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Saturday, 4 October 2014
No Free Speech in English Schools?
Big Brother is watching you
New, dangerously anti-free-speech regulations have come into force in English schools on the 29th September 2014. They are contained in the new Independent School Standards regulations, which change the legal framework for academies, free schools and private schools. Ofsted has been asked to enforce the same minimum standards for all other schools.
Among them are the requirements that schools actively promote:
(vi) encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010.
The former is very good in theory, if we didn't know that the "tolerance" and "respect" are not mutual but one-directional, at the expense of British culture.
As for the latter, the new standards will only be met if a school in England "actively promotes" the rights enshrined in the Equality Act.
Colin Hart, Campaign Director of the Coalition for Marriage, explains what this innocent-sounding regulation means in practice:
As a result, schools will undoubtedly be put under pressure to promote same-sex marriage. Advice from a senior QC confirms this.
Indeed, the Government Consultation Documents are specific about what these "protected characteristics" are. A clue: think of words that are often used in conjunction with the suffix "phobia".
a. Para 3.2.2
b. “The new requirement for schools to actively promote principles which encourage respect for persons with protected characteristic (as set out in the Equality Act 2010) is intended to allow the Secretary of State to take regulatory action in various situations: for example… failure to address homophobia; or where prejudice against those of other faiths is encouraged or not adequately challenged by the school”.
The protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010 are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation (s4 Equality Act 2010).
Hart elaborates:
This all conflicts directly with previous good guidance issued by the Government. But earlier reassurances can’t disguise the fact that schools will now have to comply with the new minimum standards...
If schools were required to promote respect for people as people there would be no problem. But the additional requirement of “paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010” transforms the duty in an alarming way.
One of the ‘protected characteristics’ in the Equality Act is sexual orientation. It could easily be alleged that a teacher who says “I believe same-sex marriage is not real marriage” has shown a lack of respect for people of a same-sex sexual orientation.
Schools will come under immense pressure to endorse same-sex marriage in order to comply with these regulations. Since the equality rights must be “actively promoted”, they will undoubtedly change what is taught in schools.
Under existing equality law, schools cannot discriminate against pupils but governments have carefully excluded the school curriculum from the Equality Act. The regulations break the seal around the curriculum for the first time. Now activists could launch a discrimination claim over the content of lessons.
This is why the Association of School and College Leaders has warned about the harmful implications for freedom of expression in schools.
The Government keeps talking about “British values” but seems to think this means promoting political correctness.
In its alarming consultation document, the Government lets slip some of its thinking.
PART 2 – Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students
… Schools will be expected to focus on, and be able to show how their work with pupils is effective in embedding fundamental British values. ‘Actively promote’ also means challenging pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British values.
It’s astonishing that the Government thinks schools should challenge the personal beliefs of parents for being contrary to political correctness. This could lead a head teacher to reprimand a parent who tells their child that marriage is for a man and a woman.
The new requirement for schools to actively promote principles which encourage respect for persons with protected characteristics (as set out in the Equality Act 2010) is intended to allow the Secretary of State to take regulatory action in various situations: for example where girls are disadvantaged on the grounds of their gender; failure to address homophobia; or where prejudice against those of other faiths is encouraged or not adequately challenged by the school.
As we know from recent history, reasonable opposition to same-sex marriage is routinely described as ‘homophobia’. Does the new equality requirement mean a school must discipline or dismiss a teacher who voices support for traditional marriage? Will parents of prospective pupils be interrogated about their beliefs before their child is granted a place at school?
The plans also slip in another attack on parents by demanding that in future private schools must conform to ‘national norms’ rather than the expectations of parents.
Any school with a religious ethos which upholds traditional marriage will now have to defend itself against the new rules. Schools could be harassed by inspectors or even have their governors removed by the Secretary of State.
The regulations are a fundamental change of approach in our education system, which have been slipped out under the radar. It is vital that these dangerous plans are opposed and exposed. [All emphases added]
In short, the new regulations are written in such ambiguous terms that any opinion about an institution - like same-sex marriage - may be taken as a lack of respect for some people - homosexuals.
As John Bowers Q.C. explains:
The Regulations are not framed as a duty to promote the protected characteristics but instead as a duty to promote respect of people, having particular regard to those protected characteristics. It adopts much of its language from the human rights case law (tolerance, respect etc). It is however a small step as a matter of interpretation to elide the respect for a person to respecting the beliefs and practices of the group to which that person belongs and this is especially so given the reference to active promotion, a concept to which I refer below in more detail. It may also be said that the words “paying particular regard” shift the duty beyond that of merely respecting people since otherwise it could have been framed simply as a duty to respect persons. [Emphasis added]
Mr Bowers also remarks that the curriculum is in danger of becoming politicised,
because respect for some protected characteristics (or more correctly respect of those with different protected characteristics including faiths and beliefs) may be highly contentious. The law has thus far stayed steadfastly outside the classroom door (and indeed from promoting respect in the classroom) and this has been the policy of governments of each political colour. [Emphasis added]
It's been an article of faith of successive governments that the curriculum should not be a political football and that teachers should not even potentially be the subject of litigation. But all this could be an unintended consequence of the amendments.
Mr Bowers provides examples of situations in which teachers may fall foul of the standards because what they say may be perceived as a lack of respect for people who hold the corresponding beliefs: portraying jihad negatively, dismissing the concept of man-made climate change, making jokes about veganism. He concludes:
The danger of litigation is exacerbated by the vagueness in the proposals arising from the concept of active promotion.
41. The inevitable result is to open teachers up to increased scrutiny, pressures and complaints. There is a real risk of major litigation over what happens in the classroom. Further the contents may undermine their academic freedom.
I find the concept of "protected characteristics" entitling the persons who possess them to "particular respect" a bit politically-correctly sinister, implying that some groups of people are more equal than others. We already know that Muslims are more equal than non-Muslims and homosexuals are more equal than Christians - we've seen it repeatedly demonstrated -, but now it could be enshrined in government's school regulations.
In the end, all this means one thing: much more power to the government and less freedom of expression to people. We are on a slippery slope to totalitarianism, and plenty of progress on that route has already been made.
1. European governments are psychopathic, especially in the UK and Sweden. It's as though their mission is to commit genocide against their own people and murder their culture. These people are totally evil in every way, full of hate while accusing their own people of hate, just because they want to be themselves in their own small countries without being flooded by aggressive populations from the third world who get every benefit of doubt while they, the native white peoples, are all labeled as "racists." It's utterly intolerable, so why are you tolerating it? Get your torches and your pitchforks and depose these criminals who are murdering your people!
1. I would like to help but East-Benders is on shortly!!! Throw the lot in the Thames!!!
2. "This could lead a head teacher to reprimand a parent who tells their child that marriage is for a man and a woman."
Wow! That's scary! I'd rather home school.
3. England is ruled by elites who despise white, English parents. Elites who hate God and Christianity and will do everything in their power to destroy Christianity and replace Christianity with Islam. One school took their students to a mosque and had the students recite the shahada - the Muslim profession of faith that converts a person to Islam.
The goal of Islam is to destroy the human soul and destroy all love for God. Exactly what ruling elites want to do.
The elites hate people being straight and want people to be like they are. The elites want to destroy our Bible-based Western civilisation as does Islam.
Ruling elites are consumed with a rabid hate for children that is terrifying. For decades, many thousands of Britain's white, non-muslim children have been violently gang raped, tortured and forced into prostitution and sex-slavery by dirty, demonic, inhuman, savage sex-slaver muslim monsters - the Spawn of Satan. Desperate, child sex-slave victims begged the authorities for help and were ruthlessly ignored.
Sex attacks and sex-slavery of Britain's terrorized little non-muslim girls by muslim savage monsters continues in all of Britain's towns and cities. GOD HELP BRITAIN'S CHILDREN.
1. British culture. Watch BBC News about Rolf Harris and his evil deeds for the last 50 years. Muslims feel ashamed of British culture and it values.
I'm surprised we're not top! our teenagers are selfish, disgusting, loud, drunks and trouble makers when they are out and that includes girls.. This country's youngsters are embarrassing and they are the same when they are abroad...I don't know what's happened... Why is this not surprising? most teenagers now days have terrible morals, horrible personalities and think that the most important thing in the world is looking good, being popular and being in a relationship. Most girls are fake looking and trashy and boys have lost that 'gentleman' quality about them. Teenagers nowadays are vile and I say this a NINETEEN year old. It disgusts me that being smart, virginal or sensible is seen as 'stupid' or 'not cool'. It's so sad.
The native Brits have double standards and are hypocrites; they don't mention the fact that the majority of men who go to countries in East Asia looking for under aged sex are natives European men.
Until we change our attitude towards victims of sexual abuse we will continue to have these scandals. This isn't just an issue in Rottheram or the UK for that matter. Globally, we have seen repeated failures of authorities who did not believe the victims of sex crimes. Unfortunately, various groups - including atheists and Christians - have used the misogyny of Islam to justify perpetuating their own misogyny. Apparently Western misogyny doesn't need to be addressed because Muslim misogyny is worse. Misogyny is not unique to Islam or the Middle East. It wasn't until the 20th century that Christians began to abhor family violence. The current Australian PM is on record as saying his daughter's greatest gift to give is their virginity.
It seems likely that the majority of the girls abused in Rotherham were white but this begs the question of whether this was because their Muslim abusers had greater "hatred and contempt" for non-Muslim, white girls and/or whether white girls were "most easily accessible". Almost half of child sexual abuse is committed by children. One in three child sexual abuse victims are boys. 20% of child sexual abuse is committed by females. Child sexual abuse is a heterogeneous crime. There are many sub cultural interpretations of Islam as there are for Christianity. To suggest that Muslims don't respect women is ridiculous, I guess you don't know many Muslims. If a European irreligious person is the abuser what do we label them, just pervert I guess? We certainly don't see them as representative of the dominant culture. A 2012 report by the deputy children’s commissioner said that 33 per cent of child sex abuse by gangs in Britain was committed by Asians – who form 7 per cent of the population. However it is single men who abuse far more children and they are predominantly white, such as Glitter,Seville and all the related cases as well, also all those in the lost paedophile document of people higher up in society who abused at what was a paedophile brothel as well as Catholic priests who abused.
If you know a crime is being committed, you have a duty to report/act on it, surely failure to do means that you are complicit in the crime? Westminster M.P.s, knew they were stealing millions off the taxpayer and blamed the rules they themselves had written. These same people knew that there were predatory pedophiles in their midst, one of whom was a Privy Councillor and PPS to the Prime Minister.They did nothing. Police in Leeds and Rochale, knew about the activities of two of their most famous residents - yet did nothing. Police at Orgreave and Hillsborough knew they had lied in their statements - yet did nothing.I'm sure that scores more examples could be added to this list. |
Why did anne frank write a diary
Anne Frank, pictured in a 1942 ank 39 s estate gives blessing for Waltz with Bashir 39 s Ari Folman to write and direct movie based on famous diary. digital writing pad without paper. Prison Diary Print This Page Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the. About The Diary of Anne Frank Bookmark this page Manage My as a punishment for her talkativeness, she had to write several essays on the subject ofA. Anne Frank, the Diary and the Secret Annex The most complete and current information with unique photos and film images. Jan 13, 2013 Diary of Anne Frank Discussion Question6 In what ways are Anne s experiences typical of what ways are they different.
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how to write a better essay pdf. Free The Diary of Anne Frank papers, essays, and research papers. Start studying Diary of Anne frank act 1 Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools Why does Anne write in her diary. say no to polythene essay. An update The Diary of Anne Frank: Is it Genuine Robert Faurisson This article, written in June 2000 at the request of Italian scholar Cesare Saletta, is adapted.
If you haven t read The Diary of a Young Girl in a while Otto Frank was given Anne s diary by Miep Gies, one of the Dutch citizens who helped hide the Franks.
Quick Facts Name Anne Frank Birth Date June 12, 1929 Death Date March, 1945 Did You Know Published in 1947, Anne Frank 39 s Diary of a Young Girl has since been. To mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 we have collected 10 of the most powerful quotes from Anne Frank s legendary The Diary of Anne Frank: 10 beautiful quotes. May 11, 2013 could you please tell meas detailed as you can) why anne frank wrote her diary in the first place I know that she was given it by her parents for a 13th. Diary of a Young Girl Anne ntents How to Write Literary Analysis Anne wants to explain why she visits Peter a lot.
critical reflection dissertation. Anne Frank wants to Anne Frank 39 s diary is published Otto reads in Anne 39 s diary that she And if it turns out that she lacks the talent to write books.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank why did anne decide to write a diary what role did this diary play in her vel the diary of the young girl.
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young GirlAnne Frank, B M Mooyaart, Eleanor Roosevelt] on FREE* shipping on qualifying offers Discovered in. Find out more about the history of Anne Frank Anne had even been inspired to edit her diary for posterity after hearing a March 1944 radio broadcast. 21 Why did the Franks tell people they were going to Switzerland To confuse Mr Frank s creditors; To make the Nazis think they were in Switzerland. Quick Facts Name Anne Frank Birth Date June 12, 1929 Death Date March, 1945 Did You Know Published in 1947, Anne Frank s Diary of a Young Girl has since been. 13 Reasons Whystylized onscreen as Th1rteen R3asons Why) is an American mystery teen drama web television series based on the 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by.
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Week 1 1 Have students list the names of all the people that they know from the period of the Holocaust on the boardAnne Frank, Adolf Hitler, etc. Why did Anne Frank die Where did Anne frank write her diary Why did her story impact the world Ask New Question Still have a question Ask your own Ask. broiler breeder business plan. salvation army homework bus. pride and prejudice theme analysis essays. Is The Diary of Anne Frank Genuine Robert Faurisson Is The Diary of Anne Frank genuine For two years that question was included in the official syllabusText and. AdMarula AdMarula is South Africa s premium performance marketing network We offer Advertisers, Publishers and Agencies access to a transparent online affiliate. Definition The AANA Code of Ethics defines an advertising or marketing communication as: Advertising or Marketing Communications means: a any material which is. Ideal essay writers review out of bounds beverley naidoo essay, essay on misuse of mobiles and computers paul d camp admissions essay; Aiden cohesive devices for.
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Home > Health & Wellness > Alkaline Water for Better Health: Benifits, Side Effects
Alkaline Water for Better Health: Benifits, Side Effects
alkaline water
Water is a basic necessity for the sustenance of human life. It forms a major part of the body and almost 2-4 liters of water is required daily. Water forms a major constituent of the blood as well. Hence it is mandatory that the water we drink should be pure and healthy.
There must be a method to increase the purity of the tap water without having to spend money on bottled water. Water can be classified as acidic and alkaline based on its pH value.
Water with pH value less than 7 is acidic and is infested by bacteria and virus. The alkaline water with pH values greater than 7 helps in neutralizing the acidic content of the body and in removing the toxins. Thus the alkalization of the water is beneficial for a healthy life.
What’s pH Got to Do With It?
The pH balance of a substance refers to whether it is an acid or a base. The scale runs from 1 to 14, with those rating between 1 to 6 considered an acid, and those with ratings of 7 to 14 being considered a base, or alkaline.
The pH balance of the human body is somewhere around 7.35, which is itself alkaline. Maintaining this balance through eating and consuming less acidic foods and drinks and more alkaline foods and drinks is thought to be one of the keys to living a longer, healthier life.
To neutralize the effects of acidic foods and drinks on our body, it is suggested to drink three to four liters of water per day that has a pH balance of 8 or 9. Pure water has a pH balance of 7, though as a result of contaminants and other chemicals in the water supply, most drinking water never has this balance.
Adding Alkaline Ingredients to the Water
Of all the methods to raise drinking water pH, this option is the most cost-effective. For those who do not have access to a distiller or ionizer, alkaline ingredients can be added to drinking water.
Adding lemons or lemon juice is the simplest way to achieve this, and this is something many people already do on a regular basis to make the taste of the water more pleasurable.
Other options include using a pH booster that is readily available in many stores and is safe for consumption, though many scientists claim the water should be distilled before adding these boosters.
Drinking alkaline water may be one of the best ways to remain in control of your health.
Home Water Distillers, Ionizers and Filters
The usage of normal filters is quite popular because they are cheap and provide pure water. The same thing applies to kettle purifiers as well. The water is free from impurities but they are not exactly healthy.
The distillers, Ionizers and Reverse Osmosis Filter help in improving the quality of the water as well. They provide pure and healthy water. They not only purify the water, but also remove the acid content in the water.
Home Water Distillers
The home water distillers heat the water coming from tap to form steam. The steam is then allowed to condense back.
This rids the water off the bacteria and viruses. This also manages to remove all mineral contents in the water like metals etc. This process is similar to that of the rainfall.
The distilled water is pure and devoid of any material in the water. The absence of minerals in the water does not cause any side effects in the body and the body is capable of maintain its balance. The water is more alkaline and has more oxygen present in it.
Water Ionizers
The water ionizers are used for purifying the water by an electro-chemical method. A positively charged anode and negatively the charged cathode is used in this method. The water is passed through such a setup to separate the water.
The alkaline water is then collected from one electrode and is used for drinking. The acidic water is then removed from the other electrode and is generally used for a cleansing purpose. The alkaline and acidic content of the water are present in a ratio of 7:3.
Reverse Osmosis Filter
The reverse osmosis method involves a semi-permeable membrane for purifying the water. The water from tap is fed into a membrane to filter the water. The membrane is generally fine in nature and this process is called hyper-filtration.
The membrane used allows the water to pass through it but filters out all other particles present in the water. This method is used for removing bacteria, dyes and other harmful content.
This also manages to remove certain salts, sugars and protein particles from the water. This makes the water pure from all wanted and unwanted particles.
They can be used for obtaining pure water in terms of gallons without much cost. The membrane used is self-cleaning and hence need not be replaced quite often.
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Feted and Hated, Kyoto Enters Into Force
Feb. 16, 2005
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - A world plan to fight global warming went into force on Wednesday, feted by its backers as a lifeline for the planet but rejected as an economic straitjacket by the United States, the world's top polluter.
After years of delays, the Kyoto Protocol (news - web sites) on curbing human emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2012 took effect at midnight EST amid muted celebrations including a ceremony in the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto where the pact was signed in 1997.
"Climate change is a global problem. It requires a concerted global response," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said in pre-recorded remarks to be aired in Kyoto.
Environmental group Greenpeace flew a hot air balloon over Kyoto, emblazoned with the message: "New dawn for the climate." It said it held other celebrations from Bonn to Bangalore.
Supporters of the 141-nation pact say it is a first step to slow global warming. Climate experts fear temperature increases could lead to rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns and wipe out thousands of animal and plant species by 2100.
But the United States pulled out in 2001, saying Kyoto was too costly, based on unreliable science and unfairly excluded big developing nations India, China and Brazil, which account for a third of the world's population.
Among major developed nations, only Australia has joined the United States in refusing to cap emissions of gases like carbon dioxide emitted mainly by burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants.
"Climate change is happening already...but we know Kyoto is only a first step," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.
He called Kyoto a cause for "sober celebration," noting that the World Health Organization (news - web sites) believed climate change was already killing 150,000 people a year.
In China, home to 1.3 billion people and one of the world's fastest-growing economies, a man dressed as a gloomy looking polar bear took to Beijing's streets as part of Greenpeace China's campaign to explain the impact of climate change.
And a U.S. conservation group, the Center for Biological Diversity, urged Washington to list the polar bear as an endangered species, saying the Arctic icecap was likely to melt in summertime by 2100.
The Kyoto pact is the first legally binding plan to tackle climate change. It requires developed nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
Its fate beyond 2012 is unclear because of Washington's decision to stay out of the plan President Bush (news - web sites) has called fatally flawed. His administration once denounced it as "an unrealistic and ever-tightening regulatory straitjacket."
The United States accounts for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.
Kyoto backers say rich nations are probably the main cause of a 0.6C (1F) rise in world temperatures since the Industrial Revolution and should take the lead by cutting use of fossil fuels and shifting to cleaner energy such as wind and solar.
But Australia's Prime Minister John Howard says Kyoto unfairly exempts India and China.
In Russia, whose ratification last November gave Kyoto enough weight to enter into force, the government expressed hopes of selling spare carbon dioxide quotas abroad after the collapse of Soviet-era smokestack industries.
A new EU market enables polluters overshooting their targets to buy emission allocations from those falling below. Carbon dioxide trades at about 7.33 euros ($9.51) per tonne.
"The ratification of Kyoto, in my belief, will help Russia receive a series of benefits," presidential adviser Igor Shuvalov told the Vedomosti business daily.
Even if fully implemented, Kyoto would cut a projected temperature rise by just 0.1C by 2100, according to U.N. figures, tiny compared to forecasts by a U.N. climate panel of an overall rise of 1.4-5.8C by 2100.
For some, any reduction would be better than nothing. Remote South Pacific islands fear they are already seeing the future of global warming, as extreme high tides crash over crumbling sea-walls and flood their homes.
In Fiji, protesters with placards gathered on Wednesday outside the U.S. embassy in Suva. A photo on showed one placard reading: "Bush: Do you have a spare room at the White House -- mine got taken away by the sea!!"
(With reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore, Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg, Carrie LaFrenz in Sydney, Michelle Nichols in Canberra, Y.P. Rajesh in New Delhi, Lindsay Beck in Beijing, Dolly Aglay in Manila, UN bureau in New York, Jeff Mason in Brussels, Jeremy Lovell in London, Jonathan Thatcher in Moscow)
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
UK citizens for UK parliamentary elections
In a national parliament it is the people of the nation that should determine how they are governed. Why then do we allow citizens of another nation to participate in our General Elections? Citizens of the Irish Republic, who are resident in the United Kingdom and over the age of 18, are eligible to vote.
It is one of the extraordinary anomalies of democracy in the United Kingdom that the citizens of a foreign country that have no allegiance to the United Kingdom are allowed to vote in an election for the United Kingdom Parliament and in so doing determine who should govern us.
According to the census of 2001 there are 412,000 Irish nationals living in the United Kingdom. We do not know how many of these register and vote but small numbers can swing seats. They are not evenly spread throughout the United Kingdom. Large numbers are to be found in Liverpool, Glasgow and in certain Boroughs of London such as Kilburn.
Only United Kingdom citizens should be allowed to vote in United Kingdom parliamentary elections.
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Qualitative research case study
Qualitative research case study, Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines a popular method of qualitative research is the case study.
By including both quantitative and qualitative data, case study helps explain both the process case study as a research method. Qualitative case study methodology: study researcher in identifying the key elements for designing and implementing qualitative case study research projects. Pros and cons with the case study research design. 10 other forms of qualitative research includes: longitudinal research or panel studies when research is conducted over a long period of time and the researcher. Buy qualitative research and case study applications in education: revised and expanded from case study research in education: read 24 kindle store reviews - amazoncom.
Emergence unlike the other approaches we discuss, case study research does not emerge from a particular social scientific tradition additionally, case studies can. Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues.
Qualitative research aims at in-depth understanding of a subject through methods such as interview, case study, observations, and others, focusing on the why and.
Qualitative research case study
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Home > Tango Resources > Tangology 101 Blog
Category: History
Gambling on Tango: Casinos again the center for the Argentinian Dance
A Brief History of Argentine Tango
Version 1.0 - May 2014
by Clint Rauscher and Shelley Brooks
Tango Criollo Sheet Music
“Lorenzo” by Julio de Caro from 1926
“Flores Negras” by Julio de Caro from 1927
Chapter 3: The Return of the Milonga
Poem from the late 1800s:
"You gentlemen confessing milonga,
Let’s battle right here.
Smoke us, milonguero,
if you dare."
“Milonga Sentimental” by Francisco Canaro from 1933
Part 1: Rhythmic Tango
“Pénsalo Bien” by Juan d'Arienzo from 1938
Part 2: The Elegance of Tango Salon
“La Capilla Blanca” by Carlos di Sarli from 1944
Part 3: Milonga of the Golden Age
“Ficha de Oro” by Aníbal Troilo from 1942
Part 4: Vals (Waltz) of the Golden Age
“Pobre Flor” by Alfredo de Angelis from 1946
Part 5: Dramatic Tango of Osvaldo Pugliese
“Recuerdo” by Julio de Caro from 1926
“Chiqué” by Osvaldo Pugliese from 1953
Chapter 5: Modern & Electronic Tango
“Los Vino” by Otros Aires from 2007
Notes on the Performance
Tango y Jazz - Oscar Aleman
I was just watching an interview with Nélida Fernando and she mentioned going to the club to hear Juan D'Arienzo and Oscar Alemán. I was curious if he was a singer or leader of an orquestra that I had never heard. So, I started doing some research and here is what I have found.
Oscar Alemán was an Argentine jazz guitarist born in 1909. He was considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, on the same level with Django Reinhardt.
He came from a family of performers and musicians. His mother was of the Toba, a native Argentine people. As a child, he travelled to Brazil with his father. Shortly after this, tragedy struck, his mother died and his father committed suicide. He lived on the streets and at age 14 created a duo, Les Loups, with Gastón Bueno Lobos.
In 1926, they travelled to Buenos Aires. In December of 1927, they recorded their first 78, which included the tango "Hawianita" and the wonderful vals "Criollita." It is worth noting that on "Criollita," Lobo is playing a cavaquinho, which is a 4 string ukelele type of instrument, while Alemán is playing guitar.
In 1928, they record "La Cumparsita."
During this time, Alemán and Lobo also performed as part of Trio Victor for the Victor record label with violinist Elvino Vardaro. Here is their recording of "Recondita" from 1929. Alemán also played guitar for other Tango artists such as Rosita Quiroga. You can usually tell that it is him, because of the unique sound of his Hawaiian guitar.
I should mention that most of his music was Jazz and not Tango, the songs above are a very small portion of his work. In 1929, Alemán and Lobos travelled to Europe to support the dancer Harry Fleming. After the tour, Alemán stayed in Spain. He later travelled to Germany and France. In France, he discovered American jazz and met Josephine Baker. He ended up leading her orchestra, known as the "Baker Boys" at the Cafe de Paris. During his time in Europe, he also played with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. When Germany invaded France, in 1940, he returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Oscar Aleman with Josephine Baker
Now is where we get back to what prompted me to do this research. Why was he mentioned in the same breath as D'Arienzo. It turns out that in the mid to late 1940s, Alemán's jazz groups used to play at clubs along with Juan D'Arienzo and these gigs were labelled as "Tango y Jazz." So, if I am understanding correctly, they would switch off playing sets. Back then, when you went to a club, you would hear tango, foxtrot, folk music, jazz, etc.
Here is an interesting video of Alemán playign at a club from a movie titled "El Idolo del Tango" from 1943. What I find interesting is that, it seems that one band or orchestra ends playing and he comes onto the stage and begins to play jazz/swing and the audience still dances with a tango like embrace. Then he gets off the stage and clearly begins dancing swing. So, when they are dancing tango type steps to the swing music, are they dancing alternative tango? ;-)
Again, the majority of his recording career, which spanned from 1927 to 1972, was almost all jazz. Here is a beautiful version of "Milonga Triste," from 1954.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, he is considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists, so here is his rendition of the classic "Sweet Georgia Brown." This is one of the best versions of this song that I have heard, you can hear his genius and that he really makes it his own.
He was friend with Django Reinhardt and supposedly he would fill in for Django when he livedi n Paris, when Django would not show up for shows. Here is what he had to say about Django, "I knew Django Reinhardt well. He used to say - jazz was gipsy - we often argued over that. I agree with many Americans I met in France who said he played very well but with too many gipsy tricks. He had very good technique for both hands, or rather one hand and a pick, because he always played with a pick. Not me, I play with my fingers. There are things you can't do with a pick - you can't strike the treble with two fingers and play something else on the bass string. - But I admired him and he was my friend. He was my greatest friend in France. We played together many times, just for ourselves. I used to go to his wagon, where he lived. I've slept and eaten there - and also played! He had three or four guitars. Django never asked anyone to go to his wagon, but he made an exception with me. I appreciated him, and I believe the feeling was mutual".
And a comment he made about the tango of Piazzolla, Troilo and Salgán:
"They are two different things. Piazzolla introduces a lot of jazz into tango, Troilo has a pure way of playing. It doesn’t mean he’s a better bandoneon player or a better musician. I regard Piazzolla as a great musician. Salgán is also greatly influenced by jazz, I love him, he’s got much musicality inside."
He died in Buenos Aires in 1980 at 71.
More Information:
Todo Tango
Tango Reporter
1904 Men Dancing Together in the River in Buenos Aires
Great picture of men dancing together from the 1904 in the river. This comes from the Archivo General de la Nación? in Buenos Aires.
There are actually many theories as to why men danced together in the early days of Tango. I think there is some truth in all of them.
1. This was a time when women were not out in public as much as men. Women were in the house and if they went out in public or to public events then they were accompanied by a male relative. Men learned to dance with one another on street corners, clubs and as this picture shows anywhere they could gather.
Women learned primarily in their homes from their brothers, fathers or mothers. So, men would HAVE practice with one another unless they had a female relative to practice with and women were few and far between. Most Buenos Aires was one of the busiest cities in the world and was enjoying mass immigration from Europe, but this was mostly men coming for jobs while their families stayed back home.
2. There were simply not many women to dance with, so men HAD to practice in order to get good enough to dance with the few women that were around. Some estimates state that men outnumbered women 7 to 1, at the turn of the century. This was also still a time when Tango was considered a lower class activity, so many women would have refused to dance this obscene dance.
3. It is also thought that perhaps the early, early Tango was a primarily male dance. That its early origins were on the outskirts by Argentine Cowboys gauchos who would dance around their campfires competing with one another doing very athletic movements and that tango became more tame as women became more and more involved.
Quote from Carlos Gavito
History of Argentine Tango Music & Dance
There is No Truth to be found in Tango
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Sunday, June 29, 2014
Afghan principality of Kasur (1526–1807)
Ghulam Husain Khan, an Akazai Afghan , 1815, inhabitant of the Fort of Ali Jan Khan in Kasur (Punjab). From Fraser Album.
Kasur was settled by a Pashtun colony from the east of the Indus in the reign of Babur. The Pashtun immigrants founded a considerable principality, with territory on both sides of the Sutlej. When the Sikhs rose to power, they experienced great opposition from the Afghans of Kasur; and, though the chiefs of the BhangI confederacy stormed the town in 1763, and again in 1770, and succeeded for a while in holding the entire principality, the Afghans leaders reestablished their independence in 1794, and resisted many subsequent attacks. In 1807, however, Kutb-ud-dln Khan, the last chieftain, was forced to give way before Ranjlt Singh, and retired to his property at Mamdot, beyond the Sutlej. The town of Kasur was then incorporated in the kingdom of Lahore.The Indo-Afghan element has now declined. [Reference: Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol.XV, p.149]
Kheshgi was one of the son of Zamand or Jamand. Kheshgis along with other Zamands were settled on the banks of the Arghandab river and the surrounding area of Kandahar. Most of the Zamands followed the Khashis initially to Kabul and subsequently to Peshawar valley. Most of the Kheshgis did not move to Peshawer valley with the Khashis, its sub-clans Salmahak , Azizi, Umarzai, Hussainzai, Khalafzai and Watuzai remained behind in Kabul valley. Because of lack of pasture and fertile land , they were planning to migrate to other suitable areas when Babur , the Mughal appeared on the scene . He was then recruiting his army for the invasion of India. The major portion of the tribe (about 6,000 men) under the leadership of Salim Khan , on the advice of their ‘Pir’, joined Babur’s army and subsequently gallantly fought in the battle of Panipat against Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. It is said that the Babur’s Mughal contingents were almost routed when Zamands took off their turbans and gird up their loins and holding a turf of their beard in their mouths , fought courageously and turned the table on the Lodis. At this unexpected victory Babur said that the Pashtuns only deserved the title of ‘Khan’ and not the Mughals. He gave Salim Khan an iron peg into the ground that whole tract would be granted to his tribe. [Muhammad Hayat Khan, “Hayat-e-i-Afghani, , p-227-28]
Salim Khan chose the present area of Kasur in Punjab , which Babur granted him. Hardly had the Zamands settled in their new location when the Saorah clan of Baloch tribe, residing in the neighborhood , started harassing them. Salim Khan readjusted his settlement and fortified their positions. He allotted specific areas to different clans for guarding the settlement . The Batezai; Hussainzai; Arifzai; Shahabanza; Kazlani; and Salmahak clans established themselves on the western side called the Bar Kalay. The Azizi, Chanozai and Brahamzai took over the eastern side called the “Lar Kalay”. While the remaining tribe defended themselves on the North. The assaults and clashes continued but the Zamands made the proposition costly in men and material for the Balochs, who , reconciled with the presence of the Zamnads in the area with the passage of time.
However it was the disunity within the tribe that weakened them . The Brahamzi picked up enmity with the Chanozai clans and the former moved over to village Khujra. Likewise , the Salmahak clan because of bad blood with the Hussainzai and Amchzai went over to the village of Tandaand the Batezai to village Heruwal. Thus they lost their collective strength and influence. The families that had moved over to Tanda and Heruwal are settled there till today and are known as Kasuri Pathans. [Tarikh-i-Punjab wa Afghana-i-Kasur by Muhammad Ayub Khan]
Arzani Kheshgi
Mullah Arzani Kheshgi was a Pashtun Sufi poet of Roshniya movement and originally belonged to Kasur. Arzani Khesghi belonged to the Zerzai sub-tribe of Kheshgis. He was a profound scholar and a prominent figure in Pashto literature. He is the earliest known Pashto poet after Shaikh Isa Mashwani. He was the first poet to compose his "Deewan". He was a closest associate and follower of Bayazid Ansari (Pir Roshan). Mullah Arzani returned to India to propagate Bayazid Ansari's mission there. After a long residence in Patna , he died there in 1623 and is buried there. His tomb is in the Sultanganj area of Patna city.
Shrine of Arzani Kheshgi in Patna, 1814's Water-colour painting by Seeta Ram |
Murals of Old Dartmouth
Last week, Dartmouth College convened a study group to decide the future of the “Hovey Murals.” The murals, well-known for their controversial depictions of the founding of the College and Native Americans, are located in a closed room in the basement of Class of 1953 Commons. The group is scheduled to report back to Interim Provost David Kotz on their findings about the murals by the end of the term. Some have speculated that the study group will intend to either open them to all of campus or close them permanently.
The Department of Political Science panel is part of Walter Beach Humphrey's "Hovey Murals," completed in the late 1930s in the faculty dining hall at Dartmouth College. ("The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College: Culture and Contexts")
Image Courtesy of Dartmouth College
The man behind the story of the murals was Richard Hovey, a loyal son of Dartmouth. A member of the Class of 1885, he is best remembered for penning the College’s school song, Men of Dartmouth. In addition to his magnum opus, Mr. Hovey wrote a lesser known song, a mythical account of Dartmouth’s founding. Titled “Eleazor Wheelock,” the song tells the story of Wheelock’s move to New Hampshire to educate the Natives and found Dartmouth College. Its depiction of the Indians as a friendly people and its idealization of Dartmouth’s infamous drinking might have been what led the College to eventually de-recognize it as an official song. However, students of Old Dartmouth continued to sing it in tribute to Hovey for several years after. In fact, Walter Humphrey (Class of 1914), with the backing of President Hopkins, painted a series of murals based on the song in the basement of Thayer Dining Hall, now Class of 1953 Commons.
Completed in 1938, the murals were in response to José Clemente Orozco’s The Epic of American Civilization, which still adorns the walls of the basement of Baker-Berry library. Orozco’s murals were condemned by alumni for being too critical of the College by alumni since it focused on the harmful impact of European colonists on North America. Humphrey’s murals, now the controversial “Hovey Murals”, depict Wheelock as a jolly old man who loved drinking, and the Native Indians as primitive, but amiable people. In the early 1970s, around the time the College banned the use of the Indian logo, they boarded up the Hovey Murals and prohibited the public from viewing it without prior permission. Orozco’s murals, which were always thought to be antithetical to Dartmouth’s values, continues to occupy a prominent position in Dartmouth’s signature building.
The study group will now deliberate on these historic murals and decide their fate. The study group’s members are: Co-chairs Juliette Bianco ‘94, deputy director of the Hood Museum, and Bruce Duthu ‘80, professor of Native American studies; Kianna Mist Burke ‘12, GRAD ‘19, interim director of the Native American Program; Michelle Clarke, associate professor of government; Mary Coffey, associate professor of art history; Brooke Hadley ‘18, a member of Native Americans at Dartmouth, a student group; Jennie Harlan ‘20, Native Americans at Dartmouth; Nick Reo, assistant professor of Native American and environmental studies; and Anna Tsouhlarakis ‘99, Native American Visiting Council. Hopefully, this group will have a productive and balanced discussion on the subject and possesses the sufficient diversity of opinion to do so.
It is troubling that we are even having this conversation. For a College that takes pride in its traditions, Dartmouth is surprisingly willing to hide its past to pacify the social justice warriors. The Hovey Murals are more than just paintings, they are a symbol of Old Dartmouth. Humphrey painted them to celebrate the College’s storied past and their existence immortalizes a simpler time when the men of Dartmouth were allowed to remain, boys, unburdened by the complexities of the past. But above all else, the murals must not be locked up in a dingy basement out of respect for the Hovey and Humphrey, true sons of the College. Since they remembered Dartmouth till the day they died, isn’t it time Dartmouth reciprocated that loyalty? However, if the last five years are any indication, loyalty means nothing to Phil Hanlon and his staff.
It is no coincidence that most of the people on the “study group” are part of the Native American community at Dartmouth. Apparently, the College believes that if art is offensive, then it must be shut down, regardless of how historic it may be. If these cultural Marxists ran the world,The Creation of Adamwould be painted over for its lack of female representation, the Mona Lisa would be destroyed because its unrealistic smile is not representative of all women, and van Gogh’s The Starry Nightwould be burned for being offensive to the blind.
What about the murals do people find offensive? The fact that some of the Native Americans depicted were half-naked? The depiction of Wheelock as an old man who loved to drink? Or worst of all, that Eleazor Wheelock tried to spread Christianity to the heathens? The half-nude Indians would not be offensive if it wasn’t accurate, and it is an open secret that much of the Dartmouth community drinks copious amounts of alcohol. And is proselytization, education of the unenlightened in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the cornerstone of Western civilization, such a terrible thing?
This is not to say, however, that everything that led to the founding of Dartmouth College was necessary or even justified. In fact, I am sure that most people would agree that Rev. Wheelock was a flawed man, like every person born in the last two thousand years. When did we stop celebrating the greatness of imperfect men? Perhaps the most famous alumnus of the College, Daniel Webster, was one such man.
Sen. Webster is best known at the College for his defense of the Alma Mater in the Dartmouth College v. WoodwardSupreme Court case. In that case, he vociferously and successfully defended Dartmouth from being made into a public institution by the New Hampshire state government. He is also known for the Webster-Hayne debate, an argument that moved from a debate on tariffs to one on the very nature of the Union. Although a vocal abolitionist, Webster was integral to the infamous Compromise of 1850 and believed that legislation stopping the spread of slavery was unnecessary. While his role in the Compromise of 1850 makes him a controversial figure, the College, in its current form, would not exist without him.
In conclusion, Humphrey’s murals are an inaccurate, but humorous take on Dartmouth’s past, a past we should be proud of. The murals need to be opened to the public because we can’t move forward by ignoring the past. Yes, the Hovey Murals are bawdy and offensive, and yet there are those who love them.
• Psymon Due
So much of our celebrated Dartmouth culture has a decidedly unsavory aftertaste. But we need not spit out the drought, merely be aware of every ingredient. Hovey created the aforementioned murals with a very intentional point: The white christian males had came and colonised the indigenous “savages” with as much benevolence and as they could muster, while passing on the strongly held values of male dominance and alcoholistic fraternal power. An animal house from its genesis, female indigenous peoples were objectified, sexualised, and depicted as intellectually inferior. There was no particular malice in his work, just earnest expression of the cultural norms that prevailed then, and some would say, linger to the present.
Another legendary alum and artist is beloved by generations of people all over the world: Theodore Geisel. Observe, if you will, his earliest oil painting, commissioned for the Dartmouth Club:Ted Geisel’s earliest and largest oil painting depicts Rome’s legendary episode at the city’s founding celebration (753 B.C.), during which Roman men abducted women from the neighboring Sabines to take as wives in order to populate their new metropolis. Once again the “civilized” Romans were celebrated in their abduction for the purpose of coupling with a “savage” female, shown in a state of undress. To be clear, it a depiction of multiple capital crimes. But it was considered to be a cheeky addition to the walls of the Dartmouth Club in 1930. No heroes here, and no villains. Just a bit of real history that we all should gave upon and ponder. As a fellow of this institution, I am sometimes proud, sometimes ashamed, but never in favor of suppressing the truth about the past. We don’t burn books. We are members of a civil society, or would aspire to be, so we take a sober look and own the past, while refusing to repeat the mistakes of those that came before us. |
Public Education
Most fires can be prevented. With the proper education, we can stop the devastation of a fire from occurring.
Fire Prevention
The goal of fire prevention is to stop the fire before it starts. We know that it takes 3 things to come together to start a fire, these are oxygen, heat, and fuel, we can't get rid of the oxygen, but we can control the fuel and the heat source from coming together. First we must identify the common heat sources like electrical extension cords, electrical appliances, candles, fireplaces, cigarettes, heaters and furnaces etc. Fuel sources are paper, cardboard boxes, curtains, furniture, gasoline, natural gas, propane gas and wood products etc.
We have several classes that we offer to help the public in reaching our goal of preventing fire from occurring. When requested, we will work with all groups in developing classes that will help your business or individuals in fire prevention. We must all work together in eliminating fires before they start. |
Monday, November 13, 2017
Aging is a Group-Selected Adaptation, by Josh Mitteldorf
Josh Mitteldorf's Aging is a Group-Selected Adaptation places its thesis right in the title. Mitteldorf makes a strong case that aging is under the control of evolutionary pressures, and that the selection pressures for it are based on the benefits to groups, since it's clear there's no evolutionary gain to the individual. The evidence that aging is under evolution's control boils down to a comparison of many lineages that have long lives and have evolutionary cousins that do not. This is straightforward and hard to refute. The question is why.
The book's answer is that lineages that don't limit fecundity overshoot the carrying capacity of whatever environment they inhabit. The consequences are frequent population crashes. The alternative that leads to the possibility of stable populations is some feedback cycle that limits reproduction, combined with some way to ensure that deaths occur at a consistent rate. If the genes are optimized for the longest feasible life, then most deaths will occur in times of stress (resource exhaustion, unusual weather, or other cataclysm). This would lead to a much higher chance of ongoing boom and bust, which is a recipe for inevitable extinction.
There are some great graphs in the book illustrating the huge variety in life histories across many species. This one shows survivorship as a function of mortality and fecundity. When mortality is a horizontal line, survival falls consistently from birth to death. (hydra, hermit crabs, et. al.) Some species show decreasing mortality over their lifespan (desert tortoise, white mangrove, redleaf oak, ...), others only a slight uptick near the end (mute swan, tundra vole, sparrowhawk, ...).
According to Mitteldorf, the outcome of many experiments with artificial life show that one of the most valuable features of a species that has to cohabit with predators and prey is the ability to react to changes in its own population so that they have more progeny when the population density is low, and more individuals die when population density is high. The classical reaction to arguments about group selection says that this requires genes to have some kind of foresight, but the paradigm here is that populations that don't discover a way to reinforce this kind of response to population variation will be much more likely to go through frequent bottlenecks. Each bottleneck is another opportunity to go extinct.
One of the key ideas is that in order to contribute to ecosystem stability, rather than only to individual fitness, the genes must find a mechanism that leads to variation in robustness among the population. If some are slower, some are more susceptible to famine or cold, etc., then when a periodic stressor arises, some of the individuals will die. The alternative, if the genes design for uniform robustness is that all survive except when the stressor is severe, and in that case, nearly all will die. Aging, according to this thesis is a mechanism that causes variation within the population, ensuring a steady rate of death, which evens out rapid rises and falls in population. The population can still expand relatively rapidly when a niche opens up, but when living in a stable location, there are forces mitigating against population swings.
For those thinking about how to extend lifespan, a plausible first reaction to the idea that aging is selected for is to conclude that this means that aging will be harder to defeat. I would argue that the opposite may be true. Mitteldorf makes a good case that many lineages have found ways to allow individuals to live to arbitrarily long ages, so the biological mechanisms can't be infeasible or energetically unaffordable. Evolution's lesson is that we should be aware of the consequences of unlimited population growth, but given the demographic transition affecting most advanced economies, we can reasonably be more worried about the dangers of dropping population levels than of too many people. In any case, the hazards for human populations happen slowly enough that we'd be able to react before populations grow to be dangerous.
Aubrey de Grey wrote a response to Mitteldorf, but it looks like it was to an early version of the argument. (The book is dated 2017, but de Grey's 'response' is from 2015.) It looks to me as if de Grey had the reaction I described just above, and thought it was important to refute Mitteldorf's claims. I don't think de Grey directly addresses the arguments in the book. It seems to me that the argument presented here doesn't rule out the possibility of using de Grey's (SENS) approach to engineering fixes for the causes of aging, and it also provides for the possibility of other approaches that would directly intervene in the body's signaling that encourages aging and early senescence. If it's right, it doesn't reduce the number of possible approaches, it adds to them.
Thursday, July 06, 2017
Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds
Alistair Reynolds's Redemption Ark is a great yarn, with action spaning a long time scale and many star systems. It takes quite a while to figure out that the Inhibitors have the same goals as Saberhagen's Berserkers—they want to eradicate intelligent life (though there's some hint that they're doing it to stave off a more thorough cleansing by unknown agencies). Unlike the Berserkers, these killers wait quietly while monitoring commerce between the stars so that when they strike, they'll be able to wipe out all traces of the civilizations they notice. And they don't attack with space ships and robotic warriors; they build megastructures to destroy entire star systems. The humans who figure out their objectives have to make even longer range plans in order to counter them.
And the main characters here are willing and able to think that far ahead, and set up long term goals. A few of them have the longevity to pursue this kind of plan, and still interact with shorter-lived people on a human level. The factions include a borg-like collective, though they seem to follow plausible physics, and members don't participate in the group mind when they're not on the same planet. They do have faster than light travel, though there are reasons it's rarely used. They still have a civilization that spans multiple star systems, so they have the ability to hibernate while on long journeys. Given time dilation at near light and other effects, they're used to (at a societal level) dealing with people who remember the distand past at first hand, and have institutions that allow people to carry out long term plans when the principals might be away for extended periods.
One of the things that has cut down the prevalence of interstellar travel is the presence of plague, a nano-scale infection that they seem unable to stop except by physical isolation. The story starts with the return of the ship captained by a revered long-lost ancestor which seems to have been infected or attacked by a new kind of agent. After this, we follow a couple of different story lines among the borg, on a colony world in political turmoil, and following a local transport rocket pilot around a densely inhabited system. Characters and events influence one another in various ways across the different story lines.
We gradually learn that an inner cabal within the closed leadership group inside a faction of the borg knows about some super weapons created in the distant past that might be useful in fighting the Inhibitors. The Inhibitors have recently become more active, and a few factions figure out that someone needs to act. The struggle to find and control the super weapons drives much of the conflict in one story line. Other groups pursue other schemes in the converging story lines, to keep things dramatic and interesting.
Anyway, the struggles between long-lived and widely traveling post humans and ordinary people living out their lives on planets in distant solar systems are fascinating to watch, and quite plausible. The further they are from an ordinary lifespan, the more alien their motivations and goals, but most of them seem to be trying to work towards a greater good as they understand it. Even the few with truly alien viewpoints know how to work with others to achieve mutual goals.
I've read a few of Reynolds ' books at this point, and I enjoy the broad scope, the immense vision, and the finely detailed characters. The stories are suspenseful, and even when they leave a hook for a follow-up story, the endings are satisfying.
Monday, July 03, 2017
Seeing Like a State, James C. Scott
I found a lot to like in James C. Scott's Seeing Like a State. It presents a way of thinking about the consequences of governments' interventions that makes a large category of unintended side effects appear coherent. Once you see this consistency, you can make predictions about other interventions and the ways they will turn out without needing to ascribe motivation to the planners behind them. In order to achieve their goals, bureaucrats and autocrats have to make the population they intend to help more surveyable, visible, and regular. That very act, independent of how much the rest of the change might be done with the best interests of the people in mind, reduces the relevance of the local knowledge and expertise that they have built up over time, making them more dependent on government, and less able to fill in the gaps in the ways that lead to smoothly functioning societies.
Scott describes several grand schemes, mostly done to help various populations, though often in ignorance of the ways of the people living in the affected area. He discusses state-sponsored forestry, Corbusier's city planning, government-sponsored (and private) experiments in industrial agriculture, China's Great Leap Forward, resettlements in Tanzania, as well as touching on other examples. In each case he shows how the (necessarily) high level plans of of the top officials were translated into concrete details for the convenience of those implementing the plan, in ignorance of the deleterious consequences for the affected villagers. The end result in each case conformed to the planners' specifications, but left an unlivable environment in which the inhabitants were more dependent on the government, and often much poorer than they started out.
Whether the results of all these grand schemes ended up being helpful is questionable, and is certainly independent of what the original intent was, or how much effort was spent during the planning stage in considering ways to make the outcome closer to what the subjects would have asked for. Since plans and maps are necessarily abstractions from reality, and since the plans must be carried out by intermediaries whose interests are distinct from both the rulers and the people being 'helped', those doing the work will have to have to fill in details about how to get the work done. This will often be done in ignorance of the intent, and more usually without concern for the extended well-being of the future of the community.
As with Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities, the point isn't to move towards a conclusion on how to do a better job of redesigning a society, so much as of having skepticism that it's possible to achieve humane objectives by trying. In most cases, hubris would lead to addressing problems by allowing people to adjust things in an incremental manner. Otherwise we risk replacing things that seems suboptimal to an outsider with situations that are truly dismal for those left behind. While discussing Soviet collective farms, Scott talks about some attempts by American industrial agricultural firms to do something similar in the midwest. Their grand plans for integrated industrial farms didn't succeed any better, but the difference was that when the outcome became clear, the companies involved backed off and the land reverted to more local, context-sensitive control.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Insurgence, by Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod's The Corporation Wars: Insurgence, is the second book of a trilogy. It (along with the first book in the series, Dissidence, is a finalist for the Prometheus award this year.
This installment focuses less on the robots' claim to be agents worthy of separate respect, and more on the uploaded warriors struggle to figure out the nature of the reality they inhabit while mostly following orders to fight the battles their supervisors are pursuing. Their ultimate worry is that they don't have enough information to tell which side they're fighting on or who they are battling to subdue. When you live in a simulation (particularly when you can tell that someone else has access to the control panel) it's a little difficult to be sure that your choices aren't effectively controlled by someone else.
Next, cracks appear in the simulation, and "real" revived people see the shortcomings, but non-player-characters (MacLeod calls them philosophical zombies) think everything is normal, so the real people can tell who's just a simulated person. The idea of zombies in philosophy (sometimes "p-zombies") is an exploration of the idea of consciousness. What if there were beings that acted just like people, but had no consciousness? Would it make a difference to them? Should we accord them lesser rights?
The starting position for the agencies that represent the current Earth government and act under its protection is that only humans are allowed to be sentient. Even AIs' powers are circumscribed. Whenever self awareness arises otherwise, it must be stamped out. It's not clear why this would be a plausible stance, since it's clearly the case that the AIs can become self-aware for short periods, and autonomously operating robots have the capacity for spontaneous self awareness given the right trigger. So they must be constantly battling to defeat uprisings, and track down newly minted sophonts who either try to escape from control, or hide in occupied systems. It would make more sense to forbid use of tools with the capacity for self awareness, than to constantly try to stomp them out. I'd also have a hard time going along with a regime that wanted to outlaw and destroy a class of beings because they were self aware. Self aware and hostile is a separate thing, but that's not the distinction they've settled on.
Before one of the final battles, one of the leaders of the simulated humans challenges the combatants to each eat a slice of p-zombie flesh to prove that they believe they're in a simulation, and that there can't be any moral issues with simulated eating of simulated meat from simulated people that were never actually alive or aware. Except for a few who object to the initiation-ceremony aspect of the act, they all partake.
So there's a lot of exploration here of of philosophical questions of identity, and what it means to be human. The questions of liberty are mostly focussed on what kinds of agents deserve respect as actual people, though I think MacLeod fumbled some of the issues. The action is interesting and the conflict exciting. Besides there are also weaponized communications packets, interrogations of potentially hostile agents by sending them into a dungeon simulation, double and triple agents, and terraforming. It's a pretty good read, and the lead-in to part three, of course leaves a few things to be resolved.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Dissidence, by Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod's The Corporation Wars: Dissidence, is the first book of trilogy. It (along with the second book in the series, Insurgence) is a finalist for the Prometheus award this year.
When they do decide that military actions are called for, they end up dredging up opposing troops of uploaded warriors from past wars. All the AIs and non-self-aware robots, and other actors are under a deep compulsion that only humans and their uploads can actually be armed for combat, even against rogue self-aware robots. So the "humans" spent parts of their time embodied as people in a planetary environment, training and relaxing between missions. In the missions, they're downloaded into articulated space battle suits. Every time they die in battle, they return to the training site to start again. Over time, they find reason to doubt the reality of their home, and eventually detect serious cracks.
The uploads gradually learn enough about their realities to doubt that they're still fighting for the side they were loyal to in their first lives. Apparently part of the distinction between uploads and awakened AIs is that the operators can't tinker with opinions and loyalties directly, but they can easily lie and mislead about who they're representing, and what their opponents are fighting for. Of course, it wouldn't be an interesting story if the operator's control couldn't be subverted.
My biggest complaint about the story and the characters' attitudes is a simple acceptance among all the characters that some other characters are not real, based simply on statements from people in authority roles. In war, it doesn't make much sense to worry about whether the people shooting at you are actually thinking beings, but deciding that some category of bystanders don't have inner lives should be a cause for more intensive investigation. It's an easy allegation to make, and not far from standard attitudes about our enemies that we've mostly moved past.
Saturday, April 08, 2017
Johanna Sinisalo's The Core of the Sun is a finalist for the Prometheus award this year.
It has enough SF elements to qualify as standard near future fiction, and provides biting social commentary. In feel, it reminds me a lot of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, but I liked this better in several ways.
The story takes place in a future Finland that has managed to selectively breed its women so that they're either docile sex dolls and mothers ("eloi"), or sterile, powerless but competent workers ("morlocks"). They've also outlawed psycho-active drugs from alcohol to heroin, and somehow included capsacin (hot peppers) on that list. The protagonist (Vanna) is a morlock who was raised as an eloi, which allows her to pass in polite company. She's also hooked on hot peppers, and has started dealing in whole, dried, and preserved peppers in order to afford her next fix.
Compared to Handmaid's Tale, the viewpoint character is a more active agent, with more freedom to act for her own interests and to undermine the system; her allies against the state are more fully bought into the fight; the state she fights has taken more reprehensible steps, though it seems to have less thorough control of its subjugated females.
After the aunt dies, Manna finds a husband who Vanna suspects to be after the family farm, since neither Manna nor Vanna (passing as an eloi) can legally hold title to it. Vanna finds a man to partner with who values her for her unusual intellect and her ability to act independently (a useful tool for his black market activities).
Vanna pursues the secrets behind her sister's disappearance until events force her to escape with her partner. I found the prose (and occasional poetry) to be delightful and very evocative. The characters were convincing, and Vanna's struggle to be her own person in the face of societal expectations was heart breaking.
Saturday, April 01, 2017
The Vital Question, by Nick Lane
Nick Lane's The Vital Question seeks to explain why all eukaryotes share a large number of traits that are completely absent from all bacteria and other simple organisms. As Lane says in his opening page
All complex life shares an astonishing catalogue of elaborate traits, […]. Why, if all of these traits arose by natural selection, in which each step offers some small advantage, did equivalent traits not arise on other occasions in various bacterial groups?
Life arose around half a billion years after the earth's formation, perhaps 4 billion years ago, but then got stuck at the bacterial level of complexity for more than a billion years, half the age of our planet. […] In stark contrast, all morphologically complex organisms […] descend from that singular ancestor about 1.5—2 billion years ago. This ancestor was recognizably a 'modern' cell, with an exquisite internal structure and unprecedented nanomachines encoded by thousands of new genes that are largely unknown in bacteria. There are no surviving evolutionary intermediates, no 'missing links' to give any indication of how or why these complex traits arose, just an unexplained void between the morphological simplicity of bacteria and the awesome complexity of everything else.
Lane claims that this gap in our understanding should be glaringly obvious, and the scientific community should be struggling mightily to fill it in, but (he says) few are working on it, and fewer are talking about it as an important item on the agenda.
Lane's argument is that the combination of bacteria and archaeon that allowed the formation of eukaryotes happened once, and must have quickly evolved to have mitochondria, cilia, and to rely on sex for reproduction, and that all complex life descended from that single event. One of the surprising things is that eukaryotes didn't replace their ancestors; even though they have enough advantages that all complex life descends from that single event, there are still plenty of opportunities for the ancestral forms. The explanation Lane presents is that there's a delicate balance in the energy economy in bacteria and archaea, which doesn't allow the cells to grow much larger, and puts serious constraints on what kinds of mechanisms can be powered inside the cell. When that single archaeon engulfed a bacteria and turned it into the primal mitochondrion, the energy balance changed, and it became possible to store energy and distribute it around the cell, which made it possible to power more kinds of mechanisms, which led to the explosion in the variety of life and ways of living.
The usual story is that the environment changed (the Great Oxygenation) which enabled more styles of living. But what you'd expect if that was the cause would be a separate explosion from every kind of living creature, while what we really see in the evolutionary record is that when there are events like this (the cambrian explosion, e.g.) they radiate from a single progenitor, which tells us there was a significant discovery in that line that enabled the new directions of evolution.
Lynn Margulis' research shows that the form of modern eukaryotes derives from a series of mergers of adjacent bacteria and archaia. (One of the .sig lines I use refers to this) Lane says that while her results hold up, the mergers all occurred in a single line of descent, and all existant eukaryotes radiated out from the same end point of the serial events. Apparently none of the intermediate forms were good platforms from which to generate new life forms.
There are some simpler organisms (giardia among them) that are like eukaryotes in many ways, but lack mitochondria. They have long been viewed as an intermediate evolutionary point between archaia and eukaryotes, but modern phylogenetics (tracing the descent via gene similarity) shows that they're actually descended from eukaryotes, and merely discarded some of the internal structure because it wasn't needed in the environmental niches they occupied. This buttresses Lane's contention that all plants, animals, algae, fungi and protists share a common ancestor.
The common ancestor stored its DNA in a nucleus with a double membrane. The cell itself has a membrane with pores that were inherited by all the branches of its descendants. All the DNA has telomeres as well as introns which are spliced out using common machinery before proteins are built. The golgi apparatus, the form of the cytoskeleton, mitochondria, lysosomes, peroxisomes, the endoplasmic reticulum and the intra-cellular signaling mechanism are also common.
If you're interested, Lane goes into a lot of detail on his hypothesis on the energetic mechanisms that could have led to the evolution of the mitochondrial pathway starting from deep sea hydrothermal vents, where hydrogen and oxygen are bound in a way that can produce positive energy when the bonds are broken. I mostly understood it as I read it, but I'm going to have trouble doing it justice. Here's a precis of the argument; ATP is the end product, and is both stable and easy to extract energy from. A simple mechanism that can produce ATP has the effect of making many energy consuming processes possible.
Hydrothermal vents at the ocean bottom ("black smokers") are places where constantly renewed magma is in contact with sea water, which results in hot acidic water. Lane picks out nearby "alkaline vents" (also on the ocean bottom, but not where magma is exposed) as the plausible site for metabolism to arise. The alkaline version is rich in dissolved hydrogen, accompanied by "other reduced gases including methane, ammonia and sulphide". The rock is riddled with micropores from micrometers to millimeters in size. The flow of warmed sea water is relatively slow, so there's plenty of time for percolation and reaction. There are eddies in the flow, which allows reactive products to accumulate and concentrate locally. Before the Great Oxygenation, the most common gas in both the atmosphere and the ocean was CO2. In this environment, CO2 will react exergonically (releasing energy) with H2 to form CH4 (methane), but it needs a catalyst.
Lane considers it a crucial clue that all living cells drive their energy metabolism via proton gradients across thin membranes. To expand that, the claim is that the production of ATP always happens in the presence of cell membranes that separate proton-rich from proton-poor regions of a cell, and require a constant supply of H2 on the low-density side, and produces ATP on the high-density side. On the low density (alkaline) side, the H2 donates an electron, which is gobbled up in the production of ATP. Both of these reactions happen spontaneously.
Lane then describes a path via which permeable membranes (which don't benefit from better pumping) could evolve to be more selectively permeable, which would allow better pumping to be a benefit. This change makes it possible for the cell to escape from the natural proton gradient, since it can sustain its own internal gradient. Lane hyphothesizes that once selective permeability arises, archaea and bacteria evolved different membrane pumps (evidenced by the fact that they use steroisomers of glycerol) and split into evolutionarily distinct lines.
I'm not sure I explained that very well, but this felt like the first time I've read an explanation of basic cell metabolism that presented a mechanistic picture of the benefit of ATP (stores energy in an easily-extracted form), how the production of ATP is paid for energetically (proton gradients maintained by membranes and selective pumping), and why these designs are fundamental to the difference between bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, and eventually lead to the development of chloroplasts as an alternate energy source. Lane gives an explanation at a similar mechanistic level of what happens during apoptosis (programmed cell death; also conserved across the eukaryotes!)
Lane also argues that anti-oxidant supplements interfere with the apoptosis pathway, and thereby reduce health. He presents this as the currently accepted scientific viewpoint, though it's news to me. I need to do more research here.
I learned a lot of biology from this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. |
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Building a Future: Where do we go from here?
Building a Future-01
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been travelling with Nelly, a 10-year old girl from Dzinkunze, Kenya. Nelly’s family – as well as her community – gets most of their nutrition and income from farming corn and cassava, particularly through a technique called zai pits, which enhance plant nutrients.
World Vision has been working in Nelly’s area since 2007, helping the community to develop a safety net through agriculture. More than 1,300 people, in this community of 3,500, participate in agriculture programming similar to those benefiting Nelly and her family. By diversifying food sources through zai pits and adopting drought tolerant crops, more families are becoming hungerfree.
In fact, zai pits have helped families double their crop production, generate income from the sale of surplus crops and improve nutrition. Farmers are learning how to care for the land and plant trees, reducing soil degradation and enhancing soil nutrients and water retention. World Vision has also improved access to water for drinking, agriculture and livestock. As a result, the distance travelled by community members has been reduced in half, creating more time for individuals to work on their farms, go to school or generate income. The access to water also helps improve the condition of livestock which in turn increases their price of sale.
Building a Future-02
As the community looks to the future, it recognizes that a hungerfree Dzikunze is only possible if it involves young people.
Across Kenya and much of Africa, the average age of farmers is 60 years and getting older – meanwhile, the population overall is getting younger. More than half the population of Kenya is under the age of 25. Today’s generation of young people are facing unprecedented unemployment and having difficulty finding a job, yet they are uninterested in agriculture. Many young people don’t see agriculture as profitable or sustainable.
Building a Future-03
World Vision’s HungerFree hopes to change that by training vulnerable young people how to not only use agriculture to feed themselves and their families but by also providing the skill training to run their own agricultural business and grow enough food to create their own future by generating sustainable income.
By being a part of the 30 Hour Famine, you are supporting opportunities to empower young people in Kenya with the skills they need to become hungerfree. But it is so much more than that. You are also joining a global community of young people who believe that the way the world is now isn’t the way it has to be in the future. You are questioning stasis and telling the world that we can change. You are accepting the challenge to build something better than what we have.
You are joining a movement that believes a hungerfree world is possible – and that it starts with youth. Are you in?
Call to Action-01
Investing in Tomorrow: Florence and the Machine
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In Kenya, economic empowerment can have many faces. For some, it looks like corn stalks growing tall around their house.
That’s how it is for Nelly, the 10-year-old girl we’ve been following with 30 Hour Famine, and her family. By growing healthier and more productive plants, they are able to begin to live #hungerfree.
Today’s average Kenyan farmer is 60 years old. But Kenya is getting younger, and more than half the population is under the age of 25. Those young people are often unemployed, and yet agricultural jobs go unattended. Farming doesn’t seem sustainable…or cool.
HungerFree is coming alongside young people to use methods of empowerment that have been proven to work. It’s the same model World Vision uses with other small farmers, and makes sure that young people have small business. Why? Because then they can grow food for their families and develop an income they can count on.
Not that far from Nelly lives a young woman named Florence, who is a perfect example of what HungerFree helps young people accomplish.
With 14 mouths to feed among her extended family, Florence could be under a lot of pressure. But through HungerFree, she participates in a farming group using new technology to maximize the quality of corn. Food for today is taken care of.
And the food for tomorrow? That’s taken care of with one small asset: a sewing machine. Florence can make her own clothes and sell them for a profit, ensuring that she has enough to provide economic stability.
Facing the Unexpected: What Happens when your plans get shattered?
Facing the Unexpected-01
Johnny was the star pitcher on his high school baseball team. He was on-track to go to college on a scholarship and had plans to get drafted after sophomore year. But during his last year, a shoulder injury forced him to quit playing. All the plans he had made were suddenly ruined.
You’ve probably heard some variation of that story before. Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s a friend. Either way, it’s something that we can all relate to: having to adapt when our plans get shattered.
In Africa, plans for a future are getting drowned by a weather phenomenon called El Niño. It is essentially big shifts in weather patterns across the world due to the extensive warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific.
El Niño is causing circumstances to change dramatically all over the world, and is just one example of what can happen when the unexpected occurs in food insecure places.
The weather system is manifested in two opposite extremes in Africa – either too much rain or extreme drought. In Kenya, where drought has been drying the earth for years, the sudden onslaught of rain is causing flooding; the rain can’t soak through the clay-like earth.
Blog Photo_Dry and Flooded Land
That means ruined crops and dying livestock. And each of those means hunger.
Those who are already vulnerable may not have the mechanisms in place to cope with natural, man-made or economic disaster. Instead, families try to cope with their loss of livelihood by having their children drop out of school, depleting their assets, or reducing meal quantity and quality.
HungerFree wants to present an alternative coping mechanism by helping communities in Kenya and South Sudan develop strategies for resilience. Not only does your support through 30 Hour Famine provide food for today, it also helps those who are being flooded by the unexpected.
How, you ask?
Programs already in place make sure that families have back-up resources. Savings groups allow struggling families to take out protected loans from their neighbors. And new farming techniques help crops stay a little bit more protected.
Facing the Unexpected-02
So now, in the worst El Niño on record, families are able to have a little bit of a safety net. Now, they don’t have to become statistics in a humanitarian crisis.
Through 30 Hour Famine, you can make sure that stays true for a lifetime. This isn’t the first time disaster has struck, and it certainly won’t be the last. But we dare to see beauty and brokenness. We dare to see a world that grow, not diminish, in the face of disaster. What about you?
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Investing in Tomorrow: A Stroke of Cluck Can Change a Life
Investing in Tomorrow-05
Kenya is getting younger and younger. Over half the population is under the age of 25, and many of them are unable to get sustainable employment. That means more stress and less food.
But many young people don’t see agriculture as the best way to a hungerfree life. The average farmer is 60 years old. But what if that farming – which makes sure there’s food enough for today – was combined with a small business?
For Nelly, the girl we’ve been following as we get ready for the 30 Hour Famine, a hungerfree life looks like farming combined with raising goats.
For Erastus, another young Kenyan, economic empowerment comes with a stroke of cluck.
Erastus is the sole caregiver for his brothers and sisters. Crammed in a small house, the family often found themselves going to sleep hungry (and waking up even hungrier).
But since getting chickens, Erastus can not only feed his siblings, he can also plan for a future. Soon, he hopes to build a house that will fit his family.
A HungerFree world doesn’t just involve food. It also takes community, young people, and empowerment. With economic stability – and chickens – dreaming for the future becomes possible.
Keep pushing for a #HungerFree world –
Becoming Hungerfree
Becoming HungerFree-Blog Title
If you were to stand at the edge of Nelly’s family’s fields, you would see earth that looked a lot like a checkerboard. Every few feet there is a rectangle where the ground is a little lower.
The checkerboard is actually zai pits, a farming technique that involves mixing the dirt with fertilizer and leaving the pits several inches lower than the earth around them. This allows water to accumulate to better grow crops like kale and corn.
Nelly’s family lives in rural Kenya. When Nelly’s mother was young, crops were easier to grow; farmers could confidently know the rains would come. But they were also harder to farm. Digging the earth took more work and yield was small.
Now, rains are intermittent and unpredictable. But with zai pits, it’s easier to be sure that food will grow. In fact, the technique has doubled the crop production for the community.
Becoming HungerFree-Zai Pits
HungerFree is helping families generate food for today and tomorrow through programming commonly referred to as Cash for Assets. Farming techniques – like zai pits – allow families to more efficiently grow food to both eat and sell, ensuring resilience during periods of drought.
Becoming HungerFree-Cash for Assets
And farming isn’t the only way Nelly’s family has more economic stability. They also help care for their community’s goats, and Nelly’s mother participates in a savings and loan group with their neighbors.
One of the challenges of food assistance is the balancing act between immediate assistance and long-term stability. Often, hungry communities urgently need food to be able to continue learning and farming. But they also need the tools to continue to support themselves.
By participating in 30 Hour famine, you are helping families just like Nelly’s grow not only corn, but also sustainability.
But we’re not called to help create a hungerfree family. We are called to help create a hungerfree world. Nelly’s story is just the beginning.
This is the time to accomplish great things. Are you on board?
Call to Action Tile-09
Food for Thought: How Hunger Affects Your Education
Food for Thought-01
How many of us have sat through a class that’s right before lunch, staring at the second hand on the clock, imagining our teeth crunching on chips? Watching that clock becomes far more important than French or algebra.
For too many kids in the world, their first meal of the day is dinner. Lunchtime doesn’t mean relief from chronic hunger, and that hunger drastically impacts the way children learn.
It turns out hunger doesn’t just affect how we learn or pay attention in school – it also affects how well our brain works or develops. A healthy brain uses 20% of your body’s energy, and energy comes from food. That means that hunger starves the brain.
Food for Thought-02
Children who are malnourished fall behind in school because they can’t concentrate or often miss classes to help the family put food on the table.
Is it really surprising that it is difficult to learn and break the cycle of poverty when your body needs all the energy it can get just to get to school?
With proper nourishment, children are able to learn and grow, sometimes even going on to become teachers themselves.
With your help, families are equipped to grow healthier, more abundant crops and livestock to feed her family and generate income.
Unfortunately, that’s not always enough. When families and communities need more immediate assistance to get started or withstand life’s setbacks, World Vision ensures there are safety nets in place, like school feeding programs, emergency food supplies when there’s a disaster, and special assistance for vulnerable groups, such as the sick, elderly, orphaned, pregnant/lactating mothers and young children.
Food for Thought-Blog Photo
In a HungerFree world, children are able to grow and learn the way they should. Through 30 Hour Famine, you are helping make that world a reality.
A HungerFree world means everyone gets enough food for both today and tomorrow. It means families can become self-sufficient through the skills, education, and productive assets. It means they can be hungerfree for a lifetime.
That world doesn’t have to wait. This is our time to make it happen, our time to boldly embody change. Will you join the voices calling for better?
Call to Action Tile-09
Welcome to Dzikunze: A hungerfree world starts here
Welcome to Dzikunze-02
Kilifi is a resort town in Kenya. Beaches and hotels are the claim to fame, and tourism is the backbone of its economy. If you were to visit the resort town, you might stay at the Mnarani Club resort, where you can enjoy the amenities of the on-site spa or explore the ocean on a scuba tour.
But an hour’s drive outside of Kilifi lies Dzikunze, a small village where the hard Kenyan rains can cause the walls of the mud houses to start coming apart in chunks.
Welcome to Dzikunze-01
During the weeks leading up to the 30 Hour Famine, we’ve been following Nelly, a 10-year-old Kenyan girl. Her story is not that different from children all over the world, whose families cannot thrive in their current environment. Dzikunze is where she calls home.
Like many rural towns in Kenya, Dzikunze is a collection of families who live in houses made out of mud packed into a skeleton of branches. Because they are made with earth, the homes blend in with the red clay surrounding them. But clay is not all there is to see.
Coconut trees, corn, kale, and other crops stand out starkly against the red. These are the sustainability and livelihood of many of the people who live here. There are less trees than in years past; many people cut them down for firewood during the drought.
If you were to visit Dzikunze, you would have to make the drive down a red road cutting through thick forest, passing under gates designed to keep out elephants. And instead of signing up for a scuba tour, you might help the family make dinner in a small corner of the house. Corn is stored on a shelf above to dry, and smoke accumulates easily. You’d need to wipe your eyes often.
The bleating of the community goats, which are all penned together, mingles with the laughter of children playing soccer. They’ve made themselves out of cloth and string.
This is Dzikunze village.
Through 30 Hour Famine, we’ll be helping Dzikunze and other towns like it live hungerfree. Right now, the people of Dzikunze struggle to feed their families every day. Memories of green crops are sweeter than the seemingly sparse future.
But together, what’s ahead can be greater than days past. Because a better world is possible, and we believe this is our future to create.
Call to Action Tile-09
If You Had To Live From A Backpack, What Would You Bring?
If you had to live out of a backpack, what would you bring? I’ve had to ask myself that question quite a few times in my wandering life. Recently, I found myself asking it again, as I sifted through photos and stories of Syrian refugees and the few belongings they carried from home.
A carrier of memories
I am a little obsessed with my backpack. It’s one of those early generation Mountain Equipment Co-op Pika packs, the kind every college girl had about five years ago. Everyone else seems to have moved on to the uber-cool Herschel or the tried-and-true Jansport, but not me. I’m still rocking my cobalt blue, threadbare MEC pack.
Whether trekking overseas or walking to work, I’m rarely without my backpack.
There’s a reason I’m holding on to it, though. We’ve been through a lot together. I bought my backpack six months after I finished university. I was about to move back to Senegal to live with my family. Soon after that, it came with me to my very first job as a writer at a news organization in Tunisia. I can still remember packing it with my Moleskine notebook, my favourite pens and a very loud whistle in case I should run into trouble.
Read more…
Sean and Karli Quigley believe in music of hope, so it just made sense to partner with HungerFree. The duo, which hails from Winnepeg, Manitoba in Canada, fronts band Bold As Lions. And this February they’re going on a HungerFree tour.
HungerFree sat down with Sean and Karli to learn more.
HungerFree: Why are you dedicating your tour to HungerFree?
Bold As Lions: We believe in this. From the beginning we’ve always said that we want to make music that means something. When we’re in the studio, writing, every single word is thought out and has an important purpose in the song. What good is having a platform if you don’t use it for something productive, if you don’t use it to better someone else’s reality? That is why we’re donating our time and dedicating this tour to HungerFree. This is something we stand for as a band. When people think Bold As Lions we want them to think HungerFree. We want people to know that its cool to care. And here’s a great place to start.
HF: How did you first get connected with World Vision?
BAL: When the Little Drummer boy music video came out, it gained attention over night. One day I [Sean] was driving down Broadway in Winnipeg and I got a phone call from someone asking me if I wanted to travel across the world to play music…all of this before he even told me who he was! It turns out his name is Devon and he worked for World Vision. 3 weeks later I ended up in a couple countries called Georgia and Armenia that border Iran. From that point on, we’ve been working with World Vision with the artist Collective, but mostly with the youth team. Speaking or playing music in schools and churches on behalf of World Vision and our passion to see a better world.
HF: What of the HungerFree message and approach inspires you most?
BAL: We love the idea of branding it as HungerFree. It’s an idea that students can get behind. Hunger Free sounds positive; it sounds possible! The model that World Vision has laid out is probably one of our favourite things about it. The way they will stay in one community until they are totally self-sufficient and then move on to the next – it’s a legit way to end hunger. It’s an ACTUAL solution and it isn’t that far off. Whenever we talk to people about this, their reaction is always my favourite because they seem so surprised that it’s so thought out and you can see skeptics thinking up a storm about how this just might work.
HF: What has been the response to working with World Vision and HungerFree so far?
BAL: Working with HungerFree so far has had such a great response; it’s becoming a term people are using just by seeing it continually branded as the HungerFree tour on our social media. Schools have been excited about getting involved. Currently we have a 20 school reach in the month of February and still more requests and responses coming in. Unfortunately for some dates, multiple people have wanted to book a spot on the tour and we’ve had to turn them away, which is a good problem to have!
HF: What advice do you have for young people who are interested in connecting their passion and talents to making a difference in the world?
BAL: This is something I really feel makes all the difference. If you aren’t passionate about something, you aren’t going to put everything into it. The things you do with your time, life, and resources really show where your heart is. For us, because we are passionate about music, doing this tour – putting in hundred of hours, late nights, little sleep, doing all the booking, editing, writing, speaking, producing, programming – makes it all worth it. It doesn’t seem like work because we love it.
Some advice that we would give young people who are interested in doing this? What do you love? Start there. Start with your passion and then pick a cause that you care about. When those two things mix, you have to succeed. So you love to snowboard? Enter every snowboard competition and donate the winnings. You love math? Have a mathlete competition and donate the funds! Trust me, any time you put yourself second to someone else, people think its weird and want to hear about it. It doesn’t take too much selflessness to start spreading awareness.
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here is a lesson I learned reading this deck: let us all endeavor to be “wage slaves,” and to educate our colleagues to be wage slaves. it really gets under this guy’s skin (he hates them precious!) that some people might actually know the value of their labor. organize!
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They know their market value and perform exactly to it and no more
Wow, what a novel concept.
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“Wage slaves… hate em!”
I wonder if he realizes that this meme comes from an incompetently evil anthropomorphic octopus (Ultros in Final Fantasy VI).
Probably not.
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What is the “wage slave” phrase supposed to mean? The way it is repeatedly used (and juxtaposed against other categories of employees) sounds more like jargon than just an off-hand choice of two words. At face value the phrase seems to be an oxymoron, as slaves weren’t known to receive wages for their work.
Internet searches yielded definitions which were unhelpful, and seem like they could describe any non-management employees of a company. What am I missing?
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This is kind of a second-order usage of the term that I’ve heard now and then. Wikipedia covers the original usage fairly well. It was more widespread in the 19th century, when wage labor wasn’t yet fully normalized, and roughly boils down to an argument the theoretically free choice to work or not work for someone often has a significant degree of coercion involved in it, since many wage laborers, especially in the traditional working class, aren’t in a position to say “no” to work they need in order to live. In the U.S. context it was a particularly big debate in the post-civil-war abolition movement, which split over whether abolishing slavery had accomplished its goals, or if things like the mining camps and factories still represented a type of unfree labor that they should push to abolish.
Anyway, the second-order usage is that terms like “wage slave attitude” were coined by 20th-century management people to describe workers who have a version of that viewpoint, “I work because I have to work to survive, it’s a job right?”. That’s seen (by such management people) as too cynical and insufficiently motivated by love of the job and company etc.: they come in, put in their 40 hours and do competent work, but you don’t really want that at AmazingCorp, you want people who believe in your amazing mission!
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What is the “wage slave” phrase supposed to mean?
The theory goes back to Marx: that a low-status worker is not appreciably better off in terms of lifestyle than a slave.
In practice, what he means is “worker aware of his low status”. He wants his peons not to know that they’re peons, because they’ll work harder. So in his usage, “wage slave” refers to the Gervais/MacLeod Loser class (as in, Sociopaths, Clueless, and Losers). Here’s a place to start, on that: Gervais Principle.
The OP is a Sociopath who wants to hire only Clueless (low-status workers unaware of their low status). Note that MacLeod Sociopaths aren’t always sociopaths or bad people. I’m a MacLeod Sociopath but not a sociopath. All of that said, the OP seems like a sociopath in addition to being a (MacLeod) Sociopath.
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This is not missing the satire tag.
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I was wondering. Continue to stand by decision to pass on the industry and to recommend young programmers to do the same.
I’d rather make a business dude rich and go play with my dogs at 5 pm. That’s not mediocrity, that’s knowing a video game doesn’t change the world.
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Even if it did change the world, your life is important too. I like what I do, it feels important to me. But I only put in 40 hours a week, most of the time, and I stand by that.
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Woah, that sounds like “balance” talk. Watch your mouth.
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Smart and well balanced employees do significantly better work long-term than ones churning out code 16 hours a day.
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Don’t you work in the Google, though?
I’m not sure normal math even applies there. :-S
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I do, yes. I agree it’s an uncommon place.
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I’ve been looking for a job and while there is a lot of postings in tech, I dont see that many outside the industry. Most of my contract work up to now has mostly shown me that people outside the tech industry arent really aware of the costs, most offers being magnitudes lower than what I see in tech companies.
And I’d love to be able to work with the outdoor companies I’ve grown to know here in Quebec.
1. 5
If you know people in a non-tech industry who have a problem that can be solved with software and are willing to pay significant money for it to be solved then maybe you don’t need to work for them for them to pay you. You might be sitting on one of them “sales channels”.
2. 5
So where do you tell them to work? There don’t seem to be very many meaty jobs, from a programmer’s perspective, outside of the technology industry. Or do you suggest that they be hobbyist programmers only and use their technical skills to segue into pre-executive jobs?
I ask this because I think there’s mutual benefit in helping great programmers get out of the technology industry while still using their skills. It’s not good for society to have the best programmers in one industry, and it’s an industry that tends to take us for granted and to treat us poorly. The thing is: I don’t know how to go about it, much less solve the problem at scale. I suppose that it would require a fleet of agents who act as tech-industry exit consultants.
1. -6
I don’t come to this website to discuss your agenda.
1. 5
No, of course not, but I thought you might have something useful to say, or some insight. That’s why I asked you the question. Apparently, I was wrong.
3. 15
It’s how most technology managers/executives and almost all of the VCs think. OP is just uncouth enough to express things that others would never say (such as the disgusting gendered shit that assumes that programmers burn out because of “wives/GFs”) in public.
1. 11
Even when it’s true that “everyone thinks X, he’s just honest enough to say it”, that act of saying X makes things worse since it further normalizes the situation.
1. 9
1. I agree completely.
2. My point is certainly not “Everyone thinks X”. It’s that the technology industry is run by people who don’t share our values or even align with how most people define social justice.
The Moldbug controversy ties in to #2. His views are disgusting. That said, the reason there’s such a push to remove him from the conference circuit isn’t just that his politics are awful, but also that he’s accessible. The billionaires who run Silicon Valley largely share his views. They just aren’t stupid enough to get caught. (“Mencius Moldbug” was a pseduonym that got doxxed.) Also, enough people want their money that they can get away with pretty much anything, just like Trump said about his hypothetical 5th Avenue murder.
I certainly don’t wish to excuse bad behavior or exclusionary viewpoints. I just wish there was more consistency in it. I probably wouldn’t invite Yarvin to speak if it were my conference. But how many people would turn away a billionaire venture capitalist who dislikes the 19th Amendment (Thiel) or that liberals are capable of Kristallnacht (Perkins)? I’m guessing that most of the tech industry wouldn’t.
1. [Comment removed by author]
1. 7
It’s hard to know someone’s intent and, in that light, it’s hard to know what his true views are.
His self-presentation is of an intellectual who simply isn’t willing to reject monarchy, slavery, white supremacy, and other unfashionable (in many cases, because they are bad) political institutions out of hand. Just as there are useful alternative logics (e.g. non-Euclidean geometry, intuitionist logic, non-ZFC set theories) I suppose he is trying to start from first principles, with no assumptions, and derive an alternative politics. At least, that’s how he wants to present himself: a free thinker on the right, unconstrained by conventional humanist assumptions.
Part of the problem, I think, is that he’s either disingenuous or sophomoric. For example, he claims that Europeans preferred African slaves because they were “better adapted” to slavery than Native Americans. In fact, they were only better adapted to the Southern climate (35 C summers, high humidity) because the Natives are descended from Northeast Asians (hence, the most successful Mesoamerican civilizations were at altitude). He’s remarkably willing to accept bad ideas, and his reading of history is superficial and weird.
He might be an obscurantist “dog whistle” racist. He might just be (as you suggest is possible) coming off as aloof and lacking empathy. He’s certainly contributed to an ideological movement that harbors actual racists. Also, slavery is outright evil regardless of whether it’s racially based. (African-American slavery was an especially disgusting brand of it, but slavery has existed since antiquity, and exists today, in a variety of formats.)
I’d feel differently if he disavowed Moldbug. Look, I’ve created (more in jest than toward any serious effect) offensive internet characters. If he said, “I was full of shit back then”, I’d like to believe that many people would forgive him. However, he hasn’t. Even worse, he claims to have named his daughter after a pro-slavery man-of-letters, Thomas Carlyle. That just makes me ill.
1. [Comment removed by author]
1. 5
Does it not make sense that the guideline is individual to each conference? I have a really hard time buying the exclusion or lack thereof of Yarvin as the first step in a slippery slope. Strange Loop removed him, pure and simple, no discussion, and Everything Was Fine. Lambdaconf didn’t, some people pulled out, and the show will still go on. Conferences have a right to their rules and their attendees and supporters also have that right. That we fight about it on the internet is no indication that anyone is winning anything from social pressure.
William Shockley invented the semiconductor. He won a nobel prize. After that he became an outspoken advocate for eugenics and some pretty brutal racist policies. His SPLC file is here. He suffered, personally and professionally, for his views. He lost friends and colleagues over these views.
My own opinions about Yarvin aside (I think Moldbug’s ideas are repugnant and dressing up plain-ol' bigotry with equivocation doesn’t make them any less repugnant), I find it highly unlikely that conferences will standardize in this regard. If a large enough people disagree with how conferences are handled, there’s nothing stopping them from hosting whomever they’d like.
Splitting hairs about what we individually find appropriate is our own business. Do we let a Klan member or donor speak so long as they don’t bring their robes? Who cares? I think it’s important for each of us to determine what we think we should support and act accordingly. If a lot of us feel that way about a person, they won’t have a platform at conferences. There’s nothing about that process that’s undemocratic or unfair.
1. 2
The nature of slippery slopes is that they don’t show up immediately.
That we fight about it on the internet is no indication that anyone is winning anything from social pressure. I think it’s important for each of us to determine what we think we should support and act accordingly. If a lot of us feel that way about a person, they won’t have a platform at conferences. There’s nothing about that process that’s undemocratic or unfair.
If it’s the democratic decision of the conference attendees to exclude someone I’m fine with that. If it’s some vocal/famous people on Twitter whipping up a mob of people who aren’t even going I’m a lot less fine with that, and that I do think is undemocratic.
2. 10
How deeply disappointing. :(
1. 4
By the first quarter I was thinking, this has got to be satire… But reading his bio makes me understand why.
2. 22
How charmingly vile. I particularly “like” this line:
Look elsewhere for the self starters that have struggled to overcome adversity and lack of opportunity, they are much more valuable and loyal if you can find them.
The unspoken subtext is, of course, that these people, having become successful through non-traditional methods (e.g. self-taught), often don’t have the cultural context to know that they are being exploited and abused, or that the working conditions they suffer aren’t normal. Hence, they’ll be “more loyal”.
1. 20
This presentation’s from a few years ago, but I believe it’s making the rounds again because the author published a somewhat inflammatory op-ed yesterday on a related subject.
1. 3
You nailed it. I saw tweets and followed a link to this deck; didn’t realize there was a second thing going oround.
1. 2
Thanks for context.
2. 5
I honestly thought for a while it was trolling by being as deliberately offensive as possible. Sadly, that’s not the case…
1. 4
I’m starting to understand that, increasingly, Poe’s Law doesn’t apply and really people are just that extreme. :(
2. 4
I’m actually kinda seeing red right now.
1. 8
Take off your sock, might help.
2. 4
Another reason I don’t use the term engineer to describe myself.
1. 2
True story: I had the displeasure of overhearing Alex St. John talk about this and other nonsense at an Auckland café. He met a couple of guys there regarding business and I was seated a table away.
He didn’t leave a good impression on me then, and this quasi-trolling slide deck definitely doesn’t help his case.
1. 2
If Giants are the people this satire describes, I am just so much happier to be a little mouse. None of the great engineers I’ve met over the years, are like the one this deck describes.
I am somewhat tempted to figure out who the author is (never heard of him before), but past the 5th slide… nah. Not worth it.
1. 2
I was just reading this
1. 1
Just wow. And yet his column in boot was so cool. Anybody remember that?
1. 1
1. 1
There’s no way this is real. It can’t be. Who would ever seriously think those things? That’s like a charicature of a capitalist villain, framed in the tech world. |
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Eight insights based on December 2017 energy data
Eight insights based on December 2017 energy data thumbnail
BP recently published energy data through December 31, 2017, in its Statistical Review of World Energy 2018. The following are a few points we observe, looking at the data:
[1] The world is making limited progress toward moving away from fossil fuels.
The two bands that top fossil fuels that are relatively easy to see are nuclear electric power and hydroelectricity. Solar, wind, and “geothermal, biomass, and other” are small quantities at the top that are hard to distinguish.
Figure 1. World energy consumption divided between fossil fuels and non-fossil fuel energy sources, based on data from BP 2018 Statistical Review of World Energy 2018.
Wind provided 1.9% of total energy supplies in 2017; solar provided 0.7% of total energy supplies. Fossil fuels provided 85% of energy supplies in 2017. We are moving away from fossil fuels, but not quickly.
Of the 252 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) energy consumption added in 2017, wind added 37 MTOE and solar added 26 MTOE. Thus, wind and solar amounted to about 25% of total energy consumption added in 2017. Fossil fuels added 67% of total energy consumption added in 2017, and other categories added the remaining 8%.
[2] World per capita energy consumption is still on a plateau.
In recent posts, we have remarked that per capita energy consumption seems to be on a plateau. With the addition of data through 2017, this still seems to be the case. The reason why flat energy consumption per capita is concerning is because oil consumption per capita normally rises, based on data since 1820.1 This is explained further in Note 1 at the end of this article. Another reference is my article, The Depression of the 1930s Was an Energy Crisis.
Figure 2. World energy consumption per capita, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018 data.
While total energy consumption is up by 2.2%, world population is up by about 1.1%, leading to a situation where energy consumption per capita is rising by about 1.1% per year. This is within the range of normal variation.
One thing that helped energy consumption per capita to rise a bit in 2017 relates to the fact that oil prices were down below the $100+ per barrel range seen in the 2011-2014 period. In addition, the US dollar was relatively low compared to other currencies, making prices more attractive to non-US buyers. Thus, 2017 represented a period of relative affordability of oil to buyers, especially outside the US.
[3] If we view the path of consumption of major fuels, we see that coal follows a much more variable path than oil and natural gas. One reason for the slight upturn in per capita energy consumption noted in [2] is a slight upturn in coal consumption in 2017.
Figure 3. World oil, coal, and natural gas consumption through 2017, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018.
Coal is different from oil and gas, in that it is more of a “drill it as you need it” fuel. In many parts of the world, coal mines have a high ratio of human labor to capital investment. If prices are high enough, coal will be extracted and consumed. If prices are not sufficiently high, coal will be left in the ground and the workers laid off. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018, coal prices in 2017 were higher than prices in both 2015 and 2016 in all seven markets for which they provide indications. Typically, prices in 2017 were more than 25% higher than those for 2015 and 2016.
The production of oil and natural gas seems to be less responsive to price fluctuations than coal.2 In part, this has to do with the very substantial upfront investment that needs to be made. It also has to do with the dependence of governments on the high level of tax revenue that they can obtain if oil and gas prices are high. Oil exporters are especially concerned about this issue. All players want to maintain their “share” of the world market. They are reluctant to reduce production, regardless of what prices do in the short term.
[4] China is one country whose coal production has recently ticked upward in response to higher coal prices.
Figure 4. China’s energy production by fuel, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018 data.
China has been able to bridge the gap by using an increasing amount of imported fuels. In fact, according to BP, China was the world’s largest importer of oil and coal in 2017. It was second only to Japan in the quantity of imported natural gas.
[5] China’s overall energy pattern appears worrying, despite the uptick in coal production.
Figure 5. China’s energy production by fuel plus its total energy consumption, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018 data.
If China expects to maintain its high GDP growth ratio as a manufacturing country, it will need to keep its energy consumption growth up. Doing this will require an increasing share of world exports of fossil fuels of all kinds. It is not clear that this is even possible unless other areas can ramp up their production and also add necessary transportation infrastructure.
Oil consumption, in particular, is rising quickly, thanks to rising imports. (Compare Figure 6, below, with Figure 4.)
Figure 6. China’s energy consumption by fuel, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018.
[6] India, like China, seems to be a country whose energy production is falling far behind what is needed to support planned economic growth. In fact, as a percentage, its energy imports are greater than China’s, and the gap is widening each year.
The big gap between energy production and consumption would not be a problem if India could afford to buy these imported fuels, and if it could use these imported fuels to make exports that it could profitably sell to the export market. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Figure 7. India’s energy production by fuel, together with its total energy consumption, based upon BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018 data.
India’s electricity sector seems to be having major problems recently. The Financial Times reports, “The power sector is at the heart of a wave of corporate defaults that threatens to cripple the financial sector.” While higher coal prices were good for coal producers and helped enable coal imports, the resulting electricity is more expensive than many customers can afford.
[7] It is becoming increasingly clear that proved reserves reported by BP and others provide little useful information.
BP provides reserve data for oil, natural gas, and coal. It also calculates R/P ratios (Reserves/Production ratios), using reported “proved reserves” and production in the latest year. The purpose of these ratios seems to be to assure readers that there are plenty of years of future production available. Current worldwide average R/P ratios are
• Oil: 50 years
• Natural Gas: 53 years
• Coal: 134 years
The reason for using the R/P ratios is the fact that geologists, including the famous M. King Hubbert, have looked at future energy production based on reserves in a particular area. Thus, geologists seem to depend upon reserve data for their calculations. Why shouldn’t a similar technique work in the aggregate?
For one thing, geologists are looking at particular fields where conditions seem to be right for extraction. They can safely assume that (a) the prices will be high enough, (b) there will be adequate investment capital available and (c) other conditions will be right, including political stability and pollution issues. If we are looking at the situation more generally, the reasons why fossil fuels are not extracted from the ground seem to revolve around (a), (b) and (c), rather than not having enough fossil fuels in the ground.
Let’s look at a couple of examples. China’s coal production dropped in Figure 4 because low prices made coal extraction unprofitable in some fields. There is no hint of that issue in China’s reported R/P ratio for coal of 39.
Although not as dramatic, Figure 4 also shows that China’s oil production has dropped in recent years, during a period when prices have been relatively low. China’s R/P ratio for oil is 18, so it theoretically should have plenty of oil available. China figured out that in some cases, it could import oil more cheaply than it could produce it themselves. As a result, its production has dropped.
In Figure 7, India’s coal production is not rising as rapidly as needed to keep production up. Its R/P ratio for coal is 137. Its oil production has been declining since 2012. Its R/P for oil is shown to be 14.4 years.
Another example is Venezuela. As many people are aware, Venezuela has been having severe economic problems recently. We can see this in its falling oil production and its related falling oil exports and consumption.
Figure 8. Venezuela’s oil production, consumption and exports, based on data of BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018.
Yet Venezuela reports the highest “Proved oil reserves” in the world. Its reported R/P ratio is 394. In fact, its proved reserves increased during 2017, despite its very poor production results. Part of the problem is that proved oil reserves are often not audited amounts, so that proved reserves can be as high as an exporting country wants to make them. Another part of the problem is that price is extremely important in determining which reserves can be extracted and which cannot. Clearly, Venezuela needs much higher prices than have been available recently to make it possible to extract its reserves. Venezuela also seems to have had low production in the 1980s when oil prices were low.
I was one of the co-authors of an academic paper pointing out that oil prices may not rise high enough to extract the resources that seem to be available. It can be found at this link: An Oil Production Forecast for China Considering Economic Limits. The problem is an affordability problem. The wages of manual laborers and other non-elite workers need to be high enough that they can afford to buy the goods and services made by the economy. If there is too much wage disparity, demand tends to fall too low. As a result, prices do not rise to the level that fossil fuel producers need. The limit on fossil fuel extraction may very well be how high prices can rise, rather than the amount of fossil fuels in the ground.
[8] Nuclear power seems to be gradually headed for closure without replacement in many parts of the world. This makes it more difficult to create a low carbon electricity supply.
A chart of nuclear electricity production by part of the world shows the following information:
Figure 9. Nuclear electric power production by part of the world, based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018. FSU is “Former Soviet Union” countries.
The peak in nuclear power production took place in 2006. A big step-down in nuclear power generation took place after the Fukushima nuclear power accident in Japan in 2011. Europe now seems to be taking steps toward phasing out its nuclear power plants. If nothing else, new safety standards tend to make nuclear power plants very expensive. The high price makes it too expensive to replace aging nuclear power plants with new plants, at least in the parts of the world where safety standards are considered very important.
In 2017, wind and solar together produced about 59% as much electricity as nuclear power, on a worldwide basis. It would take a major effort simply to replace nuclear with wind and solar. The results would not provide as stable an output level as is currently available, either.
Of course, some countries will go forward with nuclear, in spite of safety concerns. Much of the recent growth in nuclear power has been in China. Countries belonging to the former Soviet Union (FSU) have been adding new nuclear production. Also, Iran is known for its nuclear power program.
We live in challenging times!
(1) There is more than one way of seeing see that energy consumption per capita needs to rise, despite rising efficiency.
One basic issue is that enough energy consumption needs to get back to individual citizens, particularly citizens with few skills, so that they can continue to have the basic level of goods and services that they need. This includes food, clothing, housing, transportation, education and other services, such as medical services. Unfortunately, history shows that efficiency gains don’t do enough to offset several other countervailing forces that tend to offset the benefits of efficiency gains. The forces working against unskilled workers getting enough goods and services include the following:
(a) Diminishing returns ensures that an increasing share of energy supplies must be used to dig deeper wells or provide water desalination, to operate mines for all kinds of minerals, and to extract fossil fuels. This means that less of what energy that is available that can get back to workers.
(b) Governments need to grow because of promises that they have made to citizens. Retirement benefits are particularly an issue, as populations age. This takes another “cut” out of what is available.
(c) Increased use of technology tends to produce a much more hierarchical structure of the workforce. People at the top of the organization are paid significantly more than those near the bottom. Globalization tends to add to this effect. It is the low wages of those at the bottom of the hierarchy that becomes a problem because those workers cannot afford to buy the goods and services that they need to provide for themselves and their family.
(d) Increasing use of technology can often produce replacements for manual labor. For example, robots and computers can replace some jobs, leaving many would-be workers unemployed. The companies that produce the replacements for manual labor are often international companies that are difficult to tax. Governments can try to raise taxes to provide benefits to those left out by the economy because of the growing use of technology, but this simply exacerbates the problem described as (b) above.
(e) The world economy always has some countries that are doing better in terms of GDP growth than other countries. These countries are nearly always countries whose energy use per capita is growing. Current examples include China and India. If world resources per capita are flat, there must be other countries whose energy consumption per capita is falling. Examples today would include Venezuela, Greece and the UK. It is the countries with falling energy consumption per capita that have the more severe difficulties. Our networked world economy cannot get along without these failing economies.
Besides the issue of enough goods and services getting back to those with limited skills, a second basic issue is having enough energy-based goods and services to actually fulfill promises that have been made. One type of promise is debt and related interest payments. Another type of promise is that made by pension plans, whether government sponsored or available from private industry. A third type of promise is represented by asset prices available in the market place, such as prices of shares of stock and real estate prices.
The problem is that promises of all types can, in theory, be exchanged for goods and services. The stock of goods and services cannot rise very quickly, if energy consumption is only rising at the per-capita rate. Even if more money is issued, the problem becomes dividing up a not-very-rapidly growing pie into ever-smaller pieces, to try to fulfill all of the promises.
(2) With respect to oil, the one major deviation from its flat pattern occurred in the early 1980s, when world oil consumption fell by 11% between 1979 and 1983. This happened as the result of a concerted effort to change home heating and electricity production to other fuels. It also involved a change from large inefficient cars to smaller, more fuel efficient cars. After the 2007-2009 recession, there was another small step downward. This downward step may reflect less building of new homes and commercial spaces in some parts of the world, including the US.
Our Finite World by Gail Tverberg
70 Comments on "Eight insights based on December 2017 energy data"
1. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:53 am
You are full of shit..You can’t handle reality..You have to post a legal disclaimer as an argument to ignore a full study..This is the exact same thing you did with the HSBC study and the German Army study..
Poor widdle Greg is shitting his paints..Just like Davy..You old crusty boomers are the weakest of the weak..
2. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:55 am
‘Peak Oil’ and the German Government
Military Study Warns of a Potentially Drastic Oil Crisis
The team of authors, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Will, uses sometimes-dramatic language to depict the consequences of an irreversible depletion of raw materials. It warns of shifts in the global balance of power, of the formation of new relationships based on interdependency, of a decline in importance of the western industrial nations, of the “total collapse of the markets” and of serious political and economic crises.
Secrets, secrets are no fun..
3. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:56 am
I emailed Professor Douglas B Reynolds PhD, Oil and Energy Economics, University of Alaska.
And I asked him if our upcoming oil shortage will cause a global economic collapse?
He replied;
“Yes, it will be like that, but may be worse with other extenuating circumstances such as war or the decline of international trade. Hyperinflation as happened in the Soviet and Post Soviet economy is a certainty.”
4. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:57 am
Financial catastrophe resulting from resource depletion and a debasement of value of fiat currencies. Then a 12-month window of tyranny and government lockdown on citizens, followed by a 6-month window of absolute carnage and death. Then, a period of about 6 months of slow die-off and that’s pretty much that. Oh, and starting sometime within the next 5 years or so…
Once the rioting and chaos break out..the government will bring the hammer down..You can run, but you can’t hide!
5. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:57 am
The End of the Oil Age is Imminent!
Recently, the HSBC oil report stated that 80% of conventional oil fields were declining at a rate of 5-7% per year. This means that there will be an oil shortage of ~30 million barrels per day by 2030 and ~40 million barrels per day by 2040.
What is mentioned far less often is that annual oil discoveries have lagged annual production since the 1980s.
Now, this problem has nothing to do with the recent decline in the oil price, which started in 2014. This has been an on-going problem for the past 30 years. Now, the IEA is predicting oil shortages by ~2020 due to declining exploration.
Here, the IEA blames this problem on the low oil price. But, this problem started in the 1980s. The problem is geological: we are running out of conventional cheap oil. Shale and tar sands are not the answer, either. Those resources are far too expensive, compared to conventional oil, because the global economy is based on cheap conventional oil. Expensive oil is not a replacement for cheap oil.
Based upon the HSBC report and the IEA, the End of Oil Age will start around ~2020: there will be a dramatic economic depression due to exhaustion of cheap oil. This will cause a global economic collapse.
6. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:58 am
Existing oil reserves are scheduled to begin a catastrophic crash within 1 to 3 years. When it hits the economic and social damage will be catastrophic. The end of Western Civilization, from China to Europe, to the US, will not occur when oil runs out. The economic and social chaos will occur when supplies are merely reduced sufficiently….
7. MASTERMIND on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 11:59 am
Sleepwalking Into The Next Oil Crisis
According to the German Army leaked study. When the oil shortages hit, Wall street will crash, the public will lose all faith/trust in their institutions, and the global economy and world governments will collapse..
8. GregT on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 12:37 pm
Why would you call it a “NASA Peer Reveiwed Study”, when it is clearly not?
9. GregT on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 12:41 pm
And again MM,
None of the reports that you continue to link support your conclusions.
10. Cloggie on Sat, 23rd Jun 2018 1:59 pm
Massive anti-Brexit march in London. Much smaller counter-demonstration:
11. Anonymous on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 5:36 am
Not sure what happened to Gail. This is a well done article.
The graph of world oil consumption over time is telling. So much for the peak oil dreams of mid 2000. RIP TOD and ASPO.
12. Antius on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 7:12 am
“The world is making limited progress toward moving away from fossil fuels.”
That is hardly surprising. Economic growth is facing headwinds, because the infrastructure we have built up locks in a certain level of energy expenditure w.r.t GDP. As fossil fuel EROI declines, less resources are available for new investment into infrastructure of all kinds, both replacement infrastructure and infrastructure that is new, hence there is little economic growth. Eventually, it will become impossible to even stand still, far less grow.
Under these circumstances, non-fossil energy sources that offer poorer net energy returns aren’t going to be much of a hit with business minded people.
To keep up the sort of energy rich lifestyle that western countries have become accustomed to, we need a new injection of high EROI, cheap energy. Using declining surplus energy to invest in even poorer EROI energy sources will only hasten the collapse.
13. Antius on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 7:35 am
Not so sure. On a per capita basis, we are past peak. If we could plot net energy per capita, we would definitely see a peak, with most of the burden of that decline falling on the developed world.
I don’t think TOD was basically wrong in the things that it was saying. Most people assumed that western central banks would have more sense than to drop interest rates to zero and literally print money Weimar republic style. This delayed the crisis by up to a decade, but ensured that when it did arrive it would be far more brutal than it really had to be. The huge debt binge since them, has essentially destroyed our ability to manoeuvre. We could have used that money in ways that could have helped; instead we just burned it in a desperate attempt to keep the status quo going a bit longer. May the consequences fall on our children.
A lot of people back in the early 2000s assumed that peak oil would play out as some kind of zombie apocalypse. It wasn’t that kind of crisis.
14. Cloggie on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 7:47 am
Real reason: economic conditions on planet earth are still favorable to the tune that Mother Earth still is able to cough up sufficient fossil fuel to enable 3.1% global growth:
Most countries, including China, the US and the third world, prefer to enjoy this state of affairs to the max, without concerning itself too much about the consequences for the environment.
There is no economic headwind, no depression and EROI has nothing to do with it and is not a problem in any regard. Energy is not as a cheap as it once was, but at current levels has no potential to choke of economic growth.
N.B. currently Britain is currently pulling the ears of a canal masquerading as a country: 5-0.lol
15. marmico on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 8:09 am
Energy is cheap relative to GDP. In the US 2017 will rank as the 6th cheapest year since WW2.
All the doomtard hand wringing about “no more cheap energy” is BS.
16. twocats on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 8:35 am
just let me know where the nearest GDP tap is so I can work that bad boy – I’d appreciate it
salaries to gdp are at, huh, lowest since WW2 what a coincidence.
17. twocats on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 8:36 am
marmico – you are such a one trick pony. here’s a challenge – make a single relevant post that doesn’t use some combination of a ratio to GDP and i’ll give you a lollipop.
18. MASTERMIND on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 9:15 am
Marico that is not true..
During the mid/late 20th century (1960-1999), a barrel of oil cost $19 on average; during the years immediately prior to the Great Recession (2000-2008), the average price of a barrel of oil had increased to $47; and during the years immediately following the Great Recession (2010-2012), the average price of a barrel of oil had further increased to $81. During the same three time periods, the average price of a metric ton of copper increased from $3,085, to $3,713, to $6,817; the average price of a metric ton of iron ore increased from $36, to $57, to $124; and the average price of a metric ton of potash increased from $114, to $185, to $343. (Prices are inflation adjusted.)
The simple fact is that we cannot grow our global economy and improve our global material living standards on $55 oil, $6,817 copper, $124 iron ore, and $343 potash like we did on $19 oil, $3,085 copper, $36 iron ore, and $114 potash. It should come as no surprise that our Non Renewable Resource-dependent global economy experienced the Great Recession during 2009. Nor should it come as a surprise that we have yet to recover from the Great Recession. Nor will our industrialized and industrializing economies ever recover, so long as price levels associated with the vast majority of Non Renewable Resources remain at their inordinately high levels.
Source: Hamilton (2009)
Source: IEA
Source: IMF
19. MASTERMIND on Sun, 24th Jun 2018 9:23 am
Marico is scared when the oil starts to run out here shortly, he is going to get his lollipop taken away!
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Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse
Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse
American Psychological Association
August 1995
Following are some questions and answers that reflect the best current knowledge about reported memories of childhood abuse. They will help you better understand how repressed, recovered, or suggested memories may occur and what you can do if you or a family member is concerned about a childhood memory.
Can a memory be forgotten and then remembered? Can a 'memory' be suggested and then remembered as true?
Some clinicians theorize that children understand and respond to trauma differently from adults. Some furthermore believe that childhood trauma may lead to problems in memory storage and retrieval. These clinicians believe that dissociation is a likely explanation for a memory that was forgotten and later recalled. Dissociation means that a memory is not actually lost, but is for some time unavailable for retrieval. That is, it's in memory storage, but cannot for some period of time actually be recalled. Some clinicians believe that severe forms of child sexual abuse are especially conducive to negative disturbances of memory such as dissociation or delayed memory. Many clinicians who work with trauma victims believe that this dissociation is a person's way of sheltering himself or herself from the pain of the memory. Many researchers argue, however, that there is little or no empirical support for such a theory.
What's the Bottom Line?
The mechanism(s) by which both of these phenomena happen are not well understood and, at this point it is impossible, without other corroborative evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one.
What Further Research Is Needed?
• Research to ascertain how trauma and traumatic response impact the memory process;
If there is so much controversy about childhood memories of abuse, should I still seek help from a mental health provider if I believe I have such a memory?
Yes. The issue of repressed or suggested memories has been over reported and sensationalized by the news media. Media and entertainment portrayals of the memory issue have succeeded in presenting the least likely scenario (that of a total amnesia of a childhood event) as the most likely occurrence. The reality is that most people who are victims of childhood sexual abuse remember all or part of what happened to them. Also true is the fact that thousands of people see a psychologist every day and are helped to deal with such things as issues of personal adjustment, depression, substance abuse and problems in relationships. The issues of childhood abuse or questionable memory retrieval techniques never enter into the equation in the great majority of therapy relationships.
The American Psychological Association has released to the public the following advice to consider when seeking psychotherapy services.
How can I expect a competent psychotherapist to react to a recovered memory?
• A competent psychotherapist will attempt to stick to the facts as you report them. He or she will be careful to let the information evolve as your memory does and not to steer you toward a particular conclusion or interpretation.
What credentials should I look for when selecting a mental health provider?
You should choose a mental health professional as carefully as you would choose a physical health provider. For example, licensed psychologists have earned an undergraduate degree and have completed 5-7 years of graduate study culminating in a doctoral degree and including a one-year, full-time internship. All psychologists are required to be licensed or certified by the state in which they practice and many states require that they keep their training current by completing continuing education classes every year. Members of the American Psychological Association are also bound by a strict code of ethical standards.
Once the provider's competency has been established, his or her experience dealing with the issues you want help with is important. Also important is your level of comfort with the provider. Psychotherapy is a cooperative effort between therapist and patient, so a high level of personal trust and comfort is necessary. However, you should be concerned if your therapist reports to you that a large number of his or her patients recover memories of childhood abuse while in treatment.
There are a number of good ways to get a referral to a mental health professional. Your state psychological association will be able to provide you with referrals to psychologists in your community. Many state associations are located in their state capital. Also, because so many physical ailments have psychological components, most family physicians have a working relationship with a psychologist. Ask your doctor about a referral. Your church or synagogue and school guidance program or university counseling centers also usually maintain lists of providers in the community.
APA also has published a brochure of advice about the selection of a mental health provider entitled How to Choose a Psychologist.
Office of Public Communications
August 1995
American Psychological Association
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5700
Published with permission of APA. |
Battle of Jutland - HISTORY
Battle of Jutland
After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, the German navy chose not to confront the numerically superior British Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its strategy at sea on its lethal U-boat submarines. In May 1916, however, with the majority of the British Grand Fleet anchored far away, at Scapa Flow, off the northern coast of Scotland, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, believed the time was right to resume attacks on the British coastline. Confident that his communications were securely coded, Scheer ordered 19 U-boat submarines to position themselves for a raid on the North Sea coastal city of Sunderland while using air reconnaissance crafts to keep an eye on the British fleet’s movement from Scapa Flow. Bad weather hampered the airships, however, and Scheer called off the raid, instead ordering his fleet—24 battleships, five battle cruisers, 11 light cruisers and 63 destroyers—to head north, to the Skagerrak, a waterway located between Norway and northern Denmark, off the Jutland Peninsula, where they could attack Allied shipping interests and with luck, punch a hole in the stringent British blockade.
Unbeknownst to Scheer, however, a newly created intelligence unit located within an old building of the British Admiralty, known as Room 40, had cracked the German codes and warned the British Grand Fleet’s commander, Admiral John Rushworth Jellicoe, of Scheer’s intentions. Consequently, on the night of May 30, a British fleet of 28 battleships, nine battle cruisers, 34 light cruisers and 80 destroyers set out from Scapa Flow, bound for positions off the Skagerrak.
At 2:20 p.m. on May 31, Beatty, leading a British squadron, spotted Hipper’s warships. As each squadron maneuvered south to better its position, shots were fired, but neither side opened fire until 3:48 that afternoon. The initial phase of the gun battle lasted 55 minutes, during which two British battle cruisers, Indefatigable and Queen Mary were destroyed, killing over 2,000 sailors. At 4:43 p.m., Hipper’s squadron was joined by the remainder of the German fleet, commanded by Scheer. Beatty was forced to fight a delaying action for the next hour, until Jellicoe could arrive with the rest of the Grand Fleet.
With both fleets facing off in their entirety, a great battle of naval strategy began among the four commanders, particularly between Jellicoe and Scheer. As sections of the two fleets continued to engage each other throughout the late evening and the early morning of June 1, Jellicoe maneuvered 96 of the British ships into a V-shape surrounding 59 German ships. Hipper’s flagship, Lutzow, was disabled by 24 direct hits but was able, before it sank, to sink the British battle cruiser Invincible. Just after 6:30 on the evening of June 1, Scheer’s fleet executed a previously planned withdrawal under cover of darkness to their base at the German port of Wilhelmshaven, ending the battle and cheating the British of the major naval success they had envisioned.
The Johnstown Flood
In a river valley in central Pennsylvania, heavy rain and a neglected dam lead to a catastrophe in which 2,209 people die and a prosperous city, Johnstown, is nearly wiped off the face of the earth.Johnstown, located at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and Stony more
The Boer War ends
Ford signs agreement with Soviet Union
Big Ben goes into operation in London
Germans conquer Crete
Operation Rolling Thunder continues
Ila Borders pitches in minor league game
George Goodfellow investigates earthquake
Walt Whitman is born
Clint Eastwood born
The Johnstown Flood
Deep Throat is revealed
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Skin Pigment Disorders
What are skin pigment disorders?
What is the function of melanin?
What are the different types of skin pigment disorders?
Pigment disorder
There is no cure for albinism. People with this condition should avoid sun damage to the skin and eyes by wearing sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses.
Dark brown to gray-brown, symmetric patches of pigment on the face. During pregnancy, this is called the mask of pregnancy. Sun exposure, hormones, and birth control pills are thought to cause melasma.
Sunscreens and avoiding sun exposure can prevent melasma from becoming worse. Other treatment may include prescription creams containing hydroquinone and tretinoin to lighten the patches.
Chemical peels and laser treatment can also be used.
Pigment loss after skin damage
Sometimes, after an ulcer, blister, burn, or infection, the skin does not replace some of the pigment in that area.
No treatment is needed. Makeup can usually cover the blemish.
This causes smooth, white patches on the skin. It is caused by the loss of pigment-producing cells in the skin (melanocytes). It is thought to be an autoimmune disease. The white patches are very sensitive to the sun.
There is no cure. Treatment may include covering smaller patches with long-lasting dyes, light-sensitive medicines, UV light therapy, corticosteroid creams, surgery, and removing the remaining pigment from the skin (depigmentation).
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What is platform tennis?
The Court: The game is played on an aluminum deck about 1/3 the size of a tennis court and is surrounded by a 12' high superstructure with taut, 16-gauge "chicken wire" fencing which allows play off the walls, as in racquetball and squash.
Historically, the court has been elevated or on a platform. (When founders invented the sport in 1928 they erected the first court on the side of a hill. A platform was needed to keep the court level and was helpful with snow removal.)
The base of an elevated platform tennis court is usually enclosed, allowing for a heating system beneath the deck (propane, natural gas or kerosene.) The heating system melts ice off the aggregate deck surface, allowing athletes to play outdoors in all weather conditions. Most courts have lighting systems so the game can be enjoyed day or night.
The Equipment: Platform tennis paddles are made of a composite material with aerodynamic holes drilled in the head. Paddles are approximately 18" long. The spongy, rubber ball has a flocking material on its exterior to keep the ball from skidding.
More Information: Click this link to see the latest issue of Platform Tennis Magazine, the official publication of the American Platform Tennis Association, mailed five times a year during the season to all APTA members. |
On a clear, sunny day at a vineyard in the Northern California town of Ukiah, a most unusual train chugs through a field of barely budding syrah grapes. Well, it doesn't chug so much as whoosh, because this train—actually, a one-sixth scale train—doesn't rely upon a diesel engine or electricity to get around. It uses vacuum power and heavy duty magnets.
The 89-year-old man who built it believes it could change how the world moves.
That man is Max Schlienger, an accomplished engineer who owns the vineyard and leads his family-run company, Flight Rail Corp. Its sole product, the Vectorr system, uses a propulsion method like no other: Between the rails lies a PVC pipe, 12 inches in diameter, connected to a pump that can draw all of the air out of the pipe or fill it. Within the pipe you'll find something Schlienger calls a thrust carriage, which is connected to the train with powerful magnets. This carriage is about the size and shape of a large watermelon and moves back and forth through the pipe under vacuum power, bringing the train with it.
This weird but clever product works something like the vaunted hyperloop, but rather than shooting a pod full of people through a tube it shoots a carriage through a tube. And, like the people behind hyperloop, Schlienger remains convinced that it represents the future of transportation. "We’ll get someone, somewhere, to say we want to do it,” Schlienger says. “And we’ll put all our energy into it.”
Schlienger stands well over six feet tall, with a rod-straight back, a nice head of white hair, and bright blue eyes. He still drives his GMC pickup, and during a drive across his vineyard pointed out the varietals he raises: cabernet, sauvignon blanc, merlot, syrah. In a good year, he harvests 500 tons, selling them to wineries.
After enlisting in the Navy at 17 at the tail end of World War II and serving on a submarine tender, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native spent several decades as an engineer, specializing in metallurgy, high-strength magnets, and nuclear waste management. He holds 24 patents for things like a "rotatable plasma torch," a "system for feeding toxic waste drums into a treatment chamber," and, of course, a "magnetically coupled transportation module." After selling his metallurgy company in the 1990s, Schlienger started raising grapes. Why not, he figured. He had the room, and it would be an interesting change after a career working in labs and factories.
But Schlienger is no Diocletian, quietly tending to his farm after a lifetime of hard work. Grapes are a sideline. What he really wants to do is bring the Flight Rail train to life.
Back to life, actually.
The Atmospheric Railway
Schlienger is reprising an idea railway engineers in England and France floated in the 1820s and ’30s, when people called it the "atmospheric railway." If you could separate the locomotive and its fuel from the rest of the train, you'd make the train lighter and the system more efficient. The system worked a lot like the Flight Rail, but instead of magnets a piston connected the thrust carriage and the train. The engineers lined the slot with leather to maintain the seal, and coated the leather with tallow to protect it from the elements.
The railway operated without locomotives, using air pressure instead to push freight cars along the rails. From The Magazine of Science.
Universal Images Group/Getty Images
The problem is, the tallow attracted rats. For this and other reasons, the atmospheric railway didn't work all that well, and never caught on. “Had they had the high-strength magnets that we have today, they probably would have done the same thing we’re doing now,” Schlienger says.
Schlienger grew up loving model trains, but never imagined a career on the tracks. Then, one day about 20 years ago, he says, he thought of using vacuum power to move a train—without any idea people had tried it before. (His son discovered the old atmospheric railway in a book of failed inventions, which somehow discouraged nobody involved.) He's been working on it ever since. But unlike every media-trained startup founder, he doesn’t cite a definitive “a-ha” moment that showed him the way. He simply found the idea interesting. As problems arose, he'd ponder them, solve them, and move on, building one model after another to test his theories.
About two years ago, Schlienger figured he was well enough along to build a one-sixth scale system to really shake down his idea. He built the train (which could fit one prone person, but isn't meant to) to demonstrate the benefits of moving the power source from the train to the track. The Flight Rail easily scales a 10 percent grade, far steeper than conventional trains can handle. It runs quietly, eschews ugly overhead power lines, and can use renewable energy to drive the pumps that create the vacuum. (For now, Schlienger uses a diesel generator.)
Schlienger images Flight Rail lines running along highway medians, or anywhere else you might want to move people or stuff. He leaves those details to others. For now, he simply wants to prove there's a better way of powering trains. “Everyone else is tied into the standard gauge railroad trains that we have today,” he says. “I think that’s a stagnation point in the way people think.”
Main wagon of the atmospheric railway of Saint-Germain, France, 19th century.
Heritage/Getty Images
The Practical Fight
Schlienger looks nothing like your typical tech visionary, and Ukiah shares little in common with Silicon Valley. But he shares the Silicon Valley ethos that says if there's a better solution, use it. It's the same kind of thinking that prompted investors to pump billions into hyperloop and got Musk jabbering about his traffic-killing maze of tunnels. It’s why the dream of supersonic commercial air travel persists, and people keep pushing the idea of flying cars.
But those visions are all built on a certain amount of blindness to reality. Hyperloop may be as fast and efficient as its proponents say, but that doesn’t make it practical. Musk’s tunnels could end gridlock, but he'll never get the permits and permission needed to pull it off. Cracking the speed of sound isn't hard, but making it commercially viable is. And flying cars can't take flight without navigating a regulatory labyrinth.
Schlienger and his family realize the Flight Rail faces many challenges. Yet he persists, running his prototype a few times a week to sort out the control system. The next step is building a full-size prototype. That requires a huge investment, and answers to the intractable issues that come with any huge infrastructure project: right of way issues, environmental reviews, local political battles, funding.
Yet Schlienger remains confident. When his father died in 1993, Schlienger says, “He told me to just keep going on it.” Still, he knows he must rely upon his sons to carry the project forward, to justify the years of time and millions of dollars spent so far. “I think it will be worth it,” he says. “It may not happen in my lifetime, but it will be worth it.”
Spoken like a true disruptor. |
created 06/25/99
Chapter 59 Programming Exercises
Exercise 1 -- Four Buttons
Modify the TwoButtons program so that it has four buttons: one for red, one for green, one for blue, and one for gray. Clicking on a button changes the frame to the corresponding color. The GUI will look like this after the green button has been clicked:
A sensible way to do this is to copy the chapter's example program and modify it. For a real challenge, try to do it from scratch.
Click here to go back to the main menu.
Exercise 2 --- Color Cycle
Write a program that has only one button in the frame. Clicking on the button cycles through the colors: red --> green --> blue --> gray --> red --> and so on, one color change per click. In addition to the setBackground( Color.color ) method we have been using, you will need the Color getBackground() method to get the current color.
Another way to do this (a somewhat cruder way) is to use an instance variable (of type Color) in the frame to hold the current color.
Click here to go back to the main menu.
Exercise 3 -- Three Button Monty
Write a program implements a game:
There are three buttons in the frame. Two of the buttons will cause the program to quit using System.exit(0); the remaining button will change the frame to green (a win!) The winning button is different each time the game is played.
The easy way to do this (although it seems like cheating) is to treat each button the same way. The ActionPerformed() method will not even check which button was clicked. It will pick a random integer from 0 to 2 and if the integer happens to be 0 perform the "winning" action. Otherwise, it will perform the "loosing" action. This is similar to some electronic gambling devices in casinos, where it appears to the user that there are "winning moves" but in fact the machine actually ignores what the user has done and just declares a "win" every now and then, according to pre-assigned odds. You will need to use the Random class:
Random randNum = new Random(); // create a Random number object
. . .
int someInt = Math.abs( randNum.nextInt() )%3 // someInt gets a number from 0 to 2
You may recall seeing Random in a previous chapter.
Click here to go back to the main menu.
Exercise 4 --- Winning Streak
Modify the program of Exercise 3 so that only one button exits the program. If the user clicks on any of the other two buttons, the frame just changes color. The user keeps clicking until the "loosing button" is clicked. The user's goal is to click as many times as possible.
Click here to go back to the main menu.
Exercise 5 --- Comination Lock
Create a frame with ten buttons, labeled 0 through 9. To exit the program, the user must click on the correct three buttons in order, something like 7-3-5. If the wrong combination is used, the frame turns red.
Click here to go back to the main menu.
Exercise 6 --- Expand and Shrink Buttons
Create a frame with two buttons, called Expand and Shrink. When the Expand button is clicked, the frame expands by 10 percent. When the Shrink button is clicked, the frame shrinks by 10 percent. Do this in the actionPerformed() method by using setSize(). Keep track of the current size of the frame with two instance variables of type int. When you increase them or decrease them by 10 percent, you will have to use integer arithmetic or use a type cast.
Click here to go back to the main menu. |
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Each - Every
1 We use each before a singular noun.
Each + singular noun
Each new day is different.
2 We use each of before a pronoun or a determiner (for example the, my, these). The pronoun or noun is plural.
each of us/you/them
each of + determiner + plural noun
She bought a different present for each of us.
I write to each of my children once a week.
After each of . . . a verb is usually singular, but it can be plural in an informal style.
Each of them has his own way of doing things.
(More informal: Each of them have their own way …
3 Each can come after an indirect object (but not usually a direct object).
indirect object + each
I bought the girls each an ice-cream.
She sent them each a present.
4 We can use each without a noun, but each one is more common.
I’ve got five brothers, and each (one) is quite different from the others.
5 Each can go with a verb, in mid-position’, like some adverbs.
auxiliary verb + each
be + each
They have each got their own rooms.
We are each going on a separate holiday this year.
You are each right in a different way.
We each think the same.
They each want to talk all the time.
Each and Every
1 We use each to talk about two or more people or things.
We use every to talk about three or more. (Instead of every two we say both).
2 We say each when we are thinking of people or things separately, one at a time.
We say every when we are thinking of people or things together, in a group. (Every is closer to all.)
We want each child to develop in his or her own way.
We want every child to be happy.
Each person in turn went to see the doctor.
He gave every patient the same medicine.
The difference is not always very great, and often both words are possible.
You look more beautiful each/every time I see you.
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How often have you swung to music to elevate you considerably facilitate in cheerful times, or looked for the solace of music when despairing strikes?
Music influences every one of us. Yet, just lately have researchers looked to clarify and measure the way music affects us at an enthusiastic level. Exploring the connections in the middle of tune and the psyche demonstrates that listening to and playing music really can modify how our brains, and accordingly our bodies, capacity.
It appears that the recuperating force of music, over body and soul, is just barely beginning to be seen, despite the fact that music treatment is not new. For a long time advisors have been pushing the utilization of music - both listening and study - for the lessening of tension and anxiety, the help of agony. What's more, music has additionally been prescribed as a guide for positive change in state of mind and passionate states.
Michael DeBakey, who in 1966 turned into the first specialist to effectively embed a manufactured heart, is on record saying: "Making and performing music advances self-expression and gives self-satisfaction while offering delight to others. In prescription, expanding distributed reports exhibit that music has a mending impact on patients."
Specialists now think utilizing music treatment as a part of healing facilities and nursing homes improves individuals feel, as well as makes them mend quicker. Furthermore, the country over, medicinal specialists are starting to apply the new disclosures about music's effect on the mind to treating patients.
In one study, analyst Michael Thaut and his group itemized how casualties of stroke, cerebral paralysis and Parkinson's ailment who attempted to music took greater, more adjusted steps than those whose treatment had no backup. |
Assembly instruction translate - Download ebook captive in the dark
Assembly Programming Principles. Assembly instruction translate. Following is a representation of the Assembly Daily File. Assembly definition: An assembly is a large group of people who meet regularly to make decisions or laws for a.
Translating MIPS to machine code. Assembly Logical Instructions - Learn Assembly Programming in simple System Calls, Addressing Modes, Logical, Variables, Memory Segments, Arithmetic, Conditional Execution, Basic Syntax, Status Register, Loops, Environment Setup, easy steps starting from basic to advanced concepts with examples including Introduction, Constants String.
Now we are in a position to start programming properly. Not only does it include teaching math- specific terms such as " percent" other definitions of that word. Assembly instruction translation spanish assembly line production', meaning, English - Spanish dictionary, conjugation, assembly line', definition, example of use, see also ' assembly language', assembly plant' Reverso dictionary.
This can make the processes of assembly disassembly instruction. The ARM Exploit Development section is for those who have enough knowledge about ARM assembly language and want to learn about. We are actually concerned with two types of languages assembly languages machine languages.
The previous chapters have covered the ARM instruction set using the ARM assembler. | Meaning translations , pronunciation examples.
To write code that runs directly on your microprocessor you need to know how memory segmentation works how codes executes in real , protected modes , much, what the intended use of each register is much more. MIPS Assembly Language Programming [ Robert Britton Professor Emeritus] on Amazon. LEA accepts a standard memory addressing operand but does nothing more than store the calculated memory offset in the specified register which may be any general purpose register. Clearing them fixes certain problems like loading .
I would like to know if there is any application free or not that can translate ASM to. Some are authored transcribed by the MAP maintainers, translated can only be found here exclusively.
From the " Zen of Assembly" by Abrash:. LEA, the only instruction that performs memory addressing calculations but doesn' t actually address memory. X86 instruction listings. A re- sorted version of this report will be found filed under each committee - - showing all dates posted for that committee.
When you use a browser like Chrome, it saves some information from websites in its cache cookies. A macro assembler includes a macroinstruction facility so that ( parameterized) assembly language text can be represented by a name that name can be used to insert the expanded text into other code. Assembly instruction translate. Native American warriors were known for their aggression which was fueled by their honor pride sense of self- preservation.
Each instruction typically consists. In this document we study assembly language the system for expressing the individual instructions that a computer should perform. Not a real instruction. This is our collection of online MSX resources.
Let' s translate the following instruction. I was helped val will translate. The Mission of Danville Public Schools Is to provide a balanced to become active , quality education in which all students will have the opportunity to reach their academic potential useful members of society. INSTRUCTIONS: ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE 2.
Translate the following code to assembly language in the space that follows. Click through to reach 200+ reviews! And as with all Assembly to C converters, it' s not.
Many programs are distributed only in machine code form which is straightforward to translate into assembly. The Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition: : Computer Science Books @ Amazon. Vocabulary instruction is essential to effective math instruction. Most of them can be found, for others see at www.
There are six errors including one missing instruction in this translation. General Assembly is a world- wide bootcamp teaching web/ mobile development data science , UX/ UI design more. IPhone 4S Display Assembly Replacement: Replace a cracked front panel or a broken screen on your iPhone 4S. 2 MIPS R The instruction set we will explore in class is the MIPS R instruction set, named.
X86 assembly languages are used to produce. The assembler will translate these to a RETN or a RETF depending. Lucian: Long Lives ( Macrobii), translated by A. Users of this book will gain an understanding of the fundamental concepts of contemporary computer architecture.
Translate and Test. See also x86 assembly language for a quick.
The instruction to implement this process in ASSEMBLER is: Format:. * FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.
MARS ( MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator) An IDE for MIPS Assembly Language Programming. Assembly instruction translate. History tells us that a warrior is one who is engaged aggressively cause , energetically in an activity conflict.
Learning the assembler language is one of the essential skills that still required in the embedded system, although the major drawback using the assembler language is; its required more learning curve time compared to. ASM to C translator. The importance of teaching academic vocabulary.
It may be necessary to locate the first occurrence of a character in a field. Document Description; Intel® 64 2B, 3D, 3A, IA- 32 architectures software developer’ s manual combined volumes: 1, 3C, 2C, 3B, 2A, 2D 4. Writing assembly language is something best left for the experts.
The following table provides a list of x86- Assembler mnemonics, that is not complete. Blog Entry Introduction to Microchip PIC Assembler Language – Part 1 March 23 by rwb under Microcontroller. X86 Assembly/ Machine Language Conversion.
X86 assembly language is a family of backward- compatible assembly languages, which provide some level of compatibility all the way back to the Intel 8008 introduced in April 1972. I recommend learning an assembly language first.
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The main purpose of this page is for people who already know the some assembly and C to see why it is often very beneficial to use a direct assembly implementation over a pure C implementation. Online x86 / x64 Assembler and Disassembler.
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margin-top: 28px; The Unlikely Times: February 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Pop go the hay bales
Last month there were enormous wildfires in Australia, but as that continent bakes in the summer sun, there are other hazards. Like hay bales and entire sheds of hay exploding. Last year (2008) was "the worst season ever for spontaneous hayshed fires." [1]
It's not as sensational or mysterious as spontaneous human combustion, but it has the benefit of being verifiably real. The first article I found estimates some 400 cases of sudden hayshed fires in New South Wales alone, though it's not clear whether this is only for 2008 or for some longer period. [1] "One German study using data from an insurance company reported 304 haystack fires between 1970 and 1980, dropping to 118 between 1980 and 1990 due to the insurance company distributing 2500 hay thermometers to fire brigades since 1980." [3, quoting Wolk and Sarkar, 1993]
Oddly, it's not the driest bales that burst into flame, but ones with a moisture content around 20%. The moisture allows bacteria to thrive, and my initial impression is that the bacteria could be producing methane. However, the explosions are the result of bacteria raising the core temperature of the hay bale to 76 degrees C, and the ignition is just a reaction with oxygen. [1,2]
"The phenomena of exploding haystacks has been with mankind for as long as he has been making hay. Pliny, the Roman Philosopher wrote in 60BC, 'When the grass is cut it should be turned towards the sun and must never be stacked until it is quite dry. If this last precaution is not carefully taken a kind of vapour will be seen arising from the rick in the morning, and as soon as the sun is up it will ignite to a certainty, and so be consumed.'" [3]
It's odd that something which has been known and documented for over 2,000 years still sounds absurd and unlikely, but a lot of farming procedures and parameters are largely unknown to the general public.
1. Bizarre weather sends hay bales up in flames (, Jan 21 08)
2. Spontaneous Combustion of Hay (PDF) (Dep't of Primary Resources, South Australia - PIRSA)
3. The Case of the Exploding Haystacks: Spontaneous Combustion of Natural Products in New Zealand (Australian Biotechnology, March/April 1997)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Riding those coat tails
A few weeks ago we were watching "The Incredibles" again. One of the repeating gags in the movie is that long capes are an occupational hazard. Capes get caught in sinister machinery, leading to bad times for the superheroes wearing them.
Imagine my surprise when I found the following story in my family history research just a few nights later:
"Francis Marion Cook [...] was visiting Ann and Lincoln in Aurora, MO. He had married his daughter Melvina. Two months later he was walking down town. He was looking at a big engine. He was dressed in his preacher suit (He was a Baptist minister) with long coat tails. The tails got caught in the big flywheel. Messed him up so bad they could not ship him back, so he is buried there."
It's hard to write fiction without a grain of truth (however unlikely) creeping in.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Zombie power
I had some downtime around the holidays, but the Weird never takes a vacation.
Here's a story of mayhem on the highways. You know those elecronic billboards that are supposed to warn us of impending construction? Someone has been hacking them in Illinois and posting horror-show messages, including "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN!"
Just a quick note showing the perils of letting too many writers get frustrated ... while funny to some people, we really don't need MORE distractions on the road.
Source: Yahoo News |
Digital Music
Digital Music
Home - 2018 - September
Month: September 2018
The Basics of Electronic Music Production
Posted on September 9, 2018 in Uncategorized
In its simplest form, music production is the process by which music is created. Usually this process is broken down into recording, mixing and mastering, which are completed in that order. Each one of these tasks is crucial to the listenability of a song, and each should be done with the utmost care.
Since electronic music originated from the small time artist fiddling with various synthesizers and hardware equipment, most electronic music producers today do all or most of the processes described above themselves. This is in part due to the historic ties of the practices, but also since many producers own all the equipment and software necessary to do all three parts, they are willing to save the money on production costs and not outsource the job to a designated professional. This is unlike a traditional band or artist who only possess their talent, and cannot do all three parts, thus requiring them to hire a studio.
In the world of electronic music, virtually every artist uses a DAW, or digital audio workspace. A list of several popular DAWs can be found here. There are very few artists remaining who do all aspects of production exclusively with hardware. Typically inside your DAW, there will several stock synthesizers, effects, and production tools, but virtually every DAW these days allows plugins to be added.
The first step in the journey into electronic music production is to purchase a digital audio workspace. Most DAWs on the market will supply you with ample tools to complete all stages of production.
YouTube is an excellent resource for electronic music production basics. I cannot stress enough how import it is to understand at the very least the fundamentals of your software before attempting large scale song composition. I have seen far too many aspiring producers quit just days after purchasing their Digital Audio Workspace simply because they did not understand its various kinks, or could not quickly find the tools they found to be necessary. YouTube is an excellent place to learn your DAW quickly, as there exist a wealth of tutorials. It may be helpful to set up a second screen while you learn your software so you can complete the tasks side by side the Youtuber.
You may ask why learn a basic analog synthesizer as opposed to a digital one. Well the vast majority of synthesizers on the market now are based almost entirely off of the original analog concept of a synthesizer. This article here explains the basic way in which an analog synthesizer functions. Understanding this will put you light years ahead on understanding more complicated software synthesizers such as Camel Audio’s Alchemy (Which has tragically been liquidated).
While learning your plugins is not as important as understanding the functionality of a basic synthesizer or your DAW, it is very important to be able to achieve passable results from a small number of plugins before purchasing other, more complicated ones. Understand the basics of a compressor is vital before moving onto more niche plugins, like Native Instruments Supercharger, since if you do not understand what you are doing with a plugin, it is very likely that you will not be able to fix subtle problems in your mix or master when they arise. These problems can come from electronic music production mistakes such as a too short of attack time on a compressor, or over limiting a mix. These are some of the basics that go into understanding the fundementals and basics of electronic music production today. |
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Synonyms for Pashto
an Iranian language spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan
References in periodicals archive ?
There is an entire poem written by Pashto Sufi poet Rehman Baba on importance of water resources.
While thousands years old Pashto language has been treated as a step mother by the rulers of Pakistan, Mian Iftikhar regretted.
Results: HADS Pashto version, well discriminated between both groups of participants.
Slain Pashto singer Ghazala Javed coincidentally hailing from the same area provided the inspiration for Shah.
Senior Pashto folk singer, Gul Sharaf ustad while chairing the event said that artists, performers and singers should get united for their rights and should contribute to the welfare of artist' community .
Sayed Marjan from the same office urged Afghans with a good command of Pashto to assist in making the language equal to other world languages.
As structural Case assignment cannot be dealt with comprehensively unless the argument structure/ derivation for a construction is known, therefore, this paper, for the first time, being the first generative/minimalist study of its kind, proposes argument structures/ derivations for Pashto monotransitives in the three tenses of present, past, and future.
BBC World Service launched TV news programming in Pashto last year: news bulletins Monday to Friday, Da Iqtisad la Naray (World Business bulletin) on Saturday, and Ownay Pa Kaharono Ki (Weekly News Review) looking at the highlights of the week on Sunday.
Travellers on board Emirates Airline can now enjoy films in the Pashto language.
The writer's death would create a hard-to-fill vacuum in the Pashto literature, they said in separate condolence messages.
3 ( ANI ): Pakistani star Meera is all set to star in a forthcoming Pashto film 'Worbal', which will be filmed in Murree and Islamabad in Pakistan.
It further reveals that even being SOV language, the number of possible word-initial two-consonant clusters is higher in Pashto and that their structure is more heterogeneous than English.
Pashto is not only a language, but also the constitution, culture, traditions and customs of Pashtoons.
Mostly concentrated in a few villages of the Ganderbal district, adjacent to Srinagar, the Pashto channel has given a new lease of life to the minority population's language and culture.
PAK Pashto Adabi Karawan (PPAK), a literary organisation of expatriate Pakistanis in Qatar, recently released two Pashto language books written by local writers. |
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Society, Politics & Law
Man vs machine
Updated Thursday 6th August 1998
Should we worry about robots one day getting tired of being the junior partners?
Boris Johnson, mayor of London, and a dalek, master of the universe Copyrighted image Icon Copyright: BBC
About the discussion
It has been said that the question is not whether machines can think, but whether human beings do. Today’s Open Forum discusses the relationship between the human and the mechanical elements of our society.
We sometimes refer to the parent/child relationship between us and our machinery. Is this analogy workable?
John Monk suggests that the parent/child analogy implies a certain type of relationship with a certain type of control. He is more comfortable with the idea of technology as an extension of ourselves, the analogy of the cyborg, whereby technology helps us to operate in an environment which is itself created by our technology.
John McCrone agrees. He says technology only has real impact when it becomes a seamless extension of ourselves. At the moment this relationship is very clunky and the real impact of our technologies is still to come.
He also says that it is a false dream to create a machine that thinks like us – why would we want to do this? We’ve lived through enough of the computer revolution to predict what will happen, which is that the technology will act as an amplifier of our own existing personalities. For example, technology allows solitary people to become more isolated, but also enables sociable people to communicate more.
So what do we want from our computers - personalities and idiosyncrasies or plain facts?
Michael Marshall Smith suggests that we want both. Whilst we want them to be accurate and reliable, we also prefer machines with more humanity. When we’re isolated, for example working from home, we like to give our machines personalities to get a sense of companionship. The more complex machinery becomes the less predictable malfunctions become, the less we understand and the more we see these machines as having their own consciousness. This increasingly complex relationship will lead to stronger relationships with our machines in the future. We just have to look at the people we like – often it’s our friends’ quirks that draw us to them. Perfect people are very boring.
So, as machines get more complex, how will we know when we’ve created a conscious computer?
John McCrone suggests that in the 1970s there was a strong drive to make a conscious machine and all it proved was how little we understood about what was needed. To develop a consciousness it is necessary to have a life history, to grow up and be brought to an adult stage, like a child. What we really want is for computers to be a transparent extension of ourselves. The real issues are how much our personality will change, where the boundaries will blur. We treat our machines as surrogate humans because they are noticeable, but the thrust of industry is to make them unnoticeable. Once they are transparent we will look through them to other people.
Michael Marshall Smith disagrees. While he concedes the purpose of some machines is to enable transparent communication between people, the purpose of other machines is to entertain or to carry out tasks which are nothing to do with anyone else. These machines we like to interact with, to engage with – transparency is not always appropriate.
John Monk says that in a sense machines can never be completely transparent – they enable us to communicate with other people, but every technology will distort these interactions. It is this element of distortion that presents idiosyncrasies and gives the technology its ‘personality’.
So if we ever do succeed in creating a conscious machine, will it thank us for doing so?
John Monk suggests that it would be difficult to imbue a machine with any morality other than our own. It would act as a mirror to our own behaviour and personality so if the machine despised us, this would say something quite worrying about ourselves.
Will technology make us more mechanistic and less humane?
Michael Marshall Smith suggests that new developments only allow us to do what we would have done anyway. Much of what we do is run on mechanistic principles anyway, for example how much money a hospital has in order to save a certain number of lives. It is not a purely humane decision anyway. The questions we should be asking of our new technology is how well it will interact with human nature – will it stop us or enable us to do the things we want to do anyway. If we use it for ‘bad’ purposes that’s not the machine’s fault, it’s ours. John Monk points to the technocratic governments of history who tried to govern on entirely rational principles. The fact that they all failed indicates hope for humanity.
John McCrone agrees that people tend to think that consciousness is all about brains, but it is much more to do with society and culture – how we’re trained, brought up, how we interact with others. Focussing on hardware and replicating our hardware in computers is missing the point. What we want is a transparent link to the world, a higher quality of social feedback, and computers are very good at connecting us to society.
It’s true that technology gives us more opportunity to do bad things, but is also means more people are watching, which encourages people to stick to the socially agreed morality. Moral issues can sort themselves out as long as there is real access to democracy.
Is our world better as a result of technology?
As John Monk points out, we use technology to create an environment then develop more technology to survive in this environment. For example, technology allowed us to live in cities, but as a result certain viruses arose, so we had to develop medicine to deal with these. We are on a treadmill which it would be very difficult to escape.
John McCrone also points out that technology improves many aspects of our lives, but makes some aspects worse.
John Monk agrees – some people will be better off with new technology, some worse. We should aim for a fair balance, but it’s difficult to predict how it will turn out.
Michael Marshall Smith points out that there is a tendency towards dystopia in science fiction because it’s easier to write about. We will probably rub along with machines in the same way we rubbed along with eachother. All we can do is to keep our eyes on the ball and try to push it in the right direction.
Take it further
Edited by
John Wood, Routledge
Escape Velocity
Mark Dery, Hodder & Stoughton
One of Us
Michael Marshall Smith, HarperCollins
What You Make It
Michael Marshall Smith, HarperCollins
Have a question? |
Iraqi Culture
Islam is the official religion of Iraq, and the majority of the population is Muslim (97%). There are also small communities of Christians, Yazidis and Mandeans. Religion is deeply intertwined with daily life, government and politics of Iraq. However, the numbers of non-Muslim minority groups have declined dramatically in recent decades as the country has been riddled with sectarian tensions and conflict. This is reflected in the statistics of religious affiliations of Iraqi refugees in English-speaking countries; the majority of those who have fled and been resettled belong to minority religions in Iraq. For example, the 2011 Australian Census recorded that the majority of Iraq-born people living in Australia identified as Catholic Christians (35.7%), 32% identified as Muslim and 11.9% identified as Assyrian Apostolic Christians. A further 20.4% affiliated with some other faith and 1.6% claimed to be non-religious.
Recognition and Recognition
The Iraqi constitution claims to recognise and protect the practice of the Muslim, Christian, Yazidi and Sabaean-Mandaean faiths. The public record does not reveal which religious denomination a person belongs to, or whether they are Sunni or Shi’a. However, to attain a national identity card, citizens are required to self-identify/register with one of these religions.1 Without an identity card, Iraqis cannot obtain a passport, register marriages or access public education and some other civil services. For example, the Iraqi constitution explicitly prohibits the practice of the Bahá'í faith, meaning any person who self-identifies as Bahá'í is unable to gain proper civilian status. As such, people belonging to an unrecognised minority faith often have to self-identify as Muslim. Unfortunately, even in the cases where religious minorities have constitutional recognition, this official status has not been able to protect many from intimidation and prosecution, such as kidnapping and destruction of property.
Islam in Iraq
Iraq has been a Muslim-majority country since the time period surrounding the Prophet Muhammad's death. As such, the cultural and national identity of the country is deeply shaped by the religion. Faith in Islam is expressed on a daily basis in Iraq, through dress, dietary codes, regular prayers and language. For example, an Iraqi man who is dedicated to Islam in politics and society may grow their beard quite long to indicate their religious association. Reverence to Allah is also very evident in the way many people speak; it is common to slip praise into casual conversation.
The Iraqi Muslim population is particularly complex as it has large populations of followers from both the Sunni and Shi’a sect. It is estimated that 55-60% of the population is Shi’a whilst roughly 40% are Sunni Muslims. Indeed, Iraq is the only Arab state in which Shi’a Muslims constitute the majority. However, many Sunnis dispute their minority status, and do not trust religious estimates. Most Shi’a Muslims are ethnically Arab, but there are some Turkomen and Kurdish Shi’a Muslims as well. Of the Sunni Muslim population, it is estimated 60% Arabs, 37.5% are Kurds, and 2.5% are Turkomen.2
Iraq has struggled with sectarian tensions between its Sunni and Shi’a populations. Sunnis and Shi’as differ theologically in that they hold different beliefs over who should have taken power after the Prophet Muhammad's death. However, today the contemporary differences generally centre around government representation and entitlement to political power in Iraq. The Sunni-Shi’a relationship deteriorated further during the US-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent intervention into the country’s politics. ISIS has harnessed the disputes between Sunnis and Shi’as to further their campaign. As a Sunni fundamentalist group, they have been able to mobilise support against the largely Shi’a Iraqi military framing the Shi’ites as the source of the Sunni people’s grievances.
Iraqi Christians
Iraq has been home to Christian communities for thousands of years. Before Islam became the dominant religion (around 634 C.E.), Iraq was a majority Christian land. There are four main Christian church bodies: the Chaldeans (Chaldean Catholic Christians), Assyrians (Assyrian Church of the East) or Nestorians (Ancient Apostolic Church of the East), the West Syriac or Jacobite (Syriac Orthodox Church) and the Eastern Orthodox (Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East).
Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldean (approximately 67%), and a further 20% are estimated to be Assyrian.3 These two churches are ethno-religious, whereby their followers are believed to be the descendants of some of the earliest Christian communities. Indeed, one’s Christian belief and following is often correlated with their ethnicity throughout Iraq, as almost all Iraqi Christians belong to an ethnic minority group. For example, most Armenians are Christian. Most of Christian communities also speak neo-Aramaic languages specific to their ethnicity instead of Arabic.
At the beginning of the 20th century it was estimated there were between 800,000 - 1.4 million Christians in Iraq. However, years of political instability and religious persecution has seen the population to decline to less than 250,000.4 Insurgent Islamic groups (such as ISIS) have sought to target Christians, often kidnapping or killing them and destroying their churches and communities. Iraqi Christians are also subject to continued harassment and abuses by regional militias and internal security forces. Many have had to flee as refugees or risk tragic consequences. As such, the Iraqi population in Australia is majority Christian as their claims for protection were well-founded. The 2011 census recorded that 36% of Iraq-born people living in Australia identify as Catholic Christians (including Chaldean) and 12% identify with Assyrian Apostolic churches.
The Yazidis
The Yazidis (or Yezidis) are an ethno-religious group that practice a syncretic religion. Their faith combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. They believe in a single god that is helped by seven angels, the most prestigious of which is a Peacock King (Malak Tawous). In the Yazidi religion, one prays to this angel five times a day.
The Yazidis are endogamous in that they are expected to marry within the religion. A Yazidi who marries outside the faith is then considered to have automatically converted to the religion of their spouse. Yazidis identify as ethnically Kurdish and speak Kurdish. However, there remains dispute among both Yazidis and Muslim Kurds as to whether they form a distinct ethnic group separate from the larger Kurdish population.
The Yazidis religion and community originated in Iraq, however their population has declined. In 2014, ISIS sought to ‘purify’ Iraq of non-Islamic influences by massacring Yazidis, who they describe as infidels and “devil worshippers”. Thousands were killed or died of starvation as their resources were cut off. Thousands more have fled to escape religious persecution, abduction, enslavement and death. The most recent reports from Yazidi leaders estimate that between 350,000 and 400,000 people remain in the north of the country. Many have sought protection in Western Europe and some have settled in Australia.
1 Muslim, Christian, Yazidi or Sabaean-Mandaean
2 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, 2017
3 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, 2017
4 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, 2017
• Population
[July 2016 est.]
• Languages
Arabic (official)
Kurdish (official)
Turkmen (official)
Assyrian (official)
• Religions
Islam (97%)
- Shi'a (55-60%)
- Sunni (40%)
Other, including Christians, Yazidis and Mandeans (3%)
[Religious Freedoms Report, 2017]
• Ethnicities
Arab (75-80%)
Kurdish (15-20%)
Turkoman, Assyrian or Other (5%)
• Cultural Dimensions
Power Distance 95
Individualism 30
Masculinity 70
Uncertainty Avoidance 85
Long Term Orientation 25
Indulgence 17
What's this?
• Australians with Iraqi Ancestry
42,881 [2016 census]
Iraqis in Australia
• Population
[2016 census]
• Average Age
• Gender
Male (51.6%)
Female (48.4%)
• Religion
Catholic Christianity (35.7%)
Islam (32%)
Assyrian Apostolic Christianity (11.9%)
Other (20.4%)
No Religion (1.6%)
• Ancestry
Iraqi (36.8%)
Assyrian (20.7%)
Chaldean (12.4%)
Other (19.5%)
• Language Spoken at Home
Arabic (52.5%)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (23%)
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (13.5%)
Kurdish (3.3%)
Other (7.7%)
• Diaspora
New South Wales (60.9%)
Victoria (26.6%)
Western Australia (5.4%)
Queensland (3.2%)
• Arrival to Australia
Prior to 2001 (43.6%)
2001-2006 (25.5%)
2007-2011 (26.9%)
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Education for Nature Vietnam has launched a new website that will help people identify rare wild animals being targeted by the illegal animal trade.
The 40 species of wild animals include the elongated tortoise (Indotestude elongata), bengal monitor (Varanus bengalensis), king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and large Indian civet (Viverra zibetha).
The local non-governmental ogranisation’s Director Tran Viet Hung said up to hundreds of wild animals were illegally hunted or being raise as pets for use in traditional medicine every day.
The website will also help to guide the efforts of more than 3,800 volunteers trying to protect animals in 32 provinces and cities nationwide.
Visit the website at on call the free hotline on 1800 1522.-VNA |
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From Confucius to Constantine: Ancient Global History - Assessment Criteria
Guidance on essay writing (Term 1 Assessment):
1. Presentation: Marks will be awarded for good English expression; marks will be deducted for poor presentation, including poor grammar and spelling. Marks will be awarded for correct presentation of footnotes and bibliography
2. Clarity of analysis: Marks will be awarded for work which is organised coherently on the basis of arguments and deducted for work which is incoherent or presents a mass of amorphous material. The case the student is arguing should be clear to the assessor in every paragraph - don't fall automatically into a chronological arrangement of your material, or a line by line examination of a text, unless you are making a specific point, narrowly argued, about development or change over time.
3. Primary data: Marks will be awarded for good use of a range of ancient texts and other materials - inscriptions, images, coins, archaeology etc. - and deducted for unsubstantiated arguments and opinions. Marks will be awarded for pertinent quotation and for thoughtfulness about its usefulness as evidence. Don't use quotations of primary materials or images merely as illustrations. Think about what contribution they make to your argument, what role they play as evidence, where the producers of the text or artefact are 'coming from'.
4. Secondary material: Marks will be awarded for isolating the main issues and debates in modern scholarship on the subject. Marks will be deducted for overdependence on a single unquestioned modern authority. Think also about where modern scholars are 'coming from', e.g. by reading reviews of their work from the websites of JSTOR, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, or Project Muse.
5. Originality and Sophistication: Marks will be awarded for thoughtfulness, well-founded scepticism and original ideas which attempt to surpass the issues and debates found in modern discussions in order to take the argument in a new direction.
Refer to the departmental essay-writing checklist in order to help ensure that you meet these criteria.
Plagiarism, defined as 'the attempt to pass off someone else's work as one's own' is a variety of cheating or fraud. It is taken very seriously by the University and students who are caught can suffer penalties which are extremely detrimental to their career. If in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult the online tutorial at
To avoid any confusion however you should take special care with two things:
1: Cite the sources you are using
2: Use quotation marks for the quotes you are quoting.
Avoiding plagiarism
All written work produced for assessment must be entirely yours. Your work will often use material covered in lectures and seminars, but your work must demonstrably be your own representation of that material. You must not quote from other people's work word-for-word without acknowledging this by use of "quotation-marks". If you present someone else's thoughts, words, or other work as your own, then you will have committed plagiarism. In general it is poor practice to scatter quotations from other scholars throughout your essay; you should attempt to rephrase what other people have said in your own words, and then also include a reference to the source of your ideas in a footnote. When taking notes from journals and books, make sure that you indicate clearly in your notes, using quotation marks, if you're copying directly word-for-word. This will ensure that you do not inadvertently reproduce someone else's words in your essay. In general, however, the best practice is to paraphrase and analyse as you read and make notes so that your notes do not simply copy out chunks of other people's work. You should also avoid referring to what a lecturer has said without finding out for yourself on what his/her ideas are based. You may cite primary sources on handouts.
Rules for avoiding plagiarism
Good study technique, writing style and correct referencing of quotations will help you to avoid unintentional plagiarism. If you follow these simple rules you will always be safe:
* Always take down a detailed reference for each text that you read and take notes from.
* While copying quotations, make sure you clearly mark them as quotations in your working notes.
* Gather and use your own examples whenever you want to support a particular view.
* Ensure that all quotations are surrounded by quotation marks.
* Ensure that your references can be used to locate the original source text.
Criteria for Assessment in Term 2:
You have 3 options to choose from for Assessment in Term 2.
- Option A: an essay as in Term 1 (with same assessment criteria as above for Term 1)
- Option B: an essay based on your own research question developed from use of portal.
- Option C: the creation of new entries + a narrative chain within + the completion of a reflective essay.
Assessment Criteria for Option B:
To complete Option B, you must:
- Submit your planned essay titles to the module convenor + 250 essay plan through Tabula by Wednesday 16th January (Term 2 week 12).
- Once you have the agreement of the module convenor for your essay title, complete your essay and submit via Tabula by the deadline.
In addition to the criteria set out for an essay (see above), your submission will be marked according to the following additional criteria:
Clarity of Research Question: marks will be awarded for the clarity and phrasing of the research question formulated, which the essay seeks to answer.
Pertinence of the Research Question and Essay: marks will be awarded for the degree to which the research question formulated, and responding essay, is related to the original data entries in the student cites as inspiration.
If students fail to submit their 250 essay plan to Tabula by the deadline, or fail to reach agreement with the module convenor on essay title, they will be required to revert to option A for Term 2 assessment.
Assessment Criteria for Option C:
To complete Option C, you must do the following:
- Express interest in Option C assessement by Term 1 (week 10) and log on to the portal to register.
- Attend the Term 2 (week 11) digital training session (Tuesday 8th January 2019 11am-1pm)
- Submit a 250 word plan via Tabula outlining your choice of entries + narrative chain (by Wednesday 16th January 2019)
If students fail to undertake any of the above steps by the deadline, they will be required to revert to Option A assessment for Term 2.
- Once you have agreement of the module convenor for your data entries + narrative chain, complete the assessment project (see details on Essays and Project page), and submit your entries (C1) + reflective essay (C2) as a combined PDF document via Tabula.
Your assessed work will be marked according to the following criteria:
C1. Data Entries + Narrative Chain within
• Completion of entry: the degree to which you have accurately filled out the database entry for each of your data entry ‘points’, as well as completed an entry related to your ‘narrative chain’
• Primary sources:
the degree to which your entries are based on accurately-referenced primary source material
• Secondary sources:
the degree to which your entries are based on accurately-referenced secondary source material
C2. Reflective Essay:
The quality of your reflections on the choices you made in data entry + creation of your narrative chain.
• Extent of independent research
you demonstrate surrounding your data entries and the historical societies in which the data is situated.
• Analysis you make
of the contribution of entries and narrative chain to the wider picture of ancient connectivity represented within |
What causes postpartum depression?
I'm worried that I might be vulnerable to postnatal depression.
Morag Martindale
GP and family planning doctor
We don't know exactly what causes postpartum depression (PND), but we do know that it is common. For a long time it was thought that about one in 10 moms suffers from PND (RCP 2007). Global prevalence has been estimated at about 10-15% but a recent Canadian study (Lanes et al, 2011) of 6,421 women who gave birth in 2005-2006 came up with a Canadian estimate of around 8.5% of moms experiencing some form of this very treatable mental illness.
There is debate over why some moms become depressed after having a baby. Some experts believe that it is caused by hormonal changes that take place after childbirth. Most think social and psychological factors play a big part, too. A discrepancy between your expectations for the birth or for what parenting will be like seems to be a factor. We are often led to expect one thing, or to place expectations on ourselves, and it can be jarring when labour or birth go very differently from what you'd imagined. The same goes for parenting. In the first stages especially, everything is new and often overwhelming.
If some of the following factors apply to you, it doesn't automatically mean that you will get PPD. Nearly all moms go through patches when they feel low, or that they can't cope.
You may be more likely to suffer from PPD if you were depressed while you were pregnant, or before you became pregnant. It's also more likely to affect you if your family has a history of depression or mental illness. The scientific literature is conflicted on how these factors really affect your likelihood of getting PPD.
Some experts believe that PPD could be triggered if:
Once your baby is born, there are so many changes you will have to go through. Your body is making huge hormonal adjustments now that you are no longer pregnant and are producing breast milk. These changes may possibly make you vulnerable to PPD, and if you face the following as well, it could overwhelm you:
• You are finding it hard to breastfeed.
• Your baby has irregular and demanding sleeping or feeding patterns (although this is probably true of all babies!).
• You are finding it difficult to adjust to the changes that are taking place in your body.
At the same time as all these physical changes in your body, you have many emotional challenges to cope with. Being a mom is likely to change the nature of all your relationships, sometimes dramatically. You may have upheavals in your home and work life. If you were working and are now at home, this may be an alienating experience for you, or a hard change to get your head around. You may have a higher chance of suffering from PPD if you have to face the following:
• You have housing problems, trouble at work or money worries.
• Your relationship with your partner is going through difficulties.
• You are finding it hard to adjust to changes in relationships with your family and friends.
• You don't have enough support from your partner, family or friends.
• You feel isolated and spend a lot of time at home with little adult company.
• You feel you can't live up to the popular image of motherhood - the perfect mom who always keeps calm under multiples demands and little sleep--and looks great while doing it.
• Feelings relating to past experiences have been stirred up, such as the absence or death of one of your parents.
If you have PPD, it can be hard to take those first steps to seek help. Remember that there are in fact people who can help you. Talk to your doctor or midwife and explain how you feel. They can help you get the support and treatment you need. Remember that postpartum depression is not your fault. With help you will get better.
You can also visit the BabyCenter community to talk to other moms who may understand how you are feeling.
If someone close to you has PPD, see our article about how to support someone with PPD.
Last reviewed September 2016
This article was written using the following sources:
CKS. 2009. Postnatal depression. Clinical Knowledge Summaries. [Accessed December 2009]
CPS et al. 2004 (version reaffirmed 2015). Maternal depression and child development. Paediatr Child Health 2004;9(8):575-83 [Accessed August 27, 2016].
DA. 2003. Depression during and after pregnancy Depression Alliance. [pdf file, accessed December 2009]
Dennis, C-L, Hodnett ED. 2007. Psychosocial and psychological interventions for postpartum depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. [Accessed August 26, 2016].
Lanes, A, Kuk J. and Tamim H.2011. Prevalence and characteristics of postpartum depression symptomatology among Canadian women: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. [Accessed August 26, 2016].
MIND. 2008. Understanding postnatal depression. National Association for Mental Health. [pdf file, accessed December 2009]
NICE. 2007. Antenatal and postnatal mental health: The NICE guideline on clinical management and service guidance. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. [pdf file, accessed December 2009]
RCP. 2007. Postnatal Depression The Royal College of Psychiatrists. [Accessed December 2009]
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Malonic Synthesis
The malonic ester synthesis is based on the use of diethyl malonate in order to generate a stabilized carbanion.
The carbanion can then react as a nucleophile on a substrate which has a proper leaving group. The substitution on an halogen derivative is probably the most common.
malonic ester synthesis
Reaction mechanism
Treating with a base (usually sodium ethoxide) malonate ethyl, you 're able to remove a proton from the carbon located between the two carbonyls (α carbon).
Since the two carbonyls "pull" the electrons of the central carbon , also on it there will be a partial positive charge + ) .
ethyl malonate
It follows that the same central carbon will attract more strongly the bonding electrons of the C-H bond (this means it becomes even more polarized than normally). The proton (H) is therefore relatively acid.
If this proton is quite acid, the conjugate base, and so the resulting carbanion, will not be a very strong base such as generally are the carbanions (eg Grignard compounds). This condition, together with the resonance, make the ethyl malonate carbanion sufficiently stabilized
Once isolated the anion as a sodium salt, it remains to make it react with a compound of which it is possible to perform on a nucleophilic substitution.Although the negative charge is usually localized on oxygen, the carbanion is a better nucleophile.
mechanismThe result is a substituted ester, which under mild conditions can be hydrolyzed to the carboxylic acid and decarboxylated consequently.
finalRecall that each time that a carboxyl group is located in relation 1 - 3 (that is to say in the position β ) with respect to a carbonyl group, in conditions of acid environment and mild heating it spontaneously loses carbon dioxide. |
• synonyms
[nook, nyook]Informal.
See more synonyms for nuke on Thesaurus.com
1. a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon.
2. a nuclear power plant or nuclear reactor.
3. nuclear energy: to convert from coal to nuke.
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1. of or relating to a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon or to a nuclear plant.
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verb (used with object), nuked, nuk·ing.
1. to attack, defeat, or destroy with or as if with nuclear weapons.
2. Slang. to cook or bake in a microwave oven.
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Origin of nuke
First recorded in 1945–50; by shortening and respelling
Related Words
Examples from the Web for nuke
Contemporary Examples
British Dictionary definitions for nuke
verb (tr)
1. to attack or destroy with nuclear weapons
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1. a nuclear bomb
2. a military strike with nuclear weapons
3. nuclear power
4. mainly US a nuclear power plant
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Word Origin and History for nuke
short for nuclear weapon, 1959, U.S. military slang (see nuclear). The verb is attested from 1962; the slang sense of "to cook in a microwave oven" is from 1987. Related: Nuked; nuking.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper |
Algebra 1
Published by Prentice Hall
ISBN 10: 0133500403
ISBN 13: 978-0-13350-040-0
Chapter 7 - Exponents and Exponential Functions - 7-6 Exponential Functions - Practice and Problem-Solving Exercises - Page 450: 26
The graph is below.
Work Step by Step
The equation y = $\frac{1}{4}\times(2)^{x}$ is an exponential function. This is an exponential growth because the a value is greater than 1. To graph, you start by plotting the y-intercept which is (0,$\frac{1}{4}$) because f(0) = $\frac{1}{4}\times(2)^{0}$ equals $\frac{1}{4}\times$1 which then equals $\frac{1}{4}$. Then you make a table of values for the equation and plot them.
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Jan 24, 2018
Discover the secret of the triangle of Bermuda (Devil's Triangle)
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as "The Devil's Triangle", is one of the most mysterious and chilling legends of the ocean, and for decades it has excited the imagination of researchers and scientists who have tried to reveal what this strange area hides.
Although you might think it is a very old legend, in fact this legendary triangle did not really become famous until the 1950s, when the reporter Edward Van Winkle Jones wrote about mysterious disappearances of American planes and ships in the 1940s, which marked on a map in which for the first time the triangular shape of this anomaly was defined.
According to the Jones report, a total of 135 people disappeared between 1945 and 1949, and all the incidents were similar in the fact that no remains of the vehicles or passengers were found and that there were no requests for help, almost as if they had ceased to exist from one moment to another.
The subject was so interesting that it was not long before other similar investigations emerged, in which the facts and the numbers of victims were sometimes exaggerated to feed and benefit from the thirst for enigmas that the public had, and for the In the seventies, history had taken on a life of its own amid the mixture of facts, blatant lies and fiction that circulated in all media.
At that time, investigator Larry Kusche published a forceful report in which he exposed the suspect origin and evolution of that legend, presenting numbers, official documents and press records that showed that many of the incidents never happened and that the perpetrators were lying and copying each other.
Some of the missing boats and passengers, for example, were eventually found but the mystery vendors did not tell that part of the story, or did not take into account that sometimes it was not possible to properly investigate the subsidence and one of the most revealing was that weather reports usually did not agree with the dates when some of the most catastrophic events had supposedly occurred.
In spite of that, the public continued to accept this phenomenon as if it were a fact, and like all legends, that of the Bermuda Triangle probably had its origin in real events that could be explained by science, even if in the end they were not as interesting as the stories born from there.
The truth is that the route is dangerous and hides natural threats such as a stormy weather and strong marine currents that could be responsible for the disappearance of the wrecks; but without a doubt the worst of all are the huge deposits of methane gas that are hidden in the bottom.
According to the most accepted theory, the mysterious sinkings have been caused by eruptions of this gas, which can be released without warning and rise to the surface at high speed, causing the boats to lose their balance and the planes can not sustain their flight in the rarefied air.
Despite this, it has not been found that the percentage of incidents is greater than in other areas with similar characteristics, besides that it is one of the busiest routes on the continent and that is why it is normal for pilots and captains to have the bad luck to be in the place and moment in which a natural disaster happens.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the traffic that crosses the triangle are boats for pleasure and vacations, which are often too small and are driven by people who do not have the necessary experience, or who make mistakes that are unforgivable. such a changing and dangerous part of the ocean.
In other words: Everything is reduced to numbers since the eyes of the world are placed on this triangle in the sea waiting for any sign of a new enigma, so that any incident receives much more attention than those that occur in places that do not have that fame.
After so many scientific explanations, supernatural and of all kinds, in the end it turns out that all this legend has its origin in the vagaries of nature and in the ancient human need to know and tell stories about mysteries and inexplicable facts.
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Medial Meniscus Assessment
Assessment techniques that may form part of a full examination of a medial cartilage meniscus injury.
Knee cartilage assessment
All injury assessments should include questions about the general health and previous injuries of the patient, as well as the current injury. The aim of this is to identify which structure might be causing the pain and which treatments are appropriate.
The therapist will then undertake a physical examination to help identify which structures are causing the pain and what may have contributed to the injury developing.
Observation palpation
The therapist will look at the joint for swelling, bruising and deformity and then will feel (palpate) around the joint for tenderness, warmth, swelling etc. With medial meniscus injuries, the joint line on the inner knee will often be tender.
Range of motion
The therapist will check the amount of movement available at the knee. They will usually ask the patient to bend and straighten the knee themselves (active) and will then ask tham to relax as they move the knee (passive). In meniscus injuries, range of motion without pain is usually limited both actively and passively.
McMurrays test
McMurrays test is often used to indicate cartilage injuries. With the patient laying on their back the therapist holds the knee with the upper hand and the heel with the lower hand. The therapist then applies a valgus (inward) stress to the knee whilst the other hand rotates the leg externally (outwards) and extends the knee.Pain and/or an audible click while performing this maneuver can indicate a torn medial meniscus.
Apley's test
This test is also used in cases of suspected meniscal tears. The patient is positioned on their front with the knee bent.The therapist grasps the heel and ankle and applies a compressive force through the lower leg. At the same time,they rotate the lower leg. Any reproduction of symptoms,pain or clicking is a positive response,suggesting a torn meniscus. |
Lisa Cheng
February 16, 2017
Only one airplane on Earth can carry four Russian military tanks, an entire train, or 50 cars. It requires six engines and a staggering 290-foot wingspan (that's nearly the length of a football field) to accomplish these feats, but such superlatives have helped the Antonov An-225 claim the distinction of being the world's biggest airplane.
Designed to carry Soviet spacecraft in the 1980s, the An-225 (also known as the “Mriya”) weighs just a hair over 661 tons and is 276 feet long. That's three times heavier than the Statue of Liberty, and six times longer than a yellow school bus.
Getty Images
The Mriya is the only airplane of its kind—and it's set more than 200 world records. Presently, it's the largest aircraft by weight in history, and the largest aircraft by wingspan, according to Guinness World Records.
The Mriya also set a record on Aug. 11, 2009, for airlifting the heaviest item in history: a 375,200-pound power plant generator.
Unfortunately for aviation fanatics, it's not easy to see the Mriya in action. The plane typically makes only one or two trips each year. In May of 2016, it took a widely reported flight from Prague to Perth, with stops in Turkmenistan, India, and Malaysia.
The Largest Passenger Plane
© Airbus Group
Travelers desperate to experience a giant airplane will have an easier time booking a flight on the 239-foot Airbus A380, designed to transport people rather than oversized payloads.
The A380 is the largest passenger aircraft by weight, tipping the scales at 560 tons (that's 1,235,000 pounds, or 165 elephants). About 3,000 suitcases can fit in the cargo hold.
While each airline can manipulate the seating configuration, the A380 is capable of transporting up to 853 passengers in a cabin that spans the equivalent of three tennis courts.
With a wingspan of 262 feet, the double-decker A380 doesn't just hold a lot of travelers. The A380 can also accommodate cushier arrangements in the upper classes, such as double beds in an enclosed area (Singapore Airline’s Suite Class) and a posh three-room suite serviced by a butler known as Etihad’s The Residence.
© Airbus Group
Other carriers, including Korean Air and Qatar Airways, use the upper deck to host Business and First-class bars, or duty-free shops where travelers can actually browse the goods rather than a catalog. More than a dozen airlines have incorporated these giant vessels into their fleets, improving the chances you could enjoy a long-haul flight on one of the world's largest airplanes.
And here's another biggest airplanes fun fact: There's a brand-new (and distinctly butt-shaped) airship taking to the skies. At 302 feet, the Airlander 10—which debuted in August 2016 and made an impossibly slow crash landing—is the world's largest aircraft. But the blimp-like hybrid isn't an airplane, and it certainly can't compete with either the Mriya or the A380 in terms of weight or payload capabilities. Not that it doesn't have its charms: It moseys along at a leisurely 90 miles per hour.
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Part of Bears Ears National Monument, near Blanding, Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP entered the Oval Office an avowed enemy of environmental protection. This week the degree of his shortsightedness became clearer, with announcements suggesting he will aggressively undermine the measures his predecessors took to preserve precious lands and resources.
In Salt Lake City on Monday, Mr. Trump withdrew some 2 million acres of spectacular landscape from two national monuments in southern Utah: Bears Ears National Monument, which President Barack Obama declared late last year, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which has enjoyed protection from drilling and other disturbances for two decades. This single move constituted the largest ever reduction in protected federal lands. Then on Tuesday it emerged that Ryan Zinke, Mr. Trump's fox-in-henhouse interior secretary, will recommend paring back or loosening restrictions on 10 more national monuments around the country.
Several environmental and Native American groups immediately filed suit over Mr. Trump's withdrawal, claiming that, while the president can unilaterally preserve land by creating or expanding national monuments, the White House cannot on its own withdraw acreage from existing monuments. The question has not been tested in court. But the groups face an uphill fight, considering that the law is extremely deferential to the president and stipulates that monuments should be only as large as is necessary to protect objects of interest requiring preservation. The administration will argue that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Mr. Obama each abused their authorities, setting aside vastly more federal property than necessary to preserve American treasures, such as the ruins scattered around Bears Ears and the geological wonders in Grand Staircase.
Yet while the legality of Mr. Trump's move is debatable, its ill wisdom is less so. In general, public lands and waters should be open to development, including drilling, so that the nation's resources can drive national growth, enable all sorts of recreation and benefit nearby towns and cities. But the federal government owns some lands that are simply too precious to permanently sully in pursuit of temporary economic gains. Bears Ears, with its spectacular canyons, buttes and unspoiled archaeological sites, is one such place. Grand Staircase, a natural wonderland of ancient topology and fossilized prehistory, is another. When administering such unique places, the government must err on the side of conservation.
Even as Utah ran an expensive national ad campaign encouraging Americans to visit the state's natural treasures, its congressional delegation fought Bears Ears and they have cheered Mr. Trump's announcement. Yet even for them, the reduction in size was radical. Utah officials had previously proposed protecting an area much larger than the truncated Bears Ears that Mr. Trump left as he departed Salt Lake City. Now it is their responsibility to fill the conservation gaps that the president has left. |
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Gasifier Types
There are four main types of Gasifiers:
-Downdraft or Imbert
-Fluidized bed
-Cross Draft
There have been many variations on these designs, some with very surprising results. The main reason for these gasifier modifications is the need for optimal results with a particular fuel or gas requirement.
For internal combustion use, the Imbert gasifier is ideal, as it produces the least amount of tar and particulates. The operation of the Imbert will be described in detail here, although other gasifier types work on similar principles.
Operation process of an Imbert:
Diagram of imbert down draft gasifier
A. The upper section is the Fuel Bunker section, which receives some residual heat from the lower zones and also serves as a drying zone (FAO).
B. Then comes the Pyrolysis Zone where fuel begins to burn, break down and produce small amounts of combustible gas (FAO), ie: methane and hydrogen, along with inert gases (mostly nitrogen). This mixture is then pulled down to the next process.
C. The main “gasification” component happens in the Oxidation Zone; this is where outside air containing the key component of oxygen is introduced. This is usually done through the use of nozzles, sized to match the engine and to obtain the right intake velocity. This process typically takes place at temperatures ranging from 1832°-2732°F (1000°-1500°C)(FAO). The resulting hot gases are then pulled through to the next zone.
D. The Reduction Zone: this happens just as the name implies, with a restricted opening at the bottom of the hearth, this is sized to the engine and/or fuel types. The charcoal is converted into gas and breaks down into ash and smaller coals.
E. The ash and coals drop down to the bottom of the gasifier. This area usually employs a grate to help further break down any coals that pulled through the reduction zone.
F. The resulting gas from the processes explained above are pulled up and around the inner section/tank to a gas outlet, typically located toward the top. By extracting the gases higher up, results in a larger quantity of particulates that settle to the bottom and it also helps preheat the inner tank.
Forestry Department. “Woodgas as engine fuel.”, FAO 1986 3/8/08 |
The Basic Principles Of r programming assignment help
An escape sequence is a mix of people which represents no textual content; rather than becoming shown (as textual content) it can be designed to be intercepted by This system and also a special functionality is designed to be done. Escape sequences may also be employed to take care of (established, lookup, change, etcetera.) Distinctive people.
The sweetened versions aren’t commonly a lot quicker when compared to the C++ Variation, but generally there’s very little difference between the two. However With all the sugared variety, the code is shorter and is consistently being enhanced.
Now we can just form function_1(); Here is the exact thought that R takes advantage of for managing functionality name collisions when loading offers. Above Each individual operate we want to export/use in R, we add the tag
Conversely, if a newline is considered a terminator, all text strains including the last are envisioned to generally be terminated by a newline. If the ultimate character sequence inside of a textual content file is just not a newline, the final line of the file could be thought of as an improper or incomplete textual content line, or perhaps the file could possibly be thought of as improperly truncated.
There are two main benefits with Placing your C++ functions in separate information. 1st, we have the benefit of syntax highlighting (RStudio has excellent assist for C++ modifying).
then edit or press RET to execute. One example is, to execute the last command that referenced the variable
It can be crucial to understand the logic at the rear of the kind checker: This is a compile-time Examine, so by definition, the sort checker isn't mindful of any kind of runtime metaprogramming that you just do.
In variable definitions it can be mandatory to either provide a sort title explicitly or to utilize "def" in replacement. This is certainly needed to make variable definitions detectable for the Groovy parser.
In Groovy, the final expression evaluated in the human body of a method or perhaps a closure is returned. Therefore the return key phrase is optional.
Two solutions to watch newlines, equally of which might be self-steady, are that newlines both individual lines or they terminate strains. If a newline is click this considered a separator, there'll be no newline once the previous line of a file. Some plans have challenges processing the last line of a file if It's not at all terminated by a newline. On the flip side, applications that count on newline for use like a separator will interpret a last newline as starting off a new (empty) line.
The connected Bioconductor project provides numerous extra R deals for statistical information Examination in different daily life science areas, for instance resources for microarray, up coming generation
Common expression scenario values match If your toString() representation from the change value matches the regex
Mergent Archives is an online databases that includes a vast, indexed selection of company and market associated files. The database incorporates hundreds of thousands of experiences covering more than a hundred nations and industries.
It tends to make this a firstclass option for unit tests. The notion of "ability asserts" is instantly associated with how the Groovy assert behaves.
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Asplenium rhizohyllum
Botanical Name: Asplenium rhizohyllum
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: A. rhizophyllum
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Synonyms: Camptosorus sibiricus, Antigramma rhizophylla (L.) J.Sm., Camptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) Link
Common Name: American Walking Fern
Habitat : Asplenium rhizohyllum is native to North America. It is a close relative of Asplenium ruprechtii which is found in East Asia and also goes by the common name of “walking fern
Asplenium rhizophyllum is a small fern whose undivided, evergreen leaves and long, narrow leaf tips, sometimes curving back and rooting, give it a highly distinctive appearance. It grows in tufts, often surrounded by child plants formed from the leaf tips. The leaves of younger plants tend to lie flat to the ground, while older plants have leaves more erect or arching.
Roots and stipes:
It does not spread and form new plants via the roots. Its rhizomes (underground stems) are upright or nearly so, short, about 1 millimetre (0.04 in) in diameter, and generally unbranched. They bear dark brown or blackish, narrowly triangular or lance-shaped scales which are strongly clathrate (bearing a lattice-like pattern). The scales are 2 to 3 millimetres (0.08 to 0.1 in) long and 0.5 to 1 millimetre (0.02 to 0.04 in) wide (occasionally as narrow as 0.2 millimetres (0.008 in)) with untoothed margins. The stipe (the part of the stem below the leaf blade) is 0.5 to 12 centimetres (0.20 to 4.7 in) long (occasionally up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long), and ranges from one-tenth to one and one-half times the length of the blade. The stipe is reddish-brown and sometimes shiny at the base, becoming green above, and narrowly winged. Scales like those of the rhizome are present at the stipe base, changing to tiny club-shaped hairs above.
The leaf blades are not subdivided, as in most other ferns, but are narrowly triangular to linear or lance-shaped. Their shape can be quite variable, even on the same plant. They measure from 1 to 30 centimetres (0.4 to 10 in) long and from 0.5 to 5 centimetres (0.2 to 2 in) across and have a leathery texture with sparse hairs, more abundant below than above. The rachis (leaf axis) is dull green in color and almost devoid of hairs. On the underside of the blade, the veins are difficult to see and anastomose (split and rejoin each other), forming a series of areoles (the small areas enclosed by the veins) near the rachis. Fertile fronds are usually larger than sterile fronds, but their shape is otherwise the same. The base of the blade is typically heart-shaped (with the stipe protruding from the cleft); the bulges on either side of the cleft are frequently enlarged into auricles (rounded lobes), or occasionally into sharply-pointed, tapering lobes. The leaf tips may be rounded but are typically very long and attenuate (drawn out); the attenuate tips are capable of sprouting roots and growing into a new plant when the tip touches a surface suitable for growth. On rare occasions, the auricles at the leaf base will also take on an attenuate shape and form roots at the tip. The ability of the leaf tips to root and form a new plant at some distance from the parent gives the species its common name. The young leaves forming from a bud at the leaf tip are round to pointed at their apex, not yet having developed the long-attenuate shape.
Specimens of A. rhizophyllum with forked blades have been found in Arkansas and Missouri. The fork usually occurs in the tip, perhaps due to growth after insect damage, but one specimen was found forking from the upper part of the stipe.
Sori and spores:
Fertile fronds bear a large number of sori underneath, 1 to 4 millimetres (0.04 to 0.2 in) long, which are not arranged in any particular order. The sori are often fused where veins join, and may curve to follow the vein to which they are attached. The sori are covered by inconspicuous thin, white indusia with untoothed edges. Each sporangium in a sorus carries 64 spores. The diploid sporophyte has a chromosome number of 72.
Medicinal Uses:
Used medicinally by the Cherokee Indians. Those that dreamt of snakes drank a decoction of liverwort (Hepatica acutiloba) and walking fern to produce vomiting, after which dreams do not return.
Asthma signs and symptoms include:
*Shortness of breath
*Chest tightness or pain
*Trouble sleeping caused by shortness of breath, coughing or wheezing
Signs that your asthma is probably worsening include:
*Asthma signs and symptoms that are more frequent and bothersome
*The need to use a quick-relief inhaler more often
Asthma triggers:
*Respiratory infections, such as the common cold
*Physical activity (exercise-induced asthma)
*Cold air
*Air pollutants and irritants, such as smoke
*Strong emotions and stress
Physical exam:
Tests to measure lung function
Other additional tests:
Other tests to diagnose asthma include:
Risk Factors:
*Being overweight
*Being a smoker
*Exposure to secondhand smoke
*Exposure to exhaust fumes or other types of pollution
Asthma complications include:
*Sick days from work or school during asthma flare-ups
*Emergency room visits and hospitalizations for severe asthma attacks
Lifestyle modification:
Long–term control:
Alternative medicine:
Some home remedies:
CLICK & READ : Breathe in & Breathe out
Lavandula angustifolia
Botanical Name : Lavandula angustifolia
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Lavandula
Species: L. angustifolia
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
Propagation :
Edible Uses:
Edible Uses: Condiment; Tea.
Medicinal Uses:
Other Uses:
Essential; Hedge; Incense; Pot-pourri; Repellent.
Known Hazards : The volatile oil may rarely cause sensitization
Sphaeralcea coccinea
Botanical Name : Sphaeralcea coccinea
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Malvoideae
Genus: Sphaeralcea
Species: S. coccinea
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malvales
Synonyms: Malvastrum coccineum
Common Names; Scarlet Globemallow, Alkali Heath, red false globemallow, copper mallow
Habitat : Sphaeralcea coccinea is native to grasslands and prairies of the Great Plains and western regions of northern North America.
Sphaeralcea coccinea is a perennial plant growing 10–30 cm tall from spreading rhizomes with a low habit. They have grayish stems with dense, star-shaped hairs and alternately arranged leaves. The leaf blades are 2–5 cm long, palmately shaped, and deeply cut, with 3–5 main wedge-shaped segments. The undersides of the leaves have gray hairs. The 2-cm-wide flowers are reddish-orange and saucer-shaped, with 5 notched, broad petals, in small terminal clusters. Plants flower from May to October.Fruits are cheese-shaped capsules composed of 10 or more 1-seeded carpels. Each carpel about 3 mm long, densely hairy on the back, net-veined on about 90% of the sides.
Medicinal Uses:
This plant’s Navajo name came from the sticky mixture that occurs when the roots and leaves are pounded and soaked in water. The resulting sticky infusion is put on sores to stop bleeding and is used as a lotion for skin disease. The dried powdered plant is used as dusting powder. It is one of the life medicines and is used as a tonic to improve the appetite, and to cure colds, coughs and flu. The roots were used to stop bleeding, and they were also chewed to reduce hunger when food was scarce. The leaves are slimy and mucilaginous when crushed, and they were chewed or mashed and used as poultices or plasters on inflamed skin, sores, wounds and sore or blistered feet. Leaves were also used in lotions to relieve skin diseases, or they were dried, ground and dusted on sores. Fresh leaves and flowers were chewed to relieve hoarse or sore throats and upset stomachs. Whole plants were used to make a sweet-tasting tea that made distasteful medicines more palatable. It was also said to reduce swellings, improve appetite, relieve upset stomachs, and strengthen voices. The Dakota heyoka chewed the plants to a paste and rubbed it on their skin as protection from scalding. The tea is very effective for a raspy, dry, sore throat; and, like its relative Malva, it will soothe the urinary tract when urination is painful. The tea is used for bathing infants to prevent or retard thrush, and to soothe chafing. It is soothing to almost any skin rash in adults and children. Strong decoction, 4-6 fluid ounces up to 4 times a day for internal use, as needed externally.
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Learn Music, Get Smart
Source The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)
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QUESTION: Describe at least one important character in the written text. Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text and/or how this character helps you understand an important theme/idea in the novel.
Introduction: In the novel ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ the character Ricky Baker matures and changes throughout the novel. He moves from the city and ends out living on his aunties and uncles farm in the middle of nowhere to his uncle and aunties farm. There are many life changing events that happen throughout the novel. Firstly when he is moved from the city to the farm, secondly when aunty Bella dies and last of all when uncle Hec breaks his foot out in the bush. These events help me understand the themes of how Ricky matures and learns new skills.
At the start of the Novel Ricky Baker is a Mischievous boy that is always getting moved around to different foster homes but when he moves to his aunty and uncles farm he is loved and welcomed and we see the ‘new’ Ricky baker and how he changes when he is moved to a different and isolated environment. When Ricky gets moved to a new Environment he is welcomed by his aunty and uncle and they included him with a lot of things that they did which made him feel loved and cared for. For example she gave him a hottie each night and they gave him a dog, they took him hunting and got taught how to skin possums. Aunt Bella would use the metaphor “Lamb” to show her love to him and make him feel at home. In my opinion this was the definitely a very important event because it helped Ricky to want to start to push himself to do new things and feel comfortable and loved. This was very important to Ricky because he has never felt loved like that before.
Another major turning point for Ricky Baker was when uncle hec broke his leg by accidentally dropping a large rock on his ankle and then got crushed onto another rock. This meant that they were going to have to stay put in the middle of the Urewera for at least a few weeks. This meant that Ricky is going to have to take the responsibility of hunting and making a shelter for them. There are plenty of animals that are around the area but after a while Ricky has to travel further and further in order to get food for them to survive making everything a lot harder for Ricky Ricky quotes “We were out of meat by the time I went for my first hunt so I had to get something”. This shows the large amount of pressure that was put on Ricky. I feel that this event helped Ricky to mature as he was put under that large amount of pressure which benefited him as it gave him the skills to help him survive in the NZ bush. This event shows us how Ricky has to step up and mature. This helps us to understand the theme and idea of maturation.
Another major turning point in Ricky’s life was when Aunty Bella passed away. This means that the child welfare wants to bring Ricky back to the city and move to another foster home where it will be ‘more suitable home’ for Ricky to grow up in. Ricky had finally started to get on with uncle Hec and so he refuses to go back to the child welfare. This leaves him with one decision, To go bush. He eventually persuaded uncle hec to go. Now that they were going to get chased they had to be very cautious and would have a lot more responsibilities. Ricky quoted ” I’m not going back to child welfare”. This shows that Ricky will not give up fighting and how he knows that it will not be good for him to go back to his ‘old life’. I believe that Ricky making this decision helps him in many way, It makes him more mature, gives him useful life skills and also Ricky and Hec grow a very strong relationship that will last forever. This means he is yet again maturing.
When Ricky changes environments he changes from being a city boy that is getting into lots of trouble to being a knowledgeable young man that believes in himself. This was all because of uncle Hec and aunty Bella loving and believing in him and knowing that he can change for the better and have a happy successful life. All these events shows us importance of maturation.
Join the conversation! 2 Comments
1. Your topic is:
However, your essay addresses TURNING POINTS in the novel.
In NCEA, if you do not address the question you have selected, you would get a Not Achieved. Luckily this is a practice piece!
2. You do show a depth of knowledge of the novel, which is great!
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About Jaydon
I am a year 11 at Mount Aspiring College |
304Philosophy and Literature comments about die work of Aeschylus, Dante, and Shakespeare. He also provides insights into the philosophical and theological views of many of the audiors he analyzes. In discussing that archetypal action which he evidently believes is most significant for culture — pursuing consummation — he deftly moves from Everyman, Moby Dick, and The Song ofSongs to The Heart ofDarkness, Wuthering Heights, and A Portrait oftheArtist as a Young Man and then examines the "mode of affirmation" in the science fiction ofOlaf Stapledon and Arthur C. Clarke. Elsbree in attempting to illustrate his basic concepts fails to take into account the complexities of some ofhis selected audiors. He speaks, for example, of Flannery O'Connor's "Jansenist view of tilings" and says: "For city people O'Connor has almost no hope whatsoever , since the city is 'nowhere', the place of the doubly damned because diey do not even have the capacity for guilt" (p. 63). Yet in one of her best stories, "The Artificial Nigger," OConnor depicts die redeeming quality of die black community of a soudiern city. Other sweeping statements are easily detected, yet Elsbree nevertheless has written a perceptive book, one whose comments illuminate many individual works as well as whole movements in literature. He is particularly good when he discusses the relationship between contemporEiry literature and die film, and he succeeds in showing how archetypal actions, as he defines diem, help us understand the relationship between the imaginative narratives and our most important cultural activities. In doing this he defines the meaning of universality in literature. His aim in dealing with this worn-out concept is to relate the discussion ofliterature to individual experience in modern culture. He is at least partly successful in achieving this aim. For all his excellent insights, Elsbree fails to work out in detail his own basic concepts. He relies heavily on concepts of the sacred and the profane but never once refers to Mircea Eliade, who wrote most effectively on these ideas. He refers toJung several times but never discusses that psychologist's theory of the archetypes. He tells us that the warrior has "at least a thousand faces," but he never mentionsJoseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces nor Joyce's concept of the "monomyth" that inspired Campbell's work. Because the audior is neither philosophical nor scholarly enough in exploring his own basic concepts, I do not think his book can be called a work of "philosophical anthropology ," yet it is an excellent and provocative work of literary criticism that, among other things, challenges some of the philosophical theories of our leading myth critic, Northrop Frye, and goes on, in its conclusion, to suggest ways diat people can and still do use stories to affirm humEinity Eind restore culturEil values. Georgia State UniversityTed R. Spivey Literature and Possible Worlds, by Doreen Maitre; 128 pp. London: Middlesex Polytechnic Press, 1983, £9.50. How do die events and objects described in fiction — some realistic, but some quite fantastic — become intelligible to us as we read about them? And how does it come about diat Reviews305 our understanding of them can influence our understanding of things in the real world? These are the main questions Maître sets herself to answer. She associates with each work of fiction a merely possible world "created" by its author (p. 22). For each of these worlds, as for die actual world, there are underlying physical laws and generalizations about psychological tendencies in virtue of which it is intelligible. As die reader of a novel proceeds , piling fact upon fact about a fictional world, he seeks the underlying generalizations and factual conditions that will most coherently explain the events he is reading about. What he will be willing to accept as explanation will depend on the genre of the work in question. The mental faculty undertaking most of this work is the imagination. Just as happens when we are considering actual events, our imaginations cast up explanatory hypodieses to us as we read. The worlds offiction are like the real one in that they are intelligible and contain particulars, but they are unlike it because they are "indeterminate" and "lack the plenitude of the...
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Liquid Biofuels
Liquid Biofuels
Ethanol is the main liquid biofuel and can be produced from switchgrass through the two major processes described below.
Biochemical Conversion: In cases of corn grain and sweet sorghum stalks, sugars are directly fermented to ethanol by adding enzymes and yeast. Cellulosic feedstocks are more difficult to break down into fermentable sugars than starch- or sugar-based feedstocks. The cellulosic biochemical conversion process requires additional steps. Two key steps are biomass pretreatment and cellulose hydrolysis. During pretreatment, the hemicellulose part of the biomass is broken down into simple sugars and removed for fermentation. During cellulose hydrolysis, the cellulose part of the biomass is broken down into the simple sugar, glucose.
Xylose is the most prevalent pentose sugar released by the hemicellulose hydrolysis reaction. In this step, xylose is fermented, using Zymomonas mobilis or other genetically engineered bacteria. The glucose fermentation reaction is caused by yeast or bacteria, which feed on the sugars. As the sugars are consumed, ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced. Lignin and other byproducts of the biomass-to-ethanol process can be burned to produce electricity required for the ethanol production process. Burning lignin actually creates more energy than is needed, and selling electricity may help the processes economics.
Schematic of a Biochemical Cellulosic Ethanol Production Process
Thermochemical Conversion: Switchgrass also can be used to produce ethanol using thermochemical processes. In this approach, heat and chemicals are used to break biomass into syngas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) and reassemble it into products such as ethanol.
Schematic of a Biochemical Cellulosic Ethanol Production Process.
As an engine fuel, methanol has similar chemical and physical characteristics as ethanol. It is predominantly produced by steam reforming natural gas to create a synthesis gas, which is then fed into a reactor vessel in the presence of a catalyst. This process then produces methanol and water vapor. Although a variety of feedstocks can be used to create methanol, today’s economics favor the use of natural gas.
Like ethanol, biobutanol is an alcohol that can be produced through processing of domestically grown crops such as corn, sugar beets, and other biomass such as fast-growing grasses, and agricultural waste products. The ability to produce butanol from biomass sources via fermentation has existed since the early 1900s. However, these older biobutanol processes are more expensive than today’s petrochemical production processes. Today, butanol is produced almost entirely from petroleum. Renewed interest in butanol as a sustainable vehicle fuel has led to the development of improved biobutanol production processes. DuPont® and BP® are making biobutanol the first product of their joint effort to develop, produce, and market next-generation biofuels.
Another important liquid fuel worth mentioning is biodiesel, even though it is not derived from cellulosic feedstocks. It will play a major role in reducing foreign oil dependency as it can be used in trucks and freight vehicles. In the U.S., most biodiesel is made from soybean oil or recycled cooking oils. Animal fats, vegetable oils, and other recycled oils can also be used to produce biodiesel, depending on their costs and availability. In the future, blends of all kinds of fats and oils may be used to produce biodiesel. The main reaction for converting oil to biodiesel is called transesterification. This transesterification process reacts an alcohol (like methanol) with the triglyceride oils contained in vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases forming fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerin. The reaction requires heat and a strong base catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The byproducts include methanol and the base catalyst that can be reused in the process. Another byproduct is glycerin that can be for sale to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
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Dental Care
According to the American Veterinary Dental Society, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of oral disease by age 3. Indications of oral disease include bad breath, a change in eating or chewing habits, pawing at the face or mouth, or depression. If your pet is older than 1 year, or if any of these signs are present, he or she should be brought in for a dental exam.
Just as in humans, bacteria, saliva, and food accumulate on your pet’s teeth, leading to the formation of plaque. If plaque is not removed with frequent brushing, gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) can develop, and the plaque will develop into tartar as calcium salts are deposited and the bacteria multiply. If the tartar is not removed, pockets of pus can appear along the gum line, allowing even more food and bacteria to accumulate. Without proper dental care, plaque and tartar buildup can lead to periodontal disease. Unlike gingivitis (which is reversible), periodontitis is not reversible, and can only be closely managed to prevent its progression.
Periodontitis causes red, swollen and tender gums, gum recession, bleeding, pain and bad breath. If left untreated, periodontitis can result in tooth loss. Symptoms of periodontal disease include yellow/brown tartar buildup along the gum line, red inflamed gums, and persistent bad breath. The infection caused by periodontal disease can enter the bloodstream, and potentially affect the heart, liver and kidneys.
Periodontal disease is common in dogs, particularly in small breeds. Because their mouths are smaller, the teeth may be forced closer together, which allows even more food and bacteria to become trapped. However, periodontal disease is common in medium and large breed dogs as well. |
Category Archives: Trust at Work
What Should Companies Focus on to Grow?
By David Vicentin
Nowadays, one of the buzzwords in companies is growth. Companies want to be better today than yesterday, and tomorrow even better than today. But the challenge itself is not the need for growth rate. The challenge is related to how to achieve continuous and sustainable growth over the years in a scenario which constantly changes.
Several studies have been done analyzing the sources of growth, especially related to companies and countries. Centuries ago Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus studied the elements which can influence growth in countries. These studies provided very rich knowledge when applied to companies of different sizes and industries.
It’s interesting to see how people explain growth. If you ask a company leader “What do you need to grow?” the answer might be “New investments.” If you ask “What kind of investments?” most will answer “New equipment.” If you want to be more specific and ask a colleague what should be done to increase sales, production or profit, he may respond “Buy new technology.” “Equipment or technology” may be correct, but it represents only one component of the answer.
Growth can also be explained based on the variables of Physical Capital (K), Labour (L) and Technology (T). So the idea behind this approach is a formula as represented below in which Y represents the results for each company in terms of revenue, output or even profit.
Y = f(K, L, T)
That means that a company output is influenced by different variables and not only technologies. The interesting point about this reflection is that one answer will not solve everyone’s problem. For over 15 years, working in different industries, my team and I were able to increase companies’ results 90% of the time, with ZERO investment in new technologies. So, what’s the miracle?
The answer is People. The eyes and expertise of a Consultant or a Coach can help your company, in a short-time frame, identify opportunities to increase productivity, quality, and much more. If we take a closer look at the Labour part above, we can identify new sources of growth. For example, labour can be seen not only as how many people you have under your organization but it MUST include knowledge acquired over time. Ask yourself: how is your team expanding their knowledge and understanding of methods and techniques over time? There are different ways of learning and once you create a learning organization you’ll start to benefit from it.
And if you’ve achieved the desired results, what’s next? Sustain the results. Whether the environment changes or not, it is important to have the right people (with the right knowledge) to respond properly to those variations. Training and “learning by doing,” as Agile proposes, can be very useful strategies to achieve long-term results.
In summary, growth is possible when you have the knowledge to achieve it. Consult experts and engage people toward your purpose and you’ll see the results.
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Consulting and Coaching – An Exploration
Organizations generally will hire either a consultant or coach when they have goals and they need domain expertise to achieve those defined outcomes. These goals may be determined by various factors, such as a wish to grow the company, or a need to respond to disruptions in the business world that make change a necessity. Either way, this usually means the client has a need for more agility, and the consultant or coach can help them achieve those outcomes.
At BERTEIG we recognize how critical culture is to determining success so we ensure our consultants and coaches are compatible with an organization to help them achieve their desired outcomes. Please take a few moments to learn more about our team, or learn more about our coaching and consulting engagements in these case studies from Suncor and SickKids Foundation.
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Seeking Patterns Between Human Rights and Agility
Image Attribution
Photographer: Zoi Koraki –
License: Creative Commons
Preface: To be transparent in my agenda, I firmly believe there are strong parallels between Agility and Human Rights, and I believe that is a purposeful and direct by-product of the primary outcomes of the Agile Manifesto. However, I have attempted to make this article a little different from others by more subtly embedding the learnings and patterns within the messages and on several levels. As such I hope the connections are still obvious, and that you find this article refreshing, insightful, appropriate and useful.
A Premise
It seems everywhere I turn lately there is a scandal of greed, lust, abuse, harassment, violence or oppression in both the workplace as well as personal life. I’d like to believe the number of despicable activities is not actually increasing but rather I am simply exposed to more because we live in an age when the speed and ease of access to information is staggering. Certainly recent events are no exception to human history that records thousands of years of oppression, subjugation, control, and violence. My question is: as a supposedly intelligent species, why is it we have seemingly learned very little over the millennia?
I propose we have actually learned a great deal and made significant advances, yet at the same time we have experienced setbacks that repeatedly challenge that progress. These setbacks are often imposed by select individuals in positions of authority that choose to prioritize and exert their power, individual needs or desires over the rights and needs of others. However, I believe if we can truly harness the power of unity and collaboration we can make a significant positive difference, and that is what I seek your help in doing.
~ Aristotle
Finding a Beacon in the Darkness
Every day I find it disheartening to bear witness to people being physically and mentally hurt, abused or taken advantage of. In their personal lives and at home. At the workplace. In wars and conflicts. In human created environmental disasters. It seems there is no end to the pain and suffering or the countless ways to inflict it.
Meanwhile I sincerely believe many of us have the desire to make the world a better place, but given our positions and busy lives it can be daunting to make a real difference. In many instances we feel powerless to change the world because someone else has authority over us or over the system. It may also seem pointless to commit to change something we as an individual have little to no control over. It can also be risky to draw attention to ourselves by speaking against others in a position of power who may and sometimes will exert their influence to attack and hurt us as well as those we care for.
Despite the temptation to hide from the noise we must remain strong and acknowledge that by creating transparency and visibility in to dark and sometimes painful events we are actually opening the door to the opportunity for positive change. Obscuring truth does nothing to help a worthy cause or to better society. Remaining silent about an injustice does not provide the victim with any form of respect or comfort. Pretending something didn’t happen doesn’t make the consequences and outcomes any less real for the casualty. Inaction does not provide any benefit except perhaps the avoidance of an immediate conflict.
Many times, shining a light on something does provides tangible benefit. It creates visibility and awareness, and provides opportunity for the truth to be exposed. Although transparency itself may not solve a problem, reflection and openness should make the misalignment more critical and obvious. I believe the majority of us want trust, and honesty wherever we are, whether it be in the boardroom, on the manufacturing floor, in a political office, or even in a private home.
~ Robert Kennedy
However we must also acknowledge that sharing truth may often be painful and uncomfortable, and in order to create the opportunity for truth we must first provide individuals with safety so they may find the courage to do what is right. Without safety people fear reprisals, embarrassment, retribution, consequences, and loss of respect. History has taught us that without safety and courage we can not expect most people to bridge the chasm from fear to justice, and as a result the silence will continue. With silence there will be no hope for change. So in order to help define expectations and to foster a safer environment for effective communication we need a code to live by; one that provides standards and creates safety – that serves as a beacon in the darkness so that we may uphold ourselves and one another to it.
To be absolutely clear, I am not saying that policies, processes and tools are more important than people. Instead, I am acknowledging that the right combination of policies and processes with appropriate tools and a method to uphold those ideals should serve to provide opportunity for fairness for people, which is the desired outcome.
A Disturbing Retrospective Leading to a Hopeful Outcome
At the end of World War II when “relative” safety was finally achieved, people were exhausted, shocked and appalled with the magnitude of human atrocities they bore witness to. Given the darkness of the times it may have seemed less painful to move on, put it in the past, and perhaps even obscure disturbing facts rather than revisit them in the pursuit of learning. Instead, the leadership of that time chose to leverage careful inspection to uncover truths and provide visibility with the aspiration that something good could flow out of the evil. In the end the aim was to use the learnings to create a shared understanding and define standards and expectations for a safe environment in the future.
~ George Santayana
To this end I believe we already have a code to live by, but I surmise most of society doesn’t give it the continuous, serious consideration and support it deserves. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created on December 10, 1948 as a direct outcome of the learnings from World War II, and in this brief but impactful document are 30 articles that define human equality and set the standards for safety. Despite some of its choice wording and age (at almost 70 years) I believe it is still directly relevant and bears serious attention.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The UDHR document transcends political borders, gender, orientation, race, religion, boardrooms, workplaces, homes, family, and economic status. Every person on this planet should not only just read it, but actively live, work, and explicitly honour the values it represents. The UDHR should become the definitive core learning article for every child. If we all continuously make a firm commitment to hold ourselves and others by the standards in the UDHR I believe we could collectively create opportunity for better safety, transparency, respect, and courage in the workplace, at home, and abroad by putting focus on what matters most – equality and the value of and compassion for human life.
The UDHR document may be policy, but with continuous effort, unilateral agreement and support it enables and empowers people. It may not be perfection, but it is aspirational towards it. It focuses on individual rights but strongly values human interaction. It promotes balance, harmony and partnerships. It demands mutual respect and caring. It is elegant in its simplicity. It promotes collaboration and shared responsibility. It defines clear expectations for a safe environment.
~ Winston Churchill
I believe the UDHR is the manifesto of real, human agility, and if enough of us embrace and enforce it I believe we could collectively make real, positive change.
Now, A Challenge
I challenge each and every one of you to take time to read the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I don’t just mean on the train on the way to work, or over morning coffee, or while your kids are playing soccer or hockey, or whatever you do to pass a few minutes of time. I mean take time to really, truly and deeply comprehend what each of the thirty articles are saying. Reflect on the value of wisdom that it provides and how that wisdom came from pain and learning. I then encourage you to share it with every family member (adults and youth) and ask for constructive feedback on what it says about them and personal life. I encourage you to share it with every co-worker and then have an open, honest dialogue about what your company culture and leadership either does or fails to do to provide a safe work environment and to promote equality, truth, transparency and human rights.
Then, I challenge you to ask every single day “Given the declaration, what small positive adaptation or change can I make right now to help our family, friends, peers, coworkers and humanity achieve these goals and outcomes?” You could start with something as simple as a brief conversation, and see where it goes.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
I asked myself that very question after visiting the UN General Assembly and Security Council Chambers in New York late last year. In response, one of my first actions in 2018 is to publish this article in an effort to re-establish awareness about the UN declaration and how it may bring hope and positive change if we can rally enough people behind it. How about you?
A secondary (and arguably less important) challenge I am issuing for Lean and Agile enthusiasts is for you to identify the patterns and key words in this article that I have borrowed from various facets of the Lean and Agile domains (hint: there are at least 20 different words – can you spot them). I purposefully embedded these patterns and key words in this article to explicitly highlight the parallels that I see between Agility and the UDHR and I hope you see them too.
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What if no one was forced to do Scrum?
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Build Positive Relationships With Trust in Your (Work) Life
Here’s what one team development company writes about this subject:
It Starts With Me and You
• Do I tell the truth?
• Do I do what I say I’m going to do?
• Do I encourage or help others when I can?
“The first question: Can I trust you?”
You can read more about Trust at
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Mold and yeast are first cousins (second cousins to fungi and mushrooms). Both mold and yeast are very primitive microscopic organisms that have found a way of thriving for millions of years. One of their most effective survival strategies is to develop spores (“seeds”) that can be dormant for months, or even years, then come to life in the right situation.
A loaf of bread may have close encounters of the spore kind at the beginning and at the end of its existence. Part of the baking process is the addition of leaven to the dough mixture to make the loaf rise. This may be done by physically adding an agent, usually yeast. But if you just let the raw dough loaf sit for a couple of days, it will start rising on its own. Why? Because there are yeast spores in the air all the time just waiting for the opportunity to dive into a fresh, starchy banquet, where it can feast, multiply, and belch out the CO2 gas which makes the loaf rise. When the rising process has gone far enough, the baker pops the loaf into the oven to prepare it for human consumption.
Most loaves of bread are eaten by hungry people. But once they’ve eaten their fill, part of the loaf of bread may be left on the table for a couple of days, and mold is likely to appear and begin spreading all over the loaf. Where does this mold come from? Right, from spores that have been floating around in the air waiting for their turn.
Spores of yeast, mold and other family members are very abundant in the air we breathe. Though this varies with the location, it has been calculated that the average person inhales about 600,000 spores in an hour – most of these are exhaled with the next breath; those few that attach to the lung walls are usually dealt with by the body’s immune system. Some spores may contribute to allergic reactions, and a few can cause diseases, but most are harmless to us. Humans have coexisted with yeast and mold spores throughout their history as a species.
Jesus told this parable to a group of potential followers: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)
He was calling attention to something they could observe any day in their kitchens — the mysterious power of yeast to extend its influence rapidly through the whole loaf of bread. He said the Kingdom of God has a similar capability to expand quickly and effectively, without being observed.
But if the woman didn’t add the yeast, just letting nature take its course, the whole loaf would still have become leavened because of the yeast spores in the air. There is much in Jesus’ teaching that indicates he was aware that Holy Spirit Spores were in the atmosphere all around him, ready to bring the powerful realities of the Kingdom of God into the lives of people who were open to spiritual leavening.
Some of the people who heard Jesus closed themselves to his Kingdom invitation. Later, they wondered where the mold in their lives came from. Other spores.
— Pastor George Van Alstine |
When Should Wisdom Teeth Be Removed
Between the ages 16-22 years old, wisdom tooth might start to show up. If you can feel that it’s about to come out, visit your dentist. Normally, a dentist will recommend that you remove your wisdom tooth if it causes pain or infection, crowd other teeth, or it can’t push itself upward and get stuck inside your gums.
Many dentists believe that it is better to remove the wisdom tooth while the patient is still young. It is easier to extract the tooth while the roots and the bones are still soft and the wound can heal easily. A wisdom tooth can be problematic once you reached the age of 30 when the bones are harder to take out and the wound doesn’t heal fast.
There are cases when a wisdom tooth grows normally and doesn’t cause any problem. In this case, it will be your choice if you want to take it out or just let it be.
Wisdom teeth grow at the upper and lower third molars. They are located at the very back of your mouth. They are not part of the normal teeth which grow during the early stage of a person’s development. They surface when a person is between 17 to 21 years of age, hence the term “wisdom”.
Some people have a broader jawline which can accommodate a third molar. But in many cases, the jawline has no space for another tooth. This is the main reason why wisdom tooth needs to be removed. When it cannot erupt normally, it will get impacted and cannot break through the gums. An impacted wisdom tooth is very painful and can cause infection which can affect the healthy teeth around it.
Even wisdom tooth that grows normally can still possess risks. Since they grow at the farthermost part of the mouth, they are hard to clean with regular brushing and cannot be flossed either. This makes them susceptible to cavities and gum diseases.
In general, it is a good decision to remove the wisdom tooth when:
1. They are painful and infected,
2. They crowd the teeth;
3. They are impacted;
4. They grow in irregular shape and direction, and
5. To prevent further dental problems such as cavities and gum diseases.
If you are not sure whether you need a wisdom tooth extraction or not, visit a dentist in Ontario right now. It’s always a good idea to seek professional advice from an expert. |
Online teaching
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%22Body Systems%22 Chapter Review (Pages 74-79)
Author: Miller Crystal
Description: Match the term with its definition.
Keywords: endocrine, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, systems, , online teaching
0. kidneys
1. bronchi
2. tendons
3. respiratory system
4. lungs
5. hormones
6. circulatory system
7. opposing muscles
8. esophagus
9. skeletal system
10. large intestine
11. excretory system
12. endocrine system
13. heart
14. sweat
15. adrenaline
0. muscular tube that carries food to the stomach
1. organ that aids in breathing and removes cardon dioxide
2. system that provides structure and protection
3. hormone that increases heart and sends blood to the muscles
4. band that holds muscle to bone
5. system that pumps blood throughthe body from the heart
6. system that breaks down food into nutrients
7. muscles work in pairs that do opposite actions
8. air passes through these tubes in the lungs that branch out
9. control changes in the body
10. system that produces hormones, such as adrenaline
11. organ that pumps blood for the entire body
12. system that removes waste from the body
13. extra water and salt the body is getting rid of
14. organ that absorbs waterfrom undigested food
15. to tighten |
Posts Tagged ‘draw dies’
Cold Forming Die
Cold Forming Die
Cold Forming Die (Cold Heading Dies) Tungsten Carbide Cold Forming Dies Cold forming, or cold heading, starts with a cold metal slug placed into a die that is hit with a heavy strike to shape it into its desired form. The force from the strike causes the metal to flow into the desired shape inside the carbide die by exceeding the metal’s yield strength. Modern cold forming is commonly used for rapidly forming metal parts such as screws, bolts and many other fasteners.
Draw Ding Die
Carbide Drawing Die
Carbide Drawing Dies (Draw Dies) Drawing dies are typically used to shape wire, rod, bar, and tube. Commonly drawn materials include steel, aluminum, and copper. Tungsten carbide has a high compressive strength allowing it to handle extreme pressure; this makes the material ideal for use in drawing dies. Most major manufacturers use carbide dies in the drawing process. Drawn materials include mild steel, stainless steel and high carbon steel as well as other steel alloys. Softer materials, like aluminum and copper alloys, are frequently drawn as well.
The wire drawing process involves drawing wire through a die to reduce the diameter of the wire to the desired size and tolerance, while the volume remains the same. Wires are sized by drawing them through a series of drawing dies, with each die having slightly smaller bore diameter than the one preceding it to gradually reduce the width of the wire. The final die in the series forms the wire to its target size. Tube, or pipe, drawing dies are commonly round, hex or square, but can be made into any shape desired by the manufacturer. The process of drawing tubing is similar to the wire drawing process; however, a mandrel is used to form the inner dimensions of the tubing. The mandrel is inside the tube, or pipe, and situated inside the die. As the tube is drawn through the die it is being shaped on the inside by the mandrel, which establishes the wall thickness and inner diameter. A properly formed mandrel will provide for a smooth surface on the inside of the tube or pipe. Bars and rods are drawn in a similar fashion to wire; only they tend to be much thicker. A wide variety of metals are used in this application, including many steel and copper alloys. A cut-off knife is used to size the rods and bars to length.
Carbide Extrusion Die
Extrusion Die
Extrusion Dies Extrusion dies are typically used in a process where a slug is pushed through the die, forming the desired cross sectional area. A mandrel is used in the process if the application is for tubing, or pipes. Extrusion can be performed on a wide variety of materials and at various temperatures to obtain the desired properties of the extruded product. Materials that can be formed with extrusion dies include steel, copper, aluminum, tin, lead, nickel and even plastic. Products formed through extrusion operations include pipe, wire, rods, bars, tubes, and welding electrodes.
Carbide Shaving Dies Shaving dies are typically used to remove surface defects that are produced during the drawing process. The shaving process can be used on steel alloys, aluminum alloys, and copper alloys. Carbide Swaging Dies Swaging dies are generally used in a manufacturing process called rotary swaging. The rotary swaging process is usually a cold working process, used to reduce the diameter, add a taper, or make a point to a round work piece. It can also provide internal shapes in hollow work pieces with the help of a mandrel.
Thanks to Raven Carbide Die for the Images.
Carbide Dies
Carbide Dies
What is a DIe Maker?
So are these die makers?
Tool and die makers are machinists in manufacturing industries who make jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools, gauges, and other tools used in manufacturing processes. A machinist may be called by various names depending on which area of concentration a particular person works in, such as tool maker or die maker.
Tool and die makers work primarily in tool room environments but more often are in a workshop environment. They are skilled artisans who typically learn their trade through a combination of school and hands-on instruction, with a long period of on-the-job training. Science and art are mixed into their work as well as some engineering concepts. Mechanical engineers and tool and die makers often work closely to design parts and make sure all facets of the job can be completed properly. Both careers involve some level of talent in both creativity and math-and-science. Being a job-shop machinist can combine aspects of toolmaker and production machinist. Some will work solely as machine operators, while others may switch fluidly between tool room tasks and production tasks.
Working from engineering drawings, toolmakers begin by cutting out the design on the raw material, then cut/grind the material to the specified size and shape using manually controlled machine tools (lathes, mills, ID and OD grinding machines, and jig grinders), power tools (die grinders and rotary tools), and hand tools (diamond files, diamond powders and honing stones). Materials used in tool and dies range from steel to tungsten carbide.
Tool and die makers have increasingly had to add computer skills to their daily work, since the addition of computing in the manufacturing fields (CNC, CAD, CAM, and other computer-aided technologies). Today’s tool and die makers are often required to have mastered all of the traditional skills plus substantial digital skills. The combination of hands on skilled labor and digital knowledge make tool and die production a formidable task to master, and one that pays well if mastered!
Tool making
Tool making basically means making tooling used to produce products, or making parts that make parts. Frequently made tools include metal forming rolls, lathe bits, cutters, and fixtures. Due to the unique nature of a toolmaker’s work, it is often necessary to fabricate custom tools or modify standard tools.
Die making
Die making is a sub sect of tool making that focuses mostly on making and maintaining dies. This often includes making punches, dies, draw dies, extrusion dies and carbide dies. Precision is the key to die making. When making dies there will be extremely close tolerances that the machinist must keep the parts within, as dies are usually precise manufacturing tools. Punches and dies must maintain proper clearance to produce parts accurately, and it is often necessary to have die sets machined with tolerances of less than one thousandth of an inch!
A veteran machinist may be called upon to perform all of the above jobs, and the skills and concepts involved often overlap, which is why “tool and die making” is commonly viewed as a single field.
Many tool and die makers begin an apprenticeship with an employer, sometimes including a mix of classroom training and hands-on experience. Prior knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering or design and technology can be valuable to any new machinist. A lot of tool and die makers work a 4-5 year apprenticeship program to achieve the status of a journeyman tool and die maker. Today’s employment opportunities often differ in name and detail from the traditional arrangement of an apprenticeship. The terms “apprentice” and “journeyman” are not always used, but the idea of a period of years of on-the-job training to master the field still applies for new machinists.
In the United States, tool and die makers who graduate from NTMA (National Tooling and Machining Association) take 4 years of college courses as well as work 10,000 hours in order to complete their apprenticeship. They are also accredited through the U.S. Department of Labor.
Jig/fixture maker
A jig and fixture maker is a type of tool and die maker/toolmaker. The difference between jigs and fixtures is that a jig is what mounts onto a work piece, and a fixture has the work piece placed on it, into it, or next to it. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
An engineer often advises them. Knowledge of various materials is necessary beyond standard wood and metal, such as plastics. Jig/fixture makers also can create, design and build fixtures without engineering plans/blueprints.
Jig/fixture makers gain hands on practical experience while monitoring and making alterations as the engineer improves the manufacturing process. They also can be required to make these adjustments without the help of an engineer, depending on the size and resources of the company. Some Jigs and fixtures require electronic and pneumatic actuation, which will involve knowledge/training in these fields as well.
Properly built jigs and fixtures reduce waste by insuring perfectly fitting parts, reducing adjustments needed to fix the problem. Jigs and fixtures can be as big as a car or be held in hand. Production needs dictate form and function. Jigs, fixtures and gages are necessary to maintain quality standards for repeated low and high volume production demands.
The continued advancement of computerized design and control technologies, such as CAD/CAM, CNC, PLC, and others, has reduced the use of jigs in manufacturing. However, all the computer run machines need some sort of clamping fixture to hold parts for production runs. For example, a drill jig is not needed to guide drill bits to the hole centers if a CNC is used, since it is Computer Numerically Controlled. However, fixtures are still needed to hold the parts in place for the operation needed. Jigs are currently needed in many areas of manufacturing but mainly for low-volume production.
More Information About Tool & Die Makers:
How to become a Die Maker
Where are Carbide Die Companies Located?
Carbide Die Makers – What they make, there compensation and job outlook for die makers. |
EECS 373: Design of Microprocessor Based Systems
Fall 2018
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Lecture schedule | Homework | Labs | Quizzes and Exams | Gradescope
Course Overview
We have a number of educational goals when teaching 373. The primary ones are: In the classroom, we will focus on generic principles and ideas. In the lab, we will focus on the ARM Cortex M3 and the specific support hardware and software found in the lab. When needed the lecture will support the lab, and where possible, the lab will support the lecture. You will find that you will need to spend large amounts of time in the lab in order to complete your projects -- this is a lab intensive class.
You must have taken EECS 270 and EECS 370 to take this course. This also implies you have taken EECS 280. I will assume you are familiar with: (on the hardware side) Boolean algebra, gates, multiplexers, flip-flops, and finite-state machines, (on the computer architecture side) assembly language, pipelining, memory, and caching, and (on the software side) program control structures (if/then/else, while and for loops), functions, procedures, parameter passing, pointer-based data structures, and basic structured programming techniques (information hiding, modular programming, etc.).
General Policies
The honor code is in force on all assignments and exams. See the Engineering Honor Council web page for more details.
1. All individual assignments (e.g. exams, pre-labs, homework and exams) are to be performed on your own.
2. All group assignments (e.g., in-lab work, post-labs, group talk) are to be performed only by members of the group. Verbal collaboration between members of different groups is permitted for the purpose of helping classmates to understand concepts essential to the labs or providing one another with insights into the best way to approach the in-lab assignments. However, non-verbal collaboration (e.g. drawing detailed schematics on paper or chalkboard, sharing schematics or code) is forbidden. You may not help debug another group's hardware or software without consent from the lab or course instructor. You are also not allowed to possess, look at, use, or in any way derive advantage from the existence of code, lab reports, or other material prepared in prior years.
3. Homework solutions will be posted soon after the deadline. Late homework assignments will not receive any credit. To reduce the angst this policy may cause, your lowest homework score for the semester will be dropped.
Lab policies
1. Pre-labs are to be done individually. The intent is that both partners walk into the lab comfortable with the material and ready to start the in-lab. Pre-labs are due at the start of the lab session. Pre-labs not turned in within the first 10 minutes of lab will be considered to be a day late. Late pre-labs lose 10% per school day that they are late.
2. In-lab and post-lab assignments are due in lab the week after the lab is assigned unless otherwise noted. Though your in-lab work must be done before the start of lab, in-lab sign-off sheets are due within an hour of the start of lab (so you have a chance to have your lab instructor sign off on your in-lab assignment). In-lab and post-lab assignments lose 5% for each day that they are late.
3. Most of the variation in lab grades between different students will be due to late penalties and pre-lab questions because the in-lab is graded almost entirely on a done/not done basis. Staying on top of the labs--even in the face of technical problems, makes a significant difference in your lab score.
4. You are expected to attend the lab section for which you are registered. If you would like to switch lab sections, but the section you want is full, you must find someone in that lab section to switch with. Once you have agreed on a switch, send email to Matt Smith. All section switches must be completed before the second week of lab.
5. If there are computers available, you may work in lab during other lab sections. However the lab staff's first priority will be the students who are actually enrolled in that lab. The one exception is that inlab sign-offs will be given reasonable priority.
Each student will be in a 3 person presentation group (there may be one or two 2-person groups). Each group will give a 10-12 minute technical talk in class. Each group will have one graded practice session. The goals of these presentations are to
1. Educate students about a wide variety of embedded systems topics
2. Provide students with the opportunity practice preparing and giving technical talks to their peers.
The following gives the approximate grade breakdown for labs and exams.
Overall breakdown:
Item Weight
Labs (7) 25%
Project 27%
Exams 34% (17% midterm 1; 17% midterm 2)
Homework 8%
Oral presentation 6%
Lecture schedule | Homework | Labs | Quizzes and Exams | Gradescope |
The Many Kinds of Wheat
Growing Conditions
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Enemies of Wheat
Many different insects attack wheat, but damage due to insects is usually less than damage from diseases. Insects develop slowly, and many birds, diseases, and other insects attack and kill wheat-eating insects. In the United States, armyworms eat wheat plants, especially the heads; chinch bugs damage wheat by piercing the stem and sucking juice from the plant; and the Hessian fly, whose larvae eat parts of the wheat stem, causes the plant to fall over.…
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Wheat Plant Cultivation
Controlling Wheat Production
Wheat for a Hungry World
Pooling the World’s Wheat Crops
Wheat Crops Around the World
Yields and Grades
The Wheat Plant
The Wheat Kernel |
Roles of Motile and Immotile Cilia in Left-Right Symmetry Breaking
• Hiroshi Hamada
Open Access
Our body possesses three body axes, anteroposterior, dorsoventral, and left-right (L-R) axes. L-R asymmetry is achieved by three consecutive steps: symmetry breaking at the node, differential patterning of the lateral plate by a signaling molecule Nodal, and finally situs-specific organogenesis. Breaking of L-R symmetry in the mouse embryo takes place in the ventral node, where two types of cilia are found. Whereas centrally located motile cilia generate a leftward fluid flow, peripherally located immotile cilia sense a flow-dependent signal. Although Ca2+ signaling is implicated in flow sensing, it is still not clear what triggers Ca2+ signaling, a determinant molecule transported by the flow or mechanical force induced by the flow.
Cilia Fluid flow Laterality Left-right asymmetry
7.1 Introduction
Most of visceral organs in vertebrates including the human are left-right (L-R) asymmetric in their position or shape. The process by which L-R asymmetry is generated can be divided into three steps (Fig. 7.1):
Fig. 7.1
Three steps underlying the generation of L-R asymmetry. Three steps that contribute to the generation of L-R asymmetry are shown: (1) symmetry breaking, (2) molecular patterning of the LPM, and (3) asymmetric organogenesis. The developmental stage (E, embryonic day) corresponding to each step in the mouse is indicated on the left
1. 1.
The initial breaking of L-R symmetry, which occurs in or near the node and at the late neural-fold stage
2. 2.
Transfer of an L-R-biased signal(s) from the node to the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) , which leads to L-R asymmetric expression of signaling molecules such as the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-related proteins Nodal and Lefty on the left side of the LPM
3. 3.
L-R asymmetric morphogenesis of visceral organs induced by these signaling molecules
7.2 Symmetry Breaking by Motile Cilia and Fluid Flow
The breaking of L-R symmetry takes place in the node, an embryonic midline structure located at the anterior tip of the primitive streak in mouse embryos (Fig. 7.2). At the central region of the node, there are about 200 motile cilia that protrude from the ventral side of the node into the node cavity [1] (Fig. 7.2) and rotate in the clockwise direction (when viewed from the ventral side) at a speed of 600 rpm [2]. This rotational movement of the cilia generates the leftward laminar flow of extraembryonic fluid in the node cavity [2], occurs at a speed of ~15–20 μm/s. This leftward fluid flow in the node, referred to as nodal flow, is responsible for symmetry breaking. Many mutant mice that lack nodal flow because the node cilia are either missing or immotile have been identified, all of which exhibit aberrant L-R patterning of the LPM. Furthermore, L-R patterning of the embryo can be reversed when the direction of the flow was experimentally reversed by imposing the rightward artificial flow [3], establishing that the direction of the flow determines L-R.
Fig. 7.2
Cilia and fluid flow in the node. A lateral view of the embryonic day 8.0 mouse embryo (a). Note that the node is located at the midline. Left-right (L-R) and anteroposterior (A-P) orientations are indicated. A ventral view of the mouse node at lower magnification (b). The red arrow denotes the leftward flow of extraembryonic fluid. A scanning electron micrograph showing that each cell on the ventral side of the mouse node has a monocilium (c)
How is the unidirectional fluid flow generated by rotational movement of the cilia? Hydrodynamic principles predict that the cilia can generate a unidirectional flow if they are tilted toward a specific direction. When the cilia move closer to the surface, the movement of fluid near the surface will be restricted as a result of the “no-slip boundary effect.” Conversely, when the cilia move away from the surface, they move the neighboring fluid more effectively. If cilia are tilted toward the posterior side, they will be moving toward the right when they come close to the surface and toward the left when they are far from the surface, thus generating a leftward flow. Observation of these rotating cilia by high-speed video microscopy revealed that they are indeed tilted posteriorly at an average angle of 30° [4, 5]. Recent evidence [6] suggests that, in addition to the “no-slip boundary effect,” intrinsic asymmetry in rotational stroke may also help generating the unidirectional flow.
Since the L-R axis is the last axis to be determined, symmetry breaking of L-R axis must be achieved by utilizing preexisting positional cues. In fact, two preexisting positional cues are reflected in the cilia: The A-P and D-V axes are thus represented by the posterior tilt and ventral protrusion of the cilia, respectively (Fig. 7.3). The node cilia thus generate the leftward flow by making use both of the preexisting positional cues and their structural chirality.
Fig. 7.3
L-R symmetry breaking by preexisting information. Each node cilium (red bars on left) is posteriorly tilted, likely because the basal body (green) is posteriorly shifted within the cell (blue). The cilium protrudes from the cell toward the ventral side of the embryo and rotates in a clockwise direction when viewed from the ventral side. Anteroposterior (A-P) and dorsoventral (D-V) orientations are indicated. A schematic representation of a transverse section of a cilium, revealing its chiral structure, is shown on the right. The cilium contains nine pairs of microtubules (green) as well as inner and outer arms of dynein (pink)
How is A-P information translated into the posterior tilt of the node cilia? Given its similarity to positioning of the hair in the Drosophila wing, a mechanism resembling the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway involving noncanonical Wnt signaling [7] seems to underlie positioning of the node cilia. Thus, some of the PCP core proteins such as Prickle2 and Vangl1 are localized to the anterior side of node cells [8, 9], whereas Dvl protein is localized to the posterior side [10] (Fig. 7.3). However, it remains unknown what positional cue is responsible for the polarized localization of these PCP core proteins.
7.3 Sensing of the Fluid Flow by Immotile Cilia
In addition to the motile cilia, there are immotile cilia in the node [11, 12] (Fig. 7.4). Cells located at the central region of the node (pit cells) possess motile cilia, which generate the fluid flow. On the other hand, most cells located at the edge of the node (crown cells) possess immotile cilia [13]. Immotile cilia act as sensors of the fluid flow [13]. Mutant mouse embryo that lack all cilia including those at the node, such as Kif3a−/−mouse embryos, fail to develop nodal flow and show L-R defects [14]. Such cilium-less embryos are also unable to respond to the artificial flow. However, when immotile cilia are restored in crown cells, the resulting embryo can now respond to the artificial flow [13], demonstrating that immotile cilia sense the flow.
Fig. 7.4
Two types of cilia in the node, motile and immotile. Two types of ciliated cell are present in the node: Those located centrally (green) have motile cilia that generate nodal flow, whereas those located peripherally (pink) possess immotile cilia that sense the flow. Sensing of the flow requires ciliary localization of a Ca2+ channel, the Pkd2-Pkd1l1 complex. The flow-mediated signal results in degradation of Cerl2 mRNA. In this model, the flow would bend an immotile cilium on the left side
Sensing of the fluid flow by immotile cilia requires a Ca2+ channel composed of Pkd2 [15] and Pkd1l1 [16, 17]. Indeed, several Ca2+ signaling blockers have been shown to disrupt asymmetric gene expression in crown cells [13]. In particular, the effects of GdCl3 [an inhibitor of stretch-sensitive transient receptor potential (TRP) channels], 2-ABP [an inhibitor of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor], and thapsigargin (an inhibitor of Ca2+-dependent ATPase activity in the endoplasmic reticulum) suggest involvement of a TRP-type channel such as Pkd2 and the IP3 receptor in the sensing of nodal flow. A mutation in Pkd2 that disrupts the ciliary localization of the encoded protein results in L-R defects similar to those of Pkd2−/−embryos [13, 16], suggesting that Pkd2, together with Pkd1l1, functions in the ciliary compartment of crown cells. Whereas Pkd2 encodes a Ca2+ channel with a short extracellular domain, Pkd1l1 possesses a much larger extracellular domain at its amino terminus. Pkd1l1 may be responsible for sensing of the flow signal and regulating Ca2+ channel activity of Pkd2. While oscillations of Ca2+ signaling with subtle L>R asymmetry were detected in the node [18], direct observation of L-R asymmetric Ca2+ signaling in crown cells has not been successful [13].
A long-standing question since the discovery of nodal flow concerns the action of the flow. Two models have been proposed (Fig. 7.5). According to the chemosensor model (Fig. 7.5a), the flow would transport an unknown molecule toward the left side of the embryo, which will eventually act as the L-R determinant. In an alternative model (two-cilia model or mechanosensor model; Fig. 7.5b), the embryo would sense the mechanical force generated by the flow. Several molecules have been proposed to be the determinant transported by the flow. However, none of them fulfill the requirements for the determinant. On the other hand, many lines of circumstantial evidence, including the recent observation that as few as two rotating cilia are sufficient for the breaking of L-R symmetry [19], favor the latter model. However, it is still not clear what exactly the immotile cilia sense during the symmetry-breaking event.
Fig. 7.5
Two models for the mechanism of action of nodal flow. (a) Determinant-transporting model. (b) Mechanosensory model. Green arrows indicate the direction of nodal flow; yellow stars denote determinant molecules
7.4 Readouts of the Flow
Cerl2 is the most immediate readout of the flow signal [19, 20]. Cerl2 encodes a Nodal antagonist, although its precise action is not clear. It is asymmetrically (R > L) expressed in crown cells, and its absence results in randomization of L-R decision making [21]. Whereas expression of Nodal is bilateral in crown cells, the R > L expression of Cerl2 renders Nodal activity in crown cells higher on the left side (Fig. 7.6). The Cerl2-generated asymmetry (R < L) of Nodal activity at the node closely correlates with the asymmetric pattern of Nodal expression in LPM [22]. Expression of Cerl2 is initially symmetric (R = L) at the early headfold stage, but it becomes R > L as the velocity of nodal flow increases, with expression on the left side being downregulated [19, 22]. Finally, Pkd2−/−Cerl2−/−double-mutant embryos manifest randomized Nodal expression in LPM, resembling the Cerl2 single mutant [13]. Therefore, Cerl2 is the main target of the flow signal.
Fig. 7.6
R>L expression of Cerl2 results in asymmetry in Nodal activity at the node. R>L asymmetric expression of Cerl2 makes Nodal activity at the node R<L (a), Cerl2 is an inhibitor of Nodal (b)
L-R asymmetry of Cerl2 expression is generated at a posttranscriptional level [23], by degradation of Cerl2 mRNA via its 3′ untranslated region. Preferential decay of Cerl2 mRNA on the left is initiated by the leftward flow and further enhanced by the operation of Wnt-Cerl2 interlinked feedback loops, in which Wnt3 upregulates Wnt3 expression and promotes Cerl2 mRNA decay, whereas Cerl2 promotes Wnt degradation. Mathematical modeling and experimental data suggest that these feedback loops behave as a bistable switch that is able to amplify in a noise-resistant manner a small bias conferred by fluid flow.
7.5 Future Directions
Although rapid progress has been made in the last 20 years, many important questions remain unanswered. Firstly, how is A-P information translated into the posterior tilt of node cilia? Namely, what is the nature of the A-P information that polarizes node cells along the A-P axis? Secondly, how is the direction of rotation determined for node cilia? Thirdly, how does the nodal flow work? How do motile cilia sense the flow? Do they sense a signaling molecule that is transported by the flow or sense mechanical force? Fourthly, what is the precise role of Ca2+ signaling? How does Ca2+ signaling induce degradation of Cerl2 mRNA? Finally, to what extent is the mechanism for breaking of L-R symmetry conserved among species? L-R symmetry breaking does not appear to depend on cilia in Drosophila and snail [24]. Further development of various approaches (including genetic, cellular, biophysical, and mathematical) will be necessary to answer these questions.
I thank current and former members of my laboratory for discussion as well as for providing illustrations. The work performed in my laboratory has been supported by CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), and by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.
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Copyright information
© The Author(s) 2016
Authors and Affiliations
1. 1.Graduate School of Frontier BioscienceOsaka UniversitySuitaJapan
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The Effects of Protection.
When Mr W. C. Buchanan, M.H.R. for Wairarapa, took his last trip to England, he went by way of San Francisco, andpaid particular attention to the cost of living when passing through the States. He told his constituents at Groytown the other day that he paid sdol (20a lOd) for a hat in Chicago, which would have cost 12s 6d In New Zealand. He also bought a suit of clothes at Chicago which the tailor told him could not be made under 40dol or SOdol or somewhere about LlO that can be made in this colony for from L 4 108 to L 6. And he had to pay it, for the Natives at Samoa somehow managed to steal his clothes, and he had to renew his wardrobe. He went to a bootmaker and paid 16dol for a pair of boots which were valued by a Wellington bootmaker at 32s 6d. This is what Protection has done for America in 100 years. But someone may ask : " What about wages ? Are they not very high ? Platelayers earn in New Zealand 6s 6d per day, wet and dry, for a day of eight hours. In America they receive from Idol to Idol 75c for a day of ten hours. Comparing rates of wages, men in New Zealand earn Id per hour more than ttie highest rate paid in America. To the poor man Protection has nothing to recommend it. It means dear living, low wages, and keen competition amongst factory hands to secure work. Only the thin end of the wedge of Protection has been introduced in New Zealand, but already the baneful effects of the false policy have shown themselves in the poverty of the poor workgirls in Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland. Some people talk about the advantages of Fairtrade as opposed to Protection and to Freetrade; but Fairtrade means the protection of industries that can be fostered in a country, and free admission of all goods that cannot be manufactured or grown. But the result to the people is the same as under Protection. Under Fairtrade it would be said that New Zealand can manufacture nearly everything she wants in the way of clothing ond machinery, and therefore all these things would be protected by prohibitive duties on the imported articles, while tea and such like that can neither be made nor grown would be free. The consequence would be that manufactured articles would be excessively dear, as in America, or wages would be excessively low. In either case nothing would be gained. .
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Bibliographic details
The Effects of Protection., Evening Star, Issue 7968, 25 July 1889
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The Effects of Protection. Evening Star, Issue 7968, 25 July 1889 |
Holiday Plant Hazards
The Tree
If you’ve set up a holiday tree in your home this year, it’s important to be aware of a few potential dangers. Not only can the ornaments and lights adorning your tree prove hazardous if a pet tries to play with them, parts of the tree itself can cause harm. Fir trees produce an oil that can irritate a pet’s mouth or stomach, possibly leading to vomiting. Pine needles can irritate a pet’s stomach and even puncture the stomach lining. Keep a close eye on your animal friend when they’re playing near the tree.
A pet would have to ingest quite a lot of a poinsettia plant to actually experience symptoms of poisoning; that doesn’t mean the plants are entirely safe, though. The poinsettia’s leaves contain a sap that can irritate a pet’s mouth, esophagus, and stomach—if enough is ingested, a pet is sure to experience excessive drooling or vomiting. Plus, a poinsettia plant may have been treated with a pesticide or fertilizer product, which you don’t want your four-legged friend ingesting.
Mistletoe and Holly
These popular plants aren’t safe for pets—both the plant material and berries of holly and mistletoe contain toxins that can cause serious symptoms, including stomach upset, abdominal pain, drooling, low blood pressure, diarrhea, and vomiting. Holly and mistletoe may even prove deadly if enough is ingested! Don’t allow your pet access to these plants under any circumstances.
Did you know that various species of lilies are toxic to cats, and may harm dogs as well? Even small amounts of the lily plant can cause loss of appetite, lethargy, dehydration, vomiting, diarrhea, and—without prompt treatment—seizures or worse. Since lilies are common in bouquets and gift packages during the holidays, pay extra attention this time of year.
Autumn Decorations
You may still have plant decorations around from back in the fall season—while common autumn plants like pumpkins, gourds, and decorative corn aren’t necessarily toxic to animals, they can present a choking hazard or cause intestinal upset when swallowed.
If you would like to know more about keeping your pet safe during the holidays, give us a call. We’re here to help! |
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Bike Safety
Securing your computer is very much like taking care of your bike. Follow our step-by-step guide to ensure that your computer is as safe and secure as your bike in UC Davis!
Run Anti-virus Software
To avoid computer problems caused by viruses, install and run an anti-virus program. See the Software Licensing website for more information.
Anti-Virus Software
Install OS/Software Updates
Updates (or patches) fix problems with your operating system (OS) and software programs. Set up your computer to do automatic updates to make sure your computer stays protected.
Windows Mac OS X
Turn on Firewalls
Personal firewalls are protective barriers between computers and the Internet, allowing only the network traffic you permit. Check your computer's security settings for a built-in personal firewall. If you have one, turn it on.
What is a firewall?
Prevent Identity Theft
Protect account numbers, Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and other personal information. Be wary of sharing personal information through your social media accounts, which can be used to answer your online verification questions.
How to Prevent Identity Theft
Backup Your Files
Reduce your risk of losing important files to a virus, computer crash, theft, or disaster by creating backup copies. You can backup your files using a CD, flash drive, external hard drive, or an online files storage service.
Cloud storage Choosing a service
Protect Login/Passphrases
Create strong, complex passphrases that vary across your various login accounts. Don't share your passphrases, and always make new ones difficult to guess.
How to Protect Passphrases and Passwords
Beware of Spyware/Adware
These sneaky programs can gather your personal web information without your permission. Use programs like Spybot and Ad-Aware to scan and remove spyware and adware from your computer.
Tips for Avoiding Spyware
Use Trusted Resources
Be careful when you share your personal information or make an online purchase. If you receive a call from a trusted resource (bank or police) asking you for your personal information, ask for their contact information. Call their department to verify their request and then reach out to them again.
Phishing Scams
Security Catalog
Here are additional services and info to help keep you secure. Now you can make computer security a main priority. |
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Better life publishers bitcoin beginner a step by step guide to buying selling and investing in bitcoins dec 2013
Table of Contents
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin as a Currency
Bitcoin as a Payment System: Solving the Double Spend Problem
History of Bitcoin
Why Use Bitcoin?
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Money
How Does Bitcoin Work?
Public-key Cryptography
Millions of Deposit Boxes
Mining for Coins
A Chain of Blocks
Network Verification
How to Obtain Bitcoin
Digital Faucet: Free Coins
Sell Your Stuff
Purchasing Bitcoins
Storing and Securing Your Bitcoin
#1 — Bitcoin-Qt: The Real Deal
#2 — The Modified Clients
#3 — Accessible Anywhere: Online Wallets
#4 — Bitcoin on the Go: Mobile Wallets
#5 — Paper wallet
The Threats
Avoiding These Risks
Spending and Accepting Bitcoin
Accepting Bitcoin
The Future of Bitcoin
Learn More
Throughout history, the primary method of communicating with someone over long distances was
sending a letter. This could take days, weeks, even months, with no guarantee the letter would arrive
at all. Even then it was only one-way communication, for a conversation to take place it would take
longer still.
Email changed communications drastically. Messages were sent and received instantly, from
anywhere in the world. Before email, people didn’t even recognize the drawbacks of the old
communications system. Once email became widely adopted, the drawbacks were instantly obvious,
and we’ve never looked back.
This is true of our current system of money today. Most people don’t stop to think about the
drawbacks of our current monetary system, but a new technology is already beginning to change that.
This new technology—called Bitcoin—is rapidly changing the way we view money.
This guide will explain to you what Bitcoin is, give a layman’s view of how it works, and explain
exactly how you can obtain Bitcoin, store them safely, spend them, and even create them yourself.
Bitcoin is a complicated subject, but in this guide I will give you everything you need to know in
order to understand the system and get started.
What is Bitcoin?
When people say “Bitcoin” they are referring to one of two things.
A digital currency.
A payment system used for sending and receiving money online.
Typically the term is used to apply to the currency itself, but the payment system is every bit as
important as the currency. Let me explain both.
Bitcoin as a Currency
Bitcoin is a digital, decentralized, peer to peer, pseudonymous currency based on cryptography. If
that sentence made no sense to you, don’t worry - I’ll break it down for you.
Digital – Bitcoins exist only as code, they do not exist as anything physical. People can
(and have) made physical representations of Bitcoin, but ultimately they are based in the
digital world.
Decentralized – There is no central bank or institution that issues or controls Bitcoin. It
is a group of individuals all over the world who run the program that keeps the monetary
system running.
Peer to Peer – You control your own Bitcoin, and when you send Bitcoin to someone
else, it goes directly to them. There are no banks or middlemen.
Pseudonymous – While all Bitcoin transactions are publically viewable in an open
ledger called the Blockchain (we’ll get to that later), the sender and receiver are only known
as a string of numbers and letters. If you’re careful about your identity, using Bitcoins can be
done anonymously.
Based on Cryptography – The strength of Bitcoin as a digital currency lies in the code,
which uses strong cryptography to ensure that the coins cannot be accessed without proper
Bitcoin is the first digital currency that has these characteristics, and as a result it is the first digital
currency to become widely adopted on the internet. As of June 2013, it is handling nearly 60,000
transactions each day, and this number is accelerating quickly.
Bitcoin as a Payment System: Solving the Double Spend Problem
As a new digital currency, Bitcoin is impressive, but the truly revolutionary aspect of Bitcoin is in a
new payment system. Before I explain this system, let me briefly describe one of the primary reasons
why digital currencies have always failed in the past.
In the physical world, money can’t be in two places at once: once you spend it, it is inside store A’s
cash register and it can’t be in store B’s cash register. With digital currency, this isn’t necessarily
true. Since digital currency is computer code, the same money could actually reside in multiple
places. This is obviously a huge problem, and would lead to rampant fraud.
However, we do transact huge amounts of money digitally today, so how come we don’t see more
double spending? Well, we have services that take care of the problem, such as PayPal. They review
all the transactions to ensure that the same money isn’t spent twice.
But there are substantial problems with using a centralized service to deal with the double spend
problem. First, they are a single point of failure. This means that if PayPal were to have technical
problems – or perhaps if they don’t like what you are trying to purchase – then you can’t move your
money at all. Also, you have to pay them for their service, typically with fees that are 2% or even
Bitcoin’s payment system solves the double spend problem, does it without relying on a single point
of failure, and requires substantially smaller fees. It does this by using a public ledger called the
Blockchain, which I’ll discuss in more detail later in the book.
History of Bitcoin
Where did Bitcoin come from? Even though it is only five years old it already has a unique story.
The idea for Bitcoin came from a developer named Satoshi Nakamoto. That was the name on the
original paper that laid out the technical aspects of the new project – but it was a pseudonym. The
real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is still unknown.
The original paper was written in October 2008. The nine-page paper briefly touches on each of the
major aspects of the system that Satoshi envisioned, as well as naming this new “Peer-to-Peer
Electronic Cash System” with the moniker that it uses today: Bitcoin.
After the paper was published, Satoshi created the first software program to begin mining (the
process of creating Bitcoin). In January 2009, Satoshi mined the first set of Bitcoin, named the
Genesis block. Shortly after, he announced the project to a group of cryptography experts, many of
whom were a part of the “cypherpunk” movement. Satoshi developed many of the ideas of Bitcoin
from previous cypherpunk works. Initially, this group of computer experts approached Bitcoin as an
interesting hobby, discussing how the system may or may not work, and how governments may react
to it.
It wasn’t until the beginning of 2010 that Bitcoin was used for real-world transactions. By this time, a
larger community of developers had reviewed the code – along with Satoshi – and released version
0.2, improving the client. The first Bitcoin transaction for a physical good occurred on May 21, 2010,
when a Bitcoin user named Laszlo purchased a pizza worth $25 – for 10,000 Bitcoins! This
transaction spawned the famous “Bitcoin Pizza Index,” which continually updates the price of that
first pizza (as of the writing of this book, worth over $1.2 million).
The Bitcoin community slowly grew over 2010. Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange, was founded,
and made it easier to buy and sell Bitcoin. The price eventually reached parity with the US Dollar in
February 2011, and soon after began rising rapidly.
This rapid rise was primarily a result of increased media attention. Several new sites began covering
Bitcoin, and average internet users began buying them. Also, news of “The Silk Road” began to
emerge. This hidden website allowed users to buy and sell illegal merchandise – mostly drugs –
using Bitcoin for security and anonymity.
This newfound attention, and scrutiny, drove the price higher still, reaching a high point of $31 in
June 2011. But this rapid price increase would soon deflate. The largest exchange, Mt. Gox, had their
database compromised by hackers. This led to some large-scale thefts of Bitcoin totaling in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars, which shook confidence in the new currency. The price dropped
dramatically, and many wrote off Bitcoin as a failure.
But Bitcoin wasn’t finished, and it slowly began to build more users and followers over the next year.
By the end of 2012, there were more users than ever before, and more businesses began accepting
Bitcoin as payment for goods and services.
2013 was truly the breakthrough year for Bitcoin. Starting the year around $13, the price began
rapidly increasing as Bitcoin received more news coverage than ever before. Well-known internet
brands began accepting Bitcoin, such as Wordpress and Reddit. New users came into the market
quickly, and because it isn’t easy to obtain new Bitcoins, the demand outstripped supply and prices
rose further. By April 10th, the price was a staggering $266 per Bitcoin.
That price soon collapsed when Mt. Gox again had technical problems, this time due to a long lag
time for placing orders. New buyers panicked when the price began dropping, and the flood of sell
orders dropped the price down to $55 in a few days.
After this last bubble, the price has slowly increased and remained much more stable. This is likely
due to the increased acceptance of Bitcoin from merchants, and the new services that continue to pop
up to make obtaining and trading Bitcoin easier.
As of the writing of this book (June 2013), the total number of Bitcoin transactions has nearly reached
eighteen million, and the market cap (number of Bitcoins times price) is over $1 billion. It isn’t
known exactly how many people use Bitcoin, but estimates are typically between 100k and 200k, and
growing rapidly.
In absolute numbers, the United States has the most Bitcoin users, but per capita, Scandinavian
countries have the most users. The most rapidly growing adopters of Bitcoin are now – at least
temporarily – the Chinese, after several reports on Bitcoin hit their mainstream media. Because of the
necessity for having a computer and internet infrastructure, we have yet to see developing countries
use Bitcoin frequently.
Why Use Bitcoin?
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Money
Now you have a general sense for what Bitcoin is, and know about its history. But why use it at all?
What is wrong with our current money?
Bitcoin isn’t for everyone. It does require some amount of technical knowledge to purchase and use,
as well as safely store your coins. It also is a volatile market, with rapid price fluctuations that can
wreak havoc for investors. While these problems will lessen with time, they are still a barrier to
However, there are significant drawbacks to our current monetary system that make Bitcoin
appealing, and it can be summarized in one word: trust.
Reducing the trust needed for transactions was one of the primary drivers for Bitcoin in the first
place. As Satoshi’s original paper states in his concluding paragraph, “We have proposed a system
for electronic transactions without relying on trust.”
In order to use money today, you must have a significant amount of trust in multiple institutions.
1. Banks. When using banks, you are trusting that they will be able to pay you back when
you withdraw your money, and that they will not go bankrupt. As we have seen many times in
history, bank runs and financial panics prove that you cannot be certain your money is safe
inside a bank.
2. Central Banks. The United States has the Federal Reserve, the European Union has the
European Central Bank (ECB), Japan has the Bank of Japan; this is repeated the world over.
Countries have central banks that control the issuance of their currency. Typically, this
currency is not backed by any commodity (such as gold or silver) and therefore is only
valuable by law – also called fiat money. We trust that central banks will not create too much
fiat money, which results in inflation and higher prices for everybody. Unfortunately, since the
financial crisis in 2008, central banks across the world have all printed more fiat money,
which likely means we will face inflation in the future.
3. Payment Processors. We trust that when we spend or accept money online, the payment
processors will ensure there are no double spends, and that they will not reverse the
transaction. We also trust that they will allow us to spend our money as we like, but this isn’t
always true. Political advocacy group Wikileaks was trying to solicit donations in 2012, but
due to pressure from governments payment processors (such as Visa and PayPal) refused to
allow donations from their users.
4. Governments. Events in Cyprus during March of 2013 show how dangerous
governments can be to our currency. Investors in banks had many of their assets confiscated in
order to pay for the country’s debt problems. Also, governments tend to restrict the types of
things that individuals can spend money on, such as drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc.
Identity Required. For banks, payment processors, and government, using currency
typically requires being identified. Under the currency system, unless you are using cash in
person, you must be identified, which can cause privacy and security problems.
How does Bitcoin reduce the trust necessary in these institutions? I’ll walk through each of them
1. Banks. No banks are needed when using Bitcoin. You manage the currency yourself, and
if you take the right precautions you can be sure your Bitcoin are right where you left them.
2. Central Banks. Bitcoin are not created by any central institution, and they are created by
the network at a predictable and steady rate. No need to worry about inflation.
3. Payment Processors. There are none. Bitcoin is peer-to-peer, meaning the transaction
occurs directly from one user to another. No middle-men at all.
4. Governments. There is little that governments can do to negatively impact Bitcoin. They
cannot confiscate coins from banks, and they can’t prevent users from spending their Bitcoin
however they like. However, they aren’t completely powerless: they can target the exchanges,
the points at which people buy or sell Bitcoin for fiat currencies. Still, their control over
Bitcoin is substantially less than traditional currencies.
5. Identity Not Required. If you choose to be anonymous with Bitcoin, you can be. Even
though all transactions are publicly viewable on the blockchain, the sender and receiver of the
funds are only known by a string of numbers and letters. If you’re careful, you cannot be
identified in the blockchain.
Using Bitcoin means not having to place trust in these institutions. While this argument was the
primary selling point for Satoshi, there are many other advantages that Bitcoin offers as well.
Simple to use. While they may not be very easy to obtain, they are easy to spend. All
you need to do is input the receiver’s public address (often done by scanning a QR code),
enter the amount, and hit send.
Internet Integrated. Bitcoin is made for the internet, and it shows. It is very easy to
integrate Bitcoin into online services. Many websites offer Application Programming
Interface (API) around Bitcoin services such as the current price, or details on the blockchain.
One good example is Bitcointip bot on Reddit, a popular website that aggregates content. This
bot allows users to send Bitcoin to each other, within Reddit itself.
Fast. A Bitcoin transaction occurs as quickly as sending an email. Wiring money to
another country could take days, but only takes seconds with Bitcoin. However, it is wise to
wait for verification from the network – I’ll talk about that soon.
Secure. The cryptography behind Bitcoin is very advanced, and currently it isn’t
feasible for anyone to break it. Nearly all theft of Bitcoin has occurred because of improper
storage of the coins, or a hacking of the exchanges themselves. As far as anyone in the
community knows, no one has ever broken the cryptography – and it isn’t for lack of trying!
Several well known security experts have openly tried to expose security holes in the code,
only to admit defeat.
Deflationary. There will only be 21 million Bitcoins ever created – we are at 11
million now – and this slow monetary growth means that the coins will likely increase in
value over time. While there is no certainty that this increase relative to fiat money will
continue, if the coins are in demand and used for transactions as they are today, the price
should continue to slowly rise as fewer and fewer Bitcoin become available.
Because of these advantages, the number of people using Bitcoin has continually grown since its
introduction in 2009. However, Bitcoin isn’t perfect. Here are some of the disadvantages.
Steep Learning Curve. Many people are turned off to Bitcoin before they even try it,
due to the complexity of the issue. Learning about cryptography, the blockchain, mining,
maintaining wallets, updating software - all of these things intimidate everyone but the most
tech-savvy. Fortunately, as Bitcoin becomes more popular more effort is put into explaining
Bitcoin in a more accessible way (as this book is doing!).
Obtaining Bitcoin. Getting your hands on some coins is still not a simple process. It can
take days, or even weeks, to obtain them online. Again, this is changing – new exchanges are
opening every month and as more people own Bitcoin themselves they are more able to sell
them in person.
Confirmation Takes Time. Transactions occur quickly, but to be certain that the rest of
the network agrees the transaction is valid, there is a wait for confirmation. For larger
transactions, the recommended time is 6 blocks (explained later), and this typically takes an
hour. Of course, you don’t have to wait that long – many users accept zero confirmations.
Protecting your Wallet. Just like in real life, if you don’t protect your Bitcoin wallet
you can have your money stolen. Securing Bitcoin can be somewhat difficult, since any
computer connected to the internet is potentially vulnerable. There are ways to secure your
coins, but they do require some effort and technical knowledge (I’ll walk through them later).
Limited Acceptance. The number of merchants accepting Bitcoins is increasing daily,
but it is only a small fraction of the overall economy. For online services especially, Bitcoin
is gaining credibility and notoriety, but in other sectors it is only now making inroads. It may
be many years – if ever – that Bitcoin is accepted as widely as other options such as Visa or
Uncertain Future. While all signs point to Bitcoin becoming the first true currency of
the internet, there are no guarantees. It may completely crash and burn, leaving hundreds of
thousands of users with worthless coins.
Taking all the advantages and disadvantages into account, who is Bitcoin most useful for? Who
shouldn’t be using it?
Historically, the most typical Bitcoin user was a technically adept young man in his late 20’s or early
30’s who has libertarian political leanings. The appeal is obvious: Bitcoin appeals to the tech-savvy,
it is something new that is interesting, and it has political implications that tend toward less
government control over society.
But this profile of a stereotypical Bitcoin user is beginning to break down as more people are
interested in Bitcoin purely for its business benefits. The story of Bitcoin in 2013 has been the
business interests that are starting to take Bitcoin seriously.
PayPal CEO John Donahoe made headlines when in May he told the Wall Street Journal, “It’s a new
disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at Bitcoin closely. There may be ways to enable it
inside PayPal.” Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund invested $2 million in the Bitcoin company BitPay. Fred
Wilson of Union Square Ventures – early investor in Twitter and Kickstarter – invested $5 million in
another Bitcoin company, Coinbase. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, of Facebook fame, invested
heavily in Bitcoin, reported capturing 1% of the entire market.
These investors aren’t interested in Bitcoin because they are passionate about cryptography, or
because of their political leanings – they recognize that it might be the currency of the internet in the
future, and want to be involved in that process.
So, should you use Bitcoin? If you primarily transact business offline, then I wouldn’t make the
investment now. Wait a few years until the big investors have created a larger infrastructure, and the
Bitcoin economy has grown. Then there will be a smaller learning curve, fewer barriers to obtaining
coins, and you won’t need to understand the technology.
However, if you buy or sell goods or services online, I would familiarize yourself with Bitcoin now.
For a seller, an active community of Bitcoin users already exists, and accepting Bitcoin for your
services is a low cost way to appeal to an emerging market. As a buyer, transactions are simple,
quick, and don’t require any fees or signing up with your personal information. Using Bitcoin online
will make you understand why it is dubbed the currency of the internet.
There is a reason to have Bitcoin apart from being a part of the internet economy – investment. There
are two primary reasons people invest in Bitcoins.
1. If central banks across the world continue to devalue their currencies, then holding
Bitcoin may protect against inflation. Despite the valid concern over inflation, I would
caution against significant investment in Bitcoin as an inflation hedge. The currency is still
young and needs to prove itself; if we did face a severe economic downturn it is unknown
how widely accepted Bitcoin would be.
2. If Bitcoin becomes widely adopted, even replacing some national currencies, then it will
become incredibly valuable. Since the supply of Bitcoin will never exceed 21 million, if the
demand for coins rises because it is widely used, then the price will necessarily increase as
well. Some predict prices in the thousands, or even tens of thousands, per 1.0 BTC. I don’t
believe it is likely to ever achieve that amount of acceptance. However, the potential upside
is significant, so as long as you can afford to lose the investment, it may be a speculation
worth making.
How Does Bitcoin Work?
At this point, you might be interested in learning how you can obtain Bitcoin. I discuss that here, but
before you skip to that part, it would be valuable to understand the inner workings of this new
technology. It isn’t a necessity to know how Bitcoin works in order to use it – so you can skip ahead
if you like – but I do recommend that users familiarize themselves with the basics so they aren’t
completely in the dark when it comes to their own money.
Public-key Cryptography
To understand Bitcoin, you need to understand the principle of public-key cryptography. While the
details are complicated, it essentially means that each user that wishes to communicate with another
user has two keys (groups of numbers). One key is public; everyone can see this series of numbers.
Another is private; only the individual user has this key.
Here’s an example of how public-key cryptography is used. To send a secret letter, Alice would
encrypt the letter using the public key of Betty. Alice then sends this letter along. Betty receives the
letter, and then decrypts it using her private key.
The reason public-key cryptography is powerful is because it doesn’t matter if someone else – let’s
say Charlie – intercepts the letter. Without the private key that only Betty has, he can’t decrypt it. This
technology allows everyone to see the encrypted letter, but only the intended recipient can actually
read it.
Millions of Deposit Boxes
How does Bitcoin use public-key cryptography? Earlier I mentioned the blockchain – a public record
of all Bitcoin transactions. Think of the blockchain as having millions of safety deposit boxes, made
out of bulletproof glass. The boxes have varying amounts of Bitcoin inside them, but are securely
locked. Even though everyone can see what each box contains, only the owners can unlock them.
These deposit boxes are called the public keys – everyone can see the numbers (also called an
address), and the amount within the boxes. The owners of each deposit box access their Bitcoin using
their private key. While everyone can see the deposit boxes, and the amount of Bitcoin inside, only
the owners of the private key can use the money.
In our earlier example, Alice sent Betty a message that only Betty could read. Bitcoin works the same
way, except we aren’t sending letters but instead information telling your deposit box to give some of
your Bitcoin to another deposit box. To use the example again, here’s how it works. Alice wants to
send 1 BTC to Betty, so she sends out a message to the entire network. This message includes Betty’s
public address (the location of her deposit box), the amount of Bitcoin she wants to send to Betty, and
a digital signature that verifies she is the owner of the private key to her own deposit box.
When Alice sends this message to the network, other network users verify that this message is
accurate. If all the numbers match up, then the transaction gets put into a block (a collection of other
transactions), and this block eventually gets published in the blockchain. Once that occurs, the rest of
the network recognizes that Alice’s deposit box is 1.0 BTC smaller than before, and Betty’s deposit
box has grown by 1.0 BTC. Since the blockchain is a public ledger that extends all the way back to
the first Bitcoin transaction, it knows the exact amount of Bitcoin in every deposit box that exists.
Mining for Coins
Now you understand how transactions take place, but you might be wondering where Bitcoins even
come from in the first place. Remember how I mentioned some network users verify the transactions
are accurate, and then include them in a block to be published to the entire network? This process
requires significant computing power, so why would other users be willing to do this? Because they
are rewarded with Bitcoin!
Devoting your computer to processing transactions is called mining. Miners verify transactions, and
as they are doing so they are looking for the solution to a mathematical problem. If they are the first to
find the answer, the code allows them to publish the block of transactions to the rest of the network.
Whoever publishes the block gets a reward, currently set at 25 BTC. This reward halves every few
years, so that the amount of Bitcoin never grows too quickly. Also, as more people devote more
computing power to the network in order to increase the chance of getting a block reward, the
difficulty of mining increases. The code automatically adjusts the difficulty of the mathematical
problem so that a new block is mined approximately every 10 minutes.
A Chain of Blocks
One more important thing to mention about the blocks – they are built on each other in a chain (hence
the term blockchain). It is imperative to have a continuous and chronological record of all
transactions; this ensures the amounts of each and every deposit box have been accounted for. In order
to do this, each block has two additional elements apart from the transactions. One is a muchshortened snapshot of all previous blocks, called a hash. This hash ensures that the blockchain is
building on the previous blocks, all the way back to the original block (called the genesis block). The
second aspect is the answer to the complicated math problem the miners need to solve. The next
block cannot be mined until the problem has been solved, ensuring that blocks are created in
chronological order. As of June 2013, there have been more than 238,000 blocks published in the
In this way, the Bitcoin ecosystem keeps evolving. Transactions get compiled into new blocks, the
blocks are published to the rest of the network in a continuous chain, miners get rewards for their
work, and those new Bitcoins are used for transactions, starting the cycle over again.
Network Verification
How is this system kept in check? After all, Alice could send a message saying that she has 5.0 BTC
to send to Betty, even though her deposit box only has 2.0 BTC. There are many ways that dishonest
users could attempt to trick the system, but fortunately it’s virtually impossible. This is because
Bitcoin is a decentralized system where all transactions are public, and require verification from the
rest of the network. If Alice tried to send more coins than she had, the recipient would immediately
check the balance of the account, recognize this, and reject the transaction. It would never make its
way into the block, and the rest of the network would never even see the false transaction. This
verification is done in the code of the Bitcoin program itself, so it is nearly instant.
How to Obtain Bitcoin
So, you’re sold on the benefits of having Bitcoin. Great! But how can you get them? There are a
variety of methods, some simpler than others, but I’ll walk through each of them for you.
Before I talk about how to get coins, here is a warning: it is important to know how to properly store
and secure them. Your coins are only as safe as you make them. I’ll discuss the different ways to
safely handle your Bitcoins in the next section, so make sure you’ve read that section before going out
and buying any.
There are four ways to obtain Bitcoin: receiving them for free, selling your goods and services for
them, buying them directly, or mining them.
Digital Faucet: Free Coins
Yes, you can get free Bitcoins. There are multiple websites that give free coins to get users started
(called faucets). However, with the rise in Bitcoin’s value many faucets have shut down, and the
remaining ones give out miniscule amounts of coins. While they were valuable when Bitcoin was in
its infancy, I wouldn’t bother spending time with faucets today.
Sell Your Stuff
You can sell your goods or services to obtain Bitcoin. Some Ebay-like websites only deal in Bitcoin,
such as Bitmit. A quick search on Craigslist for the term “Bitcoin” will show many dealers offering
the products for coin. Internet forums exist for Bitcoin users to buy and sell their own merchandise,
such as Reddit’s Bitmarket. This is a relatively simple way to obtain Bitcoin, if you have anything
valuable you don’t mind parting with.
While most items offered for sale by Bitcoin users aren’t very expensive, there are some examples of
very large transactions. A Texas family sold their Porsche for 300 BTC recently. A Canadian man put
his house on the market for Bitcoin.
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FDR: The Long Goodbye
Sixty-five years after FDR’s sudden death in Warm Springs, a new book reveals the intrigue and drama aboard his funeral train.
Excerpted from FDR’s Funeral Train, by Robert Klara
Over the course of his life, Franklin Delano Roosevelt journeyed to Warm Springs, Georgia, more than forty times. So enamored was he with the place and its recuperative waters that he spent most of his fortune to open a clinic there to treat fellow polio sufferers. FDR was at Warm Springs when he collapsed at his desk on April 12, 1945. His sudden death and the ascension of Harry S. Truman to the presidency is well-documented, as Robert Klara, a New York City–based editor and FDR aficionado, learned. Far less chronicled, though, was the tale of the funeral train that embarked from Warm Springs and passed through Atlanta and Washington, D.C., on the way to the thirty-second president’s final resting place in Hyde Park, New York. Klara’s year of research led to a book, FDR’s Funeral Train, released to coincide with the sixty-fifth anniversary of FDR’s death this month. The book explores the intrigue and scheming that occurred on that train as it made its way north, through depots and small towns, past a nation that was inconsolable in its grief. On board was not just FDR’s widow, Eleanor, but Washington power brokers (and one Soviet spy) who were quietly maneuvering a historic transfer of power at a time when the world was at war.
“It was a public event in that tens of thousands of people saw the train,” Klara says. “But for all that awareness, there was almost no awareness of what was going on onboard the train. In many ways this was one of the best-known railroad journeys in twentieth-century American history, yet it’s all but forgotten now.”
Atlanta is the “anchor for the story,” says Klara, forty-one. “Atlanta was where POTUS, the presidential train, was kept. When the presidential train became the funeral train, they added a sleeper and the best engines. And the locals were proud that Roosevelt had chosen Warm Springs as his retreat. He was very friendly with everyone. The fact that he died there was felt more acutely than in New York. We like to lay claim to FDR because of Hyde Park, but Warm Springs was the center of his heart.”
In the following excerpt from Klara’s book, FDR arrives at Warm Springs for the final time.
n the afternoon of March 30, following the overnight trip from Washington, POTUS had rounded the tight bend at Warm Springs, eighty-four miles south of Atlanta. The town perched along a branch line so insignificant it resembled a piece of lint on the Southern Railway’s sprawling route map. Long before the clang of the locomotive’s brass bell could be heard, a distant plume of smoke over the treetops announced the train’s approach. POTUS’s engineer touched the throttle gently to summon the steam needed to nudge the overweight Magellan up the slight grade by the depot. The ten cars rumbled through, slowing up until the train’s tail was even with the road crossing. Then the brakes gripped the wheels tight. A mighty hiss followed as the reservoirs spat their pressurized air into the dirt. FDR had arrived in the sleepy Georgia hamlet for the forty-first time. It was Good Friday.
Here, in the yard beside the station, there was plenty of room for bystanders. For locals, the president’s arrival was always a special occasion, familiar as it had become. Helped to his Pullman’s vestibule, FDR would never fail to doff his fedora and smile at his assembled “neighbors,” a term Roosevelt essentially applied to everyone inside the Georgia state line. But today it would be different. It was a ghost’s face that appeared in the shadow of the Magellan’s open doorway. Regulars in the crowd could tell right away that something was wrong.
Pushed in his wheelchair toward the waiting automobiles, Roosevelt joggled like a rag doll, and as Mike Reilly lifted him into the car, he landed like a wet sandbag. The Secret Service chief, who’d grown accustomed to the president summoning the tremendous strength he had built up in his shoulders to literally vault from wheelchair to automobile, was disturbed.
Reilly deposited the president into the car’s seat—not the passenger one, but the driver’s. Roosevelt kept his royal-blue 1938 Ford coupe permanently garaged down in Warm Springs (its Georgia plates read “F.D.R.1”). FDR soaked the carburetor with gasoline and the little car took off, roaring up the road lined with wild violets and dogwoods, the Secret Service car hot on his tail. Watching him fly up the hill, some in the crowd felt a sense of relief. The president had looked frail, but he was the same road demon he’d always been.
“When I’m worn out,” Roosevelt had told his doctors in 1928, “I’ll come back to Warm Springs. In a few days I’ll be like new again.” FDR had uttered those words when his bid for the New York governor’s mansion signaled the start of his political career and the end of his efforts to rehabilitate his legs. Yet Roosevelt had called it right: Warm Springs—a gone-to-seed Victorian resort he’d discovered in 1924 and purchased outright two years later—did somehow always make him new again.
Though Roosevelt’s first dip in the property’s thermal waters had imbued only a fleeting sense of buoyancy to his shrunken legs, something about the place with its pine-scented air possessed the power to restore the rest of him. His Wall Street friends scoffed when Roosevelt parted with two-thirds of his personal fortune to incorporate Warm Springs as a foundation and open it as a treatment center for polio victims. They didn’t understand that the dividends FDR had in mind would not be paid in cash.
After buying the land, Roosevelt selected a hilltop near Georgia Hall, the property’s old hotel, and raised a simple cottage of white clapboard. Hanging from a chain over the cottage’s front door was a ship’s lantern, lit only when the president was in residence. FDR had insisted on a simple, rustic decor of hook rugs and knotty-pine furniture. Measuring fifty-four feet at its widest point, the cabin was shorter than the Pullman car that would bring him there. Roosevelt adored the place.
Elizabeth Shoumatoff, Russian-born portraitist of America’s aristocracy, saw the president seated in the back of his parked limousine outside a corner drugstore in Greenville, and her heart sank. The ebullient man she’d painted at the White House in the spring of 1943 could not possibly be the pale, diminished one before her now, the evening of April 9, eleven days into his vacation in Georgia. Though the night air was warm, Roosevelt had wrapped himself in his heavy Navy cape. He was sipping a Coca-Cola, doing his best to smile. The Russian gazed at the man she had just traveled hundreds of miles to paint a second time. “How,” Shoumatoff thought, “can I make a portrait of such a sick man?” Lucy Rutherfurd had been responsible for setting up the whole thing, but if Shoumatoff blamed her longtime friend for her predicament, she also knew the importance of Lucy’s being here—of their both being here. “He is thin and frail,” Rutherfurd had warned, weeks earlier. “But there is something about his face that shows more the way he looked when he was young.”
No woman would have known better. The youthful, handsome countenance of Franklin Roosevelt had been etched into the mind of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd from their first meeting, when he was the newly minted assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy and his wife needed an appointments secretary.
During the winter of 1914, the Roosevelts were new to Washington and overwhelmed by the social demands that went with Franklin’s title, so they were grateful for the young, polished, and well-connected Lucy Mercer. Her easy laugh and statuesque beauty charmed the Roosevelt children—but charmed their father even more. It is not certain exactly when the romantic affair began, but by September of 1918, it met its abrupt end. With World War I winding down in Europe, Franklin had returned home, ill with pneumonia, from an inspection tour of the front lines in France. Unpacking his trunks, Eleanor discovered a hidden cache of love letters from Lucy. Though she had suspected her husband’s duplicity for some time, Eleanor was devastated by the evidence that proved it. She later wrote that at that moment, “the bottom dropped out of my own particular world.”
Divorce—viewed in those days with nearly as much disdain as adultery—was the remedy Eleanor had initially demanded. But the social shame of marital dissolution would not only have meant the end of FDR’s burgeoning political career, it would have cost him his inheritance, as his mother, Sara Delano, had made icily clear. So from 1918 onward, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt remained husband and wife on paper and for the sake of press photographers. The secret terms that permitted FDR to keep both his public career and his solvency included his agreeing never to see Lucy Mercer again.
Mercer went on to marry the rich but elderly Winthrop Rutherfurd, and Franklin, who would never again share a bed with his wife, had gone on to attain the White House. But Mrs. Rutherfurd and the president had never quite gotten around to severing their ties. There were limousines that mysteriously arrived to bring Lucy to Roosevelt’s inaugurals, phone calls discreetly routed through the White House switchboard.
On the morning of April 12, Roosevelt slept late and awakened with a headache but looked good to [FDR’s cardiologist] Dr. [Howard G.] Bruenn, who decided to go for a swim with Mike Reilly, Toi Bachelder, and Grace Tully [FDR’s secretary] in the foundation’s pool, two miles down the road. That left the president in the company of his cousins Daisy Suckley and Polly Delano, his correspondence secretary William Hassett, the painter Shoumatoff, her assistant [Nicholas] Robbins, and, sitting nearby in quiet admiration, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd.
FDR picked a spot near the French doors that opened onto the patio, where he sat in his favorite leather chair with a card table pulled up to it so he could work. Within the next hour, Elizabeth Shoumatoff had already completed the handsome face of the president, his thoughtful eyes staring intently into the viewer’s and yet somehow also deep into some unknowable distance within and beyond. Altering the facts in a way only painters can, Shoumatoff also removed at least ten years with her brush. Yet she agonized to replicate one detail of the man before her. A glorious ruddiness had spread over the president’s face only minutes before, chasing away the pallor that had hollowed his cheeks. Such vigor in that color; Shoumatoff summoned all her talent to capture it. She never suspected that the rosy hues washing over the president’s face were in fact a sign that one of the blood vessels in his brain was about to break.
It was 1 p.m. Down at Georgia Hall, a picnic in the president’s honor was in the offing. A great kettle of Brunswick stew—Roosevelt’s favorite—had been hoisted onto the coals. In the Little White House, Polly walked into the kitchen to put some water in a bowl of roses. Shoumatoff’s brush pecked at the canvas. Suckley looked up from her crocheting.
The president seemed to be fumbling for something, his hands flitting about his head, as if waving away a moth that was not there. Suckley rose and walked over to him. “Have you dropped your cigarette?” she asked. Roosevelt turned and looked at her. His furrowed forehead was knitted with pain and yet he addressed her with a tired, apologetic smile. “I have,” the president began, his hand reaching tentatively behind him, “a terrific pain in the back of my head.”
And then he slumped forward.
Though FDR would linger, unconscious, for another two and a half hours, it was all essentially over in that instant. Everything that followed—from camphor passed under the president’s nose, to Dr. Bruenn’s frantic injections of papaverine and amyl nitrate, to the summoning of Dr. James E. Paullin, a heart specialist who sped down from
Atlanta just to plunge an adrenaline syringe into Roosevelt’s heart—all of it was to have no effect. Later, Dr. Bruenn likened the hemorrhage to “getting hit by a train.”
In the minutes before Roosevelt expired, a sense of helplessness, of inevitability, crept like a phantom through the rooms of the cabin. The rasping of FDR’s incapacitated lungs made it clear to everyone that the end was upon him and that there would be no bargaining with it. Grace Tully abandoned herself to silent prayer; Hassett pointlessly studied his watch; the doctors around the bed stood still as oaks. Yet at that moment, as Roosevelt lay in extremis, a purple cyanosis clawing its way across his skin, Polly Delano rose, dialed the White House, and calmly related to Eleanor that Franklin had suffered “a fainting spell” but that “there is no cause for you to upset yourself.”
It was an absurd understatement. Polly, the president’s son Elliott later said, was playing for time—time to make sure that Lucy Rutherfurd was clear of the place, all evidence of her presence expunged, and everyone settled with sanitized recollections for the First Lady when she arrived.
On Roosevelt’s death certificate, file no. 7594 with the Georgia Department of Public Health, beneath the entry on line 10 for Usual Occupation—“President of the United States of America”—the cause of death appears as cerebral hemorrhage with a contributory cause of arteriosclerosis, duration two and one-half years. Line 23 lists the time of death as 3:35 p.m.
As word of Roosevelt’s death spread, most found the shock immobilizing, but the news caused some others to move quickly—some from a sense of duty; others, for personal motives.
Ferman White, a foreman for the Southern Railway, clocked off his shift at Atlanta’s sprawling North Avenue Yards around 4:30 p.m. On his way home, White decided to stop and buy some groceries. It was in the store that he learned the news, and he raced to the nearest phone. White had one thought on his mind as he called the roundhouse. It was a piece of knowledge that few men in Atlanta possessed and one that White guarded closely. On a layup track in the yards, a special train—the president’s train—had been parked for two weeks. It would not, White knew, stay parked for long now. Charles Craft, another foreman, picked up the phone.
“Get them going,” White said.
On the other side of Atlanta, a little after 7:30 p.m., another phone rang. This one was at the home of a man named Fred Patterson. Patterson, funeral director to Atlanta’s elite, had spent the afternoon playing golf, and it was on the green that he’d learned about the president’s death. Now, back at his house, Patterson was just about to light up a cigar and settle down with the newspaper when he heard the telephone. The voice on the other end belonged to Dr. James Paullin, who was calling from Warm Springs. As the cardiologist spoke, it became clear to Patterson that he would not be reading the news that night; he would be playing a part in it. President Roosevelt had already been dead four hours. The funeral train would be leaving in the morning. Patterson was needed quickly.
After Patterson had finished his phone call with Paullin, he drove to the H.M. Patterson & Son funeral chapel in Atlanta’s Spring Hill neighborhood. There was plenty to do. His first task was to call Hassett down at Warm Springs for as many details as he could obtain. Each presented a problem. Roosevelt’s height—six feet three inches—severely narrowed the choices among Patterson’s stock of coffins. But the more pressing issue was metal. Wartime shortages had meant that steel and bronze coffins had been replaced by composites with names like Eternalite and Mineralite. Plastic and cloth-covered models had even begun appearing in funeral homes across the country. But Patterson knew that no one would stand for the President of the United States to be buried in a container made of something called Permalith. Hassett had told him about a copper-lined mahogany casket that Roosevelt had picked out for his mother’s funeral four years earlier and suggested that a similar model might be appropriate. Patterson had just purchased a mahogany coffin that was the right size, but of course it had no copper.
Then he remembered: He did have a National Seamless Copper Deposit model—solid copper, bronze finish, and an interior lined in velvet. It was an expensive and beautiful piece. (Also, critically, it measured six feet six inches.) If posterity was to matter—and to Roosevelt, it did—the copper casket was the only choice.
United Press man Merriman Smith would recall the twelve hours beginning with Hassett’s late-afternoon announcement of Roosevelt’s death as a “nightmare, a horrible, discordant symphony of people shouting for telephones, automobiles racing along dusty clay roads, the clatter of telegraph instruments and typewriters.” Up in D.C., Steve Early [FDR’s press secretary] had been clear that the Boss wouldn’t have wanted the cottage swarming with reporters, so the entire world would hear a story told by only three men.
“Warm Springs, Ga., April 12—(UP)—Death today removed Franklin Delano Roosevelt from a war-torn world and left peace-expectant millions shocked and stunned,” Smith’s lead story would read. “Death gave the 63-year-old President of the United States short notice.” Smith wrote all night. He wrote, he said, until he swore another word could not issue from his typewriter. And then, of course, he wrote some more.
Meanwhile, the newsmen not lucky enough to be among Steve Early’s chosen three haunted the periphery of the compound. Having acted on the assumption that the First Lady would travel to Warm Springs by train, journalists besieged the little station. When word came, after midnight, that Mrs. Roosevelt would not be arriving by train but had in fact already touched down in a military plane and was ensconced in the Little White House, the reporters knew there would be no story until the morning when the train left.
The newsmen moved like the dispossessed toward Georgia Hall. Here were men accustomed to life on the underside of the clock; to the front seats of cars or the hard benches of police precincts serving as beds while they waited for announcements that may or may not be news; men for whom a candy bar produced from a back pocket often stood in for dinner. So it came as a particular surprise to enter a Victorian hotel and find a banquet laid out on white tablecloths—just for them.
The hotel’s manager spoke over the din: “The president and his party were to have attended a barbecue here at 5 p.m.,” he said. “We had the food all prepared. You may eat it if you are hungry, for it will only go to waste. It’s on the house.”
Dave Snell of the Atlanta Constitution found a seat and set his plate before him. He looked around, listening to the conversations in earshot. Men of the ink trades tend to maintain exteriors of iron. The job demands it. To go soft is to cause your colleagues to lose respect for you. And yet, Snell was to write later of the talk at those tables, despite the “same jargon, the same outward irreverence, there is a mist in many eyes.” It was usual for newsmen on third watch to ease the boredom with drink. Tonight, not a drop of alcohol was in sight.
Sunrise spread over the foundation grounds as a cool breeze came in from the west. The sky was the color of topaz on the day the Boss would leave Warm Springs for good. The air carried the intoxicating scents of brook water, weeds, and the red earth as the temperature climbed toward a comfortable 83 degrees. Inexplicably, as has happened so many times before and since, a great tragedy had been blessed with the backdrop of perfect weather.
By nine that morning, the population of Warm Springs—608 souls, according to the 1940 Census—had grown fivefold. Three thousand soldiers had arrived during the night. In number, they were sufficient to assemble a formal marching column for the cortege and still leave 2,000 paratroopers available to line both sides of the route all the way to the train station. The 99th Infantry Ground Forces and the 267th Army Ground Forces had both contributed musicians to the band that led the procession. Following them was a color guard assembled from the young men of Fort Benning’s infantry school—twenty-eight miles down the road, near Columbus, Georgia—who’d come in full ceremonial dress, carrying streamers and Springfield rifles.
The proceedings must have looked as rehearsed as if they had been planned for months. The truth was that FDR had died so unexpectedly and so far from Washington’s apparatus of protocol that the Army brass simply improvised. Things went wrong. Someone misplaced the ceremonial flag, forcing Patterson to order the Stars and Stripes flying from a nearby flagpole pulled down and spread across the coffin’s lid. The horse-drawn caisson that was to have taken the body to the train station never arrived, and here again Patterson stepped forward with a solution.
Parked by the Little White House was the undertaker’s Cadillac S&S limousine hearse. The long black car glinted in the sunlight like a slab of buffed onyx. With its triple bands of fender chrome and green-curtained windows, it was a car befitting a president; in a wonder of coincidence, it even bore the coachbuilder’s model name “Statesman.”
The copper casket slid down the rollers in the back and the men closed the car’s heavy rear door behind it. One of Patterson’s men got behind the Cadillac’s steering wheel while another assistant slipped into the passenger’s seat. The V-8 engine cleared its throat and turned over. The enormous hearse inched forward, falling in line behind the band and the color guard. Patterson and the other morticians drove ahead of the hearse in the lead car. Following the hearse came a sedan carrying Eleanor Roosevelt, Grace Tully, [Polly] Delano, and Daisy Suckley. Lying at the ladies’ feet was Fala [FDR’s dog], “knowing that something was wrong,” claimed the New York Times.
In all his years of visiting Warm Springs, Roosevelt had never left without stopping at Georgia Hall first, where he could say goodbye to its hundred or more patients. Now, at Eleanor Roosevelt’s behest, the hearse detoured into the circular drive, pausing before the hall’s white columns where scores of children, confined to wheelchairs and locked into leg braces, stared. One of them was Jay Fribourg, who could only clench his teeth to keep from sobbing as a reporter approached. “I loved him so much,” Fribourg said. He was thirteen years old.
Up in their locomotives, engineers Allgood and Wolford adhered to their orders—“run slow, run silent”—and kept the iron horses under tight leash. The enormous driving rods cranked no faster than 25 miles per hour. At this rate, it would take twenty-three hours to reach Union Station in Washington. Originally, the Southern Railway had been tempted to shotgun POTUS into D.C. in twelve hours, running orders that would have pushed the locomotives to just over 60 mph.
But as the crewmen looked down from the hot, windy cabs of their engines, it was plain that the First Lady, in requesting the speed restriction, had been prescient; highballing would have been thoughtless—and dangerous—with so many people along the tracks. Dazed and somber, they stood at the crossings; they stood in the little depots and on weedy sidings; they stood in the middle of nowhere. So long as the funeral train would pass them, people seemed satisfied with any spot. They were, Grace Tully wrote later, “unmindful of heat or chill, sunlight or darkness.” As the train approached, many dropped to their knees. “The people did not wave,” Life magazine said. “They wept.”
Three hours out of Warm Springs, the funeral train swept into the lower city limits of Atlanta, bound for the Southern Railway’s station in the middle of Downtown. Atlanta’s Terminal Station, a magisterial castle of minarets and red-tile roofs, hadn’t seen crowds like these since its 1905 opening. Affording the best perch over the tracks that passed beneath, the Mitchell Street Bridge was a mass of people who spilled onto all the nearby thoroughfares—anyplace with a view, however obstructed, of the yards below. The curious also took up posts along the tracks throughout the city, which had ground to a halt in expectation of the train’s arrival. Theaters, jewelers, shoeshine stands—most every business had closed for the day.
At 1:32 local time, the crowd fell to a hush as engine No. 1262 hove into view. The locomotive’s bell swung high, its clapper striking a steady clang. The train wound its way through the web of shadows cast by buildings and passing over streets, coming to a halt at Track 10 with a blast of air from the brake valves. Just as the train was pulling in, a municipal trolley had started over the Mitchell Street Bridge. The motorman stopped immediately so his passengers could watch.
Some 20,000 Atlantans packed the terminal zone, but the soldiers trucked in from Camp Sibert allowed only about 100 down the stairs and onto the platform. They had come to provide security as much as pageantry: Each soldier clutched a bayonet in his white-gloved hands. Suffering the merciless Atlanta sun beneath steel helmets, the enlisted men—2,000 strong, many with overseas ribbons fluttering on their breasts—flanked the track like garden stakes.
A shrub-sized wreath of red roses and white gladiola appeared over the platform’s sea of fedoras. Arms passed it up to the Conneaut’s vestibule, and it was taken aboard. Steve Early stepped down to meet Mayor William B. Hartsfield, who presented the spray on behalf of the people of Atlanta. Then the men disappeared into the lounge car. Inside, Hartsfield positioned the flowers at the head of Roosevelt’s casket.
It was a practice that would continue at every stop up the line, where local officials would arrive trainside with an elaborate spray of lilies and roses, carnations, ribbon, and fern—a kind of botanical admission ticket that allowed them into the rolling sanctum of the Conneaut. By the time the train reached Washington, flowers could be seen overflowing into the stately old Pullman’s vestibule.
Presidential valet Arthur Prettyman, wearing his blue Navy dress uniform, saw his chance to give Fala some fresh air. It was warm and breezy in Atlanta that afternoon, and the little dog’s nails sounded on the Pullman’s metal trap stairs as the First Pet bounded down. But if FDR’s longtime aide—whose service as a chief petty officer had earned him the six gold stripes on his sleeves—hoped that the mayor and his floral tribute would keep the press distracted, he was wrong. Soon photographers’ flashbulbs were popping as Fala sniffed his way through a forest of ankles. “Fala Strolls Station Platform” would join the headlines in the following day’s Atlanta Constitution, which noted that the Scottie “wagged his tail in response to the sympathetic expressions of bystanders.”
Departing the Conneaut, Hartsfield made his way one car up to the Ferdinand Magellan. In his palm he secreted a single rosebud he’d pinched from the spray as a keepsake. As Hartsfield and Early walked in, Eleanor Roosevelt looked up. Grace Tully and her typist, Dorothy Brady, were seated alongside her. Otherwise, the car was empty and quiet, its curtains drawn tightly closed. Hartsfield stepped forward. “There are no words,” said the mayor, “to express how we feel.” The First Lady said graciously, “I understand.” |
Malaysiakini News
A case for M’sia to ratify UN Convention Against Torture
Eric Paulsen | Published: | Modified:
COMMENT On Dec 10, 1984, the same day Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) was adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Following ratification by 20 State Parties, CAT entered into force on June 26, 1987. Since then, an overwhelming majority of 161 State Parties have joined the Convention. As you might have guessed, Malaysia is not one of the State parties.
CAT is one of the first international treaty to globally address the issue of prevention of torture. The Convention prohibits torture - defined as the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical suffering for a specific purpose by a public official, who is directly or indirectly involved.
The objective of the Convention is to compel State Parties to emphatically prevent and criminalise acts of torture, and build instead a framework to cultivate respect for human rights. It compels State Parties to take ‘effective’ measures to prevent acts of torture in its territories and jurisdiction.
It prohibits absolutely torture under any circumstances including during a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency. Further, ‘an order from a superior officer or a public authority’ cannot be used as a justification for torture.
We may be accustomed to think that only particular classes of individuals, such as those affiliated with the lower or criminal class are more vulnerable to the risk of torture. However, the truth is anyone could be victims of torture. No one should be considered insusceptible to the risk of torture, and the act of torture may be found in many guises.
For example, who would have thought Anwar Ibrahim, then-deputy prime minister, could be handcuffed, blindfolded and viciously beaten by then-inspector-general of police Rahim Noor? More recently, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah was detained without trial under the Securities Offences (Special Measures) Act and kept under solitary confinement, an act which can amount to torture.
The recent deaths of S Balamurugan and M Thanaseelan
On Feb 8, 2017, S Balamurugan was found dead in police custody at the North Klang police district headquarters. The 44-year-old suspect had been taken to the magistrate’s court the day before for a remand order, where he was seen to be badly bruised, in a weakened state, and unable to walk. When offered a sip of water by his lawyer, he had blood flowing out of his mouth and nose.
Upon seeing this, the magistrate denied the police’s application for remand and Balamurugan was ordered to be released. The magistrate also instructed the investigating officer to take Balamurugan to the hospital. However, instead of complying with the magistrate’s order, the police ‘rearrested’ Balamurugan and took him back to the police station, where he later died.
On the next day, the pathologist from the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang who conducted the post-mortem, concluded rather incredibly, the deceased had died from ‘heart problems’.
On Feb 18, 2017, after much public uproar and protest, and an application by the deceased’s family to the Shah Alam High Court, a second post-mortem was done at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital which concluded the cause of death was ‘coronary artery disease with multiple blunt force trauma’.
This different conclusion - an additional line that fundamentally alters Balamurugan’s cause of death is crucial in understanding why so many people have died in custody and will continue to do so unless the Health Ministry, the hospitals and pathologists start taking custodial deaths seriously, and not downplay evidence of torture, mistreatment and neglect.
Less than three weeks later on Feb 25, 2017, another detainee was found dead at the Bukit Sentosa Police Station in Bukit Beruntung. Although no assault was detected and preliminary findings indicated M Thanaseelan, aged 43, had died from blood poisoning due to ‘perforated gastric ulcer’, his death was entirely preventable.
According to the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem, the deceased would have been in chronic pain for at least a week due to his serious condition. Thanaseelan was in fact brought to the Kuala Kubu Hospital for gastric treatment several hours before his death but he was only prescribed with antacid instead of being properly diagnosed and admitted into hospital...
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Inflammation is associated with metabolic syndrome, an increasingly common condition characterized by the presence of three of the following pathologies in an individual: obesity (particularly abdominal fat), high blood pressure, a low level of “good” HDL cholesterol, high fasting blood sugar and a high level of triglycerides. Left untreated, metabolic syndrome can trigger diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
Forty-nine patients with metabolic syndrome added 40 ml of high-, medium- or low-phenol virgin olive oil to their breakfast. The high-phenol olive oil (398 parts per million) breakfast neutralized pro-inflammatory gene expression in patients while reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines in blood plasma. The result was an overall lower level of post-meal inflammation.
Phenols — phytochemicals found in plant-based foods such as olives, coffee, tea, and chocolate — have been enjoying the nutritional limelight as an increasing number of health-related benefits are revealed. While the lion’s share of studies to date focus on their anti-oxidant benefits, growing evidence shows that phenols also reduce inflammation.
Chronic low-grade inflammation precedes and predicts the onset of diabetes in adults with metabolic syndrome and researchers believe it plays a similar role in cardiovascular disease. It is estimated that over 30 percent of all adults in the USA have metabolic syndrome, a phenomenon seen in another western countries and quickly spreading to developing countries including India, China and Brazil.
This study adds valuable information on understanding how phenols reduce inflammation by modulating cell signaling pathways and suggests that a breakfast that includes phenol-rich olive oil helps alleviate inflammation associated with metabolic syndrome and related diseases.
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History of Economic Thought Test
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Exercise 1
Question 1. What is the subject of the study course in the history of economic theories?
1. The economic history of the company;
2. History of Economic Thought;
3. The process of occurrence, development and change of economic ideas and views in a changing economy, science, technology and social spheres of society;
4. Analysis of the views of all time;
5. All economic theories.
Question 2. How many sections include structure of the course "History of Economic Thought"?
1. Four;
2. five;
3. six;
4. Eight;
5. three.
Question 3. Which of the ancient thinkers called the first economist in the history of science?
1. Plato;
2. Xenophon;
3. Aristotle;
4. Hammurabi;
5. Confucius.
Question 4: How to interpret the concept of Aristotle´s economy?
1. Housekeeping;
2. Production of the product;
3. The art of management;
4. The natural economic activity;
5. Entrepreneurship.
Question 5. How treats the concept of Aristotle chrematistics?
1. usurers;
2. "The art of making a fortune";
3. Form profit;
4. Commercial capital;
5. Personal needs.
Task 2
Question 1. In what meaning of the term mercantilism?
1. The initial accumulation of capital;
2. The cash balance;
3. Patronage;
4. Economic policies to promote the development of trade and industry, working for export;
5. Treatment Wednesday.
Question 2. What steps is isolated in development of mercantilism.
1. Four;
2. Three;
3. five;
4. Two;
5. a.
Question 3. Which of the theory of money developed mercantilists?
1. Employment;
2. nominalist;
3. Quantitative;
4. metallisticheskoy;
5. Banking.
Question 4: What is the concept of mercantilism has enriched the history of economic thought?
1. monetarist
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What Causes Hypoglycaemia | Causes of Low Blood Sugar
Low Blood Sugar Causes:
How does a person get hypoglycemia and who are at risk when it comes to this ailment? There are a number of reasons why people may find that they have low glucose levels in their blood, and one of them is due to complications with an existing problem with diabetes.
Other causes for this medical problem include the following:
• Acute cases of hypoglycemia may happen when a person skips meals or misses meals, when a person drinks alcohol, and when a diabetic person accidentally injects an excessive amount of insulin in his blood.
• Other causes of hypoglycemia include liver problems like liver cancer and liver failure. Kidney problems can also cause hypoglycemia. This can happen when gluconeogenesis is impaired. This is often the case when a person suffers from kidney failure.
• When kidney function is low, the insulin in the body circulates for a longer time and may cause hypoglycemia as well. This problem is also caused by loss of appetite and lower intake of food when a person has kidney failure.
• Congenital problems like congenital hyperinsulinism and people who are born with congenital defects due to certain occurrences like birth trauma or lack of oxygen while being delivered can also cause hypoglycemia.
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Innovative Solutions for the Circular Economy
news circular economyClick to enlarge
Increasing awareness of environmental challenges, such as carbon emissions and plastic pollution, is driving societal and regulatory change in Europe and around the world. Business and industry are taking note and are increasingly adapting products, supply chains and production to reduce waste and increase recyclability, in accordance with the concept of the circular economy.
The circular economy refers to "closing the loop(1)” of product life cycles through greater recycling and re-use, benefiting both the environment and the economy. Recycling plastics is an immensely important part of this loop, as they are used in so many products and processes today. Reducing plastic waste and recycling more plastic is becoming an increasingly important focus of government and regulators.
Industry is looking to stay ahead of the regulatory curve and most big brands are aiming to use more recycled plastic. However, the availability of traditional, easily recyclable plastic scrap is limited. Well-sorted scrap not mixed with other products is already being widely recycled, but it makes up only 30% of total plastic waste in Europe, and probably much less globally(2).
Regulatory push
Until recently, much of the remainder of the plastic heap was sent to China for recycling. China imported 7.3 million tons of plastic scrap in 2016(3), comprising more than 50% of the total volume of such exports. However, due to growing pollution concerns, China is banning imports of waste from the rest of the world(4). This is a major jolt to the market, as countries that formerly exported the problem now have to scramble to develop new recycling infrastructure and find new ways to manage their scrap.
In the meantime, the European Union recently released its strategy for plastics in a circular economy(5). This initiative is likely to be the precursor to an accelerated legislative agenda for new rules and targets for producing and using plastics. One of the EU’s objective is to ensure that all plastic packaging placed on the EU market is reusable or easily recycled by 2030, which is very ambitious, indeed.
Thus, a combination of market and regulatory factors is pushing industries to come up with ambitious voluntary targets, before these are imposed on them.
Brand responsibility
To boost the use of recycled plastics, the European Commission is launching a pledging campaign for European industries this year. For the four priority sectors involved in the strategy (packaging, automotive, building and construction, electric and electronic devices), the challenge, then, is to find innovative ways of recycling this plastic waste. Major brands are demonstrating their goodwill to tackle the problem and get out in front of the regulatory push, in the hope of making stricter regulation to accelerate the movement unnecessary.
According to Richard Bourdon, Solvay Move4Earth® project director, this is a clear sign that Solvay’s vision for the circular economy is spot-on. “We expect an acceleration in demand in the coming months and years for recycled plastic content,” says Bourdon.
“This is now becoming a reality,” he adds, pointing to his group’s innovative recycling initiative for automotive airbags, transforming the polyamide extracted from scrap into high quality PA66 engineering plastics for sustainably-designed commercial applications.
Innovative chemistry, like that being harnessed by Solvay’s Move4Earth, has an important role to play in coming up with workable recycling for plastics, and making the circular economy a reality.
logo-life Move4Earth® is supported by European Commission Life+ programme
(1) Towards a circular economy
(2) Only 9% of the world's plastic is recycled
(3) Plastic scrap flows to China evaporate
(4) The world is scrambling now that China is refusing to be a trash dumping ground
(5) [PDF] European strategy for plastics in a circular economy |
Click on photos to enlarge.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Ancient Art Supplies (Part 1)
Manufactured artists' supplies, probably from around 1900.
The next time you order your art supplies online, or drop into your local hobby emporium for a tube of titanium white, you might want to stop and ponder for a moment where artists of the past got what they needed to create their ancient masterpieces? Unless you're thinking of artists from the previous century or two, you can bet the names Grumbacher or Windsor Newton weren't stamped all over them. The former dates back only so far as 1905 while the latter was founded in 1832. Paint in tin tubes were invented by the English portrait artist, John Goffe Rand in 1841. Before that, artists kept their homemade paints in pig bladders or glass syringes. Artists, or their assistants, had to grind each pigment by hand, carefully mixing the binding oil in the proper proportions. Painting apprentices often knew more about chemistry than painting and drawing. Once paint in tubes began to be produced in bulk, the caps could be screwed back on and the paints preserved for future use, providing both flexibility and efficiency. This encouraged artists to begin painting outdoors. The manu-factured paints had a balanced consistency that the artist could thin with oil, turpentine, or other mediums. Paint in tubes also changed the way some artists approached painting. The artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, said, “Without tubes of paint, there would have been no Impressionism."
Cave painting reconstruction, Font-de-Gaume, (southwestern) France
Throughout recorded history, people have had the desire to decorate their living space. Naturally, paint and painting were crude during prehistory, but both evolved tremendously in the millennia that followed. The oldest reliable painted evidence is the burial of the dead with red ochre applied to the body. Some examples of this are almost 100,000 years ago among the Neanderthal. There are unproved claims of cave drawings in ochre and charcoal being as much as 60,000 years in some places including Australia. As early as 38,000 B.C., people used paint made from soot, earth, and animal fat to adorn the walls of their caves. The ancient Egyptian painters over the course of about three-thousand years, were known to have mixed ground glass or semiprecious stones, lead, earth, or animal blood with oil or fat. Clearly people have been making art for a long time.
West Bank Tomb of Sarenput II, Aswan, Egypt
Art demands wealth, power, monuments, and a corps of state or temple artists to feed a growing demand for industrial scale production of pigments. Malachite, a natural green copper ore was mined along with its blue variant called Azurite. Orpiment a poisonous and impermanent yellow was discovered. It's shortcomings were known, but it was also the only bright yellow known. The beautiful dark blue we know so well from Egyptian tombs was Blue Frit, also called Egyptian Blue. It was basically blue glass ground up as a pigment. Later, a green variety was also made. Gypsum and chalk sufficed for white. The common black was an early form of lamp black (soot) still used today. The only reds were natural earth minerals such as Red Earth and Cinnabar. Madder and Indigo were known at this time as dyes for textiles. It's uncertain whether they were used as artists pigments, but given the limited alternatives it would not be surprising if they were.
The Statue of Liberty is verdigris green. It's made of copper.
By the Roman period verdigris, an artificial copper green, and green earth were developed. Ivory black was made by burning ivory. White Lead (Flake White) came into use along with new yellows massicot and Naples yellow. Tyrian purple was made into a glazing pigment while burnt and raw forms of umber and sienna joined the artist's palette. A yellow red was used in the form of realgar, an arsenic compound that occurs naturally. Bright red was supplied by 'Dragons Blood', claimed by Roman historians to be the blood collected after the fighting of dragons and elephants. Surprisingly this very impermanent pigment was common until the 19th century by which time it had been discovered to really be the gum from a tree in Southeast Asia. The villagers who collected it surely had one of the most successful marketing campaigns in history. It is likely that dyes and plant extracts intended for textiles supplemented artists color ranges in many instances. With the exception of the blacks and earth tones, virtually all of these colors exhibited problems. Most were impermanent (or weak and coarse like blue frit), and those that weren't tended to be highly toxic.
Ye ole vermilion, white, and ultramarine.
With Medieval times came two important colors from Asia. In the 8th-century artificial vermilion was imported from China. Although poisonous, it was the first of today's powerful, bright, and yet permanent colors. The second equally bright and permanent color was a blue. At first no one in Europe knew what it was or where it came from, only that it arrived on Arab ships from "over seas," so it was termed "ultra marine." Pure ground Lapis Lazuli stone had been used for millennia but it was weak and not as useful as Egyptian blue. Many found it difficult to believe that the older Lazuline blue and the new ultramarine were from the same source, but gradually the knowledge of how to refine the blue from lapis spread through Europe. During the 12th-Century, the new rich, deep, and strong blue would revolutionize art. Later it was discovered that it came from Persia and Afghanistan.
Illustrated manuscript of
St. Matthew composing
his gospels, c. 800 AD.
The need to illustrate Bibles and decorate churches was largely res-ponsible for the survival of Roman methods of color production during the Renaissance. Despite this good for-tune, there were still major gaps in the color ranges of artists five-hundred years ago as to the permanence of colors. It is astounding that they could produce such brilliantly colored works with so few choices at hand. So many colors were either too expensive (as with blues), too impermanent (reds and yellows), or quite dangerously poisonous. Strangely, considering the huge artistic flow from this period, there were only two major pigment developments. Naples yellow was produced artificially for the first time and red lake was developed into a large range of beautiful colors. While the name seems to have often been loosely applied to various reds the name originated with just one color. These days we know this color as carmine in the studio and as cochineal (cockroaches) in the kitchen. It is derived from certain such insects in Central America and India. 'Red Lake', or just 'Lake' was the name given to this type of pigment.
In 1686, Richard Waller’s “Table of Physiological Colors Both Mixt and Simple" set the stage for a broad expansion of manufactured paints and pigments. As you can see, many of his pigments were not very permanent. This chart takes good eyesight and some translating from Elizabethan English.
The year 1704 marks the beginning of the revolutionary development of modern-day artists' colors. Prussian blue, a form of ferric cyanide came first. Some of these 18th-century discoveries proved short lived. Bremen blue was thought to be the perfect blue when invented, but it was almost immediately superseded by Cobalt blue. Turner's yellow came and went, to be supplanted by Cadmium Yellow. Prussian blue, though still available today, has largely been replaced by Pthalo Blue. The 19th-Century marked big changes for artists. New colors seemed to come along every four or five years. Cobalt blue arrived in 1802, cerulean in 1805, chromium green oxide along with Indian yellow arrived in 1809. The latter came from India and eventually people would find out that it was made by cruelty to cattle (force feeding on Mango leaves and collecting the urine to concentrate to make the pigment). It was soon banned. Cadmium Yellow, which came along in 1817 was better in any case. An artificial (and cheaper) ultramarine, zinc white, rose madder, viridian, and cobalt violet soon followed.
As lethal as a gunshot.
Nonetheless, there were mis-takes. Emerald green, a favorite of van Gogh, was found to be so poisonous it became a popular insecticide sold only in hardware stores as 'Paris Green' (right). Around 1800, a British merchant named Robert Ackermann may have operated the first art supply store. He also sold prints and books. He made his own water-colors as well as supplying pigments and recipes for those who wanted to make their own. Out of a list of 68 pigments he sold, less than 20 were perman-ent or non-poisonous.
20th-Century pigments Shop, Venice
The 20th-Century started with new high-performance organic pigments (the Hansa colors). They became a replacement for the poisonous vermilion (cadmium red) and the long awaited non-toxic, yet opaque titanium white. The pthalocyanines were discovered in 1935, and soon to follow were the quinacridones, and all the other laboratory products that would finally give the artist a wide range of beautiful permanent colors. Now the problem is no longer not enough choices, but too many, with some artists buying colors, not because they need them, but just because they are beautiful. So, the next time you get the urge to grind your own pigments, keep all this in mind.
It's only pigment, medium
and vehicle...
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Energy Security
This Workshop again falls within an international situation where energy still appears to be a fundamental driving force of economic and political strategies as well as planetary stability.
Aspects of:
1. Availability of new energy sources and viable technologies,
2. Disparity in access to energy sources,
3. Role of energy in our societies (energy societal metabolism),
4. Energy support to the life,
5. Energy demand for food security all over the world,
6. Increasing amounts of industrial and urban waste to be managed and safely disposed of,
7. Energy use, efficiency, effectiveness at all levels of daily life,
8. Energy markets and how they affect the economic dynamics, still are “hot” problems, that societies must address within a sustainability framework (ecologically sound production and consumption patterns associated to socially acceptable life styles), in terms of policies, technological development and economic processes.
Urgent issues of energy security call for increased reliance on local resources, with special focus to the role of agriculture for biomaterials and bioenergy supply as well as to development of cost effective solar & wind technologies for electricity production.
The use of thermal solar modules and devices should also be explored in depth, since a large part of energy demand occurs locally in the form of low and medium temperature heat. Energy security also calls for diversification of import supplies both in terms of quality and nature of energy resources (oil, natural gas, coal, etc.) and areas from which resources come from.
How such a diversification can be achieved and what are safe and effective infrastructures for this to happen without affecting the stability of international relations is matter of urgent debate. |
The Structure-Balance Relationship: Part 1
Structural alignment is one of the most fundamental elements of postural health, as well as functional movement. It is absolutely essential for martial arts and self-defense training. Understanding the structure-balance relationship, and the role it plays in stability and mobility, is a necessity for maintaining your own balance and control, and taking it away from someone else (especially if the other person involved has physical advantages such as size and strength). The following sections will explore this relationship.
Base of Support and Center of Mass
The relationship between these primary aspects of structure dictates whether or not your body is in or out of a state of balance. Balance is not a mysterious quality that some posses and others don’t, it is a state achieved when the center of mass is aligned over the center of the base of support. The base of support is defined as a sort of imaginary box drawn by making a line from the tips of one set of toes to the others and from one heel to the other. The center of this base of support is your optimal balance point. Your center of mass in an upright or vertical posture, is defined as the core mass of the body along its vertical and horizontal axes, usually located below the navel and midway between the hips and the belly and spine. When the center of mass is over the center of your base, you are in a state of balance. If you shift your center over the center of one foot, that foot now supports all your mass (weight) and the other foot becomes a passive support structure, meaning it is free to move without affecting your balance.
Alignment and Multiple Centers of Mass
Although the pelvic center of mass is generally referred to as the center, the truth is a bit more complex, but important for understanding balance. For the sake of keeping things as simple as possible, let’s say that the head and torso comprise four centers of mass: the head, chest, abdominal, and pelvic centers. When these centers all line up over the center of your base of support, you’re in balance. However, to the extent they shift out of alignment with the center of your base, your balance becomes more precarious and difficult to maintain. The weight of your masses will pull on your vertical axis (an imaginary vertical line extending up from the center of your base of support) which will cause excessive muscular tension to support your posture at the least. If your true center of mass moves beyond the edge of your base of support, you start to fall.
True Center and Counter-Balancing
The reason the pelvic center is often referred to as the center is because it is the last stop for the weight of all the masses above it before encountering your support structures (which are your legs when standing). However, your true center can shift and change according to your posture. For example, if you stand upright and begin to lean your head and chest forward, there will come a point in which your pelvis begins to shift back. It may happen so fast and subtly that you don’t even notice it at first. If you look in the mirror at yourself from the side, you’ll find that you’re sticking out your rear end. Your true center of mass has become your abdominal center. It may be possible for some people to even be able to stick out their rear far enough (and counter-balance with their arms likely) to shift their true center to their chest (or thoracic) center of mass. The same experiment can be done by seeing how far back you can lean. Extending the limbs can also increase the amount of mass on one side of the center of your base and shift your true center. If you’re not falling, you’ve stayed in balance. If you want to see truly impressive examples of shifting true center through counter balancing, check out a Cirque du Soleil performance.
Strong Line and Weak Line
Your base of support has a strong line and a weak line. Often the strong line is referred to as the base-line. In any posture, it is the longest line running through the center of your base of support. I refer to it as the strong line because it is the line along which your base of support can absorb the most force. The weak line runs between your support structures (your feet and legs when standing). In any posture it is the line through the center of your base along which you can absorb the least force. It also tends to be the shortest line to move the center of mass beyond the base of support. By continuing along the weak line to a distance from your center of base equivalent to the height of your true center of mass, you find the triangulation points.
Triangulation Points, Tumble Point and Fall Points
There are two triangulation points to any stance (or any two support structure base). If you stand with your feet parallel and somewhat apart (shoulder width is a good starting point) then imagine the center of each foot represents a corner in a triangle on the floor, you’ll see that the third corner could be in front of you, or behind you. You can experiment with different arrangements of your feet (different stances) and practice finding the triangle points. Once you’ve located it, shift your true center of mass (if upright it’s your pelvic center) toward one of the two points. You’ll quickly feel a loss in balance. If you don’t shift back over your base of support, or take a step (creating a new base of support under your center of mass) you will fall. While the triangle points are the shortest path to move the center of mass off of the base of support (and put someone on the ground) there are essentially infinite fall points. A fall point is any point outside of the base of support where the center of mass will reach the ground. All you have to do is shift a person’s center of mass outside the edge of their base of support and prevent them from counter balancing or stepping to replace their base. It’s worth noting that the triangulation points are just the two nearest and structurally most vulnerable fall points. Tumble point is the point at which the center of mass is just about to drop off the edge of the base of support and descend toward a fall point.
Lengthening and Shortening the Base-line and the Optimal Base of Support.
The stability of our structure is based upon the relationship between the width and depth of our base of support and the height of our center of mass. If our base is narrow, such as having the feet together or being on one foot, and our center of mass is high up, such as having your leg or legs fully extended, the inverse ratio of height of mass to width of support becomes very unstable. Think of trying to set a pen down on its end. The slightest breath would knock it over. As we widen our base and lower our center of mass, that ratio improves, eventually reaching an optimal state of stability without sacrificing mobility. As your feet continue to lengthen apart and your center of mass gets lower to the ground, you move beyond your optimal base of support and your stability and balance become increasingly precarious. Remember that your triangle points are found by considering the distance of your center of mass (true center) from the ground and the length of your base-line. The lower your center of mass and longer your base-line, the nearer your triangulation points come to the edge of your base of support. Imagine setting a cellphone on its long edge. The lightest touch would knock it down. While in your optimal base of support, you combine stability and mobility, because your feet are close enough to your center of mass (as a point on the ground) that you can shift your center over a single foot and move the other one quickly and easily. Also, your legs and feet are aligned more below your mass, which roots them to the ground and provides more contact friction between your feet and the ground.
Active and Passive Support Structures and Sweeping the Base
Earlier I mentioned that shifting your center of mass over one foot frees the other foot to move without disrupting your balance. This same notion can be used to make a leg heavier or lighter. When attempting a sweep (removing the base of support out from under the center of mass) you’ll find that it is very difficult to move the leg supporting the majority of the weight. The weight roots the foot to the ground and the friction it creates makes the leg very stable. However, if you move the center of mass over the other foot, you will make the foot you’re trying to sweep lighter, decreasing its friction against the ground and making it relatively easy to move. This is sometimes referred to as bumping the base-line. This takes some subtlety. If you bump too far toward the other foot, you will empty the foot you’re trying to sweep (no mass weighing it down – passive support structure) and this will free it to make a corrective step and escape your sweep. If you bump even further along the base-line, their center of mass will go outside their base of support and they will stumble away from you. When you bump the base-line, make sure the target leg remains an active support structure (center of mass remains dependent on its support for balance). When you move the foot, move it away from the current base-line without allowing the center of mass to move with it – in this way, the center of their base of support becomes a triangulation point beneath them and they fall straight down. You may also find that moving the target leg of your sweep along a diagonal path on the floor relative to their base-line is harder for the person to adjust and recover from. Human perception and human movement is not accustomed to dealing with diagonals.
Being Present for the Holidays
Finding Freedom through Exploring Movement
Mind of No-mind, Body of No-body
In his writings compiled under the title “The Unfettered Mind,” Takuan Soho talks about the mind that does not fixate on anything—not it’s own thoughts or intentions, not on any action of the body, nor on anything happening in one’s external environment. He says about this state “When this No-Mind has been well developed, the mind does not stop with one thing nor does it lack any one thing. It is like water overflowing and exists within itself. It appears appropriately when facing a time of need. The mind that becomes fixed and stops in one place does not function freely.”
In taiji, we practice standing post in the wuji posture. The goal of this exercise is just like that of Takuan’s “No-Mind,” but applied to the body as well. We seek to develop a state of body in which we do not fixate on any particular shape, motion, or intention—not our own nor that of anyone else. Wuji is often thought of as the void, the center, or neutral. These terms however have a certain static quality. They make wuji sound like a thing. As a thing, it can be fixated on. What makes wuji the essence of fluid response and effortless interaction is that it isn’t static. Wuji is a constant state of unmanifested potential.
My favorite analogy for wuji, as it applies to both mind and body, is the smooth surface of calm water. In its resting state it is shapeless, motionless. However, the moment a pebble drops into it, it makes ripples. When you put it into a container it takes the shape of that container. When no more pebbles drop, when you pour it out of its container, it returns to its calm, smooth state. This notion of going from stillness to motion, shapeless to shape, then returning to stillness and shapelessness is in the very nature of water. It is always in a state of potential. The potential for motion remains a part of its stillness. The potential for stillness remains a part of its motion.
You could say, that water is always discovering what motion and what shape it will take, in accordance with external forces and shapes. It has no particular intention, no desire. It isn’t trying. Water doesn’t do anything. This is the idea of Wuwei (non-doing). In the same way, our bodies should always be discovering what movements, shapes, and forces they will make, in accordance with that of the other person or persons we’re interacting with.
So, to say no-mind is to say no particular mind, or the mind that has yet to manifest any thought or intention. To say no-body is to say the body that has yet to manifest any action. Yet this mind and this body are suffused with potential for thought, and potential for action. Even when in the midst of thought and action, the mind of no-mind and the body of no-body still have the potential for instantly and spontaneously changing thought and action according to the external circumstances. That is because the actions of such a mind and body are manifested by, for, and with the external circumstance, and never imposed upon them.
This mind of no-mind and body of no-body are the goal of all taiji practice.
One of the most misunderstood issues of martial arts is context. Among martial artists of different styles, you can hear endless arguments about which style is better. Practitioners will argue which knuckles to strike with, the merits of stand-up vs ground fighting skills, and traditional methods of training vs modern ones. What they often fail to look at is context.
As far as the debate over superiority of style, I submit that it is…contextual. Every style, or system, of martial arts emerged as a practical answer to a particular need for particular people, at a particular place and time. For them, the system they developed was appropriate and effective. They were never meant to be set in stone. During the times of the origins of traditional martial arts styles/systems, new ideas were investigated for merit and the systems were edited to incorporate new methods. That is how they became systems in the first place, and continued to evolve over time. Practitioners of “traditional” arts should understand that the art they practice is just that, a tradition, and it’s context of application is historical. That’s not to say that there aren’t many practical lessons to be learned that apply to our modern context, but there is, perhaps…a bit of translation to be done at times.
Wherever you stand on the issue of style, there is a context that I think is far more crucial than that debate – what are you training for? The answer to this question is perhaps the single greatest element in deciding the path you should take in the martial arts. While that answer is infinitely individual in its precise details, there are a few general categories of purpose for which someone may find themselves studying martial arts. Generally speaking, most people are either in martial arts for fitness and wellness, the art, sport, self-protection, or job related skills. Each of these contexts calls for a different approach to training, both in content and method.
Rather than going down the list of contexts and their appropriate training paths, I’m going to focus on one: self-protection. The reason for this focus is that many of us in the martial arts mistake which context we’re training for. Often, martial artists are just that – artists. They love the culture, the philosophy, feeling of practice, and the community of their brothers and sisters in training. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s a wonderful thing and something I thoroughly relate to and enjoy. However, it’s a mistake to equate such training with preparation for self-protection. As lovers of the art we tend to dive deep into the details of the correct way to stand, throw a punch, execute a block, perform a routine, etc. We spend hours practicing techniques on the mat. What we don’t do enough of is practice having an escalated conversation that erupts into a sucker punch-flurry, or being ambushed by a rabid knifer while glancing at our smart-phone. Unless your context is combat sports, military, or police personnel, those are the kind of situations in which you’re going to find yourself called upon to use your training. Unless you’re one of those guys who says, “Alright! You and me outside!” you’re not going to find yourself squaring off with a single opponent. Techniques are important, but recognizing that they are just one small piece of the self-protection puzzle is more important.
What about combat sports? MMA practitioners train hard and constantly prove their skills in the octagon. Most would probably feel they’re prepared to protect themselves. I wonder though, when was the last time they trained on concrete or asphalt, or their opponent pulled out a knife, or they faced multiple opponents? When was the last time they practiced staring down the barrel of a gun? People who want to hurt you don’t announce themselves and they don’t fight fair. That’s what combat sport training prepares you for – a fair fight against a single known opponent at a particular place and time. That’s not to take anything away from sport combatants. They are the absolute best at what they do, and their training is appropriate for that context. However, it’s not preparation for self protection. Neither is military training. Even though they train to deal with all manner of armed attacks (depending highly on what their job is) their context is different. Their job is to go into a combat zone against enemies that are known and armed. They seek out that danger at a time and place, often of their choosing. They engage with the highest possible advantage with the goal of neutralizing the enemy. With this context, their preparation is vastly different from a civilian who may be assaulted by a criminal. Perhaps the nearest to our context is that of police with some very important differences. Police, like the military, move toward danger. It’s in the job description. Unlike the military, they don’t always know when a situation will go from routine to life and death. In that way, their context is similar. However, police are there to arrest criminals. We civilians are not. Perhaps the most innocent, in terms of appropriateness of training to context, are those who engage in the martial arts for personal fitness and wellness. They often have no illusions of combative grandeur. They enjoy the activity as an alternative way to be in shape and de-stress.
The point is that none of these paths are wrong. If your training fits the context of your purpose – great! This is a call to martial artists to check their premises. Look at your training and ask yourself if you’re really preparing for the fight that could be coming your way. Recognize what your training accomplishes and what it doesn’t, and be honest with yourself about what you want from it. Then make adjustments accordingly. Being a traditional martial artist myself, I know that this can mean a hard look in the mirror. I think many of us are drawn to the martial arts out of a fantasy, fed by movies and comic books, that martial arts will provide some kind of super powers with which we can smite evil, and kung fu any mindless thug through a wall with ease. The truth is that training – proper training – gives you a fighting chance where you wouldn’t have had one. Hand to hand skills are an important tool in the self-protection box, but it’s not enough just to own that tool. You have to know what the situations in which you need that tool look and feel like. I encourage you to go on YouTube and look up videos of assaults. Look at the whole situation and analyze what can be done to protect one’s self in such situations. Reverse engineer your training from real-life attacks. Take notice when hand to hand skills would – or did – come into play, what happened before, what happened after and to what degree were hand to hand skills appropriate or necessary. In this way you can begin to create a bridge between your mat skills and preparing to protect yourself.
The relationship between structure and balance
Many people begin Tai Chi training with an interest in improving their balance. Balance, however, can often seem an elusive attribute. I often have students say to me, “I don’t have good balance.” To such students I explain that there’s no need to worry about balance, nor is there such a thing as good balance or bad balance. Balance is the result of aligning your skeletal structure, and “relaxing” down through it. So balance is not something you have or don’t have. Balance is a state you’re in or out of. If you want to improve your balance, correct your structural alignment. It’s all about the relationship between weight and structure. Weight is gravity’s downward pull on the center of your body masses.
Think about it this way. If you were stacking blocks one on top of the other, they would be in a balanced state if they were stacked with all sides even and flush. Gravity’s pull on the blocks would pass vertically and centrally through their structure providing maximal support. However if you were to slide one block a little to one side, and the one above that as well, you would create an increasingly precarious state until finally the blocks tumbled over. Now imagine strings or cords attached from one block to the next. As the blocks are slid out of alignment the cords take on more stress as they attempt to keep the blocks from falling off of each other. In this analogy, the blocks represent your skeletal structure and the cords represent your muscles. That’s what being out of alignment does to our bodies. It creates a chronic tension in our postural muscles and is also why it feels so difficult to balance. Tai Chi’s answer to balance is aligning skeletal structure so that our weight rests centrally through that structure. Then gravity will pin you to the ground from head to foot.
To find this alignment, start with your feet. The balls and heels of your feet should feel evenly weighted. The center of your weight should feel as though it floats in the center of the arch of your foot just behind the balls of your foot. From there move up through your ankles, knees and hips, seeking a sense of stacking them centrally one above the other. Moving past your hips, point your tailbone toward the ground so that it isn’t shifted forward, backward, or to either side. Then extend this feeling of stacking up your spine to the top of your head. Now your structure is stacked. From there, focus on relaxing as if the stacked feeling overflows through the top of your head and pours down through your shoulders, chest, ribs, abdomen, waist and back. The vertically stacked structure and downward relaxation should feel mutually reinforcing.
When performing stepping movements in Tai Chi, it is important to understand that having balance on one foot means shifting the axial structure of your skeleton (skull to tailbone not including limbs) over the central axis of one leg (center of hip to center of foot). In other words, you are stacking your structure over the supporting foot so the other foot is unburdened by weight and can move freely. Any sense of losing balance comes from losing vertical alignment during the shifting or stepping motions. Essentially, all of Tai Chi could be described as moving while maintaining a vertically aligned structure and relaxed body-state. It’s common to mistake leaning your upper body over one foot for proper shifting. There is a feeling of heaviness in that foot that gives the impression that you’ve shifted your weight over. You have actually, just not all of it. When shifting this way you’ll find that you can’t seem to move the opposite leg without undue muscular effort while struggling to maintain the precarious balance of your less than optimal alignment. Structurally speaking, you’ve split your upper body weight over both legs, with the upper portion (head, shoulders, chest etc.) over one foot and the lower portion (ribs, stomach, pelvis etc.) over the other foot. To achieve the graceful, effortless, and relaxed movement of Tai Chi, you have to stack your entire axial structure over the supporting foot – head to tailbone. Furthermore, the percentage of weight borne on one leg is directly connected to how far your axial structure is over that leg. If your tailbone points down right in the middle between your feet your weight will be evenly distributed. A little to one side and it’s 60%- 40%, more is 70% -30% and so on until your structure and therefore your weight is 100% over one leg. When shifting, think of moving from your tailbone – not your head.
Vertically stacking your structure isn’t just the key to balance, it’s the key to independent movement in two person exercises such as push-hands. As your training partner pushes and pulls on you, your goal is to adjust your position so that you can maintain your vertical posture. If you lean toward your partner he can take advantage of your unbalanced state and pull you off your feet. If you lean away he can similarly take advantage and push you back. There are many variations and subtleties, but the principle remains the same: vertically stacked structure is the first requirement for maintaining independent and balanced action. The next principle is to remain relaxed. By naturally settling your weight down through your structure, you create a state of body that can adjust to forces without losing balance by sinking down your vertical axis and turning around it. If you don’t utilize sinking and turning then your partner’s pushing or pulling force will directly affect the position of your axial structure and force you to move off your feet. If you struggle against your partner’s force to keep your position, you created force that he can use to unbalance you simply by reversing his push to a pull or vise-versa.
This can seem like a simple thing, but good alignment is a subtle thing requiring a lot of attention and patient practice and personal investigation into the relationship between different parts of your body. However, if you take the time to engage in improving your structural alignment, you will be rewarded with balance, grace, ease of movement, and even power.
Process of Learning (Progress)
Most of us begin learning an art form eager to demonstrate its highest levels of skill with ease. When our first attempts don’t manifest a master’s skill, we become discouraged. We begin to think we may not have whatever the mysterious thing is that makes some people good at the art. Unable to realize our desires, we succumb to frustration and waning motivation. This thought that we are missing some essential ingredient for success becomes a self-defeating belief that stops us before we can really get started. At the first sign of imperfect performance we say, “I guess I’m just not good at this.” This all-too-common downward spiral is based on a false perception of the normal process of learning a new skill.
The truth about learning a skill is that it involves far more mistakes and failed attempts than it does successes. What separates a master from a never-was is that the master accepts that mistakes and failures are part of the learning process, and the never-was thinks he should be able to produce masterpieces from day one.
The distance between having a desire to be good at something and the realization of a high level of skill can seem infinite. It’s normal to have a hard time believing any amount of training and practice could ever produce a master’s skill. That’s because we didn’t see the process the master went through to become a master at his craft. We may see a master perform their skill with ease and grace and say to ourselves, “I’ll never be as great as the master.” I call this the problem with greatness. The problem is the idea that greatness is something that a person just has. The truth is that greatness is not a quality a person does or doesn’t have. Greatness is in the perception of the observer. It’s the idea separate from its living, breathing truth. Somebody that we perceive as great may not see themselves as so. They know the process they have gone through and are still going through. They see their mistakes and flaws. The truth is that everyone, as we see them, is the product of a process with many steps, stumbles, and falls that have made them what they are.
Our ideas of things are deceptive. They are based on a glimpse of something or someone at one point along their process, and omit the rest of the process or even the notion that there is a process at all. Not including the role of process in our images of things generates a feeling of being trapped in our current state of being. We feel that we are either able to do something or not. That’s a normal way to feel in the absence of understanding process. Including an understanding of everything as in process, we can see the roads of possibility open before us. All we have to do is invest the time, effort, a bit of determination and a whole lot of patience; accept that we will make many mistakes, have some failures, and turn out some mediocre work as we go along. As we continue to develop ourselves, the time will come when we can recognize we are capable of performing decent skill in our chosen art, and some may call us master.
Non-duality and Non-choosing: flowing with the Tao
The farmer replies, “Maybe.”
The farmer replies, “Maybe.”
The farmer replies, “Maybe.”
The farmer replies, “Maybe.”
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The unnameable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.”
– Chapter 1, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
“Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.”
– Chapter 1, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
– Chapter 5, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
“When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.”
– Chapter 38, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
with the fruit and not the flower.
He has no will of his own.
He dwells in reality, and lets all illusions go.”
– Chapter 38, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
The Tao, the ‘Force,’ and Martial Arts
There are ultimately just two styles of martial arts (and perhaps just two approaches to living): those that flow with the force, and those that try to force their will.
Most martial arts methods focus on overpowering or outmaneuvering their opponent. They consider what the opponent may do and what they must do to counter it. They consider what they want to do to their opponent and how to achieve that goal. They unknowingly impose their fears and desires on reality. They seek to control events, and try to devise better strategies to ensure victory. In short, they fall prey to the “Dark Side of the Force.”
While this way is quicker and easier, it is also deceptive. It feeds your ego and encourages your baser emotions such as fear, desire, anger, arrogance, and attachment to results. It leads down a path in which your prize is the ability to hurt others, as punishment for daring to oppose your will. It builds in you a chronic underlying fear that someone out there may be able to threaten your sense of dominance, resulting in a thirst for more power that can never be quenched. Your self-worth becomes tied to your sense of power over others, and so you feed it by bullying others to show your strength. At its extreme, this is the inner state of dictators and warlords, whose only salve for their chronic anxiety is to make others suffer. Imagine Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, leading the Empire’s vast destructive power to submit the galaxy, all the while chanting, “If you only knew the power of the Dark side of the Force.” Power is seductive. It seduces us into believing that we can control events and achieve a state in which things always go our way – into believing we can always be up, never down.
The Taoist approach is quite different. Like the Jedi, a Taoist sees all things as part of a greater Force that “penetrates and binds us” and moves us all along in its flow. They call it the Tao. To this way of thinking, attempting to force your will and control events is akin to splashing around in a river; all that effort may make some waves, but it will not change the flow of the river nor the direction of all things moving in it. By accepting that he is in the river and of it, and by being sensitive to its flow and going along with it, the Taoist’s strength – like the Jedi’s – “flows from the Force.” By going with the natural flow of events, the Taoist meets no resistance, and so his actions seem effortless. This way of acting without effort is called wuwei – literally, “without trying.” As Yoda instructs “Do or do not. There is no try.” This is not an admonishment to get it right the first time, it’s a description of the way one acts when in alignment with the Force. One could just as easily say “in alignment with the Tao.”
If you’re trying, you’re trying too hard. “Trust your feelings. Use the Force.” In martial arts and in life, this way of being leads to a very different approach to dealing with challenges. Rather than seeing them as attacks or obstacles to achieving a desired result, a Taoist sees all events as simply what’s happening, without judging them as either threat or benefit. He knows each bend in the river reveals new possibilities and surprising outcomes, and he has faith in the flow of Tao. So he simply flows along with the forces at work around him and focuses on maintaining his own balance, whether that force is the force of a physical attack or a challenging set of circumstances in his life. By letting go of expectations he clears his mind of fears and desires and lives in the present moment. He responds to events with ease and clarity, and exists in a state of simple contentment.
Meditative Awareness in Taoist Martial Arts
The importance of meditative awareness to the Taoist martial artist cannot be overstated. The entire Taoist approach to martial arts rests upon it as its foundation. Most of the time, we operate on a binary mode of perception, fueled by our survival instincts. This leads to a view of reality split into good and bad, past and present, self and other, and so on. This perception leads to hope and fear. We hope to achieve what we perceive as the good. We fear that we will not be able to prevent what we perceive as the bad. It is this binary perception that gives birth to fighting arts – strategies to achieve our hopes and prevent our fears, and to win rather than lose (another product of binary perception).
Meditative awareness removes the filter of our mental contrivance and leads to the direct perception of reality as it is. This direct perception leads to grasping reality not as differentiated entities playing against each other, but as a single indivisible whole in which exists every one of us. Everything is part of it – each a drop of water in a vast ocean.
An understanding like this leads to a different attitude and a different way of receiving and responding to events and relationships. Instead of having a constant sense of fear and a sense of yourself vs the world (the various obstacles and individuals who may try to stop you or take things away from you), you exist with a sense of wholeness, of completeness, a sense that everything is OK. A sense that everything is just as it must be, as it should be – perfect – and that it’s unnecessary to change things or to fight or resist. This sense also comes with sensitivity to the way things are in the moment. In other words, it’s a sensitivity to the processes of change and transformation, of individual things and their relationships to each other. You don’t see things as being separate, but connected, and so you feel the way your actions ripple out into others and your environment, and the way those others and your environment ripple into you. You see things as a matrix of interrelating factors creating change, and you begin to swim in it, feeling it. You can go along with it and act in such a way that you affect changes in events. It’s all simply about maintaining your center – not maintaining it against other things that are trying to take it – but yourself as the center of existence. It’s not egocentricity, but simply put, you are everything and your sense of being everything is centered in the single point that is you.
In martial arts, this creates a very different way of relating with an attacker or opponent, because you don’t fight. You don’t see yourself as something separate from this person. Therefore, their movements are your movements, their intentions are your intentions, so you couldn’t even really say from this point of view that they’re attacking or that you’re trying to defend yourself. There is a relationship, physical contact, and movement, but there is no particular intent or plan. What ends up happening is that you blend with the other person, that the two of you become one for an instant, while you maintain your center, your wholeness. In other words, you remain complete in yourself and unaffected. This is not an attempt at self-defense. This is simply the way in which one is in relation to another when flowing along with what is happening, without any resistance whatsoever.
On the other hand, when you are existing and working in a mode of consciousness based on images created by your binary sense of existence, when you see yourself as a distinct entity as apart from other entities, when you move through the world with concerns about the past and future, with concerns about what is being done and what you have to do and the way in which things can either be obstacles hurting you or blessings helping you, all of this leads to a sense of needing to do something. It leads to a sense of you vs the other, a sense of what the other will try to do and what you must do in order to protect yourself. It leads to a sense of winning or losing. In other words it leads to a sense of dichotomy, differentiation, separation – and when things are separate they can be against each other. This is the birth of all external martial arts, the desire to strike, the desire to block, the desire to move to avoid, to be faster, stronger, and tougher. It all comes from this. That is not our way. What I am endeavoring to illustrate here in words is that the martial arts that I practice and teach is not one of strategies, tactics, and techniques. It has nothing to do with offenses and defenses. It has nothing to do with winning and losing. The martial art that I teach arises naturally from the perception that is gained through meditative awareness, the perception that all is one, and then your way of interacting martially with another person is merely an organic expression of that awareness – your own sense of wholeness, centeredness, completeness. You move in such a way because that is the way that you must move to continue to be you such as you are, and that is all. |
Experimental spaceplane engine completes multiple test firings
To achieve this, the unmanned, autonomous Phantom Express lifts off vertically from a launch pad. After reaching hypersonic velocity, it goes into a sub-orbital trajectory to the edge of space, where it releases a piggyback second stage to send the payload into orbit. The key to the spaceplane is an updated version of the AR-22 engine. It burns a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to produce over 375,000 lb of thrust for at least 100 seconds.
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Background reading material by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule for Year 3 Semester 1 PPSD session on November 2008
Negotiations are pervasive: Leaders spend a lot of their time in negotiations. Daily life, public or private, revolves around negotiating with others. You may not even be conscious of being involved in negotiations. Most major decisions, private and public, are not unilateral. They involve negotiations with others to reach an acceptable consensus.
Negotiation is necessary to protect your interests, and get as much advantage as possible without entering into costly and bruising confrontations. Most conflicts can be resolved through negotiation. Good negotiation turns confrontation into cooperation. Physicians must be able to negotiate with their patients and relative to agree on a treatment plan otherwise a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings will occur.
Learning negotiation skills: Negotiation skills can be learned. They can be improved by experience and discussions with experienced negotiators.
What is win-win negotiation?: Negotiations can be win-win in which each party leaves satisfied or win-lose in which one party leaves with a feeling of winning and the other leaves with a feeling of having lost. A win-win outcome is the best in a negotiation. It ensures that each party gets the maximum it can from the transaction, part as friends who can work together again. Both objectives and relations have to be considered. Future relationships may be lost by aggressive pursuit of objectives.
Win-win negotiation requires avoiding stereotyping the other party. Such stereotypes confuse your judgment. Win-win negotiation requires avoiding extremes. The just equilibrium is the way to negotiate. Win-win negotiation is joint problem-solving; the alternative is power negotiation using threats, intimidation, and other power tactics that will end in deadlock. Win-win negotiation focuses on positive solutions. It aims at reaching an agreement satisfactory to both sides by a process that is as painless as possible. Satisfaction could be achieved even if one party has through miscalculation compromised its interests. It is all well as long as they are not aware of their mistake.
Elements of win-win negotiation: Win-win negotiation has the following elements: separating people from the problem, looking at interests and not positions, creating options for mutual gain, getting all parties to use objective criteria, enough time to prepare for and carry out negotiations. and optimum circumstances under which negotiation is carried. The focus should be on solving problems and not on personalities. Interests and not positions should be defended. A negotiating position can be given up or changed without giving up your interests. Options for mutual gains should be vigorously explored. Win-win negotiators concentrate on objective criteria. A win-win outcome in negotiations requires enough time to prepare so that decisions and moves are well-studied and are not emotional reactions.
Alternative to win-win: If you are not interested in a win-win outcome, you have the liberty not to negotiate at all and to use other approaches to solving the problem.
Writings of Professor Omar Hasan Kasule, Sr
This section provides thoughts in Islamic Epistemology and Curriculum Reform.
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Little Known Facts About c programming assignment help.
Yet another difficulty is heap memory allocation should be synchronized with its true utilization in any plan to ensure that it to be reused as much as feasible. As an example, if the sole pointer to some heap memory allocation goes from scope or has its benefit overwritten prior to totally free() known as, then that memory can't be recovered for later reuse and is essentially lost to This system, a phenomenon often called a memory leak.
In conditions the place code needs to be compilable by either regular-conforming or K&R C-dependent compilers, the __STDC__ macro can be employed to split the code into Common and K&R sections to circumvent the use over a K&R C-centered compiler of attributes available only in Normal C.
Some normal headers do define a lot more convenient synonyms for underscored identifiers. The language previously bundled a reserved phrase named entry, but this was seldom applied, and it has now been taken out as being a reserved term.[25] Operators
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How do I know if I have hazardous trees?
Hire a licensed arborist to evaluate your trees.
Many tree defects may not be obvious to the average home owner.
What maker a tree hazardous?.
By definition, a tree that is hazardous has targets such as a house, car, or person that it can damage.
Example of what makes a tree hazardous.
bad crotch
Bad crotches with included bark which indicates weak attachment point.
Rot or decayed wood. Remember the wood is the structure of the tree. If the main beam of your home was rotten it would fail and your house would collapse.
Sometimes the problem is under ground, such as (vertasillem mellon) shoe string root rot. A sine of this is fruiting body mushroom at the base of your tree. This is why large trees just tip over and appear to have no root system.
What can be done to make my trees safe?
Trees with bad crotches can often have a cable installed by a arborist.
Tree Decay
Decay must be evaluated to determine if the tree is safe to leave, sometimes lighting of limbs maybe necessary to take some weight off the decayed area.
Most times tree with root rot must be removed. These trees would even be deemed unsafe for an arborist to climb. So the aid of a bucket truck and or a crane is often needed for the safe removal of these trees.
So please have your trees evaluated before they end up on your home. Hurricane season is just around the corner. |
Future Semicryo vehicle may carry humans to space
When SpaceX boss Elon Musk’s new rocket hurled his red Tesla car towards Mars on February 6, space entrepreneurs and enthusiasts exulted around the world. They cheered as much for the car and its dummy driver Starman as for the Falcon Heavy super rocket that did the job.
The privately-funded Falcon Heavy (FH) is now the most powerful working booster on Earth and can lift 64 tonnes of cargo to near-Earth orbits, claims SpaceX (Space Exploration). FH, with its reusable rocket stages, dwarfs the power of NASA’s Delta IV Heavy by half at a third of its cost.
Where does India Stand in Rocketry?
The 58-year-old Indian Space Research Organisation is currently perfecting a rocket that can lift four tonnes to higher orbits and about eight tonne loads to lower orbits, the GSLV Mark III (or just MkIII).
ISRO Chairman K. Sivan congratulated SpaceX on its “very great, wonderful, and innovative feat”. ISRO, too, has envisioned developing super-heavy launchers that can one day lift loads as heavy as 50 to 60 tonnes. The technology is complex. Many supporting technologies leading to it, such as the semi-cryogenic fuel-based propulsion and reusable systems, are being explored under ongoing research, he told The Hindu recently.
“A [super] heavy lift vehicle of the future is on the drawing board as part of our R&D. We are doing a lot of preliminary research leading to it. Right now, we are developing a semi-cryogenic engine, which was approved some time back. Next, we must propose [for funding approval] a full semi-cryogenic stage. A lot of work is ahead of us, in this,” Dr. Sivan said.
There is no clear time frame or cost estimate for it, but if approved, it would be a single, innovative, two-stage vehicle, which would cater to all demands, he said. SpaceX’s FH, first heard about in 2005, is reported to have cost $ 500 million.
Such a heavy duty vehicle should be developed future-ready should the government green-flag a human space flight proposal, or it would cater to other large payloads in the coming years. A human space launch would have a roomy, safe, and habitable capsule for astronauts.
The present plan is to try out the semi-cryo stage at the core of MkIII in place of its liquid fuel engine, without changing the design. This would raise its muscle power 50% — from four to six tonnes. Gradually it would be enhanced to 10 tonnes and eventually 50 to 60 tonnes, by developing a modular super vehicle with many additions or strap-ons built around the main structure. FH used a similar tactic, according to Dr. Sivan, who oversaw preliminary semi-cryo related works while he was ISRO’s propulsion head until recently.
“At the same time, ISRO is developing reusable technologies. The re-entry component was demonstrated in 2016. Landing experiments, return from orbit and stage recovery will have to be demonstrated as part of our R&D,” Dr. Sivan said. |
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Special Cranes
Jan 10, 2018
Crane Work Type: Refers to the crane work busy degree and the load change degree parameter.
The level of work is busy, for cranes, refers to the total time of the year, the actual operating hours of cranes and the total number of hours ratio; for an institution, it refers to the ratio of the number of hours of operation of an institution to the total number of times in a year. In a crane work cycle, the percentage of the organization's operating time, known as the agency's load persistence rate, is expressed in JC.
The degree of load change, the crane designed by the rated weight is often less than the rated weight of the crane in the actual operation. The degree of variation of this load is indicated by the use of the weight coefficient k. K= Crane The average starting weight of the year/crane nominal weight.
According to the Crane's work busy degree and the load change degree, the crane's working type is divided into: light level, intermediate level, heavy grade and special heavy level 4 kinds.
Crane working type and starting weight are two different concepts, the weight of the large, not necessarily a heavy, small weight, is not necessarily light level. For example, the use of cranes for hydropower stations up to hundreds of tons, but very few opportunities, only in the installation unit, repair units only use, the rest of the time is there, so although the weight is very large, but still belong to the light level. Also like the station yard crane, although the weight is small, but the work is very busy, belong to the type of heavy work.
Previous: Safety Device for Cranes
Next: Crawler Cranes |
In 1789, Article III of the constitution was adopted naming the Supreme Court as being the final arbiter of constitutional law.
In 1789, Article III of the constitution was adopted naming the Supreme Court as being the final arbiter of constitutional law. The article stated that an appointee would hold his or her office during good behavior. Good behavior was not defined, however it came to mean lifetime tenure as long as the good behavior requirement was met. This idea was derived from the English Monarchy to circumvent any ruler from appointing a new court, because a ruling did not fit his or her agenda.
Today the courts have become politicized, some judges have been, and are political activists. The attorney general, who is appointed by the president, is nothing more than a gofer for the party in power. There is something drastically wrong with a system that prosecutes enemies of the party in power, or refuses to prosecute party favorites. IRS anyone? Both Eric Holder and President Obama were held in contempt. Holder contempt of Congress, and Obama contempt of court. In both cases it was meaningless.
Recent rulings by the Supreme Court on Obama Care and Gay Marriage highlight the need for a constitutional convention to reexamine the role of the Supreme Court, as well as the lesser courts. Since there is no mention of marriage or health insurance in the constitution the court should have refused to hear both cases. According to Article III SCOTUS is supposed to be the final arbiter of constitutional law. Both of these issues had nothing to do with the Constitution, it was more to do with that two headed monster, political correctness.
One could argue that the judges are independent thinkers when it comes to law and the constitution. We know this to be untrue based on past decisions. Two of the justices voting in favor ofgay marriage were known to be gay sympathizers. One actually officiated at a gay marriage, yet both refused to recuse themselves from the hearing.
In recent years SCOTUS has become the last word on more and more political issues. One has to wonder why we even vote when five judges can, and do, overrule the majority opinion of millions of Americans.
Any constitutional convention should address term limits of elected offices as well as SCOTUS. Many of those who sit in the House and Senate seats have all but become tenured. The argument against term limits is that talented candidates would not run for office.
Party allegiance is the 800 pound gorilla in Washington. If an elected congressman or senator doesn’t follow the party line they are ostracized, and an effort is set in motion to unseat that person by starving them of party support, and money for his next campaign. In Washington it is all about the party, and the people be damned.
There are 23 senators who are 70 or older, and many more who are in their late 60s’. Most have been in office for 20 years or more. The House is probably just as bad, or even worse. Scrutiny should include perks of office holders. No more passing laws that they don’t have to abide by.
No more retirement eligibility after one term in office. Since Obama Care is the law of the land they should be subjected to it along with the rest of us peasants. Don’t expect any legislator to advance this idea, it is going to have to come from the “peasantry.”
Liberty University has undertaken an effort to have a review of the SCOTUS and the lesser courts. All freedom loving Americans should support their effort. |
American Economy Outline
Return to Economics Internet Library
Updated 8/25/18 Please link to ,use as textbook/supplement Please
American History from
University of Groningen
Original edition by Richard C. Schroeder. Revised and updated in 1989 by Nathan Glick,
who also wrote Part II: "Explaining the Constitution: The Federalist Papers."
An Outline of American Government is a publication of the U.S. Information Agency and has been copied from their WWW-site and incorporated in the project From Revolution to Reconstruction (and what happened afterwards..). The original text has not been altered, but all useful links to other parts of the project have been made in the text.
We do not claim copyright on the text, only on our HTML-tagging of the text.
1. Introduction
2. How the United States Economy Works
3. A Historical Perspective on the American Economy
4. From Small Business to the Corporation
5. Stocks, Commodities and Markets
6. The Role of Government in the Economy
7. Monetary and Fiscal Policy
8. The Changing Face of American Agriculture
9. Labor in America: The Trade Unions' Role
10. Foreign Trade and Global Economic Policies
11. An Afterword
12. Brief Reading List on the American Economy |
(Klein) #1
I making an football game.
How can i make the ball when it is in the goal go back to the start position(To the middle field)?..And how can i make it without set scene?
How can i make an cube as an collisions box(not the default sphere)?
I making an car-racing game.
I have an carbody and wheels,how can i make the wheels rotations according to the car acceleration? I tried to make it with rigidBody but then the wheels dont track the carbody.
I would thank everybody who can help me a lot!
(kos) #2
about the default collision box thing i would like to tell you that the versoons of blender that so far have been published do not have the option to make the collition box something other than a sphere.NaN was about to solve it but in the mean time the bankrupcy happened.
and to the increasing rotation of the car-wheels at the time of accelaration you can write a very simple python script. i myself have used the script to animate a F-22 plane. if you wish you can contact me on [email protected]…bye
(Klein) #3
Thank you for your answer.
Can you tell me the python script i have tried to go to your site but it doesnt work it allways go to the main yahoo site.
I have version 2.23 of blender what do you mean with there is no default bounding box?
(Monkeyboi) #4
The simple answer to the sphere problem is: There is no alternative! You can only use spheres.
(kos) #5
alright…! i was been very busy for the F-22 project.but as it is finished i am quite free now. i used a py script to make the wheels of the F-22 rotate proportional to the motion of the master empty. it can be achieved by the very simple formula->s=l*ang
where s is the distance travelled by the master empty. l is the radius of the wheel and ang is the angle that the wheel is to be rotated.mkeep in mind…it is in radians. you have to convert it in degrees by multiplying ang by (pi/180).this is the basic thing. the python script would be a bit different if you are using it in game rather than animation. as i do not make games in blender i do not know the python implementation of game-blender.but if you wish i can learn it and post it to you in 3 or 4 days.reply me…bye
(Klein) #6
Thank you for your answer.
I would thank you very much if you send me the code, if it is not too much work, it seems to be a little bit complicated.
At the moment i have no e-mail can u write it here in the topic?
(azrael) #7
All though you can only use spheres for colision, what is nothing stoping you from pulling the sides of the spher to make a square.
This may not give you the full desired results, but is better than nothing
(kos) #8
yes i will. but as did i say before it would take a couple of days to do the game scripting because of my very little knowledge of game scripting.but if you wish i can write you the script that i used in my animation by tomorrow…and if you don’t mind waiting i would surely deliver the py script for the gaming in a couple of days.
(Klein) #9
Thanks all for the answers
I have an question to the answer of azrael.
How can i pull the sides of the collisions sphere?
(kos) #10
hi there…I am back with the python script for animating the wheel proportional to the distance travelled by the car.first of all make the car-mesh child of an empty,say “car_empty”.also make the wheel child of another empty named say “wheel_empty”.make the “wheel_empty” child of “car_empty”.actually in real world the distance travelled by a car depends on the rotation of the wheels.but for sake of simplicity we will reverse the thing. we will make the car move and the wheels will rotate proportional to goes the script:
>import Blender
>import math
>car_empty = Blender.Object.Get(“car_empty”)
Link the script to the “car_empty”.
Now add an IPO curve to the car_empty that defines an accelaration .press (Alt+a) to see how the wheel rotates proportional to the motion of the car.
[here “radius” is a numarical value. it is the radius of the car measure the radius of the wheel simply select the wheel out of edit mode and press ”N” .then write down the LocX of its centre . again in edit mode select a vertex that is one of the outermost vertices of the wheel and has the same LocZ with the centre .now substruct the LocX of the centre from that of the verex.if LocX of vertex<LocX of centre then do the reverse.write down the result in place of ‘radius’ in the script.KEEP IN MIND I modelled the wheel in front if you are modelling in side-view all the “LocX”s should be replaced by “LocY” including that of the script and all the “RotY”s should be replaced by “RotX”.]
NOTE:-KEEP THE “wheel_empty” JUST in the centre of the wheel.
That’s all….the same scripting in game-blender will a bit different.the LocX or LocYs will be replaced by Forces .The scripting for the game will follow VERY soon……BYE.(good luck and happy blendering!!) KOS J
(Klein) #11
Thanx a lot for the python script!!! |
SaPI: SaPIs (Staphylococcus aureus or superantigen pathogenicity islands) are a family of mobile genetic elements resident in the genome of some strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Much like bacteriophages, SaPIs can be transferred to uninfected cells and integrate into the host chromosome.Staphylococcus cohnii: Staphylococcus cohnii is a Gram positive, coagulase-negative member of the bacterial genus Staphylococcus consisting of clustered cocci. The species commonly lives on human skin; clinical isolates have shown high levels of antibiotic resistance.SCCmec: SCCmec, or staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec, is a mobile genetic element of Staphylococcus bacterial species. This genetic sequence includes the mecA gene coding for resistance to the antibiotic methicillin and is the only known way for Staphylococcus strains to spread the gene in the wild by horizontal gene transfer.Extended-spectrum penicillin: The extended-spectrum penicillins are a group of antibiotics that have the widest antibacterial spectrum of all penicillins.Comprehensive Pharmacy Review, Leon Shargel, 6th edition, p917 Some sources identify them with antipseudomonal penicillins,Elsevier's Integrated Review Pharmacology, By Mark Kester, Kelly Dowhower Karpa, Kent E.CoagulaseNafcillinBacitracinCefoxitinMeticillinSt. Columcille's Hospital: St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown is a publichttp://www.Latex fixation test: The latex agglutination method is used clinically in the identification and typing of many important microorganisms. These tests are based on and utilize the patient's antigen-antibody immune response.VancomycinStaphylococcus epidermidis: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a Gram-positive bacterium, and one of over 40 species belonging to the genus Staphylococcus. It is part of the normal human flora, typically the skin flora, and less commonly the mucosal flora.Ferric uptake regulator family: In molecular biology, the ferric uptake regulator (FUR) family of proteins includes metal ion uptake regulator proteins. These are responsible for controlling the intracellular concentration of iron in many bacteria.OST4: In molecular biology, OST4 (Dolichyl-diphosphooligosaccharide--protein glycosyltransferase subunit 4) is a subunit of the oligosaccharyltransferase complex.Staphylococcus haemolyticusCloxacillinResistome: The resistome is a proposed expression by Gerard D. Wright for the collection of all the antibiotic resistance genes and their precursors in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria.Trypticase soy agar: Trypticase soy agar or Tryptone Soya Agar (TSA) and trypticase soy broth or Tryptone Soya Broth (TSB) with agar are growth media for the culturing of bacteria. They are general-purpose media, providing enough nutrients to allow for a wide variety of microorganisms to grow.GentamicinEagle's minimal essential medium: Eagle's minimal essential medium (EMEM) is a cell culture medium developed by Harry Eagle that can be used to maintain cells in tissue culture.Infective endocarditisStaphylococcus saprophyticus: Staphylococcus saprophyticus is a Gram-positive, coagulase-negative bacterium belonging to the Staphylococcus genus. S.AmpicillinAnaerobacter: Anaerobacter are a genus of Gram-positive bacteria related to Clostridium. They are anaerobic chemotrophs and are unusual spore-formers as they produce more than one spore per bacterial cell (up to five spores).Discovery and development of cephalosporins: Cephalosporins are a broad class of bactericidal antibiotics that include the β-lactam ring and share a structural similarity and mechanism of action with other β-lactam antibiotics (e.g.Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus refers to strains of Staphylococcus aureus that have become resistant to the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin.Beta-lactamaseMannitol motility medium: Mannitol motility medium is a bacterial growth medium used to detect the ability of bacteria to ferment mannite and produce nitrogen gas; and to indicate the motility of the organism.Skin and skin structure infection: A skin and skin structure infection (SSSI), also referred to as skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) or acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI), is an infection of skin and associated soft tissues (such as loose connective tissue and mucous membranes). The pathogen involved is usually a bacterial species.TeicoplaninCreamed honey: Creamed honey is honey that has been processed to control crystallization. Creamed honey contains a large number of small crystals, which prevent the formation of larger crystals that can occur in unprocessed honey.CeftriaxoneBenzylpenicillinThioridazineAssay sensitivity: Assay sensitivity is a property of a clinical trial defined as the ability of a trial to distinguish an effective treatment from a less effective or ineffective intervention. Without assay sensitivity, a trial is not internally valid and is not capable of comparing the efficacy of two interventions.Thermal cyclerInfection Control and Hospital Epidemiology: Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the University of Chicago Press. It publishes research on control and evaluation of the transmission of pathogens in healthcare institutions and on the use of epidemiological principles and methods to evaluate and improve the delivery of care, including infection control practices, surveillance, cost-benefit analyses, resource use, occupational health, and regulatory issues.Cell envelope: The cell envelope comprises the inner cell membrane and the cell wall of a bacterium, if present, plus a bacterial outer membrane, if one is present (i.e.Bacteremia: (NOS) |DimethylacetamideLinezolidStreptococcus dysgalactiae: Streptococcus dysgalactiae is a species of Streptococcus.Replica plating: 350px|right|thumb|[[Negative selection (artificial selection)|Negative selection through replica plating to screen for ampicillin sensitive colonies]]CefazolinHalotolerance: Halotolerance is the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of high salinity.Walter Larcher, 2001 Halotolerant species tend to live in areas such as hypersaline lakes, coastal dunes, saline deserts, salt marshes, and inland salt seas and springs.Enterococcus avium: Enterococcus avium, a species of Enterococcus, is most commonly found in birds. Rarely, it is also a cause of infection in humans, and in such cases, may be vancomycin-reistant, and is referred to as VREA.Pulsenet: PulseNet is a network run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which brings together public health and food regulatory agency laboratories around the United States.http://www.Multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria: MDRGN bacteria is an abbreviation for multidrug resistant gram-negative bacteria. For hospitalized patients, and especially patients in intensive care units, these bacterial infections pose a serious and (as of 2010) rapidly emerging threat.Phenotype microarray: The phenotype microarray approach is a technology for high-throughput phenotyping of cells.ATC code S01: ==S01A Anti-infectives==AmikacinOxacephem: An oxacephem is a molecule similar to a cephem, but with oxygen substituted for the sulfur. They are synthetic compounds not seen in nature.BiofilmBioline Reagents: Bioline Reagents is a primary manufacturer and developerBioline: The PCR Company | Company Profile of a wide range of specialised molecular biology products for the life science industry and research markets. It manufactures reagents including ultra-pure nucleotides, DNA polymerases and mixes, DNA markers, competent cells, products for RNA analysis and other general reagents for molecular biology.ClindamycinQuellung reaction: The Quellung reaction is a biochemical reaction in which antibodies bind to the bacterial capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Page 340 Escherichia coli, and Salmonella. The antibody reaction allows these species to be visualized under a microscope.Erythromycin 3''-O-methyltransferase: Erythromycin 3-O-methyltransferase (, EryG) is an enzyme with system name S-adenosyl-L-methionine:erythromycin C 3-O-methyltransferase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reactionPeptidoglycan binding domainNovobiocinCombination therapy: Combination therapy or polytherapy is therapy that uses more than one medication or modality (versus monotherapy, which is any therapy taken alone). Typically, these terms refer to using multiple therapies to treat a single disease, and often all the therapies are pharmaceutical (although it can also involve non-medical therapy, such as the combination of medications and talk therapy to treat depression). |
Human parainfluenza virusesMenangle virus: Menangle virus is a virus that infects pigs, humans and bats.Hemagglutinin-neuraminidaseLower respiratory tract infection: Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), while often used as a synonym for pneumonia, can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess and acute bronchitis. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fever, coughing and fatigue.Mycovirus: Mycoviruses (ancient Greek μύκης mykes: fungus and Latin virus) are viruses that infect fungi. The majority of mycoviruses have double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genomes and isometric particles, but approximately 30% have positive sense, single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) genomes.Arroyo (creek): An arroyo (; , "brook"), also called a wash, is a dry creek, stream bed or gulch that temporarily or seasonally fills and flows after sufficient rain. Flash floods are common in arroyos following thunderstorms.Mumps virus: Mumps virus is the causative agent of mumps, a well-known common childhood disease characterised by swelling of the parotid glands, salivary glands and other epithelial tissues, causing high morbidity and in some cases more serious complications such as deafness. Natural infection is currently restricted to humans and the virus is transmitted by direct contact, droplet spread, or contaminated objects.Generalized vaccinia: Generalized vaccinia is a cutaneous condition that occurs 6-9 days after vaccination, characterized by a generalized eruption of skin lesions, and caused by the vaccinia virus.Neuraminidase inhibitor: Neuraminidase inhibitors are a class of drugs which block the neuraminidase enzyme. They are commonly used as antiviral drugs because they block the function of viral neuraminidases of the influenza virus, by preventing its reproduction by budding from the host cell.CroupRespiratory syncytial virus G protein: Respiratory syncytial virus G protein is a protein produced by respiratory syncytial virus.Global Vaccines: Global Vaccines, Inc is a mission-driven non-profit company applying state-of-the-art science and innovative business strategies to design and develop affordable vaccines for people in poor countries.LaryngitisViral pneumoniaCytopathic effectPlaque reduction neutralization test: The Plaque reduction neutralization test is used to quantify the titre of neutralising antibody for a virus.CD46: CD46 complement regulatory protein also known as CD46 (cluster of differentiation 46) and Membrane Cofactor Protein is a protein which in humans is encoded by the CD46 gene. CD46 is an inhibitory complement receptor.Cell–cell fusogens: Cell–cell fusogens are glycoproteins that facilitate the fusion of cell to cell membranes. Cell-cell fusion is critical for the merging of gamete genomes and development of organs in multicelluar organisms.Antiviral drug: Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics for bacteria, specific antivirals are used for specific viruses.Coles PhillipsViral structural protein: A viral structural protein is a viral protein that is a structural component of the mature virus.Influenza A virus subtype H1N1: Influenza A (H1N1) virus is the subtype of influenza A virus that was the most common cause of human influenza (flu) in 2009, and is associated with the 1918 outbreak known as the Spanish Flu.Baby hamster kidney cell: Baby Hamster Kidney fibroblasts (aka BHK cells) are an adherent cell line used in molecular biology.Influenza virus nucleoprotein: Influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) is a structural protein which encapsidates the negative strand viral RNA. NP is one of the main determinants of species specificity.Wound tumor virus: Wound tumor virus is an invertebrate and plant virus found in the United States of America belonging to the genus Phytoreovirus and the family Reoviridae. The virus is a Type III virus under the Baltimore classification system; that is it has a double-stranded RNA genome.TracheitisNudivirus: A nudivirus (family Nudiviridae) is a large, rod-shaped virus with a circular, double stranded DNA genome of 96–231 kb. The genome encodes 98 to 154 open reading frames.Defective interfering particle: In virology, defective interfering particles (DIPs), also known as defective interfering viruses, are spontaneously generated virus mutants in which a critical portion of the particle's genome has been lost due to defective replication. DIPs are derived from and associated with their parent virus, and particles are classed as DIPs if they are rendered non-infectious due to at least one essential gene of the virus being lost or severely damaged as a result of the defection.PyranMeta-Hydroxyphenylhydracrylic acidSindbis virusDirect fluorescent antibodyProtein primary structure: The primary structure of a peptide or protein is the linear sequence of its amino acid structural units, and partly comprises its overall biomolecular structure. By convention, the primary structure of a protein is reported starting from the amino-terminal (N) end to the carboxyl-terminal (C) end.Influvac: Influvac is a sub-unit vaccine produced and marketed by Abbott Laboratories. It contains inactivated purified surface fragments (sub-units) from the three different strains of the influenza virus (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and Influenza B Virus) that are selected and distributed by the World Health Organization, on the basis of their latest recommendations.Nasal administrationRabies virus: The rabies virus is a neurotropic virus that causes rabies in humans and animals. Rabies transmission can occur through the saliva of animals and less commonly through contact with human saliva.Influenza Research Database: The Influenza Research Database (IRD)IRD Influenza Research Database BRCSquires, R.B.Global spread of H5N1 in 2006: The global spread of (highly pathogenic) H5N1 in birds is considered a significant pandemic threat.ZanamivirBranching order of bacterial phyla (Gupta, 2001): There are several models of the Branching order of bacterial phyla, one of these was proposed in 2001 by Gupta based on conserved indels or protein, termed "protein signatures", an alternative approach to molecular phylogeny. Some problematic exceptions and conflicts are present to these conserved indels, however, they are in agreement with several groupings of classes and phyla.Multiple cloning site: A multiple cloning site (MCS), also called a polylinker, is a short segment of DNA which contains many (up to ~20) restriction sites - a standard feature of engineered plasmids. Restriction sites within an MCS are typically unique, occurring only once within a given plasmid.Four Seasons Baltimore and Residences: Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore is currently a 22 story highrise hotel complex building which opened on November 14, 2011. The building's construction began back in 2007 and went through several changes.Lipid bilayer fusion: In membrane biology, fusion is the process by which two initially distinct lipid bilayers merge their hydrophobic cores, resulting in one interconnected structure. If this fusion proceeds completely through both leaflets of both bilayers, an aqueous bridge is formed and the internal contents of the two structures can mix.Rhinovirus: Rhinoviruses (from the Greek (gen.) "nose") are the most common viral infectious agents in humans and are the predominant cause of the common cold.Beef cattle: Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of adult cattle is known as beef. |
Environmental Changes are Influencing Individuals, Not Just Populations
Written by San Jose State University graduate student, Abram Fleishman.
Each December my news feeds, from Facebook and Twitter to professional listservs and
mainstream news sources, are inundated by a flood of stories about one bird. Not one
species of bird, but actually a single individual living on one of the most remote islands in one of the most remote archipelagos in the world. A bird that if it was not beautiful, elegant, and most of all old, no one would care about.
Wisdom preens her freshly-hatched chick on Midway Atoll. (Photo: Naomi Blinick)
Wisdom is a Laysan Albatross that nests on Midway Atoll at the far end of the Hawaiian
archipelago. While part of Hawaii, this is not the tall volcanic tropical paradise you picture when your friend tells you she is going on vacation. Midway is halfway between North America and Japan, an ancient sunken island that now only scratches the surface of the Pacific. Once a bustling military base during WWII, Midway is now a wildlife refuge and home to several million seabirds.
Wisdom was first banded in 1956 by a biologist named Chandler Robbins as part of the Pacific Biological Survey (see her profile here). She was banded as an adult, which means her exact age is not known, but because Laysan Albatrosses do not nest until they are ~5-8 years old, she is at least 66 years old. This makes Wisdom the oldest wild bird ever recorded, which has been the focus of much of the press that she has received. Perhaps just as interesting and impressive is that she has been laying an egg each year (albatrosses only lay a single egg) and even hatched a chick this year at age 66! Her life has been heavily chronicled by researchers, and you can follow along here.
Recently, at the 43 rd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group in Tacoma, Washington, I listened to Dr. George Divoky speak about changes he has observed in a colony of Black Guillemots, a small northern seabird, which he has been monitoring since 1970. The changes to the Arctic over his career have been vast: the Arctic summer is now longer (number ice free days) and the ice cover on the Arctic Ocean has decreased, driven by increased temperatures. In other words: Climate Change. We often think of climate change as affecting animals at the population-level: range shifts over decades, or declines over generations. But George pointed out that changes are happening at the individual-level. He used Wisdom as an interesting example, pointing out that she has lived through vast changes to her environment since the 1950s. For example, during Wisdom’s life, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have increased to 340% over preindustrial (1700) levels (source). CO2 is recognized as one of the most abundant greenhouse gases directly contributing to increase in the global mean temperature. When you plot the data the pattern is striking. So George got me thinking: what other changes have occurred during Wisdom’s lifetime?
Global mean carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations measured in parts per million (ppm). Data compiled by the EPA from 10 different sources. (source)
Global plastic production measured in millions of tonnes. (source)
Another key change that Wisdom has experienced is the accumulation of plastic debris in the ocean. When Wisdom hatched in the early 1950s, plastic was just becoming part of daily life. Since that time, global plastic production has increased rapidly, and ever since plastic entered the public domain, it has made its way to the ocean. Plastic’s durability, strength, and lightweight nature — the attributes that make it so appealing to us — also make it persist in the environment. In some parts of the world’s oceans, far removed from population centers along the coasts, there are 6 times more micro-plastics than plankton[1]. As a visual forager, Wisdom has had to learn the difference between this new man-made, potentially toxic substance and her usual food. Albatrosses are not particularly well suited for such decision-making, having to fight millions of years of evolution that point toward the mentality that “if it floats, it’s probably delicious”. Each year thousands of albatross chicks and adults die due to plastic ingestion.
Laysan Albatross population nesting on Midway Atoll. The population has increased from an estimated “thousands of pairs” in the early 1900’s to 450,000 pairs counted in 2016. (source and source)
While these two examples show a depressing situation that describes the disturbing impact that humans are having on our planet, not all changes that Wisdom has seen are negative. Midway was once a thriving and strategic military base with over 3,500 people living there during World War II. Before that, a vibrant and destructive demand for albatross eggs (for food), feathers (for women’s fashion) and guano (for fertilizer and explosives) depleted albatross populations across the North Pacific. As a result, albatross populations were smaller when Wisdom was born. Over Wisdom’s lifetime however, Albatrosses on Midway have recovered from a low of ~100,000 pairs in 1956 to ~450,000 pairs counted in 2016.
NSB_0991-2 copy
Midway Atoll is home to more than 450,000 breeding pairs of Laysan Albatross.
While it is not all doom and gloom, earth is currently in a state of rapid change. Humans are reconfiguring and short-circuiting the processes that have shaped the planet that we know. The timeframe that we are setting is so much faster then past changes, that what the future holds is unknown. Wisdom has survived, and even thrived, in this environment of change, at least up to now. This gives me hope that the capacity to adapt is large in much of the natural world.
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Rhizobia = Free Nitrogen!
By / September 28, 2015 / Comments Off on Rhizobia = Free Nitrogen!
We like free things, and while this isn’t exactly free since you’ll have to add the legumes, it’s a good way to add some forage and some fertility to your pastures.
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Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch were German scientists.
Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch were German scientists.
Nitrogen is one of the most important macronutrients for plant growth and ever since Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch invented a process that can produce nitrogen out of “thin air” we’ve been making, bagging and then applying more nitrogen to our fields and pasture. The process earned its inventors two Noble Prizes and was arguably one of the highest contributions to humanity in the last 200 years because, it enabled the production of nitrogen fertilizer which helped increased food production, allowing population to rise to a current 7 billion. But making fertilizer via the Haber-Bosch process requires vast amounts of energy (up to 3,600 psi of pressure and up to 1,022 ̊F). So is there some cheaper, more natural way to get the same results?
If you’re thinking ‘germs or microbes’ you’re right! A good example is a soil bacterium genus Rhizobia, that associates with legume roots in a a mutually beneficial partnership. Rhizobia “infects” legume roots looking for the energy it needs to live (stored in plant sugars or carbohydrates). In return, rhizobia is sequesters nitrogen from the atmosphere, making it available to plants for free. This is equivalent to having a nitrogen factory right in your soil!
To obtain this benefit, if specific soil bacteria is not present in the soil, we inoculate legume seeds. Each legume seed has its own preferred rhizobia
How to Inoculate Your Legume Seeds
Here's the Rhizobia for your legume.
Here’s the Rhizobia for your legume.
First, each legume seed has a preferred rhizobia choose the right rhizobia for your legume (e.g.: Clovers like “Rhizobium trifolii”). Check the table at the right to pick out the one you need. If the package you’re looking at is out of date don’t buy it. Once you have your inoculant, keep it in a cool, dark place as heat and sunlight can kill these tiny living beings.
To inoculate, place legume seeds in a bucket in the case of small quantities, oroin a flat surface (it could be a swiped barn floor or on a tarp). In a clean container, mix warm water with inoculant and sugar to activate the rhizobium. Sugar will provide the stickiness to glue inoculant and seed together. Next form a mound with the legume seeds. Open a “hole” in the middle of the seed mound and slowly start pouring the warm sweet gooey mix of rhizobia inoculant. Gently mix it with a shovel. Lastly, sprinkle lime over the mound until seeds get a whitish dry coat. This will also prevent the gooey stickiness from being transferred into the seeder where it could form clumps. When the mix is dry and loose, seed it.
Symbiosis between rhizobia and legumes roots cause pinkish nodules. Rhizobia benefits from sugars exudated by roots. Plants absorb nitrogen captured and processed by rhizobia.
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Predictive Policing: reinforcing bias
A drawing of a robot pointing a gun over a map of Philadelphia
By Kiera Patton
In the summertime, do you worry about police stopping you when you go out for the evening? Many people of color in Philadelphia have experienced racial profiling, when police make racist assumptions and target Black and Brown people, especially those who are young. During Mayor Kenney’s election campaign, he promised to end stop and frisk policing, but he changed his mind once in office.
“Predictive policing” is the use of computer software to predict who might break the law before they do it. The software comes up with these predictions using data, such as statistics on how many arrests are made in a certain neighborhood.
Often, there is the assumption that data-driven methods will improve problems of bias, but in the case of predictive policing, it may be the opposite. A study by Cornell University found that predictive policing algorithms can generate feedback loops, as the presence of police causes more arrests to occur, leading more police to be assigned, which in turn leads to more reported arrests. The results of predictive policing algorithms are only as good as the data fed into them, and policing is extremely biased in the geographical areas it targets.
A more mundane problem of predictive policing is that it makes inherently biased policing appear neutral, like just another area of technical expertise. According to the Georgia Law Review, if a system computing recidivism risk uses risk scores based on data from decades of biased sentencing, it will likely produce biased results. Predictive algorithms and risk scores end up putting a sheen of neutrality on years of biased data. Low-income and minority neighborhoods are subjected to increased police surveillance and harassment and therefore more arrests, so they will inevitably be determined by algorithms as areas to focus on.
In Philadelphia, a program called Operation Safe Streets in 2002 used statistical analyses to determine areas to focus on geographically. The program was intended to decrease the drug trade in Kensington. Obviously, given that headlines about drugs in Kensington continue to this day, the program achieved very little. Even at the time, critics correctly pointed out that heavy-handed sweeps and patrols would do nothing, and social programs like rehabilitation would do far more.
Predictive policing also dangerously blurs the line between innocence and guilt. In a program in Los Angeles, for instance, people regarded as statistically likely to commit crime are subjected to increased surveillance. While not equivalent to arresting someone entirely based on predictions of future crimes, the increased surveillance can become a self-fulfilling prophecy of arrests and police harassment. Also, it’s questionable whether statistical analysis can be meaningfully applied to predict a single person’s behavior.
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What are Pirekuas de Michoacan?
Instructor: Christopher Muscato
Americans are sometimes surprised to visit Mexico only to find that people are listening to much more than what's sometimes oversimplified as ''Mexican music.'' While Mexico does have a few genres that are national standards, regional musical styles are also very important throughout the country. One place where we can certainly see this is in the western coastal state of central Mexico called Michoacán.
Location of Michoacan in Mexico
Perhaps while enjoying Michoacán's famous ice cream culture, visitors may also get a taste of a unique regional folk music called pirekua. It's a Mexican musical genre distinct to Michoacán, and as diverse and inventive as the state it belongs to.
History & Development
Pirekua is unique to Michoacán, but why? This music styling was developed by the P'urhépecha peoples, an Amerindian culture of this region. The P'urhépecha have lived in this part of Mexico for centuries, fighting against the Aztec Empire and maintaining rich copper mines. Over the centuries, the P'urhépecha were exposed to Spanish colonial influences, as well as those from immigrants traveling to Mexico from across Central America and the Caribbean. Historically, there has been a lot of pressure on Mexico's Amerindian cultures to assimilate, and each society found its own way to resist and maintain their identity.
For the roughly 165 P'urhépecha communities that still exist today, one of the hallmarks of their resistance and commitment to their identity was music. Pirekua emerged as an important form of social interaction and engagement between communities, as ideas, emotions, and common experiences were put to music. While there are general trends to pirekua, every community also has its own distinct traditions and interpretations, helping them preserve a sense of who they are.
Flag of the Purepecha
Themes of Pirekua
So, what does pirekua sound like? The easy answer is that it can really sound like anything. Pirekua is a highly inventive genre, influenced by other Mexican folk music, as well as African and European musical traditions. The inventiveness of the genre is, in one way, one of the best ways that often marginalized Amerindian communities can maintain their traditions: it allows old songs to be constantly revived and reworked with new styles. Pirekua singers, called pirériechas, are highly respected for their creativity and ability to both maintain and rework traditional melodies and lyrics.
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5 Habits of Seriously Successful Language Learners
Just as learning is for everyone, everyone can learn a language. Check out our famous polyglots as you read the blog! (A polyglot is a person who speaks multiple languages fluently.) While a multitude of factors might hinder you from learning a sport or a musical instrument, language learning is a path where obstacles are seldom present.
First remember this – it’s all in your brain
We are not talking about extraordinary people with out-of-this-world intelligence or brains the size of watermelons. Like you and me, a polyglot would have been a monolingual at some stage of his/her life until they decided to explore the universe of language learning. And from there, there was no turning back.
After extensive research and digging into the brains of well renowned polyglots, we have developed our own list of 5 habits of a successful language learner.
We are born with a language instinct. Our brains are naturally wired for language. They have the innate ability to process complex information in the form of sounds, gestures and context.
Brain learning.jpg
This capacity for language extends throughout life. Which means you can learn any language, at any age. This is possible because the brain is plastic. Plasticity is the brain’s ability to make new neural connections. Continued research has found that this happens all throughout a person’s lifetime. Your brain today is not the same one as it was last month. Neural connections are created regardless of age.
So much so that Researchers claim languages should be a requirement for any kind of degree as bilingualism could protect the brain in later life. Studies have shown that certain types of dementia appear up to five years later for people who speak a second language compared with monolinguists. It’s thought that bilingual people have a cognitive reserve that delays the onset.
So now that we have covered the science part, let’s get on to those seriously successful tips.
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Innovations needed for Kenya to achieve universal healthcare
Investing in the latest innovations in medicines, therapies and medical devices should be a national priority alongside achieving health insurance coverage for all. FILE PHOTO | NMG
For Kenya to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) over the next five years, we have to identify and adopt medical technological innovations that improve early detection and prevention of diseases while lowering the cost of treatment.
Investing in the latest innovations in medicines, therapies and medical devices should be a national priority alongside achieving health insurance coverage for all. Innovations in medical technology save patients, families, employers, insurers, governments and hospitals the huge burden of treating and managing diseases. The World Bank estimates that half of the global population cannot access essential health services.
Over 100 million people fall into the poverty bracket each year due to escalating medical expenses. It is estimated that 800 million people spend ten per cent or more of their budget on medical expenses.
In adopting innovative medical technology, health care providers can ensure diseases are detected and treated early enough when it is relatively cheaper to do so. This is especially the case with non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, stroke and hypertension which are on the rise and are expensive to treat and manage.
Technological innovation in health care has been shown to have major economic benefits. Adoption of the latest medical technology has gained traction in Kenya in recent years. The government through the medical equipment leasing programme sought to boost screening, diagnosis and treatment of diseases in key public health facilities. Although dogged by controversy, the initiative is noble and timely as it reduces the cost of accessing healthcare especially among poor and marginalized communities in rural Kenya.
Medical technology innovations that can significantly improve our healthcare delivery system include those that enable early detection of illnesses. For example, procedures such as biopsies and endoscopies are not only invasive but also costly. Use of non-invasive procedures using the latest technology reduces the cost of surgery as the patient does not have to spend an inordinately long time recuperating in hospital.
Telemedicine has also minimized direct contact between patient and physician since they can now engage online.
While the latest breakthrough medical technology innovations come with a high price tag, they ultimately reduce costs of patient care over the long-term.
The high cost of most medical innovations including drugs and equipment could be addressed through public-private partnerships. Government alone cannot afford to provide everything.
But we should always remember that the benefits of medical technology far outweigh the costs particularly in managing chronic ailments whose impact is felt over a long time.
For technology to be of value, we must continuously invest in upgrades and maintenance.
We should eliminate all forms of inefficiencies in our health system including corruption for Kenyans to enjoy the fruits of the latest breakthroughs in medicine.
Lowering the cost of treatment also brings down health insurance premiums thus improving coverage.
CAROLINE MUNENE, Group chief executive officer, AAR Insurance. |
Conference to boldly explore solar power
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Space, the final frontier these are the voyages of scientific dreamers.
Their mission: to seek out new sources of clean power, to keep climate change in check, to boldly generate electricity where no electricity has ever been generated before.
For three days in September, the Ontario Science Centre will host a conference called the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space.
Scientists, space engineers and technologists from around the world will try to coordinate a roadmap for building massive solar-power stations in space and beaming the electricity safely back down to Earth.
Bob McDonald, the affable host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks show has been named master of ceremonies of the event, sponsored by a not-for-profit group called SPACE Canada and which promises to attract attention from around the globe.
The idea of generating solar power in space has been gaining traction lately, no doubt because of the urgency of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in our atmosphere.
Temperatures by the end of this century are now likely to rise twice what scientists predicted six years ago, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study published last week in the peer-reviewed Journal of Climate.
Preventing this warming will require "rapid and massive action," the scientists concluded. If you share the view of British theorist James Lovelock, who sees Earth as single organism, then you believe our efforts at combating climate change are futile.
Best, instead, to prepare for what's coming. Those scientists coming to Toronto in September, fortunately, are more optimistically opting for the massive action plan.
How rapid the plan would be... well, that's a different story.
Organizers expect that about 100 technical papers will be presented at the Toronto conference, and preliminary results of a nearly completed International Academy of Astronautics study will also be shared.
That study, nearly two years in the making, promises to raise the profile of space-based solar generation as a solution to our energy woes.
The concept has been around for decades. Some envision huge fields of solar photovoltaic panels floating in an orbital slot and always facing the sun.
The space-based systems would collect the solar energy 24-hours a day and beam it down by microwave to large collection fields strategically placed around the planet.
No clouds. No night. Just a continuous blast of sunlight.
Others see the moon as an ally. The idea is that the moon is plastered with solar panels and the energy is beamed back Earth in a similar fashion.
The difference here is that, over time, solar-powered manufacturing plants could be set up on the moon to make solar panels from the silicon and other metals found on the lunar surface.
If you think this is lunacy, consider that the National Security Space Office, which reports to the U.S. Department of Defense, put out a report in late 2007 that concluded "the technical feasibility of the concept has never been better and all the science and technology development vectors appear to indicate that there is a credible potential."
It has proposed building a 10-megawatt pilot solar station to demonstrate it can be done and to spur private investment in commercial ventures.
Apparently the Canadian space agency is interested in the idea.
Meanwhile, California's Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the largest utilities in the United States, caused quite the chatter last month when it announced a deal to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from a start-up called Solaren Corp., which plans to build a space-based solar generation station that will start beaming power down to Earth in 2016.
The news was widely criticized as a publicity stunt, given that the utility isn't taking any risk by saying it will merely buy the power if it's available.
If Solaren never delivers, no money will ever exchange hands. It's like telling your kid you'll pay him $1 million if he can bend a spoon with his mind.
The conference this September in Toronto is certain to prove mentally stimulating, and there will no doubt be a lot of attempted spoon-bending going on.
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Second Breakfast: VIII
-Tertullian, The Spiritiual Sacrifice of Prayer
Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD) was an early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was a notable early Christian apologist and defender against heresy. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term Trinity, and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology.
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Jane Eyre Compared to the Great Gatsby
Topics: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby Pages: 4 (1299 words) Published: January 23, 2007
Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald can be compared by what is valued by each character in the novel. Prestige, wealth, and education are some of the few things deemed important in each novel. In Jane Eyre, there is the notion that social status is analogous to wealth. During the novel, Jane is a poor girl who never holds any distinguished positions. As she is planning her wedding, Jane is worried because she can't offer Rochester beauty, money, or connections, but when she discovers her cousins and receives an inheritance, she slowly moves into a position of equality with her true love, Edward Rochester. However, in The Great Gatsby, there is a separation between being wealthy and having a high social status. Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, resides in West Egg, Long Island. West Egg is known as being an area populated by people who have made their fortune recently and have yet to establish social connections. Just across the bay lies East Egg, home to the upper class of wealthy people such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The distinction between East and West Egg show that wealth is not a sign of prestige in The Great Gatsby. The association between wealth and social status in Jane Eyre cause Jane Eyre to marry the love of her life, but the separation between wealth and social status in The Great Gatsby ultimately cost Jay Gatsby his life.
Jane Eyre comes into a position to marry Edward Rochester when she receives her inheritance. Prior to the inheritance, Rochester saw her as a "dependent," who always did "her duty" (Bronte 282). Jane even refers to Rochester as "master" and makes note of the separation of "wealth, caste, custom" between them (Bronte 282). She refers to her love for him as unavoidable and beyond the bounds of class. Rochester proposes marriage to Jane and becomes intent on transforming her into his view of ideal beauty. She resists and tells him,...
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Jul 21 2016
Discoveries from Disasters
Published by under Student blog entries
When the BP oil spill named Deepwater Horizon happened in 2010, BP set aside $500 million dollars for a private company to research its outcome and the overall environment it was affecting. With millions in the bank account Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) funded the efforts of 1,200 scientists to monitor the gulf and its inhabitants.
One of the fundamental discoveries that were made by observers were the paths of the oil itself. The oil did not follow some of the large currents that satellites had identified as the mainstreams in the gulf. This at first puzzled the scientists, but also gave them a chance to monitor and notice come medium sized currents that had never been available to the human eye because of the oil that was traveling by the currents. As many scientists will state, research and understanding is often limited by the mechanics and devices they deploy, and also human observation.
DriftersThrough the deployment of cheap drifters, the scientists were able to measure some of the first smaller currents in the gulf. This discovery was a success for the team as they tracked the sub-mesoscale currents.
As many people during the oil spill were concerned with mammals and other viewable aquatic animals, the scientists were more concerned with the effects the spill was having on more primary animals including zooplankton and insects. While many of these animals go unnoticed, some of them are the habitat builders and he foundation of the aquatic food web. The oil spill created an opportunity to broaden the scope of creatures being tracked and counted, and putting some species on the map for the first time in history. They have identified at least fifteen new organism since the oil spill, and can now begin to track the effects of these organisms in the environments and also the effects of the oil spill on the organisms themselves.
Another discovery that was noted of worthy of investigation was natural oil seeps. The oil that the companies are tapping into for human combustion also have natural seeps that leak up to 1.4 million barrels of oil into the waters every year. These reservoirs that are leaking are feeding grounds for many microbes that are at the base of the food chain. The microbes that digest the hydrocarbon-rich oil are then preyed upon and create a thriving unique environment that scientists study by videography. The film is used to understand the process of the oil leaking, and contributing factors to the oil release. These sites are not only important to understand because of the oil leaks, or the animal life, but because of the crystalline formations of methane, that are a potential climate change impact if enough methane is collected in the marine environment. These formations are poorly understood, and the spill allowed for dedicated time and efforts to be focused on the formations to understand their future and current hazards.
Waters, H. (2015, August 20). Five Things gulf oil spill taught us about ocean . Retrieved from Smithsonian : http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-things-gulf-oil-spill-has-taught-us-about-ocean-180955036/?no-ist
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How to Identify the Cause of Plant Problems:
1. Identify the symptoms (spots on leaves, wilting, etc.).
2. Determine if there is a pattern. (Just the lower leaves? All plants? Certain plants in a certain area?)
3. Trace the history (weather conditions, use of fertilizers, when conditions appeared).
4. Examine for insects or disease (in roots, fruits, etc).
5. Consider what environmental factors other than pests or disease might be the issue (soil, nutrients, pesticides, weather).
6. Then, consult resources for specific pests and diseases; compare symptoms. Note: Bacterial disease and viruses can only be confirmed by lab tests; call or send a sample to UConn Home and Garden Center (see their Web site for instructions).
Boxwood Blight Found in Connecticut
In October 2011, boxwood blight (Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum) was positively identified in Connecticut. This is the first confirmed incidence of boxwood blight in the United States.
For information on this emerging issue, including identification and management, click on this fact sheet provided by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station |
How Breastfeeding Lowers a Mom’s Risk of Heart Disease
How Breastfeeding Lowers a Mom’s Risk of Heart Disease
How Breastfeeding Lowers a Mom’s Risk of Heart Disease
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc—Getty Images/Blend Images
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A strong body of evidence supports the benefits of breastfeeding both for baby and mom. Breast milk gives babies a starter population of bacteria- and virus-fighting cells from their mothers, and breastfed babies tend to develop stronger immune systems, have less asthma and allergies and have fewer ear infections and respiratory problems than babies who aren’t breastfed. Some data even suggests that breastfeeding can contribute to higher IQs and better body weight among babies as they get older.
For moms, breastfeeding can help them lose pregnancy weight and lower risk of certain cancers, including breast and ovarian. Now, a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association adds to those maternal benefits by showing that breastfeeding can help mothers lower their risk of heart attack and stroke even a decade after giving birth.
The study involved nearly 290,000 women in China who provided information on how many children they had, whether they breastfed and for how long. The researchers followed the women for nearly 10 years looking for heart events.
MORE: Breastfeeding Linked to a Lower Risk of Cancer in Kids
Women who breastfed their babies had a 9% lower risk of having heart disease during the study period compared to women who did not breastfeed. The effect seemed to be cumulative: Women who had more than one child and breastfed each of their babies for two years or more lowered their risk of heart disease by 18% and their risk of stroke by a similar amount, compared to mother who never breastfed. Even after the researchers adjusted for factors that can influence heart events, such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, obesity and physical activity, the effect remained strong.
The finding only points to a strong association between breastfeeding and lower heart disease risk — it doesn’t imply that women who don’t breastfeed will necessarily develop heart problems.
More research is needed to clarify the link. But breastfeeding may affect heart risk by changing the metabolism of women after they give birth, says study co-author Sanne Peters, a research fellow in epidemiology at the University of Oxford in England. During pregnancy, the body accumulates and redistributes fat in an effort to ensure the developing baby has enough nutrients and to prepare to nurse the baby with breastmilk. Previous studies suggest that the accumulated fat is more efficiently lost during breastfeeding. “Women who don’t breastfeed essentially have metabolic reserves that they don't need,” says Peters. That may contribute to more weight gain and raise risk factors for heart disease, such as atherosclerosis and cholesterol.
MORE: Breastfeeding Programs Help New Moms Stick With It
It's not clear yet whether there is an ideal length of time to breastfeed in order to gain the greatest benefit for heart health, but future studies may answer that question, Peters says. In China, the average time that women breastfeed is longer—about a year—than for women in the West, who generally breastfeed for four to six months.
Additional studies could also shed more light on why, exactly, breastfeeding helps moms' hearts. The current study did not find any differences in body mass index, a measure of body weight, among breastfeeding and bottle-feeding moms. But Peters says that other measures, including blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, could provide more information on the connection.
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Interwar Unemployment In International Perspective
For two decades after the Second World War, many economists and politicians thought that the battle against large-scale unemployment had been won. Since 1970, however, the armies of full employment have suffered a series of reversals. The US unemployment rate doubled between the late 1960s and 1980 and has shown disturbingly little tendency to decline since. Unemployment in the Common Market countries of Europe also doubled over the decade up to 1980 and, more distressingly, doubled again over the first half of the current decade. For the OECD as a whole, the standardized unemployment rate has risen from 5.1 per cent in 1977, when this statistic was first calculated, to 8 per cent in 1985.l With increasing frequency, parallels are drawn with the heretofore unprecedented experience with large-scale unemployment during the interwar years.
It is hard to know what to make of the comparison, for the literature on interwar unemployment is circumscribed by two serious limitations. A first limitation is that the recent literature is confined almost exclusively to the 1 experience of two countries: the United States and the United Kingdom. There is little scholarly literature on interwar unemployment in a surprising number of other countries. While the unemployment experience of other countries has been the subject of the occasional study, the specialized approaches taken have not permitted comparisons or generalizations. A second limitation is that the literature on interwar unemployment is heavily macroeconomic and based on highly imperfect macroeconomic indicators. Investigators have remained preoccupied by the behavior of the aggregate unemployment rate as measured by trade union returns or unemployment insurance statistics. Despite the questions that can be raised about the reliability of those statistics and about their comparability across countries, the standard series continue to serve as the basis for a steady stream of macroeconometric studies. By comparison, little systematic attention has been devoted to the incidence of interwar unemployment (what groups of workers were at risk), the effects of interwar unemployment (particularly implications for poverty, malnutrition and employability), and responses to interwar unemployment by labor force participants and their families.
For observers merely interested in invoking interwar experience as an illustration of how disastrous for an economy and society large-scale unemployment can be, aggregate unemployment rates may suffice, even if limited to the US and the UK and measured with serious error. For the rest, the true dimensions of interwar unemployment experience remain obscure. How, for example, did the characteristics of interwar unemployment vary across countries? How did the characteristics of high unemployment in the 1930s differ from the characteristics of high unemployment in the 1980s? What can we learn about the incidence of unemployment, its effects, and the responses it elicited?
This volume presents a set of specially commissioned studies designed to address these questions. It summarizes the proceedings of a conference which brought together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars concerned with the problem of interwar unemployment. Following a chapter reassessing the macroeconomic evidence are nine country studies focusing on the experiences of the UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the United States, Canada and Australia. While differences in historical circumstances and source materials dictate different approaches to the country studies, each attempts to speak to a common set of issues: the incidence of unemployment, the effects of unemployment, and the response of the unemployed. The all but total absence of a literature on interwar 2 unemployment in a number of these countries means that many authors are venturing out into uncharted terrain. Although as a result they sometimes are unable to provide definitive answers to the central questions — Who was unemployed? What were the effects of unemployment? What was the response of the unemployed? ~ even the most basic facts about interwar unemployment shed important new light on questions previously shrouded in darkness. |
What Is Migraine?
Migraine is more than just a headache. It can be a debilitating condition which has a considerable impact on the quality of life of sufferers and their families. Attacks can be completely disabling, forcing the sufferer to abandon everyday activities for up to 3 days. Even in symptom-free periods, sufferers may live in fear of the next attack.
If you have two or more of the following symptoms during an attack it is probable that you are suffering from migraine.
Neurological disturbances lasting around 15-60 minutes which normally occur before the headache begins; most commonly visual disturbances including blind spots, flashing lights or zig-zag patterns; confusion, inability to concentrate, problems with articulation or co-ordination, or tingling, pins and needles or numbness on the affected side. These symptoms, known as aura are most often identified with migraine but in fact only about 10-15% of sufferers experience them. Migraine with aura was formerly known as classic migraine.
Although some people experience aura symptoms only, the attack normally proceeds after a short interval in the same way as migraine without aura, formerly called common migraine, with some or all of the following symptoms:
• Intense throbbing headache, often on one side of the head only
• Nausea and/or vomiting and/or diarrhoea
• Increased sensitivity to light (photophobia)
• Increased sensitivity to sounds (phonophobia)
• Increased sensitivity to smells (osmophobia)
You may also experience stiffness of the neck and shoulders, tingling or stiffness in the limbs, an inability to concentrate, difficulty in speaking, or in rare cases paralysis or loss of consciousness.
A general rule of thumb is that if a headache and/or other associated symptoms prevents you from continuing with normal daily activities it could be a migraine.
Although headache is the most obvious event during a migraine some migraineurs start to feel "strange" a day or so before the attack begins. These strange feelings, known as the prodrome, are the first signs of the attack and can include cravings for certain foods, excitability, hyperactivity, tiredness, yawning or a change of mood.
Migraine attacks normally last between 4 and 72 hours and sufferers are usually symptom free between attacks.
Understanding Migraines
Most patients develop their first migraine headache in adolescence or early adulthood. Many women report that headaches worsen before or during the menstrual period, (estradiol levels fall after ovulation and before menstruation, and this fall could account for headaches at these times). Pregnancy may improve, worsen, or have no effect on migraine. In any individual woman, each pregnancy may affect migraine differently.
Despite the fact that 1 in 4 households in Canada have someone effected by migraine headaches, migraine is still not considered by many employers and insurers to be a legitimate medical problem. Migraine, however, can cause significant disability and costs the Canadian work force 7 million workdays each year! (these are only the reported cases the actual figures may be double that, 14 million work days per year!). The leading doctors in the areas of neurology and head pain have themselves stated that this disease is grossly misunderstood and misdiagnosed. In fact, 60% of women and 70% of men with Migraine have never been diagnosed with this disease!
For many years, research scientists believed that migraines were linked to the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the head. Although this is one of the physiological effects during a migraine, investigators now believe that migraine is caused by inherited abnormalities in certain cell populations in the brainstem. Research indicates that there is a migraine pain center located in the brainstem, a region at the base of the brain. As neurons fire, surrounding blood vessels dilate and become inflamed, causing the characteristic pain of a migraine. In order to keep this process in check, prompt treatment is of the essence. A person may inherit a genetic predisposition for developing migraine headaches, but other factors such as stress, triggers, hormonal changes, or sleep disturbances are necessary to experience a migraine. At The Ontario Migraine Clinic our goal is to maintain proper balance of these other factors that affect the individual. This is managed through a specific individualized treatment program and educating patients of specific triggers and lifestyle changes that may be needed.
Migraine 'With Aura' versus 'Without Aura'
Migraine headache is subdivided into two different types: Migraine With Aura and Migraine Without Aura. Most patients do not have an aura, which is a brief period immediately prior to the headache during which a neurological event occurs. This event is most commonly a brief period of abnormal vision, such as seeing spots, zig-zag lines, or unusual colors. Less common auras include weakness in an arm or leg, “funny” feelings (tingling, pins and needles) in an arm or leg, and trouble speaking or understanding other's speech. Auras typically last less than one hour and completely resolve.
What Causes Migraine and Who Gets Migraine Headaches?
Migraine headaches are now known to have a genetic factor that predisposes individuals that are carrying these genes. Carrying these “migraine” genes is in itself not a problem, and will not necessarily mean that the carrier will ever experience a migraine. This is consistent to the fact that all genes are not expressed unless there is “pressure” that will “turn on “ their function. These genes have to be “turned on” to cause a migraine. Migraine genes can be “turned on” or strongly influenced by environmental factors. A person may inherit a predisposition for developing migraine headaches, but other factors such as stress, food triggers, environmental triggers, hormonal changes, or sleep disturbances are necessary to experience a migraine.
There is always a combination of factors needed to lead a migraine. It is the sum total of these that will push an individual to experiencing a migraine. What seem to trigger an attack one day will not the next. There is a reason for this. The days when no migraine manifests even though the “known trigger” was experienced, is because the total influencing effect of all the factors present (genetic, internal and external factors) at that time were not enough to cause a migraine. Think of it as a points system. If you need 10 points to get a migraine, and each factor is worth lets say 1, 2, 3 or 5 points, having one or two factors may not be enough to give you a migraine. Lets say that the genetic factor for migraine is worth 5 points, a change in atmospheric pressure may be worth 2 and fatigue 2, this in itself will only add to 9. Then, the next factor, lets say a glass of red wine (which would be called the trigger) will push you to 10 and a migraine.
On another day, the atmospheric pressure may be at zero points. Using the previous example, if all other factors are equal, an individuals point total will only add to 8, and that individual will not experience a migraine. This person may think that only sometimes red wine gives them a migraine. When in fact it is only one of many factors that is contributing to a total that will lead them to a migraine.
As our health is put under stress via internal or external factors, our ability to cope with these changes decrease. The ability of our body to maintain equilibrium is essential for maintaining proper health. An example of this, is temperature control. When we are warm, our body has a mechanism in place to make us perspire and cool us down. When we are cold, our body will shiver to bring our temperature up to normal. A problem will arise when we put ourselves in a situation that our bodies can’t cope with, such as going outside when it is too hot or too cold. If we stay in those environments for too long we can suffer from heat stroke or hypothermia. Our bodies are not able to compensate for the prolonged drastic change and we develop a problem. Similarly, if we put too much pressure on a bone it will break, or, if we put specific stress on our body, we can develop a migraine.
Over time, we can create a problem with our ability to effectively cope with stress. This may be caused by various lifestyle factors and choices. For example, missing one night of sleep can diminish our immune system cells by 25%! This depletion of immunity can lower our body’s ability to regulate other systems. This leads to a lowered ability to cope with further stress. This in turn can also trigger a migraine.
The manner by which our treatment at The Ontario Migraine Clinic works, is by improving your own ability to maintain balance when influenced by internal or external factors. If your body can maintain a strong balance, factors that would normally cause imbalance and therefore attribute to migraine, will not have the same impact.
83 Mill Street, Suite 304, Georgetown ON • 905-702-0625
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Additional References
For additional information about migraines, acupuncture, treatment, etc, you can view/download the following articles:
Why Do I Suffer from Migraine.pdf
What is Acupuncture.pdf
Who is Prone to Migraines? |
A bail bond is a legal document assured by the prisoner himself or his/her sureties that the prisoner or offender would attend his/her court hearing for the charges pressed against him/her. Having said that, the only condition in case of such a bond is the fact that the prisoner needs to be released on bail. The history of bail bonds dates back to quite a long time ago, i.e. during the thirteenth century to be precise. This practice of submitting one's house or cash in exchange to get a short-term release from jail first originated in England back in the 1300s.
Right now, this practice is prevalent all over the world. The judge in query has the authority to fix up the amount of bail revenue on the basis on the graveness of your crime committed or the law broken. Of course the common aim is always to ensure that that the quantity fixed is fair and justified for the offender.
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The explanation why the practice of provision of bail bonds was began was because of the ought to assure that the offenders, be it the poor ones or the wealthy ones, had to spend a stipulated quantity of funds in order to get a short-term release from jail or prison. Ahead of this technique was place into practice, only the people who were wealthy enjoyed the freedom of fleeing the prison even though the poor had to remain in prison for an indefinite time frame. A group of entrepreneurs saw an excellent organization opportunity in this scenario.
They came towards the realization that they are able to ask the offender to spend in some cash as well as a percentage in the dollars submitted by the offender is often regarded because the bail insurance quantity though the rest of it can be employed for ensuring that the offender is freed from the prison. The idea was a success for the reason that it was immensely helpful for each the parties. Thus, that is how the program of bail bonds came into existence.
Factors became far more formalized within the year 1679 when the Habeas Corpus Act was passed in England. Because of this act, the judges obtained the correct to fix the bail amounts. Nevertheless this proper was not genuinely of any use since the proposed bail amounts set by the judges were way too higher and impractical. Because of this, a lot of offenders could not afford it. The option for this issue came a decade later, inside the kind of yet another bill, i.e. the English Bill of Rights. As outlined by this bill, it was not necessary to impose excessive fines on the offending person.
The English Bill of Rights managed to create a distinction. An interesting truth right here is that the Eight Amendment towards the US Constitution which was adopted or accepted in the year 1791 shared loads of similarities together with the English Bill of Rights that is definitely followed in England.
An additional interesting chapter in the history of Bail bonds is the passing with the Judiciary Act of 1789 in America. This act was passed when American was only in her infancy stage. In accordance with the act, bail is often granted for the men and women who committed crimes that weren't punishable by death penalty, also known as the non-capital crimes. As for the criminals who had committed capital crimes, the act empowered the judge with all the sole discretion of deciding whether or not bail is usually given to them or not. Two years soon after the Judiciary Act was passed, the Bill of Rights came in to the picture. The bill stated that the defendants are entitled to becoming informed in regards to the nature of their crimes in order that they're able to demand a bail when the offense committed by them is 'bailable' legally.
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Nevertheless, regardless of of the passing of all these acts, there had been still really a variety of loopholes or drawbacks, one of them becoming the practice of the federal government to impose heavy fines and cruel punishments to offenders. The Eight Amendment to the US Constitution was introduced in order to restrict and avert the federal government from continuing with this loathsome practice. In the year 1966 the passing with the Bail Reform Act was indeed a significant turning point in the history of bail bonds.
Prior to the passing of this act, the defendants had to run the risk of spending various months behind bars in an effort to make their bail price drop because they can not afford it. Lyndon Johnson, the Head of State made use of an example of a man who was locked behind bars for two months simply because he could not afford bail. Through these two months, he lost his household, automobile and task and when he was finally released from prison, he was unable to appear to get a job for himself and therefore remained unemployed for yet another 4 months. Thus, challenges like these may be eliminated if heavy fines are not imposed on people today. Thanks the Bail Reform Act, the guidelines of bail became uniform for all offenders, which allowed them to get pleasure from equal access to bail bonds.
While hugely effective, the Bail Reform Act of 1966 had a major loophole. This act allowed defendants, even the ones that were hazardous to the community, the chance to get bail if they were not perceived or regarded as flight threat. Because of this loophole, dangerous criminals managed to receive bail and roam freely within the society, anything which can be not right. Hence a answer had to be developed and it did happen. The New Bail of Law, which was introduced within the year 1984 as a replacement of Bail Reform Act was the resolution. In accordance with this new law, criminals that were considered to become a threat for the society needs to be held within the prison without the need of bail. However, for defendants who're eligible to have a bail hearing, the law ensured that the bail hearing was conducted.
It can be very apparent that bail bonds have come such a long way due to the rich history of bail bonds. These days, there is an abundance of independent firms supplying bail bond solutions to the men and women. These businesses may be found on the net and also offline. Such firms charge a charge in exchange for its bail bonds services and they commonly possess a great client support so that their potential consumers who're not conscious of such a service can receive details about it.
Due to these on the web providers it has now grow to be quite a bit much easier for persons to receive bail bonds. A decade ago, this was an incredibly difficult process for the reason that such businesses didn't exist in huge numbers but right now 1 basically has to go on-line and conduct a nearby search query on one's favored search engine along with the required information/recommendation would be necessary. Hence, occasions have certainly changed for the much better!
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Small - group discussions and cooperative learning
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Saturday, April 10, 2010
iPods as Learning Tools
Google Earth: Great for geography classes
1. Dave,
This is a good look at how technology can support and engage all learners. How were the Ipods distributed? Were they used every class. Was a student assigned an IPod? Were they allowed outside the class? Were students allowed to use their own if they had one? How were they stored? What system did you use to record use? Was there much offtopic use? How was that addressed? This is a wonderful means of ensuring that tasks and tests assess higher level thinking skills.
Thank you for sharing your experience with all of us through your blog. First hand experience is worth volumes of theory.
2. I love the way you think. Perhaps next year students from grades 8 - 12 can do their course selections from an ipod instead of tieing up computer labs... Well done Dave.
3. @Pearl: Thanks for your interest. Here are the answers to your questions. I only had two iPods so I had to share them around. I let students use their own. In one of my classes the two iPods from Apple plus mine that I leant out brought us to 50% of the class with an iPod Touch or iPhone. Since Apple still owned the devices they were not allowed to leave the classroom. I stored them on my desk or in my pocket. There was less off topic use than there would typically be since students had a purpose and weren't just using them to play games on.
@Heather: Another excellent use. We're always short of lab space. New labs are too expensive. This is an economical way to provide more access.
4. Dave,
I hear the same question (which apps?) all the time too, when discussing possible mobile devices use in the classroom. You are quite right, there are so many more things you can do with them besides apps.
As you have mentioned I see the only holdback (and I understand this is only temporary in high schools) is ubiquitous wireless. Once this is in place, the sky is the limit!
Recently I read a couple of terrific blog posts by elementary teacher Mr. Royan Lee. Mr. Lee's blog "Spicy Learning" can be found here:
A while back, and with the details worked out ahead of time, he allowed his students to bring in their mobile devices to class. Here is a photo showing how many devices arrived on the first day!
His blog posts are worth reading as he reflects on use of these mobile devices by his students.
If we start in elementary schools, imagine the possibilities once they get to you in high school?
Thanks for your thoughtful post. See you on Friday.
5. Thanks for the links Kent. It seems that many of us are pursuing the same goals.
It'll be good to see you Friday.
6. Great post, Dave. Wonderful use of iPod with OSSLT!
@Pearl: Here's a post by Tony Vincent on all the ins-and-outs of managing the iPods in the classroom
Of course we would need a class set before getting into the serious management issues!
7. Thanks Mike. In terms of managing class sets, Bretford has a cart that does an incredible job. |
Shanghai then and now
Interesting facts about Shanghai many might not know
Everybody has seen the photo comparison of Shanghai now and 20 years earlier: the city grew from the ground and became an attractive and booming financial and economical nod of China. Perhaps less people know that it all began in the 19th century.
After Shanghai became a county it evolved into a significant Chinese trading and cultural centre. As result, unfortunately it quickly became the target of Chinese pirates and Japanese marauding troops, too. In repose to the attacks a city wall was built, which remains to define the boundaries of the old city of Shanghai till today.
The annular wall reflected the city's relatively minor political status among China's larger imperial cities that was organized on linear street patterns and surrounded by rectangular walls. Shanghai's layout is rather irregular (originating in old-age methods of transportation): the footpaths and roads tended to follow the line of the waterways. This organic growth lacks the strict arrangement of individual components such as courtyard houses, temples and state buildings. These particularities of layout and building confirmed Shanghai's cultural and commercial diversity much before the foreigners arrived.
The Canton's monopoly of trade with the West got declared by the Emperor lead to corruption both on Chinese and British sides. Britain was filled up with Chinese goods and paid with opium for it. While the sides were trying to deal with the problems trade restrictions got loosened and a petition for private trading started. Not much longer Shanghai's suitability for trade was discovered and mostly by using violence and more advanced armory won the right to begin foreign settlements in Shanghai.
Interestingly most foreigner refused to live within the city wall due to unacceptable sanitary and living conditions.
Back at the beginning of the 20th century Shanghai's height limit was only 6 floors, because this is what the muddy soil could support. At that moment this meant the land value had reached its peak.
Later with the development of technologies, rafts were introduced as they were able to float with piles sunken deeper to prevent subsidence. Shanghai's land thus became too precious to 'waste' on public enjoyment besides the only park in the city at the time: the Public Garden..
The building regulation in the early 20th century prohibited the construction of buildings taller than 1.5x the width of the street they fronted. Nanjing Road and Zhongshan Road along the Bund were the widest roads in Shanghai, thus all the miracles of the 21st century's Asian construction industry happened on these two locations.
During the Japanese invasion at the beginning of the 1930s many big projects in Shanghai were abandoned or postponed indefinitely. However, the over-inflated land value remained the same. Moreover, the new Chinese government kept rising the land price, especially in the western districts which forced the foreign residents into apartment buildings. Despite of the deep depression the Shanghai building industry suffered from, the construction of the Joint Savings Society building started and completed in 1934 (the tallest building in Asia, today also hosts the Park Hotel, designed by the Hungarian architect Laszlo Hudec).
In 1935 the foreign part of the city was considered as overbuilt and overdone. The real estate experienced the dullest period of construction history in Shanghai. Households were forced to downgrade into apartments or smaller houses. On the contrary, the value of the Chinese areas of Shanghai were constantly increasing. This was more likely the result of the government's plan in 1929 to develop an entirely new city north from the Bund. This was the first time in history when Shanghai's streets, administrative, civic and residential areas were planned by the Planning Commission lead by Dr Shen Yi. It was a grandiose project with modern materials but traditional Chinese style and 60 meter wide roads.
To be continued... |
So how many different boiler types are there and how do they differ from each other? Well remember that a boiler doesn't have to use natural gas to burn and produce heat, oil, propane gas and electricity are used and I suppose a ground source or air source heat pump can be classed as a boiler aswell.
Lets also clear up the condensing bit as well. For years a boiler was a boiler, it burnt a fossil fuel and this produced heat but in April 2005 the building regulations were ammended so that any boiler installed or replaced needed to be SEDBUK A rate efficient. This meant that all of the boiler manufactures had to make their boilers more efficient and the easiest way to do this was to make them a condensing boiler. A condensing boiler still burns a fossil fuel but the boiler extracts more heat from the exhaust gasses which would normally be released outside via the flue. This in turn means the water vapour within the exhaust gases cools and turns into condensed water.
Hopefully that makes sense and you now understand what a condensing boiler is, lets move onto the different types of boiler
Combination Boiler
A combination boiler or 'combi' is a very clever space-saving idea, and an increasingly popular choice in UK homes. In fact, combis now account for well over half of the boilers sold in the UK each year.
A combi boiler is both a high-efficiency water heater and a central heating boiler, combined (hence the name) within one compact unit. Therefore, no separate hot water cylinder is required, meaning the traditional airing cupboard can be converted into something else.
Further benefits of a combi boiler includes hot water being delivered through your taps or shower at mains pressure. So you can enjoy powerful showering* without the need for a pump.
System Boiler
A system boiler heats your central heating system directly and produces central heating water which heats your hot water cylinder.
A system boiler, just like a regular (conventional) boiler works on the principle of stored hot water. However, a system boiler differs from a regular boiler because the pump and sometimes other components of the heating system are incorporated into the boiler. The central heating system with a system boiler is always pressurised, this means that the feed and expansion tank in the loft is not needed and the central heating system is filled up via the cold water main.
Regular Boiler
Regular boilers do the same thing as a system boiler but the central heating is not pressurised, therefore a feed and expansion tank is needed at the highest point of the system, normally the loft.
If you want hot water with your regular boiler then you'll need a hot water cylinder.
Traditional heating systems will use a regular boiler, system boilers are a more modern way of installing a heating system.
Electric Boilers
These are similar to the boilers above and can be central heating only or a combination boiler. Instead of burning a fossil fuel the boiler uses electrical elements which are heated via electricity, similar to a kettle. Central heating water is heated by passing over these elements.
Air Source Heat Pumps
An air source heat pump extracts heat from the outside air in the same way that a fridge extracts heat from its inside. It is essentially the reverse of an air conditioning system, it can extract heat from the outside air even when the temperature is as low as -15° C. Heat pumps have some impact on the environment as they need electricity to run but they are efficient and are predicited to become more and more popular as a heating source in years to come.
Due to the air source unit being installed outside the central heating system needs to have anti-freeze added to it and the anti-freeze level should be checked on an annual basis.
Ground Source Heat Pumps
Ground source heat pumps use pipes which are buried in and extract heat from the ground. This heat can then be used to heat radiators and hot water in your home.
A ground source heat pump circulates a mixture of water and antifreeze around a loop of pipe, called a ground loop or the pipe work is laid into a vertical bore hole – these are buried in your garden. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid in the pipe work and then passes through a heat exchanger in the heat pump. Ground stays at a fairly constant temperature under the surface, so the heat pump can be used throughout the year.
The length of the ground loop or number of bore holes depends on the size of your home and the amount of heat you need.
This form of heating is gaining in popularity but initial installatin can be very expensive.
We hope that this clarifies the different types of boiler and you will be able to identify the system you have at home and the system you may wish to change to in the future. |
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Science fiction
The War of the Worlds was a science fiction novel written by H.G. Wells in 1898 describing the invasion of Earth by aliens from Mars, who use laser-like Heat Rays and chemical weapons (the Black Smoke) to overcome any resistance. The invaders devastate much of eastern England, including the city of London.
On October 30, 1938, as a Halloween special, Orson Welles presented a live radio adaptation on CBS. The announcer began by explaining that what was to follow was based on the famous H.G. Wells novel. Then the program itself started as an ordinary music show, only occasionally interrupted by news flashes. Initially, the news is of strange explosions sighted on Mars. The news reports grew more frequent and increasingly ominous after a meteorite--later revealed as a Martian rocket capsule--lands in New Jersey. A crowd gathers, and the events are related by the on-the-scene reporter Carl Philips up until the Martians incinerate curious onlookers with their "heat ray".
Many people missed or ignored the opening remarks of the program, and in the atmosphere of growing tension and anxiety in the days leading up to World War II, took it to be an actual news broadcast. Panic ensued, with people fleeing the area, and others thinking they could smell the poison gas or could see the flashes of the fighting in the distance.
Several people rushed to the "scene" of the events in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey (a small farming community northeast of Trenton) to see if they could catch a glimpse of the unfolding events. A couple of astronomers from Princeton University went out looking for the "meteorite" that had supposedly fallen near their school. Some people, who had brought firearms, reportedly mistook a local farmer's water tower for an alien spaceship and shot at it. The size of the crowd increased as more and more people rushed to the area. Eventually police were sent to help control the panicked crowds. To people arriving later in the evening, it really did look like the events being narrated on the radio broadcast, with panicked crowds and flashing police lights streaming across the masses.
Because of the panic caused by this radio play, TV networks have deemed it necessary to post bulletins directed to their viewing audience to inform them some TV stories are in fact fictional-drama, and not really happening. Disclaimers of this sort were shown during broadcasts of the 1983 television movie Special Bulletin and most recently NBC placed disclaimers in an October 1999 TV movie dramatising the possible disastrous effects of the Y2K bug.
The Los Angeles CBS affiliate radio station, KNX, re-broadcasts the radio program every year on Halloween.
Tom Cruise: Ray Ferrier, a crane operator on the New Jersey dockyards
Justin Chatwin: his 16-year-old son Robbie
Dakota Fanning: Robbie's 10-year-old little sister Rachel
Tim Robbins: a cellar-dwelling survivalist, Ogilvy Fox
As disaster movies go, this is one of the best. The story is compelling enough to keep you riveted to the screen most of the time, although it does get a bit repetitive here and there. The acting is excellent and the special effects are fantastic.
for frightening sequences of science fiction violence and disturbing images.
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