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Signal: Sustainable Farming on Mars NASA is designing an inflatable greenhouse for farming on Mars. Last week the record was broken for the longest amount of time from planet earth. Astronaut Peggy Whitson spend 534 days in space. If in the future humankind wants to spend longer amounts of time in space it’s necessary to come up with new ways to get healthy food. NASA came up with inflatable greenhouses for sustainable farming. It is still in the testing stages but in the future we might be able to stay in space for longer amount of time. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Ad Cracker < Start \| Slideshow \| Next > Advertising Technique: Visual Simplicity Use this technique to tell a visual story - to communicate the main idea of the ad with just a photograph or illustration. Advertising Techniques It could be a visualization of a product benefit, or a problem the service can solve. Or an important product feature. But focus on the picture or illustration. Not the words. And no 'smiling faces,' or 'happy customer' cliches, OK? Later you may need to add a dash of copy. But to start, bend your brain on a visual. Like the ad that shows a safety pin bent into the shape of a Volvo to symbolize safety. Which demonstrates how a picture can communicate information faster than words. Pictures or drawings? Readers tend to prefer photographs over illustrations because they are more believable, more real. Illustrations are appropriate when your concept is very abstract, or too expensive to actually photograph. Or when you have an idea that lends itself to a stylish drawing. Creative tip: Consider mixing photography with illustration. Or play with your photo in the computer to produce a fresh visual treatment. > Every Creative Director set includes: - 30 Copy and design techniques to attract attention, engage minds, evoke emotion, and change what people think. - 30 Strategic techniques to build bold brands, position products, and drive direct response results. - 1000s of example ads in traditional, digital and social media. - Plus slideshows, workshop activity books and professional tips. Advertising Techniques Advertising Techniques
posted by . Complete with a suitable discourse markers My marks have been improving steadily.______I have had several successes on the sports field. • grammar - Many things could go into that blank space. How has "discourse marker" been defined/explained? I could put any of these in that blank, each one providing a different meaning: In addition, ... Therefore, ... Nevertheless, ... Respond to this Question First Name School Subject Your Answer Similar Questions 1. medical discourse i had my presentation on medical discourse and tomorrow i have to conclude it.What can i say as a conclusion on medical discourse? 2. medical discourse i have tomorrow a discusion about medical i have to ask some questions about that.what can i ask my friends? 3. English 1. Referring to Mike's passage, complete the next passage about the way from school to your house. 1-2. Referring to Mike's passage, write the way from school to your house in the next incomplete passage. (There are two passages;one … 4. English Writeacher, I really hope you can have a look at my last examples. I need to know which are wrong. I still have a few doubts on the use of to/at/in after have been. Thank you for helping me. 1) I haven't gone out for a walk. I have … 5. Art Can you please check these sentences, Writeacher? 6. math help please An art teacher had a total of t markers. He gave an equal number of markers to each of 18 students and had 16 markers left over. Which equation could be used to find n , the number of markers each student received? 7. Math The towns highway department marks a new road with reflective markers. The road is 6 3/4 miles in length. The markers ar expanded every eighth 1/8 mile of a mile. A. What is a division problem to find how many markers ar installed … 8. Math Santo has 14 yellow markers. He has twice as many blue markers as yellow markers. He has twice as many red markers as blue markers. How many markets does he have in all? 9. Statistics "Suppose two independent samples have been collected.Based on a sample of 26 from the first population, you observe 14 successes. The second sample of size 26 had 17 successes. What is the critical value for a 85% confidence interval … 10. algebra The ratio of Natalie’s markers to Susan’s markers was 5:3 at first. After Natalie gave 25 markers to Susan, they had an equal amount of markers each. How many markers did they have altogether? More Similar Questions
posted by . Book: Information you’ll need to cite a book Example- Powell, Kevin, ed. Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 2000. 1. Author(s) or Editor(s)- last name, first name, middle is any, followed by a period 2. Title of book- underline title followed by a period 3. Edition (if other than 1st)- “ed.” If one editor, “eds.” If more than one 4. Place of Publication- followed by a colon 5. Publisher’s name- followed by a comma 6. Date of publication- followed by a period • english - All elements are correct. Do you have a question? Respond to this Question First Name School Subject Your Answer Similar Questions 1. english I have a book I need to cite that is a composition of works by the correspondents of the New York Times but it was edited by Bernard Gwertzman and Michael T. Kaufman. How do I do that? 2. English I am doing a reading comprehension project and I need to find a book and a song about "the elderly". Please Help!! do you mean like about old people or a book called The Elderly? 3. English I am supposed to cite my sources using the MLA format. I am trying to cite a source for these two sites. one is for the jarvik heart and the other is for life gift. I am having trouble finding information such as name of the author, … 4. English (MLA format) in works cited I need to cite a book that is made by several authors. Which author do I chose? 5. English (MLA Citations) I need to cite Beowulf from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, but I'm not sure how, as the author is unknown. Here's the general format for MLA citations given by my teacher: Authors. Title of Piece. Title of Book. Edition. … 6. English Check all that apply. If you are using parenthetical citation for a book, what information needs to be put in parentheses? 7. English A book published by Harcourt Press, Inc. It was published in 2001. Harcourt Press is located in the city of New York. The title of the book is Medieval Pageant, and the author is John R. Reinhard. How do i cite this source, is there … 8. writing skills 18. You need to write an essay about hot air ballooning. You know you've seen a good book on this topic, but you can't remember the name of the book or the name of the author. How could you most easily find this book in the library? 9. English; Help.. 10. Writing Skills Part 3 1.Under the Library of Congress system,where would you begin to search for books on the legal system of Greece? More Similar Questions
Constant calling or Excessive vocalization Constant calling or excessive vocalization is when a parrot is making more noise than is ?ormal?for that bird species. A parrot making more noise than is “normal” for that species. This is to be distinguished from an owner disliking normal parrot vocalizations, therefore considering the noise to be excessive. Parrots are, by nature, noisy animals and cannot be trained to be quiet. Consequently, people who do not like the sound of a parrot’s vocalization should not try to live with a parrot. Normal noise levels are to an extent species specific. Macaws often vocalize for 10-15 minutes several times a day. Cockatoos tend to vocalize for 20-30 minutes every morning and evening. Noise becomes excessive when it extends beyond those parameters, sometimes continuing for hours. Parrots learn to vocalize excessively because they are rewarded for it, usually without the owners realizing it. Accidental rewards usually entail things like entering the room to yell at the bird (which is a drama reward), or letting it out of the cage, picking it up or giving it food treats to shut it up. For the noise to decrease, everyone in the household must cease rewarding the bird for the excessive screaming. At the same time, household members can choose a sound the bird makes that they like, and reward the bird lavishly whenever it makes that sound. They teach the bird to use that less irritating sound to get attention instead of the excessive screaming. If the humans are consistent and patient, they can reduce the parrot’s noise level back to that which is normal for that species of bird. Share On Facebook Share On Twitter Share On Google Plus Share On Linkedin Share On Pinterest Share On Reddit Share On Stumbleupon Article Categories: Behavior and Training · Birds
When you maximize something, you make it as big as you possibly can, the way you would maximize your chances of winning the lottery if you spent all of your money on lottery tickets. It seems like you come across the word maximize most often in dry, boring contexts like businesses trying to "maximize" their profits or a politician wanting to "maximize" her government's potential. Regular people probably use it more often when they're talking about their computers, to mean "display a window at its largest size." When you maximize a window on your computer, you can actually see what the word means! Definitions of maximize v make as big or large as possible Maximize your profits!” minimise, minimize make small or insignificant Type of: make bigger or more v make the most of “He maximized his role” Type of: exploit, tap draw from; make good use of Sign up, it's free!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 Birth of the Planets Let’s put the nebular theory and the condensation theory together, as most current astronomers do. Here is a possible portrait of the formation of our solar system: A cloud of interstellar dust, measuring about a light-year across, begins to contract, rotating more rapidly the more it contracts. With the accelerating rotation comes a flattening of the cloud into a pancake-like disk, perhaps 100 A.U. across—100 times the current distance between the earth and the sun. The original gases and dust grains that had formed the nebular cloud have contracted into condensation nuclei, which begin to attract additional matter, forming clumps that rotate within the disk. The clumps encounter other clumps and more matter, growing larger by accretion. Accretion is the gradual accumulation of mass, and usually refers to the building up of larger masses from smaller ones through the mutual gravitational attraction of matter. No comments:
Wednesday, 9 November 2011 The contentious origin of well dressing I've just returned from a trip to Derbyshire, where I visited Chatsworth House. Seeing as though I generally try to document a bit of folklore for every new place I go, I did some research and some observations when I was down there. Probably the most popular tradition the county is known for is well dressing, which is the practise of decorating water sources such as wells with a wooden frame covered in flower petals, often depicting a scene, usually religious (Christian). I stayed in the tiny village of Pilsley, which hosts well decorating in July, so unfortunately I didn't get chance to see any while I was out there. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the practise and how it got its start in Derbyshire so I dug deeper. I found that there are really two conflicting origins for the tradition, but I have a theory. You see, one version puts it down to Celtic roots, as a celebration of water. This makes sense, as much of the land there is made from limestone which quickly absorbs water, meaning it was quite precious to the inhabitants of the land. Of course, water was also worshipped in this pre-Roman age and it was common practise to make offerings to wells, bogs and lakes, as it was said to appease the spirits therein. So well dressing probably came about as an amalgamation of those two reasons. However, the second origin story puts the tradition forward hundreds of years, 1348, when the black death struck. A source of fresh, "non-contaminated" water would have been venerated, so it's easy to see why people think this may have marked the beginning of the tradition. It is said the practise was born in Tissington, which remained untouched by the plague. But I suspect that this origin wasn't the case and the people in these times just 'hopped on' the well dressing tradition as it were. We can see this happen throughout history and this smacks of 'folklore assimilation'. This is the same thing I suspect happened to Bonfire Night, which was tacked on to the Celtic harvest festival. Although well dressing almost became extinct in the 1950s, it was revived due to renewed interest in Derbyshire from tourists. The well dressing ceremony signifies the beginning of the Wakes, or a week of celebrations in the area, ending in a carnival.
Term paper writing tips and samples 10 vital Ideas for a Research Paper Conclusion Don’t ever skimp on this crucial part of your research paper! So many students make the mistake of putting all their time and energy into the body of their paper that they neglect the conclusion, one of the most important parts of the paper. Here are the 10 most important parts of the research paper conclusion: 1. The conclusion must be a summary. That being said, don’t make it dry or boring. You don’t want it to weaken all the work you’ve done in the main body of the essay. Summaries bring out the main points. They are a reminder. Don’t rehash in detail. 2. It’s good to restate the topic and explain why you thought it was important. This is the essential building block of your paper. 3. It’s good to restate your thesis statement. It can be narrowed down. Many writers put their thesis statement in the italic font for emphasis. 4. Add up your main points. Show why they were significant and relevant. 5. If appropriate, make a call to action. Is there something your paper encouraged the readers to do? Did you attempt to change their mind about an issue? 6. The conclusion is similar to the introduction. Synthesize the information you are presenting instead of simply repeating what you’ve already stated. 7. Use logic in your closing statements. There should be a logical conclusion or opinion that came about as a result of your evidence. 8. Speculate if applicable. Perhaps your research didn’t uncover a logical conclusion. In that case, speculate on one. Indicate that further research is needed to arrive at a logical conclusion. 9. Make suggestions for the reader to think about or to pursue further if they desire. This can be related to the call of action or it can be much subtler. 10. Bring everything full circle. Tie up all the loose ends. This is the final chance for you to impress your reader. Make sure you do it in the right way by following these guidelines. There, now you can write a really great conclusion for your research paper! No matter what your topic is on, these 10 vital points for your conclusion will help you to finish it off properly and put the final touches on your paper. The conclusion is the last thing a person reads and has the greatest chance of being remembered.
How to Eliminate Bad Bacteria from Ponds Published: 06th May 2010 Views: N/A Pond bacteria exist in all ponds, commercial or non-commercial. Man-made ponds require chemical substances something like bleach in order to eradicate any kind of pond bacteria that could impure the water. Otherwise, most ponds seen in gardens as well as landscaped regions generally known as "living ponds" contain both good and bad bacteria. If you take a simple comparison between human beings and pond environment, the bacteria play such roles for both subjects. There are good and bad bacteria present in human bodies and in pond waters as well. Whilst, the good bacteria thwart diseases, while the bad bacteria cause disease, infection, and even death. Pond bacteria work simply just like human bacteria: good bacteria protect the pond water against bad bacteria to maintain clear and healthy water, while bad bacteria plague ponds and its aquatic life. Bad Pond Bacteria - Pond bacteria are usually microscopic, but they are identifiable once the pond changes its water colour, the presence of pond scum and algae, and bad smell like methane. Bad pond bacteria also known as "anaerobic bacteria" are harmful to ponds because of their harmful toxins. One of the most problematic signs of bad bacteria infestation is the accumulation of algae in ponds. Algae come in different types-- there are several thousand kinds actually. Algae are generally grouped as fungi; however they are treated much like bacteria. Most types of algae damage the pond's natural beauty and harm its marine wild life. Harmful algae can cause death to humans and aquatic and domesticated animals. Bad algae can also contract skin infections and diseases to human beings. Good Pond Bacteria - Good bacteria or beneficial bacteria are important for healthy ponds. Most bad algae normally feed from rotting plant material and animal waste, whereas, the good pond bacteria commonly consume food from the bad bacteria. However, good pond bacteria are commonly vulnerable and multiply only under limited conditions. One type of good bacterium is the sludge remover. The sludge removers eliminate the food substances needed by the bad bacteria in order to grow. Another type of good bacteria are nitrifiers. Nitrifiers convert ammonia to nitrates. Although nitrifiers are crucial, these kinds of bacteria multiply slowly and gradually. Periodic Waste Removal - One good way of maintaining good bacteria is through periodic waste removal. Pond owners should check the pond's condition weekly if the water is free from unwanted debris such as dead leaves, toxic, and animal waste. Overfeeding fish does not only impure the water, what's worse is it contribute to bacterial growth. Since good bacteria need oxygen, installing a fountain or an aerator can speed up the growth of good bacteria. Using fountains and aerators can also help achieve a spotless and healthy pond. Getting rid of dangerous pond bacteria and conducting water bacteria treatment is a strenuous activity, but when done with proper care, the pond can become healthier and more beautiful. Once you control the bad algae, pond scum, and sludge from coming, it won't be painful to see your pond teeming with algae and other unwanted bacteria. Report this article Ask About This Article More to Explore
Many types of Euphorbias are grown for their attractive foliage. Varieties of Euphorbia by Molly Allman Euphorbia species include a vast list of annuals, biennials, perennials, succulents and evergreens. Plants produce a variety of foliage depending on the type of plant; however, all Euphorbias contain a milky sap that irritates skin on contact and is toxic if ingested, so keep children or pets away from cut flowers that bleed sap. Euphorbias do not produce true flowers; instead, they produce a cyathium, which is actually a unisexual flower cluster. 1. Annual and Biennial Annual and biennial Euphorbias are most often grown as annuals. They are grown for their foliage that ranges from green and red to green and white. These shrubby Euphorbias grow 18 to 36 inches tall and thrive in warm temperatures. Plants require full sun to partial shade and well-drained soil. You can grow them from seed and they readily self-seed. Snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata) is commonly grown as annual but is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 through 11. Plants produce green oval, light green foliage striped with white. Variegated green and white flowers appear in summer. 2. Perennials Perennial Euphorbias are grown for their colorful bracts that surround insignificant flowers and strong horizontal foliage. Plants range from 6 to 36 inches tall and make excellent edging and border plants for rock gardens. Perennial Euphorbias require full sun to partial shade and thrive in average to poor soil. Flowering times vary by plant. The perennial cushion spurge (E. polychroma) produces deep-green leaves arranged on hairy stems. Rounded clusters of bright yellow flowers surrounded by yellow bracts appear in spring to midsummer in USDA zones 5 through 10. 3. Evergreens Perennial Euphorbias include evergreen varieties. Mediterranean spurge (E. characias "Wulfenii") grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 7 though 10 and is a common evergreen Euphorbia grown for its evergreen upright stems crowded with blue-green foliage. This shrubby evergreen grows in a dome shape reaching 4 feet tall and wide. Lime-green flowers in dense cylindrical clusters appear in late winter. When stalks fade and turn yellow, cut them to the ground to make way for the new shoots already forming for next year's growth. 4. Succulents Succulent Euphorbias grow outdoors in the warmest climates with a temperature at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit and require care similar to that of the cactus family. The crown of thorns (E. milii formerly E. splendens) is a climbing succulent that grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 9b through 11. The plant has long, slender branches with tough spines and produces bright red flowers. Crown of thorns has a spreading growth habit makes an excellent ground cover or climbing on a wall. Photo Credits • Jupiterimages/ Images
Monday 8th November 2004; 13:30-17:30 Virus Analysis - Techniques, Tools, and Research Issues Arun Lakhotia and Michael P. Venable University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA The tutorial will cover techniques, tools, and research issues in analyzing computer viruses. It will provide participants the background needed to initiate research in reverse engineering computer viruses. Anti-virus companies receive over 100,000 suspect documents and programs every month. The time it takes to determine whether a suspect is malicious, crafting antidote, and distributing the anti-dote is crucial to the success of an anti-virus technology. Reverse engineering plays a crucial role in determining whether a program is malicious. It is also used to determine what a malicious program does in order to undo its effect. In spite of its significance, there has not been any significant research in developing tools and techniques to aid in analysis of malicious programs. Most research on the subject has taken place in the laboratories of anti-virus companies. The objective of this tutorial is to: 1. provide background needed for a participant to initiate research in analysis of malicious programs, and 2. initiate discussions on a distributed, collaborative, university-based virus reverse-engineering team. The tutorial will provide the following: 1. An overview of methods and procedures for setting up a clean-room (isolated) environment for studying malicious programs. 2. Hands-on experience in analyzing a sample virus, Beagle.J. 3. A survey of research in virus analysis. 4. A framework for distributed, collaborative reverse engineering of contagious code. More information is available at NOTE: To perform hands-on exercises, participants are expected to bring their own laptop which needs to be pre-configured with the software to create a safe experimentation environment. There will be no time for installing this software during the tutorial. Further details about setting up the experimentation environment can be found at
Article Text Lungworm infection (Dictyocaulus arnfieldi) of horses and donkeys 1. MC Round Dictyocaulus arnfieldi (Cobbold 1884) infects the respiratory tract of horses, donkeys, mules, hinnies and zebra. A review of the literature has been given by Round (1972). In the western hemisphere it is popularly believed that donkeys are the natural host and that horses become infected by association with infected donkeys. There is scant documentary evidence for this and, in the Soviet Union, patent infections may reach 70 per cent without mention of donkey association (Koulikov 1935, Borovkova 1948, Akramovskii 1952a). Poynter (1963) considered the infection to be rare in the United Kingdom although cases had been reported by Fletcher (1960) and Holmes (1960). The lack of precise data on this parasite has led to the assumption that it behaves like D filaria and D viviparaus of ruminants. Studies made in the United Kingdom have shown that there are some important differences (Round, 1972). Statistics from Request permissions
Tupandactylus as it appeared in Walking with Dinosaurs Tupandactylus were a type of Brazilian pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period.(130-100)These flying reptiles showed wide diversity in size, some with a wingspan of 6 metres. The species Tupandactylus bore differently sized/shaped crests that may have been used to signal and display for the other pterosaurs, much as modern toucans use their bright bills to signal to one another. Walking with DinosaursEdit Colonies of Tupandactylus were featured in the Episode 4: Giant of the Skies, depicted during a hypothetical breeding season in Brazil. The larger and more powerful males displayed in the prime and obvious areas, for which the females could pay them attention. The unfortunate 'losers', as they are referred to for this as any competition, are seen to have to sit in barely noticeable and dangerous low level areas perilously close to blow holes, which crash in from the waves of the sea up through the rock formations, getting the Pterosaurs wet and potentially being strong enough to drown a Pterosaur that can't avoid being sucked down into the holes and to their deaths. Tupandactylus didn't appear in any of the specials. • Though Tupandactylus appeared in Walking with Dinosaurs series, the series was released in 1999, However, the species shown were not described and named until 2003. Ad blocker interference detected!
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 The Montessori classroom--a window into the universe The cultural curriculum in the Montessori classroom is a window into the universe at large. By exposing each child to the cultural area of the classroom—Geography, Science, Botany, Zoology, and History—we invite them to develop an awareness of how their world came to be and cultivate an appreciation for all the things, big and small, which coexist in it. Through this hands-on exploration, using their own curiosity and drive, children learn about: • natural resources (land/air/water; sink or float; parts of a plant; how to grow a plant), • the seasons (seasons sorting cards), • the elements on our planet (magnetic vs. non-magnetic) • the flora and fauna (vertebrates vs. invertebrates; extinct vs. non-extinct) • the vastness of our world (the solar system; the colored globe; the continent maps) • the concept of time (calendar; telling time). Through these and other Montessori works, we help children to discover our natural world and embark on their journey to becoming “cultured” people. Cultured people are grateful for the balance in the universe and recognize man’s role in maintaining this balance. And thus, they create the beautiful possibilities of a more peaceful world. Take a look at our facebook page to see the ways in which The Westmont Montessori School celebrates culture! Tuesday, January 19, 2016 Why Montessori in the K Year? The Montessori approach is carefully based on what we've learned about children's cognitive, neurological and emotional development from several decades of research. The kindergarten year is a dynamic year, a time to really internalize the early concrete experiences and make important, solid cognitive connections. By this third—or Kindergarten—year, many of the earlier lessons in the Montessori classroom come together and become a permanent part of the young child’s understanding. Here are 20 reasons to keep your child in Montessori for their Kindergarten year. Come learn more at our Kindergarten Open House this weekend! Thursday, January 14, 2016 What Dr. Montessori knew then, brain research validates today If you have ever tried to learn a new language as an adult, you will quickly experience what neurological research has borne out: “The ability to learn a second language is highest between birth and the age of six, then undergoes a steady and inexorable decline. Many adults still manage to learn new languages, but usually only after great struggle.”[i] The child, on the other hand, moves through this “acquisition” of new things (language only being one of them) rather seamlessly and joyously. Today’s brain research corroborates what Dr. Montessori intuited from her own observational research more than 100 years ago: “…in the first few years of childhood there are a number of critical or sensitive periods, or "windows", when the brain demands certain types of input in order to create or stabilize certain long-lasting structures. Rich experiences, in other words, really do produce rich brains.” [ii] Montessori advocated for the importance of taking full advantage of the “absorbent mind” during the period in the child’s development when the mind is most receptive—during what she called “sensitive periods”. This time from birth to 6 years old represents a period of rapid growth in man’s intelligence. It’s a time when the child is particularly sensitive to stimuli that promote the development of a certain skill. In a Montessori classroom, stimuli comes in a variety of forms, where the materials and the whole educational methodology are designed to provide a very rich, multi-sensory, hands-on approach to learning. The melodious, quiet “hum” of a perfectly active Montessori classroom speaks volumes of the power of letting children “do”, “absorb”, “create”, and “develop”. They do this through the focus that comes from the activity, repetition and the freedom to persevere. And from within the child, this “explosion of learning”—the sudden outward manifestation of a long process of internal growth—as Montessori called it, does ensue. i:FERTILE MINDS By J. MADELEINE NASH Sunday, June 24, 2001 ii: IBID Wednesday, January 6, 2016 A Warm Welcome It’s a New Year, new beginnings… a time to exude optimism and wish for great things to come. Speaking of which, some are already off to their first day of preschool and we wholeheartedly wish them a joyful beginning. The Westmont Montessori School is so happy to see all of our children back and extends a warm welcome to our 4 new friends: Anzel, Harper, Ella and Maggie. And in global news, they are joined by another young friend, who just began at Westacre Montessori School in the UK: Prince George. See adorable photos of his first day here.
Ayurvedic Pregnancy Care and Motherhood Ayurveda places an enormous emphasis on the importance of caring for the mother before during and after pregnancy. “It is the woman who procreates children and propagates the human species. Dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), lakshmi (auspiciousness), and loka (the entire universe) are represented in every woman.” (CS, Cs 2/3) Ayurveda regards the woman and her ability to produce and care for children as the basis of family life which, in turn, is the very foundation of society. Therefore, only if the women of a society are safe, protected, and content can these qualities manifest in that society. Ayurveda prescribes specific nutritional measures for the growth and protection of the woman to keep her vital and pure. In one of its most famous teaching analogies, Ayurveda compares human conception to the germination and sprouting of a seed and its transformation into a sapling. When the male and female seeds unite and the soul enters the union, an embryo (garbha) is created. Ayurved gives great importance to the quality of the seed (ovum). In addition to the female seed, the mother also provides the ’ideal terrain’ (i.e. the uterus) into which the seed is to be planted. Guidelines for correct sexual intercourse are also generally outlined. Young women less than sixteen years of age and boys under twenty should not bear children. Nature does not support pregnancy nor family life begun during the brahmacharya period (student years, ages birth to 20). The general rules of pre-natal care are also given and are perhaps the most provocative of all. The husband, parents, siblings, and other family members are advised to oversee the pregnant woman’s diet and encourage activities that are healthy and enjoyable to her and beneficial for the child developing in her body. Similar to its strategy to promote longevity, the Ayurvedic approach towards motherhood, that is pregnancy and childbirth, is indeed a holistic one. Ayurvedic recommendations touch upon the diet, behavior, activities, and even the spiritual actions of not only the mother but the entire family into which the child will be born. The wisdom regarding the general management of pregnancy is found in both the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas under the subject of “Garbhini Vyakarana”. There are separate chapters for general management, specific management, diseases in pregnancy and their treatment and many other practical pieces of advice . Guidelines regarding diet, activities, behavior and mental activity (ahar, vihar, achar and vichar, respectively) are also detailed. The physician is cautioned to be very vigilant during the management of pregnancy. “If a cup filled with oil right up to the brim is to be carried without spilling even a single drop, every step has to betaken with care”. (CS Cs 8/22) Ayurveda advises the same degree of care and attention in the management of a pregnant woman. The goal is the protection and nourishment of both the growing fetus and the mother. The concept that improper decisions and lifestyle are responsible for the genesis of disease is a well-known Ayurvedic idea. Crowded urban living in particular has been cited in the Charaka Samhita as causing disease and shortening lifespan. (CS Cs1/1) From the moment the pregnancy is confirmed, the woman is counseled to follow certain guidelines of living. The Ayurvedic physician gently offers supervision from the very beginning, even before the actual conception of the child, so that the pregnancy can terminate in a normal delivery after a normal period of gestation. Especially when she approaches full term, critical care is necessary as “one foot is considered to be in this world and the other in the world of Yama” (the god of death). Complete and healthy delivery includes delivery of the placenta. If the delivery is not complete and normal, the woman is likely to be affected by one or the other of a list of 64 maladies, which are described in detail in Garbhini Vyakarana. For a couple to produce healthy offspring, both the partners should be careful about their diet, activities, behavior and emotional status before as well as after conception. One has to keep this in mind throughout the pregnancy. General Rules from Inception of Pregnancy to Delivery The mother-to-be should: Try to maintain a cheerful mood Be clean, neat and well dressed Dress in simple clothes and ornaments Engage in peaceful and benedictory activities Sleep under a roof in a clean environment (not infested with insects such as mosquito’s etc.) Not touch or contact maimed or deformed persons Avoid long walks Not indulge in anger, fright, or other agitating emotions Refrain from the use of cosmetics and constant cleaning of the body The food she eats should be delicious to her. Much of the diet should be in a liquid or semi-liquid form, moist, nourishing, enriched with all the six rasas (tastes) and supplemented with deepana (agni promoting) plant medicines and spices which are known to increase appetite and digestive power. Ayurveda specifically mentions the following foods as healthy during all trimesters of pregnancy: rice, milk, wheat (godhuma), amalaki fruit, raisins, grapes, mango (amra) butter, ghee, and small quantities of raw sugar (sarkara). She should also avoid: · Excessive sex particularly during early and late pregnancy · Overeating or fasting · Speaking in a loud voice · Sleeping during the day time and staying up late at night · Tight clothes and tight belts · Words or sights which give rise to feelings of sorrow, anger, fear or pain · Traveling in a vehicle on rough roads · Squatting for a long time or sitting in an uncomfortable position or on a hard surface · Lifting heavy things or remaining in a bending position for a long time · Oleation massage etc. unless positively indicated · Beholding natural urges unless in an emergency · Dry, stale, fermented, heavy, hot or strong food, alcohol and meat (fish is allowed) · Visiting abandoned and remote places · Leaning into a deep well Specific Effects of Poor Habits and Behaviors Traveling on horseback Premature Birth Looking into wells or ditches Premature Birth Hearing excessive noise Premature Birth Remaining to often on one´s back Umbilical cord twisted Sleeping outdoors or going out at night Indulging in quarrels and fights Always grieving Timid and under-developed child Garbhini Paricharya The development of the fetus in the uterus is discussed in the Charaka Samhita in the section called Garbhava Kranti, and special regimens are prescribed for each month in the subsection Garbhini Paricharya. The basic wisdom to be understood is to take greater care during the first three months of pregnancy and during the eighth and ninth months. During the first trimester, stress is laid on stabilizing the pregnancy and nurturing the uterine bed through rasa and rakta dhatus. The embryo gets nourishment directly by percolation (upsnehan). Hence more jaleeya (liquid) substances such as juicy fruits, coconut water, milk, and so on are advocated. In the first month, sipping cold milk along with meals and eating only in the morning and evening (i.e breakfast and dinner). Tandulodaka (lit.water from rice washing; e.g. modern equivalent: rice milk) During the second month, the intake of warm milk decoctions medicated with sweet herbs like Vidari, Sarkara (Cane juice), Shatavari, Yasthimadhu, Brahmi, all of which are jivaneeya (life-supporting) and garbhasthapak (helping maintain implantation). Honey and ghee are also recommended. During the third month Ayurveda recommends warm milk with added honey and ghee. Also, the ground rind of amalaki fruits with coldwater. During the fourth month, the head, torso and extremities start to become differentiated, the motor and sensory nervous tissues start to develop, the heart takes its place, and the fetus makes known its needs and desires via the mother’s physiology. This is the period when the woman craves for certain foods and tastes. Normally, the needs of both the fetus and the mother are the same. Therefore, Ayurveda recommends that the mother´s cravings be fulfilled as far as possible, as long as they are not absolutely unreasonable (i.e. a diabetic mother craving excessive ice creamæ a hypertensive mother craving excessive salt, etc.). Shankhpushpi, gulkand, and brahmi help in calming the nerves and are also good prajasthapans (maintainers of pregnancy). From the fifth to the seventh months, plant preparations which give strength to the uterine muscles and nourishment to the embryo, are advised. Ashwagandha and Guduchi are particularly good in this regard. They help to ensure optimal condition of the placenta and uterine tissues as well as of the umbilical cord. The diet should be one of rice, milk, butter and gee. Fruits which are orange or yellow in color are advocated such as mangoes, apples, carrots, amalaki etc. Leafy vegetables are also advised. During the seventh month, hairs form on the fetus and the abdominal skin begins to become stretched giving rise to itching and striations (kikkisas). This can be treated by taking sips of the infusion of jujube berries or butter medicated with manjistha, the application of the pulp of sandalwood and lotus or of a paste made of neem, turmeric and manjistha, or oil medicated with tulsi leaves or jasmine. From the eighth month forward, there should be less fat, less salt and less water in the diet. Ayurveda recommends rice kanji cooked in milk with a little ghee. After the completion of the eighth month, herbs which are mild diuretics and urinary antiseptics, such as punarnava, gokshuru and sariva, are advised. Fennel seed powder in small quantities is also recommended for its mild carminative and anti-spasmodic actions. As soon as the pregnant woman enters the ninth month, she is supposed to move to the Sootikagar (delivery area) which is specially prepared for delivery. The door should be facing to the north or east. After an asthapan basti (simple enema), she should undergo anuvasan basti (retention enema of oil boiled with sweet herbs) which may be repeated. A swab soaked in the same oil is used to anoint the vagina and supporting structures to make the pelvis soft and elastic and enhance the downward-moving functions of apana vayu and delivery of the fetus. The mother´s complexion becomes rosy, her strength returns as she prepares for the final days of pregnancy. In the middle of the ninth month with a waxing moon in conjunction with an auspicious star, pacificatory oblations to fire, cow, and Brahmins (priests) are performed. Grasses and honey are offered to the cows; barley, fruits, and flowers to the Brahmins. The Brahmins then recite prayers and mantras as the woman enters the delivery area and awaits her delivery. Sootikagar (Delivery area) The Sootikagar should be such as to meet seasonal needs. The type of land, the timber used for the building, the architectural layout of the area (the bath room, toilet, kitchen, fire place, delivery room), the type of fire wood used, the water supply and so on are described in detail. (CS Ss 8/33) Materials such as linen, tampons, needles and instruments, essential drugs and furniture are also specified. The house should be fumigated to make it free from insects. Porous bags containing rakshoghna drugs (to kill or repel insects and invisible evils) should be suspended all around - at the entrance and in the corners of the room. These drugs include calamus, asafoetida, garlic, Guggulu, Kathaka and Sarshapa. The nurse or birth attendant recommended by Ayurveda should have had children herself, should be experienced, friendly, alert, expert, affectionate by nature, and free from anxiety. The attending physician should be an expert. Treatment Of Diseases During Pregnancy Any disease occurring in a pregnant woman should be treated with drugs that are mild in action, compatible and safe to the fetus. Panchakarma (detoxifying procedures) should not be advocated, except basti (enema) in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy. Ayurved also describes nine diseases, which are caused because of the pregnant status of the woman. These diseases are peculiar to pregnancy and are called garbhopadravas. They are: nausea, anorexia, vomiting, dryness of mouth, fever, edema, anemia, diarrhea and retention of urine. Their specific treatments are also elaborately described. As far as possible, medication should be avoided during the first three months of pregnancy. Only symptomatic treatment with very mild herbs and a suitable diet should be offered. The physician is advised to take into account the severity of the disease, the resistance power of the mother and the stage of the pregnancy, and choose the middle path so that the disease or the treatments do not result in complications for the mother or the foetus. For example, the use of Dashamularishta in vattic fever, hima (cold infusion) of Yastimadhu, lotus and Sariva in paittic fever and Guduchi kwath in kapha fever to bring down temperature. Similar special treatments are advised for other diseases. Several substances are absolutely contraindicated in pregnancy such as vacha (calamus root), kumari (aloe), or myrrh and substances like garlic and hing are to be used with extreme caution if at all. Different types of obstructed labor and their management with maneuvers, especially internal rotation, are also described in this section. However, if the physician realizes that the disease is going to endanger the life of the mother and there is no other remedy, the pregnancy should be terminated without delay. As we can see from this article, the wealth of ancient Ayurvedic wisdom included the holistic principles of safe and healthy motherhood. Its goals were the same as our modern obstetric physicians: proper formation of the embryo, fetal development without anomalies, a comfortable full-term pregnancy, a timely and non-traumatic delivery, and maintenance of the health of the mother. Given the achievements of 21st century technological and medical sciences and a more detailed and sophisticated understanding of the physiological processes, modern medicine has made great strides in promoting healthy pregnancies. Today we can now recognize and treat many pathological conditions in the fetus or the mother. We also recognize the importance of regular antenatal check ups to detect any changes as early as possible and take appropriate medical interventions. Yet, although it lacks the technological sophistication of modern obstetrics, Ayurvedic wisdom can certainly contribute to this field in important and meaningful ways. Thank You,
Learning from the best – Media 10 Case Studies of Minority Language Broadcasters’ Innovative Uses of Media by Dr Mike Cormack These ten case studies have been chosen to illustrate how minority language broadcasters are developing new ideas to bring their languages before the media audience in order to help maintenance and development of these languages. As new technology has multiplied media outlets (through social networks, blogs, microblogs, video-hosting sites, etc) the problem facing minority language activists is no longer scarcity of outlets as it once was, but rather how to use these multiple outlets along with more traditional media in order to benefit most effectively their language community. It must be pointed out, however, that there is a certain ambiguity about terms such as minority language, indigenous language and lesser-used language. Each of these terms means something slightly different from the others. There are many broadcasters, for example, who describe themselves as indigenous broadcasters who in fact use a dominant language such as English to broadcast material about indigenous peoples or use it to broadcast to groups of different indigenous peoples (the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters’ Network, for example, includes examples of both of these). In the brief case studies which follow, the languages chosen are minority languages. That is, they are languages which are spoken by a minority of people in a particular state—and usually also by a minority within a region of the state—which are not majority languages in other countries where they might have media support (as is the case with most migrant languages, for example). Although the original intention in this project was to identify examples of best practice, that is something that is very difficult to do, if best practice is to be indentified by results, that is, by how strong an effect the media output has had on language maintenance. Assessment of language survival and development can only be long-term, and media consumption takes place within a multi-factorial context in which it is particularly difficult to isolate one factor, such as a television programme. Instead then, these examples are chosen as ways of using the media which have been seen as successful by their originators and so which may well be useful in other contexts. This, however, raises the issue of comparison. Since minority languages are defined in opposition to majority languages, it is easy to forget how different minority situations can be from each other. If we do not understand these differences then it is likely that the lessons which might be learnt from one context will be misapplied when used in a very different context. Accordingly each example is preceded by a short contextualising note, giving an account of the situation of the language concerned. The case studies These have been loosely arranged by first considering ways of supporting language learning, then types of programming, and finally ways of building up audiences, although clearly the three categories greatly overlap. The choices have been limited mainly by the availability of information in English. In each case the context has been structured to lead to a particular problem, to which the example of media use is the answer. As a general introductory point, it is worth noting that, like other broadcasters, virtually all minority language broadcasters are now using such platforms as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, a very large number of minority languages are appearing on YouTube, often in the series of videos which YouTube describes as channels. Interactive TV in Hawaiian The context: Hawaiian is spoken in the Hawaiian islands in the North Pacific, and is related to the Polynesian languages of the South Pacific. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Hawaiian almost died out and, indeed, of the seven permanently inhabited islands in the State of Hawaii, Hawaiian has survived continuously as the first language in only one (Niihau, the smallest of the seven).Since 1978, however, Hawaiian has been an official language in the state and language maintenance and development measures taken since then have proved successful, particularly since the establishment of pre-school units in 1984. In the US Census of 2010, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian was just over 24,000 (the overall population of the state is just under 1,400,000). The problem The problem here is a simple one: a small number of speakers are spread out over a group of islands. These people are citizens of the USA and so are used to an advanced level of media provision. How can the Hawaiian language position itself in such a television environment The answer In 2009 ‘Ōiwi TV, in partnership with Oceanic Time Warner Cable, the Kamehameha Schools (a private chain of schools aimed at native Hawaiians and including the teaching of Hawaiian) and the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo (private Hawaiian-language immersion schools), created a native Hawaiian television station. It is available on Warner Cable in the area as Channel 326 and also available on the Internet. It uses CloudTV technology to allow for interactive programming. The CloudTV technology enables ʻŌiwi TV to deliver interactive content to television screens in a way that is positioned with the shifting trends in how people consume content, instantly and on-demand. Viewers expect real-time access to the programming they want to watch, when they want to watch it, and ʻŌiwi TV delivers exactly that. (From the ‘Ōiwi TV website). Features of the channel include a simple visual navigation pane, an interactive news feed, a Twitter feed, and multispeed video controls. The channel is currently reaching 220,000 homes within the state of Hawaii. Information on the channel can be found atwww.oiwi.tv/aboutus/ and examples of programming can be found atwww.oiwi.tv/live/ The importance of this use of interactivity is not just the obvious educational point of what it allows for in terms of language learning activity, but also in the way in which it keeps Hawaiian in the forefront of media developments. Television itself has been seen in the past as a vital way of showing that minority languages can keep up with the times. Interactive television does this in the 21st Century. Giving Welsh learners a boost The context: The Welsh-language community is one of the better-established European minority language communities. The 2011 UK Census recorded 562,000 speakers of the language, 19% of the population of Wales. Of these, 431,000 had full language skills, that is, they could speak, read and write Welsh. The native-speakers of the language are concentrated in the northwest of the country. It has also been estimated that there are more than 100,000 Welsh speakers living in England. The language is protected by legislation, the first Welsh Language Act dating from 1967. The most recent legislation, the Act of 2011, has made Welsh an official language in Wales, has given it full parity with English, and established a Welsh Language Commissioner to protect the language. Welsh is now an accepted part of both the educational and the local government systems. Television broadcasting in Welsh is also well-established with S4C one of the earliest minority-language television channels in Europe, having started in 1982. Although originally the channel included English-language programmes during the day, since it has converted to digital (available terrestrially and by satellite), it is in Welsh only. S4C is funded principally from the government. Formerly this was by a direct grant but tt is currently in the process of changing to receiving its funding via the BBC. The problem In a context in which the language is well-established in the school and pre-school systems, there remains the question of adult learners, particularly since knowledge of Welsh is needed for many posts in local government. The answer S4C has developed the programme Hwb (meaning a nudge or a boost) and its attendant media to cater for these learners. The programme itself is a standard 30 minute weekly series, but in addition to this it uses add-on media with Facebook and Twitter communities and its own YouTube channel, HwbTV (http://youtube.com/hwbtv). Past programmes can also found be on Clic, S4C’s video-on-demand service. Language learning material is also available as downloadable PDF files. With information appearing on the website about local activities as well, Hwb has created a real sense of a learners’ community (as is clear from users’ comments). The importance of these ways of reaching the adult learners audience should not be underestimated. The traditional idea of a weekly programme, accompanied by reading material, simply does not match the requirements of today’s learners. By using different platforms to make the material available and by linking learners as much as possible, Hwb has updated the whole process of adult language learning. Language learning on Māori Television The context: In New Zealand Māori is the only Aboriginal language. It is an Eastern Polynesian language, related to several others spoken on South Pacific islands. In the 2006 New Zealand Census 131,613 people said they could conduct some conversation in Māori, although the number of completely fluent speakers is believed to be much less (it had been estimated at 29,000 in 1996). The areas in which the language is strongest as the language of the community are all in the northern half of North Island. The movement to maintain the language began to emerge in the late 1970s and has been followed by the gradual development of government-funded education in Māori throughout the school system. Since 1987 it has been one of the official languages of New Zealand. In 2004 Māori Television was started, mainly funded by the government, but with some advertising income as well. It broadcasts in both English and Māori. In 2012 just over half of the broadcast output was in Māori. The station’s aim is to promote Māori culture as well as the language itself, and much of its output is in English, or at least has English subtitles. In 2008 a second channel was begun, Te Reo, broadcasting only in Māori, and without using subtitles (or advertising). It is aimed principally at the fluent Māori audience. Both channels are available on satellite and on terrestrial digital. The problem A problem faced by many minority language communities is how to maximise the effect of language learning programmes, rather than simply burying them in the schedules. The answer To deal with this, Māori Television has taken a step beyond other stations. Each day, there is a five-hour block of language learning programmes, from 10 am to 3 pm. These are broadcast on Māori Television’s first channel. Three series are used. The simplest level is Kōrero Mai, using drama to introduce the language. The second level is Tōku Reo, a more involved language learning programme, using an interactive website. The third level is Ako, a programme for intermediate speakers. The individual elements here will be familiar to any language teacher using television. The comprehensiveness of the Māori service makes it unusual. All programmes are 30 minutes long, with four of the first two series appearing each day, and two of Ako. This gives both an intensity and a certainty of coverage which can only have a good impact. It is also likely that the programmes have a certain amount of “spill”, with viewers at one level more likely to watch at other levels when the programmes are blocked in this way. As well as the use of an interactive website to support Tōku Reo, the programmes in Ako can be viewed online (http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/ako). Using different dialects in Taiwan The context: Although the aboriginal Taiwanese spoke several Austronesian languages, currently Mandarin is the dominant language in Taiwan (the Republic of China), with various other forms of Chinese being spoken by significant groups. Taiwanese Hokkien (sometimes known simply as Taiwanese) is spoken by 70% of the population. It is one of a language group spoken on the Chinese mainland closest to Taiwan. The next most popular language is Hakka, spoken by 4.6 million people (out of a total Taiwan population of 23 million). Hakka is another language from mainland China, whose main area is south of the Hokkien area. The remainder of the Taiwan population speak other Chinese languages with only a very small number speaking the aboriginal languages. The different forms of Chinese, such as Mandarin, Hokkien and Hakka, are not mutally intelligible. Within Hakka itself, there are significantly different dialects. These are spread throughout Taiwan and are due to different migrations of peoples in the past from different areas of Hakka-speaking mainland China. Since the 1990s there has been a change of official attitude in favour of non-Mandarin languages and dialects and something of a revival of their use in public life has occurred. In 2012 Hakka was made one of the official languages of Taiwan. The government-owned Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) started Hakka TV in 2003. This channel competes with five free national channels using Mandarin and Taiwanese, and several popular cable channels. The problem The problem facing Hakka language speakers is that, despite having by most standards a large number of speakers, within its own community there are different dialects spread across Taiwan. How can a television channel be used so as not to alienate these different dialect communities? The answer The answer for Hakka TV has been to systematically use each of the five main dialects. Two of these have been predominant but the other three are also now used regularly during each day’s broadcast. By 2011, these special programmes (338 hours in the year in total) devoted 23.1% of their time to each of three of the dialects and 15.4% to each of the other two. Hakka TV’s Annual Report for 2011 noted that “Our goal is to broadcast a balanced proportion of each dialect.” In 2012 these programmes included the 168 episodes of the language-learning series “Hi Hak!” in the two accents of the Sixian dialect of Hakka (Northern Sixian and Southern Sixian are geographically far apart from each other). Many minority language communities are faced with the problem of how to deal with different dialects. Hakka TV has been systematic in its approach to this, making sure that no significant dialect community is neglected and so maximising the overall minority language community. Sami news across three countries The context: The Sami languages are spread out across the north of Scandinavia, from Norway over to the Kola Peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia. The Sami group consists of a number of related languages, each with its own dialects. Today the strongest language in the group is Northern Sami with about 15,000 speakers spread around the area where Northern Norway meets Northern Sweden and Northern Finland. Lule Sami, with less than 2,000 speakers is spoken further south in Norway and Sweden. Other Sami languages and dialects are spoken by groups of a few hundreds further south in Norway and Sweden and further east in Russia. Sami now has official recognition in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Although having no legal status in Russia, it is now taught at Murmansk University. Many traditional Sami live in small communities within the Arctic Circle, where reindeer herding is still the predominant occupation. However many others are now living in towns and cities. The problem The problem faced by the Sami language is one of frontiers. Although more Sami-speakers live in Norway than in any other country, there are significant numbers in Sweden, with a smaller number in Finland and a few in Russia. How can media be used most effectively to link these communities—particularly when we remember that although Norwegian and Swedish are closely related to each other, Finnish and Russian are from completely different language groups, and none of these languages has any links to Sami? The answer Oððasat is the Scandinavian broadcasters’ answer to this problem. It marks the attempt to link these scattered communities. By satellite link, a weekday 15 minute news broadcast in Northern Sami is broadcast. Each of the three Scandinavian public broadcasters—NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and YLE in Finland—supports this service, each providing subtitles in its own principal language. The provision of a daily 15 minute news programme is not, of course, in itself remarkable. It is the way in which the three national broadcasters have come together that makes this significant. The provision of subtitles in each of the three Scandinavian languages is also important in that each of the countries includes significant numbers of people who regard themselves as Sami but are not fluent in the language, or are fluent in versions of Sami that are significantly different from northern Sami. The programme is simultaneously appealing to a series of different audiences, with different language skills in a variety of languages and dialects, and living in very different situation—different countries and different contexts within these countries. The programmes are also available online. For SVT’s version, see www.svtplay.se/oddasat. Broadcasting for multiple minorities in Australia The context: The situation of aboriginal languages in Australia is complex. It has been estimated that when the first Europeans arrived there in the eighteenth century there were between 350 and 750 different languages spoken on the continent. According to Ethnologue, currently 145 remain, 110 of which are classed as severely or critically endangered. In only a few of them are there children learning the language in the home. Even the larger groups are small. The most-used languages, such as Warlpiri, Pitjantjatjara and Eastern Arrentre, have each between 2,000 and 3,000 speakers. Most of the Australian aboriginal languages are spoken by far smaller groups. These linguistic facts are aggravated by socio-economic ones. Typically the Aborigines who still speak these languages still live in remote areas and suffer from multiple deprivation. Many are illiterate. Many cannot speak English (80% of the 2,660 speakers of Pijantjatjara are monolingual). Even within the Aboriginal community, only 12% speak any Aboriginal language in the home, making these languages minority languages even within the minority communities. Broadcasting specifically for the Aboriginal communities began with the establishment, with government funding, of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in 1980. This was originally a public radio service (using English and six indigenous languages). In 1988 the private satellite television station Imparja was established by CAAMA, based in Alice Springs and with a footprint covering the central Australian area. In 2007 a government-funded satellite television station, National Indigenous Television (NITV) was launched. This was reorganised and relaunched in December 2012 and is now also available on digital terrestrial television. The problem The problem in Australia has been how to cater for different, small and remote language groups, without simply falling back on English. The answer The one programme in indigenous languages on NITV is Nganampa Anwernekenhe. The title itself indicates its mixed language approach in that the two words mean “Ours” in the Pitjantjatjara and Arrentre languages. The programme is a documentary series (which has now broadcast over 180 episodes) featuring Aboriginal culture and which uses various Aboriginal languages, with English subtitles (see www.nitv.org.au/fx-program.cfm?pid). The programme describes itself as the only programme in Aboriginal languages that is produced by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people. Many of the programmes use Aboriginal-based techniques in their narration so as not to give the impression that the programmes are simply a window for non-Aborigines to view aspects of Aboriginal culture. Although based in a very different situation from that of the European minority languages, the series does suggest interesting ways of combining different languages in a single television service. Mulitlingual drama from Wales The context: The Welsh context was given in example 2. Here it is worth commenting on the specific issue of television drama. This is typically both the most expensive and the most popular kind of television programming, which makes it particularly problematic for under-financed minority language television producers. In addition to this, when we think of the three broad categories of TV drama—continuing series in domestic settings (soap operas), single films, and the standard drama series usually with each different story in one to three episodes—the problems become more stark. Many minority language broadcasters are able to afford the comparatively cheap format of the soap opera, and many have also been able to invest in one-off films which can usually have some sort of life in other markets. S4C has made well-known examples in both categories—the soap opera Pobol y Cwm (which started on a BBC channel in 1974, transferred to S4C in 1982, and is still going strong) and the 1994 film Hedd Wyn which was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award. However the format which gathers most attention on conventional televsion, the serious episodic drama, is much more difficult. It needs higher financing (in cost per hour terms) than a soap opera needs, but the possibility of selling one made in a minority language in other markets is weaker than in the case of a single film drama. The problem The problem, then, is how to fund a high quality television drama series in a minority community. If this can be done, then the prospect of selling programming to other countries emerges as a bonus. The answer S4C has answered this problem by commissioning a drama series in both Welsh and English: not the two combined, but one version in each language. Y Gwyll, given the English title of Hinterland (the Welsh title means The Darkness), was made by Fiction Factory, a Cardiff-based production company, for S4C with the involvement of BBC Cymru. The first series consisted of four 2-hour episodes and was broadcast on S4C in October 2013. The original broadcast was in two forms. Each week the first episode would be shown first in Welsh, with no subtitles, then a few days later in Welsh with English subtitles. Several months later (January 2014), this subtitled version was broadcast on BBC One Wales. The English-language version is due to appear on BBC Four later in 2014. Y Gwyll is a detective series based in Aberystwyth and was clearly influenced by the “Scandinavian noir” style of drama. Indeed, the Danish broadcasters of one of these—The Killing—have already bought the series. By making the series in both languages, the Welsh-speaking audience gets more expensive drama than would otherwise be possible, but non-Welsh English-speaking audiences (whether in the UK or elsewhere) get a version without subtitles. Information on Y Gwyll can be found atwww.s4c.co.uk/ygwyll/e_index.shtml. Programming for teenagers in the Arctic The context: Inuit languages are spoken across the North American Arctic regions, from Greenland to Alaska. The main one spoken within Canada is Inuktitut. The 2011 Canadian census put the number of speakers at around 34,000. It is an official language in Nunavut (the Canadian Artic territory which was separated off from the Northwest Territories in 1999) and in the Northwest Territories, as well as having some legal recognition in neighbouring parts of Quebec and Labrador. These Inuit areas are typified by being very large regions with an extremely low population density. Nunavut, for example, covers an area of 787,000 square miles and has a total population of just under 32,000, a population density of 0.04 persons per square mile. The main broadcaster who targets the Inuit audience is the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), which was created in 1982. Initially IBC programmes were broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on their Northern Service, suffering the usual minority language problems such as being broadcast late at night. However with the launch in 1992 of Television Northern Canada (TVNC), a satellite network, IBC programmes were no longer dependent on CBC. In 1999 TVNC became the Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN), with its channels available throughout Canada. Although famous as the first television channel catering specifically for indigenous peoples, most of APTN’s output is in English. It does, however, carry IBC’s programmes. The problem Capturing the teenage audience is a particular problem for many minority language broadcasters. Younger children have been seen as more of a captive audience (at least until recently) and ways of creating content for them are fairly well understood. With the teenage audience, however, the solution is not so clear and international cultural forms (in music, film, websites, etc) are often seen as this audience’s concern. Yet minority languages must keep contact with these young people if their interest in the language and culture is to be defended against the onslaught of international media formats. The answer IBC has created the programme Qanurli? (meaning “What next?”), aimed at the 13–15 age group. It successfully avoids both being too obviously made for children and also being too obviously a “young adult” programme. It does this by using a laid-back presentation style, with presenters seeming to be talking to their friends, rather than to younger people. An added problem for such programmes is that budgets are likely to be minimal. Qanurli is clearly a very cheaply made programme but yet manages to use this to its advantage, as can be seen in the episodes available online (with English subtitles) at http://aptn.ca/qanurli/. It is also available on YouTube. Developing grassroots television skills in Gaelic The context: According to the 2011 UK Census, there were 57,602 speakers of Scottish Gaelic resident in Scotland, although only around 32,000 said they had the skills to speak, read and write the language. Although the overall number was a slight decrease from the 2001 Census, the figures seem to be stabilising. Since the 1980s Gaelic-medium education has been developing, with many pre-school and primary schools using the language, and there is even some secondary school provision now. The language has a certain amount of official recognition since the Gaelic Language Act of 2005. The Gaelic community is spread out throughout the country. Although the traditional heartlands are in the island communities (Lewis, Harris, Uist, Barra, Skye) and the adjacent west coast, there are many speakers in the cities of the Scottish Lowlands, particularly in Glasgow. Indeed, according to the Census almost 49% of Gaelic-speakers live outside the Highlands and Islands. Although a few Gaelic programmes had been broadcast in earlier years, regular Gaelic television was established in 1993, with the Gaelic Television Committee, although this only amounted to a few hours each week broadcast on predominantly English-language channels. In 2008 the television channel, BBC ALBA, began, broadcasting from 5 pm until late evening. BBC ALBA is run jointly by BBC Scotland and MG Alba (the successor organisation to the Gaelic Television Committee). Much of the channel’s output has English subtitles. The problem One problem facing any minority language community as it seeks to expand its television production base is lack of trained personnel. There are of course formal ways of dealing with this through training schemes and media education. However these will be limited to people who have made the choice, and have the time, to go into formal classes. How can a larger pool of people be tapped? The answer FilmG was set up by MG Alba in 2009 as a way of developing and showcasing new television and film-making talent in Gaelic. It takes the form of an annual short film (3–5 minutes) competition, with separate categories for young people (aged 12–17) and adults. The submitted videos are viewed by the public at large via the FilmG website and voted on. All the submissions since 2009 are kept available on the website (http://filmg.co.uk/en/films/filmg2013). Both language support and technical support are made available, including workshops in schools and master classes. Not only has this awakened film-making interest but it has also helped to develop the general Gaelic audience’s awareness of media production. Phone apps in Basque The context: Basque (Euskara), unrelated to any other known language, is currently spoken by around 714,000 people, most of whom are in Northern Spain but 51,000 of whom are in Southwest France. In Spain, the majority live in the Autunomous Community of the Basque Country, although there are also some in the adjacent parts of Navarre. Since 1978 Basque has been an official language (along with Spanish) in the Basque Country and in the northern areas of Navarre. The language has no official status in France. A survey in 2006 found that in the Basque Country 30.1% were fluent Basque speakers, 18.3% could understand the language to some extent but not speak it, and the remaining 51.5% had no abilities in the language at all. In the French Basque Country only 22.5% were fluent speakers. In Navarre (as a whole) 11.1% were fluent speakers. Since 2006 there has been a small increase in the numbers of Basque speakers within the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. Linguists normally distinguish five main dialects of the language, two of which are spoken in France and one in Navarre, leaving the main Basque area to the two main dialects, Bizkaian and Gipuzkoan. In the 1960s a standard form of the language—Euskara Batua—was created, transcending the different dialects. Since 1982, the main broadcaster in the Basque Country has been Euskal Irrati Telebista (EITB), which includes the television company Euskal Telebista (ETB). Of its two principal television channels, only ETB1 broadcasts in Basque, ETB2 using Spanish. ETB3 is a digital children’s channel, using Basque. ETB also broadcasts two international channels which use both Spanish and Basque—ETB Sat and Canal Vasco. ETB was originally distributed by satellite but since May 2013 has become an Internet-only channel. EITB is funded principally by the government of the Basque Autonomous Community. The problem Apps for use on mobile phones, to facilitate smartphone and tablet access to the Internet, have become increasingly common in the last five years. The problem is how these can best be used to help minority languages. The answer EITB has created a phone app that is distinguished by its comprehensiveness. The app gives access to a wide range of EITB output: news headlines, sports news, videos of television programmes, and extracts from the most popular radio programmes. Content is available in four languages—Spanish, French and English, along with Basque. It gives access to EITB’s television-on-demand facility. This makes it, as the EITB website notes, “the largest store of audiovisual content in the Basque language which has existed up to now”. It is clearly a technology which is likely to have a particular appeal to younger people.
Friday, July 7, 2017 Fusion deficient Humans' ability to harness energy, propelled tactically by the Sun, remain meager. Unfortunately, they have not even been able to replicate the processes in the Sun that apparently throws of seemingly unlimited free energy. Fusion, hot and cold, eluded the struggling species, with nearly 30% still without proper food, clothing and shelter. Lifting humanity from despair remains to be an energy problem, something not many are focused on. The simplest of processes, fusing two Hydrogen atoms into one of Helium and releasing an abundance of energy, still remains outside the grasp of the engineers. Recent news from the famous defense contractor was encouraging but the path to practical implementation still seems too long. And the crooks who raised false hope on cold fusion seem to have gone away. Tactical conversion of Sun's power - solar and wind - still seem too expensive and rather cumbersome. And, if the energy secretary ever goes to school and perhaps learn something, he may learn that fossil fuel is not the answer either. The answer appears to be tantalizingly close in fusion. The template is readily available and a generation of great technologists stand ready to convert dreams into practical applications. What is missing is imagination, something that cannot be taught or bought. Perhaps, we need a bit of luck.
What Is an Offset Agreement? Article Details • Written By: Ken Black • Edited By: Bronwyn Harris • Last Modified Date: 07 August 2017 • Copyright Protected: Conjecture Corporation • Print this Article Free Widgets for your Site/Blog An offset agreement is a stipulation made between a foreign supplier and a company which requires the supplier to purchase a certain amount of goods from that country in exchange for a contract. These agreements can be direct or indirect, depending on what raw materials the country may have. These agreements are often required in order to award a foreign contract to a large company producing valuable goods. A direct offset agreement means that the supplier has agreed to buy something from the country awarding the contract that is directly related to the product the company providing. For example, if Boeing, an American aircraft company, is awarded a contract from France, the company may agree to use steel from France in order to produce the aircraft. The fact that the steel is being used to produce the product that is going back to the country makes the agreement a direct one. An indirect offset agreement is one where the company agrees to purchase a certain amount of products from the foreign country that may not be directly related to the product being manufactured. Often, because companies have no need for certain products from the foreign nation, they may make deals with other companies. For example, Boeing may not need the type of steel produced in France, but a fast food company could use beef produced from France. Boeing could make a deal with that fast food company to purchase French beef. Often, to entice the fast food company into the contract, something else may be offered, such as exclusive rights to serve that company's food in the Boeing cafeteria. An offset agreement is often required when foreign nations enter a contract with a large-scale industry, such as a major manufacturer. Due to the fact that these agreements often see a substantial amount of wealth leaving the country, the foreign countries would like something else in return, in addition to the products being received. Therefore, an offset agreement is negotiated. In addition to helping the country get a return on its investment, offset agreements can be used to bolster burgeoning economies. In some cases, an agreement, or a series of them, may help an industry within a developing country get the footing it needs to succeed. These companies can help improve the quality of life for the entire country by spreading the wealth around and spawning spin-off industries. In such situations, an offset agreement can become a valuable tool for economic development. You might also Like Discuss this Article Post 6 Are these legal within the UKs Bribery Act? Post 5 A more common arrangement in trade between manufacturers of like-products (aircraft engines, aircraft, etc.) would be for the offset to include "use" of the factory services of the foreign country for some other interest related to the U.S. company (but not related, necessarily) to the original trade. For instance, Company X could have KorTaiChina Industries assemble an aircraft engine, including some locally produced parts from that company, then brought back into the U.S. That way the KorTaiChina Industries and its home country gets the labor and parts revenue, along with technology knowledge. Many variations are possible. Post 4 Does anybody know how common offset agreements are? This article make them seem pretty common but I am just trying to get an idea of how often this sort of thing actually goes on. Does a single company make multiple agreements every day or are these more rare. The whole idea of it seems so strange that it really has my curiosity peaked. Post 3 I find it really interesting that offset agreements serve a dual purpose. They can be used to keep wealth in a country or they can be used to distribute wealth to developing countries. It is not often that the same kind of contract and agreement can serve opposite purposes in an economy. Post 2 @backdraft - You might not be as far off the mark as you realize. Often times a companies stated business is not their only business. I once worked for a large multi -national company whose name I will not mention and we were involved in several offset arrangements. One of these involved importing massive quantities of cheap Russian vodka to be bottled and sold in the US by a liquor distributor. Needless to say, our pirmary business had nothing to do with vodka. Post 1 Wow, who would have ever thought that a company like Boeing would get involved with importing French beef for American fast food companies. I realize that this is just a hypothetical situation but maybe there are all kinds of real goofy agreements like this one. Imagine if Microsoft agreed to import pecans made in Brazil to sell to a cookie company for inclusion in their recipes. Or maybe Ford would agree to import horse hair to sell to an American wig maker. I realize that these are silly but maybe they are not far off the mark. Post your comments Post Anonymously forgot password?
Changeling Times Tutorial Essay: Trinity (Summer) 2012 The Romance of the People: The Folk Revival from 1760 to 1914 I loved this module, reading and writing about fairy tales wasn’t work at all. What do stories about supernatural beings such as fairies and trolls reveal about the social history of the European peasantry? You may answer with reference to ONE OR MORE countries. Fairies, as romanticised fantasy creatures, could be said to have little to do with reality, but by looking at the symbolism within stories it is able to discern elements of peasant life, particularly about their worries and ambitions. In Ireland, stories about fairies are common throughout folk culture, and the focus is very specifically on personal experience with the supernatural, giving names, places, and dates, showing how close the stories were to experience in comparison with other folk cultures where the popular tales are of heroic warriors or kings and queens. Ireland is therefore a useful case study when looking at the supernatural in conjunction with social history. Issues such as poverty, illness, loss, and hardship are present throughout the stories, but religion also plays an interesting role. Ireland was for the most part Catholic but the ruling classes were Protestant, creating tensions within the country. In addition, as Ireland was a nation subject to the rule of another, nationalism played a part, particularly in the early nineteenth century when the 1801 Act of Union was new and O’Connell was campaigning for liberation, but also at the end of the century when Celtic revivalism encouraged ideas about independence. It is therefore clear that fantastical stories can teach a lot about societies within a specific historical frame, even if the stories have been handed down orally for years. However, the audience for these stories was actually predominantly the English Victorian middle classes, not the peasantry, who already knew the stories, so the publishing of the tales at this time must also be questioned. The stories in Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, collected by Thomas Crofton Croker, focus for the most part on peasants, and although some such as The Confessions of Tom Bourke and The MacCarthy Banshee are about other classes, the fact that the proportion of peasant tales is so high tells us a lot about the relationship between the supernatural and social status. It is immediately apparent that poverty plays a large role in the stories. For example, The Legend of Bottle Hill begins with the protagonist, Mick Purcell, losing his entire crop in a bad harvest and going to market to sell his last means of income, his cow. In exchange for the cow he gains a magic bottle from a mysterious stranger, which restores his wealth, yet when he swaps the bottle with his landlord for a farm he loses everything again. He finds the stranger again and asks for another bottle, but this one brings him misfortune. He then tricks the landlord into exchanging the bottles and all ends well for Mick. This tale highlights the importance of wealth and land to peasant survival, but the fact that magic is required implies that success was conceived as so far removed from reality that supernatural intervention was the only way it could be achieved or explained. In his notes to the story, Croker says that a moral could have been drawn about the management of wealth ‘were the Irish a moralising people.’ This criticism highlights the fact that elites saw peasants as irresponsible, but the omission of a moral could suggest that success and failure, to the peasant, could easily change from one to the other, because they relied so heavily on the crop to succeed. The use of magic in the story demonstrates how a peasant conceived his fate as being out of his hands and in the power of a higher being. Fairies and peasants often have a lot in common within stories, and therefore the tales often reveal a lot about peasant worries and concerns. Jenkins has described fairies as a ‘society outside society’ with its own leaders, rules, and problems. Their marginality, and the motif of their endangerment caused by modernisation, can be read of as symbolic of the increasing erosion of the peasant way of life due to industrialisation. In addition, peasants are able to relate to the fairies because they share similar needs. The fairies often steal women, children, and cattle to take back to their own parts of the world, and as Jenkins points out, ‘these were the same concerns as those of the peasant family.’ Peasant life was based around the family unit, and the balance had to be right. Women were indispensable to the household economy; their role in childrearing, keeping house, milking cows, making butter, and other important tasks was vital. Children were also important, they were needed to help out with work but too many children could be a huge burden on a peasant family. However, the rate of child mortality also meant that a high birth rate was necessary to counterbalance this. Cattle, of course, provided milk and/or meat, could be used to plough fields, and could be sold at market, and therefore were of high value to peasants. In this way, stories about fairies can be used to show what was important to peasants. However, the problem with this is that it presents a very static picture of peasant life. It is true that there was relatively little change in agricultural techniques and the peasant way of life until industrialisation, but the stories are only representing a generalised and romanticised version of that way of life, even when poverty is apparent. Therefore, by looking purely at the surface of stories about fairies, it is possible to learn a little about peasant life and social history, but by searching a bit deeper and looking at symbols, some more contextually specific details can be found. Changelings are present in many folk cultures, but in Ireland they are especially well known and can be seen to impact on actual experience. In Fairy Legends there are a whole sequence of stories involving Changelings and ways of getting rid of them, which demonstrates their popularity within Irish folk culture. Eberly has argued that fairy stories are created ‘in answer to some of the more puzzling of life’s mysteries.’ She argues that the similarities ascribed to Changelings, such as their appearance as small, with often distinctive facial features, and unnatural behaviour, can interpreted as the representation of mental or physical disability. She suggests that the perception of these children as part of a different world can be due to their appearance, for example the features of people with Down’s syndrome look more like each other than members of their genetic family. Eberly thus suggests that the Changeling is a direct representation of illness or disease, mainly in babies but also in older children or adults when there has been an abrupt change in behaviour or appearance brought on by illness. For example, in 1895 after a hard winter, Bridget Cleary from Tipperary fell seriously ill, and male family members, doubting her identity, tried cures such as making her swallow herbs boiled in new milk, and eventually burnt her to death. This tragedy, although rare, especially concerning an adult, demonstrates that peasants viewed illness as a result of the supernatural. Misfortune, particularly when it appeared inexplicable, was frequently blamed on the mystical, and as peasant life was fraught with more danger and hardships than other social groups, magical or fantastical tales are more likely to come from them. In The Celtic Twilight, Yeats claimed that, ‘there is hardly a valley or mountainside where they cannot tell you of someone pillaged from amongst them.’ This highlights how widespread belief was, but also implies that loss was a common occurrence. References to religion in stories about the supernatural are interesting because they demonstrate interactions between organised religion and ‘pagan’ belief which can provide information about genuine folk belief. In The Legend of Bottle Hill we are told that Mick’s wife ‘had as much faith in fairies as she had in the priest’. The coexistence of these two belief systems suggests that peasant belief was pragmatic and did not fully conform to Catholic teaching, although it must be remembered that these were stories often told for amusement, and they should not be taken at face value as evidence of a dualistic belief system. Even so, in folk tales fairies and God are able to exist in the same frame, and have an interesting relationship. Christianity and the fairy folk are often posited in opposition to one another, and the fairy folk are usually portrayed as both more ancient and more earthly. Conflict can be seen in The Legend of Bottle Hill when the mysterious stranger recoils at Mick’s almost throwaway exclamations such as: ‘God grant it!’ and ‘Lord between us and harm.’ Similar themes are present in Master and Man when Billy MacDaniel says ‘God save us’ after he hears a sneeze and he is released from his fairy master’s service. The Christian God is portrayed as more powerful than the mischievous fairy folk, who have limited powers, but the peasants interact more frequently with the fairies. Fairies are presented as a physical presence within the mortal world, whereas God is seen as a distant being, who is appealed to almost coincidentally yet is held in fear by the fairies. Folk stories can also reveal nationalistic sentiments within the peasantry, and this is particularly present in Fairy Legends which was collected and published two decades after the Act of Union. In The Young Piper, Mick Flanigan and Judy Muldoon, the central couple, are called ‘decent honest people,’ demonstrating conceptions of the peasant as morally upright, just, and respectable. We are told that their three healthy sons are ‘enough to make any Irishman proud of the breed of his countrymen.’ They are blond, strong, and cheerful, whilst their changeling sibling is dark, weedy, and cries all the time, which is indicative of ideas about race and purity, although this should not be taken too far. Nevertheless, the presence of these symbols provides evidence for a sense of pride in ‘Irishness’. Croker claimed that he wrote the stories in the style told by the peasants, so if we take him at his word then we must see the peasants as both having a sense of nationality and being proud of it. The fact that the fairies are a parasitic, different race to the Irish peasant can also be emblematic of this kind of nationalism, as they can be seen to represent the Irish Protestant Ascendancy, who are outsiders yet exert a huge amount of control over the peasant’s life. The fairy stories can therefore be seen as an expression of support for Irish independence. However, ignoring the writer or the audience would lead to an incomplete examination of the significance of fairies culturally. As Sumpter argues, writers, artists, and readers appropriate tales and make them their own. Primitivism is one important element of the discourse. Writers such as Max Müller and William Wordsworth linked childhood or peasant barbarity with instinctive creativity, which although in some sense is empowering, clearly displays a sense of superiority. Matar argues that ‘the writer’s idealisation focuses on a form of the primitive that has little to do with the ‘realities’ of savage existence.’ If fairy stories are seen as purely idealisation, they therefore cannot inform about social reality. Yeats criticised Croker, saying he ‘could never resist the chance of turning some naive fairy tale into a drunken peasant’s dream.’ However, Yeats himself was a romanticist; in The Celtic Twilight he wrote: ‘I have desired…to create a little world out of the beautiful, pleasant, and significant things of this marred and clumsy world.’ In this way, fairy folk tales can be seen as ‘an idealist fiction born of the needs of the ‘modern’ society.’ Bown argues that Victorians enjoyed fairy literature because it provided them with a form of escapism and enabled them to ‘console themselves for their disquiet’ at their ‘wonderful yet appalling modern world.’ She sees the stories as a ‘genre of lament for the passage of time and the loss of innocence’ after industrialisation. The stories can therefore give more insight into the needs of the bourgeois classes in the nineteenth century, who published and consumed this literature, rather than giving any specific insight into peasant life. The stories themselves, although collected at this point, were older and related to a past time, which still held resonance for peasants, but much more interestingly began to be useful to other social groups. The fairy story had always been a part of peasant life, its appropriation by the bourgeoisie in the nineteenth century is what makes it historically interesting. Although stories about fairies can tell us a lot about the experience of peasants, their concerns, their relationship with money and land, with illness, religion, and nation, these appear ahistorical in comparison to what the publishing of oral folk culture can tell us about the Victorian middle classes. Peasants, until industrialisation, always farmed land, mixed Christianity and pagan belief in their discourse, and the supernatural was a very real presence and influence on their lives. However, due to the oral nature of the stories, it is hard to tie them down to a specific time, an exception is The MacCarthy Banshee which gives dates, but this is one of the few tales about elites. Even though specific names and places are given, which adds a sense of reality not found in epics such as the Finnish Kalevala, it is hard to locate the stories historically even to one century. In contrast, with modernisation, the formation of nation states, and changing structures, in this case the merging of the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain, created an environment in which folk culture was appropriated by people who were not of the folk, if the folk is conceived of as the peasantry. I would therefore suggest that it would be more useful and interesting to also assess what fairies and the stories about them reveal about the history and needs of the middle classes and elites rather than solely the peasantry. Angela Bourke, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, (London, 1999) Nicola Bown, Fairies in Nineteenth Century Art and Literature, (Cambridge, 2001) Thomas Crofton Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, (London, 1825) Sinead Garrigan Matar, Primitivism, Science, and the Irish Revival, (Oxford, 2004) Richard Jenkins, ‘Witches and Fairies’ in The Good People: New Fairylore Essays ed. Peter Narvaez (London, 1991) Susan Schoon Eberly, ‘Fairies and the Folklore of Disability’ in The Good People: New Fairylore Essays ed. Peter Narvaez (London, 1991) Caroline Sumpter, The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale, (Basingstoke, 2008) William B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight, (Gerrard’s Cross, 1981) Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s Psychology to Motivate \| Inspire \| Uplift Mindfulness, Spontaneity and Authenticity Travel Much? 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The 2016 presidential election divided America more than ever. Not only was the election relatively close in terms of the popular vote, but the popular vote winner actually ended up losing the electoral college vote and the presidency. Instead of attempting to unite a badly divided America, as most presidents have attempted to do upon assuming office, Donald Trump continued to denigrate “crooked Hillary” and chastise Democrats for being sore losers. Many Trump critics immediately called for his impeachment on the grounds of Russian interference in the election and their belief that Trump was emotionally and mentally incompetent to be president. Elections often unsettled the American public, but few have done so like the 2016 election. There was growing concern that the fabric of America was being destroyed and America was literally being pulled apart. As we approached the 4th of July this year, when we celebrate America’s independence from Great Britain with the approval of the Declaration of Independence, thoughts of rebellion were in the air. On July 4, National Public Radio (NPR) issued its call for an American revolution. At least, that is what many NPR listeners believed they were doing. As they had done for many years on July 4, NPR featured the Declaration of Independence. In prior years, the Declaration was read in its entirety. In 2017, for the first time, NPR decided to convey the Declaration through modern social messaging. They posted the entire Declaration in 112 tweets. The tweets unleashed a storm of protest from disgusted listeners who were shocked to hear taxpayer-funded NPR calling for a revolution. Many listeners thought NPR was trying to mobilize the anti-Trump forces to start a new revolution in order to change the government. One listener tweeted that it was an “interesting way to condone the violence while Read More Here...
Growing Cilantro growing cilantroCilantro is a staple cooking herb throughout Asia and Latin America. And, the distinctive taste will either cause you to fall in love or make you want to spit it out. Some people have a genetical predisposition, which makes cilantro have a taste soap-like. But, if you’re the kind of person that can’t get enough of it, growing cilantro will save you money at the grocery store. Additionally, it will ensure your herbal supply is always fresh, delicious, and far more flavorful than commercially grown varieties. Though not everyone seems to realize it, when you grow cilantro, you actually get two herbs in one plant. Fresh, tender cilantro leaves are essential in savory salsas and dishes around the world. However, if you let your cilantro plants sit in the field a few weeks longer and the pale purple flowers will turn into plump coriander seeds. Because cilantro is as easy to grow as it is to cook with, you have no excuse for not starting your own supply right away. Start Growing Cilantro Because cilantro grows a taproot, it doesn’t do well when transplanted. That is why it should instead be seeded directly where you want it to mature. There’s no reason to worry about having too short of a growing season because cilantro seedlings grow so quickly that an indoor head start isn’t much of an advantage. However, if you’re eager to get some fresh cilantro as early as possible, you can start your seeds indoors. By using biodegradable pots like peat and then planting the pots directly into your garden. Of course, once the risk of frost is over. When and Where Should You Grow Cilantro? You can grow cilantro in any climate with a warm summer, so long as you keep the plant well hydrated during intense summer heat. Though cilantro is often used in tropical regions, it actually doesn’t tolerate heat well and in hot climates it does best when grown in the spring or fall to prevent premature bolting. Cilantro can continue to grow in temperatures down to the low 40s and will survive the first few frosts of the fall season, but it will die as soon as the ground freezes. Understanding Seed Germination for Cilantro Each cilantro seed has two spheres with a seed in each side. This means that you will often get twice as many sprouts as seeds that you plant, making thinning necessary. Cilantro seeds will germinate after 8-14 days, depending on the outside temperature and moisture levels. Each cilantro plant will be fully mature after 6-12 weeks, so to ensure a continuous supply throughout the season, you should plant a small patch every two to three weeks throughout the growing season. When stored in a cool, dry place, cilantro seeds are viable for at least five years. Growing Cilantro in Containers Like most herbs, your cilantro should be grown in a place where you have easy access to it, like a windowsill in your kitchen. For this reason, growing cilantro in containers is a smart idea. You can plant seeds a quarter inch deep in portable trays or pots filled with fertile potting mix and keep them in a sunny spot. Adding a scoop of worm castings or other compost can help to speed up growth. Be sure to water them daily as pots can lose their moisture content quickly. Preparing a Cilantro Bed If you plan to grow cilantro outdoors in garden beds, choose a spot with full sun or light shade because the plants will bolt when conditions get too hot. Choose well-drained, moist soil and mix in some aged manure or compost to speed along the growing process. If you work compost into the top few inches of your cilantro bed you won’t need to fertilize again as the plants grow. Direct Seeding When your cilantro bed is prepared, you can plant your cilantro in rows that are eight inches apart. Plant your seeds half an inch deep, spaced two inches apart. Once the plants are about three inches high, you can thin them out to 6 inches apart. These cuttings can be saved and tossed into a salad. As your plants continue to grow, prune off any flowers that form (unless you are trying to produce coriander) so that your plants devote their energy to producing fragrant leaves. If you are planning on growing your cilantro to produce coriander seed, you should space your plants out a little more to give them room to grow to full maturity, as cilantro plants can get as tall as two feet. Watering and Mulching Requirements The key to growing cilantro successfully is to keep it from bolting for as long as possible by tricking the plant into thinking that it is perpetually spring or fall. You can do this by giving them plenty of water and mulching the soil around each plant to keep their roots cool. This will convince each plant to continue to produce fresh leaves rather than transitioning to flower growth. Keep your cilantro well moistened but don’t let it get soaked. Having soil with good drainage is crucial for keeping your plants healthy. Companion Planting and Rotation Considerations Because cilantro is such a fragrant plant, it is a great companion for other garden plants because it helps to drive insect pests away. A particularly good pairing is to grow cilantro next to anise and chervil, though fennel should be avoided at all costs. Common Pests and Diseases for Cilantro Cilantro is one of those wonderful garden plants that rarely have problems with pests and diseases. In fact, cilantro leaves actually attract ladybugs and other insect predators that happily snack on aphids and other damaging insects. The two diseases that can occasionally be a problem are leaf spot and powdery mildew. • Leaf Spot: small yellow spots that in time turn into large brown spots. It is caused by too much moisture and not enough air circulation, so it can be prevented by growing your cilantro in well-drained soil and not over-watering each plant. • Powdery Mildew: appears as a white, powdery coating on the cilantro leaves during hot, dry periods. You can help to prevent it by keeping your plants from drying out and removing any plant that becomes infected. Harvesting and Storing Cilantro Once the plants are three to four weeks old or about a ten inches tall, you can snip off leaves of cilantro whenever you need some for a recipe. The best tasting cilantro comes off plants that are harvested early in the day. You can either pick the young leaves off by hand or use a garden shears. Be careful to never wash cilantro leaves, as washing them will remove some of the fragrant oils that are naturally on them. If you want to harvest cilantro all summer long, be sure to plant new patches every 2 to 3 weeks once late spring begins. Though cilantro is always best eaten fresh, for short term storage you can refrigerate the stems in a glass or water. Covered in a paper bag, fresh cilantro should last in the refrigerator for up to ten days. Unlike other herbs, cilantro is rarely stored long term because it loses almost all of its flavor when dried or frozen. You can harvest coriander seeds about 45 days after cilantro is planted. To harvest, allow some flowers on your cilantro plants to grow to maturity. Once seedpods have formed, let them dry out until they turn brown and crack open when pressed. Harvest these pods and place them in a paper bag where they can continue to ripen for the next few weeks. After they have dried out, you can shake or roll around the pods with your hands until the seeds are released. Saving Cilantro Seeds To save cilantro seeds for planting, follow the instructions for producing coriander seeds and, instead of eating the coriander, you can store them in a cool dry place to be planted in the spring. Choosing the Best Cilantro Seeds for Your Climate An easy way to grow cilantro is to simply plant grocery store coriander, though if you want a greater variety of characteristics or flavors you should turn to seed catalogs instead. In hot climates, slow-bolting varieties like ‘Calyspo‘ are a smart choice. For a pretty garnish for soups and salads, you can grow the feathery-leafed ‘Delfino‘ variety. Additional Growing Tips for Organic Cilantro To maximize the growth of your cilantro plants, follow these extra tips for success. • Growing your cilantro in mobile containers allows you to move them into the shade when temperatures get too hot, which can help to prevent premature bolting. • Pinching back new growth on cilantro plants will stimulate it to grow fuller, bushier plants with plenty of new leaves. • Pinch off flowers immediately when you see them, because cilantro plants immediately start to degrade in flavor when they set seeds.
Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty” This is our reading for August 12. You can find the location and details at our page. In this essay, Isaiah Berlin describes two forms of freedom. Negative freedom is freedom from interference; it seeks to maximize the choices an individual has in life. Positive freedom is slightly more complicated; it is the freedom of the group to decide how the group will behave, or how it will be governed, or in other words: who has the right to coerce?. While both forms of freedom are necessary for human life, Berlin thinks that positive freedom relies on the assumption that all real problems have single solutions, an assumption he considers false. Because problems have a variety of solutions and some measure of conflict over these solutions is inevitable, he thinks we ought to maximize negative freedom. Negative Freedom 1. The standard image of freedom is to be free from interference. Once interference hits a certain point, we call it slavery. 2. Coercion does not cover every form of inability; we do not think of ourselves as coerced because we cannot jump ten feet. Coercion implies the deliberate interference of others. We might legitimately call someone a slave to their passions, or we might say that poverty and sickness restrict freedom, but these are non-political uses of the term. 3. The basic criteria is the role we believe others are playing. This is what the classical English philosophers like Locke thought of freedom. They disagreed about the extent of other’s roles in coercion, but all agreed that interference needed to have a limit. There has to be some baseline limitation by law, but just as much, there has to be a sphere of freedom which cannot be violated for any reason. How large these limitations and freedoms should be was a matter of debate. More optimistic philosophers like Locke thought that sphere of freedom should be large, while pessimists like Hobbes thought we needed more expansive laws in the name of security. 4. The minimum sphere of freedom has to be “That which a man cannot give up without offending against the essence of his human nature” (8). Exactly what this essence is has been complicated debate. 5. Mill said, “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way.” If that is true, is compulsion ever justified? Mill thought it was—it is legitimate to use force to prevent someone from depriving others of freedom. Mill thought this freedom was necessary to prevent society from being crushed under the weight of “collective mediocrity,” in which everything devolves into conformity. Whatever mistakes a person might make, the value of being able to make them outweighs the evil of constraining the person. Berlin says, “Every plea for civil liberties, against the encroachment of public authority or the mass hypnosis of custom or organized propaganda, springs from this individualistic, and much disputed, conception of man” (9). 6. One of the problems with Mills’ individualist account is that it is not incompatible with an enlightened dictatorship that allows its subjects a great deal of freedom: “The despot who leaves his subjects a wide area of liberty may be unjust, or encourage the wildest inequalities, care for little order, or virtue, or knowledge; but provided he does not curb their liberty, or at least curbs it less than many other regimes, he meets with Mill’s specification” (11). 7. This idea of freedom is not logically connected with democracy or self-government; there is no necessary connection between the questions Who governs me? and How far does government interfere with me?. This is what the difference between positive and negative liberties consists in. The positive sense of liberty appears not when we ask, What am I free to do or be? but By whom am I ruled?, or Who is to say what I am, and what I am not, to be or do?. The connection between democracy and individual liberty is more tenuous than it seems to advocates of either. Positive Freedom 8. The “positive” sense of liberty comes from the individual’s wish to be their own master: “I wish my life and decisions to depend on myself, not on external forces, of whatever kind. I wish to be a subject, to be the instrument of my own, not of other men’s, acts of will. I wish to be a subject, not an object; to be moved by reasons, by conscious purposes which are my own, not by causes which affect me, as it were, from outside. I wish to be somebody, not nobody; a doer—deciding, not being decided for, self-directed and not acted upon by external nature or by other men as if I were a thing, or an animal, or a slave incapable of playing a human role, that is, of conceiving goals and policies of my own and realizing them.” (13) 9. This is basically what we mean by being rational, and what distinguishes one from the rest of the world. The freedom of being one’s own master, and the freedom which comes from not being prevented from doing what one wishes, eventually come into conflict with one another. 10. This idea of self-mastery has two parts. First, we might say, “I am a slave to no man,” but there is also the sense of being a slave to nature or one’s passions. Many have had the experience of liberating themselves from “spiritual slavery,” in which they become aware of a “higher nature” and a “lower nature.” The dominant, higher self is associated with reason and autonomy, and the irrational, lower self is associated with heteronomy and impulse. 11. Some might argue that the real self might be larger than the individual, a social “whole” of which the individual is a part, such as a race, the Church, or a state: “This entity is then identified as being the ‘true’ self, which by imposing its collective, or ‘organic’, single will upon its recalcitrant ‘members’, achieves its own, and therefore their, ‘higher’ freedom” (14). 12. The problem with such organic metaphors is that it can justify coercion in order to raise people to their “higher” freedom. It is plausible to think that sometimes, we have to coerce people for their own good. This entails the claim that we know what is good for someone better than they themselves know. We could also claim that they are latently aiming at the higher goal, and we are just helping them towards it. Once we take this view, we are free to ignore the stated wishes of people and to bully and oppress them in the name of their “real” selves. 13. It is one thing to say that I know what is good for X, even if he does not; it is a very different one to say that he has already implicitly chosen it, unconsciously, under the guise of his higher self. It is basically the difference between coercing one for their own good, and coercing one while claiming they are not being coerced because they have already implicitly willed the higher good. 14. This sort of move can also be made with the negative concept of freedom, in which the self that should not be interfered with is no longer the individual with their actual wishes and needs, but the “real” man within, pursuing an ideal purpose which his empirical self may never have dreamed of. This ideal self can be inflated into a super-personal entity such as the State or class. The move is less easy than it is with positive freedom, however. 15. The important point here is that our concept of freedom derives from what we take a self to be; with enough manipulation of the concept of “man,” freedom can be made to mean anything. 16. Another element in the “two selves” idea is the two different politics that has arisen from it. One is “self-abnegation,” a stoic pursuit of independence, and “self-realization,” a total self-identification with an ideal. 17. First, he discuss self-abnegation. If we are blocked from achieved our goals, we do not experience ourselves as masters of the situation. We can be blocked by various forces, from accidents to the intentional or unintentional effects of institutions. When these forces are too much, the only way to avoid being crushed by them is to liberate oneself from unrealizable desires. This is a retreat into one’s “soul” or noumenal self, a master of what one can practically possess. 18. It is like having a wound in one’s leg, and seeing there are two ways to free oneself from the pain. One way is to heal the wound, and the other is to cut the leg off. One trains oneself to want nothing that one does not need the leg for. The idea is to eliminate the obstacle by eliminating the path. It is a form of the search for security, but it has also been called a search for national freedom or independence. 19. This is quite close to people like Kant, who identify freedom not with the elimination of desires but with resistance to them and control over them. One obeys laws, but they are laws that one has placed on oneself; “Freedom is obedience, but ‘obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves’, and no man can enslave himself” (18). If the essence of man is autonomy, the author of values, then nothing is worse than to treat them as objects or as not self-determined. 20. In its individualistic form, the stoic retreat only happens with the outside world is particularly cruel or unjust. If action is blocked at every turn, then the withdrawal into private freedom becomes attractive. This asceticism might be a source of spiritual strength, but it is not an enlargement of liberty. The end point is suicide; total liberation is only achieved through death. 21. On the other hand, the self-realization account of freedom says that “Knowledge liberates by automatically eliminating irrational fears and desires” (24). Critical reason is what helps us understand what is necessary and what is contingent. For example, school children find the rules of mathematics to be impossible obstacles, imposed by an external authority. Once they understand how the symbols function, and grasp that they cannot be otherwise, their use appears as something the child freely wills out of the natural functioning of their rational activity. All obstacles function this way; once you understand the rational necessity of something, it can be freely accepted. 22. We are free only if we live by a conscious plan, which is to say self-imposed rules. Those who understand freedom as rational self-direction eventually had to think about what this means for society: is a rational life possible not only for individuals, but also for societies? If I am rational, then it seems that what is right for me is also right for others. But who can decide what is right? Some these thinkers argued that there must be single solutions to genuine moral and political problems. They said that all truth is, in principle, discoverable by all rational thinkers. The hope was for an ideal, harmonious state of affairs. 23. This can be phrased another way. Freedom is self-mastery and the eliminations of obstacles to my will, whether these be my own passions or the wills of others. Nature can be technologically moulded, but what about recalcitrant humans? I could mould them in my image, but this could mean that I alone am free, and they are slaves. They would only be slaves if my plan has nothing to do with their wishes or values, but if my plan allows for the full development of their “true” natures, then the realization of their capacities coincides with my own. For this to work, it would have to be true that “All true solutions to all genuine problems must be compatible; more than this; they must fit into a single whole; for this is what is meant by calling them all rational and the universe harmonious” (28). 24. If these underlying assumptions are correct, then in the ideal case, law and authority would coincide with liberty and autonomy. 25. The practical problem is how to make currently irrational men into rational ones. Education is one obvious route, because “only the uneducated are irrational.” Fichte said education has to say, “You will later recognize the reasons for what I am doing now.” Compulsion becomes a kind of education. Even Mill says we can forcibly prevent a man from crossing a bridge if there is no time to warn him that it will collapse, because whatever we see in his current behaviour, we know he will not want to drown. 26. The big problem with this line of thought is that “This is the argument used by every dictator, inquisitor and bully who seeks some moral, or even aesthetic, justification for his conduct. I must do for men (or with them) what they cannot do for themselves” (32). I have to do it with or without their permission, because they are not in a position to know what is best for them. 27. This opens the door to rule by experts, for two reasons. First, not everyone can be consulted about everything all the time. Second, not everyone is as “well attuned to the voice of reason” as others. There must be some assumption that if someone opposes a “rational” law, then they must be irrational, and I take it upon myself to save you from your irrationality. If this argument leads to despotism, even an enlightened despotism, then it might be there is something wrong in the premises. 28. There is another approach to the topic: the demand for recognition. The question of what the individual is was first raised in the eighteenth century, and it is very difficult to find accounts of individuality which are not wholly social. To some degree, we are what we are due to how others see us. When we analyze our identities, we discover that our identities are made up of identifications that exist because they are recognized by other people. We are not disembodied or Robinson Crusoes. My ideas about myself “are intelligible only in terms of the social network in which I am … an element” (37). 29. Many complaints about a lack of freedom amount to complaints about a lack of recognition. I might be trying to escape what Mill thinks I should want to escape, which is coercion. Or I might not be seeking a rational plan for my life. Rather, I might be seeking an escape from being ignored, or not being treated as individual. 30. The limit is that this demand for recognition cannot be easily identified with liberty, either positive or negative. It is a requirement of the good life, but it is not identical with freedom. We could call it a collective self-assertion, but one compatible with despotism and a minimum of negative freedom. For these reasons, Berlin insists on making a firm distinction between recognition and freedom as such. Liberty and sovereignty 31. The French Revolution was a demand for positive freedom as collective self-direction, and the liberals of the nineteenth century saw that this positive liberty could destroy every negative liberty. As Mill argued, those who govern are not necessarily the same as those who are governed, and further, can become a tyranny of the majority. Berlin says, “Equality of the right to oppress is not equivalent to liberty. Nor does universal consent to loss of liberty somehow miraculously preserve it merely by being universal, or by being consent” (45). Consenting to slavery is still slavery. He continues, “The triumph of despotism is to force the slaves to declare themselves free. It may need no force: the slaves may proclaim their freedom quite sincerely; but they are still slaves” (47). 32. Democracies suppress freedom without ceasing to be democratic, so what makes a society free? For the nineteenth century liberals, the answer had several parts. First, no power, but only rights, could be considered absolute. Second, there are borders within which liberty is inviolable. These borders have to be defined in terms of rules which have been widely accepted for a long time, so that they have come to be a part of the definition of a civilized person, and to violate them would be barbarous. For example, one of these rules is that a man cannot be declared guilty without a trial or punished under a retroactive law. 33. The freedom of a society is measure by the strength of these barriers. This is almost the opposite of positive freedom. The partisans of negative freedom want to curb authority; the others wish to have it in their own hands. These are two widely divergent views of life, even if in practice we have to find a compromise between them. Their fundamental claims are in conflict, but both are among the deepest interests of mankind. 34. The belief most responsible for the slaughter of individuals is the believe that individuals must be sacrificed for the freedom of society. It involves the belief that there is a final, perfect solution for society. Without such a rationalist guarantee, we have to accept that not all goods are reconcilable with one another. 35. It is not that we live without constraints; the strong’s power over the weak must be limited in some way. But this is not a rationalist a priori rule, but because the desire for justice and equality is just as basic as the desire for freedom. In the end, Berlin thinks negative liberty is a much more humane and truer image of freedom than the rationalist account of positive liberty. It is more true because it recognizes that not all goods can be reconciled. It is more humane because it does not deprive us of individual self-determination. JS Mill – On Liberty, Ch. 1-2 This is the reading for our June 17th meeting. You can find all the details at our page. Chapter 1 – Introduction This essay is not about the freedom of the will, but civil liberty—the nature and limits of the power which society can wield over the individual. In the past, liberty meant protection against government tyranny. Since the power og government could be used against anyone, citizens had to be in a perpetual state of defence against this power. This limitation could be carried out in two ways. First, a set of immunities, called liberties. Second, constitutional checks. Constitutional checks eventually became the main defence of liberty. Eventually, societies decided that government should not be an independent, antagonistic power; rather, government power should be a delegated power and representative of the people. Once this sort of democracy appeared, people began to think that too much importance had been attached to the limitation of power, since the idea that the people could oppress themselves appeared to be so odd. As Mill puts it, “The nation did not need to be protected against its own will. There was no fear of its tyrannizing over itself.” (89) His response to this is to say that phrases like “the power of the people over themselves” does not actually describe what goes on in democratic republics. For example, the “people” who exercise the power are not the same people over whom it is exercised, and the “will of the people” means nothing more than the will of a numerical majority. Continue reading Meillassoux: Divine Inexistence This is the reading for Saturday, May 27th. You can get all the details at our page. Imagine rolling dice and coming up with six. Some might say this outcome was determined, and others might insist it was pure chance, and still others might say it was a mix of the two. What they would agree on is that the faces of the dice had the appropriate numbers which could have produced a six—and importantly, this means that chance requires a set of pre-existing possibilities to work on. We can think of any situation this way, as the actualization of pre-existing possibilities, governed by laws, chance, or a mix of the two. Quentin Meillassoux’s work is dedicated to working out a single core idea: that the absolute truth of all existence is contingency. Every single thing can exist, not exist, or exist differently. What this means for our dice is that the ratio of chance and determinism governing their tumbling can be sidestepped entirely: Meillassoux’s thesis is the the faces of the dice can change, and can change for no reason, and importantly, it means this process does not answer to any possible account of probability. Entirely new sets of possibilities can appear in the world, possibilities that had absolutely no antecedent. He quite literally believes anything is possible. His term for the appearance of new possibilities, or new dice, is the advent ex nihilo of a new world because they emerge from nothing and for no reason. He says there have been three new worlds: the emergence of matter, the emergence of life, and the emergence of thought. Life appeared in the context of matter, and thought appeared in the context of life. Divine Inexistence is about the possibility of a fourth advent ex nihilo in the context of thought: the world of justice, a world of resurrected humans. The goal is the final vanquishing of the division between being and value, otherwise known as the famous is/ought distinction. Continue reading Jameson – An American Utopia This is the reading for our March 18th meeting. Visit us at for the location and details. Continue reading Homo Sacer, P3: §6-7 Here is the reading for Saturday, August 13th’s meeting. We will meet at 4:30 here, and there is a printable copy here. In the previous passage, Agamben used examples of sinister medical experiments, such as blacks being infected with malaria in the U.S., to argue that doctors and scientists now wield a measure of sovereignty. Remember that sovereignty is the capacity to decide who is killable. In section 6, Agamben explains how the line between life and death has become an increasingly political issue, as opposed to simply scientific or empirical. Section 7 is the last piece of the puzzle. The first point is that sovereign power, the fundamental form of political power, is based on the capacity to decide, in exceptional cases, who is killable. The second point is that the nation state has always been built on a connection between birth, land, and law. The camp, as it developed over the last century, is the new fourth piece. It is a space in which the exception is the new normal. In our time, the key political issue which fundamentally divides people is no longer where one was born, or the territory a state holds, or the particular legal system of a given state. Now, the fundamental issue is who is inside a camp, and who is outside: and what’s more, everyone has the virtual capacity to be placed inside a camp. Continue reading Homo Sacer, Part 3: §1-5 This is the reading for Saturday, July 30. We will meet at 4:30 here, and there is a printable copy here. In parts one and two, we saw Agamben’s argument that sovereign power is founded on a relation of ban, rather than something like a social contract. The foundation of sovereign power is the capacity to decide who is outside politics, and therefore killable: the homo sacer. Part three applies this framework to the twentieth century, examining both totalitarian and democratic governments, and argues that this power to decide who is killable is common to both styles of government. Further, this power is no longer limited to a traditional political sovereign, but is now also in the hands of doctors and scientists. Continue reading Homo Sacer, Part 2: §5-6 Here is the reading for July 9th’s meeting. We will meet at 4:30 here, and there is a printable copy here. The first four sections of Part 2 began to argue that the ban, rather than a social contract, is at the origin of western politics. Sections five and six complete this argument. Section five is a historical study of the image funeral and its relation to three figures: the Roman devotee, the Emperor, and the homo sacer, or sacred man. Each of these three figures has a different relation to bare life: the devotee’s bare life was expelled from the city, the Emperor’s bare life was divinized, and sacred man’s bare life was exposed to death. Part six contrasts social contract theory with the ban. The social contract, as an alleged founding event of the city, cleanly separates between nature and culture, or nature and law. Agamben argues that the state of nature lives on in the heart of politics in the form of the bare life of the homo sacer and the sovereign, who exist in a liminal state between human and animal, hence the comparison to werewolves. In short: Werewolves, therefore Holocaust. Continue reading
VoIP in-depth: An introduction to the SIP protocol, Part 1 By Gilad Shaham \| Last updated January 24, 2010 11:28 PM Flickr: smileham In our last VoIP installment, we looked at the main reasons why SIP has become a widely adopted protocol, but we left details of the protocol’s inner workings fairly vague. This article will drill down into the way the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) works, and it should serve as a good starting point for really learning SIP. If you haven’t already done so, you are encouraged to read the previous article, although it’s not a prerequisite. This introduction also covers the latest SIP extensions and changes, so it gives a complete view of the protocol’s current state, rather than just the basic, underlying RFC. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a VoIP signaling protocol. As its name suggests, it has everything to do with setting up sessions, which means it has the responsibility for starting a session after you dial a number (or double-click, in some cases). As such, SIP’s role also includes maintaining user registrations with a server, defining session routing, handling various error scenarios, and, of course, modifying and tearing down sessions. We’ll present this introduction in two parts. In the first part, we’ll focus on the SIP foundation layers. These layers allow creating a network of SIP servers. In the next article, we will go through the way a phone communicates with the rest of the world using this server network, based on the same foundation layers. SIP Foundations Message Structure SIP shares the same message structure as HTTP and RTSP. As a result, most of the text description here would fit these protocols as well. Each message is either a request or a response. All messages are text-based and have the following form: • First line • Headers • Empty line • Optional body The first line is different for a request and a response. A request’s first line uses the following format: <method (request type)> <URI (address/resource)> <version> For example, a SIP request’s first line can be: REGISTER sip:arstechnica.com SIP/2.0 A response comes in the form of: <version> <code> <reason phrase> The version is the same in all messages. The code is a 3-digit value, and the reason phrase could be any text describing the nature of the response. A proper first line in the response could be: SIP/2.0 200 OK It’s easy to scan the first characters of a message to detect whether it’s a request or a response ("/" is not a valid character for the method field, therefore even a generic parser could differentiate a request from a response). Next come the headers of the message. Some headers contain vital information and thus are mandatory, but many headers are optional. Each header has a name and a value, and some have parameters. For example: Contact: sip:gilad;Expires=2000 Contact is the header name, sip:gilad is the value, and expires=2000 is a parameter. Other parameters may appear separated by semicolons. Some headers may appear just once in a message, and some may appear multiple times. An equivalent approach to using multiple headers is to separate each value-parameter set with a comma. Some headers have a compact form for which the header name is shorter. For example, you can use "m" instead of "Contact". After the last header, there’s an empty line followed by the body of the message. The body could be anything, even binary information. The header Content-Type specifies the type of the message body. In order to know the length of the body, you have to look at the Content-Length header. (If the transport type is UDP, then the Content-Length header is not mandatory. It is, however, mandatory for TCP). One common use of the body is to encapsulate the media negotiation protocol within the SIP message. That’s pretty much what you need to know in order to understand the basic structure of SIP. It is rather straightforward, and anyone who is already familiar with protocols that have similar structure will feel right at home. Of course, we still have to understand what this text means and what a SIP device should do with the messages it sends and receives. Transport Types By default, SIP messages are sent on port 5060 if they’re unencrypted. Encrypted messages are sent over port 5061. One can specify a port other than the default within the SIP address and override this default value. SIP mandates support for both UDP and TCP, but it can successfully operate on practically any transport type. It defines different behavior per transport only when the characteristics of the specific transport require it to do so. For example, UDP does not guarantee delivery, so SIP retransmits the messages. In TCP, such retransmission is really unnecessary (and confusing), so no one should retransmit a message. For the most part, other than the transaction layer (detailed in the next sub-section), almost no other component changes its behavior due to the transport. In fact, because SIP operates hop-by-hop (clients do not usually communicate directly, but rather use proxies along the signaling path to send and receive messages), each hop could change the transport type. So a client may receive a message over TCP even if the original message was sent over UDP. SIP’s transport type independence enables the possibility of defining new transport types that were not originally included when SIP itself was first defined. For example, RFC 4158 is a very short RFC that defines SIP over SCTP. For connection-based transports (e.g., TCP and SCTP), the state of the connections is maintained. Connections are kept open and reused to save time and resources. The recommendation is to keep a connection open for at least 32 seconds after the last message, but in practice it’s application-defined. Because there is no defined limit for the number of different SIP messages that one can send on a connection, two devices such as proxies usually have one or very few connections between them. NAT vs. VoIP One of the main challenges that VoIP protocols have encountered, and SIP is no exception, is the existence of NAT devices. NATs usually aggregate several IP addresses (in many cases within a private network) to a few external IP addresses, mapping different traffic from different IP addresses to different ports. (This is a very simplistic description of NATs; there are in fact several ways NATs can work, but this is a common one that’s easy to describe). In order to map different addresses to IP and ports, NATs usually maintain a dynamic mapping table. If traffic from with port 5060 maps to a public IP address with port 10000, the NAT will keep this mapping as long as it has a flow of packets from that address. If the flow stops, the NAT will remove this mapping after a configurable amount of time to allow another internal IP and port to use the external IP and port combination. VoIP’s problem arises because signaling protocols are as minimalistic as possible in terms of traffic. In order to allow the rest of the world to locate a device, the device first registers by sending a REGISTER request. A response from the registrar accepting this registration will usually tell the device that its registration is valid for a long time, most commonly an hour. Now, suppose a NAT is located between the client and the server. When the REGISTER request is sent, the NAT maps the device’s internal IP and port to an external one. When the response is sent back, the NAT has the proper mapping to the original IP and port. If the client does not send any packets to the server (for example, does not make a call), the NAT may remove the mapping it created during the registration. The outcome of this scenario is that incoming calls cannot reach the client. The proxy server receiving the request to the registered client cannot reach the internal IP address without the NAT mapping. It’s because of this NAT issue that RFC 5626 was introduced. This RFC defines the techniques that a client can use to maintain the NAT mapping. It introduces the concept of a flow that should be maintained by the registering client. The client sends two empty lines (carriage return and line feed, or CRLF) on connection-oriented flow (TCP and SCTP) and expects to receive from the server a single empty line as a response. For connection-less transports, the client maintains the flow by using STUN (defined by RFC 5389). Transaction layer The SIP RFC divides the architecture into layers. We actually went through two of the layers in the discussion above: the first was the syntax and encoding layer that defines the message structure, and the second was the transport layer. Now it’s time to inspect the contents of the SIP message by taking a look at the transaction layer. The SIP layers Every SIP message is associated with a single transaction. Similar to HTTP, messages are either requests or responses, but unlike HTTP, matching responses to requests is not simple. HTTP uses TCP as its transport, so you can match a response based on the order of the requests. But a SIP transaction can have more than a single response, and, in some cases, more than one request. When a SIP device sends a request, it acts as a user agent client (UAC). The recipient of the request, the one that sends the response, acts as a user agent server (UAS). The layer above the transaction layer is named "transaction user" or TU. Let’s look at a SIP request that a UAC can initiate: REGISTER sip:arstechnica.com SIP/2.0 Via: SIP/2.0/UDP home.mynetwork.org;branch=z9hG4bKmq0Tgb To: sip:me From: sip:me;tag=m25caI4 Call-ID: n35nzlsdjfb3 Contact: sip:me Max-Forwards: 70 We have already seen that REGISTER is the method (type of request), sip:arstechnica.com is the request-URI, and SIP/2.0 is the version. All the headers above are the mandatory. At this point, we’ll cover the headers that are important to the transaction layer, and we’ll cover the rest of them when we get to the way proxies and registrars work. First, let’s examine the Via header. The Via header has a parameter called "branch" with an odd value. The first 7 letters (z9hG4bK) are fixed, and they help identify this as a SIP transaction based on RFC 3261. These letters, often referred to as the "magic cookie", would not appear with a request that is using the previous SIP RFC, which has different transaction matching rules. We’ll only look the cases that have the magic cookie because it’s very rare today to encounter an implementation that has not caught up with the latest spec. After the seven letters, the rest is just a random string. Every time you see a different branch value it’s a different transaction; conversely, if both messages have the same branch value, then they should be the same transaction. One exception to this rule is if the method of the CSeq header is different. This is because the CANCEL method uses the same branch value to identify which transaction you should cancel. So, to fully match two messages to the same transaction, both the branch and CSeq method have to match. Naturally, this means that responses to a request will have matching values. Before moving on, one final note on the Via header. When we refer to this header, we actually refer to the first, or topmost, Via header. Via is one of those headers that can appear multiple times within a message. The reason for this will become clear in the proxy section, but it’s important to note that you always match the transaction based on the first Via header and ignore the rest. The UAS sends a response to an incoming request. SIP responses are divided into 6 different classes, and the first digit of the 3-digit response code identifies each class. A 1xx response means any response in the range of 100 to 199. The response types are: • 1xx – Provisional response, which indicates that the request is handled, but without a final response yet. For example, 180 Ringing is a common provisional response. • 2xx – Successful response. The most common one is 200 OK. • 3xx – Redirect response. A client receiving this response would know the user moved to a different location. For example, a phone may redirect all its calls to a different address by responding back with a 302 Moved Temporarily. • 4xx – Client error, which means that the request cannot be fulfilled and the sender should modify its request. For example, you can send 401 Unauthorized if the request does not contain the correct user credentials. • 5xx – Server error, which usually indicates that the error is not related to the request, but to the state of the server or the server capabilities. For example, you would send 501 Not Implemented when receiving an unknown method. • 6xx – Global error, which indicates the request cannot be fulfilled by any server. It would be rare to receive such responses, as it requires having global knowledge of the network. SIP dedicates special attention to making sure the response is sent back to the same source IP that sent the request. This is, in fact, one of the roles of the transport layer, not the transaction layer. The transport layer does this by adding a "received" parameter to the top Via header of the request. Later, RFC 3581 defined a new parameter called "rport" to ensure that the response is sent back to the same originating port. Both of these additions were aimed at making SIP work over NAT. SIP’s default behavior is to send the response back on the same connection of the request, but in case it fails to do so, it will attempt to open a new connection. Therefore, none of the layers can assume a single transaction uses a single connection. A possible SIP response to the request above is: SIP/2.0 200 OK Via: SIP/2.0/UDP home.mynetwork.org;branch=z9hG4bKmq0Tgb;received= To: sip:me;tag=q8K2f1zv From: sip:me;tag=m25caI4 Call-ID: n35nzlsdjfb3 Contact: sip:me;Expires=3600 The example shows a successful response, but a UAS may choose to send an error response, such as the well-known "404 not found," in an instance where the user is not known. Both the UAC and UAS maintain a state machine for each transaction, and each state machine has timers. Timers are necessary in case the other side does not respond in time, and they’re also required in case the layer above the transaction layer does not send a proper event and leaves the transaction open. Ultimately, SIP has built each of its layers to be as decoupled as possible from the other layers, and an error in any one layer has minimal impact on the rest. This separation makes it easy for programmers to separate their software into smaller components. The protocol distinguishes between 4 types of transactions, so it has 4 different types of state machines: client INVITE, client non-INVITE, server INVITE and server non-INVITE. We haven’t mentioned the INVITE method yet, and for a good reason. INVITE is a method used to generate a call, and these lower layers do not maintain the call state. However, this transaction is different because calls have a 3-way handshake that affects the state-machine. Let’s start with a diagram of the client non-INVITE transaction state-machine: The Non-INVITE client transaction Most of the timers are for retransmissions in UDP, and they are disabled in TCP. An additional timeout timer exists in case no response is received. Transactions normally exist for 32 seconds until they time out. The equivalent server state-machine is quite similar; it receives a request, sends it to the TU, sends the response back, and handles retransmissions if required. It should be noted that some of the non-INVITE transaction definitions were updated by RFC 4320. Let’s cover the 3-way handshake. The UAC sending the INVITE waits for a response, but this time to complete the handshake it sends an ACK request back to the server. ACK has no response, as it’s the 3rd message in the handshake. This fact forces ACK to be an exception to many of the rules. When a client receives a successful (2xx) response type, it means a call was created and it will send the ACK in a new transaction. A failure response (300-699) means the ACK will be on the same transaction. The reason for this lies in the behavior of the upper layers. We will see that proxies are not aware of a call state, and those that are stateful maintain just the transaction state. There are scenarios in which a proxy would need to ACK a failed response, but it cannot ACK a successful response because that would require understanding call-related information. The INIVITE client state machine is as follows: The INVITE client transaction User location Let’s step out of the SIP layers and see what we have so far: using the layers, we can now create and receive SIP transactions. One basic requirement in SIP is for phone devices to be able to register their location with a registrar. Using this registration information, we can send a request to a server and this request would reach the intended recipient. Let’s go back to the previous example: REGISTER sip:arstechnica.com SIP/2.0 Via: SIP/2.0/UDP home.mynetwork.org;branch=z9hG4bKmq0Tgb To: sip:me From: sip:me;tag=m25caI4 Call-ID: n35nzlsdjfb3 Contact: sip:me Max-Forwards: 70 We already covered the first two lines, so let’s now look at the rest. • The Contact header tells the registrar the actual address of the device; many times you’ll see an IP rather than a domain name in this field. • The To header tells the registrar the address of record (usually referred as the AOR). AOR is the public SIP address, the same as my email address. • The From header usually has the same value as the To. (It would be different in case someone is registering on behalf of someone else, but this case is rare.) • Call-ID is an identifier that groups together a series of messages. Two different registrations should have different Call-ID values, but re-registrations should have the same Call-ID values. To differentiate the re-registrations, the client would increment the CSeq value. • We’ll leave the Max-Forwards explanation for the last section. The client may also add an expiration value to the registration, either by adding a new Expires header or by adding an Expires parameter to the contact header. This is a recommended value to the server, because the server is the party that chooses the expiration time and sends it in the successful response. The expiration time may not be higher than the client-requested value, and if the value is below the minimum acceptable value then the registrar should reject the request. Registering multiple user devices A user is not bound to register with only one device, since it’s possible that the user owns several SIP-capable devices and wants to be able to use the same SIP address simultaneously. A simple example involves two phones, one a desk phone and the other a cell phone. When someone calls the public SIP address, both phones would ring. To accomplish this, both devices register with the same AOR but different contact values. The registrar receiving these registrations maintains both associations. Requests arriving to the user AOR would fork to both devices. In some cases, it may make sense that both devices would create a session, but most of the time, this would be a call and thus the first device that answers would establish the call. Anyone who has a cell phone and a car phone with the same phone number is quite familiar with this scenario. The fact that SIP lets several devices register originally worked out well, but then more complex scenarios started to come up. Suppose a user with two devices is in a conversation, and the person on the other end transfers the call to a third party. In SIP, it would mean the third party would send a request to the first user, but if it were to use the AOR, the request would fork to both devices. A device that is not active in the call would not be able to transfer a non-existent call. In this case, you might suggest using the device IP value, but many times, this will be a non-routable IP address, and the only way to reach it is via a server that has access to this private network. For such scenarios, an extension called GRUU (Globally Routable User Agent URI) was introduced, defined in RFC 5627. When a user registers with a device that supports this extension, a header parameter named "+sip.instance" with a unique identifier is added to the contact header. The registrar creates two GRUUs for that instance: a public GRUU with the identifiable AOR, and a temporary GRUU to be used in case the user wants to make an anonymous call. Both these GRUUs are SIP addresses with a "gr" parameter. Now when there’s a call with one of the devices, the contact address would have the GRUU SIP address. A transfer request would use this value, and because the server has a mapping between this GRUU and the actual device instance, the request reaches a single device participating in the call rather than the other devices. Locating servers A SIP client that wishes to register to sip:arstechnica.com needs to resolve this address. SIP uses DNS to do that, but simply resolving the address to an IP is not enough. Therefore, SIP uses DNS to discover everything it needs to send the request. All the procedures I describe in this section are detailed in RFC 3263. First, the client needs to discover the preferred transport type. For example, a client that supports UDP, TCP and SCTP performs a NAPTR query (defined in RFC 3403) for arstechnica.com. A response for such query may be: ; order pref flags service regexp replacement IN NAPTR 50 50 "s" "SIPS+D2T" "" _sips._tcp.arstechnica.com. IN NAPTR 90 50 "s" "SIP+D2T" "" _sip._tcp.arstechnica.com. IN NAPTR 80 50 "s" "SIP+D2S" "" _sip._sctp.arstechnica.com. IN NAPTR 100 50 "s" "SIP+D2U" "" _sip._udp.arstechnica.com. That means the server supports TLS, TCP, SCTP and UDP in this order. The service value determines the transport type. A client that does not support TLS will choose the second option, "SIP+D2T" which means "SIP over TCP." To use TCP, the client now needs to resolve _sip._tcp.arstechnica.com. We have the transport type, but now the port is unknown. It is true that the default port is 5060, but this port will only be used if we cannot resolve a different port. To resolve the port, the client performs an SRV query (this type is defined in RFC 2782) for _sip._tcp.arstechnica.com. A possible response to this query may be: ;; Priority Weight Port Target IN SRV 0 1 5060 server1.arstechnica.com IN SRV 0 2 5070 server2.arstechnica.com Now it’s finally time to resolve the IP address. The client tries to send the request to server1.arstechnica.com, port 5060 via TCP. To find the correct IP address, the client performs an A query on IPv4 or AAAA query on IPv6. If the transaction times out, then the client should not stop at this point. It should try to send a new request to server2.arstechnica.com, port 5070 and transport TCP. If this also fails, then the client stops because it’s the last SRV record. So, SRV records are not just for resolving the port, but are also useful for server redundancy and load balancing. Naturally, this elaborate process of doing different DNS queries takes time, and will significantly increase latency if you want to send many SIP messages. Hence, the assumption is that the client caches these DNS results. This is a reasonable assumption, since HTTP clients also cache DNS to improve performance. There are other possibilities for overriding these queries. The first is to use a numeric IP address, but this is not recommended for obvious reasons. The other option is to specify the values in the SIP URI itself. One can specify its address as: sip:arstechnica.com:5060;transport=tcp. This is also not recommended, since changing the values requires changing the URI. Furthermore, the server redundancy supported by the SRV records would not be available. Now let’s look at SIP proxies to see how the different pieces fall together. You rarely send signaling messages directly between phone devices. Usually, there’s at least one, if not several, proxies along the signaling path, and these proxies are designed to be aware of transactions, not calls. (Such a design is more scalable.) Proxies act as both UAC and UAS. An incoming request goes to the proxy UAS side, and the proxy then creates a new transaction as a UAC. Responses reach the UAC, and the proxy generates responses as a UAS. Therefore, for an incoming transaction and a corresponding outgoing transaction, the transaction layer maintains two state-machines, and it’s the proxy’s job to manage the interaction of these two transactions. Some proxies work in conjunction with a registrar and have access to a shared database. It’s such a proxy’s job to retrieve a user’s public AOR and to resolve its registered contact address. Other proxies simply route the messages. I should note at this point that this section focuses on stateful proxies. The standard also defines stateless proxies, so some of the text here would not apply to those server types. The Via header, forking, loop prevention When we went through the transport layer, I added a vague description of the top Via header. Now it’s time to address this header in more detail. A SIP message may contain more than a single Via header. When a proxy constructs a request for a new transaction, it takes the existing message and adds an additional Via header above the existing, topmost Via header. This Via header has a new "branch" parameter value, thus signifying that this is a new transaction and that its address is the proxy’s UAC-side address. The UAS receiving this request would send the response based on the top Via header, thereby ensuring that the response goes back to the proxy. If the proxy sends back the response, it sends it without its own Via header, because the original transaction is a different one and has a different top Via header with a different "branch" value. Proxies use a similar mechanism with route and record-route headers, but this subject is covered in the next part of the article. I mentioned previously that a single user can register with multiple devices. In order to send a request to multiple targets, the proxy forks a request. An incoming request may result in several outgoing requests to different targets, each containing a different branch value. Proxies will not forward every failed final response to the UAC because the first final response would cause the UAC to close the transaction. Therefore, the proxy collects the error responses, and if all the outgoing transactions fail, it chooses the most appropriate failed response. A successful response is sent back to the UAC immediately. This is why we saw that an ACK request is part of the transaction for a failed response. For INVITE transactions, the proxy sends out an ACK for failed responses and does not wait until the other responses arrive. On the other hand, the proxy cannot ACK a successful 2xx response to INVITE since this means a new call was created, but the caller is not aware of this yet. To prevent loops, proxies use the Max-Forwards header. This is the last of the mandatory headers that I skipped in earlier sections. The initial request is sent out with a value, most commonly 70, and every proxy that forwards this request deducts 1 from the value in the request that it sends out. If the value of the Max-Forwards reaches 0 before it reaches the final destination, the UAS sends back a 483 (Too Many Hops) response. It should be noted that a possible amplification vulnerability was later discovered for forking proxies. This was addressed by RFC 5393, which changed some loop detection mechanisms and introduced a new header called Max-Breadth that reduces the number of possible forks a message goes through. Finally, proxies send out a 100 (Trying) provisional response when they receive a request whose response takes more than 200 ms. This prevents the UAC from retransmitting the request, and it also prevents a time-out event. 100 is a response that is generated by the proxy. If we have more than one proxy, the proxy that receives the 100 message will not forward it. This is because it should have sent its own 100 message prior to receiving it. An example using proxies Let’s look at an example to wrap up this discussion (non-essential details elided, including the SIP version in the first line of the request and some headers that will be discussed when we cover calls): This message is sent from Ars Technica’s network and reaches the arstechnica.com SIP proxy. The proxy sends out the message to the voxisoft.com SIP proxy and returns a 100 response. Voxisoft’s proxy has two registrations and forks the request to two devices (while also sending out a 100 response). Notice that all new requests have a new Via header with a new branch parameter. Also, note that the second message is using TCP as a transport. This is a valid scenario, as we previously discussed, since both transactions have different state machine and one of them may discover a different transport when performing a NAPTR query. At this point, one device might answer with, for example, 486 (Busy), but the proxy does not forward it because it has another forked message pending; so it just sends an ACK. The ACK has the same branch value since it’s the same transaction. ACK is sent only for the INVITE case; if this were a different method then ACK wouldn’t be used. The second device sends a 200 OK and this message is sent all the way back to the initiating client. The following illustration shows this process in action: Finally, the client on the left side sends out an ACK for the 200 OK. This ACK is a new transaction and therefore has a new branch value. The proxies forward the request to the destination, again adding a Via header for each hop. This time ACK does not fork; we will see this mechanism in the next article. In this article, we’ve covered the foundation layers of SIP, including its message structure, transport layer and transaction layer. We’ve also covered the way SIP registrars and proxies work based on these layers. The discussion so far should give you a good foundation for understanding this protocol. In the next part of this series of articles, we’ll complete this discussion by going through the definitions of SIP calls and additional services.
Faster nanoscale building method claimed Better way proposed A University of Maryland researcher has come up with a method that he says could one day be used by companies to build nanoscale computer and cellphone components more quickly and less expensively. Ray Phaneuf, associate professor of materials science and engineering at the university's A James Clark School of Engineering, compared his idea to self-assembly processes in nature, such as crystallisation. Phaneuf has built a photolithography- and etching-based template that nature can use to assemble atoms into pre-defined patterns for creating such things as laptop semiconductors, wearable device sensors and cellphone components. His work has focused on silicon and gallium arsenide. Silicon is the prevalent material for components in computers while gallium arsenide is used more often in cellphones. "While we understand how to make working nanoscale devices, making things out of a countable number of atoms takes a long time," Phaneuf says. "Industry needs to be able to mass-produce them on a practical time scale." Such a device could even be used some day in building the "qubits" that serve as the basis of advanced quantum computing machines, Phaneuf says. Join the newsletter! Error: Please check your email address. Tags technologynanoscale building Show Comments
Children of foster carers \| Oxfordshire County Council Children of foster carers Sons and daughters of foster carers play a vital part in their fostering family. "The experiences I've had from fostering have helped me to realise the direction that I wish to follow in the future. Fostering has developed my social understanding... I will never forget when we looked after an Iranian asylum seeker and he cooked us a delicious meal with saffron-marinated chicked and steamed rice." 17-year-old Bella, The Fostering Network 2015 The sons and daughters of our foster carers play a vital part in their fostering family. It's not just your parents that are fostering, you are too and therefore your opinion is extremely important. We understand that fostering may sometimes be difficult and present a few challenges causing you to feel mixed emotions. What has fostering got to do with me? You will probably experience quite a few changes in your household for example there will probably be quite a few rule changes in your house when someone new comes to live with you. This is because your parents are employed as foster carers by us and have to follow certain fostering regulations to ensure that you, your family and the foster child remain safe. For example, one thing is changing how you dress around the house. You may have to be more aware of covering yourself when coming out of the bathroom or walking around the house at night. This is so everyone in the house is kept safe and feels comfortable. It might be that you have to share your belongings when a new person comes to live with you. Not only this but sharing your parents time and attention. This is often because the children and young people that are fostered need a lot of care and attention because of the difficult experiences they have gone through in their lives. If this is making you feel sad or frustrated, talk to your parents and let them know. There will be things that can be done to help the situation. For example, locking away your special belongings so they cannot be broken. Friends and family Explaining fostering to friends and family may be tricky at times. People may not understand what fostering is; therefore this is always a good place to start, you can explain what foster carers do and why it is needed. If the foster child is of a similar age to you, they may attend the same school. If you find a conversation difficult or feel uncomfortable, simply say that you cannot talk about it as it would not be fair on the fostered child. Remember that some information about the foster child must remain confidential, this includes information about their past. If it helps, think how you would feel if someone told other people your personal information? Someone to talk to If you are experiencing any difficulties at school or at home mention this to your parents, a social worker, a member of school staff or our fostering ambassador for children who foster. Our Fostering Ambassador Bethan is our ambassador for children of foster carers. Her parents have been foster carers for 19 years so she has plenty of experience and advice to share. She is happy to have an informal chat with you if you have any concerns or questions. Here are a few words from Bethan... Hi, my names Bethan, I’m 20 years old and this is my story. My family have been fostering for 19 years, which means I was only one and my brother was only five when our parents got approved. When a child in care walks through your doors you have a mixture of feelings excitement, anticipation, nervous, anxious, worried or even scared I know I did at times especially when I was younger. But as I grew up I started to realise what foster families are actually here for! We’re here to help give that child a start in life that gives them support so that their personalities can shine through. I believe that the children of the foster family need more support as at times, like I said it can be very difficult and I know at them particular times in my life I would of appreciated someone to talk to, someone I could rely on to talk about any of my problems I might have encountered. Send a message to Bethan If you would like to contact Bethan use the form below: Data protection statement Your parents Always ask questions if you are unsure or uncomfortable with anything. It is your right to know everything you can about what is going on in your family and the changes you should expect. Supervising social worker Your supervising social worker is there to support you and your family. They should speak to you when they visit to see how things are going. If you have any concerns please speak to them and they will be able to help. Publications and more information We have a handbook for Children Who Foster for anyone looking for additional information and advice about fostering and what it means for them. Additionally, we have a storybook aimed at younger children for parents to read with their child. To request a copy contact us. The Fostering Network is the UK’s national charity for fostering. You will find lots of information about everything to do with fostering on their website Last reviewed 11 October 2016
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Calc 1 Riemann Sums w/ velocity and distance 1. Nov 29, 2009 #1 This is somewhat a repost... except I have figured out some of it and I have cleaned up the question. Your task is to estimate how far an object traveled during the time interval 0<= t >= 8 , but you only have the following data about the velocity of the object. [tex]\frac{time (sec)}{velocity (feet/sec)}\frac{0}{4}\frac{1}{1}\frac{2}{-2}\frac{3}{-3}\frac{4}{-4}\frac{5}{-3}\frac{6}{-1}\frac{7}{-3}\frac{8}{-1}[/tex] "See the attached graph." (PART 'A') Using the left endpoint Riemann sum, find approximately how far the object traveled. Your answers must include the correct units. Total displacement = "I have 11ft which is the right answer." Total distance traveled = "I cannot figure this out" 2. Relevant equations Distance = time * velocity Displacement = time * velocity 3. The attempt at a solution So I went ahead and got the Riemann sum of the left endpoint on the graph below. [tex]\Delta[/tex]X = 1 So I just added the y values. The sum added up to -11 which was the answer for the displacement. I do not know why this is not the answer for the total distance but maybe I am missing something elementary. Attached Files: Last edited: Nov 29, 2009 2. jcsd 3. Nov 29, 2009 #2 To find the distance traveled find the area of the shaded region. Area is always positive BTW :D 4. Nov 29, 2009 #3 I tried to compute the area, but I am not getting it. Also area if area is always positive then why would the area of a curve under the x axis be negative? 5. Nov 29, 2009 #4 Distance can never be negative. 6. Nov 29, 2009 #5 O.k. that actually makes tons of sense (I figured I was making some elementary mistake). So, I added up the areas as positive numbers and everything was correct. Thanks for the help. Similar Discussions: Calc 1 Riemann Sums w/ velocity and distance
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Finding the radius of a circle in a graph! 1. Mar 14, 2012 #1 A circle of maximal area is inscribed in the region bounded by the graph of y = -x^2-7x+12 and the x axis. The radius of this circle is of the form (sqrt(p) + q)/r where, p, q and r are integers and are relatively prime.What is p+q+r 2. Relevant equations Vertex form a(x-h)^2+k i believe 3. The attempt at a solution So i found the vertex, then i assumed that is one point on the circle, and the other is at (same x,0) then shifted along that but i dont seem to get it of the form sqrtp+q all over r Last edited by a moderator: Mar 14, 2012 2. jcsd 3. Mar 14, 2012 #2 I'd suggest trying to use the distance formula for the radius. Not too sure about this but wouldn't the centre of the circle be at the (h,(k/2))? Would you happen to have the answer (from the solution manual or something)? 4. Mar 14, 2012 #3 yes it would be h,k/2 But you get the vertex to be (-97/2,-7/2) So the radius would just be half the y coordinate, but it doesent really fit the condition of the sqrtp and such part. I think the maximization case i picked is wrong 5. Mar 14, 2012 #4 Staff: Mentor You are assuming that the circle and parabola coincide at the vertex of the parabola. I'm not sure that this is true, although it might be. If the curvature of the parabola at the vertex is greater than the curvature of the circle, the circle won't be inside the parabola, hence won't be inscribed in the parabola. No, this isn't where the vertex is - it's at (-7/2, + 97/4). 6. Mar 14, 2012 #5 Yes my error, Do you have any ideas on how to maximize this I really am stumped o.op 7. Mar 14, 2012 #6 Staff: Mentor What class are you taking? Is it a calculus class or one that comes before calculus? The type of class you are in will determine the approaches that are available. 8. Mar 14, 2012 #7 Gr 10, this is a challenge problem. However I know alot of advanced material, but not calculus, so that wont be helpful :/ 9. Mar 14, 2012 #8 User Avatar Staff Emeritus Science Advisor Homework Helper Gold Member It looks like you have established the vertex of the parabola as being at (-7/2, 97/4). It makes sense that the circle with maximal area will be tangent to the parabola at two points, both with the same y coordinate. --- or possibly tangent at only one point if that's the vertex. The maximal circle should also be tangent to the x-axis at x = -7/2, the same x value as the vertex. Let A be the radius of the circle. You can assume the center of the circle has the same x coordinate as the vertex of the parabola, namely, -7/2 . Then the center of the circle is at (-7/2, A). What is the equation for such a circle? Determine where the circle & parabola intersect.
Sweet flag was known as sweet rush and highly prized as a strewing herb, covering the floors and filling the rooms with its sweet scent. It was also believed to cure eye trouble. Sweet flag, acorus calamus, is a tall, fragrant, waterside plant growing wild in marshes, by ponds and streams, ditches and lakes. The flat, sword-like leaves are pinkish at the base, very long and very pointed. They grow from a thick round-shaped rhizome. The leaves look rather like those of an iris, but have their own distinctive crimped edges and soft fragrance. The flowers, which bloom in June and July, are stalked and grow in the axils of the leaves. They are a dense spike of tiny, greeny-yellow flowers. The whole plant, including the rhizome, is sweetly scented. In the kitchen a fresh leaf can be used to flavour an egg custard or a syrup for fruit salad. The leaf should be removed before serving. The dried roots have a strong warm taste and are frequently used in the manufacture of confectionery. The oil extracted from calamus root is widely employed in medicines, perfumes and cosmetics. The sweet flag only sets seed in India, its country of origin. Elsewhere it is propagated by dividing the rhizomes in early spring and planting in the mud near water. Sweet flag can be grown in the garden where it will need rich moist soil and plenty of watering. It is well worth growing for its fragrance alone, although its exotic appearance makes it a welcome sight. The rhizomes and leaves are the parts of the plant used in the home. The leaves are used when fresh and have a pleasant sweet taste rather like an orange. The rhizomes are collected in the autumn from two- or three-year-old plants. They are difficult to dry at home because of their high moisture content. The dried calamus root, as it is called, can be purchased from some chemists or health food stores. Sweet flag is an invigorating, strengthening herb and helps the stomach to function properly. It stimulates the digestive system and the metabolism and helps to relieve flatulence. It is a good all round tonic and a remedy for nervous complaints such as vertigo, dizziness, fainting and headaches. * To make an infusion: Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 tablespoon of dried calamus root. In fuse for 5 minutes and strain the liquid carefully through fine muslin or cheesecloth. The infusion can also be used warm as a gargle to relieve a sore throat. * Candied whole calamus root, chewed or sucked, will help sufferers from indigestion and flatulence. Sweet flag can be added to the bath water to provide a stimulating, invigorating bath — which should not be taken at night. * To make a herbal bath: Add directly to the bath or tie a small muslin or cheesecloth bag of dried root to the hot tap (faucet) when running the bath. Use the bag afterwards to rub on to the skin.
What is leadership ? The Successful People Demonstrate - Leadership. "Leadership is not wielding authority - it's empowering people " - Becky Brodin. "The Size if a leader is determined by the depth of his conviction, the height of his ambitions, the breadth of his vision, and the reach of his love." - D N Jackson Everything rise and falls on leadership : Small victories can be achieved alone : but great victories, the kinds that ultimately being success can never be achieved alone. To accomplish them you must include other people. And any time you start involving others to achieve any goal., you cross over into the area of leadership. Everything rise and fall on leadership. What exactly leadership is ? "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." In the broadcast sense that is true. A leader is someone who does make vision come true, but you have to include another important element - other people. A Leader makes his vision become a reality through not only his own efforts, but also those of others. Anyone who thinks he is a leader but has no one following him merely taking a walk. Leadership is Influence : In some dictionaries of English language defines the word leadership as "the position of guidance of leader; the ability to lead." That definition doesn't help much. In fact it promotes a common misconception concerning leadership. Many people believe that leadership get its power from position or title. They think the boss is able to lead because he has the position and the manager because he has the title. But that is not true nature of leadership. A person who can do no more than lead within the narrow parameters of his position is not true leader. As some one said " People do not follow programs, but leaders who inspire them". The definition for leadership that I have seen is this Leadership is influence. A true leader is a person able to influence others to follow him. He is able to get them to join up and more out with him. He encourages the people around him to be a willing extension of his vision, goals, and accomplishments. And he empowers them to succeed. Leadership begins with a person's character and vision the core of who is as a person : The core of who is as a person. As leadership expert Fred Smith said Leadership get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves and by which they are willing to be judged. the beast leaders are people who are continually growing, stretching, learning,. They are willing to pay the price of leadership They will make the sacrifices needed in order to keep improving themselves, enlarging their vision, increasing their skills, reaching their potential. Through their efforts , they become people that others admire. Positive Thinking, Character vision, communication and motivation are the principles that from the foundation of leadership : Credible people with good personal qualities are better potential leaders then people without admirable traits, but those good qualities alone don't make them leaders. Those attributes must be coupled with the ability to positively interact with others. Leaders develop positive relationship with people, begin to care about them, and learn to communicate and motivate them. Positive thinking, character, vision communication and motivation are the principles form the foundation of leadership and Self Improvement. Relevant Pages : Vision, Time Management, Leadership Styles 9Cs - Lee Iacocca Lee Iacocca' 9Cs of leadership from "Where all the leaders have Gone". 1. Curiosity : A leader has to show Curiosity. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes sir" crowd in his inner circle. The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you know it or just you don't care. 2. Creative : A leader has to be Creative, go out of the way and be willing to do something new and different. Leadership is also called all about managing change. Things change and you get creative. You adjust and adapt. 3. Communicate : Leader has to communicate in a way, facing a reality and telling the truth. 4. Character : The leader has be to a person of character, that means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having powers to do right things. 5. Courage : Talk or walk or behave in a very confident and arrogant or self important way is not courage. Courage is to sit down calmly at negotiation table and discuss. Put your view and prove it right scientifically / by data / by knowledge / by skills. 6. Conviction : To be a leader one should have Conviction. A fire in your thought. A power of thought to really have some thing done or achieve. 7. Charisma : It is also called attractiveness. People follow leader on his steps, works and set an example because people trust leaders. This was the meaning of Charisma taken. 8. Competent : Leader has to be competent. You have go to know what you are doing and which is right or wrong. Other than this you have to surround your self with people who know what they are doing. 9. Crisis : Leaders are made, not born. Leadership get tested and passed in the time of crisis. Also Read : Communication Skills Also Read : 80/20 Rule of communication
Sunday, April 8, 2012 date: Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:39:31 +0000 from: Tim Osborn <> subject: Re: [Fwd: climate change - CO2 effect] to: Phil Jones <>, "ANDREW DLUGOLECKI" <> Hi Andrew, Ch. 2 of IPCC AR4 WG1 may cover this issue, as Phil suggests, but as this particular topic isn't new, AR4 may not give much detail. So, here's some more detail: It is correct that, as concentrations increase, the ability to absorb more terrestrial (note: not "solar") radiation is reduced ("law of diminishing returns"?). However, the extra absorption is not reduced to anywhere near zero and this effect is fully taken into account in future climate projections. This is exactly the reason why we often talk about the warming that would occur due to a doubling of [CO2]. If we double [CO2] from pre-industrial 280 ppm to 560 ppm (i.e. +280 ppm), we might warm by 2.5 degC. To warm by a further 2.5 degC would require a further doubling from 560 to 1120 ppm (i.e. now +560 ppm). (Another way to express this is to say that the radiative forcing depends on the logarithm of [CO2]). This is all taken into account by IPCC etc. Also, for other, lower concentration, GHGs, this law of diminishing returns has not yet been reached. The reasons why the incremental (or enhanced) greenhouse effect by CO2 hasn't already reduced to near zero are discussed here: My summary of these reasons: (1) Absorption is quite variable according to wavelength of radiation, and there are some wavelengths where the atmosphere is not saturated (i.e. where it does not already have the capacity to absorb all the terrestrial radiation). As [CO2] increases, the atmosphere can definitely absorb more of this radiation. For example, for CO2, about half the incremental/enhanced greenhouse effect arises by absorption of terrestrial radiation with wavelengths of 15 microns (which happens to coincide with the peak in the Earth's radiation spectrum -- i.e. more energy is radiation by the Earth in this wavelength than in others, so it is particularly effective if you can absorb this type of radiation). In this band, current CO2 concentration is not yet absorbing all the energy (so there is capacity to absorb more as [CO2] increases further) and also water vapour is only a partial absorber so there is still room for a CO2 effect. (2) Even if lower layers of troposphere are fully "saturated" (i.e. able to absorb 100% of terrestrial radiation), the weather is able to efficiently mix the troposphere so that any additional heat trapped within the upper troposphere also influences the lower troposphere and the surface. So what is really important in determining the surface climate is the energy balance at the top of the troposphere (the "tropopause"). In the upper troposphere, water vapour concentration is quite low, so there are plenty of gaps in the absorption spectrum where extra CO2 can play a role. Finally, the evidence from other planets is a powerful demonstration of the existence of a natural greenhouse effect. However, when making the argument, care must be made to take into account distance from the sun, differences in albedo (reflectiveness) and in atmospheric depth. For venus, the fact that it's closer to the sun is insufficient to explain it much higher surface temperature (though it contributes) and this demonstrates how strong the greenhouse effect could actually become. Sorry, but I don't have a suitable reference to hand. Hope that helps, At 09:01 09/02/2009, Phil Jones wrote: > Andrew, > The answer to this view is probably Ch 2 of the IPCC Report (AR4) on the > Forcing Factors that influence the climate. > The best person to help with one or two specific references is > Piers Forster > from Leeds who was one of the two CLAs on the Chapter. > Piers is "Piers Forster" <> . > All of these skeptic issues have been discussed and dismissed ages ago. > Cheers > Phil >>Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 05:59:04 -0000 (GMT) >>Subject: [Fwd: climate change - CO2 effect] >>User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.8 >>Any of you able to answer Andrew's questions? >>Subject: climate change - CO2 effect >>Date: Fri, February 6, 2009 8:51 pm >>To: "Clare Goodess" <> >>Dear Clare, >>I am sure this is old to you, but I am engaged in a debate on climate >>chnage with a real sceptic, a (geology) Professor Plimer in >>Australia.� One of the points he raises ( and I have heard Lord Lawson use >>it also) is that it does not matter if we pile up masses of CO2 because >>the capacity to absorb solar radiation dwindles rapidly, due to the narrow >>waveband in which absorption ocurs, so that incremental concentrations >>have little effect. >>No doubt this has been investigated, so can you give some pointers on >>conslusive research on this. >>Also, does the fact that Venus has� a thick CO atmosphere and very high >>temperatures give a real-life scale demonstration that Plimer's view is >>wrong, or is it unwise to use planetary behaviour? >>Sorry to bother you, but despite my fairly wide reading I have not found a >>convincing rebuttal >Prof. Phil Jones >Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090 >University of East Anglia >Norwich Email >NR4 7TJ Dr Timothy J Osborn, Academic Fellow Climatic Research Unit School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK phone: +44 1603 592089 fax: +44 1603 507784 No comments: Post a Comment
Sometimes I have to put text on a path Monday, April 27, 2015 introduction to Molecular dynamics, part 2: The MD Algorithm; why ∆t equal to 1 femtosecond? 2.2 The MD Algorithm 2.2.1 Verlet’s Algorithm and Velocity Verlet’s Algorithm The governing equations of motions are all ordinary differential equations and a standard method for the solutions is the finite difference method. Of a large number of finite-difference approaches devised, the most commonly used one is the Runge-Kutta (RK) method. [33,34] The beauty of the RK method is that the order of a finite difference method can often be increased by using positions and velocities from several points in time instead of only the current time. However, if a fourth-order RK method is applied to MD simulation, four interatomic force evaluations per atom would be required per step, which will make the simulation too slow. Thus, reduction of order is desired; especially, the time expense of calculating intermolecular force more than once per atom per step should be also avoided. However, the algorithm must be stable. The most widely used method of integrating the equations of motions in molecular dynamics is Verlet‘s method or algorithm. It uses positions and velocities from previously evaluated steps to provide a direct solution of equation (2.4). In this study, the simulation code LAMMPS is used and its default algorithm is the velocity Verlet. [35] Hence, the basic idea of Verlet‘s algorithm, and specifically the velocity Verlet, will be presented here. Information on other integration schemes can be found in texts on atomic scale simulation. [32] This standard, or basic, Verlet algorithm is a combination of two Taylor‘s expansions as following. The Taylor series for position from time t forward to 𝑡 + ∆𝑡 And the series form t backward to 𝑡 − ∆𝑡 is Adding equations (2.6) and (2.7) with some simplifying produces This provides Verlet‘s algorithm for positions. The truncation error of the algorithm when evolving the system by ∆t is of the order of ∆t^4. The acceleration needed in equation (2.8) is obtained from the intermolecular forces and Newton‘s second law. Velocities are not explicitly solved in equation (2.8), and they are calculated from first-order central difference. A more commonly used, related algorithm is the velocity Verlet algorithm. The approach is similar with the standard one but starts with position and velocity expansions explicitly The implement scheme of this algorithm is following: 1. Calculate velocities at mid-step, Calculate the positions at next step 𝑡 + ∆t 2. Calculate the accelerations at 𝑡 + ∆𝑡, 𝑎(𝑡 + ∆𝑡) from the interaction potential using 𝑥(𝑡 + ∆𝑡). 3. Calculate the velocities at 𝑡 + ∆t The advantage of this algorithm compared to the standard one is that we never need to simultaneously store the values at two different times for any of these quantities. The velocity Verlet algorithm gives good feature of time reversibility, simplicity and stability for even larger time steps compared to standard algorithm. Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Gold Nanoparticles and Surface Stress Effect Siming Zhang Lehigh University Verlet is an efficient algorithm, and its benefits are stability, time-reversibility and energy conservation. The time step, ∆t, should be chosen in such manner that the simulation system is stable and energy is conserved, that is to say that the provided ∆t should be short enough. Usually, in classical MD simulations time steps of order 1–2 fs are being used (especially when using constraints), but in some cases time steps can be even 4–5 fs (when using virtual site algorithms). The length of the time step is dominated by the fastest degrees of motion in the system, and usually theses are bond vibrations. Most often constraints are used in simulations to reduce the degrees of freedom, removing high-frequency vibrations by restricting the movement of covalent bonds. This is implemented by fixing the covalent bonds to constant angles and lengths. In addition to constraints, also restraints can be used to fix atomic positions, bond lengths, bond angles and dihedrals. No comments: Post a Comment
"During the remnant years the UNSC put considerable effort into establishing a presence in all of their lost systems. Surely an effort to reclaim some former glory." Sangheili Historian Occupation of Lambda Serpentis SystemEdit Beginning in 2558 the occupation of the Lambda Serpentis system was lead by the UNSC Tide or the North. While unconventional the remnant years saw many ships operate in solitude for long durations of time holding areas from remnant factions. The Tide of the North was equiped to the teath for the operation. Notable EngagementsEdit Jericho VII EngagementEdit The Tide of the North was in orbit synchronized with one of the planets moon's as cloaking when a squadron of Kig Yar fighters arrived. Before engaging, the Tide of the North took note that the squadron was primarily of scavenger craft with minimal fighters, a larger unit must be nearby. Within moments, the large Kig Yar Carrier came into view on the far side of the planet. Seeing the opportunity the Tide of the North began a booster propelled journey around the planet opposite from the direction the carrier was orbiting in. Hidden behind the planet the cruiser launched Fireteam Desert via two pelican dropship, escorted by two braodsword fighters. The fighters would engage any airborn Kig Yar while Fireteam Desert would infiltrate the ground team, determine their mission, and nuetralize them. Meanwhile the UNSC Tide of the North would nuetralize the Kig Yar Carrier. Stil shielded by the planet Tide of the North launched several Broadsword fighters which remained close to the cruisers hull. As the Horizon bent around the cruiser the enemy carrier came into view. The enemy vessel turned immeidietly shrinking its surface area and launching dozens of fighters. The Broadswords engaged and the Tide of the North fired a salvo of archer missiles. The missiles blasted through layers of the carriers top deck nuetralizing radar dishes and communication antennai. The Carrier unloaded an undless wave of fighters that shielded the ship from more attacks. The cruisers point defense guns came online and began ripping through the incoming swarm of fighters. The braodswords broke formation into the swarm and drilled holes in the enemy formation. The cruiser kept creeping forward, its MAC cannon fully charged. Meanwhile, on Jericho VII's surface the broadsword fighters engaged the five enemy fighters that circled over an old UNSC firebase. The Pelican diverted from the group and remained low to the ground gliding over charred ruin of once rolling plains of palm grass. Fireteam Desert unloaded behind a large collapsed building, shielded from the dog fight overhead. The pelican remained grounded and secure in a niche between two toppled towers. Fireteam Desert's khaki/orange armor blended into the hardened landscape of Jericho VII. The team entered the building and continued towards the UNSC Firebase. Along the walls bleached skeletons flooded the corridors. The building was an old office building, it was actually attatched to the firebase's backside and so likely was occupied by O.N.I. at one point. In orbit the fighters continued their dance while the two behemoths inched around the planet. The Tide of the North remained in a steady orbital pursuit of the Kig Yar carrier which had disapeared around the horizon. The Cruiser picked up an energy signature on the other side of the planet, engines firing. The cruiser's backside fell downward towards the south pole and the whole ship spun about and aimed its nose at the north pole. The signature intensified. Just over the north pole and over the horizon was the carrier firing a barrage of plasma turrets. The Tide of the North fired two MAC rounds at the vessel as its shields flared from the plasma pepper fire. The nose and therefore hanger of the carrier erupted into fire and behind the carrier a small trail of smoke blasted outward. The ship had been cut straight through. Kig Yar carriers were mostly empty space and so the ship had its engines on the sides rather than on the back end so the ship was still highly operational beyond the mangled nose. The plasma fire continued and the Tide Fired a barrage of archer missiles and simultaniously fired it's emergency reverse thrusters in alignment to the curve of the planet. The Tide of the North slipped down under the South pole,its nose poised to fire at anything that crossed the horizon. Fireteam Desert pressed onwards through a collapsed door frame, the thickness of dust and ash had finally dwindled to where the team could see their boots again. Finally a large bulkhead. Spartan Liam motioned two fingers upwards and then directed them to either side of the door. Spartan Kalin quickly went to the door and set charges along the bolts of the door. The team silently traced back to the nearest alcove in the corridor before setting off the explosives. The cieling rained for atleast a minute with solid ash and pain chip. The mess settled and the team readied their rifles at the bulkhead. With a tremendous thud the door fell and displaced more gray particles that seemed to linger in the air. The team remained still. A single Kig Yar stepped through from the darkness beyond the bulk head, looked around, and then appeared satisfied. As the bird like alien turned to go back into the firebase Spartan Rock ran from cover and grabbed the Kig Yar's needler with one hand and held the alien's mouth shut with the other. Spartan Marie joined in and picked up the creatured legs and the two spartans carried him back to the rest of the group. Spartan Liam put up a thumbs up to the team. Spartan kalin positioned herself at Liam's side, Spartan Pritchet joined Rock and Marie as they took the alien down the corridor and down a stair well for interrogation. The Broadsword fighters had successfully chased the Kig Yar Fighters out of orbit and the fighters continued their dance in the direction of one of Jericho's silver moons. Tide of the North began pushing itself out of orbit downwards aligned with the South pole. As it descended away from the planet it leaned back and aimed towards the south pole itself. As the cruiser backed away the planet shrunk and the ships field of view grew. The Carrier was revealed, sneaking around from the other side in hopes of catching the cruiser's engines. Two molton bolts shot out of the North. One impacted the left engine segment of the carrier, the second shredded open the top of the ship ripping open the bridge section. Target nuetralized. Engines blaring the cruiser raced towards one of Jericho's silver moons to rejoin the Broadsword fighters. The cruiser fired its thrusters and began a spin as it raced through the remaining swarm, the cruisers point defense turrets ripped through the enemy fighters and archer missiles erupted into flames as they randomly impacted on fighters. The broadsword fighters filed behind the cruisers engines and picked off any unlucky survivors. Kalin and Liam entered the firebase and continued through the corridors, old covenant lanterns lit the passages now. Around a corner the sqauking of another kig yar signalled for the Spartans to engage their cloaking. The two tanks diapeared and flattened themselves against the wall. The Kig Yar soldier turned the corner in a frenzy looking about nervously, its rifle aimed down the corridor at nothingness. Spartan Liam shot up his knee into the Kig Yars Gut while Kalin downward punched the birds skull plate. The birds body shot both upwards and downwards at the same time justifying the contortion with multiple snapping sounds. the body went limp, Liam and Kalin caught it and rested the carcus against the floor without a sound. Marie twisted her hand around the barrel of her sniper rifle as she paced the room. Rock held the Kig Yar from behind as it rested on a chair, Spartan Pritchet held a combat knife against the birds leg and demanded to know how long the Kig Yar has been operating within UNSC Space pillaging glassed worlds. The bird spat and make a clicked hissing sound. Pritchet arched his arm back to stab the birds leg but Marie interupted with a sudden smashing to the Kig yar's chest plate with the butt of her sniper rifle. Marie leaned in over the now wheezing bird and demanded a list of all the systems the Kig Yar were raiding. The Kig Yar snarled but winced when Marie gribbed her rifle again. The Kig yar nodded reluctantly. Spartan Rock let one of the birds arms loose and nodded towards the floor, Pritchet handed the alien a metal prong. The Kig Yar understood and started drawing out the star maps, putting crosses over the systems occupied by the Kig Yar or used as regular scavenging depots. Spartan Liam and Kalin now started up into a sprint, rifles raised they picked off another Kig Yar rounding a corner, a box of assault rifle ammunition fell from the aliens hands. Progressing towards the light the two Spartans emerged to see three more Kig yar, two looking upwards for the Broadswords, and another loading up the last cargo ship. Alarmed the Kig Yar loading th e ship ran into the cockpit and started the engines. Liam raced towards the ship and launched himself on top of the craft firing off a singe round into the head of one of the other Kig Yar. Kalin fired multiple shots into the belly of the last while walking up to it. The stunted bird bent down only to meet Kalins crushing blow to the face with her knee. The cargo craft rose slowly upwards. Spartan Liam smashed both elboes into the cock put window and pulled the Kig yar out by the neck, the craft began to spin lightly and arch to the right. Snapping the birds neck LIam jumped off the craft and the two spartans fell to the ground while the cargo ship spun out and flipped into the dirt. Just as the dust settled it was stirred by the purring engines of the Pelican drop ship, two broadswords close by. All of fireteam Desert boarded the pelican with their Kig yar prisoner and returned to the awaiting Tide of the North. Ad blocker interference detected!
Hydrogen peroxide: H202. Odds are, you already have it in your house. If not, you can pick it up at any grocery store or drug store for just a couple of dollars. In fact, it’s one of the lowest-cost, handiest household supplies there is. And you would be surprised at just how many ways you can use it for cleaning, hygiene, healing, style, and more. I’m going to share a ton of amazing hydrogen peroxide uses with you, but first, I want to introduce you to this incredible chemical compound and its properties! 51 Extraordinary Everyday Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide Credit: diyncrafts.com Hydrogen peroxide is a colorless liquid, only a little more viscous than water. On sight, it actually looks exactly like water. It has powerful oxidizing properties, which allows it to work as a bleaching agent (as anyone who has ever bleached their hair knows, peroxide reacts with melanin to oxidize it and convert it into a compound which is free of color). Hydrogen peroxide’s same oxidizing properties allow it to react with bacteria, viruses, spores, and yeasts, making it a great disinfectant. Also, interestingly enough, in high concentrations, it can be used as a propellant in rocketry. If you have ever used hydrogen peroxide to disinfect a cut, you probably have noticed all the fizzing and bubbling that happens. There is a misconception that this is the “last gasp” of the dying organisms. What it really is, is the result of the H202 bonds breaking during the reaction. One of the oxygen molecules is liberated, leaving H20 (water!) behind. The free oxygen molecules are what you see bubbling to the surface. Isn’t science awesome? But now, let’s get on to the many amazing applications of hydrogen peroxide around the home! Medicinal Uses Hydrogen peroxide is perhaps best known for its medicinal uses; this is after all why it tends to be sold in the pharmaceutical section of the store. Here are some commonly known medicinal uses for hydrogen peroxide as well as a few you probably aren’t aware of! Clean and disinfect minor wounds This is one of the most obvious uses. If you have hydrogen peroxide in your home, it may be the reason. The 3% solution you can buy at the drugstore can be applied directly to minor wounds to clean away dead tissue. It can halt minor bleeding, and can help to clear up infections or prevent infections from setting in. It is generally recommended to only apply the hydrogen peroxide once, since doing it too many times may also inhibit friendly bacteria which help to facilitate healing. Get rid of acne and boils While you are at it, if you have infected acne, you may be able to speed up the healing process by applying a little hydrogen peroxide to the infected sites. It will act just the same way it does on wounds, helping to kill the unwanted bacteria and cleanse the area. Just as with wounds, you do not want to overdo this! Just apply it once. If you apply it too many times, you will kill the good bacteria too. Cure canker sores If you have canker sores in your mouth, you may be able to get them to go away faster by swishing some hydrogen peroxide in your mouth. Combine it with water so that you don’t cause any irritation or blistering in your mouth (too high a concentration of hydrogen peroxide can do this in large amounts). Swish it around for half a minute or so, and then spit it out and rinse with fresh water. Expunge bad breath Can’t get rid of your bad breath by brushing your teeth? One great alternative to mouthwash for bad breath is hydrogen peroxide. Since hydrogen peroxide kills the unhealthy organisms in your mouth which cause bad breath, all it takes is half a minute of swishing to get bad breath to go away. You may be surprised how effective this is. In fact, if all you have is minor bad breath once in a while, just swishing with hydrogen peroxide once a week could mean you are good to go for the rest of the week. Just make sure you don’t overuse it, because it can kill good bacteria in your mouth too. Fight foot fungus Athlete’s foot is no fun! If you are tired of all that itching, you may find that hydrogen peroxide is a helpful antidote, thanks to its antifungal properties. This is largely an anecdotal use, but many people claim that they have successfully cured foot fungus infections just by applying a mixture comprised of equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide. While I have never tried this, I have applied it to my shower shoes to get rid of the fungus on the shower shoes. Doing this routinely seems to reduce the number of occasions where I end up getting it on my feet. This works pretty well as a preventative measure. Treat colds There is no cure for the common cold, and hydrogen peroxide is no exception to that rule. But there are things you can do to treat a common cold, and many people report that one great method is to put a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide in your ears. This can help to clear out any infection or blockage in your ear. Get rid of an ear infection While we’re at it, you can also use hydrogen peroxide drops in your ear to take on an ear infection. Just know that you may need medical attention; you cannot cure all ear infections on your own, and they can get serious. So don’t let this stop you from going to a doctor! Clear out ear wax Ear wax isn’t an infection, but it can certainly drive you crazy when it blocks up your ear so much you have trouble hearing! Just as you can use hydrogen peroxide drops to get rid of infections in your ear, you can also use it to clear up excess wax. Try adding a couple of drops of olive oil, and then follow it up with a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide. Keep your head tilted for about a minute, and then tilt it back the other way and let the mixture drain out. You may also want to gently flush your ear out with warm water. Deal with a sinus infection I would be cautious about this one (actually, personally I wouldn’t try it), but many people report success without any adverse effects. Mix 3% hydrogen peroxide with an equal part of water in order to dilute it, and then put it into a nasal spray container. Spray it into your nose and then blow it back out after a moment. This in theory will kill the sinus infection. Tackle a toothache Have an awful toothache, and can’t make it to the dentist right now? Try putting some hydrogen peroxide in your mouth mixed with water, and hold it there for a few minutes. Most people who use this method suggest that you hold it for ten minutes if you can. This reportedly relieves a significant amount of the pain. Some people even do this several times a day, but I caution you to avoid overuse, since you don’t want to kill the good bacteria in your mouth. Take a detoxifying bath If you want to give your bathwater a detoxifying boost, try adding two quarts of peroxide to your bathwater. Soak in the bath for half an hour. This can be a great idea if you are sick and want to make sure you emerge from the bathtub actually clean of germs. Treat a yeast infection If you use douching as a method to treat a yeast infection, try adding a couple capfuls of hydrogen peroxide to the mix. You may find that this controls or even cures your yeast infection. Hygiene and Beauty Uses Hydrogen peroxide has many uses for hygiene and beauty, and is a great supply to have handy in your bathroom. Some of these uses overlap with medicinal uses, since they have both a health and beauty effect. Continue Reading >> Page 2 * 10 shades whiter in days! * Professional Results Are Guaranteed. * Same as dentists use.
Sabtu, 07 Agustus 2010 Organic food - Understanding the Label The United States is a land of paradoxes. We are still undernourished supercharged. We have evidence that we have plenty of food and nutrients we take a lot of calories, but every day we have deficiencies of vitamins and minerals. To explain the proponents of organic farming that is reverse the decline in nutrient density of high-yielding traditional crops is one of the main reasons why organic farming has become so important to consumers. The same movement was born as a reaction to the nature of the developed world food system. Instead of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, said organic farmers compost and other methods to improve the nutrition of soil and improve disease control natural nutrients in plants. Small, local production was the name of the game. Food safety, quality (taste and nutrient density) and where and how the materials have been grown and processed and then manufactured into a finished product, are also part of this health equation. In fact, most people believe that buying organic food, the food more nutritious, safer and tastier food grown conventionally. Part of the problem is the definition of 'organic'. The term actually refers to the methods used to produce the food and not for the nature and quality of food. Taste, for example, the freshness, how the products will be delivered, is influenced not know whether or not organic products. Among the attributes commonly used for foodstuffs from organic farming: Is cultivated without pesticides; Is cultivated without fertilizers; Been growing in soil with a layer of minerals is through the application of mineral fertilizers and increased natural Is cultivated without the use of preservatives, hormones and antibiotics. Organic farming practices are designed to soil and water conservation and promote the reduction of environmental pollution. Farmers, organic produce and meat do not prevent fertilization by conventional methods or standard of weed control, or antibiotics for livestock disease to grow. Instead of chemical herbicides, organic farmers use crop rotations and spread mulch or manure to keep weeds away. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has controlled a number of national standards that organic products in 2002. He set four basic rules for using the word "organic" on food: First Foods that are made from 100% organic can be labeled "100% organic" and bear the USDA seal. According Foods that are 95% organic can be labeled "organic" if the other 5% of ingredients not found in an organic form. Third Foods that 70% organic, the words "organic" products are the organic ingredients are described. Fourth Foods with less than 70% organic ingredients, the word "organic" only in their lists of ingredients. Consumers buy organic products make a practice of reading food labels are grown with pesticides to eliminate or contain synthetic colors, flavors or preservatives. In the wake of recent health risks tainted pet food and toothpaste and spinach, women seeking cosmetic plastic-free, believing that the products were made without industrial ingredients like petrochemicals are healthier for you to bring a boom in products Organic personal care. However, note that there is no conclusive proof that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown foods. Neither has the USDA, although organic food argue that organic food is safer or more nutritious certificates 0 komentar: Posting Komentar
What Is Synthetic Urine Used For? 11/04/2015 0 Comments A+ a- Synthetic urine is a substance produced mostly for laboratory applications, but it also used in many other areas. It consists mostly of water mixed with different organic and inorganic components like urea, creatinine, uric acid, chlorides, sulfates, phosphates etc. The main advantage of the synthetic urine over the human one is that artificially manufactured product does not have any kind of waste, while the other chemical and physical characteristics remain the same. This advantage makes synthetic urine more preferable for use in areas where natural urine cannot be used because of hygiene and the risk of contracting infectious diseases. Also it has much longer shelf-life, thus easier to store and transport. Here are the main areas where synthetic urine is used today: 1. Calibration of the urine testing equipment The basic purpose of this substance is calibration of urine testing equipment. Human urine composition varies depending on a lot of factors, what make it not suitable for precise calibration. This make artificial pee indispensable product in every laboratory conducting urinalysis. 2. Scientific research Scientists widely use synthetic urine for their studies and developments, for example to create new urine tests for various diseases or even study the possibility of growing plants in space. 3. Student learning Medical students in clinical teaching laboratories also learn to conduct urine tests and experiments on artificially created urine. 4. Passing urine drug test These days a lot of people have started using the synthetic urine for cheating a drug test. The own urine sample is just substituted with synthetic one, which does not have any drug metabolites, so guarantees negative test result. The latest commercial formulas imitate genuine human urine so good, that even trained lab staff cannot detect fake. Drug testing laboratories spend lots of money to prevent this, but unsuccessfully, since usage of synthetic urine in drug tests is growing every year. 5. Testing diapers Except lab and science application, artificial urine is also used in industry, for example testing diapers is done with the help of this substance in diapers manufacturing. 6. Testing the urine stain and odor removers Some marketers and salesmen use synthetic urine to demonstrate the effectiveness of carpet and furniture cleaning products, especially of those aimed at removal of urine stains and odor. synthetic urine for testing carpet cleaning solutions 7. Urine therapy In alternative medicine urine is used traditionally for different medical and cosmetic purposes, but natural human urine disgusts some people, forcing them to look for acceptable substitutes. However, it should be noted that synthetic urine is not recommended for internal use. 8. Fetish games Because of the same health and hygiene restrictions, the fetish community also uses synthetic urine instead of real one, what provides absolutely safe way to play and satisfy their desires. 9. Pranks Some people like to play pranks, for example by wetting their friend's clothes or bed with urine. Fake pee is indispensable in this situation, because it makes the joke not too offensive and helps avoid big problems. Synthetic animal urine There is also such thing as synthetic animal urine, which can be used in few ways. The imitation pee of predators like wolves, foxes, coyotes, bobcats used as a repellent to deter such animals as deer, rabbits, rats, squirrels, that can damage houses, gardens and other property. On the other hand, smell of urine of some animals, for example doe, can attract other animals, like deer, and urine of coon or red fox masks human scent - such synthetic urine products are widely used by hunters, photographers and wildlife researchers. synthetic coon urine
There be dragons! Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Malory's Grail Imagery Considering the questions that arise from reading again Malory’s “Le Morte D’Arthur”; what is the Grail? What does it represent? And what is the quest for the Grail? And why cannot Lancelot succeed at the Quest? Surely the pursuit is not simply for a drinking cup, which is what the literal level would have us think; nor is it even a quest for the cup of the Last Supper, which is itself a metaphor. On that literal level the cup has associations with salvation and with the crucifixion/resurrection and with the Incarnation himself. But why a drinking cup? Drinking, like eating, is central to human life and the preservation of human life but is also symbolic of taking into ourselves ideas and ways of thinking. Thus Adam and Eve when they transgress the law do so through eating of a fruit. Thus also Yahweh institutes a Passover Feast marking the freedom from bondage in Egypt. Thus also Christ institutes the Last Supper/Eucharistic Feast. So the Grail has something to do with taking into ourselves some nourishment spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. Most commentators associate the Grail with Jesus and the finding of the Grail as seeing God in the beatific vision. It is a “vision of heaven”. But this raises problems in the Malory story wherein first the Grail is associated with Christ and the theophanic imagery that is pertinent to him, but also is associated with women who always seem to accompany the Grail to some degree. Second, though the finding of the Grail is accomplished by Galahad, Malory’s story neither makes him the most intriguing character nor does the story end with Galahad’s ascension into heaven. Instead, Malory’s story continues with the civil war, the loss of Camelot and death of Arthur, and the misfortunes of Arthur’s greatest knight, Lancelot. Consequently there seems to be more to the story of the Grail then merely seeing heaven. Technically the Grail image, or Graal, was originally a dish or mixing bowl and comes from Celtic mythology where it was a cauldron owned by the Sea Lord, Mannannan son of Llyrr. This cauldron, overflowing with wine and food, was kept in the Domnu, the deep sea or abyss, in the land of the Fomorians, the giants under the sea and was a cup of rebirth, renewal and inspiration. Three drops from this cup transformed Gwion Bach into Taliessin, the great poet of Gaelic mythology. The Graal stands as a metaphor, then, for that source in the subconscious amidst the giants of nightmare and dreams which pours forth the inexhaustible images, ideas, and forms that inform the waking world. Finding the Grail is finding the source of these dreams. Furthermore, the cup is a drinking cup from which pours forth water and wine (just as water and wine issued forth from the side of Christ on the Cross). This birth image consists of a mixture of two complementary elements. Water represents purity and whiteness, the ocean, the feminine powers of the subconscious and the body itself. Wine represents fire and heat, blood, and the sun. It is associated with the color red (and one recalls here the image in Malory of the red and white dragons that contend with each other over the land of Vortigern). Wine also represents the conscious realm of the mind. But the mixture of the two is what is important within the cauldron of the Grail. Man consists of a metaphysical, immortal, divine element (the mind) and a physical, mortal, human element (the body). Most people consider that the metaphysical is superior, good, pure, and needs to be pursued while the physical body is thought of as bad, corrupt, inferior and needs to be punished or completely abandoned. The Cathars went so far as to help others release from this mortal coil by galloping about Southern France killing them. Even today, heretical sects in certain religions consider this world to be illusion and the greater glory to be in the next world; and they are willing to bet their body and the bodies of others against the promise of 72 virgins (or grapes). There are also some people who completely deny the metaphysical realm and claim that all we have is the physical world of the body. Pleasure, indulgence, and power are the only claims to greatness one can make with such a vision. But this schizophrenic way of looking at our existence is a warped vision. What the Grail image seems to suggest is that the good lies not in the next life but in this one; in a union or marriage between the metaphysical and physical worlds. In this sense the marriage to a good woman is the Grail. In this sense seeing heaven as the acquisition of a sense of balance or perfection is the Grail. In this sense Mary (or Elaine for Lancelot) is the Grail. The Grail, the sense of balance between these two halves of the red dragon and the white dragon is itself that peace with passeth (or is greater than) understanding which when made permanent we call secure, or salvation. It is a state of consciousness operating out of complete harmony within oneself and out of which one perceives the unity of all things. Our hearts were made for this God and they are restless until they find their rest in Him. The Grail represents the acquisition of harmonious balance with ourselves, the source of our being, out of which is born (with blood and water) the Church of ideas, images, actions, words, and love. Friday, October 16, 2009 On Mythology A new series of discussions up at YouTube. Thursday, October 8, 2009 Oedipus and Human Life The play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles certainly seems to embody the change and alteration held by the ancient world to be the heart of religious experience. But Oedipus also seems to undergo a certain experience of the stages of life as well. Consequently, the play can be taken as a metaphor for entering into that initiated world of self-reflection.The original Sphinxian question of four legs, two legs, three legs gives the stages of man in a protean, riddling fashion. Indeed there are eight stages to human life, paralleling the eight notes of the octave in music. The Ages of Man 1. Ut: Birth 2. Re: Infancy 3. Mi: Youth 4. Fa: Adulthood 5. Sol: Initiate 6. La: Adept 7. San: Master 8. Ut: Death (which is a second birth) Oedipus suggests that he meets with Laius (his father and king of Thebes) at a place where three roads meet. This meeting at the triskelion in which Oedipus kills the old man represents the meeting of the young adult with the "father figure" of imposed rule or law in his life. Somewhere that three roads meet we encounter the other – the father figure of imposed laws – and we kill it, rebel, and do our own thing – and immediately we engage in the pull of the earth, the way of all flesh, becoming wedded to our mother in the feminine powers of the natural self. Only when we come awake to the horrors of our own life, the pain we inflict, the suffering we have caused, do we actually gain eyes to really see what we are. For the first time we encounter ourselves and it blinds us, dazzles us, terrifies and sets us on a new path of discovery and discovery and discovery; one encounter with The Other after another equaling eight total encounters in spirallic path of repetitions. - St. Paul 1 Corinthians 13 All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. -William Shakespeare As You Like It Act 2; scene 7 My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. - William Wordsworth. 1770–1850 The Rainbow -John 21:18 The pill and real men I really think there may be something to this. Men's fashions always seem to respond to what women want (aside from the outlandish wildflowers that populate the runways of Paris). Consequently, as female conceptions of masculine dynamism diminish comes the new dawning of the age of Aquarius - men that are twinkies. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1218808/Contraceptive-pill-women-attracted-masculine-men--interested-boyish-looks.html#ixzz0TMStYlaU
It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker. Thank you. Effects of a massive solar flare page: 1 log in posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 04:22 PM Some scientists are saying this upcoming solar cycle could be the worst ever recorded, and produce solar storms even worse than the largest ever recorded in 1859. But i keep thinking, what could the effects be? Keep in mind this is hypothetical and speculative... 1. Would a solar flare knock out just the grid, or everything electrical like an EMP? If it just takes out the grid, would things like iPods, Laptops, cars, all would work provided we had a power source? 2. Would we have advance warning? 3. What would the aftermath be like? People scrambling for a piece of meat? 4. Would the solar flare affect the whole planet, or just a certain area? 5. Is the suburbs a good place to be? I look forward to discussing this in more detail! posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 04:30 PM reply to post by mossme89 2. light travels faster, so i suppose we would have a breif say 8-15 minutes heads up, haha 5. well, the suburbs is a horrible place to be period! posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 04:35 PM Possibly a EMP effect that altough doesn't knock of all electricity will cause cars to stall posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 04:41 PM Predictions by scientists about 3 years ago called for the next solar maximum to occur in 2011 or 2012. There was no prediction that it would be any more intense than usual, certainly not "the worst ever recorded". The most current prediction is that solar maximum will occur in May of 2013 and will be less intense than average. We are on track for that prediction. 1) A solar flare does not have any effect on the surface of the Earth. It is an outpouring of radiation from the Sun. The surface is protected from this radiation by the atmosphere. Satellites and people in orbit, outside of the atmosphere can be put at risk by a solar flare. Solar flares are often (but not always) associated with coronal mass ejections (CME). A CME can produce geomagnetic storms, a disruption of the Earth's magnetosphere. An intense geomagnetic storm can cause problems for our power grids but iPods, Laptops, and cars would not be affected. 2) The radiation from a solar flare arrives on Earth 8 minutes after it is produced and we can detect it. We are developing our ability to predict them. We have several different satellites as well as ground based telescopes observing the Sun so a strong CME would probably be detected. The effects of a CME are felt on Earth 1 to 4 days after the event so yes, we do have some advanced warning. 3) Depends. 4) Geomagnetic storms produced by CMEs affect specific areas, they are not global events. The higher the latitude, the stronger the effects. 5) Depends. [edit on 4/4/2010 by Phage] posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 05:05 PM I believe the sun effects human behaviour… Solar flares and CME’s etc have a purpose to our being. Can anyone confirm that these events on our sun do not affect our way of thinking/being. The Pineal Gland is an active, secreting gland throughout life. Natural, unfiltered sunlight is necessary for the proper functioning of this gland. Light as conscious electromagnetic energy from the sun enters the body through the optic nerves of the eyes which, in turn, directly stimulates the pineal gland, a photo reactive organ. The pineal gland converts light energy into an electrochemical impulse which feeds directly into the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is that part of the brain which mediates all of the vital processes of the body via its immediate and direct connections to the pituitary gland and the autonomic nervous system. The hypothalamus is filled with light sensitive cells which convert the electromagnetic signal of light into a neurochemical impulse which is then carried directly into the pituitary Gland. The pituitary , in turn, elaborates and secretes hormones within the body, thereby maintaining homeostasis. During the last 10 years our Director of Behavioral Medicine, William Rogers, began developing the idea of a tangible, organic 'special needs' tangible electromagnetic instrument that was completely non-invasive, could penetrate the human skull with the addition of ultrasound waves, was completely harmless and had the potential to make greater positive intelligence strides in a faster amount of time than anything that had ever come before in the field of mental health. posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 05:10 PM Didn't something like that happen in Quebec? posted on Apr, 4 2010 @ 05:27 PM Originally posted by c211aek8m21 Didn't something like that happen in Quebec? new topics top topics log in
Study your flashcards anywhere! Download the official Cram app for free > • Shuffle Toggle On Toggle Off • Alphabetize Toggle On Toggle Off • Front First Toggle On Toggle Off • Both Sides Toggle On Toggle Off • Read Toggle On Toggle Off How to study your flashcards. H key: Show hint (3rd side).h key A key: Read text to speech.a key Play button Play button Click to flip 73 Cards in this Set • Front • Back contains Proton, Neutron, Electron pH less than 7 Air Reactivity material can react or ignite if they are exposed to air Biological Agents and Toxins produce disease and are living microorganisms that can mutate and become more deadly Boiling Point temp of transition from liquid to gas controls rate of chemical reactions by speeding it up or slowing it down heat absorbing heat Producing Chemical Interactions 2 or more chemicals are incompatible Chemical Reactivity substances propensity to release energy or undergo change Compound, Mixture separate elements that bond together to form a mixture some elements cannot exist in unstable conditions, they bond with themselves, or other elements to form compounds amt of Acid/Base compared to Amt of Water concentration of hydrogen ions in the material being used Critical Temperature min Temp at which a gas can be liquified no matter how much pressure is applied Critical Pressure pressure that must be applied to bring a gas to it's liquid state substance made up of one kind of atom Expansion Ratio amt of gas produced by a given volume of liquid at a given temperature Flammable/Explosive Range diff between the upper and lower flammable limits min Concentration of vapor to air below which a flame will not propagate in the presence of an ignition source max vapor to air concentration above which a flame will not propagate in the presence of an ignition source Fire Point temp when enough vapors are given off to support continuous burning Flash Point minimum temp at which a material gives off vapor in sufficient concentration to form an ignitable mixture with air and will NOT continue to burn Halogenated Hydrocarbons decompose into smaller, more harmful elements when exposed to high temps for long periods of time Ignition Temperature min temp a material must be raised before it will ignite added to products to control their chem. reaction materials that decompose spontaneously, polymerize, or otherwise self-react and are generally considered unstable Ionic and Covalent Compounds materials Made through the sharing or transfer of electrons Metals and Non-Metals metals form Ionic Bonds with non-metals, and non-metals form covalent bonds with non-metals is an ionic bond involving a metal and non-metal that results in a transfer of electrons covalent Bond involving two non-metals that results in a transfer of electrons cause respiratory distress and copious tearing anything that has mass and occupies space Max safe storage temp (MSST) max temp that Organic Peroxide may be stored safely Melting Point temp at which a solid becomes a liquid Freezing Point temp at which a liquid converts to a solid substance with more than one molecule physically mixed together, but not bonded together tendency or ability of 2 or more liquids to dissolve in each other Nerve Agents substances that interfere with the central nervous system materials that are living or once were living materials that lack carbon-chains but may contain a carbon atom Oxidation Potential combination of anything with oxygen or propensity to yield oxygen hydrogen ion concentraton chem reaction when small molecules form larger molecules ability of a material to emit radioactivity Saturated Hydrocarbons materials in which the carbon atoms are linked by only single covalent bonds Unsaturated Hydrocarbons materials that have at least one multiple bond between carbon atoms Self-accelerating Decomposition Temperature (SADT) irreversible decomposition will begin when some portion of the mass of organic peroxide reaches this temp mixture with all ingredients completely dissolved Vapor Pressure pressure of vapor above the liquid in a container Vapor Density weight of a vapor compared to AIR Vesicants (blister agents) extremely toxic, with symptoms not appearing for min, hrs, or days ease at which a liquid or solid can pass into the vapor state measure of thickness of a liquid Water Reactivity sensitivity of a material to water Parts per Million/Billion degree of hazard and values used to establish exposure limits Lethal Dose (LD50) cause of death of 50% of a group exposed by any route other than inhalation Lethal Concentration (LC50) amt of material in the air that is expected to kill 50% of a group (inhalation) Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) an OSHA term for max concentration to which 95% of people can be exposed for 8 hrs a day / 40 hrs a week Threshold Limit Value Time-Weighted Average (TLV-TWA) max concentration, to which a healthy adult can be exposed for 8 hrs a day / 40 hrs a week Threshold Limit Value Short-Term Exposure Limit (TLV-STEL) max avg concentration to which a healthy adult can be exposed for up to 15 minutes Threshold LImit Value Ceiling (TLV-C) max concentration to which a healthy adult can be exposed w/o risk of injury Immediately Dangerous To Life and Health Value (IDLH) max level where a healthy worker can be exposed to 30 min w/o suffering irreversable health effects positively charged particle emitted by some radioactive materials can damage skin tissue. Class A and SCBA will protect causes skin burns and can damage internal organs Units of Measurement for Radioactive Exposure activity, quantity gamma, and absorbed Dose radiation absorbed dose the reontgen equivalent man international unit of intensity of X-Rays or Gamma Rays measure of the rate of decay of a radioactive material. time needed for a given amt of radioactive material to change to another nuclear form of element Inverse Square Law the effect from a localized source spreads uniformly throughout the surrounding space Time, Distance, and Shielding methods of protecting oneself from harmful exposures to radiation
Anu Garg, of the AWordADay newsletter, reflects on the joys of language Here is an article Anu wrote 14 years ago that is as valid today as it was then. If my prior note did not get you to subscribe to his newsletter—which is free—this one might. What is it about words? Quoted recently in AWAD (A Word A Day), Margaret Atwood says, “A word after a word after a word is power.” In the writing I most love, the words are sometimes sparkling, sometimes invisible–but always contributing, always engaging me profoundly. What are words to you? 1. You asked, “What are words to you?” and it’s taken me a bit of time and more than a bit of thought to get to this; Words are containers. Coded containers at that. Misspelled, they can become a puzzle, undecipherable, or even indecipherable. Words can be purposely misspelled to convey alternate meanings. Words can be written to hide meanings too, Words in their simplest form are indeed containers, containers that may convey something more complex. Words even have spellings that can convey a sense of class, “They’ve gone to colour the towne red, they have!” Or, lack thereof. No matter what language, words still are all the above, and more. Jane Austen said; “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” I disagree. (For a number of reasons.) I would point out though that what we say and think are… words. What we do can only be properly describe using… words. What is it then that really would define us? Containers. Coded or not. (:-) Leave a Reply %d bloggers like this:
(0) items You have no items in your shopping cart. All Categories History - Military & Wars View as Grid List Display per page Art of War R59,00 R105,00 Weapons of WWII R179,00 R190,00 This beautiful reference guide provides a clear and comprehensive look at the weapons and vehicles of all the countries that fought in World War II. It offers an excellent overview of the diverse weaponry used by both the Axis Powers and the Allies. The weapons described here range from the pistol to the 75t battle tank and from single-engine fighter planes to the largest, heaviest battleships ever to have sailed the seas. Everything you might want to know about the development and deployment of each type of weapon can be found here along with technical specifications, brought to life by over 500 photographs and technical drawings. Bursting with facts, this book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in history or military history wishing to learn more about how developments in weapons technology influenced the course of World War II. R49,00 R110,00 Battles identifies the 100 major battles, from the ancient era to the present day, that have had a significant impact on the world in which we now live. Beginning with the battle of Kadesh (1294 BCE), which pitted two of the great armies of the ancient world against each other, the book then explores conflicts through the ages, including engagements in the former Soviet Union and Iraq. It includes more than 250 colour and black-and-white photographs, artworks and maps illustrating the battles, the leading figures and the tactucs of the eras. This lavish title offers an information-packed insight into some of the decisive land and sea battles in military history. R215,00 R260,00 Een oorlog, twee broers, een tragiese twis. Albert Blake kyk in sy jongste boek na hoe verraad die bittereinder-generaal Christiaan de Wet en sy joiner-broer, Piet, uitmekaar gedryf het. Wie was reg: Christiaan, wat ten alle koste die vryheidstryd wou voer of Piet wat die einde aan die smart van die oorlog wou bring? Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler and the Crushing of a City R129,00 R175,00 The traumatic story of one of the last major battles of World War II, in which the Poles fought off German troops and police, street by street, for sixty-three days. Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries R59,00 R230,00 It's spring 1983. It seemed that one of the most startling discoveries of the century had been made, and that one of the world's most sought after documents had finally come to light, the private diaries of Adolf Hitler. What followed was the exchange of extraordinary sums of money for world-wide publishing rights. But that was just the beginning. The Somme chronicles R69,00 R230,00 æThe heavy smell of blood filled the air, and every moment you had this intense fear that the next bullet was meant for you.Æ So remembered William Thorne, a South African volunteer soldier who fought in the muddy trenches along the River Somme in France on EuropeÆs Western Front. If This is a Man/The Truce R129,00 R210,00 Two works of autobiography. "If This is a Man" tells of Levi's experiences as a victim of the Holocaust, from his arrest by the Fascists in 1943 to the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russians. "The Truce" is the story of his eight-month journey back to Italy after he was liberated. A History of the First World War in 100 Objects: In Association with the Imperial War Museum A powerful narrative and visual treatment of the First World War, in association with the Imperial War Museum. When the War is Over: Far from Home, Far from Family, Safe from the War - A True Story of Two Second World War Evacuees R69,00 R185,00 The fascinating and heartwarming true story of two young children evacuated from Newcastle to the remote Lake District village of Bampton during the Second World War. Into the laager R205,00 R240,00 Weaving between past and present, Into the Laager traces the war for control of South Africa, its people and its history, through a series of December 16ths, beginning with the Battle of Blood River in 1838. The Art of War/The Book of Lord Shang The two political works in this text are the product of a time of intense turmoil in Chinese history. Dating from an epoch in Chinese history known as the "Period of the Warring States" (4003 - 221 BC), they anticipate by nearly 2000 years Niccolo Machiavelli's treatises on the same subjects. Australian War Memorial: Treasures from a Century of Collecting R399,00 R1 241,60 The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is one of the world's most significant collections of military history. This book tells the story of the Memorial and the National Collection, taking readers behind the scenes and uncovering many items not on public display. Omega, oor en uit R180,00 R215,00 Van sy eerste dag as nasionale dienspligtige was Francois Verster in die sop danksy sy ingebore rebelsheid. Hy vertel op skreeusnaakse wyse van sy basiese opleiding en lewe as troeponderwyser op Omega. Hierdie geensins verromantiseerde storie bied Æn vars hoek op die Grensoorlog-genre en Æn blik op hoe Afrikanermans die nuwe Suid-Afrika beleef. On War R79,00 R123,93 In both a philosophical and a practical work, Clausewitz defines the essential nature of war, debates the qualities of a great commander, assesses the relative strengths of defensive and offensive war, and - in highly controversial passages - considers the relationship between war and politics. The relatively public life of Jules Browde R205,00 R240,00 The Relatively Public Life of Jules Browde turns the conventions of a biography inside out. It is more than the portrait of an unusual South African life, it is the moving tale of a complex and tender relationship between grandfather and grandson, and an exploration of how we are made and unmade in the stories we tell about our lives.
Bryce Canyon, Utah Bryce Canyon, Utah E460/0194 Rights Managed Request low-res file 530 pixels on longest edge, unwatermarked Request/Download high-res file Uncompressed file size: 51.1MB Downloadable file size: 3.3MB Price image Pricing Please login to use the price calculator Caption: Weathering and erosion. View of part of Bryce Canyon, showing the pinnacles formed by many millennia of erosion and weathering. The canyon was formed by the erosive power of a river, cutting into the rock as it was uplifted. The exposed rock faces and internal faults were then weathered, creating these bizarre pinnacles. The main weathering process was 'freeze-thaw'. Water from occasional rain or dew found its way into cracks in the rock. When the water froze, it expanded and broke parts of the rock away. After a thaw, the water could find its way into other cracks. The canyon is largely made of banded sandstone sediments, and is in Utah, USA. Keywords: bryce, bryce canyon, bryce cnyn, canyon, erosion, geology, geomorphology, rock, sandstone erosion, strata, water, water erosion
The True Value of Imagination The City Museum in St. Louis, MO is like a giant playground for the imagination. Both children and the young at heart are welcome! “She isn’t rich… She’s clever. That means she knows how to use her imagination. When you can do that, you can do anything.” –from The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly I don’t usually start a blog post with a quote, but this one really struck me. In fact, it’s the whole reason for the blog post. It reminds me of my childhood. Like most children, my sisters and I didn’t have every toy we wanted when we were growing up. Some kids might complain about that, and sometimes we probably did. But then something magical happened. We realized we could use our imaginations to create what we wanted. We had this great big basement playroom, and luckily, our mom would let us do whatever we wanted with it, provided we clean it up every once in a while. She called this “overhauling,” which usually meant giving some beloved but never used old toys and junk away. Anyway, we had toys, games, and craft items down there. Usually I’d convince my younger sister to join me for some fun, as our older sister was often “too cool” for us, doing mysterious older sister things in her room. Sometimes we’d rearrange our old toys into something new, making castles for our toy figures out of chairs, kitchen stove sets, plastic telephones, toy cash registers, and the like. Other times, we’d see toys we wanted on TV and decide to create them ourselves. Toilet paper and paper towel roll tubes turned into action figures. Cut-out watercolor drawings of kids turned into paper dolls. We even invented things and conducted experiments. Other times, especially in the summer, we’d make a tent out of tables, chairs, and blankets, sleeping inside it every night. I also invented something called “the boat game,” where we had 5 minutes to gather everything we could (toys, games, etc.) and get onto the boat (i.e. bed or couch) before it sailed away. Then we’d play with all our stuff there, which was much more exciting than simply playing with it at the table or on the floor. We were on an adventure! My favorite part and probably my sister’s least favorite was when I would nudge her off the bed and say, “Oh you fell into the sea! Now I have to rescue you!” Then I’d slowly pull her back up to safety 😉 I hope kids these days still find time to use their imagination. More importantly, I hope they understand what imagination is and that its value far exceeds the worth of any toys, video games, or electronics they might have. As an adult, your imagination can take you places too. You learn resourcefulness and how to carefully use your resources. You come up with creative problem-solving. You find solutions where you otherwise might not. And let’s face it, imagination is just plain fun! It’s what gives us hope and provides a means of entertainment and escape from reality, even if just for a while. For me, my imagination is what has allowed me to become a children’s writer and illustrator. I use it when I conduct storytime for the kids at the library. And it fills me with a sense of wonder whenever I travel, visit a park, or go to an art gallery. Imagination keeps me young at heart, and I wouldn’t trade that for all the money in the world. Have you used your imagination recently? What is it worth to you? Please share! March Magic! • Drink more water. • Dance, stretch, do yoga and move your body. • Play with children. • Go somewhere new in your own town. • Pay attention to synchronicity. • Get a massage. • Meditate. • Make art. • Read your favorite books from your childhood. • Walk barefoot on the Earth. • Get all dressed up just because. “Love Me” Owl Tidying Up = Letting Go = Inviting Miracles –The moment you start, you reset your life. –You gain confidence in your decision-making ability. –You become more zen. –You can truly see what you have and appreciate it. –Tidying can increase good fortune. –Ask if something truly brings you joy. –Remember everything wants to be useful. –Own only what you love and need. –Declutter by category, not place. Favorite quotes from this book: Real World Application: Plotting vs. Pantsing The age-old question for novel writers regarding how they work: Are you a plotter or a pantser? It sounds funny, but writers really do fall into one of two categories. They usually make a detailed plotline before they write and then follow it, sometimes allowing for a little serendipity. OR they write by the seat of their pants, meaning they write as they go, following the muse wherever it leads. Then there’s the plotser. I believed myself to fall into this category, as I always know the beginning and end of my story as well as some major plot points, critical scenes, and the climax. But which one is right for writing? Truly, either style CAN work. What I’ve learned over time is that the pantser tends to have more freedom in the beginning but will have more work after the first draft. The plotter takes more time to choreograph all the details ahead of time, but ends up with a more polished first draft. So really, what you want to ask yourself is whether you want more work after you write (pantser) or more work before you write (plotter). Either way, there is significant work involved! 😉 For plotting tips, I recommend reading Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland. The author makes plotting seem like an organic process. It’s not so much about roman numerals and bullet points but more about figuring out what drives the narrative and building around that. You basically keep a notebook of the details you do know in the order in which they happen and then just keep building on that until you connect all the dots. Ask yourself a lot of questions and write in a stream of consciousness format, allowing for many different possibilities to unfold. By doing this now, you’re more likely to figure out plot holes and fix them instead of writing yourself into a corner. You’ll also quickly notice where your story lacks tension. One great suggestion the author offers when you get stuck is to consider working backwards. If you know what happens at the climax and you know one of the major events leading up to it, but you don’t know what happens in-between, you can use the climax as a springboard. Meaning, think about what is necessary for the climax to occur, ask yourself some questions, and you will likely discover ways to lead up to this point. That way you are less likely to add random, meaningless events just to fill space from point A to point B. Once you get to the level of crafting individual scenes, consider Darcy Pattison’s advice on her popular blog, Fiction Notes. In her post entitled “My 4000 Word Day: Prewriting,” she says, “Scenes need a beginning, middle, end; add in conflict and a pivot or turning point; stir with some great emotional development.” Consider using a set of index cards and have one per scene. Identify the POV, 3 reasons for each scene (i.e. character, theme, plot/subplot advancement), the number of pages, and on which day in your story the scene takes place (from your timeline or story calendar). You can also rearrange the cards to determine the best scene progression. Now if you insist on pantsing, which is OK, you might try these tips that I learned at Detcon, the North American Science Fiction Convention held in Detroit last summer. When you get blocked, try using tarot cards, especially a literary archetypes deck. You can also consider collaging ideas or creating a mind map. You want to at least have a broad story arc and know up to 2 or 3 scenes ahead. The voice is key, so try to nail that within the first 10,000 words before moving on. The coolest thing I discovered about detailed plotting is how it actually heightens creativity rather than stifles it. You’re still making up every detail from your imagination. I would argue you can actually keep the flow going more easily at this stage, because you aren’t also focused on language and crafting the perfect sentences. Furthermore, plotting reduces the anxiety of sitting down to write, since now you have a guide to follow. Every sailer needs a map, even if you plan to go off course every once in a while. So plot the course of your novel, and prepare to sail through your first draft with unexpected ease! Meditating with Mandalas As you know, my new favorite thing is working with mandalas. I started out by coloring them as a way to meditate on a specific idea and person with the intention of giving the finished piece as a gift to that person. See my post here. Today I want to share a new book that I recently purchased. I found it at a local bookstore in Columbus…or rather, it found me 🙂 It’s beautifully illustrated and features various mandalas, differing in color and design, to help aid in meditation on a variety of topics. Some of them are health related, like heart or fatigue. Others are more meditative, like releasing stress and connecting to nature. The key is to stare at the mandala for several minutes absorbing all the colors, symbols, and energy. Then follow the guided meditation to its conclusion. And the results? You definitely feel better afterward! And you feel more in control of your life. We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to it. You always have the power to transform yourself and your way of thinking! Daily Quote: Goals Spring has sprung dear readers! Happy Friday 🙂 Previous Older Entries
How are Exceptions Handled in Selenium ? What is an Error? Error is a bug in application the we may not want to catch . What is an Exception? An Exception is an event, which occurs during the execution of a program, and disrupts the normal flow of the program. Difference between Error and Exception An Error “indicates serious problems that a reasonable application should not try to catch.” An Exception “indicates conditions that a reasonable application might want to catch. Exceptions in Selenium 1) NoSuchElementException : Is thrown when "FindBy" method is not able to find the element. 2) StaleElementReferenceException : This tells that the element is no longer appears on the DOM page. 3) TimeoutException: This tells that the execution is failed because the command did not complete in enough time. 4) ElementNotVisibleException: Is thrown to indicate that although an element is present on the DOM, but it is not visible, and so is not able to be interacted with . 5) ElementNotSelectable Exception: Is thrown to indicate that the element is not Selectable, the possible causes for this might be that it is disabled . Exception Handling in Selenium What we might want to do when an exception occurs? 1) We might want to just eat up the exception and let the test to carry on with rest of the execution. 2) Or we might want to print some custom message in the logs, so that it can be understood by the whole team. 3) Or we might want to perform some series of steps . How to Handle Exception try { // Some code }catch(Exception e){ // Code for Handling the exception Multiple Catch blocks: A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. Like I said earlier, that there are multiple exceptions and you can expect more than one type of exception on a single code block and if you like to handle each type of exception separately with a separate block of code. try { // Some code }catch(Exception1 e1){ // Code for Handling the exception 1 }catch(Exception2 e2){ // Code for Handling the exception 2 Note: If the exception does not match with any exception type mentioned in the catch blocks, then it falls through all catches, and exception is thrown, execution stops. That is why it is advisable to include default exception block (“finally”) as well in the end, so that in the worst scenario if no catch block is able to catch the exception , it can be handled by the default exception. In some cases when we don't want the program to execute further if it encounters certain Exception, then we can use Throw . Throws: When we are throwing any exception in a method , then we need to use throws keyword in method signature to let caller program know the exceptions that might be thrown by the method. "Throwskeyword gives a method flexibility, of throwing an Exception rather than handling it. Throw: "Throw" keyword is used to actually throw the exception at the run time . Difference between Throws and Throw 1) You can declare multiple exception thrown by method in throws keyword by separating them in common e.g. throws IO Exception, ArrayIndexBoundException etc, while you can throw only one instance of exception using throw keyword e.g. throw new IO Exception("not able to open connection"). 2). While "Throws" can be used only in method signature , whereas there are numerous places where we can use "Throw" : a) anywhere inside method or static initializer block try { throw new Exception("Can Not initialize"); } catch (Exception ex) { Logger.getLogger(ExceptionTest.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex); b) " Throwcan also be used instead of "returnin a method. public void shutdown() throws IOException{ throw new IOException("Unable to shutdown"); private static boolean shutdown() { throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not yet implemented"); Note that in the method shutdown() above, a boolean should be returned. But because we have " throw" in place of return , compiler understands that this method will always throw exception . c) "Throw" keyword can also be used instead of "break" keyword, to break out of a switch statement . int number = 4; case 1: throw new RuntimeException("Exception number 1"); case 2: throw new RuntimeException("Exception number 2"); The "finally" keyword is used to create a block of code that follows a try block. A finally block of code always executes, whether or not an exception has occurred. Also it is useful in a case where exception is not caught by any of the "catch" blocks //Protected code }catch(ExceptionType1 e1) //Catch block }catch(ExceptionType2 e2) //Catch block }catch(ExceptionType3 e3) //Catch block //The finally block always executes. < Previous Next >
Arts, Culture & Media Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki moves from beautiful fantasy to World War II in his new animated film A scene from The Wind Rises. © 2013 Nibariki In some ways, World War II is the war that never ends. Individuals, nations and artists still grapple with what happened and why. Player utilities So perhaps it is not surprising that one of the most acclaimed animated filmmakers of our time, Hayao Miyazaki, has turned to the war in his latest film, The Wind Rises. Miyazaki is 73 and he says it is his final film. A friend and collaborator, Linda Hoaglund, says it represents some unfinished business for him. "Miyazaki felt that he had to confront this,” Hoaglund explains. “His father owned a factory that manufactured airplanes during the war." A generation of American kids has grown up with Miyazaki’s fantasy, family films, which are full of mythical creatures, flight, and magical transformations — films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke. (The movies are distributed by Disney, and carefully dubbed with the help of Pixar's John Lasseter.) And while The Wind Rises is also a colorful, animated film, it is set mostly in the real world. Its hero is an historic figure: Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer who designed the Zero fighter planes that dominated much of Asia during World War II, attacked Pearl Harbor, and were later flown by Japan's suicide kamikaze pilots. It seems a strange topic for a filmmaker known for his pacifism and his rejection of the right-wing, nationalistic attempts to glorify Japan's past. But Hoaglund, a documentary filmmaker who grew up in Japan, says it makes sense. "His father did make planes for the war. ... [Miyazaki] is also, as we know, in love with flight. He thinks airplanes are beautiful. But they are also used in war. So how do you spin a piece of art out of this?” In the film, airplane engineer Horikoshi is a sympathetic character — an artist lost in his imagination, motivated by the love of flight and trying not to think about the deaths his planes will cause. As a boy, he dreams of meeting Italian airplane designer Giovanni Caproni, also a real-life figure, who designed and manufactured planes for the Italian fascists. In Miyazaki’s film, Caproni exhorts the young boy: “Airplanes are not tools for war. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.” The contradiction in the film between this romantic, magical view of flight, says Hoaglund, and the reality of the Zero’s use during the war reflects a wider tension in Japan regarding its actions during World War II. “This war memory and question of guilt, and who was guilty — it has not been dealt with in the way that it has been in Germany. It has fundamentally not been dealt with. No Japanese person has been put on trial in a Japanese court for what they did during the war.” Ironically, there is another hugely successful World War II film in Japan right now, of a very different kind. It is live-action and called The Eternal Zero. It sentimentally portrays the pilots who flew the Zero fighter planes that Horikoshi designed. Miyazaki has called it a terrible film that is perpetuating a phony myth of pride in the Zero fighter. Miyazaki knew himself the fear and damage that airplanes caused in the war. Hoagland recalls a story Miyazaki used to tell. "He was four years old when the firebombs came and his family had a truck because they were privileged. So he was on the truck and he watched his uncle beat off other people who wanted to climb onto the truck.” Hoaglunds says Miyazaki told her, "I make films so that situation doesn't have to happen again.” Miyazaki has said that he was inspired to make The Wind Rises by a quote he read of Horikoshi's: "All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful." For Miyazaki, the Zero represents “one of the few things that we Japanese could be proud of [in our] humiliating history.”
Friday, March 23, 2007 Blog Entry #3 - Elections & Voting The assertion that the current state of elections and voting in this country reflect a Republican model of government in which the priviliged run for office and the wealthy control who has access to the political system may still be largely accurate, however I think democratic aspirations over recent decades have diminished this to some extent, and perhaps need to continue to diminish it further. Upon drafting the constitution and defining the political framework that exists in this country the framers undoubtedly had a republican model in mind and made efforts to limit the extent the average citizen had upon changing the political landscape. For example, even though the constitution begins with the renowned words 'We The People...' it is interesting to note that in that day 'the people' who were empowered to participate in the voting practice were white, land owning males. Non-whites, females, and non-land owners were excluded from voting. In essence a vast minority of the population were charged with making choices that would impact all peoples of this nation, regardless of their voting status. Democratic movements over the decades have removed these obstacles. Non-land owners were first ushered into the voting bloc of citizens followed by women followed by blacks, and in the most recent decades suffrage has been extended still further, to Native Americans and younger voters. This model of voters rights was never intended by the framers of the constitution but has none the less become the model of voting that exists today. Possibly the greatest controversy that still exists in the need for electoral reform is the continuing survival of the electoral college, a system designed and implemented into the constitution by the framers designed to limit popular consent in the selection of the President of the country. By this model the popular vote for President actually elects state electors to the college who then cast the deciding vote for President. Again, democratic ideals and movements in recent decades have seen the electors largely expressing the will of the popular vote of the people and electing the candidate for President that the people would have elected. However, the very cumbersome system does not always adequately reflect the will of the people as a whole. The 2000 Presidential race was won by President George W Bush having 500,000 less popular votes than Al Gore. It is therefore arguable that the electoral college needs to be reformed. I think, largely speaking, we take the right to vote very casually in this country. Voter turnout is very low compared to many other developed countries. Perhaps this is also a reflection of the barriers to participation that also exist in this country, such as the need to be registered before-hand to vote, but the argument may still be valid that we do not view voting as seriously as did our forebears who struggled for such rights. And perhaps further still, we feel a disconnection from the candidates we are asked to vote for for various reasons. There are many factors that contribute to our low voter turnout, but I believe it is important none-the-less to participate. Whether you believe the system to be flawed, our political candidates to be even more flawed, or feel it too cumbersome a process, I believe we all should participate fully in the selection process. We all have opinions to air, and beliefs to uphold and all are affected, whether we like it or not, about the decisions those we elect to make in our stead, actually make. So, do we have any right to complain, to criticise, to praise when we have not participated in that other right of exercising our suffrage?...I think not! Sunday, March 11, 2007 Political Ideology Political Ideology - what an interesting conversational topic. I guess we all have an ideology. Do we know what it is? Do we care? Should we? There is definitely an argument that many of us in life simply do not give our ideologies a passing thought. It's not that we don't care aout the state of the city/nation/world - it's just that such ideological thinking may not be as pressing upon our time and thoughts as say more important and 'loud' thoughts such as career advancement, the kids' soccer league, mountains of laundry. Simply put, ideological thought is something some may see as the sole charge of the philosophical elite such as Plato or Aristotle. But, nevertheless, we all retain some opinions on almost all matters at the end of the day. This exercise was beneficial to me in that it gave me cause to reflect upon such matters. I entered the revered company of Plato and Aristotle and I mused awhile upon such things. I guess we could be guilty of assuming our political ideologies may be the same as our parents - they were Republican so that's good enough for me - or we may align ourselves with what seems most popular where we live - all my neighbors vote Democrat and my boss campaigned for our Democratic candidate, that must be a worthy cause. Simply put, it is not sufficient to allow our ideologies to be guided and shaped in such a way. We need to take and stand, ponder what we believe and align ourselves with one political ideology or another. Friday, March 9, 2007
Sunday, August 8, 2010 Spectrums Everywhere The concept of neurodiversity seems to have originated with respect to autism, but it is now being generalized to nearly everything else. Thomas Armstrong explains one of the key components in a recent interview: Genomic studies continue to struggle to find correlations between specific polymorphisms and psychological traits (see here). What this indicates is that a bunch of little genetic polymorphisms shift your tendencies in one direction or another, but there are no large discrete steps. So, statistically speaking, we should all be somewhere on the spectrum of every sort of tendency and disorder. Now, people surely shift along these spectrums, due to changes in one's environment, developmental clocks, and the probabilistic nature of gene expression. But people should still remain somewhere on the spectrum of any given cognitive style. I will spare you my rampant speculation from this point on, but believe me, I could go on for days. The bipolar spectrum, the schizophrenia spectrum, the addiction spectrum, to name a few: it is very interesting to extrapolate from the idea that we all should be at least somewhere along these.
fruit bat Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia. fruit bat, fruit-eating batbat, ..... Click the link for more information. ..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Chiroptera. References in periodicals archive ? We documented 18,509 Jamaican fruit bat echolocation calls during our study, and averaged them across 15-min intervals (Fig. abae (Hipposideridae); observed fruit bats included Hypsignathus monsrosus, Rousettus aegyptiaeus, and Eidolon helvum (Pteropodidae). Fruit bats, sometimes called flying foxes, are adorable animals, very different from other bats. Small Flying Vehicles, Complete with Flapping Wings, may Emerge from Study of Fruit Bats THE veterinary services are investigating the conditions under which a pet shop in Paralimni was found selling the protected nocturnal species, fruit bats. Experience the largest free-flight bat zone in Europe, now home to the Livingstone's Fruit Bat - one of the world's largest bats. New zoonoses include Aids, which is believed to have jumped from chimpanzees to humans, possibly through hunters who killed and butchered apes; Sars, whose natural reservoir is Chinese bats; and the Ebola virus, which holes up in three species of African fruit bat and infects animal primates and humans. Mascarenes, and what the zoo is doing to conserve the species that are left on the islands such as the endangered Echo Parakeet and the Rodrigues Fruit Bat. Studies have revealed although some animals can harbour diseases, some fruit bat species can potentially carry Ebola. As well as exploring the fruit bat forest after dark, you'll see illuminated life-size models of animals.
Thursday, August 31, 2006 this is an idea for an upcoming illustration piece. markers and collage on 110 lb. manilla paper. A superpower is a state with the first rank in the international system and the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale; it is considered a higher level of power than a major power. It was a term first applied in 1943 to the Soviet Union, the United States and the British Empire. Following the Second World War, the British Empire was dismantled and the Soviet Union and the United States were regarded as the only two superpowers; engaged in a cold war. Currently, the most common belief among mainstream journalists and in the world of academia holds that only the United States fulfills the criteria to be considered a superpower; sometimes, given the unipolar nature of the world, it is described as a hyperpower. India and China appear to have the greatest potential amongst all the other nations of achieving superpower or near-superpower status within the 21st century and are often termed as emerging superpowers. The European Union has economic power greater than the United States; as a result some consider that despite not being politically unified, it may be either an emerging or existing superpower, depending on one's viewpoint. Although, as mentioned above, mainstream journalists and most academia holds that only the United States fills this position as superpower (or hyperpower). However, others doubt the existence of superpowers altogether, stating that today's complex global marketplace and the rising interdependency between the world's nations has made the concept of a superpower an idea of the past and that the world is now multipolar. this last part was copied from Wikipedia Post a Comment << Home
Climate Change It has become standard practice for both camps in the discussion on Climate Change to claim the extreme opinions of the other represent the opposition, for example we have the Deniers and the Alarmists. Neither label is a fair representation of the facts. Nevertheless, we would probably be labeled as a denier, because what we deny is the claim that global warming is on a trend to do irreparable damage to the planet and the facts at this time support our position. What we as deniers have evidence that supports the following belief: • The science of global climate change is NOT settled. Much is not known and the debate is constructive and fundamental to the scientific method. • Competent scientists are on both sides of the debate. Rejecting many of the claims of global warning is not rejecting science. Those who attempt to end the debate are rejecting science. • The planet has warmed in the last century from a little ice age in the middle of the 19'th century. • The temperature has not increased significantly in the last 18 years. All the global warming models have failed and the warmist have no scientifically verified explanation for this pause. However, the deniers have no proof that the temperature increase will not resume in the future. This is clear evidence the the science is not settled. • Human activity contributes to that warming in the form of deforestation, urbanization, and burning of fossil fuels, However, proxy evidence shows dramatic temperature anomalies when humans could not have contributed. • Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is necessary for most life forms on earth. It is NOT a pollutant. • The impact of carbon dioxide in global warming is exponentially declining, Most of its impact has already occurred. Doubling the concentration (from 380 ppm) is likely to have less 25% increase in the temperature anomaly and less than a 0.5 degree centigrade change by 2100, not the 2 degrees that the more conservative warmists typically claim. (We would mention the changes being projected by the extreme alarmists) • The models being used to predict disastrous temperature increase rely on the unproven mechanism of positive feedback. Increasing carbon dioxide alone cannot account for the temperature anomalies the warmists are projecting. • Arctic ice is decreasing while Antarctic ice is increasing. The later change has a greater impact on ocean level changes. • Fossil fuels critical to the economic well-being of humankind will be exhausted before the end of the 21st century. Pressure to conserve and to develop alternate energy source is wise It's been a little over a decade since Anthropogenic Global Warming hypothesis (AGW) has received much attention. Climate scientists have made numerous projections. Whose theories are most accurate? The fact that Climate Science is too complex for almost anyone to understand has fueled a continuing debate that is hardly over! Nevertheless, the majority of policymakers and the public want to know what the best minds have concluded. Few credible scientists disagree with the observation that the earth is warming. The planet has always experienced major swings in its climate. The disagreement is: how much is the planet warming, what is the primary cause of the warming, and is warming a necessarily bad thing. Some have claimed scientists have reached a consensus climate change. That it is due to AGW caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But more than 750 notable scientists have publicly voiced disagreement. That theory is pure conjecture and is not supported by any scientific proof. The implications of Climate Change are pronounced. If those arguing the case of AGW, whom we shall refer to as the "warmists," are right, the planet could be heating to levels threatening to the current way of life. If the opponents of AGW, whom we shall refer to as the "deniers," are right, the warmists in their remedies could be driving the world to economic collapse. Both scenarios would most likely lead to devastating wars as populations fight for diminishing resources. The debate is hardly over, as Al Gore, naively proclaimed subsequent to his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." It has just begun. We had hoped the more prominent skeptic organizations, such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and the Skeptical Society, would provide a platform for this debate. Disappointingly, they have lined up with position statements on the side of the "warmists" and consequently, shut-off avenues for the type discussion expected for skeptics. (see our post What is Skepticism by Don Loxton.) They have only added fodder to charges that they are subject to the same type of biases and closed-mindedness that they accuse others. The blog the Resilient Earth nicely summarizes our opinion of the position taken by CSI (CLICK HERE). Although we have subscribed to CSICOP since 1995, we have, consequently, chosen no longer to support CSI as an Associate Member. Unfortunately, CSI continues to publish highly one-sided articles bordering on religious fervor about Climate Change that violate all principles of legitimate skepticism. Our goal is to compensate for the failures of these organizations and provide fair and objective consideration of the more credible claims both pro and con, consistent with the dictates of the scientific method. Before getting into the details of the science, consider the claim of a consensus in scientific opinion. Is that fact? This is reviewed on this link. What's the Question: That is almost as complex as the theories. Tests: The "warmists" appear to predict more accurately than "deniers." Disclaimer: OLD comments may be found in the never forgetting internet pages that suggest a leaning of this website toward the contrarian positions. We initiated this work in 2007 after we attempted to validate the position statement of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Claims of the Paranormal (now known as CSI) on Global Warming and found technical support for it lacking. For those who follow the publications of previously noted skeptic organizations, it becomes evident that fair presentation of all credible theories is not likely. On this our updated website we have chosen not to contribute to that bias even if we are urged to counter absurdities with our own biases. In this light we apologize for those earlier notes. Our goal is not to simply throw up opinion pieces as most blogs have the habit of doing, but to research sources and limit stuff to that which is credible. We wanted to compare the various claims regarding Climate Change, but this topic is remarkably complex and beyond our expertise. We recommend readers check out the website WATTS UP WITH THAT. It has a huge amount of resource material and appears to be presenting a fair balance of opinions. No comments: Post a Comment
The Productivity Commission recently completed a report on Australia’s migration program. It contained some surprising results. 1. Australia receives around 1,000,000 migrants each year Every year around a million visas are granted to allow migration into Australia. This consists of close to 800,000 temporary visas granted to students, working holidaymakers and temporary workers, and around 200,000 permanent visas This does not however mean the Australian population is growing by a million people per year, because every year as well as people arriving others depart. Temporary visas holders for example are departing as others are arriving. This means our net migration is around 200,000 per year. 2. The vast majority of migrants speak English I often hear people comment that too many migrants don’t speak English. The reality is that around 90% of migrants speak English. 3. Migrants are not a drain on the budget The chart below shows the estimated impact of permanent migrants who arrived in 2015-16 on the Australian government budget over the next 50 years. It shows is that for the bulk of their time here skilled and family migrants contribute more to the budget in taxes than they take from it in welfare. This only begins to work the other way once they reach retirement age, were like almost all Australians they receive more in benefits than they paid taxes. The one exception to this people who enter Australia on a humanitarian visa (e.g. refugees) who on average will receive more benefits from the government then they paying taxes. Again however it should be remembered that this is true of most lower income Australians. 4. England and New Zealand are our two top sources of migrants 5. Our humanitarian intake has remained relatively constant in numerical terms but is declining as a proportion of our total immigration program and our population Subscribe To My Blog Newsletter You have Successfully Subscribed!
Overview of Wood Home Structures Framing House Solid State Home Inspections One of the cliches in home inspecting is when a client is told in a home inspection, 'the bones of the home are good'. There is some truth however in this cliche as every home needs 'bones' to hold walls vertical, floors level, and carry the loads of wind, snow, and people. These 'bones' of a home make up the structural support of the building and the performance of this system is evaluated by a home inspector during a home inspection. Structural 'loads' occur on a building from 'dead' loads like the weight of the building materials and occupants belongings, to the 'live' loads from falling snow, moving people, and wind forces. A major role of the homes structural system is to resist the 'loads' on the building and to transfer associated weights from these loads to the earth beneath the home without moving. Footings, Foundations, and Floor Slabs Footings are the first building materials placed on a typical building site. Footings are typically made out of concrete and carry the load of the building above onto the soil of the property below. In order to be a solid base, footings need to be deep enough to resist and sideways movement and any effects of frost heaves on surface soils. They also need to be strong enough to support the weight of building loads above. Spread Footings and Foundation Walls Spread footings are the most common type of footing in western building methods. They are designed to spread the weight of the building evenly onto the soil below. Spread footings are not commonly visible in a home inspection as they rest below the soil line outside and below the floor slab in basements and crawl spaces. Footing failure can be visible by movement in the foundation walls and structure above. Foundation Solid State Inspections A closeup of the cement foundation of a new housing development. Spread footings are the lowest part of the foundation system on top of which concrete foundation walls are poured. Foundation walls are important to the structure a they typically define either a basement or crawlspace, carry the weight of the wood structure above, and hold back the soil pressure outside the basement area. The most common foundation wall failure is that they are not strong enough to hold back the soils and cave inwards. Cracks are common in concrete foundations. 'Normal' cracks occur as concrete shrinks when it dries however, a 'normal' crack may still be the early sign of a wall failure. As such, all cracks need to be treated seriously by home owners, buyers, and home inspectors. All cracks big or small in concrete foundation walls present an opportunity for water to penetrate the building which presents a second concern for foundation cracks. The last structural element for footings and foundation walls is the concrete floor slab. The soil outside the basement walls is constantly trying to push the walls and footing into the building. Pouring a wall-to-wall slab of concrete that also ties into the top of the footings provides additional resistance and ridgitidy to the foundation system. To help keep footings and foundation walls from being pushed inward under the pressure of soil from outside the walls, a concrete slab is poured from 'wall-to-wall' in the basement or crawl space which will provide strength the base of the floor system. This slab also provides a sub-floor for interior finishes and objects to be placed on. Slab-on-Grade Foundations There are various forms of 'slab on grade' construction which integrate the main floor concrete slab with the footings for the structure. Slab on grade construction is found in areas where a high water table would impact structure and in climates with little concern for ground frost issues as the foundations are not very deep. Slab footings do not incorporate a foundation wall system as they provide a direct surface and foundation bolts for exterior walls to be mounted on. To protect the wood structure above, the slab level should be 6-8" above the grade level of the property. Slab-on-grade foundations also provide the sub-floor for the first level of the home. Pile or Pier Foundations In soil conditions where the surface soils are unstable or large point loads of weight need to be managed, some foundation footing systems use 'piles' driven vertically into the ground to depths necessary to stability carry the loads of the building. Pile foundations are very common under structures like bridges and boat docks as the depth of the piles finds solid soil for the structure. In houses, pilings or pier foundations are more commonly found in boggy areas, reclaimed land, or uneven bedrock. Pile foundations don't provide a continuous base for exterior walls. Structural beams spanning across individual piles creates the horizontal surfaces that loads above can be built on. Pilings need to be 6-8" higher than the solid level to protect the beams and wood structure above from ground water. Walls, Floors, and Sill Plates Ballon and Platform Framing As building methods have evolved, so have the methods of carrying structural weight through homes. In the 1800's and early 1900's, 'ballon' style framing was common. In ballon framing, the outside walls are the main structural element. Outside walls were built continuous from foundations to the roof line with each floor level hung from the wall framing. Ballon framing came to an end as building and fire science identified that the open cavities traveling the height of the home in the outside walls would allow a fire to engulfing the entire home very quickly. By the mid 1900's, ballon framing was replaced with 'platform' framing. With platform framing, the floor, or platform, of each level is the primary structural element and it creates a fire separation between each floor of the home. The platform floor also provides a solid structure to each floor while load-bearing walls provide vertical support for the floors. Sill Plates In the transition from concrete foundational structure to wood building structure, the transitional piece of wood material is called the sill plate. The sill plate is typically a 2x4 or 2x6 on its side and is separated from the concrete by a thin water proof membrane like tar paper. It is then bolted with washers and nuts to the concrete foundation using bolts set into the concrete foundation during pouring. The bolts ensure the wood structure is mechanically attached to the concrete foundations resisting movement forces such as those in high winds and minor earthquakes. Sill plates provide a continuous nailing platform for the rest of the wood structure above and also transfer the weight of the wood structure to the foundation wall. It is critical that the soil levels around the home stay at least 6-8" below the level of the sill plate as water damage can allow the sills to rot and collapse causing structural problems above. Platform Floors Platform Floor Solid State Home Inspections Close up of platform floor under construction with joists and beams (sub-floor not yet in place) The next wooden structural element on a wood frame home is the first platform floor (except slab on grade homes which use the slab as the first floor). A platform floor is built by first attaching perimeter joists to the sill plates along the outside perimeter of the floor area and then hanging beams and floor joists to the perimeter joists as needed to support the design of the home. The maximum 'span' of wood joists is the maximum distance a wood joist can travel unsupported and is based on 'load tables' created by engineers. Typically longer spans mean thicker joists but when spans are too long for standard joists, beams, engineered trusses, or load bearing partition walls can be used to support the floor structure. Builders also need to build and account for penetrations in the floor platform structure such as stair wells and chimneys. Once all the floor elements are in place, the joists need to be connected together to prevent movement in the system (also called lateral bracing). Joists are connected at each end but if the spans are long enough, additional lateral support in the form of blocking or bracing may be required. Lastly, to provide a working surface for interior finishes, additional lateral bracing, and a fire stop, a sub floor of boards or plywood is laid on top of the joists finishing the floor system. Load Bearing Walls Walls are critical to holding up each floor of the home and the roof. Load bearing walls are those walls that support the weight of the structure above and always include the outside walls and depending on the design of the home may include some interior walls as well. Wood Framed Wall Solid State Home Inspectiolns Wood Frame Exterior wall with partial shear wall being installed Load bearing walls are made up of either 2x4 or 2x6 vertical studs spaced 12, 16, or 24" apart depending on the loads that need to be supported above. The studs are connected by a single continuous sill on the bottom and a double sill above which transfers the loads above to the studs. Wall designers need to account for penetrations like windows and doors which impact the walls structural design. Wood framed walls are very strong at carrying loads vertically but they need re-enforcement to prevent the walls from falling over in winds or minor earthquakes. This is accomplished by adding plywood , chipboard, or shiplap sheeting and shear walls to the outside wall of homes. This provides rigidity from movement in all planes of direction. Drywall finishes on the inside of the home also add secondary lateral support but are not considered to be primary structure. Partition Walls Partition walls are not actually part of the structure of the home as they do not carry a load from above but they are part of the framing for the home and increase the rigidity of the entire structural system. Identifying partition walls from structural walls is not straight forward as they are often built from the same materials and methods as the load bearing walls by the same framers. Always have a structural expert determine if a wall carries a load before making any adjustments to a home. The roof itself is a major part of the homes structural system. It provides bracing to hold the walls vertical as well as carrying the loads of snow, rain water, and roofing materials from above. Roof design and structure is critical to roof performance. Most single family homes have a 'steep' roof system built from rafters or trusses. Flat roofs are less common. Rafter and Joist Construction Until the mid 60's, it was common for builders to make site-built rafter and joist systems as the structural 'bones' of the roof system. Rafters are the angled wood pieces that run from the outside walls to the peak of the roof. Joists are horizontal wood that connects the wall ends of opposing rafters to each other. The three points of connection (wall, opposing wall, roof peak) form a structural triangle which is one of the strongest shapes for carrying a load. Additional collar ties, purlins, and knee walls could be added by builders to increase load strength and horizontal spanning distances. Site-built rafters were typically very functional but they had a few down sides for home owners. First, they are only as good as the builders skill is at making them and structural failure or high snow loads in some climates would cause home owners to need to re-enforce weak rafters. Second, rafters limited house designs to simple roof shapes that could be built with the traditional skills and construction load tables of on-site labourers. Engineered Truss Construction Roof Truss Solid State home Inspections Wooden roof trusses stacked together on a building site Starting in the late 60's, it became common to order factory built engineered trusses for new construction. Engineered trusses are custom built for each home based on home drawings sent to the truss manufacturer with the goal to maximize strength and minimize material costs. A common way to recognize engineered trusses is the use of metal connector plates installed by the factory at the wood piece junctions. Site-built rafters would be nailed together. Engineered trusses can be made much stronger than site built rafters using more complicated angles and additional 'web' supports. With engineered trusses, builders and architects could also begin to design more complicated home designs along with larger open spaces which radically changed the design of homes in the later half of the 1900's. Roof Sheeting Like exterior walls, the trusses or rafters of the roof system need to have lateral support to keep them in place. Plywood, chipboard, or wood slats are used, depending on the final roof covering system, to provide rigidity to the structural system and a surface for the roofing material to be attached to. Putting It All Together All the various elements of the structural system work together to create a single structural system designed to carry the loads (weights) of the building to the earth the building is set on. Houses need to be able to carry these loads on different potential planes of force: Vertical Load (Gravity) Ideally, the home only need to manage a perfect vertical weight load of building materials, objects, and people. However, our buildings need to be strong enough for our environments. Simplified Example 1 - A heavy snowfall on the roof needs a strong enough roof structure to carry the load. This snow weight transfers vertically from the roof to the load bearing walls. Then it carries down the walls through floor platforms to the sill plate. The sill plate transfers the load to the foundation wall, which transfers the load to the footing and ultimately the earth below the footing. Simplified Example 2 - A grand piano is placed on the second floor. The joists in the floor carry the load horizontally to the load bearing walls, which transfer the load through as above to the earth below the footings. Horizontal Racking Forces Square faced wood frame houses are not very aerodynamic. Even modest winds can exert thousands of pounds of force all trying to push a home over. A homes structure needs to be able to resist this racking force. Simplified Example - Wind blowing on the West side of a home will cause the west wall to want to lean into the house. The West wall's stud configuration and top and bottom sill connections keep the west wall ridged and transfer the load to the North and South walls. The North and South Walls are kept ridged by the plywood sheeting which transfers the load to the back wall which is held vertically by the roof and floor connections. In this way, the entire structural system creates a ridged cube to resist racking forces. Lifting Forces In our example of the West wind above, the homes structure resisted walls from racking but as the wind blows on the ridged structure, the wind pressure on the top of the west wall will create a lifting force at the bottom of the wall. This lifting force is resisted by the bolts and washers holding the sill plate to the foundation wall which is one reason it is critical to bolt foundations to sill plates and to correctly connect all the structure together. Earthquakes present a major challenge to our homes structures. Earthquakes can subject homes to vertical lifting and dropping forces, horizontal shaking forces, and homes will attempt to oscillate (wave) along with the frequency of the earthquake. Despite all the engineering that can be done to make homes more resistant to earthquakes, the earth has the ability to overcome our engineering with levels of power we cannot engineer against. Earthquake retrofitting is a complex business with its own sets of experts. The basic principle is to ensure the homes structure can absorb the earthquake forces and the structural elements of the home are all well connected to each other. This area of engineering and advice is best left to the experts in this field. Other Supports This overview is meant to address the most common structural systems found in wood frame houses but only scratches the surface at the complexities and options involved. There are as many ways to build the structure of a home as there are engineers and architects that can design them. FInal Thoughts Home Inspections done to the standards of practice in the industry are performance based inspections and when it comes to the structure of most constructed homes, there is often little if any of the structural elements available to home inspectors for direct inspection. Home inspectors will be looking for signs of performance failure in the structural system such as cracks in finishes, out of level floors or walls, or various other clues about structural system failure. As always, if you are looking at buying a home, always call a professional home inspector who will help you know the home you are buying is safe and solid.
Log in or Register for enhanced features \| Forgotten Password? Power Distribution Utilities Retail Return to: EBR Home \| Power Distribution \| Utilities Retail ECN develops energy-saving technology for industrial heat storage Published 16 December 2016 They will enable industry to save on energy and costs. Using a Phase Change Material (PCM) is one attractive way of storing heat compactly with a small temperature difference. This entails using the quantity of latent heat that can be stored when a material melts and is released again when it solidifies. When a PCM is used, the heat buffer takes up less space, the heat is stored at atmospheric pressure, and the heat can be absorbed and released at a relatively constant temperature. The storage density of a PCM buffer is typically between 0.3 and 0.6 GJ/m3, making it up to four times more compact than a hot water buffer. New possibilities for energy re-use and buffering This technology offers new possibilities for re-using residual heat and saving energy in industrial processes. When a heat buffer is used, peaks in heat demand and supply can be counterbalanced to achieve a more constant process, supporting the use of sustainable heating and heat pumps. Heat storage also plays a connecting role in the integration of the electricity grid and the industrial heat supply. ECN’s role As part of the LOCOSTO project, ECN has developed a calculation model to predict the performance of a PCM buffer. The model optimises the design of the heat exchanger in order to achieve the required performance in the most cost-effective way. ECN is also working on the selection of PCMs with the desired characteristics for industrial applications, taking into consideration the melting temperature, heat storage density, stability, cost and safety and environmental aspects. One key technological challenge when using PCMs as heat buffers lies in the coupling and decoupling of heat when loading and unloading the buffer. Test installation Source: Company Press Release
Hip hop From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Hip hop-style graffiti (spraypaint art) showing stylized, elaborate lettering and colourful cartoons. Hip hop or hip-hop is a subculture and art movement developed in South Bronx in New York City during the late 1970s.[1][2][3][4][5] While people unfamiliar with Hip Hop culture often use the expression "hip hop" to refer exclusively to hip hop music (also called "rap"),[6] Hip Hop is characterized by nine distinct elements or expressive realms, of which Hip Hop music is only four elements (rapping, djaying, beatboxing and breaking). Afrika Bambaataa of the Hip Hop collective Zulu Nation outlined the pillars of Hip Hip culture, coining the terms: "rapping" (also called MCing or emceeing), a rhythmic vocal rhyming style (orality); DJing (and turntablism), which is making music with record players and DJ mixers (aural/sound and music creation); b-boying/b-girling/breakdancing (movement/dance); and graffiti art, which he called "aerosol writin'" (visual art).[7][8][9][10][11] Other elements of Hip Hop subculture and arts movements beyond the main four are: hip hop culture and historical knowledge of the movement (intellectual/philosophical); beatboxing, a percussive vocal style; street entrepreneurship; Hip Hop language; and Hip Hop fashion and style, among others.[12][13][14] The South Bronx Hip-Hop scene emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from neighborhood block parties thrown by the Ghetto Brothers, a Puerto Rican group that has been described as being a gang, a club, and a music group. Members of the scene plugged in the amplifiers for their instruments and PA speakers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue and used their live music events to break down racial barriers between African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Whites and other ethnic groups. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc also played a key role in developing Hip-Hop music, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Herc mixed samples of existing records and deejayed percussion "breaks", mixing this music with his own Jamaican-style "toasting" (a style of chanting and boastful talking over a microphone) to rev up the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is credited as the "father" of Hip-Hop for developing the key DJ techniques that, along with rapping, founded the hip hop music style by creating rhythmic beats by looping "breaks" (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables. This was later accompanied by "rapping" or "MCing", a rhythmic style of chanting or speaking poetry/lyrics, and beatboxing, a percussive vocal technique used to create beats to go along with an MC or rappers' rhymes.[citation needed] An original form of dancing called breakdancing, which later became accompanied by popping, locking and other dance moves, which was done to the accompaniment of hip-hop songs played on boom boxes and particular styles of hip-hop dress and hair also developed. Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins, a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been credited with coining the term[25] in 1978 while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army by scat singing the made-up words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers. Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into his stage performance,[26][27] the group frequently performed with disco artists who would refer to this new type of music by calling them "hip hoppers". The name was originally meant as a sign of disrespect, but soon came to identify this new music and culture. In the 1970s, an underground urban movement known as "hip hop" began to develop in the South Bronx in New York City, it focused on emceeing (or MCing) over "breakbeats", house parties and neighbourhood block party events, held outdoors. Hip hop music has been a powerful medium for protesting the impact of legal institutions on minorities, particularly police and prisons.[30] Historically, hip hop arose out of the ruins of a post-industrial and ravaged South Bronx, as a form of expression of urban Black and Latino youth, whom the public and political discourse had written off as marginalized communities.[30] Jamaican-born DJ Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell[31] pioneered the use of DJing percussion "breaks" in hip hop music. Beginning at Herc's home in a high-rise apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the movement later spread across the entire borough.[32] Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of impromptu toasting, a spoken type of boastful poetry and speech over music,[33] on August 11, 1973 DJ Kool Herc was the DJ at his sister's back-to-school party. He extended the beat of a record by using two record players, isolating the percussion "breaks" by using a mixer to switch between the two records. Herc's experiments with making music with record players became what we now know as breaking or "scratching".[34] A second key musical element in hip hop music is emceeing (also called MCing or rapping). Emceeing is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, delivered at first without accompaniment and later done over a beat, this spoken style was influenced by the African American style of "capping", a performance where men tried to outdo each other in originality of their language and tried to gain the favor of the listeners.[35] The basic elements of hip hop—boasting raps, rival "posses" (groups), uptown "throw-downs", and political and social commentary—were all long present in African American music. MCing and rapping performers moved back and forth between the predominance of "toasting'" songs packed with a mix of boasting, 'slackness' and sexual innuendo and a more topical, political, socially conscious style, the role of the MC originally was as a Master of Ceremonies for a DJ dance event. The MC would introduce the DJ and try to pump up the audience, the MC spoke between the DJ's songs, urging everyone to get up and dance. MCs would also tell jokes and use their energetic language and enthusiasm to rev up the crowd. Eventually, this introducing role developed into longer sessions of spoken, rhythmic wordplay, and rhyming, which became rapping. By 1979 hip hop music had become a mainstream genre, it spread across the world in the 1990s with controversial "gangsta" rap.[36] Herc also developed upon break-beat deejaying,[37] where the breaks of funk songs—the part most suited to dance, usually percussion-based—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties. This form of music playback, using hard funk and rock, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers would lead to the syncopated, rhymed spoken accompaniment now known as rapping, he dubbed his dancers "break-boys" and "break-girls", or simply b-boys and b-girls. According to Herc, "breaking" was also street slang for "getting excited" and "acting energetically".[38] DJ Kool Herc is a pioneer in developing hip hop music. DJs such as Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash, and Jazzy Jay refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting and scratching.[39] The approach used by Herc was soon widely copied, and by the late 1970s, DJs were releasing 12-inch records where they would rap to the beat. Popular tunes included Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" and The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight".[40] Herc and other DJs would connect their equipment to power lines and perform at venues such as public basketball courts and at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York, now officially a historic building,[41] the equipment consisted of numerous speakers, turntables, and one or more microphones.[42] By using this technique, DJs could create a variety of music, but according to Rap Attack by David Toop "At its worst the technique could turn the night into one endless and inevitably boring song".[43] KC The Prince of Soul, a rapper-lyricist with Pete DJ Jones, is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC".[44] Afrika Bambaataa with DJ Yutaka of Universal Zulu Nation in 2004 The lyrical content of many early rap groups focused on social issues, most notably in the seminal track "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which discussed the realities of life in the housing projects.[50] "Young black Americans coming out of the civil rights movement have used hip hop culture in the 1980s and 1990s to show the limitations of the movement."[51] Hip hop gave young African Americans a voice to let their issues be heard; "Like rock-and-roll, hip hop is vigorously opposed by conservatives because it romanticises violence, law-breaking, and gangs".[51] It also gave people a chance for financial gain by "reducing the rest of the world to consumers of its social concerns."[51] Ronald "Bee-Stinger" Savage is an entrepreneur, hip-hop artist, author, and activist. Grandmaster Melle Mel. Encompassing graffiti art, MCing/rapping, DJing and b-boying, hip hop became the dominant cultural movement of the minority-populated urban communities in the 1980s,[55] the 1980s also saw many artists make social statements through hip hop. In 1982, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee recorded "The Message" (officially credited to Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five),[56] a song that foreshadowed the socially conscious statements of Run-DMC's "It's like That" and Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos".[57] During the 1980s, hip hop also embraced the creation of rhythm by using the human body, via the vocal percussion technique of beatboxing. Pioneers such as Doug E. Fresh,[58] Biz Markie and Buffy from the Fat Boys made beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using their mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and other body parts. "Human Beatbox" artists would also sing or imitate turntablism scratching or other instrument sounds. The appearance of music videos changed entertainment: they often glorified urban neighborhoods,[59] the music video for "Planet Rock" showcased the subculture of hip hop musicians, graffiti artists, and b-boys/b-girls. Many hip hop-related films were released between 1982 and 1985, among them Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove, Breakin, and the documentary Style Wars. These films expanded the appeal of hip hop beyond the boundaries of New York. By 1984, youth worldwide were embracing the hip hop culture, the hip hop artwork and "slang" of US urban communities quickly found its way to Europe, as the culture's global appeal took root.[citation needed] The four traditional dances of hip hop are rocking, b-boying/b-girling, locking and popping, all of which trace their origins to the late 1960s or early 1970s.[60] Women artists have also been at the forefront of the hip hop movement since its inception in the Bronx. Nevertheless, as gangsta rap became the dominant force in hip hop music, there were many songs with misogynistic (anti-women) lyrics and many music videos depicted women in a sexualized fashion, the negation of female voice and perspective is an issue that has come to define mainstream hip hop music. The recording industry is less willing to back female artists than their male counterparts, and when it does back them, often it places emphasis on their sexuality over their musical substance and artistic abilities,[61] since the turn of the century (the beginning of the 2000s decade), female hip hop artists have struggled to get mainstream attention, with only a few, such as older artists like the female duo Salt N' Pepa to more contemporary ones like Lil' Kim and Nicki Minaj, reaching platinum status.[61] With the commercial success of gangsta rap in the early 1990s, the emphasis in lyrics shifted to drugs, violence, and misogyny. Early proponents of gangsta rap included groups and artists such as Ice-T, who recorded what some consider to be the first gangster rap record, 6 N' the Mornin',[62] and N.W.A whose second album Niggaz4Life became the first gangsta rap album to enter the charts at number one.[63] Gangsta rap also played an important part in hip hop becoming a mainstream commodity, that albums such as N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-E's Eazy-Duz-It, and Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted were selling in such high numbers meant that black teens were no longer hip hop's sole buying audience.[64] As a result, gangsta rap became a platform for artists who chose to use their music to spread political and social messages to parts of the country that were previously unaware of the conditions of ghettos.[62] While hip hop music now appeals to a broader demographic, media critics argue that socially and politically conscious hip hop has been largely disregarded by mainstream America.[65] Global innovations[edit] According to the U.S. Department of State, hip hop is "now the center of a mega music and fashion industry around the world" that crosses social barriers and cuts across racial lines.[66] National Geographic recognizes hip hop as "the world's favorite youth culture" in which "just about every country on the planet seems to have developed its own local rap scene."[67] Through its international travels, hip hop is now considered a "global musical epidemic".[68] According to The Village Voice, hip hop is "custom-made to combat the anomie that preys on adolescents wherever nobody knows their name."[69] Hip hop sounds and styles differ from region to region, but there are also instances of fusion genres.[70] Hip Hop culture has grown from the avoided genre to a genre that is followed by 100 million fans worldwide. This was made possible by the adaptation of music in different locations, and the influence on style of behavior and dress.[71] Not all countries have embraced hip hop, where "as can be expected in countries with strong local culture, the interloping wildstyle of hip hop is not always welcomed",[72] this is somewhat the case in Jamaica, the homeland of the culture's father, DJ Kool Herc. However, despite hip hop music produced on the island lacking widespread local and international recognition, artists such as Five Steez have defied the odds by impressing online hip hop taste-makers and even reggae critics.[73] Hartwig Vens argues that hip hop can also be viewed as a global learning experience.[74] Author Jeff Chang argues that "the essence of hip hop is the cipher, born in the Bronx, where competition and community feed each other."[75] He also adds: "Thousands of organizers from Cape Town to Paris use hip hop in their communities to address environmental justice, policing and prisons, media justice, and education.".[76] While hip hop music has been criticized as a music that creates a divide between western music and music from the rest of the world, a musical "cross pollination" has taken place, which strengthens the power of hip hop to influence different communities.[77] Hip hop's messages allow the under-privileged and the mistreated to be heard,[74] these cultural translations cross borders.[76] While the music may be from a foreign country, the message is something that many people can relate to- something not "foreign" at all.[78] Rapper, entrepreneur and executive Jay-Z emphasizes his wealth. In an article for The Village Voice, Greg Tate argues that the commercialization of hip hop is a negative and pervasive phenomenon, writing that "what we call hiphop is now inseparable from what we call the hip hop industry, in which the nouveau riche and the super-rich employers get richer".[51] Ironically, this commercialization coincides with a decline in rap sales and pressure from critics of the genre.[81] Even other musicians, like Nas and KRS-ONE have claimed "hip hop is dead" in that it has changed so much over the years to cater to the consumer that it has lost the essence for which it was originally created. As the hip hop genre has changed since the 1980s, the African-American cultural "tradition" that Diawara describes has little place in hip hop's mainstream artists music, the push toward materialism and market success by contemporary rappers such as Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and Jay Z has irked older hip hop fans and artists. They see the genre losing its community-based feel that focused more on black empowerment than wealth, the commercialization of the genre stripped it of its earlier political nature and the politics and marketing plans of major record labels have forced rappers to craft their music and images to appeal to white, affluent and suburban audiences. As top rappers grow wealthier and start more outside business ventures, this can indicate a stronger sense of black aspiration, as rappers such as Jay-Z and Kanye West establish themselves as artists and entrepreneurs, more young black people have hopes of achieving their goals.[84] The lens through which one views the genre's commercialization can make it seem positive or negative.[85] DJing and turntablism are the techniques of manipulating sounds and creating music and beats using two or more phonograph turntables (or other sound sources, such as tapes, CDs or digital audio files) and a DJ mixer that is plugged into a PA system.[87] One of the first few hip hop DJs was Kool DJ Herc, who created hip hop in the 1970s through the isolation and extending of "breaks" (the parts of albums that focused solely on the percussive beat); in addition to developing Herc's techniques, DJs Grandmaster Flowers, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizzard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz made further innovations with the introduction of "scratching", which has become one of the key sounds associated with hip hop music. Traditionally, a DJ will use two turntables simultaneously and mix between the two, these are connected to a DJ mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and various electronic music equipment such as a microphone and effects units. The DJ mixes the two albums currently in rotation and/or does "scratching" by moving one of the record platters while manipulating the crossfader on the mixer, the result of mixing two records is a unique sound created by the seemingly combined sound of two separate songs into one song. Although there is considerable overlap between the two roles, a DJ is not the same as a record producer of a music track,[88] the development of DJing was also influenced by new turntablism techniques, such as beatmatching, a process facilitated by the introduction of new turntable technologies such as the Technics SL-1200 MK 2, first sold in 1978, which had a precise variable pitch control and a direct drive motor. DJs were often avid record collectors, who would hunt through used record stores for obscure soul records and vintage funk recordings. DJs helped to introduce rare records and new artists to club audiences. DJ Pete Rock mixing with two turntables. Rapper Busta Rhymes performs in Las Vegas for a BET party Rapping (also known as emceeing,[89] MCing,[89] spitting (bars),[90] or just rhyming[91]) refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment".[92] Rapping typically features complex wordplay, rapid delivery, and a range of "street slang", some of which is unique to the hip hop subculture. While rapping is often done over beats, either done by a DJ, a beatboxer, it can also be done without accompaniment, it can be broken down into different components, such as "content", "flow" (rhythm and rhyme), and "delivery".[93] Rapping is distinct from spoken word poetry in that it is performed in time to the beat of the music.[94][95][96] The use of the word "rap" to describe quick and slangy speech or witty repartee long predates the musical form.[97] MCing is a form of expression that is embedded within ancient African culture and oral tradition as throughout history verbal acrobatics or jousting involving rhymes were common within the Afro-American community.[98] An aerosol paint can, a common tool used in modern graffiti Graffiti is the most controversial of hip hop's elements, as a number of the most notable graffiti pioneers say that they do not consider graffiti to be an element of hip hop, including Lady Pink, Seen, Blade, Fargo, Cholly Rock, Fuzz One, and Coco 144.[99][100][101] Lady Pink says, "I don’t think graffiti is hip-hop. Frankly I grew up with disco music. There's a long background of graffiti as an entity unto itself,"[102][103] and Fargo says, "There is no correlation between hip hop and graffiti, one has nothing to do with the other."[99][101][104] Hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash has also questioned the connection between hip hop and graffiti, saying, "You know what bugs me, they put hip hop with graffiti. How do they intertwine?"[104][105][106] One of the most common forms of graffiti is tagging, or the act of stylizing your unique name or logo.[107] Tagging began in Philadelphia and New York City and has expanded worldwide. Of course, spray painting public property or the property of others without their consent is vandalism, and the "tagger" is subject to arrest and prosecution for the criminal act. Even though illegal, the hip-hop culture considers tagging buildings, trains, bridges and other structures as visual art, and consider the tags as part of a complex symbol system with its own social codes and subculture rules. Bubble lettering held sway initially among writers from the Bronx, though the elaborate Brooklyn style Tracy 168 dubbed "wildstyle" would come to define the art.[108][109] The early trend-setters were joined in the 1970s by artists like Dondi, Futura 2000, Daze, Blade, Lee, Fab Five Freddy, Zephyr, Rammellzee, Crash, Kel, NOC 167 and Lady Pink.[108] The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffiti artists engaging in other aspects of hip hop culture,[110] Graffiti is understood as a visual expression of rap music, just as breaking is viewed as a physical expression, the 1983 film Wild Style is widely regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, which featured prominent figures within the New York graffiti scene during the said period. The book Subway Art and the documentary Style Wars were also among the first ways the mainstream public were introduced to hip hop graffiti. Graffiti remains part of hip hop, while crossing into the mainstream art world with exhibits in galleries throughout the world. Breaking, also called B-boying/B-girling or breakdancing, is a dynamic, rhythmic style of dance which developed as one of the major elements of hip hop culture. Like many aspects of hip hop culture, breakdance borrows heavily from many cultures, including 1930s-era street dancing,[111][112] Brazilian and Asian Martial arts, Russian folk dance,[113] and the dance moves of James Brown, Michael Jackson, and California funk. Breaking took form in the South Bronx in the 1970s alongside the other elements of hip hop. Breakdancing is typically done with the accompaniment of hip hop music playing on a boom box or PA system. According to the 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy, DJ Kool Herc describes the "B" in B-boy as short for breaking, which at the time was slang for "going off", also one of the original names for the dance. However, early on the dance was known as the "boing" (the sound a spring makes). Dancers at DJ Kool Herc's parties saved their best dance moves for the percussion break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style, the "B" in B-boy or B-girl also stands simply for break, as in break-boy or -girl. Before the 1990s, B-girls’ presence was limited by their gender minority status, navigating sexual politics of a masculine-dominated scene, and a lack of representation or encouragement for women to participate in the form, the few B-girls who participated despite facing gender discrimination carved out a space for women as leaders within the breaking community, and the number of B-girls participating has increased.[114] Breaking was documented in Style Wars, and was later given more focus in fictional films such as Wild Style and Beat Street. Early acts include the Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers.[citation needed] Beatboxing is the technique of vocal percussion, in which a singer imitates drums and other percussion instruments with her or his voice. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats or rhythms using the human mouth,[115] the term beatboxing is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes. It was first popularized by Doug E. Fresh.[116] As it is a way of creating hip hop music, it can be categorized under the production element of hip hop, though it does sometimes include a type of rapping intersected with the human-created beat, it is generally considered to be part of the same "Pillar" of hip hop as DJing—in other words, providing a musical backdrop or foundation for MC's to rap over. Beatboxers can create their beats just naturally, but many of the beatboxing effects are enhanced by using a microphone plugged into a PA system, this helps the beatboxer to make their beatboxing loud enough to be heard alongside a rapper, MC, turntablist, and other hip hop artists. Beatboxing was popular in the 1980s with prominent artists like the Darren "Buffy, the Human Beat Box" Robinson of the Fat Boys and Biz Markie displaying their skills within the media, it declined in popularity along with b-boying in the late 1980s, but has undergone a resurgence since the late 1990s, marked by the release of "Make the Music 2000." by Rahzel of The Roots. A typical rap drum beat, written in drum notation. Most beats in hip hop are sampled from a pre-existing record, this means that a producer will take a portion or a "sample" of a song and reuse it as an instrumental section, beat or portion of their song. Some examples of this are The Isley Brothers' "Footsteps in the Dark Pts. 1 and 2" being sampled to make Ice Cube's "Today Was a Good Day".[118] Another example is Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" being sampled to create the song "Otis", released in 2011, by Kanye West and Jay-Z.[119] Social impact[edit] A b-boy performing in San Francisco Hip hop has made a considerable social impact since its inception in the 1970s. "Hip hop has also become relevant to the field of education because of its implications for understanding language, learning, identity, and curriculum."[122] Orlando Patterson, a sociology professor at Harvard University, helps describe the phenomenon of how hip hop has spread rapidly around the world. Patterson argues that mass communication is controlled by the wealthy, the government, and major businesses in Third World nations and countries around the world,[123] he also credits mass communication with creating a global cultural hip hop scene. As a result, the youth are influenced by the American hip hop scene and start their own forms of hip hop. Patterson believes that revitalization of hip hop music will occur around the world as traditional values are mixed with American hip hop music,[123] and ultimately a global exchange process will develop that brings youth around the world to listen to a common musical form of hip hop. It has also been argued that rap music formed as a "cultural response to historic oppression and racism, a system for communication among black communities throughout the United States",[124] this is due to the fact that the culture reflected the social, economic and political realities of the disenfranchised youth. In the 2010s, hip hop lyrics are starting to reflect original socially conscious themes. Rappers are starting to question the government's power and its oppressive role in some societies.[125] Rap music has been a tool for political, social, and cultural empowerment outside the US. Members of minority communities—such as Algerians in France, and Turks in Germany—use rap as a platform to protest racism, poverty, and social structures.[126] The development of hip hop linguistics is complex. Source material include the spirituals of slaves arriving in the new world, Jamaican dub music, the laments of jazz and blues singers, patterned cockney slang and radio deejays hyping their audience using rhymes.[127] Hip hop has a distinctive associated slang,[128] it is also known by alternate names, such as "Black English", or "Ebonics". Academics suggest its development stems from a rejection of the racial hierarchy of language, which held "White English" as the superior form of educated speech.[129] Due to hip hop's commercial success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, many of these words have been assimilated into the cultural discourse of several different dialects across America and the world and even to non-hip hop fans,[130] the word diss for example is particularly prolific. There are also a number of words which predate hip hop, but are often associated with the culture, with homie being a notable example. Sometimes, terms like what the dilly, yo are popularized by a single song (in this case, "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes) and are only used briefly. One particular example is the rule-based slang of Snoop Dogg and E-40, who add -izzle or -izz to the end or middle of words. Hip hop lyricism has gained a measure of legitimacy in academic and literary circles. Studies of hip hop linguistics are now offered at institutions such as the University of Toronto, where poet and author George Eliot Clarke has taught the potential power of hip hop music to promote social change.[127] Greg Thomas of the University of Miami offers courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level studying the feminist and assertive nature of Lil' Kim's lyrics,[131] some academics, including Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade, compare hip hop to the satirical works of great "Western canon" poets of the modern era, who use imagery and create a mood to criticize society. As quoted in their work "Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth Through Engaging Hip Hop Culture": Hip Hop lyrics have also been known for containing swear words; in particular, the word "bitch" is seen in countless songs, from NWA's "A Bitch Iz a bitch" to Missy Elliot's "She is a Bitch." It is often used in the negative connotation of a woman who is a shallow "money grubber". Some female artists have tried to reclaim the word and use it as a term of empowerment. Regardless, the hip hop community has recently taken an interest in discussing the use of the word "bitch" and whether it is necessary in rap.[133] Not only the particular words, but also the choice of which language in which rap is widely debated topic in international hip hop; in Canada, the use of non-standard variants of French, such as Franglais, a mix of French and English, by groups such as Dead Obies[134]) or Chiac (such as Radio Radio[135]) has powerful symbolic implications for Canadian language politics and debates on Canadian identity. In the United States rappers choose to rap in English, Spanish, or Spanglish, depending on their own backgrounds and their intended audience.[136] Chuck Philips, Los Angeles Times, 1992[139] Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent culture of inner-city American black youths,[140] the genre was pioneered in the mid-1980s by rappers such as Schoolly D and Ice-T, and was popularized in the later part of the 1980s by groups such as N.W.A. Ice-T released "6 in the Mornin'", which is often regarded as the first gangsta rap song, in 1986, after the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A created in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. The White House administrations of both George Bush senior and Bill Clinton criticized the genre.[139] "The reason why rap is under attack is because it exposes all the contradictions of American culture ...What started out as an underground art form has become a vehicle to expose a lot of critical issues that are not usually discussed in American politics, the problem here is that the White House and wanna-bes like Bill Clinton represent a political system that never intends to deal with inner city urban chaos," Sister Souljah told The Times.[139] Until its discontinuation on July 8, 2006, BET ran a late-night segment titled BET: Uncut to air nearly-uncensored videos, the show was exemplified by music videos such as "Tip Drill" by Nelly, which was criticized for what many viewed as an exploitative depiction of women, particularly images of a man swiping a credit card between a stripper's buttocks. Public Enemy's "Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need" was censored on MTV, removing the words "free Mumia".[144] After the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Oakland, California group The Coup was under fire for the cover art on their album Party Music, which featured the group's two members holding a guitar tuner and two sticks[145] as the Twin Towers exploded behind them despite the fact that it was created months before the actual event. The group, having politically radical and Marxist lyrical content, said the cover meant to symbolize the destruction of capitalism, their record label pulled the album until a new cover could be designed. Product placement and endorsements[edit] Critics such as Businessweek's David Kiley argue that the discussion of products within hip hop culture may actually be the result of undisclosed product placement deals.[146] Such critics allege that shilling or product placement takes place in commercial rap music, and that lyrical references to products are actually paid endorsements;[146] in 2005, a proposed plan by McDonald's to pay rappers to advertise McDonald's products in their music was leaked to the press.[146] After Russell Simmons made a deal with Courvoisier to promote the brand among hip hop fans, Busta Rhymes recorded the song "Pass the Courvoisier".[146] Simmons insists that no money changed hands in the deal.[146] The symbiotic relationship has also stretched to include car manufacturers, clothing designers and sneaker companies,[147] and many other companies have used the hip hop community to make their name or to give them credibility. One such beneficiary was Jacob the Jeweler, a diamond merchant from New York. Jacob Arabo's clientele included Sean Combs, Lil' Kim and Nas, he created jewelry pieces from precious metals that were heavily loaded with diamond and gemstones. As his name was mentioned in the song lyrics of his hip hop customers, his profile quickly rose. Arabo expanded his brand to include gem-encrusted watches that retail for hundreds of thousands of dollars, gaining so much attention that Cartier filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against him for putting diamonds on the faces of their watches and reselling them without permission.[148] Arabo's profile increased steadily until his June 2006 arrest by the FBI on money laundering charges.[149] While some brands welcome the support of the hip hop community, one brand that did not was Cristal champagne maker Louis Roederer. A 2006 article from The Economist magazine featured remarks from managing director Frederic Rouzaud about whether the brand's identification with rap stars could affect their company negatively, his answer was dismissive: "That's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Pérignon or Krug [champagne] would be delighted to have their business."[150] In retaliation, many hip hop icons such as Jay-Z and Sean Combs, who previously included references to "Cris", ceased all mentions and purchases of the champagne. 50 Cent's deal with Vitamin Water, Dr. Dre's promotion of his Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line and Dr. Pepper, and Drake's commercial with Sprite are successful deals. Although product placement deals were not popular in the 1980s, MC Hammer was an early innovator in this type of strategy, with merchandise such as dolls, commercials for soft drinks and numerous television show appearances, Hammer began the trend of rap artists being accepted as mainstream pitchpeople for brands.[151] Hip hop magazines describe hip hop's culture, including information about rappers and MCs, new hip hop music, concerts, events, fashion and history, the first hip hop publication, The Hip Hop Hit List was published in the 1980s. It contained the first rap music record chart, it was put out by two brothers from Newark, New Jersey, Vincent and Charles Carroll (who was also in a hip hop group known as The Nastee Boyz). They knew the art form very well and noticed the need for a hip hop magazine. DJs and rappers did not have a way to learn about rap music styles and labels, the periodical began as the first Rap record chart and tip sheet for DJs and was distributed through national record pools and record stores throughout the New York City Tri-State area. One of the founding publishers, Charles Carroll noted, "Back then, all DJs came into New York City to buy their records but most of them did not know what was hot enough to spend money on, so we charted it." Jae Burnett became Vincent Carroll's partner and played an instrumental role in its later development. The German hip hop magazine Juice. The Carroll Brothers were also consultants to the many record companies who had no idea how to market hip hop music. Vincent Carroll, the magazine's creator-publisher, went on to become a huge source for marketing and promoting the culture of hip hop, starting Blow-Up Media, the first hip hop marketing firm with offices in NYC's Tribeca district, at the age of 21, Vincent employed a staff of 15 and assisted in launching some of the culture's biggest and brightest stars (the Fugees, Nelly, the Outzidaz, feat. Eminem and many more).[citation needed] Later other publications spawned up including: Hip Hop Connection, XXL, Scratch, The Source and Vibe.[154] Many individual cities have also produced their own local hip hop newsletters, while hip hop magazines with national distribution are found in a few other countries, the 21st century also ushered in the rise of online media, and hip hop fan sites now offer comprehensive hip hop coverage on a daily basis. Rapper Snoop Dogg at a 2009 show. As hip hop has a seen a shift in the means by which its artists express their masculinity, from violence and intimidation to wealth-flaunting and entrepreneurship, it has also seen the emergence of rapper branding,[155] the modern-day hip hop artist is no longer limited to music serving as their sole occupation or source of income. By the early 1990s, major apparel companies "[had] realized the economic potential of tapping into hip hop culture...Tommy Hilfiger was one of the first major fashion designer[s] who actively courted rappers as a way of promoting his street wear".[156] By joining forces, the artist and the corporation are able to jointly benefit from each other's resources. Hip Hop artists are trend-setters and taste-makers, their fans range from minority groups who can relate to their professed struggles to majority groups who cannot truly relate but like to "consume the fantasy of living a more masculine life".[157] The rappers provide the "cool, hip" factor while the corporations deliver the product, advertising, and financial assets. Tommy Hilfiger, one of the first mainstream designers to actively court rappers as a way of promoting his street wear, serves a prototypical example of the hip hip/fashion collaborations: Artists now use brands as a means of supplemental income to their music or are creating and expanding their own brands that become their primary source of income, as Harry Elam explains, there has been a movement "from the incorporation and redefinition of existing trends to actually designing and marketing products as hip hop fashion".[158] Breaking in Ljubljana, Slovenia Hip hop music has spawned dozens of subgenres which incorporate hip hop music production approaches, such as sampling, creating beats, or rapping, the diversification process stems from the appropriation of hip hop culture by other ethnic groups. There are many varying social influences that affect hip hop's message in different nations, it is frequently used as a musical response to perceived political and/or social injustices. In South Africa the largest form of hip hop is called Kwaito, which has had a growth similar to American hip hop. Kwaito is a direct reflection of a post apartheid South Africa and is a voice for the voiceless; a term that U.S. hip hop is often referred to. Kwaito is even perceived as a lifestyle, encompassing many aspects of life, including language and fashion.[159] Kwaito is a political and party-driven genre, as performers use the music to express their political views, and also to express their desire to have a good time. Kwaito is a music that came from a once hated and oppressed people, but it is now sweeping the nation, the main consumers of Kwaito are adolescents and half of the South African population is under 21. Some of the large Kwaito artists have sold more than 100,000 albums, and in an industry where 25,000 albums sold is considered a gold record, those are impressive numbers.[160] Kwaito allows the participation and creative engagement of otherwise socially excluded peoples in the generation of popular media.[161] South African hip hop is more diverse lately and there are hip hop acts in South Africa that have made an impact and continue making impact worldwide, these include Tumi, Ben Sharpa, HipHop Pantsula, Tuks Senganga.[162] Author Wayne Marshall argues that "Hip hop, as with any number of African-American cultural forms before it, offers a range of compelling and contradictory significations to Jamaican artist and audiences, from "modern blackness" to "foreign mind", transnational cosmopolitanism to militant pan-Africanism, radical remixology to outright mimicry, hip hop in Jamaica embodies the myriad ways that Jamaicans embrace, reject, and incorporate foreign yet familiar forms."[166] Arabic hip hop artist Klash Loon. In the developing world, hip hop has made a considerable impact in the social context, despite the lack of resources, hip hop has made considerable inroads.[72] Due to limited funds, hip hop artists are forced to use very basic tools, and even graffiti, an important aspect of the hip hop culture, is constrained due to its unavailability to the average person. Hip hop has begun making inroads with more than black artists. There are number of other minority artists who are taking center stage as many first generation minority children come of age. One example is rapper Awkwafina, an Asian-American, who raps about being Asian as well as being female. She, like many others, use rap to express her experiences as a minority not necessarily to "unite" minorities together but to tell her story.[167] Many hip hop artists that make it out of the developing world come to places like the United States in hopes of improving their situations. Maya Arulpragasm (AKA M.I.A.) is a Sri Lanka-born Tamil hip hop artist in this situation. She claims, "I'm just trying to build some sort of bridge, I'm trying to create a third place, somewhere in between the developed world and the developing world.".[168] Another music artist using hip hop to provide a positive message to young Africans is Emmanuel Jal, who is a former child soldier from South Sudan. Jal is one of the few South Sudanese music artists to have broken through on an international level[169] with his unique form of hip hop and a positive message in his lyrics.[170] Jal has attracted the attention of mainstream media and academics with his story and use of hip hop as a healing medium for war-afflicted people in Africa and has also been sought out for the international lecture circuit with major talks at popular talkfests like TED.[171] Scholars argue that hip hop can have an empowering effect on youth. While there is misogyny, violence, and drug use in rap music videos and lyrics, hip hop also displays many positive themes of self-reliance, resilience, and self-esteem, these messages can be inspiring for a youth living in poverty. A lot of rap songs contain references to strengthening the African American community promoting social causes. Social workers have used hip hop to build a relationship with at-risk youth and develop a deeper connection with the child.[172] Hip hop has the potential to be taught as a way of helping people see the world more critically, be it through forms of writing, creating music, or social activism, the lyrics of hip hop have been used to learn about literary devices such as metaphor, imagery, irony, tone, theme, motif, plot, and point of view.[173] Values and philosophy[edit] In hip hop culture, it is considered essential to "keep it real" or to be authentic to the lived experiences of people from disadvantaged neighborhoods ("the Ghetto"), despite the fact that hip hop artists typically use imagined scenarios and fictionalized stories in their raps, the culture demands that they act as if all their lyrics are true or potentially true. Because of this, lyrics of rap songs have often been treated as "confessions" to a number of violent crimes in the United States,[177] it is also considered to be the duty of rappers and other hip hop artists (DJs, dancers) to "represent" their city and neighborhood. This demands being proud of being from disadvantaged cities neighborhoods that have traditionally been a source of shame, and glorifying them in lyrics and graffiti, this has potentially been one of the ways that hip hop has become regarded as a "local" rather than "foreign" genre of music in so many countries around the world in just a few decades. Nevertheless, sampling and borrowing from a number of genres and places is also a part of the hip hop milieu, and an album like the surprise hit Kala by Anglo-Tamil rapper M.I.A. was recorded in locations all across the world and features sounds from a different country on every track.[178] Hip hop music artists and advocates have stated that hip hop has been an authentic (true and "real") African-American artistic form and expressive cultural form since its emergence in inner-city Bronx neighborhoods in the 1970s, as well, some music critics, scholars and political commentators have denied hip hop's authenticity. Advocates who claim hip hop is an authentic music genre state that it is an ongoing response to the violence and discrimination experienced by black people in the United States, from the slavery that existed into the 19th century, to the lynchings of the 20th century and the ongoing racial discrimination faced by blacks. Paul Gilroy and Alexander Weheliye state that unlike disco, jazz, R&B, house music, and other genres that were developed in the African-American community and which were quickly adopted and then increasingly controlled by white music industry executives, hip hop has remained largely controlled by African American artists, producers and executives.[180] In his book, Phonographies, Weheliye describes the political and cultural affiliations that hip hop music enables;[181] in contrast, Greg Tate states that the market-driven, commodity form of commercial hip hop has uprooted the genre from the celebration of African-American culture and the messages of protest that predominated in its early forms.[182] Tate states that the commodification and commercialization of hip hop culture undermines the dynamism of the genre for African-American communities. Traditional Hip Hop vs. Progressive Views[edit] Ever since the over-commercialization of Hip-Hop occurred between the late 1980s and the mid 1990s (at peak), traditional Hip Hop supporters have been in a feud with more progressive Hip Hop fans, claiming that they are uneducated towards what they are building, and that it they are not only building music that steps further and further away from Hip Hop, but causes ignorance and misconceptions between fans of more progressed Hip Hop, and traditional fans of the Hip Hop culture. These views have been narrowed heavily over the past couple of years and have experienced change of views from the traditional side, as well as acceptance towards evolution of Hip Hop. However, all of these beliefs seem to still be viewed under very specific sets of morals and ethics, such as that one does not take themselves away, or deny the true past of Hip-Hop (doing such would result in ignorance of the history of Hip Hop, and a completely disconnected community of fans who become uncertain as to what truly should be considered Hip Hop). Hip Hop is also known to be the music of the oppressed (African Americans, Puerto Ricans and women) and activist based. Fans of more progressed Hip Hop have received both acclaim due to innovation and futuristic views, as well as strong criticism due to lack of proper education and what is felt as a completely changed form of values, rather than evolved. Like most grassroots cultures, Hip Hop initially rejected the views and support of the mainstream industry, however eventually learned to be content due to the understanding of what opportunity and voice could be given, the Father of Hip Hop, DJ Kool Herc recently criticized the cancelled Netflix series The Get Down due to its lack of viewer response, by calling it 'The Let Down' and that legendary hip hop DJ Grandmaster Flash is Grandmaster Trash. Herc criticized the whole production for their misrepresentations of history and culture. However, he did state that he does support many stars in rap today such as Lil Wayne and Drake.[188] Herc, and many other old school hip hop legends such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Caz originally held views against mainstream rap.[189] However, recent interviews have shown to prove that even they have changed their ways to a certain extent.[190] However, rappers like KRS-One still feel a strong disapproval of the rap industry, especially through mainstream media;[191] in [b-boying], most supporters have began to slowly involve more industry sponsorship through events on the World BBoy Series and through the UDEF powered by Silverback Open.[192] Other b-boys have began to accept using the term breakdance, but ONLY if the term b-boying is too difficult to communicate to the general public. Regardless of such, b-boys and b-girls still exist to showing lack of support to jams and events that they feel represent the culture as a sport, form of entertainment and as well through capitalism. Battle Rap as an industry has also been strongly supported by old-school/ golden-era legends such as Herc, Kid Capri and KRS-One.[193] [194] Commercialization and stereotyping[edit] In 2012, hip hop and rap pioneer Chuck D, from the group Public Enemy criticized young hip hop artists from the 2010s, stating that they have taken a music genre with extensive roots in underground music and turned it into commercialized pop music.[195] In particular, seminal figures in the early underground, politically-motivated music, such as Ice T, have criticized current hip hop artists for being more concerned with image than substance.[196] Critics have stated that 2010s hip hop artists are contributing to cultural stereotyping of African-American culture and are poseur gangsters. Critics have also stated that hip hop music promotes drug use and violence.[197][198][199] Hip hop has been criticized by rock-centric critics who state that hip hop is not a true art form and who state that rock and roll music is more authentic, these critics are advocating a viewpoint called "rockism" which favors music written and performed by the individual artist (as seen in some famous singer-songwriter-led rock bands) and is against 2000s (decade)-era hip hop, which these critics argue give too large a role to record producers and digital sound recording. Hip hop is seen as being too violent and explicit, in comparison with rock, some contend that the criticisms have racial overtones, as these critics deny that hip hop is an art form and praising rock genres that prominently feature white males.[200] Marginalization of women[edit] The hip hop music genre and its subculture has been criticized for its gender bias and its negative impacts on women in African-American culture. Gangsta rap artists such as Eazy-E, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg have song lyrics that portray women as sex toys, and as people who are inferior to and dependent on men.[201] Between 1987 and 1993, over 400 hip hop songs had lyrics that described violence toward women including rape, assault, and murder,[202] these anti-women hip hop lyrics have led some male listeners to make physical threats toward women and they have created negative stereotypes of young urban African-American women.[203] Hip hop music promotes masculine hegemony and it depicts women as individuals who must rely on men,[202] the portrayal of women in hip hop lyrics and videos tends to be violent, degrading, and highly sexualized. There is a high frequency of songs with lyrics that are demeaning, or depict sexual violence or sexual assault towards women.[204] Videos often portray idealized female bodies and depict women as being the object of male pleasure.[205] Very few female artists have been recognized in hip hop, and the most popular, successful and influential artists, record producers and music executives are males. Women who are in rap groups, such as Lauryn Hill of the Fugees, tend to have less advantages and opportunities than male artists.[206] Female artists have received little to no recognition in hip hop. Only one female artist has won Best Rap album of the year at the Grammy Awards since the category was added in 1995;[207] in addition, African American female hip hop artists have been recognized even less in the industry.[208] Homophobia and transphobia[edit] Having its roots in reggae, disco, funk and soul music, hip hop has since expanded worldwide. Its expansion includes events like Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 releasing of Planet Rock, which tried to establish a more global harmony; in the 1980s, the British Slick Rick became the first international hit hip hop artist not native to America.[citation needed] From the 1980s onward, television made hip hop global, from Yo! MTV Raps to Public Enemy's world tour, hip hop spread to Latin America and became a mainstream culture. Hip hop has been cut, mixed and adapted as it the music spreads to new areas.[212][213][unreliable source?] Mary Blige performing. Black female artists such as Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and MC Lyte have made great strides since the hip hop industry first began. By producing music and an image that did not cater to the hyper-sexualized stereotypes of black women in hip hop, these women pioneered a revitalized and empowering image of black women in hip hop.[214] Though many hip hop artists have embraced the ideals that effectively disenfranchise black female artists, many others choose to employ forms of resistance that counteract these negative portrayals of women in hip hop and offer a different narrative, these artists seek to expand ways of traditional thinking through different ways of cultural expression. In this effort they hope to elicit a response to female hip hop artists not with a misogynist lens but with one that validates women's struggle.[215] See also[edit] 12. ^ "Elements \| Universal Zulu Nation". new.zulunation.com. Retrieved 2016-12-22. 18. ^ http://kriphopnation.com/the-son-of-hip-hop-ronald-savage-speaks-about-his-disability-discrimination/ 19. ^ http://nebula.wsimg.com/c76a8fcce85a67bf6f082216067fa335?AccessKeyId=675D7983D578D24BBD95&disposition=0&alloworigin=1 20. ^ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=REpSdgORU5A. Unknown parameter \|Title= ignored (\|title= suggested) (help); Missing or empty \|title= (help) 27. ^ "Afrika Bambaataa talks about the roots of Hip Hop". 33. ^ Campbell & Chang 2005, p. ??. 36. ^ http://www.acesandeighths.com/hip_hop.html 39. ^ History of Hip Hop—Written by Davey D 48. ^ a b c Chang 2007, p. 62. 51. ^ a b c d Diawara 1998, pp. 237–76 53. ^ Toop, p.146 56. ^ Flash, Grandmaster. "Grandmaster Flash: Interview". Prefixmag.com. Retrieved April 23, 2010. 57. ^ Rose 1994, pp. 53–55. 59. ^ Rose 1994, p. 192. 75. ^ Chang 2007, p. 65. 76. ^ a b c Chang 2007, p. 60. 77. ^ Michael Wanguhu. Hip-Hop Colony (documentary film). 78. ^ Wayne Marshall, "Nu Whirl Music, Blogged in Translation?" 87. ^ New York Times Archived May 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. 91. ^ Edwards (2009), How to Rap, p. 81. 93. ^ Edwards (2009), How to Rap, p. x. 96. ^ Edwards (2009), How to Rap, p. 63. 97. ^ Oxford English Dictionary 108. ^ a b Shapiro 2007. 117. ^ Dr. Dre interview (2012), retrieved December 1, 2015 145. ^ http://www.snopes.com/rumors/thecoup.asp 150. ^ "Bubbles and bling". The Economist. 154. ^ Kitwana 2005, pp. 28–29. 158. ^ a b Elam, 329. 161. ^ Steingo 2005. 164. ^ https://moodle.brandeis.edu/file.php/3404/pdfs/marshall-bling-bling.pdf/[permanent dead link] 183. ^ See for instance Rose 1994, pp. 39–40. 184. ^ Weheliye (2005), Phonographies, p. 145. 186. ^ Weheliye (205), Phonographies, p. 147. 187. ^ Gilroy (1993), The Black Atlantic, p. 109. 188. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHvGFOLDLhY 189. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=563eLRk3lts 190. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJzHaOeHmlU 191. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxBeYkmIu5E 192. ^ http://www.udeftour.org/ 193. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KF-irK1UQY 194. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCRUNp0AjoE 200. ^ Kelefa Sanneh, "The Rap Against Rockism." 2004. 203. ^ "Sign In". Retrieved October 11, 2015. Further reading[edit] External links[edit]
View a list of Spheres of Influence The following achievements are associated with this Sphere of Influence: Creating the first peer-reviewed journal specifically devoted to the economic, political and social policy systems of the Soviet Union The peer-reviewed academic Journal, Soviet Studies, was launched in 1949 to critical acclaim. First Minister of Scotland 1999-2000 Donald Dewar, a major player in Scottish and UK politics, campaigned for Scottish devolution and masterminded the Scottish Bill through Westminster, becoming the first holder of the office of First Minister of Scotland. Influencing policy towards the Soviet Union Alec Nove had a significant role in advising successive British Ambassadors to the Soviet Union and in changing British Government policy towards the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. Influencing social reform in the 1960s and 1970s Lasting contribution to Scottish and European politics Winnie Ewing was one of the most influential Scotswomen of her generation as a Scottish National Party politician who was a Member of Parliament, Member of the European Parliament and Member of the Scottish Parliament. Lasting significance in political philosophy and strategy Oliver Franks, described as 'one of the founders of the post-war world', was deeply involved in Britain's recovery after the Second World War and was a co-founder of NATO and chair of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. Leader of the Labour Party 1992-1994 As leader of the Labour Party, John Smith established the principle of "one member one vote" at party conferences and committed Labour to re-establishing a Scottish Parliament. Leading the Red Clydeside movement A revolutionary socialist of international standing, John Maclean was an honorary president of the first Congress of Soviets and appointed by Lenin as Bolshevik consul for Scotland. Leading the Red Clydeside movement One of the leading orators of his time, James Maxton was one of the prominent figures of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Glasgow and a key political figure during the Red Clydeside period. Legal philosophy Minister of Pensions and National Insurance 1964-1967 Prime minister 1905-1908 As Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman introduced legislation to ensure trade unions could not be liable for damages incurred during strike action and to provide free school meals for children. Prime minister 1922-1923 Secretary of State for Scotland 1936-1938 Walter Elliot had a life-long interest in medical science and was an authority on nutrition. A Conservative with a strong interest in social reform, he introduced free milk for school children. Secretary of State for Scotland 1941-1945 Secretary of State for Scotland 1964-1970, 1974-1976 Willie Ross was responsible for creating the Highlands and Islands Development Board.
5 Math Teacher Jokes Teacher: What is 5 plus 4? Mr. Bean: 9 Teacher: What is 4 plus 5? Counting The Boxes The math professor just accepted a new position at a university in another city and has to move. He and his wife pack all their belongings into cardboard boxes and have them shipped off to their new home. To sort out some family matters, the wife stays behind for a few more days while her husband has already left for their new residence. The boxes arrive when the wife still hasn't rejoined her husband. When they talk on the phone in the evening, she asks him to count the boxes, just to make sure the movers didn't loose any of them. "Thirty nine boxes altogether", says the prof on the phone. "That can't be", the wife exclaims. "The movers picked up forty boxes at our old place." The prof counts once again, but again his count only reaches 39. The next morning, the wife calls the moving company and complains. The company promises to check; a few hours later, someone calls back and reports that all forty boxes did arrive. In the evening, when the prof and his wife are on the phone again, she asks: "I don't understand it. When you count, you get 39, and when they do, they get 40. That's more than strange..." "Well", the prof says. "This is a cordless phone, so you can stay on the line and count with me: zero, one, two, three,..." A math professor is lecturing through a rather long and complicated proof. At one point he says, "It is obvious that equation 32 follows from 31." A student towards the back of the lecture hall asks, "How is that obvious?" The professor looks back at the blackboard, starts to speak, but then remains silent as a consternated look falls across his face. After ten minutes of silent pondering, he erases three blackboards and manically fills them with equations, derivations, and other expressions. After another half-hour of furious scribbling--eventually filling both sides of two more free-standing chalkboards--he exclaims, "AHA! It is obvious!" Trying To Impress A teacher was trying to impress her students with the fact that terms cannot be subtracted from one another unless they are like terms. "For example," she continued, "we cannot take five apples from six bananas." "Well," countered a pupil, "can't we take five apples from three trees?" Yes And No Teacher: "Are you good at math?" Pupil: "Yes and no." Teacher: "What do you mean?" Pupil: "Yes, I'm no good at math!" Facebook Comments Box
Maternal Nutrition and Breastfeeding Maternal Nutrition and Breastfeeding A mother's diet while breastfeeding Enough fluids Drink enough liquids. You may find you are thirsty during the first few days after delivery as your body sheds excess fluid accumulated during the pregnancy. After that, your body will balance out to a thirst based on your needs. But most mothers do notice they are thirstier when breastfeeding. Drink plenty of liquids, such as water or milk to quench your thirst. Liquids can be in any form, but limit your intake of any with caffeine. It is not necessary to force fluids beyond your thirst, but it is a good idea to drink something whenever you feel thirsty. Grab something to drink while breastfeeding or keep a glass or mug of liquid near your favorite breastfeeding spot. Eat a variety of healthy foods. The best guide as to how much to eat should be your own appetite. In general, mothers are hungrier during the first several months of breastfeeding. You should not ignore feelings of hunger when making milk for your baby. Grab a one-handed snack to eat while breastfeeding or keep wrapped snacks near your favorite breastfeeding spot. Enough calories Eat many different foods to get the calories, vitamins, and minerals you need to remain healthy. A minimum intake of at least 2,000 calories per day, with an optimal intake of 500 calories above a nonpregnant caloric intake of 1,800 to 2,200 calories, is recommended. (500 extra calories is the equivalent of a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk.) Foods from the following food categories offer the most nutritional value: • Meats • Beans • Vegetables (especially leafy green vegetables) • Fruit (not fruit drinks) • Breads, cereals, and grains • Milk, cheese, and eggs Other diet considerations while breastfeeding Spicy or "gassy" foods Vegetarian diets Vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian, diets have been the mainstay of many cultures for centuries, and the milk of vegetarians usually is as nutritionally appropriate as that of other mothers. Many vegetarians, including some lacto-ovo vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy products, may need supplementary vitamin D, iron, and calcium during lactation. In addition, the milk of women eating vegan or macrobiotic diets may be deficient in vitamin B12 and these mothers often need supplements of vitamin B12 so their breast milk will contain a sufficient amount. Coffee, tea, or sodas You may drink caffeinated beverages, but caffeine may make your baby jittery or irritable, or have difficulty sleeping. This is especially true if you drink too many or drink too much quickly. Drink mainly caffeine-free beverages when breastfeeding. If you enjoy caffeinated beverages, limit your intake to about 2, 8-ounce servings per day. It is best to limit drinking alcoholic beverages while breastfeeding or pumping for milk, although an occasional alcoholic beverage or two is OK. Alcohol passes into and back out of breast milk at about the same rate it enters and leaves your bloodstream. If you plan to have an alcoholic beverage, breastfeed beforehand and allow 2 hours before breastfeeding afterward. If you become intoxicated, pump and do not give that milk to the baby. You can resume breastfeeding once you are sober. Smoking or tobacco use Tobacco use often affects a woman's appetite and the taste of many foods. It is best to avoid tobacco use when breastfeeding or pumping. The benefits of your milk outweigh the risks of limited tobacco use, but it is important to know that nicotine and its byproducts pass into milk. Tobacco use may cause a baby to have a more rapid heartbeat, be restless, jittery, or have vomiting or diarrhea. Babies should not be exposed to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke increases the risk for many illnesses as well as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Smoking also has been known to increase a baby's reaction to caffeine. If you are a smoker, be especially careful about your caffeine intake. Health conditions affecting mother's diet A few maternal health conditions may have a direct or indirect effect on lactation. Talk with your healthcare provider if you are concerned that your health condition may affect breastfeeding. If you ever have any questions about nutrition or healthy dieting when breastfeeding, contact your healthcare provider a certified lactation consultant (IBCLC), or a dietitian who specializes in perinatal nutrition. Reviewed Date: 07-01-2016 Maternal Nutrition and Breastfeeding
The Day the Universe Changed By Gerald Hart,2014-11-04 20:09 6 views 0 In the highly acclaimed The Day the Universe Changed, James Burke examines eight periods in history when our view of the world shifted dramatically: In the eleventh century, when extraordinary discoveries were made by Spanish crusaders.In fourteenth-century Florence, where perspective in painting emerged.In the fifteenth century, when the advent of the of the printing press shook the foundations of an oral society.in the sixteenth century, when gunnery developments triggered the birth of modern science.In the early eighteenth century, when hot English summers brought on the Industrial Revolution.In the battlefield surgery stations of the French revolutionary armies, where people first became statistics.In the nineteenth century, when the discovery of dinosaur fossils led to the theory of e Published by Little, Brown on 1995/09/01 Copyright Copyright ? 1985 by London Writers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. First eBook Edition: November 2009 Hachette Book Group 237 Park Avenue New York, NY 10017 Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com ISBN: 978-0-316-09191-6 Contents Copyright Acknowledgements Preface 1 The Way We Are 2 In the Light of the Above 3 Point of View 4 Matter of Fact 5 Infinitely Reasonable 6 Credit Where It’s Due 7 What the Doctor Ordered 8 Fit to Rule 9 Making Waves 10 Worlds Without End Bibliography Picture Acknowledgements So many members of academic faculties have given invaluable assistance in the writing of thisbook that it is regrettably impossible for me to express my gratitude to them allindividually. I hope they will forgive me if I make mention in particular of Dr AlistairCrombie, of Trinity College, Oxford, who was especially generous with both his time and hisunequalled knowledge. I should like to thank Penny Fairfax, Bettina Lerner and Jay Ferguson for their meticulousassistance with research, as well as the television production team who worked so hard tomake possible the series of programmes associated with this book: Richard Reisz, John Lynch,Martin Hughes-Games, Katharine Everett, Maralyn Lister, Dorothy Prior, Brian Hall, Ian Stone,John Else, Sarah Carr and last but far from least, my hardworking and talented assistant,Veronica Thorne. Juliet Brightmore, Angela Dyer and Robert Updegraff put the book together, in tryingcircumstances, with the flair and quality for which they are justly known. My wife, incredibly, tolerated it all for over three years. London 1984 You are what you know. Fifteenth-century Europeans ‘knew’ that the sky was made of closedconcentric crystal spheres, rotating around a central earth and carrying the stars andplanets. That ‘knowledge’ structured everything they did and thought, because it told themthe truth. Then Galileo’s telescope changed the truth. As a result, a hundred years later everybody ‘knew’ that the universe was open and infinite,working like a giant clock. Architecture, music, literature, science, economics, art,politics - everything - changed, mirroring the new view created by the change in the knowledge. Today we live according to the latest version of how the universe functions. This view affectsour behaviour and thought, just as previous versions affected those who lived with them.Like the people of the past, we disregard phenomena which do not fit our view because they are‘wrong’ or outdated. Like our ancestors, we know the real truth. At any time in the past, people have held a view of the way the universe works which was forthem similarly definitive, whether it was based on myths or research. And at any time, thatview they held was sooner or later altered by changes in the body of knowledge. This book examines some of those moments of change, in order to show how the changes of viewalso generated major institutions or ways of thought which have since survived to becomebasic elements of modern life. Each chapter begins at the point where the view is about to shift: in the eleventh centurybefore the extraordinary discoveries by the Spanish Crusaders; in the Florentine economicboom of the fourteenth century before a new way of painting took Columbus to America; in thestrange memory-world that existed before printing changed the meaning of ‘fact/’; withsixteenth-century gunnery developments that triggered the birth of modern science; in theearly eighteenth century when hot English summers brought the Industrial Revolution; at thebattlefield surgery stations of the French revolutionary armies where people first becamestatistics; with the nineteenth-century discovery of dinosaur fossils that led to the theory ofevolution; with the electrical experiments of the 1820s which heralded the end of scientificcertainty. The last chapter examines the implications of this approach to knowledge and what it means. Ifall views at all times are valid, which is the right one? Is there any direction to thedevelopment of knowledge, or merely substitution of one form for another? If this is the case,can there be any permanent and unchanging values or standards? Has the course of learningabout the universe been, as science would claim, a logical and objective search for the truth,or is each step taken for reasons related only to the theories of the time? Do scientificcriteria change with changing social priorities? If they do, why is science accorded itsprivileged position? If all research is theory-laden, contextually determined, is knowledgemerely what we decide it should be? Is the universe what we discover it is, or what we say itis? If knowledge is an artefact, will we go on inventing it, endlessly? And if so, is thereno truth to seek? An Egyptian wall-painting from a tomb of the 18th dynasty (1567-1320 BC). The figure top rightis the surveyor, playing out his measuring string as he and other officials walk theboundaries of a field. The small figures are peasant workers. The Way We Are Somebody once observed to the eminent philosopher Wittgenstein how stupid medieval Europeansliving before the time of Copernicus must have been that they could have looked at the skyand thought that the sun was circling the earth. Surely a modicum of astronomical good sensewould have told them that the reverse was true. Wittgenstein is said to have replied: ‘Iagree. But I wonder what it would have looked like if the sun had been circling the earth.’ The point is that it would look exactly the same. When we observe nature we see what we want tosee, according to what we believe we know about it at the time. Nature is disordered,powerful and chaotic, and through fear of the chaos we impose system on it. We abhorcomplexity, and seek to simplify things whenever we can by whatever means we have at hand. Weneed to have an overall explanation of what the universe is and how it functions. In order to achieve this overall view we develop explanatory theories which will give structure tonatural phenomena: we classify nature into a coherent system which appears to do what we sayit does. This view of the universe permeates all aspects of our life. All communities in all places atall times manifest their own view of reality in what they do. The entire culture reflectsthe contemporary model of reality. We are what we know. And when the body of knowledge changes,so do we. Each change brings with it new attitudes and institutions created by new knowledge. These novelsystems then either oust or coexist with the structures and attitudes held prior to thechange. Our modern view is thus a mixture of present knowledge and past viewpoints which havestood the test of time and, for one reason or another, remain valuable in new circumstances. In looking at the historical circumstances which gave birth to these apparently anachronisticelements, which this book will attempt to do, it will be seen that at each stage ofknowledge, the general agreement of what the universe is supposed to be takes the form of ashorthand code which is shared by everyone. Just as speech needs grammar to make sense ofstrings of words, so consensual forms are used by a community to give meaning to socialinteraction. These forms primarily take the shape of rituals. Rituals are condensed forms of experience which convey meanings and values not necessarilyimmediately obvious or consciously understood by the people performing them. They relate tothose elements of the culture considered valuable enough to retain. Involvement in them impliesthat the participants are not maverick. They conform by acting out the ritual. Each participant has a specific role to play, and one that is not invented or elaborated but laid down priorto the event. A wedding, for instance, is a typically structured ritual act. In the Anglo-Saxon countries itrepresents a transition for the protagonists from one social state to another, from beingmembers of a family to taking on the responsibility of creating another. The wedding formalisesthe transition, the change of state, within clearly understood terms and limits, which arewitnessed by members of the public and officials of the community. Much of the ritual is apparently anachronistic: the bride wears white; the service, whetherreligious or civil, involves archaic language and concepts which include the role of thewoman as a chattel, to be given away. The event is infused with symbols. Flowers representfertility, the ring is both a sexual and a business token, implying union in both senses. Thebridesmaids intimate the state of virginity which the bride is about to leave. Bothparticipants sign the contract, implying equality before the law. The honeymoon was a time whenthe bride and groom were removed from the pressures of daily life in order to begin theirnew family. None of these elements may any longer be of direct value or meaning to the bride and groomtoday, but the fact that they are retained shows that marriage is still a socially importantritual. This indicates that the community considers formal and binding relationships betweenthe sexes a necessary part of the continuity and stability of the group. The ritual remainsfor that reason. Rituals which are performed widely and generally enough become institutionalised. Theseinstitutions are staffed by members of the society who are given authority andresponsibility for social acts which are considered vital to the continued security andoperation of the community. The institutions perform the function of social housekeepers,taking on the routine services which are necessary for the day to day functioning of thegroup. In some cases, such as that of government, the institution will confer real power on itsmembers to make and enforce decisions about the future behaviour of the whole society. In the case of the modern West, the primacy of money and possessions is indicated by the powerand the institutionalised forms of those organisations whose job it is to ensure thecontinuity of finance and commercial transactions. Banks safeguard the means of exchange byformalising the ways in which it can be moved around. Although electronic fund transfer now makes the physical presence of bills of exchange and letters of credit unnecessary, the newmedium still adheres to the system developed originally to handle the paper activity. Thesystem is still that of seventeenth-century banking, because our society considers it to besufficiently effective as a means of financial regulation to be retained almost unchanged. The law is probably the institution that changes least in any society. In its codes itenshrines and protects the basic identity of the community. In its power to punish, itdelineates the permitted forms of activity, those considered valuable, such as the act ofinnovation which is protected by patent legislation, and those which are considered to be sodetrimental to the safety of the group at large that the punishment for transgression may bedeath. The particularly anachronistic way in which legal proceedings are carried on today - indress, modes of speech, jury numbers, courtroom seating, and so on - indicates the valuesociety places on the institution. The visible evidence of a continuing legal traditionenhances the impression of a community living under a permanent and consistent rule of law. One of the principal aims of the institutions is that they free the majority of the group to doother things considered necessary for the welfare of all, such as the production of wealth,the maintenance of physical well-being and, above all, the inculcation of the community’s viewof life in the young. Humanity is unique in the length of time its offspring spend learningbefore they begin to take on adult responsibilities. Language gives us the unique ability topass on information from one generation to another in the form of education. The content of this kind of instruction indicates the social priorities of the group concerned,reveals in what terms it regards the world around it, and to a certain extent illustratesthe direction in which a community considers that its own development should go. The veryexistence of formal educational institutions indicates that the community has the means and thedesire to perpetuate a particular view, and shows whether that view is progressive andoptimistic or, for example, static and theoretical in nature. In our case, we use instruction to train young members of our society to ask questions.Education in the West consists of providing intellectual tools to be used for discovery. Weencourage novelty, and this attitude is reflected in our educational curricula. Apparentanachronisms such as the titles of qualifications and of the teachers, as well as theconferring of formal accoutrements on the graduating student, recall the medieval origins ofthe organisation and at the same time show the importance our society attaches to standardisededucation. It is this quality-control approach to the product of the educational system thatpermits us to set up and encourage groups or organisations peculiar to modern Western culture,whose purpose is to bring change. In the main these lake the form of research and developmentsubdivisions of industrial or university systems. Their members are, in a way, the modernequivalent of the hunters and food-gatherers of early tribes. In the West the most unusual characteristic of their existence is the extent to which they areautonomous. As a social sub-unit they are, of course, constrained by the same generalregulations and limitations placed on all its members by society. However, thanks to theWestern view of knowledge and its application, these change-makers usually work in highlyspecialised areas, isolated from the mainstream of social interaction by the esoteric natureof their activity, and above all by language. Their autonomy depends upon the success of theirproduct in the market-place. Today, the products are technological and scientific in nature,and predominantly oriented towards service and information systems, an indication that oursociety has moved beyond the stage of concentration on heavy industrial production. We nowhave the tools with which to reorganise production, and with it life-styles, along moreautonomous, less rigid but socially fragmented lines. The most significant point about these sources of modern technology in the West is that theyare entirely directed towards the production of the means of constant change. Whereas othersocieties in the past adopted the same social structures as we do in order to ensure theirstability, and others in the contemporary world still do so, we use those structures to alterour society unceasingly. This extraordinary, dynamic way of life is the product of a particular, rational way of thoughtthat had its origins in the eastern Mediterranean nearly three thousand years ago. In about 1000 BC mainland Greeks started to emigrate eastwards, to Ionia, and settled on theislands and the Aegean coastline of Asia Minor. The new arrivals were pioneers, ready toadapt to whatever circumstances they encountered and to make use of anything that might maketheir existence easier. They were pragmatic people with a hard-headed, practical view of life. The conditions they found in Ionia were difficult. For the most part they founded their smallwalled towns on narrow coastal strips of indifferent land, and supported themselves with dryfarming capable of producing only some olives and a little wine. Backed by inhospitablemountain ranges that blocked all exits to the hinterland, the Ionians turned to the sea forsurvival. They began to travel all over the eastern Mediterranean, and discovered almostimmediately that they were in close proximity to two great empires, the Babylonian and theEgyptian. Both these ancient river-valley cultures had been the first, almost simultaneous examples ofurban civilisation. Their societies were theocratic, ruled by kings with magical powers.There had been little scientific or technological novelty, due to the extreme regularity oftheir physical environment and the rigidity of their social structures, which were based on theneed to build and maintain vast irrigation systems. The civilised world, for both theEgyptians and the Babylonians, was encompassed by their own frontiers. All that needed to beknown related to their immediate practical needs. Babylonian mathematics and astronomy wererestricted subjects whose study was permitted only to the priesthood. Egyptian geometry servedexclusively to build pyramids and measure the area of inundated land or the volume of waterreservoirs. Both cultures developed mythical explanations for Creation which, they felt, had happened notlong before each of them had come into existence. With gods responsible for all aspects ofthe world and with minimal science and technology developed for practical necessities, theirsimple cosmology was complete. The environment made no demands on them which they were notable to meet. Not so the Ionians. The uneven nature of their physical environment, with marginal agriculturalproductivity, little room for landward expansion, hostile neighbours, and the need totrade, made the colonial Greeks dynamic in outlook. Without theocratic traditions to hold them back they rejected monarchies at an early stage, opting for republican city-states in which arelatively small number of slave-owners governed by mutual consent. A ninth-century BC clay tablet from Babylonia shows the Sun God and his servants. The magicsymbols of divination are present: the sun symbol rests on the stool in front of the god,and in the sky under his canopy are the moon, the sun and Venus. The temple rests on theheavenly ocean, the source of life. It may have been because of their economic circumstances that the Ionians took a radically newview of the world. Whereas Babylonian astronomy had aided priests to make magic predictions,it now served the Ionians as an aid to maritime navigation. The major advance represented bythe use of the Little Bear as an accurate positional aid is attributed to one of the earlyIonians, Thales of Miletus, who flourished at the end of the sixth century BC. Little is knownof him, none of it contemporary. He almost certainly visited Egypt and may have beeninstrumental in the introduction of Egyptian geometry to Ionia. He is also reputed to havebeen able to use Babylonian astronomical techniques to predict eclipses. Thales and the two generations of students that followed him are credited with the invention ofphilosophy. These Ionians began, ahead of all others, to ask fundamental questions about howthe universe worked. Where the older cultures had been content to refer to custom, edict,revelation and priestly authority, Thales and the others looked to naturalistic explanationsfor the origin of the world and everything in it. They began to find ways of exploring nature,in order to explain and control it, the better to ensure their survival. By the time of Thales, the Ionians, due in part to their invention of gold and silver coin,were trading all over the eastern Mediterranean, dealing in a variety of commodities fromcorn to millstones, silk, copper, gum, salt. They had colonies all along the shores of theBlack Sea and were keen explorers, ranging north to the Russian steppes, south to Nubia, andwest to the Atlantic, and producing the first maps known to the West to aid them. The Ionians are credited with the invention of assaying techniques and thence the first use ofstandard precious metal coins as currency, such as this stater. It shows a man carrying aspear and a bow. The Ionian interest in practical answers to questions about the world led to the first, crudeattempts to find mechanisms, rather than gods, responsible for natural phenomena. Thalesthought that the material basic to all existence was water, whose presence was evidentlyessential to life. He and his students examined beaches, clay deposits, phosphorescence andmagnetism. They studied evaporation and condensation, as well as the behaviour of the windsand the changes in temperature throughout the year, from which they deduced the dates of theseasons. One of Thales’ pupils, Anaximander, observed that nature was composed of opposites: hot andcold, wet and dry, light and heavy, life and death, and so on. He also stated thateverything was made up of differing amounts and combinations of four elements: earth, water,air and fire. Anaximenes, another student, observed the behaviour of air, as it condensed tomake water which froze as ice and then evaporated as air. These simple analyses of phenomena and the observation of the presence of opposites combinedwith the political and economic structure of the Ionian society to produce the dominantintellectual structure in Western civilisation. In their small frontier cities all decisionswere taken publicly and after debate. Their first experiences in trading may have given them atendency to argue their way to compromise. Their circumstances led them to adapt particulartechniques for more general use. The Ionians took the geometry developed by the Egyptians for building their pyramids and madeit a tool with many applications. Thales himself is said to have proved that a circle isbisected by its diameter, that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal and that opposing angles of intersecting lines are equal. Be that as it may, the Ionians were soon ableto use geometry to work out, for instance, the distance from the coast of a ship at sea.Geometry became the basic instrument for measuring all things. All natural phenomena includinglight and sound, as well as those of astronomy, existed and could be measured in exclusivelygeometrical space. Geometry rendered the cosmos accessible to examination according to a common, standard,quantitative scale. Together with the concept of pairs of opposites, geometry was to becomethe foundation for a rational system of philosophy that would underpin Western culture forthousands of years. The systems of Plato and Aristotle, the apotheosis of Greek thought at theend of the fourth century BC, were based on the use of opposites in argument and the self-evident nature of geometric forms. Rational discussion followed a new logical technique, the syllogism, developed by Aristotle,which provided an intellectual structure for the reconciliation of opposing views. The self-evident axioms of geometry, such as the basic properties of a straight line or the intersectionof two such lines, could lead via deduction to the development of more complex theorems.When this technique was applied to rational thought it enhanced the scope of intellectualspeculation. In this way Aristotle produced a system of thought that would guide men from the limitedobservations of personal experience to more general truths about nature. Plato examinedthe difference between the untrustworthy and changing world of the senses and that of thepermanent truths which were only to be found through rational thought. The unchangingelements of geometry were the measures of this ideal, permanent thought-world with which thetransitory world of everyday existence could be identified, and against which it might beassessed. This union of logic with geometry laid the foundations of the Western way of life. The Parthenon. The perfect physical manifestation of the union of logic and geometry is to befound in Greek architecture. It represents the desire for balance and symmetry basic toWestern rational thought. This book examines what happened at particular points in history when man applied such arational approach to nature. It looks at the ways in which a questioning system of thought Report this document For any questions or suggestions please email
9 Principles and 12 Values At the origin of America, our Founding Fathers built this country on 28 powerful principles. These principles were adopted from cultures all over the world and from centuries of great thinkers. We have distilled the original 28 down to the 9 basic principles. If you believe in at least seven of them, then we have something in common. 9 Principles 1. America Is Good. 12 Values 1. Honesty 2. Reverence 3. Hope 4. Thrift 5. Humility 6. Charity 7. Sincerity 8. Moderation 9. Hard Work 10. Courage 11. Personal Responsibility 12. Gratitude These are the 9 Principles and the 12 Values (The 9/12) that we strive to uphold every day as we work to return to the basics outlined by our Founding Fathers in The U.S. Constitution.
Pakistan grows finest quality rice but at low average yield By Dr. S.M. ALAM July 11 - 17, 2005 Rice is the second most important crop at the global level, as it is used as a staple food in most countries of the world and will continue to be for the foreseeable feature. About 80 per cent of the crop is currently grown in Asia which is inhibited by more than 60 per cent of the world population who consume rice as their main item of diet. In the next coming 40 years, the world will require 70 per cent more rice grain than that it requires today. According to conservative estimates, about 800 million tons of rice will have to be grown with considerate reduction in the input of agrochemical under sustainable conditions. Rice is the most diverse crop grown in the agricultural fields. About 12,000 varieties are grown across the world in an extensive range of climatic, soil, water and environmental conditions. Rice is grown as far north as Czeck Republic and Manchuria and as far south as Uruguay and New South Wales in Australia. China is the main rice producing country in the world followed by India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. However, yield per hectare is the highest at 6.5 tons in Japan followed by 5.1 tons per hectare in China. All over the world it is grown over an area of 158.87 million hectares, giving 595.74 million tons of paddy in the current year. Rice is cultivated through out the world and the major countries in Asia are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kampuchea, North and South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam etc. European countries are: Albania, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain etc. In Africa the major rice growing countries include: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameron, Chad, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe. In the Pacific region, rice is cultivated in Australia, Fiji, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island etc. The major rice growing countries in North Central America are: Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Port Reecho, Trinidad Tobago and USA etc. Besides, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guinea, Ghana, Prague , Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela, etc. are the rice growing countries in South America . In terms of average annual consumption of rice, Vietnam is at the top with the consumption of 250 kg of rice per person followed by Thailand with 215 kg per person. Though rice is the second most important staple food in Pakistan, its per capita consumption is only about 21 kg per person . China is the number one rice producer (145 million tons) followed by India with 98 million tons. On the other hand, Thailand is the leading rice exporter with more than 5 million tons a year. Rice is the largest Kharif summer crop as well as an important food and cash crop of Pakistan, which occupies nearly 10 per cent of the country's cropped areas. Rice production is estimated at 5.1 million ton per annum, which accounts for 17 per cent of the total production of the food grains in the country. The share of rice as the value added major crop stands at around 15 per cent. During 2003-2004, Pakistan exported nearly 2.5 million tons of rice and earned about $ 6 billion in foreign exchange. Pakistan enjoys a monopoly in the export of world's famous fine aromatic Basmati variety. It is a wonderful aromatic rice which used to be the delight of the Aryans some thousand year ago and they named it as 'fragrance of virgin girl' (Basmati). Characterized by extra large superfine slender grains, Basmati possesses pleasant and exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature, and extra elongation with a least bread wise and swelling on cooking. In order to remain in the international market, we have to further improve the quality as well as yield of Basmati varieties. Rice plays a pivotal agro-based role and occupies a conspicuous position in agricultural economy of Pakistan. Rice, therefore, occupies a very significant position in the national economy. Pakistan is among the four major rice exporting countries of the world, but producing only 5.1 million tons compared to 21.4, 16.8 and 88.8 million tons by Vietnam, Thailand and India, respectively, which are the other three exporters. Demand of rice, the largest staple food, is increasing with the increasing population of the world. It is expected that consumption of rice in the world will increase from 560 million tons in 1995 to 786 million tons by 2020 for meeting the requirements of the population explosion. The government has adopted a number of policy measures to promote larger production of all types of rice, particularly Basmati variety. Punjab is the biggest producer of rice in the country and contributes 48 per cent to national production followed by Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP which contribute 42, 8 and 3 percent, respectively. Out of total 2.4 million hectares, about 62 per cent of rice area mostly lies in upper Punjab. Some of the important varieties grown in the country are Super Basmati, Basmati-385, Basmati-2000, Shaheen Basmati, Shua-92, Shadab, Niab-IRRI-9. KS-282 etc. All rice is irrigated and transplanted. Despite the prime position of rice in the national economy and world market, the average yield in Pakistan is discouragingly low being only 2.7 and 1.6 tons per hector as against 3.92, 2.98, 6.58, 6.34 and 8.91 tons per hectare in India, USA, China and Egypt, respectively. There is a vigorous need to increase the yield of all varieties of rice in the country. Adoption of appropriate production technology should be taken, which include the selection of high yielding varieties, proper time of cultivation, proper land preparation, time of nursery sowing, and transplanting of crop, optimum plant population, proper dose of fertilizers, insect pest control, proper irrigation, weed control and post harvest operation. Farmers should be provided all the necessary agricultural inputs well in time in order to boost up the production of rice in the country. Such management will definitely rise the rice production as well as export income.
Intro to Bitcoin Warning: The following article is my own opinion, limited by the understanding gained from my research, and will reflect my own bias. It is written with the intention of being informative and useful, but is subject to all forms of human error. As with all things, it should at most be considered one source of information among many. Do not base your opinions solely on what one guy on the Internet said on the subject. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions. Did you read my warning? OK, good. Continue reading then. If you're reading this article, there is a good chance that you are wanting to learn about Bitcoin because it's something that you've heard about but know little or nothing about. You may have read about it elsewhere before coming across this article but found the information to be either insufficient of too technical. What is Bitcoin? Naturally, what is Bitcoin is the first and most obvious question to answer, so let's start with that. Knowing what Bitcoin is will be a good starting point, but also an important bit of information to evaluate its merits against other things in the same category. Bitcoin is both a currency and a system for exchanging that currency. As a currency, BTC can be exchanged for goods and services where accepted, just like any other currency. As a system for exchanging BTC, it offers a convenient and secure way of handling transactions. Because it plays both of these roles, a comparison against just the dollar or just an online payment service would be incomplete. The currency is, however, inseparable from the system itself and not something I'm going to talk much about here. Bitcoin does have a few terms often used when it is being discussed by those who are familiar with it. While knowing what these means is not essential to using Bitcoin, any introduction to Bitcoin would be incomplete without defining them. • Exchange: One of many services which trade Bitcoin for other forms of currency. Some even have ATMs. • Block chain: All transactions using Bitcoin are stored in a public ledger. This ledger is used to determine how much one person has as well as to avoid re-spending. This ledger must be public because in order to spend money, you must first prove that you have enough to cover the transaction by referencing one or more transactions where you were on the receiving end whose sum is at least equal to the amount you are trying to spend. You send the recipient the entire sum of any transactions sufficient to cover the amount you are trying to spend, and the change is automatically sent back to you. The block chain is something used to validate this ledger. • Block: Transactions over Bitcoin are not immediately available for spending. There is a period of about ten minutes where transactions are queued and await approval. The reason for this is a complicated solution to the problem of determining the order in which transactions occurred (which is something of particular importance in cases of insufficient funds since negative balances are not allowed in Bitcoin). Since there is no central authority behind Bitcoin, all transactions are approved though public computers, and a public computer's record is considered valid by solving a very complicated and unique formula which takes, on average, ten minutes to solve. This is easily the most difficult to understand part of the Bitcoin system. It is an inefficient but ultimately necessary step to validate transactions. The block chain is the entire history of all blocks of transactions. • Mining: When the next block is ready to be added to the block chain, there is a competition to solve the formula for it. To encourage competition, a reward is offered to the first computer to solve this formula. There may or may not be a transaction fee for any given transaction, so Bitcoin rewards an additional sum on top of any transaction fees. This is how new BTC are created up until the maximum amount (21 million) is in circulation. • Mining Pools: Because of the competition and incredible amount of computing power involved in trying to solve the next block in the block chain, groups called mining pools have formed to share resources as well as rewards. Security is one of the most often highlighted features of Bitcoin, and for good reason. One of the core principles in the design of Bitcoin is that it should require no trust. Unlike credit cards and bank accounts, there is zero risk of fraudulent charges outside of a neglectful user or not paying attention to how much you are being charged. Bitcoin is classified as a cryptocurrency, which means that it is able to handle transactions without giving away information which could be used for further charges. It does this using something call asymmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys (private and public) in order to sign and/or encrypt things. As with all forms of encryption, there is a lot of complicated math going on behind the scenes, but the important things to know is that it allows for things to be encrypted using a public key which can only be decrypted by the private key and it allows for things to be digitally signed by the private key which can be verified against the public key. My public address for receiving payments over Bitcoin via a QR code Also available as a link Funds may also be sent over NFC on supported devices That is one built-in benefits of Bitcoin; your receiving address is a public key, and there is no harm in anybody and everybody having this. When you are sending over Bitcoin, you are still not releasing sensitive information because transactions sent are only signed by your private key, but do not include any information which could be used for fraudulent charges. The only thing which needs to be kept private is your private key and any backups you might keep. If you use an online wallet (not something I recommend, but still an option), you really don't even need to worry about that (but you do have to worry about both the honesty and security of the wallet service itself). Because there is no bank or central authority behind Bitcoin, this leaves you as the user with the decision of how to store your BTC, and each has its own benefits as well as drawbacks. • Use an online wallet service • Use a wallet app on your phone and computer • Transfer your BTC to a physical medium Online wallets can be a good option if you are concerned with losing your private key (problems with your phone or computer could case you to lose all of your BTC, and they are nearly impossible to recover). They also have what you might consider the advantage of handling security concerns for you, but the history of Bitcoin has proven them to be unsafe because they make very tempting targets. If you know how to keep your computer secure and keep backups of your wallet, a local app is considered preferable. If you do keep your BTC stored on one of your devices using an app, you will be at risk to your wallet being compromised by malware or lost to a wide variety of computer problems, including data corruption. Malware will be a security issue for everything that takes place on a computer, however, since passwords to any form of online banking or wallet can be stolen though keyloggers. Physical media are the one option which I do not know about through experience, but I understand it to involve creating a wallet and transferring BTC to it, and then printing out the private key to that wallet on a piece of paper (there are other options as well). Because the private key is only stored on that, it is unreachable without having that physical object. This means that it may be physically damaged, lost, or stolen. When you want to take the BTC out of storage, you import the private key and have access to all of the BTC which it contains. We are not used to having these decisions to make, and many would find this choice to be a deterrent to using Bitcoin. Others, such as myself, will find this to be one of the benefits. If you feel uneasy with this choice, your best bet would probably be to use one of the many online wallets. While I have mentioned some security concerns to them, the same risks are involved in any online banking site, and many of the online Bitcoin wallets offer better security features than most banking site. No computer is immune, no security is perfect, and anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or trying to sell something. Because of the benefits of asymmetric encryption as mentioned above as well as the fact that transactions using Bitcoin are carried out as requests for funds which you must approve instead of a forced transaction, these requests can take on many forms. Though not all would make much sense, it would be possible to request payments over anything capable of presenting a Bitcoin link, which makes paying though Bitcoin extremely easy. When generating QR codes or links (as seen above) requesting payments, you may also include the requested amount, custom labels, as well as messages to these requests. If you found an ice cream stand that accepted Bitcoin, when they charge you for the ice cream they would create a QR code which you would scan with your phone. Your Bitcoin app would automatically enter whatever information was included in the request, and you would only have to approve the transaction. If your cell phone or electric company accepts Bitcoin for payments, they could send you a link in an email. When you click on this link, your Bitcoin app would open, and the rest would be the same as with the ice cream. Other Advantages • Setting up a new wallet can be done without hassle - no forms necessary. Online wallets might require signing up or even proof of identity, but this does not need to be required for local apps. • No distinction for merchant accounts. The wallet I created on my phone is capable of accepting payments in any amount from anywhere in the world. Integration in eCommerce sites can be as easy as generating QR codes or payment links for a Bitcoin app. There are, however, third-party services for merchants. • Transaction fees are very low, if they exist at all. Because transactions are handled by mining, which currently has its own rewards, transaction fees are not always required and are very low when they are. • Because Bitcoin itself is decentralized and open source, developers are free to innovate when creating apps. This means that users can pick whichever app best fits what they want. This also means that users should be careful to not install a Bitcoin app that will just steal from them. Criticisms & Concerns Despite its advantages over other payment systems, Bitcoin is not perfect. It is still vulnerable to our own gullibility as well as anything which could affect the device being used. Also, like all code ever written, vulnerabilities in Bitcoin itself will be found. It is my opinion that all of these vulnerabilities are a significant improvement over existing services, but any decision made should be as well informed as possible, and that must include opinions which are negative. Bitcoins are not real money/have nothing backing them There is certainly some truth to this criticism, but isn't this true of everything (I would even say gold)? The only reason anything has value is because people agree that it is worth something. Do you know what the money in most of our (physical) wallets is backed by? Debt! The US dollar is created by the government borrowing money from the Federal Reserve which, despite having "federal" in its name, is privately owned and operated. Bitcoin, on the other hand, at least has additional value for being innovative. Aside from the value we perceive it to have, it is also valuable because of the payment system behind it. Bitcoin prices are unstable Like all investments, you have to accept that you might lose instead of gain money. Because it is fairly new (a few years old now, but it was unheard of until fairly recently), market prices are fluctuating quite a bit. These prices are expected to stabilize with maturity, but if your interest in using Bitcoin is profiting from investing in it, it is a risky investment. As with many investments, however, its value is dependant on demand, and it will be worth more if more people begin to use it. Nobody accepts Bitcoin A valid argument, though many large online retailers are starting to accept it. While this is a limitation to its usefulness as an alternative currency, the same would have been true when credit cards were first introduced. It would be foolish to promise the same outcome (becoming a widely accepted and perhaps even the preferred method of payment), it is reasonable to expect that it will be accepted more places if consumers demand it. Bitcoin can be used illegally That's not really a valid issue if you think about it. Bartering hand-knitted sweaters could be used to fund illegal activities. Also, as you will see in the next issue with Bitcoin, it is extremely difficult to remain anonymous. Because it is a cryptocurrency, all transactions using Bitcoin leave a fingerprint. Bitcoin is not anonymous It can be used to remain anonymous, but that can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Since all transactions contain the sending and receiving address as well as a reference to a transaction in which you received whatever BTC are being used to cover the payment, any transaction which is not perfectly anonymous could possibly be used to identify you, whether that transaction occurred before or after yours. If anywhere in the history of references to one of your transactions, either before or after you, provided information which identifies them, it will be possible to identify you. This does not mean that tracing a transaction back to you would be easy though. You can use Tor to hide your IP address, and the further you are from a transaction containing personally identifiable information (such as buying/selling at an exchange) the safer you are. Bitcoin Core contains the Heartbleed bug Congrats to you if you knew this. Bitcoin Core (a popular Desktop Bitcoin app) uses an outdated version of OpenSSL (1.0.1e) which was released prior to the discovery and patch for the Heartbleed bug. If you aren't familiar with Heartbleed, it could be explained by saying that OpenSSL (the most popular method of encryption in the world) contained a bug in its coding which allowed an attacker to get random information from a computer. While this is certainly a major security concern, I do not expect that it would be a problem if you are behind a firewall. Since it only allows an attacker to read random information and the block chain is public to begin with, your only concern would be on your own device. Unless Bitcoin Core is exposed on your network, your private key should be safe. Any Bitcoin app using OpenSSL 1.0.2 or greater will have this fixed. Bitcoin Core requires downloading the entire block chain Yep, its true. This can be a real limitation to computers with limited resources or disk space because the block chain is well over 20 gigabytes! Not all apps require downloading the block chain though. You may have other options, and (as far as I know), no mobile apps have this requirement. There are many pros and cons to using Bitcoin. Despite it not being commonly accepted and the security precautions required to use it safely, I consider it to be overall much better as a form of payment than anything else (perhaps with the exception of competing cryptocurrencies). While I do not expect it do replace any established currency anytime soon, I think that it provides an excellent alternative to all of the existing payment methods. I believe that, if it were to replace credit cards, fraudulent charges would nearly cease to exist. I also think that if and when prices stabilize, it would be useful for securely storing funds for a rainy day.
Memoirs of a Geisha: What they got wrong, and what they got right As with most book adaptations the film is not an exact replica of the novel, but these aren’t the inaccuracies we are looking for today. The novel Memoirs of a Geisha was fictional, although its autobiographical tone confused some readers into believing Sayuri was a real woman, so I will be look at the elements of the film which are accurate/inaccurate, to real events. What they got wrong: Although great lengths were taken to make the exquisite scenery convincing to Kyoto in the 1930s-40s, the hairstyles of the geisha in the show were not given the same attention. 1. As maiko (apprentice geisha), Pumpkin and Sayuri should have worn the same hairstyle, the Ware-shinobu is the first style a maiko wears. It is more complex, and much rounder at the face than seen in the film. When the girls are seen going to school neither of them wear this hairstyle. When Pumpkin starts to attend the tea houses her hairstyle is close, but not quite. 2. Most of the female characters actually never wear more than a simple bun, with their hair scraped back instead of being shaped at the sides. These are not geisha hairstyles, and would never be worn by a geiko (full fledged geisha) like Mameha when working. Hatsumomo comes close to a true geisha style, but her more elaborate hair is normally reserved for specific occasions denoted by seasonal festivals. In fact geisha are ruled by the seasons, and festivals.What kimono they wear, the style of their hair, the ornaments they can wear, the colours they wear, are all dictated by the time of year. This means differences between individuals are very subtle. Something the costume designers might have felt would be lost on a Western audience. Sayuri, Mameha and Hatsumomo all have distinctly different hairstyles and make up in this scene, but these differences would be more subtle among real geisha. Three real life, modern day geiko. Notice how they all have the same hairstyle and colour of kimono. Geiko wear more muted tones than maiko and wear less elaborate hair ornaments. Their make-up is far more dramatic than that used in the film. 3. In one scene we see Hatsumomo clearly wearing a cap for her wig to go on. While this is accurate, as geiko do tend to wear wigs to make things easier, they normally have their hair cut short to facilitate the aforementioned wig, but Hatsumomo clearly has long hair in other scenes. 4. One final hair related bug bear is the way the hairstyles in the film appear to be taken down and put up on a daily basis. The only character for who this could be true is Hatsumomo, as she wears a wig so she can do her hair every day. A geisha’s hairstyle takes a long time to create, with much construction, padding, and teasing required. The hair must also be combed with wax to preserve it for several days, as the hairstyle is only changed once a week. At this point the style is removed, the hair washed, then styled again. In the film we see Sayuri struggling to sleep on a taka-makura (tall pillow). These were used for the express purpose of preserving the hairstyle for a whole week. A maiko’s hair was constantly under tension, which left most with a bald patch on top of their head by the time they became geiko. No sign of this on Mameha or Hatsumomo. Make up The make up is toned down a lot in the film, instead of bright white faces the ladies often only have paled faces, though Mameha seems to wear no make up at all. This just wouldn’t happen when geisha are working and entertaining, its part of being a geisha that you wear it. I imagine this choice was made to make the scenes easier to light. Bright white face paint will reflect any colour that shines on it and potentially could have looked garish and dreadful, so I can understand why they tried to avoid it. Hatsumomo’s Boyfriend As we see in the film geisha are not permitted to have boyfriends or really any relationship with a man outside of work. No doubt some geisha tried to push the limits, but they were probably more subtle than inviting the man to her okiya (geisha house). Having been caught I would think Hatsumomo would have been kicked out immediately, but she isn’t. However she is the only source of income for the okiya at the time, which raises the question why she would be the only earner in there. Also geiko often go solo and leave their okiya to set up for themselves, just like Mameha. Hatsumomo presumably has stayed only because she thinks she is going to inherit the okiya from mother. Hatsumomo is punished harshly when Mother finds out she had a man in the okiya, but she was lucky to be permitted to stay. Whereas maiko typically rely on their youth and beauty to compensate for their underdeveloped skills, the geiko like Mameha and Hatsumomo are valued for their talents and good company rather than looks. This means that age and good looks are not altogether crucial for a true geisha to be successful. On the other hand learning these skills takes years to master, and at the time in which the film is set maiko would debut as young as ten years old. When parties went on late into the night some young girls would fall asleep and have to be carried home by the male attendants that work with the geisha. Although it shows the girls learning from a young age in the film, it is not until they are adults that they attend any parties. What They Got Right: Sayuri’s humble beginnings Unfortunately it is true that girls from the countryside were often given, and in fact essentially sold to geisha houses. There would be scouts in the countryside who would offer parents money for their daughters. These families would be poor, struggling to feed themselves and their children, no doubt they thought their daughters would fare better in the cities. In Sayuri’s case her father was a fisherman, his wife had died and he was unwell himself. Knowing he was not long for this world he sought the only way possible he could to provide for his girls. In the film, Sayuri’s sister is sent to a brothel, the okiya did not accept her, which is suggested is due to her character, or because she is less attractive. This isn’t likely to have been an actual consideration as geisha don’t rely solely on being pretty. However in the book it is intimated that she lost her virginity to a boy in the village, and as the girls were checked before they were sold, she was not accepted for this reason, which is more realistic. Sayuri and her sister Satsu are taken to Kyoto from their coastal village home The reason the okiyas wanted girls who were virgins was in part so they could make their money back by selling their virginity to the highest bidder. At this time mizuage, the selling of a maiko’s virginity, was common practice, and acted as an initiation from maiko to geiko. Of course this was done as tastefully as possible, as shown in the film it wasn’t a case of auctioning a girl to a crowded room, those who had been invited to make an offer did so discreetly, directly to the okiya. The Clients During the period before the second world war banquets were part of doing business in Japan, and nothing said you were in business better than having a phalanx of geisha attend your party. They were expensive, especially the most popular, so there was no better way to show off to your guests. This meant geisha were always rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful such as the Chairman, Nobu, and the Baron. These men might well present their favourites with expensive gifts, especially if they became their danna. Being a danna meant they would pay all a geisha’s expenses, and would expect to spend time in private with that geisha as well as seeing them during banquets and parties. Nobu presents Sayuri with a gift. The War When America joined WWII after Pearl Harbour Japan had to take drastic actions to have any chance of winning. Just as we see in the film the okiya’s were closed, the geisha moved out. Most of them were taken to work in factories in Osaka (this is where Nobu states his and the Chairman’s factory is). Osaka was an industrial city at the time, so it was bombed heavily by the Americans. Nobu tells Sayuri when he visits her after the surrender, his factory is no longer anything but rubble. What he didn’t say was that many of Kyoto’s geisha had died when factories like his were turned to rubble. This is why Sayuri says that she owes Nobu her life when he claims he should have taken better care of her. He had made sure she was taken to the countryside, not the cities, so although life had been hard she was in no real danger. The American Occupation In 1945 Japan was on its knees, the country surrendered to America who then occupied it until 1952. As we see in the film the Kyoto Sayuri returns to is very different to the one she left. A prostitution service was set up to entertain the American soldiers and protect civilian women from rape. We see Pumpkin taking on this new role with apparent relish, perhaps because she had never been a particularly successful geisha. To the American soldiers who didn’t have the cultural understanding to fully appreciate that geisha were artists, combined with the fact that prostitutes were pretending to be geisha because the soldiers didn’t know the difference, the Americans took home a cheapened concept of geisha from which we have terms like geisha girl, which hold connotations of prostitution. Like so many things in Kyoto, Pumpkin has changed since the American occupation Overall the film is pretty accurate both visually and in terms of content. The inaccuracies that do exist are likely to have been done for practical reasons instead of ignorance, as the show seems too well researched in other aspects to have made such slip ups by accident. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Andragogy-Benefits and Criticisms For my first blog post in EdTech 522, I want to reflect on my understanding of andragogy as it applies to online teaching and learning while also considering its criticisms. I feel these two topics will help me in my efforts to incorporate elements of online learning into the more traditional environment in which I teach. Taylor and Kroth define andragogy as “the art and science of teaching/leading adults” (Knowles, 1980, p.43 as quoted in 2009). Because it is believed by some that adults learn differently than children, it may be important to differentiate instruction. Of course, this immediately calls into questions assumptions made when considering adult and child learning and I will discuss this later in this post. For now, I will explain Knowlesian assumptions of andragogy and how I believe they apply to online learning. Because Knowles (and others) believed that learning processes are different between adults and children, he contended that teaching should be different. In order to understand this, it is important to look at Knowles six assumptions about how adults learn. The first assumption deals with an adult’s self-concept. Because adults are mostly capable of determining their own path in life, they are less interested in being told what is or is not appropriate. Second, adults enter learning environments with a considerable amount of life experience. The ability to draw on this experience holds enormous opportunity for promoting learning. Third, the situations in which adults finds themselves can promote a readiness to learn. Because of their social role, adult learners understand how enhancing their knowledge will help them perform better within the culture or organization in which they participate. Fourth, and quite in concert with the third, adult learners understand that new knowledge is capable of helping them deal with or overcome problems faced in their daily lives. This orientation to learn demonstrates how adults are motivated to immediately apply new knowledge. Fifth, and maybe most importantly, adults are driven to learn based on their own interests. They may feel it is necessary to learn a new skill to perform well at their jobs, or quite possibly, because they want to be the best at what they do. This type of learning feeds into an adult learner’s constant reconciliation between what is being taught and what they feel is necessary to learn (Taylor & Kroth, 2009). Much of what I have read regarding how adults learn and how that relates to online learning makes sense to me. I agree that adults need to know why they are learning something and see how it fits into their immediate situation. Often, adults have a specific need for the information they are learning as it pertains to their role within their life, and they want to feel like they are in charge of their learning. Opportunities to learn come not just from the course materials but from the students in the course. Adults bring a wealth of experiences and knowledge to the learning environment and can share it freely and timely. As these six assumptions imply, many adults enter learning environments with an agenda and require instruction that acknowledges their specific needs. Online learning, I feel, is an exceptional way to address these needs. Ko and Rossen give a practical description of the advantages online learning has on adults in their book Teaching Online, A Practical Guide. They explain that adults who work, raise families, or travel are able to incorporate studying into their already busy lives. They state, “School is always in session because school is always there” (Ko and Rossen, 2010). Because learning opportunities are almost always present due to the Internet, online learning offers more freedom to students. Therefore, it is necessary that instruction incorporate constructivist learning methods (Ko & Rossen, 2010). Teachers should move into the role of facilitator allowing students to actively create their own meaning from class materials and activities. But is it fair to say that all adults or only adults learn as suggested by Knowles? Critics of andragogy would argue that all adults cannot be accounted for as andragogy would suggest. Learners come from diverse backgrounds and widely different experiences and may not share the same values or lifestyles. Moreover, it seems unfair to assume that children are not able to be self-directed learners, just as the opposite may be true about adults. And the shift in education today towards constructivist methods would imply that the boundaries between adult and youth learning are not so easily defined. In my opinion, when looking at andragogy as a learning theory, I partially agree with the criticism. It does not take into account many adults who are not self-directed learner or youths who are. However, I do believe that in many circumstances, adults approach learning differently than children. And though it may not completely incorporate all adults, andragogy is important to consider when formulating online learning experiences. Ko, S. and Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching Online: A Practical Guide (3rd Edition). New York: Routledge. Taylor, B., & Kroth, M. (2009). Andragogy’s transition into the future: Meta-analysis of andragogy and its search for a measurable instrument. Journal of adult education38(1). Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Six Most Influential Achievements in the History of Humankind (40,000 yrs. to present) 1. the invention of writing 2. the persistent growth of technology 3. the rule of law 4. the attempt to verify knowledge through scientific inquiry 5. the discovery of the evolution of life-forms by means of natural selection and symbiosis 6. the development of creativity, as expressed through the arts
Color Accessibility in the Browser Announcing the release of color-blindness daltonization + simulation bookmarklets; The Chrome Daltonize extension is faster in many cases, and uses less bandwidth than the bookmarklet—highly recommended when Google Chrome is an option! What is daltonization? “Daltonization is a process performed by the computer that allows people with color vision deficiencies to distinguish a range of detail they are otherwise excluded from perceiving. For instance, in the daltonization of an Ishihara test plate (a popular test of color vision) numbers emerge from a pattern that were once invisible to the color blind person.” Read more about the daltonization algorithm used on Technical hurdles with Cross Domain policies; The following highlight some of the options to get around Cross Domain issues with images; 1. CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) • Must be recorded in the header of the image hosting website, and the browser must support CORS. This is the best option, it handles the image as if it were any other image. When creating the image use; image.crossOrigin = true; 2. Flash (crossdomain.xml) • The website must have a crossdomain.xml in their root directory, and the browser must have Flash installed. When that is all in place, you can use the ExternalInterface to copy the base64 from Flash into a Image tags src, and subsequently onto <canvas>. 3. UniversalXPConnect (Firefox) • Certain versions of Firefox support this… I haven’t been able to get it working lately, anyone? When it works, it requires the user to click “Accept” to a security box. 4. Base64 proxy from external server. CORS is the preferable method to access images from external domains. The problem is knowing whether a server supports it or not—the following snippet is a hack to figure out whether an browser/server combination supports CORS, or not; function hasCORS(src, callback) { // Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) var method = "get"; var req = new XMLHttpRequest(); if ("withCredentials" in req) {, src, true); req = new XDomainRequest();, src); } else { // browser doesn't support cors if (req) { // browser supports cors req.onload = function(response) { // server supports cors req.onerror = function(response) { // server doesn't support cors Hope this helps someone with the same problems! adminColor Accessibility in the Browser Share this post Related Posts
Methanogens are prokaryotic microorganisms that produce methane as an end-product of a complex biochemical pathway. They are strictly anaerobic archaea and occupy a wide variety of anoxic environments. Methanogens also thrive in the cytoplasm of anaerobic unicellular eukaryotes and in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans. The symbiotic methanogens in the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants and other methanogenic mammals contribute significantly to the global methane budget. This monograph deals with methanogenic endosymbionts of anaerobic protists, in particular ciliates and termite flagellates, and with methanogens in the gastrointestinal tracts of vertebrates and arthropods. Further reviews discuss the genomic consequences of living together in symbiotic associations, the role of methanogens in syntrophic degradation, and the function and evolution of hydrogenosomes, hydrogen-producing organelles of certain anaerobic protists. Rezensionen ( 0 ) Every Friday we give gifts for the best reviews. Zitate (0) Sie können als Erste ein Zitat veröffentlichen.
Friday, February 29, 2008 So there's a lot of hype about the benefits of alcohol consumption in moderation of late. However, it is important to remember that alcohol is a toxin (poison) and as such is harmful to your body. "What does alcohol do? It acts as a stimulant when it directly stimulates those brain cells, which lead to feelings of pleasure and euphoria. It is a depressant when it slows the brain down and reduces tensions and worries. It can affect our judgement and make us do things we would not usually do when sober. Alcohol acts as an anaesthetic when it slows down our reflexes and our coordination. It can put us to sleep, it can induce a coma and it can kill. Alcohol's effects are dose related - the more alcohol you drink, the greater the effects that may occur. The effect alcohol has on you can also be related to your mood and your expectations. If we get the dose of alcohol right, it can be a pleasant and sometimes useful drug. If the dose is wrong, then alcohol can cause a wide range of harmful effects. Some of these are discussed below. Defining alcohol problems A number of different terms are used to describe alcohol problems. Sometimes the terms can be confusing. • Hazardous drinking means drinking at levels or in situations that are likely to cause harmful consequences. • Alcohol abuse refers to the idea that alcohol causes harmful consequences for a person, and the person continues to drink alcohol despite these consequences. • Alcohol dependence is a more technical term indicating that either the body or the mind has become hooked or addicted to alcohol. • Psychological dependence occurs when the mind seems to take over the control of a person's drinking. The person feels they have to drink to feel good or normal. Psychologically dependent people start to act in ways to ensure their addiction is satisfied - they think a lot about alcohol, they always ensure they have enough alcohol to drink and they plan their activities around alcohol. • Physical dependence occurs when the body adapts to the high use of alcohol and requires this level of use to feel right or maintain its balance. There are two main signs of physical dependence. - Tolerance, which means a person has to progressively drink more alcohol to achieve the same effect that was previously achieved with smaller amounts. - Withdrawal, which is a state people can experience if they go without alcohol. Here the body reacts against the absence of alcohol by going through a period of shaking and sweating. If this progresses to a more severe stage, delirium tremens (DTs) may occur, with people becoming confused and experiencing hallucinations (seeing things or hearing things when there is nothing to be seen or heard). Alcoholism or alcoholic are descriptions that mean different things to different people. Usually alcoholism relates to a state of alcohol dependence, but many people can have severe alcohol-related problems without having signs and symptoms of dependence. Alcohol use is very common. Estimates are that over 90 per cent of New Zealanders drink alcohol. Studies suggest over 20 per cent of the population drinks excessively and that, at any one time, seven to 10 per cent of us have a problem with dependence on alcohol. It is further estimated that about 30 per cent of people who are admitted to a general medical hospital have an alcohol-related health problem. Around 40 per cent of people in contact with the mental health services drink in a hazardous way. ...People who continually drink heavily can expect to have a disruptive life with more social problems than moderate and non-drinkers. They can expect more (em) health problems and they can expect to die earlier." "There's a lot going on whenever alcohol's going through the body, so we'll limit ourselves here to main systems only: • Liver. Since alcohol is so toxic, clearing it out of the system is a priority. And when the liver gets busy getting rid of alcohol, it gets behind in other functions, like maintaining stable blood-glucose levels to the brain. It takes a pounding in the process, too. Cirrhosis is a common result of long-term drinking, and one of the main killers of older drinkers. • Stomach. Alcohol irritates the stomach lining, and vomiting is a particularly visible result. Heavy drinking can lead to stomach problems and ulcers. • Central Nervous System. Alcohol depresses almost every brain function, from balance to breathing. And even though effects lessen as booze leaves the body, regular drinking raises tolerance, so that heavier drinkers can drink more without getting drunk. They do, that is, until liver damage reverses the process, which speeds up damage to the brain and the rest of the body." So I know that some of you, my readers, probably drink, and while I do not think it wise of you to do so I'm just asking for you to look at the effects of alcohol on your body (and on others around you!) and ask yourself: is it really worth it? I don't want you to be ignorant of what you are doing to yourself and others. There may be some health benefits, but I think the negative side effects outweigh the plus' by far. To end, a funny song by Tim Hawkins... original image source Stephanie said... Alcohol also affects the absorption of vitamins by the body, especially thiamin (one of the B vitamins). When someone has a thiamin deficiency, he or she can develop: -mental confusion and a decrease in short-term memory -fatigue, apathy -peripheral paralysis -muscle weakness and wasting -painful calf muscles -loss of appetite, unhealthy weight loss -edema (swelling) -enlarged heart -sudden death from heart failure All of that can be caused by thiamin deficiency alone, which is often a side effect of drinking.* Basically, alcohol has many unhealthy effects on the body! *Source: Nutrition Essentials for Nursing Practice by Susan Dudek Abdulla said... Is it impossible for you to come out from alcohol addiction? Check out the below mentioned website for more information. Sophie said... Stephanie and Abdulla, Thank you for providing the additional information!
Posted on by Jo Wozniak by Kieran Campbell - News Limited Network THEY are growing up with more and more technology at their fingertips for more and more hours a day - but it could be coming at a high price. A generation of youngsters are now developing significant physical injuries traditionally only seen in adults because of their increasing reliance on smartphones, tablets and computers. Parents are being warned about a "future epidemic of overuse injury" if children are not taught the safe and correct way to use the technology. Health professionals are treating kids as young as five who have developed chronic back pain and early signs of curvature of the spine from hunching over their tablets and smartphones, carpel tunnel syndrome from overusing their thumbs, and headaches and temporarily blurred vision from staring for too long at screens often too close to their faces. Ann Thomson, from the RSI and Overuse Injury Association, said the number of such injuries in youngsters was rising. "A major prevention program is required to stop a future epidemic of overuse injury," she said. She said many children had ended up with "really severe problems" in their arms, neck and shoulders and the injuries were worsened because children become so engulfed in what they're doing that they ignored any pain to continue playing their game or surfing the web. Often the injuries can be treated but there is the risk of long-term issues, she said. "We've had kids who have developed really serious problems and parents have been incredibly worried about them," Ms Thomson said. "When kids are really engaged in their activity, they're more likely to work through feelings of pain. They keep going despite pain." Liz Jackson, a Sydney optometrist who specialises in treating children, said a growing number were reporting having sore eyes, temporarily blurred vision and headaches, "and that's simply because they're looking at a fixed distance for a long period of time". "Headaches, sore eyes (and) generally feeling tired would be all things that I'd be concerned about," she said. Experts are calling on parents to help ensure their children use gadgets in a safer way - by taking regular breaks, positioning their device so it encourages better posture, and limiting the daily time allowance. "Parents ... should be prepared to be unpopular. They need to be a bit tough," Ms Thomson said. Dr Joseph Ierano, from the Chiropractors' Association of Australia, said the learning benefits of games and other technologies were evident but not at the expense of outdoor activities. "I'd rather see a soccer injury than a kid that's been inside for eight hours a day playing (video) games," he said. Kate Fraser, a manager at Kidsafe, said many parents were worried their children were not taking proper breaks from using technology. "Lots of families are concerned about children using technology for prolonged periods of time and it actually gives a lot of parents headaches because it interrupts homework time and chore time," Ms Fraser said. "In terms of the health and safety aspect, there are concerns around prolonged use of gaming, on iPads or computers, simply because ... there's prolonged poor posture usually and ... also that it's static." Ms Fraser said the most important thing parents could suggest was for their kids to take a break from technology to run around outside, kick a ball and play with the dog. "It's important not to see technology as the enemy because, let's face it, it's here to stay," she said. "It's kind of like eating too much chocolate - it comes back to balance." - Sore thumbs and hands: strain injury to the hand from overuse of a handheld device, computer mouse, or gaming controller, particularly during rigorous video games - Back injury: pain in the spine from poor posture, mostly hunching, while using iPads and similar gadgets, which can cause headaches and prolonged back pain as well as future spinal problems - Text neck: neck pain that can vary from minor to significant and as a result of tilting your head while using a phone - Computer screen strain: temporary blurred vision and tension headaches as a result of sitting too close to or watching a computer screen for too long, and the development of dry eye from focusing on a screen without blinking - Take a break from technology every 30 minutes - Set a maximum of two hours a day of computer use for young people - Never put your laptop on your lap. It should be on a desk or a table and elevated to be at eye level. If you can, use a proper keyboard and mouse - Learn keyboard shortcuts to avoid using the mouse too often - Regularly look away from your computer screen and focus on something across the room to allow your eyes to relax - Keep an arm's length away from your computer screen and encourage children to use tablets over devices with smaller screens - Parents should be prepared to be unpopular and set boundaries for their kids
Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! About an example related to angular momentum in a textbook 1. Mar 10, 2012 #1 Hey I either have the worst physics textbook in the history of physic textbooks or i can't understand a topic.I'd appreciate if you help me decide which is it. (Pic related is the image of the example) First let's agree on the symbols lets call angular velocity: [itex]\omega = \frac{rxv}{\|\|r\|\|^2}[/itex] , angular momentum [itex]L=rxmv[/itex] and Lineal Momentum:[itex]P=mv[/itex]. Being that defined, the book attemps to proof that [itex]L[/itex] and [math]\omega[/math] have generally different directions, here is the first problem i encountered, for what i know [itex]m\|\|r\|\|^2\omega = L[/itex] being [itex]m\|\|r\|\|^2[/itex] That means that Angular Velocity and Angular Momentum are parallel therefore have the same direction, the example proceed as following: 2 puntual mass are united by a rigid bar of despicable mass, therefore both have the same angular momentum. the momentum of body 1 is [itex]L_1 = r_1xm_1v_1[/itex] and it explicitly say that it's easy to see that it's contained in the plane given by [itex]P_1 P_2 \omega[/itex] (which i fail to see) being the direction perpendiculat to the line that unites [itex]P_1[/itex] with [itex]P_2[/itex] and that [itex]L_2[/itex] Has the same direction that [itex]L_1[/itex]. Therefore the Angular Impulse make an angle of [itex]\frac{\pi}{2}-\alpha[/itex] with the axis of rotation([itex]\omega[/itex]). Well that'd be an example i'd really appreciate if someone can clarify my doubts, i don't have a teacher to ask since i study by my own. Here is a picture of the example: 2012-03-10 22.09.43.jpg Last edited: Mar 10, 2012 2. jcsd Can you offer guidance or do you also need help? Draft saved Draft deleted Similar Discussions: About an example related to angular momentum in a textbook
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Calculating temperature of a system 1. Nov 30, 2009 #1 The first part of the problem says this figure shows a one-dimensional row of 5 microscopic objects each of mass 6e-26 kg, connected by forces that can be modeled by springs of stiffness 30 N/m (so the effective stiffness of the inner springs is 4ks = 120 N/m; approximate the end springs this way, too). These 5 objects can move only along the x axis. (this is the picture of the system) The first part of the question asks to calculate the entropy of the system at different quanta and I calculated the entropy of the system with 3 quanta to be 4.9089e-23 J/K and with 4 quanta to be 5.8659e-23 J/K, and got that part correct. The part I need help with reads Calculate to the nearest degree the average absolute temperature of the system when the total energy is in the range from 3 to 4 quanta. (You can think of this as the temperature when there would be 3.5 quanta of energy in the system, if that were possible.) 2. Relevant equations 1/T = dS/dEint (definition of temperature) where S is the entropy and Eint is the internal energy. Eint = qhbarsqrt(ks/m) where q is the number of quanta, hbar is the reduced planks constant, ks is the spring constant, and m is the mass. 3. The attempt at a solution I figured in order to solve for T in the equation defining temperature, I had to take the difference in Entropy between 4 and 3 quanta which is simply 5.8659e-23 J/K - 4.9089e-23 J/K = 9.57e-24 J/K. Then find dEint and divide. My problem arrises when finding Eint for the system when it has 4 and 3 quanta respectively. In the equation Eint = qhbarsqrt(ks/m), q is obvious and hbar is a constant, but what value should I use for ks and m? I think I should simply add all of the masses up to get 56e-26=3e-25kg, but I am genuinely confused as to what to use for the spring constant of this system. Should I simply take ks and multiply it by the number of springs? The sentence at the end of the first part that reads "the effective stiffness of the inner springs is 4ks = 120 N/m; approximate the end springs this way, too" makes absolutely no sense to me, and I feel like it is an indication as to how to find the spring constant of the system. 2. Relevant equations 3. The attempt at a solution 2. jcsd 3. Nov 30, 2009 #2 Might I suggest an approach using the equipartition theorem? 4. Nov 30, 2009 #3 I'm not quite sure what that is, our physics book doesn't talk about it haha. But I'm not doubting that is what I am supposed to use. Could you explain how I would go about using that in this situation? 5. Nov 30, 2009 #4 I'd be happy to. The Equipartition Theorem says that, for certain systems, the average total internal energy of the system is equal to fKbT/2. Kb is the Boltzmann constant, T is temperature. The tricky part of this is f-it refers to the NUMBER OF DEGREES OF FREEDOM ON WHICH THE ENERGY DEPENDS QUADRATICALLY. So in other words, if part of the energy of a system depends on a parameter squared, then that parameter is one of the degrees of freedom counted in f. It's tricky, so I'll give you an example: Imagine a ball hanging from a massless spring. Assume it's one dimensional. This system's energy is as follows: U= 1/2kx^2 + 1/2mv^2. Note that the energy depends on v quadratically and on x quadratically. That's 2 parameters on which the energy depends quadratically, so the f of this system is 2. You're going to have to figure out how to apply that to your system. Hint, each ball will have its own set of degrees of freedom-you'll need to add them ALL together. Also, watch out: there are two springs for each ball, does that mean that each spring contributes 2 degrees of freedom to f? * The systems for which the Equipartition Theorem applies are those in which ALL the terms in the energy depend on a parameter quadratically, or else are constant. This system applies. Also, please note that the equipartition theorem gives the time averaged internal energy, so at any given moment, you wouldn't expect U=f/2KbT. 6. Nov 30, 2009 #5 Okay, I read the question again, and I realized that my response may not have been too helpful. I mistakenly thought the problem gave you the numerical value of one quanta of energy. You can still use it, but you'd have to figure out q. As it so happens, the value of q depends on the fundamental frequency of the oscillator. A quantum mechanical SHO has energy levels E(n) = hbarw(1/2 + n), which should give you an idea of what q of what q is in an SHO. Can you see how that relates to your equation for Eint? Why are Ks and m in your Eint equation? 7. Dec 1, 2009 #6 in E(n) =hbarw(1/2+n) isn't w equal to sqrt(Ks/m)? 8. Dec 1, 2009 #7 and for f in the equipartition theorem, would i be correct in assuming if each spring contributes 2 degrees of freedom to f than the total f for the system would be 4+4+4+4+4=20? 9. Dec 1, 2009 #8 Yes on the degrees of freedom. Almost in the case of the frequency of a harmonic oscillator. The issue here is that you have two springs working on each ball, so the effective ks isn't 30 N/m. What is it? 10. Dec 1, 2009 #9 is the effective ks 4*30N/m so 120N/m? 11. Dec 1, 2009 #10 I figured it out, thank you very much for the help! 12. Dec 2, 2009 #11 My pleasure! Similar Discussions: Calculating temperature of a system
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Finding tangent to parametric curves 1. May 4, 2009 #1 Find an equation of the tangent to the curve at the given point by both eliminating the parameter and without eliminating the parameter. x = tan(θ) y = sec(θ) (1 , √2) y = ? attempt ; y - y1 = m(x-x1) y = √2 x = 1 y1 = sec(θ) x1 = tan(θ) substituting and solving it out gives me, √2 - sec(θ) = sin(θ)(1-tan(θ)) not sure how to solve for theta from there, even if i try to manipulate it. 2. jcsd 3. May 4, 2009 #2 You are taking y1 as sectheta and x1 as tantheta! That will never give any answer. Cause tantheta and sectheta represent any point on the curve.Where theta keeps on varying.So forget all that and start considering... You have one point. And you have the equation. So replace x1 and y1 by 1 and root 2. But you still need to get the slope. Slope is dy/dx. Now we need to get dy/dx. Its quite easy to find that? Try to find out. If you are unable to do so, ask us. We are always here to help you mate 4. May 4, 2009 #3 sin(1)(x-1)+sqrt(2) is this right? Last edited: May 4, 2009 5. May 4, 2009 #4 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Not really, that's not even an equation. Where's y? Try it by eliminating the parameter first. sec(t)^2-tan(t)^2=1, right? Where t is theta? 6. May 4, 2009 #5 dy/dx = sin(theta) I guess FedEx method does not work in this case because if I use x1= 1 and y1 = sqrt(2), and use the point slope formula , then my last post does not work then. So how could I find this? 7. May 5, 2009 #6 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper At some point you are going to have to find a value of theta that corresponds to x=1 and y=sqrt(2). Or find a way to derive sin(theta) from tan(theta) and sec(theta). You can't put x=1 in as a value of theta. 8. May 5, 2009 #7 9. May 5, 2009 #8 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Or show tan(theta)/sec(theta)=sin(theta). They both work. 10. May 5, 2009 #9 11. May 6, 2009 #10 dy/dx = sin(o). I got this from "Or show tan(theta)/sec(theta)=sin(theta). " Now I can't use (1,sqrt(2)) as x1 and y1 with point slope formula , and use sin(1) as the slope? 12. May 6, 2009 #11 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Yes, use (1,sqrt(2)) as x1, y1. For the last time, no! Not sin(1). The slope is sin(THETA). Not sin(x).
3 Educational Uses For A Life-Size Human Torso Anatomy Model Understanding The Human Body The human body is a scientific marvel. Complex and multi-faceted, the human body is composed of amazing organs and awe-inspiring physiological functions. To thoroughly capture all of its components, high-quality anatomical models are carefully built to meticulous standards of realism. Every minute detail is represented in vivid color and rich detail, to provide you with the most accurate representation for your instruction or diagnosis. Human Torso Anatomy Models Of all the types of anatomical models, human torso anatomy models are the most detailed. Most critical organs are housed within the trunk or torso. The heart and lungs, located in the upper chest, are protected by the rib cage. The abdomen contains the majority of organs responsible for digestion, including the stomach, small and large intestines, pancreas, liver, and the gallbladder. The abdomen also contains the kidneys and spleen. Many of the torso anatomy models are hand-painted, to capture even the smallest details. For example, The Deluxe Dual Sex Torso with Muscular Arm model, is a life-size representation of the human torso and features a 6-part muscle arm. This high-quality model is especially suited for the meeting the standards of medical schools. The right half shows the skin, the left half illustrates the superficial and deeper muscles with nerves, vessels and bony structures. The versatility of this aesthetically designed model is rounded off by the exact representation of the internal organs. 1. Instructional Usage Life size human torso anatomy models provide a realistic representation of the various parts of the human body and internal organs. Highly detailed human torso anatomy models are used by medical institutions to train students and residents on the intricacies of the human body. Doctors and medical instructors employ torso models to illustrate the complicated structure and functions of the internal organs. 2.Teaching Aids For Students Human torso anatomy models are an excellent study aid for students to gain a deeper understanding of the components and structure of the human body and internal organs. Students will appreciate the opportunity to have access to color-coded, hands-on unisex anatomical models to assist in their studies. Labeled human torso models feature clear views of the vertebrae, spinal cord, spinal nerves, vertebral arteries, lungs, stomach, liver, intestinal track, kidneys, heart, and more. 3. Patient Education Resource Human anatomical models play an important part in the patient education process. Health professionals can incorporate anatomical models into their discussions with patients and caregivers to assist in the explanation of medical conditions and treatment options. The knowledge gained by the patient and caregivers can help improve their health behaviors and potentially improve their health status. Integrating a life size human torso anatomy model into the patient education process provides the patient with a clearer understanding of the human body and the anatomical structure. Anatomical models are a valuable teaching tool to help demonstrate the various parts of the human body and internal organs. A Valuable Tool Understanding the human body is important for medical students and healthcare professionals alike. Anatomical models are some of the best teaching aids. Approximately 65 percent of the population¹ are visual learners, incorporating anatomical models into teaching methods will help support the material covered in lectures and textbooks. When discussing medical procedures and conditions with patients it is equally important to be able to support the discussion with accurate and realistic anatomical models. Whether you are a student studying human anatomy in a biology classroom or a doctor explaining something to a patient, anatomical models are a valuable tool. 1. Great post! It’s so much more interactive to be able to learn about human anatomy through anatomical models than just a textbook. The diagrams make much more sense when you can visually see it in person. They work great for teaching students as well as educating patients. I also like training with real human anatomy models as well. Really gives you an appreciation for the human body when you see all of the components that makes it function. Join The Conversation
Icons of Virgin Mary and the Shaping of Identity in Central Europe • Abstract: Virgin Mary adoration spread to an unimaginable extent in Catholic countries in the Counter-Reformation period, as Catholics, unlike Protestants, defended Mary’s divine nature. Thus, new sacred images of the Virgin Mary appeared in the 17th century (such as Mariahilf (Mary Help of Christians), Mary with tilted head, Mother of Good Counsel, etc.) and were widely copied. Such copies spread via monastic and dynastic connections, and copies of images that played an important role in battles with the Ottomans were especially popular. In this paper, the role and the spread of the devotional image of Mariahilf are demonstrated by an example. An icon of Mariahilf was worshipped in Passau and had an important role already in the Thirty Years’ War; it was believed that it ensured the victory over the Ottomans in 1683 in the Battle of Vienna. The pious Emperor Leopold I was its loyal worshipper. He married his third wife under the icon and prayed to it every day during the siege of Vienna. After that battle, Mariahilf images spread throughout Central Europe and can thus be found in parish churches, monastic, succursal and pilgrimage churches as well as private aristocratic chapels and painting collections. Furthermore, Mariahilf was often depicted on the facades of private houses. When certain aristocrats (e.g. Georg Gotfried Count Lamberg, the Provincial Commander of Teutonic Knights) identified themselves with the icon of Mariahilf, this contributed to their career success in the service of the Emperor. Therefore, the spread of certain icons in the Central Europe should not only be understood as a means (or the binary code) of demonstrating Catholic identity as opposed to Protestant identity, but also as a means of demonstrating Christian identity as opposed to Muslim identity.
Seymouria BW Fossil range: Early Permian Seymouria BW Seymouria baylorensis, from the Early Permian of North America Scientific classification Broili, 1904 • S. baylorensis (type) • S. sanjuanensis • S. grandis • S. agilis Seymouria was a reptile-like tetrapod from the early Permian of North America and Europe. It was small, only 2 ft (60 cm) long. Seymouria was well adapted to life on land, with many reptilian features--so many, in fact, that it was first thought to be a primitive reptile. Seymouria skeleton, Museum of Natural History, Washington. Description Edit The dry climate of the Permian suited reptiles better than amphibians and other more primitive tetrapods, but Seymouria had many reptilian features that helped it in this harsh environment. It had long and muscular legs, and may have had dry skin and the ability to conserve water. It may have been able to excrete excess salt from its blood through a gland in its nose, like modern reptiles. All of this meant that Seymouria, unlike amphibians and other early tetrapods, might have lived for extended periods of time away from water. If so, this would have allowed it to move about the landscape in search of insects, small amphibians, and other possible preys, such as the eggs of reptiles. Male Seymouria had thick skulls that may have been used to batter rivals in mating contests. After mating, the females would have had to return to water to lay their eggs. As in amphibians, the larvae would develop in water, hunting for worms and insects until they were strong enough to live on land. While no larvae are known from Seymouria itself, fossil larvae of other species in the order Seymouriamorpha have been found, with impressions of external gill structures as in some amphibians. Fossils of Seymouria were first found in Seymour, Baylor County, Texas (hence the name of the type species, Seymouria baylorensis, or "Baylor County Seymour one"). Over the years, many well preserved fossils have been found in North America and Germany, including the "Tambach Lovers", two individuals of S. sanjuanensis fossilized lying next to each other (though of course it cannot be determined whether they really were a couple killed during mating). In popular cultureEdit Seymouria was featured in the television series Walking with Monsters, produced by BBC. A Seymouria was spying on a Dimetrodon's nest, the main character of the early Permian scene. It was waiting for the mother Dimetrodon to be caught off guard so it could devour her eggs, but was eventually preyed upon by a male Dimetrodon. Seymouria was also featured in Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life. External linksEdit Ad blocker interference detected!
Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholarship GMO regulation in the United States: a cautionary tale As genetically modified organisms penetrate the Australian market, regulators cannot be complacent picture of agricultural vehicle spraying pesticides on GM crops Monsanto is the world's largest producer of genetically modified seeds On May 20, people marched in global protest against Monsanto in over 200 cities around the world. Based in the United States, Monsanto is the largest bio-technology agricultural business and producer of genetically modified (GM) seeds in the world, having expanded its sale of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and South America over the past two decades. The GMO debate is contentious. GMO advocates point to enhanced productivity, better nutrition and cost-effectiveness. However, concerns remain over the adequacy of scientific research on the long-term environmental and health impacts of GMOs. Fears predominantly exist in regards to antibiotic resistance and increased cancer risks (particularly due to the use of glysophate in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup) and the role of GMOs in killing off seed diversity, which is known to reduce crop diseases and is fundamental to our ecosystem and biodiversity. Nonetheless, the GMO industry has continued to permeate the international market at an alarmingly rapid rate since the 1990s, albeit discreetly. These concerns highlight the need to be vigilant about whether the regulatory frameworks for the industry are abreast with the rate of GMO integration into society. The case of the US in particular provides a cautionary tale. Between 75 and 80 per cent of foods in the US contain GM ingredients, which is an astounding proportion considering GM foods were only introduced in the 1990s. Despite having the largest market for GM foods in the world, labelling laws for GM products were not passed until July last year, and the requirements under the laws are controversial. The legislation narrowly defines genetic modification in a way which exempts certain newer biotech methods from labelling, and the substantive labelling requirements are obscure. The law requires that food packages display an “electronic code”, text label, or symbol indicating whether they contain GMOs. This allows corporations to contain (or rather conceal) the relevant information in a QR barcode, making it inaccessible to the quarter of Americans without smartphones or reliable internet access. The controversial law did not go unnoticed — over 250,000 Americans petitioned against the bill. Senator Bernie Sanders described the legislation as “confusing, misleading and unenforceable”. Tellingly, Vermont legislation implementing a much stricter labelling scheme was passed just prior to the federal law. The federal law overrode Vermont’s and prevented states from further legislating on the matter. Nevertheless, this is not as disturbing as a law passed in 2013 dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by critics. The law effectively set a precedent that put Monsanto and other biotech companies beyond judicial review for six months by preventing federal courts from ceasing the sale or planting of GMOs, even in circumstances where the courts found public health to be at risk. Further troubling is the fact that the provision was tacked on 73 pages into an appropriation bill, and many members of congress were apparently not even aware of its existence when voting on the bill. The GMO industry in Australia is not (yet) comparable to the US: relatively few genetically modified agricultural crops have been approved for use in Australia and GM food labelling is mandatory with certain exceptions, such as for highly-refined products. However, Australia is ranked sixth among the top biotechnology countries in the Asia-Pacific and there are more than 400 biotechnology companies operating in Australia, a significant portion of which operate in agriculture. GM cotton, carnations and canola have been approved for commercial use in Australia, and are not insubstantial parts of their respective broader industries (more than 99% of cotton planted in Australia is GM). While GMOs don’t play as significant a role in Australia, the US is a salient reminder of the need to be conscious of how rapidly GMOs can enter the food industry and of the importance of staying up to date with industry legislation. Student services counters have been closed all across campus. Art: Rebekah Wright. Student Services The centre cannot hold Uni management have centralised student services. Is their takeover working?
Iron is an important and readily available trace mineral equine-horse-supplements-kentucky-performance-products (499) (Large) Iron is considered a true trace mineral. Its main role is to assist in the transportation of oxygen throughout the horse’s body. Iron is required for the synthesis of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the pigment found in the red blood cells responsible for picking up oxygen from the capillaries in the lungs and transporting it to other body tissues. Sixty percent of the iron in a horse’s body is involved in oxygen transportation. It is a common misconception that iron is associated with low energy levels and anemia in horses. In fact, anemia is defined by a reduction of red blood cell mass, not a lack of iron. There is no research supporting iron supplementation to increase athletic ability or daily energy levels. Iron is measured in an expression of concentration noted as parts per million (ppm). Your horse only needs to consume a small amount of iron daily. The great majority of horses consume adequate iron in their normal diet. Iron is most efficiently absorbed at low levels of intake. Iron absorption decreases as iron consumption increases; however, you can feed too much iron. Iron requirements for horses: • 40 ppm per day for mature equines • 50 ppm per day for pregnant or lactating mares • 50 ppm per day for growing horses A small amount of iron is lost in sweat. Intensely exercised horses that sweat a lot might have higher requirements than sedentary horses. Sources of iron: Iron can be found in a wide range of equine feedstuffs as well as in the soil. Forages contain between 200-1,000 ppm iron; grains range between 40-50 ppm; and oilseed meals contain 100-150 ppm. The iron levels in the soil vary depending on soil pH and the presence of other minerals. Soil has been shown to be a significant source of iron for horses. Horses grazing on pasture rarely show iron deficiencies. Toxicity is more of a problem than deficiency In the horse, iron toxicosis is a much more common problem than iron deficiency. The horse is very efficient at recycling iron; therefore, there is almost never a net loss of iron from the body of a healthy horse. Horses have no way of excreting excess iron; instead they protect themselves from accumulating excess iron by reducing absorption in the GI tract. Injecting iron bypasses this natural safety measure and increases the risk of developing iron toxicosis. Consequences of toxicosis • Increase risk of bacterial infections • Disruption of proper copper metabolism • Liver damage in foals Iron deficiency is a rare occurrence in horses Iron deficiencies are rare and when they do exist are most commonly caused by blood loss due to severe ulceration, parasite damage, or traumatic injury. Measuring blood transferrin (iron transport and storage protein) is the best way to test for iron deficiencies. Iron supplementation has not been scientifically proven to increase hemoglobin, packed cell volume, or serum iron. Never supplement with iron without first consulting your veterinarian and testing your horse’s iron levels. Article written by KPP staff. Article sponsored by Micro-Phase, which provides essential vitamins and trace minerals missing from forages and unfortified diets in an easy-to-digest form. About Kentucky Performance Products, LLC: Category : Macro & Micro Minerals \| Tips and Topics Leave a Reply Sign up for KPP’s Nutritional Minute * = required field The Horse That Matters to You Matters to Us.® Simple Solutions, Scientifically Proven® Google+ Pinterest
Muscle pain what causes muscle cramps Sinus Infection Basic Health Sports Nutrition Sports Injuries Weight Loss Help Energy First Diet Zone Reduce Stress Immune system Starting Out Blood Pressure Reduce Stress Home Gyms Fitness Books Yoga Direct 10 Exercise Tips Basic Workout Fitness Mistakes Bad Food Shin Splints Turf Toe Ginger Root Fat Cells Six Pack Abs Diet Mistakes Ice Cream Facts Vegan Foods Green Tea The easiest way to live a Paleo lifestyle at our lowest prices of the year. Over working muscles especially muscles that are not custom too working much in the first place can get sore and will cramp up. This causes the muscle fibers to actually break causing your muscle pain. If you had been exercising regularly all along slowly and gradually increasing in the duration and intensity of the workouts chances are you would not feel the muscle pain. In addition what occurs is that the muscles tear during intense exercise. You need to warm up first. The muscles will contract and you will have the feeling of stiffness and soreness. Muscle cramps can be caused by anything to extreme conditions which causes the muscles to contract and relax. Muscle cramps can come up while you're exercising. Stop don't try to run through doing so increases your chances of seriously injuring the muscle. When you get a cramp try to message the cramped muscle with one hand while you gently squeeze towards the center of the muscle try to feel how its contracted and stretch it in the opposite direction. Once the cramp passes don't start exercising right away. Walk for a few minutes to get the blood flowing back into the muscle then gradually return to the original activity and pace. Muscle cramps can sometimes be caused by a lack of potassium try eating a banana. Bananas are rich in potassium see if this helps to keep the cramps away. If you know you have overworked your muscles try and take a cold shower this will help to help prevent swelling and soreness. You can try cold packs for twenty minutes at a time every hour. Cold helps prevent muscle soreness by constricting the blood vessels which will reduce blood flow and thus inflammation in the area. Using a heating pad or hot water bottle is the worst thing for sore muscles. Because it opens up blood vessels and increases circulation to the area and can increase muscle soreness and stiffness especially if applied during the first twenty four hours after the strenuous activity. After three or four days when the swelling and soreness is gone you can resume some heat to help relax the muscles. When you start to exercise again make sure to stretch slowly for twenty minutes. One of the best remedies for sore muscles is swimming. The cold of the water helps reduce inflammation and stretches them out and relieves soreness. The best way to keep from getting muscles is to warm up properly. Make sure to drink plenty of water to help prevent dehydration. Muscle cramps can be caused by lack of fluids so make sure to drink plenty of water before working out. Gaining Weight Kidney Stones Acid Reflux Equipment Obesity
Monday, January 25, 2010 NET-TECH REPORT: Technology Tutorial - Introduction to Bluetooth Technology The Net-Tech Report with Chris Kauza We focus a lot on networking with other people, the technology you can use to reach larger numbers of interested people, and the power that can bring in growing your business. But did you ever wonder just “how” all of that networking technology works and connects you? Well, if you have an iPod, a wireless headset for your phone, or run applications that are “aware” of other nearby applications that they can talk to, you are probably using something that is “Bluetooth enabled”. You might have heard the word “Bluetooth” thrown around a lot over the last few years, and if you think it has something to do with dental hygiene – think again! Bluetooth is a wireless networking protocol that was designed to allow low bandwidth wireless connections to become easy to use so even those who are unfamiliar with wireless can use them. Version 1.1 of Bluetooth describes a low power, short range wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to send data at rates up to 720 kilobits a second. The specification for Bluetooth provides for different classes of radio that allow transmission ranges of up to 100 meters by boosting the radio power. The technology of Bluetooth isn't limited to line of sight transmission since it uses directional waves that are capable of transmitting through walls, cars, buildings and other obstructions. Bluetooth is an industry standard communication of wireless, meaning that it enables the connection of different devices such as cell phones, computers, digital cameras, and other types of electronic devices. The specification of Bluetooth defines a radio system and a 'stack" of protocol layers and profiles. The highest layer is the application layer, while the lowest layer is the radio. The small size of the Bluetooth radio ensures that it can be built into one or two very small microchips, and then integrated into any electronic device where wireless operations would be an advantage. This is what is known as a “Bluetooth enabled” device. Known for its worldwide operation, Bluetooth radio operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, which is license-free and available to any type of radio system in the world. You can count Bluetooth working virtually anywhere in e world. Further, it has a higher level of electronic authentication between devices, providing more secure communications between your devices. Bluetooth also boasts power optimization. The radio is power friendly and the software for Bluetooth is very configurable, limiting the power consumption of equipment. The actual radio itself only consumes a small amount of power from a cellular phone. The Bluetooth Solution Bluetooth technology takes small area networking to the next level by removing the need for user intervention and helps keep transmission power very low to preserve battery power. Each transmission signal to and from your cellular phone uses just 1 MW of power. Bluetooth is a networking standard that works on two levels: 1. It provides agreement at the physical level, as Bluetooth is a radio frequency standard. 2. It provides agreement at the level of protocol, where products have to agree on when bits are sent, how many are sent, and how the parties in conversation can be sure the message received is the same one that was sent. Bluetooth Wireless Networking Bluetooth technology offers three different types of defined ranges, based on output ranges. Class 1 devices are the most powerful, as they can have up to 100 MW of power, with a regular antenna giving them a range of around 130 - 330 feet. The class 2 devices are lower power, offering up to 2.5 MW of power. A regular antenna gives them a range of around 50 - 100 feet. Class 3 devices use even less power, up to 1 MW of power to be exact. With a regular antenna, they have an effective range of around 16 - 33 feet. By design, Bluetooth technology is optimally designed for short-range communication. The short range characteristics reduce the chance of interference between your devices and those that belong to others who are nearby, and makes it technologically easier to provide more secure communications between devices. Secondly, the lower power used for short range means a longer battery life. Most Bluetooth devices get their power from a battery, meaning that anything you can do to lengthen the battery life is very important. Bluetooth is most frequently used with wireless controllers, the internet, and even wireless headsets. I hope you enjoyed this Technology Tutorial on Bluetooth technology. If you'd like more information on how to leverage technology to grow your business, feel free to contact me directly at ckauza "at" FettMarfketing.com or review our website at www.FettMarketing.com. For more information, please visit Chris' TNNW Bio. COMMENT On This Article! The National Networker Companies Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media: 1 comment: Rick Itzkowich said... Chris, thank you for the easy explanation of these terms. I like when technogeek is translated into plain English Blog Archive BNI News Feed The Emergence of The Relationship Economy The Emergence of The Relationship Economy Site Credits: Featured in Alltop ALLTOP Business News Wire. HOT. Cool Javascript codes for websites KeepandShare.com(R) Fabulous Free Calendars Create FREE graphics at FlamingText.com
#Pope Francis held his Mass for Ash Wednesday this year in an ancient Roman basilica. The day’s rituals reflect a Catholic perspective on human mortality during the Lenten season. The Pope's homily also specifically focused on charity for the sake of charity. What was the service like? The Pontiff appeared dressed in purple vestments and held a pastoral staff during the proceedings, which took place within an ancient Roman basilica, St. Sabina's Basilica, a fifth-century church. During his homily made during the ceremony, the Pope offered his own perspective on the Lenten season, saying that this is the time for people to say "no." He specifically condemned indifference, "harsh and hasty criticism," and failing to realize the complexity of the problems of the underprivileged. He also criticized what he deemed "prayer that soothes our conscience," as well as giving to charity in a way that gives too much self-satisfaction. In addition, the Pope also performed the traditional service of smearing ashes on attendants’ foreheads, which in the Catholic #Religion serves as a reminder of human mortality. What is traditionally done during Lent for Catholics? In the Roman Catholic Church, #Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, the period of mourning preceding Good Friday, which honors the death of Christ, and ends upon Easter Sunday, which honors the resurrection. As the holidays need to fall on certain days of the week, there is no set date for each of them during the year, and Ash Wednesday falls on the first of March this year. Lent is traditionally celebrated by Catholics by giving up an indulgence during the days of Lent, which do not include Sundays. In addition, Catholics also observe the season by fasting and abstaining from meat on holy days, which includes Ash Wednesday. Those unfamiliar with Catholic traditions often confuse the concepts together, mistaking the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, which is traditionally a year-round discipline, as being the Catholic form of fasting, which is normally reserved for Lent and other holy days.
All Diseases Bulimia (boo-LEE-me-uh) nervosa, commonly called bulimia, is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. People with bulimia may secretly binge — eating large amounts of food — and then purge, trying to get rid of the extra calories in an unhealthy way. For example, someone with bulimia may force vomiting or do excessive exercise. Sometimes people purge after eating only a small snack or a normal-size meal. Bulimia can be categorized in two ways: • Purging bulimia. You regularly self-induce vomiting or misuse laxatives, diuretics or enemas after bingeing. • Nonpurging bulimia. You use other methods to rid yourself of calories and prevent weight gain, such as fasting, strict dieting or excessive exercise. However, these behaviors often overlap, and the attempt to rid yourself of extra calories is usually referred to as purging, no matter what the method. If you have bulimia, you're probably preoccupied with your weight and body shape, and may judge yourself severely and harshly for your self-perceived flaws. Because it's related to self-image — and not just about food — bulimia can be difficult to overcome. But effective treatment can help you feel better about yourself, adopt healthier eating patterns and reverse serious complications. Bullous pemphigoid (BUL-us PEM-fih-goid) is a rare skin condition that causes large, fluid-filled blisters on areas of skin that often flex — such as the lower abdomen, upper thighs or armpits. Bullous pemphigoid is most common in people older than age 60. Bullous pemphigoid occurs when your immune system attacks a thin layer of tissue below your outer layer of skin. The reason for this abnormal immune response is unknown, although it sometimes can be triggered by taking certain medications. Treatment usually includes corticosteroids, such as prednisone, and other drugs that suppress the immune system. Bullous pemphigoid can be life-threatening, especially for older people who are already in poor health. There's no specific treatment for bundle branch block itself. However, any underlying health condition that caused bundle branch block, such as heart disease, will need to be treated. Sometimes, bundle branch block is associated with other problems in the heart's electrical system that can lead to dangerously slow heartbeats that need treatment with a temporary or permanent pacemaker.
Can the Great Barrier Reef Still Be Saved? One Says It’s Dead, The Other Says It Improves, Which One Is True? By Jeff Villanueva, Posted: 10/18/16 06:30AM EDT Video shows devastating effect of Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is nature’s greatest gift to Australia.(Photo : Queensland, Australia/YouTube) Can coral reef as big as the Great Barrier Reef die? This is the question many people are asking after an obituary was released about the Great Barrier Reef lying off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Is The Great Barrier Reef Dead? The article entitled "Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016)" was written by Rowan Jacobsen last week regarding the world's largest living structure dying this year after 25 million years of existence. In the obituary, Jacobsen said that other coral reefs in the world have already died including the Florida Reef off the coast of Florida among other coral reefs on Earth. While it was survived by what could possibly still remains of the Belize Barrier Reef, the second largest coral reef system and some deep water corals. Jacobsen made several references to renowned marine scientist Charlie Veron of the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Veron is the author of the book, A Reef in Time: The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End, who has constantly reminded the government and the world about the possibilities this Great Barrier Reef might face in the future should people continue to destroy the environment. But is the world's largest coral reef system really dead? Can the Great Barrier Reef still be saved? These questions were the two hottest questions following the release of the Great Barrier Reef's obituary. And many marine scientists all over the world think that this vast 1,400 miles long, 2,900 individual reefs and 1,050 islands being dead was an overstatement. The Great Barrier Reef is Not Dead This article by Jacobsen was in total contrast to what was revealed on the first Reef 2050 Plan annual report recently released by the Australian and Queensland governments. The report said that they are currently showing progress towards protecting the world's largest coral reef. The report also revealed that the Australian and Queensland governments invested $2 billion to improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef adding that the Reef 2050 Plan is a collective effort to protect the reef for the future generations to see. Currently, as the report stated, the collective effort has completed 29 out of 151 action plans and 10 are currently underway as of the middle of 2016. Taking the cue from the two government's report, there was an improvement to the health of the Great Barrier Reef. And if there were really improvements, then the Great Barrier Reef is definitely not dead after all. Denver Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas Returning Against Indianapolis Colts MLB Trade Rumors: Ryan Braun To LA Dodgers for Yasiel Puig Miami Heat Should Trade Chris Bosh, Build Around Hassan Whiteside Real Time Analytics
Sentence Examples • Demagnetizing Force.-It has already been mentioned that when a ferromagnetic body is placed in a magnetic field, the resultant magnetic force H, at a point within the body, is compounded of the force H o, due to the external field, and of another force, Hi, arising from the induced magnetization of the body. • Except in the few special cases when a uniform external field produces uniform magnetization, the value of the demagnetizing force cannot be calculated, and an exact determination of the actual magnetic force within the body is therefore impossible. • Since I =KH, we have KH I-KNI =KHo, (30) or H =Ho-NI, NI being the demagnetizing force H i. • Du Bois (Magnetic Circuit, p. 33), the demagnetizing factor, and the ratio of the length of the ellipsoid 2c to its equatorial diameter 2a (=c/a), the dimensional ratio, denoted by the symbol nt. • The demagnetizing force inside a cylindrical rod placed longitudinally in a uniform field Ho is not uniform, being greatest at the ends and least in the middle part. How would you define demagnetizing? Add your definition here. comments powered by Disqus Also Mentioned In
The Final Cut FinalCutThe Final Cut, a sci-fi movie starring Robin Williams, is an externalized illustration of the brain’s process of creating memories. The movie stresses how our belief in the truth of what we remember is often flawed by our limited perception and skewed interpretation of any given event, including every day activities. In the movie, some people have opted to have chips implanted in their heads to record all their daily activities. Robin Williams is a cutter (an editor) of memories, who is brought in after someone dies. His job is to take those recordings and create a feature-length ‘film’ of memories as a keepsake for the deceased person’s family and friends. Robin is the personification of what our own brains do, which is to analyze, edit, and store memories. Out of the millions of stimuli that we encounter every minute of every day, our brains decide what is worth keeping and what isn’t. It also needs to interpret those bits and pieces, and then determine how to fit them together into some type of cohesive event. For instance, in getting ready to go to work, there is input from kids, spouse, TV/radio, emails, texts, pets, neighbors, and neighborhood. Your brain must decide what to take in and what to leave out, put it all together into some pattern that makes sense, and then store it under the heading “May 4, 2017, Thursday morning” (or something to that effect). Now, if it’s very similar to every other morning, it may not even get a special title. It may just be entered into a group file called, “weekly mornings.” That makes it harder to pull out and review later, because it’s simply lumped with every other early morning routine. So, if someone asks if you brushed your teeth, you’ll probably say, “yes,” because that’s what you do every day. But what if you didn’t? What if, for some reason, you ran out of time, so skipped that step in your routine. It wasn’t a big enough deal for your brain to create a separate file for that day, so you can never be sure whether you really brushed them or not. But say your tire was flat and you had to take public transportation. That is different enough that the memory probably got its own little storage file. Especially, if you encountered someone strange and interesting on the bus or train that you had to take. So, not every memory is sacred to your brain, and not every memory can be recalled in detail. Add to that the fact that your brain also has ego telling it what to do. Ego doesn’t like to look bad, so it’s going to tell your brain to skew certain things in your favor. Just like the cutter in the movie, you will store your memories, but some will ‘need’ a bit of editing. Did you and your girl/boyfriend just break up? Well, obviously, it wasn’t your fault. Even if it was, it wasn’t; and that is what your brain will record in your memory. Did you just lose your job? Again, that memory will only be stored once the editing is done. The loss was a positive; the loss wasn’t your fault; the job was beneath you. All the details leading up to and including the day the event occurred will support this positive conclusion. While any of the ‘facts’ that don’t support the conclusion will be forgotten (or edited out). So, instead of seeing yourself as the one who was always neglectful, late, and irresponsible, it will be the person you were dating. Therefore, the memories your brain stores will support that conclusion, and any memories that indicate otherwise, will be eliminated from long-term storage. Everyone wants to believe that their memories are truthful and infallible, but unfortunately, we all carry our own editor around with us everywhere we go. That means that every memory is just one version of reality. It also means that every person who was involved in the event, even just those every day occurrences such as getting ready for work, has their own version, their own memory. So, the next time you question (even in your head) how someone could be recalling a moment or a day so differently from how you recall it, remember that you all have your own editor. And that editor has its own agenda and its own perceptions. Living in a land of make believe We live in a false world, a land of make believe. It’s a world where pretense is the norm and truth is suppressed (supposedly for the betterment of everyone). But is it really better? In my world, I must say only nice things, only pleasant things. I’m not supposed to say what I truly believe, feel, or think because it may offend or hurt someone else. But doesn’t lying hurt, too? For example, at my job we cannot say anything that might hurt or offend someone else or in any way upset them. So, I must monitor every word I utter in an effort to be absolutely neutral in what I say. I also cannot reach out and physically touch someone—not a hug, not a light touch on the shoulder, or a comradely hand to the back—without taking the risk of being accused of sexual harassment. And these same restrictions spill over to my life away from work, too. If those at work were to read my blog and found it somehow threatening, non-professional, or in any way hurtful, then I could be reprimanded. If I e-mail someone (on a personal e-mail account), or make comments on Facebook or Twitter, I can be accused of being a cyberbully. So, what happened to the world of freedom of speech, to a world where truth of perception, belief, and feelings were welcomed instead of this half-baked Disney World where only banalities and neutral non-speak are acceptable? Am I advocating bullying (in person or on the computer)? No, but then again, one man’s bullying is another man’s truth. How are we to learn if we cannot speak? How can a child learn sensitivity if they never experience pain—the pain of hurting someone else, or the pain of being hurt themselves? Just because you tell a child that certain words are hurtful does not guarantee that they will understand. You probably grew up being called names or being excluded from activities, I think most of us have. So each of us has our own set of “hurtful”, “not nice” words or actions that we try to teach to others. But if a child never sees the result of using hurtful language or taking hurtful actions, or if they are never the recipient of those hurtful words or actions, they have only your word that those terms, phrases, or actions are “bad”. Eventually, that won’t be enough. Eventually, all they will see is that their parents are afraid of certain actions or words. They will become curious and may simply try using those words or performing those actions, or they may become manipulative, using your fears to their advantage. I understand wanting to spare others what we each went through—we all try to do that—but if we don’t allow others to make mistakes, if we don’t stop creating and enforcing rules that make us live in a false world based on pretense and insincerity, then we all suffer. I find it infinitely more stressful to be constantly watching and gauging everything I say and do for fear I may offend or hurt someone, than simply allowing myself to be who I am—someone who would not intentionally hurt someone, but may (occasionally) put my foot in my mouth. My life, then, becomes like a war zone, where each step I take can put me in the middle of a mine field, and each word I utter or each action I take can destroy my world. I can no more stay silent (as stated in the old adage of saying nothing if you can’t speak nicely), than I can not write. Yet, how I am to gauge which words I write will annoy or hurt? I believe rather than police each other, we need to police ourselves—turn off those programs that you find offensive, do not read stories or writings that upset you, and by all means, walk away from someone whose ramblings you disagree with. So, what is your life’s goal? If there was one goal in my life, it was to teach. As a child I wanted to be Laura Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie, working in a small, one-room schoolhouse. However, by the time I was ten, I realized that what I wanted to teach wasn’t the basics of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Between the ages of 10 and 14, I really wanted to help others develop their psi talents. But how do you go about something like that? As a 10-year old I was completely baffled by that question, after all, I had never heard of a school where you could study the skills of reading auras, hearing others’ thoughts, or remote viewing. Oh, I’d heard of the paranormal programs at the colleges like the one in Raleigh-Durham, but they didn’t teach people how to use their paranormal or psychic abilities, they just studied people with abilities to try and figure out whether the abilities were real. I already knew psychic abilities were real, after all I had been using them my whole life. By the time I reached my 20’s I knew that what the world called psychic talents weren’t what I needed to teach. After all the so-called psychic talents were nothing more than cording to someone and reading one or more of their auric layers. (Read Auras and ESP.) That was a common practice done by everyone – most just didn’t even realize that they were doing it. No, what I really needed to teach was a way for them to gain the peace of their inner truths and wisdom. So many people had bits and pieces of the puzzle, but so few really knew how all those bits and pieces fit together. While I never considered myself an expert, by any means, I knew that I held some of the answers merely because I could “see” beyond the physical world that we all lived in. At my various jobs I would feel myself drawn toward certain conversations that were going on during my break periods. It wasn’t that these conversations were particularly odd or different—they were rarely discussing anything paranormal—but somehow I knew that my little bits of knowledge, what I thought of as my inner wisdom, could help them with their everyday issues. So, somehow I would find the courage to jump in and offer my bits of wisdom regarding life after death, angels, or even why someone continued to go out with the same type of creep all the time. Now, you have to understand, that I’m a very reticent person, and I don’t interact with other people very easily. Therefore, for me to simply drop in on a conversation, especially one taking place between several people that I only knew in passing, was extremely unusual. Yet, the urge to “instruct”, to speak up, was so strong that it would encourage me to step beyond my normal reluctance and share my insights. No special language was used. There were no discussions of baby souls versus mature souls, or how karmic imbalances might impact the life, because these people either wouldn’t understand or accept those terms. No, it was just using everyday language and real life examples to explain to them what I considered the common sense of living. Occasionally, I would find a few people (2 or 3) who were more aware, and we could actually converse about things of a more esoteric nature. We would delve into the question of karma and alternate realities, or why some situations and people seemed familiar, and a thousand other topics of interest. While that was more satisfying than the first type of discussions, it still wasn’t quite enough. No, I still felt that overwhelming need to teach, and what I was doing wasn’t enough. I started working at a company that actually had access to several Internet newsgroups. (This was at the time when the Internet was comprised of newsgroups and posting boards—at the risk of dating myself—instead of the chat groups, web pages, or blogs of today). During a break at work, I checked out some of the different newsgroups. For the most part, I didn’t stay long, because most of them just didn’t seem that interesting to me. However, the last one I logged into was the dreamer’s newsgroup. Suddenly, I felt at home. Here were people discussing their interpretations of different dreams, something I could do in my sleep (so to speak). I began to spend most every lunch hour in this newsgroup usually answering questions and interpreting dreams. While others continued interpreting dreams, too, my explanations always seemed to be more accurate and I soon had quite a little following. After about a year, one of the members of the little dream group asked about an entity named Michael. Although this had nothing to do with dreams, the response was huge. Nearly everyone had read the books by Yarbro (including me), and those that hadn’t, soon wanted to. Now I finally had a group I could exchange my knowledge with and without having to couch the information in terms of everyday normalcy. I could talk about the differences between sages and warriors, without someone thinking I was talking about one of those role-playing games. Finally, we started our own newsgroup, and I found that my noontime discussions were becoming almost more important than any work I was assigned. I would race to complete the work just to make sure that I had plenty of time with my group. We discussed every aspect of Michael’s philosophy and even introduced other teachings and information to the group—from Seth (by Jane Roberts) to Edgar Cayce, to Nostradamus, and a multitude of others. As technology improved, a website evolved, and the readings and “conversations” continued. I had finally found my classroom—it existed in the virtual world of the Internet. My “students” wandered in and out of the classroom as they wanted, and it was fine, because I knew that whoever needed to find me, would. I’m still teaching, and I’m still using the Internet as my “classroom”, but now I’m using a blog and email to share my insights and information. Also, my teachings have taken on a different tone—it’s the tone of review, but the review is as much for me as for my “students”, because as I share my information with others, I gain further insights. As I share myself with others, I feel myself blossoming and growing, too. So welcome, …pull up a chair, and tell me what’s on your mind?
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! 2D motion 1. Jun 10, 2012 #1 A rugby ball of mass 400 grams is to be kicked from ground level to clear a crossbar 3m high. The goal line is 12m from the ball, and the junior rugby player can impart a maximum speed of 4√g ms−1 to the ball. (a) Modelling the ball as a projectile moving under gravity alone, what is the minimum launch angle that will succeed? What is the range of the ball when launched at this angle and speed? 3. The attempt at a solution Not quite sure how to approach this one at all. The ball would need to go high enough, from the initial vertical speed given to it - 4√g.sinθ. That by the time it reaches the crossbar in a time we can calculate from its horizontal component, it is exactly 3m above the ground. I get the feeling I am missing something though. 2. jcsd 3. Jun 10, 2012 #2 I would find the time it takes for the ball to reach the crossbar as a function of angle. Then, you should be able to find an expression for the height of the ball at that time and see what constraints there are on the angle. 4. Jun 14, 2012 #3 Thanks for the reply Muphrid. I made some progress thanks to your suggestion. I have an expression for the position vector. First problem is I dont know if they want a numerical or algebraic answer. r=4t√g cos(α)i + (4t√g sin(α)-1/2 gt2)j + C I need to get find the integration constant first, the only values i have are the initial values of (0,0) at time=0, giving C as zero, i dont know if this is correct. As I need to find the minimum angle I assume that the position vector to the top of the wall is key to this (12i, 3j). Now I am stuck again. 5. Jun 14, 2012 #4 You might want to check the problem statement or something; you said that the player can impart a velocity of "[itex]4 \sqrt g[/itex]" in meters per second, yet if [itex]g[/itex] is Earth's gravitational acceleration, that makes no sense in terms of units. Until that is cleared up, nothing else about the problem will make sense. Otherwise, yes, you've reasoned out the integration constant correctly. The easiest thing to do is to solve for [itex]\cos \alpha[/itex] and then use inverse trig to get [itex]\alpha[/itex] from that. Last edited: Jun 14, 2012 6. Jun 14, 2012 #5 I would assume that it just means [itex]4\sqrt{9.8}\frac{m}{s^{2}}[/itex]. 7. Jun 14, 2012 #6 2 constrains at time=t 1. x=12m 2.y≥3m or y=(3+z)m where z≥0 y+z=Uyt - 0.5gt2 minimum value of z=0 imply minimum angle. 3=Uy(x/Ux) - 0.5g(x/Ux)2 8. Jun 17, 2012 #7 Azizlwl, thanks for the reply, but can you explain it a little more in depth please, i dont understand what your symbols mean, especially the z. Is U initial velocity? 9. Jun 17, 2012 #8 Yes U is the intial velocity. z is a distance above the crossbar. Ux initial horizontal velocity Uy initial vertical velocity 10. Jun 17, 2012 #9 Thanks! One last question if I may, what is the significance of the integration constant that appears when integrating the velocity vector to get the position vector, and where does it appear in your solution. Cheers! 11. Jun 17, 2012 #10 Similar Discussions: 2D motion 1. 2d motion (Replies: 1) 2. Motion in 2D (Replies: 1) 3. 2d motion (Replies: 1) 4. 2d motion (Replies: 2) 5. 2D Motion (Replies: 6)
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! An electrons acceleration. Please check my answer 1. Feb 11, 2009 #1 An electrons acceleration. Please check my answer!! Multiple-Concept Example 3 provides some pertinent background for this problem. Suppose a single electron orbits about a nucleus containing two protons (+2e), as would be the case for a helium atom from which one of the naturally occuring electrons is removed. The radius of the orbit is 3.09 x 10-11 m. Determine the magnitude of the electron's centripetal acceleration. Multiple-Concept Example 3 tells you that the electron mass is 9.11 x 10 ^ -31 kg. I know what I have to do... First, use Coulomb's law to find the Force. Then, divide by mass to find the acceleration. But the answer Im getting is HUGE. This is what I found.... F= 4.82 x 10 ^ 7 Then, a= 5.29 x 10 ^ 23. But, Im told that is the wrong answer. Please help!! 2. jcsd 3. Feb 12, 2009 #2 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Hi Miss1nik2! :smile: erm … you have 10 ^ 23 x 10 ^ -30 = 10 ^ 7 :redface: Similar Discussions: An electrons acceleration. Please check my answer 1. Check my answer please (Replies: 1)
Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! I Classical mass vs. relativistic mass for electronic analogy 1. Aug 8, 2017 #1 I'm working on semiconductor physics and cyclotrons. There's an article that I am trying to understand, but am having difficulties matching with experiment. I asked a question on an electronics site, but apparently the physics is too advanced. The relativity article which sparked my interest is this one: What I'm having trouble understanding is section III and equations 24-30. I get that in classical physics $$E=0.5 m v^2 $$ The classic formula makes a parabola with constant curvature if graphed as E vs mv or k (AKA momentum is proportional to 'k' in semiconductor wave packet physics instead of being called 'p') I realize that if the classical kinetic energy formula's second derivative is taken with respect to momentum (mv), in one dimension, it yields inverse mass; eg: That's the same as taking the derivative of the equation with respect to velocity, twice; and dividing by mass twice. eg: $$ { 0.5 \cdot m \cdot 2 \cdot v^0 \over { m^2 }} = m^{-1} $$ In equation 30 of the arxiv article, the authors do something similar but instead of taking the derivative twice in one dimension; they take a partial derivative in two dimensions? I'm not sure why they are doing that. It's been too long since I've had physics. Can anyone explain why they conclude that mass is not a scalar? Is there a directional dependence of mass when traversing a circular path at constant energy that doesn't end up being constant? (Constant spherical energy means an idealized electron, neglecting Heisenburg, is essentially moving with constant momentum along the surface of a sphere. In general, it's typically a circular orbit of arbitrary radius. ) I know that in relativistic physics, the shape of an energy vs. momentum curve for a particle is a hyperbola. That means the curvature is not constant, and at high energies the relationship becomes linear. eg: see Figure 1 in the arxiv article. So, I assume that 'mass not being scalar' might be related to the fact that the second derivative of the curve goes to zero as energy gets large; hence "effective mass" goes toward infinity. Could someone verify my assumption? If I am correct, then there has to be a way to convert cyclotron masses based on the Dirac equation/relativistic physics into a mass compatible with F=ma by knowing the E vs. k curve, and doing something like taking the second derivative of it. Would a second derivative (in one dimension) not give a mass which would allow F=ma to approximate the force measured when accelerating an object a very small amount? The electrical engineers I asked on another other site have no answers for me about converting the masses between a relativistic framework and a classical one. The graph at the bottom of the following thread shows a red line, which is from a cyclotron. The grey line is from an experimenter, called Barber, who's giving a mass that I assume is supposed to work with classical physics models. eg: F=ma. The two don't agree, and I think it has to do with differences in classical and relativistic ideas of mass. Last edited: Aug 9, 2017 2. jcsd 3. Aug 9, 2017 #2 User Avatar Science Advisor 2016 Award The idea is known as "quasi particles" and goes back to L. D. Landau. Often you can describe the excitation spectrum of a many-body system in terms of "quasi-particles". Formulated in terms of QFT ("2nd quantization") you can evaluate the (retarded) two-point function of some appropriate quantum field. If its imaginary part has narrow-peaked structures, i.e., if the imaginary part of the self-energy is small around a pole of the two-point function, you have defined a quasi-particle. Then you can define an energy-momentum relation ##\omega=\omega(\vec{k})## by solving $$\mathrm{Re} G^{-1} (\omega,\vec{k})=0.$$ Then the group velocity is $$v_{\text{g}}=\nabla_{\vec{k}} \omega(\vec{k}).$$ It's of course most simply illustrated on the case of a free particle. It's retared propagator is given by $$G(\omega,\vec{k})=\frac{1}{\omega-\vec{k}^2/(2m)+\mathrm{i} 0^+}.$$ Of course, here you get a real particle, i.e., the spectral function $$\rho(\omega,\vec{k})=-2 \mathrm{im} G=2 \pi \delta(\omega-\vec{k}^2/2m),$$ and the dispersion relation, defined by the pole is precisely and the group velocity is $$\vec{v}_{\text{g}}=\vec{\nabla}_{\vec{k}} \omega(\vec{k})=\frac{\vec{k}}{m}. \qquad (1)$$ Now in the paper they define the inverse mass tensor by $$v_{\text{g}i}=(\mathcal{M}^{-1})_{ij} k_j.$$ comparing with (1) you get $$(\mathcal{M}^{-1})_{ij}=\frac{1}{m} \delta_{ij}.$$ In the general case this matrix can be an arbitrary symmetric matrix (if the problem has no symmetries). In the paper they consider the often realized case of an isotropic dispersion relation, i.e., $$\omega=\omega(k) \quad k=\|\vec{k}\|.$$ $$v_{\text{g}i}=\frac{\partial \omega}{\partial k_i}=\frac{k_i}{k} \omega'(k) \stackrel{\text{!}}{=} (\mathcal{M}^{-1})_{ij} k_j,$$ from which you get $$(\mathcal{M}^{-1})_{ij}=\frac{\omega'(k)}{k} \delta_{ij}=\frac{1}{m^} \delta_{ij},$$ which defines the mass ##m^## of the quasi-particle. 4. Aug 9, 2017 #3 Thanks for your help. I am humbly struggling to keep up with all the math notation. :) So, after staring at (1) in your post and the inverse mass tensor for a while; What I am seeing is that for typical cases in Cartesian coordinates where the domains of i and j are the same 1,2,3 : $$ \mathcal{M}^{-1} = {1 \over m} \left[ {\begin{array}{xyz} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array}} \right] = { 1 \over m} \mathit{I}_3 $$ It's a symmetric matrix because of the Kronecker delta, and I'm not sure what you meant by "(if the problem has no symmetries)" I'd like to concentrate on the isotropic case, unless that's the source of confusion. What you seem to be showing is that taking the partial derivative of energy with respect to momentum in three dimensions, is the same as a unit vector pointing in the direction of motion; multiplied by a derivative of a scalar energy with respect to momentum. That makes perfect sense to me. I am not sure what the ! over an equals sign means, though ; This is the first time I've seen that math symbol. However, the right side of your relationship is showing an inverse mass times a momentum. I would also expect that product to have units of velocity. Is there any significant difference between m and m* in your equations? eg: Is the difference solely the scalar mass of one free particle (m) vs the scalar mass of a quasi-particle (m)? If I'm following you correctly, you've discussed the background of arxiv's equations (23) to (29); but not (30) yet. Last edited: Aug 9, 2017 5. Aug 9, 2017 #4 I think I might see part of whats been confusing me. In equation 30, if I write differentiation with respect to x,y,z in place of indicies 1,2,3 for I and j; the partial derivatives make a matrix/tensor with the following elements: I am assuming that i is rows, and j is columns. The subscripts in this matrix mean partial differentiation with respect to momentum along a given axis. $$ \mathit{M^}^{-1} = \left[ { \begin{array}{ccc} \epsilon_{xx} & \epsilon_{xy} & \epsilon_{xz} \\ \epsilon_{yx} & \epsilon_{yy} & \epsilon_{yz} \\ \epsilon_{zx} & \epsilon_{zy} & \epsilon_{zz} \end{array} } \right] $$ The diagonal of the matrix, then, is the classical second derivative of scalar energy with respect to momentum in three dimensions. That's when both derivatives are taken along the same dimension. What do the "off" diagonal elements represent? And what does the arxiv article mean by mass "not being a scalar" in the text immediately following equation (30) ? 6. Aug 10, 2017 #5 User Avatar Science Advisor 2016 Award (30) is what one calls usually the inverse-mass matrix, and indeed it's a tensor, which doesn't reduce to a multiple of the identity matrix, even in the case that you have $$\epsilon(\vec{k})=\epsilon(k), \quad k=\|\vec{k}\|.$$ Then you have $$\frac{\partial \epsilon}{\partial k_i}=\frac{\partial k}{\partial k_i} \epsilon'(k)=\frac{k_i}{k} \epsilon'(k)$$ $$\frac{\partial^2 \epsilon}{\partial k_i \partial k_j} = \frac{k_i k_j}{k^2} \epsilon''(k) + \frac{k^2 \delta_{ij}-k_i k_j}{k^3} \epsilon'(k).$$ 7. Aug 10, 2017 #6 hmm.... OK. I'm going to assume that "not being scalar" means not reducible to a scalar and the identity matrix. Last night, however, I worked the problem that you are showing in one dimension and produced some interesting results. Let me define a variable name convention, to be consistent; It can be changed to holes or electrons by inspection after working equations for a generic carrier. 'c' I also want to keep the variable name prefixes the same as used in special relativity so it's easy to see how the equations translate back to the basic Einstein relationships. Therefore, I'm going to use subscripts to denote the particular semiconductor values. E or epsilon will just represent total energy as usual, C is analogous to the capping speed of light, but it's subscript, sc, will stand for speed of carrier. E_mc0 will represent the Energy of the mass of a carrier with no momentum. eg: rest mass. m_c0 represents the semi-relativity scalar mass of a carrier with no momentum. etc. I expect that: $$ \epsilon( \vec{k} ) = \epsilon ( k ), k = \| { \vec{k} \| } $$ From the general Einstein energy and mass relationship; we know the following (by direct analogy): $$ \epsilon = m_c^{} C_{sc}^2 = \pm \sqrt { E_{mc0}^2 + (P_c \cdot C_{sc})^2 } = \pm \sqrt { E_{mc0}^2 + C_{sc}^2 \cdot ( \hbar k )^2 } $$ In the ARXIV article, eqn (16) with (17) to (19) defines the same correspondence. The rest energy is half the band-gap of the semiconductor AKA E_mc0. Basic Cyclotron resonance theory is described at these links: http://physics.usask.ca/~alex/phys470/week1.pdf http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2007/ap273/hellstrom1 I came to the conclusion that I can use equation (21) in the ARXIV article as a starting point to get the same result as the general Einstein relationship. Equation (21) is: $$ \epsilon = \pm \sqrt { E_{mc0}^2 + 2 E_{mc0} \left( {{ \hbar^2 k_{ct}^2} \over {2 m_{ct0}} } + { { \hbar^2 k_{cl}^2 } \over {2 m_{cl0}}} \right) } $$ ARXIV cites Arnov and Pikus to transform the directional masses into an isotropic one. http://www.jetp.ac.ru/cgi-bin/dn/e_024_02_0339.pdf By inspection, I think the original ARXIV eqn. (21) has to transform into the following, but I don't know all the steps or implications. $$ \epsilon =\pm \sqrt { E_{mc0}^2 + {{ 2 E_{mc0} \cdot ( \hbar k )^2 } \over { 2 m_{c0}^{}} } } So, I'm going to use the final step of the transform, to see if I can change the (m) of a carrier into an F=Ma type mass (M_c) . The first derivative is of the transform is: $$ { { d \epsilon } \over { d ( \hbar k ) } } = { 1 \over 2 } { { C_{sc}^2 \cdot 2( \hbar k ) } \over { \epsilon } } = { C_{sc}^2 ( \hbar k \cdot \epsilon^{-1} ) } $$ The second derivative is: $$ { { d^2 \epsilon } \over { d ( \hbar k )^2 } } = C_{sc}^2 \left({ 1 \cdot \epsilon^{-1} + \hbar k \cdot (-1) \epsilon^{-2} } { { d \epsilon } \over { d ( \hbar k ) } } \right ) = C_{sc}^2 \left({ \epsilon^{-1} - C_{sc}^2 ( \hbar k )^2 \epsilon^{-3} } \right) = C_{sc}^2 \left( { { \epsilon^{2} - C_{sc}^2 ( \hbar k )^2 } \over \epsilon^{3} } \right) = { C_{sc}^2 \over \epsilon^3 } \left( { E_{mc0}^2 + C_{sc}^2 \cdot ( \hbar k )^2 - C_{sc}^2 \cdot ( \hbar k )^2 } \right) ={ { C_{sc}^2 \over \epsilon } { E_{mc0}^2 \over \epsilon ^2 } } The result ought to be 1 over Mass as a scalar. Given that total energy divided by a square C is the same as relativistic mass, the formula can algebraically reworked as: $$ M_c^{} = m_c^{} \cdot \left ( { \epsilon \over E_{mc0} } \right )^2 $$ Since the total energy is always greater or equal to the rest energy, the Mass of the carrier is always larger than it's quasi-relativistic equivalent mass. I have a graph at the bottom of another thread, which I am updating as I work the problem here. I converted from red m_c to orange M_c using a carrier mass at energy of kt/2 from the band edge. The conversion I derived in this post is not quite sufficient to match the original data; although it might be that I've chosen the wrong energy offset from the band-edge to represent the carrier who's mass most affects the cyclotron measurement. Last edited: Aug 10, 2017 Have something to add? Draft saved Draft deleted Similar Discussions: Classical mass vs. relativistic mass for electronic analogy 1. Relativistic mass? (Replies: 17) 2. Relativistic mass (Replies: 32) 3. Relativistic mass (Replies: 28)
This is the Article for the Tsardom of Russia's Colony in America, Situated around OTL NYC, with a city in the Novorossiya Flag NeoRussian flag region named Novomoskovsk (Neomoscow or New Moscow). Cities And Towns ATL-OTL equivalent Novomoskovsk-New York City Noviy Vladimir-Jersey City The colony was founded in 1501 after Russian explorer and soon-to-be governor Dimitri Boyasin was sent off as a captain in a voyage to America. He made contact with the natives and was very tolerant of their existence, treating them like people that had no choice but not to know about certain European ideas and religion. The first permanent settlement and churches were founded soon after. The colony was an important part of the 1507-08 drought and famine, supplying certain foods and accommodating migrants because of this. It has been in slow growth ever since. Dimitri Boyasin was appointed first governor and served until his death 1540, aged 65, leaving his son as governor. Ad blocker interference detected!
Mississippi River The Mississippi River watershed drains 31 US states, ranks the 4th longest river in the world, following the Nile, Amazon and Yangtze rivers, at 2,530 miles from Northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The river borders and cuts through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. (US Army Corps of Engineers) http://www.dreamstime.com/-image3580890The Upper Mississippi starts at the headwaters of Lake Itasca, MN and runs 1250 miles to Cairo, IL, where it meets up with the Ohio River to form the Lower Mississippi. The Upper Mississippi will be the most difficult leg of the journey, as it has slower current, lower water levels and twisty, swampy characteristics. The current speeds up and the river opens up on the Lower Mississippi, however avoiding commercial barge traffic will be our biggest obstacle. Mississippi River Watershed Background Information There are 7.489 gallons of water in a cubic foot. One cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 pounds. A 48 foot semi-truck trailer is a 3,600 cubic foot container.At Lake Itasca, it would take 10 minutes for one semi-trailer of water to flow out of the lake into the Mississippi. The Mississippi River and its floodplain are home to a diverse population of living things:At least 260 species of fish, 25% of all fish species in North America; Forty percent of the nation’s migratory waterfowl use the river corridor during their Spring and Fall migration; The Upper Mississippi is host to more than 50 mammal species; Source: (http://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm)
Monday, July 26, 2010 Hackers in Hardware: Will It Happen and Can We Stop It? Most famous cases involving engineering ethics start with a headline, a crisis, or a tragedy. In such situations, we can take steps to make sure it’s less likely to happen next time only after we figure out what went wrong. But every once in a while, farsighted engineers can actually anticipate a major new problem before it happens and convince people to prevent it without anyone getting hurt. This is obviously the best way to go if we can manage it. The potential problem of hardware hackers is a case in point. As John Villasenor explains in the current issue of Scientific American, hardware hacking is the planting of a malicious circuit in hardware, typically deep within the incredible complexity of an integrated circuit (microchip). ICs are so complicated nowadays that the design of most of them is comparable to the design of a large building or an oil refinery. Simply because the system is so large and diverse, pieces of the design are farmed out to numerous subcontractors. In such a complex circumstance, a hardware-hacking scenario could come about in the following way. Suppose some evil person wants all cell phones sold by a given firm to quit working at a certain date in the future. They infiltrate one of the subcontractors that helps to design a critical IC in the new phone models, and slip in a circuit that monitors the time code and suddenly ties up the communication bus in the system once the blow-up date arrives. Since it’s impossible to check for every conceivable situation a phone might experience, the likelihood that this circuit will pass unnoticed into the final design is pretty good. A few weeks before the blow-up date, the criminals in charge of this trickery send a blackmail letter to the company, telling them what will happen and offering them an encrypted key to prevent the disaster—for, say, a billion dollars. That particular scenario would be enacted by criminals, but political sabotage or terrorism could also inspire such machinations. Villasenor and his fellow researchers claim there are several ways to prevent such attacks. One, favored by the Pentagon, is a kind of security-clearance check for every organization involved in the chip design. While this may be practical for certain costly military ICs, it doesn’t seem like a plan that will work for commercial designs, where vendors change at the last minute and are spread out all across the globe in a variety of jurisdictions. A better idea Villasenor mentions is to install inspector or security circuits in every IC to monitor for suspicious behavior that would indicate the presence of a hardware hack. While this will reduce the space and speed available for the IC’s main tasks slightly, the added security appeal of knowing your new IC is protected against hardware hacking might make it worthwhile. There are two questions in my mind about this whole situation. First, how real is the threat of hardware hacking? Villasenor says that there have been no significant incidents so far, but of course there might be unknown time bombs out there right now, ticking away. I think one reason this kind of thing hasn’t happened yet is that, unlike viral malware, hardware generally has a paper trail that can be traced back to the place of origin. Being fingered as the guilty party in a hardware-hacking case would mean certain death to a firm, even if they were unaware of what was going on at the time. Nobody would ever want to buy circuits from them again. Another reason, at least in the case of political terrorism of the Islamofascist variety, is that companies which design ICs are generally not found in places where organizations like the Taliban have significant influence. The extreme contrast between the state of Israel, which has dozens of high-tech firms turning out world-class technology, and the surrounding Arab nations, which have to buy nearly all the technology they have from other countries, is an example of this. So unless terrorists manage to convince individual designers in critical firms to implant hardware hacks, this kind of threat seems unlikely. The second question is, if manufacturers develop security measures to install that allegedly prevent hardware hacks, will people pay the extra price for them? No matter how small, the security features will adversely impact price and performance, and it then becomes a question of perceived value added. Some customers with heightened concerns about security, for example the military and government, might be more willing to buy such chips than commercial customers such as computer makers. Of course, once a major hardware hack actually caused damage, the feature would sell itself. So you have the perverse situation that the best incentive to buy a hardware-hack-secure IC is to have a major problem occur with hardware hacking. Unfortunately, that may be what has to happen if hardware-hack prevention is to amount to much more than a few academic papers and articles. Let’s hope the cure arrives well before the disease, at least in this case. Sources: John Villasenor’s article “The Hacker in Your Hardware” appeared in the August 2010 issue of Scientific American (pp. 82-87). Monday, July 19, 2010 The Honor of Dirty Fingernails On a trip we just completed, the van we drove over a thousand miles in six days (a Dodge) suddenly quit outside Wichita Falls, Texas. The minute it happened, I was pretty sure what the problem was. We have replaced the fuel pump three times in six years, and since the last one was replaced about two years ago, I figured it was curtains for this one. I’m pretty sure (though not certain) that the people who designed that fuel pump had college degrees. And I’m also pretty sure that few if any of the people who helped us from that point onward had degrees in engineering, or possibly anything else. But we would have been stuck without their help. The gentleman driving the tow truck told us he’d been a semi-trailer driver for thirteen years, then switched to towing for the next thirteen. He was the only person at the small gas station he worked for who could drive the tow truck, and so he’d been on call 24 hours a day for the last several years, except for one day off when he got married. The guy in charge of the repair shop where they towed the van was very proud of the twenty-something young man who actually did the repair, which involved draining out some 30 gallons of gas (we’d just filled it) without setting the place on fire, dropping the tank, getting all the gaskets and clips and screws out and back in the right way, and putting it all back together again so it didn’t leak. The auto technician did nothing that I couldn’t do without some practice, but he did it in about an hour and a half. I would have taken all day and spent most of it on trips to the auto-parts store to get special tools, assuming I didn’t blow up my house first. The manager said he was very proud of that technician after watching him grow from an inexperienced teenager to a seasoned professional over the ten years or so he’d worked there. Over 60% of Americans 25 and older have not completed even a two-year associate college degree. They are citizens like anyone else, and voters too, but to listen to certain elite groups in this country, you would think that everybody either has to have a college degree or else they represent abject failures of the system if they don’t. Columnist John Derbyshire recently cited several quotations along these lines, such as: “All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career—no matter who you are or where you come from.” The speaker was President Obama, and for a politician it is a peculiarly unqualified statement. If he had simply stopped at “All students should graduate from high school,” I’d agree with him there—about fifteen percent of Americans over 25 haven’t even gotten that far. But at the risk of raining on my own parade (I teach engineering in college), I think it is unrealistic to expect or insist that everybody, no matter what their inclinations, abilities, or interests are, should graduate from college ore else become a second-class citizen. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that the opportunity to get a college degree should be artificially restricted to a given class, or income level, or sex, or race. Opportunities should be equal for all, but if for good and logical reasons, a given student would like to cease his or her formal schooling after high school and become a great plumber, or auto mechanic, or tow-truck driver, or filmmaker (Steven Spielberg dropped out of college to go into the film business), I would like the economy to provide them with that opportunity, and for society not to look down upon them as some sort of failure simply because of the kind of work they do. Not everybody who drops out of college is another Spielberg, but the point I’m trying to make is that there are many honorable, useful, and even significant jobs out there which do not require a college degree. And that is as it should be. The natural tendency of our society, unfortunately, is to look up to people who (1) have lots of money, (2) have lots of people working for them, or (3) manipulate symbols instead of real things. Most engineers nowadays are in the third category, but for every engineer with a college degree in most industries, there are two or three folks who build, test, sell, and fix the things that the engineers design. And while increasing numbers of the lower-ranking workers have college degrees, in many cases such degrees are still not necessary, for example in the construction trades. The engineering-ethics angle here is to respect those whose education is not as advanced as yours, and remember that the thing called “tacit knowledge”—the right way to ease a tank full of gas down out of a car without incinerating yourself or your shop, for example—is real, and sometimes more important for a given task than anything you could learn in college. Everyone in an honorable occupation—that is, one which isn’t positively evil—makes a useful contribution to society and deserves to be treated as an important, knowledgeable part of the grand system that makes engineering the vital thing it is in modern life. The next time you deal with such a person, don’t belittle their educational attainments. Instead, watch them, find out just how much they can do that you can’t—and learn. Sources: John Derbyshire’s column, “The Jobs Americans Should Not Have to Do?” appeared at The statistics on the percentage of Americans who are college graduates is from the U. S. Census Bureau website Sunday, July 11, 2010 Big Mother Is Watching You On Your Cell Phone George Orwell made the phrase “Big Brother” famous in his dystopia 1984 when he epitomized the intrusive, spies-everywhere nature of the omnipresent state of the future with the slogan, “Big Brother is watching you.” While pieces of his futuristic novel (published in 1949) have come true over the years—he anticipated television pretty well, for example—even Orwell did not imagine that some day, for a measly five dollars a month, parents could get continuous accurate information on the whereabouts of their children. Hence “Big Mother.” This is no science-fiction dream. Last month a flyer came in my cell phone bill. Normally I just throw them away, having no use for most of the features of my cell phone anyway, but this one’s headline caught my attention: “See your kids on a satellite map!” A system that only a few months ago I heard described as “coming soon” by a telecommunications researcher has been rolled out by Sprint, and no doubt many other companies as well. The fact that it has been available for several years shows that researchers and professors can be out of touch about some things too. The technology is fairly simple. You give your children cell phones with a GPS feature, which nowadays is not that complex—if there aren’t single-chip GPS receivers available already, there will be soon. The phone company, upon receipt of your five dollars a month (plus taxes, fees, and surcharges), queries the GPS receiver periodically, takes the coordinates, plots them on a map, and makes it available to the parents. I suppose this “family locator” (as it is billed) is too new to have inspired much in the way of reactions from the teenage set. Apparently, the feature has been available in some markets since 2006, but in a cursory glance at a web search I turned up only corporate press releases and reviews, generally favorable, by the press. One report makes it clear that the teenager has to consent to the tracking, and even gets a text message letting him or her know that “Big Mother” (my use of the phrase was not original) is watching. Originally introduced at a cost of $10 monthly, the fact that Sprint is now putting flyers into their bills and advertising it for only $5 a month tells me that the feature may not have created as much demand as the company had hoped. There are at least two big obstacles to its use: the opt-in feature that lets the kid know what’s going on, and the fact that the offspring can always leave their phone at home or at a friend’s house if they want to go somewhere their parents really don’t approve of. And as every network engineer knows, anything that leads people to disassociate themselves from their phones lowers the value of the network, not only to those directly involved, but to everyone else as well. So in that regard, Sprint could be shooting themselves in the foot with this technology, at least among the under-20 set. Of course, governments have used cell phones for years to track down criminals without their knowledge or consent, and it worked for a while until the bad guys figured out what was going on. But bringing what started out as high-tech Mission-Impossible-style spy technology down to the level of a commercial $5-a-month option for family use is a new twist on the way technical innovations often start out expensively at the government level and percolate down to the consumer, often in a different form. What some parents would really like, I suspect, is the stealth version of the family locator, but for fear of virtual stalking, Sprint won’t sell it that way. Of course, there may be some enterprising hackers out there who could modify the software somehow, but that gets into what you might call “grayware” and I wouldn’t recommend it. What effect would this technology have on a teenager who grows up with it? You could view it as just one more accessory to further enable the “helicopter parent” syndrome that supposedly plagues many families today. Moms with nothing better to do can live out their teenage daughter’s lives vicariously by tracking them from house to mall to wherever. “What were you doing on Lover’s Lane from midnight to 2 A. M.?” I wonder, does the family locator have a history function, or do you have to stay up and watch it in real time? Some things are better left unspeculated about. Well, judging by Sprint’s efforts to promote this thing, it doesn’t appear to be taking America by storm. But if this and similar location-tracking technology become generally accepted, I can see how it could change the work environment for lots of people, from public-safety employees to delivery personnel to anyone who spends time outside the direct physical supervision of their bosses. A company could easily make carrying a tracking-enabled cell phone a condition of employment, much as long-distance trucking companies keep track of their drivers through GPS already. I’m sure this would change the nature of the work environment, but how is another question altogether. Should personal tracking be regulated? That depends on what people use it for. Clearly it could be abused, which is why commercial versions all notify the trackee of the system’s operation. But even with notification, it seems to me that one more small piece of freedom disappears when a teenager, or anyone else, agrees to be tracked by someone in authority over them. Yes, it’s the business of the authority to supervise, and knowing where someone is can be an important aspect of supervision. But there will be all sorts of subtle changes, and not all of them good, if a person knows, even subconsciously, that some other person knows exactly where they are at all times—or even just has the capability to know. Will it make a difference in the larger scheme of things? As with so many questions I raise in this blog, we will just have to wait and see. Sources: An article reviewing one of the first offerings of the Sprint family locator was carried by the website of a New York City TV station in 2006 at Monday, July 05, 2010 Deepwater Drilling: More Research Needed? The ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill has led many to question the competence of both industry and government in conducting and regulating deepwater oil drilling. The perspective of Tad Patzek, chairman of the University of Texas Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department, is worth listening to, if for no other reason that he stands at some remove from both corporations and government institutions. On June 8, he gave prepared testimony before Congress in which he shared his thoughts about the root causes of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and what should be done to prevent such tragedies in the future. Prof. Patzek's main point was that complex systems behave in a qualitatively different way from the simpler systems of which they are a part. He used the analogies of a watch and a frog. Given the right tools, you can take a watch apart and reassemble it, and it will work just as well as it ever did. Try the same thing with a frog, and you don't get a live frog back—you get high-school biology lab. Even such an apparently simple thing as a single-celled organism such as an amoeba is a fantastically complex interconnected system of thousands of micro-machines, chemical plants, disposal systems, data storage in the form of DNA, and so on. And just writing down the chemicals involved doesn't begin to explain the complex behavior of a living organism. According to Prof. Patzek, the highly complex system of an offshore oil rig in deep water has moved beyond the boundary between simple, easily-understood systems (such as the plumbing in your bathroom sink) and complex systems that come up with surprising behavior that the simpler systems don't show. Unfortunately, the design and management structure of deepwater drilling, along with the technologies used, have not kept pace with the increasing complexity needed to drill in deeper waters, which is where a good deal of U. S. oil production has moved since most onshore reserves have already been exploited. Prof. Patzek says that neither the oil industry nor government funding agencies have spent much money in the last few decades on long-term research into these problems of complexity. Federal support for such research has essentially disappeared, while industry research is narrowly restricted to fields that can show an immediate short-term return: namely, exploration techniques and methods of drilling that improve rates of oil and gas recovery. While these are important and necessary, they do not fill out the big picture of what has to happen if the whole system of deepwater exploration is to function smoothly. There are well-known analysis techniques that deal with the hazards and failure modes of complex systems. These approaches were developed in part by the space industry, where repairs are generally not possible and astronauts' lives are sometimes at stake. They are paper-and-pencil (or rather nowadays, computer-and-spreadsheet) techniques which force the analyst to imagine what will happen if this or that element in the system fails. While we don't know enough about the Deepwater Horizon failure yet to say (and Prof. Patzek calls for a thorough investigation as part of his testimony), it is possible that if these analysis methods had been applied to the system in question, they might have shown there was a problem, and how to avoid it. But even if they had, the culture of the industry would have to change so that the results of an office worker's analysis would trump the gut feelings of the guys who are getting their fingernails dirty out on the platform in the Gulf. One of the problems that seems to have contributed to the accident is the distributed nature of command and operations. Rather than one integrated operation owned and run by one entity, large offshore oil-drilling operations are a collaboration between an oil company (BP in this case), a rig operator (TransOcean), and numerous smaller contractors, each of which runs his own little domain. While this mode of operation can work well in non-life-critical systems such as motion-picture production, the Deepwater Horizon accident may be the test case that shows this kind of management structure is inadequate either to prevent such an accident, or to deal with it quickly and efficiently once it occurs. Not surprisingly for a professor of engineering, Prof. Patzek winds up his testimony by proposing a number of specific research projects, including one to develop a large-scale "skimmer" (system for recovering oil from the ocean surface) by converting a conventional oil tanker. None of these plans will probably be implemented in the near term, but the hope is that Congress will recognize that a vital part of our economy has been left to deteriorate in some ways, and research is needed to fix the problems. Direct Federal involvement is not necessarily the only answer, although some increase in the form of better regulation is probably needed, as Prof. Patzek admits. But a longer-term view of R&D investment on the part of oil companies would help a great deal. One success story in this regard that might serve as an example of what to do can be drawn from the history of the U. S. semiconductor industry in the 1980s. To oversimplify, Japanese firms were eating their lunch in terms of technical advances, so the major U. S. firms got together, funded a large research effort with shared contributions and shared discoveries, and basically grabbed the football back. This required Federal cooperation in terms of allowing what would otherwise be a violation of anti-trust laws, but it was handled well and it worked out with benefits for both the industry and the general public. Whether the very different culture of the oil business will lend itself to this kind of inter-company co-operation remains to be seen. One problem is that the U. S. no longer has the lead in terms of oil-company size. Our largest (and according to many sources, best-run) company is ExxonMobil, and it is ranked 17th in the world in terms of oil reserves. But these are still well-off outfits capable of putting some percentage of their profits into a common research foundation that could address some of the safety and accident problems that have been so vividly brought to our attention lately. To my mind, it is the least they can do, and the smartest too. Sources: The July 4, 2010 Austin American-Statesman carried a portion of Prof. Patzek's prepared testimony, which can be found in full at
Image 1 of 1 When a humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, exhales, the blow can exit the whale at 150 - 300 miles per hour. The sea water on it's blowhole is vapourized and shot 20 to 25 feet into the air creating the ?blow?, or spout. On a calm day this can hang in the air for quite some time and makes the location of the whale visible from several miles away. Hawaii.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 If Evolution is a Fact...... More Videos In regards to RNA/DNA - could you please explain the problem of Chirality? Although Miller and Urey formed amino acids in their experiments in 1952 - all the amino acids that formed lacked chirality. It is a universally accepted fact of chemistry that chirality cannot be created in chemical molecules by a random process. * Dr. Charles McCombs, Ph.D. An Organic Chemist who holds 20 chemical patents says, "The fact that chirality was missing in those amino acids (Miller-Urey) is not just a problem to be debated, it points to a catastrophic failure that "life" cannot come from chemicals by natural processes." If we do not know how life originated - how can we say that an evolutionary process leading back to 'Origins' is FACT? "The short answer is, we don't really know how life originated on this planet...we have some ideas but we remain in substantial ignorance." Dr. Andrew Knoll - Professor, Biology - Harvard University, Author of LIFE ON A YOUNG PLANET. Here is what we know about DNA DNA is the building block of all 2 million known species of life. EACH species has its own unique DNA "code." We are now in the process of unlocking the complex 'language' of DNA and have discovered that indeed the DNA code has letters, syntax, sequences and purpose - in short, it meets all the definitions of a true 'language.' DNA language is the only true language known to exist that was not created by man. In other words -- all other languages exist as a result of "intelligence." In light of the above known facts...How did DNA get here? How did it originate in over 2 million unique ways? How does a 'language' with 'purpose' - randomly originate and WHY - when we have never observed the random, non-purposed origination of any other language known to man? "DNA makes clear that [Homo erectus] was almost certainly a dead end and not our ancestor." Begley, S. 2007. Beyond Stones & Bones. Newsweek. 149 (12): 55 How did the sexes originate? Why is it that the vast majority of living things require a "male and female" to reproduce? If evolution were true - doesn't it make much more sense that EVERY living organism was self-replicating and required no useless energy expenditure? When did the first male get here? When did the first female get here? How? Why? Wouldn't they have had to appear fully functional and at the same time in order for the next generation of organisms to arrive? Of course, they would. So, how is it that the first male and female for almost 2 million living organisms arrived together and fully functional so that reproduction could take place? "Sex is the QUEEN of evolutionary biology problems." Dr. Graham Bell - In his book, The Masterpiece of Nature: The Evolution of Genetics and Sexuality Then how do we explain the uniqueness of man? Of over 2 million species of life on the planet - NOTHING even comes close to man's intelligence and dominion over all the other living things. It appears - according to the ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE that everything has been placed here for man and man alone. If man were removed from the planet - the planet would survive just fine. However, if any one single other major element of earth were removed, it would eventually die. The closest animal to man in intelligence is reported to be the chimpanzee. Yet, chimps swing in trees and eat bananas. Man writes books, invents technology, flies through the air, travels to space, uses computers, drives in cars that he invented, makes fire, cooks his food, grows his foods, produces food for other animals, etc., etc. - you get the point. NOTHING compares to man - out of 2 million known forms of life. If evolution were true - how can this be? Then how do you explain the origin of human language? Why do only humans possess language out of over 2 million total species of life? We know that other life forms have forms of rudimentary 'communication.' But NO OTHER LIFE FORM has a language system - defined by letters, alphabet, syntax, rules and purpose. Man is the only living thing to use this language to produce literature, art, media, mass communication and to develop technologies to transfer this mass communication. Man is the only living thing to pass on generational knowledge, amass libraries and produce systems to store generational knowledge. Doesn't it make sense that as over 2 million known forms of life were "evolving" that more than 1 in 2,000,000 would have developed some type of language meeting the above language requirement definitions? Why only man? How could it be that the complex system of human language randomly evolved and then just happens to be "learned" by ONLY the brain of a human child? No comments: Post a Comment
Each winter, it seems like some people have an easier time staying healthy, while others pick up every virus that comes along. If you tend to cough and sneeze your way through cold and flu season, there are some natural things you can try to boost your immune system and avoid sickness. Wash your hands frequently The common cold and similar viruses are passed through contact with other people. Germs are spread when people cough or sneeze, and those germs can live for several hours on surfaces around your home, work, or school. Minimize your chance of getting sick by washing your hands frequently, particularly after spending time in public places or taking care of your sick kids. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers or wipes also help kill germs when you aren’t able to wash your hands. Clean up your home Kids often pick up germs at school and bring home colds which quickly spread through the whole family. Encourage your family to use tissues and wash their hands often. Contain germs by having sick kids rest in their rooms, instead of the family room, and clean shared surfaces frequently. Wipe down doorknobs, toys, remote controls, countertops, sinks, and other common areas. Disposable plates and paper towels can help prevent the spread of sickness, while also making it easier to clean up. Have a healthy lifestyle A strong immune system may help you fight off colds and viruses. You can boost your ability to fight off sickness by eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, and getting a good night of sleep. Foods with phytochemicals (plant nutrients) have the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy, or get better more quickly when you do get sick. Focus on fruits in vegetables in a variety of colors, including dark green, red, and yellow. Exercise regularly A regular aerobic workout has many benefits which will help you prevent sickness from cold and flu germs. Brisk exercise spreads oxygen through your body, makes your heart pump blood more rapidly, and works up a good sweat. Exercising several days a week also makes you feel more energetic, and may help your immune system fight off germs and infections. Learn to relax Sleeping well each night is part of a healthy lifestyle, but taking time to relax during the day can also give your immune system a boost. Learning to relax means more than just avoiding stress. Studies show that actively relaxing increases interluekins—chemicals in your blood which fight off sickness. Actively relaxing is a kind of meditation. It means turning off the TV, taking a break from the world around you, and learning to focus on a calming image or idea. Learning to relax in this way takes time and practice. Build up to 30 minutes each day to improve your body’s immune response. With some extra care and a few simple steps added to your daily routine, it’s easy to prevent colds naturally.
Encyclia fucata Encyclia fucata Scientific Classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Asparagales Subfamily: Epidendroideae Tribe: Epidendreae SubTribe: Laeliinae Genus: Encyclia Species: Encycl. fucata Binomial name Encyclia fucata (Lindl.) Britton & Millsp. 1920 Encyclia fucata is a plant in the genus Encyclia. Plant blooms from summer to fall with many 2.5 cm wide flowers. Flowers are fragrant. Plant is found growing in coffee plantations in Bahamas, Hispanola and Cuba at elevations around 300 meters Plants grow in intermediate to warm conditions and can be grown in medium size fir bark with perlite. Plant prefers drying periods between watering and bright light is recommended. Lengthen drying period a bit in the winter. Common Name: Brown Veined Encyclia 1. Encyclia hircina (A. Rich.) Acuña 1939 2. Epidendrum affine Richard 1850 3. *Epidendrum fucatum Lindl. 1838 4. Epidendrum hircinum Richard 1850 5. Epidendrum obcordatum Jenn. 1917 6. Epidendrum polyanthum Lindl. 1853 7. Epidendrum sagraeanum Richard 1850 Ad blocker interference detected!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013 Reuters Changing Their Propaganda Team On Global Warming Posted: 16 Jul 2013 01:12 PM PDT Australia's carbon mess a warning to the world: Clyde Russell The evil Mr. Carbon scaring the children. Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:47am EDT By Clyde Russell Tuesday, July 16, 2013 Planet Earth Does Not "Lose" Ice Breaking news: planet Earth does not "lose" ice or water. Ice either melts into water and is stored in the oceans, lakes, rivers, atmosphere or underground reservoirs. When ice is not melting, water is being added to glaciers as snow and ice. This cycle of cooling and warming, melting and freezing, has been going on essentially since the creation of the Earth. Note this has been going on longer and is controlled by forces far greater than humans burning fossil fuels. Here is a summary of what is known as the Earth's Hydrologic Cycle, taken from this blog. You can do a search of this blog and find much more. Jan 24, 2008 It seems a refresher course in the basics of the Earth's hydrologic cycle is in order. First of all, it needs to be understood that there is a finite, or relatively fixed amount of water on or in the Earth. This does not, has not, and can ... Chilling Report: Earth Loses 300 Billion Tons of Ice Each Year It is amazing to see because it feels so clearly out of place, but in some spots along Antarctica’s coast you can actually find hints of grass and other plant life—green evidence that in parts of the long-frozen continent the ice is thinning, and fast. But just how much ice is being lost? A new, ten-year study conducted by Bristol University’s Glaciology Centre says that between Antarctica and Greenland, the answer is 300 billion tons a year. That’s a lot of ice cubes. In scientific terms, a decade makes for a short study; this one can’t forecast whether this kind of loss will sustain into the future. (Though reasoned experts believe it will and may even accelerate.) But if it continues at this pace, goodbye Miami, Hong Kong, New York City, etc., as well as the homes of hundreds of millions who live on estuaries, deltas, coral atolls and great city river basins around the globe. The two massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica combined—the ice in Antarctica is three miles thick at some places—contain 99.5 percent of the earth’s glacier ice. If it were all to melt (which would admittedly take centuries), sea levels would rise by 500 to 600 feet. I’ve been to Antarctica on a couple dozen different trips, mostly along it’s long, skinny Peninsula, which because it is surrounded by warming ocean on both sides is the area most-impacted by the planet’s changing climate. It’s there each austral summer that more shorelines are exposed thanks to disappearing ice, and where you find hints of plant life. (How did the seeds get there? Most likely hitchhiking on fishing boats and visiting tourist ships, both growing in numbers.) Another satellite study, conducted over the past 20 years by NASA and the European Space Agency, confirms the Bristol study, reporting that the planet’s ice sheets have melted faster in the last 20 years than in the last 10,000. According to this study, melting ice from both poles has been responsible for a fifth of the global rise in sea levels since 1992. The rest was caused by the thermal expansion of the warming ocean, the melting of mountain glaciers, small Arctic ice caps and groundwater mining. The share of the polar ice melt, however, is rising and most concerning. When it comes to Antarctica, though, it can be tricky to generalize. It is a huge continent; the U.S. could easily fit inside its borders. In the huge area of East Antarctica, where the ice is mostly above sea level, the air temperature is also much lower, and the experts do not expect the ice to melt on account of rising temperatures. In this part of Antarctica, the ice sheet is actually growing as a consequence of increased snowfall. But today, using a variety of satellite reports and on-the-ice studies that have been going on for many decades, even conservative scientists say sea levels are rising 60 percent faster than what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007. No Sea Level Rise, No Consensus, No Surprise According to a Bristol uni statement released to highlight the research: IPCC drafters, take note. Ignorance and Bias Passed Off As Global Warming Journalism? It is amazing that anyone so uneducated and ignorant about the basics of science would write an article about global warming, its causes and its effects on climate. What is sad is there are so many people who believe things like written in the following article. Sad and dangerous. This is akin to playing the race or the gender card in politics. Oh, and this writer even dragged in the perennial "bad guy", by speculating that oil companies are paying off Congressmen. That is not only inaccurate, it is way too old, disproved, and not even imaginative. The equation the author of the following article is really trying to prove is 2+3 = 4. When It Comes to Climate Change, This Is the Only Equation You Need to Know – 10 hrs ago I didn’t go to science school, or anything amazing like that, but I’m fairly certain the following mathematical equation—which I just made up like 20 minutes ago—accurately and succinctly summarizes the current state of the climate-political complex in the United States. X + Y = we’re screwed Please sit tight as I define the variables of my newfangled equation: X = The World Meteorological Organization recently released a report on the years 2001 to 2010. As reads go, it was royal snooze. As warning shots go, it was a howitzer of the first order. According to the study, the first decade of the twenty-first century was the hottest since the start of modern measurements in 1850. The hottest. In 160 years! This heat surge lead to “a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice and accelerating loss of net mass from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from the world’s glaciers.” The most tragic thread of the report? That'd have to be the 370,000 people that were killed by climage-change fueled extreme weather events like hurricanes and droughts in the last decade. This is a 20 percent increase from the 1990s. And now for the really depressing news: Y = Last week, Climate Progress published a truly vexatious infographic that exposes just how deeply intertwined the tentacles of the fossil fuel industry are with some members of the one hundred thirteenth Congress. Says the report: 115 current beltway baby-kissers have welcomed with open arms—and no doubt smug smirks and sly winks—more than $51 million in campaign contributions from big oil and gas. As part of this quid pro quo deal, these members of Congress are then responsible for standing in lockstep opposition to any legislation—be it Obama’s appointment to the EPA or, say, the House's 2009 climate change bill—that would in any way, in any way, curb greenhouse gas emissions. These are the very same emissions, need I remind you, that 97 percent of peer-reviewed climatologists unquivocably say is causing climate change. So, to summarize: We’re speeding for the climate cliff and the traffic cops have dropped their radar guns to count their bribe money with both hands. Monday, July 15, 2013 Department of Defense Afraid Of Global Warming And Climate Change? Unsubstantiated fear mongering? Politically motivated liberal propaganda? Global warming a threat to "national security"? A far, far more serious threat is the people who believe in this kind of hogwash. The frightening thing is many of them can vote. Does anyone think the Defense Department is playing on people's fears in order to secure more funding? They don't do that, do they? For a good laugh, or cry, read the article. To read the entire article click on the following link: Sea Level Rise Will Drown Us All --- The Big Lie Continues It doesn't matter how irrational their message is, or how often and thoroughly their predictions have been proven wrong. The global warming doomsayers just keep repeating themselves, hoping if they repeat themselves often enough, someone will listen to them. I think their devious strategy is proving wrong. People get weary and wary of the hype. The problem is people then become jaded, and don't believe anything. Taken farther, people lose trust in their political leaders, even their educators who they see as either being stupid or "part of the big lie". Then what happens? A lack of respect for authority leads to a general breakdown in society. Do you think I'm exaggerating? Take a look around. Consider the growing lack of respect for law enforcement officers because of the abuses of a few. Consider the lack of trust generated by the NSA leaks. Add the admitted spying on ordinary, law-abiding people by the FBI, the IRS, the EPA, then tie all of that into the "Affordable Health Care Act", or Obamacare as it is more popularly known. The continual effort to get us to believe in the great myth of man-controlled global warming , or as they now call it, "climate change" is just part of the big hoax, the big effort to rule, control, and abuse ordinary people. It is not good friends. This kind of distrust leads to people not taking immunization shots because they distrust doctors. How many people lie about their income, hide their income, or do everything they can to avoid paying taxes. That is what leads to black markets and smuggling in broken countries. Ban alcohol, ban drugs, ban guns and ammunition? Guess what, people will find a way, illegally or not, to get what they want. Why are people buying guns in record numbers, and hoarding ammunition? They're doing it because they don't trust our government. So continually promoting this man-caused global warming nonsense is wrong, counter-productive and produces nothing but harm, to our society, tragically to our environment and the planet we all love and refer to as Mother Earth. Here is another of the stories in the media that keep repeating the same old party line. The big "boogie man" SEA LEVEL RISE is going to submerge us all. Seas may rise 2.3 metres per degree of global warming-report By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN, July 15 \| Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:22am EDT BERLIN, July 15 (Reuters) - Sea levels could rise by 2.3 metres for each degree Celsius that global temperatures increase and they will remain high for centuries to come, according to a new study by the leading climate research institute, released on Monday. continued here: Sunday, July 14, 2013 Liberals Keep Flogging The Dead Horse of Man-Caused Global Warming No, this is not an example of the emotional fear mongering used continuously and repetitively by the liberal media to promote the belief in man-caused global warming. (Sarcasm now off). Yet the political sheep following this on-going hoax act outraged that anyone would dare accuse them of manipulating people's emotions to achieve their political objectives. They are just digging themselves deeper and deeper into a moral and factual hole. Eventually it will cave in on them. Read the entire article here. Lamm, from the self-storage search engine, crafted chilling illustrations that depict how climate change could have Venice, San Diego and many other metropolitan cities gasping for air. Saturday, July 13, 2013 Insane Waste Of Money On Global Warming And Climate Change Continues The absurd notion that mankind is causing global warming and hence climate change continues to be spread by the liberal controlled media. It is not seriously questioned often enough because too many people are making and stand to make Billions of dollars from the "biggest hoax of all time." It has become such a political hot-potato that even people in positions to know, like scientists, are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs, their funding, or worse. Yes, there is THAT much money involved. Now we learn that the NSA, IRS, FBI, EPA, etc. is listening in on, and sometimes selectively blocking or censoring everything we read and write. Are we living in a "Police State"? Yes, beyond a doubt. Watch, I'll be shut down just for saying this. The idea that we could actually change and control the Earth's huge and complex atmospheric climate system is even more absurd. People won't even go close to asking the question "could we really control climate change even if we put every last human effort and dollar to work on the issue?" The answer is obviously NO. I mean 1/3 of the people in the U.S. are on food stamps, tens of millions of people are unemployed, or underemployed, and people want to spend Billions more to try and change the climate? Insane. To the ignorant trolls lurking out there: you bet it's a political issue. It has to be. New bills and taxes are being forced down our throats by our legislators on this issue every day. It has long gone way past being a scientific question, which I originally, naively assumed. As a scientist, I had faith in logic, reason, facts, and the scientific method. No longer. We have lost control to big business, and big politics or big government. So we must fight the insanity using every method we can. Politicians look at a "carbon tax" on everything we do, and they DROOL; because most of the energy we use requires the release of simple (and harmless) carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They salivate or dream about grabbing all that potential tax revenue. It is literally like being able to tax the air we breath. We do produce and release carbon dioxide every time we exhale. Simply speaking, we breath in oxygen, use it for vital physiological functions, and our bodies convert it to carbon dioxide. And our government wants to tax it!!!! Amazing (and sad) that so many people are so uneducated that they accept such absurd tax proposals. Obviously most of our public school teachers have also fallen for or are intimidated into accepting the global warming/human connection hoax. Now we get some egomaniac control-freak, like Billionaire NYC Mayor Bloomberg making proposals like the one described in the article below. Such idiocy is actually treasonous, if you think about it. What destroys America's economy, destroys America. Mayor Bloomberg Pledges $20 Billion NYC Doesn't Have To Address Global Warming Which Isn't Happening Written by Jeff Dunetz, The Lid. submerged-New-York-AI-2001Build a Boat! It's Gonna Start Flooding! (sometime soon). According to Mommy Mayor Bloomberg NYC is about to be flooded because of global warming, so he's announced a $20 billion dollar plan to prevent the big apple from becoming the worlds largest bobbing for apples game. Its a reasonable plan with only two problems, the City doesn't have that kind of money and the sea level isn't rising, in fact temperatures haven't risen in 15+ years. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a $20 billion plan to defend New York City from what he claim will be the ravages of global warming in the coming decades. His plan will cost the average New York City household nearly $3,000. Bloomberg’s 430-page plan, Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, includes approximately 250 recommendations ranging from new floodwalls and storm barriers to upgrades in the city’s power and telecommunications infrastructure. The plan also calls for $1.2 billion in loans and grants to help owners make buildings more resilient to floods and proposes changes in the city’s building code. New York has always had to deal with the threat of flooding. Hurricanes and severe tropical storms have struck the area periodically since the founding of New Amsterdam (today’s New York) in 1624.Bloomberg announced the plan by claiming New Yorkers could either “do nothing and expose ourselves to an increasing frequency of Sandy-like storms” or “make the investments necessary to build a stronger, more resilient New York.” Bloomberg is correct about the frequency of bad hurricanes, there was Hurricane Donna in 1960 (a category 2), Hurricane Gloria in 1985, Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012. See--a-15-year-gap followed by a 26-year gap and a 1-year gap (there were other storms but these were the bad ones). Come on Mayor! Four bad hurricanes in 52 years and you are freaking out! “I have trouble seeing exactly how spending $20 billion—that’s billion with a ‘b’—will prevent bad weather or climate,” said climate scientist Willie Soon. “In general, to be more prepared is a good thing. But preparing, as New York City is apparently doing, using the faulty climate modeling scenarios offered by the UN IPCC [United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is a serious distortion of basic science.” As far as sea levels---that's also nonsense. The President forgot ever since the last ice-age 10,000 years ago, sea levels have been rising. So unless the Neanderthals were imitating Al Gore and flying private jets and driving gas guzzlers, rising sea levels are not caused by man but by natural phenomena. The climate change hoaxers use computer models to predict that sea levels would rise anywhere from 15 inches to 20 feet because of global warming in the 21st century (the consensus number is closer to 3 feet). But Mother Nature was never good at computer science. Satellite data proved that the first decade of the 21st century sea level grew by only 0.83 inches (a pace of just 8 inches for the entire century). What's even worse (for the global warming hoaxers) there has been no rise since 2006. Just like there has been no warming since 1998. Gotta feel bad for the Mayor, he must be having some pretty bad nightmares to believe the City that never sleeps is going to become the city that can't keep its head above the water. Maybe he should stop having spicy food before he goes to sleep. Perhaps instead he could relax with a nice 44 ounce Slurpee. Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Written by Marc Morano, Climate Depot. Obama cites 97% Nonsensus; Claims some skeptics have become warmists Can Obama Restore A Safe Tornado-Free Climate? Obama promises an end to cheap energy Obama climate plan an albatross for 2014 Democrat candidates White House deletes factual Tweet about presidential hurricanes
A ittering agent is a flavoring agent added to a food or beverage to impart a bitter taste, possibly in addition to other effects. While many substances are bitter to a greater or lesser degree, a few substances are used specifically for their bitterness, especially to balance other flavors, such as sweetness. Notable beverage examples include caffeine, found naturally in tea and coffee and added to many soft drinks, hops in beer, and quinine in tonic water. Food examples include bitter melon, which may be mixed into a stir fry or soup for its bitter flavor. Beer Edit Prior to the introduction of hops, many other bitter herbs and flowers were used as bittering agents in beer, in a mixture called gruit, which could include dandelion, burdock root, marigold, horehound (the German name for horehound means "mountain hops"), ground ivy, and heather.[1] More recently, some Chinese and Okinawan beer uses bitter melon as a bittering agent.[2] Other substances Edit Various other substances are used, including: Other uses Edit Other prominent uses of bittering agents include: References Edit Ad blocker interference detected!
Wednesday, March 23, 2016 Why did Rachel steal the idols, continued We're continuing to study Rachel this week, and we're focusing on why she stole those household idols from her dad, Laban. I thought a little background might help us to better understand what this story is about . . . Household gods, or teraphim, were common in the homes of this era. Their name could be translated "figures" or "images" or even "oracles." Some of them were fairly large, as seen when Michal, David's wife, uses one to make it look like David is asleep in his bed (I Samuel 19). Others, as in our story now, were smaller -- these were small enough to be hidden under the saddle for Rachel's camel. These figures were thought to provide protection, and also answer questions (divination). Kind of like an ancient ouija board, I guess. (Grin) Some people have guessed that Rachel may have been looking around inside her father's tent before she left. In much the same way that we might look around in the house our parents lived in for years, and that perhaps we grew up in. Memories pop up with each glance around the rooms. Rachel was leaving home, and she had no way of knowing if she would ever see her father again. Perhaps she wanted to take something with her that reminded her of him and of her childhood. On the spur of the moment, she grabbed the images and left home. I think the household gods had too great a daily significance to be something she took as a simple keepsake. Let's keep looking . . . Was she worried that the idols might tell her father where they were headed? Perhaps they might assist Laban in tracking down Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, and all the children, servants, and the flocks. They were, in essence, running away -- would the idols tell Laban where to look? This doesn't sound right, either. Laban, as an experienced cattle and sheep herder, would know in what direction they had gone . . . there would be no way to disguise the tracks of the immense herds of cattle and sheep, the tracks of the ox carts carrying belongings, the prints of the camels in their slow plodding across the sandy soil. It would be very easy to follow them, and to catch up. Perhaps she was taking them as an insurance policy, of sorts. Of course, she loved Jacob with all her heart, and had all the confidence in the world in his ability to care for her . . . but hoping that all will go well doesn't insure a comfortable financial future. If famines were to come, and perhaps the cattle dwindled away, or if enemies stole the stock, the household gods could help. Why? Because these idols were often decorated with precious gem stones, and in an emergency, those could be sold. Other scholars discuss a legal reason for Rachel's actions. Some ancient records seem to say that the household gods were sometimes symbols of property rights and family status. Having them in one's possession could indicate that the keeper had certain important privileges. I guess it was like who has the scepter of a kingdom, or to whom did they give the key to the city? (Grin) So, if Jacob had possession of the idols, it might prove that he was no longer in servitude to Laban. It could even mean that he was entitled to a portion of his estate. Jacob might already have attained this position, but perhaps Rachel wanted to make sure -- to give it a stamp of approval. We've already seen Rachel as a charming and beautiful woman who won Jacob's heart at their first meeting at the well. We've seen her as a desperate woman, agonizing over the fact that she was barren. We've seen her jealousy of her sister, and we've seen her as a schemer who used her husband as a bargaining chip. Now we see that she is an independent and resolute woman. She has seen the relationship between her father and her husband becoming more strained, and she is taking the lead over her sister by siding with her husband. In the moment that they were leaving, she is motivated to take a most decisive action -- she is taking what she believes to be the law into her own hands. This might be the reason she stole the idols. Jacob certainly was clueless. He either wasn't paying attention to the legal stuff, or he wasn't aware that she was going to do something impetuous! He did, however, make an extreme (and ultimately tragic) oath. He vowed that whoever was found holding the idols would be killed (verse 32). I think there is one more possibility for why Rachel stole the household gods . . . we'll look at that when we conclude our study tomorrow. Belinda said... You certainly have my attention... Interesting stuff to be sure. Katie Isabella said... My attention as well.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 A Christmas Carol : Scrooge , the "true" peoples person. The Christmas Carol revolves around the life of an grumpy old man by the name of Scrooge,who seems to have no joy or happiness , especially around one of the most joyful holidays of the year. Not only is this man grumpy and nasty to those he surrounds himself with but is selfish and ungrateful. We therefore can conclude that Scrooge is not the typical "peoples person". Scrooges emotions and actions towards others seems to display a negative factor towards his personality , showing that he is just angry and depressed . Especially when a dearest friend died recently , making him appear to be heartless . Towards the end of the stave , Scrooge is surprised and scared by an usual thing , his friend Marleys ghost . Scrooge seems to be utterly surprised but not at all as scared as someone should be . This ghost however seems to appear with chains , like he has suffered.Being friends with Scrooge before he died the ghost appears because he is trying to save Scrooge from the cruel afterlife by telling him that three ghost will be making appearances to him and he has to change. According to the thesis of king , were all naturally crazy and that horror relieves tensions ,these ghosts are going to horrify Scrooge with his future that he has to change. 1. Some may say Scrooge was a grumpy old man but I can argue otherwise. Imagine trying to help a town full of people with money problems and always bagging for financial aid and you help them. But when payments are do their shopping for a commercialized holiday titled "Christmas" when they owe money. Scrooge isn't a complete "Scrooge" or grumpy old man because if he was he would have never lend the financial hand to begin with for the people to owe him. 2. From what we read this is the image we are getting off of scrooge, I agree with Tiffany. 3. I have to disagree with N and AG13579. There's not much of a summary here to give us a good picture of the character or stave :-/ And you don't tell us how King relates to the stave other than to write it will. Lending people money doesn't make Scrooge a good person, since money lenders of the time lent at unreasonable interest rates :-(
What is Osteoporosis? \| What causes Osteoporosis? \| How is Osteoporosis diagnosed? \| How can Osteoporosis be treated? What causes Osteoporosis? Factors which contribute to the development of thin bones are many. These include: • Thyroid disorders with an excess of thyroid hormone from either over active thyroid glands or the taking of too much thyroid medication. • Excessive alcohol intake(more than five ounces per day). • cigarette smoking with or without associated lung disease • Malabsorption syndromes such as Lactose Intolerance, Celiac disease, Gluten-sensitive enteropathy, chronic diarrhea, especially those following intestinal operations which short-circuit some parts of the bowel. (Any condition which results in failure to absorb adequate amounts of nutrients) • Chronic dieting, Bulimia, and frequent use of fad diets • Risk factors such as small stature, fair skin, physical inactivity and food intolerance that results in limited nutrition. A person's ultimate bone density is partly geneticly determined. If there is osteoporosis in your family it is likely that you will have it yourself. Even if the condition was not diagnosed in one of your parents, the presence of the round back (Dowagers Hump) and shrinkage of height with aging both suggest the presence of osteoporosis in your ancestors. This pattern is more common in women, but males also have genetic influences of the same type. Osteoporosis is one condition in which being overweight tends to be protective against the disease. The lower your Body Mass Index (BMI), the higher your risk is of developing osteoporosis. Please refer to the graph where you can determine your own BMI. A BMI below 26 carries an increased risk of osteoporosis. The lower the BMI, the greater the risk. Thin is fashionable, but risky for your bones. >>
Health effects of coffee: Where do we stand? Story highlights • Study after study extols the merits of three to five cups of black coffee a day • How you brew coffee also contributes to the health factor (CNN)It's one of the age-old medical flip-flops: First coffee's good for you, then it's not, then it is -- you get the picture. But as you know, the news on coffee has not always been positive. And the argument over the merits of your daily cup of joe dates back centuries. Let's take a look at the timeline. 1500's headline: Coffee leads to illegal sex Legend has it that coffee was discovered by Kaldi, an Ethiopian goatherd, after he caught his suddenly frisky goats eating glossy green leaves and red berries and then tried it for himself. But it was the Arabs who first started coffeehouses, and that's where coffee got its first black mark. Coffee leads to illegal sex? Well, not enough of it was certainly grounds for divorce! Patrons of coffeehouses were said to be more likely to gamble and engage in "criminally unorthodox sexual situations," according to author Ralph Hattox. By 1511 the mayor of Mecca shut them down. He cited medical and religious reasons, saying coffee was an intoxicant and thus prohibited by Islamic law, even though scholars like Mark Pendergrast believe it was more likely a reaction to the unpopular comments about his leadership. The ban didn't last long, says Pendergrast, adding that coffee became so important in Turkey that "a lack of sufficient coffee provided grounds for a woman to seek a divorce." 1600's headline: Coffee cures alcoholism but causes impotence As the popularity of coffee grew and spread across the continent, the medical community began to extol its benefits. It was especially popular in England as a cure for alcoholism, one of the biggest medical problems of the time; after all, water wasn't always safe to drink, so most men, women and even children drank the hard stuff. Local ads such as this one in 1652 by coffee shop owner Pasqua Rosée popularized coffee's healthy status, claiming coffee could aid digestion, prevent and cure gout and scurvy, help coughs, headaches and stomachaches, even prevent miscarriages. in the 1600's London women called for the closing of coffee houses, saying the brew was making their men 'impotent'. But in London, women were concerned that their men were becoming impotent, and in 1674 The Women's Petition Against Coffee asked for the closing of all coffeehouses, saying in part: "We find of late a very sensible Decay of that true Old English Vigour. ... Never did Men wear greater Breeches, or carry less in them..." 1700's headline: Coffee helps you work longer 1800's headline: Coffee will make you go blind. Have a cup of hot wheat-bran drink instead In the mid-1800s America was at war with itself and one side effect is that coffee supplies ran short. Enter toasted grain-based beverage substitutes such as Kellogg's "Caramel Coffee" and C.W. Post's "Postum" (still manufactured). They advertised with anti-coffee tirades to boost sales. C.W. Post's ads were especially vicious, says Pendergrast, claiming coffee was as bad as morphine, cocaine, nicotine or strychnine and could cause blindness. 1916 headline: Coffee stunts your growth A selection of tins of different brands of coffee, including Brooke Bond, Lyons and Maxwell House, 1947. Good Housekeeping magazine wrote about how coffee stunts growth. And concerns continued to grow about coffee's impact on common aliments of the era, such as nervousness, heart palpitations, indigestion and insomnia. 1927 headline: Coffee will give you bad grades, kids In Science Magazine, on September 2, 1927, 80,000 elementary and junior high kids were asked about their coffee drinking habits. Researchers found the "startling" fact that most of them drank more than a cup of coffee a day, which was then compared to scholarship with mostly negative results. 1970's and '80's headline: Coffee is as serious as a heart attack A number of studies in the 1900's found a connection between coffee consumption and heart health. A 38-year study by the Johns Hopkins Medical School of more than a 1,000 medical students found in 1985 that those who drank five or more cups of coffee a day were 2.8 times as likely to develop heart problems compared to those who don't consume coffee. But the study only asked questions every five years, and didn't isolate smoking behavior or many other negative behaviors that tend to go along with coffee, such as doughnuts. Or "Doooonuts," if you're Homer Simpson. Millennium headline: Coffee goes meta Now begins the era of the meta-analysis, where researchers look at hundreds of studies and apply scientific principles to find those that do the best job of randomizing and controlling for compounding factors, such as smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and many other lifestyles issues. That means that a specific study, which may or may not meet certain standards, can't "tip the balance" one way or another. We take a look at some of the years. The results for coffee? Mostly good. 2001 headline: Coffee increases risk of urinary tract cancer 2007 headline: Coffee decreases risk of liver cancer 2011 headline: Coffee reduces risk of stroke and prostate cancer 2012 headline: Coffee lowers risk of heart failure For general heart disease a meta-analysis of 36 studies with more than 1.2 million participants found moderate coffee drinking seemed to be associated with a low risk for heart disease; plus, there wasn't a higher risk among those who drank more than five cups a day. 2015 headline: Coffee is practically a health food In 2015, coffee is practically a health food. But standby for the next meta-analysis because it could change. We'll keep you updated. As a sign of the times, the U.S. Department of Agriculture now agrees that "coffee can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle," especially if you stay within three to five cups a day (a maximum of 400 mg of caffeine), and avoid fattening cream and sugar. You can read their analysis of the latest data on everything from diabetes to chronic disease here. 2017 headline: Yes, coffee still leads to a longer life Another study with a focus on non-white populations had similar findings. That study surveyed 185,000 African-Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, Latinos and whites. The varying lifestyles and dietary habits of the people observed in both studies led the authors to believe that coffee's impact on longevity doesn't have to do with how its prepared or how people drink it -- it has to do with the beverage's biological effect on the body. But stay tuned. There's sure to be another meta-study, and another opinion. We'll keep you updated.
IELTS Academic Reading Test 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-15 which are based on Reading Passage 32 below: A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life [ The control of fire was the first and perhaps greatest of humanity’s steps towards a life-enhancing technology.] To early man, fire was a divine gift randomly delivered in the form of lightning, forest fire or burning lava. Unable to make flame for themselves, the earliest peoples probably stored fire by keeping slow burning logs alight or by carrying charcoal in pots. How and where man learnt how to produce flame at will is unknown. It was probably a secondary invention, accidentally made during tool-making operations with wood or stone. Studies of primitive societies suggest that the earliest method of making fire was through friction. European peasants would insert a wooden drill in a round hole and rotate it briskly between their palms This process could be speeded up by wrapping a cord around the drill and pulling on each end. The Ancient Greeks used lenses or concave mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays and burning glasses were also used by Mexican Aztecs and the Chinese. Percussion methods of fire-lighting date back to Paleolithic times, when some Stone Age tool-makers discovered that chipping flints produced sparks. The technique became more efficient after the discovery of iron, about 5000 vears ago In Arctic North America, the Eskimos produced a slow-burning spark by striking quartz against iron pyrites, a compound that contains sulphur. The Chinese lit their fires by striking porcelain with bamboo. In Europe, the combination of steel, flint and tinder remained the main method of firelighting until the mid 19th century. Fire-lighting was revolutionized by the discovery of phosphorus, isolated in 1669 by a German alchemist trying to transmute silver into gold. Impressed by the element’s combustibility, several 17th century chemists used it to manufacture fire-lighting devices, but the results were dangerously inflammable. With phosphorus costing the equivalent of several hundred pounds per ounce, the hrst matches were expensive. The quest for a practical match really began after 1781 when a group of French chemists came up with the Phosphoric Candle or Ethereal Match, a sealed glass tube containing a twist of paper tipped with phosphorus. When the tube was broken, air rushed in, causing the phosphorus to selfcombust. An even more hazardous device, popular in America, was the Instantaneous Light Box — a bottle filled with sulphuric acid into which splints treated with chemicals were dipped. The first matches resembling those used today were made in 1827 by John Walker, an English pharmacist who borrowed the formula from a military rocket-maker called Congreve. Costing a shilling a box, Congreves were splints coated with sulphur and tipped with potassium chlorate. To light them, the user drew them quickly through folded glass paper. Walker never patented his invention, and three years later it was copied by a Samuel Jones, who marketed his product as Lucifers. About the same time, a French chemistry student called Charles Sauria produced the first “strike-anywhere” match by substituting white phosphorus for the potassium chlorate in the Walker formula. However, since white phosphorus is a deadly poison, from 1845 match-makers exposed to its fumes succumbed to necrosis, a disease that eats away jaw-bones. It wasn’t until 1906 that the substance was eventually banned. That was 62 years after a Swedish chemist called Pasch had discovered non-toxic red or amorphous phosphorus, a development exploited commercially by Pasch’s compatriot J E Lundstrom in 1885. Lundstrom’s safety matches were safe because the red phosphorus was non-toxic; it was painted on to the striking surface instead of the match tip, which contained potassium chlorate with a relatively high ignition temperature of 182 degrees centigrade. America lagged behind Europe in match technology and safety standards. It wasn’t until 1900 that the Diamond Match Company bought a French patent for safety matches — but the formula did not work properly in the different climatic conditions prevailing in America and it was another 11 years before scientists finally adapted the French patent for the US. The Americans, however, can claim several “firsts” in match technology and marketing. In 1892 the Diamond Match Company pioneered book matches. The innovation didn’t catch on until after 1896, when a brewery had the novel idea of advertising its product in match books. Today book matches are the most widely used type in the US, with 90 percent handed out free by hotels, restaurants and others. Other American innovations include an anti-after-glow solution to prevent the match from smoldering after it has been blown out; and the waterproof match, which lights after eight hours in water. This Academic Reading mock test was designed to let you assess your skill on answering the Reading questions. This time has a time limit exactly the way you would find it in a real IELTS test. Get started and enjoy this Mock test. 8 thoughts on “IELTS Academic Reading Test 2 1. It is really useful. Thanks a lot for making this online course. IELTS Online Training ,The International English Testing System. 2. Hi, Your post is really awesome and Thank you so much.. 3. Where is the box for questions 1-8. This is really frustrating. I like this website, but what the h*** is going on the box? “Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write them in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet” but I couldn’t find it at the bottom of this page. • Please make sure you are using one of the latest web browsers with java script enabled. We can see the box along with the content from our end. Leave a Reply two + four =

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