prolonged time; then he/she is likely eat less number of morsels, and hence less food at each meal. This will result in keeping his/her body weight normal or even weight loss. Now a recent study conducted by Chinese researchers, who were from Harbin Medical University, give some empirical support to the above logic. According to the study – the more your teeth chew each bite of food, the less food you’re likely to eat at a meal, and hence lose weight. The study findings have been published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. How the study was conducted: This study indicated that men who were obese, were that way, as they focused less on chewing and more on eating. The fact that they were gulping morsels fast; hence they ended up eating more than the lean group. To make their conclusions more grounded, the researchers tried another experiment. In the new experiment, both the groups were exposed to the same conditions and food, like the earlier experiment; and were also allowed to eat as much as they like. But one day they asked the men to chew each bite 15 times, while another day they asked them to chew 40 times. The instructions were for both the groups, whether the men were obese or lean. The researchers observed that irrespective of the group one belongs, all the men consumed about 12 percent fewer calories when they chewed each bite 40 times than when they chewed 15 times, and they had lower levels of ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone produced in the stomach. What the study concluded: The study concluded that chewing less is a risk factor for obesity. Increased chewing releases nutrients from food more efficiently. Encouraging people to chew more, study finds, could be a valuable tool–along with diet and exercise–for helping people lose weight. The scientific studies regarding chewing are not unanimous; like a study conducted by Mauro Farella of New Zealand’s University of Otago, regarding the number of times an average person is capable of chewing, finds that it’s hard for people to masticate more. Farella, who is a senior author on a chewing paper posted Aug. 1 by the Journal of Dental Research, says that they had theorized that people chew at their own consistent pace, part of their unique “fingerprint of masticatory behavior.”; and hence his study didn’t find a link between the pace at which people chewed and how thoroughly they chewed. In simple, some people are found to be chewing satisfactorily even at a very fast pace. Hence Farella is clueless whether it would be possible to teach an individual to slow down or up the chewing pace or to change the duration of chewing before swallowing. In principle, though, he says it might be possible to get people to chew each bite more, because, as Mom knows, we at least have partial control over it. Although, the scientific studies regarding the efficacy of chewing in enabling a person keep his weight normal or lose weight are not adequate; but still trying to lengthen the chewing duration, or taking at least 20 minutes to finish one serving can help a person decrease his/her food intake. That apart, if one looks at the traditional knowledge OR the knowledge offered by alternative sciences, then one finds that, they are unanimous on many things; irrespective of the how far geographically world they evolved and developed. Taking encouragement from this very fact, if one tries to derive other logical inferences as well. Such as if one chews properly, his/her digestive system has to work less on the food; and hence more useful energy can be released from the food, even if less quantities are taken; then even traditional assertions not scientifically proven seem to be wise.
Powered by Hugesoft! What does a scale model of the solar system in Melbourne look like? Our solar system.The solar system is incredibly vast, and it is almost impossible to grasp the enormous distances between the planets. Nanjing Night Net To give an idea of the sizes involved, imagine there is a scale model of the solar system built in Melbourne. We’ll start by putting the sun at the MCG because, as the grand final proved a fortnight ago, Melbourne life revolves around football. Imagine it is a glowing orb in the centre of the ground, just a bit wider than the cricket pitch. The sun’s surface temperature is more than 5000 degrees, so you would want to sit out in the stands to avoid getting sunburnt. Photo: Pat Scala/NASA That means Mercury, the first planet in the solar system, is the size of a golf ball and orbits about one kilometre from the MCG. You will sometimes be able to find it rolling around the entrance of Parliament Station. Now that Pluto has been demoted, Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. Photo: Google/NASA Venus is a seething orange sphere at Crown Towers in Southbank, and about the same size as one of the light globes in the Crown logo. Venus takes longer to rotate on its axis than it does to make a complete circuit of the sun, so its days last longer than its years. Photo: Supplied/NASA To find our own planet, you have to travel to Melbourne University, where Earth is a soccer-ball-sized chunk of rock in a specimen case at the (fittingly enough) Earth Sciences Building. The Earth is not an exact sphere – it bulges slightly at the equator. Photo: Daniel Pockett/NASA Parkville is home to Mars, a dusty grapefruit at Melbourne Zoo and the perfect size for one of the elephants to pick up and eat. Elephants have been known to eat grapefruits by breaking them open on the ground, so Mars is doomed. Photo: Justin McManus/NASA The first four planets are quite close together and would all be paying their local council rates to the City of Melbourne. But after braving the asteroid belt – which would just mean brushing the odd piece of hair from your shoulder between Brunswick and Essendon – you would be in for more of a road trip if you wanted to visit the gas giants. Jupiter is easily the largest planet in the solar system but even it is easy to miss if you don’t stop for some snacks at the Coles in Sunshine West. It’s a dense, three-metre-wide cloud hovering above the car park. Jupiter is so large that all the other planets in the solar system could fit inside it. Earlier this year the Hubble Telescope observed auroras at the planet’s north pole. Photo: Goolge/NASA Meanwhile, Saturn is an almost 2.4-metre-wide flower garden in the picturesque grounds of Chelsea Bicentennial Park in Melbourne’s south-east. If you then go down the coast to Sorrento and catch the ferry to Queenscliff, you may spot a green, beach-ball-sized miasma in the waters off Point Lonsdale. That’s Uranus, and is enough to anyone reconsider going for a dip. Stargazers have known about first six planets since ancient times, but Uranus was not discovered until 1781. Photo: Supplied/NASA Neptune is about the same size, but is luxuriating out in one of Daylesford’s mineral water springs. But be warned, even though it has a cleaner image, Neptune still has a similar composition to Uranus, so it isn’t exactly purifying the water out there. Neptune is so far out that t takes almost 165 years to orbit the sun. Photo: Supplied/NASA As for the demoted planet Pluto, you have to drive almost 120 kilometres from the MCG to Gippsland to see it and, when you get there, all you will find is partly-sucked Kool Mint lost behind a couch in Moe. Of course, this model is a simplification. Celestial bodies are not fixed in space, and they don’t orbit in perfect circles – in fact, most of them have elliptical orbits. Pluto’s is the most erratic – that Kool Mint would sometimes be sneaking closer to the sun than Neptune and at its further point would be scaling Mount Buller – which is partly why the reason it had its planetary status unceremoniously revoked a decade ago. Comments are currently closed.
Printing in 2D is a standard everyday task, but printing in 3D has staked its claim at the forefront of modern technology. The machine, a stereo lithography printer, or SLA for short, takes computer imaging and slices it into minute cross sections. Then inside the section of machine that builds the on screen 3D image, super thin layers of a liquid polymer start stacking on top of each other according to the image onscreen. The process continues, even unmonitored, until a complete 3D image or replica of the model is complete. It is the ultimate design advancement in CAD computing. The first high-profile melding of the two technologies is a small, unmanned air vehicle. This is a breakthrough and particularly salient given the U.S. government’s constant talk about “drones.” As quoted in PC Magazine, Jeff DeGrange, vice president of digital manufacturing at Stratasys said, “If you can print electronics onto it, you can give it intelligence. And that’s what’s not been done today. That’s what’s so exciting about marrying the two technologies together.” But what tops it all is that the U.S. military has taken the technology above and beyond to electronics and robotics. For a couple decades now, the U.S. has invested in building drone war crafts that reduce the need for a human death toll to accomplish its military agenda. The drones are essentially ginormous flying robots that are manned from a remote area by robotics and IT specialists, programming the drones to do whatever they’re commanded to do. Now they have taken this new technology of 3D printing and electronic printing, which gives some form of artificial intelligence to whatever is made, and built a rapid prototype of a new drone that wouldn’t even really need a human or humans to man it remotely. What that means for our enemies is nothing good, as the machines would do all the air and foot soldier work for us, and they would never see our military coming. Being able to build and imprint AI on almost anything simultaneously is an incredible marriage of technologies. The rapid prototype is the first of its kind, and an astonishing testament to engineering capabilities. An SLA machine that can not only build a 3D model but also electronically print layers of electrical intelligence onto and into the 3D parts it builds is far and away the most amazing advancement since computers went from giant rooms of server boxes to laptops in personal living rooms. It is at that level of astonishing advancement. Oddly enough, in another 20 or 30 years, we probably won’t even blink twice about this advancement, as something even more out of the realms of science fiction now will become a reality then. It will be great to see this technology in use for something other than military. As it stands, only the two separate technologies are available presently to everyday companies for use. United, they could change medical machinery and equipment, household appliances, even the vending machines at work that eat your money and don’t give you what you paid for. Perhaps it will reach us just when more advances have been made, when robots actually do exist in our homes or our homes are “smart homes” using the technology that was married first for the military for warfare purposes. I can’t wait to see what comes next—can you? Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Sycamore Gap You’re history, said the tree to the wall; the last crumbling remains of empire. You are the invader, replied the wall. I am the conqueror, said the tree to the wall; sending platoons of seeds across my territory. I stand alone, replied the wall. ... About the poem This poem was published on the Words for the Wild website in February 2019. The inspiration for the poem came, as the title suggests, from the famous site along Hadrian’s Wall. My plan had been to write about how nature wins out over human history - and while it still does carry this theme, my initial idea was derailed by the fact that the sycamore tree didn’t arrive in the UK until well after Hadrian’s Wall had been built. This meant that I couldn’t write what I’d initially planned, but it gave way to another idea about layers of history, and how landmarks become part of the landscape. What’s also interesting to me about this poem is that when I wrote it, the idea of walls around a country to keep people in or out had become, for the large part, consigned to history. Unfortunately that’s not the case now, and the fact that I made Hadrian’s Wall sympathetic does not mean I endorse ideas such as those seen in the US at the moment. The wall is sympathetic, but it has seen a lot of hardship and sorrow, it has absorbed the price of its own existence. The wall is a monument to times which really should be consigned to history, but never forgotten. We talk about what we would learn if walls could talk, and I would like Hadrian’s Wall to have a good long talk with some people about the human cost of its existence. IMAGE: Tomorrow Never Knows [CC BY 2.0 (]
Home Page Science Superstars Homework Help Zephyrus Training About Us Contact Us Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953) Edwin P Hubble So, who was Edwin P Hubble? The son of Virginia and John Hubble, Edwin was born at Marshfield, Missouri, USA, on 20th November, 1889. Edwin seems to have been particularly close to his paternal grandfather, and his grandfather once had an article by the twelve year old Edwin published in a local newspaper. Not surprisingly, the article was about Mars. What sort of education did Edwin Hubble receive? Edwin went to Wheaton High School, as his father had an office in Chicago. At school he had a talent and interest in athletics and football. On graduation from Wheaton, he was awarded a half-fees scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied physics, astronomy and maths. He was awarded his B.S. degree in 1910 and then was given a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study law at Queen's College, Oxford. Back in America, he passed the bar examination in 1913 and became an attorney at Louisville, Kentucky. What did he do next? Bored with the law, Edwin decided that astronomy was for him and re-entered the University of Chicago to study for his doctorate. He gained his Ph.D. in 1917, and almost immediately after completing the oral defence of his dissertation, went off to fight in the First World War. What happened to Edwin after the war? After having enlisted as a captain in the 343rd Infantry, 86th Division, he fought in France and eventually became a Major. In 1919, he became a civilian again in San Francisco and went to the Mount Wilson Observatory at Pasadena, California. He married Grace Burke on 26th February, 1924 at Pasadena. This year he discovered a Cepheid, a variable star, in the Andromeda Nebulae. He was able to measure the distance to the Great Nebula and that of a number of other spiral nebulae using the powerful 100-inch telescope at Mount Wilson. Hubble was able to show that the nearest spiral nebulae were galaxies of stars, clusters, dust and gas, like the Milky Way. Edwin Hubble at the guide telescope of the 1.2m Schmidt camera of the Palomar Observatory. (Carnegie Institution of Washington) Edwin Hubble made observations of the redshift in light wavelengths from the galaxies. He was able to deduce that they are moving away from our galaxy at a rate constant to the distance between them. This is known as Hubble's Law. He noted that the further away a galaxy is, the more rapidly it moves. Using this data, Hubble calculated that the "Big Bang" occurred 2 million years ago. Later evidence seems to indicate this was about 15-20 million years ago. Was Edwin Hubble involved in World War II? Edwin Hubble continued to work at Mount Wilson until 1942, when he wanted to become a member of the armed forces during World War II. He was not allowed to do so, but was involved in war duties at the Aberdeen proving Ground. This resulted in Hubble being awarded the Medal of Merit in 1946. What happened after this war? At the end of World War II, Edwin Hubble resumed work at the Mount Wilson Observatory. He had long wanted a larger telescope and had helped design a 200-inch Hale telescope. When this was finally built at Mount Palomar, Edwin became the first to use it. What came next? Hubble continued his research at Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar until his death from a cerebral thrombosis on 28th September, 1953. He died at San Marino, California. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched on 24th April, 1990, is named after him. (For a translation of this page into Romanian see: (http://webhostinggeeks.com/science/zephyrus-edwinhubble-ro)
Goat cheese? Sheep cheese? Is the label correct? Escrito por admin el . Posteado en Milk adulteration, Uncategorized The unknown mixture of milk from different species can be a common fraud in the cheese sector. Sheep milk is more expensive than goat´s or cow’s milk and tends to be adulterated with those of lower cost. Sheep´s and goat´s milk prices could however vary depending on the milk availability. Recent shortage of goat´s milk in the market made sheep´s milk prices double and therefore adulteration of goat´s milk with sheep´s milk should also be checked. These adulterations are especially important for cheese makers, not only for economical reasons, but also because unknown milk mixtures produce changes in the final sensory properties and reduce the product quality. Besides, cheese producers need to assure that labelling details correct information about the milk species containing in the final product. A recent study carried out by the British consumer rights group Which? revealed adulteration of goat´s cheese with sheep´s milk. Out of 76 goat cheese samples tested, 3 contained more than 80% of sheep milk and 4 more samples up to 50%. Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Romania are the main producers of sheep milk in the EU with about 92% of the total production (eurostat 2013). However cheese containing milk from sheep or goat is made in many other countries. Cheese makers should check milk prior to production to assure correct labelling and expected quality. Cheese, yogurt and any other end products must also be checked to ensure consumers received the right information. Milk species identification can be easily and quickly checked using rapid strip tests. ELISA and PCR methodologies are also available, but should be carried out at a laboratory.
Physics 161 fourth Homework Assignment If you want to prepare a web page in response to this assignment that would be great. This is not required however. As always, information relevant to these questions can be found on the World Wide Web. A particularly good search engine can be found at AltaVista - type in a search string in quotes to find exact matches. e.g. "Big Bucks" will return all matches to pages that contain this exact phrase. Alternatively you could use the library. 1. There is a lot of information on the World Wide Web about Wind Energy. Find some places in the country where Wind Energy is now being used in a production mode. How many MegaWatts of power are these facilities generating and what is the rate at which this power is sold to the consumer? (Hint: Try the American Wind Energy Association Web Pages first). 2. There is some potential for GeoThermal Energy production in the US. Go to this site and answer the following questions; Finally, critically assess whether or not GeoThermal energy is actually a renewable energy source. You may need to consult different information sources to help with this assessment. 3. In recent years, there has been great interest in the use of hemp as a source of energy through biomass burning. In relation to this: After considering this, assess the net yield of hemp production in terms of the energy it takes to grow it vs the energy it yields. This is not an exact science at all, just estimate it using the information that you found. 4. Find some information on the current performance of electric vehicles in terms of range and power and overall cost. From this information make a determination of the current feasibility of electric vehicles as a transportation alternative. Course Page
Tag Archives: Human-Robot Relations Blended Reality With Robots We are already living with robots. The future is here, but as William Gibson says, it’s not evenly distributed yet. Or as I like to say, we often don’t recognize the future when we see it. How do we recognize robots? We usually look for humanoid robots, the stuff of science fiction. Even the classic robot ‘arm’ is part of a ‘human’. But technically, a robot is simply a machine that ‘senses, thinks and acts’. Even the ISO for industrial robots – the international standard describing industrial robot arms – is somewhat broad in definition. A robot is “an actuated mechanism, programmable in two or more axes, with a degree of autonomy, moving within its environment to perform intended tasks.” Is a car a robot? Yes. Even without full autonomy, a car consists of many autonomous systems. Elon Musk called the Tesla S ‘a computer in the shape of a car’. But really, it’s a robot. Is a washing machine a robot? Visually, we would find it hard to think of it as a robot. All the ‘humanoid’ bits are hidden inside a box. Yet the modern washing machine, soon to be a washing-drying-folding machine, is a very sophisticated piece of machinery, sensing, thinking and acting in the environment. Because we see the world through human eyes, it is very hard for us to see things outside human categories. We divide the world into humans, and things. Robots change everything. As we build robots, we are really reshaping what it means to be human. What does it mean when our devices start to look like humans? What does it mean when they don’t? And what does it mean when we use so many different devices to communicate with other people? Our technologically blended reality is asynchronous, mediated and indirect. Our technologies allow us to communicate across distance and time, and expand our scale, creating a larger richer world. This is nothing new. Civilization is the story of technology taming space and time. Since we invented writing, we’ve been able to communicate with other people at a distance, at different times and at larger scale than direct communication. And as we invented reproduction technologies, like the printing press and photography, the scale of our communications increased. This has had a huge impact on the world, reshaping our cultural, religious and political structures. The last 200 years has seen the introduction of many new communication technologies, telegraph, telephone, radio and television. But one thing they’ve all had in common. Until very recently, we’ve been able to see who is ‘pulling the strings’. The subject or object of communication has been visible or known. In the last decade, we’ve seen an explosion of information and communication technologies and we’ve gone wireless and unplugged. Internet technologies in the 80s and 90s were supposed to usher in an era of anonymity, but in reality they largely just increased the scale of known communications. And our connections to the devices of communication were much more obvious. As social beings, our reality is very much defined by our communication technologies. These days, even when we are in the same physical place as other people, we are no longer sharing the same reality. We are experiencing different worlds, as if we were in our own reality bubble. And even when we are communicating, we are no longer certain to be communicating with other people. Ray Kurzweil predicts that in the future we will mainly communicate with machines and not other people. We will experience this technologically blended reality as an extension of ourselves, as a proxy for other people and has its own ‘alien’ identity. Sharp’s new Robohon phone, created by Tomotaki Takahashi, is the epitomy of a blended reality device. It acts as an extension of ourselves. It provides a proxy for other people, and it has its own very distinct identity. Our categories of ‘you’, ‘me’ and ‘it’ are more fluid than we think. Robots are blending the me and you into the it. Heidegger was one of the first to describe technology as an invisible extension of our identity. Heidegger’s hammer is ‘present’ when we look at it and think about it. But when the hammer is in the hand of a builder, then it becomes invisible. The hammer is ‘ready at hand’ when the builder thinks of building, not hammering or the hammer. The tool is well known and the focus is on the task instead. The hammer becomes an extension of our identity, an expression of our intent in the world. Our technological extensions also augment our senses. A lady with feathers on her hat, as described by Merlau-Ponty, has enhanced her spatial awareness. She has increased her sense of the whereabouts of walls and doorways. Just like the whiskers on a cat, we are augmenting our world with technological whiskers. Similarly, as technology acts as an extension of others, or a proxy, it also becomes invisible to us. Telepresence robots offer an illusion of real presence and become transparent as technologies. Our focus shifts from the tool to the task. In this case the task is the social interaction. Suitable Technologies even prefer that we don’t call their telepresence devices robots because they want our focus to be on the experience not the device. Robots are becoming popular and as more of them enter our world, they bring their very own personalities and appearances. But any device with a screen, or speakers and connectivity, is capable of being a gateway for many other people. We can have relationships that are indirect, asynchronous and at scale. Our relationships can be with you, me and it and many mixtures in between. We are going to see more and more social robots in the service industry, including health, manufacturing and logistics, and in the consumer end, including the home, retail and hospitality. And we are just starting to understand the scope of this blended technological reality with robots. People enjoy meeting Savioke’s Relay, the robot butler now at 4 hotel chains in California. You can communicate with Relay, although the robot behaves more like R2D2 than C3PO. Relay is functional too. Relay is designed to deliver small items to guest rooms when the front desk staff are busy. After collecting a lot of feedback, Savioke find that as well as people enjoying their communication with Relay, they also appreciate not having to communicate with a person at a time when they are not feeling social, ie. late at night. The robot starts to become an extension of their wishes, but still has just enough personality to improve the experience. A robot like Mabu from Catalia Health is acting as a proxy for a doctor or primary health care physician. Mabu will stay in the home of patients on a specialty pharma treatment where Mabu’s AI engages the patient directly in conversation and it’s only the data that is communicated to the doctor. And while Mabu the robot may sit at home, Mabu the app can travel with the patient anywhere. And Fellow Robots OSHBot is really mixing all our relationships up. OSHBot can act as a simple extension. When you enter the hardware store you can ask the robot for directions and then simply follow the map. Or the robot can autonomously guide you to the correct location inside the store. You can engage the robot in conversations about the parts you’re looking for. Robots are great at remembering 10,000s of SKUs and where on the shelves they all are. But people are really great at problem solving and understanding complex communications. So if you ask questions like “What sort of glue should I use on a roof tile like…”, then OSHBot can call an expert in for a video call with you. So you can be talking to both the robot and another person. For the customer, this is just a great shopping experience. But this could change the nature of daily work for the store associates, leaving them free to focus on solving the things they enjoy, with their social and expert knowledge, rather than walking miles of aisles, tracking thousands of small items. So robots are really augmenting our reality in a multitude of ways. Robots are the embodiment of information. And in our new blended reality, they extend and augment our senses, they are the proxies or avatars for others. And they also have their very own alien identity. As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut, to explore the universe and to meet aliens, but it turns out the aliens are here, and they can teach us a lot about what it is to be human. In research areas from neuroscience, to biomechanics and psychology, we’re using robots to better understand humans. A Robot, Slave or Companion Species The naming of robots bears witness to their emergence as a new ontological category, birthed in robotics competitions, forming a laboring companion species. This thesis is the result of a sociological survey into the naming practices of competition robots, informed by my auto-ethnographic research into the culture of robot competitions. Many interesting names and connections appeared. Most robots in competitions were named and gendered as well. Names reflected human/machine hybridity, as well as anthropomorphism. The names demonstrate interesting levels of ‘subjectification’ in even the least anthropomorphic or lifelike of robots. Overall, this data supports the ‘robot as a new ontological category’ hypothesis (Kahn Jr. et al), and further poses the questions, how does this come about and what does that mean? Donna Haraway has made interspecies translation her specialty and so I knit this investigation of a new being becoming into her ‘cats cradle’ with both factual and fictional robots. My conclusion is that robot naming in competitions is a performance of companion species co-shaping in the contact zone between organic/technic, master/slave and subject/object, supporting the ‘robots as new ontological category’ hypothesis. Robot naming demonstrates human-robot social relationships and both slave, pet and hybrid naming characteristics. My thesis suggests that competitions function as a birth rite of passage, and that naming dubs or introduces the new being to the world and brings the world into the robot. Robot State at Maker Faire \| The Robot State Maker Faire 2011 was on May 21-22 and I attended to try out a fun way of continuing conversations about robots as assistant to the Robot Ambassador. CNET’s Daniel Terdiman wrote a great Maker Faire overview including me. As this project evolves, I intend to extend the interactive robot ambassador and its ‘pets’ or workers, using robots with features both appealing and disconcerting to explore the meaning that people make of what a robot is. One project that was attracting a lot of kids was Andra Keay’s The Robot State. This is part of Keay’s thesis project, which is a study of playing with robots and what doing so means. Kids were swarming to her booth, where Keay was processing “applications” for the Robot State. She would ask them three questions: what are the names of three different robots you know of; what are robots’ biggest achievements; and how do you see yourself in the future of human-robot relations. Keay explained that most people answer the first query with the names of fictional robots and that the question usually throws people off so much, they don’t even know how to respond to the second. But ultimately, she said, her work is about trying to discover some of the truths that lie in human-robot interactions. One thing she said she’s noted in her research is that just about anyone who builds a robot names it, even if their projects are not about social robots. “We like names,” she said. “You want to work on something. We like naming things.” She wants to study the stories behind the names people give their robots. The robots for this project were cobbled together very quickly due to thesis finishing and house moving (to USA) but were much more successful than hoped and a lot of fun. I am making a page for each robot and have rearranged the Robot State website to include more practical information. There will be more playing with robots in the future!
Jerusalem artichokes are the fleshy, bumpy, root vegetables not to be confused with the edible flowering globe artichoke. Known also as the sunchoke, sunroot and earthapple this tuber vegetable is rich in nutrients and has wonderful health promoting properties. The Jerusalem artichoke is an excellent source of soluble and insoluble fibre providing protection against gut problems including colon cancer. In addition, this vegetable contains a unique type of carbohydrate in the form of inulin. This substance passes undigested in the gut, all the way down to our large intestine, where it becomes a great source of food for our probiotic bacteria. Allowing these beneficial bacteria to flourish in the gut is vital for both our immune system and digestive health. The Jerusalem artichoke contains many minerals however it is particularly rich in iron, which is essential for the delivery of oxygen to every cell within your body. Furthermore, the high potassium content in Jerusalem artichokes can help to maintain normal blood pressure and will also help our muscles to work effectively. Top tip; Place the cut pieces of Jerusalem artichokes in a bowl of cold water and lemon juice to prevent them from browning when exposed to the air. The artichoke is particularly versatile; it can be eaten raw in salads, mashed, roasted, sautéed, steamed or stir fried. It is also delicious in soups and stews.
Chapter Questions 31-39 (Discuss whole book) Sea-Wolf Reading Questions Chapters 31-39 p.196-244 (48 pages) Chapter 31 9th/10th 1. What do Maud and Hump build? What do they use for the roof? All-2. How does London describe their sleep? Why do you think he chose this description? ALL-3. Describe the foreshadowing London does in this chapter. Do you think seems forced or is it effective? What new dimension does this give Maud’s character? Is this characteristic considered important for the ideal woman? Chapter 32 9th/10th 1. What does Hump see just off the shore when he awakes? ALL-2. Does this plot twist seem feasible or too contrived, too improbable? ALL-3. Compare p. 200-203 with p. 99. In both encounters with Wolf what is Wolf trying to get Hump to do? JRS/SRS Back on p. 99, is Wolf’s assessment of Hump’s failure to try to kill him really accurate? Read Romans 12:17-21. If Hump were trusting in God’s justice and seeking God to intervene, asking Him for His wisdom etc, would he really be “sinning against his pitiful little code” or would he be keeping it? ALL-On p. 201-202, is Hump right not to shoot? Is he also right not to let his guard down? Even though he berates himself as a coward and Wolf belittles him again, is Hump actually acting rightly to not kill Wolf, but wait for him to make a hostile move before shooting? Can you find biblical basis for your belief other than Romans 12? ALL- If the whole crew were there to put Wolf on trial, or the authorities, would justice say that Wolf Larsen should be put to death for his crimes? ALL-How is that different than Hump shooting an unarmed man? If Hump had gone through with it, what do you think might have happened when the authorities found them alive and Wolf shot, but no weapon on Wolf or sign of a struggle? Chapter 33 ALL-1. On the bottom of p. 207 top of 208, how does Hump describe Maud? Do you think she is being altruistic or sentimental or both? Is altruism always based on sentimental feeling like this? Why or why not? Jrs/Srs. 2. What does Hump now refer to morality as? (top p. 208) How is this similar to some of the beliefs detailed in the Humanist Manifesto? What is morality really? ALL- 3. What is Wolf like now? What is wrong with him? Chapter 34 ALL-1. What has being with Maud done for Hump’s confidence. What message do you think London is sending about ideal manhood? NOTE: A windlass is a come along or hand winch of some sort. See dictionary for further description. ALL-2. What does Hump think they can do? List some changes that have taken place in Hump. ALL-3. What compliment does Wolf pay Hump? (p. 214) What does he mean by his words? How does this epitomize one of London’s main themes? ALL-4. a. How does Hump turn Wolf’s philosophy back on him? (p.214) Of what does Hump warn Wolf? Chapter 35 Jrs/Srs. 1. What does Wolf do to make Hump so angry? p.219 1. ALL p.219-20 What does Maud say to comfort Hump? What do you think of her statement, “It will all come right. We are in the right, it must come right.” Chapter 36 9th/10th 1. On p. 223, what does Maud say about why she was headed to Japan and the ways she has changed? Jrs/Srs. 2. What theme is London bringing out about what civilization does to people? (middle of p.227 right before Hump exclaims, “Dear Woman…”) ALL-3. What do Hump and Maud do to Wolf? Why? 1. (P. 258) Record the paragraph beginning with “Truly she was my woman, my mate…” How does this, once again, communicate Jack London’s world view and one of his main themes? Chapter 37 ALL-1. What’s happening to Wolf? ALL-2. What does London seem to be attributing Wolf’s demise to? Chance? An innate weakness that is rendering Hump the fittest? God’s judgment? Jrs/Srs. 3. What do you think London is trying to say with his allusion to Dr. Jordan, a “modern hero” and dismantling the “old pantheon” to erect a new one? What was the Pantheon in Rome? You may want to come back to this after answering the questions for the Humanist Manifesto. Jrs.Srs. 4. 1. What does Wolf wish he could have done to Hump? Why? ALL 5. How does Wolf explain away any semblance of a soul? Chapter 38 Jrs/Srs. 1. What do you think of Wolf saying that he can ponder life and death like a Hindu sage? ALL-Remember the London is putting this reference in on purpose. Notice that he is not comparing himself to any wise Christian and has only made mockery of faith. Also notice all these references to spirits and spiritualism. Jrs/Srs. Do you think London is including these because he’s trying to make a point that man does have a spirit? ALL-2. List some of Hump’s newest skills and achievements from the last several chapters and esp. p238. Chapter 39 ALL-1. What is happening to the Ghost? What do you think the Ghost symbolizes? What is another word for ghost? Do you see any irony here? (p. 239-241) 9th/10th 2. What is Hump rejoicing in? Jrs/Srs. 3. What does Hump call the sun breaking through as they sail out of the cove? What does God’s word have to say about omens? Again, note London’s word choice and who he does not choose to have Hump give any glory to. ALL-4. On page 241 just after, “And the sun is gone,” what does Hump say they had mastered? What significance does this phrase have in informing London’s theme? 2pts. Extra-Credit: What does London seem to be saying about ideal male and female roles? Is there anything wrong with his complimentary rather than egalitarian view? Is there biblical support for such a view? If so, cite some passages from Scripture. The next set of questions are for ALL- 1. On page 243, when Wolf dies, what does Maud say about him with great faith? What does she say to him when they cast his body overboard? (By the way, if Wolf were evil in life, would you really want him as a “free spirit” after dying—a spirit that could inflict spiritual cruelty perhaps—This makes me think more deeply about the need for hell—a need for evil to be contained after dying.) How do you feel/What do you think about Maud’s pronouncements and Hump’s agreement? What does this say about London’s rationalization about death and what he thinks happens to one’s spirit after death, if a person does have an immortal spirit? Why is what Maud and Hump say about Wolf not biblical? Cite some scriptures that relate to what happens to unbelievers when they die. 1. What do you think of the ending of Sea-Wolf and the way London chose to have Hump and Maud’s romance unfold? 1. Write a paragraph explaining what you think London’s main message is in The Sea Wolf. What is his main theme? Give at least two references from the book to support your position. 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BRUCE, James. Travels to discover the source of the Nile, Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. London, G.G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790. In stock SKU: 96831 Categories: , , , Tag: The first exploration to reach the source of the Blue Nile. “Bruce has been described as the poet, and his work the epic, of African travel—probably because he recounted his exploits more from memory than from journals over a dozen years after they had taken place. Born in Scotland and educated at Harrow and Edinburgh University, Bruce inherited his father’s estate at the age of twenty-seven and traveled around the Mediterranean visiting Roman ruins. In 1763, he was appointed British consul at Algiers, where he continued his study of classical ruins and the Arabic language. In 1768, with Italian artist and friend Luigi Balugani, he resolved to mount an expedition to search for the source of the Nile River. They were the first Europeans to focus exclusively on that goal. Balugani and Bruce arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, in June 1768. Drawing upon earlier medical training, Bruce passed himself off as a doctor and obtained diplomatic letters that aided his subsequent travels in Arabia and Ethiopia. The men ascended the Nile to Aswan; thwarted by hostile tribes, they then headed east across the desert to the Red Sea, to Jidda on the Arabian peninsula, then southward, crossing back to the Eritrean port of Massawa, which they reached in September 1769. They arrived in the Ethiopian capital city of Gondar in February 1770. Bruce won favor from the local rulers by instituting sanitary measures that stemmed an outbreak of smallpox. Exploring the region around Lake Tana, he came upon the Springs of Geesh on 14 November 1770, which he mistakenly took as the source of the Nile. What he named the Fountains of the Nile were in fact the sources of the Blue Nile and had already been seen and identified by Portuguese Jesuits almost 150 years earlier. Bruce’s artist assistant died in 1771, and Bruce left Gondar later that year, sailing down to present-day Khartoum, making an arduous trek across 400 miles of the Nubian Desert to reach Aswan, and then traveling down the Nile to Cairo. He arrived in England in June 1774. Although Bruce had a private interview with King George III and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, his African tales, told with a “grand air” and from a “gigantic height” (Bruce was 6’4″), were generally met with skepticism among London’s learned. He left the vindication of his name to posterity and retired to his estate. Today, he is credited with rekindling European interest in uncharted Africa, particularly the upper reaches of the Nile, and stimulating geographic inquiry in Britain, which lead to the founding of the African Association.” (Delaney). First edition. 5 volumes, 4to., engraved title vignettes, three large folding maps, 55 engraved plates including 53 natural history studies, four leaves of Ethiopian script,contemporary mottled calf, gilt corners and edges, sometime rebacked, red and brown morocco labels, endpapers spotted, old light waterstain to lower fore-corner volume V, a good set. Gay 44; Nissen ZBI 617; Hilmy I, 91; Blackmer 221; Playfair, Tripoli, 120. Stock ID: 96831
Stock Market Project Brenna Fertig Initial Research: The stock market is a very interesting market that requires a lot of knowledge in order to fully understand how it works. The stock market is a market where companies participate in, the more people that invest in their company the more money the company makes as well as the investor. Unfortunately, the stock market has many pros and cons, but before going into the advantages and disadvantages, we first need to understand the basics of stocks. A stock is a word used to generalize a company so if an investor owns stocks they usually own one or more companies. While a stock is used to generalize any company, a share is the ownership of a particular company instead of just any. A dividend is an amount of money paid on a regular basis to its shareholders by a certain company. The money comes from the company’s profits/reserves. A shareholder is a person who owns a portion or share of a company. Company’s use ticker symbols as a way for people to identify that company. A ticker/stock symbol is an abbreviation of a company. The abbreviation can have numbers and/or letters. In order to be a part of the stock market, you must understand mutual funds. A mutual fund is a collection of investments owned by a collection of investors. Mutual funds give people a chance to put all their money together and have a selection of numerous securities. Supply and demand is the amount of the product available and how much people want it and how much they are willing to buy it for. When demands for stocks increase, the supply usually increases as well. When there is less demand for the product, stocks prices usually drop. All of these components of the stock market appear in all stocks around the world. Some of the major world stock markets include: the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the London Stock Exchange Group, Euronext, SIX Swiss Exchange, Japan Exchange Group, the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Going back to pros and cons of investing in the stock market, there are many components to consider before investing. In terms of disadvantages for the stock market, the stock market is not a very safe choice since the stocks go up and down daily. The stock market is also a very research needed place. Before investing in a company, you need to do a certain amount of research on that company because once you invest, you are a part of the company. The stock market is very unsteady since the company you might choose to invest in might not be very stable and could have a sudden drop or could eventually lead into bankruptcy. Even though there are many cons in investing in the stock market, there are also many pros to investing in the stock market. The stock market may be a way to lose money, but it is also a way to get a lot of money. There are many companies you can invest in so you don’t have limited choice. Over time, the stocks can go up which means your portfolio will be more valuable to other companies in the future giving you another way to earn money. Stage 3 Reflection: All my companies are doing relatively well except for American Eagle Outfitters. I originally invested in American Eagle Outfitters because they had been doing well for the past year, but their price is dropping significantly. Netflix and UPS are doing very well, but Deckers Outdoor Corp is decreasing quite a bit. Hubspot. Inc is also decreasing in price but not as much as American Eagle Outfitters and DECK. Since AEO began decreasing in price, I sold 10 shares. AEO continued decreasing so I sold 10 more shares. I sold some of DECK and some of HUBS but I have made the most changes to AEO. I also invested in Disney and Alaska Airlines which are doing pretty well so far. I would like to increase some of my shares on the stocks that are doing well such as Alaska Airlines and Netflix. I might also want to increase my shares of the United Parcel Service Inc. American Eagle Outfitters is still not doing well, so I will probably sell even more shares of that stock. Final Reflection: The companies that did the best in my portfolio were the more ‘famous’ ones. For example: Target, Netflix, Disney, Nordstrom, UPS were all doing very well. One company that I was surprised was Alaska Airlines. They did surprisingly well even though they are not a very ‘popular’ company. Since the beginning of the project, American Eagle Outfitters did not do well. It just continued decreasing in price. This was my worst stock. Visa fluctuated a bit, but was mostly decreasing with a few increases. DECK was very interesting since half of the time, it was dropping, but the other half of the time, the company was rising. I would invest in many of the same stocks since generally, the companies I picked did well. But, I would not invest in American Eagle Outfitters since they have not been helping me. I would also maybe invest in other more famous companies like Samsung which is doing very well. By investing in the stock market, I have learned many things. Primarily, I have learned that to have a good stock portfolio, you need to take risks and not be afraid to invest in something. Same applies for selling a stock. At the beginning of the project, I didn’t want to change much in fear of making it worse, but towards the middle, I discovered that the more I change my stocks, the better they become. Although changing could possibly lead to having a very bad stock, the chance of having a very good stock is higher. For example, Target was doing okay when I invested in it, but when I noticed it’s price was decreasing, I sold only a few of my shares. I was glad I still had quite a few shares left when Target’s price began increasing again. Even though at the end Target did very well, if I hadn’t sold those few shares I did, I would’ve regretted it later as I would’ve lost money. By investing in the stock market, I have also learned that although investing in stocks is very risky since you can lose money, I enjoyed investing in the stocks since I gained money. I learned a lot more about managing my money. For example, when I was low on money, I had to decide which stocks I wanted to increase my shares on to help me earn money to continue this process. I invested in Netflix a lot since they did very well almost the whole time. I learned that I could sell shares to get rid of bad stocks, but I could also buy even more shares for the stocks that were doing well. By investing more, I earned more money. 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Polish Armoured Divisions Post 1939 Part I In 1941, the Polish-Soviet military convention permitted the formation of the `Polish Army in Russia’ under General Wladyslaw Anders. This decision launched one of the epic odysseys of modern warfare, worthy of Xenophon’s `Ten Thousand’. Polish refugees and deportees who had withstood the rigours of Stalin’s Arctic camps or of Siberian exile drifted into the collecting centres at Buzuluk on the Volga and at Yangi-Yul in Uzbekistan, and in March 1942, after endless obstructions by the Soviet authorities, crossed into British-controlled Persia. From there, the civilians were transferred to safety in India or Africa; the young men and women of military age were sent to Palestine for training. Many Polish Jews (Corporal Begin among them) opted to stay in Palestine, eventually to fight their British protectors and to launch the state of Israel. But the merger of the main body of Anders’s Army with Kopan’ski’s Brigade produced the `Second Corps’ which moved on to Cairo and joined the British Army in North Africa. In the next three years, fighting in the ranks of Montgomery’s Eighth Army, the Second Corps covered itself with glory-at Tobruk (1942), at Monte Cassino (1944), and at Bologna (1945). Meanwhile, the Polish `First Corps’ of General Marian Kukiel was stationed in Scotland. At first, an excess of officers and too few men caused difficulties; and the island of Bute (known to the Poles as `the island of snakes’) was incongruously designated as a Polish political detention district. Later, through re-equipment and recruitment, five full divisions emerged. The Polish Parachute Brigade, under BrigadierGeneral Sosabowski, took part in the ill-fated landings at Arnhem. The First Polish Armoured Division of General Maczek played a crucial role at the Falaise Gap in the break-out from the Normandy beaches, and ended the War accepting the surrender of Wilhelmshaven. No one can question the fact that the Polish Armed Forces, in total some 228,000 men under arms by 1945, set an outstanding example of duty and sacrifice in the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany. No Pole who loves his country can fail to honour their memory. The unfortunate German-Polish War did not put an end to the Polish armoured forces. Many Polish soldiers having escaped to France, one ‘brigade polonaise’, with two battalions of R-35 tanks, was raised with them from April 1940 onwards. They fought gallantly during the French disaster and a number of them were, once again, evacuated to England. They formed, via an Army Tank Brigade and a reborn 10th Cavalry Brigade, the nucleus of an armoured division. Created in the spring of 1942, with Covenanter then Crusader III tanks, and later with Cromwell and Sherman tanks, the 1st Free Polish Armoured Division fought in Normandy, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Another Polish armoured brigade, formed in 1943 from personnel saved from Russian camps, had been engaged on the Italian front and later expanded into the 2nd Polish Armoured Division (2nd Warszawska Armoured Division). Both units were demobilised after the war. Polish Soldiers Some 100,000 Polish soldiers managed to evade capture and escaped through Romania, Hungary, and the Baltic states. Many eventually made their way to France and joined the Polish government-in-exile, which was headed by General Władysław Sikorski. Meanwhile, as early as May 1939, Polish and French officials had discussed the feasibility of forming military units manned by some of the half million Polish immigrants then living in France. By May 1940, the reconstituted Polish army in France had some 84,500 troops organized into two infantry divisions and a mechanized brigade. In addition, the Podhale Rifle Brigade fought in Norway and at Narvik, and the independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade was formed in the Middle East. During the 1940 France Campaign, the Polish 1st Grenadier Division was destroyed fighting in Lorraine. The 2nd Rifle Division escaped into Switzerland, and its soldiers were interned there for the remainder of the war. Only some 30 percent of the Polish army managed to escape to Britain, where it again reconstituted and formed the Polish I Corps. That unit eventually consisted of the 1st Armored Division, the 4th Infantry Division, and the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. The parachute brigade’s most celebrated battle was its doomed jump into Arnhem to support the British there in Operation MARKET-GARDEN in September 1944. 1st Armored Division History The Polish 1st Armoured Division (Polish 1 Dywizja Pancerna) was an Allied military unit during World War II, created in February 1942 at Duns in Scotland. At its peak it numbered approximately 16,000 soldiers. It was commanded by General Stanisław Maczek. The division was formed as part of the I Polish Corps In the early stages the division was stationed in Scotland and guarded approximately 200 kilometres of British coast. By the end of July 1944 the division had been transferred to Normandy. The final elements arrived on August 1 and the unit was attached to the First Canadian Army. It entered combat on August 8 during Operation Totalize. The division twice suffered serious bombings by Allied aircraft which accidentally bombed friendly troops, but yet it achieved a victory against the Wehrmacht in the battles for Mont Ormel, and the town of Chambois. This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the Battle of Falaise in which a large number of German Wehrmacht and SS divisions were trapped in the Falaise pocket and subsequently destroyed. Maczek’s division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of those German divisions, hence the fighting was absolutely desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment, 24th Polish Lancers and 10th Dragoons supported by the 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions took the brunt of German attacks trying to break free from the pocket. Surrounded and running out of ammunition they withstood incessant attacks from multiple fleeing panzer divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved. Falaise pocket In accordance with the 1943 directive of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the 1st Polish Armoured Division was not used in Operation Overlord but held in reserve. The division had struggled to reach its full establishment, and in 1943 Sosnokowski had stripped the infantry regiments in Scotland to fill it. On 1 August, the strength of the 1st Armoured Division was 13,000 officers and men, equipped with 381 tanks, 473 artillery pieces and 3,050 vehicles. 56 Its commander was General Maczek, who had led an armoured unit in Poland in September 1939 and in France in 1940. The insignia of the division was the helmet and Husaria eagle wings, which had been worn on the shoulders of the Polish soldiers who, under King Jan Sobieski, had stopped the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683 and saved Christendom in Europe. The division was nicknamed `The Black Devils’. On 1 August, the day on which the Warsaw Uprising was launched, the 1st Armoured Division crossed the Channel. It was placed under the 1st Canadian Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Henry Crerar, and its objective was to assist in trapping the bulk of the German armies at Falaise. Operation Totalise was the name given to the drive by the II Canadian Armoured Division, commanded by Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, and the 1st Polish Armoured Division towards Falaise to cut off the German retreat to the Seine. It was launched on 7 August and began disastrously when the American bombers dropped their bombs on the Polish and Canadian front lines, killing 315 men. Attempts on the ground to alert the bombers to their error by throwing yellow smoke grenades came to nothing because the Americans were using yellow flares to mark their target. A Canadian Spitfire pilot, after vainly trying to divert the first two waves of Fortresses that were bombing the gun lines, deliberately shot down the leader of the third wave to the accompaniment of tumultuous applause from the scattered, frightened soldiery below. The crew baled out. Operation Totalise failed in the face of fierce resistance by the SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division. On 13 August, Operation Tractable opened with an attack by the Canadians towards Falaise and a drive by the Poles on the left flank towards Thun. Again American bombers bombed the allied positions, this time in the rear, causing 391 casualties. The Poles succeeded in breaking through the German defences and, on 15 August, the Polish reconnaissance regiment, the 10th Mounted Rifles, reached and secured a crossing over the river Dives near Jort. Further south the American army had reached Argentan. A Polish participant, Ryszard Zolski, recalled the tempo of the battles: Falaise will be remembered as the most murderous battlefield of the invasion, where the might of the German Army clashed with the armies of America, England, Canada and Poland – where the Germans were determined to fight – not counting the cost, even to the last man. My God, how they fought – bravely and with determination, until at the end, hardly recognisable as human at all, only tattered remnants of clothing, flesh of men and horses, jumbled up with smashed armour, tanks and the like. Attack from the air, bombing, rockets, machine guns, together with our artillery, grenades and armour of every sort, finally annihilated their mighty army, and halted their retreat. Falaise – one of the most costly battles of the war, both in men and armament. Maczek now split his limited forces: on 17 August he ordered the 24th Lancers, 10th Mounted Rifles and 2nd Armoured Regiment to advance towards Chambois, while the remainder of the division occupied a vital piece of high ground, Mont Ormel, also known as Hill 262 and `The Mace’. The Poles had mixed fortunes on the road to Chambois, when the 2nd Armoured Regiment ended up in Les Chameaux, a few miles from Chambois, because their French guide had become disorientated in the dark. It was fortuitous because at Les Chameaux the Poles found and destroyed the rearguard of the 2nd Panzer Division before turning towards their target. On the way when they encountered a German motorised column in the dark: The Germans halt their units and allow our column to pass. They even post a German soldier to regulate the traffic. He should be able to discern the American Shermans and those large white stars on the tanks and on my carriers. But it is still totally black. We just ride in front of the German column. The 2nd Tactical Air Force flew sortie after sortie as Chambois `was delivered to the flames . . . The roads leading to it and the side streets were jammed with German armour already alight or smouldering, enemy corpses and a host of wounded soldiers.’ The Poles took so many prisoners that they struggled to spare enough men to guard them. On 19 August, the Poles linked up with the 90th United States Infantry Division. Lieutenant George Godrey noted of the Poles: `They were excellent fighters and very cold-blooded.’ The main body of the Poles was on `The Mace’, so nicknamed by Maczek because of its shape. This high, wooded escarpment overlooked the Chambois-Vimoutiers road along which the German forces were trying to escape eastwards under allied artillery fire. The Polish force expected an early reinforcement by the Canadian 4th Armoured Division under Major-General George Kitching, as they were rapidly running out of food and ammunition, despite receiving a limited resupply by a parachute drop, and they asked the Canadians to speed up their relief. Kitching, however, refused to do so and was sacked by Simonds. Then on 20 August, elements of Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd SS Panzer Division and of the 9th SS Panzer Division Der Hohenstaufen mounted an assault directly on the Mace: `Every combination of tactics was used: conventional infantry assaults, combined panzer and grenadier, unsupported Panther attacks, savage bombardments or no barrage at all.’ Second Lieutenant Tadeusz Krzyzaniak commented on the fighting: Where are we? Where are they? In fact I know very well. THEY are in front of us, WE behind. At the same time, THEY are behind us, WE in front. Then it’s the opposite. Everywhere explosions, and everywhere blood: the blood of horses, the blood of others, and my blood. All day the battle raged, with high casualties among both the attacking SS formations and the Polish defenders. Finally, on 21 August, the Canadians reached the beleaguered Poles and Ed Borowicz noted their reaction: On the top of Hill 262 stands Lieut. Col Nowaczynski, the battalion commander, with the commander of the Canadian tanks, staring in silence at the battlefield. Over the khaki uniforms, at the emerald-blue lance pennons of the dead soldiers of the 8th Battalion, the disfigured faces, jutting jaws and teeth in deathly smiles, human parts – torsos, legs, bloodied stretchers, pieces of an anti-tank gun, and nearby a barrel of a broken mortar in the convulsive grip of a dead gunner. In the middle of a few blackened, smoking Shermans, on their turrets hangs a leaning torso, half scorched hands lying listlessly. Tomasz Potworowski and a friend visited the scene a few days later and observed: `Already by then the Canadian sappers charged with clearing the mess had erected a sign on the “Mace” which read: “A Polish Battlefield.” Polish losses up to 22 August were 325 killed and 1,116 wounded or missing: this was 10 per cent of the division’s strength. Sosnkowski telegraphed his troops from London: `Your sacrifices will enable the rights of Poland to be established on an indestructible foundation.’ The Germans left behind 50,000 dead and 200,000 taken prisoner in the Falaise Pocket. Polish Armoured Divisions Post 1939 Part II Belgium and the Netherlands After the Allied armies broke out from Normandy, the Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans along the coast of the English Channel. It liberated, among others, the towns of Saint-Omer, Ypres, Ghent and Passchendaele. A successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General Maczek allowed the liberation of the city of Breda without any civilian casualties (October 29, 1944). The Division spent the winter of 1944-1945 on the south bank of the river Rhine, guarding a sector around Moerdijk, Netherlands. In early 1945 it was transferred to the province of Overijssel and started to push along with the Allies along the Dutch-German border, liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen with towns such as Emmen, Coevorden and Stadskanaal. In April 1945 the 1st Armoured entered Germany in the area of Emsland. On May 6 the division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. There the Division ended the war and was joined by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. It undertook occupation duties until 1947, when the division was disbanded, it and the many Polish displaced persons in the Western occupied territories forming a Polish enclave at Haren in Germany which was for a while known as “Maczków”. The majority of its soldiers opted not to return to now Soviet occupied Poland and stayed in exile. Wilhemshaven 1945 The Germans resisted the Allies strongly on their own territory but slowly and surely the Allies advanced, and the Polish objective was altered to the important German naval base at Wilhelmshaven. From 19 to 29 April, the Poles fought hard to advance, as the terrain proved ideal for defence since it was extremely marshy with a thin layer of peat covering the tracks along which the tanks and armoured vehicles had to pass. The obvious routes that the Poles had to advance along meant that the Germans knew precisely where to place their defences. The Germans were collapsing on all fronts and Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin on 30 April. On 6 May, Maczek attended a meeting between General Simonds and a German delegation led by General Erich von Straube. Simonds made it clear that only unconditional surrender was on offer. The 1st Polish Armoured Division was given the honour of occupying Wilhemshaven, and Colonel Antoni Grudzinski, second in command of the Polish 10th Armoured Brigade, noted the reaction of the Germans to this news: An officer on my staff, a former student at Gdansk Polytechnic, translated every sentence into German. When the words ‘Polish Division’ were uttered by the translator, and as if by inattentiveness repeated, it seemed the Germans whitened and unease flashed in their eyes. I enquired if they understood – ‘Jawohl’ – they replied. I gave a sign that they might leave. But, a thought passed through my mind, ‘This is for September 1939’. The Poles took control of Wilhelmshaven and accepted the surrender of 19,000 German officers, including a general and an admiral. Three cruisers, 18 submarines, 205 battleships and support vessels plus a vast array of artillery and infantry weaponry were taken into Polish custodianship. The division had lost 304 officers and 5,000 other ranks since August 1944. Despite all that Poland had suffered at the hands of the Germans, Maczek maintained strict discipline to ensure that the Poles did not take reprisals. This, despite the fact that the division had liberated a concentration camp at Oberlangen full of emaciated women POWs, members of the AK who had surrendered after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising and had been held there without the protection of the Geneva Convention. On 19 May, General Anders visited Wilhelmshaven and Maczek had prepared for the visit by ordering the German population to sew Polish flags using white sheets and the red portion of the Nazi flags. The result was an impressive array of Polish flags on 25-feet-high posts shimmering along the avenue where the division marched past Anders. Organization during 1944-45 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade (10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej) – Col. T. Majewski 1st Polish Armoured Regiment (1 pułk pancerny) – Lt.Col. Aleksander Stefanowicz 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment (2 pułk pancerny) – Lt.Col. S. Koszustki 24th Polish Lancers Regiment (Armoured; 24 pułk ułanów im. Hetmana Żółkiewskiego) – Lt.Col. J. Kański 10th Polish Dragoons Regiment (10 pułk dragonów zmotoryzowanych) – Lt.Col. Władysław Zgorzelski 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade (3 Brygada Strzelców) – Col. Marian Wieroński 1st Polish Highland Battalion (1 battalion Strzelców Podhalańskich) – Lt.Col. K. Complak 8th Polish Rifle Battalion (8 battalion strzelców) – Lt.Col. Aleksander Nowaczyński 9th Polish Rifle Battalion (9 battalion strzelców flandryjskich) – Lt.Col. Zygmunt Szydłowski 1st Polish Independent HMG Squadron (samodzielna kompania ckm.) – Maj. M. Kochanowski Divisional Artillery (Artyleria dywizyjna) – Col. B. Noel 1st Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (1 pułk artylerii motorowej) – Lt.Col. J. Krautwald 2nd Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (2 pułk artylerii motorowej) – Lt.Col. K. Meresch 1st Polish Anti-Tank Regiment (formed in 1945 from smaller units) (1 pułk artylerii przeciwpancernej) – Major R. Dowbór 1st Polish Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (1 pułk artylerii przeciwlotniczej) – Lt.Col. O. Eminowicz, later Maj. W. Berendt Other Units 10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment (10 pułk strzelców konnych) (amoured reconnaissance equipped with Cromwell tanks) – Maj. J. Maciejowski HQ, Military Police, engineers (saperzy dywizyjni) – Lt.Col. J. Dorantt signals (1 batalion łączności) – Lt.Col. J. Grajkowski administration, military court, chaplaincy, reserve squadrons, medical services. 885 – officers and NCOs 15,210 – soldiers 381 – tanks (mostly M4 Shermans) 473 – artillery pieces (mostly motorized) 4,050 – motor cars, trucks, utility vehicles, artillery carriers. THE TANG, 618-907 The Early Tang: Challenges and Successes Seizing on the Sui disasters, Li Yüan, a high-ranking Sui general, rose against the emperor and went on to establish the Tang dynasty. The men under his command on the day of his revolt totaled roughly 30,000, both infantry and cavalry. Like many of the generals who hoped to replace the Sui, he was able to enlist the aid of several thousand Turkish cavalrymen. By the time Li Yüan had captured the city of Changan, which was proclaimed the Tang capital, he had picked up an additional 200,000 men. Many of these were men who had deserted the Sui army during and after the disastrous Korean campaigns. Li Yüan divided this force into twelve divisions, each led by a trusted general, for there was still much fighting to come before China was securely in Tang hands. These were true divisions, expected to be able to operate on their own with a full complement of various types of weapons and soldiers, both infantry and cavalry. In addition, the soldiers were allotted lands on which their families were to be settled. The production of these lands was to make the divisions self-sufficient in supplies, an institutional continuation of the Northern Wei and Sui military systems. Like the Sui founder, Li Yüan and his son and successor, Li Shimin, understood the importance of pacifying both China and the lands to the north. This was why Li Yüan took such care to settle large numbers of his soldiers on lands near to the steppes. Li Shimin, better known by his reign title of Tang Taizong, was particularly successful at this, using both military and diplomatic strategies to become not only emperor of the Chinese but Qaghan (essentially, “Emperor”) of the Turks as well. Unlike members of the traditional ruling classes of southern China, but like Tang Taizong, many of the leading figures of the early decades of the Tang were very comfortable with steppe traditions such as hunting and the relative freedom of women-a result of the intermingling of Chinese and nomadic peoples during the period of disunion. Applying this knowledge, Taizong took advantage of disunion among the various steppe tribes to insinuate himself into their politics and feuds. The result was that many of the nomadic tribes became an arm of the Tang military system. Taizong thus solved-at least for a time-the main problem plaguing Chinese armies since the Zhou period: the lack of horses, needed to create a credible cavalry arm. The nomads made up the bulk of the Tang cavalry during the reign of Taizong, and they were called on at times to assist in his campaigns for the consolidation of Tang rule within China proper. Those few times steppe tribes refused to heed his orders, he sent Tang armies, aided by other steppe cavalry, to bring them to heel. Taizong was accepted due to his adaptation to steppe traditions, especially his knowledge of steppe politics and military tactics. Frequently, he led his soldiers in person, often when outnumbered by enemy forces, reportedly having four horses shot out from under him during the course of his campaigns. He was also acquainted with the steppe military tactic of the feigned retreat, adapting this tactic successfully from its use with cavalry forces to use with primarily infantry forces. Later Tang emperors were unable to maintain the sort of personal authority that was necessary to control the steppe nomads. But nomadic internal rivalries allowed the Tang dynasty to keep its northern frontier fairly secure for a few decades after Taizong’s death. Even after Tang control on the frontiers weakened later in the eighth century, the dynasty could often call on nomadic armies for assistance. But Tibetan invasions and the An Lushan Rebellion in the mid-eighth century, coupled with ongoing transformations of the Chinese economy and society, would finally destroy the almost symbiotic system of nomadic cavalry alongside settled Chinese infantry. The Tang Army The Fubing System The Tang dynasty, especially from the time of Tang Taizong, consciously worked to create a system whereby the dynasty was primarily defended by citizen-soldiers. Like the Han dynasty, the Tang was suspicious of large professional armies, believing that skilled professionals were much harder to control or to keep loyal than an army composed of free citizens. The Tang also believed that some skilled professionals were necessary, especially for the expeditions the dynasty planned in both the north and south and as a mobile strike force. As we have seen, the cavalry arm was primarily made up of nomadic horsemen who could be both used as a buffer and called on to assist in military expeditions. In the next section, we will discuss the skilled professional force that was kept near the capital. In this section, we will focus on the large forces of citizen-soldiers called the Fubing Army. The term Fubing has been translated in various ways, the most common being “militia.” This is not satisfactory. Militia usually refers to men who are soldiers only part-time or part of the year; the rest of the time, they engage in their primary occupation. The members of the Fubing, however, were primarily professional soldiers, members of a standing army who spent all or nearly all of the year in military units, training or engaging in security duties. The confusion in meaning comes from how the Fubing were recruited, and, sometimes, the Chinese sources from the Tang period are themselves unclear as to what the functions of the Fubing were. Nonetheless, in tracing the evolution of the Fubing, we learn that in the early Tang, at least up until the end of the eighth century, it was the most effective part of the Tang military, maintaining the security of the Tang frontier and assisting in several of the early Tang military expeditions. The Fubing commanders were some of the best in the whole Tang military. Li Yüan established the capital of Tang China at Changan, located in the Guanzhong Province. As we saw earlier, by this time, he had over 200,000 men in his command. Although more fi ghting would be necessary to establish control over the rest of China, Li Yüan needed to ensure that the northern frontier was secure. To that end, many of these soldiers and their families were settled in agricultural communities. When additional soldiers were needed for his armies, Li Yüan had these families furnish them, along with their equipment and weapons. As these communities were expected to be self-supporting, the Tang court was spared a large expense. When this system-obviously extensively copied from the Sui military system-was expanded to include all ten of the provinces under Tang Taizong, the Tang had seemingly solved all three of the main Chinese military concerns. That is, there were military forces on the northern frontier to protect against nomadic threats; scattered military units were available for internal uses; and, because all these forces were self-supporting, there was little drain on imperial finances. When the Fubing system was established, there were 623 communities, each with 800-1200 soldiers plus their families, making a total military force of well over 600,000. While the soldiers trained, their families were required to work their assigned lands, much as in the Sui and the Northern Wei earlier. But a key difference was that during the Tang dynasty, little private landownership was allowed in China, and all land was divided up according to a very complicated formula. This Equitable-Field system was implemented throughout the early Tang and was the basis for the Fubing military system. Those communities classifi ed as military were allotted a certain amount of land, which in the early decades of the Fubing system was quite large. In return for providing soldiers and supplying military needs, these communities were exempted from many taxes. Officers from the Imperial Guards in the capital were dispatched to the Fubing communities to oversee the administration of the lands and to lead the soldiers when necessary. This was to prevent local commanders from bonding too tightly with their men and gaining too much independent power, though lower-ranking officers usually came from within the ranks. Recruitment was not by universal conscription, nor was it a strictly hereditary duty as under previous systems such as the Sui. Instead, roughly once every three years, officers of the Imperial Guards would circuit the Fubing communities and recruit, choosing on the basis of wealth, physical fitness, and number of adult males in a military household. Though the age of recruitment varied over time, generally a man was enlisted from age 20, and he would serve until age 60, when he could retire. Membership in the early decades was considered an honor, and those families with wealth and influence were able to get a higher proportion of their sons accepted. It is not clear how rigidly the physical requirements were enforced, but recruits were supposed to be in good health and were tested on physical strength. Those from frontier communities were also tested on their horsemanship. After being accepted as a Fubing soldier, the new recruit and his family were expected to provide all of his rations, armor, and weapons. Groups of families were required to provide horses, mules, or oxen for use by the Fubing. This was a relatively cost-free way for the Tang to maintain a standing army, its only expense being the allocated land. The three main duties of the Fubing were, in order of importance, garrison troops on the frontier, guardsmen in the capital area of Changan, and combat troops on expeditions. Local commanders of the Fubing were expressly forbidden to move their troops out of their camps without authorization from the court. There were exceptions in emergencies, but a commander who did move his men without prior approval had to notify the court immediately. Punishment for failing to follow these rules was exile or even death for the offending commander. Throughout the seventh century, the Fubing acquitted itself well along the frontiers and also maintained the Tang hold over the newly unified southern territories. Guard duty in the capital area was considered a particularly important function of the Fubing by the Tang court. A complicated rotation system was devised to determine which Fubing units had guard duty and when. At any given time, there were tens of thousands of Fubing soldiers in various defensive positions in Changan and the immediate area. They were not the only military forces in the capital, but they were considered a check on the Palace Army that was supposedly the personal military force of the emperor. Taking part in Tang military campaigns was the third duty of the Fubing. Rarely did the Fubing campaign on their own. Most often, they went into combat with large numbers of other Tang military units. The Korean campaigns, for example, were manned primarily by troops recruited from regions near Korea, but the Fubing were often the backbone of the expeditionary force. Also, an expeditionary force sent to subdue the kingdom of Nanchao (the present-day Chinese province of Yunnan) contained a large number of Fubing soldiers. There is general agreement that through the 600s the Fubing were a competent, efficient military force that remained loyal to the Tang court. However, changes in Tang China’s economy and society in the early- to mid-eighth century led to the decline of the Fubing. The Equitable-Field system was without doubt the foundation of the Fubing military system, but in the early 700s, aristocratic families, government officials, religious orders, and others with influence were gaining effective private ownership of land. Many of the Fubing lands passed into private hands, and many military households saw their share of land reduced drastically. Service in the Fubing became less prestigious, and families increasingly saw classification as a military household as a burden and attempted various means to have their status changed to civilian. Many families attached themselves to Buddhist temples or religious orders as a quick way to relieve themselves of the burden of supplying the Fubing. Many others fled to newly reclaimed lands, becoming tenant-farmers or laborers on the lands of the wealthy in preference to service as a Fubing household, testament to how burdensome that service had become. Reports in the 740s told of massive desertions from the Fubing armies, at the same time that fierce Tibetan armies were raiding the northern and northwestern frontiers. The Fubing system was formally abolished in favor of a system of voluntary, recruited soldiers in 749. The Palace Army In addition to the Fubing units that were expected to be composed of citizensoldiers, the Tang maintained a professional force at the capital of Changan, designed as the personal army of the emperor. This was the Palace Army, composed originally of those units used by Li Yüan in his revolt against the Sui dynasty. Often, this army is called the “Northern Army” because it was originally posted in a defensive position just north of Changan, as well as in the northern sector of the city. By Tang Taizong’s time, nearly all of the soldiers in this army were from noble or wealthy families located in the capital region. At its height of effectiveness in the late seventh century, there were probably no more than 60,000 men in the Palace Army. In this early period, it was the core of Tang military strength and even included a cavalry element. Members of this army trained constantly together, and those who were tall and strong and showed ability at horse-archery were admitted to the cavalry, commanded mostly by specially recruited Turkish officers. Other than some of the cavalry officers, most officers in the Palace Army came from the Imperial Guards. Indeed, most of the top Fubing officers were also Imperial Guardsmen. The Imperial Guards were recruited exclusively from the families of nobles and former high-ranking officials, and some have seen this as a modified version of the “hostage system” that had been used by the Han dynasty to maintain some measure of control over powerful families. As long as membership in the Imperial Guards was esteemed, there was a constant flow of competent, energetic officers for both the Palace Army and the Fubing. But by the late seventh century, the Imperial Guards- and therefore the Palace Army-had become involved in imperial succession struggles, and their effectiveness had diminished considerably. The empress Wu (690-705) greatly expanded the Palace Army, enlisting men from outside the traditional recruiting grounds. This could have been an invigorating move that revitalized the military efficiency of the Palace Army; but, instead, a major unit of the Palace Army was used in 705 to depose the empress, and various other units later were frequently called on to assist in court intrigues. During the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in 755, the Palace Army simply melted away as the rebel forces approached. Only 1000 of the supposedly elite force were left to accompany the emperor as he fled the capital. The Decline of Tang Military Efficiency New Frontier Armies Constant and growing threats from a newly unified Tibetan kingdom in the late seventh century demonstrated the increasing feebleness of the Fubing military system. The Tang relied to a large degree on their Uighur and Turkish nomadic allies, who by this time could no longer be considered even remotely under the control of Tang China. The Uighurs had been especially effective in assisting the Tang, but they did not come cheap. By the 670s, vast amounts of silk and other goods were necessary to buy Uighur assistance. When the payments slacked, the Uighurs would strike within China to exact payment and, since the Fubing garrisons were significantly weakened, their raids were often successful. To lessen reliance on the hired Uighur cavalry and protect the frontier, the Tang replaced the Fubing system with one of long-serving volunteer frontier armies, led by imperially appointed military governors possessing a good deal of civil as well as military authority. For military encampments for these new troops, the Tang constructed massive fortresses across the three provinces that bordered the steppe frontier. The frontier fortresses were connected to and communicated with each other and the capital by post roads and beacon towers. In some cases, the fortresses were constructed on former Turkish territory. While the Turks were away in battle with tribes further west, the Tang army moved in swiftly to secure the area, constructing fortresses and denying the Turks some of their prime pasturelands. By the 720s, there were well over 65,000 soldiers with 15,000 horses stationed in Guanzhong alone, with comparable numbers in the adjoining two provinces. This entailed an enormous expense, and, though the Tang was a fairly prosperous time in China’s history, this level of outlay proved difficult to maintain. Unlike the Fubing forces, these frontier armies were not self-supporting, nor could they be, with many of the soldiers posted relatively far north in lands less suited to settled agriculture. The difficulty of paying these forces prompted dangerous political arrangements. Taxing authority was given over to the military governors, who increasingly ruled independently of the court. Until 750, the system appeared to be working. Tang China faced a series of ups and downs in terms of security along their frontiers, but none of the problems they encountered was very serious. Trade through the Tang possessions in Central Asia continued fairly smoothly, and the nomadic peoples on all fronts were, if not fully pacifi ed, at least not of serious concern. But the year 751 saw three major military disasters for the Tang. The first occurred at the Talas River on the western frontier, where a major Chinese force under the veteran Korean general Gao Xianzhi was decisively defeated by a combined Arab-Turkish force. Another Chinese army, on the northeastern frontier, led by the Turkish-Soghdian general An Lushan, was decisively defeated by a predominantly Khitan nomadic force. Then, a major Chinese army was defeated and wiped out in an invasion of the Nanchao kingdom in the southwest, leaving the Sichuan area of China vulnerable to renewed Tibetan attacks. The combination of defeats seriously destabilized the dynasty. Transformation and Decline The Tang dynasty faced two big problems in trying to rebuild its military forces after the disasters of the mid-700s. First, although the large frontier armies did not fare well in combat against foreign forces, internally, their commanders continued to accrue tremendous independent power. The threat to central authority posed by military commanders and the great warrior aristocracy became acute in the 800s as commanders gained control of the civil government in their provinces and won the right to hereditary succession to their commands. In the end, independent warlords brought down the dynasty-a development that would significantly influence the military policy of the succeeding Song dynasty. Second, the increasing demographic and economic influence of southern China in the empire as a whole had significant ramifications for the social and military structure. The south was even more unsuitable terrain for raising horses and maintaining cavalry traditions than the north of China. As a result, Chinese reliance on nomadic tribes for cavalry became even greater at the same time as the rulers of China became even more distanced from the culturally syncretic milieu that had produced the leaders of the early Tang. Thus, Chinese control over their nomadic allies waned, and cavalry warfare became more and more divergent from native Chinese military traditions. This, too, would fuel the Song reaction against great warrior aristocratic families, who most strongly embraced those traditions. Events reached crisis proportions because of the independent power of military commanders. An Lushan, the most powerful Tang general and a court favorite, rebelled in 755. After seven years of chaotic fighting, the various rebel forces were finally defeated, but only with significant aid from nomadic Uighur horsemen, who became a problem in turn. A succession of emperors rebuilt a central army around the core of a loyal frontier army; this Shence Army was led by eunuchs, reflecting an effort to solve the problem of commander loyalty. Though temporarily successful-the Shence Army was instrumental in putting down another rebellion by military governors in 781-the institution had little success controlling the nomadic frontier because of its central location in the capital. Further, its power was steadily diluted by aristocratic infl uence, money shortages caused by the independence of the military governors, and involvement in court politics. Increasingly enfeebled, the Tang dynasty finally fell in 907, ushering in several decades of warfare that would accelerate the underlying changes in China’s political, social, and military structure. The Persian [Achaemenid] Army Persian military forces were drawn from all areas of the Empire, members of the elite corps as well as conscripts levied for local action or for major campaigns. Thus the label “Persian” is not to be understood as describing the ethnic makeup but rather the troops’ allegiance, fighting under Persian officials or commanders. As has been seen, however, the command structure was not thoroughly Persian by any means either, save at the very top of the hierarchy, including most satraps and of course the King himself. The Old Persian word kra may be translated either as “army” or as “people.” This reveals the army’s ultimate origin – among the Persians themselves, many of whom came to form the corps of the standing army – as it results in occasional confusion in modern translation. When kra appears in a text, it is not always evident to us whether the people as a collective group or the specific subset of the army is meant. Herodotus gives a full and colorful account of the vast and diverse forces of the imperial levy, the full army and navy of Persians and subject peoples, when he tallies the vast forces that Xerxes arrayed against Greece in 480 BCE. Herodotus also names many of the commanders, an elaborate depiction of the peoples of the Empire with descriptions of their clothing and equipment (7.61–100). For example, both Persians and Medes were arrayed in felt caps, colored tunics over scale mail, trousers, wickerwork shields, and a variety of weapons. Ethiopians (Nubians) wore leopard or lion skins and carried large bows. Paphlagonians wore woven helmets and carried small shields and spears. That Herodotus’ entire portrayal better describes a parade than a battle array has long been understood. But it typifies the diversity of peoples and weaponry that the Persian commanders had to weld into an effective fighting force. Persian forces, both infantry and cavalry, were renowned for their use of the bow: a frequent tactic was the unleashing of storms of arrows from behind a shield wall or for horsemen to harry the enemy with volleys of arrows. Scholars debate the effectiveness of the Persian forces’ armor and tactics especially in the context of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece in 480 and Alexander’s invasion of the Persian Empire in the late 330s. Herodotus (9.62) describes the final crush of the Persians against the Spartans at the Battle of Plataea in 479: On the one hand the Persians were no less than the Greeks in courage and strength, but the Persians were without shields and, beyond this, were unskilled and not the equal of their opponents in experience. This passage offers just one example of the persistent problems of source evaluation. When Herodotus says that the Persians were “without shields” (Greek anoploi), what does that mean? Were the shields lost in battle? Was this contingent of the Persian army simply not carrying shields? And which group was it, ethnic Persians or some other? Some translate anoploi as “without armor,” which adds another layer to the problem. The Spartans were the most (by far) professionalized Greek soldiers of their day, so even the elite corps of the Persian army would have had their hands full against them. Beyond the elite, levied troops from the provinces of course did not have the same sort of armor, weaponry, or tactics as did, for example, the Persian Immortals and similar contingents. Numerous other passages in Greek sources provide similar perspectives: heavily armed Greek infantry, fighting in tight phalanx formations, trumped the (as generally described in Greek sources) light armed, less experienced, inferior Persian infantry every time – except when they did not. It is difficult to sift the Greek stereotypes from the realities of individual battles. That the Persians were able to conquer and retain so much territory for so long testifies to their army’s effectiveness. The elite Persian force, numbering 10,000 according to Herodotus (7.83), was called the Immortals. Whenever one of their number died or was wounded or ill, another would take his place so the number of the battalion always remained 10,000. They were the most effective, and feared, Persian infantry force, and clearly comprised elite members of Persian society: men of prominent families or high rank. One thousand of them had gold pomegranates on their spears, some of whom comprised the king’s personal bodyguard, and the other 9,000 had silver. Herodotus’ incidental detail that the Immortals were conspicuous for their gold (bracelets or other marks of status and honor), and that they were accompanied by wagons bearing concubines and many servants, indicates that we are not dealing with the rank and file. Prestige items are frequently mentioned in conjunction with Persian officers and nobles, a phenomenon that also fed Greek stereotypes of Persian effeminacy and weakness. But these items were more symbolic than practical and communicated entirely different messages – honor and status – in a Persian context. Greek sources often highlight the prominence and skill of Greek mercenaries, and from that perspective it was only thanks to better trained and better equipped Greek professionals that the Empire was able to field any sort of worthwhile fighting force in the fourth century. This trope contributed heavily to the stereotype of the effeminate, decaying Persian Empire before its fall to Alexander the Great. And even though Greek mercenary forces were an increasing phenomenon in the fourth century, and certainly used by Persian commanders, their significance often seems overestimated in Greek sources. Persian Arms and Equipment Herodotus describes the arms and equipment of Xerxes’ army in some detail. The Persians themselves wore floppy felt hats, tunics and armour exhibiting a surface of fishlike iron scales, and trousers. They carried wicker shields. Their weapons were large bows, short spears and daggers which were suspended from the belts on the right-hand side. Thus equipped, they might or might not be mounted. Persian armies generally relied upon the large numbers of their horsemen and bowmen. Apart from the Persians themselves, Herodotus gives particulars of the other national contingents which the Persian kings were able to mobilize, although the statistics on which he based his information may have referred to the potential fighting strength of the entire Persian Empire rather than to Xerxes’ expeditionary force, gigantic though this force unquestionably was. We hear of Assyrians and others with bronze helmets; but in general, the Asiatics were protected only by various kinds of soft headgear and they seem to have worn no substantial body armour. Apart from daggers, bows and arrows, their weapons included iron-spiked clubs, axes and lassoes. Cavalrymen – especially cavalry officers – may have worn more protective armour. Masistius, the Persian cavalry commander who was killed in the early stages of the Plataea campaign, wore gold scale armour under his scarlet surcoat. When his horse was hit by an arrow, he defended himself vigorously on foot and could not be brought down by body blows. At last, the Athenians who surrounded him guessed the secret and struck at his face. Persian archers, both mounted and unmounted, carried their arrows in a quiver slung on the hip. This practice differed from that of the Greek archers whose quivers were slung on their backs. The hip position was no doubt more expeditious when there was a requirement for rapid fire. Herodotus refers to the war chariots of the Indian contingent, but there is no mention of these chariots being used in the fighting. Persian kings normally went to war in chariots, which were also employed by the Persians for hunting. The Greeks of the classical period used chariots only for sporting events. Generally speaking, by the time of the Persian Wars the war chariot had been replaced by the man on horseback. The change had no doubt been brought about by the improved efficiency of horses’ bits, which made it easier for the rider to control his steed. The Persian High Command The Persian numbers in the two invasions were so overwhelmingly superior that one tends to blame the Persian commanders for the startling lack of success. The initiative for both enterprises came from the Great Kings themselves and there seems to have been no question of any significant “power behind the throne”. Yet there is nothing particularly blame-worthy in their conduct of the two operations – apart from the undertaking itself. There comes a time in the history of every empire when expansion has gone far enough and stability and consolidation, if not retrenchment, are needed. The handful of Athenian and Eretrian ships that had abetted the Ionian revolt was a poor pretext for such a massive military and naval effort. If we turn to Aeschylus’ play, we find some contrast between the characters of Darius and Xerxes. The Persae presents the story of Xerxes’ crest-fallen return to Persia after his defeat at Salamis. Darius’ ghost appears and denounces the folly which has led to the recent débâcle. Darius is stern and dignified; in contrast, Xerxes is petulant and ineffective. At first sight, Herodotus’ narrative might seem to confirm this estimate. One recalls the incident when high winds destroyed the first bridge which Xerxes had constructed over the Hellespont, whereupon Xerxes ordered that the rebellious waters should be whipped as a punishment for the outrage. But perhaps this was not mere childishness on his part. In his multinational host there were many simple tribesmen who knew nothing of the enlightened Zoroastrian religion of the Persians; thus, to restore morale, it was no doubt necessary to demonstrate that even the gods of the winds and the waves were subject to the Great Kings of Persia. Again, we are inclined to regard Xerxes’ return to Susa, his remote capital, after the disaster of Salamis, as weak and cowardly. Mardonius, his general, seems to have been left callously to his fate in Greece. But the matter may be viewed quite differently. The success of the Persian kings lay very largely in their ability to delegate power. Cyrus, when he conquered Lydia, had delegated the completion of his conquest to his general Harpagus, and probably Mardonius was expected to complete the conquest of Greece in the same way. However, when all has been said, the delineation of character in Aeschylus’ play should not be lightly dismissed. Aeschylus was, after all, writing at a time very close to the events which he described and he cannot altogether have overlooked the reputations which Darius and Xerxes had earned for themselves among their contemporaries. As for Mardonius, he was Darius’ son-in-law, and had commanded the Persian fleet when it met with disaster on the rocks off Mount Athos. Darius’ dissatisfaction with him is clear, for in the subsequent expedition which that monarch launched against Greece, Mardonius was not in command. Datis and Artaphernes were in charge of the fleet which sailed across the central Aegean to Eretria and Marathon. However, Mardonius was a man of no mean ability and his later reinstatement proves that he enjoyed Xerxes’ confidence. After Xerxes’ return to Persia, Mardonius tried by sensible diplomacy to divide the Greek states against one another before deciding to engage in battle with them. His chances of success in this diplomatic initiative were very good and with a little more perseverance he might have succeeded. But, cut off from supplies by sea, he perhaps had difficulty in feeding his large army and was accordingly under pressure to reach a decision with the utmost possible speed. The Persian Fleet No one who reads Herodotus’ narrative can underestimate the importance of the naval factor in the two Persian invasions. The Persians were an inland power and possessed no fleet of their own. It says all the more for the organizing ability of the Great Kings – Xerxes in particular – that they were able to muster such vast armadas. It also suggests that their knowledge of Greek seamanship and fighting power was such that they by no means despised the enemy with whom they had to deal. The largest contingent of the Persian fleet consisted of Phoenician vessels, manned by Phoenician crews. Rather surprisingly, the Persians relied also upon ships and crews from the Greek Ionian cities which they had subjugated. Inevitably, they must have felt some doubts about the loyalty of the Greek contingents of their own fleet. On several occasions during the campaigns, the Ionian effort seems to have been half-hearted, and at the battle of Mycale the Ionian Greeks at last deserted their Persian overlords to aid their compatriots. Artemisia, the Greek princess who ruled Halicarnassus (subject to Persian goodwill), was present herself on shipboard at the battle of Salamis, fighting on the Persian side. However, she seems to have joined either fleet as circumstances dictated at any particular moment, for when pursued by an Athenian vessel she deliberately rammed and sank another galley of her own contingent. The Athenians, thinking that she had changed sides, abandoned the pursuit and Artemisia made good her escape without further impediment. The truth is possibly that Xerxes found it less risky to take the Ionian fleet with him than to leave it in his rear. On every ship there was a force of soldiers, either Persians, Medes or others whose loyalty was to be trusted. Persian commanders often took the place of local captains and Xerxes probably kept the leaders of the subject communities under his personal surveillance. Their position closely resembled that of hostages to the Persians. Apart from the Phoenician and Greek naval contingents, there was in Xerxes’ fleet an Egyptian squadron which was to distinguish itself in the course of the fighting. We hear also of ships from Cyprus and Cilicia. Cyprus contained both Greek and Phoenician cities and the people of Cilicia were largely of Greek extraction. Whether the Cilicians felt any bond of sympathy with the Greeks of the mainland is another question, but only the links of empire united them with the Persians. The proportion of the total naval strength to that of the land army is recorded: the land forces, when counted by Xerxes at Doriscus in Thrace, were, according to Herodotus, 1,700,000 strong: the strength of the fleet is given with some precision as 1,207 vessels, not including transports. Persian Naval Strategy It is interesting that Xerxes reverted to his father’s original plan and decided to invade Greece from the north. He must have considered that his channel through the Athos peninsula eliminated the main hazard of this route. Clearly, he could deploy a much larger army in Greece if his land forces could make their own way along the coast. At the same time, the fleet keeping pace on the army’s flank contained transports which considerably eased his supply problem. The land forces carried a good deal of their own baggage and equipment with the help of camels and other beasts of burden. These did not include horses. It was not customary in the ancient world to use horses for such purposes and it is noteworthy that Xerxes transported his horses by sea on special ships. Horseshoes were unknown in the ancient centres of civilization, and it is possible that the Persian cavalry might have reached Greece with lame mounts if their horses had been obliged to make the whole journey by land. Warships were, of course, necessary to protect both the transports and the land forces. Without naval defence, the Persian army would have been exposed to the danger of Greek amphibious attacks on its flank and its rear. Moreover, it was Xerxes’ hope that he would crush any Greek naval units immediately, wherever he met them. He met them first at Artemisium, on the northern promontory of Euboea. Several actions were fought there, with varying outcome. The Greek position was well chosen. In the narrow channel between the Euboean coast and the mainland, the Greeks could not be enveloped by superior numbers. At the same time, they guarded the flank of Leonidas’ forces at Thermopylae. If the Persians sailed round Euboea to attack them in the rear, then the Persian land forces would be separated from their seaborne support. What took the Greeks by surprise was the enormous size of Xerxes’ force, which despite all reports far exceeded their most pessimistic estimates. It was possible for Xerxes to send one section of his fleet round the south of Euboea while he engaged the Greeks at Artemisium with the remainder. Such a manoeuvre entailed no loss of numerical superiority on either front. But summer storms gathered over Thessaly and aided the Greeks. The very size of Xerxes’ fleet meant that there were not sufficient safe harbours to accommodate all the ships; a considerable part of it had to lie well out to sea in rough weather. In this way many ships were wrecked. When a squadron was dispatched to round Euboea and sail up the Ruripus strait, which divides the long island from the mainland, this contingent also fell victim to storms and treacherous currents. The task assigned to it was never carried out. Quite apart from the figures given by Herodotus, events themselves testify to the huge size of the Persian armada. Despite the heavy losses suffered at Artemisium, Xerxes’ fleet still enjoyed the advantage of dauntingly superior numbers when, late in the same season, the battle of Salamis was fought. Even after Salamis, the number of surviving ships and crews was such that the Greek fleet at Mycale hesitated long before attacking them. Communication Networks – The Royal Road Reliable and efficient communications throughout the Empire were a necessary component for its success. The construction, maintenance, and guarding of an extensive network of roads and bridges required a great deal of engineering expertise, manpower, and expense. The Persians adopted and adapted their predecessors’ systems, and greatly expanded them, to facilitate communication across vast distances. Individuals or groups on state business carried sealed documents that allowed access to supplies or provisions en route to their destination. The most famous of these roads, though it was only one of many, was what Herodotus called the Royal Road from Susa in Elam to Sardis in Lydia (5.52–53). Any “royal” road would have, in fact, run through Persepolis and points eastward, so Herodotus’ terminology reflects a Greek view, which usually viewed Susa as the main Achaemenid capital. From the west it ran through Cappadocia and Cilicia in Anatolia to Armenia and then south through Arbela – along the Tigris River – and on toward Susa. Herodotus notes that there were 111 royal staging posts interspersed on it and mentions several of them specifically (5.52). By his calculations this route ran roughly 1,500 miles and took a journey of ninety days. That was for a traveler in no great haste. Royal dispatches could move with surprising speed, a relay system with fresh horses and messengers at each staging post. Herodotus also describes these royal messengers: “There is nothing mortal that travels faster than these messengers … for as many days as the whole route there are horses and men stationed, one horse and one man set for each day. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night hinders them from accomplishing the course laid before them as quickly as possible. After the first one finishes his route, he delivers the instructed message to the second, the second does likewise to the third; from there in rapid succession down the line the message moves.” (8.98) There were similar routes in all directions from the Empire’s core in Fars.11 Ctesias alludes to other roads running from Mesopotamia and Persia proper to Central Asia. The primary route to Bactria across northern Iran is called in modern works either the (Great) Khorasan Road or, for later periods, by its better known appellation the Silk Road. Administrative documents from Persepolis, Syro-Palestine, and Egypt record disbursements to travelers in all directions. From the Persepolis documentation we gain a sense of the itineraries of a number of the network of roads running between Susa and Persepolis. An Aramaic document tracks travelers journeying from northern Mesopotamia to Damascus and on into Egypt, with several stops along the way listed by name. Large work crews were involved in the construction and maintenance of these roads. Herodotus’ account of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece describes roadmakers at work, not infrequently the army on campaign. The main roads, constructed wide enough to allow chariots or wagons to travel on them, served to move military forces quickly, but they were also used by travelers or merchants to transport cargo. Roads also at times had to cross obstacles such as rivers. Some permanent bridges, such as one spanning the Halys River in Anatolia, were guarded by a fort. Pontoon bridges allowed crossing of other rivers, for example, at many spots on the northern Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers and their tributaries. Temporary pontoon bridges afforded the means for Persian armies to cross into Europe: Darius I over the Bosporus on his campaign against the Scythians and Xerxes’ bridge over the Hellespont against the Greeks. Of course, rivers and larger waterways were sometimes part of the route. Diodorus Siculus (14.81.4) records a journey on a well-known route at sea along the coast of Cilicia, on land from northwestern Syria to the Euphrates, then down the river to Babylon. Similar sea trading routes connected other parts of the Empire to the core, such as through the Persian Gulf and along the southern coast of Iran to the Indus Valley. Command Structure of the Macedonian Army The command structure of the Macedonian army was extremely complex, consisting of many separate layers of authority. At the highest levels it is quite well known; the same cannot be said of lesser ranks, but there are hints that suggest that, even at its lowest levels, it was as complex as the more powerful positions. As with many areas of Alexander’s empire, and particularly within the army, the command structure was continually evolving as new positions were created and others became obsolete. The most significant changes, however, were probably politically motivated. Alexander gradually changed the army from being that of Philip, through the influence of Parmenio and his family, to being his own, particularly after 331/0, when Parmenio’s influence had been removed. Macedonian Heavy Infantry At its lowest levels the command structure of the heavy infantry can be deduced from its gradations of pay. The smallest tactical unit of the heavy infantry was the dekas or ‘file’. As the name implies the dekas had once consisted of ten men, but at some point long before the reign of Alexander it had been expanded to sixteen. Of these sixteen men, twelve were rank and file with the other four being of superior status. Of these four, one was the dekadarch or file leader, one was a dimoirites or half-file leader and the other two were dekastateroi or half-file closers. Arrian tells us that the dekastateroi were paid the equivalent of one and a half the pay of a rank-and-file soldier, around forty-five drachmas a month. The dimoirites received double pay of around sixty drachmas a month. Bosworth seems to have made a slight error in interpreting this passage in Arrian, claiming that there were two dimoiritai and only one dekastateros, but Arrian’s text seems quite clear on this point. Thirty-two decades formed a lochos, consisting of 512 men and being commanded by a lochagos. Three lochoi formed a taxis, which was the fundamental unit of the Macedonian heavy infantry, commanded by a taxiarch. Each taxis therefore consisted of 1,540 men, of whom 1,152 were rank and file and in receipt of the basic one drachma a day. Initially Alexander crossed the Hellespont with six taxeis, later expanded to seven around the time of the invasion of India. Therefore the command structure for a typical taxis of heavy infantry was: • Taxiarch • Lochagos (x3) • Dekadarch (x96) • Dimoirites (x96) • Dekastateros (x192) • Rank and File (x1,152) The manpower indicated is, of course, paper strength, assuming that each taxis was at full strength. The six taxiarchs appear to have all been of the same rank with none holding superiority. Indeed there was no overall commander of the heavy infantry (excluding the one possible reference in Arrian discussed earlier) as there was for, say, the Companion Cavalry. This is because there really was no such organization as the ‘Macedonian phalanx’, the taxeis themselves frequently being used as separate tactical units, or in groups of two or three. This development came largely after 331 when the army entered northeastern Iran and smaller, more mobile forces were required. Arrian makes a seemingly strange claim that: On the right wing of the attacking force Alexander had the guards’ division under his personal command. In touch with them were the infantry battalions, forming the whole centre of the line and commanded by the various officers whose turn of duty happened to fall upon that day. This is almost certainly evidence of a rotational system within the phalanx. It could be a reference to the order in which the taxeis appeared each day, and we are explicitly told in the sources that that the actual order of each taxis did rotate each day, or it could be that the minor commands within a taxis were rotated to give junior commanders more experience of slightly different roles. The Macedonian heavy infantry appear to have undergone very few serious changes in the command structure over the course of the campaign. The huge numbers of reinforcements received between the great set-piece battles of Issus and Gaugamela seem to have been incorporated within the existing taxeis, presumably adding to the numbers of rank and file rather than to the officer corps. The first evidence for a seventh taxis does not appear until the time of the invasion of India, where Arrian names seven taxiarchs operating simultaneously. At the time of the invasion of Persia, another of Parmenio’s sons, Nicanor, was the commander of the hypaspists. The hypaspists were the elite formation of the Macedonian heavy infantry and their tactical and strategic roles were many and varied. The hypaspists were organized into three chiliarchies of 1,000 men, each commanded by a chiliarch. This is true after 331 at least: before 331 it is uncertain. One of these chiliarchies was designated the agema, perhaps commanded by Alexander himself, or more likely by an unknown individual, as Alexander was usually with the Companion Cavalry during set-piece battles. The chiliarchs themselves were of markedly lower status than the taxiarchs of the heavy infantry, being more like a lochagos. This is at first sight rather surprising, considering that the hypaspists were the elite units of the heavy infantry, receiving only the very best of the new recruits into their ranks. We should remember, however, that, unlike the heavy infantry, the hypaspists had an overall commander, Nicanor, who was at a significant level within the command structure, ensuring that their status was considerably higher than that of an infantry taxis. As with the rest of the army, the command structure of the hypaspists was significantly changed at the end of 331. The chiliarchies were subdivided into two new units, pentakosiarchies, thus adding an entirely new layer into the command structure, albeit a very lowly one. These new officers were again appointed by Alexander on the basis of merit rather than seniority, and again owed their allegiance to the king himself. We saw earlier how important this innovation was to the king, particularly later in his career as he became ever more paranoid. Companion Cavalry The numbers of the Companion Cavalry are not certain, although Diodorus gives the figure of 1,800 and most now accept the figure of 1,800 as at least being very close to the actual figure. We do know that by 333 the Companion Cavalry consisted of eight ilai (squadrons) of 200 men, each commanded by an ilarch. We have no information of from the beginning of his reign, but we do know that along with the general reorganization of the army in 331 an ile was further divided into smaller units. Arrian tells us ‘He also – this was an innovation – formed two lochoi (companies) in each cavalry squadron’. Curtius hints at a reorganization, and confirms that commanders would from this time be promoted on the basis of ability and not of regional affiliations. However he does not mention the division of ile, preferring to concentrate on the hypaspists. From 331 the subdivision of ile was into two hekatostyes of 100 men; there is evidence that each ile was again subdivided into tetrarchia, of which there would have been four per ile. The tetrarchia is only recorded once in Arrian, at the turning of the Persian Gates in January 330, not before or after, but the unit was small enough that this is not surprising as they would mostly have operated in the larger units. One of the ilai was given the title ile basilike, also frequently called the agema, or royal squadron: this unit was also of higher status than the rest. The royal squadron was of double strength and was charged with defending the king when he fought on horseback; they were his personal bodyguard in all of the set-piece battles. The overall command of the Companion Cavalry was in the hands of Philotas – until his execution in October 330, that is. The ilarchs seem to have been relatively minor in rank, probably on a par with an infantry lochagos. Ilarchs are seldom mentioned by name in any of the sources and are never given separate commands of their own. The only one that achieved any level of distinction was Cleitus the Black, the commander of the royal squadron. After the execution of Philotas in 330, the entire Macedonian cavalry was reorganized en masse. The basic tactical formation was now not the ile but the ‘hipparchy’. These new units are first recorded by Arrian during 329. Ilai do still appear in the sources but they become sub-divisions of a hipparchy, each hipparchy comprising a minimum of two ilai and thus 400 men. The ilai were also sub-divided into two lochoi, the commanders of whom were given the title lochagos, as with the commander of an infantry unit. Alexander appointed these commanders personally on a basis of merit rather than superiority, thus breaking with tradition. This was a policy that was entirely consistent with Alexander making the army loyal to him alone. This began to occur some time during 331 BC, probably after Gaugamela, when the last great batch of reinforcements arrived from Macedon. This was the beginning of the policy, that I have noted a number of times, of reducing the army’s ties of loyalty to its individual commanders, ultimately making them loyal to Alexander alone. Thus a new layer of sub-commanders was added in the command structure of the army, one which owed its loyalty directly to Alexander, to some extent breaking the link between the troops and their commanders. There are two possible reasons for this change. Perhaps Alexander came to the conclusion that the ilai were simply too small, at 200 men, to cope with the different style of fighting in the entirely different theatre that was to be their next challenge. The army would no longer be fighting set-piece battles, but would require far more mobility and flexibility as it moved into the northeast of Iran The second possible explanation was a desire on the part of Alexander to increase the relative superiority of the Companion Cavalry over the heavy infantry, each hipparch now being of a higher status than a lochagos. The term ‘ile basilike’ also disappeared at this time and was replaced by the term agema, the nomenclature becoming the same as for the hypaspists. The actual number of cavalry hipparchies is unknown, but it is assumed that there were eight during the Indian campaign. The position left vacant by the death of Philotas was not directly filled. He was instead replaced by two men: Alexander’s life-long friend Hephaestion and Cleitus the Black. Both men were effectively of equal status within the command structure. Arrian gives the reason for this step as that ‘he [Alexander] did not think it advisable that one man – even a personal friend – should have control of so large a body of cavalry’. Allies and Mercenaries The Thessalian cavalry were without doubt the most important contingent of this aspect of the army. They were probably equal in number to the Companion Cavalry and very close to them in terms of quality. Overall command of this vitally-important unit was given to Alexander’s second-in-command, Parmenio. The command structure of the Thessalian cavalry was very similar to that of the Companions, being divided into ilai. They were not, however, allowed their own national commanders, but a senior Macedonian officer was appointed to command each unit. The Thessalian cavalry also had a unit which performed the same role as the royal squadron of the Companions; this was known as the ‘Pharsalian contingent’. The other allied cavalry contingents, although considerably less important, were again organized along similar lines, being divided into ilai and each having a Macedonian commander. The appointment of a Macedonian commander at the head of non-Macedonian troops, be they cavalry or infantry, was the general policy of Alexander throughout his reign. Even the mercenary contingents were treated in exactly this same fashion, Menander being their overall commander. These Macedonian officers, however, were relatively unimportant in the overall command structure and few achieved any kind of distinction. The fleets that accompanied the army of invasion were almost exclusively non-Macedonian, being provided by the member states of the League of Corinth. Each ship was captained by a native of the contributing city, and where a city-state provided more than one ship, they also supplied a ‘commodore’ for their particular contingent. As with other non-Macedonian units however, overall command of the fleet was with a Macedonian officer. The term ‘bodyguard’ is quite a confusing one, as there appear to be two entirely separate groups within the army that carry this title. The first is an apparently-quite-strong detachment of heavy infantry. Arrian, three times, tells us that Alexander took with him the bodyguards and some of the hypaspists; this would seem to strongly suggest that they were not simply a detachment of the hypaspists, who were themselves often called ‘the guards’. Diodorus tells us that at the Battle of Gaugamela, Hephaestion ‘had commanded the bodyguards’. This passage again strongly suggests that we are not here talking about a detachment of the hypaspists, as at this time Nicanor was still their commander and only died later that same year. The bodyguards seem to have been a relatively minor force, perhaps of the order of a couple of hundred strong. The relative position of their commander within the overall command structure of the army is unknown; the only commander named is Hephaestion at Gaugamela, who was of course a very senior figure. Hephaestion’s seniority probably had more to do with his closeness to Alexander than the importance of the bodyguards as a military force: his successor after Gaugamela is never mentioned, for instance. This group could well represent a carry-over from a much older organization that pre-dated Philip’s reforms. The group that most interests us here are the somatophylakes basilikoi, or ‘royal bodyguard’, originally seven strong, this number being rigidly maintained. The number was probably connected to their historical function of guarding the king’s tent. They were increased to eight in India, however, when Peucestas was promoted to this rank as a sign of gratitude by Alexander for saving his life during the attack on the capital city of the Malli. The bodyguards occupied a position within the command structure that is difficult to define. The group as a whole formed part of Alexander’s immediate entourage, and seem certain to have been among his closest friends and most-trusted advisors. Membership of the bodyguard was obviously incompatible with any post that involved their being away from court for any length of time: both Balacrus and Menes were replaced as soon as they were assigned to the command of provinces. For reasons that seem less clear, inclusion within the bodyguard was also incompatible with a command within the army. Before Gaugamela, there is no recorded instance of a member of the bodyguard simultaneously holding a senior command. Bodyguards are occasionally reported briefly holding minor commands, such as Ptolemy, who commanded a joint force of hypaspists and light infantry during the siege of Halicarnassus, but this was rare. If any bodyguard were promoted to a senior command, he would immediately lose his title and be replaced. This happened, for instance, when Ptolemy became a taxiarch (this was not the famous historian and son of Lagos, but another very obscure individual: Ptolemy was a very common name in Macedonia). As a group they probably enjoyed the same status as a taxiarch, but did not, as such, occupy any position within the command structure. They were, however, still influential as they were among the king’s closest advisors. This rather rigid system which applied to the bodyguard, as with almost everything else in the army, evolved considerably over time. After the death of Parmenio we hear of instances of bodyguards receiving senior, albeit temporary, commands. In 328, for instance, Alexander left four taxeis of heavy infantry in Bactria, along with their commanders. The remainder of the army was then divided into five columns, three of which were commanded by known bodyguards. The deaths of Parmenio and Philotas represent something of a watershed in Alexander’s career, as will be discussed below. Evolution of the Command Structure One of the major changes that occurred in the command structure over the course of Alexander’s reign was that the cavalry commands became increasingly important, relative to their previously-equivalent infantry commands. By the time of the death of Philotas Alexander was becoming increasingly disinclined to place such large numbers of men under a single commander; with this in mind he divided the command of the Companion cavalry between Hephaestion and Cleitus the Black. Individual hipparchs also became increasingly important in their own right, becoming roughly equal in status to the position of an infantry taxiarch. At the beginning of the invasion of India, the commanders of the heavy infantry who were most highly favoured by Alexander were promoted to command hipparchies of Companion Cavalry; namely Perdiccas, Craterus and Cleitus the White. This again illustrated that moving from an infantry command to that of cavalry was considered a promotion. During this process, the royal bodyguard evolved into an important position within the command structure. Perdiccas was promoted to a hipparchy, from a taxis of heavy infantry, in 327; by 330 he also had the title of bodyguard. This was a dual function which was also enjoyed by Alexander’s favourite, Hephaestion. The Peithon who was a bodyguard by 325 is very probably the same Peithon who is attested as a taxiarch in 326/5. An infantry command was rare, however; members of the bodyguard were usually given commands within the Companion Cavalry, in alignment with its increasing importance. This desire on the part of Alexander to systematically downgrade the relative importance of the heavy infantry can perhaps be attributed to the fact that Alexander saw them as a potential, and increasing, problem. It was from the ranks of the infantry that the mutinies at the Hyphasis and Opis had come, and it would not be surprising if Alexander had deliberately aimed at increasing the prestige and importance of the cavalry relative to the infantry. This would have been to re-establish the situation that had existed before his reign, where the cavalry were clearly the units of greatest prestige. It is also likely that the heavy infantry had become less prestigious, simply because the army was engaged in northeastern Iran at this time and they were not as heavily involved in the fighting as they had been during earlier campaigns. From 330, when Alexander entered the northeast of the former Persian Empire, he was faced with an entirely new situation: that of guerrilla warfare. This led to a willingness on the part of Alexander to divide his force, seemingly indiscriminately, between various commanders. Before this time if a second column was required it would consist of allied and mercenary troops, the Macedonians almost always staying with the king. As mentioned above, in 328 Alexander left four taxeis of Macedonian heavy infantry in Bactria and divided the rest of the army into five groups. These new commands were given to a fairly select group of Alexander’s closest friends: Craterus, Hephaestion, Coenus and Perdiccas were usually the first choices, with Ptolemy, Leonnatus and Peithon used where more columns were employed. When Alexander entered India, Hephaestion and Perdiccas were sent ahead to the Indus with a large force comprising around half of the Macedonians and all of the mercenary infantry. One of the most important features of the changes in the command structure of the Macedonian army towards the end of Alexander’s reign was the increasing mobility of commands. Individual generals still kept their titles, but were expected to command entirely separate units as situations presented themselves. For example, in 327 three taxiarchs, Meleager, Attalus and Gorgias, were detached from their taxeis and were given the commands of a group of mercenary cavalry and infantry. They were then employed on diversionary movements along the river banks. Another example is that of Coenus, a taxiarch since 334, who was employed as a cavalry commander at the Hydaspes. This move towards an increasing mobility of command was for two main reasons, the first being military. As Alexander entered the next phase of the campaign after 331, he increasingly met with an enemy that operated on significantly different lines from that faced early in the campaign. He was also faced with fighting in a new theatre and in different conditions, all of which required the army to be considerably more flexible than it had previously been. There is surely a second, and in my opinion significantly more important factor at work here: namely politics. Alexander seems to have been becoming increasingly concerned about assigning large bodies of troops to a single commander indefinitely: there was for instance probably no overall commander of the heavy infantry, and the positions vacated by Parmenio and Philotas were never filled, the Companion Cavalry receiving co-commanders. Alexander increasingly detached individuals from their commands and gave them different assignments. He also employed new layers in the command structure and made promotions according to merit. These changes had a two-fold effect: the commanders became loyal primarily to him, since they owed their positions directly to the king’s favour; secondly, the focus of the army s loyalty was also the king, as their commanders often changed and their territorial origins slowly eroded. Alexander made himself the sole focus of every individual, whatever his rank, within the army. The Price of Parmenio’s Support Parmenio was probably the single most important political figure in Macedonia, apart from the king, during the reign of Philip; this is true of the early part of Alexander’s reign too. He, as well as various of his family members, was well entrenched at court and seems to have had political connections with both factions contending for the succession in the last years of Philip’s reign. Thus when Philip was assassinated, Parmenio was in a prime position to act as king-maker. He was in a position to offer the support of most of the lowland barons; this would leave Amyntas or any other potential rival with only the possibility of forming a coalition of the fringes of Macedonia and rebellious Greek cities. Parmenio was evidently a skilled political operator and knew well the strength of his position; Alexander was forced to pay a heavy price for Parmenio’s support, but in 336 he was in no position to argue. When the Macedonian army crossed the Hellespont into Asia almost every key command was held by one of Parmenio’s sons, brothers, or some other kinsman. We have already noted that two of Parmenio’s sons were commanders of the hypaspists (Nicanor) and the Companion Cavalry (Philotas), with Parmenio himself commanding the Thessalian cavalry and essentially being second in command of the whole army. Parmenio’s brother, Asander, probably commanded the light cavalry, and certainly received the satrapy of Sardis as soon as it was conquered. Parmenio’s supporters were also firmly entrenched in positions of power, men like the four sons of Andromenes and the brothers Coenus and Cleander. Many of the commanders of the army of invasion were little younger than Parmenio himself: when Justin tells us that headquarters looked ‘more like the senate of some old-time republic’ he is probably not exaggerating in his description, although it is a far from flattering one. The Macedonian army down to 330 was at its very core Philip’s; they were his veterans and his commanders. Philip’s influence was always present, and frequently felt by Alexander in the form of Parmenio. This was a situation which Alexander could not tolerate indefinitely. He allowed the command structure to remain relatively unchanged whilst his success was still in the balance, but after Gaugamela Alexander began to make serious and sweeping changes to the army, changes which were made considerably easier by the assassinations of both Philotas and Parmenio. Some authorities have argued that Alexander was plotting for the best part of six years to remove Parmenio’s grip on the army, and see the final execution of Parmenio and Philotas as being the culmination of this plotting; this seems unlikely to be true. Why would he, for example, have left Parmenio in Ecbatana with a considerable part of the army and his treasury if he did not trust his loyalty, or if he was about to act against him? Alexander, on the whole, seems to have been more impulsive and spontaneous than this theory would give him credit for: it is more likely that Alexander seized his opportunity without having engineered it. Alexander was gambling that the army loved him more than they loved the old general, and he was right. Although the Thessalian cavalry perhaps did not take it well, they were not a significant part of the army after this, and indeed were disbanded entirely soon after. Following the death of Parmenio, Alexander would never again allow large bodies of troops to be commanded by any one individual for any length of time. Dissention was met with ruthlessness; the army had at last become his and his alone. ‘Marines of the Guard’ One of the more unusual units in the French army was the Marins de la Garde. While we English speakers have a tendency to anglicize their title to “Marines of the Guard”, as most readers probably know, “marins” in French really means “sailors”, so these troops are more properly referred to as the Sailors of the Guard. Their history dates back to the Consulate. The original battalion was raised in September, 1803. It consisted of 5 equipages, each composed of composed of 125 matelots (another French word for sailors), 1 trumpeter, 15 craftsmen and NCOs, 5 ensigns and was commanded by a Naval Lieutenant. The entire battalion was commanded by a Naval Captain (capitaine de vaisseau). 120 men from the unit were part of Napoleon’s escort at his coronation in December, 1804. The Sailors proved very flexible. In Napoleon’s own words, as quoted in Infantry of the Imperial Guard by Haythornwaite, “What should we have done without them? As sailors they have no way deteriorated, and they have shown themselves the best of soldiers. When occasion required they proved equally valuable, whether as sailors, soldiers, artillerymen or engineers; there was no duty they could not undertake.” The corps d’élite of the new Imperial Army was, without the shadow of a doubt, the Imperial Guard. This celebrated formation evolved in a most haphazard and complicated fashion over the years, and here it will only be possible to mention the most important developments. Originally, it sprang from three sources—the personal escort (known as the Guides) of General Bonaparte commanded by Captain, later Marshal, Bessières, to which were added selected members of the Guards of the Directory and the Legislative Assembly. These three cadres were combined in late 1799 into the Consular Guard, and five years later underwent a final change of title in the year of the Emperor’s coronation. The Imperial Guard’s size grew enormously. At Marengo, the Consular Guard numbered only 2,089; by 1804 it had developed to comprise 5,000 grenadiers, 2,000 éite cavalry and 24 guns—or a total of some 8,000 soldiers in all; by mid-1805, this number had risen to over 12,000 men; no less than 56,169 Imperial Guardsmen were in service at the time of the Moscow campaign, but the all-time record was reached in 1814 when 112,482 soldiers could claim some type of membership of the Imperial Guard. Thus the corps d’élite developed from the size of a strong regiment to that of an army, but at the very end (“The Hundred Days”) it was down again to 25,870 soldiers. The Imperial Guard eventually comprised three distinct sections. The original nucleus was the “Old Guard,” a force that eventually comprised foot grenadiers (the archtypical grognards) chasseurs, mounted grenadiers à cheval (known as grosse-bottes), the chasseurs à cheval (the “favored children”), dragoons, lancers, Mamelukes, gendarmes d’élite, besides Marines of the Guard and detachments of gunners and sappers. Then in 1806 was formed the embryo of what became known as the Middle Guard, made up initially of two fusilier regiments to which were eventually added (1812-13) two regiments of flankers, raised from gamekeepers and woodsmen, one and all noted as crack shots. Lastly, in 1809 there was founded the Young Guard, which mainly comprised regiments of light infantry, voltigeurs and tirailleurs. This last-mentioned formation consisted of the pick of each annual conscript class, and was a deliberate attempt to throw a more glamorous light onto the hated duties of compulsory military service; it was noted, however, that the Young Guard never fully attained the standard of the senior Guard formations. The projected invasion of England brought about a new unit of the Consular (later Imperial) Guard on 17 September 1803: the Bataillon des matelots de la garde. They are nearly always called ‘Marines of the Guard’ in English, but the word matelot in French translates to ‘sailor’ in English. Calling them ‘Marines’ is understandable considering the very military appearance of these sailors, who wore shakos and were armed like elite soldiers. The battalion was 737 strong, divided into five crews. The unit soon marched away towards Ulm in 1805. In 1808 they were in Spain and many of the 300 present at Baylen were killed or wounded. Restructured and renamed Equipage des matelots de la Garde imperiale, and sent to the Danube in 1809, their strength was raised to 1,136 officers and men in 1810. They crossed the Niemen river into Russia in 1812, but only a third survived the terrible retreat. They then participated in the 1813 and 1814 campaigns. When disbanded on 30 June 1814, only 14 officers and 336 men were left. A small Equipage of 94, later 150, men was organised in the spring of 1815 but was disbanded after Waterloo on 15 August 1815. The French Army – Middle of Sixteenth Century The military establishment of 1552 needed to be ratcheted up by the demands of repeated campaigns. there are a number of sources which, while they do not always agree in detail, allow a general picture to emerge. These include the general army list drawn up after the German campaign, reproduced by Villars, two closely related lists of the army for the Metz campaign and estimates of the likely garrison of Piedmont. The Villars text is useful for its comprehensive survey of the entire kingdom outside Piedmont, though it lacks precise figures for the infantry. The army was thus listed as: first, the military household, then 1600 lances (notionally 4000 horse), 2940 light horse in 36 companies, 41 companies of `old French’ infantry (c. 12,300 men), 21 of new (6300), 7000 Swiss and four regiments of lansquenets, six companies of scots and one of English. The likely maximum for the infantry is 30,000. The garrisons of the kingdom itself included a further 400 lances, 290 light horse and 43 infantry companies (c. 12,000) with related formations. The garrison of Piedmont can be estimated at the same time 12-13,000 foot and five gendarmerie companies, though the infantry stood at 17,550 (16,000 effectives) in November 1554. The formations thus listed shifted around in the course of the campaign; the Swiss arrived late and were allocated to garrisons in France and Piedmont, as were the bulk of the light horse. the campaign lists for the army after the capture of Metz show around 36,000 men, to which the garrison resources of the kingdom should be added at 11,450 men. This seems to have been the maximum the crown could put together. A figure between 50 and 60,000 would therefore seem to be a good rough estimate for the entire military resources of the kingdom in 1552. the strength of the army for the royal campaign in Artois of August-September 1553 is known both from the detailed figures of Rabutin (9- 9,500 horse and 26-29,500 foot) and also from an official bulletin which suggests 12,000 horse and 30,000 foot. The official account almost certainly exaggerates the numbers of cavalry. In 1557, with one army in Picardy facing the Spanish Netherlands army, another was despatched to Italy, commanded by Guise. French forces were thus again seriously divided. the disasters and triumphs of the year provide a good insight into the weaknesses of the French military machine. Estimates of the army on the northern front are difficult but cannot have exceeded 20,000 foot (French and German) and 6000 horse. at all events, fewer were present at the battle of Saint-Quentin, when a maximum of 20,000 French faced over 40,000 Habsburg troops. The army of the duke of Guise in Italy consisted of 20 ensigns of French infantry (4000), 6000 Swiss (24 ensigns), 500 men-at-arms in 7 companies and 600 light horse in 4. Piedmont still needed at least a skeleton garrison of 10,000, though some Swiss troops were withdrawn after the battle. Re-equipping the army was vital. Infantry that in other times would not have been considered were recruited, while new armour and arquebusiers had to be rushed to the troops. Ten new gendarmerie companies were created. Guise brought back with him 1400 of his best arquebusiers, 9 French companies (1800) and 2 German and sent 10 more of French (2000) overland with the 6000 Swiss, the gendarmerie and light horse. He was therefore able to provide around 10,000 for the northern front and also to purge some of the inadequate troops taken on in the August crisis. However, there were now about 20,000 foreign troops on hand for whom there was little money to provide pay. Guise’s capacity to assemble a serious army for the siege of Calais was remarkable. a reliable source puts his army at 10,000 Swiss (in two regiments), 6000 lansquenets (2 regiments), an indeterminate number of French infantry (up to 10,000), 500 pistoliers and 500 men-at-arms, 3-400 light horse. An army of around 30,000 foot plus cavalry had been assembled by the end of December to replace that of 20,000 lost at Saint-Quentin. in the aftermath of the defeat of Saint-Quentin, secretary Fresne recorded, a large number of French infantry were raised ‘of whom, though men were employed who at other times would not have been accepted, need made them necessary.’ These then had to be fully equipped with armour and firearms. A company that was drafted to La Capelle early in 1558 was entirely without arms. Most observers agreed that the best French infantry of the old and new bands were the Gascons, observed in the Perpignan campaign of 1542 as ‘very fine.’ The reasons for this are still disputable and may be connected to social structures of the Pyrenees region and the frontier status of Gascony. In the crisis of 1557, when the estates of the little province of Comminges, near the Pyrenees, was called upon to find infantry, it certainly made an effective survey of the men with arms available, of whom there was a large number. The aventuriers, through the development of the ‘old bands’, had effectively evolved into regiments by the 1540s. The term `regiment’ was applied initially to the Germans in the 1530s but, by the 1540s, many French infantry of the `old bands’ were effectively organised as such. Thibault Rouault was colonel of ten companies in Picardy in the mid-1540s and in Piedmont Jean de Taix commanded a similar formation. When he moved to Picardy, Taix seems to have absorbed Rouault’s command. Coligny had eight ensigns under his command as `colonel’ in Picardy during his campaign against the English at Boulogne. These were soon known as the `Chatillon regiment’ and moved, first, to Piedmont in 1551 and then back to France for the German campaign in 1552. The model taken was the `old bands’ of infantry amalgamated into larger groups like the Italians and German landsknechts (lansquenets). The first clear use of the term `regiments’ for French formations is often thought to be by Monluc, writing of the manoeuvres in Picardy in August 1558. In traditional military history, the creation of `regiments’ (of Picardy, Guyenne etc.) took place the advice of the duke of Guise in 1562, though it is clear that such formations already existed. As for armament, France faced infantry armed with firearms at an early date. Louis XI’s francs-archers in Hainault met German `haquebutiers’ successfully in 1478 and it seems that in the 1470s a proportion of them were armed with spears, halberds and pikes; even some coulevriniers were expected. At Fornovo, the French infantry was covered by arquebusiers. Certainly, the Swiss in French service in Italy in 1500 were armed not only with pikes and halberds but also `hacquebutes.’Brantome, though he thought the French infantry was beginning to improve in the early 16th century, still took the view that at that time they were unwilling to adopt firearms and remained wedded to the crossbow. He thought that it was the shock of Pavia that led them to adopt firearms. The Parisian Nicolas Versoris reported that the defeat of Bayard’s army in Italy in 1524 `happened more as a result of the enemy’s firearms than anything else’ and French troops suffered greater casualties at Pavia in 1525 as a result of firearms. Yet it is clear that the crown was requiring the raising of companies of arquebusiers in the great cities by 1521. An Edict for Paris (March 1524) noted that, `considering … new war industries and inventions’, it was necessary to muster a company of 100 arquebusiers with the same privileges as the guard of archers and crossbow men, with the requirement to train once a week in order to inspire others to exercise. Firearms developed rapidly in French infantry formations from the 1520s, bow- men still being common in 1521, and Piedmont provided an important impetus. When Francis I issued an ordinance for the French and Italian infantry in 1537, he specified a maximum of one quarter of any company to be armed with guns, though it seems that this was more a measure of control for the Italian companies, which were notably dominated by firearms, at around 70%. By the 1540s French infantry companies were also very heavily reinforced by firearms. Piedmont was the area in which this happened earliest, since local regulations assumed that campaigning there required a preponderance of firearms in a company, sometimes 80-90 against 30 pikes. The vidame de Chartres claimed that he had led north- wards a force of arquebusiers from Piedmont in the aftermath of Saint-Quentin because, in his opinion, the main advantage the enemy had was in his Spanish arquebusiers, whereas pike-men could be raised easily in France and Germany. By the end of the 1550s, then, arquebusiers were as common in the north, where the typical proportion in a company equipped with firearms was now half-and- half. However, the ordinance of December 1553, specified that there should only be 58 arquebusiers in a company of 280 of the new bands and 97 in a company of 270 of the old bands, while the garrison companies were to be one third arquebusiers. There were some problems in that infantry had carefully to balance the offensive capability of firearms and the flexibility of pikes. If there were too many arquebusiers in a company, they were exposed to attack. In a formation, the arquebusiers had to retire behind the pike square while reloading. Infantry with firearms required greater training and discipline and was also more vulnerable to breakdowns in the supply of powder and shot. Fourquevaux naturally approved of the arquebus, though only in trained hands. His doubts were raised by what he thought was the desire of too many soldiers to be arquebusiers, either for higher pay or to fight at a distance. He thought that there should be fewer and better. The effect was often just noise, since sometimes for 10,000 shots not a single enemy was killed. He also had some regard for archers and crossbow-men, who, he thought, could serve well in bad weather, when arquebusiers were out of action. Unlike the earlier wars with France fought under Henry VIII and Edward VI, the war of 1557-1559 was not initially an Anglo-French conflict but a Franco-Spanish war in which England became involved as Spain’s ally. The English were reluctant combatants; Philip II of Spain, husband of Mary I, put pressure on the English government to join the conflict, but Mary’s council decided on war only after a series of French provocations. Although favorable to Spain, the outcome of the war was disastrous for England, which lost Calais, its only remaining continental possession. The French royal House of Valois and the Spanish royal House of Habsburg had been intermittently at war with each other since 1519. The hostilities that began in January 1557 between Henri II of France and Philip of Spain constituted only the latest phase of that struggle. Although joint ruler of England, Philip could not automatically take the realm into war. The marriage treaty that united Philip and Mary in 1554 limited Philip’s authority in England and denied him English military assistance unless the English queen and council agreed to provide it. Although popular with the English nobility, who sought profit and advancement through service to Philip, the war was highly unpopular in the country at large. The English commons, and especially the merchants of London, did not relish fighting or paying for a war begun to further Spanish interests. Philip, therefore, made little progress in persuading his wife’s kingdom to enter the conflict until a number of threatening French actions, culminating with Stafford’s Raid, an apparently French-backed descent on the English coast by a dissident Englishman, convinced the council of Henri’s hostile intentions. England declared war on France on 7 June 1557, and by late July an English force had joined Philip’s army at the siege of Saint-Quentin. On 10 August, the allies decisively defeated a French relieving force outside the town, which capitulated on 27 August. The English fought credibly, sustaining more than 200 casualties before returning home in November. The defeat at Saint-Quentin left Henri in need of a victory, which Francis, Duke of Guise, secured with a surprise attack that captured poorly defended Calais in January 1558. Having ignored warnings of Guise’s intentions, the Marian regime, already unpopular thanks to its policy of burning Protestant heretics, was further discredited by the fall of Calais. Although Philip won another victory at Gravelines in July 1558, the battle had little effect on the peace talks that had begun the previous May. The talks were stalled by the English demand for the restoration of Calais. However, the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth I in November released Philip from any obligation he felt to support English interests. As a result, Cateau-Cambrésis, which was concluded in April 1559, left Calais to France. Although bitterly disappointed, Elizabeth was forced by French hostility to remain on friendly terms with Philip. Cateau-Cambrésis is a town in northern France where a treaty was signed ending the last English foothold on the Continent. On 2 April 1559, Henry II of France (ruled 1547-1559) accepted terms that brought the Habsburg-Valois Wars to a close. After a truce in 1556, war had resumed in 1557 and subsequent successes helped determine the nature of the peace. The Spanish forces that invaded France from the Low Countries in 1557 won an important victory at Saint-Quentin (10 August 1557), when a relieving army for the besieged fortress was heavily defeated. In the battle, the Spaniards made effective use of their cavalry, especially of pistoleers, in which they outnumbered the French. Philip II of Spain (ruled 1556-1598) organized the campaign that led to this victory and followed it up by leading the successful storming of Arras. The following January, however, French forces bombarded Calais, England’s last foothold on mainland France, into surrender in a campaign characterized by bold French generalship: Mary Tudor, queen of England (ruled 1553-1558), was the wife of Philip II, and she had declared war on France in June 1557. The French pressed on to try to take Dunkirk by surprise attack, but they were defeated at Gravelines on 13 July 1558. The Spanish pistoleers again outnumbered their French counterparts; they both won the cavalry fight and hit the French pike, who were also affected by Spanish harquebus power. Aside from being defeated in battle, Henry II was also bankrupted by the heavy cost of the war and alarmed by the spread of Protestantism in France. The ability of the Spaniards to advance into France meant that Henry could not finance his army by ravaging the Spanish Netherlands. The Religious Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which Henry’s German allies had settled their differences with the Habsburgs, had also weakened Henry’s position. As a result, he accepted a treaty that left France bereft of what her monarchs had fought for since 1494. Spain was left in control of Milan, Naples, and Sicily, the key positions that established Spanish power in Italy, and that at a time when Italy was the center of the Christian world. In addition, the French had to yield their positions in Tuscany, which was now securely dominated by the Medici rulers of Florence, allies of Spain, while Savoy and Piedmont, which France had seized in 1536, were returned to Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, a Spanish client. The French, however, kept Calais, and this marked the end of the pursuit by English monarchs of territorial gains in France. French failure ensured that there was no reversal in the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis of the removal (by treaties in 1525 and 1529) of Artois and Flanders from the suzerainty of the French crown. This was the first major retreat of the French crown from the frontier originally designated in 843 when Charlemagne’s inheritance was lastingly divided. The frontier between the Valois and Habsburg territories in the Low Countries had become that between France and the empire. This settlement was not to be seriously challenged until the 1640s, in large part because of the weakness of the French monarchy after the death of Henry II following a jousting accident in 1559. This, indeed, ensures that Cateau-Cambrésis is well known, whereas earlier peaces between Philip II’s father, Charles V, and French monarchs, such as the Treaty of Madrid (14 January 1526), the Treaty of Cambrai (3 August 1529), and the Peace of Crépy (18 September 1544), are largely forgotten. However, had Henry lived, or been succeeded by another vigorous monarch, France would have tried to contest the settlement. Indeed, in 1572, Gaspar de Coligny, the Huguenot leader, sought to unite France behind a plan for intervening against the Spaniards in the Netherlands. This was preempted when Charles IX turned against the Huguenots, but the policy was to be resumed by Henry IV (ruled 1589-1610). Cateau-Cambrésis should therefore be seen as a stage, not a definitive settlement.
This year’s Supermoon is here! It’s been almost a year since the last supermoon graced the skies, but the next one arrives the tonight! A supermoon occurs when the moon is at its perigee in orbit, or its closest point to the earth. On the other end, the apogee is when the moon is farthest away. This supermoon will occur when the moon is about 252,000 miles away from the Earth and will appear 16% brighter and 7% larger. The best time to view the supermoon will be just after sunrise on December 4th. This is because of a phenomenon known as ‘moon illusion’ which is an optical illusion that makes the appear larger when it is closer to the horizon (and no, it won’t appear that way if you try to snap a photograph of it. It’s an optical illusion after all). If you somehow manage to miss this supermoon or forget about it, don’t worry: January has two supermoons! It’s common due to the elliptical orbit of the moon for supermoons to appear in groups. The second supermoon in January will also be a Blue Supermoon as it is the second full moon to appear in a calendar month.
What is hepatitis? You can have hepatitis without any symptoms. In fact, the older you are, the more likely you are to have symptoms – making babies and children the least likely to show signs of the disease. cartoon image of baby with thermometer in mouth What is hepatitis A? This form of the hepatitis virus is carried in stool and spreads easily from person to person. For example, your baby could contract hepatitis A by putting his hand in his mouth after touching something contaminated with the stool of someone who has the virus. How would I know if my baby had hepatitis A? In serious cases of infection, symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, dark-colored urine, and jaundice. These symptoms usually last from two weeks to two months, though they can persist longer. Most babies infected with the virus show no signs of illness, though. If you believe your baby may have been exposed to the virus, talk to his doctor. Is there any way to prevent hepatitis A infection? Diligently washing your hands with soap and warm water – especially after using the toilet, changing diapers, and before preparing food – helps prevent the spread of the disease. Wash your baby's hands, too. What happens if my baby's exposed to hepatitis A? If you think your baby might have been exposed to hepatitis A (because a family member or friend has the illness, for example), he should get an injection of immune globulin (a.k.a. gamma globulin), which contains antibodies against the virus – preferably within seven days of exposure, but the sooner the better. The protective effect of immune globulin lasts for several months. Your baby will still need to get the hepatitis A vaccine after he turns 1. What is hepatitis B? Ninety percent of babies under the age of 1 and 30 percent of children between the ages of 1 and 5 who are infected with hepatitis B develop chronic infections. By contrast, only 6 percent of infected adults develop the chronic form of the disease. What are the symptoms of hepatitis B? Most infected infants show no signs of illness, but symptoms of hepatitis B include fever, fatigue, vomiting, loss of appetite, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). If you had hepatitis B when you gave birth, your baby should have received both the hepatitis B vaccine and an injection of immune globulin, which contains antibodies against the virus. If that's the case, he should be tested when he's about 9 to 15 months old to make sure the vaccination was effective. Can hepatitis B be prevented? What is hepatitis C? A baby can get hepatitis C from his infected mother, but it's uncommon. Hepatitis C is hard to diagnose in a baby, and there's no vaccine for it. Show sources AAP. Undated. Immunization: Hepatitis B. American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.cispimmunize.org/aap/aap_main.html?http&&&www.cispimmunize.org/fam/hepb/fam_hep.html CDC. 2006. Recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedule — United States, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 54(52):Q1-Q4. Hepatitis Foundation International. Undated. Preventing hepatitis. http://www.hepfi.org/living/liv_preventing.html Immunization Action Coalition. Undated. Hepatitis A, B, and C: Learn the differences. http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4075abc.htm Mayo Clinic. Undated. Hepatitis A overview. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hepatitis-a/DS00397 Mayo Clinic. Undated. Hepatitis B overview. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hepatitis-b/DS00398 Mayo Clinic. Undated. Hepatitis C overview. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hepatitis-c/DS00097
Demyelinating disease From Biology-Online Dictionary \| Biology-Online Dictionary Jump to: navigation, search A disease characterized by the deterioration (and eventually to the removal or loss) of myelin sheath from the nerve fiber. The myelin sheath is normally found in the nerves of human nervous system, and is believed to be involved in saltatory conduction or the rapid conduction of action potential along the nerve fiber. If the myelin sheath is damaged, this results in the slowing down of the impulse conduction. Individuals suffering from this disease are expected to show impairment in sensation, movement, cognition, and other functions related to the affected nerves. Examples of demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system are: multiple sclerosis, transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, leukodystrophies, etc. Demyelinating diseases of the peripheral nervous system are Guillain-Barre syndrome, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, etc. See also: demyelination
How Many Calories Do You Need In A Day To Stay Healthy? The number of calories a person should consume in a day will depend on the level of physical activity and overall health. Read here to know how many calories you should be consuming in a day to stay healthy. You should not consume less than 1200 calories in a day 1. Your level of physical activity determines your calorie intake 2. Your overall health is also a determinant 3. A calorie-deficit diet for weight loss might not be good for your health Calorie-counting is considered to be one of the most effective ways for shedding extra kilos. On an average, a woman requires around 2000 calories in a day to maintain certain weight and 1500 calories per day to lose around half a kilo a week. Males on the other hand need around 2500 calories in a day to maintain weight and 2000 calories in a day to lose around half a kg in a week. A simple way to do this is by eating healthy and nutritious food and regular exercise including both cardio and strength training. How many calories do you need in a day for good health? Celebrity nutritionist Nmami Agarwal says that daily recommended intake of calories is going to be different from person to person. The number of calories a person should consume in a day will depend on the level of physical activity. It is different for males, females and kids. "Someone with a lifestyle which includes more physical activity than usual will require more calories in a day to stay fit and healthy. Going on a calorie-deficit diet for weight loss is not recommended as it cannot be sustained in the long run," she says while adding that it is not recommended that a person compromises on health in the name of weight loss. Also read: Bad Calories: All You Need To Know When going ahead with your daily intake of calories, your level of energy and your overall health needs to be given consideration. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, your daily calorie intake should never go below 1200. If it goes below this count, you will begin losing muscle mass and will starve of energy or fuel for doing your daily activities. Your daily recommended calorie intake is dependent on the level of physical activity Photo Credit: iStock Healthline reports that United States Department of Agriculture guidelines say children between ages 2 to 8 years need around 1,000 to 1,400 calories. Girls between 9 to 13 years of age need around 1,400 to 1,600 calories, boys of this age need 1,600 to 2,000 calories. A woman aged between 14 to 30 with an active lifestyle would need at least 2,400 calories, a sedentary woman belonging to the same age group needs nothing more than 1,800 to 2,000 calories. Active men aged between 14 to 30 need 2,800 to 3,200 calories while sedentary men of the same age group need 2,000 to 2,600 calories. Active men and women above 30 years need 2,000 to 3,000 calories while sedentary men and women above 30 years of age need 1,600 to 2,400 calories. Also read: Did You Know How Many Calories These Foods We Consume Daily Have? Eat a healthy and balanced diet A healthy balanced diet is one which gives your body enough nutrients to function correctly. Majority of your daily calories should come from eating fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes and lean proteins. You should include all kinds of seasonal fruits in your diet along with dark leafy green vegetables, seasonal vegetables, beans, lentils, almonds, peas, sunflower seeds and walnuts to name a few. Now, those who want to lose weight can do so by including more physical activity in your daily routine over and above exercising. This can be done by making small changes like walking to your walk, playing sports, doing some yoga, drinking lots of water, and focusing on calorie-burning cardio exercises in the gym. Make sure that the calories which you consume come only from healthy food sources and not from junk food or unhealthy deep fried food. Also read: 6 Exercises Which Burn Maximum Calories In Minimum Time NDTV Beeps - your daily newsletter
The Scientific What was the Scientific Revolution? The Scientific Revolution was when scientific thought changed in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. The Scientific Revolution started in the area of Astronomy, with things like the telescope aiding the research of astronomers. The geocentric theory most commonly accepted during this time stated that the Earth was a stationary sphere in the center of the universe with the Sun and moon as well as the other planets in orbit around them. This was a theory created by Ptolemy an esteemed Egyptian astronomer. This was widely accepted by everyone until Galileo came along. He challenged the theory with his own research which, in his search for truth challenged the teachings of the sacred and most common religion of the Catholic Church. His research became the heliocentric theory a theory which states that the sun is the center of the universe with all other planets revolving around it. Before Galileo there was Nicolaus Copernicus a Polish astronomer whose research greatly advantaged Galileo's. Astronomy however was not the only branch of science touched, Sir Isaac Newton proved that with his laws of motion. Some Important Scientists How the Change Impacted Their Society Though the changes made during the time of such esteemed scientists were positive they had some very negative results. During this time it was very unpopular to challenge the ideas of well respected scientists. Most of the scientists aforementioned were famous after their deaths. However this does not change the fact that these scientists were geniuses, and their lives work speaks for itself. Though the theories made by Galileo and Copernicus were accurate, a blind eye cannot see the light and in this time period if enough people thought it was true then to them it must have been true. People of this time were small minded, ignorant, and gullible yet stubborn once they believed something. In short, people of the Renaissance liked what was popular and being a fledgling scientists was not. Some Inventions During the Scientific Revolution The Renaissance The Renaissance: Was it a Thing? - Crash Course World History #22 How is the Change integrated in Modern Society The scientific revolution gave way to many complex and useful inventions and theories. The geocentric theory of this time period told of the placement of the planets which lead to the eventual space travels of today's time. If those scientists and astronomers hadn't challenged the ideas of their fellow scientists it is likely that the space travels aforementioned would have failed in and of the identification of said planets. the scientific method created around the time was and still is the basis of all scientific thought starting with the problem or question and progressing onward. Telescopes created around this time were improved and modified over time to fit the purposes of astronomers or even the everyday consumer so that using a telescope is easy. The advancements that were new in their day are now older yet respected models or bases to build on in the ares of medicine, astronomy, inventing, literature, math, and social studies. Newton's laws of motion and Galileo's heliocentric theory are a few of the scientific discoveries still used today. Though some things of this time period are no longer in use such as Ptolemy's theory (disproved by Copernicus' research), and Aristotle's placement of the planets, some things such as the barometer, and the printing press are still in use (though undoubtedly more complex and advanced by technology).
The Inspirational Edward Gallaudet September 6, 2018 Category: Submitted Posts By: Anonymous Edward Miner Gallaudet Edward Miner Gallaudet Clearly, I can’t choose a favorite, because every one of them are breath-taking! But the person I admire the most is Edward Miner Gallaudet. He continued his father’s legacy, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. In 1857, Amos Kendall established a deaf and blind school. When Edward was offered an opportunity to lead the school, he gladly accepted the invitation. With that, he became the first president of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf. Because of Abraham Lincoln’s governance, the first deaf college, Gallaudet College, was founded in 1864, April 8. Soon, Edward was a fighter for the importance of sign language. Speechreading holds appreciation, but he knew speech training is not perfect for everyone. Unfortunately, his life came into an end; his body is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. For my opinion, I think education is the strongest force to change something. So, when I discovered a deaf college was created, I believe that was the biggest forward step in education. No one should feel limited because their senses are not there with them. As a violinist, I can’t imagine myself how I will play if I’m deaf! Practicing music takes immense concentration and not able to hear can be strenuous. I deeply respect deaf musicians, composers, and singers. Another favorite, Ludwig van Beethoven, he was a deaf composer. Despite his loss of hearing, Ludwig pursued on creating music and became the greatest influences today. I’m assuming Michelle Jay is reading this, but you’re changing the world to learn how to sign! Eventually, your name will be engraved – wrote in history forever. You’re a remarkable author, writer, and teacher. (Also your whole entire team too!) Now, I’ll leave a quote: “Deafness, though it be total and congenital, imposes no limits on the intellectual development of its subjects, save in the single direction of the appreciation of acoustic phenomena.”—Edward Miner Gallaudet, 1869
They do it with mirrors 2019-03-07 11:07:02 By Peter Hadfield in Tokyo MIRROR balls—think John Travolta—have inspired an idea for improving the way computers communicate over a wireless office network. Local networks that use infrared beams run into problems when people walk into the beam and cut the link—a big problem in crowded offices. Channel-surfing couch potatoes have a similar problem when someone gets in the way of their TV remote control. The frustration could soon be over thanks to a device called a chaos mirror, invented at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) in Kyoto, Japan. This distant cousin of the mirror ball splits a narrow incoming beam into a widely spread array of reflected beams, vastly increasing the chances of the beam finding the intended receiver. Some infrared networks already use simple mirrors on the ceiling to reflect infrared network signals, but a single reflected beam may still miss its target. Others use specular reflection off the rough surface of the ceiling, but this absorbs energy and weakens the beam. The chaos mirror is different. It consists of a box enclosing seven highly reflective surfaces: three flat and four curved. As an infrared beam bounces around inside the box, it is split into many separate beams that emerge at a variety of angles. Researchers at ATR say that 80 per cent of the beams entering the box are reflected no more than 20 times and that 88 per cent of the incident energy is reflected. The performance of the chaos mirror is further improved by moving the incident beam in a narrow arc, so that its extended reflections cover an even wider area. Researchers say that by moving the beam in a 0.2-degree arc, a 50-centimetre-wide chaos mirror can achieve complete coverage of an office. ATR’s development comes as infrared networking systems are growing in capability. The computer industry’s Infrared Data Association (IrDA) is considering boosting the speed of infrared wireless networking systems to 16 megabits per second—four times the current speed possible for computer-to-computer infrared data transfers. But even these new 16-megabit-per-second systems will only be able to connect to computers—or peripherals such as printers—that are 1 metre away or less, at an angle of no more than 15° from the infrared transmitter. IrDA’s plan is to increase both the range and degree of coverage possible: one plan calls for reception equipment to be boosted to 180° coverage at a 10-metre range. It is in such wide-angle systems that the chaos mirror is most likely to be used. “But there are a number of other applications for this technology,” says Peter Davis, a senior researcher on the ATR laboratory team that developed the mirror. Industrial robots often need to scan an object with a laser beam in order to analyse what is in front of it—but currently they need motors to move the scanning mirrors that move the beam. “One chaos mirror could replace these,
Terracotta is a kind of earthenware which is generally used as a substitute for stone in the ornamental parts of buildings. It is made like clay products burnt at very high temperature; usually contains : 8 parts sifted dry clay, 3 parts crushed pottery, 2 parts white sand, I part ground glass. Porous terracotta is made by adding saw dust or ground cork, and is very light but weak structurally. It can be sawed and nailed very easily. Terracotta is vitrified on the surface and made into various colours and patrons. Hollow blocks are made for walling etc. It is fire-proof and is unaffected by the atmosphere and can be jointed with cement mortar. Please enter your comment! Please enter your name here
Point sources of pollution present a risk of groundwater and surface water contamination that can last for decades or longer. Soil Leach is a screening tool that identifies sites that are potentially susceptible to the leaching of pollutants to groundwater. It uses simple, rapid and robust methods to calculate pollutant concentrations at a receptor. The tool quantifies the amount of pollutant that can leach from a point source and the time frame associated with the leaching process. Soil Leach carries out a source-path-receptor analysis. The user enters the information on the source concentration, the soil characteristics, the pollutant involved and selects a relevant receptor. The receptors consist of groundwater or surface water bodies. Soil Leach then provides the pollutant concentration in the soil profile at selected times, and the concentration at the receptor as a function of time. This allows the user to make a more detailed assessment of the risk at the receptor and to define the urgency of a possible intervention. The software uses analytical solutions of the convection-dispersion equation to describe the process of leaching from the unsaturated zone and, if appropriate, the transport in the saturated zone. Attenuation processes such as sorption, dispersion, volatilisation and degradation are also taken into account. When operating the tool, the user is requested by different screens to input information on the site characteristics, the pollutant and the point source. A list of pollutants with relevant physico-chemical properties is available, but the user has the option of entering a new pollutant if necessary. The tool gives a conservative estimate of the concentration at a receptor. Mentioned in: 1 Publication • Joris, I., Seuntjens, P., Wilczek, D., Tirez, K., Bronders, J., Cornelis, C., Ceenaeme, J., Engels, R. A tiered approach for estimating the risk of solute leaching from the unsaturated zone. Consoil 2005, Bordeaux, France, p1086-1092, 2005 Tool Expert(s) Ingeborg Joris Ingeborg Joris Researcher, VITO + 32 14 33 55 11
Detail príspevku/publikácie Truths, Facts, and Liars Organon F, 2018, roč. 25, č. 2, s. 155-173. Jazyk: English Súbor na stiahnutie: PDF* BibTex EndNote Tagged EndNote XML RIS Štatistika dokumentu: Počet prístupov: 708 Počet prístupov dnes: 0 Naposledy zobrazené: 17.03.2019 - 12:20 Počet stiahnutí PDF: 154 A Moderate Anti-realist (MAR) approach to truth and meaning, built around the concept of knowability, will be introduced and argued for in this essay. Our starting point will be the two fundamental anti-realists principles that claim that neither truth nor meaning can outstrip knowability and our focus will be on the challenge of adequately formalizing these principles and incorporating them into a formal theory. Accordingly, I will introduce a MAR truth operator that is built on a distinction between being true and being factual. I will show then that this approach partitions propositions into eight classes, on the basis of their knowability. We will then ask the following question: Given the anti-realist principles, what kind of theory of propositional meaning can properly explain the meaninglessness of fully unknowable propositions? This question will lead us to the claim that the meaning/content of propositions should be identified not with the set of possible worlds in which the propositions are true/factual, but rather in which they are known. This modified approach will then be used to analyze both the Liar Paradox and the Strengthened Liar. To anticipate the conclusion of this essay, it will be shown that a MAR framework can render definite truth and factuality values to the Liar sentence and it will also confirm our intuition that such paradoxical sentences are devoid of proper meaning. Kľúčové slová Chuch-Fitch paradox, knowability, Liar Paradox, meaning, moderate anti-realism, truth
Pivot, Tilt, Swivel and Height ergonomic adjustments for monitors Monitor Ergonomics The Pivot, Tilt, Swivel and Height adjustments for monitors Ergonomics is a rather complex sounding word that describes something quite simple. It is the science of refining the design of products to optimize it for human use. In monitors, for example, manufacturers try to make such things as the angle of tilt of the screen adjustable so that users are able to make adjustments according to their specific tastes, preference and work conditions. Pivot, Tilt, Swivel and Height adjustment features The main ergonomic freedoms available in monitors are tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustment. These offer more comfort to the user along with the additional option of how to uses the monitor. 1. Tilt Tilt motion allows the display to vertically slop at prescribed angle forward of backward. 2. Swivel Swivel freedom in a monitor allow the display to turn freely around the stand in a horizontal direction. In certain monitor versions, this feature allows one to turn the display up to 180 degrees in either direction. This feature is not common in most monitors. You are likely to find it in monitors designed for gaming, video/ photo editing and design work. Seldom will you find it in the budget category. 3. Pivot Monitor pivot is an element on numerous screen models which expands the quantity of viewing alternatives available to you as a user. Monitor pivot refers to a monitor’s capacity to rotate the display, changing the aspect ratio from a wide screen format to a vertically slanted long configuration. Similar to the swivel motion, this feature is common in gaming monitors and high resolution monitors, often the preferred option for photo/ video editors and designers. 4. Height adjustment This feature allows the user to adjust the height of the display from the stand, thus achieving more comfort when using the monitor. See also: Edwin M
The World List of Natural Sites of Tourist Attraction From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lies on the border of the United States and Canada with the American Falls entirely on the United States' side, separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also on the United States' side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island. Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m. During peak daytime tourist hours, more than 168,000 m3 of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate. The falls are 27 km north-northwest of Buffalo, New York, and 121 km south-southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York. Niagara Falls was formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. Niagara Falls Niagara Falls Location: Canada / United States You May Also Like Banff National Park Parliament of Canada Notre-Dame Basilica Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal
Saturday, October 31, 2015 Kalinin K-7 Soviet Bomber Kalinin K-7 The Kalinin K-7 Giant Transport/Bomber (USRR 1933) was conceptualized by World War I aviator Konstantin Kalinin. It was a huge aircraft which has passed into aviation legend as an otherworldly concept. Kalinin K-7 Kalinin joined the Bolsheviks in 1917, so he was in good with the Soviets early on. He was both a pilot and a repair shop boss. Eventually, he began designing aircraft in 1925, and headed up his own design shop in Kharkov in 1926. He became a member of the CPSU in 1927. After working up some mundane designs little different than other transport planes of the era, he had a sudden flash of inspiration with the K-7. There were practical types in the Soviet bureaucracy who saw the plane as what it was, a humongous white elephant just waiting to be built. The idea lay dormant until 1929, when others saw the possibility of a propaganda coup. The Soviets were feeling a bit disrespected at the time, so Kalinin sweetened the deal by proposing it as the world's largest bomber. Kalinin K-7 The design was accepted, and work began in 1931 at Kalinin's design bureau plant in Kharkov. The entire Soviet airplane design staff was called in to help, primarily the Tupolev organization, and the first one was completed in 1933. The wingspan was 174 feet, which was equal to that of two DC-3s, which were still on the drawing board. Her length was 92 feet long, and she had the largest elliptical wing of all time. Most noticeable to the casual observer was that she had six engines pulling on the wing leading edge and one pushing at the rear - necessary because the engines were under-powered. It also had whole-metal welded construction with 3-spar wing, making it somewhat similar to a flying ship. Essentially, it became a flying wing, with minimal additional framework. Politics was at work throughout the project. Originally, BMW engines were planned, but these were switched to less-powerful Soviet engines. Pravda announced the aircraft by emphasizing that it had been completely made with Russian steel. Kalinin K-7 Apparently, two were completed, though I have difficulty pinning that down in the sources. One flew ten test flights of short duration, for a total of five flight hours. First flight was 21 August 1935, and the pilots noticed problems but got it up and down anyway. On 21 November 1935, the eleventh test flight was conducted as a time trial over the Kharkov airfield. As the plane approached the field, it suddenly dived at full speed and hit the runway at about a 40 degree angle. The plane hit the ground hard once, knocking off the landing gear, bounced, and came back down. It then caught on fire, and that was that. Fifteen of the twenty crew were killed, and the project, after much to-and-froing, eventually was shelved. But this wasn't the only colossal Soviet bomber of the decade, it was an era of thinking big - too big for the technology and aircraft design knowledge available at the time. Kalinin K-7 Cause of the crash was vibrations that began in the booms. It was a known problem caused by the seventh "pusher" engine, but the previous test pilots had been able to correct for it by tuning the engines just right. It is a common problem with configurations involving engines facing in different directions, but it was the dawn of large-scale aviation and this was a, as they put it, "learning experience." Several innovations worked, such as the twin-boom tail, and became staples of future successful planes. Other innovations, though, didn't - and you can have 100 successful innovations in a design and only one failure, and the plane will still crash. Kalinin K-7 A photo showing how crew could walk through the wings to service the engines. This was important, because - especially if the plane was carrying cargo - all of the under-powered engines were necessary. There was little margin for error, so if one engine went out, you better grab your toolbox. Reportedly, there was a full-scale wooden mock-up of the plane outside the factory, I'm not sure if this is it or not. Kalinin was condemned to be executed as an "enemy of the state" in 1938 during one of Stalin's purges. Sentence reportedly was carried out in 1940. He didn't win any friends at the top with this disaster. Crew: minimum 11, as many as 20 Capacity: 120 passengers in civilian configuration Length: 28 m (91 ft 10 in) Wingspan: 53 m (173 ft 11 in) Wing area: 454 m² (4,886.8 ft²) Empty weight: 24,400 kg (53,793 lb) Loaded weight: 38,000 kg (83,776 lb) Defensive armament: 12 gunner positions (8 20mm cannons and 8 7.62mm machine guns) Bomb load: varied, 9,900kg to 16,600kg (25,550 - 42,840lb) Military cargo: 112 fully equipped paratroopers, potentially one 8.4 ton (light) tank. Max speed: 140 mph Service ceiling: 13,123 ft Wing loading: 17 lb/ft² Power/mass: 0.06 hp/lb range: with external fuel tanks, 2,400km flight with 6,000kg bombs. There are a lot of phony images of the Kalinin K-7 floating about on the Internet. They usually are models, which can be seen by their clarity. Authentic shots are much rarer, but available. Kalinin K-7 1. Interesting plane, indeed. However, the 2nd photograph shows a German Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" transport aircraft, which has no connection at all to the Kalinin K-7. 2. Yes, you are 100% correct. I should have noticed that, because I already have an article on the 323 and it's one of my favorite planes. Oh well, thanks for pointing out my boneheadedness.
What is Positive Psychology? Julia Ruppert Uncategorised Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that uses scientific exploration to understand and enhance optimum human functioning. It focuses on the factors that enable both individuals and communities to thrive – such as positive emotions, strengths, creativity, flow, spirituality and wellbeing. Positive psychology evolved in response to mainstream psychology’s medical model that focused on the treatment of illness in clinical populations and the aim of returning clients to a functional baseline. In contrast, positive psychology recommended a proactive and wellness-modelled approach that could respond to the flourishing, fulfilment and positive growth interests of non-clinical populations. As such, positive psychology interventions (PPI) are currently defined as interventions that promote wellbeing in non-clinical populations. As research in positive psychology continues to expand, more and more empirically grounded PPIs are being developed and explored across a range of diverse disciplines. Examples include mindfulness meditation, gratitude and savouring activities, ‘best possible self’ and a range of strength, meaning and creative activity-based strategies. Individuals delivering positive psychology interventions will generally have key professional expertise in areas such as coaching, management consulting, training or psychology. These skills are combined with graduate-level training in applied positive psychology and research-based experience in designing, delivering and testing a range of targeted and bespoke positive psychology interventions. It is this wealth of practitioner background and stringent scientific training that creates the diversity, quality and creativity that underscore positive psychology’s foundations and the skills of our members.
Sons and Lovers Test \| Mid-Book Test - Medium Buy the Sons and Lovers Lesson Plans Name: _________________________ Period: ___________________ Multiple Choice Questions 1. Why doesn't Mrs. Morel accept an apology from Mr. Morel? (a) She doesn't accept apologies from anybody. (b) She wants him to feel bad about everything he's done. (c) She wants to get a divorce. (d) She knows he will behave badly again. 2. How old is Paul when Mrs. Morel gives birth to another child? (a) 9 months. (b) 12 months. (c) 18 months. (d) 24 months. 3. Where does Mr. Morel begin to spend more time to avoid Mrs. Morel? (a) Church. (b) A friend's house. (c) The bathroom. (d) The pub. 4. Where does William go when he is offered a job? (a) The United States of America. (b) Paris. (c) London. (d) A village. 5. What is Mr. Heaton's occupation? (a) Miner. (b) Minister. (c) Business owner. (d) Cook. Short Answer Questions 1. How many relationships has Paul had before Miriam? 2. What is the name of William's sister? 3. How many times do the Morels hear from William's fiance after he dies? 4. What are the names of the Morel parents? 5. From where does Mr. Morel steal money? Short Essay Questions 1. Why does Paul pick up his father's paychecks and pay some of the bills? 2. What happens in "Paul Launches into Life" that causes Mr. Morel to become physically hurt? 3. Describe the feelings that Paul and Miriam have for each other, and why in "Lad-and-Girl Love". 4. Why isn't Mrs. Morel happy at the beginning of the book? 5. Compare Paul and Mrs. Morel. 6. What causes Mr. and Mrs. Morel's relationship to recover slightly in "The Casting Off of Morel"? 7. Why doesn't Mrs. Morel get any help from her in-laws? 8. Why does Mrs. Morel dislike William's girlfriend, Lily? 9. Why don't Miriam's brothers think that she should learn algebra? 10. What are the similarities between Paul and Miriam? (see the answer keys) This section contains 692 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) Buy the Sons and Lovers Lesson Plans Sons and Lovers from BookRags. (c)2019 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved. Follow Us on Facebook
COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations) An Initiative to Delegitimize Fake News Slogan: CHECK IT and Save a Life! “Fake News” is not a new term. Many people have used it for years. But it is now seen as one of the greatest threats to democracy, free debate, social order, and peace. There is a worldwide concern over fake news/misinformation and the possibility that it can influence political, economic and social well-being and in some cases lead to violence. Perceived Legitimacy of the Printed Word and Broadcasted Images: Before the internet, it was much more expensive to distribute information, building up trust took years, and there were much simpler definitions of what constituted news and media and required regulation or self-regulation an essential professional norm. Hence most information received as a printed word through newspapers and magazines and as radio messages and television broadcasts had come to acquire a sanctity and legitimacy for people at large primarily due to the integrity and due diligence exercised by the broadcasters before making the material public. As a result, all printed word and broadcasted messages are perceived by most people as true, sacrosanct and to be accepted without doubt. However, in the 20th century, new forms of mass communication have allowed propaganda’s scale and persuasive power to grow, particularly during wartime and in fascist regimes. Further, the rise of social media has broken down many of the boundaries that prevented fake news from spreading in democracies. In particular, it has allowed anyone to create and disseminate information, especially those that have proven most adept at “gaming” how social networks operate. It is important to note that all fake news/misinformation being spread through different social media platforms illegitimately misuses the sanctity of the printed word and broadcasted messages embedded in the minds of people to spread and perpetuate itself. The Enormity of the Challenge: A study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published in Science, shows that fake/false news spreads significantly faster and wider than true news. Social media and instant-messaging services have become tools to spread false information. Since social media is an unregulated form of media and anyone and everyone can participate in publishing news, the possibility of the news being untrue are high, despite this, the news being circulated on social media still enjoys sanctity in the minds of general public which increases the risk of Fake News affecting the people and society in all the negative and damaging ways. Why is Fake News attractive? People share disinformation for a variety of reasons, some being as follows: 1. People prefer information that confirms their pre-existing attitudes (selective exposure) 2. People view information consistent with their pre-existing beliefs as more persuasive than dissonant information (confirmation bias) 3. People are inclined to accept information that pleases them (desirability bias) 4. People are inherently drawn to headlines that are sensational and cause an emotional rise 5. The false news is often splashier than the truth (although the real news has been plenty bizarre in recent years), and perceived as more novel. The truth is rarely diffused to more than 1000 people, the top 1% of false-news cascades routinely and is diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people. Some Appalling Statistics • It takes the truth about six times as long as the falsehood to reach 1500 people. • Falsehood is diffused significantly more broadly and is broadcasted by more unique users than the truth at every cascade depth. • The false political news is also diffused deeper more quickly and reaches more than 20,000 people nearly three times faster than all other types of false news reaching 10,000 people. To sensitize and educate people to delink the perceived legitimacy of all printed word and broadcasted messages and properly verify the veracity before accepting and more importantly sharing it with others, especially on social media platforms. There are many groups in India and abroad that are dedicated to tracking and exposing fake news. The techniques used by them and the detailed manner in which the fabrications and photoshopped images and manipulated videos are exposed can very well enable the human mind to delink the acquired legitimacy of the printed word and broadcasted messages. What is needed is bringing into the public domain the very large treasure trove of fake news already exposed by these groups so people begin to internalize the reality of fake news, understand the social harm and violence it can generate and think before they share anything. SMHoax Slayer alone has exposed over 12,000 fake news posts but very little of it finds its way into the general public domain. So what is required is regular and consistent exposure of all that is identified and shown as fake news through different mainstream and social media platforms till people begin to understand and delink legitimacy from the printed word and broadcasted messages and come to use their own considered discretion and due diligence before accepting the veracity of any information and a cautious attitude when it comes to sharing. This may take two to three years even to make a beginning and over time this could enable responsible engagement of people with social media. Second, the fake news is addressed and exposed after it has caused some harm including instigation of violence. So what is required is a proactive approach where social media is closely monitored to sniff out any fake news that starts to circulate and is exposed and the truth propagated before it can cause any harm and lead to violence. The window available may be just a few hours or at most a day or two before the damage is done and hence the electric response mechanism is required. One possibility could be a collaboration of the CHECK IT Group with the police department who also monitor social media and can be alerted for any possible social discord or violence that could start as a result of the circulation of some fake news. Finally, the police can play a critical role in changing the sharing behavior of people by taking action against all those responsible for circulating any fake news. Adequate laws are already in place and some more strengthening may be achieved through advocacy. If some people are punished for spreading fake news, most would take care and the menace of fake news could be addressed to a large extent. 1. CHECK IT Team 2. Fake News Buster Groups like AltNews, SMHoaxSlayer, and others. COVA is already in touch with some of them to come on board and partner with the Project. 3. Newspapers and TV Channels: leading national and local newspapers and TV channels have agreed to the proposal of COVA to carry daily / regular items on fake news exposures- both past and current. 4. Religious Leaders: COVA has an Interfaith Forum comprising of leaders of different faiths. All have agreed to speak about the CHECK IT Program and Fake News in their weekly sermons in Satsangs, Mosques, and Churches etc. and also display posters on the topic in their places of worship. 5. Enlistment of Youth and Groups active on social media platforms to propagate information about Fake News and constantly caution people about its social costs and violent outcomes. 6. Collaboration with schools and colleges to sensitize students to the phenomenon and its dangers 7. The Police department for collaboration in monitoring onset of Fake News items and bringing the instigators to book 8. Lawyers, social media experts, and legislators to re look and frame appropriate laws to deal with the menace. 1. Proactive Tracking and exposure of Fake News 2. Enabling people to share/forward any news/material they receive to a dedicated WhatsApp number or an email Id managed by the CHECK IT Team to get its veracity checked. 3. Extensive propagation of the exposures through mainstream and social media platforms. 4. Propagation through religious groups and education institutions 5. Liaison with the Police. 6. Collaboration with lawyers and legislators for formulating/strengthening appropriate laws. 7. Training of people from Telugu and subsequently other regional languages to identify and expose Fake News in their languages. 1. Proactive identification of Fake News Material coming into circulation 2. Exposure to Fake News Items 3. Extensive propagation of Fake News Items 4. Decrease in the indiscriminate forwards by people 5. Prevention of possible violence The nature of engagement of people with social media changes to make them responsible users and check discord and violence that could be spread in society through the medium of social media. APPLY NOW to learn ‘Decoding Fake News’ in COVA’s CHECK IT TechCamp- Partner to Secure Cyber Space for Peace. Please click the link below to apply: Also, please click the link below to show your knowledge of social media: Prepared by: Dr. Mazher Hussain Executive Director Email: mazher@covanetwork.org and covanetwork@gmail.com Report of #CHECKIT TechCamps’ 2018 Hyderabad & Mahbubnagar Theme: Enabling Youth to Recognise and Counter Fake News Download (PDF, 2.08MB) Fake News Decoders In India ALTNews: https://www.altnews.in/ Founder- Pratik Sinha (pratik@altnews.in) Email Id- contact@altnews.in Facebook Page- Alt News Twitter handle- @AltNews BOOM LIVE: https://www.boomlive.in/ Founder- Govindraj Ethiraj (govindraj@boomlive.in) Managing Editor: Jency Jacob (jency@boomlive.in) (karen@boomlive.in) Facebook Page- @BOOMFactCheck Twitter handle- @boomlive_in Contact Number- 7700906111 Fact Checker: http://factchecker.in/ Founder- GovindrajEthiraj (govindraj@indiaspend.org) Email Id- research@indiaspend.org Facebook Page- @FactCheckerIndia Twitter handle- @factcheckindia Contact Number- +912266505867 S M Hoax Slayer: http://smhoaxslayer.com/ Email Id- smhoaxslayer@gmail.com Facebook Page- @SMHoaxSlayer Twitter handle- @SMHoaxSlayer Check4Spam: https://check4spam.com/ Email Id- message@shammas.in Facebook Page- @Check4Spam Twitter handle- @check4spam Contact Number- 9035067726 HOAX or FACT: https://www.hoaxorfact.com/ Email Id- siddhartha@raavigroup.com Twitter Handle: @HoaxorFact Contact Number- 8019957765 Facebook Page- @HoaxorFact THE QUINT: https://www.thequint.com/ Email Idjaskirat.bawa@thequint.com Facebook Page- @quintillion Twitter handle- @TheQuint Contact Number- 9910375355 Content will be uploaded soon. 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CSS :: Earth @ : Home > Geography > Earth 1. The seasonal contrasts are maximum in: A. Low latitude B. Mid latitude C. Sub tropic D. High latitude 2. What percentage of insolation is received by the earth surface? A. 47% B. 51% C. 60% D. 70% 3. What is the maximum length of a day on the poles? A. 6 months B. One year C. 8 months D. 2 years 4. Seasons on earth are caused by: A. Revolution of earth round the sun and its axis tilted at 66 B. Rotation on earth round its axis C. All places of earth have equal temperature D. None of these 5. The earth rotatesaround its axis from: A. North to South B. East to west C. West to East D. North to East 6. The inclination of the earth's axis to the orbital plane is: A. 21 B. 23 C. 66 D. 90" 7. The mean radius of the earth is approximately: A. 3000 kms B. 400 kms C. 6400 kms D. 7000 kms 8. Vernal equinox falls on: A. 21st Mar B. 21st June C. 25th April D. 20th December 9. The fixed path along which the earth revolves round the sun is called: A. The clestial sphere B. The earth's orbit C. The ecliptic Plane D. The ecliptic path 10. The world used to describe the shape of earth is: A. Flat B. Circle C. Oblate spheres D. Sphere Contact us:
• Join over 1.2 million students every month • Accelerate your learning by 29% • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month 1. 1 2. 2 3. 3 4. 4 5. 5 6. 6 7. 7 8. 8 9. 9 10. 10 11. 11 12. 12 13. 13 14. 14 15. 15 16. 16 17. 17 18. 18 19. 19 20. 20 21. 21 22. 22 23. 23 24. 24 25. 25 26. 26 27. 27 28. 28 29. 29 30. 30 31. 31 32. 32 33. 33 34. 34 35. 35 36. 36 37. 37 38. 38 39. 39 40. 40 41. 41 42. 42 43. 43 44. 44 45. 45 46. 46 47. 47 48. 48 49. 49 50. 50 51. 51 52. 52 53. 53 54. 54 55. 55 56. 56 Human biology short notes Extracts from this document... Name of organelle Structure Function Cell membrane Composed of mainly proteins and lipids Forms the outer boundary of the cell Partially permeable (Selective)- has special pores Controls the transfer of substances into and out of the cell Prevents cell contents from escaping or mixing with the neighboring cells medium Cytoplasm Structure less, semi- fluid, jelly like substance Provides a medium for chemical reactions Suspends organelles within the cell Nucleus Spherical body Contains a nucleolus Neucleoplasm suspends chromatin Nuclear membrane contain special pores Controls cellular activities Contains chromosomes responsible for cell division Plastids Chloroplast (Only in Plant Cells) Colourless plastids contain starch (used as a food store) Plastids which contain a green pigment- chlorophyll are called chloroplast Chlorophyll present absorbs the energy from the sunlight and uses it for photosynthesis in plants Cell wall (Only in Plant Cells) Made up of mainly cellulose Forms the outer boundary of the plant cell Not selective Non-living Keeps the rigid structure of the cell Since it is not selective allows any dissolved substances to pass through Mitochondria Doubled membrane- inner membrane is highly folded to increase the surface area Responsible for generating energy for cellular activities Aerobic respiration takes place inside Produce a short term source of energy -ATP Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) Forms a network of inter connected membranes within the cytoplasm Rough ER-have ribosomes Smooth ER- do not have ribosomes attached to their membrane Carries commands from the nucleus to different parts of the cell Helps in the movement of substances within the cell Plays an important role in protein synthesis Ribosomes Produced by the nucleolus Contains two ribosomal units (big one and a small one) Some are attached to ER forming Rough ER Responsible for protein synthesis Receives RNA commands from the nucleus to make proteins Gogli apparatus Elongated sacs Near site to the nucleus Gathers and assembles substances for making cellular structures (Example: cell membrane) ...read more. Location of Cell Body- Situated in the Grey Matter of the CNS Synapse Synapse is the gap between two neurones * Electrical impulse arrives at the end of the neurone * Stimulates the release of neurotransmitter substance (chemical) * Chemical crosses the gap to the second neurone by diffusion * Enzyme is released to destroy the chemical in the synapse Reflex Action * Reflex action is a rapid involuntary response to a stimulus * Does not involve the Brain * Has a protective function Reflex Arc Is the nervous path way provided for a reflex action Advantages of Reflex Action * Sharp object/heat causes limb to be pulled away * Automatic response * No thought involved * Brain does not receive impulse of action * Prevents skin from further damage Spinal Cord * Spinal cord is the main part of the CNS which is involved with reflex actions * Spinal cord is divides into two main roots o Dorsal Root- Sensory Neurones enter the spinal cord o Ventral Root- Motor Neurones leave the spinal cord * Most cell bodies are concentrated in the Grey Matter * Most nerve fibres are concentrated in the White Matter The Brain * The Brain expanded part of the spinal cord * Parts of the brain and their functions o Medulla-controls involuntary actions such as breathing and heart rate o Cerebellum- Maintains the balance of the body o Cerebrum- Deals with acquired skills, memory, intelligence, consciousness, reasoning ability * The cerebrum consists of two cerebral hemispheres which act as the main command centre of the body o Hypothalamus-has receptors which detects changes in the blood as it flows through the brain When the head is jerked backwards violently * A break occurs in the spinal cord * The nerve path way between the brain and the body is severed * No feeling below the break * And the brain no longer has control of muscles below the break Endocrine System * The Endocrine system depends on the action ...read more. Sprinkler/Trickling filter/Pre Colating * Liquid drips on pebbles (clinker) * Oxygen collects and airates the tank * Pebbles are coated with slime from bacteria and other microbes which are anaerobic * They feed organic materials in sewage * As a result heat is produced which kills pathogens in liquid effluent and makes it safe Purification of Water 1. Grids/strainer remove large objects 2. Water is sent at slow rate through the inlet 3. Slow Sand Filter * Bacteria fungi and other microorganisms reproduce and a jelly which is supported by the sand * A food chain forms and the microorganisms in the water competes with the bacteria from the jelly as the water passes OR 3. Rapid Sand Filter * Alum is added to coagulate as it forms a thin jelly which traps various kinds of particles * The water and the jelly are passed under pressure through large tank * The sand supports the jelly while the water passes rapidly through Chlorination * When bubbled through water forms a weak acid * Which inhibits the growth of microorganisms * And kills microorganisms already present * Water is then kept in large enclosed reservoirs so that no more organisms can enter * Delivered via closed pipes to taps Pit Latrine * Pit must be dug to allow build up during decay * The pit is lined with concrete to prevents seepage and entry by burrowing animals (Example: - Rats) * The floor is made out of concrete this allows hygienic cleaning * Cover for the pit, the cover prevents flies from landing on sewage and prevents smell from escaping * Mesh cover the pit to prevent files from entering to reduce the spread of pathogens Why it is important to consider the location of a pit latrine ? The pit latrine must be situated away from uphill water supply and sited away from houses To reduce flies and other vectors transporting pathogens which might cause diseases to the house Must be built at a distance from the house due to the bad smell ?? ?? ?? ?? Page 1 ...read more. The above preview is unformatted text Found what you're looking for? • Start learning 29% faster today • 150,000+ documents available • Just £6.99 a month Not the one? Search for your essay title... • Join over 1.2 million students every month • Accelerate your learning by 29% • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month See related essaysSee related essays Related GCSE Humans as Organisms essays 1. Marked by a teacher Biology Revision notes - Human Biology 5 star(s) Female anopheles mosquito bites, injecting saliva and plasmodium 2. Reaches the liver and multiplies inside 3. Released into blood stream where they multiply and burst red blood cells 4. Travels in the blood stream, reaching every organ and slowly shutting them down 5. Another non-infected mosquito can now bite and collect the plasmodium, and pass it on to someone else. 2. Marked by a teacher Biology notes 5 star(s) * If there is a higher solute concentration on one side of a membrane, water will move in that direction. Osmosis in animal cells: If animal cells are placed in a solution that has a higher solute concentration than the cytoplasm, then water will leave the cell by osmosis, until it shrinks and dies. 1. Marked by a teacher Should the MMR vaccination be made compulsory in the UK? 5 star(s) is vaccinated that even those who have not been given the vaccine are protected by the fact that diseases cannot spread. As no vaccine is fully effective, it is inevitable that some people will not become immune against the disease. 2. Marked by a teacher The effect of different sugar substrates on the rate of yeast respiration 4 star(s) Volume of gas produced (cm�) Volume of gas produced (cm�) Volume of gas produced (cm�) Volume of gas produced (cm�) 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 120 0 0 0 0 0 0 150 0 0 0 0 0 0 On the other hand if there is a lot of water in the blood, for example after having a drink, the receptors in the blood will not be stimulated as much, less ADH will be produced, less water will be reabsorbed into the blood and more will pass into the urine. One problem is that ethanol is poisonous in large amounts. If the concentration of ethanol gets more than 14% it kills the yeast and respiration stops. Thus, if the experiment was carried out in anaerobic conditions the experiment couldn't be carried out for too long. The major function of the capillaries is to promote exchange of nutrients and metabolic end products between the blood and the interstitial tissues. Such exchanges are facilitated by the presence of specialized junctions, gaps or fenestrations, which increase surface area. 2. The thyroid gland. When the body requires thyroid hormones, the thyroglobulin is broken down to produce the hormones which are secreted into the bloodstream. The thyroid gland is controlled by the pituitary gland in the brain. The pituitary gland affects the thyroid gland by producing a hormone called thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) • Over 160,000 pieces of student written work • Annotated by experienced teachers • Ideas and feedback to improve your own work
Home > News > Content Circuit Breaker Many Protection Devices Aug 10, 2017 The circuit breaker is a switch device which can close, load and break the current under normal circuit condition, and can be closed, carrying and breaking the abnormal circuit condition (including short-circuit condition) under the specified time. Circuit breaker can be used to allocate electric energy, do not start asynchronous motors frequently, power lines and motors, such as protection, when they occur serious overload or short-circuit and undervoltage failure can automatically cut off the circuit, its function is equivalent to the fuse switch and the combination of thermal relays and so on. And after breaking the fault current generally does not need to change the spare part. At present, it has been widely used. The circuit breaker is composed of a contact system, an arc extinguishing system, an operating mechanism, a tripping device and a shell. The circuit breaker is divided into miniature circuit breaker, plastic case circuit breaker and frame type circuit breaker according to its construction. The role of Circuit breaker Cut and connect the load circuit, and cut off the fault circuit, to prevent the accident from expanding, to ensure safe operation. and High-voltage circuit breakers to open 1500V, electric current 1500-2000a arc, these arcs can be stretched to 2m still continue to burn not extinguished. Therefore, Arc interrupter is a problem that must be solved by high voltage circuit breaker. Low-voltage circuit breakers, also known as automatic air switches, can be used to connect and break load circuits, and to control motor motors that do not start frequently. It functions as a knife switch, over relay, lost voltage relays, thermal relays and leakage protector, such as electrical parts or all of the total function, is a low-voltage distribution network, an important protection of electrical appliances. Low voltage circuit Breaker has many kinds of protection functions (overload, short circuit, undervoltage protection, etc.), adjustable action value, high breaking ability, convenient operation and safety, so it is widely used. Structure and working principle the low-voltage circuit breaker consists of operating mechanism, contact point, protection device (various kinds of tripping device), arc extinguishing system and so on. The main contact point of the Low-voltage circuit breaker is operated by manual or electric switch. After the main contact is closed, the free tripping mechanism locks the main contact point on the closing position. The coil of the overcurrent tripping device and the heat-tripping device are in series with the main circuit, and the coil and power of the undervoltage tripping device are connected in parallel. When the circuit is short circuit or serious overload, the overcurrent tripping device, so that the free tripping mechanism action, the main contact disconnect the main circuit. When the circuit is overloaded, the heat of the hot-tripping device heats the bimetal sheet to bend, pushing the free tripping mechanism. When the circuit is under voltage, the armature of the Undervoltage release device is released. Also allows free tripping mechanism action. The shunt is used as a long-distance control, in the normal work, its coil is power off, in need of distance control, press the Start button, so that the coil power, the armature drive free tripping mechanism action, so that the main contact is broken. Now has the electronic type, uses the transformer to collect each phase current size, compared with the setting value, when the current abnormality microprocessor sends the signal, causes the electronic tripping device to drive the operation mechanism movement. 1. The air switch is the air circuit breaker, which is opposite to the molded-shell circuit breaker, its role in the circuit is to connect, break and load rated working current and short-circuit, overload and other fault current, and can be overloaded in the line and load, short circuit, undervoltage and other problems, quickly divided off the road, the circuit for reliable protection. 2. Plastic case circuit breaker can automatically cut off the current, in general, when the current exceeds the set, it will automatically trigger protection. Plastic shells Here are used to use plastic insulators as housings for isolating conductors and grounding metal parts. The plastic case circuit breaker usually contains a thermal-magnetic stripping unit, while a large-type molded-case circuit breaker will be equipped with a solid-state stripping sensor. Simply put, the circuit breaker is a switching device that can be simply imagined as a light switch. But the circuit breaker switch is much more complicated than the light switch, which contains many protective devices.
Definitions of appropriation 1. money set aside (as by a legislature) for a specific purpose Scrapingweb Dictionary DB 2. a deliberate act of acquisition Scrapingweb Dictionary DB 4. Anything, especially money, thus set apart. Webster Dictionary DB 5. The application of payment of money by a debtor to his creditor, to one of several debts which are due from the former to the latter. Webster Dictionary DB 6. The act of setting apart for a special use, or of taking to one self; anything set apart for a special purpose. The Winston Simplified Dictionary. By William Dodge Lewis, Edgar Arthur Singer. Published 1919. 7. The act of appropriating: application to a particular purpose. The american dictionary of the english language. By Daniel Lyons. Published 1899. 8. Assignment to a particular use, or to one's self. The Clarendon dictionary. By William Hand Browne, Samuel Stehman Haldeman. Published 1894. 9. An appropriating or something appropriated. The Concise Standard Dictionary of the English Language. By James Champlin Fernald. Published 1919. 10. The act of appropriating to one's own use or to some special purpose; the sequestering of a benefice to the perpetual use of a spiritual corporation. Nuttall's Standard dictionary of the English language. By Nuttall, P.Austin. Published 1914. 11. The act of setting apart for a particular use or purpose. Etymological and pronouncing dictionary of the English language. By Stormonth, James, Phelp, P. H. Published 1874. Usage examples for appropriation 1. " All in favor of the appropriation for the psychologist raise your left hand," the chairman requested. – The Man Who Staked the Stars by Charles Dye 2. Besides, Anselm saw that the lands would never be restored once an Archbishop confirmed their appropriation by the King's military tenants. – The Rise of the Democracy by Joseph Clayton
tomorrow'snews today! and info... Squealing - definition of squealing by The Free Dictionary Squeal \| Definition of Squeal by Merriam-Webster Recent Examples on the Web: Verb. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal. . . — Larry Blumenfeld, WSJ, "‘Playing Changes’ Review: No Longer Wrestling With Ghosts," 16 Aug. 2018 There is no dialogue during the chase, just engines revving, tires squealing and thumps when the cars bottom out on hilly streets. ... Squealing - Idioms by The Free Dictionary squeal like a stuck pig To make a loud, shrill squealing sound, typically out of pain. I'm a little embarrassed to say that whenever I get a shot, I squeal like a stuck pig. See also: like, pig, squeal, stuck squeal on (one) To inform a figure of authority about someone else's crime, wrongdoing, or transgression. I'm afraid the mafia will make a hit on ... Squeal \| Define Squeal at Contemporary Examples. of squeal. Even with all the money in the bank, most Hollywood stars and executives are loathe to squeal to protect their own hide. What does squealing mean? definition, meaning and ... Dictionary entry overview: What does squealing mean? • SQUEALING (adjective) The adjective SQUEALING has 1 sense:. 1. having or making a high-pitched sound such as that made by a mouse or a rusty hinge Familiarity information: SQUEALING used as an adjective is very rare. Squeal Synonyms, Squeal Antonyms - Merriam-Webster 3 to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely . hoped that a DVD player in the backseat would keep the kids from squealing about long car rides Squealing synonyms, squealing antonyms - The sounds we heard were the squealing of thoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with the occasional clank of arms which announced the approach of a body of warriors. Squealing dictionary definition \| squealing defined I did hear something squealing in the garden.; Three guards surrounded Rissa, whose writhing, squealing horse was as much of a menace to her as the attackers flooding from the forest. You would be amused to see me hold a squealing pig in my arms, while Helen feels it all over, and asks countless questions--questions not easy to answer either.; She twisted it, almost squealing when it gave.
Method of Analysis The healthcare field has become increasing cultural diversity as the world becomes smaller with continues significant influx of a diverse populations into our communities.Learning to handle feeling of prejudices and discrimination need to be address, helping people with language and religious barriers and provide healthcare education, which is a major factor in recovery and follow-up care Potential misunderstanding, deeply rooted attitudes can manifested unconscious behaviors can impair a person’s performance on the job or patient treatment. This paper bought to mind an article, Cultural Consideration for Haitian Patients, which I found in NurseWeek magazine (Etienne & Paviovich, 2010, p. 44).Theoretical Basis for Nursing, also speaks of the shift occurring in United States population demographics which is resulting in the concept of culture and the increase of cultural diversity (McEwen & Willis, 2011, p. 264). This article shows the real and perceived conflicts of interest that relates to care when they came to the United States for treatments and their reason for their care decisions. Summary of Article The article spoke of two Haitian immigrants of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the United States coming to the United States for medical care.Geographical, cultural and ethnic factors influence the belief, values and practices of Haitian culture. Haitians beliefs focus on spirituality, care for close and extended family and divine predestination. The culture believes in “Good Health” and there is limited preventive care and silence in regards visible disease and disability (Etienne & Paviovich, 2010, p. 44). Haitians speak Haitian Creole and French. In Haiti, a wide gap exists between upper and lower class, and the middle class is small. The tone of the voice reflects strong emotion, can be loud and with hand gestures even if a person is not upset.Direct eye contact is expected among social equal but avoid in higher socioeconomic or people in authority. Uneducated Haitians are unwilling to expose their lack of knowledge to Americans so they may seem timid or uninterested in their care. This culture does not deal in the future; their life is based at the present and what happen in the past and would feel that healthcare screening unnecessary in the absence of any problem. Haitian is family oriented. Haitian has two main religions, which are Catholic and Voodoo. Voodoo is a fatalistic religion.It has two types of practitioners; white magic and black magic. Religions activity helps Haitian maintain their cultural identity while integrating in the United States way of life. All these characteristic need to be taken into consideration when providing their care. Application to Practice Cultural interpretations of the value of abandoning natal beliefs in favor of more dominant customs can be life altering. The Western biomedicine tends to dismiss non- Western approaches to healing but we need to learn how to co-exist within the two belief systems (Barker, 2009, p. 94). By our continuing education in the healthcare, we will be able to use our insight into understanding one’s own cultural healthcare beliefs and values. An advance degree nurse can develop and expand their cultural knowledge base by accessing information offered through a variety of sources, including journal articles, textbook, and seminars, workshop presentations, internet resources, and university courses. Nurses learn to directly engage in cross-cultural interactions with patient from culturally diverse background.Prior to 1970, people came to the United States; people acculturate or assimilate into United State society so they could fit in. After l970, the immigrant’s trend changed to one of maintaining their own unique cultural practices and traditions. The increasing diverse is offering new challenges to the nurses. (Flowers, 2004, p. 48) The educator needs to help develop cultural competence nursing care. Haitian healthcare is traditional and is found in five different forms; herbalists, Voodoo practitioners, midwives, bone setters and injectionists.These traditional healers can make it difficult to accept Western health practices. When Haitian receives Western care they are very verbal on pain but if it is being done by their own traditional healers they are very quiet. Death is returning to the creator in the afterlife and the Haitian wants to be with family when death is near. Haitian also faces the same healthcare barriers as other immigrants such as language, documentation status and insurance issue. (Barker, 2009, p. 494) Haitian culture believes the power of a spirit that rides or possesses a believer will explain changes in personality.Healthcare is very expensive and luxury in Haiti so Haitian feels any healthcare done in clinic or is free is inferior. This reasoning can complicate care and our teaching Conclusion Communication is very important in this type of culture that based on spiritual practices. We need to make sure our perceived ideas of what the patient needs against the traditional healer and the immigration status can make a different in the Haitian care. We need to develop respectful and sensitive ways to encourage positive care for this culture. Deportation fears prompt people not to accept care.Educator needs to be creative and perceptive and the need for interpreter’s other then family member because of taboo subject. The Haitian will not question caregiver because they fear looking bad and having lack of knowledge. A nurse may need to use pictures, pantomime and demonstrate to teach self-care measure, and return demonstration to obtain the Haitian understanding. By treating and focusing on positive health practices and finding respectful and sensitive ways to encourage routine screening and reduce risk factors, nurses promote wellness among Haitian patients.References Barker, A. M. (Ed. ). (2009). Advanced Practice Nursing. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Etienne, M. O. , & Paviovich, S. J. (2010). Cultural Considerations for Halitian Patients. NurseWeek, 23(4), 44-49. Flowers, D. L. (2004, August). Culturally Competent Nursing Care, A Challenge for the 21st Century. Critical Care Nurse, 24(4), 48-52. McEwen, M. , & Willis, E. M. (2011). Theoretical Basis for Nursing (3rd ed. ). Philadelphia: Wolters Kuwer\|Lippincott Wiliams & Wilkins. I'm Emmie! Want to get a unique case study on this topic? Check it out
MGMT Paper – Leadership Development MOD 5 Written assignment MUST be a minimum of 500 words. Use headings to separate topics/questions. Use Font: Times New Roman, Spacing: before & after 0 point; Line spacing: multiple 1.15: Exercise Overview Leaders in organizations have a diversity of backgrounds, including educational expe riences, work experiences, training, personality, and other differences. Not one path is identical from one leader to the next. This exercise involves having a conversation with someone who you admire as a leader and bringing the information from your conversa tion to class in order to compare similarities and differences. Identify and approach a leader who you would like to learn more about. Think about who you would consider a ‘leader’. Leaders are not necessarily in formal managerial roles in an organization and come from a variety of workplaces and contexts. A leader, for example, can be a parent, a teacher, the dining hall supervisor, a security guard on campus, a coach, or a student club or association leader. Request a 15-minute conversation and ask the following: 1. What experiences shaped you as a leader? 2. Where did you learn the most about leadership? 3. How do leaders use negotiation skills? What other skills do you think are important? 4. What experiences, specialized training, or education would you still like to participate in? Why? 5. What other information do you wish I had asked you about?
Du Pont, Samuel Francis Du Pont, Samuel Francis, 1803–65, American naval officer, b. Bergen Point, N.J.; grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de NemoursDu Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel ..... Click the link for more information. . Appointed a midshipman in 1815, he saw his first active duty in the Mediterranean (1817) and served in the Mexican War. As commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the Civil War, Du Pont directed (Nov., 1861) the successful naval attack against Port Royal, S.C., for which he won a rear admiral's commission. He secured further footholds for the Union on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The blockade Du Pont organized was generally successful, except at Charleston. Against Du Pont's advice the Dept. of the Navy ordered him to attack Charleston with ironclad monitors. When the attack failed (Apr. 7, 1863), Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles blamed Du Pont and, at Du Pont's request, relieved him of his command (July, 1863). A congressional investigation followed, but its findings were inconclusive. See his Civil War Letters, ed. by J. D. Hayes (3 vol., 1969); biography by his nephew H. A. du Pont (1926). du Pont, Samuel Francis (1830–65) naval officer; born in Bergen Point, N.J. (grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours). He commanded Commodore Robert Stockton's flagship in California operations during the Mexican War. In 1861 he became the commander or "flag-officer" of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. He led a successful fleet assault that captured Port Royal, South Carolina (1861). After failing to capture Charleston using the same methods, he turned over his command (1863). Du Pont Circle in Washington, D.C., is named for him.
Buttons with Images You can use Buttons with Images for a number of illustrated learning techniques, including the sequence of a visual process or details that support an overall item or concept. For example, a main image displays an overview of the item or concept, while the buttons with images display the details. When the learner clicks a button, an explanation of that specific detail displays.
Modes in classical and in quantum physics Waves are peculiar: there is one single waveform, i.e. one motion only, but that motion can always be analyzed as the sum of the motions of all the different wave modes, combined with the appropriate amplitudes and phases. Saying the same thing using different words: we can always analyze the wave function as the sum of a (possibly infinite) number of components, i.e. a so-called Fourier series: Fourier series Fourier 2 The f(t) function can be any wave, but the simple examples in physics textbooks usually involve a string or, in two dimensions, some vibrating membrane, and I’ll stick to those examples too in this post. Feynman calls the Fourier components harmonic functions, or harmonics tout court, but the term ‘harmonic’ refers to so many different things in math that it may be better not to use it in this context. The component waves are sinusoidal functions, so sinusoidals might be a better term but it’s not in use, because a more general analysis will use complex exponentials, rather than sines and/or cosines. Complex exponentials (e.g. 10ix) are periodic functions too, so they are totally unlike real exponential functions (e.g. (e.g. 10x). Hence, Feynman also uses the term ‘exponentials’. At some point, he also writes that the pattern of motion (of a mode) varies ‘exponentially’ but, of course, he’s thinking of complex exponentials, and, therefore, we should substitute ‘exponentially’ for ‘sinusoidally’ when talking real-valued wave functions. […] I know. I am already getting into the weeds here. As I am a bit off-track anyway now, let me make another remark here. You may think that we have two types of sinusoidals, or two types of functions, in that Fourier decomposition: sines and cosines. You should not think of it that way: the sine and cosine function are essentially the same. I know your old math teacher in high school never told you that, but it’s true. They both come with the same circle (yes, I know that’s ridiculous statement but I don’t know how to phrase it otherwise): the difference between a sine and a cosines is just a phase shift: cos(ωt) = sin(ωt + π/2) and, conversely, sin(ωt) = cos(ωt − π/2). If the starting phases of all of the component waves would be the same, we’d have a Fourier decomposition involving cosines only, or sines only—whatever you prefer. Indeed, because they’re the same function except for that phase shift (π/2), we can always go from one to the other by shifting our origin of space (x) and/or time (t). However, we cannot assume that all of the component waves have the same starting phase and, therefore, we should write each component as cos(n·ωt + Φn), or a sine with a similar argument. Now, you’ll remember – because your math teacher in high school told you that at least 🙂 – that there’s a formula for the cosine (and sine) of the sum of two angles: we can write cos(n·ωt + Φn) as cos(n·ωt + Φn) = [cos(Φn)·cos(n·ωt) – sin(Φn)·sin(n·ωt)]. Substituting cos(Φn) and – sin(Φn) for an and bn respectively gives us the an·cos(n·ωt) + bn·sin(n·ωt) expressions above. In addition, the component waves may not only differ in phase, but also in amplitude, and, hence, the an and bn coefficients do more than only capturing the phase differences. But let me get back on the track. 🙂 Those sinusoidals have a weird existence: they are not there, physically—or so it seems. Indeed, there is one waveform only, i.e. one motion only—and, if it’s any real wave, it’s most likely to be non-sinusoidal. At the same time, I noted, in my previous post, that, if you pluck a string or play a chord on your guitar, some string you did not pluck may still pick up one or more of its harmonics (i.e. one or more of its overtones) and, hence, start to vibrate too! It’s the resonance phenomenon. If you have a grand piano, it’s even more obvious: if you’d press the C4 key on a piano, a small hammer will strike the C4 string and it will vibrate—but the C5 string (one octave higher) will also vibrate, although nothing touched it—except for the air transmitting the sound wave (including the harmonics causing the resonance) from the C4 string, of course! So the component waves are there and, at the same time, they’re not. Whatever they are, they are more than mathematical forms: the so-called superposition principle (on which the Fourier analysis is based) is grounded in reality: it’s because we can add forces. I know that sounds extremely obvious – or ridiculous, you might say 🙂 – but it is actually not so obvious. […] I am tempted to write something about conservative forces here but… Well… I need to move on. Let me show that diagram of the first seven harmonics of an ideal string once again. All of them, and the higher ones too, would be in our wave function. Hence, assuming there’s no phase difference between the harmonics, we’d write: f(t) = sin(ωt) + sin(2ωt) + sin(3ωt) + … + sin(nωt) + … The frequencies of the various modes of our ideal string are all simple multiples of the fundamental frequency ω, as evidenced from the argument in our sine functions (ω, 2ω, 3ω, etcetera). Conversely, the respective wavelengths are λ, λ/2, λ/3, etcetera. [Remember: the speed of the wave is fixed, and frequency and wavelength are inversely proportional: = λ·f = λ/T = λ·(ω/2π).] So, yes, these frequencies and wavelengths can all be related to each other in terms of equally simple harmonic ratios: 1:2, 2:3, 3:5, 4:5 etcetera. I explained in my previous posts why that does not imply that the musical notes themselves are related in such way: the musical scale is logarithmic. So I won’t repeat myself. All of the above is just an introduction to the more serious stuff, which I’ll talk about now. Modes in two dimensions An analysis of waves in two dimensions is often done assuming some drum membrane. The Great Teacher played drums, as you can see from his picture in his Lectures, and there are also videos of him performing on YouTube. So that’s why the drum is used almost all textbooks now. 🙂 The illustration of one of the normal modes of a circular membrane comes from the Wikipedia article on modes. There are many other normal modes – some of them with a simpler shape, but some of them more complicated too – but this is a nice one as it also illustrates the concept of a nodal line, which is closely related to the concept of a mode. Huh? Yes. The modes of a one-dimensional string have nodes, i.e. points where the displacement is always zero. Indeed, as you can see from the illustration above (not below), the first overtone has one node, the second two, etcetera. So the equivalent of a node in two dimensions is a nodal line: for the mode shown below, we have one bisecting the disc and then another one—a circle about halfway between the edge and center. The third nodal line is the edge itself, obviously. [The author of the Wikipedia article nodes that the animation isn’t perfect, because the nodal line and the nodal circle halfway the edge and the center both move a little bit. In any case, it’s pretty good, I think. I should also learn how to make animations like that. :-)] Mode_Shape_of_a_Round_Plate_with_Node_Lines Drum_vibration_mode12 What’s a mode? How do we find these modes? And how are they defined really? To explain that, I have to briefly return to the one-dimensional example. The key to solving the problem (i.e. finding the modes, and defining their characteristics) is the following fact: when a wave reaches the clamped end of a string, it will be reflected with a change in sign, as illustrated below: we’ve got that F(x+ct) wave coming in, and then it goes back indeed, but with the sign reversed. It’s a complicated illustration because it also shows some hypothetical wave coming from the other side, where there is no string to vibrate. That hypothetical wave is the same wave, but travelling in the other direction and with the sign reversed (–F). So what’s that all about? Well… I never gave any general solution for a waveform traveling up and down a string: I just said the waveform was traveling up and down the string (now that is obvious: just look at that diagram with the seven first harmonics once again, and think about how that oscillation goes up and down with time), but so I did not really give any general solution for them (the sine and cosine functions are specific solutions). So what is the general solution? Let’s first assume the string is not held anywhere, so that we have an infinite string along which waves can travel in either direction. In fact, the most general functional form to capture the fact that a waveform can travel in any direction is to write the displacement y as the sum of two functions: one wave traveling one way (which we’ll denote by F), and the other wave (which we’ll denote by G) traveling the other way. From the illustration above, it’s obvious that the F wave is traveling towards the negative x-direction and, hence, its argument will be x + ct. Conversely, the G wave travels in the positive x-direction, so its argument is x – ct. So we write: y = F(x + ct) + G(x – ct) [I’ve explained this thing about directions and why the argument in a wavefunction (x ± ct) is what it is before. You should look it up in case you don’t understand. As for the in this equation, that’s the wave velocity once more, which is constant and which depends, as always, on the medium, so that’s the material and the diameter and the tension and whatever of the string.] So… We know that the string is actually not infinite, but that it’s fixed to some ‘infinitely solid wall’ (as Feynman puts it). Hence, y is equal to zero there: y = 0. Now let’s choose the origin of our x-axis at the fixed end so as to simplify the analysis. Hence, where y is zero, x is also zero. Now, at x = 0, our general solution above for the infinite string becomes y = F(ct) + G(−ct) = 0, for all values of t. Of course, that means G(−ct) must be equal to –F(ct). Now, that equality is there for all values of t. So it’s there for all values of ct and −ct. In short, that equality is valid for whatever value of the argument of G and –F. As Feynman puts it: “of anything must be –of minus that same thing.” Now, the ‘anything’ in G is its argument: x – ct, so ‘minus that same thing’ is –(x – ct) = −x + ct. Therefore, our equation becomes: y = F(x + ct) − F(−x + ct) So that’s what’s depicted in the diagram above: the F(x + ct) wave ‘vanishes’ behind the wall as the − F(−x + ct) wave comes out of it. Conversely, the − F(−x + ct) is hypothetical indeed until it reaches the origin, after which it becomes the real wave. Their sum is only relevant near the origin x = 0, and on the positive side only (on the negative side of the x-axis, the F and G functions are both hypothetical). [I know, it’s not easy to follow, but textbooks are really short on this—which is why I am writing my blog: I want to help you ‘get’ it.] Now, the results above are valid for any wave, periodic or not. Let’s now confine the analysis to periodic waves only. In fact, we’ll limit the analysis to sinusoidal wavefunctions only. So that should be easy. Yes. Too easy. I agree. 🙂 So let’s make things difficult again by introducing the complex exponential notation, so that’s Euler’s formula: eiθ = cosθ + isinθ, with the imaginary unit, and isinθ the imaginary component of our wave. So the only thing that is real, is cosθ. What the heck? Just bear with me. It’s good to make the analysis somewhat more general, especially because we’ll be talking about the relevance of all of this to quantum physics, and in quantum physics the waves are complex-valued indeed! So let’s get on with it. To use Euler’s formula, we need to substitute x + ct for the phase of the wave, so that involves the angular frequency and the wavenumber. Let me just write it down: F(x + ct) = eiω(t+x/c) and F(−x + ct) = eiω(t−x/c) Huh? Yeah. Sorry. I’ll resist the temptation to go off-track here, because I really shouldn’t be copying what I wrote in other posts. Most of what I write above is really those simple relations: c = λ·f = ω/k, with k, i.e. the wavenumber, being defined as k = 2π/λ. For details, go to one of my others posts indeed, in which I explain how that works in very much detail: just click on the link here, and scroll down to the section on the phase of a wave, in which I explain why the phase of wave is equal to θ = ωt–kx = ω(t–x/c). And, yes, I know: the thing with the wave directions and the signs is quite tricky. Just remember: for a wave traveling in the positive x-direction, the signs in front of x and t are each other’s opposite but, if the wave’s traveling in the negative y-direction, they are the same. As mentioned, all the rest is usually a matter of shifting the phase, which amounts to shifting the origin of either the x- or the t-axis. I need to move on. Using the exponential notation for our sinusoidal wave, y = F(x + ct) − F(−x + ct) becomes: y = eiω(t+x/c) − eiω(t−x/c) I can hear you sigh again: Now what’s that for? What can we do with this? Just continue to bear with me for a while longer. Let’s factor the eiωt term out. [Why? Patience, please!] So we write: y = eiωt [eiωx/c) − eiωx/c)] Now, you can just use Euler’s formula again to double-check that eiθ − e−θ = 2isinθ. [To get that result, you should remember that cos(−θ) = cosθ, but sin(−θ) = −sin(θ).] So we get: y = eiωt [eiωx/c) − eiωx/c)] = 2ieiωtsin(ωx/c) Now, we’re only interested in the real component of this amplitude of course – but that’s only we’re in the classical world here, not in the real world, which is quantum-mechanical and, hence, involves the imaginary stuff also 🙂 – so we should write this out using Euler’s formula again to convert the exponential to sinusoidals again. Hence, remembering that i2 = −1, we get: y = 2ieiωtsin(ωx/c) = 2icos(ωt)·sin(ωx/c) – 2sin(ωt)·sin(ωx/c) OK. You need a break. So let me pause here for a while. What the hell are we doing? Is this legit? I mean… We’re talking some real wave, here, don’t we? We do. So is this conversion from/to real amplitudes to/from complex amplitudes legit? It is. And, in this case (i.e. in classical physics), it’s true that we’re interested in the real component of y only. But then it’s nice the analysis is valid for complex amplitudes as well, because we’ll be talking complex amplitudes in quantum physics. […] OK. I acknowledge it all looks very tricky so let’s see what we’d get using our old-fashioned sine and/or cosine function. So let’s write F(x + ct) as cos(ωt+ωx/c) and F(−x + ct) as cos(ωt−ωx/c). So we write y = cos(ωt+ωx/c) − cos(ωt−ωx/c). Now work on this using the cos(α+β) = cosα·cosβ − sinα·sinβ formula and the cos(−α) = cosα and sin(−α) = −sinα identities. You (should) get: y = −2sin(ωt)·sin(ωx/c). So that’s the real component in our y function above indeed. So, yes, we do get the same results when doing this funny business using complex exponentials as we’d get when sticking to real stuff only! Fortunately! 🙂 [Why did I get off-track again? Well… It’s true these conversions from real to complex amplitudes should not be done carelessly. It is tricky and non-intuitive, to say the least. The weird thing about it is that, if we multiply two imaginary components, we get a real component, because i2 is a real number: it’s −1! So it’s fascinating indeed: we add an imaginary component to our real-valued function, do all kinds of manipulations with – including stuff that involves the use of the i2 = −1 – and, when done, we just take out the real component and it’s alright: we know that the result is OK because of the ‘magic’ of complex numbers! In any case, I need to move on so I can’t dwell on this. I also explained much of the ‘magic’ in other posts already, so I shouldn’t repeat myself. If you’re interested, click on this link, for instance.] Let’s go back to our y = – 2sin(ωt)·sin(ωx/c) function. So that’s the oscillation. Just look at the equation and think about what it tells us. Suppose we fix x, so we’re looking at one point on the string only and only let t vary: then sin(ωx/c) is some constant and it’s our sin(ωt) factor that goes up and down. So our oscillation has frequency ω, at every point x, so that’s everywhere! Of course, this result shouldn’t surprise us, should it? That’s what we put in when we wrote F as F(x + ct) = eiω(t+x/c) or as cos(ωt+ωx/c), isn’t it? Well… Yes and no. Yes, because you’re right: we put in that angular frequency. But then, no, because we’re talking a composite wave here: a wave traveling up and down, with the components traveling in opposite directions. Indeed, we’ve also got that G(x) = −F(–x) function here. So, no, it’s not quite the same. Let’s fix t now, and take a snapshot of the whole wave, so now we look at x as the variable and sin(ωt) is some constant. What we see is a sine wave, and sin(ωt) is its maximum amplitude. Again, you’ll say: of course! Well… Yes. The thing is: the point where the amplitude of our oscillation is equal to zero, is always the same, regardless of t. So we have fixed nodes indeed. Where are they? The nodes are, obviously, the points where sin(ωx/c) = 0, so that’s when ωx/c is equal to 0, obviously, or – more importantly – whenever ωx/c is equal to π, 2π, 3π, 4π, etcetera. More, generally, we can say whenever ωx/c = n·π with n = 0, 1, 2,… etc. Now, that’s the same as writing x = n·π·c/ω = n·π/k = n·π·λ/2π = n·λ/2. Now let’s remind ourselves of what λ really is: for the fundamental frequency it’s twice the length of the string, so λ = 2·L. For the next mode (i.e. the second harmonic), it’s the length itself: λ = L. For the third, it’s λ = (2/3)·L, etcetera. So, in general, it’s λ = (2/m)·L with m = 1, 2, etcetera. [We may or may not want to include a zero mode by allowing m to equal zero as well, so then there’s no oscillation and y = 0 everywhere. 🙂 But that’s a minor point.] In short, our grand result is: x = n·λ/2 = n·(2/m)·L/2 = (n/m)·L Of course, we have to exclude the x points lying outside of our string by imposing that n/m ≤ 1, i.e. the condition that n ≤ m. So for m = 1, n is 0 or 1, so the nodes are, effectively, both ends of the string. For m = 2, n can be 0, 1 and 2, so the nodes are the ends of the string and it’s middle point L/2. And so on and so on. I know that, by now, you’ve given up. So no one is reading anymore and so I am basically talking to myself now. What’s the point? Well… I wanted to get here in order to define the concept of a mode: a mode is a pattern of motion, which has the property that, at any point, the object moves perfectly sinusoidally, and that all points move at the same frequency (though some will move more than others). Modes also have nodes, i.e. points that don’t move at all, and above I showed how we can find the nodes of the modes of a one-dimensional string. Also note how remarkable that result actually is: we didn’t specify anything about that string, so we don’t care about its material or diameter or tension or whatever. Still, we know its fundamental (or normal modes), and we know their nodes: they’re a function of the length of the string, and the number of the mode only: x = (n/m)·L. While an oscillating string may seem to be the most simple thing on earth, it isn’t: think of all the forces between the molecules, for instance, as that string is vibrating. Still, we’ve got this remarkably simple formula. Don’t you find that amazing? […] OK… If you’re still reading, I know you want me to move on, so I’ll just do that. Back to two dimensions The modes are all that matters: when linear forces (i.e. linear systems) are involved, any motion can be analyzed as the sum of the motions of all the different modes, combined with appropriate amplitudes and phases. Let me reproduce the Fourier series once more (the more you see, the better you’ll understand it—I should hope!): Fourier seriesOf course, we should generalize this also include x as a variable which, again, is easier if we’d use complex exponentials instead of the sinusoidal components. The nice illustration on Fourier analysis from Wikipedia shows how it works, in essence, that is. The red function below consists of six of those modes. OK. Enough of this. Let’s go to the two-dimensional case now. To simplify the analysis, Feynman invented a rectangular drum. A rectangular drum is probably more difficult to play, but it’s easier to analyze—as compared to a circular drum, that is! 🙂 In two dimensions, our sinusoidal one-dimensional ei(ωt−kx) waveform becomes ei(ωt−kxx−kyy). So we have a wavenumber for the x and y directions, and the sign in front is determined by the direction of the wave, so we need to check whether it moves in the positive or negative direction of the x- and y-axis respectively. Now, we can rewrite ei(ωt+kxx+kyy) as eiωt·ei(ωt+kxx+kyy), of course, which is what you see in the diagram above, except that the wave is moving in the negative y direction and, hence, we’ve got + sign in front of our kyy term. All the rest is rather well explained in Feynman, so I’ll refer you to the textbook here. We basically need to ensure that we have a nodal line at x = 0 and at x = a, and then we do the same for y = 0 and y = a. Then we apply exactly the same logic as for the one-dimensional string: the wave needs to be coherently reflected. The analysis is somewhat more complicated because it involves some angle of incidence now, i.e. the θ in the diagram above, so that’s another page in Feynman’s textbook. And then we have the same gymnastics for finding wavelengths in terms of the dimensions and b, as well as in terms of n and m, where n is the number of the mode involved when fixing the nodal lines at x = 0 and x = a, and m is the number of the mode involved when fixing the nodal lines at = 0 and y = b. Sounds difficult? Well… Yes. But I won’t copy Feynman here. Just go and check for yourself. The grand result is that we do get some formula for a wavelength λ of what satisfies the definition of a mode: a perfectly sinusoidal motion, that has all points on the drum move at the same frequency, though some move more than others. Also, as evidenced from my illustration for the circular disk: we’ve got nodal lines, and then I mean other nodal lines, different from the edges! I’ll just give you that formula here (again, for the detail, go and check Feynman yourself): Feynman also works out an example for a = 2b. I’ll just copy the results hereunder, which is a formula for the (angular) frequencies ω, and a table of the mode shapes in a qualitative way (I’ll leave it to you to google animations that match the illustration). Again, we should note the amazing simplicity of the result: we don’t care about the type of membrane or whatever other material the drum is made of. It’s proportions are all that matters. Finally, you should also note the last two columns in the table above: these just show to illustrate that, unlike our modes in the one-dimensional case, the natural frequencies here are not multiples of the fundamental frequency. As Feynman notes, we should not be led astray by the example of the one-dimensional ideal string. It’s again a departure from the Pythagorean idea, that all in Nature respects harmonic ratios. It’s just not true. Let me quote Feynman, as I have no better summary: “The idea that the natural frequencies are harmonically related is not generally true. It is not true for a system with more than one dimension, nor is it true for one-dimensional systems which are more complicated than a string with uniform density and tension. So… That says it all, I’d guess. Maybe I should just quote his example of a one-dimensional system that does not obey Pythagoras’ prescription: a hanging chain which, because of the weight of the chain, has higher tension at the top than at the bottom. If such chain is set in oscillation, there are various modes and frequencies, but the frequencies will not be simply multiples of each other, nor of any other number. It is also interesting to note that the mode shapes will also not be sinusoidal. However, here we’re getting into non-linear dynamics, and so I’ll you read about that elsewhere too: once again, Feynman’s analysis of non-linear systems is very accessible and an interesting read. Hence, I warmly recommend it. Modes in three dimensions and in quantum mechanics. Well… Unlike what you might expect, I won’t bury you under formulas this time. Let me refer you, instead, to Wikipedia’s article on the so-called Leidenfrost effect. Just do it. Don’t bother too much about the text, scroll down a bit, and play the video that comes with it. I saw it, sort of by accident, and, at first, I thought it was something very high-tech. But no: it’s just a drop of water skittering around in a hot pan. It takes on all kinds of weird forms and oscillates in the weirdest of ways, but all is nothing but an excitation of the various normal modes of it, with various amplitudes and phases, of course, as a Fourier analysis of the phenomenon dictates. There’s plenty of other stuff around to satisfy your curiosity, all quite understandable and fun—because you now understand the basics of it for the one- and two-dimensional case. So… Well… I’ve kept this section extremely short, because now I want to say a few words about quantum-mechanical systems. Well… In fact, I’ll simply quote Feynman on it, because he writes about in a style that’s unsurpassed. He also nicely sums up the previous conversation. Here we go: The ideas discussed above are all aspects of what is probably the most general and wonderful principle of mathematical physics. If we have a linear system whose character is independent of the time, then the motion does not have to have any particular simplicity, and in fact may be exceedingly complex, but there are very special motions, usually a series of special motions, in which the whole pattern of motion varies exponentially with the time. For the vibrating systems that we are talking about now, the exponential is imaginary, and instead of saying “exponentially” we might prefer to say “sinusoidally” with time. However, one can be more general and say that the motions will vary exponentially with the time in very special modes, with very special shapes. The most general motion of the system can always be represented as a superposition of motions involving each of the different exponentials. This is worth stating again for the case of sinusoidal motion: a linear system need not be moving in a purely sinusoidal motion, i.e., at a definite single frequency, but no matter how it does move, this motion can be represented as a superposition of pure sinusoidal motions. The frequency of each of these motions is a characteristic of the system, and the pattern or waveform of each motion is also a characteristic of the system. The general motion in any such system can be characterized by giving the strength and the phase of each of these modes, and adding them all together. Another way of saying this is that any linear vibrating system is equivalent to a set of independent harmonic oscillators, with the natural frequencies corresponding to the modes. In quantum mechanics the vibrating object, or the thing that varies in space, is the amplitude of a probability function that gives the probability of finding an electron, or system of electrons, in a given configuration. This amplitude function can vary in space and time, and satisfies, in fact, a linear equation. But in quantum mechanics there is a transformation, in that what we call frequency of the probability amplitude is equal, in the classical idea, to energy. Therefore we can translate the principle stated above to this case by taking the word frequency and replacing it with energy. It becomes something like this: a quantum-mechanical system, for example an atom, need not have a definite energy, just as a simple mechanical system does not have to have a definite frequency; but no matter how the system behaves, its behavior can always be represented as a superposition of states of definite energy. The energy of each state is a characteristic of the atom, and so is the pattern of amplitude which determines the probability of finding particles in different places. The general motion can be described by giving the amplitude of each of these different energy states. This is the origin of energy levels in quantum mechanics. Since quantum mechanics is represented by waves, in the circumstance in which the electron does not have enough energy to ultimately escape from the proton, they are confined waves. Like the confined waves of a string, there are definite frequencies for the solution of the wave equation for quantum mechanics. The quantum-mechanical interpretation is that these are definite energies. Therefore a quantum-mechanical system, because it is represented by waves, can have definite states of fixed energy; examples are the energy levels of various atoms. Isn’t that great? What a summary! It also shows a deeper understanding of classical physics makes it sooooo much better to read something about quantum mechanics. In any case, as for the examples, I should add – because that’s what you’ll often find when you google for quantum-mechanical modes – the vibrational modes of molecules. There’s tons of interesting analysis out there, and so I’ll let you now have fun with it yourself! 🙂 Differential equations revisited: the math behind oscillators When wrapping up my previous post, I said that I might be tempted to write something about how to solve these differential equations. The math behind them is pretty essential indeed. So let’s revisit the oscillator from a formal-mathematical point of view. Modeling the problem The simplest equation we used was the one for a hypothetical ‘ideal’ oscillator without friction and without any external driving force. The equation for a mechanical oscillator (i.e. a mass on a spring) is md2x/dt2 = –kx. The k in this equation is a factor of proportionality: the force pulling back is assumed to be proportional to the amount of stretch, and the minus sign is there because the force is pulling back indeed. As for the equation itself, it’s just Newton’s Law: the mass times the acceleration equals the force: ma = F. You’ll remember we preferred to write this as d2x/dt2 = –(k/m)x = –ω02x with ω0= k/m. You’ll also remember that ωis an angular frequency, which we referred to as the natural frequency of the oscillator (because it determines the natural motion of the spring indeed). We also gave the general solution to the differential equation: x(t) = x0cos(ω0t + Δ). That solution basically states that, if we just let go of that spring, it will oscillate with frequency ω0 and some (maximum) amplitude x0, the value of which depends on the initial conditions. As for the Δ term, that’s just a phase shift depending on where x is when we start counting time: if x would happen to pass through the equilibrium point at time t = 0, then Δ would be π/2. So Δ allows us to shift the beginning of time, so to speak. In my previous posts, I just presented that general equation as a fait accompli, noting that a cosine (or sine) function does indeed have that ‘nice’ property of come back to itself with a minus sign in front after taking the derivative two times: d2[cos(ω0t)]/dt2 = –ω02cos(ω0t). We could also write x(t) as a sine function because the sine and cosine function are basically the same except for a phase shift: x0cos(ω0t + Δ) = x0sin(ω0t + Δ + π/2). Now, the point to note is that the sine or cosine function actually has two properties that are ‘nice’ (read ‘essential’ in the context of this discussion): 1. Sinusoidal functions are periodic functions and so that’s why they represent an oscillation–because that’s something periodic too! 2. Sinusoidal functions come back to themselves when we derive them two times and so that’s why it effectively solves our second-order differential equation. However, in my previous post, I also mentioned in passing that sinusoidal functions share that second property with exponential functions: d2et/dt= d[det/dt]/dt = det/dt = et. So, if it we would not have had that minus sign in our differential equation, our solution would have been some exponential function, instead of a sine or a cosine function. So what’s going on here? Solving differential equations using exponentials Let’s scrap that minus sign and assume our problem would indeed be to solve the d2x/dt2 = ω02x equation. So we know we should use some exponential function, but we have that coefficient ω02. Well… That’s actually easy to deal with: we know that, when deriving an exponential function, we should bring the exponent down as a coefficient: d[eω0t]/dt = ω0eω0t. If we do it two times, we get d2[eω0t]/dt2 = ω02eω0t, so we can immediately see that eω0is a solution indeed. But it’s not the only one: e–ω0t is a solution too: d2[e–ω0t]/dt2 = (–ω0)(–ω0)e–ω0t = ω02e–ω0t. So e–ω0solves the equation too. It is easy to see why: ω02 has two square roots–one positive, and one negative. But we have more: in fact, every linear combination c1eω0+ c2e–ω0is also a solution to that second-order differential equation. Just check it by writing it all out: you’ll find that d2[c1eω0+ c2e–ω0t]/dt2 = ω02[c1eω0+c2e–ω0t] and so, yes, we have a whole family of functions here, that are all solutions to our differential equation. Now, you may or may not remember that we had the same thing with first-order differential equations: we would find a whole family of functions, but only one would be the actual solution or the ‘real‘ solution I should say. So what’s the real solution here? Well… That depends on the initial conditions: we need to know the value of x at time t= 0 (or some other point t = t1). And that’s not enough: we have two coefficients (cand c2), and, therefore, we need one more initial condition (it takes two equations to solve for two variables). That could be another value for x at some other point in time (e.g. t2) but, when solving problems like this, you’ll usually get the other ‘initial condition’ expressed in terms of the first derivative, so that’s in terms of dx/dt = v. For example, it is not illogical to assume that the initial velocity v0 would be zero. Indeed, we can imagine we pull or push the spring and then let it go. In fact, that’s what we’ve been assuming here all along in our example! Assuming that v0 = 0 is equivalent to writing that d[c1eω0+ c2e–ω0t]/dt = 0 for t = 0 ⇒ ω0c1 – ω0c2 = 0 (e= 1) ⇔ c1 = c2 Now we need the other initial condition. Let’s assume the initial value of x is equal to x0 = 2 (it’s just an example: we could take any value, including negative values). Then we get: c1eω0+ c2e–ω0t = 2 for t = 0 ⇔ c1 + c= 2 (again, note that e= 1) Combining the two gives us the grand result that c1 = c= 1 and, hence, the ‘real’ or actual solution is x = eω0e–ω0t. The graph below plots that function for ω= 1 and ω= 0.5 respectively. We could take other values for ω0 but, whatever the value, we’ll always get an exponential function like the ones below. It basically graphs what we expect to happen: the mass just accelerates away from its equilibrium point. Indeed, the differential equation is just a description of an accelerating object. Indeed, the e–ω0t term quickly goes to zero, and then it’s the eω0term that rockets that object sky-high – literally. [Note that the acceleration is actually not constant: the force is equal to kx and, hence, the force (and, therefore, the acceleration) actually increases as the mass goes further and further away from its equilibrium point. Also note that if the initial position would have been minus 2, i.e. x= –2, then the object would accelerate away in the other direction, i.e. downwards. Just check it to make sure you understand the equations.] graph 2 graph The point to note is our general solution. More formally, and more generally, we get it as follows: • If we have a linear second-order differential equation ax” + bx’ + cx = 0 (because of the zero on the right-hand side, we call such equation homogeneous, so it’s quite a mouthful: a linear and homogeneous DE of the second order), then we can find an exponential function ert that will be a solution for it. • If such function is a solution, then plugging in it yields ar2ert + brert + cert = 0 or (ar2 + br + c)ert = 0. • Now, we can read that as a condition, and the condition amounts to ar2 + br + c = 0. So that’s a quadratic equation we need to solve for r to find two specific solutions r1 and r2, which, in turn, will then yield our general solution: x(t) = c1er1+ c2er2t Note that the general solution is based on the principle of superposition: any linear combination of two specific solutions will be a solution as well. I am mentioning this here because we’ll use that principle more than once. Complex roots The steps as described above implicitly assume that the quadratic equation above (i.e. ar2ert + brert + cert = 0), which is better known as the characteristic equation, does yield two real and distinct roots r1 and r2. In fact, it amounts to assuming that that exponential ert is a real-valued exponential function. We know how to find these real roots from our high school math classes: r = (–b ± [b– 4ac]1/2)/2a. However, what happens if the discrimant b– 4ac is negative? If the disciminant is negative, we will still have two roots, but they will be complex roots. In fact, we can write these two complex roots as r = α ± βi, with i the imaginary unit. Hence, the two complex roots are each other’s complex conjugate and our er1and er2t can be written as: er1= e(α+βi)t and er2e(α–βi)t Also, the general solution based on these two particular solutions will be c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t. [You may wonder why complex roots have to be complex conjugates from each other. Indeed, that’s not so obvious from the raw r = (–b ± [b– 4ac]1/2)/2a formula. But you can re-write it as r = –b/2a ± [b– 4ac]1/2)/2a and, if b– 4ac is negative, as r = –b/2a ± [(−b2+4ac)1/2/2a]. So that gives you the α and β and shows that the two roots are, in effect, each other’s complex conjugate.] We should briefly pause here to think about what we are doing here really: if we allow r to be complex, then what we’re doing really is allow a complex-valued function (to be precise: we’re talking the complex exponential functions e(λ±μi)t, or any linear combination of the two) of a real variable (the time variable t) to be part of our ‘solution set’ as well. Now, we’ve analyzed complex exponential functions before–long time ago: you can check out some of my posts last year (November 2013). In fact, we analyzed even more complex – in fact, I should say more complicated rather than more complex here: complex numbers don’t need to be complicated! 🙂 – because we were talking complex-valued functions of complex variables there! That’s not the case here: the argument t (i.e. the input into our function) is real, not complex, but the output – or the function itself – is complex-valued. Now, any complex exponential e(α+βi)t can be written as eαteiβt, and so that’s easy enough to understand: 1. The first factor (i.e. eαt) is just a real-valued exponential function and so we should be familiar with that. Depending on the value of α (negative or positive: see the graph below), it’s a factor that will create an envelope for our function. Indeed, when α is negative, the damping will cause the oscillation to stop after a while. When α is positive, we’ll have a solution resembling the second graph below: we have an amplitude that’s getting bigger and bigger, despite the friction factor (that’s obviously possible only because we keep reinforcing the movement, so we’re not switching off the force in that case). When α is equal to zero, then eαt is equal to unity and so the amplitude will not change as the spring goes up and down over time: we have no friction in that case. graph 4 2. The second factor (i.e. eiβt) is our periodic function. Indeed, eiβt is the same as eiθ and so just remember Euler’s formula to see what it is really: eiθ = cos(θ) + isin(θ) The two graphs below represent the idea: as the phase θ = ωt + Δ (the angular frequency or velocity times the time is equal to the phase, plus or minus some phase shift) goes round and round and round (i.e. increases with time), the two components of eiθ, i.e. the real and imaginary part eiθ, oscillate between –1 and 1 because they are both sinusoidal functions (cosine and sine respectively). Now, we could amplify the amplitude by putting another (real) factor in front (a magnitude different than 1) and write reiθ = r·cos(θ) + r·sin(θ) but that wouldn’t change the nature of this thing. euler13 slkL9 But so how does all of this relate to that other ‘general’ solution which we’ve found for our oscillator, i.e. the one we got without considering these complex-valued exponential functions as solutions. Indeed, what’s the relation between that x = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) equation and that rather frightening c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t equation? Perhaps we should look at x = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) as the real part of that monster? Yes and no. More no than yes actually. Actually… No. We are not going to have some complex exponential and then forget about the imaginary part. What we will do, though, is to find that general solution – i.e. a family of complex-valued functions – but then we’ll only consider those functions for which the imaginary part is zero, so that’s the subset of real-valued functions only. I guess this must sound like Chinese. Let’s go step by step. Using complex roots to find real-valued functions If we re-write d2x/dt2 = –ω02x in the more general ax” + bx’ + cx = 0 form, then we get x” + ω02x = 0 and so the discriminant b– 4ac is equal to –4ω02, and so that’s a negative number. So we need to go for these complex roots. However, before solving this, let’s first restate what we’re actually doing. We have a differential equation that, ultimately, depends on a real variable (the time variable t), but so now we allow complex-valued functions er1e(α+βi)t and er2e(α–βi)t as solutions. To be precise: these are complex-valued functions x of the real variable t. That being said, it’s fine to note that real numbers are a subset of the complex numbers and so we can just shrug our shoulders and say all that we’re doing is switch to complex-valued functions because we got stuck with that negative determinant and so we had to allow for complex roots. However, in the end, we do want a real-valued solution x(t). So our x(t) = c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t has to be a real-valued function, not a complex-valued function. That means that we have to take a subset of the family of functions that we’ve found. In other words, the imaginary part of c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t has to be zero. How can it be zero? Well… It basically means that c1e(α+βi)t and c2e(α–βi)t have to be complex conjugates. OK… But how do we do that? We need to find a way to write that c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t sum in a more manageable ζ + η form. We can do that by using Euler’s formula once again to re-write those two complex exponentials as follows: • e(α+βi)t = eαteiβt = eαt[cos(βt) + isin(βt)] • e(α–βi)t = eαte–iβt = eαt[cos(–βt) + isin(–βt)] = eαt[cos(βt) – isin(βt)] Note that, for the e(α–βi)t expression, we’ve used the fact that cos(–θ) = cos(θ) and that sin(–θ) = –sin(θ). Also note that α and β are real numbers, so they do not have an imaginary part–unlike cand c2, which may or may not have an imaginary part (i.e. they could be pure real numbers, but they could be complex as well). We can then re-write that c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t sum as: c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t = c1eαt[cos(βt) + isin(βt)] + c2eαt[cos(βt) – isin(βt)] = (c1 + c2)eαtcos(βt) + (c1 – c2)ieαtsin(βt) So what? Well, we want that imaginary part in our solution to disappear and so it’s easy to see that the imaginary part will indeed disappear if c1 – c2 = 0, i.e. if c1 = c= c. So we have a fairly general real-valued solution x(t) = 2c·eαtcos(βt) here, with c some real number. [Note that c has to be some real number because, if we would assume that cand c(and, therefore, c) would be equal complex numbers, then the c1 – c2 factor would also disappear, but then we would have a complex c1 + c2 sum in front of the eαtcos(βt) factor, so that would defeat the purpose of finding real-valued function as a solution because (c1 + c2)eαtcos(βt) would still be complex! […] Are you still with me? :-)] So, OK, we’ve got the solution and so that should be it, isn’t it? Well… No. Wait. Not yet. Because these coefficients c1 and c2 may be complex, there’s another solution as well. Look at that formula above. Let us suppose that c1 would be equal to some (real) number c divided by i (so c= c/i), and that cwould be its opposite, so c= –c(i.e. minus c1). Then we would have two complex numbers consisting of an imaginary part only: c= c/i and c= –c= –c/i, and they would be each other’s complex conjugate. Indeed, note that 1/i = i–1= –i and so we can write c= –c·and c= c·i. Then we’d get the following for that c1e(α+βi)t + c2e(α–βi)t sum: = (c/i – c/i)eαtcos(βt) + (c/i + c/i)ieαtsin(βt) = 2c·eαtsin(βt) So, while cand c2 are complex, our grand result is a real-valued function once again or – to be precise – another family of real-valued functions (that’s because c can take on any value). Are we done? Yes. There are no other possibilities. So now we just need to remember to apply the principle of superposition: any (real) linear combination of 2c·eαtcos(μt) and 2c·eαtsin(μt) will also be a (real-valued) solution, so the general (real-valued) solution for our problem is: x(t) = a·2c·eαtcos(βt) + b·2c·eαtsin(βt) = Aeαtcos(βt) + Beαtsin(βt) eαt[Acos(βt) + Bsin(βt)] So what do we have here? Well, the first factor is, once again, an ‘envelope’ function: depending on the value of α, (i) negative, (ii) positive or (iii) zero, we have an oscillation that (i) damps out, (ii) goes out of control, or (iii) keeps oscillating in the same steady way forever. The second part is equivalent to our ‘general’ x(t) = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) solution. Indeed, that x(t) = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) solution is somewhat less ‘general’ than the one above because it does not have the eαt factor. However, x(t) = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) solution is equivalent to the Acos(βt) + Bsin(βt) factor. How’s that? We can show how they are related by using the trigonometric formula for adding angles: cos(α + β) = cos(α)cos(β) – sin(α)sin(β). Indeed, we can write: x0cos(ω0t + Δ) = x0cos(Δ)cos(ω0t) – x0sin(Δ)sin(ω0t) = Acos(βt) + Bsin(βt) with A = x0cos(Δ), B = – x0sin(Δ) and, finally, μ = ω0 Are you convinced now? If not… Well… Nothing much I can do, I feel. In that case, I can only encourage you to do a full ‘work-out’ by reading the excellent overview of all possible situations in Paul’s Online MathNotes ( Feynman’s treatment of second-order differential equations Feynman takes a somewhat different approach in his Lectures. He solves them in a much more general way. At first, I thought his treatment was too confusing and, hence, I would not have mentioned it. However, I like the logic behind, even if his approach is somewhat more messy in terms of notations and all that. Let’s first look at the differential equation once again. Let’s take a system with a friction factor that’s proportional to the speed: Ff = –c·dx/dt. [See my previous post for some comments on that assumption: the assumption is, generally speaking, too much of a simplification but it makes for a ‘nice’ linear equation and so that’s why physicists present it that way.] To ease the math, c is usually written as c = mγ. Hence, γ = c/m is the friction per unit of mass. That makes sense, I’d think. In addition, we need to remember that ω02 = k/m, so k = mω02. Our differential equation then becomes m·d2x/dt2 = –γm·dx/dt – kx (mass times acceleration is the sum of the forces) or m·d2x/dt2 + γm·dx/dt + mω02·x = 0. Dividing the mass factor away gives us an even simpler form: d2x/dt2 + γdx/dt + ω02x = 0 You’ll remember this differential equation from the previous post: we used it to calculate the (stored) energy and the Q of a mechanical oscillator. However, we didn’t show you how. You now understand why: the stuff above is not easy–the length of the arguments involved is why I am devoting an entire post to it! Now, instead of assuming some exponential ert as a solution, real- or complex-valued, Feynman assumes a much more general complex-valued function as solution: he substitutes x for x = Aeiαt, with A a complex number as well so we can write A as A = A0eiΔ. That more general assumption allows for the inclusion of a phase shift straight from the start. Indeed, we can write x as x = A0eiΔeiαt = = A0ei(αt+Δ). Does that look complicated? It probably does, because we also have to remember that α is a complex number! So we’ve got a very general complex-valued exponential function indeed here! However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves and follow Feynman. So he plugs in that complex-valued x = Aeiαt and we get: (–α+ iγα + ω02)Aeiαt = 0 So far, so good. The logic now is more or less the same as the logic we developed above. We’ve got two factors here: (1) a quadratic equation –αiγα + ω02 (with one complex coefficient iγ) and (2) a complex exponential function Aeiαt. The second factor (Aeiαt) cannot be zero, because that’s x and we assume our oscillator is not standing still. So it’s the first factor (i.e. the quadratic equation in α with a complex coefficient iγ) which has to be zero. So we solve for the roots α and find α = –iγ/(–2) ± [(–(iγ)2–4ω02)1/2/(-2)] = iγ/2 ± [(γ2–4ω02)1/2/(-2)] = iγ/2 ± (ω0– γ2/4)1/2 iγ/2 ± ωγ [We get this by bringing i and –2 inside of the square root expression. It’s not very straightforward but you should be able to figure it out.] So that’s an interesting expression: the imaginary part of α is iγ/2 and its real part is (ω0– γ2/4)1/2, which we denoted as ωγ in the expression above. [Note that we assume there’s no problem with the square root expression: γ2/4 should be smaller than ω02 so ωγ is supposed to be some real positive number.] And so we’ve got the two solutions xand x2: x= Aei(iγ/2 + ωγ)t = Ae–γt/2+iωγ= Ae–γt/2eiωγ x= Bei(iγ/2 – ωγ)t = Be–γt/2–iωγ= Be–γt/2e–iωγt Note, once again, that A and B can be any (complex) number and that, because of the principle of superposition, any linear combination of these two solutions will also be a solution. So the general solution is x = Ae–γt/2eiωγ+ Be–γt/2e–iωγ= e–γt/2(Aeiωγ+ Be–iωγt) Now, we recognize the shape of this: a (real-valued) envelope function e–γt/2 and then a linear combination of two exponentials. But so we want something real-valued in the end so, once again, we need to impose the condition that Aeiωγand Be–iωγare complex conjugates of each other. Now, we can see that eiωγand e–iωγare complex conjugates but what does this say about A and B? Well… The complex conjugate of a product is the product of the complex conjugates of the factors involved: (z1z2)* = (z1)(z1). That implies that B has to be the complex conjugate of A: B = A. So the final (real-valued) solution becomes: x = e–γt/2(Aeiωγ+ Ae–iωγt) Now, I’ll leave it to you to prove that the second factor in the product above (Aeiωγ+ A*e–iωγt) is a real-valued function of the real variable t. It should be the same as x0cos(Δ)cos(ω0t) – x0sin(Δ)sin(ω0t), and that gives you a graph like the one below. However, I can readily imagine that, by now, you’re just thinking: Oh well… Whatever! 🙂 So the difference between Feynman’s approach and the one I presented above (which is the one you’ll find in most textbooks) is the assumption in terms of the specific solution: instead of substituting x for ert, with allowing r to take on complex values, Feynman substitutes x for Aeiαt, and allows both A and α to take on complex values. It makes the calculations more complicated but, when everything is said and done, I think Feynman’s approach is more consistent because more encompassing. However, that’s subject to taste, and I gather, from comments on the Web, that many people think that this chapter in Feynman’s Lectures is not his best. So… Well… I’ll leave it to you to make the final judgment. Note: The one critique that is relevant, in regard to Feynman’s treatment of the matter, is that he devotes quite a bit of time and space to explain how these oscillatory or periodic displacements can be viewed as being the real part of a complex exponential. Indeed, cos(ωt) is the real part of eiωt. But so that’s something different than (1) expanding the realm of possible solutions to a second-order differential equation from real-valued functions to complex-valued functions in order to (2) then, once we’ve found the general solution, consider only real-valued functions once again as ‘allowable’ solutions to that equation. I think that’s the gist of the matter really. It took me a while to fully ‘get’ this. I hope this post helps you to understand it somewhat quicker than I did. 🙂 I guess the only thing that I should do now is to work some examples. However, I’ll refer you Paul’s Online Math Notes for that once again (see the reference above). Indeed, it is about time I end my rather lengthy exposé (three posts on the same topic!) on oscillators and resonance. I hope you enjoyed it, although I can readily imagine that it’s hard to appreciate the math involved. It is not easy indeed: I actually struggled with it, despite the fact that I think I understand complex analysis somewhat. However, the good thing is that, once we’re through it, we can really solve a lot of problems. As Feynman notes: “Linear (differential) equations are so important that perhaps fifty percent of the time we are solving linear equations in physics and engineering.” So, bearing in that mind, we should move on to the next. Resonance phenomena Resonance curve gamma rays m(d2x/dt2) = –kx x = x0cos(ω0t + Δ) Something on the math Introducing a driving force x = ρF0cos(ωt + Δ + θ) Formula 1 Formula 2 Graph 1 Graph 2
- All Best Essays, Term Papers and Book Report Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong Essay by • November 27, 2018 • Research Paper • 1,837 Words (8 Pages) • 115 Views Essay Preview: Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong Report this essay Page 1 of 8 Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong Hong Kong(HK) is an international city which is called as The Pearl of the Orient because the night view in HK is the shiniest one in the world. This is a place as small as a ball but attracting people from the all over want to visit HK, know more about HK and spend time in this “shoppers Paradise” (William Ho, Sales Trainer & Coach, 2002). According to a large amount of tourism, the second large industry in HK is from the tourism. The article first presents a background of HK especially the economic system, infrastructure, what places or thing attract people come to visit and most important is the tourism in HK and their relationship to economics and the society impact or any drawback as well. Background of Hong Kong HK is the Southernmost of the Chain. HK was the UK colony between 1839-1997 and return to Chain after 1997 and become the high degree of autonomy city and the full name is Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR). Furthermore, the official language is Cantonese and English, which means this is better to handle people from all over the world. Hong Koners also is a highly educated city. HK has extremely high Human Development Index(HDI), this is composite statistic based on how long people can live, the level of their education and income per person. These are the reflation of how good of the city, how far they can develop. This is index was introduced by Indian economist Amartya Sen. When that city score higher, their Gross domestic product(GDP) will be higher. HK achieved 0.910 and rank 12 in the world, this is based on literacy rate is over 99%, which means Hong Kongers are suitable to afford people from everywhere and know how to make a profit from them. Behalf on the agreement of Sino-British Joint Declaration, now HK has separate political, economic, executive, legislative and judiciary powers. Apart from military defence and foreign affairs. Even though there are still a lot of countries set up their own consulate in HK, it makes HK as a springboard to step into the Chinese market. Based on the “One Country, Two system” HK is the most freedom and the highest flexibility in the world. According to Index of Economic System, since HK market settle in 1995, HK has the highest degree of freedom the world and with 89% of freedom by using governed under positive non-interventionism method and other policy such as low taxes (no taxes for the goods apart from spirit, tobacco, gas and cars) well banking systems, no public bond, and other support to the start-up firm or overseas investment. Furthermore, high transparency stock market, equality legal system and anti-corruption measures make HK become as internationalized, modernised and high ranking financial choice in the world, HK can be compared with New York and London. This also can be one of the reasons why people come along to HK as a business trip and shopping in the “shoppers Paradise”. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 of HK was US$320.91 Billion, insurance and finance was the biggest part which is 17.6% and the second was tourism which is 9.1%. Which means the tourism industry is one of the major support pillars of the Hong Kong economy. Thus, the HK government Thus, the HK government continues to develop a wide range of diversified tourist attractions through the years. The Tourism in Hong Kong Tourism means people travel to other places for, sightseeing, business and no matter what they do in other places but they at least stay for over 24 hours not more than six months. This is one of the biggest industry in the world which included hotel, transports, and lot of things involved directly or indirectly. In 2006, even there was a drop of the visitors to HK but there were still 59.3 million and the largest source still from the China due to the policy of the visa, which reached 77%. However, because China and HK is connected, some of the travel time can be less than 2 hours so that this data is including people who not staying for overnight but not for transfer to other places. The second was Taiwan and third was the Eastern Asia. The first direct impact from tourism is the hotel industry, HK had the top of the quality hotels in the Asia. According to the government data there are “257 hotels and providing over 74,000 rooms. In 2016, the average occupancy rate was 86% and over 80% of the visitor were happy with the accommodation”(HK Gov., 2017, P. 1). Apart from the visitors stay overnight in the hotels, some of them will go to the hostel even camping also is popular for them, this made another kind of income for HK as well. Apart from the accommodation, the transportation also is an important sector for tourism why they choice HK for travel. The HK airport is the top 3 in the world, their efficacy and facility win a lot of rank magazine to give them high reputation. The airport is connected to the downtown underground system, the tourism is easily go to their hotel. The underground(MTR) system are the most convenient in the world, its cover over 70% places in HK. Furthermore, the tramways, peak train, Ngong Ping 360 cable car, ferries on the “must try” list for the tourism. All the transport above can be pay by the cards called “Octopus” this can pay for all of the transport and most of the shops as well. Recently, people also travel by new Cruise as well, this can Cruise as well. new, this can handle the largest cruise ships in the world and make HK become leading regional cruise hub. Due to the HK was the UK colony, it has the most max culture between the eastern and western including lots of western architecture become some sightseeing places for people. Also, there are two theme park called Ocean Park and Disneyland build for tourism. To attract more people to visit, the government a put lot in investment in it. As mention before, HK is the “shoppers Paradise” because most of the shopping mall included all of the famous brands from the world and all of the close really late, not only in shopping mall is famous for tourism, the night market in HK also is the focus for most of the foreigner. In addition, HK has a lot of rewards such as food and bar reward because in HK, people can try different kind of cuisine with high standard. Download as: txt (10.8 Kb) pdf (142.5 Kb) docx (15.9 Kb) Continue for 7 more pages » Only available on Citation Generator (2018, 11). Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong. Retrieved 11, 2018, from "Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong" 11 2018. 2018. 11 2018 <>. "Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong.", 11 2018. Web. 11 2018. <>. "Economic Impact of Tourism in Hong Kong." 11, 2018. Accessed 11, 2018.
/ 2FA TOTP: (way) more secure than SMS, but more annoying than Push Welcome back to the two factor authentication (2FA) series! If you haven’t already, check out the first article in the series that explains what 2FA is and why you really should enable it on your accounts (yes, even if you have a strong, unique password). The previous article in the series outlines why you should favor more secure 2FA methods than SMS if at all possible. One of those methods is using Google Authenticator or a similar app on your phone to generate 2FA codes. Have you ever heard of these apps or wondered how they actually work? Well, today you’ll find out! In this article, we are going to cover the common time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) implementation of 2FA. We’ll use the abbreviation TOTP 2FA as we cover the technical details, highlight security vulnerabilities, and discuss usability tradeoffs. A few administrative things to clear up before we dive in. I will be using the following terms throughout this post: • service provider to refer to the website service provider (e.g., Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.); • OTP to mean one-time password; and • trusted device to refer to any device capable of running an authenticator app that can generate OTPs according to the TOTP specification, such as Google Authenticator. Typically, a trusted device is a smartphone or tablet, but can also include desktops, laptops, smart watches, etc. And finally, a quick reminder that the authentication factors associated with 2FA are the knowledge factor (something you know) and the possession factor (something you have). Let’s get into it! Registration flow for first time TOTP 2FA users Throughout this article, we will be following Alice, our recurring friend, as she navigates the TOTP 2FA workflows. Let’s start off by taking a look at the registration workflow by way of a diagram! A picture is worth a thousand words, right? After Alice starts the 2FA registration process, the service provider displays a QR code in Alice’s browser and prompts her to scan it with an authenticator app on her trusted device. If Alice does not already have an authenticator app, then she must install one before continuing. There are many apps available that implement the TOTP specification. For example, Google Authenticator, Authy, Duo Mobile, Auth0 Guardian, and FreeOTP are all capable of generating OTPs in the same exact way. Alice chooses one of these and installs it from her trusted device’s app store. Here is a screenshot of the Google Authenticator app: After installing the authenticator app, Alice uses it to scan the QR code displayed in her browser, which saves a shared secret onto her trusted device. This shared secure is foundational in how TOTP works and I will explain how later on, but there are two simple things to highlight here. First, the value is shared; Alice has a copy and the service provider has a copy. Second, the value is secret; only Alice and the service provider should ever have access to it. I’m sure your “someone is gonna steal it!” sense is tingling already. Hold tight! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After scanning the QR code, the authenticator app starts automatically generating OTPs for Alice’s account. These are typically 6 digits long and change every 30 seconds or so. To complete the TOTP 2FA registration process, Alice types the current OTP displayed on her trusted device into her browser. This allows the service provider to verify that it is the correct OTP and enable TOTP 2FA on Alice’s account. It would be quite fair to say that TOTP 2FA registration is more complicated than SMS 2FA. The first time Alice ever sets up TOTP 2FA, she will need to download a new app to her trusted device, use that app to scan a QR code, and manually type the current OTP into her browser. Compare that to SMS 2FA, where Alice only needs to enter her phone number and manually type a code into her browser. Luckily, TOTP 2FA gets simpler after the initial registration process. Registration flow for experienced TOTP 2FA users Alice only needs to install an authenticator app on her phone a single time. As mentioned previously, most authenticator apps implement the standard TOTP algorithm and can therefore generate the same OTP codes. Alice’s choice of which authenticator app to use is mainly based on which user experience she prefers. The diagram above shows the registration flow if Alice already has an authenticator app installed on her trusted device. She only has to scan the QR code with her existing app and then manually type in the OTP from the authenticator app to enable TOTP 2FA on her account. Alice only needs to complete the registration process once for each of her accounts. The authentication process is even simpler than registration! Authentication during login The only thing that Alice has to do during the login process is manually type the OTP displayed on her trusted device into her browser. This workflow is quite simple and arguably more user friendly than SMS 2FA. The main improvement is that nothing is sent over the network from the service provider to Alice’s trusted device. The shared secret is used to generate the OTPs locally in the authenticator app. This means that Alice does not need a cell or data connection to use TOTP 2FA. Not only does that beat waiting for a text to arrive, but it is also great for people in areas with bad reception or traveling abroad where they might not have any connection at all. In addition to the usability benefits, TOTP 2FA is significantly, dramatically more secure than SMS 2FA. If you take a peek back at the SMS 2FA article, you’ll notice that a huge source of vulnerabilities came from the phone company and network. Eliminating those has huge security benefits: no more social engineering people at the phone company, no more insider threats at the phone company, no more SS7 attacks on the phone network redirecting your texts, etc. However, TOTP 2FA does have its own flaws. Before we cover those, let’s answer a question that some readers have likely been asking themselves: How the heck does the service provider know that Alice entered the correct OTP?! Scan a QR code, get a shared secret! The shared secret is foundational to how TOTP 2FA works and I want to quickly explain how it gets transferred from the service provider to the trusted device. A QR code is simply a way of encoding some data, such as plain text characters. You can see in the examples above that QR codes can be created to encode any text you want. Go ahead and check out The QR Code Generator. Type some text in the box and watch the QR code change in real time to encode whatever you typed in. Don’t believe it? Download the QR Scanner (Privacy Friendly) on Android or a similar app on iOS and scan the QR code shown on your screen. The app on your phone will show the same exact text. Not magic! Just math! The QR code displayed during the TOTP 2FA registration process encodes information that the authenticator app on the trusted device needs to function correctly. The technical details are defined in a specification, but at a high level the QR code includes things like Alice’s email address/username and the name of the service provider so that the app can label which OTPs go with which accounts. Most importantly, it includes the shared secret. So, after the authenticator app on the trusted device gets the shared secret from the QR code, how does it actually generate the OTP? How the OTP is generated and validated Back in the introduction article to this series, we discussed two important properties of cryptographic hash functions that were critical to understanding the basics of how passwords are securely stored in a database. Cryptographic hashes are used extensively in the TOTP algorithm, so we will revisit them at a high level. The most important property to recall is that cryptographic hash functions are deterministic; the same input values will always generate the same output hash values. On the trusted device, the TOTP algorithm provides the shared secret and the current time as input values to a hash function. I’ll use a hand wavy explanation and say that some other tricky math calculations happen, but essentially the output hash value is the OTP! The server can run the exact same calculation because it has a copy of the shared secret and, thanks to the Network Time Protocol (NTP), has the same current time. The service provider can verify that Alice entered the correct OTP value during registration and authentication because the same calculation is being run locally on both the trusted device and on the service provider’s servers. There are some other important properties about cryptographic hash functions that are useful to understand potential attacks on TOTP 2FA, but they are out of scope of this article. I wrote a follow up article covering those details here! Hopefully, this makes it clear how the OTP is generated and validated and why nothing needs to be sent over the network by a third party like the phone company. This is the major reason that TOTP 2FA is so much more secure than SMS 2FA. However, this architecture also introduces some other challenges that SMS 2FA does not have: protecting the shared secret. Steal the shared secret from the service provider! If an attacker is able to obtain a copy of the shared secret, then they can generate valid OTPs on-demand, which completely compromises TOTP 2FA. To prevent the shared secret from being immediately compromised in the event of a data breach, the service provider must store the shared secret securely (see NIST 800-63B). Another opportunity to talk about cryptographic hashes! Remember, another key property is that they are one-way functions; given the output hash value, it is computationally infeasible to calculate the original input. While this is the ideal property that we want when securely storing passwords, it will not work for storing the shared secret. Remember, the TOTP algorithm needs the original shared secret value as input, so if we store the shared secret as a hash, then we lose access to the original value. Instead, the service provider will encrypt the shared secret using an encryption key. This both prevents it from being stored insecurely as plain text in the database and allows the service provider to use the key to decrypt the secret when it is needed. Each time a user logs in, the original shared secret value can be provided as input to the hash function in the TOTP algorithm. This sounds great, but now the service provider needs to store the encryption key somewhere safe too! If the encryption key and encrypted shared secrets are both stored in the same database that the hackers breached, then all of the secrets can be trivially decrypted and used to “prove possession” of any user’s phone. Clearly, not a good thing. There are many solutions to the problem of key management, such as using a hardware security module (HSM), but explaining those is out of scope for this article. The important takeaway is that service providers have a responsibility to implement TOTP the right way and one mistake could jeopardize the security of every single user’s 2FA if the database is breached. It would be ideal if the service provider did not save any information in the database that could compromise the 2FA method in the event of a database breach. Later in this series we will talk about Push 2FA and U2F 2FA, which both take that exact approach. Stay tuned! Steal the shared secret from Alice’s trusted device! Since the secret is shared between the service provider and Alice’s trusted device, it can obviously be stolen from Alice’s device too! In fact, this is arguably more likely to happen. Someone could physically steal Alice’s trusted device. If the device does not have full disk encryption enabled, then the hacker could simply pull the shared secret off of the hard drive. More scary than that, the trusted device might not even be locked and the hacker can simply navigate directly to the authenticator app to see which services are registered along with the usernames and OTPs for each. Aside from physical compromise, the trusted device can also be compromised by software. In the introduction article to this series, we discussed how many 2FA methods are vulnerable to malware and keyloggers. TOTP 2FA is one of those vulnerable methods. Alice could accidentally get malware on her trusted device that is designed to steal the shared secret. Protecting the trusted device becomes paramount in the context of TOTP 2FA. If Alice loses her trusted device, can she still log into her account? If Alice loses her trusted device (or it is stolen), then she may clearly be worried about someone maliciously logging into her account. However, it is unlikely that a random passerby who finds her trusted device (e.g. her phone) will also have her password and be able to quickly log into her accounts. Unless Alice has been targeted specifically, it is likely that she will have time to take preventative action to protect her accounts. That preventative action is to revoke the shared secrets that were stored on her trusted device so that they become useless to whomever might find them. This, of course, requires logging into her accounts! But, in order to log into her accounts, Alice needs both her password and her trusted device... Luckily, there are several account recovery options that are likely to be available. The de facto standard implementation of TOTP 2FA adds an additional step to the registration process which provides the user with a set of one-time use recovery codes. These codes are intended to be stored somewhere safe and independent of your trusted device; print them on a piece of paper that you leave at home, securely store them on your computer, etc. Where and how to save these recovery codes deserves an article of its own. However, the relevant point here is that Alice could use a recovery code in place of an OTP generated by her authenticator app if she lost her trusted device, she uninstalled the authenticator app, etc. A second recovery option for TOTP 2FA is to utilize multiple trusted devices. During the registration workflow, Alice could install an authenticator app on both her phone and her tablet and use each to scan the single QR code displayed in her browser. This way, both her phone and her tablet would have a copy of the shared secret and would be able to generate the same exact OTP codes. If Alice lost her phone, then she could use the tablet she left at home to successfully log into her accounts. This strategy can work very well for anyone who has an old device lying around the house and doesn’t want to deal with printing out or otherwise securely storing recovery codes. However, keeping track of the multiple trusted devices is critically important! All of the trusted devices can be used to generate valid OTPs, so enable encryption on all of them and don’t misplace them! If Alice didn’t have the foresight to save her recovery codes and/or scan the QR code with multiple trusted devices, then she is in a tight spot. Her last resort would be to reach out to the service provider’s support desk and see if they have an account recovery process. This varies widely from company to company. For example, some have well established criteria to prove that you are the genuine account holder, while other companies have no recovery process at all and she would be permanently locked out of her account. After logging into her account with a recovery method, Alice should revoke the shared secret that was stored on her trusted device so that if anyone does gain access to her trusted device, the shared secret is already useless. Then, Alice can re-enable TOTP 2FA for that same account with her new trusted device (e.g., she might buy a new phone). Unfortunately, this process would need to be performed for each individual account that Alice had TOTP 2FA enabled on. Quite a tedious process, indeed. Vulnerable to phishing and MITM attacks The diagram below shows that TOTP 2FA joins the list of 2FA methods that are vulnerable to phishing attacks. In this familiar scenario, Alice thinks that she is on a legitimate site, so she logs in with her password. In the background, the hackers running the phishing site use the password Alice just handed over to log into the real site. The phishing site then prompts Alice for the OTP generated by the authenticator app on her trusted device. Again, Alice thinks she is on the legitimate site and knows that she has TOTP 2FA enabled on her account, so she happily enters the OTP into the phishing site. As soon as she does, the hackers can use that valid OTP to successfully log into Alice’s account on the real site. Game over. TOTP 2FA is similarly vulnerable to Man in the Middle (MITM) attacks. The phishing attack relies on fake websites that look real to trick Alice. If Alice falls victim to a MITM attack, then she actually connects to the real website, but does so on an insecure HTTP connection. This allows hackers to read all of the network web traffic, including the OTP that Alice manually entered into her browser. Remember, HTTPS helps prevent MITM attacks; you should go install HTTPS Everywhere to help with this! Wrap up TOTP 2FA does a much better job of proving “something you have” than SMS 2FA. With SMS 2FA, the OTP is generated by the service provider and sent to the device associated with your phone number. I talked about the issues with that architecture and how the OTP can be stolen in a variety of ways during transit through the phone network. With TOTP 2FA, the authenticator app on the trusted device visually scans a QR code to obtain the shared secret, which is used locally to generate the OTP. Never sending the shared secret over the network reduces the remote attack surface significantly. It also has some nice usability gains, such as not needing wait for slow text messages to arrive or the need for a network connection at all. However, TOTP 2FA definitely has its drawbacks in terms of usability and security. In terms of usability, there are some mild annoyances that can grate on users over time. For example, manually typing the OTP into the browser is annoying, but becomes hugely frustrating if the OTP rotates to a new 6 digit code as you are typing it into the browser. If you didn’t catch all 6 digits, then hit that backspace key and start again. As we’ll see later in this series, Push 2FA and U2F 2FA remove the need to manually type anything into your browser; a huge UX improvement. Another usability challenge is the fact that your trusted device is often your phone, which is literally a device optimized to steal your attention. I can’t tell you how many times I have picked up my phone to get an OTP from my authenticator app and gotten distracted by an incoming text message from a friend, a waiting email, or a tempting glance through a blog post. Five minutes later I remember that I should be working, put my phone down, and look back at the computer screen that is sitting there still waiting for an OTP. Back to the phone to grab the OTP and get back to work. Admittedly, this distraction issue is not specific to TOTP 2FA and applies to all 2FA methods that treat phones as a trusted device. In terms of security, TOTP 2FA introduces the importance of keeping the shared secret safe on both the trusted device and the service provider’s servers is specific to TOTP 2FA. If your trusted device is your phone, then you’re probably going to notice pretty quickly if it goes missing, which will likely allow you to act before someone finds it and tries to get into your accounts. However, you will never know if the shared secret is stolen from the service provider unless they tell you. Depending on their security posture, they might not even know they were compromised! As I highlighted previously, a much more secure architecture would be one in which the service provider does not save any information that could compromise the 2FA method in the event of a database breach. Later in this series we are going to talk about Push 2FA and U2F 2FA, which both take that exact approach. And finally, let’s not forget that, like most 2FA methods, TOTP 2FA is vulnerable to malware on the trusted device, MITM attacks, and phishing attacks. If you’ve stuck it out til the end, then you should definitely join the email list below to make sure you don’t miss the next article in this 2FA series! Still to come are articles on Push and U2F, which are each more secure than TOTP and arguably easier to use as well. Edit: Check out the next article in this 2FA series: A medium dive on the Time-based One-time Passwords (TOTP) spec Thanks to Jordan Fischer, Kristie Butler, Reuven Gonzales, and Peter Nakagami for reading drafts of this and to copious friends and colleagues for feedback on the diagrams. Conor Gilsenan Conor Gilsenan Conor is a software engineer passionate about putting the user first. He co-created 2fanotifier.org to help people enable 2FA. He consults with companies on usable security and privacy. Read More
List Family History 14-Day Free Trial List Name Meaning German and Dutch: nickname for someone who was wise and knowledgeable, from Middle High German list, Dutch list ‘wisdom’, ‘ingenuity’. Dutch: habitational name from Ter List, the name being derived from the plant lis ‘iris’, ‘flag’. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Liszt, a metonymic occupational name for a miller, from liszt ‘flour’. Similar surnames: Last, Lis, Lust, Lint, Leist, Geist, Licht, Best, Obst, Lier Ready to discover your family story? Simply start with yourself and we'll do the searching for you. List Family Origin Where is the List family from? List Family Occupations What did your List ancestors do for a living? In 1880, a less common occupation for the List family was Carpenter. The most common List occupation in the USA was Farmer. 23% of List's were Farmers. Farmer, Laborer and Keeping House were the top 3 reported jobs worked by List. View Census data for List \| Data not to scale • Farmer • Laborer • Keeping House • Carpenter Census records can tell you a lot of little known facts about your List ancestors, such as occupation. Occupation can tell you about your ancestor's social and economic status. List Historical Records What List family records will you find? Census Record There are 3,000 census records available for the last name List. Like a window into their day-to-day life, List census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more. Search 1940's US census records for List Passenger List There are 642 immigration records available for the last name List. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure. View all List immigration records Draft Card There are 1,000 military records available for the last name List. For the veterans among your List ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions. View all List military records You've only scratched the surface of List family history. List Life Expectancy What is the average List lifespan? Between 1950 and 2004, in the United States, List life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1959, and highest in 1997. The average life expectancy for List in 1950 was 49, and 81 in 2004. View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for List An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your List ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family. The SSDI is a searchable database of more than 70 million names. You can find birthdates, death dates, addresses and more. Famous List Family Ancestors Discover the unique achievements of ancestors in your family tree Look up another name
IranSource \| Understanding and Analyzing a Multifaceted Iran August 9, 2018 The news coming out of Iran these days tells the story of a country in crisis. The economy is sliding towards collapse, even before the first round of US sanctions were reinstated on August 6. Nationwide protests are calling for regime change—a dirty word in Tehran up until recently. The Iranian government and its military leaders speak openly about looming conflicts. Ironically, only a few months ago, there were talks of Iran as a rising regional power in an otherwise volatile Middle East. So what are the major factors working against the Iranian government? The Economy At the heart of Iran’s economic problems is systemic corruption, which has now reached unprecedented heights not seen before. In April, after the Iranian rial lost nearly 20 percent of its value against the US dollar, the government set a single foreign exchange rate at 42,000 rials per dollar to rescue the currency. Operators with connections to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) received significant amounts of dollars at the subsidized official rate ostensibly to import essential goods. Instead, they sold their currencies in the open market at prices more than double the official rate. The current economic crisis goes beyond corruption, though. The Iranian government also struggles with regulating the country’s foreign exchange market. In the government’s latest move, essential imports will be paid in a subsidized official rate set by the CBI in dollars obtained from oil exports. For everything else, a secondary open market will distribute hard currency gained through the export of petrochemicals and others goods. The dual system again could be the basis of corrupt practices in forex markets, although it’s still unclear how efficient the secondary market could operate, and if it could obtain enough currency to meet the demands. The country is also facing a severe economic downturn, with a full-fledged recession looming, high unemployment, and rapidly rising inflation. The first wave of US sanctions went into effect on August 6. These sanctions cover buying and acquiring US dollars by Iran; the sales of commercial airplanes and their parts; Iran’s auto industry; trading in gold and other precious metals, such as aluminum, steel, and graphite (used as moderator in nuclear reactors); and a host of other sanctions. The greater sanctions will be effective as of November 4. They will include sanctions on oil and petrochemical products; transactions with CBI and other Iranian financial institutions; shipping and insurance; and financial messaging service to Iran’s CBI and other banks. Needless to say, if uncontested effectively by the European Union, the return of unilateral sanctions could push the ailing Iranian economy over the edge and toward collapse. Mass Protests Since December 2017, a wave of protests against the regime has entrenched Iran. The latest round of protests, which began on August 2, seems to be more organized than before, as many protesters in cities like Esfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tehran, and Karaj used the same slogans simultaneously. These chants include: “Our enemy is right here. They’re lying when they say it’s America,” “Death to dictator,” and “This month is the month of blood, Seyed Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown.” Although the presence of thousands of members of the lower-middle classes on the streets is an indication of a rapidly worsening economic situation, the nature of the slogans is a manifestation that the demands of the protesters go beyond economic issues. The radical overtones show that years of resistance and anger against the regime is boiling over, and will likely result in a nationwide uprising in the not-so-distant future. The economic and political discontent gripping Iran is the most severe of its kind in the four decades of the Islamic Republic. It wouldn’t be surprising that the opposition, including elements from within the regime such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, might soon put forth alternatives to the rule of the clerics in the country. Forty years of incompetency, corruption, and dictatorship have taken their toll on the Islamist movement in Iran. Regional Intervention At a time of growing tensions between Iran and the United States, the attacks on two Saudi oil tankers on July 24 by Iran-backed Houthi rebels—likely with anti-ship missiles provided by Tehran—underscored the precarious situation facing the country after years of military involvement in the region. Since the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Iran has been at war in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Tehran has used proxies to establish an arc of Shia influence across the Middle East. Now its regional foes are no longer turning a blind eye to Iran’s activities and are challenging the country’s attempt at dominance in the region. In places like Yemen, the situation could easily get out of hand. If a Houthi missile attack inflicts major casualties on US or Arab fleets, a major regional conflict could pursue. Threats by Iran to close the all-important oil tanker choking points, the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf or Bab el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea, is also a reminder of how quickly Iran could get pulled into a major regional conflict with its neighbors with superior military capabilities. President Hassan Rouhani’s reference to the “mother of all wars” highlighted the risks involved. Continuous discussions of a potential war by senior Iranian officials could in fact worsen Iran’s own political and economic challenges. The Way Ahead The worsening economic and political situation in Iran could serve as impetus for the regime to limit its activities in the region and be prepared to negotiate its regional role as part of a comprehensive agreement with the West, replacing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Absence of such a compromise, punitive sanctions added to an already worsening economic situation, could cause economic collapse and significantly raise the risk of a popular uprising in Iran. The contour of a future agreement is already in place with the JCPOA. Looking at it as a model, it can be used to negotiate over Iran’s ballistic missile program and its regional activities. The alternative, the “mother of all wars,” is neither in the interests of the Islamic Republic, the Arab states, nor the West. Nader Uskowi is a nonresident senior fellow with the Middle East Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Nader is also the president of Sagewood Consulting LLC, a consulting firm specializing on Iran, Middle East, and Central Asia. His book, Temperature Rising: Iran Revolutionary Guards and Wars in the Middle East, will be published by Rowman & Littlefield in November. Follow him on Twitter: @nuskowi.
Sir Walter Raleigh executed During Elizabeth’s reign, Raleighorganized three major expeditions to America, including the first English settlement in America, in 1587—the ill-fated Roanoke settlement located in present-day North Carolina. Raleigh laterfell out of favor with Elizabeth after she learned of his secret marriage to Bessy Throckmorton, one of her maids-of-honor, and he was imprisoned with his wife in the Tower of London. After buying his freedom, Raleigh married Bessy and distanced himself from the jealous English queen. After Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was implicated as a foe of King James I and imprisoned with a death sentence. The death sentence was later commuted, and in 1616 Raleigh was freed to leadan expedition to the New World, this time to establish a gold mine in the Orinoco River region of South America. However, the expedition was a failure, and when Raleigh returned to England the death sentence of 1603 was invoked against him. Stock market crashes U.S. troop strength reaches five-year low Bobby Seale gagged during his trial Judge orders “Chicago Eight” defendant Bobby Seale gagged and chained to his chair during his trial. Seale and his seven fellow defendants (David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Thomas Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner, and John Froines) had been charged with conspiracy to more Sandy Saddler beats Willie Pep for the first time McKinley assassin is executed On this day in 1901, President William McKinley’s assassin, Leon Czolgosz, is executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York. Czolgosz had shot McKinley on September 6, 1901; the president succumbed to his wounds eight days later. McKinley was shaking hands in a long more Killer smog claims elderly victims Killer smog continues to hover over Donora, Pennsylvania, on this day in 1948. Over a five-day period, the smog killed about 20 people and made thousands more seriously ill. Donora was a town of 14,000 people on the Monongahela River in a valley surrounded by hills. The town was more Israel invades Egypt; Suez Crisis begins Israeli armed forces push into Egypt toward the Suez Canal, initiating the Suez Crisis. They would soon be joined by French and British forces, creating a serious Cold War problem in the Middle East. The catalyst for the joint Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt was the more John Glenn returns to space
What is Web Hosting? What is web hosting? Essentially, web hosting is a service that allows your web pages to be available on the Internet for everyone else to see. Wikipedia describes it this way: "A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation." Introduction to Web Hosting Web Hosting Server Rack - What is Web Hosting? At its simplest, web hosting is just putting web sites on the Internet. Anyone with a web server (i.e. a computer) and an Internet connection can be a web host (a server that sends web pages to browsers). That means that you could host your own web pages on your own computer instead of paying a web host to do it. However, there are several problems with doing this: • Uptime. If you ever restarted your computer, your web site would go down. Web hosts keep most web servers running constantly and rarely restart them. • Updates. The Internet is a dangerous place. People are constantly trying to hack. If you don’t keep your computer up-to-date like most web hosts do then you would be an easy target for a hacker. • Knowledge. There is a lot involved with setting up a web server with all the programs that are needed. Not to mention setting up FTP, PHP, SSL, or mail functions. • Computer speed and Internet connection. The faster your computer the better. The biggest bottleneck, though, is your Internet connection. Web hosts usually have a ton of bandwidth unlike your home or business Internet connection. You won’t be able to handle many visitors if you don't have a fast Internet connection. So a web host can be easily worth the monthly cost as long as they do their job well. When choosing a web host, you need to find one that has all the features you needs, has a good rating, and is in your price range. Web hosting comes in all different shapes and sizes. There is free web hosting, shared web hosting, reseller web hosting, virtual private server hosting, dedicated hosting, clustered hosting, and co-location hosting. Though there are many different types, most small websites work great on cheap, shared hosting. You can get web hosting on a Windows server or a Linux server. Hosting can come with lots of bandwidth or disk space or just a little. You can get hosting with various programming languages such as PHP, ASP, .NET, Perl, or Ruby on Rails. Different databases may be supported such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MS SQL. You can get hosting that comes with free scripts or content management systems. One of the biggest factors in deciding on a web host is how good their support is so be sure to check out our Web Host Reviews. Recap: If you want your web site to be available to others on the Internet, you need web hosting. A web host will provide you with a computer that you can upload your web site to. There are many different kinds of web hosting so be sure to understand the different options before buying web hosting. Learn about the basic web hosting options. © Host Shopper \| Web Host Comparisons \| All Rights Reserved
Emergency powers: A ticking time bomb that's still necessary A swine flu epidemic in 2009. Hurricane Katrina. The onset of the Civil War. All of these crises and more have been met by one of the U.S. president’s greatest powers: the power to declare emergencies. To deal with sudden threats to the security of the U.S., the executive branch is able to temporarily expand its power to resolve crises as they appear. That is, until President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Feb. 15 over the “crisis” at the border. In Trump’s own words, “I didn’t need to do this.” He has had an ongoing stalemate with Congress over funding for his southern border wall. Trump is attempting to use the emergency to get the funding he would need for the border wall. While his effort to declare an emergency is likely to be struck down in court, it presents a frequently neglected issue: When should declaring a national emergency be allowed, by whom, and what powers should the president have to solve it? A president should only be able to declare a national emergency over crises that are urgent and would result in a catastrophe if unresolved, and should only have the power just sufficient for the emergency at hand, to be examined on a case-by-case basis, with current powers granted in an emergency greatly reduced. National emergencies confer wide-ranging powers on the president to deal with unknown crises. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the president has more than 130 special provisions he can activate during a state of emergency. Only 13 of these require a congressional declaration. All of the other powers can be activated without congressional input. These range from the power to take control of the internet to freeze assets to blocking transactions with any foreign citizen and even imprisoning U.S. citizens without trial. It was what allowed President George W. Bush to institute warrantless wiretapping and torture programs after the 9/11 attacks. It also would allow the president to detain anyone suspected of hiring, housing or providing paid legal representation to an asylum seeker or undocumented immigrant within the U.S. under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to an article posted by Elizabeth Goitein in The Atlantic in January. While it would be impossible to identify every person who has assisted an undocumented immigrant or asylum seeker, prosecuting a few high-profile cases could instill fear in ordinary citizens. Trump could, under the same act, seize control of social media platforms, as well as websites that rally opposition against him. Given the potential for abuse of extraordinary powers, change to emergency laws is absolutely necessary. Proposed changes What would need to be changed about emergency declarations? First, only Congress should be allowed to declare emergencies. The few emergency provisions under the Constitution are all powers of Congress (the militia clause, the habeas corpus clause, etc.), so completing the set would make sense. Furthermore, the president is the one exercising emergency powers, so Congress should be the one to determine when the president needs extra power. There also needs to be a strict definition for when a national emergency can be declared, such as “crises in which extraordinary powers are absolutely necessary to resolve the emergency before causing a ‘public calamity.’” Finally, the emergency powers of the president should only be granted by Congress in the resolution declaring the emergency. The powers to seize control of the internet and detain U.S. citizens without trial should not be held because of a flu epidemic. A national emergency should be a temporary and small-scale adjustment of powers, not a blank check for abuse. Riley Dalton is a sophomore at Homestead High School. Local students interested in writing a “Student Voices” column can email Adanya Lustig at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Schools » Read More Sports » Read More People » Read More Special Sections » Special Sections Read More Photos of Los Altos Browse and buy photos
Have we found the key to eradicating viruses like HIV or herpes? By Michael le Page Every human has viruses lying low within them. It’s highly likely that you have been infected with a human papillomavirus at some point, for example. HPV inserts copies of its DNA into the genome of cells, allowing it to hide away for decades, ready to activate and infect more cells if your immune system slips up. The consequences can be lethal: HPV can cause neck, throat, anal and cervical cancer. The herpes simplex virus does a similar thing, adding one or more copies of its DNA to sensory nerve cells around the mouth or genitals. And several other common viruses also exploit this dastardly trick to hide away within you. Until recently, the best we could do was help the immune system suppress any viral activity. With the development of the first gene-editing tools, researchers began to explore the possibility of destroying the viral DNA inside our cells, but progress has been slow and results mixed. Now, with CRISPR, the field is racing ahead. Several groups have shown that it is possible to target and destroy viral genes in human cells growing outside the body. “We are all brimming with excitement,” says Bryan Cullen of Duke University, whose team is working on treatments for several viruses, including herpes. “There will be a huge demand if a cure is possible.” It should be easiest to target viruses that integrate themselves into specific tissues in a small area of the body, such as herpes simplex. Could it also work for HIV? The problem, Cullen says, is that HIV hides in memory T-cells, • 首页 • 游艇租赁 • 电话 • 关于我们
Request Your Free Home Inspection Today! < Return to Blog Stopping Fall Fruit Fly Infestations Starts Now August 29, 2018 fruit fly up close It is common for fruit fly infestations to occur during this time of year. In fact, fall is the time of year that fruit fly populations reach their peak! With all the crops that are still being grown this time of year, there are still plenty of areas for these flies to feed and breed, allowing them to thrive during this season. Fruit flies are especially attracted to ripe or fermenting fruits and vegetables so if you have a garden, fruit trees, vines, or berry bushes on your property, these tiny pests will take notice. Fruit flies can also thrive inside our homes as well. They'll also notice if you bring ripened fruits and vegetables into your home, especially if you put them out on display like in fruit bowls, and may invade to gain access to them. Some of the many foods that attract fruit flies include grapes, bananas, tomatoes, melons, potatoes, and onions. Whether you pick these foods from your garden or bring them home from the grocery store, they can attract fruit flies to your home and provide them with a location to breed. If you're not aware, having just a couple fruit flies in your home can quickly develop into a much more serious infestation. This isn't because fruit flies reproduce quickly, however. It actually has more to do with how many eggs they lay. A single egg can develop into an adult fruit fly in about one to two weeks which is pretty fast but it isn't fast enough to explain why you saw one fly yesterday, six flies today, or why you'll find twenty fruit flies flying around your home by the end of the week. The reason why fruit flies populations grow so quickly is that a single female fruit fly can lay as many as 500 eggs during its lifespan. The flies produced by those eggs must then go through the process of developing into adult fruit flies. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will come out and throughout the week, these larvae will burrow through decaying organic material and molt. After a few days, they will then move to a dry surface and become pupae. A few days after this, the pupae will become adults and take to the air. This process range from slow to fast, which means you can stop these swarms from developing in your home can if you find and eliminate their breeding spots. Oftentimes, spotting a fruit fly breeding site can be quite easy. It might be the trash bag that was left on the porch too long, a piece of fruit that got dropped into a bathroom trash bag instead of the kitchen trash can, or even an overripe potato in the pantry or ripening grapes in a bowl on the kitchen table. It is important to find every source of fermenting organic matter and dispose of in outdoor trash bins with tight-fitting lids in order to rid these pests from your home. However, locating fruit fly breeding sites can sometimes be quite difficult. If you need assistance finding breeding sites in your home or help eliminate the fruit fly infestation in your home, reach out to Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators in Illinois for a free home pest inspection. We'll help you eliminate those flies both quickly and effectively! Give us a call to learn more about our residential pest control options in Rock Island and the Quad-Cities. TAGS: home pest control \| fruit flies \| Request Your Free Home Guardian SM Inspection For Expedited Service Call (888) 672-0022

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