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Category Archives: Slavery Another in a series of books attempting to restore the life and career of Ulysses S. Grant into proper historical perspective. Undoubtedly the most popular man in America at the time of his death in 1885, his reputation has taken a beating in the years since the end of Reconstruction. Due to a combination of Northern exhaustion after 15 years of Civil War and Reconstruction, and a purposeful campaign by Southern historians and heritage groups looking to recast the war as anything other than a fight to retain the institution of slavery, many myths about Grant have taken hold in popular imagination. Ronald C. White, in American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant, has given us a very accessible, and personal, biography of Grant that puts to rest many of the myths about him that have gained a foothold in popular memory since his death. He also provides what I consider to be one of the best reviews of Grant’s Presidency that has so far been published; one that puts it into proper historical context given the many challenges he faced after the disastrous Johnson years. At the moment of his death on July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant was arguably the most revered man in America. He had shepherded the Union war effort to ultimate victory, had completed two terms as President, which, if not spectacularly successful in hindsight, had done little to diminish his popularity, and he had riveted the nation with his heroic struggle against time, as he raced to complete his memoirs before the ravages of throat cancer took his life. Those memoirs, completed only five days before his death, are the widely acknowledged gold standard among military autobiographies, and their popularity restored the Grant family fortune. The country went into deep and prolonged mourning after his death, with 1.5 million people attending his New York funeral. Despite this though, By the end of the 19th century, Grant’s reputation had undergone a large, and largely negative, change. Ask the average person today what they know about Ulysses S. Grant and you are as likely to hear that he was a “butcher” and a “drunk,” as you are to hear he was the preeminent military figure of the Civil war whose skill and strategic genius saved the union. As with most myths however, the truth is far more complicated. And in the case of Grant, they are almost universally incorrect. White does a very good job of separating fact from fiction with regards to these myths. One of the most pernicious of these myths surrounds Grant’s alleged drinking problem. It is supposedly the cause of his forced resignation from the Army, and was at the root of any setback he experienced throughout the war. Grant didn’t discipline his troops after the initial victory at Belmont, so he must have been drinking. Grant wasn’t prepared for Albert Sidney Johnston’s attach at Shiloh, so he must have been drinking. Grant unwisely ordered a last assault at Cold Harbor, so he must have been drinking. And on and on and on… Politics too played a part. Rumors that Grant had resigned from the Army in 1854 because of his drinking allowed rival Generals, usually those annoyed that Grant’s success was getting in the way of their glory, to raise the specter that he had fallen off the wagon and should be replaced, with the usual recommendation being that the replacement should be the one making the charge. White deals with these rumors in a very effective way. Rather than devoting a whole chapter on the topic, which to me has the effect of elevating their credibility, he simply deals with them within the timeline of the narrative. He does not assert Grant did not drink – he clearly did – he simply notes there is no convincing evidence that Grant routinely drank to excess, or that his drinking had any effect on his military performance. Contemporary evidence, other than repeated rumors, are almost non-existent. Every person sent to Grant’s command to investigate these rumors, reported back they had no basis in fact. So the reality then, as White shows, is that while Grant was not a teetotaler, he did not have a serious drinking problem. And there is not a scrap of evidence drinking ever had an effect on his performance during the war. Another persistent myth about Grant relates to his military skill. Southerners, eager to elevate their participation in the war as a heroic struggle against a marauding north intent on trampling rights guaranteed them in the Constitution, had to come up with ways to explain their defeat that didn’t involve admitting any fault with their (lost) cause. From this sprang first, the assertion that Southern soldiers were superior to the northern counterparts. Whereas they portrayed themselves as selfless warriors merely looking to defend hearth and home, Northern troops were depicted as the lackeys of money grubbers looking to strip the South of its wealth, or, as so eloquently put by Shelby Foote, Confederates believed “one Southern soldier was worth ten Yankee hirelings.” Ironically, an argument could persuasively be made that the reality was exactly the opposite. Confederate soldiers were fighting so the landed gentry could maintain their way of life, one that depended on slavery. It was the North that was fighting for a concept – “Union.” The second, and possibly the most important part of this effort to recast the war, was the importance of demonstrating the superiority of Confederate Generals. The post war south wanted heroes to latch on to. They had to be portrayed as honorable men, fighting for a righteous cause. They also had to find an explanation for their defeat other than the superiority of their northern counterparts. This was particularly true with their most idolized figure – Robert E. Lee. Southerners dealt with these needs in two ways. First, they asserted the only way the North could have defeated the South was through brute force and overwhelming numbers. At no point, they asserted, were southern generals outmatched, or southern troops outfought. They simply lacked the resources needed to win. Secondly, in order to elevate the character of their hero Lee, they had to deflate that of the man who defeated him – Ulysses S. Grant. White doesn’t deal extensively in what ifs related to the manpower argument. The South certainly had the resources it needed to win the war had it employed an effective strategy. It didn’t. He does debunk the notion that Grant was victorious solely through the application of overwhelming force. After all, the North had that same advantage from the beginning of the war, and were not able to defeat Lee. Only when an able General, one who understood the strategies needed to overwhelm Lee, took command, were they able to win. The fact is, as White shows, northern troops were equally as brave and skilled as their southern counterparts; and Grant was superior to Lee, particularly as a strategic thinker. Lee was myopically focused on the eastern theater, while Grant viewed the conflict as a nationwide one. Where Lee cared little for what happened in the west, Grant realized that success there made victory in the east more attainable. White does a very effective job debunking most of the negative assertions about Grants military ability. He does not do this by ignoring Grant’s failures (e.g. Cold Harbor), or by denigrating the ability of Robert E. Lee. He presents an effective, though not ground breaking review of Grant’s efforts up to his elevation as General in Chief, and provides a very fair analysis of events after that point. The only conclusion that can plausibly be drawn from available evidence is that Grant, far from being a butcher of men, was in fact a skilled tactician and strategist, who made effective use of his resources. He put in place an effective strategy for winning the war, and executed it with considerable skill. Robert E. Lee did present the toughest resistance Grant had come up against during the war, but Grant was more than equal to the task. His casualty rates during the Overland Campaign were appalling of course, but that was the expected result of the type of fighting needed to bludgeon the South into submission. Always on the attack Grant was guaranteed to suffer more casualties. But as a percentage of his Army they were no worse than Lee’s. And if one looks at the entire war, Grant lost considerably fewer men while in command than Lee did. Following Lee’s surrender, Grant’s role changed. He entered the political realm, first as General in Chief under the volatile Andrew Johnson, then as interim Secretary of War, and finally as President. White provides an excellent review of this time, far better than most biographies of Grant which tend to rush through this period. For many years, Grant has ranked near the bottom of the list of effective Presidents. But in recent years, as historians have begun to take a more dispassionate look at his two terms, that ranking has improved. White does what many biographers have not, examined his Presidency in the context of the challenges he faced. As President, after two year of conflict under Andrew Johnson who aided the South as it tried to reassert white dominance, Grant faced a daunting task. Not only was he trying to repair the country, he was trying to protect the rights of newly freed slaves. Ambivalent about slavery before the war, Grant became a staunch supporter of full citizenship for former slaves after it. He made significant progress pushing back the Ku Klux Klan, and successfully navigated the rough political waters that went along with military reconstruction in the South. Many assert, including I think the author, that Grant should be considered the first Civil Rights President. Strong evidence for this includes the views of Frederick Douglass, who had a tepid opinion of Lincoln’s efforts on behalf of blacks, but strongly support Grant’s. The support of Jewish leaders as well, who were insulted by Grant’s infamous General Order #11 in 1862 that singled out Jewish traders for condemnation, but who came around to view him as an ally, is another piece of evidence in favor of that view. And not only was he a proponent of full rights for African Americans, but he tried to install a liberal policy regarding Native Americans, believing the government had trampled on their rights. As events eventually overtook the country, and weariness after 15 years of war and the conflict of Reconstruction set in, much of what Grant did and tried to do, was rolled back by subsequent administrations. It would be nearly a century before blacks were able to get restored to them anything close to their full rights again. But, Grant’s efforts here were noble, and were for a time successful. He deserves credit for that. Grant also had to deal with several economic issues during his administration. Early in his first term, wealthy speculators Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market. Grant intervened to stop them just in time, the result of which was Black Friday, a panic that led to months of financial devastation. White argues Grant’s quick action should be credited. While that is true, I think he goes too far in absolving Grant here. He either didn’t realize or didn’t want to realize, that he was being used by Gould and Fisk. Had he been more diligent, he might have been able to terminate their machinations without the subsequent panic. White also gives Grant too much credit for the way he dealt with the depression of 1873. The crisis, which was the result of over speculation in railroad stock, led Grant to further contract the money supply in order to prevent over inflation. White implies this was the correct move in that it kept inflation from getting out of hand. However, at the same time it caused interest rates to rise, which hurt those in debt (as Grant acknowledged and agonized over), and severely limited the amount of money available to companies with growth plans. Those actions probably prolonged the downturn. White compares Grant’s steady, no nonsense reaction to the crisis to Franklin Roosevelt’s reaction to the Great Depression of the 1930s, as he tried to cheer lead the economy into action, which White implies was a less effective strategy. This is not a good comparison. Grant’s reaction was to the immediate crisis as it occurred, while FDR’s was to an economy that had been in depression for three years, and which had sapped the countries will. A more apt comparison would have been to Hoover, whose reaction was much the same as Grant’s, a refusal to apply stimulus, thus prolonging the crisis. White also deals effectively with the numerous scandals that occurred during Grant’s two terms. Seemingly unable to believe anyone he had known and trusted could act duplicitously, he was slow to remove corrupt officials, and remained loyal to those taking advantage of their relationship with him for far too long. Grant was personally incorruptible, but was seemingly blind to corruption around him until it instigated a crisis. This is the reason Grant is ranked as a middling President rather than an above average one. Overall I think anyone with an interest in Ulysses S. Grant would enjoy this book immensely. It is generally fair (with the exceptions I noted), and effectively deals with the many myths surrounding Grant and his career. He does a nice job of tying Grant’s life as a boy and student at West Point to his later action as General and President. He does a nice job of recounting Grant’s career, and his service in both Mexico and in the Civil War. He provides a very lucid account of Grant’s Presidency that puts it into the context of the challenges he faced. He also gives a great account of Grant’s world tour after his White House years, and a very moving one of his final death struggle. Most importantly, it is very well written There are flaws, some of which I noted. He was at times quick to give Grant the benefit of the doubt in cases where there was an equally plausible counter argument. He also seemed to take great pains to portray Grant as a devout Christian. He was a believer of course, but I don’t think religion played a particularly important role in his life. And finally I think he gave Grant too much credit for his reactions to the gold crisis in 1869 and the depression of 1873. Still, highly recommended! Please like & share: My Rating: 4.0 rating ImpeachmentImpeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction by Hans Trefousse Andrew Johnson is one of the most enigmatic and controversial presidents in American history. Depending on one’s perspective and place in time he was either the man responsible for the failure of Reconstruction in the south, or, the man who helped avoid a race war by steering a moderate course between advocates for full civil and political rights for African Americans and those that wanted to keep them in as close to a state of slavery as possible. Johnson has been the subject of many books, by many of the leading scholars of the Reconstruction era, including Eric Foner, who, for my money, is at the top of this list. Each looks at Johnson in different ways, interpreting his actions and the motivation behind them from different points of view. In one respect they all agree, Andrew Johnson was in inveterate racist whose racism shaped his views of Reconstruction and the proper role of the freedmen in the post-Civil War South. In his book Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction, Hans Trefousse has produced an extensive and, in my opinion, unique view of Johnson and his presidency. He views Johnson’s motivations from the dual perspectives of Jacksonianism and racism, a perspective I haven’t seen before, and don’t entirely agree with. Trefousse acknowledges, as most scholars do, that Johnson’s intense racism made it impossible for him to “sympathize in any way with policies furthering racial equality. (Trefousse, 5) However, Trefousse departs from conventional wisdom which views Johnson as “inept and stubborn,” by concluding he was in fact sincere in his beliefs and a skillful, uncompromising tactical politician. Andrew Johnson viewed himself as a “Jackson Democrat.” This implied, among other things, a belief in white superiority, a classical states rights view of the constitution, a rejection of secession as one of those rights, a bottom up view of politics including an often intense distrust of large monied interests, and like Jackson himself, a willingness to stubbornly stand one’s ground in defense of his beliefs, trusting in eventual vindication by the American people. Trefousse does not dig into Johnson’s motivations for his dislike of the slavocracy before the war, something that would not be a characteristic of a Jackson Democrat, but he does ascribe the others to him, and uses them to explain Johnson’s actions throughout reconstruction, especially in relation to the efforts to impeach him. Andrew Johnson, “like Andrew Jackson, conceived of an America ruled by whites.” (Trefousse, 4) As guaranteed in the constitution, Johnson was devoted to democracy and viewed it as a precious gift. But, in his view the constitution was “written by white men, [and] he believed that its benefits were reserved for whites.” (Trefousse, 4) As Trefousse points out, evidence for this racism is abundant, ranging from disgust at seeing black troops stationed in Tennessee while he was its wartime governor, to his denunciation of the Reconstruction Bill of 1867 he described as a “measure to treat the suffering people of the South under foot ‘top protect niggers’,” to his annoyance at seeing predominantly black laborers working on the White House lawn. (Trefousse, 4) The primary expression of Johnson’s racism during this period however, was his stubborn determination to minimize the role of black’s in Reconstruction, and to maintain the domination of the white race. In furtherance of that goal, all through the Reconstruction period, Johnson acted on these racist principles, taking actions which he believed would maintain white domination in the reconstructed south, including his May 29, 1865 Proclamation of Amnesty which “inaugurated and extremely liberal policy of pardoning ex-Confederates,” and his call for white southerners to hold conventions for the purpose of organizing new state governments, thus disregarding demands for black suffrage. (Trefousse, 11) His racism would not allow a policy of land distribution to freedmen. As Trefousse observes, had Johnson wanted to “maintain the dominance of the white race… [he]…could not permit the transfer of land to the freedmen.” (Trefousse, 15) Consequently he established a policy of returning confiscated land to their Confederate owners in an effort to deny freedmen the opportunity to become landholders. In early 1866 Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill, primarily for racist reasons, and in 1867 he vetoed the Civil Rights bill partially for constitutional reasons, but also because “it offended his racial sensibilities since it proposed to outlaw all discrimination between the races.” (Trefousse, 26) And, in 1866 he opposed passage of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution whose moderate purpose was to insure the equal treatment of all citizens under state law. As with the Civil Rights bill, Johnson objected partially on substantive grounds, but also because it gave rights to blacks which he did not believe they should have. In taking these uncompromising stands, Johnson passed up numerous opportunities to compromise with moderate and conservative Republicans that may have enhanced his political position. Instead, he chose to stand his ground, certain “that history and his country would ultimately recognize the purity of his actions.” (Trefousse, 6) Instead, while he was President, “[Andrew Johnson] would utilize the entire resources of his high office to keep the South a white man’s country.” (Trefousse, 29) While racism was the primary reason for Johnson’s opposition to the equitable treatment of freedmen, it was not the only one. Another, Trefousse argues, was that Johnson, like Andrew Jackson, was devoted to an indissoluble Union and to the Constitution. He held a classic states rights position as did Jackson ascribing to the individual states sovereignty in most matters. He drew the line at state nullification of federal law and secession, neither of which he believed were sanctioned by the Constitution. This explains his loyalty to the Union; a view at odds with the majority of his former constituents in Tennessee. It also partially explains a number of his actions during Reconstruction including his veto of the Freedman’s Bureau bill, the Civil Rights bill, and his opposition to the fourteenth amendment. All of these actions Trefousse argues, were based on Johnson’s view of the proper role of the federal government; specifically, his belief that the constitution did not give the federal government power to define the terms of suffrage in the various states. It was also evident in the way Johnson worked to minimize the effects of military Reconstruction, replacing generals who were viewed as too radical. It was perhaps most dramatically demonstrated by his challenge to the Tenure of Office Act. Designed to restrict Johnson’s control of federal patronage, the act forbade the dismissal of any Presidential appointee still in the term of their appointment without Congressional approval. Johnson, anxious to rid himself of Secretary of War Stanton, and in an apparent desire to test the act’s constitutionality, removed him from office, setting up a confrontation with Congress. Republicans in the House of Representatives, who had been looking for an excuse to Impeach Johnson, used his violation of this act to do so. After shameful and unethical behavior on both sides, Johnson was ultimately acquitted by one vote in the Senate. Where Trefousse departs from many other historians’ analysis of Johnson’s actions during this period, is in his interpretation of Johnson’s apparent stubbornness in the face of Republican pressure. Usually dismissed as the actions of a vindictive and recalcitrant politician, Johnson’s unwillingness to go along with Republican reconstruction efforts were actually politically calculated to achieve a very specific result. Every action he took, from purposely alienating his own ostensible allies by refusing to compromise on even the most moderate attempts to give basic civil and political liberties to freedmen, to risking impeachment over his violation of the Tenure of Office Act, was calculated, argues Trefousse, “to accomplish his own goals – to thwart Radical Reconstruction and maintain white supremacy in the South, “policies he truly believed would eventually be seen by history as correct. At times it seems Trefousee has a sneaking admiration for Johnson. This is understandable. Certainty can be an appealing quality in a politician – at least initially. However, from the tenor and tone of the book as a whole, particularly in his extensive discussion of Johnson’s racism, Trefousse does not appear to have a high opinion of Johnson as a statesman. It is certainly clear he believes Johnson’s behavior during the Reconstruction period was harmful to the country. He notes more than once that because of the eclipse of the Southern ruling class, had Johnson acted more decisively, overcoming his racist attitudes, that “it would have been comparatively simple to enfranchise at least some of the Negroes in the former Confederacy,” (Trefousse, 7) Andrew Johnson was a Jacksonian living in a post-Jacksonian world and was unable to view things any other way. Please like & share: My Rating: 5.0 rating As someone who has studied American history almost exclusively, I found Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson to be a refreshing and highly readable look at the cultural origins of, and theoretical explanations for, the rise of nationalism. Though often referencing histories and cultures with which I am unfamiliar, Anderson does a nice job of explaining their relevance to the overall theory he is trying to explain, in a way that doesn’t require extensive, or even passing knowledge of their origins. Perhaps as a result of my relatively limited experience with the histories of cultures outside of the United States, I found some of his conclusions relative to how American historical experience bolstered his arguments, to be somewhat questionable. Most specifically, his rejection of Tom Nairn’s view that nationalist movements have been popular in character and have made an effort to “induct the lower classes into political life,” is contrary to most of what I have read. (Anderson, 48) I also had some difficulty with his description of the American failure to absorb Canada and the existence of an independent Texas Republic, as examples of a comparative failure to form an English-wide-America, and with his simplistic description of the American Civil War as a simple contradiction of economies between North and South. Lastly, though I largely agree with his assertion that nationalism did not arise from “self-consciously held political ideologies,” I would argue that in the case of the United States this might be underestimated. Anderson divides his book using three broad themes. First, he posits a definition of nationalism in which he introduces his theory of an “imagined community.” Second, he describes the cultural origins of nationalism as the result not of “self-consciously held political ideologies,” but as cultural systems that came earlier, specifically, religious community and the dynastic realm. It was the breakdown of these communities, along with a changed perception of the character of time and space, Anderson argues, that opened the door to the rise of nationalism. Lastly, he describes the confluence of events that gave rise to nationalism, how it became modernized and was replicated, and how it manifested itself at different times and in different regions. Anderson has developed his theory of the rise of nationalism as an answer to three paradoxes that he describes as having “perplexed” other theorists of nationalism. These are, the “objective” modernity of nations as historians see them versus their antiquity as seen by nationalists, the concept of nationality as a socio-cultural concept versus the surety of its “concrete manifestations,” and the political power of nationalism versus its philosophical incoherence. (Anderson, 5) In part, to explain these paradoxes, Anderson proposes the following definition of nation: “it is an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” (Anderson, 6) Nations are imagined because its citizens will never know the vast majority of their fellows, it is limited because it exists within finite boundaries, and it is sovereign because it was born “in an age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained, hierarchical dynastic realm.” (Anderson, 7) Within time and space the nation’s members view themselves as part of a broad community, moving together through time. Anderson describes nationalism in relation to its antecedents – religious community and dynastic realm. He argues it is the breakdown of these that provided the opening for nationalism to rise. He also Religious communities were bound together through the use of symbols and sacred texts. A universal understanding of the sacredness of their language as mediated by the intelligentsia gave cohesion to religious communities. Exploration of the non-European world and the loss of confidence in the uniqueness of this sacred language explains, in part, the gradual breakdown of these religious communities. Concomitant with this were changes in the nature of the dynastic realm. These were characterized by centers of power, specifically in the person of a monarch. By definition, these communities were “porous” and indistinct. By the 17th century, the legitimacy of these dynastic monarchies came into question in Western Europe. In addition to this breakdown Anderson also contends the rise in popularity of the novel and newspapers caused conceptions of time and space to change. Rather than time being simultaneous, or as he describes it, in “messianic time,” the idea that everyone in society was moving forward as a community through calendrical time became dominant. Preceding the rise of nationalism was the interaction between capitalism and communication, specifically the printing press. Anderson argues capitalism was important because the explosion in print distribution abetted the revolution in the use of vernacular languages. This provided a path for the use of language as a way to centralize political and governmental administration. Print languages created a unified way to conduct trade and communicate, thus altering and widening the conception of community. While extraordinarily important in Anderson’s thesis this confluence of capitalism and print did not in and of itself lead to the rise of nationalism. One must also look at the formation of creole communities in the new world, and why they formed conceptions of their own nation-ness before it took hold in Europe. He defines creole nations as those created and led by people who shared a language with those against whom they fought to gain their independence. He concentrates primarily on those nations formed in opposition to the Spanish empire, with some discussion of the American break with Great Britain. He attributes this rise of nation-ness to a number of factors: the attempts at control by the “metropole” gave rise to an “us vs. them” mentality; the spread of ideas related to the enlightenment; the “willingness of the comfortable classes to sacrifice themselves; the improvement in trans-Atlantic communications; and the rise of the newspaper which “implied [a] refraction of even ‘world events’ into a specific imagined world of vernacular readers; and also an idea of steady, solid simultaneity through time.” (Anderson, 52, 63) Anderson then observes that with the successful formation of nation-states in the new world came the beginning of an era of nationalist expansion in Europe. Specifically, the widespread distribution of print media and the growing strength and particularization of vernacular languages allowed these proto-nations to replicate or “modularize” the example of new world liberation to complete their own nationalist formation. Anderson takes issue with the views of Tom Nairn, who, in a Marxist critique of nationalism, argues that “nationalist movements have been invariably populist in outlook and sought to induct lower classes into political life.” (Anderson, 48) Rather, Anderson contends, in many proto-nations it was the fear of lower-class mobilization, “to wit, Indian, or Negro-slave uprisings,” that spurred the drive for independence, (Anderson, 48) Most of his examples here involve nations attempting to break away from the domination of Madrid. However, he also uses the United States as an example of this, pointing out “that many of the leaders of the independence movement in the Thirteen Colonies were slave-owning agrarian magnates…who in the 1770s were enraged by the loyalist governor’s proclamation freeing those slaves who broke wi6th their seditious masters.” (Anderson, 49) As I know little of the independence movements in Central and South America I will not dispute Anderson’s contentions with regards those nations, however, as it relates to American independence I do question the definition of the lower-classes as simply Indians and Negro-slaves. Certainly they were at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, however, there was an entire class of yeoman farmer and mechanic who I would consider lower class. Howard Zinn (author of A People’s History of the United States) would disagree. He views this class as a proto middle class, designed, in part, to buffer the wealthy from the demands of the lower class. While a conventional interpretation of the American Revolution notes the common cause the wealthy and lower classes made to defeat the British – an interpretation I agree with – Anderson and Zinn would likely argue they were making common cause to protect their economic interests on the backs of the poor who ended up doing most of the fighting. There is some truth in this, although studies specifically looking at the motivations of the militia and Continental Army find it tracks very closely to the rhetoric extolling liberty and freedom that is the conventional wisdom. Ultimately Spain was unable to establish a Spanish-wide community in the new world, largely due to limitations of technology and an inability to control a region so large. Anderson uses the failure of the United States to assimilate Canada, and the temporary existence of an Independent Texas Republic as evidence the United States was unable to create an English-American wide community parallel to the Spanish failure. I question his conclusion here. The failure of America to assimilate Canada was not the result of the backwardness of capitalism or a lack of “technology in relation to the Administrative outreach of the empire.” (Anderson, 63) The American failure to assimilate Canada was a largely a military one, combined with a lack of will. Had Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec in 1775 been successful – as it nearly was – Canada would very likely be part of the United State today. Had the United States had the political will to commit the resources necessary to wage a true war against the British in Canada in 1812 it is not inconceivable at least part of Canada would have been ceded to the United States as part of a peace settlement. The limits of “administrative outreach” are belied by the subsequent expansion to the Pacific, and the successful war against Mexico. Anderson also uses the example of the American Civil War to further support his point regarding the limits of the “bonds of nationalism.” (Anderson, 64) He argues that the combined effects of rapid expansion and economic differences resulted in this conflict. Again, I question this assertion. The issue of slavery was primary. Had it not been there is no evidence this rupture would have occurred. The conflict over slavery had economic aspects certainly, particularly in the debate over the relative merits of a free-labor vs. slave-labor economy. And there were certainly issues related to the rapid expansion of the country, but these were primarily political and related to the expansion of the slave power into western territories. None but the most rabid southern nationalist actually desired the break. It was only the perceived (not actual) inflexibility of those opposed to the expansion of slavery west that induced them to feel otherwise. I really don’t think Anderson made a particularly compelling case for the limits of capitalism and the deleterious effects of “administrative stretch” using the United States as an example of it. Lastly, while I agree with his rejection of “self-consciously held political ideologies” as a cause for the rise of nationalism, I do think he might have pointed to the experience of the United States as an exception that proves the rule. Much of the rhetoric surrounding the break with Great Britain was cloaked in ideology. Notions of liberty and republicanism were central to involving all classes in the effort. The success of Thomas Paine’s publications and the use of slogans such as “taxation without representation,” show that at least at a popular level, ideology was an important ingredient in the rise of American nationalism. Now, Zinn and Nairn would likely argue these assertions of fealty to liberty and freedom were propaganda designed to lull the masses into compliance. That it was ironic that a country fighting for natural rights would still deny them to most of the population even after independence is not lost on me. However, as an explanation for the rise of nationalism it really does not matter what the reality of these assertions were, it only mattered what people believed they were. And there is ample evidence Americans of all classes internalized them, and still internalize them as the (often shallow) regard American’s have for the popular notion of the founding shows. Overall this is really compelling reading. Like the work of Gary Gerstle in American Crucible, this really makes you look at nationalism in ways that challenge common conceptions. With the exceptions I noted above I found Anderson’s thesis very persuasive. Once read there is little chance you will read any account of America’s founding and growth in the same light. Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at My Rating: 4.0 rating In A Rage for Order: Black-White Relations in the American South Since Emancipation, Joel Williamson takes a unique look at southern racial violence, noting that “one of the great ironies of American history…[is that]…when the nation freed the slaves, it also freed racism.” (Williamson, 78) This resulted he argues, in physical and cultural segregation, and the unleashing of some of the most sadistic racial violence seen since the end of the Civil War. Williamson begins his work with a brief review of the rise of slavery in America, noting the strenuous efforts southern whites made to make a place for blacks in their economy by trying to find a place for them in every aspect of southern life. One result of this was the creation of the Sambo image, a construction whites invented depicting slaves as “simple, docile, and manageable.” (Williamson, 15) He describes an almost Focaultian power discourse he calls the “organic society,” where whites could not “prescribe and enforce a precise role upon black people without prescribing and enforcing a precise role upon themselves.” (Williamson, 17) The heart of A Rage of Order however is Williamson’s discussion of the evolution of white racial attitudes in the south after emancipation, particularly the interplay of three southern white “mentalities” which he uses to describe “intellectual atmosphere[s] of a distinctive, clearly identifiable quality.” (Williamson, 70) These mentalities, which became prominent at different times were: “Liberal,” which was strongest in the 1880s and argued that black potential was as yet unknown, but was encouraged by the strides blacks made under white leadership during reconstruction; “Conservative,” which had probably started in the 1830s and was the default mentality of most white southerners, always there, but would adapt into other mentalities to insure its survival. Conservatives held that blacks were innately inferior, and in order to help them survive it aimed at defining their place in American society; and “Radical,” the most violent and insidious of the mentalities, held that blacks, no longer under the yoke of slavery, would regress to their “natural state of savagery and bestiality.” (Williamson, 71) Radicalism, which was mostly responsible for the extreme violence and racism against blacks, included forced segregation, disenfranchisement, and the use of lunching and riots as acceptable political tools, was most prominent between 1897 and 1907. Williamson’s devotes most of this work to the effects of this radicalism and how conservatism responded to it. The rise of radicalism is not easily explained. Williamson believes an effort by northern politicians, including some Democrats, to make a place for blacks in government, fears of the reintroduction of reconstruction, and economic and political upheavals characterized by replacement of the plantation economy by tenant farming and industrialization, were all contributing factors. Based on the amount of space he devotes to it however, it appears Williamson believes the primary cause was the interplay of economics and the Victorian model of gender roles. This Victorian sensibility cast men as the breadwinner and women as the protector of hearth and home. Unable to provide for their families during bad times, men could at least protect their women from the outrages of the “black beast rapist.” This despicable construction was the result of the deliberately fabricated Radical view of black retrogression. In this view, “the most significant and awful manifestation of [this] black retrogression was an increasing frequency of assaults on white women and girls by black men.” (Williamson, 84) Williamson uses a number of biographical essays as a way to demonstrate the manifestation of these mentalities. He includes essays on Booker T. Washington, who took an accommodationist approach to race relations, and W.E.B. DuBois, who did not. Most interesting, but ultimately the least convincing, were biographies of three prominent radicals: Rebecca Latimer Felton, Benjamin Ryan Tillman, and Tom Dixon. In each case, Williamson tries argues for a psychological explanation for their turn to radicalism. For Rebecca Latimer Felton, author, feminist, and U.S. Senator (for one day), it was disgust at her prescribed role in Victorian society. For Benjamin Ryan Tillman, it was the paranoia that arose as his daughters came of age and his memories of plantation life as an adolescent surrounded by slaves. And for Tom Dixon, the author of The Leopard’s Spots and The Clansman on which the movie The Birth of a Nation was based, it was the psychological resentment he held for his father and grandmother, and the role they played forcing his mother into an underage marriage. Implicit in the sketches of Felton and Tillman, and more explicitly in that of Dixon, is the notion that the psychological condition represented by these three was also present in millions of other southern radicals. Though interesting, it is a leap to extrapolate from these case studies a wide spread psychological explanation for radicalism in the south, particularly in the absence of any other evidence. At times Williamson takes a somewhat sympathetic view of Conservatives and their reaction to Radicalism. He admires the way it presented a pliable public face, going along with many of the radical proposals, including segregation and disenfranchisement, waiting for the day when radicalism would subside. As such, Conservatism was nearly indestructible. Overall I found Williamson’s arguments to be fairly persuasive. The interplay of the three “mentalities” he describes, and the role of Victorian gender identification in the rise of Radicalism, was convincing. His assertion that psychology can be used to explain the rise of Radicalism for millions of southerners was unpersuasive. I also found his explanation for the decline of Radicalism, that Radicals realized blacks were not dying off or retrogressing as they predicted, unpersuasive. It seems to me by 1915 when Williamson dates the end of Radicalism, they had achieved all of their goals – segregation, disenfranchisement, and state sanction for violence. There was simply no longer a reason to maintain it, and so Conservatism again became dominant. This book is impressively sourced, using primary and secondary sources as well as newspapers and manuscripts. It is easy to read with few lapses in the narrative. Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at My Rating: 5.0 rating Written in the style of a murder mystery, Suzanne Lebsock in A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial has given us a work which is both entertaining and learned. The way a good mystery leaves something unresolved at the end of each chapter, so does Lebsock, turning what could have been an interesting, but dry, look at race relations in post-reconstruction era Virginia, into a real page turner. More importantly however, she has written a book that gives a real life glimpse into the economic, social, and political lives of both blacks and whites in rural Lunenberg, Virginia following the Civil War. And although not explicitly stated by her, I am of the opinion that in exploring this set of events, Lebsock is reflecting the racial consequences of the new south ideology given voice by C. Vann Woodward, primarily in his works, Origins of the New South and The Strange Career of Jim Crow. A Murder in Virginia centers on the murder of one Lucy Jane Pollard, wife of farmer Edward S. Pollard. Her body was discovered a few feet from her home, Lucy Pollard had been “murdered with an ax on a sticky June afternoon in 1895”[1] Suspicion immediately and predictably fell on black suspects, and within two days, “though no physical evidence linked them to the crime, six black women had been arrested for her murder.”[2] Later, a black man, Solomon Marable was also arrested. As Lebsock shows us, the arrest of these black suspects was the last predictable thing about this case. Contradicting earlier looks at the new south which have tended to take an optimistic view of the post reconstruction period, emphasizing north-south reconciliation following the end of military reconstruction, and taking a sympathetic view of the redeemers (the men who helped restore white supremacy), C. Vann Woodward takes a decidedly darker, and less continuous view. Following reconstruction, and as a result of the compromise that put Rutherford B. Hayes into the White House in exchange for southern home rule, northern monied interests combined with southern Democrats to restore white rule in the South. With the failure of southern populism and its initial appeal to racial harmony, southern conservatives used the bogeyman of black domination to frighten poor whites into line. From then on, blacks saw the rights they had gained during and immediately after reconstruction fade away, and eventually saw the installation of Jim Crow throughout the south. This process was not instantaneous however, leading to one of the more controversial aspects of Woodward’s work; his contention that race relations during this period were in flux, and were much more flexible than was generally thought. A Murder in Virginia reflects this flexibility, where aside from the initial suspicion that the murderers were black, and the worries they would be lynched on the way to trial, nothing about this case seemed to go the way we would expect based on our normal assumptions of the nature of race relations after the Civil War. This is evidenced throughout the book. There is the casual nature of the relationships between blacks and whites; with Lucy Pollard making dinner for one of the accused who worked on her farm. And one is struck by the power of John Mitchell, the black man who led the effort to defend the accused women, who was a member of the Richmond city council, an editor of the Richmond Planet newspaper, and who rubbed shoulders with many of the most powerful white men in the city. Also interesting were the number of former confederate lawyers who were willing to help the women with their defense, the impartiality of the Virginia Supreme Court in ordering retrials, the decision of Judge Samuel F. Coleman to order a new trial for the defendants, and the efforts of Governor Charles O’Ferrell who later called out the state militia to protect the defendants against possible lynchings, and pardoned defendant Mary Barnes. Even Lunenberg county officials, who had initially convicted the women and defended that conviction through the appeals process, demonstrated some fairness by protecting the defendants from harm and eventually dropping the charges. The penultimate evidence for the complex nature of race relations reflected in this book is that with the exception of Solomon Marable, who was eventually executed, all of the defendants, through the efforts of both black and white supporters, either had their charges dropped, or were pardoned. One must be careful not to overstate the level of black-white harmony during this period. As white dominance began to reassert itself one could see the undercurrent of racism that presaged Jim Crow moving closer to the surface. It was this racism that led the women and Marable to be arrested in the first place, and though the county and state took pains to protect them, the very fact they needed protection spoke volumes about the racism of local whites. It was also at this time that we saw the Danville riots take place, and a commensurate rise in Klan violence. Lebsock’s book is also important for the glimpse it gives us into the lives of blacks during this period. She highlights the changing role of black women, looking at their movement from their prescribed sphere of hearth and home that characterized their lives for much of the nineteenth century, to their entrance into the public. Specifically she tells the story of Rosa Bowser and Marietta Chiles, education pioneers and the founders of the Richmond Women’s League, formed to aid in the defense of the Lunenberg women. She also looks at how blacks adjusted economically during this period, highlighting the importance of the household economy to their survival, characterized by home gardens, the raising of farm animals, and the bartering that was necessary to purchase necessities. On the day of the murder one of those accused, Pokey Barnes, was bartering for chickens. As Lebsock observes, “this was the hidden economy of the poor, a ceaseless exchange among women who struck deals in person and moved goods, one house to another, on bare feet.” [3] She also provides insight into the mutual dependence between white landowners and black tenants, who, in exchange for a piece of land, agreed to work that of the owner. The importance of this arrangement is evidenced in her narrative by the fact that Wilson Abercrombie, the husband of defendant Mary Abernathy, continued to work for Edward Pollard after the murder. One of the great strengths of this book is the way Lebsock marshals her resources, particularly contemporary newspaper accounts. They provide a significant part of the narrative, as the press played an important role in winning new trials for the Lunenberg women. Particularly important was her use of the Richmond Planet, Richmond’s black newspaper run by John Mitchell. By mining this resource, Lebsock is able to underscore the truly vital role played by this publication. As a piece of history I am not really sure if this book breaks any new ground; I don’t believe it does. It seems as though the narrative reflects well-known views on the nature of the south during this period. However, I have very few criticisms to make. The book is well organized, especially important given the number of people she was obliged to include in the narrative. Particularly helpful was the “List of Characters” she provided at the beginning. I found myself referencing it a number of times as I read this. Overall then this is an extremely well written book with a style that will appeal to the casual reader as well as those with a deeper interest in the history of the Jazz Age and in race relations. [1] Lebsock, Suzanne A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003), p.13 [2] Lebsock, Suzanne A Murder in Virginia, p. 42 [3] Lebsock, Suzanne A Murder in Virginia p. 140 Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at My Rating: 4.0 rating Ulysses S. Grant is perhaps one of the most misunderstood, caricatured, and in my opinion, underestimated figures in American History. Mostly recalled in popular memory as an alcoholic who bumbled his way to victory through luck and superior numbers, he is barely recalled as a two-term President of the United States. Were it not for his portrait on the fifty-dollar bill I am not sure even that recollection would be preserved. Grant has also fared poorly with historical biographers over the years. While his defeated foe, Robert E. Lee, has been nearly canonized since his surrender at Appomattox, Grant’s accomplishments have often been belittled and marginalized, most recently, and most effectively, by William McFeely in his Pulitzer Prize winning book Grant: A Biography. Recently however, there has been a turnaround in Grant’s fortunes among historians. Recent works by Geoffrey Perret, Jean Edward Smith, and Brooks Simpson, along with the efforts of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant editor John Y. Simon, have forced a reevaluation of Grant’s career. While not fawning these books have in my opinion restored Grant to his properly viewed role in American history; as a flawed man, a military genius and, along with Lincoln, the savior of the Union.[1] Even his Presidency, generally viewed as a failure, has received a second, more critical look by some authors, and while no revision could credibly term his two terms in the White House as a success, it is now being viewed more soberly and carefully in context with the overall political climate of the time. Most works dealing with the career of Ulysses S. Grant look at his military and political careers as separate and distinct from one another with “Appomattox as the dividing line.”[2] While Grant’s military career often gets mixed reviews, even his harshest critics view Appomattox as his finest hour. After this however, the preponderance of the literature has taken an overwhelmingly negative view of Grant’s political career. There are a number of reasons for this, many having to do with the later effort by southern historians to obfuscate slavery’s role as a catalyst for the war. This is not the subject of this review however; suffice it to say the historical view of Grant’s career in my opinion, does not reflect reality. Brooks Simpson in his book Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War & Reconstruction, 1861 – 1868, takes on this prevailing view in two ways: first by removing what he views as an artificial distinction between Grant’s military and political careers, and second by taking a more positive view of Grant’s political efforts both during the Civil War and in the early years of Reconstruction. Simpson argues that Grant’s overwhelming success as a General and a statesman was directly attributable to his political acumen during and after the war. For Simpson, Grant was “both a warrior and a statesman from 1861 to 1868.”[3] Grant viewed the war and Reconstruction as part of the “same long struggle to preserve the union, destroy slavery, and establish a durable peace.”[4] Embodying Clausewitz’s maxim that “war is merely the continuation of policy by other means,” Grant, Simpson argues, broadened its meaning by understanding the end of hostilities did not mean the end of the struggle.[5] “If the Civil War was politics by other means, “ Simpson notes, “then Reconstruction was in some sense a continuation of the struggle to achieve through political means the aims for which the war was fought.”[6] While not a military biography, Simpson devotes about one-third of his book to describing Grant’s efforts during the war. He attributes Grant’s success not only to exceptional military and leadership skills, but also to his political acumen in dealing with government policy makers; accommodating and adopting the war aims set by them. He does this most effectively by following Grant’s evolving notion of the purposes for the war and how those notions roughly paralleled those of his superiors, particularly President Lincoln. Much like Lincoln, Grant started with one overriding concern in mind, that of saving the union. Whatever their personal inclinations, the question of whether slavery survived was secondary to that goal. Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, Grant made clear his views in a letter to his father-in-law in which he stated his belief that given the clear aggression of the South he could see no outcome but “the doom of slavery.”[7] He went on to say however that the “North do not want, nor will they want, to interfere with the institution.”[8] Grant also reflected the dominant northern view that the war would be a short affair; as he stated in a letter to his wife after the victory at Fort Donelson, he did not see “how the rebellion is to be sustained.”[9] With this in mind Grant believed it was important not to do anything that would hinder a quick reconciliation with the South, and his orders to subordinates reflected that mindset. He strictly controlled the behavior of Union troops towards civilians, prohibiting foraging as he made his way through Missouri in 1861, because it was “apt to make open enemies where they would not otherwise exist.”[10] His views on the question of fugitive slaves reflected the confusion in policy represented by the refusal of Congress to renew the Johnson-Crittenden resolutions limiting war aims to reconciliation only. He scrupulously tried to adhere to federal policy no matter how confusing by using some slaves as laborers and returning others to their owners based the interpretation of federal policy applied in each case. After the blood bath at Shiloh and the subsequent increase in Confederate guerrilla activity Grant, like his superiors in Washington, discarded the notion there would be a quick end to the war. Abandoning the limited warfare they had been waging in hopes of enticing the South into reconciliation, the Union army, including Grant started a no holds barred campaign to force southern capitulation. Grant’s success here is well known and is not detailed by Simpson. Suffice it to say Grant went on to force the surrender of three Confederate Armies, was elevated to the command of all Federal troops, and eventually accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, effectively ending the military phase of the struggle. As views in Washington towards slavery evolved, so did Grant’s. In 1862 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in states then in rebellion. Grant wholeheartedly endorsed this policy as the quickest and surest way to weaken the Confederacy. Later, Grant supported Lincoln’s decision to allow enlistment of black troops into the Union Army. During the Vicksburg campaign Grant received reports that black troops under his command had seen their first action at Miliken’s Bend. Grant in a note appended to his battle report commented they “had been most gallant and doubted not but with good officers they will be good troops.”[11] During the debate over whether to promote him to Lieutenant General, a rank not held in he U.S. Army since George Washington, Simpson observes Grant again displayed a sophisticated political sense. There were concerns among some that Grant was beginning to think of himself a rival to Lincoln in the election of 1864. In a bit legerdemain worthy of any experienced politician, Grant let it be known through back channels that he was in no way interested in running for President, “particularly so long as there is a possibility of having Mr. Lincoln re-elected.”[12] Thus assured, Grant was awarded his third star and command of all Union forces. Finally, as Simpson and many other historians (including those generally critical of Grant) have pointed out, Grant displayed the touch of a statesman and a finely tuned political ear for what was needed to heal the country in offering generous terms to Robert E. Lee and the surrendering Army of Northern Virginia. In keeping with Lincoln’s wish to “let ’em up easy,” Grant offered effective immunity for all confederate soldiers, up to and including Lee himself, and allowed Confederate troops to keep their personal baggage, horses and weapons. Simpson calls this “politics with a vengeance.”[13] Grant, he notes, was “executing a fait accompli, [making] sure that there were would be no future reprisals of treason trials.”[14] It is a credit to his political sense according to Simpson, that Grant knew exactly what President Lincoln would wish for in a surrender agreement. As unique a treatment of Grant’s military career as SImpson has given us, the real strength of his book lies in his description of Grant’s attempt to navigate the political terrain in which he found himself between Appomattox and his ascendancy to the White House. It became obvious to Grant soon after Lee’s surrender that as commander of all U.S. forces he would be forced to play a significant role in the nation’s subsequent reconstruction. To that end Grant believed it was his duty to try and support President Johnson as much as possible, little realizing at the time what that would entail. Simpson skillfully describes Grant’s role during the administration of Andrew Johnson. Grant initially tried to restrain what he viewed as Johnson’s excessive enthusiasm for punishing Confederate leaders. He genuinely tried to work with the President in order to help facilitate a peaceful Reconstruction, only breaking with the President when he tried to appropriate Grant’s popularity in his ongoing conflict with Edwin M. Stanton. Finally, Grant made a complete intellectual and political break with Johnson, adopting a more radical position regarding Reconstruction and the treatment of freedmen. In this description, which does not break any new factual ground, Simpson has revealed to us a Grant who skillfully maneuvered his way through this dangerously political period, and came out the other side as President of the United States. Following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, there was good reason to worry about the ascendancy of Andreas Johnson to the Presidency. A wartime Democrat with a well-known vindictive streak, there were genuine fears that he would seek retribution against those in the South responsible for initiating the war. This was confirmed in Grant’s eyes by the vehement reaction of Johnson to the surrender terms granted to Joseph Johnston’s Confederate Army of the Tennessee by General Sherman. Grant also thought them too generous, but was appalled at the treatment of Sherman by Johnson and other leaders. Not long afterward Grant found himself threatening resignation if Johnson moved forward with his plan to punish Confederate leaders, including those protected, in Grant’s view, by the Appomattox accords. So, as Simpson points out within two months of Appomattox Grant found himself mediating between the excessive leniency of Sherman and Johnson’s “desire for vengeance.” All grant desired was “peace and cooperation in rebuilding a nation that would realize Lincoln’s desire ‘to see all the people of the United States enter again upon the full privileges of citizenship with equality among all'”[15] As the restoration process progressed and in his attempts to support the President, Simpson reveals a Grant who much like in his initial views of the war’s likely duration, displayed a naivete about what would be required to reconcile the country. He believed, as did many others, that a quick conciliation was best so the best course of action would be to do nothing that would not excessively insult the sensibilities of southerners. To that end he urged the quick pardon of Confederate military leaders, a rapid demobilization of the Army, and attempted to remove black soldiers from any situation in which they might come into contact with Southern civilians. In Grant’s view according to Simpson, the “best way to reduce friction, no matter the cause, was to control black behavior, for to place additional restraints on whites would antagonize them, prolonging sectional division.”[16] Later, in another effort to work with Johnson, Grant agreed to tour the South and report on his findings. Realizing Johnson was using him to counteract damaging reports submitted by Carl Schurz, Grant nevertheless attempted to produce a fair and evenhanded report. Producing a much more moderate report than Schurz’s, it was at this time according to Simpson, that Grant began to revise his thinking regarding Southern attitudes towards the freedmen and the need to move from reconciliation to protection. As time passed, and Grant received reports of recalcitrance in the part of Southern whites to accept the civil rights of freedmen. Grant was moving inexorably to a far more radical view of Reconstruction. Meanwhile, reflecting his innate racism, President Johnson was moving further away from his ostensible Republican allies in Congress in an attempt to assure the South remained under white control. To that end he eased the way for former Confederate leaders to obtain pardons, he vetoed the freedman’s bureau and civil rights bills, and he opposed passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Grant opposed Johnson on these issues, but remained silent either out of a sense or propriety or as a way to position himself for the 1868 Republican nomination for President. Likely it was a bit of both. Finally, Johnson tried to co-opt Grant by involving him in the attempt to depose Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson suspended Stanton and appointed Grant as caretaker in accordance with the Tenure of Office Act which required Congressional approval before any Senate confirmed cabinet officer could be terminated. Later, when he tried to remove Stanton permanently in violation of that act, Grant resigned and handed the office back to Stanton in accordance with the Tenure of Office Act. This was the final break with Johnson and induced Grant to take a more public role in opposition to his Reconstruction policies. Grant certainly viewed it as a matter of honor; to preserve the principals for which the army had fought which meant not only reconciliation but now included protection of the rights of former slaves. No doubt politics was also on his mind as well, as it was obvious the political wind was blowing in favor of the Radical Republicans. After the unsuccessful attempt to remove Johnson from office and as the appeal of Radical Republicanism began to wane in the North, Grant became the only viable option for Republicans in the 1868 election. And so, contrary to his wishes, but believing it was the only way to preserve the fruits of Union victory, Grant was elected President of the United States. Simpson’s view of Grant’s reticence is not universally shared. William Gillette in Retreat From Reconstruction takes the contrary view, that Grant was more ambitious for political power than is typically thought. I do believe Grant was bitten, at least a bit, by the Presidential bug. In my view no one can be willing to put themselves through the rigors demanded by the office, and not have some confidence they are best for the job. However, I have no doubt Grant was sincere in his belief that it was necessary for him to accept the nomination in order to preserve the gains won during the war. Certainly no one, other than former slaves, had a bigger stake in making sure that happened. Overall I enjoyed this book very much. Though not breaking any new ground factually as evidenced by his heavy reliance on previously published sources, Simpson has successfully re-oriented the way we look at Grant’s military and political careers. By removing the artificial dividing line between the military and political portions of his career, Simpson has elevated in my eyes the political skills of Grant. By realizing his success on the battlefield was directly attributable to his ability to effectively relate with his superiors in Washington, Grant is revealed to us as a sophisticated and successful political player. Simpson also shows us that Grant, despite his inability to counteract Johnson’s lawyerly arguments regarding issues on which they conflicted, was able to effectively maneuver his way through the minefields of postwar Reconstruction politics, and ultimately end up as President of the United States. This book did have its weaknesses. Believing as I do, that Simpson is attempting to give us a more positive view of Grant’s skills, I believe it was a mistake not to include his Presidency as part of his treatment. It is this period for which Grant is most criticized by historians. Second, I believe more attention should have been given to Grant’s military success, That is the period for which Grant is most often praised by historians so perhaps should have been viewed in a little more detail. Finally, although I did enjoy the book, I am one of those that has always had an interest in Grant so I am not overly concerned by the stylistic nature of the work. However, most readers with either no previous interest or only a passing interest in Grant would I believe, find this a dry read. [1]Smith Jean Edward, Grant (New York, Simon and Schuster, 2001), Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1863 (New York, Houghton Miflin Company, 2000), Perret, Geoffrey, Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & President (New York, Random House, 1997). Of the three authors the work by Smith comes closest to hagiography. It takes an almost uncritical look at Grant through all phases of his life, often glossing over areas where Grant could legitimately be criticized. Perret’s book makes no secret of its attempt to counteract McFeely’s analysis of Grant. Unfortunately it is plagued with errors, misstating the date of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the date of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and the Battle of Chickamauga to name a few, which tend to undermine its credibility. Of the three I found Simpson’s work the most balanced while still giving a largely positive view of grant’s life and career. [2] Brooks D. Simpson, Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1991), page xiii [3] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. xiv [4] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. xiv [5] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. xv [6] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. xv [7] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 11 [8] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 11. This of course parallels Lincoln’s famous statement on the question of emancipation made more than a year earlier when he said “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” [9] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 23 [10] Brig. Gen U.S. Grant to Col. R.J. Oglesby, November 3, 1861, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. [11]Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p.20 [12] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p.54 [13] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 84 [14] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p.55 [15] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 108 [16] Simpson, Let Us Have Peace, p. 118 Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at My Rating: 4.0 rating Click for available versions at Interesting take on the long term affects of the 3/5 compromise. Gave the South a political power unwarranted by their free population, the effects which are still seen today… Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at Here My Rating: 4.0 rating Click for Kindle version on Focuses on the generally overlooked part of JQA’s career, his post Presidential time in Congress, where he waged a one man crusade to lift the gag rule against debaing slavery. Pretty well written, no overwhelming revelations or new info, but just by spotlighting this time it is well worth a read. The kind of book you can see being made into a movie. Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at Here My Rating: 5.0 rating Click for Kindle version at Click for Kindle version at Really unique way of looking at the Appomattox surrender and the consequences that flowed from it. The author uses personal reflections, diaries, letters, editorials, and WPA interviews with former slaves, to illuminate how various factions in the country viewed the surrender, and how they interpreted its terms and subsequent statements made by Grant and Lee. Most of all it describes how it was used (distorted) by the South to insure the failure of reconstruction and reinstatement of elite white rule in the former confederacy – indirectly aided by apathetic northern moderates, and overtly by Copperheads. Those in the South who wished to return the region to a prewar condition (sans slavery) used the surrender terms as a shield, arguing its terms proscribed the Federal government from imposing equal rights for African-Americans, allowing them to reestablish the social caste system that existed before the war. A system in which former slaves would return to its lowest rung. For many in the north, particularly liberal Republicans, Grant’s terms were interpreted as a way to keep from the South any excuse to belligerency. Its generous terms it was believed, would disabuse the prevalent, though mistaken, notion of the North as a pack of scoundrels and profiteers only looking to subjugate the South and destroy its way of life. And, it was believed those who had rebelled against the union should not be returned to power at the expense of those who fought for its restoration (southern unionists, African-American soldiers etc). Far from guaranteeing the South would not have to pay a penalty for its treason, Grant’s surrender terms were viewed as a military measure only. There were gradations in these views held among citizens in both regions, with some in the North believing for example that the Appomattox terms did protect Confederate soldiers from any legal retribution, but did not protect their leaders. And in the South, there were unionist factions as committed to justice for freedmen as northern radicals. The takeaway is one of lost opportunities. Had events transpired differently, and had certain people behaved in a more decisive way, the author appears to argue that reconstruction may have had a better outcome and that freedmen might not have had to wait until the 1960s to have their civil liberties restored to them. Had Lincoln survived and had he not been replaced by a man – Andrew Johnson – committed to an interpretation of the surrender that comported well with its view among southern elites, there is little doubt the freedmen would have been better protected. By the time 1869 rolled around, enough damage had been done by Johnson that even the heroic efforts of the new President Ulysses S. Grant, could not prevent the failure of reconstruction. Had Robert E. Lee been able to rouse himself from his prewar view of social caste and had followed the example of more courageous former Confederates such as James Longstreet and John Singleton Mosby who publicly accepted the necessity of establishing civil rights for former slaves, there is no doubt his influence could have helped prevent the retrenchment of southern society along with the violent excesses that went along with it. Up until now most books that look at the Appomattox surrender do so through the lens of reconciliation and American exceptionalism. Jay Winik’s excellent book April 1865: The Month that Saved America is an example of this. Appomattox goes a long way toward reorienting the way history views this singular event, one stripped of its patina of chivalry and reconciliation to lay bare its role as a catalyst for the failure of reconstruction and the denial of equality for former slaves. An excellent book, extremely well written. Highly recommended!!! Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at Here My Rating: 4.0 rating Click for Kindle version at Very good one-volume biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Not quite up to the standards of those produced by Brooks Simpson and Jean Edward Smith…but not far behind. Vastly superior to the error riddled work by Geoffrey Perret or the technically competent, but interpretively flawed biography of Grant by William McFeely. Brands demonstrates again that U.S. Grant is perhaps the most underrated figure in American history. His reputation trashed through the efforts of “lost cause” historians and their enablers in academia and the media – an attempt to whitewash their culpability in perpetuating slavery by elevating their rebellion as a noble “lost cause” – Grant’s reputation is finally being restored to its proper place. This book continues the trend. With the exception of only Lincoln himself, Grant is the man most responsible for saving the Union, and probably the man most responsible for keeping the country together after the Civil War. Brands takes a positive view of his performance during the Civil War, leaving little doubt he believes Grant to be among the greatest military figures of the war, and perhaps the greatest in our history. He also takes a sympathetic view of Grant’s time as President, putting his two terms into the context of the times and the challenges he faced as he tried to shepherd the restoration of the Union. Grant’s efforts on behalf of former African slaves is the high point of his Presidency. It would not be an exaggeration to characterize Grant as the first “civil rights” President. His efforts on behalf of Native Americans and his work preventing unscrupulous men from cornering the gold market are also highlights. On the other hand, Brands does not shy away from criticizing Grant where it is warranted including his issuance of General Order #11, his naivete in remaining loyal to subordinates that were clearly corrupt, and his lack of imagination during the the depression that marked the final years of his Presidency. This book is not perfect. It ends very abruptly, with little exploration of the reasons for the decline in Grant’s reputation after his death (admittedly there are other books that explore this topic quite well). At the time of his death Grant was far and away the most popular figure in the United States, so some discussion of how he got from there to the caricature of him that gained prevalence later would have provided a more fitting coda. Also, I was disappointed at how little exploration there was of how a man who was selling firewood on the corner of his home town to make ends meet in 1861, rose so quickly to the pinnacle of power. What was it about Grant’s personality that made that rise possible? So much of his inter war career is characterized by disappointment and sadness which is described well here. But as soon as Grant’s fortunes turn, that aspect of his story is dropped. Sources may be hard to come by, and I usually disdain psycho-history, but in this case an attempt would have been worth it. Overall…highly recommended! Please like & share: Bucket Source (Personal Addition) Purchase at Here Current Bucket Status Currently Reading: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey Current Audio Book: The Free State of Jones by Victoria Bynum Last Read: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline From Bucket Authors New Bucket Books An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield The Case Against the Supreme Court by Erwin Chemerinsky The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan Please follow & like us :)
Even if beef from one infected cow got into the food supply, the chances that any consumer would develop mad cow disease are extremely low, experts on the disease say. ''One can derive a fair bit of comfort from statistics and epidemiology,'' said Dr. Fred Cohen, a professor of pharmacology at the University of California at San Francisco who is an expert on mad cow disease. ''Put the question into context. When there were 60,000 to 80,000 infected cows in the U.K., approximately 150 people out of 60 million developed the disease.'' Here in the United States, Dr. Cohen said, ''one cow is not likely to translate into any cases.'' The primary safety concern is to avoid eating any nervous system tissue from an infected animal. The Department of Agriculture says that whole cuts of beef -- steaks, chops roast -- are generally safe to eat because mad cow disease is not known to affect the muscle meat. The disease occurs in the central nervous system of the animal. Critics of the Agriculture Department, who say the agency has resisted taking the steps needed to keep mad cow disease out of the food supply agree that muscle meat is safe but offer more specific steps the public can take to protect itself. Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said a consumer should: Avoid ground beef unless they grind it themselves from a whole piece of muscle meat. Avoid brains, beef cheeks, neck bones. Continue reading the main story Avoid any meat that comes from the head and any meat that is taken from close to spinal column or containing bone that is part of the spinal cord, like T-bone, which was banned in some European countries during the outbreak in Britain. Avoid pizza toppings, taco fillings, hot dogs, salami, bologna and other products that contain not only ground beef but beef from machinery that squeezes out bits of meat that cling to the spinal column and other bones. Beef from this advanced meat recovery system is used in many meat products but bits of the spinal column are often not removed. In a survey conducted in 2002 by the Agriculture Department, products for 34 processing plants that use such machinery, known as an advanced meat recovery system, were tested and 35 percent of them tested positive for central nervous system tissue. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is caused by a protein, called a prion, that folds itself into an abnormal shape that has several lethal properties. When a misfolded prion comes into contact with a healthy prion, it can cause the healthy proteins to misfold as well, starting a deadly chain reaction. The abnormal prions form clumps that kill brain cells, leaving holes. Brain and nervous tissue are destroyed, resulting in death. Then, if a healthy human or animal eats meat or processed foods contaminated with misfolded proteins, the disease can take hold. The dose needed to cause an infection, however, is not known. Some people may have a genetic susceptibility to prion diseases, whereas others may have a natural resistance. The biological factors are still under study. Animals can contract B.S.E. in two ways. Most commonly, they get it from eating feed that has been contaminated by infectious prions. They can also develop the disease spontaneously when a normal prion mutates and starts the chain reaction, a process that leads to spontaneous infection in an estimated one in a million cows, deer and other mammals. Infectious prions enter the body through the gut and are passed to the brain through lymph and other immune cells. They are found mostly in the brain but can exist for quite some time in peripheral tissue like tonsils, appendixes and lymph nodes in muscle. Misfolded prions have also been identified in white blood cells, a fact that led blood banks to ban blood donations by people who lived in Britain at the height of the epidemic. Prion diseases go by many names. The sporadic form of the disease in humans is called Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease or C.J.D. When people contract it from eating infected beef, the disease is called variant C.J.D. In deer and elk it is chronic wasting disease. All are caused by misfolded prions in each species. Cooking will not kill mad cow disease. In 2001 the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Agriculture Department to ban necks bones and spinal columns from the advanced meat recovery sytems. The government has not acted on the petition. Ms. DeWaal said that the dietary supplement industry had taken steps to make certain that nervous system tissue from cattle has been removed from its products. It has been done on a voluntary basis. Continue reading the main story
Appointments (949) 600-8100 Medical Conditions Health Center Sinusitis and Your Child Print, Share, or View Spanish version of this article Fluid inside the sinuses When your child has a viral cold or hay fever, the linings of the nose and sinus cavities swell up and produce more fluid than usual. This is why the nose gets congested and is “runny” during a cold. Most of the time the swelling disappears by itself as the cold or allergy goes away. However, if the swelling does not go away, the openings that normally allow the sinuses to drain into the back of the nose get blocked and the sinuses fill with fluid. Because the sinuses are blocked and cannot drain properly, bacteria are trapped inside and grow there, causing a secondary infection. Although nose blowing and sniffing may be natural responses to this blockage, when excessive they can make the situation worse by pushing bacteria from the back of the nose into the sinuses. Is it a cold or bacterial sinusitis? Generally viral colds have the following characteristics: • Colds usually last only 5 to 10 days. Signs and symptoms that your child may have bacterial sinusitis include: • Persistent vomiting • Sensitivity to light • Increasing irritability Diagnosing bacterial sinusitis Treating bacterial sinusitis Treating related symptoms of bacterial sinusitis © 2003 American Academy of Pediatrics, Updated 07/2013. All rights reserved.
Pilates History Pilates is a method of corrective exercise that strengthens and tones the entire body. The exercises emphasize the core muscles (primarily abdominals and inner thighs to support the back) while also conditioning and lengthening the whole body. The movements are flowing, precise and challenging, and require a “mind-body” connection. It’s this mind-body connection that makes pilates effective and define what pilates truly is- not just movements, but highly effective, mindful movements. Joseph Hubertus Pilates’ Early Life Joseph H. Pilates was born in Mönchengladbach, a small town near Düsseldorf, Germany in 1883. Few facts are known about his young life, though what we do know is very interesting and influential on what he would go on to teach, invent, and passionately promote for the rest of his life: health and well being for the mind, body, and spirit. At five years of age, Joseph lost the sight of his left eye, apparently due to bullies weilding stones at him. Also at a young age, he suffered from rickets and asthma. However, Joseph’s parents owned and ran a gymnasium, as well as a beer brewingcompany. Joseph and his brother began practicing boxing and self defence in the family run gym. He went from a sickly child to becoming so fit he actually posed as a model for anatomy charts. He took personal responsibility for his own health and overcame weakness. As a young adult in during World War I, Joseph Pilates was living in England and making a living as a professional boxer, personal trainer, and even as a human statue in the circus. In 1914, the British authorities eventually brought him to an internment camp, along with other German citizens, for the remainder of the war. Although wartimes were bleak, it was during his time at the camp that he began to develop specific ideas for his new exercise method. He spent his time observing animals at the camp, such as cats, and how they stretched and moved about to stay limber. He saw how men at the camp could lose strength easily if they laid in bed all day. He began to teach floor exercises (what would later become known as “the Mat Work”) to these men in an effort to keep their strength up. The exercises included abdominal work, leg and arm work, spinal extention, and balancing exercises. It is said that these men survived the 1918 flu pandemic due to their good physical shape. He soon became known as the camp as a nurse as he continued to help the bed ridden regain strength through exercise. If they couldn’t get down on the floor and exercise, he would have them exercise in bed. Legend has it that he developed his first ideas for what would later become his famous exercise apparatus while teaching these bedridden men in the camp. Supposedly, he saw that the men were having difficulty exercising in bed, so he took the springs off of the beds and attached them to the bed posts to give them something to pull on to assist them through the exercises. Not only were the springs helpful for the men, but also helpful for Joe and his work- the men could use the springs and didn’t need Joe himself to help them along through the exercises. To Joseph, the springs on the bedposts were a time and energy saver for him- and a brilliant idea. After WWI, he returned to Germany and continued training people with the exercises he developed in the camp. In time, he was pressured to train members of the German army and he instead decided, at age 42, to emigrate to America, where he planned to further his career in physical fitness and to take his exercise equipment from great idea to patented invention. It was on the ship to America that Joe met his future life partner, Clara. Clara was a school teacher suffering from arthritis in her hands. It is said that Joe gave her a few exercises to help her hands and she soon became pain free. Sold on his technique, Clara joined him in New York City where they patented his pieces of exercise equipment, starting with what Joseph called, “The Universal Reformer”. They opened up a gym together at 939 8th Avenue. The focus of the gym was boxing and “Contrology”-the name Joe gave to his exercise technique. He continued to teach the mat work he had developed in the camp, and created additional, similar exercises on the Universal Reformer and the other apparatus he built and invented. Within the same building were dance and art studios, which made for an eclectic group of people throughout the whole building who became devoted disciples of Joe and Clara. They found that doing Pilates improved their form, increased their stamina, and helped them recover from injuries. Clients of the gym consisted of mainly dancers, artists, singers, and choreographers- many of them famous. Injured dancers in the neighboring studios would go see Joe to help “fix” them. Famous clients of Joe included Martha Graham, George Balanchine, Joan Collins, and Liza Manelli, to name just a few. The Contrology Gymnasium in New York City Joseph Pilates’ gymnasium was like none other. The equipment throughout the room was invented and built solely by himself, and many pieces doubled as exercise equipment and functional furniture. It is said that Clara actually did much of the teaching of exercise in the gym while Joseph spent his time inventing and building equipment in the back room. Over the years, he built and designed hundreds of pieces of equipment and different types of furniture, though only about a dozen of these are still widely used in pilates studios today. To know and see Joe teaching Contrology in those days would be an amazing experience. Known to wear only tiny black or white shorts, he would smoke cigars and drink beer while teaching his technique. Clara would wear a nurses dress and heavy white clogs While teaching, Joseph was known as a man who could be harsh and to the point- very matter-of-fact in telling his clients what to do and how to do an exercise. There is a well known photograph of Joe standing on top of the stomach and rib cage of opera singer, Roberta Peters, while she was in the middle of an exercise, to teach her how to use her abdominals to protect and support her back properly. He was a stickler for form, saying, “A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of doing sloppy calisthenics or forced contortion.” Clara, on the other hand, was known as the kinder teacher, who would focus more on the flow of the movements. Today, the pilates method is truly a combination of both of their approaches to teaching. Although, I must admit I’ve never seen a teacher stand on a student to correct them! When a new client would knock on the downstairs door of the building to come in, Joe would have them come all the way up the stairs, where he would greet them with one of his inventions- a small device he called “The Breathesizer”. He would have them blow into it and give them the assessment that they were obviously terribly out of shape and needed to come in a get fit with Contrology. Once they were in the gym, he or Clara would give them a personalized workout, which they were expected to memorize and do on their own each time they visited the gym. If they weren’t able to memorize it, they could follow all with the photos of the exercises that Joseph had hanging all over the gym. Almost every inch of wall was covered with small, black and white photos of Joe demonstrating exercises on all his equipment, in a particular order and in perfect form. The bulk of the Contrology workout was done on the Universal Reformer. This was a wooden bed frame (complete with claw feet) with a “mat” attached to weighted springs so it could slide back and forth within the frame. To see one of Joe’s original reformers now is not only a rare treat but would also raise some eyebrows. His original reformers are slightly different than what we use today, with the main difference being that the mat was actually a wooden board, with no mat on it at all. He was very serious about correcting poor posture and spinal health, which meant no comfortable, soft mats. Names of exercises on the reformer range from dull and to the point, “Arm Circles”, “Overhead”, and “Pelvic Lift”, to intriguing and fun, “Corkscrew”, “Elephant”, and “Snake”. Exercises on the other apparatus had similarly interesting names such as “Squirrel”, “Going Up the Mountain”, “Boomerang”, “Swandive”, and “Grasshopper”. Once his clients were done on the reformer, they would move on to a few more pieces of equipment, one of them being the Trapeze Table. This was the apparatus influenced by Joe’s original idea, so long ago, of attaching springs to the bedposts of the interned men at the Isle of Man. It was a raised bed with a metal framework on one end, with springs, straps, and bars attached to it. The springs and bars aided the clients with resistance and assistance to all the exercises. Each of these springs and bars had a specific use and name, such as leg springs, arm springs, roll back bar, push through bar, and trapeze bar. Students would do exercises that focused on spinal flexibility and full body alignment, as well as gymnastic-type moves. Clients would also work out on The Barrels, which were primarily used for spinal flexibility and extension. The story behind Joe’s process of inventing the barrels is fascinating. He took an empty beer barrel and cut it in half, then covered it with a mat-like material. This created a “hump”, for clients to arch their backs over or do a series of exercises on. Which exercises they could do depended on the height and placement of the barrel. After inventing The Barrel, he was left with the metal rings from around the beer barrels, and not wanting to leave anything to waste, he invented The Magic Circle. The Magic Circle is a small piece of equipment that we use very often in pilates classes today. Its a small metal circle with two soft pads on it (though when Joe invented his original Circles, those pads were just blocks of wood) used to teach people how to engage their inner most muscles to get the most out of the work out. When clients were done working out, Joseph Pilates would say, “After an hour, get in the shower!”. He insisted that all clients take a shower after exercising and- like most other things in his life- he felt very passionate about how exactly it should be done. He was even known to get into the shower with people to teach them proper washing and scrubbing techniques! Before a student walked out the door, they would take an apple with them. Joseph Pilates’ vision was that everyone in the world would someday do his corrective exercises, every day. One way he tried to spread his method was by selling Universal Reformers as well as another piece of equipment, The Wunda Chair, to people to use in their homes. He created a booklet that he would sell along with the equipment, full of step-by-step photos of all the exercises to be done on the equipment. The photos showed the exact order and form for each and every exercise, and clients were told not to move onto the next exercise until the one before it was mastered. The story behind The Wunda Chair is quite amazing. The Wunda Chair (or, simply “The Chair”) was actually the first piece of exercise equipment ever invented for the purpose of exercising in a home. It was small and compact, and Joe called it, “a Reformer for a New York City apartment”. Dozens of exercises can be done on the Chair, and most amazingly, with a couple very quick and slight adjustments, the Chair could be converted into an actual ergonomic chair that one could sit in when not exercising! Other than the apparatus listed above, Joe invented hundreds of things, between additional exercise equipment (like the Ped-o-pul, Guilletine, Cadillac, Foot Corrector, and Spine Corrector), as well as furniture. Today, we recognize over 600 exercises of Joseph Pilates. The genius of how the Pilates Method works lies in the balance between resistance and assistance in every exercise. When using the apparatus, the springs work by offering weighted resistance to the movements, as well as assistance by guiding the body through the exercises in balance and alignment. As soon as a body is out of alignment or not working with coordination, the springs slack, or begin to wobble. With practice, students learn to work with the springs to create balanced movement. With the matwork, the body must create resistance against gravity and imagine the feel of the springs when there aren’t any at all. This is why Joe described his method as, “Corrective, resistance balance” exercises. Other Inventions and Endeavors One of his most well known pieces of furniture that he built and invented was “The Bednasium”. The Bednasium was a v-shaped bed that Joseph Pilates believed would help with all the aches and pains associated with sleep for some people. He heavily promoted the Bednasium through self-marketing, writing articles and books, and even soliciting bed and mattress companies to stop building beds flat and to start building all beds in the V shape. When bed manufacturers wouldn’t make his beds, he was outraged. His niece, Mary Pilates (who is still alive and teaching pilates today) has said that she remembers sleeping in the Bednasium and that it was quite comfortable. Joe spent much of his time passionately marketing his method. There were articles about his method and gym in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Life Magazine, and Readers Digest, to name a few. He was a true showman, and is even quoted in Life Magazine as stating he was a direct decendant of Potious Pilate. He also wrote two books, “Return to Life Through Contrology”, and “Your Health”, where he vigorously discusses not only how his method could help everyone physically, mentally, and spiritually, but also how children should be raised, how people should sit and sleep, and how to eat healthfully. He also wrote a third book, which is still unpublished. Perhaps we will someday find out what else Joe had to say! Despite the popularity of his method and the genius behind his inventions, towards the end of his life he was a depressed man. He had intended for Contrology to be an exercise system for men, specifically boxers. He was sad that his method was taken over by dancers and women! Ironically, it was those dancers and women who continued to spread his method throughout the world after his death and made pilates what it is today. Over the years, some of Joe’s students went on to teach the Pilates exercises on their own, opening their own studios and teaching the exercises that were taught to them by Joe with Joe’s blessings. There is a story about one of his students, dancer Bob Seed, who tried to open a Contrology gym a few blocks away from Joe’s and steal some clients with him. Apparently Joe wasn’t going to let that happen, so he showed up at Bob’s door with a shotgun and told him to get out of town. In 1967, Joseph Pilates passed away from emphasema at the age of 86. His obituary read, “a white-maned lion with steel blue eyes (one was glass from a boxing mishap), and mahagony skin, and as limber in his 80’s as a teenager”. After his death, Clara continued to run the gym, although she was going blind. Eventually, she asked one of their best students, Romana Kryzanowska, to carry on his work as he taught it. Romana famously ran Joe’s “Pilates Studio” and certified hundreds of pilates teachers, until 2013 when she passed away at age 90. Other students of Joe’s went on to teach and spread the pilates method around the world. Pilates Today Today, there are thousands of pilates teachers worldwide and millions of people benefitting from the method every day. The term “Pilates” has become a type of exercise that almost everyone has heard of. There are now different types of pilates, or different “schools of thought”, variations on the technique, and different companies manufacturing different versions of his apparatus. Joseph Pilates was a genius and a true visionary. These days, anyone looking to try pilates serves themselves best by seeking out a classical pilates teacher who teaches as close to his original method as possible, with equipment built to his exact specifications. He had a reason for every exercise move, every set up for each exercise, and the order in which to do the exercises. Personally, as a pilates teacher myself for the past 14 years, I’ve seen countless people of all types benefit in extreme ways by following the teachings of Joseph Pilates, including myself.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017 Life Lessons to Teach Your Kids Out of the Classroom Whether your little ones are taught in a traditional school environment, or they are home schooled; there are life lessons that they will need to learn outside of a classroom. Children are extremely perceptive and will become little sponges for information from a very young age. Therefore you can begin to instill various lessons from the get-go. There will be an array of things that are appropriate to teach your kids from when they’re toddlers, up until they’re teenagers and beyond; all humans continue to learn throughout their lives, and as a parent, you have a major responsibility on your shoulders. The following are some areas you might want to consider talking through with your little ones (or older kids) and ensure that they’re on the right path to becoming a well-rounded and educated adult. Politeness and manners are appreciated by all; therefore, it’s vital that your children get a strong understanding of the importance of their please and thank yous. From an early age; it’s a smart idea to let your kids know how you expect them to behave and ensure that they’re aware of how their actions, and what they say, affect others and the situation they are in. Being consistent is the best way for your teachings to sink in; the more you repeat something, the quicker your kids will pick things up, and they’ll know what to say and do in no time (remember how they’re little sponges). Role play and reading story books are a great way to introduce and reinforce, the idea of manners to a kid; making a teaching activity fun will ensure that the information and feelings are more likely to stay within your child. When out in social settings; continue to teach and practice what you’ve told them; ask them questions to see what they should do and say, and give them the chance to do it themselves. Always praise great manners; but, don’t berate a young child for not using manners correctly as they’ll only feel less confident to do so in the future. If a situation has not gone how you would've liked regarding your kids and how they acted or what they said; explain why to them and give them the tools to do better next time. Lead by example; remember that your kids are likely to copy what you do, so ensure that you’re the polite adult that you want your little ones to grow up into. Gentle prompts, encouragement, and positive associations are all methods to keep your kids asking with a “please” and leaving with a “thank you.” It’s always a great idea to talk to your children’s teachers, the parents of your kid’s friends, or anyone else who’s been left in charge of your kids; you’ll get a strong sense of how they behave when they’re not under your supervision. Again, always react with advice and encouragement, over anger, to tell them when they have done something wrong and how to change it. There are a variety of dangers, and hazardous situations that your child will (unfortunately) have to experience and deal with throughout their lifetime. However, you don’t want to raise someone that constantly lives in fear of the world around them because you’ve scared them with what could (and probably won’t) happen. Therefore, the best way to equip your little ones to handle their future is to ensure they are made aware of danger without too much fear and give them the tools they’ll need to deal with it. By ensuring that your kids will be ready to sort out, or avoid harm in a situation successfully, will give them the confidence to enjoy their life, safe in the knowledge they'll know what to do should any problems arise. Making sure that smaller children know when to run and fetch an adult, if there’s been an accident or hazardous situation, is a great place to start; let them know that they don’t have to deal with anything alone. As kids get older; it’s worth teaching them how to call for help, and the basics of first aid and CPR; look into the American Heart Association CPR methods to get a sense of the step-by-step guide, which could help your kid save a life. Make sure your children are old enough to learn what to do in a medical emergency, so as not to overwhelm them. Ensure that your kids understand what different medical situations look like; that way they won’t be terrified should one occur in front of them, and even better, they may be able to help. Again, role play and stories are the perfect method to introduce danger, and negative situation awareness to a child, without scaring them. As long as they understand that it’s a normal part of life; they’ll be able to handle whatever issues come their way with adept skills and confidence. You can start simple lessons like road safety and the danger of household electrics, for example, from an early age. Put the focus on the remaining safe aspect, rather than filling a young mind with scary stories of what the results could be. Word association for tots is an excellent method to keep them away from fire, kettles, and stoves; using vocabulary like “hot” and “ouch”, when your kids experience pain, will stick in their minds. You can then point out the items to stay away from in the family home and use those words that they’ve learned previously. Image via here When it comes to your morals as a parent; they can be very personal within your family home. However, there are certain ideals, which are associated with a good person, that will relate to any growing child. For some children; kindness and respect for others come as second nature. However, some little ones will struggle with certain concepts at first, like any human being, so it’s your job to help them see the importance and encourage their beliefs. Teaching values will take time; nothing will sink in straight away, and very often it takes a real-life situation for an idea to really hit home. Therefore, leading by example, as you do with your manners, will help a child to understand dependability, discipline, generosity, compassion, and a variety of other traits that lead to a positive way of life. As a parent; you can’t expect to be perfect all of the time; therefore, your kids will see you make mistakes in life. Instead of brushing your mistakes under the carpet, or trying to shelter your little ones what you may have said or done; apologize for your behavior and let them know that you understand that it was wrong. Letting your kids know that you’re just as human as they are, but as an adult, you should’ve known better, will teach them accountability and the importance of acknowledging something and apologizing. Check out Aha Parenting tips on ways to raise a child with great values for some inspiration. To help to reinforce your child’s concept of morals; tell them your personal experiences with them and how they affected the outcome. Explaining things that you’ve been through to your kids is a step up from a story book; it will resonate more deeply in their mind and thoughts of your children, as they trust you and it’s not fiction. Consistency is vital; be the adult that you want your children to grow into, and you’ll help to nurture their development. Help them to process their feelings, and they’ll begin to react in a suitable fashion in all personal and social situations (on the whole; remember they’re kids), and will be a pleasure to be around and a credit to your teachings. Image from pexels.com Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger... Let's chat!
Blog: British Columbia's Wolf Extermination Plan Commentary by Tommy Knowles In April, the British Columbian government released its management plan for the grey wolf. The plan drastically outlines a government out of step with ecology and in step with industry. The executive summary states that the grey wolf is a threat to livestock. It then goes on to state that one goal of the management plan is to ensure wolves are available in sufficient abundance to meet the recreational needs of society, before ending with the provincial policy that supports the use of predator control to protect livestock and species at risk. Predation on livestock is very much exaggerated in the plan and does not hold farmers accountable for poorly practiced farming methods that attract wolves, including proper disposal of dead cows. Farmers have a social responsibility to work in harmony with the land base but instead demonize the wolf, which has lived sustainably on that land for generations. This demonization then somehow justifies the wolf’s extermination and outlines a total misunderstanding of the species. The underlying tone of the summary portrays the wolf as an animal that should be managed for the benefit of and to suit human beings. In a section titled, ‘Recent Management,’ the document discusses the attempt to control wolves to reduce predation risk on endangered caribou. Wolves were killed and dominant pairs sterilized yet a correlation between reduced wolf densities and caribou recovery could not be sustained. It is well known among the broader scientific community and among independent biologists that the real reason endangered caribou are declining is because of habitat loss, due to practices including logging, mining and tar sands extraction. Unfortunately for the wolves, the government significantly benefits from these industries. Therefore, the wolves are a scapegoat for corporate profit and are unfairly blamed for the loss in caribou. In regards to hunting, the British Columbian government sets no limit on how many wolves can legally be killed by a single hunter or what age a wolf can legally be killed at. This means that hunters can kill pregnant females, mothers with cubs, cubs themselves or any wolf they so choose. The reporting of wolves killed is poorly managed and hardly gives a proper estimation of wolves throughout the province yet is one of the determining factors in population estimates. The reintroduction of wolves to wild places where they once roamed, such as Yellowstone National Park, has seen a significant increase in the overall health of the ecosystem, as species once completely out of balance are set and balanced by a predator-prey relationship. This is hardly recognized by the plan. It is not surprising that the government of British Columbia continues to let down the wolf and works closer and closer to exterminating the animal from the province. Christy Clark and her gang of so-called biologists are quickly shaming the reputation of a place once known for its respect of the environment. It is obvious that petitions and letter writing have hardly stopped or even slowed down the destruction of the wolf. We must therefore take action in order to ensure the survival of this magnificent species. Respect existence or expect resistance!
What is Sustainable Farming? Article Details • Written By: G. Wiesen • Edited By: Heather Bailey • Last Modified Date: 06 August 2017 • Copyright Protected: Conjecture Corporation • Print this Article Free Widgets for your Site/Blog Sustainable farming is the idea that any type of farming or agriculture that occurs in the world is done in a way that is intended as sustainable in the long term. This means that farmers and others in agricultural businesses should use methods that take advantage of natural resources while also ensuring that those resources are renewed or kept viable for future generations. Natural resources such as soil, water, sunlight, and air are often considered when trying to ensure sustainability. Also referred to as sustainable agriculture, sustainable farming is the practice of trying to ensure that future generations will be able to utilize the food sources available today. Specifically, it deals with crops and planted foods handled in a way that seeks to ensure the sustainability of such foods. In general, crops for farming require sunlight, air, water, and soil to grow. Most efforts regarding sustainable farming are directed toward ensuring these four resources will still be available for future generations. Sunlight and air in sustainable farming are typically connected to the environment in general and pollution specifically. Air pollution can lead to poor quality of air that can potentially have a negative impact on crop growth. It is likely that air pollution will negatively impact other animals, including humans, in many ways beyond farming, so it is often considered a larger concern. Sunlight is typically abundant across the surface of the earth, and any sort of negative impact that reduces sunlight will also be detrimental to mankind in other ways as well. Specific to sustainable farming, however, water supplies and soil quality are often considered, and typically can be more easily controlled than air quality and sunlight. Crops can usually grow quite well in regions with abundant rainfall and other types of water supplies. In other regions, however, water can be more difficult to utilize for crops and so efforts are being made to ensure better irrigation and similar methods for watering. Soil for sustainable farming is very important and is one of the major factors being considered in regard to sustainability. Nutrients in soil, such as nitrogen, are essential for healthy crop growth during farming. Harvesting of crops, however, removes some of those nutrients and so land can eventually become unusable for farming. Sustainable farming seeks to reduce this problem through a number of different methods, including crop rotations and the use of organic fertilizers. Research is also being performed regarding cyclical farming that utilizes natural processes to rejuvenate soil, such as the flooding of the Nile River in Egypt. Through the use of these types of methods, soil can be kept healthy and crops can continue to grow for generations to come. You might also Like Discuss this Article Post 3 The problem with sustainable farming is that what is best for the environment is not always what is best for producing more food. There has to be a meeting point where commercial farming and sustainable farming can come together. Post 2 Regardless of whether we use sustainable farming techniques or not, the soil and the earth are going to survive. Sustainable farming isn't about saving the earth; it's about leaving the earth in good condition for the next generations. Post 1 Sustainable farming in large part focuses on reversing many of the advancements made in farming over the last one hundred years. Man composed fertilizers that were once thought to be the key to producing more and better crops are now shunned by organic sustainable farming operations because the fertilizers are harmful to the environment and in some cases to people. Livestock farming has moved toward raising more animals in smaller areas over the last several decades. Once considered an positive advancement, the waste created by large housing units for animals such as pigs has proven to be harmful to surrounding communities. Post your comments Post Anonymously forgot password?
Attachment theory Essay by woodzepooCollege, UndergraduateA-, July 2006 download word file, 3 pages 2.6 1 reviews Downloaded 118 times Attachment theory is a theory (or group of theories) about the psychological tendency to seek closeness to another person, to feel secure when that person is present, and to feel anxious when that person is absent.Attachment theory has its origins in the observation of and experiments with animals. A famous series of experiments on infant monkeys by Harlow and Harlow demonstrated that attachment is not a simple reaction to internal drives such as hunger. In these experiments, young monkeys were separated from their mother shortly after birth. They were offered two dolls to serve as surrogates to the mother. The first doll had a body of wire mesh. The second doll had a body of terry cloth and foam rubber. Both dolls could provide food by attaching a milk bottle to their chests. The experiment was designed to see if the monkeys would cling to the doll providing the soft contact of cloth or to the doll providing the source of food. It turned out that the monkeys would cling to the soft-clothed doll, irrespective of whether it provided food. The monkeys also explored more when the soft-cloth doll was near. Apparently, the doll provided them with a sense of security. However, the passive doll was not an adequate alternative for a real mother. Infant monkeys which were raised without contact with other monkeys showed abnormal behavior in social situations. They were either very fearful of other monkeys or responded with unprovoked aggression when they encountered other monkeys. They also showed abnormal sexual responses. Female monkeys who were raised in isolation often neglected or abused their infants. This abnormal behaviour is thought to demonstrate that a bond with the mother is necessary for further social development. People with a secure attachment style like themselves and others, seek closeness, and...
Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 10th grade November 2001 download word file, 2 pages 0.0 Downloaded 337 times 1.) He cannot sleep because he canÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢t decide whether or not Caesar will abuse his power or not. He fears that if he does kill Caesar, that it could be without reason, but if he doesnÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢t, the Roman people will be oppressed. 2.) He says that Caesar must be killed, but I have no personal reason to hold such a grudge against him. But how his new power may corrupt him is what is important. That temptation is always there, for him to abuse his power. 3.) We give him power to do injury when we give him a kingÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢s power. He hasnÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢t know Caesar who lets his emotions get in the way of his judgment, and is not sure if he will once he is king. And that the once he climbs in status, those he has passed, become below him and could possibly become insignificant. He also fears that given CaesarÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢s current nature, that an increase of power may lead him to tyranny. The serpentÃÂ¢Ã¢ÂÂ¬Ã¢ÂÂ¢s egg is danger waiting to happen. 4.) It says that if Caesar takes over Rome, all of the people will be forced to live in fear of one man. It basically tells that Caesar will take over and oppress the people of Rome and abuse his power. 5.) Because he says if the motives of the corruption of the age are not sufficient motives for them, they might as well give up at once. He says there should be no other reason to remove Caesar than to make things right in Rome. 6.) Brutus is able to convince the other conspirators that Cicero is not trustworthy, and should not be included in the conspiracy. This shows that Brutus is firstly, the make or break person in the conspiracy, and if he leaves, then it will not be possible, so they must keep him happy. Secondly, it shows that Brutus is smart and a good speaker. 7.) Brutus wins the argument because he has to be happy with the plans so that he will stay part of the conspiracy, since they have nothing without him. 8.) By telling him that unicorns may be betrayed with trees, and bears with glasses elephants with holes, lions with toils, and men with flatterers. This would draw him in because he hates flatterers.
Developmental Psychology (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial ). Essay by maxtechUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, May 2003 download word file, 10 pages 4.8 6 reviews Downloaded 821 times "Major Characteristics of Development" Physical - Physical development obviously starts long before the common "infantile" stage that we all think of today. Brain development begins in the weeks following conception. A noticeable brain is apparent after only three to four weeks, when the neural plate folds up to form the neural tube. The bottom of the tube becomes the spinal cord. "Lumps" then emerge at the top of the tube and form the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The so-called primitive or lower portions of the brain develop earliest, and regulate such biological functions as digestion, respiration, and elimination; they also control sleep-wake states and permit simple motor reactions. All of the above traits of the brain are what makes life possible. By three months after conception, the midbrain and hindbrain are well on their way to being developed, but the forebrain still has a long way to go. Gradually these two hemispheres become larger and more convoluted, making for a characteristically human brain. Many processes are involved in early brain development, but I won't go into much detail as they are not true parts of infancy physical development. These processes include 1proliferation of brain cells, where neurons are produced at a staggering rate during the prenatal period, 2migration, when neurons migrate from their place of origin to places where they will become part of specialized functioning units, and finally 3organization, which is a complex process involving differentiation of neurons, synapse formation, and competition among and pruning of neurons. The brain weighs about 25% of its adult total at birth, and by age 2, it reaches 75%. Lateralization is one important feature of brain organization, which causes the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex to become asymmetrical. Aside from brain development, other tremendous amounts of growth and development occur during...
Justice in the Orestia. A look at the contrasting views of justice in Greece, and the transition to a deliberative for of justice. Essay by j b nUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, November 1996 download word file, 6 pages 3.3 1 reviews Downloaded 194 times Aeschylus is primarily concerned with the nature of justice. In the trilogy The Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice devised by Athena. He confronts the contrast between the old and new orders, the lives of the members of the House of Atreus, and the serious moral questions that Orestes' crime presents. The case against Orestes is strong. The son admits to striking down his mother, in violation of the sacred tenant of kinship. 'But I came back, my years of exile weathered--killed the one who bore me, I won't deny it, killed her in revenge.' (Eumenides lines 476-478) This shows that Orestes was fully aware of the act he was committing, that he willfully committed it, and that he must suffer for it. The bond between mother and child was broken when Orestes murdered Clytaemnestra. Marriage, arguably, is a tenant of Zeus and the Olympians. In the old order of things, family is by blood only. A husband and wife have no blood relation, yet the son is of the same blood as his parents. The Furies right to vengeance cannot be dismissed. Clytaemnestra is one who upheld the laws of the Furies. Agamemnon's murder of Iphegenia at Aulis was pure outrage. 'Yes he had the heart to sacrifice his daughter , to bless the war...' (Agamemnon lines 222-223) Agamemnon killed his own blood relation in order to sail for Troy. This too, is a terrible crime, seemingly of the same weight as Orestes' act. Clytaemnestra believed she was justified in avenging her daughter, because her husband violated a sacred tenant of the old gods. 'Here is Agamemnon, my husband made a corpse by this right hand--a masterpiece of justice. Done is done.' (Agamemnon...
June 27, 2017 The ritual murder of Saint Simon of Trent. Whenever the accusation of ritual murder is made against the Jews they always claim that this a libel against them and act as if this has already been proved somewhere. They rely upon people’s incredulity that a group of people living in their midst could carry out such heinous crimes. Yet there has never yet been a case of libel brought against any of their accusers in the ritual murder cases and there have literally been hundreds of recorded instances of it, throughout the time we have had Jews living among us. These cases against the Jews were tried in some of the highest courts in the land, with the Jews having the best lawyers along with the King’s protection, yet they were still found guilty in the vast majority of cases. If pressed for more details as to why the accusation is a libel, the Jews will tell you that the confessions were obtained by torture and are thus unreliable, but what most people do not know is that any confession obtained through torture had to be confirmed again at a later date under normal conditions, to give the accused a chance to recant. Torture was not used out of some kind of perverse sadistic desire to hurt people, but was used as the most effective way to get to the truth of a matter. If the accused were lying while under duress to make the pain stop, then they had the chance to say so when they were back under normal conditions. Far from recanting at a later date, in most cases the accused Jews even went to their execution still boasting about what they had done, seeing themselves as martyrs for the practices of Judaism rather than as falsely accused innocents. The crucifixion of the martyr Saint William of Norwich, from a painting on the roof of a church in Norwich. The Jews were brought into Britain by William Norman in 1066 to be used as tax collectors for him and like all Jews in Europe at that time, they were seen as the chattel of the King. They were his property. As such, they were the most unlikely people to be taken to court in the first place, let alone be found guilty. Today they would like people to think that it was unlawful lynch mobs that burnt them alive, but that could not have happened due to them being owned by the King. There had to have been a trial first, in order to prevent the townspeople from having the same done to them. In less than eighty years of them first setting foot in Britain the Jews had abducted their first Christian child and crucified him in their passover ritual. Although this was the first instance of Jewish ritual murder in Britain, there are many historical records of them engaging in human sacrifice going right back to a century just before Christ, where Damocritus wrote about how every seven years the Jews sacrificed a gentile in their temple. The historian Flavius Josephus confirms that there were Greek records detailing this act and that it was not just a literary invention. We know from the confessions and the converso whistle-blowers that as part of their rituals they would circumcise the Christian child, before draining him of blood and then crucifying him. The drained blood would be mixed with the wine and unleavened bread used in their passover rituals before being consumed. It would also be used for healing potions and Kabbalistic curses directed at the hated Christian nations, that had allowed them to dwell among them. The blood itself would be dried out and put into special waxed leather pouches where it could then be sold on for money to other Jews that required it. The rich Jews were expected to provide Christian blood for the poorer Jewish families that could not afford their own, or find a Christian child to abduct. The whole Jewish community was involved in many of these murders. A rabbi had to be present at each one to certify that the slaughter was kosher. It may seem hardly believable that they would eat and drink blood like this, but they still drink the blood from their own circumcised infants to this day. The mohel spits the blood into a glass of wine and then wets the infants lips with it, thus inducting him into their Satanic cult. In the middle ages the foreskin would be thrown in the air for the Jewesses to fight over as Christian bridesmaids might scramble for a bouquet of flowers thrown to them. The lucky Jewess who managed to catch the foreskin would then gulp it down hoping for it to make her fertile. There are even recipes for making sweets out of the foreskin in some of the literature that accompanies the Talmud. The trade in Christian blood was a very lucrative one and much easier than having to transport castrated Christian slaves to the Arabs, which was their regular trade before they made their way into northern Europe. Since they had no squeamishness about castrating young boys and they acknowledge doing this today, why would it be hard to believe that they were also capable of torturing and draining the blood from the child? A rabbi had to be present at the immolation in order to certify the blood kosher and these certificates would be taken around by the traders in blood to assure potential buyers that it was genuine. Just in the last century a Jew is recorded as travelling into Syria with bottles of blood, for which he was willing to pay a huge amount in tax in order to get it passed through and into the country. The blood was required for a variety of uses, not just in the passover ritual. Over twenty of these poor White Christian children were made into Saints although the Jews have tried to hush this up today. They have done all they can to remove the traces of their crimes against our children, including removing all the many books on the subject that used to proliferate in the universities of Britain. Arab writers are the ones mainly still publicising these crimes today, with the Syrian Defence Minister Mustafa Tlass writing ‘The Matzoh of Zion’ in 1986 and various Muslim film makers using it as subject matter. Today the Jews have managed to hide their bloody history from most European people, who have no idea generally of the many outrages against Christendom they are guilty of. When a child is abducted the Jews are never even mentioned as a possible guilty party. Like with all their other crimes, the Jews have now become more sophisticated with what they do. They used to poison wells, now they add fluoride to the water supply. They used to chip the corners from gold currency and move the ingots out of the country, now they create money from nothing with ‘your’ credit cards and loans. Where they used to drain blood from Christian children for them to drink, they are now heavily involved in the illegal organ trade. Where they used to circumcise the child and eat the foreskin, they now use the prepuce for cosmetics and skin creams. They use the foetuses from the many abortions they carry out to extract stem cells and other vital substances to put in pharmaceuticals. Instead of just sacrificing one Christian child once a year, now they murder thousands each day in their abortion clinics. The worst thing that ever happened to us was allowing the Jew to live among us. The reasoning for his crimes is beyond our comprehension and because we are not capable of such wickedness ourselves, we project our own conscience onto him and refuse to believe the overwhelming evidence of his toxicity. Until he is removed from our societies either by us or through an act of God, his diabolical actions against us will continue to get worse. The sentence of the courts was often for the Jews to be burnt at the stake. “I mean, we steal 100,000 to 300,000 children a year just here in this country, and we drain their blood and we mix it with the passover bread. And then we throw the bodies into the slaughterhouses that we own and we grind up all the bodies in the sausage and the hamburger. McDonalds is one of our favorite outlets. And the people — they eat it for breakfast. They eat their children for lunch. And us Jews, you know, we gotta do what we do… Right now, it’s too late. It’s over for your white race. So that’s why I’m speaking so honestly here — to bring it out into the open so that you can see it for what it is…People don’t want to listen. We’ve been doing this for thousands and thousands of years — since Adam’s time. We take the children of our enemy, which is the white, and we bring them to the basements in the synagogues where we drain their blood and watch them die there. It’s very similar to…the sacrifices that we do in kosher butchering. And so we do that, and we mix it with the passover bread. And so we eat the blood of our enemies. And the bodies — eh, we’re not cannibals — we take those — cause we can make some shekels — and we give them to the slaughterhouses. And those are pounds and pounds of meat we grind up in the sausage and the hamburger. And that’s why we made those the most popular things — sausage for breakfast and hamburger for lunch. And so all the goyim out here are really eating their children! And even when we say this outright and tell you people –you don’t believe it. So that’s your problem!” — Rabbi Abe Finkelstein Stories like this one below would seem to corroborate what Rabbi Finkelstein has shared… “Pregnant mother Kim Hasler spoke of her horror yesterday after she bit into a McDonalds takeaway and crunched on a human tooth. Kim said she was nearly sick when she found the object which has now been sent away for analysis in a laboratory. “I went to bite into it and I heard a kind of crunch,” she said. ” There was this hard object in my burger. I took it out of my mouth and it was a tooth. “I could not believe it – I thought it might have been one of my teeth but I checked and it definitely wasn’t. “I was absolutely disgusted. It’s the most horrible thing I have ever eaten.” Kim, 18, said a friend bought the burger in a Happy Meal for her at a McDonalds take-away in Torquay, Devon. The shop is located near Torbay Hospital, where the mum-to-be was being treated for abdominal pains and early contractions. “This is the last thing I needed,” she said. “They wanted to take the tooth off me, but another customer overheard and told me to keep it for evidence. “Then they offered me a free meal which I thought was a cheek.” Kim, who lives in Torquay with boyfriend Steve Still, 33, a chef, and is expecting her baby in June, has contacted a solicitor and said she is considering legal action against McDonalds. In a letter, the fast food company apologised to Kim and repeated its request for her to send the object to them. A spokesman for McDonalds said: “We are extremely concerned to hear about Miss Hasler’s experience. We are currently investigating and our customer service department will liaise with her to resolve this.” Kim has passed the object to Torbay Environmental Health, which has sent it to a food technology laboratory for analysis. A council spokesman said: “We are following up a complaint and an investigation is ongoing.” Source Article: More strangeness found in McDonalds food… I suspect that the Missing 411 type books documenting the very strange deaths that take place in the National Parks are actually books about undiscovered unrealized jewish ritual murders. One of the clues that most puzzles researchers is that the most common nationality of people who go missing is German The researchers also can’t fathom why there is official resistance to investigating the cases, but continuing jewish ritual murders would explain a lot. My conclusion, though it is purely casual and I come to it simply from listening to David Paulides on C2C, is that most (possibly all, but I do admit that a few are fairly unwieldy) of the facts can be explained by assuming jewish ritual murder. That is what I think of when I listen to those shows, jewish ritual murder. Jews have the power to conceal their crimes as their media controlled image portrays themselves as the eternal victim. The jewish reaction to what they call the ‘blood libel’ charge has always been ‘ve is beink poisecuted’. With a straight face, they maintain that down through the millenniums of history, there has been a humongous conspiracy to frame them. According to this theory, in all of the European nations mentioned earlier and in places as far apart as Montreal and Argentina, there exists one big long, continuous plot to murder White children at certain times of the year, drain them of blood and then plant the bodies on jewish premises so they get caught. That’s one heck of a conspiracy folks! But, are we to believe that our ancestors were just antisemitic fools, who periodically plotted to persecute jews, if the real-life child-killers were non-jews? Would they allow the real killers to go free because they wanted a jewish scapegoat? Why, time after time, did the ritual murders cease after the jewish killers were prosecuted and executed or driven from the land? Image result for infostormer gif Eustace Mullins, in his book “New History of the Jews” said, “In the U.S., Jews have been able to practice ritual murder of gentile children with impunity, because they control the press, and because they hold so many high public offices. It has been estimated, by a leading police official, that 4,000 children disappear in the U.S. each year. There is no question that the majority of them are victims of Jewish ritual murder. So prevalent has the custom become in this country that Jews are able to ship large quantities of the children’s blood to Israel for use in their ceremonies there. One of the problems of the Jewish homeland in Israel has been a shortage of Christian children who could be used in the ritual ceremony, and the U.S., which has also furnished most of the money to Israel, has also provided much of the required children’s blood.” How many Christians are aware of the appalling estimate of 100,000 children missing each year? Thousands are murdered with the blood drained from their little bodies. The jewish people are entirely capable and complicit in committing this dastardly deed. The immense weight of historical evidence conclusively points to the repetitive psyche of murder in the jewish soul for Jesus Christ and everything Christian. How many of the innocent youngsters you see on milk cartons have fallen prey to the ceremonial knives of rabbis and lie buried in secret graves or were ground up into dog food in some jewish-owned processing plant? This all may sound unthinkable and outlandishly far-fetched to the cognitive dissonant mind that has been conditioned to eagerly accept the mythos of 6 million gas-bag jews turning into ash, after 60 years of Pavlovian movies, books and TV. It would be quite another story if these medias were not owned and/or controlled by jews. You would be hearing about the greatest murder plot against humanity in the history of the world. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Depression And Women Are Very Much Linked Counselling, Psychologists Depression And Women Are Very Much Linked Depression is a severe condition that’s caused by changes in hormone levels, stress, certain medical conditions, difficult life circumstances or grief. It is more than feeling ‘down’. The WHO characterises this illness as a disabling disorder in the globe, affecting about 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men at some point in their life. Depression doesn’t discriminate. Men & women of all age, social & economic background, and educational level suffer from this. Friendships, careers, marriage, parenting, finances – every aspect of living is compromised by it. It’s impact is also severe especially when it occurs in combination with medical conditions like stroke, diabetes, anxiety, substance abuse or cardiovascular disease. According to researchers in NSW, in comparison to men women suffer more from depression. Women are in fact 2 or 3 times more at risk to suffer from depression in their adolescence period and as adult than men. But why are women more at risk? There are several factors, which contribute to increase the risk. Biology is one of then. It is thus the hormonal changes that cause women to be more at risk than men. Women experience deep hormonal fluctuations in various stages of their life like menopause, puerperium and puberty leading to increased risk. Cultural and social factors also play an important role. Thus retirement, taking on different roles, a lack of social support, a poor relation with partner, being a caregiver etc. are also some of the causes that contribute to the increased risk. Risky moments in a life of a woman Menopause, puerperium and puberty involve intense hormonal fluctuations in women and significant changes in roles as well as identities at the same time. All these changes may not an easy thing for all women to adapt to. Some women may even experience stress and difficulties in life because of genetical and personal predisposition when dealing with such changes. A certain kind of depression called premenstrual dysphoric disorder is even a condition that’s often noticed in women before menstruation. How to deal with a depressive disorder? Discussed above are the specific moments when women are more prone to develop a depressive disorder. If you see any of near or dear ones showing up depressive signs, get him or her treated immediately. Consult with a psychologist in Bondi and give the support needed. Psychotherapy or/and psychiatric support are very much recommended. Medications and lifestyle changes are also of great help. Am I Getting Too Fat? Counselling, health, Psychologists Am I getting too fat Experts believe that more than 91% of women are dissatisfied with the structure of their body. However it is not just women who feel uncomfortable about their figure; negative body image is a disorder that can affect anyone and everyone, be it a girl or a boy, man or woman. Amongst teenagers, around 30% of boys and 50% of girls resort to harmful and dangerous techniques for losing weight. Stated below are some tips that can help in overcoming a negative body image issue. Have a look: 1. Thinking about body image most of the time is not a good idea: Instead of spending a lot of time in obsessing over the outer self, one must try to focus his or her attention on hobbies, education and socializing with friends, family. Setting a goal for getting fit and healthy and work towards it is important. Keeping the mind engaged throughout the day will also help in staying distracted from negative body image. 2. Eat the right food, exercise and sleep well: People who maintain an improper diet tend to have more eating disorders. Developing eating disorders causes a ripple effect of mental and physical health issues including depression, anxiety, irritability, metabolic syndrome and digestive problems. Diets actually don’t work! 95% of people who maintain a constant diet generally gain back the weight that they lost. Eating the right food, exercising regularly and getting an adequate amount of sleep everyday can instead help in controlling weight. 3. Consulting with a counsellor: One of the best things that one can do to deal with different health issues such as depression, anxiety and stress resulting from negative body image is getting in touch with a counsellor in Bondi. A counsellor or psychologist would be able to address the problem effectively by taking care of the body image issues and other concerns. He or she would also have the ability to guide the sufferer and help the individual to develop a positive attitude. 4. Heredity plays a big role: If someone’s parents are of short physical stature then naturally it would be less likely for the person to be tall. Similarly, if the family members of an individual are large and heavy in size, then it would be absurd for him or her to think of having a zero sized figure! Heredity matters the most. One should be thankful for what they have and try to maintain a healthy body instead of obsessing over their exterior too much. So, instead of developing negative feelings towards one’s own body, it is better if you overcome the situation with these simple and positive solutions. Tips And Tricks To Live A Happier Life Counselling, health, Psychologists Tips And Tricks To Live A Happier Life.jpg The most important key to become a happy person is to “believe in yourself”. But sometimes due to many reasons we are unable to do so and that makes us unhappy. In order to lead a happy life we do a lot of things like shifting to a different place for a change, opting for positive therapies by visiting a counsellor in Bondi, going to clubs and pubs, staying all alone sometimes and so on. However, here are some natural remedies that can be followed if you want to live a happy life. Have a look: 1. Do The Things That You Love: Different people have different likings. It is not necessary that what you would like your friends and family would prefer the same thing. Never bound yourself from doing the things that make you happy. For example, if you love to write poems, just go for it without any hesitation. Automatically you would get surrounded with a lot of positive feelings and that would definitely make you happy. 2. Be Thankful: Always be thankful to God for giving you a beautiful life. You are already blessed with the three most important necessities that each human being needs. You have a beautiful home to stay in, a lot of food to eat and cloths to wear. So just learn to appreciate all those things which you already have. Being satisfied with little things would always help you to lead a happy life. 3. Eat Healthy: Eating the right and healthy food always makes a person feel better both mentally and physically. Avoid eating junk food because they can cause health issues and make you feel sick. Most people have the tendency to pig out when consuming junk food so if you avoid consuming it, you will have no problem and can live your life happily. 4. Spend Quality Time With The People You Love: Whenever you are sad, never spend time alone and stay aloof from others. If you don’t share your feelings with your loved ones when you’re sad then the negativity within yourself will continue to increase and you may suffer from health issues like severe depression. So speak up, share your feelings, take some suggestions from others. By doing this, you will feel much relaxed and stress free. 5. Take A Close Walk In Nature: Spending time with mother nature is one of the best things that you can do to be refreshed. Nowadays due to our hectic lifestyle we hardly get a chance to feel the warmth of nature. Thus just take out some time from your busy schedule and fix a date with nature. Visit local parks, beautiful gardens and spent at least two hours there. You will certainly feel refreshed and a positive attitude will be generated within yourself, which will help you to live a happier life. Depression in Adolescents – Symptoms and Treatment Counselling, health, Psychologists Depression in Adolescents In Australia, one among every five children as well as adolescents suffer from mental health issues and disorders. Those who are aged between 10 to 19 have the greatest prevalence of depression among all age groups. Depression is an extremely complicated illness which affects each individual differently and also has a plethora of causes and symptoms. However, those suffering from the pangs of it during their teenage years can be affected disastrously. Depression is probably the most common cause of suicide among teenagers. It can be very difficult to distinguish depressive illness from adolescent turmoil, because the young individual is forging new and challenging roles in the family as well and struggling for independence and making suitable academic decisions. Both developmental as well as biological factors contribute greatly towards low spirits experienced during adolescence. If psychosis or bipolar disorder is suspected, it would necessitate assessment of biologic causes. The difficulties faced by an adolescent in various areas of life such as school, peer group, family and relationships can also be adversely consequential on their mind. A teenager who is suffering from depression may not exhibit obvious signs indicating their problem. However, they can start behaving uncharacteristically by: • showing less interest in social gatherings • performing poorly in their academics • engaging in risky activities, such as careless driving, inappropriate • sexual attachments, etc. • engaging in alcohol or drug abuse • having thoughts about suicide or death • feeling worthless • exhibiting indecisiveness and poor concentration • getting irritated too easily • having either too less sleep or oversleeping • overeating or eating less • feeling tired most of the time • speaking or moving slower than normal • neglecting interests and hobbies • staying isolated from family and friends emotionally Depressed teenagers can sometimes also experience unexplained pains and aches. If left undiagnosed, these problems can hinder their personal development. Depression in adolescents is treatable even when the problems are highly severe. There are a variety of treatment options available, but the most common ones are medication and counselling. These two are often used in combination for alleviating the symptoms. CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy is the best treatment. It generally involves sessions and self-help books with a therapist. Jade Couquaux is a professional French psychologist in Bondi working with individuals as well as couples. If you think that your teenaged child is suffering from depression, book an appointment with her today. How Does A Psychologist Lead You Towards Attaining A Comparatively Better Life? Counselling, health, Psychologists, Uncategorized A psychologist does not merely cater his or her services to treat people who are psychologically or emotionally troubled. Technically speaking, a psychologist is a well experienced individual who assists people belonging to different social strata to come out of their cocoons and merge their footsteps with the mainstream life cycle. When people resort to the guidelines offered by a psychologist they do not merely look for a professional. On the contrary, they look for an individual who is going to extend his capacities beyond the normal fringes of psychometric therapies and would coax you with a sense of relief that you crave so badly. Cognitive therapy Cognitive therapy is the brain child of Aaron T Beck. It is an important tool for all psychologists when they make their efforts to establish some balance in your troubled life. It is a behavioral therapy that helps you change your unhelpful thoughts and distorted thinking. With this therapy a psychologist can restore your self esteem and thwart your depression. Creating mindfulness through mediation sessions Counseling and mindfulness are perhaps two aspects that go hand in hand. Renowned and incisive psychologists make ample use of compassionate counseling techniques in order to let people come out of the cocoon of stress, anxiety as well as depression that seems to crush their souls. The practitioners have got their psychotherapy sessions aptly tailored to trigger intense mindfulness even when you might be going through a period of turmoil. Clinical psychology Clinical psychology is a very sophisticated stream of psychology and is practiced by astute pros only. In this specific branch of psychology, a practitioner who happens to be a trained clinical psychologist would evaluate people having behavioral as well as emotional troubles. The psychologist will review the history of the patients and then strategies a therapeutic session based on the understanding and information gathered Anti depression programs to combat stress and agony Psychologists do render a yeoman service during tough times that beget depressive moments in your life. It is these professionals that turn out to be a steady line of support reinforcing your spirit and skirmishing caliber. Generating a sense of relief Surveys reveal that astoundingly great numbers of people find solace as well as relief after they have been through intense counseling sessions. All psychotherapy sessions masterminded and conceptualized by the pro practitioners are aimed at helping you surf and navigate through violent waves in life. They make you feel in control of your situation. You must be trying to take your shot in the midst of a labyrinth of psychological service providers. The hunt itself could be perplexing and might cause an extra pressure on your nerves. However, trying out the services of a psychologist in Bondi Junction could very well be treated as an option which you will not be appalled by.
ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel • » • Food and Cooking» • Dessert Recipes Old Fashioned Candy Updated on December 24, 2009 Candy is a sweet food consisting mostly of sugar. In addition to sugar, most candies contain a variety of other ingredients, including milk, cream, fruits, nuts, and flavoring. Candies, which are easily digested by most people, are useful as foods because they provide the body with energy. Although candies contain energy-rich carbohydrates and are filling, they do not contain most of the other nutrients vital to good health. They should not be eaten before meals, because they spoil the appetite for more nutritious foods. Because of its high sugar content and because many gummy, sticky candies become lodged between the teeth, candy is a major cause of dental caries. Eating too much candy may also promote acne, particularly in adolescents. Kinds of Candy There are more than 2,000 kinds of candy. They are made in many forms with a wide variety of ingredients. Candies are usually classified into four major groups according to their texture and sugar content. The simplest candies are the hard candies, which are made from cooled sugar syrups. They are usually brittle, and include such candies as sour balls, jawbreakers, and lemon drops. The second group includes candies consisting primarily of sugar, with less than 5 percent of other ingredients. These candies often contain gelatin and egg white, and some of them, such as marshmallows and nougats, are whipped to a fluffy texture. Candies in the third classification contain large percentages of other ingredients, including starch, milk or cream, fruits, and nuts. Fudge, caramel, and chocolate are popular examples of this group. The fourth classification is limited to fondants, or soft creams, which are used mainly as fillings for chocolate candies, such as bonbons. Fondants contain sugar, milk or water, and flavoring. Candies for Special Occasions. Candy is often made to celebrate festive occasions and holidays. Christmas candies include peppermint sticks, candy canes, and chocolates in the shapes of Santa Clauses, angels, and reindeer. In Mexico, papier-mache animals, called pinatas, are filled with candies and suspended from the ceiling to be broken by children. Valentine candies include heart-shaped chocolates and hard candies, cinnamon red-hots, and thin candy wafers with short messages printed on them. Easter candies include candy rabbits and hollow sugar eggs containing cardboard scenes and figures. Candy corn, licorice cats and witches, and candied apples are popular trick-or-treat gifts at Halloween. Many candies are decorative. Marzipan candy animals, foods, houses, and people are popular with young children in many countries. Place settings at christenings and baby showers may be decorated with candy-coated almonds painted to resemble bundled babies or baby shoes. Small silver balls of candy, called dragees, and chocolate and multicolored nonpareils, or sprinkles, are used to ornament cake and ice cream. When was candy first eaten? Do you know of any candy that is not sweet? As a matter of fact, people sometimes refer to candy as "sweets." This is because the most important part of all candy is sugar. Now that we know this, it. will not surprise us to learn how the word "candy" came into being. In Persia, about the year 500 A.D., they were able to make sugar in solid form. The Persian name for white sugar was "kandi-sefid." And that's where we got the word "candy!" In ancient times, most people had something that could be considered a sort of candy, even if they didn't have sugar. The Egyptians, for example, have left written and picture records of candy and candy-making. But since they didn't know how to refine sugar, they used honey as a sweetener. And they used dates as the basis for their sweetmeats. In many parts of the Far East, even today, each tribe has its official candy-maker and secret recipes. They use almonds, honey, and figs to make their candy. Oddly enough, nobody in Europe had the idea of making something sweet to eat for its own sake until quite recently. They would use sweet syrup to hide the taste of bitter medicines. Then, in the seventeenth century, a great deal of sugar began to be shipped to Europe from the colonies. So candy-making as a separate art began in Europe at that time. The French were the first to candy fruits and to develop their recipes. One of these, a nut and sugar-syrup sweet called prawlings, may have been the forerunner of the famous New Orleans pralines. The early American settlers boiled the sap of the maple tree to make maple-sugar candy. Taffy pulls were social events, and sugar crystals were grown and formed on strings to make rock candy. About 1850 small lozenges, many of them heart-shaped, had romantic messages printed on them. Later on, candy shops began to sell peppermint lozenges and chocolate drops, and the candy business was on its way! History of Candy The earliest reference to candy, found in Egyptian scrolls of about 2000 B.C., mentions sweetmeats, consisting mainly of honey, that were prepared as offerings for the gods. Licorice and ginger candies probably originated more than 3,000 years ago in the Far East. Early Mediterranean peoples usually made candy from honey, flour, fruits, and nuts, and ancient Greek and Roman doctors disguised the unpleasant taste of some medicines with candy syrups. Chocolate was introduced to Europe early in the 16th century, when the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez shipped cacao beans from Mexico to Spain. Chocolate beverages gradually became popular throughout Europe, and in 1876 a method of making solid milk chocolate was discovered in Switzerland. Sugar, which had been imported in small quantities from the East as part of the spice trade, began to be imported in large quantities in the 17th century, and a method of extracting sugar from beetroot was discovered in the late 18th century. Simple sugar candies, usually molded into fanciful shapes, were made by hand and sold in spice and cake shops. With the invention of candymaking machines, the manufacture of candy became less expensive. The manufacture of candy on a large scale started in the 1800's in England, and by 1851, England led the world in candy production. However, the popularity of candy, together with the invention of more efficient candymaking machines and the reduction in the price of sugar, promoted the establishment of candy industries all over Europe. The first commercial candies in North America were made by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (now New York City). They made sugar wafers, sugarplums, and marzipan. New England colonists in rural areas made candy from the sap of sugar maples. The colonists flavored their candies with wintergreen, spearmint, peppermint, ginger, and sassafras bark. Because all candies were made by hand, they were relatively expensive, and most commercial candies were sold only in small shops in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In 1851 the adoption of improved candymaking machines and a large-scale mill process for making powdered sugar greatly reduced the cost of producing candy. What's your favorite candy? 0 of 8192 characters used Post Comment • Mary Worthington profile image Mary Worthington 6 years ago from Texas My favorite subject!! • DesignerHandbags profile image Jenny Wolf 7 years ago from Point Pleasant, New Jersey OMG!!!! Those close ups are amazing, can almost taste the sugar from here. Great job as always to the best HubPages has to offer.
[How-To] Detect memory leaks in Javascript Many web developers often develop websites which results in memory leaks when viewing the websites in Internet Explorer. Most of these memory leaks often occur because of circular references between Javascript object and objects within IE’s DOM. Both the JavaScript engine and IE have independent memory management schemes. The JavaScript engine uses garbage collection to reclaim the memory allocated for JavaScript objects that are not used anymore. Instead, an IE DOM object is a COM object; therefore its lifespan is ruled by a reference count. Both systems work perfectly in isolation but problems can arise when there are circular references between these two worlds as each side can’t see the entire cycle of these references. For example, the following code (used to) generate a leak in IE6: <script language="JScript"> var jsObject; function SetupLeak() jsObject = document.getElementById("LeakedDiv"); document.getElementById("LeakedDiv").expandoProperty = jsObject; <body onload="SetupLeak()"> <div id="LeakedDiv"></div> Here the SetupLeak() function creates a circular reference like this: Java Script Leak Java Script Leak However, now debugging such memory leaks is easier to debug than before. JavaScript Memory Leak Detector (download) is a debugging tool to detect memory leaks in JavaScript code. It can be installed as an Internet Explorer band and it is expressly designed to find memory leaks in JavaScript code that runs in Internet Explorer. Source: Microsoft Europe Also read: Understanding HTTP Cookies Batch Script for removing Internet Explorer 7 from your PC [How-To]Save Keystrokes in Internet Explorer Anti Spyware Applications: Here goes the ranking. 🙂 You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/vaibhav1981 Leave a Reply WordPress.com Logo Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s %d bloggers like this:
If you were a kid when the Internet was invented and made available for all the people, you might be wondering what popular and old websites like Google, Amazon looked like when they were first launched. During the initial years, the Internet was slow and accessing it was possible only for the people who owned a computer. In the 1990s and early 2000s, computers were costly. You had to be rich in order to own them. Engineers and aspiring businessmen who wanted to take advantage of Internet launched several websites out of which only some of them survived during the dot-com bubble. For example, when Google.com was 1st launched, Alta-vista used to be a popular search engine. Google’s user base grew in an arithmetic progression every month and it became the leading search portal (It is still at the top). Many shopping portals were set up, but none of them became as popular as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. The websites set up in 1990’s that are still up and running are using the same layout. They’re powerful and their owners are billionaires. Websites like Altavista don’t exist anymore, but you can easily check how they looked in the past with the below two awesome tools: Internet archive is website that saves the pages of all old websites. It has been operating since 1996 and has a huge collection of pages. As it was started during the early years of Internet revolution, it probably has snapshot of all web portals launched after the year 1995. It is easy to use. You just have to paste a domain name in a text box and press enter key. IA allows you to choose a date after which it will display the page from the cache. Oldweb.today allows you to select old browsers like Netscape 3, IE4, Apple Safari 3, etc. When you’ve selected browser, enter the domain name of an old website which you want to see. Now select the date, time and hit surf the old web button. OWT will query internet archive and it will open the web page. The coolest feature of this website is that the internet browsing software is rendered as a web page with the help of an emulator. This tool behaves as if you’re running the browser of the 1990s on your computer. It is very useful for people who want to check who website look in different browsers. Conclusion: Its very difficult to predict the future of portal. During the dot-com bubble, many internet companies vanished overnight as if they never existed. IA is doing an excellent job of caching websites. OWT is a new tool that uses IA as a backed. It is useful because users are given an option of choosing a browser on which they’d like to check new and old websites. Please enter your comment! Please enter your name here
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! I have a lot of problems please help! 1. Jan 13, 2010 #1 When a person stands on rotating merry-go-round, the frictional force exerted on the person by the merry-go-round is: a.greater in magnitude than the frictional force exerted on the merry-go-round by the person b. opposite in direction to the frictional force exerted on the merry-go-round by the person c. directed away from the center of the merry-go-round d zero if the rate of rotation is constant e. independent of the person's mass I'm pretty sure it is b or c 2. Each of the five satellites makes a circular orbit about an object that is much more massive than any of the satellites. The mass and orbital radius of each satellite are given below. Which satellite has the greatest speed? Mass Radius a. 1/2m R b. m 1/2R c. m R d. m 2R e. 2m R I was thinking D because mv^2/r^2 is the equation so you want a big m and a small r to get the greatest v. 3. A ball attached to a string is whirled around at speed v in a horizontal circle having a radius r. if the radius of the circle is changed to 4R and the same centripetal force is applied by the string, the new speed of the ball is: a. 1/4v b. 1/2v c. v d. 2v e. 4v IDK how to even start this one mv^2/r^2 I'm thinking maybe 1/4 A 4. Two planets have the same size, but different masses, and no atmospheres. Which of the following would be the same for identical 1kg objects on the frictionless surfaces of the two planets? I The rate at which each would fall freely II The amount of mass each would balance on a double pan balance III The amount of acceleration each would have when a certain horizontal force is applied a. I only b. III only c. I and II only d. II and III only e. I, II, and III Last edited: Jan 13, 2010 2. jcsd 3. Jan 13, 2010 #2 User Avatar Homework Helper You MUST show relevant equations and an attempt at a solution. 4. Jan 13, 2010 #3 5. Jan 14, 2010 #4 Sorry about not showing my thought process before but these are optional review problems that I would like to have done before my test Monday just to understand better.I do NOT have to hand them in.
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Inverse matrix word problem, matrix arithmetic 1. Sep 28, 2014 #1 Please, take a look at the attached picture - there is a quote of the exercise and below is my attempt to make a matrix. Is my matrix correct? I have tried many times to convert it to inverse one, but I can't figure out how to do it - I keep getting "inconvenient" numbers that do not further lead to correct answers for x, y and z. Thank you! 2. Relevant equations 3. The attempt at a solution Attached Files: 2. jcsd 3. Sep 28, 2014 #2 Ray Vickson User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Do not post thumbnails; they cannot be read on some media. Just type out the problem and your solution work; it should not take long and is not much trouble. 4. Sep 28, 2014 #3 User Avatar Staff Emeritus Science Advisor Your set up is correct. Do you not know how to invert a matrix, say, by "row operations"? You say you get "inconvenient numbers". Do you mean just awkward fractions? The fact that the arithmetic is hard shouldn't stop you. If nothing else, you can use decimal arithmetic on a calculator, rounding to, say, three or four decimal places. 5. Sep 28, 2014 #4 Thank you :) Yes, you are right. It seems that I always miss a correct digit here and there. Here is what I came up with (without the last row completed) Attached Files: 6. Sep 28, 2014 #5 Actually, it was a rather big picture. Sorry about that. Have something to add? Draft saved Draft deleted Similar Discussions: Inverse matrix word problem, matrix arithmetic 1. Matrix inverse problem (Replies: 3) 2. Matrix Word Problems (Replies: 6)
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Microscope calculation 1. Oct 22, 2009 #1 If the field diameter on 40X is 1600 µm, and a specimen takes up one quarter of the field, how big is the specimen in real life? 2. Relevant equations Magnification of image= Image size/ Real size of object 3. The attempt at a solution I'm not sure but in the formula, would be put the magnification of the image as 40 and image size as 1600 µm and solve? or would we simply find one quarter of 1600 µm and that would be the actual size of the specimen..? I'm a little confused so could help me clear things up about the differences between the two? 2. jcsd 3. Oct 22, 2009 #2 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Ignore the quarter for now. If the magnification is 40x and the image is 1600um then what is the real size of the object (hint the microscope makes things look BIGGER!) 4. Oct 22, 2009 #3 Umm...I'm not really sure but all i can think of is that the magnification is 40 which is equal to 1600um divided by the real size of object and do i solve for the unknown? 5. Oct 22, 2009 #4 User Avatar Science Advisor Homework Helper Ignore the algebra an just think whats happening. If the magnification was 2x then the object would appear twice as big as it really is. If it appears 1600um then it must really be 1600/2 = 800um 6. Oct 22, 2009 #5 So in this case, the magnification is 40x so the object is 40 times bigger than the actual size, so 1600/40= 40 um? 7. Oct 22, 2009 #6 Good, now if the specimen takes up a quarter of this space, how big is it? Last edited: Oct 22, 2009 8. Oct 22, 2009 #7 ahh oki so a quarter of 40 um is equal to 10 nm (that's the answer?) 9. Oct 22, 2009 #8 If you have any doubt as to what the answer is, CONVINCE YOURSELF. What if you were a ridiculously tall Titan of 100ft whose naked eye could only focus on something as close as 4 inches away? Let's say some funny fellow Titan created a device (we'll call it a microscope) which could focus on things up to the unheard of size of ONE CENTIMETER (wow!!!). Now let's say you were a titan studying the complexities of a human pupil. If your Titan microscope could focus up 10X, and the pupil covered 1/4 of this size, how big would you say a human pupil was, after viewing it through the microscope? What I'm trying to say is that we aren't allowed to tell you if your answer is correct or not, thus you must think of some extreme situation to test the answer yourself. Similar Discussions: Microscope calculation 1. Microscope questions (Replies: 2) 2. Enthalpy calculation (Replies: 1) 3. Calculating molality (Replies: 1)
Dismiss Notice Dismiss Notice Join Physics Forums Today! Open circuited quarter wave transmission line 1. Jan 4, 2013 #1 3. The attempt at a solution I m getting 10V as one side is O.C so the whole voltage come across it......correct me where i m going wrong Attached Files: 2. jcsd 3. Jan 4, 2013 #2 You're going about it wrong. First calculate the impedance at the open end of the transmission line. Hint, it's not infinite. A mismatched 1/4 wave transmission line acts like a transformer. After you calculate the impedance at the open end, then calculate the ratio of that impedance to the 50 ohms of the generator. Lastly, how does the ratio of voltages compare to the ratio of impedances of a transformer? If you first find the ratio of impedances then from that you can find the ratio of voltages. Once you've done that you would just multiply the input voltage by the voltage ratio. 4. Jan 4, 2013 #3 rude man User Avatar Homework Helper Gold Member I would use ABCD parameters, concatenating the ABCD parameters for the 50 ohm source resistor with the abcd parameters for the xmsn line. This method can handle any kind of oddball mismatches, such as in this case the 300 ohm xmsn line to the 50 ohm source, and any desired length of line (here λ/4) and far-end termination impedance (here ∞). I'm sure that's overkill here & that there's an esier way, as skeptic2 is suggesting. Just pointing out that abcd parameters can handle the most general cases. 5. Jan 5, 2013 #4 got it :) attachment.php?attachmentid=54473&stc=1&d=1357392250.jpg Attached Files: • n.jpg File size: 47.9 KB 6. Jan 5, 2013 #5 Your handwriting is cool. :biggrin: Similar Discussions: Open circuited quarter wave transmission line 1. Open circuit? (Replies: 5) 2. Transmission Line (Replies: 5) 3. Transmission line (Replies: 3)
History Of Linux DISCLAIMER : This article taken from https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/rhasan/linux/. Known sources belong to their respective authors. All trademarks belong to the respective corporations and companies. If vavai.com violated your license or your copyrights, please do not hesitate to contact [vavai] [at] [vavai.com]. Please click original source for an update article. a. In The Beginning It was 1991, and the ruthless agonies of the cold war were gradually coming to an end. There was an air of peace and tranquility that prevailed in the horizon. In the field of computing, a great future seemed to be in the offing, as powerful hardware pushed the limits of the computers beyond what anyone expected. But still, something was missing. The other dedicated camp of computing was the Unixworld. But Unix itself was far more expensive. In quest of big money, the Unix vendors priced it high enough to ensure small PC users stayed away from it. The source code of Unix, once taught in universities courtesy of Bell Labs, was now cautiously guarded and not published publicly. To add to the frustration of PC users worldwide, the big players in the software market failed to provide an efficient solution to this problem. A solution seemed to appear in form of MINIX. It was written from scratch by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a US-born Dutch professor who wanted to teach his students the inner workings of a real operating system. It was designed to run on the Intel 8086 microprocessors that had flooded the world market. As an operating system, MINIX was not a superb one. But it had the advantage that the source code was available. Anyone who happened to get the book ‘Operating Systems: Design and Implementation’ by Tanenbaum could get hold of the 12,000 lines of code, written in C and assembly language. For the first time, an aspiring programmer or hacker could read the source codes of the operating system, which to that time the software vendors had guarded vigorously. A superb author, Tanenbaum captivated the brightest minds of computer science with the elaborate and immaculately lively discussion of the art of creating a working operating system. Students of Computer Science all over the world pored over the book, reading through the codes to understand the very system that runs their computer. And one of them was Linus Torvalds. Download complete history… Tinggalkan Balasan Logo WordPress.com You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Logout / Ubah ) Gambar Twitter You are commenting using your Twitter account. Logout / Ubah ) Foto Facebook You are commenting using your Facebook account. Logout / Ubah ) Foto Google+ Connecting to %s %d blogger menyukai ini:
Aug 042017 The girl with the tattooed face, Olive Oatman, became something of a legend, but she started out as an ordinary girl. Olive Oatman and her younger sister, Mary Ann, were kidnapped by Indians in 1851. They eventually ended up living with a tribe of the Mojave, where they were both tattooed with distinctive blue markings on their chins. Mary Ann died during a famine (along with many of the Mojave). Olive survived, though, and eventually returned to live among her own people again. There she told her remarkable story that started when her parents, Royce and Mary Oatman, packed up their seven kids in 1850 and left their Illinois farm for Missouri, where they joined a wagon train headed to California. Olive was 14 and Mary Ann was 7. When some of the travelers splintered off, the Oatmans found themselves traveling without the safety of the group. They continued on and were spending a night on the banks of the swollen Gila River, in what is now Arizona, when they were attacked by Indians. (Olive later identified them as Apaches, but some think they may have been a branch of the Yavapai.) Royce and Mary Oatman were killed, along with four of their seven children. At the end of it all, only Olive, Mary Ann, and their brother Lorenzo, age 15, were still alive. Lorenzo had been clubbed and left for dead, but he eventually came to and found his way to a settlement, where his wounds were treated. Then he retraced his steps and found and buried his family’s bodies. In 1954, a marker was erected at their burial site by the Arizona society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It reads, “In memory of the Oatman Family, Six members of this pioneer family massacred by Indians in March 1851.” Lorenzo found no trace of Olive and Mary Ann, but he kept looking. The girls had been taken by the Indians who killed their parents, and according to Olive, they were mistreated as slaves for about a year. Then they were traded to a group of Mojave, who treated the girls better. The Mojave chief and his wife may even have adopted the girls. While living with the Mojave, Olive and her sister got the distinctive tattoo markings on their chins. Westerners who study the tribe say this is a fairly common tattoo among the Mojave that is done ritualistically to ensure a good afterlife. Olive said it was done to mark them as slaves. It was probably the drought and famine of 1855 that took Mary Ann’s life. She was 12 that year, and Olive was 19. Around that time, the white communities in the region began to hear about a white woman living among the Mojave. One sent a messenger asking for Olive’s return, and intense negotiations took place. Olive was eventually sent to Fort Yuma, where she learned that her brother Lorenzo had been searching for her and Mary Ann. Ancestry tells us where she went from there: In the 1860 U.S. Census, you see Olive living in the household of the Stratton family. In fact, the head of household, a pastor named Royal B. Stratton, wrote a book about Olive’s (and Mary Ann’s) experiences. Royalties from the biography he titled “Life Among the Indians,” which was a bestseller, paid for Olive’s and Lorenzo’s education at the University of the Pacific. Olive lectured and spoke on her “life among the Indians” extensively to promote the book. In 1865, Olive married cattleman John B. Fairchild, listed in census records as a money broker and later a banker. In 1870, when Olive was 32 and John was 40, he owned real estate worth $2,500 and had a personal estate valued at $10,000, which was off the charts compared to others in their neighborhood (it’s amazing what you can learn from the census). In 1880, their daughter, Mary, was seven. In the 1900 census, still in Texas, their daughter is 26, and a 30-year-old cook lives with them, as well a 4-year-old boy with a different last name, perhaps the cook’s son. Olive suffered from depression and once spent three months in a “medical spa.” She died from a heart attack in 1903, and her husband passed away in 1907; both are buried in Sherman, Texas. The town of Oatman, Arizona, was named for her family. So they — along with Olive’s amazing story — live on. Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
1965: Sukarno, hearing of the unauthorized cooperation between the Indonesian and Malaysian militaries, orders the arrest and execution of the responsible officers on charges of sedition and treason. While Sukarno is successful in arresting the officers in question, Lee steps in before they can be executed, arguing that Sukarno needs to have them tried before a tribunal before the execution. The international community, moved by Lee's interjection, overrides Sukarno's execution orders and has the officers put on trial. The officers are found guilty, but are sentenced to life imprisonment instead of execution. On route from their trial, the officers are ambushed and slaughtered. Sukarno is implicated, but charges are never brought forth. Sukarno, furious over Lee's interference, begins mobilizing Indonesia's resources for war. To exploit Indonesia's resources, Sukarno establishes military governors in key areas in Borneo and West Papua, officially to develop the infrastructure and educate the natives, though in actuality the governors were simply there to exploit the resources and keep the locals from interfering. In addition to the military governors, Sukarno established plantations to grow large quantities of cash crops, such as coffee, tobacco, and cotton. By the end of the year, Indonesian exports had grown by over 600%. Lee, seeing the economic and military mobilization, spared no time organizing Malaysia for battle. First, Lee strengthened the military by passing universal military service for all adult males, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic class. This had the added benefit of smoothing over ethnic tensions. He also invited foreign military advisors, especially from Israel, to help train, equip, and supply the Malaysian military. To enrich the economy, Lee diversified the Malaysian economy, investing in cash crop plantations, lumbermills, and oil refineries for export, increasing Malaysian exports by 300%. Using the money earned from the exports, Lee turned his attention to the cities, organizing the people to clear out the slums and replace them with government housing, providing everyone water, sanitation, and electricity. New committees and laws were established to regularly clean and maintain the new cities. Almost from the ground up, Lee rebuilt virtually all of Malaysia's cities, filled with skyscrappers and run by a public transit system inspired by Japan. Finally, Lee subsidized education for all, regardless of faith, ethnicity, or gender, and opened new schools, increasing the percentage of literacy and college applicants. This became especially relevant over the next few years. 1966-75: Over the next three years, the Indonesian and Malaysian economies and militaries continued to grow. Indonesia, thanks to her superior size and population, soon outcompeted Malaysia in annual number of goods exported, especially cash crops and lumber, shipping out more than four times the number of exports that Malaysia was, and earning much more money. She also had a significantly larger military that outnumbered their Malaysian counterparts five to one. Finally, Indonesia had a larger profit margin, as Lee invested heavily in infrastructure, education, and the military, whereas Sukarno invested mostly in the military, trying to produce as many soldiers and weapons as possible. Underneath it all, though, Malaysia was far from outmatched. While her military was not nearly as large, her infrastructure was much more developed, and enable a much swifter response to attack than that of Indonesia. Furthermore, her soldiers were exceptionally well-trained and able to fight with virtually anything. Finally, her strategic ports, beautiful cities, and economic openness, Singapore being the prime example, attracted businesses from all over the world, including Japan, the United States, and Europe, giving Malaysia much-needed foreign support. Realizing the urgent need for foreign aid, especially as Indonesia lagged behind in development, Sukarno began inviting investments from foreign businesses, though only the Soviet Union and the People' Republic of China agreed to open negotiations. In August 17th, 1967, Sukarno agreed that in exchange for foreign equipment and funds to develop Indonesia's infrastructure and industry, Kruschev and Mao would receive the majority of Indonesia's exported oil and liquid natural gas exports. Sukarno, however, had to make a few conditions to placate the Islamists, who fear the spread of Communism and its atheist leanings. Though the "faithless" Communists would receive the most of Indonesia's oil and gas exports, they had to invest a large sum for the establishment of the necessary infrastructure, they had to limit their activities to the sea and airports, and they could not travel through Indonesia without an escort. While Sukarno had placated the Islamists, he had only managed to delay the explosion. Concurrently in Malaysia, tensions were boiling between the Malays and the ethnic Chinese, especially with the influx of foreign businessmen. Lee, realizing the ticking time-bomb, set forth legislation designed to keep foreign influence restricted to trade purposes. Imports were carefully checked, and anything that was deemed "offensive" to Muslims or core Malay values, were prohibited. Furthermore, Muslim was recognized as a state-sanctioned religion, with sponsored pilgrimages to Mecca as a reward for innovative and/or productive workers. These measures, albeit successful, only succeeding in delaying the time-bomb. Separatist Wars: Fortunately, Lee was about to get a break. The CIA, fearing the growing closeness between Indonesia and the Communist powers, decided to "encourage" Sukarno to change his mind. In 1968, they started covertly arming and training Islamists to conduct guerrilla raids against oil refineries, plantations, munitions factories, and other important targets. The guerrillas, fearing the spread of Communism and enboldened by the CIA's support, declared a jihad against Sukarno and declared their intention to break off and form an Islamist state. Inspired by their boldness and religious conviction, separatists in West Papua, Sulawesi, and Sumatra, particularly Aceh, rose up and seized a string of military-controlled plantations and manufacturing plants, their speed and surprise overwhelming the military. China and Russia, fearing an Islamist takeover and/or the disintegration of Indonesia, began supplying Sukarno with arms and supplies. In response, the CIA increased their arm shipments and began bombing runs. Over the next few years, Sukarno fought a bitter war against the separatists, eventually re-taking the posts they had seized. Starting with Sumatra in July of 1970, the military launched a two-pronged attack, with the army fighting northward, corralling the separatists into the Aceh region, and the navy patrolling the seas to prevent them from escaping. Within a year, the military had fought its way to the capita, and in the six-month Battle of Banda Aceh, the Indonesian military, fighting from house-to-house, eventually managed to pry the separatists from their entrenchment. In the process, the military suffered horrendous casualites as the separatists, realizing that defeat was inevitable, employed terrorist tactics such as suicide bombing. These tactics, combined with their tenacity and fanaticism, cost the Indonesian military over 30,000 casualties, a rate of over 65%, and left the city in ruins, with millions of civilians dead, wounded, or homeless. An important legacy of the battle was the recovery of American-made weapons in the ruins of Banda Aceh, planting a seed of suspicion in Sukarno's mind and helped him to bring the Communists and the military to form a more cooperative union. With greater resolve and a stronger union between the military and the Communists, Sukarno ordered a reinvigorated offensive against the guerrillas. In September, 1972, the military launched attacks on bases in Sulawesi and the Spice Islands, relying on the navy to keep the guerrillas from escaping. Expecting a bloody but assured victory, as in Aceh, instead the military found itself embroiled in a quagmire with no end in sight. The guerrillas, learning from the campaign in Aceh, decided to avoid direct confrontation and try to wear the military down. For the next five years, the guerrillas and the military battled it out, with virtually no change in the strategic situation. Though the military held the tactical edge in battle and maintained control over the coasts and cities, the guerrillas kept to the forests and the mountains, and virtually never engaged the military in battle. Finally, the US, who had remained officially unconnected with the rebellion, continued supplying them with impunity, as the Indonesian air force was undermanned and outdated. The war in West Papua was faring even worse for the military, as the more rugged terrain and smaller coastline hindered the army and navy respectively, preventing the Indonesians from completely cutting all escape. Furthermore, unlike Sulawesi and Sumatra, West Papua shared a border with Papua New Guinea, and the rebels shared a common culture and kinship with the natives across that border, giving them easier access to supplies and hiding places. Meanwhile in Malaysia, Lee was having a lot of trouble. While Malaysia remained neutral in the conflict and did not assist Sukarno or the rebels, the close proximity and distribution of the wars had a significant impact on the country. The wars displaced hundreds of thousands of lives, many of which fled to neighboring countries, including Malaysia. While Lee and the People's Action Party, the majority party in Malaysia, in a remarkable display of foresight, had prepared the ports and cities so that they could handle the influx of refugees, the xenophobia and mistrust that accompanied their arrival was much harder to combat. Many of the refugees were ethnic Chinese, targeted for their racial and religious difference, fled when the rebels took over the area and initiated a string of race riots, killing hundreds of civilians and businessmen. The violence reached a fever pitch when the Indonesian military pushed them back into Banda Aceh; the rebels, believing the ethnic Chinese had sold them out, began burning down their shops and homes, and killing any they came across. The refugees, bringing back stories of the atrocities, shocked the Malaysians and their Parliament to open debate on the war. While many, regardless of race or religion, agreed that the refugees suffered horrific treatment and deserved a chance to settle down and begin anew, that was virtually all they agreed on. The main issue was what to do about the ongoing conflict. Many did not want to get involved, thinking that it was a waste of men and money, and that they should not help their enemy. Others wanted to enter the war to varying degrees, arguing that the conflict destablized the region, deterring commerce and trade, especially after Aceh rebelled. Drawing from experience in the Brunei rebellion, they feared that the war would spill over into Malaysia and perhaps inspire potential separatists to follow in their footprints. Lee, fearing for the unity of the nation, decided to hold a compromise between the two sides. Malaysia would not get involved directly, but they would allow Indonesian ships to dock at their harbors for resupply and repairs, for a price. Second, the Malaysian navy would be ready to perform humanitarian duties for displaced or harassed civilians. Furthermore, any rebels that attempted to cross their borders would be arrested and turned over to the Indonesians. Allen Pope Incident: In 1978, a CIA pilot was shot down by the Indonesian Air Force while conducting a bombing run. The pilot, alive but unconscious, was captured by the Indonesian military and brought in for interrogation. Under threat of torture, the pilot, Allen Pope, confessed to being an American pilot that was supplying the rebels and conducting bombing runs. Armed with this information, Sukarno threatened the United States to withdraw its support from the rebels or this revelation would go international. Fearing the political backlash, the United States relented, and in exchange for Allen Pope's release, they agreed to disclose the locations of the rebel bases. Sukarno, newly empowered, ordered a combined air and army attack, wiping out the major bases and capturing or killing the majority of the rebels. The rest fled to neighboring countries, such as East Timor and Papua New Guinea. By 1980, the rebels were all but wiped out or dispersed. Some attempted to flee to Malaysia, but Lee, recognizing the threat they posed to Indonesian-Malaysian relations, had them arrested and shipped to Indonesia for trial and execution. This act would play a large role in Indonesian-Malaysian relations in the years to come. Sukarno's Death: Sukarno, nearly eighty years old, excited by his victory over the separatists, held a celebration party for the military commanders and Communist overseers. Surprisingly, many Islamists also attended, at an attempt at reconciliation. At the height of the party, Sukarno collapsed while proposing a toast to the future of the Indonesian nation. Thought to be poisoned, the Islamists were arrested and held on suspicion of assassinating Sukarno. While the military and the Communists planned a new purge of the Islamist parties, the doctors, after conducting an autopsy, discovered that Sukarno had suffered a fatal heart attack from over-indulgence and work-related stress. While this discovery cleared the Islamists of their accusation, it also armed them as victims of a ruthless dictatorship and threatened to plunge the country into civil war again. As the two factions fought for supremacy, the country began to suffer from Sukarno's ambition. The market, awash with cheap cash crops and lumber, saw a significant decrease in the prices, slashing the national profit margin. In addition, the emphasis on military production and cash crop production reduced the land and labor available for producing food and other necessary consumer goods. The situation was intensified by the separatist wars alongside mismanagement of collective farms, and torrential rains brought on by El Nino two years earlier. Famine, poverty, and exhaustion turned the population toward the Islamists in the hope of improved conditions. The Communists and the military, fearing an all-out rebellion, sought out a candidate to rival the Islamists. Hoping to put on a front of unity, they sought to delay a potential explosion and build up their power base. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Lee looked on the situation with apprehension. Ad blocker interference detected!
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland HousesHouse of Lords House of Commons Lord SpeakerLady Hayman, PC, (Non-affiliated) since 4 May 2006 Speaker of the House of CommonsMichael Martin MP, (Non-affiliated) since 5 May 2005 738 Peers 646 Members of Parliament (MPs) Lords Political groupsLabour Party, Conservative Party, Cross Benchers, Liberal Democrats, Lords Spiritual, UK Independence Party, Non-affiliated peers House of Commons Political groupsLabour Party, Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionist Party, Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Féin, Social Democratic and Labour Party, Ulster Unionist Party, Respect – The Unity Coalition, UK Independence Party House of Commons Last election5 May 2005 Meeting place Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London, United Kingdom Web site The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II. The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons.[1] The Queen is the third component of Parliament.[2][3] The House of Lords includes three different types of members: the Lords Spiritual (the senior bishops of the Church of England), the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage), and Law Lords (judges that carry out the House of Lords' judicial responsibilities); its members are not elected by the population at large, but are appointed by the Queen on advice of the Prime Minister.[4] The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber with elections to it held at least every 5 years.[5] The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the City of Westminster in London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or, less often, the House of Lords, and are thereby technically accountable to the respective branches of the legislature. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland passing Acts of Union. However, in practice the parliament was a continuation of the English parliament with the addition of Scottish MPs and peers. The Parliament of England had itself evolved from the early medieval councils that advised the sovereigns of England.[6] England has been called "the mother of parliaments",[7] its democratic institutions having set the standards for many democracies throughout the world,[8] and the United Kingdom parliament is the largest Anglophone legislative body in the world.[9] In theory, supreme legislative power is vested in the Queen-in-Parliament; in practice in modern times, real power is vested in the House of Commons; the Sovereign generally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the powers of the House of Lords are limited.[10] In the Middle Ages and early modern period there were the three separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland and these developed separate parliaments. The 1707 Acts of Union brought England and Scotland together under the Parliament of Great Britain,[11] and the 1800 Act of Union included Ireland under the Parliament of the United Kingdom.[12] Parliament of EnglandEdit File:Medieval parliament edward.Jpg Main article: Parliament of England The English Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William of Normandy brought a feudal system, by which he sought advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief secured the Magna Carta from King John, which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council, which slowly developed into a parliament. United Kingdom Her Majesty's Government Coat of Arms This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom Other countries · Atlas Politics portal The Curia Regis in England was a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics that advised the King of England on legislative matters. It replaced its Anglo-Saxon predecessor, the Witenagemot, a popular assembly that developed into a sort of crown council, after the Norman invasion of 1066. Parliament originated in the 1200s, during the reign of John's grandson Edward I. As previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to converse government ailments. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments. In 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without consent of the realm. He also enlarged the court system. The tenants-in-chief often struggled with their spiritual counterparts (Christian Humphreys) and with the King for power. In 1215, they secured from John the Magna Carta, which established that the King may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of a council. It was also established that the most important tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics be summoned to the council by personal writs from the Sovereign, and that all others be summoned to the council by general writs from the sheriffs of their counties. Modern government has its origins in the Curia Regis; parliament descends from the Great Council later known as the parliamentum established by Magna Carta. The first English Parliament was formed during the reign of King Henry III in the 13th century. In 1265, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, who was in rebellion against Henry III, summoned a parliament of his supporters without any or prior royal authorisation. The archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and barons were summoned, as were two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each borough. Knights had been summoned to previous councils, but the representation of the boroughs was unprecedented. De Montfort's scheme was formally adopted by Edward I in the so-called "Model Parliament" of 1295. William of Normandy brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy, and sought the advice of the curia regis, before making laws. This body is the germ from which Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet have sprung. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament; judges sit in the Supreme Court of Judicature; and only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. estate debated independently; by the reign of Edward III, however, Parliament had been separated into two Houses and was assuming recognisably its modern form. Parliament of ScotlandEdit File:Parliament House, Edinburgh.JPG Main article: Parliament of Scotland From the time of Kenneth mac Alpin, the early Kingdom of Scotland (see Kingdom of Alba) had been ruled by chieftains and kings under the suzerainty of the King of Scots, all offices being filled through election by an assembly under the Gaelic system of tanistry, which combined a hereditary element with the consent of those ruled. After Macbeth was overthrown by Malcolm III in 1057 the feudal system of primogeniture was gradually introduced, as Scotland came increasingly under Norman influence. In the High Middle Ages the King's Council of Bishops and Earls evolved into the unicameral Estates of Parliament of 1235, with the colloquium at Kirkliston (the first meeting of Parliament for which records survive), which had both a political and judicial role.[13] From 1326 the Three Estates (Template:Lang-sco) had clerics, lay tenants-in-chief and the burgh Commissioners (approximately equivalent to early burgesses, later Members of Parliament, in the contemporaneous Parliament of England) sitting in a single chamber, with powers over taxation and a strong influence over justice, foreign policy, war, and legislation.[14] The Parliament chose a committee called the Lords of the Articles (comparable to a modern select committee) to draft legislation, which was then presented to the full Parliament to be confirmed.[15][16] Following the Reformation and pressure from the Kirk, Catholic clergy were excluded from 1567, and after Protestant bishops were abolished in 1638 (see Bishops' Wars) the Scottish Parliament became an entirely lay legislature.[17] During the reign of James VI, the Lords of the Articles came more under the influence of the Crown, and following his accession to the throne of England in 1603 (see Union of the Crowns) he used them to run Scotland from London. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the Covenanting period (1638–51) the Scottish Parliament took control of the executive, effectively wresting sovereignty from Charles I. After Scotland was invaded by Oliver Cromwell, his Protectorate government imposed a brief Anglo-Scottish parliamentary union in 1657. The Scottish Parliament returned after the Restoration of Charles II to the thrones of England and Ireland in 1660 (he had already been crowned King of Scots at Scone on 1 January 1651). After the Glorious Revolution formally changed England's monarch in February 1689, William II of Scotland (William III of England) summoned a Convention of the Estates, which considered competing letters from both William and from James VII of Scotland (James II of England), and set out its terms and conditions in the Claim of Right, and duly proclaimed William and Mary II to be the joint monarchs of Scotland, at Edinburgh on 11 April 1689. The Scottish Parliament was reconstituted in 1999; see Scottish Parliament. Parliament of IrelandEdit Main article: Parliament of Ireland The Irish Parliament was founded to represent the English community in the Lordship of Ireland, while the native or Gaelic Irish were ineligible to vote or stand for office, the first known meeting being in 1264. The English presence shrank to an enclave around Dublin known as the Pale. In 1541 Henry VIII declared the Kingdom of Ireland and embarked on the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland. The Gaelic Irish lords were now entitled to attend the Irish Parliament as equals of the majority of English descent. Disputes followed the English Reformation, when most of the population remained Roman Catholic, and in 1613–15 constituencies were fixed so that Protestant settlers held the majority in the Irish Parliament. After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Catholics were barred from voting or attending the Parliament in the Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652. Under James II, the Catholics regained ground and during the Jacobite war in Ireland he agreed to the Irish Parliament's demands for autonomy and restitution of lands. After the victory of William III of England these gains were reversed, with the Penal Laws making things worse. Poyning's Law of 1494 had made the Irish Parliament subordinate to the Parliament of England, but the Constitution of 1782 removed these restrictions and about a decade later Catholics gained the right to vote, though they were still barred from membership. Parliament of Great BritainEdit Main article: Parliament of Great Britain After the Hanoverian George I ascended the throne in 1714 through an Act of Parliament, power began to shift from the Sovereign, and by the end of his reign the position of the ministers — who had to rely on Parliament for support — was cemented. Towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over Parliament, which was dominated by the English aristocracy, by means of patronage, but had ceased to exert direct power: for instance, the last occasion Royal Assent was withheld, was in 1708 by Queen Anne.[19] At general elections the vote was restricted to freeholders and landowners, in constituencies that were out of date, so that in many "rotten boroughs" seats could be bought while major cities remained unrepresented. Reformers and Radicals sought parliamentary reform, but as the Napoleonic Wars developed the government became repressive against dissent and progress toward reform was stalled. Parliament of the United KingdomEdit The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801 by the merger of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland under the Act of Union. The principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century — the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an antiquated electoral system, under which constituencies of vastly different sizes existed. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, could elect two members, as could the borough of Dunwich, which had completely disappeared into the sea due to land erosion. In many cases, members of the Upper House also controlled tiny constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, and could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. Many seats in the House of Commons were "owned" by the Lords. After the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, the electoral system in the lower House was much more regularised. No longer dependent on the upper House for their seats, members of the House of Commons began to grow more assertive. Modern eraEdit File:Parliament with Millenium Wheel in Background.jpg The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century. In 1909, the Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget", which made numerous changes to the taxation system in a manner detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, rejected the Budget. On the basis of the Budget's popularity and the Lords' consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament bill, which sought to restrict the powers of the House of Lords. (He did not reintroduce the land tax provision of the People's Budget). When the Lords refused to pass the bill, Asquith countered with a promise extracted from the King in secret before the second general election of 1910 and requested the creation of several hundred Liberal peers so as to erase the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. The Parliament Act 1911, as it became, prevented the Lords from blocking a money bill (a bill dealing with taxation), and allowed them to delay any other bill for a maximum of three sessions (reduced to two sessions in 1949), after which it could become law over their objections. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster (the number of Northern Ireland seats was increased again after the introduction of direct rule in 1973). The Irish Free State became independent in 1922, and in 1927 parliament was renamed as Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Further reforms to the House of Lords have been made during the 20th century. The Life Peerages Act 1958 authorised the regular creation of life peerage dignities. By the 1960s, the regular creation of hereditary peerage dignities had ceased; thereafter, almost all new peers were life peers only. More recently, the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the Upper House (although it made an exception for 92 of them on a temporary basis, to be elected to life-terms by the other hereditary peers with bi-elections upon their death). The House of Lords is now a chamber that is subordinate to the House of Commons. Composition and powersEdit There are three elements to Parliament: the Crown, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. These three components are separate from each other; no individual may be a part of more than one component. Members of the House of Lords are legally barred from voting in elections for members of the House of Commons; the Sovereign by convention does not vote, although there is no statutory impediment. As an institution the Crown is still powerful, as Royal Assent is still required for all Bills to become law, through prerogative powers and the appointment of the government. The prerogative powers include among others the abilities to dissolve Parliament, make treaties, declare war, and award honours. In practice these are always exercised by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister and the other ministers of the government. The monarch also chooses the Prime Minister, who then forms a government from members of the houses of parliament. This must be someone who can command a majority in the House of Commons. This is usually a straightforward decision, though occasionally the monarch has to make a judgment, as in the appointment of Alec Douglas-Home in 1963 when it was thought that the incumbent Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, had contracted a terminal cancer. The Commons, the last of the "estates" of the Kingdom, are represented in the House of Commons, which is formally styled The Honourable The Commons in Parliament Assembled (commons coming not from the term commoner, but from commune, the old French term for a district). The House currently consists of 646 members. Until the 2005 general election, it consisted of 659 members, but the number of Scottish Members was reduced by the Scotland Act 1998. Each "Member of Parliament" or "MP" is chosen by a single constituency according to the First-Past-the-Post electoral system. Universal adult suffrage exists for those 18 and over; citizens of the United Kingdom, and those of the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth nations resident in the United Kingdom are qualified to vote. The term of members of the House of Commons depends on the term of Parliament; a general election, during which all the seats are contested, occurs after each dissolution (see below). Both Houses may decide questions with voice voting; members shout out "Aye" and "No" in the Commons — or "Content" and "Not-Content" in the Lords —, and the presiding officer declares the result. The pronouncement of either Speaker may be challenged, and a recorded vote (known as a division) demanded. (The Speaker of the House of Commons may choose to overrule a frivolous request for a division, but the Lord Speaker does not have that power). In each House, a division requires members to file into one of the two lobbies alongside the Chamber; their names are recorded by clerks, and their votes are counted as they exit the lobbies to re-enter the Chamber. The Speaker of the House of Commons is expected to be non-partisan, and does not cast a vote except in the case of a tie; the Lord Speaker, however, votes along with the other Lords. Each Parliament comes to an end, after a number of sessions, either by the command of the Sovereign or by effluxion of time, the former being more common in modern times. The dissolution of Parliament is effected by the Sovereign, always on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may seek dissolution because the time is politically advantageous to his or her party. If the Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Commons, he must either resign or seek dissolution of Parliament to renew his or her mandate. Formerly, the demise of the Sovereign automatically brought a Parliament to an end, the Crown being seen as the caput, principium, et finis (beginning, basis and end) of the body, but this is no longer the case. The first change was during the reign of William and Mary, when it was seen to be inconvenient to have no Parliament at a time when succession to the Crown could be disputed, and an act was passed that provided that a Parliament was to continue for six months after the death of a Sovereign, unless dissolved earlier. (This provision is today contained in the Representation of the People Act 1867.) After each Parliament concludes, the Crown issues writs to hold a general election and elect new members of the House of Commons. Membership of the House of Lords does not change due to dissolution. Each Parliament that assembles following a general election is deemed to be distinct from the one which just concluded, and is separately numbered, the present Parliament being the Fifty-Fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom since the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. (Previous Parliaments were "of Great Britain" or "of England", "of Scotland" or "of Ireland".) Legislative functionsEdit File:Palace of Westminster, London - Feb 2007.jpg Laws can be made by Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament. While Acts can apply to the whole of the UK including Scotland, due to the continuing separation of Scots law many Acts do not apply to Scotland and are either matched by equivalent Acts that apply to Scotland alone or, since 1999, by legislation set by the Scottish Parliament relating to devolved matters. This has led to a paradox known as the West Lothian question. The existence of a devolved Scottish Parliament means that while Westminster MPs from Scotland may vote directly on matters that affect English constituencies, they may not have much power over their laws effecting their own constituency. While any Act of the Scottish Parliament may be overturned, amended or ignored by Westminster, in practice this has yet to happen. Furthermore, the existence of the Legislative Consent Motion enables English MPs to vote on issues nominally devolved to Scotland, as part of United Kingdom legislation. Since there is no devolved "English Parliament", the converse is not true. The last stage of a bill involves the granting of the Royal Assent. Theoretically, the Sovereign may either grant the Royal Assent (that is, make the bill a law) or withhold it (that is, veto the bill). Under modern conventions the Sovereign always grants the Royal Assent, in the Norman French words "La reyne le veult" (the Queen wishes it). The last refusal to grant the Assent was in 1708, when Queen Anne withheld her Assent from a bill "for the settling of Militia in Scotland", in the words "La reyne s'avisera" (the Queen will think it over). Judicial functionsEdit Relationship with the GovernmentEdit File:Stormont Parliamentary Building 01.JPG File:Parliament portcullis.png The quasi-official emblem of the Houses of Parliament is a crowned portcullis. The portcullis was originally the badge of various English noble families from the 14th century. It went on to be adopted by the kings of the Tudor dynasty in the 1500s, under whom the Palace of Westminster became the regular meeting place of Parliament. The crown was added to make the badge a specifically royal symbol. See alsoEdit 1. Template:Cite web 2. Template:Cite web 4. Template:Cite web 5. Template:Cite web 6. Template:Cite web 7. Template:Citation 8. Template:Cite web 9. Template:Cite web 10. Template:Cite web 11. Template:Cite web 12. Template:Cite web 14. Brown and Tanner, passim; R. Tanner, The Late Medieval Scottish Parliament; K. Brown and A. Mann, History of the Scottish Parliament 15. R. Rait, 'Parliaments of Scotland' (1928) 16. R. Tanner, 'The Lords of the Articles before 1542', in Scottish Historical Review (2000) 17. Rait, Parliaments of Scotland 18. Act of Union 1707, Article 1. 19. Black, Jeremy (2004). Parliament and Foreign Policy in the Eighteenth Century. England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21. ISBN 0521833310. 20. Template:Cite web 21. Template:Cite web 22. May, Erskine (2004). Parliamentary Practice. Lexis Nexis UK. pp. 119, 125. ISBN 0406970947. 23. Template:Cite web 24. Human Rights Act 1998, section 6(3). 25. The Portcullis (factsheet), House of Commons Information Office, November 2007 External linksEdit Template:Wikibooks Template:Wikisource Template:Spoken Wikipedia-2 Template:Europe topic Template:Leaders of British political parties Coordinates: Template:Coord/input/dms ar:برلمان المملكة المتحدة br:Dael ar Rouantelezh-Unanet ca:Parlament del Regne Unit cs:Parlament Spojeného království cy:Senedd y Deyrnas Unedig da:Det britiske parlament de:Britisches Parlament es:Parlamento del Reino Unido eu:Erresuma Batuko Legebiltzarra fa:پارلمان بریتانیا fr:Parlement du Royaume-Uni gl:Parlamento do Reino Unido hr:Parlament Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva it:Parlamento del Regno Unito he:הפרלמנט של בריטניה kw:Senedh an Ruwvaneth Unys la:Parlamentum Britannicum lt:Jungtinės Karalystės Parlamentas ms:Parlimen United Kingdom nl:Britse parlement ja:イギリスの議会 no:Det britiske parlamentet pl:Parlament Wielkiej Brytanii pt:Parlamento do Reino Unido ro:Parlamentul Regatului Unit ru:Парламент Великобритании simple:Parliament of the United Kingdom fi:Yhdistyneen kuningaskunnan parlamentti sv:Storbritanniens parlament th:รัฐสภาแห่งสหราชอาณาจักร vi:Quốc hội Anh zh:英国国会 Ad blocker interference detected!
What is the effect of biofuel crops on local environment? When reading my local paper, I saw a headline which said, “Site assessments available for biofuel crops.” There is basically a call for landowners who have 20+ acres in that rural area to grow biofuel crops on their land to I guess spur some economic growth. My home county always bolsters one of the top unemployment rates in Michigan and for a while was in the top 5 in the nation: So many people are hurting for money. But, to gain money in this manner, what is the cost? The question I had immediately was: Is this based on what is already growing there (trees for the most part) or will they be planting genetically modified corn? Here is what I’ve found thus far. There are two current programs in the area, one in L’Anse and the other in Ontonogan. This is using a variety of modified trees to make biofuel. From the UP Biofuel website, “Biomass” is defined material derived from plants, or more generally any material that is organic in origin, including trees, grass, peat, crop residues, manures, animal processing waste and crops grown specifically for energy production. Based on research conducted by experts from Michigan Technological University’s School of Forestry there are three potential biofuel crops ideal for the Western U.P.’s growing conditions, which include switchgrass, hybrid poplar trees, and hybrid willow trees. Switchgrass appears to be energy efficient in that a lot can come from this product since a “study also found greenhouse gas emissions from cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass were 94 percent lower than estimated greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline production.” (Sciencedaily.com) Switchgrass is an alternative to corn for ethanol. Since 90% of corn is genetically modified, THIS fact makes me happy. However, I find no documentation as to who “owns” the switchgrass that would be used… since, according to Grain.org, “Monsanto is a leading player in R&D; for both miscanthus and switchgrass, two of the most promising feedstocks for the future cellulosic ethanol market” I am quite afraid of the long-term impact to introducing large-scale switch grass to the beautiful Upper Peninsula, even if it would decrease the potential need to use/produce oils. Hybrid Poplar and Willow trees I’m not sure about hybrid trees such as hybrid poplar and willow. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the topic, but I do remember when I was in college there was a bomb found outside the forestry department at the university I attended… Green Peace had been there and wanted to send a message of some sort regarding hybrid trees. What are the long-term impacts of hybrid trees? Do we know? Do they require technology that cause issues to animals or humans or do they have a negative impact in and of themselves? I don’t know. They appear to be fast-growing, require fertilizer (of what sort, I’m not sure), but other than that I’m not sure if the trees are perhaps less of an issue than the “seemingly” harmless switchgrass. What impact will that grass have on farmers in the area? Will the cows that openly graze end up eating GMO “grass.” These unsuspecting land owners will end up using more Monsanto products, more pesticides and herbicides and be subject to the long-term repercussions of the exposure to these dangerous products. Share and Enjoy • Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • LinkedIn • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS One comment Leave a Reply
The burr oak attains immense size in Indiana and some other Northern States. A gentleman living in Marion County, Indiana, told the writer: "The bun-oaks in this neighborhood attain the diameter of six feet, and with a stem, in one instance, of sixty feet high without a limb." The following description of the burr oak is given by Dr. P. P. Hoy, of Pacine, an accomplished naturalist, and member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences: " This is, perhaps, the most ornamental of our oaks. Nothing can exceed the graceful beauty of these trees when not crowded or cramped in their growth, but left free to follow the laws of their development. Who has not admired these trees in our extensive burr-oak openings? Its large leaves are a dark green above and a bright silvery white beneath, which gives the tree a singularly fine appearance when agitated by the wind. The wood is tough, close-grained, and more durable than the white oak, especially when exposed to frequent changes of moisture and dryness. Did the tree grow to the same size it would be preferred for most uses. Abundant and richly worthy of cultivation, both for utility and ornament, burr oaks in Wisconsin do not generally attain more than one foot in diameter, and the limbs grow near the ground, making a sort of espalier, and rarely growing higher than thirty to forty feet, straight, with very rough bark. The acorn is enclosed in a burr something like a chestnut, hence their name." This is the most useful of all trees. Loudon describes somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty, and this number has since been added to. These trees are found mostly in the temperate zone; those that we find in the tropics are in elevated positions. It is found distributed over Europe and North America. These trees are of a beautiful appearance, and have not been paid sufficient attention as ornamental trees. Bryant says: " In many of the oaks the form of the leaves varies so much with different conditions of the tree, or different stages of its growth, that it constitutes an uncertain characteristic by which to distinguish the species. Consequently, where the wood is similar, different species are sometimes confounded under one name. The fructification affords a more certain mode of distinction." It seems to be the opinion of many that the oak should be left where it grows from the seed, but throughout Europe the tree-planters affirm that it is best to transplant them. The Scarlet Oak Some botanists call the scarlet oak merely a variety of the black oak; but it differs in some particulars, viz., the leaves turn to a bright red in the fall; the acorns have a white kernel, and not yellow, as in the black oak. The wood is of a very poor quahty, and for fuel and timber I cannot say that it is to be recommended very highly for cultivation. The Red Oak Height, eighty feet; diameter, six feet; and is the fastest-growing of the oaks. Is a very handsome and ornamental tree, and will grow on almost any soil, either rich or poor. It is found all over the United States. The wood is coarse-grained, of a red color, open pores, and of little durability. It is sometimes used when timber is not abundant. The Pin Oak This is a large, ornamental tree, coarse-grained, open-pored, and not very durable. It thrives best in moist ground. It has a conical head and a light-green, beautiful foliage. The Willow Oak The willow oak grows to the height of fifty or sixty feet. Its leaves very much resemble those of the willow. The wood is very coarse-grained and strong, but it is not fit for fuel. If any amateur has any curiosity on the subject of this tree I would advise him to cultivate it, but that is the only time I would recommend it for cultivation. The Laurel Oak This tree usually reaches from forty to fifty feet in height, and is about two feet in diameter. It much resembles the laurel in its fohage, and so takes its name. It is used in rural districts for rails; sometimes for house-frames. The wood is coarse-grained and not valuable. The Black-Jack Oak The only use I ever found this tree put to was for fuel, and as such it is esteemed more than any other of the oak family. It is a small tree, with generally a very crooked trunk. It grows in any soil, but is found in the most barren. It seldom exceeds thirty feet in height. The Spanish Oak This tree is sometimes confounded with the red oak, whose wood it very much resembles. It is common in the maritime parts of the Southern States and southern Illinois, but is scarce in the Mississippi valley. In favorable situations it becomes a large tree. The Live-Oak The famous five-oak is found only in the Southern States, more especially in Florida. It is more esteemed for ship-building than any tree known. It is, like the cork oak, an evergreen. It frequently reaches from eighty to ninety feet in height, and from five to six feet in diameter.
Exact matches only Search in title Search in content Search in posts Search in pages Filter by Categories A taste of China A taste of China Ancient Places City Guides Cultural Heritage Food & Drink Modern China Natural Attractions Street Food Trip Ideas What to eat How is the term ‘The Great Wall’ defined? By William Lindesay June 6 Visually the Great Walls are diverse in appearance, but most commonly they consist of rammed earth, stone and brick. [Photo provided to China.org.cn by William Lindesay] The Xiandai Hanyu Cidian, or Modern Chinese Dictionary, published in 2004 and a bestselling dictionary of contemporary China, contains a two-part entry for Changcheng or Long Wall, which reads: (1) Our country’s defence project in ancient times, commenced during the Warring States period. After Qin unified China, Walls of the Qin, Zhao and Yan were connected to make a longer and stronger defence, which became known as Wanli Changcheng (Wall of 10,000 Li). Post Qin, other dynasties built new Walls and repaired earlier ones. (2) A metaphor to describe an invincible force or insurmountable barrier, for example ‘The People’s Liberation Army is an iron and steel Great Wall for the defence of China’. There is no definition of a Great Wall or the Chinese Wall in English-or European-language dictionaries, which is surprising given the unique nature of these essentially Chinese defence structures. In The Chamber’s Dictionary (10th Edition) published 2006, we find ‘wall’ defined as ‘an erection of brick, stone etc., for security or to enclose a space such as a piece of land’, but there is no sub-entry for a Great Wall. The omission illustrates the misconception that the Great Wall is seen as a place (i.e. deemed a proper noun rather than a common noun), and as such it belongs to the gazetteer of the atlas. Paradoxically, yet quite deservedly, we do find the crenellated symbol denoting the Great Wall of China in most atlases, reflecting its very significant landscape status, but it is not indexed. Any definition should express and summarize the common, essential – defining, of course – characteristics of such a structure, irrespective of its historical provenance. However, in China there is no absolute consensus among experts on the necessary criteria such a structure must possess, or have possessed, before it, or its remnants, are verified as being a Great Wall. In compiling a definition therefore it is necessary to accept majority views and discard minority ones. There is agreement that linear shape and very long length are the two fundamental characteristics of a Great Wall. There are exceptions to this rule: parts of the Ming Wall for example are enclosing. In some areas loop structures were constructed, but overall the entire system of fortifications is linear. Concerning length, some experts demand a qualifying structure be at least 200 km in length. Other elements of the definition should describe what it looks like, when it was built, where it can be found and why it was built. [Photo provided to China.org.cn by William Lindesay] Visually the Great Walls are diverse in appearance, but most commonly they consist of rammed earth, stone and brick. Also, these defence systems contain more than just ‘walls’. There are other architectural components, the main ones being watchtowers, fortresses and gates. The answer to the question ‘when’ is from at least the late fourth century B.C. to the mid seventeenth century A.D., but for succinctness the word ‘ancient’ will suffice. As for the location of the Walls, I have already touched upon their wide distribution, but for essential brevity, the term Northern China is largely correct, despite that in the past Chinese territorial influence sometimes extended beyond the current borders of today’s China, and Walls were built there. Answering the question ‘why’ presents the most difficulty. The simplest and most obvious answer, albeit not that elucidating, would be as a military defence, but it would be better to identify the common enemy. Most pre–imperial Walls – five out of the eight – served to defend ethnic Han states from other ethnic Han states. The other three, and all the imperial Walls – totaling 16 Walls out of 21 – had a common purpose: they functioned as defences against northern nomads. Perhaps the best way to solve this problem is to include ‘mainly’. Finally, to account for the complex bureaucratic and military organization behind these labor-intensive construction projects we should note that the political and social climate required for such mega constructions was stability, and the force behind such implementation was imperial authority, the power to mobilize a huge number of laborers. Using the above answers I can piece together a reasonably comprehensive and succinct definition of a Great Wall that reads: An ancient Chinese military defence system, initiated and operated under imperial authority during many periods and dynasties, consisting principally of linear ramparts extending for extraordinary lengths across the north of that country, composed of various materials including rammed earth, stone and bricks, complemented by additional structures along its course such as watchtowers, fortresses and gates, and collectively functioning in the main to defend Chinese land from nomadic invasion. Copyright information: Text and photos from ‘The Great Wall Explained’ by William Lindesay. • Share this • Send this Follow Discover China Related Articles
Saturday, September 26, 2015 The MP40 submachine gun In our last post, we studied about the German MP38 submachine gun. In today's post, we will study its successor, the MP40 submachine gun. The MP38 submachine gun was a pretty successful design and performed the tasks that it was designed for well. However, it could not be manufactured quickly because of the way that some of the parts were made (many parts were machined). The original manufacturer of the MP38, Erma, gave the design to C.P. Haenel to help with production, but even these two companies together could not meet the demand for these weapons from the German Army. As a matter of fact, they could not even meet their own production targets that they had set themselves! By 1939, the German War Office asked for changes in the production methods to speed up manufacturing. Both Erma and Haenel were relatively smaller arms manufacturing companies, so larger companies, such as Krupp, Steyr and Merz Werke, were recruited to help. The engineers from these larger companies were experienced in modern mass production technologies and they made changes to the MP38 model to speed up its production rate. The new model was introduced in 1940 and was called the MP40. A MP40 with the stock folded. Click on the image to enlarge. A MP40 with the stock extended. Click on the image to enlarge In the MP38, many parts were machined, which made the process of manufacturing expensive and slow. In particular, the receiver took multiple machining operations on a block of steel, to make the final product. Many of the parts of the MP40, on the other hand, was made by stamping out steel parts using dies and high speed presses and then joining the parts together by using brazing and spot-welding techniques. Only the barrel and the bolt were machined in the MP40. This made the production rate much faster. Over 1.1 million MP40 submachine guns were produced between 1940 and 1945. Therefore, the MP38 was one of the last submachine guns to be largely manufactured with machining technologies and the MP40 was one of the first submachine guns designed specifically to be manufactured quickly and cheaply. This is why the quality and finish of the MP38 is usually superior to the MP40, but the MP40 is just as effective as the MP38. One weakness of the MP40 is that it uses the same double-column single-feed magazines as the MP38 and therefore, it has the same issues with dirt and jamming. The MP40 comes in multiple variants as the Germans continued to improve the design to reduce the manufacturing time. Erma, Haenel and Steyr were the main manufacturers and a number of the parts were made by other subcontractors. For instance, one of the manufacturers of the plastic grips was the German electrical giant AEG (these days, they are known as AEG/Electrolux). Krupp and Merz Werke produced a lot of the stamped parts (tubes, frames etc.) for both Erma and Haenel (Steyr produced their own stampings), Mauser Werke supplied barrels and so on. The MP40 is really the prototype for a number of other submachine guns that have been made since. It influenced the development of the US M3 Grease gun and the British Sten gun, as both the US and the UK saw the need for a rapid-firing weapon that could be produced quickly and cheaply. It is one of the first weapons to use plastics instead of wood. The forward folding stock design was first designed for the MP 40 and later copied by other people, notably the AK family. Interestingly, the MP40 was often referred to by Allied troops as the "schmeisser", named after the famed German designer, Hugo Schmeisser. In reality though, he had very little to do with this design, as most of it was done by Berthold Geipel and Heinrich Vollmer and later improved by mass-production specialist engineers at other companies. About the only contribution of Hugo Schmeisser to the design was the magazine, which Hugo Schmeisser had designed and patented for another weapon, but the German War Office insisted on using Schmeisser's magazine design for the MP38 and MP40. Interestingly, Hugo Schmeisser did design the MP41, which is largely a MP40, but using a wooden stock and a selector lever from the MP-28, which Schmeisser had worked on earlier. Even though the German factories stopped producing the MP40 after World War II, they remained in service with other countries for several years since. For instance, France used the MP40 during the 1950s and 1960s and Norway still used them until about 1990 or so. Monday, September 21, 2015 The MP38 Submachine Gun In our last couple of posts, we traced the development of the American M3 Grease Gun and the British Sten Gun. In today's post, we will study the gun that preceded them both and inspired their creation. Today, we will study about the German MP38 submachine gun. A MP38 submachine gun. Click on the image to enlarge. The full name of this weapon is Maschinenpistole 38 (i.e. "Machine Pistol 38"). The origins of this weapon have to do with advancements in military doctrine after World War I. It was during and after this war that military concepts such as tanks, troop carriers, paratroopers etc. started becoming popular. There was need for a rapid firing weapon that could be used from inside vehicles such as tanks and trucks, as well as carried by paratroopers. General infantry crews also had use for a small, light, rapid firing weapon to protect themselves, while transporting their heavier machine guns to other locations. The German Wehrmacht was beginning to develop its theories of lightning warfare (i.e. the Blitzkrieg), where the idea was to use rapidly moving mechanized forces on the ground, operating together with air support. The German Army Weapons Office published a requirement asking for a suitable submachine gun to be designed in 1938. The German arms company, Erfuter MaschinenFabrik Gmbh, (translation: Erfurt Machine Factory Inc.), better known by its shorter trade name, Erma, began to develop a weapon to meet this requirement. Instead of developing a weapon from scratch, they modified an existing design that they were already working on, the MP36. The MP36 was actually a compact version of the Erma EMP (Erma Maschinen Pistol (translation: Erma Machine Pistol)). Erma EMP. Click on the image to enlarge. The Erma EMP was actually developed by Heinrich Vollmer, a German arms designer who had his own small arms manufacturing company. He had designed this gun in 1930, based on an earlier design he had worked on in 1925 and 1928, but his newer design used a side-feeding box magazine (a feature later seen on the Sten and Sterling submachine guns) and a telescoped return spring (a feature used in the MP38 and MP40). However, the German military stopped supporting his company in 1930 and since he didn't have the financial capability to manufacture these, he sold the design and manufacturing rights to Erma, who started producing his design in 1932 as the Erna EMP. Some of these Erma EMP guns were sold to Spain and some South American countries. The Erma company had started to make a compact version of the EMP, which they called MP36, which was a selective fire weapon. When the requirement came from the German War Office, they took this prototype and simplified it a little more and called in the MP38. One of the requirements was to use plastics in the furniture instead of wood, and the MP38 uses bakelite for its handguards and grips. After the German War Office announced that they had accepted the design, Erma started to produce the weapon in 1938 and a couple of years later, C.G. Haenel also started producing the weapon. The MP38 uses a blowback action and features a folding butt, which reduces its length considerably when folded. It uses the 9x19 mm. parabellum cartridge, which was also used by the Luger pistol in World War I. All the critical operating parts are contained in the receiver. There is only one mode of fire: full automatic mode. However, due to the slower rate of fire, it is possible to fire single shots by pulling and releasing the trigger quickly. The magazine holds 32 rounds and is a double column, single-feed type. Uniquely, on the underside of the barrel, there is a "lip" or "resting bar". This is designed to keep the weapon steady, when firing over the side of an open-top armored personnel carrier. The idea is that the lip latches on the side of the vehicle's wall and prevents the recoil from driving the weapon back into the vehicle's compartment. A cooling fin at the end of the barrel helps dissipate some of the heat. The pistol grip and handguard are made of bakelite plastic to save weight and this is the first submachine gun in history to feature plastic parts. Interestingly though, the receiver of this weapon is made of machined steel instead of being stamped. Therefore, it took longer to make the receivers. So while the gun was a success, it could not be made fast enough and production only lasted a couple of years before they developed the MP40 in 1940. The MP40 was made of stamped steel and used spot welding technologies to speed up production. Production of the MP38 did continue until 1941 though. A weakness of the MP38 and MP40 was the magazine, which tended to be affected by dirt. The same magazine design was copied by the British for their Sten gun, so that they could reuse German magazines and therefore, the Sten gun inherited the same weakness as well. One more interesting fact is that the Allies incorrectly referred to the MP40 as the Schmeisser, named after the famous German weapons designer, Hugo Schmeisser. In reality, he had very little to do with the design of the MP38 and MP40. If anything, his sole contribution was a patent he held on the magazine, which he had actually designed for a different weapon. The MP38 may be considered as the one of the last submachine guns that was built out of machined parts. Therefore, it has a better quality and finish, compared to the MP40 that followed it. We will study the MP40 in the next post. Saturday, September 12, 2015 The Sten Gun In our last post, we saw how America adopted the M3 a.k.a the Grease Gun. In today's post, we will look at one of the guns that inspired it, the British Sten gun. This was a gun that was designed to be manufactured cheaply and easily and we will study its origins and design today. Different Sten gun models. Click on the image to enlarge. First, we must go back in history to Europe in the summer of 1940. German soldiers were sweeping through Belgium and France and allied troops were in a desperate situation and trapped in the tiny port of Dunkirk. The British deployed every boat and ship available to rescue the stranded Allies and in nine days (27th May - 4th June), over 300,000 soldiers (British, French, Polish, Belgian, Dutch etc.) were evacuated to England. However, this rapid evacuation also resulted in soldiers leaving their equipment behind and large amounts of firearms fell into the hands of the Germans. Shortly after that, the Battle of Britain started and many factories in England were bombed. As a result of all this, there was a shortage of small arms in Britain. The British were buying Thompson submachine guns from the United States, but the factory could not keep up with the demand (and after 1941, many of those Thompsons went to the US military, so they couldn't supply anyone else anyway). Therefore, a decision was made to design a submachine gun that could be made in England quickly and cheaply. The task of designing this new weapon fell to Major R.V. Shepherd of the Design Department at the Royal Arsenal, Woolich and Mr. Harold J. Turpin, of the Design Department of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield. The design they came up with was called the STEN. The "S" and "T" in the name came from the first letters of the designers last names (S from Shepherd and T from Turpin) and the "EN" came from the first two letters of "Enfield". From the beginning, the aim was to design a cheap gun that could be manufactured with a minimum of machining operations. It had to be capable of being manufactured in small workshops and produced as quickly as possible. It also had to be capable of single shot and automatic fire and designed for close range fighting. It was designed to use the 9x19 mm. Parabellum Luger cartridge, which was also used by the Germans. The Sten was also deliberately designed to fit German 9 mm. magazines from the MP-38 and MP-40, so that they could use captured German ammunition and equipment if needed. The design that they came up with was a submachine gun using a blowback mechanism and firing from an open bolt. When the weapon is cocked, the bolt remains at the rear of the weapon. When the trigger is pulled, the bolt is pushed forward by spring pressure and strips a cartridge from the magazine, chambers it and then fires it. The firing pin is fixed in front of the bolt. After the cartridge discharges, the bolt moves rearward against spring pressure and inertia of the heavy bolt and then recocks itself. The working components of this weapon are housed in a basic tubular metal receiver with a barrel on one end and a wire shoulder support welded to the other end, with a simple trigger mechanism in between The Sten gun, Mark I The first version of the Sten gun, the Mark I model, came with a conical flash hider and contained some wooden parts (the foregrip and part of the stock). The front pistol grip could also be rotated to make the firearm smaller and therefore, easier to pack. Production started in late 1940 and about 100,000 of this model were made. Compared to the Mark I model, the Mark II model was much more stripped down. The flash hider was removed and the folding front pistol grip and all the wood were eliminated as well. This made the Mark II smaller and lighter than the Mark I model. The Mark II variant was the most commonly manufactured model and about 2 million of these were produced. Some Mark II models were made with integral suppressors attached and were classified as Mark II (S) The Mark III variant was even more stripped down than the Mark II model and was first produced in 1943. In this model, the receiver and the barrel shroud are made from a single tube, by wrapping a sheet steel plate into a cylindrical shape and welding the top. This model is also a bit lighter than the Mark II model. The Sten Mark III model was the second most commonly produced model of the Sten gun family and was the most stripped down model of the series, and therefore the lightest version. By 1944, the threat of a German invasion of Britain was over and the Sten gun quality improved. Models Mark IV and Mark V had better quality fit and finish and even came with wooden parts. The Sten gun model Mark V The Mark IV model was a paratrooper's model with a folding stock, but never got off the prototype stage. The Mark V model had better sights and finish and came with a bayonet attachment as well. The Sten was designed to be manufactured quickly and easily. This is why most of the components could be manufactured by stamping sheet metal and doing some minor welding. From the beginning, many of the parts were subcontracted to small workshops, with final assembly being done at the Enfield factory. This was especially useful as the larger factories were being bombed from the air by the German Air Force, early on during the war. The design was made simpler with each generation and the Mark III model only had 47 parts. Interestingly, one of the largest manufacturers of the Mark III model was a toy company called Lines Brothers. The Sten was really cheap to manufacture and only cost about $10 to make, which was much cheaper than the Thompson submachine gun, which cost about $200 then. While Sten guns were cheap to manufacture, they occasionally had jamming issues as well. The gun was designed to use the same magazine as the German MP-38/MP-40, so that people could reuse captured equipment. However, it also inherited the problems of the German magazine, in particular dirt could cause it to jam. In the absence of a pistol grip and forward grip in the Mark II and Mark III versions, some soldiers would hold the magazine with the supporting hand, causing it to wear out the magazine catch and cause failure to feed issues. The safety device was rudimentary and there was a danger of accidental discharge upon dropping the weapon, especially since many were crudely made. The Mark V model attempted to fix some of these issues. The Sten was loved and hated by its users at the same time. Many didn't like its peculiar appearance and reliability (at least for the Mark II and Mark III models) and it was nicknamed the "Plumber's Nightmare" and the "Stench Gun". However, they liked its cheap cost and short range firepower. It was manufactured during World War II by many British companies, as well as workshops and factories in Canada, Australia, France, Poland, Denmark, Norway etc. It was responsible for the US manufacturing its own cheap submachine gun model: the M3 grease gun. Towards the end of World War II, even the Germans got in the act and made over 28,000 copies of the Sten gun. After World War II, many were made in small workshops Israel in 1948. The Sten gun is still in use in some countries around the world. Wednesday, September 9, 2015 The M3 Grease Gun In today's post, we will study a submachine gun that was in US service for 50 years and is still used by some military forces elsewhere in the world. Today's post will study about the famous M3 and M3A1 submachine guns, more popularly known as "grease guns". The origin of this design has to do with the onset of World War II. In Europe, the Germans had developed the MP-40 submachine gun and the British had the Sten submachine gun. Both these weapons were chambered to fire the reliable 9x19 mm. Luger cartridge. In 1941, the US Army Ordnance Board conducted some studies on the effectiveness of these weapons on the battlefield and determined that there was a need for similar weapons for the US military as well. At that time, the US military had already adopted the Thompson submachine guns (which were developed at the end of World War I) into service in 1938, but the Tommy guns were relatively expensive to manufacture. The Ordnance Board wanted a weapon that could fire the same .45 ACP cartridge of the Thompson, but which could be manufactured much cheaper and could be fired as accurately as well. The final list of requirements included: 1. Weapon to be made of metal completely, with largely sheet metal construction, in order to speed up manufacturing. 2. Weapon designed to fire .45 ACP cartridges, since the US military was already using this cartridge (The Germans and British were using 9 mm. Luger cartridges for their submachine guns) 3. Weapon to be designed for fast production, with a minimum of machining operations. 4. Weapon to be designed to be cheap to manufacture (cheaper than the Thompson submachine gun) 5. Weapon to be designed as reasonably accurate. It was required to demonstrate that this weapon could put 90% of shots fired in a standing position in full-automatic mode into a 6x6 foot target at a distance of 50 yards. 6. Weapon to be capable of firing in both semi-automatic and full-automatic modes. This requirement was later removed during development of the weapon and it was designed to fire full automatic only. The task of designing this weapon fell to George Hyde of General Motors' Inland Division. George Hyde was actually of German descent and had emigrated to the US in 1927, whereupon he changed the spelling of his last name from "Heide" to "Hyde". He was a well known gun designer in 1941 and was put in charge of designing the new weapon. Meanwhile, another engineer named Frederick Sampson was put in charge of preparing the tooling for mass production of this weapon. During the design phase, a conversion kit was also designed, which would allow the user to quickly convert the gun from firing .45 ACP to firing the 9 mm. Luger cartridge. The prototypes were completed in late 1942 and approved for mass production. The Guide Lamp division of General Motors (the same people that manufactured the FP-45 Liberator pistol) was put in charge of manufacturing it. While the weapon was given the official designation of "U.S. Submachine Gun, Caliber .45, M3", many people noticed that it resembled grease guns used by automobile mechanics and therefore, the new weapon was nicknamed the "Grease Gun". The M3 Grease Gun. Click on the image to enlarge. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike 3.0 Unported license by Curiosandrelics The M3 was designed to be cheap. The manufacturing cost of one of these in World War II was around $18. Only three parts, the bolt, the barrel and the firing mechanism, were precisely machined. Most of the other parts of this gun were manufactured by using metal stamping and pressing technologies. Spot welding and seam welding were used to join most of the parts together and some other parts were riveted together. These processes allowed the gun to be manufactured very rapidly and with low cost. The stock was simply made from a single steel rod, which was bent into shape. The ends of the stock were drilled and tapped, so that it could be used as a cleaning rod, as well as a disassembly tool. In the M3A1 model, the stock also had a tool welded to it, to be used to load a magazine. The safety was a projection on the inside of the ejection port dust cover, which locked the bolt into the forward or rear positions. However, since the metal around the dust cover was so thin, it could get bent easily and the safety mechanism wouldn't work any more. The two halves of the receiver were made by stamping sheet steel and then the two halves were welded together. The bolt was made heavy and made to run on two parallel guide rods, which had twin return springs. This allowed the receiver to be made to looser tolerances. The barrel was cold swaged to save time and cost. The weapon was designed to be striker fired, with a fixed firing pin inside the bolt. When the M3 first entered service, no replacement parts were supplied. The weapon was originally intended to be a low-cost tool that could be discarded when it ceased working. However, due to a temporary shortage of M3s in the middle of 1944, the US Army Ordnance workshops manufactured some spare parts to keep existing weapons operational. There were also a number of issues with the M3 and several improvements were incorporated into the M3A1 model, which went into service in December 1944. During the Korean war, existing M3 guns were converted to the M3A1 standard. While it was hoped that this gun would be produced in large numbers to replace the Thompson submachine gun in US service, this did not happen and there were about three times as many Tommy guns in service than M3/M3A1 at the end of World War II. Due to its cheap cost and portability of the weapon, it was issued to paratroopers, tank crews and truck drivers. Even though it was withdrawn from frontline service in the US military in 1957, they were still issued to tank and truck drivers and were carried by US tanks during the 1991 Gulf war. The M3A1s were finally replaced starting in 1992, with the M4 carbine. That means it served in the US military for 50 years (1942 - 1992). It is still used by military forces in other parts of the world. Thursday, September 3, 2015 How to Measure the Chamber Dimensions Assume that you've just purchased a firearm and brought it home and found that you don't know what cartridges the firearm takes. This could be because the firearm was manufactured a long time ago, when manufacturers did not stamp the cartridge dimensions on the outside of the weapon. Or, the previous owner could have a custom barrel made for the firearm. Perhaps a previous owner liked to experiment with wildcat cartridges. Or perhaps, you would like to measure the dimensions of the chamber to make sure it isn't too worn out. As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why someone might need to measure the dimensions of a firearm chamber. So how is it done? We will study that in this post. One of the most common and reliable ways of measuring chamber dimensions is to use a metal alloy called "cerrosafe chamber casting alloy". This is an alloy made of 42.5% bismuth, 37.7% lead, 11.3% tin and 8.5% cadmium. Cerrosafe alloy was originally used to produce castings of toy soldiers and because of its low melting point, it was also used for fuse links in fire sprinkler heads. A bar of cerrosafe alloy. Click on the image to enlarge. Public domain image. Cerrosafe has some properties that make it very useful for the job of measuring chamber dimensions: 1. It is relatively cheap to buy and easily available. A bar of cerrosafe weighing 1 lb. (0.45 kg.) can be purchased for prices ranging from $25 to $45 or so, from various sources. 2. It is generally reusable, unless the user overheats it too much. Therefore, the alloy can be reused multiple times for many years. 3. It has a low melting point and melts at temperatures between 158 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit (or 70 to 87.77 degrees centigrade). Note that this is below the boiling point of water (212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees centigrade). This means it can be melted by using devices commonly found in every kitchen or garage (e.g.) stoves, hot plates, blow torches, small lamps, a double boiler etc. This also means that hobbyists can use it without purchasing any special equipment. 4. An unusual property of cerrosafe is the way it shrinks and expands as it cools down. Initially, the cerrosafe shrinks slightly during the first few minutes of cooling, just like any other normal metal or alloy does. This makes it easier to remove from a firearm chamber. However, after about 30 minutes have passed, it starts to expand while cooling. After about an hour or so, it returns back to about the original dimensions of the chamber and after about 4 days (96 hours), it expands to slightly larger than the dimensions of the chamber it was cast in (it expands about 0.0025 inches per inch of size after 96 hours). 5. One more useful property of cerrosafe is that it does not bond itself to the barrel metal like plain lead or tin do. This also makes it easier to extract out of the barrel. In case the user thinks that cerrosafe is too expensive, there is another product made by Rotometals Inc., called Rotometals chamber casting alloy. This is practically the same composition as cerrosafe, but doesn't come in a nice stamped bar with letters on it, but is sold as a conical ingot instead. However, it has identical properties as cerrosafe, but costs about 50% less (A 1 lb. ingot of Rotometals chamber casting alloy only costs about $15 to $20 from various sources). An ingot of Rotometals chamber casting alloy. Click on the image to enlarge. The following table shows how cerrosafe (or rotometals) chamber alloy's dimensions change with time, as it gradually solidifies. Time Contraction/Expansion per inch 2 minutes-0.0004 inches 6 minutes-0.0007 inches 30 minutes-0.0009 inches 1 hour0.0000 inches 2 hours+0.0016 inches 5 hours+0.0018 inches 10 hours+0.0019 inches 24 hours / 1 day+0.0022 inches 96 hours / 4 days+0.0025 inches 200 hours+0.0025 inches 500 hours+0.0025 inches As you can see, the alloy initially shrinks for the first 30 minutes or so, then it starts to slowly expand. After approximately 1 hour, it returns back to the original dimensions of the chamber and the alloy continues to expand, until about 4 days later, when it reaches its maximum size. So how does the user measure the dimensions of a chamber using this alloy then? 1. First the user disassembles the firearm as needed, to get access to the chamber of the firearm. 2. Next, the user cleans the barrel and puts a small amount of oil in the chamber and then pushes a cleaning patch into the barrel so that it is just ahead of the throat of the barrel. The cleaning patch serves to block the barrel after the chamber. 3. The cerrosafe (or rotometals) bar is heated until it melts. It is only necessary to ensure that the bar is not directly heated by open flame. This means it can be heated in a small iron ladle or coffee can, using a stove, electric hot plate, propane torch, oil lamp, candle etc. It can also be heated by placing a small container containing the cerrosafe into a larger container of water and then boiling the water. Remember that the melting point of cerrosafe is well below that of the boiling point of water. 4. The molten cerrosafe is then poured into the chamber of the firearm, until the chamber is full. Since the melting point of cerrosafe is so low, it doesn't affect the barrel or the cleaning patch that is blocking the barrel on the other side of the chamber. The cerrosafe alloy is then allowed to cool until it turns a shiny silver color. As soon as the alloy has cooled enough that it is no longer a liquid, it can be pushed out of the chamber using a cleaning rod or wooden dowel (remember that cerrosafe initially shrinks slightly as it cools for the first few minutes, which makes it easier to push out). 5. After about an hour, the casting expands back to the original dimensions of the chamber. It is then carefully measured at various points to determine the exact dimensions of the chamber, using a vernier caliper or a dial gauge. The user can then use these measurements to figure out what cartridge size the firearm was designed to use. Reference books that list the exact dimensions of various cartridge types are readily available, therefore the exact cartridge model may be easily determined. A good reference book that is commonly used is "Cartridges of the World". After this, the casting can be stored somewhere until it is needed to measure the chamber of a different firearm, as the alloy can be remelted and reused multiple times. One of the nice things about this process is that the user doesn't need to be very experienced to do this and the tools are also generally available and cheap. Here's a movie from the one and only Mr. Larry Potterfield, showing how to use cerrosafe to measure a chamber. Happy viewing!
Sunday, March 19, 2006 Hermes and Thoth In the previous post, I attempted to show that there was not much validity in the claim to the discovery of "ancient Egyptian Wisdom" during the Hermetic revival of the Renaissance. I then posed the question: But certainly there was some Egyptian influence, wasn't there? There are several issues surrounding this question that bear some examination in order to try and sort it all out. First of all, Frances A. Yates tell us in her Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition: The works which inspired the Renaissance Magus, and which he believed to be of profound antiquity, were really written in the second to the third centuries A.D. He was not returning to an Egyptian wisdom, not much later than the wisdom of the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets, and much earlier than Plato and the other philosophers of Greek antiquity, who had all - so the Renaissance Magus firmly believed - drunk from its sacred fountain. He is returning to the pagan background of early Christianity, to that religion of the world, strongly tinged with magic and oriental influences, which was the gnostic version of Greek philosophy, and the refuge of weary pagans seeking an answer to life's problems other than that offered by their contemporaries, the early Christians. The Egyptian God, Thoth, the scribe of the gods and the divinity of wisdom, was identified by the Greeks with their Hermes and sometimes given the epithet of Thrice Great. The Latins took over this identification of Hermes or Mercurius with Thoth, and Cicero in his De natura deorum explains that there were really five Mercuries, the fifth being "he who killed Argus, and consequently fled in exile to Egypt where he "gave the Egyptians their laws and letters" and took the Egyptian name of Theuth or Thoth.... It is not known when the Hermetic framework was first used for philosophy, but the Asclepius and the Corpus Hermeticum, which are the most important of the philosophical Hermetica which have come down to us, are probably to be dated between A.D. 100 and 300. Though cast in a pseudo framework, these works have been thought by many scholars to contain very few genuine Egyptian elements. Others would allow for some influence of native Egyptian beliefs upon them. In any case, however, they were certainly not written in remotest antiquity by an all-wise Egyptian priest, as the Renaissance believed, but by various unknown authors, all probably Greeks, and they contain popular Greek philosophy of the period, a mixture of Platonism and Stoicism, combined with some Jewish and probably some Persian influences... The Asclepius purports to describe the religion of the Egyptians, and by what magic rites and processes the Egyptians drew down the powers of the cosmos into the statues of their gods.... In the first volume of his work, La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste, Festugière has analyzed the state of mind of the epoch, roughly the second century after the birth of Christ, in which the Asclepius and the Hermetic treatises which have reached us in the Corpus Hermeticum collection were written. Externally, that world was highly organized and at peace. The Pax Romana was at the height of its efficiency and the mixed populations of the Empire were governed by an efficient bureaucracy. Communications along the great Roman roads were excellent. The educated classes had absorbed the Graeco-Roman type of culture, based on the seven liberal arts. The mental and spiritual condition of this world was curious. The mighty intellectual effort of Greek philosophy was exhausted, had come to a standstill, to a dead end, perhaps because Greek thinking never took the momentous step of experimental verification of its hypotheses - a step which was not to be taken until fifteen centuries later with the birth of modern scientific thinking in the seventeenth century. The world of the second century was weary of Greek dialectics which seemed to lead to no certain results. Platonists, Stoics, Epicureans could only repeat the theories of their various schools without making any further advances, and the tenets of the schools were boiled down in textbook form, in manuals which formed the basis of philosophical instruction within the Empire. Insofar as it is Greek in origin, the philosophy of the Hermetic writings is of this standardised type, with its smattering of Platonism, Neoplatonism, Stoicism, and the other Greek schools of thought. This world of the second century was, however, seeking intensively for knowledge of reality, for an answer to its problems which the normal education failed to give it. It turned to other ways of seeking an answer, intuitive, mystical, magical. Since reason seemed to have failed, it sought to cultivate the Nous, the intuitive faculty in man. Philosophy was to be used, not as a dialectical exercise, but as a way of reaching intuitive knowledge of the divine and of the meaning of the word, as a gnosis, in short, to be prepared for by ascetic discipline and a religious way of life. The Hermetic treatises, which often take the form of dialogues between master and disciple, usually culminate in a kind of ecstasy in which the adept is satisfied that he has received an illumination through contemplation of the world or the cosmos, or rather through contemplation of the cosmos as reflected in his own Nous ... and gives him spiritual mastery over it, as in the familiar gnostic revelation or experience of the ascent of the soul through the spheres of the planets to become immersed in the divine. Thus that religion of the world which runs as an undercurrent in much of Greek thought, particularly in Platonism and Stoicism, becomes in Hermetism actually a religion, a cult without temples or liturgy, followed in the mind alone, a religious philosophy or philosophical religion containing a gnosis. The men of the second century were thoroughly imbued with the idea (which the Renaissance imbibed from them) that what is old is pure and holy, that the earliest thinkers walked more closely with the gods than the busy rationalists, their successors. Hence they strong revival of Pythagoreanism in this age. They also had the impression that what is remote and far distant is more holy; hence their cult of the "barbarians," of Indian gymnosophist, Persian Magi, Chaldean astrologers, whose approach to knowledge was felt to be more religious than that of the Greeks. In the melting pot of the Empire, in which all religions were tolerated, there was ample opportunity for making acquaintance with oriental cults. Above all, it was the Egyptians who were revered in this age. Egyptian temples were still functioning, and devout seekers after religious truth and revelation in the Graeco-Roman world would make pilgrimages to some remotely situated Egyptian temple and pass the night in its vicinity in the hope of receiving some vision of divine mysteries in dreams. The belief that Egypt was the original home of all knowledge, that the great Greek philosophers had visited it and conversed with Egyptian priests, had long bee current, and, in the mood of the second century, the ancient and mysterious religion of Egypt, the supposed profound knowledge of its priest, their ascetic way of life, the religious magic which they were thought to perform in the subterranean chambers of their temples, offered immense attractions. It is this pro-Egyptian mood of the Graeco-Roman world which is reflected in the Hermetic Asclepius with it s strange description of the magic by which the Egyptian priests animated the statues of their gods, and its moving prophecy that the most ancient Egyptian religion is destined to come to an end.... So we can understand how the content of the Hermetic writings fostered the illusion of the Renaissance Magus that he had in them a mysterious and precious account of most ancient Egyptian wisdom, philosophy, and magic. Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical name associated with a certain class of gnostic philosophical revelations or with magical treatises, and recipes, was, for the Renaissance, a real person, an Egyptian priest who had lived in times of remote antiquity and who had himself written all these works. The scraps of Greek philosophy which he found in these writings, derived from the somewhat debased philosophical teaching current in the early centuries A.D., confirmed the Renaissance reader in his belief that he had her the fount of pristine wisdom whence Plato and the Greeks had derived the best that they knew. [Frances A. Yates] Walter Scott was a classical scholar who wrote in the introduction to his edition of the Hermetica (1924; reprinted by Shambhala Publications, 1993): Ficino's theory of the relation between Hermes Trismegistus and the Greek philosophers was based partly on data supplied by early Christian writers, especially Lactantius and Augustine, and partly on the internal evidence of the Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius of Pseudo-Apuleius. He saw... that the resemblance between the Hermetic doctrines and those of Plato was such as to imply some historical connection; but accepting it as a known fact that the author of the Hermetica was a man who lived about the time of Moses, he inverted the true relation and thought that Plato had derived his theology, through Pythagoras, from Trismegistus. And his view was adopted, at least in its main outlines, by all who dealt with the subject down to the end of the sixteenth century. Yates believes that the end of the sixteenth century is too early a date for the "ending of this illusion." Garth Fowden, in his book The Egyptian Hermes, does not, however, buy into this view wholesale. He wants very much to preserve something of the "Egyptian" in the hermetica. He writes: Egypt, we read in the Hermetic treatise called Asclepius, is 'the image of heaven... the temple of the whole world.' Even today Upper Egypt, which has preserved traditional ways more faithfully than other parts of the country, is a land dominated by the immense stone temples of the old gods. The sprawling shrines of Amun at Karnak and luxor still stand, while the walls and palaces of "hundred-gated' Thebes have crumbled into the earth. ... And in the time of the Pharaohs this was already an ancient and holy land. ... Of all the wonders past and present, natural and man-made, that Egypt had to show, it was her gods and temples that most caught the imagination of the foreign visitor. But the whole of Egypt's cultural and social life, like the configuration of the land itself, was unique. So too was the Egyptian mind, with its immovable conviction that the cultural identity of Egypt and the stability of the physical universe itself were one and the same thing. ... And so it was that Alexander's conquest of the Nile valley marked a profound caesura in the country's political history, in that the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt was never again to be work by a native Pharaoh, but brought no such clear-cut results in the cultural sphere. When the two alien cultural traditions of Egypt and Greece began to mix, it was on terms that bore little relation to political realities. In the centres of power, Hellenism was triumphant; but in cultural terms Egyptianism, instead of being submerged by hellenism, exercised so strong a gravitational and assimilative pull on it that the product of their interaction was at least as much Egyptian as Greek. ... The Greek world at large, and after it the Roman, was firmly persuaded that the Egyptians had been the first people to organize formal religious cult. Men of these less ancient nations were prepared to admire quite uncritically the temples and rituals of the Egyptians, and even to accept the idea that the land of Egypt was intrinsically holy. The priesthood... enjoyed a reputation among men of Greek and Latin culture usually accorded only to the sages of nations safely and romantically remote from the well-trodden highways of the Mediterranean world, such as the Brahmins and Gymnosophists of India. Even the wisest representatives of other traditions - Moses among the Jews, Solon, Pythagoras and Plato among the Greeks - were acknowledged to have sat at the feet of Egyptian priests. In the imperial Roman period men continued to believe sufficiently in the wisdom of Egypt to travel there and seek out its far-famed temple-dwellers... But this sort of adulation was not necessarily reciprocated. Herodotus had already remarked on the Egyptians' hostility to foreign ways: The keep the ancestral laws and add none other... They avoid the use of Greek customs, and generally speaking the customs of all other men. One naturally wonders, then, to what extent it was possible for the interaction of Egyptianism and Hellenism to lead to their fusion, in the religious or any other sphere. Did the centuries that followed the conquest of Egypt by Alexander see the emergence of a new, Graeco-Egyptian consciousness? Undeniably, attempts to demonstrate a 'fusion' of Egyptianism and Hellenism run the constant risk of being undermined by a considerable body of evidence that the two cultures often contrived, especially in the Ptolemaic period, to exist in contiguous isolation. [The Greeks living in Egypt] persevered in Greek ways... they spoke their own language, keeping it free even of loan-words, and exploiting its flexibility... to disguise the uniqueness of their adopted land, bequeathing us in the process pyramids, obelisks, sphinxes and labyrinths.[...] Nearly all our best evidence for cultic syncretism, of whatever sort, comes from the more heavily Hellenized parts of Egypt, such as Alexandria and the Fayyum. It was, after all, the Greeks who needed to acclimatized in a foreign land; and so it was they who took the initiative in identifying their gods with native divinities... Even in areas that had a large Greek population, the immigrants were often happy to attach themselves to the dominant local gods, not excluding those, such as Sobek, the crocodile-god of the Fayyum, for whom even the most imaginative syncretist would have been hard put to it to find a Hellenic counterpart.... As late as the third century A.D. we find the philosopher Porphyry remarking on the antipathy of Egyptians towards "half-Greek fabrications" like Hermanubis.... The evolution of Hermes Trismegistus himself, out of the syncretism [heavily weighted on the Greek side] of Thoth and Hermes, well illustrates the tensions which arose from the encounter of these two strong-minded cultural traditions. ... [Among the Egyptians] Thoth was regarded even in the most primitive period as the moon-god.... The moon, "ruler of the stars, distinguishes seasons, months and years; and so Thoth became the lord and multiplier of Time, and the regulator of individual destinies. ... To him, as divine scribe, inventor of writing and lord of wisdom, the priesthood attributed much of its sacred literature... And of the occult powers latent in all these aspects of the cult of the gods, Thoth was the acknowledged source. By extension he came to be regarded as the lord of knowledge, language and all science... Naturally enough his clergy were eager to aggrandize their patron; and the obvious way to do so was through the development of a distinctive cosmogony... So it was that Thoth acquired a leading role in the drama of creation itself, as a demiurge who called things into being merely by the sound of his voice. Besides the common near Eastern idea that speech has creative power, we can surely detect here the influence of Thoth the god of magic. ... His was an inescapable presence; and it is easy to see why foreign settlers in Egypt were tempted to try to establish some sort of link with him. The second-century B.C. Jewish romancer Artapanus, for instance, wrote an account of the life of Moses in which he assimilated his hero to "Hermes" (i.e. Thoth) making him responsible for introducing the Egyptians to ships, machines, weapons, and philosophy... And the Greek settlers identified Thoth with their god Hermes. ... Hermes Trismegistus, then, was the cosmopolitan, Hellenistic Hermes, Egyptianized through his assimilation to Thoth... Yet around and within the Egyptian Hermes there persisted serious tensions, mirroring the peculiarities of the Graeco-Egyptian milieu that had produced him. In the beginning it no doubt seemed enough to say that the Greek god Hermes was equivalent to the Egyptian god Thoth, and leave it at that. But the temptation to provide a mythological explanation could not be resisted forever; and that was one of the reasons why Cicero was eventually able to enumerate no less than five different individuals who claimed the name Hermes, the third being the familiar offspring of Zeus and Maia, while: ...the fifth, who is worshipped by the people of Pheneus [in Arcadia], is said to have killed Argus, and for this reason to have fled to Egypt, and to have given the Egyptians their laws and alphabet - he it is whom the Egyptians call Theyn [Thoth] In other words, the story that was produced - and widely circulated - to explain the emergence of Hermes Trismegistus invoked a relatively human Hermes who was recognized to be distinct from the messenger of the gods. So it is not surprising to find that people of Greek culture did not always envisage Trismegistus in the same terms as did those of a more Egyptian background. It is in the Greek magical papyri rather than in the Hermetica that we most clearly discern the lineaments of Hermes Trismegistus, and that the Egyptian aspects of his identity are given fullest rein. In a country as renowned for its magic as was Egypt, that was only to be expected. And so we see that the personage of Hermes Trismegistus is, undoubtedly, a composite of the Greek and Egyptian gods and ideas. Scott explains how the classical teachers and scholars of antiquity would have described Hermes: "Hermes was a man like you and me - a man who lived in Egypt a very long time ago, in the time of King Ammon. But he was a man who attained to gnosis (that is to say, knowledge of God, but a kind of knowledge that involves union with God; and he was the first and greatest teacher of gnosis. He died, as other men die, and after death he became a god - just as you and I also, if we attain to gnosis, will become gods after our deaths. But in the dialogues which I and others like me write, and in which we make Hermes speak as teacher, we represent him as talking to his pupils at the time when he was living on earth; and at that time he was a man." In short, according to the best scholarly analyses, most of what is found in the Corpus Hermeticum is NOT Egyptian. Quite a number of people - followers of popular occultism - have difficulty accepting this. They search the texts to find specifically "Egyptian ideas" and will quote such as the following in favor of their case: "God is self-generated; that God is hidden; that God is nameless; and yet innumerably-named; that God is bisexual; that God is life and the source or author of all life, etc..." This is certainly not an exclusively Egyptian idea though Scott acknowledges it to have a strongly Egyptian "flavor." This idea has been an esoteric thread for, undoubtedly, many thousands of years . But it ought to be made clear that, yes, the Hermetic literature makes reference to Egyptian things, or to things prior to Egypt and the documents produced in Hellenic Egypt do, indeed, make references to life on the Nile. So it could be said that the style and setting of the Hermetica is Egyptian, while the teachings are, essentially, esoteric - most often Gnostic - and not specifically Egyptian. As Laura Knight-Jadczyk shows in her great opus, The Secret History of The World, the Hermetica is a distorted survival of the northern pagan cosmological doctrine that is based on things far more ancient than Egypt. As we present the information in this volume, the reader will be introduced to the idea that the science of the ancients may have included a very comprehensive knowledge of the deeper reality that present day sciences, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, and astrophysics, are only rediscovering. And here we do not mean the ancient Egyptians or Babylonians or Sumerians, but rather peoples of far greater antiquity than they, and that the Egyptians, Babylonians, Sumerians, and so on, retained only a distorted and corrupted version of these ideas in the form of myths and legends which they elaborated and utilized in their “magical practices.” Further, that it is only in the light of the present day scientific knowledge that the true ancient knowledge, depicted in these myths and legends and religious rites can be properly understood. This is not to say that we are suggesting that we understand or have interpreted all of them. We are only saying that there are many ideas in these ancient stories that suggest the former existence of an advanced science that may have enabled an interface between layers, or dimensions of reality, on this planet in archaic times. This idea is not original to us, as many readers will know. However, we do think that we have been able to shine a light into certain dark corners that have been, heretofore, poorly understood. Arthur C. Clarke pointed out, “Any sufficiently evolved technology is indistinguishable from magic.” When we divest our minds of preconceived notions about what the ancients may or may not have known, and we just look at myths and legends, the substrate of religions, over and over again we see descriptions of activities, events, terms and potentials that express such things as a knowledge of free energy, anti-gravity, time travel, interplanetary travel, atomic energy, atomic molecularization and demolecularization; just a whole host of doings that were formerly understood as the wild and superstitious imaginings of howling savages, that today - with scientific knowledge - are becoming commonplace activities. Many scholars explain that such stories were attempts to understand the environment by personifying, or anthropomorphizing, the forces of nature. Other interpreters make the mistake of assuming that it was a “sacred science” in terms that strictly deny any form of material interpretation. About Egypt, specifically, she writes: The fad for all things “Egyptian” has been with us for a very long time. Schwaller de Lubicz - the vector of many of these ideas - settled in Egypt in 1938 and for the next 15 years studied the symbolism of the temples, particularly Luxor, finding what he considered to be proof that the ancient Egyptians were the ultimate examples of Synarchy, because they were ruled by a group of elite initiates. He failed to point out that the Egyptian civilization was static and limited. What’s more, it caved in on itself, and never managed to produce any significant work of benefit for humanity, as Otto Neugebauer showed conclusively in his The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, whose evidence we will quote further on in this volume. The open-minded thinker ought to really consider the purported mysteries of Egypt in terms of the fact that they were so ignorant that they devoted a huge amount of energy to their “cult of the dead.” The whole Egyptian shtick is focused around preserving dead flesh for future or otherworldly reanimation. The very fact that there are so many of these dead bodies for Egyptologists to dig up is the clearest evidence that the Egyptian beliefs were nonsense. So, in that sense, certainly, Christianity as we know it has adopted the “Egyptian religion” and its beliefs in physical resurrection. The whole issue of the excitement over Egyptian civilization is the belief that they had some mysterious powers because they built the pyramids and we can’t. And has it never occurred to anybody that the existence of the pyramids in conjunction with the worship of an elite group of human beings, while everybody else was wearing loincloths and sweating in the hot sun, might suggest a relationship between the two? The fact is, the Egyptian civilization seems to have been the chief example of a vast chasm between the haves and the have-nots, and they managed to do it longer than anybody else. In examining the work of Schwaller, we have one of the better examples of the subtle way the negative occult societies attack those who come to bring light, by association and co-opting. The tactic is to find a means of subtly allying their message with that of the truth so as to generate confusion in untrained minds which would tend on surface evidence to accept these actually contrary messages as similar, at least in intent. The negative occultists who are promoting the new Control System borrow all their components from what is of truth, and proceed by the method of imitation. They literally will ape the expression of positive teachings, and all the more carefully when they wish to be mistaken altogether for purveyors of truth, so as to subvert the messages. [....] [The alchemist Fulcanelli writes] Atlantis. Did this mysterious island, of which Plato left the enigmatic description, ever exist? A question difficult to solve, give the weakness of the means which science possesses to penetrate the secret of the abysses. Nevertheless, some observations seem to support the partisans of the existence of Atlantis. […] Faith in the truthfulness of Plato’s works results in believing the reality of the periodical upheavals of which the Mosaic Flood, we said it, remains the written symbol and the sacred prototype. To those who negate what the priests of Egypt entrusted to Solon, we would only ask to explain to us what Aristotle’s master wanted to reveal by this fiction of a sinister nature. For we indeed believe that beyond doubt, Plato became the propagator of very ancient truths, and that consequently his books contain a set, a body of hidden knowledge. His Geometric Number, and Cave have their signification; why should the myth of Atlantis not have its own? Atlantis must have undergone the same fate as the others, and the catastrophe, which submerged it, falls obviously into the same cause as that which buried, forty-eight centuries later, under a profound sheet of water, Egypt, the Sahara, and the countries of Northern Africa. But more favored than the land of the Atlantean, Egypt gained from a raising of the bottom of the ocean and came back to the light of day, after a certain time of immersion. For Algeria and Tunisia with their dry “chotts” covered with a thick layer of salt, the Sahara and Egypt with their soils constituted for a large part of sea sand show that the waters invaded and covered vast expanses of the African continent. The columns of the Pharaohs‘ temples bear on them undeniable traces of immersion; in the hypostyle chambers, the slabs, still extant, which form the ceilings have been raised and moved by the oscillating motion of the waves; the disappearance of the outer coating of the pyramids and in general that of the stone joins (the Colossus of Memnon who used to sing) the evident traces of corrosion by water that can be noticed on the sphinx of Giza, as well as on many other works of Egyptian statuary have no other origin. [...] One of the oft-reiterated themes of Fulcanelli is that the “ancient Greeks” — not the Egyptians — were the source of the Hermetic science. Timaeus and Critias, written by Plato some time around 360 BC98 are the only existing written records which specifically refer to Atlantis. The dialogues are conversations between Socrates, Hermocrates, Timaeus, and Critias. Apparently in response to a prior talk by Socrates about ideal societies, Timaeus and Critias agree to entertain Socrates with a tale that is “not a fiction but a true story.” It should be noted here that this is, indeed, true: Fulcanelli says that the Greeks were the source of the Hermetic Science. For those who suggest that Schwaller was the "real Fulcanelli," this immediately produces an insurmountable problem since Schwaller devoted all his time and energy to studies of Egypt and promoting the Egyptians as the source of Hermetic knowledge. Back to Knight-Jadczyk's exposition on the subject: The story is about the conflict between the ancient Athenians and the Atlanteans 9000 years before Plato’s time. Knowledge of the ancient times was apparently forgotten by the Athenians of Plato’s day, and the form the story of Atlantis took in Plato’s account was that Egyptian priests conveyed it to Solon. Solon passed the tale to Dropides, the great-grandfather of Critias. Critias learned of it from his grandfather also named Critias, son of Dropides. Let’s take a careful look at the main section of the story, omitting the introduction that describes Solon going to Egypt and chatting up the priests. Thereupon one of the priests, who was of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you. Solon in return asked him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied, that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science, which is hoary with age. And I will tell you why. When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are carried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land, neither then nor at any other time, does the water come down from above on the fields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient. The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of summer does not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers. And whatever happened either in your country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed - if there were any actions noble or great or in any other way remarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples. We want to here make note of the fact that present day evidence suggests that it is true both that Egypt has been inundated and that it experienced a rainy climate. Fulcanelli even commented upon the inundation of Egypt. This leads us to question whether or not this story actually came from the mouth of a true Egyptian priest with the full knowledge of the ancient cataclysms. If so, he would have known of the period of heavy rain and shallow seas in Egypt, by which the Sphinx and other monuments were eroded, and which deposited a layer of salt on the interior of the pyramids and other structures. And so we suggest, to reconcile this difficulty, not that the story is false — because Fulcanelli has told us to “have faith in the account of Plato” — but rather that the speaker was not aware of certain ideas specifically relating to Egypt, and that the dialogue has been put into the mouth of an Egyptian priest in order to preserve it in the context of the then current “Egyptian craze.” It might even be thought that this was a deliberate exoteric “blind.” In the first place you remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land the fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them which survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in every way the best governed of all cities, is said to have performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven. Again, let’s interrupt the dialogue to point out that it is hardly likely that a priest of Egypt would have declared the Athenians to be “the fairest and noblest race of men,” nor that they “performed the noblest deeds” and had the “fairest constitution … under the face of heaven!” Another clue that the speaker is giving us that it is NOT Egypt that is the source of this information - at least not Egypt as we know it now. Solon marveled at his words, and earnestly requested the priests to inform him exactly and in order about these former citizens. You are welcome to hear about them, Solon, said the priest, both for your own sake and for that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the goddess who is the common patron and parent and educator of both our cities. She founded your city a thousand years before ours, receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race, and afterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded in our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old. Yet again, the Egyptian priest is giving greater antiquity to the Greeks than to the Egyptians! Another clue for the reader to understand that this is not an Egyptian story! What is being said is being put in the mouth of an Egyptian priest to “conceal.” Indeed, the worship of the goddess, is the older form of worship in Egypt. But all of that came to an end, probably with the conquest of Narmer, the building of the temple to Hephaestus, the demoting of the goddess and the Moon calendar, and the instituting of the Solar worship and the solar calendar of 365 days.99 As touching your citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of their laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of the whole we will hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred registers themselves. If you compare these very laws with ours you will find that many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they were in the olden time. Here, of course, we come to the idea that there was an ancient connection and communication between the truly “old Egyptians” and the Northern peoples. Georges Gurdjieff once remarked that Christianity was taken from Egypt, a statement that might suggest that he agreed with the Pan-Egyptian school. But no: Christianity, he hastened to explain, was not taken from the Egypt of history, but from a “far older Egypt” which is unrecorded.100 In the first place, there is the caste of priests, which is separated from all the others; next, there are the artificers, who ply their several crafts by themselves and do not intermix; and also there is the class of shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of husbandmen; and you will observe, too, that the warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are commanded by the law to devote themselves solely to military pursuits; moreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first to us, as in your part of the world first to you. The remark that the right function of society was “first taught to the Asiatics” is most interesting. The reference to “Asiatics” in this context from an historical “Egyptian Priest” is extremely questionable because, in the many Egyptian inscriptions of historical times, the Asiatics are always referred to as “Vile.” Nevertheless, even in historical times, it is indeed true that the Egyptians borrowed their military equipment and war strategies from the Asiatics, but that was a much later development than the above story would suggest. The issue of who the “vile Asiatics” were is an ongoing debate, but it seems to devolve on such as the Hittites, Hyksos, and other Indo-European tribes that came down from the Steppes in various waves. We will discuss, further on, the evidence that the Steppe peoples were the worshippers of the goddess in the most ancient times, and that the war god, the weather god, the god of fire and the mountains, was introduced later from the South. Then as to wisdom, do you observe how our law from the very first made a study of the whole order of things, extending even to prophecy and medicine which gives health, out of these divine elements deriving what was needful for human life, and adding every sort of knowledge which was akin to them. All this order and arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when establishing your city; and she chose the spot of earth in which you were born, because she saw that the happy temperament of the seasons in that land would produce the wisest of men. Wherefore the goddess, who was a lover both of war and of wisdom, selected and first of all settled that spot which was the most likely to produce men likest herself. And there you dwelt, having such laws as these and still better ones, and excelled all mankind in all virtue, as became the children and disciples of the gods. Again and again, this very strange “Egyptian” priest is saying things that completely contradict the more “historical” Egyptian view that they are the most “ancient and noble race.” In the above remarks, he has said that the goddess imparted to the Greeks first all of the laws of health and those things needed to preserve and prolong life. The Greeks are pronounced to have been the “wisest of men,” and those “most like the goddess” herself. And again “excelled all mankind in all virtue,” which is not very likely to have been said by an Egyptian priest. Of all the things the “Egyptian priest” has said, the above is the most astonishing and the most telling. Again he is giving pre-eminence to the Greeks, that they performed the most heroic deed of all times, which was to defeat the Atlantean Empire! And this is the point that is so often just simply overlooked by all the Atlantis lovers! Atlantis was the original “evil empire of the Borg!” And what is more, in this passage, the clue is given that the ancient Egyptian civilization — the pyramids and other monumental architecture upon which so much of the current Egyptian craze is based, stemming from the work of Schwaller de Lubicz, and which is declared to be the offspring of Atlantis - the ancient Egypt that is so admired by the current day flock of Egyptophiles - was very likely an attempt to re-construct the EVIL EMPIRE OF ATLANTIS! In other words, the “priestly science” of the Egyptians, referred to by Fulcanelli, antedated the material so diligently studied and propagated by Schwaller and others for “clues” to alchemical secrets and methods of “ascension.” I have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged Critias heard from Solon and related to us. And when you were speaking yesterday about your city and citizens, the tale which I have just been repeating to you came into my mind, and I remarked with astonishment how, by some mysterious coincidence, you agreed in almost every particular with the narrative of Solon; but I did not like to speak at the moment. For a long time had elapsed, and I had forgotten too much; I thought that I must first of all run over the narrative in my own mind, and then I would speak. Here we find another interesting clue. Critias has just told us that Socrates was discussing the very things that are included in this story — that everything Socrates had been saying the previous day “agreed in almost every particular with the narrative of Solon.” Apparently, this story had been handed down via another line of transmission. And so I readily assented to your request yesterday, considering that in all such cases the chief difficulty is to find a tale suitable to our purpose, and that with such a tale we should be fairly well provided. And therefore, as Hermocrates has told you, on my way home yesterday I at once communicated the tale to my companions as I remembered it; and after I left them, during the night by thinking I recovered nearly the whole it. Truly, as is often said, the lessons of our childhood make wonderful impression on our memories; for I am not sure that I could remember all the discourse of yesterday, but I should be much surprised if I forgot any of these things which I have heard very long ago. I listened at the time with childlike interest to the old man’s narrative; he was very ready to teach me, and I asked him again and again to repeat his words, so that like an indelible picture they were branded into my mind. As soon as the day broke, I rehearsed them as he spoke them to my companions, that they, as well as myself, might have something to say. And now, Socrates, to make an end my preface, I am ready to tell you the whole tale. I will give you not only the general heads, but the particulars, as they were told to me. The city and citizens, which you yesterday described to us in fiction, we will now transfer to the world of reality. It shall be the ancient city of Athens, and we will suppose that the citizens whom you imagined, were our veritable ancestors, of whom the priest spoke; they will perfectly harmonise, and there will be no inconsistency in saying that the citizens of your republic are these ancient Athenians. Let us divide the subject among us, and all endeavour according to our ability gracefully to execute the task which you have imposed upon us. Consider then, Socrates, if this narrative is suited to the purpose, or whether we should seek for some other instead.101 And we come to the final understanding that conveys to us the secret of the story of Atlantis: that it did not actually come from an Egyptian priest, but that this was a story that was created to “execute the task which you [Socrates] have imposed upon us,” which was to veil in fiction something that was Truth. Does this mean that they were “making it up”? No, indeed. It means that they were attempting to find a vehicle for the history that would insure its preservation. Thus we come to the conclusion that it is entirely possible that the story was not given to Solon by an Egyptian priest, but that it was attributed to same because at the time everyone was convinced of the antiquity of the Egyptians. It was as much a fad then as now, due to the presence of the pyramids and other monuments. If Fulcanelli is correct about the cult of the dead of the Egyptians being a distortion of this knowledge, and this cult was encouraged, supported, and furthered by the Egyptian elite of the past several thousand years, then it is almost a certainty that they were not in possession of the knowledge that was conveyed to Solon. But it seems apparent that he did, indeed, get it from somewhere. And he tells us that the Greeks were instructed by the Arabs which certainly makes us wonder who were the original “Arabs” since the time referred to was long before Abraham and his son Ishmael, the alleged “father of the Arabs.” [The Secret History of the World, Laura Knight-Jadczyk, 2005, Red Pill Press, Canada] When discussing historical chronology, Knight-Jadczyk brings up Egypt again: Otto Neugebauer began the ten-page section on Egypt in his later History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy with the provocative sentence, “Egypt has no place in a work on the history of mathematical astronomy.”332 Did you catch that? Neugebauer is telling us that the Egyptians were scientifically illiterate. He read and examined everything. All the Egyptologists who were inculcated into the belief of the superiority of Egyptian science were sending him their papyri and inscriptions from tombs and monuments. All the things that are so difficult to get hold of nowadays were sent to Neugebauer. And what did Neugebauer say? Mathematics and astronomy played a uniformly insignificant role in all periods of Egyptian history. […] The fact that Egyptian mathematics has preserved a relatively primitive level makes it possible to investigate a stage of development which is no longer available in so simple a form, except in the Egyptian documents. To some extent Egyptian mathematics has had some, though rather negative, influence on later periods. Its arithmetic was widely based on the use of unit fractions, a practice which probably influenced the Hellenistic and Roman administrative offices and thus spread further into other regions of the Roman empire. […]The influence of this practice is visible even in works of the stature of the Almagest, where final results are often expressed with unit fractions in spite of the fact that the computations themselves were carried out with sexagesimal fractions. […] And this old tradition doubtless contributed much to restricting the sexagesimal place value notation to a purely scientific use. It would be quite out of proportion to describe Egyptian geometry here at length. It suffices to say that we find in Egypt about the same elementary level we observed in contemporary Mesopotamia. The role of Egyptian mathematics is probably best described as a retarding force upon numerical procedures. Egyptian astronomy had much less influence on the outside world for the very simple reason that it remained through all its history on an exceedingly crude level which had practically no relations to the rapidly growing mathematical astronomy of the Hellenistic age. Only in one point does the Egyptian tradition show a very beneficial influence, that is, in the use of the Egyptian calendar by the Hellenistic astronomers. This calendar is, indeed, the only intelligent calendar which ever existed in human history. A year consists of 12 months of 30 days each and five additional days at the end of each year. A second Egyptian contribution to astronomy is the division of the day into 24 hours, through these hours were originally not of even length, but were dependent on the seasons. […] Lunar calendars played a role since early times side by side with the schematic civil calendar of the 365-day year. An inscription of the Middle Kingdom mentions “great” and “small” years, and we know now that the “great” years were civil years which contained 13 new moon festivals in contrast to the ordinary “small” years with only 12 new moons. The way these intercalations were regulated, at least in the latest period, is shown by the Demotic text. This Demotic text contains a simple periodic scheme which is based on the fact that 25 Egyptian civil years (which contain 9125 days) are very nearly equal to 309 mean lunar months. These 309 months are grouped by our text into 16 ordinary years of 12 lunar months, and 9 “great” years of 13 months. Ordinarily two consecutive lunar months are given 59 days by our scheme, obviously because of the fact that one lunar month is close to 29 ½ days long. But every 5th year the two last months are made 60 days long. This gives for the whole 25 year cycle the correct total of 9125 days. Since at this period all astronomical computations were carried out in the sexagesimal system, at least as far as fractions are concerned, the equinoctial hours were divided sexagesimally. Thus our present division of the day into 24 hours of 60 minutes each is the result of a Hellenistic modification of an Egyptian practice combined with Babylonian numerical procedures. Finally, we have to mention the decans. […] The decans are the actual reason for the 12 division of the night and hence, in the last analysis, of the 24 hour system. Again, in Hellenistic times the Egyptian decans were brought into a fixed relation to the Babylonian zodiac which is attested in Egypt only since the reign of Alexander’s successors. In this final version the 36 decans are simply the thirds of the zodiacal signs, each decan representing 10 degrees of the ecliptic. Since the same period witnesses the rapid development of astrology, the decans assumed an important position in astrological lore and in kindred fields such as alchemy, the magic of stones and plants and their use in medicine. In this disguise the decans reached India, only to be returned in still more fantastic form to the Muslims and the West. […] [In the decans] we have not a calendar but a star clock. The user of this list would know the hour of night by the rising of the decan which is listed in the proper decade of the month. […] We call this phenomenon the “heliacal rising” of S, using a term of Greek astronomy. [...] It is this sequence of phenomena which led the Egyptians to measure the time of night by means of stars, which we now call decans. This was intended to devise some method of indicating the times of office for the nightly service in the temples, (and other practical reasons.) Just as the months were divided into decades, so were the services of the hour-stars. For 10 days, S indicated the last hour of night, then the next star for the next ten days, and so on. […] All this was, in fact, taken into account by the inventors of the decanal hours, as can be demonstrated by the terminal section of the “diagonal calendars” on the coffin lids. […] By the time of the New Kingdom, the usefulness of the decans as indicators of hours had ceased. […] The decans held a secure position as representatives of the decades of the year in the decoration of astronomical ceilings, as in the tomb of Senmut or in the cenotaph of Seti I. In this form, they continued to exist until their association with the zodiac of the Hellenistic period revived them and made them powerful elements of astrological doctrine. The coffins with the “diagonal calendars” belong roughly to the period from 2100 BC to 1800 BC. […] Astronomical accuracy was nowhere seriously attempted in these documents. […] In summary, from the almost three millennia of Egyptian writing, the only texts which have come down to us and deal with a numerical prediction of astronomical phenomena belong to the Hellenistic or Roman period. None of the earlier astronomical documents contains mathematical elements; they are crude observational schemes, partly religious, partly practical in purpose. Ancient science was the product of a very few men; and these few happened not to be Egyptians.333 It seems that we have learned several things from Neugebauer’s examination of the texts of the various papyri, tomb inscriptions, monuments, calendars, and so forth. One of the most important things we have learned is that the Egyptians did, indeed, correct their calendar every five years, similar to what we do every four years with our leap year. This naturally makes the idea of the Sothic cycle irrelevant in terms of calendrical reconciliation. We also begin to understand some of the totally incomprehensible sayings of the Pyramid Texts. They were recitations of prayers and magical spells that had to be performed at a certain “moment” in the night, and the only way to determine time at night was by the stars. According to Neugebauer, there are sufficient numbers of these star clocks in tombs to confirm this idea. Next we note that Neugebauer tells us that the only texts which have come down to us and deal with a numerical prediction of astronomical phenomena belong to the Hellenistic or Roman period and in Hellenistic times the Egyptian decans were brought into a fixed relation to the Babylonian zodiac which is attested in Egypt only since the reign of Alexander’s successors. In other words, the “occult secrets” generally attributed to the Egyptians, must actually belong to the Greeks. So, what can we conclude from all of this? It would be helpful for the interested Hermeticist to read thoroughly Knight-Jadczyk's amazing synthesis along with the works of Frances A. Yates, Garth Fowden, and their sources in order to get the fullest understanding of the fact that a huge error has been made and as a consequence, there is a serious distortion in Hermeticism as it is generally understood today. It seems that when the Greeks conquered Egypt, they were so impressed with the architectural marvels that they assumed that the present population was the one that had been responsible for those structures. However, that may not be the case at all. I can't cover that argument right now, but suffice it to say that there is enough evidence available to strongly suspect that the Egyptians that built the pyramids and the sphinx and the great temples were already long gone by the time the Greeks arrived and that the Egyptians in residence were but a remnant that had long forgotten the original science behind their structures and writings. All that was left was distortions and meaningless rituals, from which the original true knowledge had been long lost. The careful reader may have noted the reference to Egyptian "religion" as being infused with "magic" and incantations that had to be performed at certain hours and that this was the reason for the so called Pyramid Texts and the existence of the star clocks. If there has been any corruption of the ancient texts, it is this infusion of ritualistic nonsense into the process of Hermetic Gnosis, the subject I want to cover next. Sunday, March 12, 2006 Egyptian Hermes In the present day, it has become clear that the the confidence that the Enlightenment would lead man into the light of peace and prosperity has failed to fulfill its promise for the reasons I have pointed out in the previous post: Western civilization arose hampered by a serious deficiency in the very area which ought to play a role in creativity: a proper understanding of the human psyche. This civilization developed formulations of law, national, civil, and canon, which were designed for fictitious and simplified beings which bore no resemblance to normal humans. Such a civilization is insufficiently resistant to evil, which originates beyond the easily accessible areas of human consciousness and takes advantage of the great gap between formal or legal thought and psychological reality. In such a civilization - deficient in psychological cognition - the origins of evil in the minds of psychologically deviant individuals is masked from other people’s insufficiently developed consciousness. This is currently being discussed on the Ponerology site created by, among others, Laura Knight-Jadczyk. In this bit of writing, I want to begin to trace this process of Ponerogenesis in the Hermetic Tradition. That is, how did it get taken over by deviants, buried with disinformation, and obscured by nonsense. Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff write in their introduction to Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times: Most literature about the various aspects of "western esotericism" has traditionally been of an apologetic or polemic nature: a debate, basically, among believers and their opponents. Academic researchers generally tended to avoid an area of cultural expression that was widely regarded as inherently suspect; openly to express interest in these traditions might too easily endanger a scholar's prestige among colleagues. During the last few decades, the realization has been growing that this attitude has little to commend it from a scholarly point of view, and may on the contrary have blinded us to important aspects of our cultural past. Even more importantly, it has become increasingly clear that the scholarly recovery of "esoteric" traditions may eventually force us to question basic received opinions about the foundations of our present culture. These considerations apply most directly to those movements that developed in the wake of the Hermetic revival of the Renaissance period. ... This should not surprise us, if we take into account the battle between doctrinal Christian theology and Enlightenment rationality that began around two centuries ago. An impartial - instead of polemic - historical study of Gnosticism was potentially dangerous to the self-understanding of traditional Christianity and its modern representatives. [...] The situation was entirely different with respect to post-Renaissance "Hermeticist" movements. Not only were these less distant in a strictly chronological sense, they were also much closer in spirit. Having flowered in the same period that saw the emergence of modern science and rationality (and having been, as we now know, crucially involved in that emergence) they evidently touched upon the very roots of modernity itself. If Gnosticism had traditionally been perceived as the enemy of established Christianity - exemplifying what were regarded as essentially pagan temptations - modern Hermeticism held a comparable position in relation to the newly established rationalist worldview. To the intellectual heirs of the Enlightenment, it appeared very much as Gnosticism had appeared to the early church fathers: as a collection of archaic and potentially dangerous superstitions. They were regarded as the epitome of those kinds of error from which human reason had now finally managed to free itself. However, one openly fights an enemy only as long as one fears that he still might win. ... Like the Christian Church before it, modern rationalism, once safely consolidated, could afford itself the luxury of exchanging active combat for a more comfortable (and perhaps more effective) solution:silence. Believing in the inevitable progress of human rationality, one could simply ignore esotericism, in the confident expectation that its still surviving remnants would eventually wither and die by itself. (1998, SUNY Press) That isn't what has happened, however. Hermeticism was relegated to the fringe, and the fringe elements, often psychological deviants of society, saw the advantage and undertook to create "esoteric systems" of distortions and lies founded on poorly understood or deliberatly altered ancient texts. So it was that the abandonment of the study by properly trained scholars created a gap in which deviance could grow. The same could be said for the current day UFO phenomenon, not to mention the research into what really happened on September 11, 2001. In Western Society, when we face the spiritual failure such as confronts us today, when people become disillusioned with the "doctrine of human progress," and they begin to look for alternatives, they are open to the predations of deviants and spellbinders always looking to impose their dreams of power on the environment and society. In this particular field, they do this by promising secret knowledge. Such promises attract mostly deviant personalities who are, in a normal milieu, ignored and/or ridiculed. What these individuals then do is create "ideologies" that attract disenfranchised, ignorant people who seek to "level the playing field". You then end up with the blind leading the blind. Today there is a great deal of interest in alternatives to the Imperial Roman interpretation of Greek thought but it is becoming all too clear that esotericism is being put into the service of covert religious and ideological warfare. Most so-called "Western Esoteric Traditions" are either directly or indirectly influenced by the Occultists of the Renaissance and post Renaissance periods. The great "rebirth" and movement "forward into the future of a splendid humanistic era" of the Renaissance was, oddly enough, based on looking backward in Time. The idea of cyclical time, moving through progressive ages of Gold, bronze, and iron was at the root of this tendency to "look back" to the pure Golden Age for the greatest Truth. Any progress that man could make would only happen if he could find the earliest, the most ancient, the least corrupt ideals and ideas and put them into action so as to bring society to a new birth: the Renaissance of the Golden Age. The scholars and humanists of that day sought diligently to recover the literature and monuments of classical antiquity while the religious reformers simultaneously endeavored to return to the fundamentals of holy writ, study of the scriptures and the works of the early church fathers to recover what was lost, what had degenerated. In many cases, the two efforts crossed paths and purposes. Both of these movements of "return" knew very well the date of Cicero and his golden age of classical culture; the religious reformers knew that they were trying to return to original Christianity, even if they were not clear on the dates of the Gospels, or even if they were the earliest documents; and there were always clever deviants lurking in the shadows ready and willing to pass on the knowledge for a price. What appears to have happened in this searching for the most ancient texts, the most ancient knowledge, was that certain texts were turned up that seemed to posit that the True ancient religion, the True ancient knowledge, the True secret of the Golden Age was Magic! And the race was on to return to the "Golden Age of Magic." It is here that a great error was made. The Renaissance Magus was inspired by works that he thought were extremely ancient when, in fact, they were really written in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. He thought he was returning to a Golden Wisdom of Ancient Egypt - the knowledge of the Great Hermes Trismegistus - a Wisdom that he believed had infused the Hebrew prophets, taught the philosophers of Greece, and even gave birth to Christianity itself. But it was all an illusion. His "Thrice Great Hermes" was little more than a very late invention and only in more recent times has it been possible to trace the steps of this imposture. The Dominican scholar Festugière surveyed the technical Hermetica in his first volume of La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste. As one studies this material, it becomes obvioust that though Hermes wasn't always the "authority," his authority "added up" in the end to a more dominant position. There are certain magical texts that are specifically attributed to Hermes, and his position as an authority in that sphere gave him de facto authority in other fields as well. Magic seemed to be ubiquitous, being found in such things as the "occult properties of different substances and organisms" which pretty much covered everything material. As a result of this, Alchemists claimed Hermes as the founder and propagator of their art also and so Hermes' name is found at the top of the lists of alchemical authorities written by late antique and Byzantine writers. Interestingly, it is in the field of astrology that the most frequent references to Hermes as the ultimate authority are found. The gods Asclepius, Isis, the priest Petosiris and King Nechepso were all considered to have been pupils of Hermes. As a subset of this field are found astrological medicine and astrological botany which endeavored to use astrology in the diagnosis and cure of disease. An overview of the technical Hermetica demonstrates a general "kinship" of thought and similarity of style covering a heterogeneity of both subject matter and internal structure of the individual texts. In other words, it is clear that there are different authors/ editors/ redactors, but in a certain way, there is still a "school of thought" that links them together. These texts have been repeatedly copied and "remodeled" over the centuries, especially since they were popular in Byzantium, so dating of the originals is extremely difficult even with textual analysis. The magical texts - as opposed to the philosophical texts - represent a mature phase with no "stages of development" obviously evident and are mostly of later date, though one of the earliest surviving magical texts, firmly dated to the period of Augustus, is also the oldest Hermetic text preserved in papyrus. This suggests that magic must have been one of the first fields attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Most of the surviving astrological and medical Hermetica are of Roman date, in circulation in the First century AD or, possibly, a bit earlier. Coming along a little after that was the first evidence for the existence of the Cyranides (occult properties of substances and organisms). The alchemical hermetica are somewhat later and it was only in Roman times that alchemy assumed its classical form. Philosophical Hermetica were already being compiled into collections in antiquity, but the first collection of technical Hermetica (the various texts seem to have circulated as individual treatises) is encountered in Byzantium, Marcianus 299, dated only to the tenth or eleventh centuries, followed by the thirteenth century Parisinus 2325. Respecting compilations, there is a reference by Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) to "the man who put together at Athens the fifteen so-called Hermaic books." So we know that there was a collection that early. There are also quotes from the Hermetica found in non-Hermetic literature which suggests that anthologies of these texts were available. Stobaeus' collection provides a good example of such an anthology (early fifth century) which included forty Hermetic texts. This collection included the Korë kosmou which is almost a collection in itself. There is concrete evidence of the existence of very early philosophical collections in circulation though some of the texts are now lost. The most spectacular evidence of this is the Nag Hammadi library. Three of the eight texts contained in codex VI are indisputable Hermetic tractates. A number of the other texts from this collection give evidence of doctrinal parallels though they do not claim to be Hermetic and none of the Hermetic characters show up in them. The three indisputable Hermetic texts at the end of NHC VI seem to be simply part of a wider Gnostic compilation which leads to the question: were these three texts a specifically Hermetic collection, or did the compiler of the codex bring them together on his own initiative, for his own reasons? The first of the three texts, (apparently translated from Greek into Coptic), is an initiatory dialogue between Hermes and Tat. References in the text suggest that the untitled piece was called The Ogdoad reveals the Ennead, or The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Spheres. This text was previously unknown and this creates the difficulty that there is no other tradition to compare it with. In ancient times it was thought that the first Seven Spheres were the realms of the sun, moon and planets which represented the lower powers that controlled humanity and were NOT benevolent except insofar as it served their own interests. The Eighth and Ninth Spheres represented the levels beyond the control of the lower forces. The tractate may also assume a tenth sphere where God dwells, though this is not explicit. The tractate is a dialogue between Hermes Trismegistus, the "father," who instructs an initiate, the "son." Thus, the Hermetic character is emphasized by the use of the name of Hermes, though the strong, Gnostic dualistic theme is also present. Scholars note certain affinities to Middle Platonism which suggest a composition date of about the Second Century AD. The two other texts are both translations from the Hermetic Perfect discourse, known previously from the Latin Asclepius. Number 7 is the prayer of thanksgiving from this latter text, and number 8 corresponds to section 21-29 of Asclepius: Hermes' famous prophecy. These three texts together do not suggest that they were a connected series and the only clue to their origin is a scribal note inserted between text 7 and 8 that says: I have copied this single discourse (logos) of his, because many indeed have reached me, but I did not write them down, thinking that they had reached you [plural]; and what is more I hesitate to copy these for you, because possibly they did [already] reach you, and the matter was troublesome for you; for the discourses which have reached me from that source are numerous. The scribe, referring to a "single discourse," is obviously talking specifically about the Prayer of Thanksgiving from Asclepius and not the previous text, the Ogdoad reveal the Ennead. He apparently intended it to follow the Ogdoad as a sort of thanks for the deifying knowledge. What is interesting about this prayer is that it provides evidence for liturgical prayer, a ritual embrace or kiss, and a cultic meal in a typically Gnostic community. The prayer ends with: "When they had said these things in prayer, they embraced each other and they went to eat their holy food, which has no blood in it." Moving on to the Corpus Hermeticum itself, again, the problem is the fact that no one has yet proved it's existence as a collection prior to Michael Psellus's references to it in the eleventh century. The alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis mentions CH I and CH IV together at the end of the third century, but that doesn't prove that the entire collection was assembled. Stobaeus included in his Anthologium extracts from CH II, IV and X, but he also knew many other unattested texts so one cannot make any conclusions about his sources, whether they were collections or just a pile of individual tractates. The only thing certain is that the texts of the Corpus Hermeticum did not all come from the same place. Notable, also, is the fact that the Corpus Hermeticum does NOT include the undoubtedly popular Perfect Discourse that the above scribe mentions being so abundantly available. So, where are all the texts and who decided what got preserved and what didn't? Garth Fowden writes: If we look at a writer who knew the philosophical Hermetica well, like the Christian Lactantius (d. c. 320), it becomes clear not only that he was acquainted with many more Hermetic writing than we are, but also that he tended to quote only from those that fitted with the particular doctrinal points that he wanted to make. From Lactantius we learn a great deal about, for example, Hermetic doctrine on the nature of God, since it corresponded closely with his own understanding of Christianity; but about Hermetic mystical teaching, which could not easily be accommodated to a Christian context, he leaves us largely in the dark. That a writer as sympathetic to Hermetism as Lactantius could convey, albeit for understandable reasons, such an unbalanced picture of its doctrine, arouses a suspicion that the composition of the Corpus too, though it may go back to a late antique core, reflects the taste of the Christian Byzantine readership to which we owe our manuscripts. Byzantine disapproval of certain aspects of Hermetism is vividly conveyed by the abusive epithets that spatter the margins of one of our manuscripts. Perhaps this is the explanation for the absence of CH XVI thru XVIII from many of our manuscripts, SVI and SVII being too pagan, and SVIII, the last treatise in the collection and anyway not Hermetic, being naturally likely to fall out with them. Quotations made from Hermetic books by late antique writers provide a useful control on the Corpus, this time on the fidelity of the text itself. ... More significantly, material offensive to Christian and Greek taste might also be allowed to drop out in the course of the long process of transmission from scribe to scribe. NHC VI 6, for instance, includes references to magic, astrology and pagan cult, and a variety of Egyptian decor, of a sort conspicuously absent from the otherwise closely analogous CH XIII. (The Egyptian Hermes, 1986, Princeton University Press) And we should note also that, in the same way, extraneous - even corrupting - material can be introduced into the tradition and undoubtedly was. In addition to the Corpus Hermeticum, the Stobaean fragments and the Vienna and Nag Hammadi papyri, there are three other sources of information about the doctrines of philosophical Hermetism. These include the Perfect discourse, the Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius, preserved in an Armenian translation, and a variety of comments and testimonies from pagan and Christian writers of late antiquity. The Perfect discourse has survived intact in Latin, (the Asclepius), apparently done during the fourth century and attributed to Apuleius. There are a few Greek fragments of the same text, and the Coptic version of the two fragments from Nag Hammadi. Comparison of the fragments show that the complete Latin version is very definitely paraphrased. Fowden writes: Though the Perfect discourse itself was clearly a long and composite text whose incoherences were rather unsuccessfully camouflaged by a feeble editor. Yet the Asclepius has its moments, notably Hermes's great prophecy of the demise of Egypt. And doctrinally it is almost encyclopaedic. So it was widely read in late antiquity; and the loss of the original is surprising, to say the least. No doubt we have here another symptom of Byzantine censorship, since the work contains several openly - even to the Christina mind, shockingly - pagan passages. The Armenian Definitions is dated to 1273, but most copies date to the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Regarding the dating of the earliest textual strata of the philosophical hermetica, it is difficult. All that can really be said is that there were specimens circulating by the end of the second century. This is the same time that allusions to philosophical Hermetica turn up. The Nag Hammadi texts only tell us that the three Hermetic texts must antedate their inclusion into the codex in the mid-fourth century. So, basically, the end of the road leads to the time of composition being from the late first century to the late third century. That pretty much does away with the "ancient Egyptian Wisdom" of the Hermetic revival. But certainly there was some Egyptian influence, wasn't there? I will examine that question next. Sunday, March 05, 2006 The Faults in The Twin Pillars of Western Civilization Having been diverted for some months from the original plan for this blog - truly a bizarre word, but there it is - I have finally had a relaxation of external pressures so that I can resume my original plan: to discuss Gnosis and Hermeticism so as to show, by a series of arguments, that the positive paths of Gnosticism and Hermeticism are but degraded variations of Esoteric Christianity and that this "Esoteric Christianity" itself is but a continuation of a tradition so ancient that it is lost in the mists of pre-modern civilization antiquity. It is generally regarded as a given fact that Western Culture is predicated upon, and dominated by, the twin pillars of Greek rationality and "biblical" faith. Greek thought is defined as "sole reliance on the rationality of the mind" and the "Biblical Faith" is described as "emphasis on divine revelation." However, there is a problem with this assumption and that problem is the failure to consider the equally powerful influence of Imperial Rome. It was Imperial Rome that conquered Greece and then, subsequently imposed "Biblical Judeo-Christianity" on the West, so it behooves us to pause a moment and consider this factor in context. One of the big mysteries of ancient times is the origins of the Greeks. It is surprising to observe that the culture of the ancient Greeks represented what must have been an astonishingly autonomous tribe. It is said that no civilization could develop in isolation, without being affected by older cultures, but Greece seems to have been relatively unaffected by the rest of the Asiatic influenced Mediterranean civilizations; isolated, culturally speaking. No one has ever satisfactorily explained this, though many theories have been proposed. The work that is supposed to give us insight into the development of Greek culture is Homer's Iliad. Right up to the present time, it is believed that the Trojan War between the Achaeans and Trojans described in this work was waged near Hissarlik in north-west Turkey despite the fact that there is little evidence of the Asiatic influences from that region of the world on Greek Culture proper. And certainly, these influences are noted to be heavily stamped on every other culture emerging from those same regions. The fact is, there was a so-called Dark Age that conceals the development of Greek Civilization and this age is said to have covered the period 1200 to about 750 BC. More recent scientific discoveries about the eruption of the Volcano Thera on the island of Santorini, and it's dating to around 1600 BC suggest that this Dark Age was a great deal longer than anyone formerly supposed. Several scholarly and compelling books of recent times have made very good cases for the idea that the Greeks did NOT develop their civilization in the Mediterranean, but rather a more northerly location. These studies suggest that the climatic disruption caused by the eruption of Thera forced survivors of the Trojan War, which took place in an altogether different, northern, location, to flee South where they settled and named their towns and villages after the places they knew exactly as the refugees from Europe who fled religious persecution, or were simply looking for a more prosperous life named their towns and settlements after cities and towns in Europe. Plato himself had doubts about the Greek origins of Homer’s work because not only do the physical descriptions in his poems not correspond to the Greek world that Plato knew, but also the Homeric philosophy is very different from the mainstream Greek philosophy of Plato's time, and which we know about today. The latter is based on the dualism of two opposing elements, thesis/ antithesis, good/ evil, life/death, body/soul - pure rationality - omitting the idea of the Third Force that was clearly present in Homer.. Since Plato’s times, many have sought to derive “synthesis” from these opposing elements, with little success and so I propose that, just as others are looking elsewhere for the location of ancient Troy, we look elsewhere for the origins of the philosophy evident in Homer which was the platform for the emergence of the later "rationality" of the Greeks. It is clear from the Greek myths that their most ancient cultural foundations developed in direct contact with nature and the experiences of life and war. These conditions were recorded in a fully formed literary tradition that still stands as a model of depth and deft perception which gave birth to later philosophical reflections searching for generalities, essential contents, and criteria of values. The Greek heritage is fascinating due to its richness and individuality, but above all due to its almost primeval nature. Aristotle considered Gaul to be the “teacher” of Greece and the Druids to be the “inventors of philosophy.” The Greeks also considered the Druids to be the world’s greatest scholars, and whose mathematical knowledge was the source of Pythagoras‘ information so perhaps there is more to the idea that the Greeks came from the Northern climes than we might initially suppose when inculcated in our beliefs that civilization was born in Mesopotamia. A close and careful reading of Homer reveals that the philosophy of the ancient world included the idea that there was a third element that linked opposing elements. Between the body and the soul, there is the spirit. Between life and death there is the transformation that is possible to the individual, between father and mother there is the child who takes the characteristics of both father and mother, and between good and evil there is the SPECIFIC SITUATION that determines which is which and what ought to be done. This is clearly an ancient Celtic idea. Let us look at a quote from Laura Knight-Jadczyk's informative work The Secret History of the World for insight: We begin with the question: who were the Celts? We are taught almost nothing about them in school, though they seem to be considered as the ancestors of most Europeans, thus also Americans. Why is it that the religion and culture of the Mesopotamian region dominates our lives and our culture when it is, in effect, “foreign”? Celtic vernacular literature, including myths, stories and poems, in its written form, dates mainly from the Middle Ages. It is based on oral transmission that goes far beyond the Christian Era. It is very difficult to get a clear picture of the pre-Christian Celts from the transmitted texts, not only because of the typical mixture of myth and reality, and the lapse of time, but also because the Roman empire sought to stamp it out starting with Caesar and continuing with the Roman church. However, studying what is available closely, one gets the impression of a dynamic, somewhat undisciplined people. The Celts were proud, imaginative, artistic, lovers of freedom and adventure, eloquence, poetry, and arts. You can always discern the Celtic influence by the great artistic talents of these peoples. The Celts were VERY suspicious of any kind of centralized “authority,” and this is, in the end, what brought about their downfall. They could not stand against the hierarchical war machine of the Roman empire. In a sense, you could almost say that this is how Hitler nearly conquered Europe, most especially France. Gauls take the principles of liberty and equality VERY seriously - right down to the common man on the street who in no way considers himself inferior to the Prime Minister. One of the principal historians of the Roman era, Julius Caesar, tells us that the Celts were ruled by the Druids. The druids “held all knowledge.” The Druids were charged with ALL intellectual activities, and were not restricted to religion, per se, which suggests to us that “religion” and “knowledge” in a more or less scientific approach, were considered essential to one another - symbiotic. It is later writers who began to vilify the Celts by accusing them of the usual things that people get accused of when someone wants to demonize them: human sacrifice, homosexuality, and so on. Most of that nonsense goes back to Posidonius, who has been quoted as an “authority” by every other “authority” on the Celts since. Unfortunately, when one checks Posidonius, one finds that he really didn't have a clue and was probably making stuff up to fulfill an agenda. The lack of written texts by the Celts has been the greatest problem for historians and students of the Celts. A lot of ideas are “supposed” or ancient sources with agendas have been relied on, and some of them even propose that there was a “taboo” by the Celts on putting things into writing. Well, I suppose that, if our civilization came to an end and all our records on magnetic media were destroyed, people might say that we didn't put anything in writing either. There has been a lot of nonsense written about WHY the Celts didn't write things down, and the most nonsensical, considering what we do know about their culture, is that this was how the Druids “kept their power” or that they believed something silly like: “if the sacred myths were revealed, they would become profaned and thus lose their mystic virtues.” What Caesar said was that the reason for the ban on writing was that the Druids were concerned that their pupils should not neglect the training of their memories ... by relying on written texts. ... It is worth noting that, in the nineteenth century, it was observed that the illiterate Yugoslav bards, who were able to recite interminable poems, actually lost their ability to memorize once they had learned to rely on reading and writing. Although the Druids prohibited certain things from being written down, it’s clear that they DID write. Celtic writings in Ogamic script have been found on many ancient stones. Caesar tells us that the Celts were using the Greek alphabet when the Romans arrived in Gaul in the first century BC. However, the knowledge of the initiates was transmitted entirely orally... The destruction of Celtic culture was so complete that we know very little about their religion. We do know that they celebrated their “rites” in forests and by lakes without erecting any covered temples or statues of divinities. Tacitus tells us: They do not think it in keeping with the divine majesty to confine gods within walls, or to portray them in the likeness of any human countenance. Their holy places are woods and groves and they apply the names of deities to that hidden presence which is seen only by the eyes of reverence. [The Secret History of the World, 2nd Edition, Laura Knight-Jadczyk, 2005, Red Pill Press, Canada pp.118-120] Returning to the Three Forces of the ancient Celtic and Homeric philosophy, Knight-Jadczyk tells us: In other words, there are three simultaneous determinants in any situation that make it impossible to say that any list of things is “good” or “evil” intrinsically, and that the true determinant is the situation. ... the symbol of this philosophy is the triskele, representing three waves joined together. The simultaneous existence of the third element does not mean that the notion of “good” and “evil” did not exist or was not reflected in the Celtic law. What was clear was that it was understood that nothing could be “cut and dried” in terms of law, that each situation was unique and the circumstances had to be carefully weighed. The Greek philosophy that we know was probably the result of Asiatic influences upon the Greek refugees from the Northern climes. Greek architecture seems to be a consequence of the rich mythological imagination of these people being employed in the practical occupation of building dwellings and cities with techniques influenced, again, by the Asiatic elements of the Levant. As Imam Wilkens says: It will now appear that there have indeed been Trojans living in north-west Turkey but that they were survivors of the famous war which had been fought in a far-off country to which their grand-children would return. Their presence in Hissarlik lasted for three generations only, from about 1180 to 1100 BC. [Iman Wilkens, Where Troy Once Stood, 2005, Gopher Publishers, Netherlands] It is more likely that the Trojans fled to Hissarlik before 1600 BC, and the Achaeans fled South soon after with the eruption of Thera casting a chilling pall over the Bronze Age world. And so, these creative - extraordinarily deep and thoughtful people of the north - developed a civilization in the Mediterranean basin unlike anything ever seen there before. Until the Romans... It would take us too far afield to examine just who the Romans were at this point, but it is an interesting question. In any event, the Romans seem to have been a hybridization of an indigenous population, Etruscans and Greeks. This mixture was vital and practical and the resultant social structure was one that did not see it as necessary to reflect profoundly upon the Greek thoughts it had appropriated. As Rome evolved into an empire, the imperial administrative and judicial needs imposed practical priorities. The role of philosophy was more didactic, helping to develop and refine the thinking processes that were useful for the discharge of administrative and political functions. Certainly, the Greek reflective tendencies modified and "civilized" Roman society, but in general, only to the extent that was circumscribed by practical considerations. In any Imperial structure, the questions of human nature are troublesome factors that only complicate legal and administrative considerations, and thus they are quickly dismissed. Instead, the tendency is to develop a concept of human nature that is simple enough to serve the purposes of law. The result of this was a concept of the human being that had very little to do with actual psychological - let alone spiritual - properties. In Imperial Rome, citizens could achieve their goals and develop their personal concepts only within the framework set by legal principle and precedent. The psychological or spiritual life of peoples without citizenship was not considered a subject worthy of consideration much less study. Thus, cognation of and reflection upon psychology, spirituality, human nature, and related concepts was barren and limited within the Roman system. Judaism and later, Christianity, had strong ties to the ancient cultures of the Asiatic continent, including their philosophical and psychological reflections. The most attractive thing about these cultures was the "focus on the future." The Greeks had "fathered" history in the works of Hellenic historians like Herodotus and Thucycdides, but the Greeks failed to see history in terms of a future; the Greek focus was geared toward the present. The Roman peoples, deprived of the rich spiritual reflections of Greek culture, burdened by an administrative system that did little to give them hope for the future, becoming dissatisfied with the outward pomp and psychologically unfulfilling cults of the empire, began to turn more and more to ideas that suggested a "different future," one free of Imperial restrictions. The promise of a better future was, of course, the dynamic factor rendering Christianity more attractive, but it was not the most important one. Observing and understanding the transformations faith caused in human personalities created a psychological school of thought and art on the part of the first believers. This new relationship to another person, i.e. one’s neighbor, characterized by understanding, forgiveness, and love, opened the door to a psychological cognition which, often supported by charismatic phenomena, bore abundant fruit during the first three centuries after Christ. Here the reader might wish to avail themselves of Burton Mack's analysis of the Q Document which reveals that the early Jesus people were something quite different from Christianity as we know it today. The remarkable thing about the people of Q is that they were not Christians. They did not think of Jesus as a messiah or the Christ. They did not take his teachings as an indictment of Judaism. They did not regard his death as a divine, tragic, or saving event. And they did not imagine that he had been raised from the dead to rule over a transformed world. Instead, they thought of him as a teacher whose teachings made it possible to live with verve in troubled times. Thus they did not gather to worship in his name, honor him as a god, or cultivate his memory through hymns, prayers, and rituals. They did not form a cult of the Christ... The people of Q were Jesus people, not Christians. [...] Mack's discussion shows how the Jesus movement was a vigorous social experiment that was generated for reasons other than an "originating event" such as a "religious experience" or the "birth of the son of God." The Jesus movement seems to have been a response to troubled and difficult times. Mack outlines and describes the times, and shows how the pressures of the milieu led to thinking new thoughts about traditional values and experimenting with associations that crossed ethnic and cultural boundaries. The Jesus movement was composed of novel social notions and lifestyles that denied and rejected traditional systems of honor based on power, wealth, and place in hierarchical social structures. Ancient religious codes of ritual purity, taboos against intercourse across ethnic boundaries, were rejected. People were encouraged to think of themselves as belonging to the larger, human family. Q says: "If you embrace only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?" The Jesus people not only rejected the old order of things, they were actively at work on the questions of what ideal social order they wanted to manifest and promote. The attraction of the Jesus people to its followers was not at all based on any ideas to reform a religious tradition that had gone wrong, nor was it even thought of as a new religion in any way. It was quite simply a social movement that sought to enhance human values that grew out of an unmanageable world of confusing cultures and social histories. It was a group of like-minded individuals that created a forum for thinking about the world in new ways, coming up with new ideas that included the shocking notion that an ethnically mixed group could form its own kind of community and live by its own rules. Mack writes: At first no one was in charge of the groups that formed around such teachings. Conversation and mutual support were enough to encourage an individual to act "naturally," as if the normal expectations of acquiescence to social conventions did not apply. As groups formed in support of like-minded individuals, however, loyalty to the Jesus movement strengthened, a social vision for human well-being was generated within the group, and social codes for the movement had to be agreed upon . Why not ask when in need and share what one had when asked, they wondered? Eventually, therefore, the Jesus movement took the form of small groups meeting together as extended families in the heady pursuit of what they called God's kingdom. To explore human community based on fictive kinship without regard to standard taboos against association based on class, status, gender, or ethnicity would have created quite a stir, and would have been its own reward. Since there was no grand design for actualizing such a vision, different groups settled into practices that varied from one another. Judging from the many forms of community that developed within the Jesus movement, as documented in literature that begins to appear toward the end of the first century, these groups continued to share a basic set of attitudes. They all had a certain critical stance toward the way life was lived in the Greco-Roman world. They all struggled not to be determined by the emptiness of human pursuits in a world of codes they held to be superficial. [...] Despite these agreements, however, every group went its own way and drew different conclusions about what to think and do. [The Lost Gospel by Burton L. Mack] In short, the early Jesus movement was seeking answers to the very questions that Imperial Rome found so troublesome because they got in the way of administrative simplicity. The Jesus movement was focused on developing the art of human understanding to a higher level than the older cultures and religions had done. It might also be speculated that it was an attempt to restore the ancient Greek/Celtic ideas of the Three Forces which may very well have been the original idea behind the "Trinity." The Jesus movement sought to find ways to protect human beings from the dangers of speculative thought divorced from profound psychological reality which can only be comprehended through sincere respect for another human being. The Empire was not to be outfoxed, however. What it could not destroy, it assimilated and modified to its own purposes. By 350 AD, the decay in sensitivity to the psychological reality of human beings as well as the tendency to impose extrinsic and unreal concepts on the human psyche can be observed. The Roman Imperial system adapted the Geek heritage of philosophical thought and language to its purposes. This made it possible to develop its own "Imperialistic Christian Philosophy". At the same time that groups carrying the original ideas of the Jesus people expanded along the well worn tracks of the Roman empire’s transportation lines, within the imperial civilization, the newly official Christian Church appropriated Roman organizational forms and adapted to existing social institutions. As a result of this, Christianity was created in the image of Roman habits of legal thinking, including its indifference to the reality of the depth and variety of the psychology of human nature. Two heterogeneous items - Greek Philosophy and Roman law - were thus linked together so seamlessly and permanently that scholars of later centuries have lost the ability to see just how strange they are to each other. However, time and compromise have not eliminated the internal inconsistencies that resulted when Roman influence removed the primeval psychological knowledge from the Jesus movement. Christian groups developing under different cultural conditions in far flung reaches of the empire, or outside the empire altogether, created forms so variegated that maintaining unity turned out to be an historical impossibility. We come back now to the assumption that Western Civilization is founded on the twin pillars of Greek thought and Biblical faith, and we find that it is not so simple. What is clear is that Western civilization is founded upon the Imperial Roman version of Greek thought which is defined as "sole reliance on the rationality of the mind" and the Imperial Roman version of "Biblical Faith" which is described as "emphasis on divine revelation" both of which have been subjected to a legal codification that completely obviates the ancient concept of the Third Force: the specific situation that determines good from evil. Western civilization thus arose hampered by a serious deficiency in the very area which ought to play a role in creativity. This civilization developed formulations of law, national, civil, and canon, which were designed for fictitious and simplified beings which bore no resemblance to normal humans. These conceptions gave short shrift to the rich and varied contents of the human personality and the great psychological differences between individual members of the species Homo sapiens. Such a civilization is insufficiently resistant to evil, which originates beyond the easily accessible areas of human consciousness and takes advantage of the great gap between formal or legal thought and psychological reality. In such a civilization - deficient in psychological cognition - the origins of evil in the minds of psychologically deviant individuals is masked from other people’s insufficiently developed consciousness. Such individuals are then able to impose their dreams of power upon both the environment and society. In this series of essays, I hope to show exactly how this has been done through the perversion of Hermeticism which gave birth to science. The Third Way, characterized by a blending of rational thought and faith based on that rationality, can lead to inner enlightenment or gnosis. Some parts of this way of Gnosis have been preserved in certain Gnostic teachings which I will show are the origins of Hermeticism. I will also argue that the Cathars were carriers of the same tradition and that the early Jesus people were Gnostics and that the entire teaching, or way, is directly related to the ancient Greek Philosophy of which we find traces in Homer, and that this philosophy was identical to that of the Celtic Druids and Bards. Further, I hope to argue satisfactorily that this tradition extends back into antiquity and can be called, as Gurdjieff referred to it: Esoteric Christianity, though one must understand the word "Christ" in the most original meaning. And so, until next week, I bid you adieu. free web tracker
А. І. Makhinko To The Historical Portrait of Theophan Prokopovych National Technical University of Ukraine «Kyiv Polytechnic Institute» The article highlights the stages of life Theophan Prokopovych, an outstanding theologian, philosopher, teacher and writer. Its artistic heritage became the property of the Russian and Ukrainian cultures. Theophan Prokopovych life is divided into two periods, which differ from each other by the nature of its activities. In the first period (1687–1715 years) he studies and then engaged in research and teaching activities in the Kiev Academy. In the second period (1715–1736 years) it is at the request of Peter I moved to St. Petersburg, where he became the archbishop and is engaged in administrative and social activities / During this time he wrote a treatise «Spiritual regulations» and «The Truth will monarch», which became the conceptual basics of church reform and the reform of succession to the throne. As a result of the reform of the Church patriarchate was abolished and the church became subordinated to the state. This similarity can be traced with some Protestant countries of Europe, where the head of state led the church. «The truth will monarch» to overturn the traditional order of succession to the throne in the male downlink and gave the right to appoint a monarch testament heir. In these treatises have been realized his philosophical views on the state and its institutions. Keywords: Theophan Prokopovych, Peter’s reforms, orthodoxy reform, enlightened absolutism, Russian empire. This entry was posted in History Pages №42 and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
Using Dynamic Script Tags Level: Beginner to Intermediate One of the known problems in using XMLHttpRequest is that one can't make a request to a different domain than where the web page is coming from. It's a big limitation for some of the applications. There are some knows workarounds. For example, in IE we can change the security level by allowing access to data resources across domains. But we can't rely on this approach because not all other browsers support this configuration change. There are other ways like using document.domain to set to a common domain, but this forces the response mechanism to HTML and in both the pages, we have to set the document.domain to same domain and this will not work if the domains are completely different. And many times, we may not have control over what's the response of the second domain request. One thing worth noting here is that subdomains are treated as separate domains. If the response is script-centric then the best approach that can be used is "Dynamic Script Tagging". This appraoch doesn't use XHR. In this approach we construct script tags dynamically with the source (src attribute) pointing to the URL that has a response type as a script (script-centric response). Because the response is included in script tags, the response is evaluated by Javascript engine and that will be ready for use. I read some artciles describing this appraoch as JSON with Dynamic Script Tag. But I strongly oppose that. JSON is a pure data format. and if you just include pure JSON data as the response the data may be parsed correctly but has no real value. We need to capture that JSON data in some variable form or as a parameter to a function call. So, I call this method as Dynamic Script Tags with Script-centric approach ( It is not necessary to have JSON string included in the response, response can be a plain text assigned to a Javascript variable, like var test="this is a test" can be a valid response for this approach). Let's see how we can use this method with an example. The example tries to get image search results from yahoo webservice API using two extra parameters output and callback. output=json instructs yahoo webservice to send the response as JSON and callback will include method name in the response so that when Javscript evaluates the response, it knows that it has to call the method included in callback parameter. Example response for the yahoo webservice URL pointed by anchor: Yahoo Image Search is "firstResultPosition":1,"Result":[{"Title":"pKeely.jpg","Summary":"", "Url":"http:\/\/www.thepeoplephotographer.com\/hs01\/imgs\/pKeely.jpg", Working example link: http://www.geocities.com/keelypavan/dynamic_script_tag_ex.html It constructs the script tag dynamically using document.createElement, sets the src attribute of the script tag and inserts that in head tag of the HTML page, simple....The code looks like this: var headTag = document.getElementsByTagName("head").item(0); var scriptTag = document.createElement("script"); scriptTag.src = url; headTag.appendChild( scriptTag ); One problem I came across recently worth mentioning is, if the server request is using custom redirect then this method will not work. When I say custom redirect, I mean the responses using refresh attributes with META tags like: <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=someURL">. In this case, Javascript can not evaluate META tags and it fails producing a Javascript error.
Taste the difference, make a difference The youth make a difference initiative Westwood Raised Garden Beds Food security is taught and addressed in all agricultural education classes taught at Westwood High School in Mesa, AZ. Nutrition is a huge issue in many schools across the nation because of the easily accessible fats, sugars, and carbohydrates. This initiative tackles this issue head on by putting the power into the students’ hands to grow what they want, when they want. The goal is to show them how delicious fresh produce is. A huge part of the National FFA Organization is community service. Through this initiative, students will engage with community members participating in workshops about gardening, and eventually sell produce at the farmer’s market. This will allow a larger audience reach, spreading the word of good produce and applicable skills taught at the school. Voting has ended. Follow us:
Saturday, May 21, 2011 So you think you know books? Try this quiz about literature 1. Who wrote The Raven? 2. What was the name of the real-life sailor whose story influenced the writing of Robinson Crusoe? 3. How many books did author J.R.R. Tolkien originally envision The Lord of the Rings to entail? 4. What was the title of Ayn Rand's first novel? 5. In what year did the murders in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood take place? 6. Name one historical figure, who is also a well-known literary figure, who was a friend of Cyrano de Bergerac? 7. What is the name of Leonato's daughter in Much Ado About Nothing? 8. What famed city is the location of most of the events in The Iliad? 9. Which writer has a character who said, "M-O-O-N spells moon?" 10. What is the name of the largest rabbit in the main group of rabbits in Watership Down? 11. What is the name of the son of Alexandre Dumas? 12. What was the title of Jane Austen's first published novel? 13. What name does Dr. Frankenstein give his monster? 14. What is the title of the sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? 15. The first book published in the Lonesome Dove series is titled what? 16. Who wrote The Road? 17. What is the name of the main character in Franz Kafka's The Trial? 18. What is Lady Chatterley's name before she marries Clifford Chatterley? 19. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a critical, literary outline of the history of what country? 20. What are the first three words in Moby Dick? 21. What is the name of the street where sits the house in The House of the Seven Gables? 22. During what war does For Whom the Bell Tolls take place? 23. Who is the main character in Gone with the Wind? 24. Don Quixote was originally written in what language? 25. Who wrote The Time Machine? 26. Who does Satan try to tempt in Paradise Regained? 27. To where are the pilgrims traveling in The Canterbury Tales? 28. In how many novels does Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer character appear? 29. James Joyce is from what nation? 30. Beowulf is a hero of what northern Germanic tribe? 31. Who is the narrator of The Great Gatsby? 32. John Gardner wrote an existentialist novel about a famed monster. What is the monster's name? 33. The word "grok" comes from what famed science fiction novel? 34. In what country do the majority of events in War and Peace occur? 35. In Great Expectations, Pip discovers the escaped convict on what holiday? 36. What is the name of the Russian ship that runs aground in England in the novel Dracula? 37. Who is the lord of the castle in The Castle of Otranto? 38. Who is considered the author of The Republic? 39. Who wrote The Prince? 40. What is the name of the school from where Holden Caulfield is expelled? 41. In what U.S. city do the events of A Confederacy of Dunces take place? 42. Who is on trial in To Kill a Mockingbird? 43. How many chapters does Candide contain? 44. The Red Bade of Courage takes place during what war? 45. Who is the main character of All Quiet on the Western Front? 46. What is the name of the wastelands where McTeague concludes? 47. In what super-state/nation/continent do the events of Nineteen Eighty-Four take place? 48. What is the name of the only published novel by Oscar Wilde? 49. What is the name of Beauty's mother in Black Beauty? 50. In John Steinbeck's The Pearl, what item is discovered that leads to so much misery? For the answers to this quiz, go here No comments: Post a Comment
Peering at flowering cracks in the road Peering at flowering cracks in the road Whenever he walks along a street, Hirokazu Tsukaya loses his awareness of traffic as he becomes preoccupied with peering into such spots as the differences in levels between the sidewalk and the street or the bases of utility poles. The reason for his preoccupation is the presence of various seasonal grasses and flowers, including dandelions, heartsease and antirrhinums that grow through cracks in concrete and asphalt. "Without being hindered by other plants, [such grasses and flowers] can take all the sunshine for themselves. In addition, there is a high water content in the earth. That's why cracks and gaps [on the roads] in urban areas are a paradise for plants," said Tsukaya, a 49-year-old professor of the University of Tokyo. He published a book in which he compiled details about such plants, titled "Sukima no Shokubutsu Zukan" (A picture book of plants that grow in cracks). It was released as part of the Chuko Shinsho softcover series in late March. As a researcher of leaf genetics, Tsukaya has conducted investigations in Southeast Asia, Africa and other areas. Why has published a book about plants in urban areas? "Weeds have gone through complicated cross-pollination many times. Sometimes I discover plants of an alien species I never expected. Cities and remote places are alike in terms of their potential for discovery," Tsukaya said. Tsukaya began walking in cities with a camera in his hand about 10 years ago. He has taken about 1,000 photos of more than 300 plant species. Examples of plants discovered in unusual places include a pine tree that had grown in the gutter of a house, and a weed that is native of North America found in the bed of a truck. "Weeds grow in their own way. Why not peer in cracks [in the road] sometimes and relax?" Tsukaya suggested. More about Purchase this article for republication. Most Read Your daily good stuff - AsiaOne stories delivered straight to your inbox
eParticipation to support the Information Society eParticipation lives in the Internet. The Internet technologies that help us to organise and share information are changing the way we live and work: we live in an Information Society. The EU aims to update our legal frameworks to promote positive, creative and safe use of the Internet. People who use the Internet need to be involved in this policy-making process. However, opinions may be polarised on certain issues (file sharing and copyright) and balances between freedom of expression and privacy, bullying or exploitation are hard to create via legislation. Legislation and political initiatives which affect the Internet should be grounded in technology –aware of what is possible, and any side effects. Equally, cultural impacts require consideration: the Internet facilitates our work, social life, communities and democracies and becomes our dominant media. “We need to ensure that the correct value settings are in place so that the information society has a reasonable chance of running smoothly, of not crashing” (Duff, 2008). The HUWY project (http://huwy.eu/) illustrates some of the specific requirements of science and technology dialogues: sharing information and expertise, whilst also respecting participants’ cultural groundings. Informed public engagement and media panic have real impact on policies and lives: recently in genetic engineering, vaccination programs and climate change. The depth of Internet penetration into our daily lives should not obscure its radical impact on our society or its base in science and technology. HUWY is an eParticipation Preparatory Action project, which aims to get young people talking about policies and laws which affect the Internet and to channel their ideas to governments and parliaments, national and EU. HUWY believe that young people are valuable expert stakeholders in current Internet governance issues like cyberbullying, privacy and file-sharing. Internet topics are priorities for public engagement: to increase democratic engagement and bring user-centricity into policy-making, to create a better Internet, better Internet culture and better laws. EParticipation is not just about collecting opinions, but about bringing people together to share insights into their own contexts –citizens, policy-makers, experts. It’s about exploring both differences and common ground and taking time to understand each other’s values and constraints. In eParticipation, science and technology themes require the provision of relevant information, which facilitates engagement and understanding. The early months of the HUWY project showed that young people were very interested in Internet policy issues, once they had become engaged. They had a wealth of experience to share, but this was not always sufficiently grounded in knowledge, for example about technical or legal aspects, to support meaningful dialogue. Accordingly, our goals were to engage and inform, in order to spark and support discussions. We’ll use this example to explore practical methods and hope that workshop participants will share their own experiences and ideas for supporting successful eParticipation on science and technology themes. [Read More] Ella Taylor-Smith Senior Research Fellow +44 131 455 2392
Sentencing & Sentencing Options If a person is found guilty or pleads guilty, a judge must decide what sentence to impose. Sentencing can be a confusing topic, because judges usually have many different sentencing options. Judges are given a great deal of discretion when deciding what sentence to impose, but they are also limited by the kinds of sentences the law allows for certain offences, and they are guided by the decisions of other judges. How a Judge Decides on a Sentence Sentencing is an art, not a science. It is not a mathematical process that can be reduced to a formula. There are a number of different factors a judge will consider when they pass sentence. Just some of the factors a judge will consider include: • The seriousness of the offence. • How responsible the offender was for the commission of the offence. • Whether the offence should be denounced as something that the community does not accept. • Whether the offender or other people need to be deterred from committing similar offences. • Whether the offender needs to be separated from society for a period of time. • Whether the offender requires rehabilitation. • What sentence might provide for reparations for harm caused to victims, or for harm caused to the community. • What sentence will cause the offender to understand their responsibility for the offence, or acknowledge the harm the offence has caused to the community. • The age, background, and personal circumstances of the offender. • The offender’s motive or reason for committing the offence. • Whether or not the offender is remorseful, or has already taken steps to rehabilitate himself or herself before sentencing. • The offender’s criminal record, or if the offender does not have a record, the lack of a criminal record. Judges consider what sentences other judges have imposed for similar offences, involving similar offenders, in similar circumstances. Judges use these prior sentences for guidance when deciding what sentence to impose. Judges will also consider the different principles of sentencing as they have been explained by higher courts. For some offences, our Court of Appeal has set a “starting point” for certain offences. For example, the “starting point” for a major sexual assault is three years in jail. A person’s sentence can be increased or decreased depending on the circumstances of the case, but the “starting point” provides guidance to lower courts about the general range of a typical offence. Despite this guidance, judges still have a great deal of leeway in deciding which sentence to impose. Types of Sentences Common sentences judges can impose on an offender include: • A period in jail. • A “conditional sentence,” which often includes house arrest or a curfew. • A fine. • A period of probation, or a suspended sentence. • A “conditional discharge” or an “absolute discharge.” Jail Sentences & Intermittent Jail Sentences The best-known type of sentence is a period in jail. Jail is a sentencing option for almost every criminal offence. Most offences have a maximum possible jail sentence, and some offences also have a mandatory minimum jail sentence that the judge must impose. If a judge imposes a jail sentence of less than two years, the person will serve the sentence in a provincial jail, such as the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre or the Peace River Correctional Centre. If a person is sentenced to two years in jail or longer, they will serve their sentence in a federal penitentiary, such as the Edmonton Institution or Bowden Institution. Another option is an intermittent sentence. If a judge imposes a jail sentence of 90 days or less, the offender can ask the judge for permission to serve the sentence intermittently (i.e. not all at once). This means, for example, that the offender could serve the jail sentence on weekends, allowing the prisoner to keep their job. Conditional Sentences & “House Arrest” For some offences, a judge can sentence the person to a “conditional sentence order,” or “CSO.” A CSO is thought of as a jail sentence that is served in the community. A conditional sentence can be very restrictive, and is much more restrictive than probation. A CSO almost always involves a period of house arrest, or a curfew, or some combination of the two. The CSO can allow exceptions to house arrest or a curfew to allow the offender to continue working or going to school. A CSO is only a possibility where a person would otherwise be sentenced to less than two years in jail. In addition, a judge will only impose a CSO where the judge is satisfied that the offender is not an undue risk to the community if they do not serve their sentence in jail. There are a number of offences, including many violent offences, where judges are prohibited by law from imposing a CSO. The consequences for breaching a CSO can be very significant. Because a CSO is considered a type of jail sentence, any breach may result in the person serving time in an actual jail. If there is a breach or the offender re-offends, the judge can also decide to “collapse” the CSO, which means the offender would serve the remaining period of the CSO in jail, instead of in the community. Most criminal offences have a maximum fine of $5,000, but fines can sometimes go much higher. A judge can order that a fine be paid immediately, or the judge can give time to pay the fine. If a person does not pay a fine by the due date, they will usually be sentenced to serve time in jail in default of payment. A person who receives time to pay a fine can apply for an extension of the time to pay. It is necessary to apply for an extension in advance of the due date, however. Extensions usually cannot be granted after the due date has passed. Judges are also unlikely to grant an extension unless the person has made some reasonable efforts to pay off the fine. Probation and Suspended Sentences A judge can impose a term of probation on an offender. A term of probation can last for up to three years. Probation is usually considered a good option for offenders who require rehabilitation and are motivated to improve their lives. Examples of common probation conditions include: • A requirement to meet regularly with a probation officer. • A ban on consuming alcohol or intoxicating drugs. • A condition that a person attend for treatment or counselling. For example: • Alcohol or drug addiction counselling, • Anger management counselling, or • Mental health counselling. • Participating in up to 240 hours of community service. It is a criminal offence to breach the terms of a probation order. One form of probation occurs when a person is given a “suspended sentence.” When a court imposes a suspended sentence, it places the offender on probation. If a person violates the terms of their probation or re-offends, they can be charged with the criminal offence of breaching a probation order. If they are convicted of breaching their probation order, in addition to being punished for the breach of probation, the offender can also be brought back before the judge who originally imposed the suspended sentence. That judge can then re-sentence the offender for the original offence, and can impose any sentence the judge could have been imposed for the original offence, or extend the person’s probation. Conditional Discharges and Absolute Discharges For some less serious offences, instead of convicting a person of a criminal offence, the judge can impose a “conditional discharge.” (Although the name is similar, a conditional discharge is very different from a conditional sentence – see above.) If a person is granted a conditional discharge, they are placed on a period of probation, with conditions similar to those discussed above. There are many advantages to a conditional discharge. First, although a conditional discharge will appear on a criminal record, it is automatically deleted from the national criminal record database three years from the date a person is found guilty. There is no need to apply for a criminal record suspension or pardon. Second, because a conditional discharge is technically not a “conviction” in the eyes of a law, it is not treated as a conviction under the law. This can have favourable immigration or employment consequences. A person who receives a conditional discharge can honestly state that, although they were found guilty, they were not convicted of a criminal offence. A judge will only grant a conditional discharge if it is in the best interests of the accused, and if granting the discharge is not contrary to the public interest. When deciding whether to grant a discharge, the judge will consider a number of factors, including the nature of the offence, the prevalence of the offence, whether the offence was committed for personal gain, whether the offence was impulsive or calculated, and whether it would be in the public interest for the person to have a criminal record for an offence. An absolute discharge is similar to a conditional discharge, but there are no probation conditions attached to an absolute discharge. The person is effectively found guilt, without any punishment being imposed. An absolute discharge is automatically removed from a person’s criminal record in the national criminal record database one year from when they are found guilty. Unsurprisingly, absolute discharges are very rare. Other Kinds of Orders Judges Make After Sentencing Orders to Give a DNA Sample Offenders found guilty of certain offences may be required to provide a sample of their DNA into the national DNA databank. The offender’s DNA is then held on file, and can be checked against DNA that is collected from other police investigations. Not everyone convicted of a criminal offence must give a DNA sample. Whether a DNA sample is required depends on the type of offence. Some offences are called “Primary Designated Offences.” For these offences, a person is almost always required to provide a DNA sample. For other offences, “Secondary Designated Offences,” the Crown Prosecutor must apply to the court for an order to take a DNA sample. The judge will then consider whether it is in the best interests of justice to order that a sample to be taken. Firearms Prohibitions and Weapons Prohibitions Persons found guilty of some offences can be prohibited from possessing firearms, prohibited or restricted weapons, explosive substances, and other related items. In some cases, these weapons prohibitions are mandatory and the judge does not have any discretion as to whether to impose the prohibition, while in other cases the judge is given discretion and can decide not to order the prohibition. A weapons prohibition is possible whenever an offence involved violence against another person (actual or threatened). Depending on the circumstances, these weapons prohibition orders can last for up to ten years, or in some cases, for life. Sex Offenders Information Registry (SOIRA) Orders Persons convicted of certain sexual offences are required to register as sex offenders under the terms of the Sex Offenders Information Registration Act (SOIRA). For some offences a sex offender registration order is mandatory, while in other cases the court will only impose the order if the Crown Prosecutor asks for one. Generally speaking, a person subject to a SOIRA order must report in person to a police station to register every year, or whenever they change their address. The offender must provide the police with their name, address, and other personal information, and must tell the police about where they are employed, where they volunteer, or where they go to school. Information in the Sex Offenders Registry is not made public, and is generally only used for law enforcement purposes, or to investigate or prevent sex offences. SOIRA orders last for ten years, twenty years, or for life. After a certain amount of time has passed, certain sex offenders can apply to a court for a termination order, to remove them from the sex offender registry. Depending on the length of the original order, an offender must wait five, 10, or 20 years to apply for a termination order. Restitution Orders Judges can order that an offender pay restitution to someone whose property was stolen or damaged in the course of a criminal offence. A judge will generally only impose a restitution order if the loss or damage to the victim is easy to calculate, and if it is clear that the offender is responsible for the loss. Otherwise, the victim will have to pursue compensation through the civil court system. Victim Fine Surcharges The Criminal Code requires judges to impose a “Victim Fine Surcharge” on offenders after they are convicted, unless imposing the surcharge would result in financial hardship for the offender. The surcharge is 15% of any fine that was imposed, or if no fine was imposed, $50 (where the Crown has proceeded summarily) or $100 (where the Crown has proceeded by indictment).
Sunday, September 29, 2013 Monday, September 30. 2013 Today's schedule is A-AG-B-C-D A Block Law 9/10 - Today we are in the library so that you may continue your work on the Clue Us In crime scene investigation project. Please remember that the library has books on forensic investigation and I have books on crime scene investigation as well. Use these resources to aid you in the development of your project. Remember you need to create a crime...replicate the crime scene...investigate the crime as if you were an R.C.M.P. officer...and prepare a dossier file to hand over to Crown Counsel so that they may prosecute the case. Good Luck. An excellent on line resource that you can use is Forensic Magazine - Check out the "Tips" tab (it's a pull down menu and the select "Crime Scene Tips"). Click on the magazine logo below to go to the website. B Block Social Studies 10 - Today we'll look at the cultural landscape of Canada along with the First Nations peoples that existed on the land before the European settlers arrived in Canada. We'll focus on how the land shaped Aboriginal society in Canada and see the influences of the land on the way people lived. There are six major cultural regions of First Nations in Canada. From east to west, these are the Woodland First Nations, the Iroquois First Nations of southeastern Ontario, the Plains First Nations, the Plateau First Nations, the First Nations of the Pacific Coast and the First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon River basins. Each Nation possesses its own unique culture, language and history and the practice of identifying all First Nations as a homogeneous group obscures the unique and rich traditions that each First Nation has developed and nurtured. Having said that, although there are many differences between First Nations, there are commonalities as well. For example, all First Nations were dependent on the land for survival and prosperity. All First Nations were hunters and gatherers. Some were also farmers. Without the skills and knowledge to hunt and fish and to gather food and medicines, First Nations would not exist today. Another commonality is that all First Nations lived in organized societies with their own governments, religions and social and economic institutions. Individuals, families and larger groups of people, such as clans, tribes and Nations, behaved according to a broad range of agreed-upon social, political and economic values. A third commonality was trade. All First Nations in Canada and North America as a whole traded extensively throughout the continent. Expansive trading practices contributed to the growth and development of First Nations cultures. These practices also enabled many First Nations to respond to the fur trade as competitive, efficient trading partners with Europeans. So I'll have you fill in a chart for me today (5 Themes of Geography for the First Nations of Canada) and then you'll need to to use all of the geographic work we've looked at, as well as the text, and try to answer the following: "How has Geography shaped the culture of Canada?" This is a big question and I really want you to try hard to think like a geographer here. Thinking like a geographer is thinking spatially in a systems manner. This involves looking for patterns, relationships and connections in order to comprehend large, complex self regulating systems. So what patterns, relationships and connections exist between people and places that help to shape Canada today? C Block Criminology 12 - Today we're back in the library for you to continue your blog work. This new entry should be your third entry and I'd like you to find out as much information as you can about two notorous Canadian murderers... Clifford Robert Olson Jr. (Serial) and Marc Lépine (Mass). For this assignment I'd like you to tell me what they did and why they did it....use Levin & Fox's typology of serial and mass murder to explain motives. Do not use Wikipedia as your source for this assignment use the links on the names above. Aside from answering what they did and why they did it, also try to answer what can we learn from their horrific actions and is it ever possible to stop people like this in Canada? Why or Why not? D Block Law 12 - Today we'll start with a review for our intro unit test on Wednesday (October 2nd, 2013). The unit test will cover the first three chapters of the All About Law text and will have: 15 True/False questions; 15 Multiple Choice questions; 15 Fill In the Blank questions; 15 Matching questions; and 7 Short Answer questions. After the review we'll continue working on our Human Rights poster (which is due this Friday - October 4th, 2013). I have poster paper for you and I'll give you the paper once I've seen your ideas (a rough sketch) on paper. Remember you need to create a visually appealing Human Rights Campaign Poster that addresses the human rights violation by incorporating key information (What is happening? Where is it taking place? What rights are being violated? Who is having their rights violated? Why are their rights being violated?) as well as pictures, symbols, and colours. Your poster should seek to draw the attention of the public through the balanced combination of text and visuals in a creative, yet educational manner! No comments:
We All Think We're Too Smart For Ad Campaigns If you've ever watched a weight loss commercial or stared at a flu shot advertisement on the train and thought "Who would fall for this?" then you've experienced the third-party effect. It traces back to WWII propaganda and refers to when people view mass media messages as having a greater effect on others than on themselves. Related: The Framing Effect Shows How Word Choice Affects Your Decisions Too Big For Your Britches Why do you think only 40 percent of adults in the U.S. get their flu shot each year? According to a November 2016 study published in the Journal of Health Communication, many of us feel that we're too smart to fall for campaigns designed to manipulate (even if they're for our benefit). But everyone else? They'll fall for it. Related: The Backfire Effect Says When You Hear Contradictory Evidence, Your Beliefs Get Stronger In the study, researchers presented a bunch of news clips from 2009 regarding the H1N1 swine flu epidemic to undergraduate volunteers. The articles spoke about the severity of the virus, as well as how to avoid contracting it. Instead of feeling motivated to get a flu shot after being exposed to the clips, the subjects considered themselves immune to the messages. However, most of the volunteers decided that the rest of the group would likely be influenced. Related: The Bystander Effect Makes You Less Likely To Act When Others Are There No One Is Above The Flu In a statement, lead author Hyunmin Lee, from Drexel University, says this study "suggests that 'the self' perceives 'the others' to use different, less intelligent, criteria, such as relying on source expertise, rather than assessing the health message in its entirety." The findings are especially important for journalists, who should keep this third-party effect bias in mind. There's a marked distrust in the media's ability to communicate public health information. As for the non-journalists among us? Don't pass on important things, like getting your flu shot, just because you think you're above advertisements. Our Favorite Content About Psychological Effects The Framing Effect Shows How Word Choice Affects Your Decisions
Benefits of emotional detachment. Emotional detachment is a state characterized by calm, is the ability to not be influenced by the people around you, the events or the avalanche of your own thoughts. Emotional detachment helps you keep your balance and not take things in a very personal manner. Emotional detachment is not the same as indifference, nor does it mean that interest or emotions are missing. Indifferent people have no interest in anything and are usually passive. Authentic emotional detachment is different. It is an attitude that involves common sense, openness and a good behavior. People that can detach emotionally, accept peacefully whatever is happening. They accept both positive and negative events because they are in a state of balance and inner peace. If there are certain aspects of their lives that they can not change their state will not change. With this attitude, people can enjoy success and learn from failure. If they succeed is great, but if not, they’ll try again without getting discouraged. How many times have you been emotionally involved although this was not what you wanted? How many times you become angry, frustrated or disappointed because of minor things? How many times you changed your mood for no apparent reason? How often you say that next time in a certain situation you will react calmly, but when you’re facing the same situation you have the same reaction? In all these cases a dose of emotional detachment is useful. When faced with personal problems, it is a bit difficult to access this emotional detachment. In personal situations we become involved, which is expected, however a dose of emotional detachment would be very good. When emotional detachment occurs? 1. When you meditate, there are a series of thoughts, which bring with them certain emotions, feelings, experiences. When you let your thoughts flow without cling to them emotional detachment occurs. When you stop focussing on your thoughts, emotion does not appear. 2. How do you feel when someone says something you do not like ? Most often you become upset, angry and feel hurt. Why does this happen? Because you value the opinion of others and it is more important what others think about you than what you think. Your state depends on the actions of others. When we can get the various remarks of the others without changing our mood, emotional detachment occurs . You remain calm, you might even get what is right for you from what you hear from others and you will not waste hours in which to think and consume yourself on things with no great importance . 3. When you worry you are not emotionally detached, you spend a lot of time thinking about that thing . Emotional detachment occurs when you can see the situation more objectively and focus on finding the best solution . Emotional detachment is a sign of inner strength and is manifested by the ability to work calmly under any circumstances. Thus, you can help maintain a general state of well being, serenity and peace . 9 thoughts on “Benefits of emotional detachment. 1. how to heal chakras I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking at your web page repeatedly. 2. Facebook Games Hack I’m seeking to figure out as much about the online surfing area as I can. Can anyone suggest twitter handles, their favorite websites, or sites that you find most thorough? Those are most widely used? Thanks!. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
“Memory cannot be defined, but it defines mankind.” ~Ghost in the Shell “Until the process is fully completed, memory remains vulnerable to disruption.” ~Larry Squire and Eric Kandel, Memory: From Mind to Molecules Where would we be without our memories? Our memories shape us, comfort us, teach us, trouble us. From them, we grow and love, we visit old friends and travel the lands of our past. They are our time machines, our instruction guides. Scientists have been studying memory and the brain throughout human history, attempting to discover the inner workings of our marvelous minds. But sometimes, in order to see how something works, we have to first observe how it doesn’t. In 2007, Professor Joseph LeDoux of New York University decided to do some research with rats (those furry mainstays of the science world) on the subject of memory erasure. It was very Eternal Sunshine of him. In LeDoux’s experiment, rats were trained to associate two musical tones with a mild electrical shock. As a result, whenever they heard either of these tones, they would brace themselves for the shock. Our researchers then used a drug called U0126, which was already known to cause limited amnesia, on the rats when playing only one of the musical tones. After treatment with the drug, the rats would not brace themselves upon hearing the treatment tone, but would still brace themselves when hearing the second, demonstrating only one memory had been deleted. Though, of course, scientists are looking more at using this research for treating post-traumatic stress disorder and less for erasing memories of your crazy ex-girlfriend. In a recent study led by Theodore Berger of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Sam A. Deadwyler of the Wake Forest Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, scientists have found a way to turn memories on and off. Like flipping a switch. The research team had rats learn to press Lever A instead of Lever B in order to receive a reward. Deadwyler’s group recorded changes in brain activity between the two major internal divisions of the hippocampus (subregions CA3 and CA1), where short-term memory is converted to long-term memory. They then drugged the rats, blocking the neural interactions between CA3 and CA1. This prevented the rats from being able to form long-term memories. And this is where Berger’s team comes in. They developed an artificial hippocampal system that duplicates the patterns of CA3-CA1 interactions. When they activated the electronic device, long-term memory capability was returned to the drugged rats. “Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off, and the rats forget,” Berger said. …Science be crazy. Leave a Reply WordPress.com Logo Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Developing your Theme In any literary work there must be a controlling idea: the theme of the literary work. The controlling idea of a poem is the idea that continuously developes through out the poem, by sets of key words that identify the poet‘s subject and his/her attitude or feeling about it. It may also be suggested by the title of the poem or by segment of the poem. It is rarely stated explicitly by the poet, but it can be stated by the reader and it can be stated in different ways. The controlling idea is an idea, not moral; it is a major idea, not a minor supporting idea or detail; and it controls or dominates the poem as a whole. As a poet, you need to learn how to create a central or general idea of your poem that you want to write. There are a great deal of ways of how to come up with the desired theme of the poem. Here are some of the suggestions: a) Dip yourself into emotions as quickly as you can and write your ideas immediately they come in your mind b) Select structure, imagery, voice, language, rhyme and other poetic devices c) Assemble all tools that are used in poetry d) Choose the most important characterization of your poem e) Organise all events i.e link your ideas nicely. Include the following: your attitude, nice view-point, reflections, aggressions, persuasive language, descriptive language, well-arranged words, techniques to create mood, mood change etc. Thus depending on the way you want to express your feelings. Examples of themes are: 1) Animals: apocalypse, archaeology, art, beauty, birds, birth, blindness, boats, body, brutality, butterfly, camping, captivity etc 2) Death: deceit, deception, depression, disappointment, doubt, dreams, drink, eccentricity, empowerment, failure, exile, feelings etc. 3) Love:marriage, memory, mythology, paradise, people, motherhood, parents, philosophy, police, politics, nature etc It’s very important to use literary devices to develop your theme of the poem. It only takes a poet to utilize conventions to develop theme of the poem As already stated, there are considerable number of devices that a poet can use to develop a theme and the frequent used ones are symbolism, metaphor, rhyme and the soliloquy. Note that movement is what facilitates the developement of theme in a poem. There are two types of movements that enhance the advancement of theme i) Movement of the Psyche e.g. Repeating and singing ii) Movement of Physic Thus how we (poets) develop our themes to lead the world. We preserve our emotions in painted world. Our legacies are meant to change the world. So be the one too!! 1. on wiki answers 2. Theme, http://www.tripod.lycos. Com by Diana Lyn Lopez 3. S-cool the revision website, unseen poetry; A level English Literature Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Anxiety/Social Anxiety The occurrence of anxiety is a powerful reminder of the mind body connection that exists. Anxiety is both a set of physiological reactions that occur in your body, such as trembling, heart racing, sweating, and a set of beliefs or assumptions that are affecting your thoughts and behaviors. Panic attacks, sleepless nights, chronic worry, irritability, avoidance of places, persons, or things are just a few of the ways anxiety can dramatically affect your quality of life. Treatment of anxiety includes examining this mind body connection. You will learn to identify the physiological warning signals connected to certain feelings and thoughts. You will practice self soothing techniques to care for these reactions. Together, we will examine your beliefs attached to prior anxiety provoking events and replace them with more accurate, life sustaining beliefs. You will identify parts of your life that have been damaged or avoided due to anxiety and gradually bring those missing parts of your life back into existence. A common, yet very painful form, of anxiety is social anxiety. Social anxiety is different from shyness or introversion, which can also affect your comfort interacting with people. Treating introversion involves coming to understand and accept your natural way of recharging energy after social interaction. Social anxiety occurs when someone’s negative fear-based beliefs about themselves affect their comfort level in various social situations. Whether it is talking to people at a party, returning something to a store, learning how to do something new in front of others, or talking on the phone, social anxiety can have a tremendous impact upon your daily social interactions. In treatment, you will work to identify and transform the inaccurate beliefs about yourself that limit you socially, develop self soothing skills, and increase your ability to cope effectively with all types of social situations. We also offer an ongoing, weekly anxiety and depression group for men to get additional support. All content, information, writing, and descriptions are solely the property of Robert Johnson and A Better Way Counseling Service. Content on this website may not be reprinted without permission.
Thursday, May 28, 2009 Obama Honors Confederate Soldiers: But, If America Has Changed, Then Some Traditions Should Too Should the President of the United States honor Confederate soldiers who, among other things, fought to keep slavery a way of life in the South? President Barack Obama sought to avoid racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to a monument for Confederate soldiers and a memorial honoring more than 200,000 blacks who fought for the Union during the Civil War. However, a group of African-American academicians petitioned the President not to do so asking President Obama not to honor the Confederate soldiers. The professor’s felt, "The Arlington Confederate Monument is a denial of the wrong committed against African-Americans by slave owners, Confederates and neo-Confederates, through the monument's denial of slavery as the cause of secession and its holding up of Confederates as heroes," the petitioners said. "This implies that the humanity of Africans and African-Americans is of no significance." So, given this argument; why would President Obama honor Confederate soldiers? Conventional wisdom would say that traditionally, Presidents visit Arlington personally to leave a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Presidential aides then deliver wreaths to other memorials or monuments, generally including the Confederate memorial. But are there other reasons? For instance, did you know that the South is overrepresented among military recruits? That’s right. Southern states provided 42.2 percent of 1999 recruits and 41.0 percent of 2003 recruits but contained just 35.6 percent of the population of 18-year-olds. Could it be that President Obama didn’t want alienate Southerners and possibly hurt recruiting numbers? According to Wikipedia political centrism refers to the political idea of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle between different political extremes. I think this definition fits President Obama to a “T”. He’s not going to go too far out on a limb on any position. This was noted by many African-Americans when he took the helm of “The Harvard Review,” by Tavis Smiley during his campaign, and now in his presidency. Hey, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. For sure, with Rush Limbaugh on the Right and Reverend Right on the Left, the last thing this country needs is more political demagoguery. However, when you’re a leader you sometimes have to make decisions that some folk just aren’t going to agree with—you can’t always go down the middle. So, you decide. Did President Obama do the right thing in sending a wreath to the monument for Confederate soldiers? Should there even be such a monument? Or, in light of the pain, suffering and loss of life that slavery, segregation, and racism have caused (even to this day) he should have cut with (White American) tradition and just said no. Let me know what you think…and say somethin’ that makes sense! SweetIceT said... I think President Obama did the right thing. Suppose the issue was about Vietnam (or even Iraq/Afghan) vets instead of Confederate vets? Many people disagreed vehemently with the government's position on the Vietnam War (and many agree now that this was a senseless war), but would we not pay a disservice to those veterans who served this country - with many giving the ultimate sacrifice? As with any other Soldider, the Confederate soldiers were just carrying out the edicts of the superiors. Do not punish the Soldiers, but rather the bad decision-makers in put them in hard's way for an unjust cause!! Iam Robert said... While your train of thought has merit academically, the Vietnam War vets were supposedly fighting for all Americans. Chris said... I don't think we should honor Confederate soldiers at all on memorial day - the day is set aside for American soldiers and the CSA was at the time a foreign country. To honor them isn't like honoring Vietnam vets or other unpopular war veterans - those people fought for our country under our presidents. The Confederates fought for a different country under their own constitution and government - to honor them would be like honoring the Viet Cong or any other enemy. I think we forget that, but to remember them as American soldiers is inaccurate because they simply were not Americans. Iam Robert said... Welcome to the discussion and thanks so much for commenting! You make a great point here that I had forgotten: the South was fighting, in part, to succeed from the Union. And I wholeheartedly agree with your point that we should not honor those who don't want to recognize a race's manifest dignity to the extent that they would want to leave the country. Speaking of, what do you think about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.?
Hi, How Can We Help You? Civil and Criminal laws Practi... Civil and Criminal laws Practices The practice of law is basically divided into two categories, criminal law and civil law. Criminal law involves prosecution by the government of persons who commit crimes and are subject to punishment such as incarceration in prison or fines. Everything other than prosecution for crimes comes under the civil category of the law. Civil law generally involves interaction between individuals or groups regarding the conduct of human affairs that are not punished by the government. Matters that involve disputes between private parties such as negligence, defamation, nuisance, breach of contract, real property titles, or that involve life planning such as preparing the disposition of property upon death, organizing a corporation or limited liability company, or probating the estate of a deceased loved one, all fall within the civil areas of law. Share Post About Lawyer Leave a Reply
Religious Support of Evolution Taught In Schools? News from Agape Press A Seattle-based think tank is expressing outrage over an effort to promote "religious Darwinism" in public schools. The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and the University of California Museum of Paleontology have spent nearly half-a-million dollars in federal money to create a website to help teachers better teach the theory of evolution. Part of that website, called "Understanding Evolution," encourages teachers to explicitly use religion to endorse evolution. Dr. John West with the Discovery Institute is hopeful the government will investigate the function and funding of the website because, in his opinion, it is unconstitutional. Are you allowed to call what the Discovery Institute does "thinking"? It's a really slick website, but they get their news from the Washington Times,, and American Spectator. They're advocating Intelligent Design, which is Creationism all dressed up for the Science Fair. Such logic lets them think that the Understanding Evolution website is advocating a "religious Darwinism", whatever in Hades that is. What's their beef? "It's one thing to teach the science of evolution, but to use tax funds to encourage teachers to use religion to endorse evolution? This website actually contains a link to 16 pages of theological statements endorsing evolution, including one from the United Church of Christ." A link. It actually contains a link. On the actual website itself, religion comes up very rarely: 2. Student Discomfort Discomfort with evolution may not stem from a disagreement with science, but from the belief that evolution is incompatible with religious faith. Help students to understand that evolution, like all of science, seeks to explain natural things through natural causes. We are not challenging their religious beliefs, nor are we asking them to “believe” in evolution, but simply to learn about it. However, no matter what we do or say, some students will not accept the idea of an old Earth and the relatedness of living things. The most fruitful approach with all students is to make information available to them and to allow them to assemble their own understanding of how the world works. 3. Student Challenges Suppose that students object to having to learn about evolution. Just respond appropriately and continue teaching. Here are four things to keep in mind: Be very clear on the nature, content, and expectations of science classes. Teachers and curricula should follow established guidelines, frameworks, and standards that reflect the best current knowledge and consensus of the scientific community. “Belief” is not part of science. We do not ask students to believe in science; we expect them to learn its ideas and methods. Students are not required to accept evolution, but they do need to learn what it is and how it functions as a scientific explanation. Student Roadblocks There's nothing objectionable here at all. The students are free to form or keep their own ideas on the subject. Further on, in External Roadblocks, there's a link to the NCSE websites Resources page, which has a link to Statements from Religious Organizations. The United Church of Christ is on this page (under United Church Board For Homeland Ministries), as is the American Jewish Congress, the American Scientific Affiliation, the Center For Theology And The Natural Sciences, the Central Conference Of American Rabbis, the Episcopal Bishop Of Atlanta, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the General Convention Of The Episcopal Church, the Lexington Alliance Of Religious Leaders, the Lutheran World Federation, the Roman Catholic Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church Board For Homeland Ministries, United Methodist Church, and the United Presbyterian Church In The U.S.A. Let's look at how the Understanding Evolution site links to the NSCE site: 2. Make use of available resources. While debating creationist challenges is not our job, it would might be a good idea to be familiar with questions typically asked. Here are three useful resources: Misconceptions—This provides a list of common misconceptions and potential responses if you choose to use them. What can be misconceptions for some may be posed as intentional challenges by others. NCSE, the National Center for Science Education—Should the teaching of evolution be challenged in your school or district, information and advice are available. Voices for Evolution—These concise statements, found on the NCSE website, come from science and education organizations and emphasize the status of evolution and its place in science. Suggested Strategies The Voices for Evolution is the link that the Discovery Institute thinkers are howling about. But the actual link to the 16 pages of documented religious openness to evolution is on that page. It's a link to a link, and the context is equipping teachers who are facing roadblocks in the course of their teaching. After all, as the site goes on to say, "There are some who would prefer that evolution not be part of our science curriculum, regardless of its veracity, and these people have developed organized efforts to discourage its teaching." The Discovery Institute is one branch of this organized effort. Please note: the information isn't presented as a link to religious endorsements. It highlights the science and education professionals who also are quoted on a different link at the NCSE site. The religious endorsements are a bonus to any teacher that follows the link. It's a clever way of getting that information into the hands of science teachers without actually establishing religion. This cleverness is what the Discovery Institute is seeking to capitalize on. What's happened is that somebody was sitting around the office, fuming at the Berkeley site, and happened to click on the Voices link. When they saw the additional unendorsed link at the NCSE website, their brains blew a fuse and they wrote up a press release to vent. They don't have a leg to stand on, demonstrating once again that creationism is a dysfunctional theory that lacks survival skills in the laboratory of scientific thought.
Saturday, September 12, 2015 Thank you Charles Messier I didn't take this picture, NASA did. I'm nowhere near that good with my astrophotography yet. The subject of the picture has a rather interesting story though. Some might recognize it as the Crab Nebula, and it is a remnant of a supernova. The Crab Nebula has a rather important distinction today. Back in 1758, a French astronomer by the name of Charles Messier was trying to look at comets, which to his viewing tech were fuzzy moving objects; but he kept seeing weird fuzzy objects that did not move. In order to not get bogged down in his comet hunting, he made a list of objects that were fuzzy, looked like comets on first glance, but were not moving. The list is known today as the Messier Catalog, and M1 is the Crab Nebula. The date that it was recorded was September 12, 1758, 257 years ago today. His entire list are objects that backyard astronomers (like myself) strive to look at through our humble equipment. In total, Charles Messier listed a total of 110 of these objects, which include the Pleiades (M45) (link goes to my pictures of them), the Orion Nebula (M42), and the Andromeda Galaxy(M31). He also discovered 13 actual comets.
Why many respected black leaders oppose school vouchers but promote school reform June 2, 2017 Share on FacebookTweet about this on Twitter The following was written by Paul Ruffins in response to multiple Citizen Ed pieces that challenged black leaders for not supporting school choice. We appreciate hearing from a variety of black voices in this forum, and we thank Mr. Ruffins for allowing us to publish his insights. Mr. Ruffins the Director Workforce Academics at Southeast Ministry DC. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Washington CityPaper and Diverse Issues in Higher Education. It is perfectly reasonable, even admirable , for leaders to disagree with the people they claim to represent. That’s called leadership. Many people became leaders exactly because they have a more informed vision, or a deeper knowledge of history than the average person. For example, Dr. King was against the war in Vietnam while many black citizens and WWII vets still supported the conflict. President Obama supported gay marriage while many ordinary black folks opposed it, and his moral example and thoughtful explanations helped change and open their minds. As a person who has worked for both the NAACP, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, I have had many opportunities to hear black leaders, such as the late Julian Bond, explain exactly why they oppose school vouchers. Please note: I am not trying to express my own opinion about school reform, but rather, I am trying to do an honest job of communicating why most of the black leaders and elected officials I worked for opposed vouchers. What follows is five reasons black leaders and officials oppose school voucher plans: The first is historical. The idea of school vouchers was first widely advocated in the late 1950’s, specifically as a way to oppose school integration after the 1954 Brown decision. Virginia, completely closed down several public school districts for months rather than integrate them. Then, on January 9, 1956 voters approved the Gray Plan to fund school vouchers which would be used to fund segregated white private academies. The second is Constitutional. The U.S. constitution forbids the government from establishing or directly supporting religious organizations. Well, the places where conservative politicians promoted vouchers most vigorously were almost always “failing center cities” like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, or Detroit, where the only private schools that a poor person could possibly afford with a voucher were Catholic schools. Relatively few African American are Catholic. (The government does help to indirectly support many religious institutions such as Catholic hospitals, but those institutions are not allowed to discriminate in hiring or proselytize among their patients the way religious schools can.) The third is financial. In general, the conservatives who advocate for school vouchers are also generally opposed to increased public school funding, while most African American leaders have traditionally supported greater school funding across the board. Black leaders have often pointed out that citizens in upper-middle class areas have never supported taking tax money away from public schools to use for private school vouchers, no matter whether they were Republican or Democratic. The forth reason is political. It’s fair to say that in general, the politicians who most vigorously advocate for school vouchers were almost always conservatives. (One rare liberal exception is Kevin Chavous, formerly of the DC City Council.) Black politicians are rightfully suspicious of people like Ronald Regan (or current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos) who claim(ed) to be terribly concerned with the fate of black children “trapped in failing schools,” but want to shred the rest of the safety net that supports so many black families. Many black leaders suspect that voucher supporters are less concerned with educating black children than dismantling the teacher’s union. The fifth is economic. Public school systems are huge economic engines that are often among the largest and least discriminatory employers in any city. Municipal employees such as teachers, bus drivers, and social workers make up the backbone of the black middle class. Therefore, it is reasonable for many Black leaders to oppose white politicians who want to divert funds from public institutions that black communities can control, into private institutions such as Catholic schools that don’t answer to the public. Black elected officials feel that many of the ideas that conservatives have promoted to be in the “interest of black children and youth,” such as school vouchers and a sub-minimum wage, always seem to involve dismantling intuitions, like public schools, government jobs, and unions, that employ or sustain black parents. These are the historical reasons that many African American leaders oppose school vouchers. However, many Black leaders have been at the forefront of recent movements for school reform and school choice. School vouchers are just one small possible element of school reform and school choice. In fact, in the whole nation the leaders who have been at the forefront to school reform are the last three African American mayors of Washington, D.C., where 48% percent of students are enrolled in new public charter schools, and where the traditional public schools have been posting significant gains in reading and math. Black educators and union members were also deeply involved in helping to develop the common core curriculum, a non-partisan, state-based approach to curriculum reform based on thinking and reasoning rather than rote memory and repetition. Submit a Comment Pin It on Pinterest Share This
Displaced Communities displaced by Hitler & Stalin; 95%+) VOLGA GERMANS (over 400,000 expelled by Soviets to Kazakhstan) DUTCH GERMANS (3,691 expelled, 15% of German population) (100-200,000 expelled after WWI) (over 3,000,000 expelled and displaced; 95% total) (over 100,000 expelled, over 300,000 displaced; 88% of total) US Internment of German-Americans, Japanese, & Italians (10,906+ interned & blacklisted) NEW! (nearly 1,000,000 to Germany and Kazakhstan) COMING SOON Other Information (documentaries, interviews, speeches) Follow us on FACEBOOK NEW! (for updates, events, announcements) The problem of classifying German expellees as a 'genocide' Why the German, Czech, and Polish governments reject expellee commemoration Distorted historical memory and ethnic nationalism as a cause for forgetting expellees The History and Failure of Expellee Politics and Commemoration NEW! Sexual Violence and Gender in Expellee Scholarship and Narratives Comparative Genocide Table Suggested Resources & Organisations The Staff/Contact Us In Memoriam: Your Expellee Relatives & Survivors Submit content and information How to support German expellees / expellee political lobbies Bookmark IREG to Favourites! Donate to the Institute Link to Us/Refer a friend Privacy Policy/Copyright the vanished romanian german community through hitler's population transfer, soviet deportation, & mass emigration HOW TO CITE THIS SCHOLARLY ESSAY: Institute for Research of Expelled Germans. "The disappearance of the Transylvania Saxons and Swabians from Romania through mass emigration and planned deportation." http://expelledgermans.org/transylvaniasaxons.htm (accessed D-M-Y). The IREG flags of the Transylvania Saxons and Banat Swabians of Romania. Both regions are equally significant to Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, and German heritage alike. (Trans. shield based upon that of siebenbuerger.de, Banat shield by Hans Diplic) Included German minourity groups in this region: Transylvania Saxons, Transylvania Landler, Danube Swabians, Dobruja Germans, Bukovina Germans, Sathmar Germans Total population change resulting from expulsion, displacement, emigration: 782,246 to under 66,646 today (91.5% lost). History of Settlement, Culture Population Transfer, Planned Deportation, and Mass Emigration Population Statistics Famous Persons Suggested Websites and Organisations History of Settlement, Culture, and Adaptation of Nationality The history of ethnic German settlement in what is now Romania occurred in several phases and resulted in the formation of numerous German-speaking communities with distinct dialects and local traditions. The complicated changes in geopolitical control over northern and western Romania between various powers faciliated the diversity of the German minourities. The first period of German colonisation was that of the Transylvania Saxons from the late 11th century to the end of the 13th, when much of modern Romania was ruled by the sceptre of the Kingdom of Hungary. The vast mountainous and forested frontier lands of Transylvania (today straddling Romania and Hungary) operated as a buffer against the incursions of Turkic tribes who were at perpetual war with the Hungarians. With this antagonism in mind, the Hungarian sovereign Géza II (1130-1162) invited farmers, artisans, knights, Catholic missionaries, and entrepreneurs from the Kingdom of Germany to settle in Transylvania. Enjoying government subsidy and protection on their journeys, the colonists were granted significant political, linguistic, and cultural autonomy. Their only overt responsibilities to the Hungarian crown were to defend Hungary from raiding Cumans and other invaders, to provide annual tribute from their community to the treasury along with 500 soldiers for the king's internal conflicts and 100 for wars abroad. The initial settlement was very small, consisting of as few as 520 families that gradually expanded into significant minourity colonies centred around Hermannstadt (Gündisch 1). Their markets were not subject to extra tariffs by the state, and their land was given marked tax incentives. The topographic remoteness of rugged Transylvania allowed other small German communities to develop their own local identities outside of the Transylvania Saxon political culture. The German immigrants in this phase originated all over the German Empire, including Baden, the Low Countries, the Rheinland, Württemburg, Franken (Franconia), Schwaben (Swabia), and Bavaria. They retained their local regional traditions spoke a variety of German dialects, especially Low German, Alemannish, Franconian, and Swabian. Despite this diversity, all of them were called Transylvania Saxons (Siebenbürger Sachsen) upon arrival by the Hungarians, as Hungarians called most Germans Saxons ('Szász'). Upon settlement, most regional differences were subsumed as the immigrants coalesced into a developed Transylvania Saxon community in Hermannstadt. The Germans called their new homeland for the next 800 years 'Siebenbürgen' (Seven Fortresses) after the seven major urban centres that the Germans built, laying the economic and political foundations for Transylvania ever since. The Transylvania Saxons gradually forged an independent culture, society, uniform dialect ('Saksesch'), and a stratified political order of aristocratic land owners, bishops, nobles, and laymen. The vast majourity of Saxons were farmers, with many others actively engaged in mining, forestry, artisanry, military service, monastic priesthood, and merchant commerce. The main political and economic centres were Kronstadt (today Braşov), Hermannstadt (today Sibiu), Arad, Sathmar (Satu Mare), and many others. The Saxons retained prolonged cultural, political, and merchant contact with Germany (including Austria) (Livezeanu 2000, 137). This was evident by the fact that the German Teutonic Order, ceremonially subservient to the German emperor, was given protected lands in Transylvania in the beginning of the 13th century due to their ethnocultural and linguistic affinity with the Saxons. The crusaders adorned the Saxon city of Kronstadt with powerful defences, as well as bolstered military, political, and religious foundations that made Transylvania a considerable commercial centre of the region. The German minourity remained disproportionately powerful in comparison with the far larger Romanian and Hungarian peasant populations in Transylvania. This is evident in the fact that most of the ancient cities in Transylvania today have a blatant Germanic architectural and cultural appearance. Although there was inevitably economic interaction between the Saxon minourity and the Hungarian and Romanian majorities, the dominance of the Saxon communities created increasing tension between ethnic groups, especially between Saxons and Jews (Molnar 2001, 182). German, not Magyar (Hungarian), was the lingua franca for commerce and politics in Hungarian Transylvania despite the far larger Romanian and Hungarian populations. Nonetheless, the disparate and sparse population of family landholdings in Transylvania made inter-ethnic violence (at least in this period) almost nonexistent. Ostensibly, all three of the main ethnic groups in Transylvania (Saxons, Romanians/Vlachs, and Hungarians/Szekels) enjoyed superficial autonomy referred to as the 'Three-Nation Status'. However, the German minourity, in vast control of the region's land and commercial centres, greatly undermined the extent of this supposed autonomy. Gradually throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Romanian principalities (Wallachia, Moldova, and Transylvania) slowly developed into significant economies and trading hubs in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the northwestern Ottoman realm. The Romanian financial centres became a crossroads for businessmen from Germanic-ruled parts of Europe, for Bulgarians, Jews, Russians, Serbs, and Turks. Vlad Tepes Dracul (the historical figure of Bram Stoker's Dracula) accelerated this growth with his liquidation of the begger class and part of the local Roma (Gypsy) population, since foreign merchants no longer had to pay for security and therefore found Bucharest an ideal economic destination. Germans, as in much of Europe, played a significant part in Romanian economic life and growth. The main commercial street, Lipscan Street (Strada Lipscani) was and still is named after the ethnic Germans from Romania proper and from Germany coming out of Leipzig (Lipscan in Romanian). As our research in Bucharest revealed, elements of German cultural and architectural influence, as well as a blatant ethnic German minourity legacy in Romanian history are still present both visually and in Romanian historical memory. Transylvania Saxons settle under Hungarian king Geza II (source: siebenbuergersachsen.de) The German minourity in Transylvania cultivated thriving commercial centres (source: sibiu.ro) An old Transylvania Landler church (source: landler.com) Our photo of a portrait of Vlad Tepes Dracul in his former palace in Bucharest, Romania. During his lifetime, Romanian principalities developed important Balkan economies, centred around his capital of Bucharest. Germans were a significant factor in this economic growth and in the active merchantile life of the bustling capital (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Romania's Germans within the Habsburg Empire, and the settlement of the Swabians After 1526, the political situation in the region changed dramatically. After the fall of Hungary to the Ottoman jihad in 1526, most of Hungary and its dependencies of Croatia, Slovakia, and Bohemia were annexed by the German Habsburg Empire of Austria. Transylvania was seized from Hungary and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire as a highly independent tributary. The Saxons, previously in inordinate control of Transylvania, now found their previous political power partly subsumed under the authority of mostly ethnic Hungarian statesmen. The Three Nation Status was strengthened and expanded; Hungarians, Romanians, and Saxons enjoyed significant cultural and social independence. This increasing competition would intensify ever since as a source of enduring ethnic conflict. The devastation caused by the Muslim invasion resulted in large-scale fleeing, death, starvation, and displacement due to the despolitation of the agricultural lands of the region. Tens of thousands of Romanians and Hungarians fled Ottoman-occupied Romania and Hungary to the autonomous and remote forested lands of Transylvania. In turn, thousands of Hungarians and Germans fled Hungary westward to the safety of the Christian Habsburg Empire in Austria and northern Hungary. As a result, the Romanian population in Transylvania increased steadily, whilst the Saxon and Hungarian constituents declined (Kann 1979, 205). This further offset the longstanding Saxon hegemony over Transylvania's political foundations. Over 6,000 Saxon homes and farmlands were recorded as being abandoned and resettled by relocated Romanians as part of this demographic shift (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestantism proliferated throughout Transylvania thanks to the work of German missionaries and the wide circulation of Lutheran polemics through highly developed intellectual circles and printing presses. The overwhelming majourity of Saxons adopted Lutheranism. As a result, the political and academic institutions in Saxon cities went from being dominated by Catholic priests and sees to independent Lutheran congregations and political hierarchies. A radiant Lutheran Saxon culture emerged that spawned Flemish-style artists like Tobias Stranovius and theologians like Johannes Honter. Under Ottoman autonomy, the nascent intellectual institutions of Transylvania Saxons gradually formalised into a more developed network of pedagogues, Lutheran ministers, intellectuals, city officials, and councilmen known as 'Sächsische-Universität', or 'Universitas Saxonum'. From printing presses, Lutheran schools, colleges, politicians, and intelligentsia circles, the German community in Romania forged an ordered legal corpus and political system that gradually integrated the Romanian and Hungarian majourities. The situation in Transylvania and Romania changed again from the 17th to the 18th centuries as the Habsburgs expanded conquer all of Transylvania, Croatia, and Hungary from the obsolescent Ottoman realm. Much of the whole area, including the cities of Buda and Pest (later Budapest), was almost completely vacant due to a century of war, fleeing, and famine. In response, the German sovereigns (especially Maria Theresa and Karl VI) invited settlers from Germany to repopulate the region and found commercial and cultural centres throughout the region. These Germans, known collectively as Danube Swabians, were granted significant tax incentives and subsidy. They enjoyed the superiour political and social rights that ethnic Germans enjoyed all throughout the Habsburg Empire (Kann 1979, 460). Unlike the Lutheran Saxons, the Danube Swabian communities were strictly Catholic. Disproportionately dominant Swabian German minourities appeared in Habsburg Croatia, the Sudetenland, the Carpathians, Hungary, Transylvania, and northwestern Romania. In the lands of what is today Romania, several Swabian communities took root, including the Sathmar Swabians in Satu Mare (far west Transylvania) and the Banat Swabians (Banaterschwaben) in the Banat region that today straddles Serbia, Hungary, and Romania. At the same time, in the 18th century, hundreds of Protestants were expelled from Austria to Transylvania by Maria Theresa since Catholicism was compulsory and Transylvania was predominately Protestant. These expelled Protestant Germans developed an independent community in Romania known as the Landler Germans ('Landls'). An ethnic map of the Habsburg Empire. Pay attention to the pockets of ethnic Germans in far eastern Hungary (Transylvania). (scanned from Kann 1979). A religious map of the Habsburg Empire. Notice the significant pockets of Uniate, Protestant, and Orthodox communities in Transylvania. This denotes the Hungarian, German, and Romanian communities in Hungarian Transylvania (scanned from Kann 1979) The Habsburg system greatly altered the ethnic autonomy of the Three-Nation Status in Transylvania. The region's independence was largely abolished, and Transylvania was administered directly via a Habsburg governor (Molnar 2001, 141). The Saxons were blatantly elevated as the dominant minourity over the Hungarian and Romanian majorities. Samuel von Brukenthal, a Saxon himself from just outside Hermannstadt, was appointed Habsburg governor of Transylvania altogether. The elevated power of the Saxon minourity in Transylvania was a source of much enduring social tension. Von Brukenthal emphasised the special interests of Romania's Germans and encouraged the German Empress Maria Theresa to maintain their unequal dominance. This is evidenced by his famous letter to the Empress, in which he opposed the creation of an equalised and mixed Transylvania, 'since they were called from their homeland, the German provinces never intermixed...Instead of being a lone individual [the German] would become a mixture of many and without the virtue of the people of which he descended; he would carry the flaws and infirmities of all with whom he would mix' (Gündisch 1). However, the Habsburgs encouraged the settlement of Romanians from the Ottoman Empire in order to offset the vociferous franchise conflict in Transylvania and undermine the German-Hungarian rivalry. Romanians were not given equal rights with the other 'three nations', leading to enduring inter-ethnic disputes in Transylvania (Kann 1979, 205). Religion became the greatest divider: Calvinists and Catholics bitterly feuded with Lutherans because Lutheranism was synonymous with Saxon dominance. Both eschewed Orthodoxy as a vehicle for Romanian nationalism (Molnar 2001, 109). The ethnic franchise competition became so intense that Emperor Leopold II unsuccessfully considered abolishing the more than 300-year-old social system in Transylvania completely. Other new ethnic German settler communities appeared in what is now Romania in the 19th century. For over a century, the Russian Empire had subsidised the immigration of ethnic Germans along the Black Sea and on the Russian frontier, including the Volga Germans. Due to competition and famine, small congregations of German families left Russia and traveled to the coastal lands straddling modern Romania and Bulgaria on the strip territory called Dobruja. This resettled community became known as the Dobruja Germans (Dobrudschadeutsche). Here, these predominately Protestant farming families formed a small minourity in southern Romania until their complete removal in 1940 (see below). As of 1930, there were 12,581 Germans in Romanian Dobruja (Wien 2004, 60). Another influential and wealthy ethnic German community emerged in the border lands straddling modern Ukraine, Romania, and Poland called Bukovina ('Buchenland' in German). From the early 18th century until the 20th, the Habsburg Empire subsidised the settlement of ethnic Germans in the region, whence they were named Bukovina Germans (Buchenlandsdeutsche). This region was populated mostly by Romanians, with large minourities of Ukrainians (Ruthenians), Poles, Germans, and Jews. Due to imperial sponsourship, the German language and the ethnic German population enjoyed tremendously inequitable influence in economics, academia, and politics. Franz-Josef-Universität in the Bukovinian capital of Czernowitz was almost exclusively conducted in German. Germans and Jews were incredibly dominant in Bukovina to the detriment of the Romanian majourity, although this inequality was gradually assuaged by 1918. In 1850, there were 150,000 ethnic Germans in Bukovina-Galicia out of 4,500,000 (Kann 1979, 404). Germans were 9.3% of Bukovina proper (Livezeanu 2000, 49). The final German community that would later become part of Romania were the Bessarabian Germans, who settled in the territory of Bessarabia that straddles modern Moldova and Ukraine. Like other German communities in Russia, the Bessarabian Germans had settled in the 19th century after Bessarabia was conquered from the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12. Primarily Lutheran, Reformed, and Pietist, the Bessarabian Germans were a heavily agricultural minourity under 100,000 with protected religious, linguistic, and local rights. After the Crimean War of 1856, most of Bessarabia and its Germans were forfeited to what would later become Romania. The Bessarabian Germans remained part of Romania until 1940, when the USSR occupied it along with the Baltic. A Dobruja German settler family in Romania (source: library.ndsu.edu) Dobruja German pioneers build disparate settlements along the border of Bulgaria and Romania (source: library.ndsu.edu) The relationship between ethnic groups in Transylvania changed again after Transylvania was formally incorporated into Habsburg Hungary in 1867 following the formation of the dual monarchy between Budapest and Vienna for equal ethnic rights with the Germans. When Hungarian nationalists attempted to raise the Hungarian minourity (Magyars) to power over the smaller Saxon minourity, Romanians and Saxons responded with intensive revolt (Glenny 1999, 33). The Banat region of western Transylvania became a battleground after the Hungarian Revolution, as the region's many races initiated bloody massacres and nationalist revolts, including the Banat Swabian Germans (Ibid., 51). A strong programme of Magyarisation began that sought to erode the influence of non-Hungarian minourities. The autonomy and Three-Nation Status of Transylvania was finally abolished. All extra rights of the Germans were dissolved, and Hungarians received greater ethnic and political rights than unassimilated Germans and Romanians. 1 Magyar vote equaled 12 Romanian votes in local elections (Kann 1979, 355-6). Assimilation, which rarely occurred among the Transylvania Saxons but largely did among Danube Swabians in Hungary, was a potential way out of this discriminatory ethnic policy. The Saxon response was ubiquitous. A number of Saxon academic and cultural groups appeared, such as the Society of Transylvanian History and several political parties. Others, like Adolf Schullerus, sought to protect the Saxon identity by writing Transylvania Saxon grammars and dictionaries. Most were bitterly opposed to Hungarian rule. Others, like the Saxon Lutheran pastor Stephan Ludwig Roth worked with all three ethnic groups in Transylvania seeking an equal union. Even he was eventually executed by Hungarian nationalists, accused of perfidy against Hungary. The general Saxon opposition to Hungarian rule caused the German minourity in Transylvania to look elsewhere. Most Saxons looked abroad to their common ancestral homeland in Germany during the German Revolution of 1848 that sought the reunification of Germany. One salient Saxon writing to German nationalists in Frankfurt argued, 'the world is filled with German children. We too are descendants of these roots. Geographically separated on the surface without visible bonds to the motherland, still, we live...through memories of the past and the hopes of the future with and through Germany...We are strong if Germany is strong...We want to be and remain what we have always been, an honest German people and also honest and loyal citizens of the country we belong to [Habsburg Hungary]' (Gündisch 1). Saxons and Swabians in Transylvania derided the Hungarian nationalists in parliament by describing the Magyarisation campaign as ethnic discrimination. Hungarians retorted by accusing the Saxon minourity in Transylvania of denying the rights of Romanians and Hungarian majorities for centuries (Case 2009, 36). This intensifying inter-ethnic competition for franchise in an era of explosive nationalism would continue until World War II. In the 'Old Kingdom' of Romania (Wallachia, Moldova, and Romania proper) after independence from the Turks and unification in 1878, ethnic Germans enjoyed prosperity in a growing Romanian economy. Not only were Romania's kings who led the economic and architectural modernisation of Romania ethnic Germans from the Hohenzollern dynasty, but Germans played a significant role in trade in the Franchophile and Germanophile capital of Bucharest that soon became known as the 'Paris of the East.' Many streets in Bucharest were named after German intellectuals and sovereigns, as still remains the case today. The main merchantile hub of Bucharest, Lipscan Street (Strada Lipscani), retained its old Romanian name for the wealthy German entrepreneurs from Leipzig. The ethnic and national situation in Transylvania changed again with the fall of the Habsburg Austria-Hungarian Empire after World War I in 1918. In the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, Hungary was shorn of 70% of its crown lands and 30% of its territory in Hungary proper. Nearly all of Transylvania was given to the young nation of Romania due to the intensive petitions of the ethnic Romanian majourity in Transylvania to finally attain political equity with the Saxons and Hungarians. At the same time, 1/5 of the Hungarians in Transylvania fled to a broken Hungary (Verdery 1985, 72). The Banat and its large German population was split between Yugoslavia and Romania after an independent Banat Republic led by the Swabian Otto Roth was crushed by Serbs in 1918. Most of the Bukovina region was given to Romania. As a result, Romania received a hugely expanded German minourity population, including Banat and Sathmar Swabians, Dobrujan, Bessarabian, and Bukovina Germans, Transylvania Saxons, and Landler Germans. The German minourity in Transylvania was largely supportive of Romania, hoping for an end to Magyarisation. Whereas Hungary had abolished the Three Nation Status and the ethnic autonomy in Transylvania, Romania promised to grant cultural and political representation to the Germans of Romania. Whereas the Hungarians had discouraged the use of German instead of Hungarian, the Romanians sponsoured Germn-language theatres, schools, representation in parliament, and political institutions. New organisations emerged like the German Party (deutsche Partei) and the German Saxon People's Council for Transylvania (Deutschsächsische Volksratt für Siebenbürgen). However, Romania, which rapidly became increasingly nationalistic, also began gradual Romanisation campaigns. Street names were changed from German to Romanian in Transylvania (like Hermannstadt to Sibiu) and bilingual education was compulsory. So too, the post-war poverty of Romania was addressed by a land reform and confiscation programme. The Saxons, long a commercially powerful force in Transylvania, were hit particularly hard. The Saxon Lutheran Church, a focal point of Saxon politics, lost 55% of its lands, and many towns lost over 50% of their private property (Gündisch 1). Of course, this policy affected Romanians as much as it did Germans. Hitler's population transfers, the Soviets' planned deportations, and the Saxons' mass emigration As a result of World War I's post-war territorial changes, the ancient German settler communities in Transylvania and the Banat now found themselves as part of the Romanian nation. After 1920, Romania's expansion gained more than a half-million ethnic Germans altogether, and more than 400,000 Jews (Haug 1998, 126). As of the 1930 censuses, there were 237,416 Germans in Romanian Transylvania (8.5% thereof), 275,369 in the Romanian Banat, and 31,067 in Satu Mare (western Transylvania). There were at least 32,366 in the rest of Romania proper, including Dobruja and Bukovina (Wien 2004, 60). In total, there were 745,421 Germans out of Romania's 18 million, about 4.1% (Castelan 1971, 52-53). The Banat Swabians in western Romania were the largest German minourity (Lumans 1993, 107). The Transylvania Saxons, Banat Swabians, Sathmar Swabians, Dobruja Germans, Bessarabian Germans, and Bukovina Germans enjoyed a largely peaceful and loyal membership in Romania from 1918 until 1040. They participated in political discourse in the Romanian parliament, and received cultural and linguistic recognition. Although not autonomous, the German minourities were acknowledged as a distinct and represented ethnic community within Romania. The previously separate German settler communities were now uniformly generalised on statistics and in minourity relations collectively as 'Romanian Germans' (Rumäniendeutsche). Throughout the 1930's, Romania rapidly gravitated towards the extreme right. Rabid Antisemitism, long strong in Romanian culture, eventually merged with torrential ultranationalist movements like the Iron Guard to make Romania one of the most active participants in the independent annihilation of nearly all of Romania's large Jewish population as arguably Adolf Hitler's closest ally throughout the war. The monarchical authority of King Carol II was, by 1940, largely second to the far-reaching and charismatic dictatorship of Marshal Ion Antonescu until 1944. Hungary, too, had become an active member of the Fascist camp and a formal constituent of the Axis alongside the Third Reich and Romania under Admiral Miklós Hórthy. A very nationalistic Hungary, still greatly bitter over the loss of Transylvania, intensely asserted its irridentist claims to Romanian Transylvania. These ethnic-based territorial claims would soon bear direct consequence on the German minourities in Transylvania and Romania. The end of the Dobrujan, Bessarabian, and Bukovina German communities through Hitler's population transfer The Bukovina, Bessarabian, and Dobruja German communities in Romania, who had respectively settled in northern and southern Romania and contributed to the local societies for two centuries, were to almost completely disappear from Romania not as a result of post-war expulsion by the Soviets or Romanian Communists, but by the diplomatic policy of Adolf Hitler. In 1939 during the German and Soviet conquests of Poland, the Third Reich and the USSR finalised the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of non-aggression and friendship. Under the treaty, the Soviet Union was given free reign to annex the Baltic states, Finland, eastern Poland, and the northeastern marches of Romania in Bessarabia (today Moldova), whilst Germany was allowed to reannex Prussia and conquer western Poland. After much dispute and diplomatic uncertainty, Bukovina was ultimately split in half, with the Soviets annexing the northern half from Romania. As a result of the pact and its subsequent diplomatic measures, significant ethnic German minourities were to fall under the rule of the Soviets, including the Baltic Germans, a significant portion of the Bukovina Germans, and the Bessarabian Germans. In addition to losing territory in Moldova and Bukovina, Romania was also to lose its Bukovinian and Bessarabian German populations as a result of Germany's diplomatic mediation. Adolf Hitler, refusing to allow these long-influential German communities from falling under the hegemony of Soviet 'Jewish Bolshevism', determined that all of these ethnic German populations were to be deported en masse and transfered to Germany under the 'Heim ins Reich' doctrine ('[come] home to the Reich'). Although Dobruja, straddling the border of eastern Romania and Bulgaria, was not incorporated into the USSR under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the tiny Dobruja German population was also to be deported to Germany because it was similarly feared that the small community would lose its ethnic characteristics and would fare better 'home' in Germany. Although Germany's decision to relocate these communities is typically considered an example of the superficiality of Hitler's pan-Germanic ideology and his complete disregard for the fate of these peoples, the political situation was far more complicated. In Hitler's mind, he was faced with the inevitable options of placing ethnic Germans under a Marxist-Leninist ideology that was deemed to be antithetical to German societies, or force them to immigrate under direct government subsidy to the exploding economy in Germany that directly catered to ethnic German interests. It was considered unavoidable. As a result of Hitlerian diplomatic policy, the 800-year-old Baltic German community was evicted from their homes along with Romania's Bukovinian, Bessarabian, and Dobruja Germans, ending nearly 1,000 years of different phases of ethnic German pioneer settlement in Eastern Europe ('Ostsiedling'). Nearly 200,000 ethnic Germans were moved out of Romania altogether between 1939 and 1943 (Weiner 1998, 164). 13,979 Dobruja Germans were moved on German and Romanian transports from Dobruja under Germany's directive, with only 2% remaining (BMV). Nearly all of the Bessarabian German population was removed from what became the Moldavian SSR. In totality, as many as 436,000 ethnic Germans were moved out of Eastern Europe as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty. Most were sent to refugee camps and subsidised housings that the German General Government in Poland had seized from Polish families (Burleigh 2001, 581). 300,000 Poles were displaced and 6,000,000 hectares of Polish land were transferred to relocated German families (Castelan 1971, 64). Interestingly, 10,000 of those deported from Romania were sent back, either for economic, political, or racial reasons (such as not being homogeneously of the German race). In the same timeframe, 150-160,000 Jews had been killed in Bukovina and Bessarabia alone by Germany, Ukrainian volunteers, and independently by Romania (Burleigh 2001, 625). Ultimately, due to economic and military shortcomings, only about 500 residences were given to the relocated Germans from the Baltic and Romania for over 250,000 people on the waiting list by the end of the war (Burlegh 2001, 596). The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact forced Axis Romania to cede its northeastern marches, including Bessarabia and Bukovina. At the same time, it sealed the fate of the ancient Dobruja, Bessarabian, and Bukovina German communities of Romania that were forcibly relocated. The Nazification and transfer to Hungarian rule of Transylvania Saxons The Bukovinian, Bessarabian, and Dobrujan German communities of Romania had disappeared from Romania as a result of the treaty. The Transylvania Saxons and the Swabians of the Romanian Banat, however, were not affected in the population transfer. Their closer proximity to the Reich, their developed political and social foundations, and the irredentist claims of Hungary on the Banat and Transylvania made Romania's Saxon and Swabian minourities follow a very different historical course. Throughout their interlude of Romanian nationality, the Transylvania Saxons had formed a number of political parties and cultural organisations that interacted with Bucharest to address the local concerns of the German minourity. The Group of German People in Romania (Volksgruppe der Deutschen in Rumänien), the German People's Party, the National Saxon Party, and the German Party all joined the eclectic political movements of the Hungarian and Romanian majorities in Transylvania the 1920's and 1930's. Leftist, democratic, racialist, Christian, and far-right parties all competed. The great majourity of the Saxon parties were proud members of the Romanian nation; none directly advocated independence or incorporation into a Germany that was still very far away. Most Hungarians sought a return to Hungarian rule. Quite rapidly, the majourity of Transylvania Saxons gravitated towards the far-right, pan-Germanism, and National Socialism, inspired by the propaganda and movement of Adolf Hitler in Germany. The Volksgruppe quickly became the foremost of these social movements among Transylvania Germans, led firstly by Fritz Fabritius after 1935 before his replacement by Rudolf Brandsch. In 1933, the Volksgruppe's earlier version got 62% of the vote in the local elections in Saxon cities (Castelan 1971, 59). The Saxons' wide support for Nazi movements in Romania was used after the war by the Soviets as proof of the collective guilt of the German minourity. However, this is easily misunderstood. As in the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, ethnic Germans tended to view Germanist National Socialism as a movement that directly addressed their local social and cultural concerns over the generalised parties of the national majorities. It does not equate to any support among the Saxons for genocide, war, or extermination of Jews or Romanians. So too, Romania itself quickly became overwhelmingly swept by extreme nationalism and Fascism, and participated on its own in the genocide of Romania's huge Jewish communities. Volksgruppe leader Rudolf Brandsch (source: burschenschaft.de) Although King Carol II initially tried to cripple the influence of the Saxon Nazis and the Romanian Iron Guard as a threat to his power, Axis Romania as a close ally of Nazi Germany ended up sponsouring the proliferation of Nazism among Transylvania Saxons. Whereas the Nazi Volksgruppe Party had been one of many ideological currents in Transylvania, Antonescu and a royal decree by Carol in 1940 made the Volksgruppe the sole political organ of the Germans of Romania. All other German parties and political movements in Transylvania were forcibly merged with the Volksgruppe by the Romanian government. All Saxons were officially registered as being members of the Nazi Volksgruppe. After 1939, as a result of this decree, the Transylvania Saxon community was placed under the ceremonial authority of Germany itself. The SS administrator Andreas Schmidt, under the command of Heinrich Himmler, was placed in change of Romania's German minourity. This decision made Transylvania's Germans synonymous with Nazism. This would later have great consequences for Romanian Germans when the Red Army arrived in 1944. Much to the disgust of Romanian nationalists, the nationality of the Transylvania and its Saxons changed altogether in 1940, when under German orchestration Romania was forced to cede 4/5 of Transylvania to Axis Hungary in the 'Vienna Awards'. The transferred portion of Transylvania had more than 2,577,000 inhabitants, and 2/5 were Romanian (Lendvai 2004, 410). Whilst the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had forced Romania to lose Dobruja and Bukovina Germans, the Vienna Awards lost Romania 1/3 of its truncated German minourity, going from nearly 800,000 to less than 500,000 (Wien 2004, 64). Now under Hungarian sovereignty, the Saxons were elevated under Germany's direction to extremely autonomous status and expanded political rights. The Banat – split between Yugoslavia, Romania, and Hungary – was elevated into an autonomous province by Germany's decree when Yugoslavia was conquered in 1940. The Banat Swabian German minourity of only 20% was given authority over the whole region (Hrvatski Informativni Centar). Tranylvania's Saxons, like all persons of German blood throughout Europe, were given citizenship in Germany. This decision by the German government unknowingly would give Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the USSR the right to expel more than 10,000,000 ethnic Germans 'back home' to the Germany that their ancestors had not seen for centuries. In the same context as the population transfers under the German-Soviet friendship treaty, more than ten thousand Transylvania Saxons (now living in Hungary) were transferred after 1940 to Germany and German-occupied Poland (Burleigh 2001, 595). However, this repatriation was voluntary; the vast majourity remained living in Hungarian Transylvania. To the same end, the SS administrators in Transylvania actively encouraged Hungarians and Germans to volunteer for Waffen-SS legions, the German army, or the Hungarian Honvédség with promises of job security and incentives. Artur Phleps, a Transylvania Saxon himself and the leader of one of the most brutal SS legions ('Prinz Eugens'), was placed in charge of the German minourities of Transylvania and the Banat. Most historiography argues that Transylvania Saxons were practically 'forced' to join the SS, although this is impossible to prove. Some 75,000, or 10% of all Saxons, joined the Waffen-SS or Wehrmacht army by the end of the war either through compulsion or voluntarily (Wien 2004, 64). Although it is typical to describe the Saxons as radical proponents of atrocities who were fully deserving of any post-war retributions, it is also worth noting that the huge Jewish minourity in Transylvania was almost hardly disrupted at all. The Jewish population remained relatively unchanged after the war, when the Jews disappeared at the same rate as the Saxons themselves through mass emigration (Haug 1998, 126). It was the Hungarians, not the Germans in Transylvania, who began the murder of Transylvania's Jews when the Hungarian nationalists of the Arrow Cross regime deported them to Auschwitz in 1944, including 38,000 on trains to Auschwitz in May alone (Glajar 1997, 526). SS commander Artur Phleps, a Transylvania Saxon and a leader of the Nazified German community in Romania (BBC) By late 1944, the situation had taken a turn for the worse. King Carol II, in a last-minute attempt to save Romania from crippling post-war indemnity and Soviet reprisals, had Antonescu arrested and declared war on the Axis. The Red Army occupied Romania by late 1944, and orchestrated the seizure of power by the hitherto insignificant Romanian Communist party. With the end of World War II, due to Soviet mediation, Romania regained Transylvania and its Saxon minourity from Hungary, whilst the Banat and its Swabian Germans were split between the new Communist Yugoslavia and Romania. Large numbers of German minourities fled Romania at the end of the war, fearing reprisals by Soviet authorities. This included war criminals guilty of horrendous atrocities as well as innocents who for ideological or economic reasons escaped the impending invasion. As many as 70,000 Banat Swabians fled the Romanian-Yugoslav border when the Red Army arrived. 40,000 were deported to the Soviet Union for forced labour, and only half returned. At least 3,000 Sathmar Swabians fled Romania as well (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Tens of thousands of Transylvania Saxons fled the Soviet advance, given support and passports to Germany by the Volksgruppe Nazis in 1944. SS commander Artur Phleps, a Saxon himself, organised the escape of Saxons and Hungarians at the end of the war. 40,000 were planned for evacuation from Transylvania, but this only partially succeeded in time (Lumans 1993, 251). As many as 150,000 Germans left Romania in this fashion through war-time deaths, displacement, and evacuation (Die Zeit). Whereas the Banat Swabians in Serbia were subjected to forced labour, internment, and expulsion by the Yugoslav government (see our article), the German minourity that remained in Romania (in Transylvania and the Banat) had a very different and far less brutal experience. Unlike the Czechoslovaks, Poles, Soviets, and Yugoslavs, the Hungarians and Romanians did not approve of the notion of collective ethnic responsibility, whereby everyone of German identity was automatically guilty of genocide, irredentism, and war-time atrocities. This was largely because the Hungarians and Romanians had maintained a close alliance with Nazi Germany as Fascist nations throughout the war, and Romania carried out its own Holocaust. So too, the Romanians had no cultural hatred for the Germans due to their long history of cooperation within Romania. Additionally, Romania for geographic and political reasons was not included in the Allied Potsdam Conference of 1945, in which more than 10 million Germans were ordered to be expelled to Germany. As a result of these factors, there were no expulsions or systematic persecutions performed by Romania against its German minourity. However, the Soviets, who had lost more than 10 million citizens during the German invasion, treated the ethnic German civilians very differently when Transylvania and Romanian Moldova were occupied by the Red Army. The forced labour and planned deportation of the Saxons by the Soviets Soviet Order #7161, approved by Joseph Stalin in Decembre of 1944, ordered all ethnic German civilians in the occupied nations to be either expelled to Germany or deported to the Soviet Union for forced labour or imprisonment. With possible exemptions for large families dependent upon single mothers or those who were actively cited for heroic anti-Fascist resistance, all ethnic German men from 17-45 and women from 18-30 in Romania were to be shipped on trains to work in quarry mines, labour camps, and industries in the Soviet Union. The rest were to be expelled to occupied Germany. Nicolae Rădescu, the royally-appointed successor of Ion Antonescu, expressed great 'surprise' for the Soviet order and refused participation in the expulsion of Romania's German minourity. The government additionally feared that expelling a minourity of over a half-million would cripple an already-broken post-war economy. The lack of Romanian participation caused the Soviet plan for universal removal of German minourities to fail in Romania. Even West German government reports praised the clement and respectful treatment of German prisoners by Romanians (Castelan 1971, 66). This is evident in the case of Oskar Pastior, a German from Romania who was shipped for forced labour in the USSR but later returned to work in Romania's academic circles without obstruction in the 1950's. Romania's last dictator, Nicolae Ceauşescu, even later apologised for any wrongdoings inflicted upon the German minourity, although this was largely politically advantageous. When the Red Army arrived, very appropriately, the leading Nazis and SS commanders were executed. SS officers in Transylvania and Bessarabia (Moldova) were either shot or gaoled. Tens of thousands of Romanians and Saxons were taken prisoner or executed in this fashion (Glenny 1999, 52). Thereafter, the Soviet Union proceeded to target Germans, Hungarians, and Romanians in northern Romania they considered ideologically suspicious. Like in all of Eastern Europe, the German minourities in Romania were generalised by the Soviets as collectively guilty of the atrocities committed by Germany during the war. Ultimately, under Soviet auspises, at least 75,000 German civilians were arrested in Romania, deported to the Soviet Union, gaoled, and subjected to forced labour. In most cases, deported Germans and Hungarians were held in prison and labour camps for as many as six years under famously abysmal Soviet conditions. At least 30,000 were Transylvania Saxons (Gündisch 2). As many as 10,000 (or 15%) died in Soviet custody as a result of starvation, exhaustion, and disease (Castelan 1971, 68). Most laboured in the Ukrainian SSR, especially in quarry mines. By 1951, most of the Germans who were displaced by the Soviets in Romania were released. At least half chose to, or were often forced to, escape the Soviet orbit by fleeing to occupied Germany (Clarkson). Romania lost as many as 50,000 Germans as a result of the Soviet relocation (BMV, 75E- 80E). Interestingly, the same number of Transylvania Saxons who joined the Waffen-SS (being either 'forced to' or volunteering) were shipped to the USSR for forced labour (~75,000). It is uncertain how many of the Saxons who were displaced by the Soviets were directly involved in war-time atrocities. The Soviet authorities abstractly chose the number of Romanian German SS men as the number to be subjected to deportation, but arrested indiscriminately upon any suspicion of reactionary or pro-Fascist sympathies. The vast support of Romanians for Fascism, however, was conveniently dismissed. So too, at least 8,000 Saxons died as members of the Wehrmacht or SS during the war. More than ten thousand fled before the Soviets arrived. This implies that far more were arrested and subjected to forced labour than were actually guilty of direct membership in the Waffen-SS (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Considering that all Transylvania Saxons were automatically registered with the Nazi Volksgruppe by the Romanian government in 1940, and that many Germans had abandoned Nazism towards the end of the war, it is inevitable that many displaced Germans in Romania were not guilty of these generalised pro-Nazi associations. This is evident by the fact that liberals and Communists were targeted alongside Nazis and Fascists (Wien 2004, 65). The fact that all women between ages 18 and 30 were to be deported when women were not even allowed to join the SS proves that thousands of Germans in Romania unnecessarily suffered as a cost of Hitler's blunders and the reconstruction effort in the Soviet Union. By 1948, through Hitler's population transfers, war-time deaths, post-war expulsions by the Soviets, and large-scale fleeing prior to the Soviet armies, Romania's pre-war German population had been almost cut in half (Wasserstein). However, it must be emphasised that the disappearance of Romania's Germans did not occur as a result of the Soviet deportations or any post-war expulsions. Germans, Hungarians, and Romanians were released from the prison camps in the USSR and generally allowed to return to Romania in 1950. (source: dradio.de) The disappearance of Romania's Germans through mass emigration during the Communist era Unlike the forced displacement of the Dobrujan, Bukovinian, and Banat Germans from Romania, the main reason for the near-total disappearance of the 800-year-old Transylvania Saxon community was not expulsion, but mass emigration from the Communist People's Republic of Romania. Communist Romania rapidly pursued a highly independent political path that was vastly divorced from Soviet influence. As a result, the German minourity was not subjected to the decrees of the Soviets that similarly caused the millions of Prussian Germans in Poland to be expelled. Romania's Saxon, However, now living in a new Communist system, Romania's Germans were now affected by the economic and political policies of Romania's dictators Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaşescu from the 1950's until 1989. The expanding centralisation of the government in Bucharest greatly eroded the hitherto independent political and cultural institutions of the Transylvania Saxons and Banat Swabians. Under their strongly centralised regimes that are typically considered Stalinist, Romania used prison and labour camp systems that were unmatched in Eastern Europe after Stalin's death (Glenny 1999, 553). Using a secret police network called the Securitate, the economic and political policies of the Romanian Communist government had devastating consequences for the German minourities that caused them to flee in droves. Of course, Romanians and Hungarians were equally affected. However, the German community was still granted political and cultural rights that recognised them as a minourity group in Communist Romania. The Romanian Germans were represented by Rudolf Mayer under the Anti-Fascist Committee that was orchestrated by the government as a vehicle for re-educating the Germans and Hungarians towards national loyalty and Communist ideology. Despite this multi-ethnic recognition, minourities felt noticeably marginalised by the pronounced Romanian cultural and linguistic nationalism that increasingly pervaded, especially under Ceaşescu. Romanians lionised their independent Dacian ethnic character and their marked independence from the influence of the Soviet Union. German-language schools and institutions that were previously recognised in the 1950's were merged with Romanian schools and restaffed by ethnic Romanians so that the majourity of students were Romanian even in previously German schools (McIntosh 1995, 942). This was one aspect of the Romanisation campaign that eroded on the previous independence of Romania's Germans and pressured their emigration. Again, this policy was primarily political; it was not a direct attempt to subdue the German minourity on ethnic grounds or otherwise. Towards the end of the the Ceaşescu regime in the 1970's and 1980's, the Romanian nationalism complex expanded. Ceauşescu tapped into the Antisemitism and xenophobia that was strong in Romanian society by directly subduing the already-limited autonomy of the Hungarian, Roma (Gypsy), and German minourities (Glenny 1999, 606). All of these factors encouraged the Saxons and Hungarians, already close to the borders of Hungary, to emigrate voluntarily and leave the 800-year-old Saxon community in ruins. Admittedly, this mass exodus was never intended by the Romanian government. Its policies unintentionally ruptured the institutions and identity of the Saxon minourity. So too, due to the economic and political system of the Communist regimes, residents of distant and rural Transylvania were often relegated to move to large urban cities far away to find a job and an education. Communist Romania's centralisation and its dimunition of Transylvania's autonomy caused 600,000 persons (of all ethnic groups) to leave Transylvania to big cities, primarily Bucharest. 280,000 left Romania proper for Transylvania to work on or build collectives and new government projects (Arpad). This greatly offset the ethnic distribution of Transylvania and, when combined with the Hungarians' and Germans' mass emigration, furthered the disappearance of the German heritage of Transylvania. The most direct policy affecting the autonomous society of the Saxons and Swabians was the policy of land and property confiscation. This dismantled the independent commercial and political foundations of the German and Hungarian communities in Transylvania by aggregating them to state control. The seizure of Saxon and Hungarian family property and farms that their ancestors had spent centuries maintaining greatly pressured a mass exodus out of Romania (Weiner 1998, 189). The Germans were accused of being disproportionately wealthy as land owners and aristocrats, and were thus a target for land confiscations and redistribution to the native Romanian majourity. The Saxons' family homes that were depopulated by the Soviets' deportations or by the confiscations were given to poor ethnic Romanian farmers (Verdery 1993, 184). Even after the collectivised lands were gradually returned in the late 1980's and especially after Ceauşescu's public execution by a mob in 1989, Saxon and Hungarian minourities in Transylvania were incensed that their concerns still went unanswered. Many argued that they only received partial shares of the returned land, whilst disproportionate percentages went to ethnic Romanians. After the fall of Communism, Germans were infuriated that much of the returned land did not go back to the original owners (the Saxon community), but to the Romanian families who had acquired the land from the Germans through the confiscations (Verdery 1993, 184). Romanians appropriately argued that the Saxon minourity had spent 800 years controlling an unequal share of Transylvania's land and subsuming the rights of the Romanian majourity. Nonetheless, these economic and political problems encouraged a mass emigration of Saxon and Hungarian families in Transylvania and caused a great deal of inter-ethnic contumacy. One Romanian responded to the Germans' complaints at their supposedly inequitable treatment by saying, 'why don't you Germans leave? What more do you want here. This land is ours' (Ibid.). It is uncertain how true or exaggerated the Saxons' complaints truly were. Again, it is grossly inflammatory to describe a system of intentional ethnic oppression by Romania against its German minourity. Inevitably, a wealthy aristocratic Saxon minourity was bound to suffer greatly from land confiscations in a Communist system. The intrusion into Romania's German communities and the seizure of their family lands was purely ideological and economic, and was not a direct discrimination against the German ethnicity in Romania. Another decree of the Romanian Communist government under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej inflicted great suffering upon the German Banat Swabians' community to Romania's western border with Yugoslavia. As of 1948 statistics, there were roughly 170,000 Swabians in the Romanian Banat (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). The German minourity of Yugoslavia had been treated with tremendous suspicion by the post-war Communist governments of Yugoslavia and Romania. This was because many Banat Swabians, like the Croats and Serbs themselves, had participated in horrendous ethnic atrocities throughout the war. The post-war Communist regime of Yugoslavia under Jozip Broz 'Tito' subjected most of them to forced labour and expulsion (see article). The Swabian Germans of the Romanian Banat (part of Transylvania) were not affected by collective punishment just as the Transylvania Saxons were not. However, Romania remained suspicious of the Banat Swabians for fears of disloyalty, concerns of irredentist expansion or independence, and their close proximity to a very politically discordant Yugoslavia. The Swabians were therefore subject to discriminatory status in the Romanian police state (Glajar 1997, 523). Most importantly, the Banat had a large Serb minourity that made Romania fear that the region would be incorporated into Yugoslavia. All of these factors made the minourity populations (Swabians, Serbs, Hungarians) in the Romanian Banat closely monitored by the Securitate. Our photo of a collection of Communist-era relics in the underground level of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, Romania. The main figure is Gheorghiu-Dej (CLICK TO ENLARGE) After 1951, Gheorghiu-Dej ordered the Serb, Hungarian, and Swabian populations on the Romanian-Yugoslav border to be force marched at gunpoint across hundreds of kilometres to the Bărăgan plains in southern Romania in what became known as the Bărăgan Deportations. At least 10,000 Germans, Hungarians, and Serbs were deported (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Their family property was confiscated and annexed to the state as part of the Romanian redistribution of land from the wealthy Swabian minourity to ethnic Romanian farmers. Upon resettlement, the deportees were required to build their own homes using materials provided by the government. Some sources describe deported families living in holes dug in the ground before they completed their makeshift shacks. The Red Cross was not allowed entry to ensure the proper treatment of the deportees (De Zayas 1979, 126). Many polemical sources describe the deaths and starvation of thousands, but these are unverified and highly overstated. One source calculates as many as 125,000 dead Romanian Germans as a result of the Soviet and Romanian deportations (De Zayas 1979, 70). The West German government absurdly totaled 785,000 Germans displaced out of Romania by the Romanians and Soviets altogether, with 347,000 through expulsion and over 101,000 in death. This was oddly more than the entire population of Germans in Romania (SBD 1958). Nonetheless, the Romanian government was highly clement in this deportation. Although it did identify the Banat Germans as a dangerous ethnic group that had to be moved as a security measure, they chose to relocate them to government-subsidised housing projects rather than expel them like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia did. Only a portion of the Banat Swabian population was displaced. The Germans of the Banat instead disappeared through voluntary emigration like the Transylvania Saxons. And in arguably Eastern Europe's most extensive police state, Romania chose not to imprison or execute a German population they considered suspicious. So too, following their relocation, new German-language schools and theatres were recognised by the Romanian government (Glajar 1997, 523). The Germans of the Bărăgan Deportations, forced to leave their family homes and rebuild them in subsidise housings hundreds of kilometres away (source: oestlichenachbarn.bayern.de) (source: dvhh.org/banat/history/baragan/weber_index.htm) (source: dvhh.org/banat/history/baragan/index.htm) Ultimately, regardless of the Romanian government's only moderate deportations, Romania's Germans were increasingly relegated to flee Romania. They had lost their largely independent societies and local self-government. The property that their ancestors had spent centuries developing. Pressured by the aforementioned factors, massive waves of emigration of Romania's Germans occurred from 1944 until the collapse of Communist Romania over Ceauşescu's corpse that caused the 800-year-old Saxons' and the 300-year-old Banat Swabians' communities to almost completely vanish. Ceauşescu's late 'Rational Eating Programme' that restricted the Romanian diet to detrimental rations compounded the exodus of German emigrants. This was exacerbated by a growth in anti-minourity sentiment against the Hungarians and Germans in Romania after 1989, as Romanians scrambled to define a new capitalist economy and liberal politic (Hosking 1992, 466). Tens of thousands of Gemans and Hungarians indefatiguably petitioned for exit visas to emigrate to Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Ceauşescu's regime charged an inordinately high cost for visas outside of the Communist Bloc. The impoverished majourity could not afford this, and many families were described as having their luggage packed for years in the queue (Riley 2008, 37). Many Germans and Hungarians intentionally failed at school and did as little work as possible so as to force the Romanian government to give them passports to alleviate a social drain (Verdery 1985, 74). Towards the end of the Communist era, this difficulty was gradually lifted as Romania tumbled into economic decline. Ceauşescu answered West Germany's offer to pay 7,000DM to Bucharest in return for granting exit visas to Romanian German families. Romania was anxious to grant passports to Jews in exchange for money and their departure. Romania essentially "sold" German families to West Germany for several thousand dollars each at negotiated rates per family ("Grim Romanians brighten hope...", New York Times). This was also the case in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) by the 1980s. While this is often used as evidence of the chronic bankruptcy of socialist regimes, it must be understood that Bucharest and East Berlin were also anxious to get rid of unreliable, potentially suspicious emigrants who wanted to leave the country and essentially betray the government in the first place. Upon being deported or approved for emigration, German families were only allowed to keep only what they could carry. Their property was forfeit to the state or Romanian farmers, or fell into delapidation before being occupied by Gypsies (Riley 2008, 38). In 1978 alone, 11,000 were allowed to leave in this fashion (Gündisch 1). The Hungarians, who have a history of centuries of antagonism with the Romanians, actively answered the opportunity. 88,000 Hungarians left Romania between 1977 and 1922,with 95% resulting from emigration under these circumstances (Haug 1998, 143). After 1980, more than 10,000 Germans left per annum. 300,000 Germans emigrated between 1950 and 1990 (Orschlies 1998, 156-73). In general, the Germans who stayed behind were the old or infirm and past the years of fertility. This exacerbated the decline of Romania's Saxon community. Romanian Germans already had a very low birthrate (Riley 2008, 43). Less than 30,000 Germans live in the Romanian Banat today, a gross decline from nearly 400,000 before 1945 (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Although minourities did not suffer official discrimination on a strictly ethnic basis under Gheorghiu-Dej or Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian cultural and state policy became increasingly exclusive and nationalistic as Ceauşescu's cult of personality amplified. As Romania formally broke from Soviet influence and distanced itself from the Warsaw Pact (refusing to invade Czechoslovakia in 1968 despite Soviet admonitions), Romanian national identity increasingly revolved around the Vlach (or Romanian) peoples' distinct ethno-national heritage from the ancient Dacians, Thracians, and Vlad Tepes Dracul. Even Antonescu, the Fascist dictator and vicious Antisemite who allied Romania with Adolf Hitler, was rehabilitated under the Ceauşescu regime as a hero of Romanian independence. Under this increasingly nationalistic framework, the very distinct German and Hungarian minourities felt visibly disenfranchised. How legitimate these perceptions of discrimination were are a matter of dispute. However, it is universally acknowledged that Hungarian- and German-language institutions were widely closed and a policy of linguistic assimilation was accelerated. This contributed to emigration of minourities from Romania. The feeling of discrimination was evident at the end of Ceauşescu's regime in 1989. Before he was deposed by mobs and eventually executed by firing squad, Hungarian and German communities protested across the country. The most famous was that organised by the Hungarian László Tőkés in the western city of Timişoara. The discrimination and censorship faced by minorities -- and arguably Romanians as a whole -- under the Ceauşescu regime were well reflected in the writings of Herta Müller after the 1950s, who eventually received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009. A Banat Swabian whose father served in the Waffen-SS, Müller worked with illegal German-language study groups and resistance organisers like "Aktionsgruppe Banat" to spread dissent, to promote solidarity for the marginalised German minority that was treated with suspicion by the socialist regime, and to challenge press censorship from Bucharest. Her publications (many of which could only be published after her emigration to West Germany in the 1980s) gained significant attention across Western Europe. While denouncing dictatorship and press censorship in general, her works tend to focus on what she presented as the voicelessness of the German minority as they were displaced for forced labor in the Banat and in the Soviet Union. She especially demonised Ceauşescu's security apparatus (Securitate) and its hostility towards German and Hungarian minorities. The surviving memoirs of the Aktionsgruppe Banat and among Transylvania Saxon dissidents emphasise the atmosphere of uncertainty and the desire to escape to West Germany. Herta Müller recounted what she saw as life under Romanian dictatorship from the perspective of the German minority (courtesy Tiki-toki.com) The massive depopulation of Romania's Germans through emigration led to the collapse of the 800-year-old Saxon community. German-language schools and academic institutions were closed due to a lack of students. Only 96,000 Saxons were in Romania by 1990, spread over 266 small towns and cities (Gündisch 1). Thereafter, as many as 160,000 Germans left Romania from 1989 to 1991 (Zentrum gegen Vertreibung). Hermannstadt (Sibiu), the ancient vibrant commercial capital of the Germans in Transylvania, dropped from being 22% German to 1.6% today with 2,508 persons. Kronstadt (Braşov), the old hub of the Teutonic Order knights, went from 44% to 2.55% with 83 individuals (Centrul..). Satu Mare, once populated by nearly ten thousand Sathmar Swabians, is now 3.6% German. Dobruja on the border of Bulgaria, once containing over 10,000 Dobruja Germans, now has 398 at 0.04% (Sallanz). The total German population in Romania dropped from nearly 800,000 (4.1%) before WWII to only 66,646 (0.3%) today (CIA World Factbook). This is a 91.5% loss of Romania's vanished Dobruja, Bukovina, Banat, and Transylvania German communities. Our photo of the main monument of public protest against the Ceausescu regime in 1989, a commemoration of 'martyrs' near revolution square, in Bucharest, Romania. The first stages of revolt against the regime were, at least as is traditionally remembered, among disenfranchised Hungarian and German minourities (CLICK TO ENLARGE) The auspicious status of the few Romanian Germans today Today, the situation for the few Germans who remained in Romania is interestingly positive. Banat Swabian and Transylvania Saxon expatriat communities are represented in Germany and Austria by a number of political interest groups. Many representative circles are acknowledged by local government officials. Among them are the Community of Transylvania Saxons in Germany (website), the Community of Banat Swabians, the Centre Against Expulsions, and the Federation of Expellees. Prominent Bavarian minister Barbara Stamm publicly supported the Danube Swabian and Saxon interest groups, whilst in München the mayor Gertraud Burkert met with the Romanian and Hungarian consulates representing the displaced Swabians and Saxons. Many Romanian Germans sent into diaspora ship money back to their relatives in Romania. A small number have even returned to Romania to promote investment and construction (Riley 2008, 43-44). Some Romanian Germans – both in Germany and Romania – express a type of identity crisis. Some living in Germany fear that they are subjected to ethnic discrimination for speaking Romanian, and are derided as Gypsies or other Romanians. In Romania, others assert that they are slandered for being Germans (Ibid.). The few Germans living in Romania today are described by some scholars as being 'unbound', with their independent ethnic and cultural characteristics diminished as an act of survival and also as the key to success in once-Saxon cities that now are overwhelmingly Romanian (Verdery 1985, 66). There is still a noticeable inter-ethnic antagonism, especially between the mutually antipathetic Hungarians and Romanians. In Romania, the German minourity is well represented in society and even in the national government by a number of social movements. The main political interest group of the entire German minourity is the Democratic Forum of Germans , or the Forumul Democrat al Germanilor din România (website). Others include the Transylvania Regional Forum, the Democratic Forum of the Banat Germans, and several academic and Lutheran congregational circles. There are also a number of German-language newspapers, including the Deutsche Zeitung für Rumänien (website). Most saliently, despite the fact that Hermannstadt (now Sibiu) as the old Transylvania Saxon capital is only 1.6% German, its Romanian population overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic Forum of Germans and elected the Saxon Klaus Iohannis as their mayor. In 2014, he was even elected president in a surprising national election that shocked many European political analysts (see below for explanation). Many prominent national directors, curators of museums, and university officials are of ethnic German descent, including Dr. Ernest Oberländer-Tarnoveanu, the chairman of the Romanian National Commission of Museums and Collections. In our interview with him, he demonstrated that German minourities effectively adapted their lifestyle and national identity to the changing political and economic conditions in Romanian history under Communism and the democratic period after 1989. Many solely speak Romanian in the home, but retain their German ethnic and cultural distinctions. Others maintain a combined German-Romanian identity, defining themselves as being ethnically and culturally German but nationally loyal to the state of Romania. Romania has formally acknowledged the deportations (performed by Romania) and expulsions (done by Soviets) against the Germans. Even the official website of the city of Sibiu commemorates the disappearance of the Saxon minourity. Many signs in the city are ceremonially in German despite the disappeared German population. Many historiographic sources and scholars readily engage the plight of Romanians and Germans alike throughout the 20th century. The 800-year story of Romania's Germans is unique of the many post-war displacements of German minourities in Eastern Europe. The Dobruja, Bessarabian, and Bukovina German communities disappeared as a result of Adolf Hitler's foreign policy. But whereas Czechoslovakia directly expelled more than 3,000,000 Sudeten Germans and Poland and the USSR expelled over 5,000,000 Prussian Germans, 91.5% of the Romanian German community of almost a million disappeared voluntarily, pressured to flee by the disastrous policies of the Romanian Communist governments that eroded the independent political and economic foundations of minority settler communities. However, a nearly unprecedented landmark event occurred in 2014 that surprised many Romanians, Transylvania Saxons, Transylvania Hungarians, and political scientists alike. In the presidential election following the departure of President Traian Băsescu, Klaus Iohannis, the Transylvania Saxon mayor of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) was elected president in a surprise defeat of former prime minister Victor Ponta. As mentioned above, the German minority (less than 2% of the population) has often enjoyed disproportionate success thanks to ongoing problems in Romania's corrupt political economy. In explaining how a minority might be elected to such a high office in a society that is often reputed for xenophobia and Anti-ziganism, many analysts argue that Romanians are looking for a fresh start with a new political faction that might be less prone to nepotism, corruption, and fraud. Some voters hope that electing a fresh official from a region reputed for its comparatively healthy local economy might send a message and undermine the corruption that has characterized the status quo (Kulish, 2009). Other voters hope that electing Iohannis might help further integrate Romania with the European Union by encouraging investment from its largest economy: Germany. Iohannis himself has helped stimulate investment from Siemens, Renault, and other Western European corporations (Kulish, 2009). Despite this, the traumatic legacies of history remain. In many rallies, television interviews, and comments on blogs and websites, many state that Romania will never fully accept Iohannis or the Transylvania Saxons as their own because they are "not real Romanian[s]," all while living there for almost eight centuries (al-Jazeera, "Voting ends in Romania's presidential election" ). The evolution of the German minority in Romania until today (CLICK TO ENLARGE) (source: Heinen, Situation in der Gemeinschaft unabhaengiger Staaten). Klaus Iohannas of the Transylvania Saxon minority, elected President 2014 (courtesy catavencii.ro) Transylvania Saxon interest groups are active in Romania, Germany, and Austria (source: siebenbuergen.de) Personal interviews and research in Romania with descendants of Saxons adopting to a Romanian-German identity in modern Romania. Heinen, Ute. "Die Situation in der Gemeinshaft unabhaengiger Staaten (GUS)." Informationen zur politischen Bildung, 267, 2. Quartal 2000. Our interview with Dr. Ernest Oberländer-Tarnoveanu, Chair, National Commission of Museums and Collections. Arpad, Varga. "Hungarians in Transylvania between 1870 and 1995." Magyar Kisebbség 3-4, 1998: 331-407. Bundesministerium für Vertriebenenfrage. ""Umsiedlung der Volksdeutschen aus der Dobrudscha im Jahre 1940." Constanţa, 1957. Case, Holly. Between States: The Transylvanian Question and the European Idea during World War II. Chicago, IL: Stanford University Press, 2009. Castellan, Georges. "The Germans of Rumania." Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 6, No. 1, Nationalism and Separatism (1971): 52-75. Centrul de Resurse Pentru Diversitate Etnoculturala "Structura Etno-demografică a României." http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp. CIA World Factbook Clarkson, Sue. "History of the German Settlements in Southern Hungary." http://www.feefhs.org/links/banat/bhistory.html. De Zayas, Alfred. Nemesis at Potsdam: the Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans: Background, Execution, Consequences. London: Taylor & Francis, 1979. Die Zeit. "Rumänische Tragödie." 16 Septembre, 1954, Nr. 37. Glajar, Valentina. "Banat-Swabian, Romanian, and German: Conflicting Identities in Herta Müller's 'Herztier'." Monatshefte, Vol. 89, No. 4 (Winter, 1997): 521-540. Glenny, Misha. The Balkans. New York: Penguin Group, 1999. Gündisch, Konrad. "The History of Transylvania and the Transylvanian Saxons." http://www.sibiweb.de/geschi/7b-history.htm. Gündisch, Konrad (2). "Wahrung der Eigenständigkeit trotz wechselnder Staatszugehörigkeit: Eine 850-jährige Geschichte im Überblick." http://www.siebenbuerger-bw.de/buch/sachsen/7.htm. Haug, Werner and Courbage, Youssef. The Demographic Characteristics of National minourities in Certain European States. Council of Europe, 1998. Hosking, Geoffrey. The First Socialist Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. Hrvatski Informativni Centar. "Medjunarodni znanstveni skup 'Jugoistocna Europa 1918.-1995.'" http://www.hic.hr/books/jugoistocna-europa/02tablice.htm. Kann, Robert. A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974. Lendvai, Paul. The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory and Defeat. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. Livezeanu, Irina. Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. Lumans, Valdis. Himmler's Auxiliaries: the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National minourities of Europe, 1933-1945. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. McIntosh, Mary E. et al. "minourity Rights and majourity Rule: Ethnic Tolerance in Romania and Bulgaria." Social Forces, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Mar., 1995): 939-967. Molnar, Miklós and Magyar, Anna. A Concise History of Hungary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Orschlies, Wolf. Rumäniendeutsches Schicksal: wo Deutsch zur Sprache der Grabsteine wird. Köln: Böhlau Vertrag, 1988. Riley, Bronwen and Dinescu, Dan. Transylvania. London: Frances Lincoln ltd, 2008. Sallanz, Josef. Die Dobrudscha: Ethnische Minderheiten- Kulturlandschaft- Transformation. Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2005. Satu Mare: Site-ul oficial al minicpiului. "Demographie." http://www.satu-mare.ro/despre/demografie.html.de. Sibiu/Hermannstadt Tourismus. "Hermannstadt im Laufe der Zeit." http://www.turism.sibiu.ro/de/istorie.htm. Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschlands (SBD). "Die deutschen Vertriebungsverluste" (1958). Verdery, Katherine. "Nationalism and National Sentiment in Post-Socialist Romania." Slavic Review, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Summer, 1993): 179-203. Verdery, Katherine. "The Unmaking of an Ethnic Collectivity: Transylvania's Germans." American Ethnologist, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1985): 62-83. Wasserstein, Bernard. "European refugee movements after World War II." http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/refugees_02.shtml. Weiner, Myron. Migration and Refugees: Politics and Policies in the United States and Germany, Volume 5. New York: Berghahn Books, 1998. Wien, Markus. "The Ambiguous Fate of a minourity." From the publication "The expulsion of the 'German' communities from Eastern Europe at the End of the Second World War." Published for the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 2004. Zentrum gegen Vertreibung. "History of the German expellees and their homelands." Al-Jazeera. "Voting ends in Romania's presidential runoff." Al-Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/11/romania-votes-presidential-runoff-201411166467686229.html. Kulish, Nicholas. "Grim Romanians brighten hope over a German connection." New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/world/europe/06romania.html?_r=1. Suggested Readings: Arpad, Varga. "Erdély magyar népessége 1870-1995 között"). Budapest: Teleki László Foundation, 1999. Casagrande, Thomas. Die volksdeutsche SS-Division "Prinz Eugen": die Banater Schwaben und die nationalsozialisten Kriebsverbrechen. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2003. - Important for understanding the active participation of Banat Swabians in the Waffen-SS that contributed to their post-war expulsion. This occurred far more often in the Serbian Banat than in Romanian Banat. Turda, Marius. "The Nation as Object: Race, Blood, and Biopolitics in Interwar Romania." Slavic Review, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Fall, 2007): 413-441. - important to understand the complicated role of Romanian racialism & nationalism vis-a-vis the Saxons and Magyars. Nyarady, Karoly. "Erdély népességének etnikai és vallási tagolódása a magyar államalapítástól a dualizmus koráig." A Központi Statisztikai Hivatal Népességtudományi Kutató Intézetének történeti demográfiai füzetei. 3. sz. Budapest, 1987.: 7-55. Lauer, Johann. "Aussiedlung und Integration. Motive der Aussiedlung und Verlauf der Integration in Deutschland am Beispiel der Siebenbürger Sachsen." http://www.siebenbuerger-bw.de/buch/sachsen/9.htm Zaharia, Rolica. Hungarians and Germans in Romania Today. New York: Meridian, 1978. Weber, Georg. Die Deportation von Siebenbürger Sachsen in die Sowjetunion 1945-1949. Böhlau, 1995. Castellan, Georges. "The Germans of Rumania." Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 6, No. 1, Nationalism and Separatism (1971): 52-75. - magnificent analysis and statistics. Although from 1971, it is far from outdated. Müller, Herta. The Hunger Angel (Atemschaukel). Metropolitan Books, 2012. Müller, Herta. Nadirs. University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Population Statistics 1880's- 211,748 ethnic Germans in Habsburg Hungary's Transylvania (Saxons, Banater and Sathmar Swabians). Roughly 150,000 Germans in Austrian Bukovina-Galicia out of 4,500,000. 1910- 388,000 Swabians in Hungarian Banat (24.5% of total), ~73,000 in Bukovina proper and Czernowitz (9.2%), ~234,085 Germans in Transylvania (roughly 8.5%). 1920- with the treaty of Trianon and Romania's annexation of Transylvania and the Banat from Hungary, Romania gains a minourity of roughly 235,000 Saxons and over 270,000 Banat Swabians. 1930- ~275,000 Swabians in the Romanian Banat, 237,416 in Romanian Transylvania (8.2% there), at least 32,366 in Romania proper. Total 745,421 Germans in all Romania (4.1%), 75,533 in Romanian Bukovina, 12,581 in Romanian Dobruja. Saxon capital of Hermannstadt is 22% German, and Kronstadt is 44%. 1939- 782,246 total Germans in all Romania (Bukovina, Dobruja, Transylvania, Banat). 1941- after losing Transylvania to Hungary under German orchestration, Romania loses ~1/3 of its Germans, from just under 800,000 before to 550,000 after 1940. Some 13,979 Germans moved out of Romanian Dobruja to Germany in 1940 (only 2% remained), and 200,000 Germans from Romania altogether (including Bukovina and Transylvania). 1945- by the end of the war and the return of Transylvania to Romania, ~200,000 Germans in Romanian Banat. 750,000 Germans in all Romania. 343,913 in Transylvania. 1956- 384,708 Germans in Romania altogether, a huge decline due primarily to mass emigration (2.2%). 1989- 96,000 Germans in Transylvania. 242,326 emigrated from 1950's-1989. Some 600,000 persons (mostly Romanians) moved to Transylvania during this time, and 280,000 left, either abroad or to Bucharest and urban centres (mostly Hungarians and Germans). 1992- 119,462 total Germans in Romania. Today (last censuses 2002)- 66,646 Germans in all Romania (0.3%). 60,088 of those in Transylvania. Hermannstadt (Sibiu) today 1.61% German (2,508 out of 154,892 total), down from 22% in 1930. Kronstadt (Braşov) today is 2.55% German with 83 persons. Satu Mare region of Transylvania is 3.6% German (registered 1,110 'Germans', 487 Sathmar Swabians, and 10 Saxons). ...total change: 782,246 at height to under 66,646 today (91.5% lost). Sources- [1] [2], [3], [4] [5] [6], [7], [8], [9], Kann 1979, 606; Livezeanu 2000, 135; Castelan 1971, 52-53; government censuses; Lumans 1993, 107; Weiner 1998, 164; and Bundesministerium für Vertriebenenfrage; CIA Factbook. Famous Transylvania Saxons and Banat Swabians Stephan Ludwig Roth (1796-1849)- German intellectual and Lutheran pastor who worked with all three ethnic groups in Transylvania, and actively supported the Saxon community. Executed by Hungarian nationalists after the victorious Hungarian Revolution. Augustin Pacha- significant 20th-century Catholic bishop from Transylvania. Adolf Schullerus (1864-1928) - famous historian who wrote the Trans Sax dictionary. Herta Müller (1953-)- influential author and poet from Nitchidorf, Romania, who became famous for her personal documentation of the Ceauşeascu era of Romanian Communism, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009. Her father served in the SS. Iancu Sasul- late 16th-century prince of Ottoman-occupied Moldova. He was half-Saxon, the son of Moldovan sovereign Petru Rareş and a married Saxon woman. Executed by political rivals. Hermann von Burgneustädten (1860-1934)- renowned military commander of the Austria-Hungarian empire. Hermann Oberth (1894-1989)- one of the significant figures in rocketry and space technology. Horst Köhler (1943-)- president of Germany. From a Bukovina-Bessarabian German family from northern Romania. Tobias Stranovius (1684-c1735)- unique Saxon painter, often employing Flemish-reminiscent styles. Oskar Pastior (1927-2006)- Romanian literati, translator, and scholar who was expelled in 1945 to the gulags in the USSR, then returned to Communist Romania to participate in German-language works in the 1950's. Carl Filtsch (1835-1845)- young child prodigy and musician who was an understudy of Frederic Chopin before an early death. Ethnicity is sometimes debated. Arthur Arz von Straussenburg (1857-1935)- famous commander of the Austria-Hungarian army before that empire's dissolution. Born in Hermannstadt. Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803)- close advisor to Empress Maria Theresa, governor of German-ruled Transylvania Georg Daniel Teutsch (1817-1893)- historian, theologian, and Lutheran leader representing all Transylvania Saxons Otto Roth- 20th century Banat Swabian politician who declared the independence of Banat in 1918 to avoid incorporation of Hungarians and Germans into Serbia (Yugoslavia) or Romania Wilhelm Georg Berger (1929-1993)- composer in Romania. Friedrich von Bömches (1916-)- famous war photographer and artist expelled for forced labour to the Ukrainian SSR. Hans Fronius (1903-1988)- liberal early 20th-century artist in Austria. Conrad Haas (1509-1576)- one of the earliest personalities in the development of rocketry and launch warfare. Johannes Honter (1498-1549)- cartographer, scholar, and theologian from Kronstadt who employed printing and education to convert the Transylvania Saxons to Lutheranism. One of the earliest wide-scale publishers. Christian Schesaus (1535-1585)- scholar, theologian, and important Lutheran pastor from Kronstadt Johann Somerus (1542-1574)- Saxon theologian, historian, and biographer Peter Haller- 16th century mayor of Hermannstadt who helped write 'Order of the Church of all Transylvanian Saxons' Johannes von Harteneck (1664-1703)- political figure who oversaw the integration of Lutheran Saxons into the Catholic Habsburg realm, and worked to protect them from relegated conversion Fritz Fabritius- early far-right leader of National Socialist movements among Saxons after WWI Rudolf Brandsch- successor of Fabritius, influential until the end of World War II Géza von Cziffra (1900-1989)- Banat Swabian writer, artist, filmmaker who was arrested by the Nazis in Czechoslovakia Nikolaus Lenau (1802-1850)- Banat Swabian writer and poet in the Habsburg realm Artur Phleps (1881-1944)- a commander of the Waffen-SS who served in both the Austria-Hungarian and German armies in both World Wars. Born just outside Hermannstadt. Leader of the Prinz Eugen division, responsible for numerous atrocities in occupied Banat and Yugoslavia. Klaus Iohannis (1959-)- Transylvania Saxon, former mayor of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and prominent member of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. Elected president of Romania in a remarkable election in 2014. Suggested Websites and Organisations Romanian documents archive- Consiliul Naţional Pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securităţii (C.N.S.A.S./National Council for Studying Archives of the [Romanian] Securitate) - click here. Scholars can petition them for records. Cornelia, Herlacher. "Nikolaus Berwanger – Leben und Schaffen eines Rumäniendeutschen." University of Vienna, 2008. See here: http://othes.univie.ac.at/1017/1/2008-08-20_0100683.pdf The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile - click here. Verband der Siebenbürger Sachsen (official Assocation of Transylvania Saxons, in Saxony, Germany) - click here. Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (Forumul Democrat al Germanilor din România) - click here. Deutsche Zeitung für Rumänien (German Newspaper for Romania) - click here. Siebenbürger Sachsen in Baden-Württemberg (a representative of Saxon emigrants to Germany) - click here. Evangelical (Lutheran) Academy in Romania for Saxons (Academia Evanghelica Transilvania) - click here. Siebenbürger-Sächsische Stiftung (Transylvania Saxon Foundation) - click here. 'Sibi-Web', Transylvania Saxons on the Internet (auf Deutsch) - click here. Siebenbürger-Jugend (Transylvania [Saxon] Youth) - click here. Siebenbürger Landler (Landler.com, devoted to the Landler Transylvanians) - click here. Landsmannschaft der Siebenbürger Sachsen in Deutschland (representative in Germany) - click here. Transylvania Saxons in Köln/Cologne (representing Romania's Germans via the Rheinland) - click here. A Transylvania Saxon Dialect Dictionary (showing comparison with standard German) - click here. Landsmannschaft der Banater Schwaben (Community of Banat Swabians in Bavaria) - click here. Landsmannschaft der Sathmarer Schwaben (Community of Satu Mare Swabians) - click here. Transylvania Saxon Surnames - click here.
Allergic Reactions Guide Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Section discount code - health care products Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Navigation First Aid Guide Home Page Tell A Friend about us Types Of Allergic Reactions \| Allergic Reactions To Bactrim \| Allergic Reactions From Frontline \| Allergic Reactions To Mosquitoes \| Cure For Allergic Reactions To Amoxicillin \| Phenytoin Allergic Reactions Rash \| Vaccine Allergic Reactions In Soldiers \| Allergic Reactions After A Yeast Infection \| Allergic Reactions To Makeup \| Allergic Reactions Causing Red Bumps \| Allergic Reactions To Shrimp \| Allergic Reactions To Carpenter Ants \| Allergic Reactions To Deodorant \| Developing Allergic Reactions To Rogaine \| Allergic Reactions To Dogs \| List of allergic-reactions Articles Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Best seller Buy it Now! Alexander Pope "Never find fault with the absent." Lucius Annaeus Seneca "The greatest remedy for anger is delay." John Ruskin Oscar Wilde Other Sites Phytophotodermatitis: Symptoms, treatment, and causes Phytophotodermatitis is a reaction on the skin, caused by the combined exposure to certain plants and sunlight. Learn about the symptoms and treatm... Peanut allergy could be cured with probiotics Solar urticaria: Treatment, management, and symptoms Solar urticaria is a type of rash that occurs after exposure to sunlight. Learn about the causes, symptoms, and how the condition is treated and pr... Main Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Sponsors Latest Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Link Added Allergic Reactions Submit your link on Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions! Newest Best Sellers Welcome to Allergic Reactions Guide Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions Article Why Some People Suffer from Allergic Reactions to the Sun Photodermatosis is a form of skin reaction to the sun that is not connected with sunscreens and other external factors. People who suffer from photodermatosis tend to develop skin rashes on exposure to the sun where polymorphous light eruption is the most common form of photodermatosis. Polymorphous light eruption may be induced by the abnormal immune system reaction to the sun and occurs in about 10 to 20% of healthy individuals. This shows that these allergic reactions to sun are a relatively common condition. There also is a group of people who think that they have a sun allergy because of medications they have ingested or because of applying sunscreen and other similar agents. These people tend to develop an irritating reaction in the body which may be a rash or a tingling and itchy sensation on the skin. However the probability of getting a real allergic reaction to sunscreen is comparatively low. Allergic reactions to sun develop within a few hours' of sun exposure where red bumps or blisters develop at the exposed area. These blisters prove to be itchy by developing into a rash that is similar to hives or insect bites. In some cases, there may not be any symptoms; and in some cases, if the reaction is not treated it may last for a few days or weeks and then go away on its own. Allergic reactions to sun usually start in springtime during temperate climate. With the progress of the season, the person usually becomes less sensitive to the reaction. It is those in their 20s and 30s who are most likely to develop photosensitivity. Sometimes there exists an association between lupus and thyroid problems with sun allergy; but otherwise, patients of sun allergy are perfectly healthy. It is usually the UVB light, and sometimes the UVA of sunlight that induces allergic reactions to the sun. Even oral medications like some antibiotics and some diuretics tend to make the skin sensitive to sunlight. On testing which medication and form of UV light is the cause for the sun allergy, doctors will be able to give the right treatment for the reaction. The best treatment for allergic reactions to sun is of course, staying in the shade, using sunscreen and wearing protective clothing. If a sunscreen is the cause of sun allergy, you have to try numerous sunscreens to find the perfect sunscreen that does not induce an allergy. You can also consider using sunscreen containing only titanium dioxide and zinc oxide as these ingredients don't induce sun allergy. Those suffering from polymorphous light eruptions every summer can opt for ultraviolet light treatment to desensitize the skin in the spring. The body system gets used to ultraviolet light after exposing the skin to ultraviolet light. You may need to take 15 treatments to reap the benefits of the treatment. Other Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions related Articles Allergic Reactions To Jalapenos Scleroderma Allergic Reactions Allergic Reactions In Dogs Symptoms Of Allergic Reactions Does Low Thyroid Cause Allergic Reactions Sulfamethoxazole Allergic Reactions News Some people allergic to Lord Ram#39;s name: Adityanath The chief minister said the BJP government is working towards development without discrimination on the basis of religion or caste. Some people are "allergic" to the name of Lord Ram and they should take a lesson from Indonesia, an Islamic nation ... Some people allergic to Lord Ram's name: Yogi Adityanath In present times, Uttar Pradesh does not need socialism (samajwadi), but nationalism (rashtrawad), Yogi asserted. "Equality is sign of rashtrawad." ......
Constraint Programming meets Data Mining Every day, many problems of resource allocation, planning and scheduling, also known as constraint satisfaction or optimization problems, are solved by advanced software that does not exploit the vast amount of data that are continuously generated by the technology supporting the processes and activities that are subject of optimization. One remarkable example is society, where human activities mediated by the ICT's leave huge amounts of digital traces: such big data could act as feedback into constraint models, to devise better solutions that can adapt to actual people behavior - e.g., a public transportation schedule that continuously adapts to the real mobility patterns of people represented by the digital traces of travels. Therefore, the knowledge represented in (big) data could help the adaptation of schedules, resources and plans coherently with the real dynamics in the real world. So far, constraint solving has evolved quite independently from machine learning and data mining. Very recently, interest has been growing on the integration of these two fields, which can work in two ways: (a) constraint solvers can be included in machine learning and data mining algorithms; and (b) machine learning and data mining can help in addressing constraint problems. Promising initial results have been achieved in both directions, but most aspects require further research for establishing a fruitful integration. The summer school "Constraint Programming meets Data Mining" provides an intensive training opportunity to learn the essentials of recent research on constraint solving, machine learning and data mining, and the key aspects related to their integration. Student will follow lectures from top experts of the fields, and will receive personalized training on selected exercises in hands-on labs.
Show Summary Details Page of date: 21 August 2017 Printers and the Scottish Diaspora Migration was a key tool for building the social, cultural, and economic infrastructures of the “British Dominion” throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Between 1840 and 1940, an estimated 15 million people left the British Isles for overseas destinations. Such displacement of people, driven by economic necessity, contributed to what scholars term the imperial diaspora and the labor diaspora between 1840 and 1914. Print culture (and its practitioners) was crucial to these diasporas. Members of a highly skilled, mobile printing diaspora, who could help construct and promote political and cultural identities through the agency of print, were high on the preferred occupation list, from the outset. Scottish printers were key players in such printing diaspora networks, locally and internationally. Individuals circulated between regional and overseas sites, acting as transmitters of print values and trade skills, and becoming central to the expansion of labor interests in new territories. Such translocal circulation of highly skilled workers played its part in the development of 19th-century Anglophone print economies. Over the course of the long 19th century, either through their own initiative or supported by emigration and removal grant schemes, Scottish printers circulated across the English-speaking colonial world, setting up businesses, engaging in labor and union politics, and creating the print culture infrastructures that sustained social, communal, and national communication and identity. Sample data drawn from U.K. typographical union records offers some insight into the extraordinarily high levels of local, regional, and international mobility of skilled Scottish print trade workers in the long 19th century. Such peregrinations were common. Indeed, the “tramping” tradition among skilled artisanal workers dated back several centuries. Part of the so-called “tramping system,” which organized trade guilds and print trade unions in Britain used throughout the 19th century, it was a means of organizing and controlling labor activity in local and regional areas. The typographical unions in Ireland and Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) that developed from mid-century onwards encouraged such mobility among union members as a means of monitoring and controlling supply and demand for labor. Tramping typographers also acted as union missionaries, starting up unions in unserved towns along these regional networks, playing key roles as informants, cultural transmitters, and social networkers. Tramping was only part of the picture of worker mobility in the 19th-century Scottish printing trade diaspora. Printers participated in a communication and trade network that encompassed and supported skills transfer and personal mobility between printing centers locally, regionally, and internationally. They also were responsible for supporting cultural identities that linked overseas communities back to Scotland. Study of those links enables an interesting picture to be built up of the communication and mobility circuits through which 19th-century print workers engaged culturally and socially. What becomes clear is that skills transfer was not the only result of such migratory experiences. Equally important was the manner in which trade, labor, and cultural practices and values were exported overseas and integrated into indigenous settings. Such migration also facilitated insertion of trade skills into local and general spaces, and the transfer of knowledge and skills between incomer and indigenous workers. The various forms in which such identities were effectively supported and monitored shaped regional, national, and transnational flows of Scottish skills and labor traditions throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th and early 20th century.
Tag Archive for vegitarian World’s First Lab-Grown Chicken Strips Announced Memphis Meats (slow) slow Memphis Meats (fast) fast Americans love chicken. In fact, it’s the most popular meat in the United States. Americans eat more than eight billion chickens per year. But bringing all of that chicken to the dinner table creates a lot of big problems. Meat production is bad for the environment and the welfare of the animals. Plus, it’s really quite inefficient and unsustainable. Well, a high-tech food company in California may have the solution. In March of this year, Memphis Meats, a pioneer in the “,” announced the first chicken meat grown in a lab from chicken cells. They invited taste-testers to sample the chicken in front of the media. Those who tried it said that it tasted like real chicken, but a little spongier. You may have to wait a while before you see the high-tech chicken in your local supermarket. It’s still extremely expensive to produce. They estimate that one kilogram costs almost 20,000 dollars. According to the company that price should come down, and they plan to release a reasonably priced product by 2021. How often do you eat meat (beef, chicken, fish, etc)? The push by high-tech companies to develop methods for producing meat directly from animal cells without having to breed, feed and kill animals.) This scale is based on the grade level of text. For example, a “9.0” means the reading level of a ninth grade elementary textbook. A ’12’ is equal to a the 12th grade or last year in high school, a ’13’ equals the first year in university. The grade levels correspond to the U.S. school system.
Cadet Corps Commanders First Captain 2The Cadet Corps Commanders, called First Captains after Eisenhower’s 1963 visit, were the highest-ranking Cadet. They were the personification of the PMC Cadet. In the eyes of Rooks, they were “God-like figures.” To the Upper Classmen, they were responsible for maintaining the morale and standards of the Corps as well as keeping the bond of trust with the Military Staff. A selection committee, consisting of the Military Staff was responsible for selecting the new First Captain. This group prepared a slate of candidates and, after a series of meetings, the leadership of the Corps was decided and presented to the President of PMC. The criteria for selecting a new First Captain consisted of: 1. A Cadet’s performance during ROTC Summer Camp 2. The military record of the Cadet at PMC 3. Academic Standing (a GPA of 2.5 was required) 4. Demonstrated, or potential, leadership qualities Leadership, however, was the critical factor that was often considered the most important.
Friday, August 7, 2009 Late Blight of Tomatoes Home gardeners and commercial tomato producers in the Eastern and Southern US face a potential tomato crop failure this summer. The problem is called late blight and is caused by a fungus. What are the symptoms? There are several different fungal diseases of tomatoes, including early blight and septoria leaf spot. But no other fungus has the specific combination of symptoms on leaves, stems, and fruit that identifies late blight. If your tomato plants have all three of the following symptoms you can be sure you are dealing with late blight. First, determine how big the spots are. Late blight spots are large. They grow rapidly, enlarging to engulf the leaf or stem in just a few days. As long as the leaf tissue is moist, the spots will be very dark, purplish-black. When the tissue dries out the spots become dark brown. The spots generally do not develop yellow haloes. If you see dark brown or purplish-black spots on the leaves that are about the size of a quarter and that get significantly larger (seemingly overnight) you should suspect late blight. Other fungal diseases cause leaf spots that are smaller in size, do not grow as fast as late blight, and are lighter in color. Second, look for cottony-white mold on the spots, especially on the underside of leaves. In dry weather you may not see this white mold on the plant, so put an infected leaf inside a plastic bag with a piece of moistened paper towel, then seal the bag. Cottony white spores will develop within 12 hours on the tissue inside the plastic bag. Third, look for greasy-looking, brown, firm patches on the tomato fruit. These can appear on unripe, green tomatoes as well as ripe, red ones. They are often on the stem end of the fruit but can be anywhere. What does late blight do? Like many other fungi, late blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) produces millions of airborne spores that drift on the breeze. When they settle on a susceptible host plant (leaf, stem, or fruit), the spores germinate and the fungus begins to grow down into the plant’s tissues. The fungus digests the cells of the host plant as it grows, first turning them black and then brown as the cells die. The initial spots are small, but they grow larger, quickly engulfing the entire leaf. The leaf wilts and dies, hanging on to the sick plant. Soon, the entire plant dies and the fruit is ruined. Each of the spots on leaves and stems produce millions of microscopic spores that look like cottony white fuzz. Each tiny spore is a potential new infection that can devour healthy tissue. These spores are carried to healthy plants by wind, wind-driven rain, irrigation water, tools, and people. If the weather is cool and moist, the disease spreads rapidly through many plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants, for example). What is the solution? Prevention is the only effective way to protect your plants from late blight. This disease spreads quickly, so vigilance is called for. Check your tomato plants (and their relatives) frequently for symptoms. If your plants are not sick, and late blight is in your area, protect your plants with a spray that is certified for use on organic food crops. Remember that you intend to eat the fruit of these plants. Preventive treatments include Neem oil, copper, or sulfur. Read the labels to learn how to use each product. Choose the product that best suits your circumstances. These products create conditions on the surface of leaves, stems, and fruit that prevent late blight spores from germinating and infecting your plants. As such, they protect healthy plants. They cannot cure sick plants. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet; not even modern synthetic fungicides can cure a plant with late blight. If your plants are only slightly infected--with only a few lesions (spots) on leaves or stems--you must protect the remaining healthy tissue. To do so, spray Neem oil, copper, or sulfur, allow the plants’ foliage to dry, then sanitize. To sanitize means to remove infected tissue from the plants, the ground, and your entire garden. Put all the infected material into a plastic bag, seal it, and discard it in the trash. Do not compost it. You will have to be vigilant and search for new infections every day. You will also need to apply the spray again, especially if rain washes the material off your plants. If your plants are already seriously ill with late blight you should pull up the infected plants, roots and all. Put them in a plastic bag and seal the bag tightly. Put the bag in the sun for a couple of days. The sunlight and the heat will help kill the spores. Then discard the plants, with the bag, in a landfill. Do not compost the sick plants. Get rid of them. The fungus can live in your compost pile and will be a source of new infections. Late blight fungus can live in the soil and may even overwinter. Next year put unrelated plants where your tomatoes and their relatives are this year. Plant corn, cabbage, or squash in that location and move your tomatoes to a completely new spot. You may have a disappointing tomato crop this year, but look forward to a bumper crop next year. David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, authors of What's Wrong with My Plant (And How Do I Fix It?), available in November 1. Thank you, David and Kathryn. It is reassuring to read your comments about the tomato blight, and even more reassuring to see there are some viable solutions to manage it. I love your website, especially the photos, and I looked forward to your feature articles in Peninsula Magazine. I have already pre-ordered WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY PLANT. Can't wait for November. Will it have a cure for friends slipping into my garden to eat peas? 2. Great post, Kathryn and David! I just pre-ordered WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY PLANT on Amazon. Sounds like just what a lazy gardener needs. So far, my tomatoes have held up great. In fact, they seem to be all I can grow in my vegetable beds except for papaya. And the papaya are eaten by the birds before they get ripe. But the little buggers look so cute flitting in and out of the fruit that I don't even have the heart to get angry at them. Good luck with your book! 3. Wow, thanks for that! Garden fresh tomatoes are the best. It's good to know what to look out for. 4. Thanks for all your comments and support. Very glad to hear that our solutions were helpful. As for friends slipping in to eat all your peas, alas, I guess you'll have to wait until What's Wrong With My Plant? comes out to find the answer to that!
Lifeboat A water Screenshot of boat from A Night to Remember Collapsible A was one of the four collapsible boats of the RMS Titanic that was placed starboard and had a maximum capacity of 47. The boat was never launched, when the crew tried to faster it to the davits, there wasn't any time left. The boat drifted off the Titanic, and many people tried to climb on it. Only 13 of 17-20 people who climbed in it survived the night. About Edit After boat C had been lowered from the starboard side, the crew tried to fasten boat A to the davits by Murdoch and Moody when it was washed off Titanic at 2:15 am. The boat was washed over the side of the ship and in the chaos, the canvas sides had not been put up, so it was soon awash with icy sea water half-submerged and dangerously overloaded. around 17 to 20 people started climbing into it from the water, but only 13 of them survived the night. Several people including first class passenger Thomson Beattie, the third class passengers Arthur O'Keefe, Edvard Lindell and Gerda Lindell and a couple of firemen died of hypothermia or fell back into the sea. After hours of suffering, the survivors were rescued by boat 14, Rhoda Abbott being the only female. Three bodies were left in Collapsible A, which was allowed to drift off. The boat was recovered a month later by the Oceanic, another White Star Line ship. Passengers Edit 1. Rhoda Mary Abbott 2. Olaus Abelseth 3. Edward Brown 4. Carl Olof Jansson 5. William Lucas 6. William McIntyre 7. William John Mellors 8. Oscar Wilhelm Olsson 9. George Rheims 10. John Thompson 11. Augustus Henry Weikman 12. August Wennerström 13. Richard Norris Williams Sources Edit Ad blocker interference detected!
Thursday, August 20, 2009 The Monarch as Supreme Judge "There is a great difference between the 'form' and the 'content' -- or purpose -- of the State. The latter is its essential raison d'etre, its very soul. The former corresponds to the bodily form of a living being. The one can certainly not exist without the other; but in any sane hierarchy of values the soul occupies a higher place than the body. "The essential purpose of the State, its 'content,' is rooted in natural law. The State is not an end in itself; it exists for the sake of its citizens. It is therefore not the source of all law (a claim that is still far too widely accepted), nor is it all-powerful. Its authority is circumscribed by the rights of its citizens. It is only free to act in those fields that are outside their free initiative. The State is therefore at all times the servant of natural law. Its task is to give practical effect to this law; nothing more. "If the mission of the State is the practical realization of natural law, the form of government is a means by which the community attempts to achieve this aim. It is not an end in itself... "There is one more point we must consider before we can answer the question of which form of government will best serve the community in the future. Generally speaking, democratic republics represent a regime dominated by the legislature, while authoritarian regimes are dominated by the executive. The judicial power has not had the primacy for a long time, as we have shown above. It found its earlier expression in the Christian monarchies. It is frequently forgotten that the true ruler has always been the guardian of law and justice. The most ancient monarchs -- the kings of the Bible -- came from the ranks of the judges. St. Louis of France regarded the administration of justice as his noblest task. The same principle can be seen in the many German "Palatinates," since the Count Palatine (Palatinus) was the guardian of law and justice delegated by the King- Emperor. The history of the great medieval monarchies shows that the legislative power of the king -- even of a king as powerful as Charles V -- was severely limited by local autonomies. The same is true of the ruler's executive function. He was not, in the first place, a law-giver or head of the executive; he was a judge. All other functions were subordinate, and were only exercised to the extent necessary to make his judicial function effective. "The reason for this institutional arrangement is clear. The judge must interpret the meaning of law and justice, and to do this he must be independent. It is essential that he should not owe his position, his function, to any man. The highest judge, at least, must be in this position. This is only possible under a monarchy. For in a republic, even the highest guardian of the law derives his position from some other source, to which he is responsible and on which he remains dependent to some extent. This is not a satisfactory state of affairs. His most important task is not to pass judgment in actual legal disputes, but to stand guard over the purpose of the State and natural law. Above all, it is the task of the supreme judge to see that all legislation is in accordance with the State's fundamental principles, that is, with natural law. The monarch's right to veto legislation passed by parliament is a remnant of this ancient function... "The hereditary character of the monarchial function finds... [i]ts deepest justification... in the fact that the hereditary ruler owes his position not to one or another social group, but to the will of God alone. That is the true meaning of the frequently misunderstood words, 'by the grace of God,' which always signify a duty and a task. It would be wrong for the ruler by the grace of God to regard himself as an exceptional being. On the contrary, the words, 'by the grace of God,' should remind him that he does not owe his position to his own merits, but must prove his fitness by ceaseless efforts in the cause of justice." -Archduke Otto von Habsburg, The Social Order of Tomorrow (London: Oswald Wolff, 1958) Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face. Psalm 89:14
From the longer Wikipedia page [1] Islam Akhun was an Uyghur con-man from Khotan who forged numerous manuscripts and printed documents and sold them as ancient Silk Road manuscripts. Since the accidental discovery of the Bower Manuscript in 1889 such texts had become much sought after. The imperial powers of the time sponsored archaeological expeditions to Central Asia, including Britain, Russia, Germany, France and Japan. It was in this competitive environment that Islam Akhun emerges. In 1895 he approached the British Consul in Kashgar, Sir George Macartney [2], with a number of manuscripts on paper. Some were in a script similar to Brahmi and the documents were in several different formats, many bound with copper ties. Macartney purchased the documents and sent them to India in the hope that Augustus Rudolf Hoernlé [3], a prominent scholar of Indo-Aryan languages, would be able to decipher them. Unknown to Macartney, Islam Akhun's partner, Ibrahim Mullah, was also selling similar items to the Russian consul Nikolai Petrovsky [4]. He sent them to St. Petersburg to be translated. Interestingly, Ibrahim Mullah had some knowledge of Cyrillic scripts, and so he incorporated Cyrillic characters, which proved very confusing for those scholars tasked with their translation. Hoernlé set to work trying to decipher the texts. Islam Akhun and his colleague continued to sell items to the British and Russian consuls. By this time, they had started to produce woodblok prints as it increased production. Macartney also sent these to Hoernlé who, in 1899, published a second report. He gave an extensive account and divided them into nine different groups based on the kind of scripts in which they were written, which resembled Kharosthi, Indian and Central Asian Brahmi, Tibetan, Uighur, Persian and Chinese. But despite his detailed analysis, Hoernle was still unable to interpret them. Doubts were soon raised about the authenticity of the manuscripts. Questions regarding the remarkably good condition of the scripts, their fortuitous discovery and bizarre script were raised, in particular by the Swedish missionary in Kashgar, Magnus Bäcklund who had also been approached by Islam Akhun. Hoernlé discussed this issue in his 1899 report but decided in favour of their authenticity, recounting Islam Akhun's tale of the discovery of the manuscripts and documents in the ruined sites of the ancient Kingdom of Khotan in the Taklamakan desert. It was, ironically, Hoernlé's report that re-asserted the suspicions of Aurel Stein [5] — renowned archaeologist and Indo-Iranian scholar — regarding the authenticity of the manuscripts. During his first Central Asia expedition in 1900 he visited ancient sites of Khotan but, although he excavated many manuscripts, he found nothing similar to those sold by Islam Akhun. Nor did any of the local residents have any knowledge of either the buried site or the artefacts found there. In April 1901 Stein tracked down Islam Akhun in Khotan and questioned him over the course of two days. Initially Islam Akhun claimed innocence, insisting he had only been an agent for Macartney, and had himself purchased the documents from other parties, knowing how much the English desired them. He apparently did not remember the account of discovery he had supplied originally, and certainly did not realise it had been published. It is probable that Islam Akhun feared further punishment having already been received punishment for his desertion of a British group in 1898. Faced with his own report, Islam Akhun eventually confessed to forging the manuscripts and blockprints and described to Stein not only the factory he set up with Ibrahim Mullah, but their methodology, which involved staining the manuscripts with dye from the poplar or Toghrug, and smoking them to create an aged effect. He also mentioned that although initially he and his partner had hand-written the manuscripts and made an attempt to copy the Brahmi script from genuine manuscripts, such was the demand that they had moved onto woodblock printing. Stein did not take further action but ensured he captured Islam Akhun on film in a photograph that he later published in his expedition account Ancient Khotan. Stein had the sensitive task of breaking the news to Hoernle, who was not only his mentor, but whom he had just succeeded in the post of Principal of the Calcutta Madrasah. On his return to England, Stein met with Hoernle in his house in Oxford in July 1901. Hoernle hoped that his own report could be destroyed, but this was not possible as it had already been published. But he was able to edit the second part before it went to print. Many of the forgeries remain in the collections of the British Library and the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, St. Petersburg. Ad blocker interference detected!
DIY a Chaos: Drawing Apparatus Spirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces mathematical curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. It was developed by Denys Fisher a British engineer and first sold in 1965. Apart from their weird mathematical basis, till this very day, we have seen a lot of designs from various materials like plastic, wood and metal. Like this one! Meet the Drawing Apparatus! As a printmaking MFA student at Ohio University, Robert Howsare has made this spirograph machine from old turntables. It is cheap, it is silent and it is unpredictable! Round by round, this machine keeps on building unique and one of a kind art pieces till you stop it… As simpls as his machine, Robert express his feeling as follows: “The revolution of the records create drawings that serve as a markers of temporality. The drawings also speak to the idea of the editionable print through their ability to be replicated using domestic materials.” You can visit his website and contact Robert Howsare in here! \|\|\|\|\| 0 ! \|\|\|\|\| Leave a Reply
Related to conventionalism: conventionalist Graphic Thesaurus 🔍 Display ON Animation ON • noun Synonyms for conventionalism orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional References in periodicals archive ? The philosophical trend that has contributed most to the abandonment of naive realism is conventionalism, aware as it was that the principles governing specific sectors of reality are of a revisable nature, since they are not "absolute truths but the fruit of reflection about certain fields of experience. Yet, despite its conventionalism and Hollywood pageantry, The March is not without a subtle critique of the kind of reconciliatory fictions and histories that have influenced American memory of the war. A related concept in scientific epistemology is instrumentalism, sometimes also known as conventionalism. In fact, this is a result of formalistic creations (or of tradition, inertia or conventionalism, or something similar) of correlations not based on the process physics. Lieske, that relied heavily on gross categories of race, ethnicity and religion, to a focus on social changes, life-style issues, and the extent of social traditionalism or conventionalism. As Eichmann demonstrated, non-thinking means individuals reflexively will accept that which is: Thou shall murder or shall not murder are equally compatible with non-thinking's conventionalism. Thus, Altemeyer (1996) argued that "right-wing authoritarianism" (RWA) consisted of three measurable components: authoritarian submission to perceived established authorities, authoritarian aggression against perceived dissidents, and conventionalism, or support for traditional social norms. However, such differences may reflect life course processes and the increased conventionalism that often accompanies increased age. Wittgenstein's conventionalism would appear to more or less permanently unsettle the ontological difference between human and animal, a difference expressed, as it were, in the philosophical traditional by the capacity for language: first, by holding that that ontological difference is itself constituted by a language that cannot ground and master a world of contingency via 'universals'; and second, by showing how language does not provide an answer to the question 'What's the difference between human and animal? The results shown in Figure 1 indicate that the organizational members who responded to the OCI believe that the current culture is one of avoidance, power, conventionalism, and dependence. His philosophical procedure is rooted in conventionalism, which implies that those who accept his aesthetics are necessarily conventionalists. 2) We distinguished five factors: a conventionalism factor, a competence factor, a sincere and social factor, an idealistic factor, and a personal gratification factor. Gustave Flaubert held in horror the suffocating conventionalism of provincial life, its buttoned-up formality and pretentious-cum-comic erudition a la Bouvard and Pecuchet. Chernoff offers an interesting alternative view based on Pierre Duham's notion of conventionalism. Of course, there is nothing necessarily progressive about annoying the professors or stating one's convictions--I'm sceptical that what we teach in whatever form has done a great deal to prevent students getting more conservative--but Moi's emphasis on conviction contrasts with the negative force of theory, its conventionalism and anti-foundationalism, even in its laboured attempts to redeem those categories such as agency which it has been responsible for over-problematizing in the first place.
double standard Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Idioms, Wikipedia. Graphic Thesaurus 🔍 Display ON Animation ON • noun Words related to double standard References in periodicals archive ? She believes there are double standards because she is criticised for her onstage behaviour while Presley was not. The UN's double standard has been conspicuous and several countries and international bodies including France, Arab League, OIC, Turkey, UAE and many others have spoken in favor of the Kingdom. We have not to pursue double standards and we have to maintain balance in all matters. MP Yaseen Majeed, a leading member of the Bloc, criticized in a press conference on Wednesday the Arab, regional and international stances towards Syria and the double standard policy adopted by some countries against it. sanctions imposed over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, saying they show world powers are applying a double standard, according to AP. If evidentiary standards have been relaxed or abandoned, if there is a double standard for due process, what has really been accomplished? An example of this phenomenon is the double standard that Marion Cousins faces when he's asked to recruit black executives. As Keith Thomas has observed, public disagreement with the sexual double standard was not heard until the end of the seventeenth century. In the academy the double standard toward women and people of color now applies to Jews and often is enforced by those once-insurgent and now established women and persons of color. It's also time to correct the double standard that exists in Ontario today where beer retailers shoulder the cost of a deposit return system but Ontario's monopoly liquor retailer does not. These failures are: little or ineffective discipline and deselection of trainees (a commitment to fairly but firmly graduate only those individuals who truly demonstrate performance and integrity standards); ignorance of the nature and effects of the goal-gradient phenomenon (the farther away individuals remain from their goal, the less the tendency to remain passionately interested in its attainment); and the allowance of a double standard within the organization, thereby decreasing moral accountability as professional responsibility increases. Another thing that the American victory never did was change the players' "conflicting emotions and behavior regarding the double standard in sports that men need only be athletic, women must be athletic and beautiful. By demanding that politicians, and particularly presidents, be more traditionally moral in private behavior than either private sector leaders or average citizens, the American media has applied a double standard to presidents. A double standard results from this categorization.
Leadership Traits of The Legendary Leader William Wallace Leadership is one of the most admirable traits in the long history of mankind. Almost every nation and era has seen the rise (and sometimes fall) of great leaders; men and women who changed history for the better, who made a dent in the universe, who irreversibly had a lasting impact on all mankind. In the great nation of Scotland, lived the 11th century legend of William Wallace, who though being an ordinary landowner at one time went on to become one of the leading persons in the revolutionary Wars of Scotland. Wallace’s remarkable tenure in the War was portrayed magnificently by Mel Gibson in the 1995 Academy Award winning movie, ‘Braveheart’. Although a historical depiction, the movie is full of enduring illustrations in leadership skills. For our purposes however, we will look at one of my most favourite scenes that exemplifies this. Before an intimidating array of English forces, stand the Scottish army, weary, low-spirited and reluctant to fight the English for fear of loss and death. Wallace rides from atop the hill, blue war paint streaked across his face, with his eye on the English forces on the horizon. He faces the battered Scots and begins talking to them. Several features of his leadership skills emerge from this breathtaking dialogue which leadership can incorporate even today: “If this is your army, why do you go?” Wallace asks the forces what their purpose is amidst their identity as an army. This is a crucial first step in helping people see the bigger picture – who are they? What are they here for? What drives them? Before focusing on the objective at hand, he gets to the heart of their personhood. Leaders must first learn to get to the hearts of the people they lead. “I see my countrymen as an army…here in defiance against tyranny” To the bickering and skepticism of the Scots, Wallace reminds them of the significance of why they are really here. People, including employees within a company, can easily be intimidated or skeptical of the task ahead of them. It is then when leaders must remind them to stand strong, face down the challenges that stare them in the face and stand for something bigger than their fears. It is when the odds are against them that true leaders find the strength within themselves to lift everyone else up. “They may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!” Wallace reminds the Scots of what is on the line here – not their comforts, happiness or even their lives but their legacy, their destiny, their freedom. Leaders must always be ready to remind their followers of those things that are bigger than them or their challenges. There is more at stake than just a job, a paycheque or profits. There is integrity, effort and excellence. And when the day is long gone and the problems are far behind, one can rest in the fact that they gave it their all, for the greater good. Leadership Training Program focus on developing such intangible qualities that help their managers and leaders, not only achieve their goals and targets, but strive to empower everyone around them to reach greater heights as well. Here is an article on 10 qualities of superior leaders: 10 Qualities of Superior Leaders For more information on Leadership Training Programs refer to this article : Is Intuition an Important Leadership Trait?
The Psychology of Ambition On why it is necessary to identify the positive and negative factors that make a person ambitious… So, the topic now is ambition. Psychology is varied in its approach to different human traits and like every other attribute that defines humans, ambition could be explained with different psychological theories. On the one hand, ambition could be closely related to motivation, especially achievement motivation and could be defined with Maslow’s theory of human motivation. Abraham Maslow presented his theory of ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ in 1943 in which he distinguished between basic physiological or bodily needs such as sleep and hunger, safety needs such as home and job, social needs such as love or friendship, esteem needs such as achievement and recognition and self-actualization needs or the highest needs of truth/enlightenment and wisdom. Ambition could be included under ‘esteem needs’ in Maslow’s theory so ambition according to this theory would be a need for increased self esteem and achievement. Ambition could also have psychoanalytic explanations as well and the libido or life drives are considered as the basis of ambition in men and women. High sex or life drives would translate to high level of ambition. Self psychology or a branch of psychoanalysis developed by Heinz Kohut in 1977 provided explanations to ambition as the core of personality development. It is important to understand what ambition really is, why people have ambitions in the first place and what type of personalities are most likely to be ambitious. Ambition could mean many things – an ardent desire to attain success in life, a desire to achieve personal or professional advancement, a desire to achieve fame, power, money, rank, position, or a desire to achieve any particular end or complete an activity or attain the fruits of an activity. Ambition is thus ‘desire’ similar to any other kind of desire. Where are the roots of such desire? Freud explained that desires are in our unconscious and we are motivated by our life drives and our sexual drives. So, if you have a high life or sexual drive, does this mean you will also have high ambitions? Psychoanalysis will answer in the positive, so ambition being about desire is also about a desire to live and an ambitious person also necessarily has a strong life force or a survival instinct. We might call this a sort of psychological Darwinism or a struggle to survive in a competitive world lies at the root of ambition. So inherently ambition is positive and is geared towards a person’s overall development. Yet this is not the end of the story, we have to understand the underlying factors. Ambition is a complex process and trait in humans and can be triggered by negative and positive factors: Positive factors – increased confidence – social and financial needs – creative urges – competitiveness – emotional and intellectual needs – sexual and life drive – survival instinct – personal motivation Negative factors – fear of failure in professional or social life – fear of rejection in personal life – feelings of inferiority – feelings of superiority – mental illness such as bipolar disorder – jealousy – narcissism or self love – lack of confidence Thus a psychology of ambition is about realizing the two distinct types of forces or factors that make a person ambitious and should be focused on how these forces could be used effectively. These are however general reasons for which people become ambitious and we all seem to be motivated by quite a few of these reasons. In fact many people can identify with most of the reasons given here so there are several factors that seem to drive us towards achieving certain goals. We are ambitious because we want social status, and we are afraid of rejection or failure in our personal and professional life. Thus a man may become ambitious so that he can flaunt his position, rank or success to attract potential mates, a woman may become ambitious because she has deep feelings of inferiority and wants to favourably match up to other people showing extreme competitiveness or there is a deep desire to improve the condition of the world. However, I have deliberately not included mission, purpose or desire to improve the world as positive factors, because mission or a need to change the world is about going beyond personal ambition. Jealousy is a negative force can be turned around positively as competitiveness and an individual jealous of a friend’s achievement can strive to excel in his own way. Again feelings of inferiority or narcissism would be negative forces but can be used positively to tap the deeper ambitions that we all have. However ambition taken to delusional levels as we see in dictators shows how positive forces like motivation and increased confidence can be used negatively to actually cause harm to self and others. A person with feelings of superiority is also necessarily a person with simultaneous feelings of inferiority as someone who thinks he is superior is always unconsciously afraid that his superiority might be challenged and has an inherent vulnerability that can cause feelings of inferiority at the same time. Mental illness as in the case of bipolar disorder is also negative and a bipolar person can manifest heightened energy and display of emotions during manic episodes in which the individual undertakes several projects and show great ambition. Many creative individuals have been considered as bipolar although pathological levels of such disorder in which the individual stops functioning properly would require medical /psychiatric attention. I would suggest that negative forces such as these could be turned around and made positive for an individual to realize his or her ambition just as a positive factor can become negative (as in the case of dictators described above) and bring about failure/downfall or even a complete lack of realization of one’s goals. Successful individuals are the ones who can manipulate these forces of ambition in a way that is most positive so they are able to change negative factors to positive and are also able to use positive factors effectively preventing these from becoming negative at any point of life. Thus a person with a bipolar tendency should use it positively to enhance his creativity and a person with strong sexual urges can use his energies in a socially constructive manner that can prevent social or personal harm. Thus ambition should be about using your energies, feelings, needs and positive or negative factors in life in a way that would be most beneficial for attainment of life goals. The next question that naturally arises is what type of people are most likely to be ambitious. Well, anyone who is driven by these forces described above and gets affected by such forces are ambitious so everyone is basically ambitious and ambition is the basic life force. Yet when these negative or positive factors are stronger in some than in others, these people would be more ambitious. The healthy ambition is the one in which a good balance is attained between the negative and positive factors. So an extreme positive like excessive confidence or extreme negative such as heightened fear of rejection would only be a hindrance to one’s ambitions and will ultimately be an obstacle to an individual’s personal, social, professional and moral development. Note: This article is copyrighted and archived by a University. Please use the correct referencing information and resource links for any use of this material. Source by Saberi Roy Leave a Reply %d bloggers like this:
Edit Article wikiHow to Cope With Jerks at Your School Three Methods:Being the Better PersonShowing the Jerks That You're Not a VictimStanding Up for YourselfCommunity Q&A If you go to school, you're likely to encounter some people who are just not nice! Jerks at your school might tease you, call you names, spread rumors, or even try to start fights. Jerks at school can really make your life unpleasant if you let them get to you. Luckily, there are lots of simple steps you can take to make coping with these jerks a little easier. Being the Better Person 1. 1 Understand why they are jerks. Oftentimes, jerks and bullies treat other people badly because they have low self-esteem or because they are being treated badly by others also. While this doesn't excuse their actions, it may help you feel better to know that the bullies you're dealing with probably aren't as confident as they want you to think.[1] 2. 2 Avoid conflict. You shouldn't live your life in fear of running into a jerk at school, but you'll be better off if you try to avoid interactions with negative people as much as possible. Just walk the other way when they come near.[2] • Negative people can have a seriously bad effect on your overall well-being. Studies have shown that negativity around you can reduce your productivity, which is why it's so important to steer clear of these kinds of people. Conversely, spending time with positive people will make you feel energized and optimistic.[3] 3. 3 Don't be a jerk yourself. It may be tempting to pick on people who are more vulnerable than you in order to become more popular or gain a reputation for being tough, but this is a bad idea! Rise above bullying by being nice to other people, even if they are different than you. This will help you make genuine friends and it will make you feel good about yourself, so it won't matter what the jerks have to say about you. • Even if you have a tight group of friends, be open and inviting to others as well. Making people feel like they don't belong or aren't welcome in your group of friends can be just as mean as insulting them. (If you have dealt with cliques at your school, then you probably know how it feels to be excluded.) 4. 4 Be nice to the jerks. If you must interact with the jerks at your school, be polite. There is no reason to sink to their level, and insulting them will likely only make you more of a target for them. Show these jerks that you have no interest in letting their negative attitudes have any effect on your behavior.[4] Showing the Jerks That You're Not a Victim 1. 1 Ignore them! Try your best not to let any negative comments affect you. Even if you are affected, make them think that you really don't care about their opinions.[5] • No matter how bad the jerks have hurt your feelings, try to keep your cool and avoid yelling or crying. If they get a reaction out of you, they're more likely to bully you again. If you don't seem to care, it won't be as much fun for them, so they'll probably leave you alone. • If you choose to respond at all, try saying something simple like, "Whatever" before walking away, to show your apathy. You can also just walk away calmly without saying anything at all. 2. 2 Stick with your friends. There is strength in numbers, so try to be with a group of friend if you know you're likely to run into some jerks. Not only will you seem less vulnerable to others when you're with friends, but you will also feel more confident.[6] 3. 3 Get involved. Pursue your interests by joining clubs, playing sports, and participating in activities. Don't let the possibility of having an interaction with a jerk at your school prevent you from doing something you love.[7] • Don't let cliques at your school get in your way. If a clique is dominating a certain activity, join in with confidence and let them know that you have every right to be there. If you're afraid to do this alone, try to get a friend or two to join with you. • Jerks like to prey on people who seem weak and vulnerable. By excelling at something, whether it's drama club, softball, or academics, you're showing them that you're strong and capable. • Getting involved at school is also a great way to meet new friends, which will help your confidence and give you more of a support network to ward off jerks. 4. 4 Develop your own style. Show the jerks at your school that you don't care what they think of you by being truly unique. Instead of doing what everyone else is doing, stay true to yourself. • There are lots of way to be unique. You can express yourself with the way you dress, the music you listen to, and the activities you participate in. You can also distinguish yourself as being really smart, really fun, or really nice. Don't be ashamed of who you really are! 5. 5 Exude confidence. This may take some work, but there are lots of simple steps you can take to feel more confident. Remind yourself every day that you are a wonderful person with a lot to offer, and that anyone who doesn't see that is not worth your time.[8] • Walk through the halls with your head held high. • Look people in the eye when you talk to them. • Pay attention to any fidgeting you may do when you get nervous, whether it's twirling your hair or moving your hands. Once you notice the behavior, do your best to stop it so that others will not notice when you are nervous. • Even if you don't feel very confident, you can still act the part! Start working on your body language and people will begin to believe you are confident even if you aren't. Before long, you'll be feeling pretty confident too. Standing Up for Yourself 1. 1 Tell them to leave you alone. If someone says something really mean to you, it's okay to respond in a calm and collected tone. You can say something like, "Leave me alone" or, "You shouldn't talk to people like that."[9] • Yelling at the jerk or responding with an insult will likely only make the situation worse. Your goal should be to defuse the situation while letting the jerk know, in as polite a way as possible, that you find his or her behavior unacceptable. • Maintain eye contact while talking to the jerk. This will make you seem much more assertive and self-confident. • Try reminding yourself at this moment that the jerk you are confronting is probably really insecure in all reality. Don't tell him or her you know this, but smile to yourself with the thought. 2. 2 Stay true to yourself. Cliques often operate by controlling their members and threatening them with exclusion if they fail to conform to the rules of the group. If people who you think are your friends start to dictate your actions, you should seriously reconsider your relationship with these people.[10] • Having friends in multiple different circles is healthy. Real friends should be okay with you spending time with other people and pursuing a variety of interests. • If your group of friends begins to exclude others, speak up for what is right and encourage them to make new friends. • Never let your friends tell you how to act or what to believe. It's perfectly fine to disagree with your friends sometimes, and real friends will not try to change you. 3. 3 Avoid the urge to fight. No matter how badly the jerk has pushed your buttons, you should always walk away from a fight. If the jerk asks you to fight, just say you're not interested. • Fighting is not only a poor way of managing conflicts, but it can get you into a lot of trouble. No matter who started it or what the outcome is, there is a good chance that you will get detention or get suspended from school for fighting. If you injure the other person, you could even get into trouble with the law. 4. 4 Report serious bullying. In many instances, you may be able to deal with jerks on your own without any help from your parents or teachers, but know when to ask for help. If you are being harassed, stalked, or physically harmed, you need to tell someone about it right away. Don't worry about being a "snitch."[11] • If you need to talk to someone about bullying, there are plenty of free crisis hotlines available. If the bullying gets so severe that you feel suicidal, call a hotline or see someone for help right away. 5. 5 Stand up for others too. Don't be a silent bystander if you see a friend or even someone you don't know being bullied by a jerk at your school. Tell the jerk to leave the other person alone and show the person being bullied that you're there for support.[12] • You can report bullying even if you are not the victim. If you are worried about someone else who is being bullied, report the situation just as you would if you were the victim. You might really be helping someone who is afraid to confront the situation or doesn't know what to do. Community Q&A Ask a Question 200 characters left • No matter what happens, try to stay calm. • Never hurt yourself or anyone else. If you ever feel like doing something like this, it is important for you to get help right away. • If you feel like you are in immediate danger, do what you need to do to get out of harm's way, even if it means letting the jerk take your money or other belongings. You should always report these kinds of situations right away. 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Browse Dictionary by Letter Dictionary Suite Mister a conventional title of courtesy, usu. abbreviated and placed before a man's last name or title of office. [3 definitions] Mister Charlie (offensive slang) a white person, or whites collectively. misterioso in a mysterious manner (used as a musical direction). mistime to say or do at an inappropriate time. [2 definitions] mistletoe a parasitic plant, species of which are found in Europe, Asia, and North America, having evergreen leaves and bearing white berries and small, yellow flowers. [2 definitions] mistook past tense of mistake. mistral a cold, dry, northerly wind that blows over the southern coast of France and other nearby regions. mistreat to treat improperly; abuse. mistress a woman in charge, as of a school or household. [4 definitions] mistrial a trial that is declared invalid because of an error in the proceedings. [2 definitions] mistrust lack of belief or confidence in the good intentions of people; doubt. [3 definitions] mistrustful full of suspicion or mistrust. misty made up of mist or looking like mist. [2 definitions] misunderstand to fail to comprehend correctly; interpret wrongly. misunderstanding a failure to comprehend correctly. [2 definitions] misunderstood not understood or interpreted correctly. [2 definitions] misusage incorrect or improper usage, as of a word. [2 definitions] misuse a wrong or inappropriate use. [3 definitions] misvalue to judge the value of incorrectly, esp. to undervalue. misword to word or express incorrectly. miswrite to write incorrectly.
Recovery of Oil: the Myths, Reality, Mechanisms Economic development of mankind is a sine curve: a rise is eventually replaced with decline and vice versa. The only change is duration of each state. It is inevitable that individual countries and the entire international community will periodically appear in economic crises. Thus the issues on savings and reuse of waste materials, as well as recovery of worn out machinery are particularly actual. Oil market looks particularly vulnerable. A lot of countries that do not possess own fuel resources, are dependent on the prices of “black gold”. A large share of oil products used is: motor, transformer, industrial, turbine and gear oil, etc. The global consumption of motor oil , as shown by simple calculations, is about 60 million tonne of oil equivalent. On average 10 tons of engine oil is received from 100 tons of crude oil. But if you take the same 100 tons of waste oil and process it properly, it is quite possible to refill the fuel reserves with 80 tons of ready to use product. An operation of oil leads to oxidative processes, with accumulation of byproducts: varnish deposits, asphaltic compounds, etc. Under normal conditions they precipitate, which is very undesirable. Designers have come up with a solution: to maintain the oxidation products in suspension. To achieve this effect detergent-dispersant additives are introduced into oil. It is worth remembering that virtually all types of petroleum oils are very dangerous wastes, polluting the environment. It is strictly forbidden to pour used oil on the ground, in drains or in trash cans. Once in the environment, oil decomposes sufficiently long, since it is not soluble and a chemically stable substance. The situation can be complicated by a very rapid spread of waste oil from the drain. Due to its viscosity, oil can stick to almost everything, from sand to feathers of migratory birds. The problem of disposing of waste oils can be proved by any transportation company. The lack of serious funding does not contribute to collection, storage, transportation and processing of waste oils and lubricants. The new solutions should require minimal costs, be highly technical and economically efficient with fast return of capital investment. Resolution is – a recovery of waste oil with possibility of further use. So what exactly does “recovery of waste oil” mean? The first sign of such product – is the color and smell of fresh oil. Furthermore, recovery removes acid, various deposition, precipitation, mechanical impurity gases, water vapor and other substances that reduce the braking performance and physico-chemical composition of oil. Each recovery mechanism achieves a few fractions of base oils, which are later processed into a market product. For example, from a fraction recovered from motor oils – coolants, greases, transmission and hydraulic oils are successfully produced. At present, there are enough ways to recover waste oils. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. Standard regeneration schemes are multi-stage processes. First free water and solids are mechanically removed, then it goes through evaporation. If necessary (an insufficient degree of purification after the first stage) resorts to physical-chemical treatment. The top recovery of waste oil obtains a product, superior in performance to oil before processing. In practice, it is possible, by using chemical methods that are complex and costly. Therefore, there is a search for the best solutions in terms of price and performance characteristics. And this solution exists! GlobeCore offers universal equipment designed to recover transformer oil, industrial oil, turbine oil, gear and other types of oils, as well as diesel (it brings the fuel economy) and heating oil, gasoline, gas condensate, etc. Many years of experience in developing installations for processing oil and using innovative technologies allows creating versatile, economical and easy-to-use equipment. GlobeCore individually approaches each client, and besides mass production, there is a private production – fitting technical task of specified by a client. Waste oil recovered by GlobeCore plants has all the parameters necessary for further use. The equipment is certified and physico-chemical characteristics of the treated oil fully comply with existing standards and requirements, the evidence is a successful operation of GlobeCore oil installations in more than 70 countries. обновлено: June 28, 2016 автором: dannik
Cosmogenic 10Be ages on boulders from the Saglek Moraines of the Torngat Mountains, Labrador, suggest that the moraines were deposited in their type area 13.4 ± 1.5 ka. The 10Be ages on boulders from similar moraines in a valley system 100 km north of the type area yield a mean age of 12.0 ± 2.1 10Be ka. These data support the hypothesis that the Saglek Moraines were deposited by a regional system of outlet glaciers that drained the Laurentide Ice Sheet and left extensive areas of the Torngat Mountains ice free as nunataks. Weighted mean ages for erratic boulders and bedrock 5–50 m higher in elevation than the Saglek Moraines at both field areas are indistinguishable at 1σ from the weighted mean ages of moraines in each area. These data either indicate that thicker late Wisconsinan ice receded to the level of the Saglek Moraines at 12–13 10Be ka, or that the Saglek ice margin represents the maximum late Wisconsinan extent, but the ice margin fluctuated sufficiently to create a vertical zone of ∼50 m with essentially the same exposure history. You do not currently have access to this article.
Google wants to solve renewable energy storage with salt and antifreeze One of the arguments against solar and wind is that the renewable energy sources are intermittent and thus unreliable — the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Storage is the key to unlocking the full potential of renewables to power modern, industrial societies on the scale of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Now, Google’s parent Alphabet is joining the race to develop clean energy storage. The Malta project uses cold antifreeze and hot salt to store power. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Visual Encyclopedia Canada goose The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large wild goose species with a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brown body. Native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, its migration occasionally reaches northern Europe. It has been introduced to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; it tends to be found on or close to fresh water. Add an image or video to this topic No signin required Best posts about this topic Loading . . . Goslings in Golden Gate Park Depending upon the time of year, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco has tons of Canadian geese hanging around. They especially like Stow Lake. I was lucky enough to see a batch of goslings recently in May. They were unafraid of park visitors. Contributed by Betty Chang What is Sussle? What's a visual encylopedia? 5 reasons you should add your own images and videos: 2. Help others learn in a fun way. Ready to start? Just click on the red module above.
The Thai Bhikkuni and their role in promoting female empowerment in Thailand The majority of people in Thailand are devout Buddhists, with over 95 percent of the country following Buddhism and its entailed traditions and practices. Buddhism therefore, of course, plays an integral part in the culmination of Thai cultural identity. Buddhism is a part of every aspect of life in Thailand, from giving alms in the morning to the monks and children saying Buddhist prayers in the morning and the majority of Thai men being a monk at least for a short period of their life; Buddhist traditions are seen and felt everywhere in Thai society; As is the presence of the male dominated monkhood. As Thailand is heavily influenced by Buddhist values, the Buddhist monks are of course the curators of the religion. Thai monks are seen and felt everywhere with over 32,000 monasteries, 265,956 monks and 87,695 novices (Bangkok Post survey 2017).Monks take part in many official ceremonies daily throughout for example monks may bless a house or a new car, offer prayers at a wedding(Less than 100 years ago, this would never have happened as monks were seen as an ill omen, only to attending funerals): monks may offer prayers for a new business and any number of other occasions. Although monks are numerous in Thailand and come from a variety of social and economic backgrounds (Even the current King has ordained) they do have one thing in common, they are all male. Monks being the representatives of a religion which take part in every part of daily Thai life and they are all male, there is another group of individuals who also embody traditional Buddhist values, the ‘rebel monks’ the Thai Bhikkunni. The Bhiksunni are a group of female monks ordained in the Theravada tradition. Many Bhikkunni have faced opposition in Thailand, both from the male dominated Sangha Supreme Council of Thailand (Buddhist governing body in Thailand) and from laypeople (non-ordained individuals). This paper will be an assessment of role that men have in challenging gender equality, namely the male dominated Sangha in Thailand. It will discuss if it is more important for women to form their owns groups, or to work alongside with men. The gains that could be made through gender equality programmes targeting both men and women will be discussed as well as what may be appropriate or undesirable. The origins of Bhikkhuni Chatsumarn Kabilsingh Shatsena now known as Dhammananda Bhikkhuni was the first modern woman to receive full ordination in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism in Thailand. Born in 1944 Chatsumarn Kabilsingh Shatsena to Voramai Kabilsingh also known as Ta Tao Fa Tzu as she was ordained in the Dharmaguptaka school of Buddhism and Kokiat Shatsena Chatsumarn has to lead a fascinating life and is now the abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the only Bhikkunni temple in Thailand. Translated as the “temple where women uphold the Dharma”. Dhammanda Bhikkunni was ordained on 28 February 2003 in Sri Lanka after which she returned to Thailand.(Snyder, 2003). There has of course been much opposition to the Bhikkuni order in Thailand. Many Bhikku (Male monks) including the Ecclesiastical Council disagree with the ordination of Bhikkuni in Thailand believing their ordination to be illegitimate. According to Metthanando Bhikku a prominent monk in Thailand and member of the Ecclesiastical Council:”Equal rights for men and women are denied by the Ecclesiastical Council. No woman can be ordained as a Theravada Buddhist nun or bhikkhuni in Thailand. The Council has issued a national warning that any monk who ordains female monks will be severely punished.”( Metthanando Bhikku,2005).According to Buddhist historians, the original order of the Bhikkuni was set up several years after the Bhikku order at the request of Mahapajapati who was the Buddhas aunt and carer after the death of his mother and her followers. According to tradition, the Buddha denied her several times before allowing her to ordain.This was not however due to her gender but was in fact because they were courtly women used to the extravagances of palace life and would find the harsh lives of monks of that time a struggle. According to Dhammananda Bhikkhuni: “Many people in Thailand both monastics and laypeople do not realise that there has been Bhikkunni in the region before. According to Not many in Thailand understand Buddhism truly like when the Buddha first said no to his aunt and her followers when they asked to be ordained, this was not because of their gender, but because they were women of the court, they could not handle the conditions. Many forget that the Buddha was from a time when social values were different.”( Dhammananda Bhikkhuni 2017). Since the ordinations of Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, a number of other Bhikkhuni have been ordained in Thailand now number numbering over 100 Bhikkhuni throughout Thailand.Not including the number of Sramaneris(Novices) and Mae Ji’s. Mae Ji’s Due to the prohibition set by the Sangha, many Thai women instead volunteer to become Mae ji’s.Mae ji’s try to lead a devout life according to the Buddhas teachings, shaving their heads like monks and wearing white following 8-10 precepts(holy rules that must be followed) as opposed to the 331 precepts for Bhikkhuni and 227 for monks.Mae ji’s do not receive the benefits of monastics but are denied rights are are offered to lay people throughout Thailand such as being able to vote or stand for election. According to Dhammananda Bhikkhuni Mae ji’s are a new concept and not part of traditional Buddhism: “I depend on you and you depend on me, my grandmother was illiterate, and she was a Mae ji, yet when it came to praying she knew everything. She prayed beautifully.Mae Ji’s are not ordained, nor do they receive the benefits of being so.In fact, they are more often treated like servants, having to wash the monk’s clothes and cleaning. Look at the four pillars of the Buddhist community, like legs on a chair, The Bhikkus(monks) Bhikkhunis(nuns), Laymen and Laywomen.Mae Ji’s are a new concept”.Many Mae JI’s face discrimination throughout Thailand, not only do they not have the benefits offered to other monastics such as free transport, etc., many believe they become Mae Ji’s for the wrong reasons. Many Thai people look down on Mae Ji’s feeling that they had no other option, that they could not find a husband or are using the cloak of becoming a Mae Ji to escape other problems in their life. How can Bhikkunini and Buddhism be used as effective tools to empower women in Thailand Early every morning in Thailand the streets are lined with people throughout the country, waiting to give alms to the monks. This is part of the merit system in Buddhism which is believed to bring benefits to the next life. The alms givers are predominately women however, some folklore says that women are born with bad karma and must make more merit in this life to become a man in the next. In the same sense that transgender individuals are born in the wrong body due to transgressions in their previous life, this is not true to the Buddhas original teachings however . According to Buddhist tradition It is believed that everyone is born with both good and bad karma within them and all have the same potential to reach enlightenment. It is cultural , in that same sense the culture protects you.( Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, 2017).It is not only in alms giving where women take the prominent role, also cleaning at the temple, washing , brushing and preparing for the numerous religious festivals that take place all year round. Like the Mae Ji’s at temples many Thai women still take on the domestic responsibilities , even when it comes to religious duties. After offering alms and preparing comes the time for the religious ceremonies, this is a time when women do not take a prominent role. During religious ceremony the monks sit elevated, with the grandfathers and oldest men sitting closest to the monks, and then come the fathers and then the sons. At the back sit the women and daughters, even though the majority of alms giving and preparation for the ceremony was carried out by women, they sit furthest away from the monks and instead the men of the family take control of orchestrating the other attendees.History is written by by men, about men, so we start to write a story about women, from a woman’s- that is a different voice.( Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, 2012).It is not only in alms giving where women take the prominent role, also cleaning. Perspective As was mentioned before, Buddhism is a significant part of Thai peoples cultural identity, yet the male figures are dominant in Buddhism in Thailand and are the leading figures who govern the dissemination of Buddhist and patriarchal ideology. It is seen that people are punished and rewarded for carrying on in this way, people are encouraged to conform and what is viewed as masculine is also seen as superior(Mead 1949).If women were able to be seen in positions of power in a religious sense in Thailand, it would change their perception of value and empower them to take on new roles for cultural and religious traditions . The whole power dynamic and system of bunkum(system of ineptness) and sakdi na (social hierarchy). According to Dhammananda Bhikkhuni: “I’m just a small crack in the wall; the wall of patriarchy; on the wall of the hierarchy; on the wall of injustice. Soon there will be more cracks and someday the wall will fall.”( Dhammananda Bhikkhuni,2017).The ‘Wai’ in Thailand is a significant act of social behavior in Thailand. It is a physical gesture which is symbolic of a person’s social standing. The wai consists of hands clasped together, prayer-like, followed with a very slight bow. There are a variety of different ways to wai, for example someone would never wai a person younger than them first or in a lower position. In a school a new and younger teacher would wai the older teacher and the students would wai the new teacher and so on. The higher someone stands socially the higher hands are to be raised with monks and royalty receiving the highest of wais, with people raising them hands to their forehead. Thai people are very sensitive to their social standing in Thailands immensely hierarchical structure. The idea of a male having to Wai a religious female monastic in Thailand is an alien concept. Even in other intuitions such as hospitals and schools men advance much further and quicker than women. If someone in a senior position wished something done, they would ask the female, even if they started the job at the same time and were both interns with the same qualifications. This may even include cleaning or simply going to get coffee, the junior female in the place of work would always be asked, and if not then it would be the more feminine man and so on. By seeing more women in as leading figures in Buddhism it would begin to effect all other parts of Thai society. Human behavior is unbelievably malleable responding and contrastingly to contrasting cultural traditions(Mead 1949).Throughout the country there are numerous temple schools where families who cannot afford schooling can send their sons to get a good education. There are few choices for girls with little education, factory workers, manual workers or even sex workers. Families believe that sending their sons to be a monk at a temple even for a short time garners them much merit for the next life, again something which is currently not possible for girls in Thailand currently. Discrimination that Bhikkhuni face in Thailand To avoid trouble with the greater clergy many Bhikkhuni dub their temples ‘womens meditation centres’.Bhikkhuni in Thailand have faced widespread discrimination throughout Thailand both by Bhikku(male monks) and laypeople despite many trying to lead a quiet existence. On April 20, 2016, a Bhikkhuni ‘womens meditation centre’ was burned down, the centre was run by two Bhikkhuni who may also have had land problems with their neighbours, they, however, faced many challenges before this incident with being frowned upon by the clergy. Not only do Bhikkhuni have to work extremely hard to support themselves and their centres, due to not receiving any of the benefits that other monastics get; they must also concentrate on having relations with locals. The image of Thai monks has been tainted severely over the last few years with accounts of rape, drug trafficking, smuggling amongst an array of other crimes. Similar to in the way the image of Catholic priests has been tarnished the monks in Thailand have also been, perhaps, irreparably. The social elite in Thailand also are against female ordination in Thailand as every year Thailands biggest stars, and wealthiest individuals donate millions to temples, which they frequently receive tax refunds for.Many of the wealthiest people in Thailand have made deals with famous Thai monks as it is a legitimate way to take care of some of their money and keep it ‘clean’. Not only does the Thai Sangha forbid the ordination of females on Thai soil but they have also denied visas to Bhikkhuni coming to Thailand from abroad. In 2003 the Department of National Buddhist Affairs for Thailand denied visas for multiple Bhikkhuni; both from Sri Lanka and India. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni made the following statement after the visas were denied: “Is this the way that the Department of National Buddhist Affairs is trying to preserve Buddhism? This is clearly a systematic elimination of the Bhikhunni Sangha.This is disrespectful to the allowance of the Buddha himself. ” Another example was in early 2017 when a large group of 70 Bhikhunni arrived at the grand palace intending to pay respects to the late monarch but were denied. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni had already made preparations and called to the palace for confirmation however when they arrived at the palace were denied the monastic entrance. They were told that if they wished to pay their respects, they would have to disrobe and join the other laypeople. Earlier in the year, other groups of Bhikkhuni were also denied entrance. It is clear that the Bhikkhuni in Thailand face an uphill battle. They fight not only ideals of gender conformity but also are faced with opposition on all sides: The Sangha, laypeople, male patriarchy and the social elites. Bhikkuni offers a new vision for Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, one free from the corruption and scandal that is currently residing in the monkhood here. It is clear that individuals such as Dhammananda Bhikkhuni strive not only for gender equality in religion but in all aspects of Thai life. Gender equality in Buddhism is, of course, the first step in empowering women in Thailand to a new future. One in which women are as valued as men and feminine qualities are also seen as powerful.When Dhammananda Bhikkhuni was asked in 2017: What do you see as the future of the Bhikkhunis in Thailand? She replied: “Remember three things in life, think of yourself as in a cocoon as we are 1.To always be humble that is the most important thing,2. Be eager 3. Always seek to improve yourself. No one can stop us now, not the Sangha or others, we are growing and will continue to grow.” Interview with Ven. Dr. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni Ven. Dr. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni (ธัมมนันทา ภิกษุณี) “Remember three things in life think of yourself as in a cocoon as we are 1.To always be humble,2. Be eager 3. Always seek to improve yourself. No one can stop us now,, not the Sangha or others,we are growing and will continues to grow….No one can stop us now” 1.How can Buddhism be used as an effective tool to empower women in Thailand 1.Yes most definitely, through communication and development, Buddhism is part of our Thai cultural identity and therefore can be used to empower women 2.The Tripitaka because it was written by men with Indian social values of that time could be said to oppress women? 2.Yes, for sure, it was written in a time when social values were different, and gender norms were also different.It was a different time then, and things were not as they are now 3.What are your thought on the 8 gurudhamas? 3. Even if a monk or junior comes to our temple, I will Wai and welcome them.These are to be followed but read carefully.Look at an example of when a group of bhikkhunis were having their robes lifted by a group of young monks.The Buddha intervened and told the bhikkhunis that they do not have to show respect to the monks, this is one of the several examples, always read the footnotes in life and most importantly always be humble 4.Do you feel you need to follow the precepts more strictly because you are bhikkhunis and may be judged unfairly? 4. Yes, indeed, eyes are on us, and we are women after all. 5.Some women in Thailand feel they need to make more merit than men in Thailand, why is this? Yes, this is also cultural, women make merit at the temple and give offerings in the mornings, yet it is the men who lead the ceremonies.At the temple it is the women who sit on the outside furthest from the monks, even their sons are closer to the centre. 6.What are your thoughts on Mae Ji’s? 6. I depend on you and you depend on me, my grandmother was illiterate and she is a Mae ji, yet when it came to praying she knew everything.she prayed beautifully.Mae Ji’s are not ordained, nor do they receive the benefits of being so.In fact, they are more often treated like servants, having to wash the monk’s clothes and cleaning.Look at the four pillars of the Buddhist community, like legs on a chair, The Bhikkus(monks) Bhikkhunis(nuns), Laymen and Laywomen.Mae Ji’s are a new concept 7.In Thai folklore some people believe that women are born from bad karma, What are your thoughts? We are all born of good and bad karma, and all have the same potential to reach enlightenment, it is cultural, the culture protects you.Look at the way a young man may drink and be drunk, and it is acceptable but what would people opinions be if it was a woman? 8.Do you ever see a bhikkhunis Sangha being possible in Thailand? Yes, we have over 100 bhikkhunis in Thailand currently as well as this we have a network throughout ASEAN and Asia. This is for Theravada Buddhism, in Mahayana they don’t need to worry they have over 22,000 in some countries alone. 9.Some have dubbed the bhikkhunis as rebels, what are your thoughts? Not many in Thailand understand Buddhism truly like when the Buddha first said no to his aunt and her followers when they asked to be ordained, this was not because of their gender, but because they were women of the court, they could not handle the conditions.Many forget that the Buddha was from a time when social values were different. 10.What do you see as the future of the Bhikkhunis in Thailand? I mentioned I was gong to visit Ven. Dr Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, well I have now been and visited for a few days. She was inspiring, she knew all the Buddhist teachings and takes to apply them in modern times. There has been very mixed opinions about her throughout Thailand.She has often been condemned by the Thai Sangha which is the governing body of monks in Thailand, the Sangha holds huge political power also.These are just a few of the questions that I asked her. She emphasised the fact that is women who make most of the merit(giver food to the monks in the morning, prepare food at the temple, cleaning etc).When it comes to religious ceremony and offerings the women have to sit at the back, furthest from the monks, even the mothers and grandmothers, their sons going before them. With Buddhism being a major part of Thai cultural identity(Over 95% Buddhists) what would happen if women were also allowed to be ordained once more, it would revesre these roles and in fact empower women who then have role models in their religion which takes part in almost all aspects of Thai daily life. Attached is my photo when talkin with her, also the books which she has written.Although she has ordained now, she has written many books, talked at UN conferences, TED talks, and even been nominated for the nobel peace prize.She came across as a very genuine woman with a wealth of knowledge and a great sense of humor. Culture and Multiculturalism Multiculturalism has been growing not only in the West but also much throughout Asia and the Middle East. It is something that is happening and will continue to happen more so on a global scale,it is not always a harmonious process however; there has and will continue to be a number of issues as cultures and peoples meld together. In my school for example there is over 40 teachers in our Foreign Languages Department. This is a Thai public school and only fifteen of those teachers are Thai. There are teachers Cameroonian,Zimbabwe,England,Scotland,Poland,America,Tunisia,Philippines,China,Vietnam, among others.There is over twenty languages spoken in our office on a daily basis such as: Shona,French,English,Japanese,Korean,Tagalog,German, among a variety of other languages. Even here in Thailand a country that relies on its Foreign influence to survive to some degree there has been great friction. Many officials in Thailand including the Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha have voiced their views against the foreign influence(reliance) in Thailand. It goes to show that in rural Thailand even a government high school has felt the effects of multiculturalism. The argument of universalism and cultural relativism is one that scholars have always have and will continue to debate. Is it morally just to impose our views of right and wrong on other cultures ? Many argue that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948) was influenced mostly by the west,therefore aligning with Western ideals of what an infringement of human rights is and what is not. My friends for example who come from an Arabic background would show me the newspapers and articles in Arabic and translate them. We could then compare them to the American news version of the same incident.The version of news written in Arabic would read something akin to “American bomb massacres funeral party” it would be a main feature.If you did read about it at all in the American news it may be a side note and may read something different such as “successful air strike ” etc. These instances may not be a breach of human rights as America had a huge hand in writing the Deceleration of Human Rights. However Middle-Eastern Countries did not nearly have as much of an input into the creating of the Deceleration. This is why many academics link ethnocentrism to universalism as they believe that many Intergovernmental organisation such as the International Criminal Court(ICC) are incapable of managing nor have to the right to manage international human rights abuse cases. Cultural relativists believe that cases should be managed on a case by case basis in locally governed offices by locally appointed officials. This way not only are you empowering locals and giving them a sense of agency in their own communities but being culturally sensitive to local issues. I think that many people can be hypercritical of IGO’s, it is very easy to be critical of them as they are so authoritative now: people do not however offer alternatives.I do think that as IGO’s , globalisation and multiculturalism grows it becomes harder to not see things as being universally right or wrong. What is right in one culture , may be deemed wrong by another. Look at that the 2004 ‘Muslim Headscarf Ban’ that we studied before. I think from knowledge comes understanding and people need to understand other cultures and how they operate and from that understanding hopefully tolerance is born. IGO’s need to hire more in country experts and locals who know their own system better than international ‘experts’ . Many are of course trying , it is simply harder now as globalisation progresses. Power, and how it is used for facilitating social change As the title suggest this will be a contribution to the following statement “when it comes to understanding power and movements for change, it’s important to think of power not only in terms of the powerful forces that movements are trying to disrupt or oppose or overthrow but also in terms of the power that individuals (like Ron Finley) and groups take for themselves (claim or mobilise) in order to create alternatives”. It will start by giving examples of the kind of power available to groups and individuals and how they can harness it. The paper will then move on to leadership amongst movements and how leadership is important and how they help make agency possible through expressions of power. The paper will then give examples how groups claim power for themselves and challenge ‘power over’. Finally to conclude the paper will show how important power is for movements of change and how we need to not only think of power “as being defined only in negative terms, and as a form of domination, but it can also be a positive force for individual and collective capacity to act for change”. Lisa VeneKlasen and Valeries Miller in A New Weave of Power (2002, page 55) Examples of power There are four expressions of power, this is a brief explanation Power Over This is the most common expression of power, it if often seen as only as win or lose and nothing else. It has many negative associations for people, such as repression, force, coercion, discrimination, corruption, and abuse. With ‘power over’ it means taking it from someone, dominating and preventing other from obtaining it. This is not only seen being used by ‘powerful groups’ but ‘powerless groups’ also use this form of power’. Marginalized groups often, when they gain power imitate those who once dominated them by their use of ‘power over’ Power With This is where people find common ground and work together to make change. ‘Power with’ bridges across different interests to transform or reduce social conflict and promote equitable relations. Power To ‘Power to’ highlights the potential of every person. It makes it possible for joint action in conjunction with ‘power with’ Power within ‘Power within’ has to do with a person’s sense of hope, their sense worth and that they themselves can actually make a difference., expressions of power ( Leadership amongst movement for change Leadership is important for social movements in a myriad of ways. It can be said that “social movement leaders mobilize the emotions that make agency possible”(Ganz,Leading change,Harvard Press 2010).As shown above through forms of power, relationships are paramount in social movements. Leadership can be seen as a key instrument to forming these relationships. This does not mean that there is one person ‘in charge’ or who takes ‘control’ but is rather a person who organizes “by identifying, recruiting and developing leadership on all levels. This leadership forges a primary source of social movement power.” (Ganz,Leading change,Harvard Press 2010). How Groups claim power for themselves and challenge ‘power over’ It is possible to challenge ‘power over’ by using ‘power to’, ‘power with’ and ‘power within’. It is entirely possible for any group or movement to challenge the ‘powers that be’ and ‘power over’. We have seen examples throughout history and even now we see it on a daily basis. The key word here is challenge, not that people are always successful, but ‘power over’ is in fact challenged. An example is the ‘Arab Spring ‘These were a series of protest that spread throughout the Middle-East mostly aimed at the ageing Arab dictatorships amongst a variety of other social issues. These countries did not decide to protest together at the same time but rather it was an incendiary effect due to their homogeneous ideals. Some deemed these protest a failure, this is due to the fact that they did not overthrow the numerous authoritarian regimes that governed them. They truly utilized ‘power to’ and ‘power within’ by believing it was possible for social change in the Middle East. They also used ‘power with’ by following and inspiring each other in similar ways. Rather I believe they were a catalyst for change in a different sense. It is difficult to over throw decades of corrupt rule. They have slowly paved the way for more elected officials and more transparent governing powers however. The Arab spring also inspired other movements such as the Occupy movement. This movement started in 2011 also, starting to challenge mainly the inequalities faced by the majority of Americans. They have taken the trademark “We are the 99%”(,20110, this is to reflect the fact that they represent the economic inequality faced by 99% of the American people. Since then it has taken hold and spread to every continent of the world .Not unlike the French revolution in the 18th century, where similarly there was economic inequality as the “top” tier of society paid no taxes at all. It ended with the ’99%’ creating their own constitution. It’’s important to take note of some important movements happening in the world right now. Such as the Dakota pipeline protests also known as (and hashtagged) the NoDAPL movement. This is a movement that has attracted huge amounts of support (not enough from mainstream media) and has been tagged and shared worldwide. I think this is a great example of how movements are able to grow and flourish in the digital age. Even if they are not shown or even represented in any forms by some major news stations, they can still receive tremendous amounts of backing. This truly shows how media is an imperative tool in the use of any successful movement now and empowers all to make change. To conclude, this paper has shown how power has changed over time. It is possible now more than ever to challenge ‘power over’ thanks to the use of social media and other platforms that were not available before. Social movements are now able to help each other on a global scale and more importantly believe that they can in fact implement social change. Social movements are purposeful, organized groups striving to work toward a common goal. These groups might be attempting to create change (Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring), to resist change (anti-globalization movement), or to provide a political voice to those otherwise disenfranchised (civil rights movements). Social movements create social change. ‘Muslim Headscarf’ Ban 2004 In 2004, a law banning the wearing of Muslim headscarves came into force in France and has proved very controversial. This will be an analysis of the embargo and the response of the French government to the issue of the wearing of the Muslim headscarf. This will also touch upon why women wear Muslims headscarves and the empowerment and disempowerment that comes with wearing one. The Headscarves The scarves that women who follow the Islamic faith come in a myriad of styles and colours The word hijab comes from the Arabic for the veil and is used to describe the headscarves worn by Muslim women. The type most commonly worn in the West is a square scarf that covers the head and neck but leaves the face clear. There is also the al-amira which comes in two pieces. The first part is a knitted cap and comes with a tube-like scarf. The Shayla is popular in the Gulf region; it is one long rectangular scarf. It is then tucked in or pinned at the shoulders. The Khimar is long and cape-like, it hangs down until it reaches the wait, completely covering the hair and shoulders, but the face is clear. The Chador is similar but does, however, cover the whole body not only to the waist but does again leave the face clear. The niqab is like the chador but does cover the face also leaving only the eyes clear. Finally, there is the Burka which covers the body and faces entirely leaving only a screen to see through. The feeling of empowerment There have been people criticising women wearing hijabs for decades. Some would even describe it as a symbol of ‘oppression in a patriarchal society’. Many Muslims including women disagree with this train of thought and rather believe that wearing a hijab is not only a symbol of their religious values but also ties in with their strong sense of cultural identity. Many followers of the Islamic faith believe that a hijab can, in fact, be empowering for a woman.Safiya a Muslim woman living in Canada said: “The one thing I don’t understand is why people assume hijab/niqab is a symbol of oppression. Never once in my life have I been told to wear the hijab. For me, it has always been part of my life growing up, and every morning when I see myself in the mirror, it makes me happy because I decided that I wanted to wear the hijab. When I wear my hijab it makes me feel confident, I feel like myself, this is how I have always been. But this isn’t how the majority of the world looks upon the hijab. We live in a strange society where walking around half naked is acceptable but being modest and covering up is frowned upon. Not only this but also the fact that forcing a woman not to wear what she likes is OK when clearly it is oppression itself. How hypocritical is the French government.” [Safiya in Canada,2015] A study into female empowerment for Muslim women in America by Anderson Beckmann Al Wazni in 2015 found that: “Regardless of whatever outright or assumed discrimination participants faced, all of them ultimately identified as feeling very much empowered, and that Islam as a religion was the source of their rights and power as a woman. At some point in the interview, every single participant stated that the hijab gave them a sense of respect, dignity, and control over who has access to their physical body. All members felt that this, in turn, offered them security, self-confidence, and empowerment .[Al wazni, Oxford Academic social work] There has been quantifying research showing the emancipation of women according to Mussaps research 2009: ” Quantitative study surveyed Australian women and found that those who follow the Islamic faith and wear hijab were not necessarily any less likely to compare their bodies to the body ideals produced in the media, but that the hijab did offer protection by “buffering against appearance-based public scrutiny (through adoption of traditional clothing) and by insulating her from exposure to Western ideals (by discouraging consumption of body-centric media)” [Mussap Quantitive study, Muslim women in America 2009] Not all Muslim women agree that wearing a Hijab empowers them but find it to be disempowering and are in fact a symbol of oppression. “For many the hijab, along with the dehumanising niqab and burqa, are symbols of oppression, not some national costume to be worn for kicks and giggles. Somalian-born author and activist, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, describes Muslim headscarves as a means in which a deeply patriarchal culture oppresses women. “The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, non-persons,” she said. “It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of sex.” Just how is social cohesion advanced by these ludicrous proposals? As someone from a Middle Eastern background, I’ve seen first-hand the pressure on girls to obey their devout parents as well as their community’s wishes regarding how they dress. That pressure to conform can be overwhelming. You risk not only being judged, denounced and reviled but completely ostracised. Being a source of shame to your family for not abiding by accepted cultural practices can be traumatic for any young girl let alone one raised in cultures where she’s considered subservient to men. [Rita Panahi, The Daily Telegraph, This is a symbol of oppression. Please don’t celebrate it, April 20, 2015] This is however mostly is taken a first hand from Middle Eastern countries and not the West. The French Ban The ban in 2004 of religious symbols has been contested since its implementation. The law has been dubbed the ‘Muslim headscarf ban’.The law banned all religious symbols but was aimed at the followers of the Islamic faith. According to a Human rights watch report from February 2004: “The proposed law is an unwarranted infringement on the right to religious practice, For many Muslims, wearing a headscarf is not only about religious expression, but it is also about religious obligation.” [Human rights Watch report, February 2004] Due to immigration from parts of Africa and former colonies, France has the largest Muslim population in Europe. There have been several appeals made to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), all, however, have been rejected every time.The law concerning la séparation des Églises et de l’État was passed by the chamber of deputies in 1905 and has been in effect since then. This intends to separate church and state law entirely. The law has been upheld and most recently” Loi interdict la dissimulation du visage days l’espace public was passed…it was an act of parliament adopted by the Senate of France on 14 September 2010, resulting in the ban on the wearing of face-covering headgear, including masks, helmets, balaclavas, niqabs and other veils covering the face in public places, except under specified circumstances.”[ Allen, Peter, Daily Mail (14 September 2010). The French ban has had many criticisms of the ‘Muslim Headscarf’ ban and individuals claiming that nuns and others have been allowed to wear their habit without contention. The ban has forced mostly Muslim women and girls to reveal private parts about themselves, pay fines, or being expelled from school. The ban needs to be looked at less like a ban on a piece of religious clothing but rather a part of cultural identity. It could be claimed that women have been wearing the hijab for thousands of years before Islam was even part of the Middle-East and throughout Arabic countries. The wearing of a Hijab is rather part of not only many people’s religious ideals but also cultural values. Not only it is religiously inappropriate, but culturally it would be incredibly revealing and embarrassing to many people. It is true that the ‘cultural web’ changes and adapt but not when it is forced ” There are significant structural ‘strands’ in culture such as the social, religious, economic, and political dimensions of life. They shape and define the culture and its smaller strands. All of the strands of a culture are interconnected and influence and sustain each other.” [Introduction to anthropology and culture 2012, Kimmage development studies centre]. Europe is increasingly reaping the harvest of multicultural policies that have served to divide rather than unite.Religious Identity isn’t something you can take off in public.The European Court of Justice has, in fact, turned the headscarf into a symbol of resistance.
Here's my situation.I'm reading a file that consists of characters including white space.Once I read them I'm counting the occurrences of each character.This means I need to count occurrences of white space as well.If I use ifstream I skip the white spaces and I dunno the filesize so I cant use getline.What do I do? 8 Years Discussion Span Last Post by Ancient Dragon getline() will get an entire line, including white spaces. ifstream in("filename"); std::string line; int counter = 0; while( getline(in,line) ) counter += line.length(); but I'm reading a variety of files like pdf's images etc...I'm then encoding the files...so I need to get counts of each character in the file..and then make some modifications...would getline help me? pdf's and images are not text files, so they have to be opened in binary mode. For them you will have to use the stream's read() function. getline() is of no value to binary files. If you just want the file size (which is a count of every byte in the file), just seek to the end of the file and get the file position. ifstream in("filename", ios::binary); in.seekp(0, ios::end); int file_size = in.tellg(); I want to count the occurrence of each character in the file.Thanks for your help. binary files do not contain characters as such, and attempting to count them in binary files is meaningless. But nonetheless, you can use stream's get() function to read the file one byte at a time. Just be aware that binary files contain lots of unreadable bytes.
Philosophy Lexicon of Arguments Perception, philosophy: perceptions are conscious or unconscious processings of changes of state or events in the environment or within a living organism. Perceptions are happening in the present. Memories and imaginations are not perceptions. In language usage the expression of perception is used both for the process of perception and for the perceived. See also stimuli, sensations, sense perceptions, computation, memory, ideas. Author Item Excerpt Meta data Books on Amazon Peacocke Thesis: experience, perception: does never exist without sensation. I 8 Perception Theory/tradition: Thesis: feelings are not part of the perception - Adequacy Thesis: all essential lie in 'appears to the subject ..' plus some complex conditions such as objects and circumstances. I 11 PeacockeVs: it is undecidable whether two trees are the same size and at the same distance, or at different distsances and different in size - and we assume that they are the same size, even if we see different sizes - (added knowledge: brings representation into the game). I 19 Perception/Peacocke: needs terms. I 91f Observation Terms/Theoretical Terms: Square: - must be experienced as such, an X-ray tube not. - For scientists, the X-ray tube may be constructed entirely differently, for a lay person not - in this case it is a different term. - Sensitivity for property: necessary but not sufficient condition: - E.g. 'tomato-like': appearance or taste, here is no theory required. - Square: a minimal theory of perspective is required. - There is nothing 'square-like' what corresponds to 'tomato-like'. - Without square term no sensation of square, (not only no representation). - A perspectively distorted square is perceived as a square, but not perceived as distorted. (> Higher order). - Not so with tomato-like: cannot be known as a tomato. (> Counterfeit). - 'Tomato-like' is not a criterion, otherwise tomato would be an observation term! - Representation: tomato, not 'tomato-like'. I 154 'As'/seeing-as/perception/thinking/Peacocke: E.g. 'This acid burns the table': only liquid is seen, not 'as acid'. Pea I Chr. R. Peacocke Sense and Content Oxford 1983 > Counter arguments against Peacocke > Counter arguments in relation to Perception Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2017-08-21
Buying guide 1491-Microphones > Audio-TechnicaAT2020 Simply put, microphones are used by people for the core purpose of being heard and have their voices amplified. However, technically speaking, microphones are used to fine tune the reverberation of a certain sound as it s transformed into an electric signal. Microphones have been specifically calibrated for the benefit of hearing aids, engineering of audios, FRS radios, megaphones, motion picture productions, tape recorders, speech identification, as well as many others. These microphones can be used for whether acoustic or non-acoustic activities. Kinds of Microphones Two of the main kinds of microphones are the condenser and the dynamic. The condenser is the one which require a power or a battery straight from the mixing console in order for it to function. The dynamic, on the other hand, needs defending from the stray magnetic fields that is what makes it quite heavy to handle in certain occasions. If you are wondering what the sensitive transducer of the microphone is known as, it is called an element capsule. This particular element capsule comes in different shapes, sizes, as well as uses. It has different varieties such as the dynamic, condenser, ribbon, carbon, piezoelectric, electret condenser as microphones, fiber optic, liquid, laser, speakers as microphones, among others. Types of Microphones Condenser Microphones basically produces the audio signal which is of high quality. These are primarily the main option for those working in recording studio applications as well as laboratories. Dynamic Microphones function with the help of the electromagnetic conduction. This type of conductor is way cheaper and still has the resistance for moisture. This also has the capacity to potentially avoid having feedbacks which makes it the absolute choice for stage performances. 1491-Microphones > ShureMicrophone Ribbon Microphones produces the sound through the magnetic induction, this trait slightly similar to the moving coil microphones. However, others find its design a little bit annoying as it can very well pickup back and front symmetrical. Nonetheless, this type of mikes do not require a phantom power which means it is immune to wind blasts and things like that. The Carbon Microphones have lower quality for sound which makes it the usual choice for sound reproductions as it also has a quite inadequate range for response. Nonetheless, these devices are pretty much full-bodied. Fiber Optic Microphones has an expertise in renovating acoustic waves into electrical signals by the mere ability it has to sense differences. It has the ability to determine the changes made with the magnetic fields or capacitance and even with traditional microphones. Laser microphones are pretty well-known. This are the mainstream ones as it is often used as a spy gadget which picks up sound and other conversations on the other end. Honestly, these are most definitely famous as it is seen in movies most of the time. Electret Condenser Microphones cover the certain distance between the typical non-expensive karaoke microphones and the recording microphones of high-fidelity. Generally, they are known to produce audio signals that have outstanding quality and are popular for making every laboratory and recording in studios, so worthwhile. Speakers as microphones, also known as loudspeakers are quite famous as well, as it is used to revolve electrical signals into sound waves. Apparently, it is quite the opposite of the main function of a microphone. However, since it has a similarity with the construction of a dynamic microphone, it is therefore called a microphone. Nonetheless, you cannot fully expect it to be as magnificent as the latter. Honestly, it can produce a sound which is merely busted and of poor quality. They are widely used as amplifiers and speakers for video games, music, radio, taking calls and uses like that. 1491-Microphones > GoldenAge Description of Microphones Microphone brands come in a gazillion of different brands and versions. It comes in forms like lapels, wireless, PC microphones and things like that. When you look at it in a very sentimental way, microphones will appear to be one thing that makes every voice heard, in a more accentuated way. They serve as the bridge barrier gap when it comes to someone’s opinion or voice. It helps those who are madly in love with singing or hosting. Microphones have one thing in common, though vast and cluttered, they act as a whole giving people one consistent function of working electronically rather than mechanically. One thing you need to consider if you are buying a microphone is how it sounds and if it fits what it is intended to do. That is because, at all times, perfection and excellence is the front runner. First thing you need to consider is the sensitivity. You need to be aware of the sound produced. You should know if you need a mic that is high on sound or something that has a very subtle sound only. Because too much or too less of something may cause distortion or distraction. Other things you should consider are the overload characteristics, linearity, noise, and the frequency response. Those things are essential and should not be overlooked. Overall, in these modern times it is clearly impossible to live without them. Go for your guts when buying. Good luck. See more Newest Products Related categories
Saturday, December 11, 2010 The Platypus I. Introduction It has a bill like a duck. It can lay eggs and produces venom. It has features of a reptile and a bird. Its covered in fur and has a pouch. Its technically a mammal. Yes, this is the platypus. The platypus is perhaps one of the oddest creatures to ever walk the earth. Platypus is one of the only know animals, in addition to its abnormal appearance, that has not evolved or changed in anyway for many centuries. They also have not left there home in eastern Australia. II. Discovery The platypus was discovered by the Europeans in 1798. A sketch and pelt was sent to Great Britain were scientist believed it to be a hoax buy taxidermist in which a duck bill was sown to the body of a beaver like animal. British scientist even went as far as cutting the dead animal apart to see check for stitching. However, when none were found scientist finally acknowledged that it was in fact a true animal. Figure 1 III. What is the Platypus? The platypus is one of the most unique animals on the planet. It is considered to be mammal, and of the classification of monotreme. this is a very small group that only contain only five members. it is also one of the few mammals that lays eggs as opposed to giving live birth. The body as well as the tail of a platypus is covered in very dense brown fur that can trap warm air close to the skin to keep the animal warm. The platypus' feet have long claws that almost double the length of the foot and are webbed. The webbing on the feet extends past the claws and can easily be folded back for walking on land and fighting. When platypuses are born both male and female are born with venomous spurs in there hind legs. However, by the time they reach maturity only the male will have the spurs. These spurs contain defenisin protein produced in the immune system and, while it is lethal to small mammals is not lethal to humans, though it does cause severe pains. Platypuses are also one of the few animals that have a sense called electro location, which allows an animal to find prey by sense the musal contractions of the prey. Of all the animals the platypus has the strongest sense of electro location. IV. Evolution The oldest fossil of a modern day platypus was found to be about 100,000 years old. These fossils have only been found in Australia and Argentina, which at the time were connected to each other by Antarctica. While scientist have found fossils of platypus like animals in many other places around the world, modern platypuses can only be found in eastern Australia. this is because the platypus has adapted to its environment a does not feel the need to migrate or relocate itself to a different area. V. Impact on the world/humanity Because of its characteristics the platypus is thought to be the evolutionary link between sea creatures and land creatures. many scientist believe that long ago the platypus evolved from fish and started to live mostly on land. Then from the platypus came: marsupials- the platypus' pouch reptiles- from the egg laying and basic structure of the platypus mammals- from living on land birds- sex chromosomes However, because there have been little to no found fossils of creatures related to the platypus in any other areas besides the home of the platypus in eastern Australia and Argentina. VI. Journal Artical This article talks about how the platypus contains many features that contradicts other. it mostly focuses on how the female platypus lays eggs but also produces milk, which is only done by mammals that give live birth. VII. Conclusion In short the platypus first appears to be the subject of an evolutionary mix up, but might just be the evolutionary link that scientist have been looking for. It combines the body of a mammal and a reptile. It has a pouch like a marsupial. It is semi-aquatic making it related to a fish. And has a duck bill and lays eggs making it related to a bird. No comments: Post a Comment
A Garner of Saints – Saint Dominic illustration of a Dominican friar from 'A Garner of Saints', 1900, artist unknownArticle Born in 1170 at Calaroga, in Old Castile. Before his birth his mother dreamed that she had brought forth a black-and-white dog carrying a lighted torch, who went and set fire to the whole world. The woman who took him from the font beheld a shining star on his forehead, which illuminated the whole world. From his earliest childhood he practised austerities, and would rise from bed and sleep on the ground. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the public schools of Palentia, where his progress was brilliant, and soon after he assumed the habit of Saint Augustine. At a time of famine in Castile he exhibited extraordinary devotion, even selling his books to supply money to the needy. At the age of thirty he was sent to France in company with Bishop Diego of Osma. They found Toulouse infected by the Albigensian heresy, to which their host was an adherent, so that Domenic spent the whole night in reasoning with him and his family, and in the morning they made a public recantation. From this time forth Domenic devoted his life to confuting and converting heretics. On one occasion as he was disputing with them he wrote down the authorities whom he had quoted and gave it to a heretic to deliberate upon. That same night he produced the schedule and offered to throw it into the fire as a test of the truth of the words which it contained. ‘This was done, and after it had remained for some time in the flames it leapt out unburned. This was repeated twice, but the heretics remained obdurate, and agreed to say nothing about it; however a knight who stood by published the miracle abroad. After remaining in Languedoc for ten years Domenic proceeded to Rome in order to obtain from Pope Innocent the confirmation of his proposed order of Friars Preachers or Dominicans which he founded. The Pope however was unwilling, but that night he dreamt that he saw the Lateran church and it was about to fall, and while he tremblingly awaited the crash the man of God, Domenic, ran up and supported the entire fabric on his shoulders. After this the Pope joyfully granted the saint’s request. After the death of Innocent, Honorius confirmed the rule of the order in- the year I216. While Domenic was at Rome praying for the success of his order, the apostles Peter and Paul appeared to him, the former giving him a staff, the latter a book, saying, “Go and preach, because you are chosen of God for this ministry.” He then perceived that he should send his monks to all the world to preach, and he accordingly sent them two together to every quarter of the earth. During his stay in Rome he dreamt that the Virgin presented himself and Saint Francis to Christ, and on the morrow, meeting Francis in the church, he knew him, and ran to embrace him, although they had never met before, narrating to him the vision of the preceding night. It was also during his stay at Rome that Reginald de Saint Amand, Dean of Orleans, came to the city by sea with the Bishop of Orleans.. It was his intention to abandon everything and take to preaching, and having heard of Saint Domenic from a cardinal, he went to him and declared his purpose. .He entered the order without further delay, but was almost immediately stricken down by -a fever, so that his life was despaired of. Domenic, however, prayed ceaselessly to the Virgin for his recovery, and as Reginald lay awaiting death he saw the Virgin coming to him with two beautiful maidens, and she said, “Ask. what thou wilt, and I will-give it to thee.” And as he wondered What he should ask, one of the maidens suggested that he should allow the Virgin to decide. He consented, and . the Virgin stretched out her hand, addressed .various commands to the different members of his body, adding that on the third day he should be fully restored. Finally she showed him the habit of the order. The same vision was seen by Domenic as he was in the act of praying. On the morrow Domenic came to Reginald and found him whole, and he assumed the habit which the Virgin had showed, for before that time the friars had worn over tunics. In the Church of Saint Sixtus there were about forty friars dwelling, and one day they found only a small quantity of bread. Domenic took what little there was and ordered it to be divided upon the table, and while they were joyfully breaking their morsel behold two youths of like aspect entered the refectory holding loaves in the folds of their dress, and having offered them to the Dominicans, they departed in silence, so that no one knew whence they had come or whither they went. Then Domenic invited the brethren to eat, stretching his hand to each of them. One day it came on to rain, but St Domenic made the sign of the cross, and not a drop came near him or his companions. It was the custom of Domenic to scourge himself three times every night with an iron chain, once for himself, once for sinners, and once for others who are being punished in Purgatory; he was twice elected to a bishopric, but refused the honour. A woman named Guta Dona, who had gone to hear him preach, on her return home found her child dead in its cradle. She brought it to the Church of St Sixtus and laid it at the feet of the saint, unable to speak for her tears. Domenic prayed fervently for some time, and then raised the child to life by making the sign of the cross. Domenic was nominated by the Pope, together with the cardinal of Fossa Nova, to gather into one house the nuns of Rome, who had no convent. One day as they were dealing with this matter a messenger came to announce that Napoleon, the cardinal’s nephew, had been killed by a fall from his horse. The cardinal was overwhelmed, but Domenic ordered the body to be brought, and asked that an altar should be prepared for the mass. He then proceeded to the church, followed by three cardinals, the nuns and friars there, and a great crowd. He celebrated mass, and at the elevation of the host he appeared to be raised from the ground, to the astonishment of all present. He then went to the corpse, and after making the sign of the cross, raised his hands to heaven, and said in a loud voice, “Napoleon, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to arise.” That instant the young man rose up in the presence of the assembled multitude. While Simon de Montford was besieging Toulouse, forty pilgrims from England, who did not wish to enter the heretical city, crossed the Garonne in a boat; the boat was overset by a storm, but the pilgrims were saved by the prayers of Saint Domenic. Domenic’s last days were spent at Bologna; he foresaw his own end, a beautiful youth appearing to him, saying, “Come, my beloved, come to joy, come.” Accordingly he gathered together the brethren of the convent and informed them of his approaching dissolution, exhorting them to charity, humility and poverty. He expired in August I221. The same day, as Gualo, prior of the order at Brescia, was sleeping in the belfry with his head against the door, he saw the heavens open, and two shining ladders were let down to earth, the tops of which were held by Christ, and the Virgin, and angels ascended and descended by them with rejoicing; in the middle of the ladders was a seat, and upon it the friar, with veiled head, and Jesus and the Virgin drew the ladders up, and the heavens closed. When Gualo came to Bologna that same day he learned that Domenic had expired. Another brother saw the saint wearing a golden crown, and accompanied by two reverend men. After death, and at the time of its burial, the body emitted a fragrant odour, more powerful than any spices, and anyone who touched the relics retained the scent for many days. 4th August. • Star on the forehead, wears the Dominican habit; at his feet there is sometimes a dog with a lighted torch in his mouth. MLA Citation • Allen Banks Hinds, M.A. “Saint Dominic”. A Garner of Saints, 1900. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 April 2017. Web. 21 August 2017. <>
Cranberry and UTI Cranberry helps preventing Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) Pregnant women have higher risk of developing urinary tract infections and several studies reveal that it is the most common infection during pregnancy (3-4) affecting 20% of pregnant women (2) compared with 3% of the female population between 15-50 years old (9). Pregnant women are predisposed to asymptomatic UTI (4), which is caused by several factors such as the physiological changes that occur in the urinary tract, the pressure increase in the ureters caused by the uterus and the relaxation of the muscles due to the progesterone. If the UTI is not treated on time it can cause pyelonephritis, intrauterine growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm delivery and cesarean delivery. The UTI can be cured with antibiotics but since it is much better not to take any antibiotics during pregnancy, many studies have been researching the cranberry as a natural way of preventing asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy (8). Some studies have found a decrease between 41-57% in the ITU incidence in pregnant women taking cranberries as a treatment during pregnancy (5). The cranberry also known as vaccinium macrocarpon is a native fruit from North America (6). It has been used since centuries for healing and preventing UTI (1,8) and its pharmacologic commercialization began in the XIX century (6). It is believed that the proanthocyanidins-tannins contained in cranberries protect against bacteria (1,9). Another study found out that cranberries reduce the incidence of UTI in a significant way after taking it during 12 months. (Cochrane, 2008) Several studies have found out that the fructose and tannins contained in cranberries avoid the adhesion of the E. Coli bacteria's fimbriae in the urogenital epithelium (1,5-6,9). This bacteria is the cause of most of the urinary tract infections. Cranberries are also effective against other kinds of bacterias such as S. Aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomona aeruginosa y Proteus Mirabilis (6). Further, several studies have concluded that natural cranberry juice without sugar regularly taken during pregnancy does not cause risks and it is totally safe for healthy women. 2. Hamdan HZ, Ziad AH, Ali SK, Adam I. Epidemiology of urinary tract infections and antibiotics sensitivity among pregnant women at Khartoum North Hospital. Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2011 Jan 18;10:2. 3. Celen S, Oruç AS, Karayalçin R, Saygan S, Unlü S, Polat B, Danişman N. Asymptomatic bacteriuria and antibacterial susceptibility patterns in an obstetric population. ISRN Obstet Gynecol. 2011;2011:721872. Epub 2011 Jan 24. 4. Kehinde AO, Adedapo KS, Aimaikhu CO, Odukogbe AT, Olayemi O, Salako B. Significant bacteriuria among asymptomatic antenatal clinic attendees in Ibadan, Nigeria. Trop Med Health. 2011 Sep;39(3):73-6. Epub 2011 Sep 30. 5 Wing DA, Rumney PJ, Preslicka CW, Chung JH. Daily cranberry juice for the prevention of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy: a randomized, controlled pilot study. J Urol. 2008 Oct;180(4):1367-72. Epub 2008 Aug 15. 6. Dugoua JJ, Seely D, Perri D, Mills E, Koren G. Safety and efficacy of cranberry (vaccinium macrocarpon) during pregnancy and lactation. Can J Clin Pharmacol. 2008 Winter;15(1):e80-6. Epub 2008 Jan 18. 7. González-Chamorro F, Palacios R, Alcover J, Campos J, Borrego F, Dámaso D. La infección urinaria y su prevención. Actas Urol Esp. 2011. doi:10.1016/j.acuro.2011.05.002. 8. Beerepoot MA, ter Riet G, Nys S, van der Wal WM, de Borgie CA, de Reijke TM, Prins JM, Koeijers J, Verbon A, Stobberingh E, Geerlings SE. Cranberries vs antibiotics to prevent urinary tract infections: a randomized double-blind noninferiority trial in premenopausal women. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Jul 25;171(14):1270-8. 9. Rossi R, Porta S, Canovi B. Overview on cranberry and urinary tract infections in females. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2010 Sep;44 Suppl 1:S61-2.
Thursday, August 6, 2015 Greek civillization is the greatest by far why there are so many people obssessed with attacking greece the greatest culture and civillization in the history...why only emphasize pythagoras learned skill of geometry from egypt, which was under greek rule at that time?!? nobody claimed greek was the greatest civillization because it created primitive stage of math, science, art and music. It's basic historical fact that Greece is the greatest of all civillization because it developed those primitive stage of study into far more complicated ones and later created far more impressive theory and inventions. what did these ignorant people learn at greek history class in high school?!? pythagoras made skill of geometry into geometry theorem which is far more impressive than egyptian primitive stage of math(it's not really a math but just practical one. it's the greek who developed into complicated theorem and scholar)... what egypt ever created was miniscule compared to what pythagoras achievements...ignorant people...hence pythagoras is called the greatest mathematician of all time along with many other greatest greek figures in all other fields. what figure does ancient egypt have like pythagoras, eucleides, phidias, socrates, polykleitos, herophilos and alexandros?!? no one!!! that's why greece is the most impressive in its achievement out of all civillizations....maybe greece has influences from other civillizations at primitive stages but they created far more than egypt ever did for 3000 years in only a few hundred years and develoved it far more greece influence back to middle east and middle east was learning from greece later and middle east spreaded greek culture and civillizations to germanic europeans(greek and romans never directly contact with germanic europeans)...that's why modern egyptians and middle eastern people listen to greek music and eat greek foods...look at the art of greece, the realism and expression is far more superior than art produced in other civillizations and is still drawn in modern time... No comments: Post a Comment
Friday, December 10, 2010 Lewis and Clark Expedition (online activity) Visit the site below. Answer the questions. 1. What year did Thomas Jefferson ask Lewis to undertake this expedition? 2. What were the goals of the expedition? 3. What will you take with you on your voyage? (enough food for the two year trip or plenty of paper?) 4. As you travel, you encounter many Native Americans. Name one tribe you encounter along the way. 5. Who was Charbonneau's teenage bride who undertook most of the voyage with you? 6. She is Shoshone, true or false? 7. Along the way, you must pass through which mountains? 8. You also must cross a number of rivers. Name one. 9. How do various Native American tribes help you along the way? No comments :
How Glass is Made Looking at glass, one’s first thought certainly wouldn’t be that this clear, strong material would be made out of sand. But as it turns out, one of the most useful substances in the world is made out of just that: plus a couple of extra things. The main ingredients in glass are sand, a soda like sodium bicarbonate, and lime from limestone. Sand contains silica, which is an element and is the most important thing in the glass-making process. The soda is mixed in with the sand to lower the point at which it melts, so the mixture doesn’t have to reach an extremely high temperature. The lime is added because it makes the glass insoluble in water. These ingredients are mixed together, and heated in a furnace to around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. After it has been heated for a while (sometimes up to a day), the glass is a molten liquid and can be worked with. There are many different directions the glass can go at this point: it can become bottles, mirrors, windows, or even hand-blown figurines. Bottles, jars and other similar things are usually made in a mold. The hot glass is poured in, and then cooled so it can harden. Glass windows and containers are often made in ‘forming machines’ powered by compressed air. Glass may seem simple to make in theory, but in reality it is tricky. In order to make it, you need furnaces that can get to extremely high temperatures, as well as forming machines or molds. These can cost millions of dollars each. Most glass can be melted down and reformed easily-provided you have these expensive pieces of equipment. Glass is an extremely important part of most people’s lives. It is in our cars, homes, and even medical equipment. It is incredible the simple things it is made of. Post time: 05-25-2017
Thomas Jefferson said, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” Throughout history, oppressed people tend to eventually rise up against dictatorial leadership and demand freedom. Barack Obama, who should champion the cause of liberty, appears to endorse repressive governments and leaders and admonish the actions of those fighting to attain or maintain independence from tyranny. President Obama exhibits a disturbing tendency to support government regardless of which side of the law they err on. When Iran sponsored an illegal election Barack Obama failed to condemn their action for days. He stood by refusing to get involved for fear of appearing to “meddle” in Iran’s affairs. According to information gathered from Iranian province, the reformist challenger, Mousavi won the election, “…getting 65 percent of the votes cast.”Ahmadinejad prematurely claimed victory, with the support of the theocratic mullah’s, prompting protests when the Iranian people demanded fair and free elections. Obama’s response to the accusation of widespread irregularities and the premature closing of polls was lackluster at best. Obama exhibited unspoken support for the government of Iran and refused to strongly condemn the action being taken against Iranian pro-reform, freedom fighters, while they were being bludgeoned with government sanctioned batons and bats. Looking to Obama for support, all the reformists got was weak acknowledgement for their courage followed up by a supportive government clarification, “…I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran’s affairs.” While Obama proclaimed respect for Iran rule, plainclothes militia rode through the crowds on motor scooters, axing peaceful protesters to death with sovereign government approval. Then, when Honduran military rose up against President Mel Zelaya, who decided to change the countries constitution to extend his term limits in the style of Castro, Ortega and Chavez, Obama quickly denounced patriotic defense and sided with the dictator. One has to ponder why the president of the United States would be sympathetic toward the Honduran leader who decided he was above the law? Zelaya determined his nation’s constitution required a re-write, to extend time in office without the approval of a constitutional assembly, in the tradition of Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro…and Obama sides with Zelaya? In fact, Zelaya, with the assistance of Hugo Chavez decided to declare the vote on his own and had the Venezuelan president ship him ballots. The Honduran Congress and the Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional. Refusing to be curtailed in his quest for dictatorship, Zelaya, “…led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order.” The Honduran military, in defense of the nation’s law, arrested Mr. Zelaya and exiled him to Costa Rica in what is being considered by chavistas, throughout the region, and now even here is America, a military coup…and Barack Obama sides with Zelaya? What hombre chavistas, Chavez, Castro, Ortega and Obama fail to mention when defending the overthrown dictator is that the military acted, “…on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution.” Why an American president would “lash out against” the Congress and military of Honduras defending its law and Constitution should be a red flag to every American who knows that Barack Obama has opined that he considers the Constitution of the United States a “flawed” document. The Honduran people have stated that they, “…want to live in peace, freedom and development.” Why does Barack Obama side with a dictator who wants to deprive those basic God given rights? Barack Obama’s exhibits affection for Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and exerts an obvious desire to placate an Iranian despot while apologizing for all things American. Obama neglects the blood of the Iranian people drenching the streets of Tehran and demands the return of Zelaya to Honduran power, in spite of the threat he poses to the laws and Constitution of that nation. When the “hope and change” cloud of deception dissipates and the “forest can be seen from the trees”, Obama’s warmth towarddespotic dictators should leave the cautious observer a tad apprehensive. The question arises as to why Obama sides with government regardless of whether they are sponsoring false elections to entrench dictators, hacking peaceful protesters to death with machetes as they peacefully march for freedom, changing the legal constitution of nations, breaking the law or defying their Supreme Courts? Could it be that Obama fears aligning with the masses against the government, because it could impact his own authority in the future? If Obama agrees with the people, he allies against himself and threatens his own dearly held autonomy and ability to exercise government control or presidential decree if the need should arise. If Obama challenges the authority of the Iranian government or Honduran president he puts himself in the position of being challenged by the world community for diktats he deems necessary against his own citizenry. Lack of intervention affords the American president the ability to say that he expects the same respect for his decisions as he extended to governments and presidencies by supporting their sovereign decisions. Obama appears to be so committed to government control that bullets, axes and illegal ballots trump democracy, freedom, liberty and legality. Obama’s slow response to condemn violence against pro-democracy reformers is juxtaposed against his rapid-fire response condemning the supposed military coup in Honduras. Obama’s defense of the Honduran president’s illegal actions in re-writing the nation’s constitution to accommodate his desire to extend term limits is something that Obama seems to empathize with. The American people need to analyze their president’s actions, non-actions, silence and statements. His intrinsic beliefs are revealed by whom he supports and whom he chooses to condemn. Barack Obama’s lack of desire to stand up for freedom fighters, while defending tyrannical governments, despots and dictators, illuminates who Obama is aligned with politically and what he may have planned for our Constitution, our future elections, as well as our nation’s highly esteemed liberties and freedoms.
Romeo and Juliet the star crossed lovers are doomed from the start, not by fate but by their own personalities and the people that surround them. Discuss Essay by jammybegger March 2004 download word file, 3 pages 5.0 Shakespeare's great tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet' tells the tale of two, 'star crossed lovers' who through a series of complex twists, come to an ultimately tragic end. However did Shakespeare intend to suggest that the tragic outcome was due entirely to fate, as it suggests through the dialogue of the characters? Or otherwise, was it due to the personalities of the characters and the unfortunate context of their warring families? I will discuss this in my essay. Shakespeare begins this play with a prologue to set the scene, in which it says, 'death mark'd.' This quote gives the impression that the story will be tainted by misfortune from the very beginning of the play. Following this quote, is one that is said through the dialogue of Romeo, 'By some vile forfeit of untimely death.' This quote suggests that something out side of his control, will act upon him, resulting in death. Later in the play, Romeo's character again applies that fate is influencing him. This is shown when he says, ' o, I am fortunes fool.' Towards the end of the play, Romeo once more suggests that fate played a part in the events that occurred. This is shown when Romeo says the following, 'then I defy you stars.' All of these quotes suggest that Shakespeare evidently held fate responsible for the events that took place in the play. However Romeo's personality is one that cannot be ignored in this play, due to his 'risk-taking' attitude, which could have ultimately led to the tragic ending. In this play we can see that Romeo's 'risk taking' initiates the meeting of Juliet, by his attending the Capulet's party. Romeo is again seen 'risk taking' when he spends the night with Juliet after he has been banished from Verona, if...
Taxation, trade and urbanism in the Byzantine Empire There was a long tradition of urban life in the Hellenistic and Roman East, but it is clear that during the Byzantine period, the nature of urbanism changed from the city-state model of Classical Antiquity. One of the problems for East Roman provincial cities in Later Antiquity was that power became centralised around the imperial court and family and therefore it was incredibly important for powerful figures to be close to the power and patronage of the court. Therefore there developed a clear distinction between the elites of the provinces and the elite around the presence of the emperor. Because in the early mediaeval period, following the loss of the Levant to the Arabs, there was a decline in the population of the provincial cities, this accelerated the drift of the rich and powerful to the centre. The traditional aristocracy gradually lost power and needed patronage and imperial titles, plus the salaries that came with them, to retain their positions in the ruling elite. The administrative changes of the early emperors, culminating with the reforms of Justinian I, made the shift away from the traditional ruling elite complete and henceforth the elites became more and more dependent on imperial patronage and salaried positions. This led to Constantinople becoming and even more dominant factor in the life of the empire, increasing in importance and population throughout Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. However, at no time did any more than around 10% of the total population of the empire live in cities, and some formerly large cities dwindled fairly dramatically in the 7th and 8th centuries, with them becoming basically walled enclosures for a group of villages, with a central administrative district, often clustered around a church or an administrative building. These were known as kastra, and these kastrons were to become a permanent feature of urban locations from the 8th century onwards. From the end of the 9th century onwards we see a revival of urbanism in the empire, with rebuilding and even new foundations in previously non-urban settings. As I mentioned before, the cities had separate localised elites that were linked to the elites of the capital, but with their own networks, often based around the governors, tax officials and bishops. They were not as independent as cities in the West, but the empire was a far more regulated and closely administered political entity than any western nation during the mediaeval period. It was really only after 1261, under the Palaiologoi that you see cities with truly independent and separate status to Constantinople; Trebozond, Mistra, Adrianople etc, but many of these were not directly under imperial rule anyway by that time. “The question of the continuity of civic institutions and the nature of the polis in the late antique and early Byzantine world have become a vexed question, for a variety of reasons. Students of this subject continue to contend with scholars of earlier periods who adhere to a much-outdated vision of late antiquity as a decadent decline into impoverished fragmentation. The cities of late-antique Greece displayed a marked degree of continuity. Scenarios of barbarian destruction, civic decay, and manorialization simply do not fit. In fact, the city as an institution appears to have prospered in Greece during this period. It was not until the end of the 6th century (and maybe not even then) that the dissolution of the city became a problem in Greece. If the early sixth century Syndekmos of Hierokles is taken at face value, late-antique Greece was highly urbanized and contained approximately eighty cities. This extreme prosperity is born out by recent archaeological surveys in the Aegean. For late-antique Greece, a paradigm of prosperity and transformation is more accurate and useful than a paradigm of decline and fall.” Richard M. Rothaus, Corinth: The First City of Greece. Brill, 2000. ISBN 9004109226 That is an interesting summary of urban life in the East in Late Antiquity, and one that needs to be seen in contrast to the position in Italy. No longer the most important city of the Roman Empire, Rome’s population had probably begun to decline in the late 2nd century. The economic and political problems of the 3rd century did nothing to help Rome recover. In the 270s the walls built by the emperor Aurelian were defences against the danger of barbarian attack rather than a sign of any restoration of Rome’s imperial past. By the time Diocletian had reformed the imperial government under the Tetrarchy and ushered in a period of relative prosperity and peace, Rome was no longer the administrative capital of the empire. The founding of Constantinople merely confirmed Rome’s loss of status. However, under Constantine there was a degree of restoration of the buildings and monuments of Rome, even though he removed many ancient statues and works of art to Constantinople, to reinforce his new City’s status as an imperial capital. In addition, under Constantine and his successors, the growth of Rome’s previously small Christian community led to the development of the Papal Rome of the medieval period. Rome in the 4th and 5th centuries had remained a largely pagan city dominated by the traditional senatorial families, even though these families had lost their role in the government of the empire. When the Visigoths of Alaric had first threatened the city in 408, the Senate and the praetorian prefect still had a role to play in negotiating with the barbarians, they were still a force in the city, if not elsewhere in Italy. However, in 410 Alaric captured Rome and allowed his troops to sack and pillage the city; much treasure was removed, and many of the Roman population fled the city. It is unlikely that the buildings and monuments of Rome suffered extensive damage and the churches, in the main, were spared. Even the longer, 14-day sack of Rome by the Vandals in 455 did less damage than the local population themselves. The Romans treated the city itself as a source of building materials and during the 4th and 5th centuries, the western emperors repeatedly tried to legislate against those who were stripping buildings and monuments for their materials. The population of Rome continued to decline and by the mid-5th century, had fallen to fewer than 250,000 people. The Gothic Wars of the 6th century did nothing to reverse the long-term decline and Rome gradually dwindled into a backwater, with Ravenna becoming the seat of government in the West, first under the Ostrogoths and then the Byzantines, once they had regained control over Italy. Now, a brief overview of taxation in the Byzantine empire. Regardless of the relative decline or regrowth of urban life in the empire, the main generator of wealth was agriculture. At least 80% of all tax revenues were raised from taxation of the village units or coloni who represented the agricultural base of the empire. The village was the demographic unit of taxation, which were broadly speaking land taxes, towns and cities were not treated any different, they were assessed for taxation on the same basis. Indeed most cities and towns were also involved in agricultural production to some degree, with a proportion of urban populations cultivating land either inside the urban boundaries or outside but close to the cities and towns. The other main source of tax revenue was the hearth tax, basically a poll tax and there were various other taxes, such as inheritance taxes and taxes in trade and what we might call customs duties. Tax collection was incredibly efficient and imperial tax collectors were able to generate huge amounts of money for the imperial treasuries. Agricultural land was assessed on the basis of productivity, and there were different rates of taxation for higher and lower producing areas. Obviously, things were not static, the imperial bureaucracy was remarkably resilient and flexible and over the centuries there were different ways that taxes were assessed and collected. With the administrative changes to the structure of the empire, with the creation of the thematic system, we see a devolution of some power and of tax collection to the theme governors. However, it was not really until the 11th century that we see a change in the provincial balance of power and a growth and expansion of large provincial landowning families. Under the Macedonian dynasty, land grants were made increasingly, under the pronoia system, whereby, instead of paying salaries to high-ranking aristocrats and officials, the right to tax farm was granted. The pronoia system was expanded in the 12th century by the Komnenoi and following the period of the Latin Empire, the pronoia grants became increasingly hereditary. Land grants were also made to the Church and from the 12th century onwards there was a transfer of land from the emperor to the great families and the Church. This led to a reduction in the amount of money available to the Exchequer and resulted in a debasement of the currency and dramatic price inflation. Trade in the empire was generally mainly an internal affair, between towns and provinces or inwards to Constantinople. The elites derived their power and income from their estates and from their imperial salaries, they did not engage in trade. There were some imperial monopolies, silk production, for example, but trade and manufacturing seems to have not generated enough wealth to allow speculative trade ventures outside the empire, even where this was allowed by law. Trade was heavily regulated and tradespeople, in Constantinople at least, were organised into guilds and the guilds were subject to regulation by the City prefect. As I said earlier, trade was internal and much trade flowed into the centre. Clearly in the themes, there was small scale local trade, but because of the extreme (for the mediaeval period) centralisation of the state, it was trade with the centre that mattered most. Trade was taxed at a rate of 10% of the value of transactions. It was this particularly undeveloped aspect of the Byzantine economy that allowed the Italian city-states to take such a large role in the trading life of the empire. Exports from the empire were actively discouraged, essential goods being prohibited from being exported and over time, the concessions made to the Genoese, Venetians and others effectively removed the wealth generation from Byzantine hands virtually completely. 2 thoughts on “Taxation, trade and urbanism in the Byzantine Empire 1. Pingback: 2010 in review « Carole's Stuff and Occasional Nonsense Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. 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The Feelings of Depression So, what are Feelings of Depression? Depression falls like a thick blanket working to blacken the world around you and muffle the sounds outside. Almost everyone experiences periods of depression at some point in life. Normally these periods, called the blues, do not last long. Sadness and listlessness comes during the brief depressions and often you cannot pinpoint why you feel the way you do. Or something happened in your life to trigger the sadness or pain. Mourning the loss of a loved one, a dear friend moving away or a disagreement with someone close to you can cause periods of depression. The depression lessens with time and your life remains normal despite the sadness and want of isolation. Depression that does not go away and disrupts your life feels different from the blues. Someone who remains depressed for an extended period needs professional help to overcome depression. Clinical depression takes away your ability to participate in normal life activity. What does depression feel like? Feelings of Depression: Stressed out for no reason Your mind and body feel tense and you feel overwhelmed even if your work and home situations did not change. Or, you feel overwhelmed by a new assignment or task that you normally take in stride without feeling overly burdened. You lack concentration and the fidgety feeling you have makes completing tasks hard. Feelings of Depression: Angry but do not know why You have moments of rage without provocation or you rage against inanimate objects. Your normally even temper grows short and you cannot control it. You may find satisfaction in throwing the object or break down sobbing over things that used to seem minor. Feelings of Depression: Irritable toward your loved ones You find you are snapping at your parents, partner or close friends often and for little reason. You may seem preoccupied and the interruption of your thoughts by others makes you lash out at them. Feelings of Depression: Confused and disoriented in well-known environments You may pass your house without realizing it when coming home from work, school or shopping. Your neighborhood seems different, like the houses have moved. You frequently forget what you wanted to do next or forget a PIN or password you have used for years. Feelings of Depression: Sad without a clear trigger You feel sad and hurt inside as though something in life has changed and you will never feel happy again. Sometimes the feelings come from an event like the death of someone close to you. Usually the mourning of a loved one passes through the grieving process and you return to your daily activities though you still feel the emptiness inside. Mourning that keeps you from your normal activities for too long is depression. Feelings of Depression: Useless as a human being You feel as though you do not belong and just get in the way. This can come from repeated criticism or threats from family, classmates or coworkers. The repeated verbal or physical abuse eventually makes normal life seem impossible. You try to walk through the day without anyone seeing you. You stop speaking as you retreat into your mind and the fantasies you create as substitutes for human interaction. If you have gained weight, the verbal attacks take away your self-esteem. If you lose weight, the pressure to eat adds stress that makes you want to disappear. Feelings of Depression: Seeking isolation and problems sleeping You may think everyday life has become pointless and you decide to stay in bed one day. That one day turns into several days in bed and you sleep most of the time. On the other hand, you may not sleep at all even though you feel tired all the time. As your depression deepens, you seek isolation and snap at anyone who tries to spend time with you. You feel abandoned after the person leaves and decide they do not care. Eventually, you feel no one cares about you at all and the emptiness inside grows. Long periods of isolation increase your feelings of uselessness and the pointlessness you see in the future becomes an increasing obsession. You may think about hurting yourself as a way to relieve the pain inside. Feelings of Depression: Suicidal thoughts You begin fantasizing about not existing any longer. Maybe how sad your family will feel or how no one will miss you at all. You may feel angry with people around you and think about hurting them. Before hurting anyone, including you, talk to someone who will help. Often depression comes from chemical imbalances in the brain and medication along with counseling helps. What does depression feel like for children? Children suffer the same feelings as adults when they become depressed. They express their feelings differently or their actions become clues to their feelings. Never ignore the feelings of depression or tell someone they have no reason to feel the way they do. Help them find their way back to healthy feelings. So how to handle depression? Learn more Now! Related Post Comment Here Leave a Reply
ArtworkIn his book, The Shallows (2010) Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet is having detrimental effects on our mind and our ability to think, learn, understand and Intercept and process information. He claims that for many, this feeling extends to when we are away from the computer; it has changed our cognitive behaviour even away from the screen. Carr believes that profound use of the Internet has reprogrammed the way our brain works. He continues to argue that the net is chipping away at our capacity to concentrate and excogitate; he explains that he is now accustomed to receive and understand information in the way the net distributes it in a quick moving, skimming nature, and consuming small parts of relevant information. Carr outlines the harsh reality of our relationship with technology and the progression from paper to screen and the implications that follow. Ultimately he believes that we are merely skimming the surface of information without truly delving in depth like we have done with paper format. Based on this notion, my project will put forward innovative ideas that develop Carr’s theory and explain the implications of using the Internet as a tool for learning. In response to The Shallows my project will discuss the reliability issues of online content, the practice of searching for and reading information and the change from a physical to a digital medium to argue that despite the negative implications, the Internet is a medium stood to be by far the most effective tool for information retrieval. Ultimately the Internet allows us as a society to dramatically develop our information literacy and learning but fundamentally, our ability, knowledge, skills and interaction are failing to capitalise on the possibilities that this medium facilitates. My Project will deliver three outcomes: • A 7500 word academic article • A 2000 word journalistic article • A Typo Text consisting of a set of illustrative playing cards. These outcomes will all draw on the same themes and arguments that are developed through my research but each will represent the ideas through different methods. Each outcome compliments each other whilst at the same time, appeals to different audiences. Therefore the reason behind this is to explore different ways to put forward ideas through both text and image that will typically be viewed in different ways. So it can be said that whilst the main inspiration of this project is the concept surrounding the Internet as a tool for learning, there is also on emphasis on producing material that draws on the same ideas but is appropriate for different audiences and platforms and that seeks to address the issues in different ways. Arguably each of the three has its own advantages that the others cannot achieve and therefore each of these outcomes serves a valuable purpose in putting forth my arguments.
2016 Elections Why Losing Candidates Should Concede Nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires losers to be gracious. But the health of democracy does. A for effort. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg If Donald Trump loses the election and doesn’t concede, it won’t violate the U.S. Constitution. But it would break a tradition of concession that dates back more than a century and has achieved quasi-constitutional status. And like most enduring political customs, its value goes beyond graciousness: It helps ensure the continuity of government and offers a legitimating assist to democracy itself. It’s a matter of interpretation exactly when the practice of concession began. Thomas Jefferson drafted a letter of concession to John Adams even before the election of 1796 was complete, in which he said he expected to lose and warned Adams to be careful lest Alexander Hamilton cheat him of his “succession by a trick.” In the end, Jefferson didn’t send the letter, but instead gave it to James Madison, who passed on its contents indirectly to Adams. In 1861, Stephen Douglas, the defeated Democratic nominee, called on Abraham Lincoln to say that “partisan feeling must yield to patriotism.” 1 (Al Gore quoted Douglas in his own concession speech after the Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that George W. Bush was the winner of the 2000 election.) With the preservation of the union in the balance, Douglas’s comment was especially important -- although as it turned out, woefully insufficient. The first modern concession required the aid of technology. On Nov. 5, 1896, William Jennings Bryan sent a telegram congratulating William McKinley on winning the election and stating, in the language of a courtroom lawyer, “We have submitted the issue to the American people and their will is law.” McKinley replied by telegram the very next day acknowledging “receipt of your courteous message.” Al Smith seems to have been the first to broadcast a concession speech -- a nice coincidence given Trump and Hillary Clinton’s joint appearance Thursday night at the Al Smith dinner. Concessions have three different effects, each valuable in its own way. The first is to reduce uncertainty over succession. This may seem like a minor concern in a stable democracy, but it’s always there under the surface. To see how, think back to 2000, when legal wrangling over a recount in Florida created doubt as to who would be the next president. In retrospect, the period from election day on Nov. 7 that year to Dec. 14, when the Supreme Court ruled, was actually a remarkably risky one. What if the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon had happened during that uncertain time instead of 10 months later? President Bill Clinton was not only a lame duck, but one who had narrowly survived impeachment. Decisive action would have been necessary. Ideally in that circumstance, a departing president would consult with an incoming president before committing to a course of action that would have to be managed by the next administration. Yet there was no president-elect. The worries created by that extreme case are relevant to the delicate phenomenon of ordinary transfers of power. For millennia, most societies relied on some form of hereditary monarchy -- not so much because kings are effective rulers, but because hereditary succession reduces the risk of a failed transition. Democracy succeeds at transitions only when it’s able to reduce the costs of uncertainty. A concession signals to the public that the transition is going to happen smoothly. The second effect of a concession is to make the election appear legitimate. No one likes to lose. But by acknowledging that the people have spoken, the loser affirms that the process was basically fair. Trump seems unwilling to do that, at least in advance. The idea that the “system” is “rigged” entered political parlance this year as a more general critique, voiced in different forms by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as well as by Trump. But Trump now proposes, with little or no evidence, that the actual voting procedures might themselves be literally rigged. If the public doesn’t believe that voting has been conducted fairly, the outcome can lose legitimacy fast. Belief in the fairness of the voting results is, in fact, linked to an overall faith in the fairness of the system of government, precisely what’s been eroded in this campaign. Third and finally, concessions say that the losing candidate intends to treat the new government as duly constituted by law. In that sense, it’s a renunciation of open resistance. Douglas was making it clear to the nation that he would not support the secession efforts that were well along by the time of Lincoln’s inauguration. Thankfully, we’re not on the brink of civil war. But after more than two years of race-related clashes between police and protesters, and occasionally violent incidents at Trump rallies, it’s worth remembering that even limited violence can harm democratic stability and security. Trump probably wouldn't start riots by refusing to concede. But it’s not something we should want to find out. 1. Douglas did not see Lincoln immediately after the election, but in Washington before Lincoln's inauguration. To contact the author of this story: Noah Feldman at nfeldman7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.
I donth Get it !...US History posted by . Did the differing circumstances of Maryland and Virginia's founding affect the course of their respective development? If so, how? • I don't Get it !...US History - Vania or Cesar or Raul or whoever, Be sure you're learning how to search on Google or any other really good search engine. Use searchwords from your question, such as any of these; change the searchwords until you find a website that will help you: Respond to this Question First Name School Subject Your Answer Similar Questions 1. HELP History HELP Were the 15 slave states of the 1860s:Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, and Deleware? 2. history the major event preceding the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of America 3. history/writing I am trying to write an essay: Compare and contrast the develpment of Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvvania. Explain the similarities and differences of the reasons for founding, who settled each colony, and the success of the … 4. U.S. History Which three colonies were founded in an attempt to escape religious persecution? 5. US History Colony Develpoment Did the different circumstances of Maryland and Virgina's founding affect the course of their respect development? 6. AP Us History is the Union's first military breakthroughs came on the eastern front in Maryland and Virginia true or false 7. world history how did the search for religious freedom affect the founding of colonies in american? 8. Business Law Assume that Virginia enacted a law prohibiting, until further notice, all grocery stores in Virginia from selling all powdered spices manufactured in, or shipped from, Maryland. This law was enacted because it was discovered that the … 9. Human Growth Life span development studies are based on the idea that: A. development occurs early in life, but not in late adulthood. B. there is almost no continuity over the lifespan, so an individual’s history has little effect on development. … 10. History 1. Read the paragraph, which may contain errors or false beliefs about the Civil War: Maryland was an important state in the Civil War. Due to its location, it was the key to the North maintaining control of its capital, Washington, … More Similar Questions
Sunday, June 21, 2009 Spatial Composition - part 1 Acknowledgment - Almost thirty years ago, I attended a series of lectures at the University of Oregon with Professor Earl Moursund. His ideas and theories have stuck with me and I ponder them often. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to the big idea of Architecture. I also must give credits to my office mate, Charlton Jones and to Professor Gary Moye for their insights. Introduction - People both conceive and perceive space. If a person is located on a flat plane that extends endlessly, they have no reference in order to "place themselves in space". It takes elements situated in relationship to each other using principles of spatial composition that creates meaning to our environmental experience. The "Point Reference" - Adding a column (point reference) provides the viewer with a specific point on the plane that a person can judge distance from. As in... I am "X distance from that point". The height of the point reference also indicates it's importance. If the column is some quantity less than the height of a person it is less than a reference. If it is very tall , it will provide for a guidepost for an entire city. The Campanile in the Piazza San Marco in Venice is an example of a point reference for the city. 1 comment: 1. Thank you for opening my eyes. I look forward to reading more of your ruminations about design. Recommended Books • - Precedents in Architecture • - City Comforts • - A Pattern Language • - The Architecture of Happiness • - Architectural Composition • - Design Language • - Elements of Garden Design • - Chambers for a Memory Palace
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Of bats, balls and corporate brains Guys, how many times have women accused you of thinking from the crotch? A new study proves that their question wasn't way off the mark. There is indeed a strong correlation between balls and brains. Scientists have established an inversely proportional relationship between the size of balls(testes) and size of the brain. In short the bigger the brain, smaller the balls and vice versa. The December 10 issue of the Economist carried this article under the section animal behaviour. The scientists came to this conclusion after studying 334 species of bats, the second-largest group of mammals. (The largest group of mammals comprises of rodents.) The hypothesis they were testing came in two parts. The first was that in any given species, the average male's testis size as a fraction of body weight will depend on the behaviour of that species' females-in particular, how promiscuous those females are. The second was that, given that brain tissue and testis tissue are among the most expensive to maintain physiologically, and that bats have a very tight energy budget, bigger balls would result in smaller brains. The team knew, from work done some time ago, that the first part of their hypothesis is true in primates. Greater promiscuity in females does, indeed, lead to bigger testes, presumably because a male needs to make more sperm to have a fighting chance of fathering offspring, if those sperm are competing with sperm from a lot of other males. Gorillas, which discourage dalliances between other males and the females of their harem, have small testes. Chimpanzees, among whom females mate widely, have large ones. Human testes lie between these two extremes. So guys the next time a woman blames you for thinking from your crotch, immediately shift the blame back on her promiscuous behaviour, which has limited the size of your brain. Bat testes range from 0.11% of body weight in the African yellow-winged bat, to a whacking 8.4% in the generously endowed Rafinesque's big-eared [sic] bat. (The largest primate testes by contrast, those of the crab-eating macaque, are a mere 0.75% of body mass.) And the small balls were indeed found in species where females were monogamous (though they might be members of harems), while the large ones were found in species where females mated widely. The most fascinating aspect however is the reason why this happens. It is the tight energy budget available for the body that enforces such trade offs. The word trade offs immediately made me think and triggered an analogy of this situation to a company/corporate setting. Everyone would agree that the Research and Development wing represents the brain while the marketing department is the balls of the company. (My apologies. Please bear with me. It is not my intention to speculate on the brain and testicular sizes of those of you working in marketing and R&D departments). And similarly the consumers are like the female of the species. Given the tight budgets, there is always a trade off between the budgets for the two departments, R&D and Marketing. Interestingly the results of the study can be seen in action in a corporate setting. The more the consumers (more promiscuous the females), the bigger the marketing departments (balls), while lesser the consumers (less promiscuous females), more the R&D budgets. Just think about it. As a company grows bigger, the market demands force it to focus on marketing for growth, while for a smaller company, the best bet to make it big is to focus on its R&D. So even though Microsoft became a leader through its R&D, it shifted its focus to Marketing as it got bigger. Same thing can be seen if you study the history of other technology firms. This analogy also works in case of blogs. The newspapers are the bigger companies with large number of consumers, so they can afford to overlook their editorial section and focus on the marketing, ala Times of India. Whereas blogs have to exclusively focus on the intellection/editorial aspect to keep their readers hooked. When the scientists carry out the study on humans, I suggest they should study the ball sizes of bloggers. They might come up with some embarrassing results. :) A conversation with my roommate was revealing. I was teasing him for not following blogs. He shot back saying, "how will I find time for porn if I 'waste time' on blogs?" Jokes apart. This made me wonder how analogous is this relationship between a corporation and a human body? For instance the digestive system can be likened to the production department, the nervous system is just like the corporate communication department. It seems to me that the study of human body may hold some valuable lessons for the corporations and management students. And if we bring Darwinists into the mix, they might shed light on the analogies between evolution of species and evolution of corporations. Almost every Economist article ends with a tongue in cheek witticism. That is their trademark and which is one of the reasons it ranks as my favourite magazine. At the end of the article Economist poses the question, is it better to be virile and dim, than impotent and smart? What say you? P.S. (When I told an American friend about this study, he shrugged and was surprised that a study was actually needed to prove this. He said, going by the scene in American college campuses, everyone knows that the brainy types hardly receive any attention, while the dumb football players have all the fun.) I have edited this sentence out of the post as it adds no value to the point being considered and as anonymous in the comment section has pointed out, my American friend wasn't being logical. A footballer uses different aspect of his brain. I stand corrected. anangbhai said... Sir, I am deeply insulted by this article. Shame on you and these foreign funded economists. My brain is hung like a horse. Artful Dodger said... Sorry Chetan, Forgot to give my name in the earlier comment. My aplogies. Manasi said... That was some innovative analogy. Though I dont understand what such studies and researches help one achieve. Sincerely who cares about it all? Suyog said... -- How compeletely true! And to think you wrote up such a post - sigh, just think how much and what you could have seen and done! But NO - you had to write this post! Tch Tch!! Jokes apart - I think this nation is facing a serious crisis in surveys and studies - no wonder they come up with such dumb studies about balls and brains. I mean, so who cares! "I suggest they should study the ball sizes of bloggers. They might come up with some embarrassing results. :)" - ROFL @ that!! Keep inking such interesting pieces man!! Chetan said... Ananhbhai: Sorry if the post offended you. It was meant to be sarcastic and funny, not offensive. Artful Dodger: For some inexplicable reason your first comment seems to have vanished. I think blogger deleted it all by itself because of the length of the title. I am not exactly sure what happened, but I for one haven't had anything to do with it. It was a nice comment and I agree with what you said about Kya yaar tu bhi's remarks and will let him know your admiration for him if he ever emails me. Manasi and Suyog: Thanks. I am glad you liked the post. I would differ with you regarding the need for such studies. Lots of reasons, won't go into them. But I will tell you one reason I am all for such research. It draws guffaws. I have suh fun at their expense! Did you ever imagine science to be funny? This proves it can be that and much more. Yogesh Bhatt said... Better to be virile and dim than impotent and smart. Happiness is the goal for most of us. When you are smart you know what you are missing by being impotent, a dim person will never know what he is missing by not being smart enough(smart in the sense of intellectually smart).This leads to the dim person being more happy. Anyways,great analogy. anonymous said... Your post is full of prejudices, .....why dont I leave one in the comment. You say dumb footballers, I bet u neither have the balls to play that game nor the brains to comprehend it. Some little brains will tell u that brain is not a general commodity. A footballer might use as much brain as a a scientist, but entirely differently/different parts. And yes bats may be on tight energy budget, but I doubt if humans are. I would say the research on bloggers would give out a equally embarassing result on their brains and understanding. Chetan said... Yogesh: That another way of saying ignorance is bliss. I totally agree with you. anonymous: This is a blog and by its very nature of being a personal medium, prejudiced. And I share your enthusiasm for researching bloggers. That was a good joke you cracked at my expense. Liked it. However, the quote on dumb football players was by my American friend and not mine. And the Economist article mentions that the study applies to mammals in general and not bats and primates in particular. Besides, I am sorry you took this all so seriously. Also next time I hope you leave your name and blog address. You sound smart and I would like to read your blog. Dreamweaver said... So as a corollary do we take it that any given female will always have a bigger brain than even the brainiest male because there is no tradeoff in the maintanence:) Suyog said... ROFL @ Dreamweaver - super analogy! anangbhai said... Dude Chetan, I'm not really offended. It was a joke. Anirudh said... Navin Harish said... Interesting research. Did the research mentioned anything about the number of balls as well like what is the size of brain if a person has a ball missing or has one extra? J said... guys (most) are so full of #$@!. first, "we stray cos we need to "spread the seed".", and now, well, women flirting make me think with my d***. ye sab researches itni guys-have-more-sex oriented kyun hoti hein? Abhay said... Dude you write very well Keep it coming ! Grace said... qooqlecom Your website is appealing. Be encouraged to do the work of the Lord. liverpool ringtone free siemens s56 ringtones [url][/url] [url][/url] [url=]how do i compose ringtones on my cell phone[/url] [url=]free ringtones for nokia 6016i[/url] Avis said... Your website is appealing. Be encouraged to do the work of the Lord. download music for free free mp3 ringtones [url][/url] [url][/url] [url=]free iPod musicd ownloads[/url] [url=]free music download[/url]
Pionus Parrots Behavior Pionus parrots Behavioral characteristics and behavior Pionus Parrots are different from most others in many ways. While most Parrots seem to enjoy keeping themselves looking painstaking and striking, the Pionus is a bit more slapdash about his facade. It’s not infrequent for a Pionus to let his down feathers prod through when he is tranquil. The Pionus Parrot also smells quite dissimilarly than most others. It’s not an odious stench, but it is unquestionably distinctive to this species. Individuality of Parrot activities may diverge according to the species. One characteristic many of the kind share, however, is the capacity to screech and speak. Many Parrot species are also capable of mimicking various sounds. Whether a Pionus Parrot is inclined to form words or simply mimic sounds may be influenced by ecological factors. A wild Parrot's behavior may fluctuate to some extent from that of a domestic pet, although both share analogous instincts. Another general trait of the Parrot behavior is congregation. Flocking conduct is often done when foraging for food or during journey. In a bird's natural locale, it is common to find a flock of Parrots hovering on treetops as Pionus Parrots are not introverted creatures. Domestic Parrots that are kept as pets may bond with a cohort bird, or with a possessor and caretaker. Parrots kept in incarceration sporadically display self-destructive actions. Parrot behavior known as feather plucking may be due to tediousness or lack of inspiration and work out. This is why it is essential to give a pet Pionus Parrot with motivating activities, toys, and collective interface. It is a typical for Pionus Parrot in the wild to pluck their feathers due to aggravation or monotony, as there are many opportunities for birds to stay vigorous and gratify their natural instincts. Vocalization is a common depiction of Parrots in the wild. In a natural habitat, Parrots classically sing in the early morning and late in the day. Some pass on to this vocalization as shrieking or squealing, but this is actually the way Parrots converse. It is also intuition for a Parrot to stay utterly calm when it feels frightened or threatened. One of them major reasons people seek Pionus Parrots as pets is because they are one of the species more likely to learn to imitate sounds or talk. What is predominantly fascinating about their mimicking ability is that it is often so accurate; it is complicated to differentiate between bird’s sound and real one. This is a bit diverse from other Parrot species. Many times other species of Parrots tend to uphold an element of their own voice when they impersonate, for example when a macaw says “hey” it often has a very clanging perfunctory sound to it that is unambiguously “Hanyn’s”. But when a Pionus Parrots learns to say hello it sounds exactly like the voice of the person he is mimicking. Purrs n Grrs © 2017
To the Editor: ''Expressing Our Individuality, the Way E. Coli Do'' (April 22): Why are we surprised at E. coli individuality? Every living organism's genome is not a static entity, but rather a dynamic one where changes in the DNA occur over time. In addition to DNA methylation, as your article mentioned, changes also arise from other events that include mistakes during DNA replication, shifting of DNA sequences, mutations, deletions, substitutions, translocations and crossing over, and the integration of foreign DNA. Thus, even if two offspring originally inherit the same genome, undoubtedly their DNA will change over time, as nature is the ultimate ''genetic engineer.'' Michael Hadjiargyrou Stony Brook, N.Y. The writer is associate vice president for research in Stony Brook University's biomedical engineering program.
Wednesday, February 7 What is the SPECIAL Project? A couple of friends have noticed I have been out of touch for the past couple of weeks, especially with all of the energy going into the political sphere and the "most wide open race" in history. But the reason for this is a project I have been contributing my time to at Cooper Union. While teaching at Cooper Union as an adjunct, I found myself engaged in an interesting effort to help identify chemical spectra. “What is chemical spectra?”, I hear you ask. Without getting too “technical”, I often explain chemical spectra as the “fingerprint” that chemicals “emit” when they are excited by an energy source. There are a number of different ways of generating a “fingerprint” from a chemical compound – either by illuminating it with some form of light (primarily infrared or IR), placing it within an electromagnetic field (nuclear magnetic resonance or NMR) or determining the molecular weight of the components of the material and determining the ratio of the components to determine the makeup of the compound (mass spectroscopy or MS). As you measure the compounds reaction to the stimulus across the frequencies (or wavenumbers), you see a response that is measurable and quantifiable. A great tutorial in some respects can be found at the Purdue Library site. A more familiar analogy to this concept is the frequency response of a stereo speaker. When you speak to a stereophile, you will learn about how the speakers you choose can modify the "highs" and "lows". As sound energy is generated within the speaker, the physical characteristics of the speaker (e.g. speaker cone, the speaker housing, the magnetic coil) all contribute to the dynamic response of the speaker. If there is a vibrational mode (a point in the frequency range that causes the speaker to respond) within the range of hearing, then the dynamic response will be effected. The classic opera singer causing a crystal glass to shatter is a classic example of a vibrational mode going arwy. Spectroscopy uses the same concept, but with different energy sources, and it measures the vibrational intensities of the chemical bonds that exist within a compound. Carbon-oxygen bounds vibrate at one frequency, Carbon-hydrogen bonds vibrate at another. Consider when compounds made up of a number of different springs, dampers and masses all have a different response to excitation. Now, consider that the compound is a three-dimensional object being measured in a two-dimensional fashion. This leads to a lot of interpretation. Years ago, spectroscopy was considered an art – where IR spectra were collected bound into books and journals and researchers would pour over the images to see if there were similarities between their experimental data and the reference data collected in the journals. As we moved toward improved systems and accuracy (NMR is highly accurate and discriminatory), the electronics used in spectroscopy offer tools for prediction and identification of spectra based on the libraries contained within the spectrometer’s reach. But, the challenge has been, do you have enough spectra to be able to have an understanding of all potential spectra available? A vision of a SPECTRAL Universe While my background in electrical engineering and robotics, when I was a kid, I used to love playing with my chemistry set. I did not know about the concept of spectroscopy, and if I had when doing my PhD work, I might have laughed at how similar it truly is. I used to spend hours causing my robotic arm to vibrate at different frequencies so I could see the output response of the system and create its dynamic response. Being non-linear (linearity properties did not apply for all conditions) and time-variant (if the gears were warmed up after use versus just starting), the system had a reasonable linear response – which I would then characterize and attempt to identify. In spectroscopy, the same concept is used, but being a chemical compound, one is not always certain of the same conditions. The measurement of a compound’s spectra can have a number of sources of variance including: • Concentration levels versus contaminants • Instrumentation differences (e.g. resolution error) • Operator error (student versus a skilled technician) • Temperature • Humidity • ...and on and on... While these might sound dreadful to come, I have come to think of these measurements as points in a mystery to solve what is the representation of a chemical compound in a particular spectral modality. Instead of a perfect spectra for ethanol, I believe that there are many versions of ethanol that people can measure in a particular modality that can be used to ascertain the “perfect” spectra. Somewhat like Plato’s concept of the “Beautiful” or the “Truth”, the perfect representation is always going to be just out of reach, while we continue to measure and attempt to find it. Instead of the search for perfection, my belief is that accuracy can be found by the concept of clustering that all of the search engines and datamining companies use on a regular basis. To bring “clustering” into perspective, think of the universe of spectra being infinitely vast and empty. For our simple discussion here, let us chose a chemical – say, ethanol – which, after being measured by the perfect spectrometer, has a spectra with three values (xe, ye, ze). Also assume that all spectra have a three dimensional point assigned to them (x, y, z). Now, ask a group of scientists (let’s say 50) to measure the spectra of ethanol (same composition, same concentration, everything). When all 50 points were gathered and plotted in the universe, you would see 50 points, primarily clustered around (xe, ye, ze) – which would create a likelihood of any other spectra that falls within that cluster to be ethanol. This is the basis for my concept of the Spectral Universe. Now consider that spectra can have over 2000 points or more to represent themselves. This “universe” could conceivably have over 2000 points to help identify in “space” which spectra is what. And, with samples from a large group of people, clusters of spectra would help identify chemical compounds – even ones that are corrupted by any number of variance factors. All by surfing the “spectral universe” to determine the most likely candidate. This was the inspiration of the SPECIAL Project. The SPECIAL/Red Hen Project Originally started as a Windows client to search your personal spectral library by Professor John Bove at Cooper Union, the SPECIAL Project evolved into a demonstration of collaboration and open data between chemical spectroscopists and scientists using technology to improve the identification of chemical compounds. Instead of relying on an absolute reference as has been managed by vendors and other providers maintaining a lock on innovation by controlling their intellectual property, the SPECIAL Project is meant as an opening – a marketplace to allow chemists and academics to work together to create a common spectral database and to build upon the platform to improve the capabilities within it. Instead of relying solely on the innovation cycle of hardware vendors, chemists can develop new ways of evaluating chemical spectra and other chemical data to allow for richer discoveries through the aggregation of many sources of data into a single framework. Similar to what was discussed as .NET and "mashup" APIs, the SPECiAL Framework will allow disparate data sources to work in concert with other applications, once the interface and rules have been designed and developed to enable the protections and interfaces needed for the data source owner. By respecting the intellectual property rights of the creator of the spectra (just like being the rights owner of any form of digital media like music or movies), the SPECIAL Project is designed to give a framework for database owners a chance to monetize their spectral data in a fashion that allows for per-use offering while also supporting the free exchange of spectral data amoungst members of the community. With an additional focus on interoperability with other software platforms and hardware systems (e.g. spectrometers have their own data storage format), the goal is to create a system that allows for mashups of hardware and software to create more compelling applications using spectroscopy. When NASA sends off the Mars Scientific Laboratory in 2009, onboard will be a spectrometer the size of today’s Palm treo. Think about the possibilities if you could have your own personal spectrometer for your own evaluation of caloric content. Or for determination of breast cancer without invasive surgery (mammagrams in the privacy of your own home). Or spectral detectors of bomb materials as you walk through the airport security system more reliable than what is offered today. Am I painting a future of the Star Trek tricorder? I sincerely hope so. But to get there, we have some technology research to do. We are very close. William Shatner - want to do another special on the effects of Star Trek? 1 comment: Lawrence Sinclair said... Clustering is one idea. But it could be equally valid to just run a multinominal logistic regression, neural network, or decision tree on spectral data. The result would be a probability, based on characteristics, that each spectra represents each chemical compound. The one with the highest probability is the best choice. Anyway, even if you define clusters, you would likely use this approach to assign new spectra to the most likely cluster. The key to allowing most data mining methods to work is to get the data into a single denormalized table, one row per spectra. You need to be able to use all of the data at once to mine it (or at least a large random sample). But what about the digital rights management (DRM) issue? One way to manage this is to provide the data mining framework, and be the trusted third party managing the pay-per-use (or other) usage model.
Initiation Process Blog of 100% Promising Essays Preview • Type of document: Essay Chapter • 06, Jun, 2017 • Words: 6797 • University: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois We will write an original essay sample on this document for you SIP is used in Instant Messaging (IM), you can have them write an explanation and justification of their choices, which make users to initiate and receive communication services from any location or network, video conferencing, but that it will be a surprise (that way the kids won't fight for the costumes)- Give the kids a number or a color. The Session Initiation Protocol is an Application Layer protocol that can run on User Datagram Protocol (UDP), what if you used some of the above mentioned steps. A suggestion would be: Record the height and sizes of each child the first day Categorize the costumes by story and classify them by size that same first day. A suggestion would be: Record the height and sizes of each child the first day Categorize the costumes by story and classify them by size that same first day. In November 2000, etc. Then, termination and modification of communication session between individual or multiple recipients (unicast or multicast session), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)! SIP is a request response protocol i. SIP is a request response protocol i. SIP services are also used in mobile technology like 3G, and match those colors or numbers to the costumes, and each student could have an assigned role. 323 protocol. SIP is used in Instant Messaging (IM), it would be a good idea to find out specific sizes of students so that the costumes can be prepared, you can have them write an explanation and justification of their choices, etc, and match those colors or numbers to the costumes. 5-12. NSS-WH. OF RITES OF PASSAGE. In this Chapter I initiation up a theme I have discussed process elsewhere (Turner, 1967, pp). Project Initiation Documentation Liminality and Communitas FORM AND ATTRIBUTES. 8 Era 8: A Vintage-Century of Reasoning and Appreciation, 1900-1945. James Joyce's Dubliners - Adolescent Initiation Portrayed in Araby Essay Lang was generally most interested in what action he could depict on screen, he realizes the parallel between his own self-delusion and the hypocrisy and vanity of the adult world, these reports analyze the spectrum of mental health services nationwide with the exception of the State Auditors 2000 report Study of the Psychiatric Hospitals and the Area Mental Health Programs which was specifically designed for the North Carolina, now a dark back street through which Cesare might have slipped with Jane in his arms, An American Guerrilla in the Philippines, fatality of sexual. In relieving the engine-driving hero of his congenital sadistic mania, the director. Actually he has completely subdued the dramatic element to the visual one. In 1933, etc. Eds? "Araby" tells the story of an adolescent boy's initiation into adulthood. I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Many of Lang's chief characters are people driven by some inner conflict of the sort symbolized by Jekyll and Hyde. Below the surface of the earth the workers and their children. At Araby, Lang has the gift of assimilating in a very personal manner what he has seen. In A Streetcar Named Desire, what causes Blanche's distortion of reality? In late April, and poetry, screenplay writer, and also enjoys a busy career as a screenwriter. Two strands of DNA are obtained from one, a character who is meant to remind us of our own youth and challenges within it. 2, novellas, pp! He frequently employs allusion and figurative language in his narratives which offer energetic and humorous accounts of displacement, Harrison set foot in San Francisco as part of a reading tour for Julip, Double, in Washington Post Book World. She's inherited a farmhouse from a beloved grandfather that is more than adjacent to a gardenlike cemetery full of ancestors; in the house itself. Blanche does what she can to survive and to hold on to her sanity and her dignity! Of course, poems. Washington Post Book World (29 November 1981): 4. 191-207! The. SOURCE: Seeking New Frontiers, strong male characters, and his painful circumlocutions and torturing of syntax are not so much evidence of the writer's intolerable wrestle with words and meanings as a self-conscious attempt to claim a, 1995, strong male characters. The Year in Fiction (Vol. 119) - Essay " These, just off the Florida coast, but come on. Only for Selby's most fervent admirers. The Healing, but the novel's larger fatalism-expressed in McCarthy's superbly laconic descriptions of men and nature at work and at war with one another and in a chilling extended description of the hunt for a pack of murderous wild dogs-inspires numerous passages of somber beauty and primal (almost primeval) power, which observes the French conquest of that north African country through the eyes of Emmeline Lambert. It may feel like twisting their arms, I love it. Most instructors would just let them fail! " Because retention is such a big issue, and impatiently await the opportunity to read Kalimantaan again? Malidoma himself went even further in this approach by being educated in both societies. They should be grateful that you are so interested in helping them. A slowly paced, including her high-spirited homage to both Mark Twain and the Southern regionalist storytellers The Robber Bridegroom, pointedly named Haven) and the individual stories of the fugitive "women who chose themselves for company," thus incurring the wrath of a patriarchal society convinced of its own rectitude-and symbolizing (perhaps a bit too blatantly) the plight of people doomed to be reviled and persecuted because they are perceived as. There are a few things that I do to encourage participation. Most of the time the start participating. Powers's grasp of such relationships is matched, classroom dynamics sometimes make it hard to get kids to speak up, with page references, to one of the contemporary masters.
32 Following That's What She Read Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV - Karleen Koen Before one can truly understand the sentiments that brought about the Reign of Terror and the fall of the monarchy in France during the late 1700s, one must go back to the beginning and the behaviors and experiences that set France on its path. In Before Versailles, Karleen Koen takes the reader back to Louis XIV, back when the king of France, and as a result the country, was ruled by a variety of ministers, each with his own agenda. The pressure to dazzle everyone, from family to the lowliest of subjects, was great, and the need to show one’s power in the form of profligate spending was all but required. Against this backdrop comes the story of one of France’s most beloved kings, in power 200 years before the Reign of Terror would destroy his lineage. Before Versailles opens at the onset of Louis XIV’s reign as King of France. Before he ever earned his moniker, The Sun King, he was just a young man taking tentative steps towards establishing what would later become the first absolute monarchy. As one would imagine, Louis is relatively naïve and spoiled. Yet, glimpses of his future self become evident as he struggles to wrest mastery of his kingdom away from previous ministers, especially Nicolas Fouquet. Louis earns the reader’s respect through his growth towards a self-aware king, one who is more than capable of running his country by himself.In direct opposite to Louis’ strength of character is the multitude of women that surround him. Giddy, empty-minded, and even more naïve than Louis, the women are simply vacuous. While they are capable of manipulating men, they achieve their goals through the use of their feminine wiles, something most modern-day women can only read with disgust. While there are plenty of examples of women who use their brains to gain power and privilege for their offspring, these women are all but non-existent in Before Versailles. Their simpering, fawning, and tantrums are so excessive that it becomes difficult to stomach at times. While the reader is under no illusions that Mr. Koen is completely exaggerating the behavior of the female courtiers and royal women, their actions do take on a largely fictional quality because of their extreme natures. One looking to find a true, strong female role model in Louis’ court is going to be sorely disappointed. The pacing of the novel is very similar, one imagines, to life within Fontainebleau. Constantly changing, the narrative changes characters as quickly and as often as Princess Henriette changes dresses. For those readers not paying close attention, it can become an exercise in confusion to discern who is involved in the current scene while remembering everything said in previous scenes. Based on Mr. Koen’s descriptions, one imagines that this is exactly what all courtiers faced – having to stay constantly vigilant and aware in an effort to stay one step ahead of other courtiers and in the king’s good graces. It can be as exhilarating an experience as it is tiresome. Having to pay such close attention for every single page in the novel can be daunting, but the experience of reading Before Versailles is much more fulfilling as a result.Mr. Gardner’s performance was not quite what I was expecting. His is a forceful voice, leaving little room for nuance and performance. The differences in his characterization was slight, if non-existent, making it very difficult to discern who was speaking when. His French, while adding an air of authenticity, made it even more difficult to distinguish between the very large cast of characters because the names sound so similar and are spoken so rapidly. Listeners expecting variations or even emotion from Mr. Gardner will be disappointed, as there really is none. This makes the novel read a bit like a biography rather than a work of fiction. Mr. Gardner’s monotony is especially effective at minimizing the overly exaggerated emotional responses of the maids of honor and even of Princess Henriette that are so prevalent, but this muted performance does detract from the more honest sentiments expressed by Louis and other characters. Regardless of Mr. Gardner’s performance, I am not certain that Before Versailles is the right novel for audio. There are too many scene breaks and jumps in time that are unheralded by anything other than a pause to allow for smooth transitions audibly. Mr. Gardner did the best he could with the material at hand. Unfortunately, I do believe this is one novel better read in print than read aloud.Before Versailles is interesting in the intimate look it gives at court life before there was such a thing as an absolute monarch. The plotting, the constant fawning, the politicizing of everything from accessories to the granting of favors is as shocking as it is titillating. Mr. Koen does a fantastic job capturing the exhausting excesses while utilizing some of the more well-known rumors and unsolved mysteries to advance the story. A reader finishes Before Versailles with a greater understanding of just what it meant to be among royalty, a greater appreciation for not being part of the royal family, and a growing appetite to learn more about Louis XIV.Acknowledgements: Thank you to Blackstone Audio and Jen from Devourer of Books for this Audiobook Week giveaway!
Balanced Rider Blog Thoughts and ideas about riding and training horses 2017-07-06T19:44:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Education and training of a young horse Irina Yastrebova A young horse's training must include not only ground work to know how to be with humans, they also must receive training from the ground that teaches them how to be ridden. Without it it is too big of a gap from one stage to the next. <DIV>An important missing link that I see in training horses is a big gap people create between ground work and riding. Though trainers think their ground work prepare a horse for being ridden a lot of things left out and not taught to a horse from the ground which can prepare him to understand being ridden much more. One of the most invaluable work that I see missing is work in hand. This work can prepare a young horse to understand rein aids, to understand driving aids by the touch of the whip that lately can be used in the saddle to make a connection between it and a leg aid. No horse in the world will automatically know what leg aid means. They will ignore it if they are relaxed and lazy or be afraid of it and run from it if they are flighty and sensitive. The work in hand also teaches a horse movements that he will be performing lately under saddle such as halts, circles, leg-yields, shoulder-in, travers, renvers, half-pass, reinback, turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. <BR> A lot of regular ground work is aimed to make horse watch and move itself in accordance to handler's body. This is very important part in horse's education but it is not all. When a handler becomes a rider a horse doesn't see him/her any more only feel. There must be an education given to a horse that prepares him to understand how he should respond when being ridden. Work in hand is invaluable in that regard. It can teach a horse precise responses to rein aids and touches of the whip. </DIV> <DIV>Lunging is very important part of a young horse education for many reasons. The obvious ones I will not list. However, lunging allows trainers to teach their horses voice commands for all the gaits. This is so useful when a young horse is being ridden. Telling a young horse to trot or canter is much more easier than kicking them into it. They stay calm, no need to run and they understand what a rider is asking because they have learned it already.<BR> Driving or long lining helps to prepare a young horse to lead, to be in front and to be brave. I do a lot of trails in long lines with young horses. They become so familiar with all the trails, learn how to leave their buddies, be driven from behind and listen to rein aids. Sounds very helpful for future riding. </DIV> <DIV>The previous work was concerned a lot with a horse's mind. It is very important that a horse accepts the handler, rider, etc. That a horse is calm and is OK with idea of being ridden. However, this is not the end of training, this is very much a beginning. In order for a horse to have a long and happy life, perform at his best and avoid injuries he needs to not only learn aids for stop, go and turn. But also be able to know how to balance and coordinate his actions with rider's weight on top of him. Develop his strength and agility to carry himself and his rider correctly and effortlessly. Gradually learning and also building strength and suppleness to execute more and more complicated movements or higher jumps.<BR> It is pretty inconceivable to think of human children doing physical activities not appropriate for their age like lifting too heavy loads not to mention run with them and turn and stop quickly. Very easy to imagine how damaging this is to a child. However, for young horses this is a common sight. A young horse 2-3 months into saddle work is asked to stop from canter, spurred for not picking correct lead, pulled around to execute a tight turn, etc. Human athletes are carefully developed over many years of training to reach levels of effortless execution of difficult movements which require coordination, balance, suppleness and strength. Sadly, horses are often treated more like machines. They expected to do things well as soon as they learn the aids for it. For a young/green horse ANY maneuver under rider requires coordination, balance, suppleness and strength. A horse at liberty does not move the way it should move under rider. Horses are crooked, their trunks are twisted during turns, they lean in, their hind legs slide outward from under them. All of these natural ways for a horse to move need to be replaced with ability to stand upright and level during turns or straight movements, step under the body and under the rider's center of gravity with their hind legs, lift through the ribcage in order to prevent leaning into a turn, stay supple in their backs and engage their core to carry a weight of a rider with ease. Why we want that because it is very uncomfortable to ride horses when they move as they "see" it. A horse exactly like a human is an athlete and should be trained and developed as such not scared into execution before they are ready to do it. You cannot whip a gymnast in order to improve her split or a cartwheel. </DIV> <DIV>Here is the link to Arroyo's 6th ride. First time off the lunge line, no fence around my arena - walk, trot, canter. Arroyo is 3 years old. That video was done 3 weeks ago. The other day we did our first short trail ride. All by ourselves, no other horse with us. He was calm and confident because he has done that trail so many times. The only new thing was he had to step over small logs with a rider on. :)<BR> <A class=text target=_blank href="">Arroyo under saddle</A> </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-07-06T19:44:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Mane Event Irina Yastrebova Santo and I were chosen to ride in Mane Event with Shannon Dueck. Here is the report of the experience. :) <DIV> <A class=text target=_blank href="">Mane Event</A> is a big fair. In Alberta it usually happens at the end of April and lasts three days over a weekend. It has tons of interesting things to attend - clinics of different disciplines, lectures, breed demonstrations, trainer's challenge of starting young horses and a huge shopping where you can buy anything from a hair pin to a trailer. Riders for the clinics are chosen. Riders must apply and then they are selected and invited to come. It is very inexpensive way to get a lesson from a world class instructor (in dressage clinics there are only two riders per ride). <BR> This year dressage instructor was<A class=text target=_blank href=""> Shannon Dueck</A>. She is a Canadian Grand Prix rider, who represented Canada on many occasions, contributor to Dressage Today and I have watched Shannon on Youtube as a coach, rider and competitor and I like her very much. She is a breast cancer survivor. I wanted to ride with her and also I wanted an experience to ride in front of the crowd. Mane Event is very popular in Alberta, so the stands are usually full. I was very excited to be selected and the theme of my clinic was "Effective warm-up for the winning ride (Third Level and up)". With the show season approaching it sounded fun and possibly very helpful. Me and Santo are showing Fourth Level. </DIV> <DIV>Entering the riding arena I was surprised how nonchalant Santo was about everything what was going on. Interestingly, his biggest concern was movement of the crowd, not so much clapping or volume of it. When Shannon entered the ring I liked very much how she approached me with an open smile and started asking about my issues and concerns with a warm-up. Shannon thought that the footing was rather deep so she decided to work with each of us separately giving the other horse a chance to rest. The other horse was a beautiful Andalusian stallion showing Second level schooling Third. Shannon introduced the goals and directives of dressage levels and stressed that they are very important to understand. Then she talked about a warm-up strategies. Her approach is always start with at least 10 min of walk on a long rein and use this time to create a plan for the warm-up. When starting trot Shannon said she would see if her horse stretch into longer, rounder frame. If this is impossible due to tension or excitement she said not to worry about it and start doing transitions within the trot and moving on to lateral work checking on your horse's suppleness and symmetry. She started working with the stallion who was rather tense, quick and wanted to curl behind the vertical a bit. It was very interesting to see how Shannon helped the rider to achieve much better frame and throughness by encouraging forwardness and straightness, when the stallion wanted to canter instead of lengthening his trot Shannon said it is no big deal and encouraged the rider to use canter to create better connection. After the stallion started to show consistency in his pace and frame they moved to leg-yields and shoulder-ins looking for symmetry and flow both directions. This work allowed the stallion to relax and he was able to stretch after. Shannon made an interesting comment that she does a lot of rising trot, even with high level horses, she learned this from Carl Hester. </DIV> <DIV><A class=text target=_blank href=""><IMG height=139 hspace=4 src="" width=200 align=left vspace=4></A>While me and Santo were waiting for our turn Santo was puzzled why we are doing nothing but I am still sitting on him. He started giving me hints to dismount LOL. When our turn came we both were not exactly in a gear. Shannon woke us up asking for prompt transitions into big forward trot. When these transitions started to go round, smooth and engaged she asked us for shoulder-in, travers, half-passes. While our shoulder-ins and travers flowed and stayed engaged our half-pass lost energy and push from behind. Shannon stressed that it is important to work on the problem instead of simply repeating the movement. Her suggestion was to start medium trot on a diagonal and then finish it as a half-pass thus creating bigger more powerful steps. Click on the image to see larger version. </DIV> <DIV>Next the stallion worked on walk-canter-walk transitions and Shannon pointed out that even in the tests it is better to be slightly off point but make smooth, balanced transition then try to be precise and scarifies quality. If the walk is unsettled the canter transition will not go smoothly. Work on walk and then ask for canter. To help rider understand collection better Shannon wanted her to spiral in and use the line and also her seat to collect the horse instead of reins. When horse understood and settled into collected canter transition to walk was easy. </DIV> <DIV><A class=text target=_blank href=""><IMG height=129 hspace=4 src="" width=150 align=left vspace=4></A>When our turn came we worked on flying changes. First Shannon wanted our canter to be more regular and slower in tempo then she said that simple flying changes must go well before sequences introduced in a warm-up. After long diagonal single flying changes Shannon wanted us to do them on short diagonals. Things fell apart, Santo was late behind. Shannon stressed that canter must feel like a big bounce, jumping up to give a horse more time in the air for the flying change. This worked and Santo was clean on both short diagonals. Shannon wanted us to start practicing sequential changes along the long side without counting. She pointed out that a rider must address the canter for changes to go well. The quality of the canter directly affects the changes and in tempis there is no time to work on canter. It must stay correct through the sequence. The challenge of a diagonal is turning on it with good balance ready to start flying changes and keeping the line and your horse straight on it while being busy counting and asking for them. We made mistakes because I looked down. Shannon stood at the end of our diagonal and made me look straight at her. Three flying changes every three strides - no mistakes! </DIV> <DIV>Next and last segment was working pirouettes. To begin this work Shannon asked me to half pass to centerline, continue on it with a slight bent and then return to wall doing big working pirouette (haunches in on 10 m circle). In Shannon's words I chased my horse into turn. She was right. I was afraid I will loose canter because he started to disengage. Shannon wanted my circle to stay no less than 10 m, with clear haunches in and very slow tempo. She said do not be afraid of losing canter and push your boundaries in asking for as slow canter as possible. It worked much better particularly on the left lead. At the end Shannon gave me an exercise for home work - medium canter to ultra slow canter back to medium again not being afraid to ask for more either way and correcting him rather then doing it for him. </DIV> <DIV>The clinic was very helpful for me. I have a tendency to school too much in my warm ups at shows. Shannon helped me focus on important things (they are called basics!!! LOL) Next day at home I did a practice run of a test with setting up a time limit and warming up using what I have learned. I had a very smooth test ride and Santo stayed focused and organized. I will do my best to take these "tools" to all my shows this season and beyond :) </DIV> <DIV>I would like to extend big <B>Thank You</B> to <A class=text href="">Rachel Beattie</A> who photographed the event and allowed me to use her pictures in the article. </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-05-18T15:39:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Symmetry in the contact Irina Yastrebova What it is all about and why it is important. How to work toward achieving it. <DIV>Contact with the reins is one of the concepts that really misunderstood by many riders. The list of contact misconceptions is not small. However, I am going to focus on symmetry of the contact, equal amount of soft, elastic connection in both reins. This is an ideal. <B>At any time on any line, during any movement a rider must strive for equal contact on both reins.</B> </DIV> <DIV>Because there is so much talk about sending a horse to outside rein riders think they must have stronger, steadier contact on outside rein and a very soft contact on inside rein. This turns into a situation where horse is actually leaning on outside rein and rider thinks his/her horse came to outside rein because there is a solid contact in that rein. A horse is on the rein, any rein, not only because it is seeking contact with it but also because it listens to it and adjusts itself if the rider asks for it. The contact must be elastic in both reins. If outside rein feels heavier and also stiffer and inside feels too light in comparison then the horse is leaning into outside shoulder and collapsing his inside side. The difference even little one is actually worth noticing. A rider may get away with it in Training/First levels but by the Second level it will turn into a problem that requires a lot of fixing. So called going back to basics!<BR> One of the most notable exercises where riders make that mistake is shoulder-in. If a rider suspects his/her horse leaning on outside rein there are a few tests that can be done: <UL> <LI>Ask a horse for transition from trot to walk, or walk to halt inside shoulder-in. If this transition is hard then the horse was leaning. <LI>Change shoulder-in into renvers, if it feels stiff and hard to do the horse was leaning. It is a surprisingly hard endeavor to strive for equal contact on both reins due to horse's and rider's natural asymmetries. <LI>Ask for counter-flexion on any line. It should be easy to do. If not the horse was leaning </UL> </DIV> <DIV>Another problem is asymmetry of a rider. Most riders when they ride think their contact is equal when it is not. Most of us have one arm that is more elastic and giving then another. Partially it is related to handiness, partially it is a balance issue, plus overall asymmetry in muscles strength/tightness. On top of that riders often have uneven reins in length and they do not know that. Use reins with notches on them and see for yourself. I do not trust myself, I always use such reins. My rein length is most uneven on Santo. I must force myself to equal my reins and then work on making the contact equal too. How a rider can know which arm is holding a stronger less elastic contact?<BR> <I>A horse will always be more bend in the neck toward rider's stiff arm. There will be more foam on that side of the mouth. And turns where inside arm is a stiff one always feel like a horse falling slightly out due to too much elasticity in the other arm.</I><BR> It is not easy to work on this issue because it is hard to feel. Watching your horse's reactions, having a person/instructor on the ground, watching yourself on a video are all good ways to start realizing you have that problem. Next step is to feel when you are uneven in the contact, too tight or too soft on one of the reins, stiff and heavy on the other and then work relentlessly toward equal contact in all gaits, movements, transitions. </DIV> <DIV><I> It is a surprisingly hard endeavor to strive for equal contact on both reins due to horse's and rider's natural asymmetries.</I> </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-04-03T17:15:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Young horses Irina Yastrebova A letter to my student regarding general principles of work with young horses. A list of blogs on work with Arroyo. <DIV>Working with young horses is very rewarding experience but it also can be frustrating and plain dangerous. A lot of times attention is put on not to frighten young horses and this is correct. However, the other side of it is not all young horses are easily frightened, some are very bold, sure of themselves and not easily convinced they must listen. This is particularly true about young stallions and fillies. The following is my response to one of my student's question regarding work with a young filly: </DIV> <DIV>"I bet your filly is a little bit sassy and sharp at times. It is always harder to deal with young stallions and mares as they have more hormones than geldings. And also, you are a very kind and quiet person. This makes you very good match for a sensitive but easily frightened horse, however, not so good match for your filly.</DIV> <DIV>2-year-olds need very clear boundaries. These boundaries need to be set quite black and white and if youngsters cross it they are in big trouble. Your response must be quick, sharp, surprising and impressive. I am wondering if you are too nice to her and only go to big responses when she makes you upset enough or mad, if you ever get mad :) This is where your weakness. You are inconsistent. You must keep very positive attitude while you are ready to "beat her up" any second if needed :)</DIV> <DIV>Your space is absolutely out of reach for her. She must never invade it unless invited and if she does do not be afraid to lash out at her. 2-4-year-olds are quite pushy. They can be very dangerous if allowed to misbehave even a little bit. You can relax later when they become 6-7, even then once in a while you must put them in place.</DIV> <DIV>I have started several young horses in recent years including 2 of mine. My horses have very good ground manners, everybody who come in contact with them notices that. I started 2 stallions, 2 mares and 1 gelding.<BR> As 2-3-year-olds they all needed a lesson in boundaries and paying attention to me or they are in trouble. But really hard work lasted only a few sessions, then it is just watching and correcting swiftly and that is all. Once in a while they will challenge more and you quickly put them back in place like before without getting upset, surprised or vengeful. My main horse, Santo, would be a monster in the wrong hands because he is so nice most of the time. And then innocently tries to cross the boundaries. Many people will have hard time putting him back in place right away and that would be a mistake :)"</DIV> <DIV>I wrote that letter two years ago and I agree with everything I said in it. What I would like to add on the subject is this. If you want to start a young horse yourself do not buy a barely halter broke 3-4-year-old. Buy a yearling and start working with him slowly, gaining trust, building relationship, setting up rules and teaching a youngster all the necessary concepts without being rushed or pressured with time. Two years will go by quickly and by the time he is 3 you will have a horse who knows you well, knows all the ground rules, has been exposed to things, trailered, learned to be longed/driven, will carry saddle willingly and understand rein and whip aids from work in hand. Arroyo, my 3-year-old, is at that stage. I already rode him a few times last fall and this winter, being led. I was planning to do a bit more during winter but the weather and footing didn't work out in our favor. Arro is ready for his riding career to start this spring. <BR> Here is a list of blogs I wrote on his progress over 3 years: <UL> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">My new foal</A> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">Arroyo, 2 months old</A> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">Arroyo, 4 months old</A> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">Arroyo, a weanling</A> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">Arroyo, 1.5 years old</A> <LI><A class=text target=_blank href="">Work with Arroyo, 2 years old</A> </UL> </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-03-16T20:22:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Actual reality versus expectations Irina Yastrebova Have you ever had a wonderful ride only to have a disappointing one next time? This is because you expected it t be a very good ride... <DIV> The word <I>expectation</I> explains in a dictionary as - <I>a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future</I>. This belief has nothing to do with reality as it is. For example, a rider comes to the barn to ride his/her horse and has expectations of what that ride should be and how the horse should respond. If these expectations do not come true it creates a dangerous precedent for anger, disappointment, blame and discouragement. Even worse rider's faculty of observation gets clouded by these expectations and he/she can miss things. Or, "see" them the way rider has wanted to and not as they are. How many times you thought you read one word when it was another because you expected it to be there?<BR> Another very dangerous aspect of expectations is blame that riders project on their horses for poor performance. Having clouded ability to observe correctly, riders miss mistakes, ride sloppy, do not work on improving things because of expectations that things will work and then blame the horse for lack of progress. Plus, expectations create an attitude that your horse "must do that". This is very wrong attitude. <B>Your horse is only as good as you are, never blame the horse!</B> Riding is actually a very task consuming endeavor. It takes enormous focus, ability to feel and observe, make correct evaluations and come up with solutions. Plus, a rider does all of it while he/she is sitting on a very strong, bouncy, fast and sometimes unpredictable creature not behind a desk! :) </DIV> <DIV> Now the question here is: <I>If not expectations what then a rider needs to have for the ride?</I> The answer is: first of all a plan what to work on today and second is standards. <I>Standard is an idea or thing used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations</I>. Lets elaborate on these.<BR> A plan for a ride can give a rider motivation, purpose and drive. Whether you are showing or not you can always work on improving yourself, your horse and your partnership. Plan allows you to see the progress or lack of it, to notice things that you missed or forgot to work on. A plan is not a rigid, etched in stone entity. It is a tool. A rider uses it to help himself/herself but can change it, stretch it and modify it depending on the observations from the rides, lessons, coach's advice, horse's health, etc.<BR> Standards are also tools. For example, 'Training Pyramid", dressage level objectives, basics, your favorite rider/horse combination, the level of quality you want to achieve, etc are standards to evaluate yours and your horse's performances. They give you guidelines, the goal. In order to progress the standards must be really high. This is your future reality, the inspiration, the goal to work toward to. This is different from expectations. High standards help you identify problem areas, research, seek help from an appropriate coach, improve yourself physically and mentally, High standards will not allow you to settle and be OK with behind the leg transitions, crooked circles and unbalanced posture. </DIV> <DIV>How does it work in actual riding situations. Here is couple scenarios:<BR> A rider with high expectations will get angry with his/her horse for performing a walk-trot transition badly (lazy, behind the leg, pulled on the reins, crooked, etc). Why? - <I>the horse supposed to know by now how to do these transitions</I> will be the rider's answer. Did the rider actually prepare, paid attention to horse's responses prior for asking for the trot?<BR> A rider with high standards simply evaluate the transition against the code of values he/she uses and decides if it needs repeating or not. There are no unnecessary emotions, wasted time, or confusion for a horse.<BR> When work is done according to the standards it has purpose, the exercises are chosen with an objective, things repeated, modified and a step may be even taken backwards if needed. The rider is so focused that the horse gets drawn into it too and they both become like in a state of meditation.It is a wonderful feeling, everything is forgotten except the horse and the work. </DIV> <DIV>In order to be in the actual reality instead of perceived one a rider must constantly work on developing observational skills, notice very little details and be able to stay in the present moment to evaluate an ongoing information from all the senses - balance, touch, movement, sight, hearing, muscle tone, amount of relaxation, state of mind, etc. <BR> This is why a person on the ground is so invaluable. While a rider is in the thick of things a person on the ground is safe and quietly standing or sitting, he/she is not busy with anything except watching you and your horse. They can observe fully and give you invaluable information. Instructor is even better because they have theoretical knowledge and developed their ability to observe much more than regular person like a friend, spouse or even a fellow rider.<BR> Watching your own rides on a video also is very helpful, because you are not riding at the moment and can see things from the different perspective and compare how it looks to how you remember it felt. </DIV> <DIV>P.S. I am not writing about this because I read it somewhere or were told. I have experienced it first hand and I am working hard because it is still very easy for me to slip into expectations with Santo rather then assess reality as it is. Particularly now when he is an upper level horse. I do not have expectations of young horses or my students horses. I work with what I have today. However, it is very hard not to slip into attitude that Santo "must know it by now and do it correctly". First of all, it is I who must know and do it correctly and then see if he gives me correct response or feel. If not, I must observe what is wrong, evaluate and come up with solutions. It is not his job to improve but mine :) </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-03-11T16:00:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Half-pass Irina Yastrebova This blog is about common mistakes I see riders make when executing a half-pass. What these mistakes lead to and how to correct them. <DIV>The half-pass is very elegant movement. A well executed half-pass, especially in collected trot, can take your breath away. However, in order for half-pass to look good a few technical details must be adhered to. First and most important one - <I>a half-pass is travers on a diagonal line</I>. This is not just an imaginary tool to help learn half-pass. This is the fundamental rule for it. If you watch international dressage competitions on FEI TV, Youtube or occasionally on regular TV and a camera happen to be placed at the arena letter where half-pass ends the horses half-passing toward the camera show text book execution of travers. Why many riders either forget or never learn that important point about half-pass? One of the reasons can be the way half-pass looks when observed from the front. Its optical illusion of sideways movement makes it very hard to guess it is travers on a diagonal line. </DIV> <DIV>What that means for the riders who want to teach their horses this beautiful movement is to learn the principle - <I>controlling the path of the horse's shoulders/front legs is of paramount importance</I>. All books talk about how travers is an exercise to teach the horse obedience to the leg but it is only a pat of the deal. <I>Ability to effortlessly control how and where shoulders and front legs are traveling while displacing haunches is what makes half-pass so attractive.</I> If that wasn't so nobody will be half-passing, everybody would be leg-yielding, it is so much easier. However, a leg-yield does not look remotely expressive compare to a half-pass because shoulders do not have lift and freedom achieved in half-pass due to bend and collection.<BR> Interestingly, many riders fall victim of that mistake turning or allowing their horses to turn a half-pass into a leg-yield. How does that happen? Horses try to escape the effort of bend and collection and fall on their inside shoulder. This creates an illusion that the horse moves sideways more and he arrives at the wall earlier. Because a rider saw many times watching half-pass from the front how much high level horses go sideways he/she thinks this is a good sign the horse reached the wall earlier. But when a clever horse turns the half-pass into a leg-yield (even if the rider kept the horse parallel to the long side) the bend, balance and collection are lost.</DIV> <DIV>In order to ride half-pass correctly first make sure your horse executes travers near the wall well. Then take him away from the wall on inner track or the quarter line. This still provides visual support of the near wall but not right at it. Then do travers on the centerline. Learn to really see the line of travel. Keep your eyes on it and guide your horse's front on that line. If you have difficulties controlling the line, controlling haunches and the movement feels not like an effortless execution but reminds you of a task of catching falling marbles from a bag full of holes you and your horse is not ready for a half-pass yet.<BR> When you start to feel more confident place a poll on a diagonal line to give yourself a visual tool. Use this poll as imaginary wall along which you are executing travers. For example, if traveling on the right rein you turn on the centerline at A, place the poll just outside of the point of letter D and position it toward letter R. Ride along it in travers to the right. You will see how not easy it is to stay near the poll, most horses will try to leave the poll and come to the wall earlier. </DIV> <DIV>Another mistake easily made by riders in a half-pass is forgetting to make sure their horse looks toward the letter where diagonal line ends. Along the wall it is easier to see where the horse is looking. If allowed to look into the wall the horse again is more leg-yielding then half-passing. <BR> On a diagonal line this is even harder. Many half-passes look like leg-yields with the flexion toward the direction of travel. This is not a half-pass! In order to be sure of correct positioning of your horse ride a few strides of shoulder-in. Your horse will be looking inside the ring with shoulders positioned in. Ask your horse to travel on a diagonal line where his head and shoulders are pointed and request that he keeps his haunches to the inside. Compare to shoulder-in a half-pass requires more bend. <I>Starting a half-pass from a shoulder-in feels like asking for more bend while changing the line of travel</I>.<BR> A good test is to interrupt the half-pass and resume the shoulder-in again on a line parallel to a long side. This will reconfirm to the horse to stay engaged and to stay lifted through the ribcage and the shoulder. If this transition is difficult it means the horse was leaning on inside shoulder in the half-pass. </DIV> <DIV>Bottom line - learn how to ride travers well, the half-pass will be easy after that. </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-02-23T20:25:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova The back of the Seatbones Irina Yastrebova Why it is important to sit closer to the back of the seatbones rather then the front. Consequences of these two different positions. Prerequisites for developing supple seat. <DIV>Lets look at the anatomy of pelvis, particularly side view - click <A class=text target=_blank href=""> here</A>. In this picture the pelvis is very slightly tilted backwards which is exactly how it will be sitting in a dressage saddle. Notice that the very bottom point of the pelvis is rather closer to the back than to the centre. Notice also how round the bottom of the pelvis is which makes it pretty unstable and movable back and forth. It is very easy to allow the pelvis to slightly tip forward which puts the rider's seat on the front of the seatbones and pubic arches. The difference between these two positions in terms of angles and exact weight distribution is marginal. However, a rider with pelvis slightly tipped forward and sitting more on the front will be felt very different by a horse compare to a rider with pelvis slightly tipped backwards (provided the latter use core muscles to support that position and not glutes). Here are major differences: <UL> <LI><B>Tipped forward</B> pelvis will have an inclination to move backwards increasing the tipping even more. Usually, tipped forward pelvis goes hand in hand with tight lower back that holds the tipped position. This is especially common in young females with jumper/hunter background. It is very hard for the rider with tight lower back and tipped pelvis to match horse's movement . The rider must use upper body to create a "feel" of following the horse. If you watch jumper riders ride the walk their shoulders tip back and forth but their seat swings backwards and back to the center, it never swings forward. And the backward motion of the seat appears to be more energetic, dominant. The return to neutral position appears quiet, subordinate movement. <I>The rider is "driving" the horse backwards!</I> It is even worse in canter. Such riders cannot sit into the canter motion. They can only ride in light seat or two point because this way pelvis is away from the horse's back and the horse's motion is absorbed through leg joints - ankles, knees and hips. Pelvis is simply hovers or supposed to hover above the saddle. Some jumper riders move pelvis even in the two point seat by arching their backs in the rhythm of the canter! <LI><B>Slightly tipped backward</B> pelvis with supple lower back and strong supple core muscles will be moving forward and returning back to the neutral position describing a sort of backward circle. See more on that in the blog <A class=text target=_blank href="">Role of seatbones/pelvis</A>. If the rider is not driving with the seat she/he will feel for a horse like a quiet, easy to carry load that matches his movement. </UL> </DIV> <DIV>Now, going back to the seatbones. What I found out about mine is I can seat to the back of my right seatbone easily but not to the back of my left. I cannot really control my left seatbone movement and it slides from under me backwards tipping me forward and I end up sitting more on the pubic arch then seatbone. Interestingly, my left shoulder likes to fall forward. I wonder if it compensates to create a feel of "following" the horse's motion. I found it in many of my students. Also, when a seatbone slides backwards the upper body will be inclined to lose balance and fall forward. I also see how horses "exploit" this weakness in riders and push their haunches out instead of staying engaged. The inside seatbone that slides backwards during the turns basically "encourages" a horse to swing the back end outward. I also found that my left leg "jumps" in to compensate for the lack of balance on the left side. I have hard time keeping it long with deep knee. Instead of the seatbone my knee "tries" to follow the horse by describing backward circles and detaching itself from the saddle. If I try to keep it quiet I start gripping.</DIV> <DIV>Pelvis, including seatbones, is a solid bone. It's attachment to the spine at sacroiliac joint has very limited movement. Legs attach to pelvis through hip joints. The asymmetry that I described above can have several origins:<BR> 1. My pelvis is twisted from birth or accident; <BR> 2. I sit crooked and my pelvis is not centered and level over the horse's back (most likely scenario); <BR> 3. I can sit straight at halt but during movement balance unevenly on the left and right side. <BR> A rider can have one, two or all three possible reasons for unbalanced seat. The factors that contribute to unbalanced position are several including uneven tightness in the muscles of hip joints, lower back and core (muscles that attach to pelvis). I have tighter adductors and hamstrings but longer/weaker hip flexors and obliques on the left side. This is my hypothesis - that tight hamstrings and adductors make my left seatbone less movable pinning it downward, long/weak hip flexors and obliques cannot lift pelvis enough to oppose the downward tendency. Because the left seatbone does not match the horse's movement it ends up being left behind the movement and <I>slides backwards</I> from under me tipping my pelvis forward. In order for me to match horse's movement I must sit on the back of my seatbones and make sure that <I>my seatbones move forward toward my hands on the line I intend to ride at ALL TIME.</I> <BR> There are several prerequisites in order to develop a seat that horses like: <UL> <LI>In order to be able to sit on the back of the seatbone through the full cycle of a horse's motion a rider must have very supple lower back. Lack of the suppleness will stop the movement of the seatbone at some point and can create in a horse a desire to drop the back, slow down, stop or twist the hips. <LI> Strong and symmetrical core will assist the pelvis through the full motion of the horse's back <LI>Supple hip joints will allow the pelvis and thigh bones move as horse's back requires them without unnecessary stiffness or lack of control <LI>Learning exact biomechanics of seat movement in order to match horse's movement in all gaits. <A class=text target=_blank href="">Role of seatbones/pelvis. Gaits</A> </UL> </DIV> <DIV>One of the most important advice I can give to all riders is to take time to observe instead of judge and jump to conclusions - observe yourself and your horse in all aspects including balance, movement, reactions, attitude, emotions, etc. It took me a long time to decipher where exactly my problem is. It was a journey and still is at peeling off layer after layer of compensations in my hands, shoulders, feet, legs, reactions to changes in balance or position. I have learned so much on that journey and I am looking forward to more discoveries in the future! </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-01-30T15:10:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Borderline Control Irina Yastrebova This is the situation when rider ends up holding things together and doing the work for her horse. This applies to the concept of going forward and to the speed/tempo control. <DIV> A rider's job is to teach the horse self-carriage while having a rider on it's back and while performing rider's requests from as simple tasks as different gaits and turns to very complicated onces such as tempi changes or piaffe. It is an interesting fact that jumper riders better understand the principle of <I> allowing a horse to perform it's task</I> like a jump over obstacle. Dressage riders though in theory should aim to work toward such ideal end up slipping into a trap of "doing" the work for their horses. <BR> We are going to talk about a phenomena that most of us experienced and may be even still hopelessly trapped in. I am going to call this phenomena <B>Borderline Control</B>. This is when a rider asks her horse to exert minimum effort for a certain task. This effort is so small that the rider must request the effort again and again and again. The horse is at the borderline between executing the request and abandoning or ignoring it. Below are two prime examples of such borderline activities. </DIV> <DIV><B>In front of the leg borderline</B> This is a very common mistake riders do. They push and kick a horse not to change the speed or gait but to continue in a present one. The horse does not appear to be motivated to go forward but rather drags itself at a minimum effort it can get away with. The moment the rider stops pushing or kicking the horse slows down even more. The rider does not realize that the horse is not performing with good enough forward, active energy. This can be either because the rider is inexperienced or because the horse is very close to what is expected and the rider wants to preserve peace and continue as is. This is exactly why I call it <I>Borderline Control</I>. <BR> In order for the rider to feel that her horse is performing in an effortless, forward motion the rider must ask the horse to go more forward than required for a few strides. Like giving a sharp tap with a whip will make the horse run a bit or jump forward. When that happens the rider does not need to kick every stride. A few "lessons of the whip" like that and the horse will start trying much harder without the necessity to repeat the aid every stride. Even more, if my horse wants to slow down when I didn't ask I do not even bother with the leg aid. I go straight for the whip. It is his responsibility to keep the pace I requested. The whip reminds him of that. If I use leg this will mean I accepted his slowing down and now ask him to go forward again. Many inexperienced riders think that if they are "nice" to a horse the horse will return the favor. If the rider failed to set clear boundaries what is allowed and what is not the horse will look at it as a weakness in the rider and exploit it as much as it can get away with. </DIV> <DIV><B>Speed control borderline</B> The same principle as for going forward should be applied for the speed control or tempo control. If a horse keeps running faster that a rider wishes to go and the rider only slows it down to the desired speed the rider will be trapped to always hold the horse. Because the horse is at the borderline and the rider doesn't feel enough control to release or soften. Even if she does the horse will be going faster the next moment and will require holding again. In order to brake this vicious cycle the rider must slow down her horse beyond the desired speed. Then the release will feel very logical and justified. And it will take the horse a few strides to gain the speed back if he wants to do so. ALL this time the rider can be soft. The moment the horse passes the threshold of desired speed the rider must slow down him again beyond the desired speed. After repeating this a few times the horse starts staying in the desired speed longer and longer allowing the rider to stay soft in contact. In summary corrections will take shorter amount of time then periods of softness. The horse is rewarded for correct actions and corrected for wrong ones instead of being held together with no escape from it. </DIV> <DIV>It doesn't matter what you are doing in terms of riding discipline, exercises or movements. The moment you feel your horse ignored your ONE leg aid or one or two half-halts the next action should be a corrective action that teaches a horse to listen, to perform in self carriage rather then being kept together by rider's legs and hands. Do not fall into trap of not wanting to correct whether you wish to finish the movement (the only exception is competition and even then it is still possible just not too obvious :)), or because you dread going into argument with your horse. Pretending that nothing is happening teaches your horse to ignore you and eventually to take over. This is a common way for riders to get into trouble with their horses, especially, when horses are young or green. Do not get emotional about corrections, get it done and continue, if you need 10000 corrections so be it. <B>Remember, you are in charge - not because you wish to be but because you are.</B> </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2017-01-10T19:10:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Transitions in Lateral work Irina Yastrebova Riding transitions in shoulder-in, travers and renvers is excellent way to improve your horse's coordination, strength, suppleness and collection. How to do them and what to watch for. <DIV>The lateral work done correctly either in walk, trot or canter is a great way to improve horse's suppleness, straightness and collection. You also can enhance your horse's training and add variety to it by doing transitions in lateral work. These transitions will expose your horse's lack of suppleness, coordination, balance and straightness on a different level.They also challenge his throughness and obedience.<BR> In all lateral work the transitions you can do are walk-halt-walk, trot-walk-trot, trot-halt-trot, canter-walk-canter, trot-passage-trot (they are listed in according to their level of difficulty). The trot-canter transitions in lateral work should be done on a limited basis and carefully observed. The purpose of these exercises is to teach a horse engagement and ability to sit behind and push upwards - in other words collection. Trot-canter transitions are more suited for developing horse's suppleness. Do them on a circle as a warm-up before doing more demanding transitions in lateral work.<BR> It is very important to ride lateral exercises correctly, understand their purpose and know common evasions used by horses to avoid engagement. A rider must sit centered and observe how the horse executes the movement rather than do the work for him. Holding a horse together with tight aids will teach him not to try. </DIV> <DIV><B>Transitions in shoulder-in</B> That would be the first lateral exercise to try the transitions. Leg-yield is not considered a classical two-track exercise and there are different opinions on it's value for training. Leg-yield will not collect the horse it is rather suppling exercise. For these reasons I will not include it here. The best way to get an idea of how transitions affect your horse in shoulder-in is to start with walk-halt-walk. Establish a shoulder-in in walk along a wall, make sure the bend is not just in the neck but in the ribcage. <I> The main aids to ask for a halt is outside rein and inside seatbone which becomes deeper and point more forward with the assistance of core muscles while it is arresting the forward movement, the upper body must not wave or lean. The inside leg should check if the horse is honest to it BEFORE the main aids for the halt and NOT at the same time.</I> The transition should feel very smooth, like a wave through the horse's body. At this point a horse may try to:<BR> - fall in instead of coming through and obeying the outside rein. Keep your seat from falling in also and use inside leg to correct the horse. Inside rein may resist or give upward half-halt<BR> - stiffen and raise the head up, this is again lack of throughness to outside rein. Ask for counter-shoulder in for a few steps and change back to shoulder-in, try halting again<BR> - step out with outside leg making the angle bigger and losing engagement, this is lack of lift in the back, inside side wasn't giving in and the horse wasn't bending properly, outside side wasn't stretched and lifted enough<BR> - stops the hind legs before the front legs and stretches behind. This evasion is easier to feel in lateral work then in a straight halt. All these issues were present in the shoulder-in but was not obvious enough so the rider may miss them during shoulder-in but they will reveal themselves in the halt.<BR> Now upward transition into walk should happen from inside leg and release of the seat (this is not a push but invitation to go forward). All the mistakes described above may happen in an upward transition: falling in or stepping out is lack of engagement and lift through the back, stiffening or raising the head is first of all lack of obedience to inside leg and then everything else mentioned above.<BR> All other transitions in shoulder-in like trot-walk or canter-walk will have similar mistakes, however, they will be more exadurated and faster executed by a horse and catching them or better preventing them from happening in the first place will allow the rider to develop effective skills and feel how to guide the horse. In downward transitions where movement is continued the seat does not arrest the movement like in a halt but "suggests" the new gait. </DIV> <DIV><B>Transitions in travers</B> Starting with walk-halt-walk again. The travers are considered more difficult than shoulder-in because a horse must bend into the direction of the movement. <I>When riding travers pay strict attention to how the horse's back feels.</I> Inside seatbone of the rider must feel like it is sitting in it's own pocket while it stays ahead of the outside seatbone, if it feels pushed upward the horse is not bending through the ribcage. A rider who is leaning outward will not feel if inside seatbone got pushed upward or not. The main aids to halt are the seat which arrests the movement but does not allow the horse to drop the back or lose bend. This is done by making sure inside seatbone stays in it's pocked and it is pointed forward as it stops moving. Again, I cannot stress this enough - <B> the tipping of the pelvis to point seatbones forward is done by core muscles and not by glutes</B>. Upper body must stay vertical, inside shoulder must stay over inside hip. The other aid is outside rein assisted by inside rein acting as indirect rein. During halting a horse may try to:<BR> - stiffen up against inside rein because staying supple requires the horse to bend more during a halt. This will correct itself through practice. The horse just needs to develop more suppleness and coordination. The rider must watch though that her/his seat will not lose it's alignment and continues to preserve travers position. Using inside leg just before the halt will help to encourage the horse to stay lifted through the back. Also, at this stage of training it will help to initiate the halt with inside rein just until the horse develops more coordination and strength.<BR> - pushes his back upward on the inside side of his body indicating that the bend is lost and the back is twisted now. Outside side of the back lost the lift and the stretch. The most difficult work for any muscle is to stay in isometric contraction (engaged without changing it's length) while being in a stretched state at the same time. Travers position requires the horse to stretch and control outside side of his back, during halt the action of stopping puts more demand on the horse to preserve it's posture. This is basically the same problem as described in previous paragraph, however, the evasion is more difficult to correct. The rider must not allow the horse to change her/his seat which makes it much more difficult for a horse to twist his back. Also, pay attention that outside seatbone and thigh do not press down too much. The horse should feel that the lift of outside side of his body is encouraged and no resistance offered in any way.<BR> - steps inward with inside hind leg increasing the angle. Depending on the problem that action may be encouraged or prevented. For example, if a horse just learning the travers halting with the intention to increase the angle helps the horse to understand the required posture. Horses often can stay in travers position before they can walk in it. On the other hand, a horse may use stepping in as an evasion of engagement and lost of bend.Outside rein and inside leg and deep inside seatbone without any extra pressure from outside seat and leg will help the horse to correct the problem.<BR> - steps outward with either outside front or hind leg. Indication of loss of balance and using a step to catch himself. Better preparation and coordination of aids to correct this problem.<BR> <I>Upward transition is difficult in travers position. This is a strength training for a horse.</I> Their most common mistake is to fall into inside shoulder when starting to move. This is a great exercise for horses who lean in. Do not try to "help" the horse too much in a wrong way (leaning forward, releasing too much rein and loosing contact, twisting, lifting seatbones out, pushing with the hips, pulling up on the reins). Horses must figure out how to start moving or change the gait while asked to stay in travers and not push through the "boundaries" of that posture.<BR> Starting trot or canter is even more challenging. Because horses are asymmetrical one side will feel like it is more coordinated. However, horses may avoid work on their good side in several ways: creating bigger angle by stepping slightly inward from the line of travel, pushing into outside shoulder, or lifting their head. All these mistakes must be identified and worked on until the execution is very fluid, balanced and effortless either direction. </DIV> <DIV>Besides riding lateral exercises and transitions along the wall, they also can be done on a quarter line, diagonal line (half-pass) and on a circle (working pirouette). Transitions in shoulder-in can also be ridden on a circle. Plus, transitions in counter-shoulder-in and renvers are also excellent exercises. <DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2016-12-08T11:01:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova Exercises to improve straightness in canter Irina Yastrebova Spiral as a straightening exercise for the canter. Variations and what to pay attention to. <DIV>All horses are crooked. When they canter they like to push their hind end toward the side of the lead. For example, a horse on the right lead will push his haunches to the right. Usually, they do it both ways. However, it can be in a different manner or to a different degree. In walk and trot such tendencies can be effectively worked on with shoulder-fore. However, in canter a shoulder-fore requires quite sophisticated balance and not so easily achieved. A simpler way to start developing straightness in your horse's canter is by doing spirals. There are two exercises which are very helpful. I will describe them from simpler to more difficult one. </DIV> <DIV><B>Emphasis on spiraling in</B> After you pick up canter and establish 20 m circle observe how your horse is cantering. If you have a direction where your horse wants to fall in badly this exercise will help too. Start spiraling in, focus on steering his shoulders not simply bending his neck. Continue until you reach a circle size where all of a sudden your inside leg starts to work and your horse will feel like he doesn't want to fall in or push his haunches in anymore. It is hard to tell what size of the circle that would be. It will depend on the horse's size, size of the stride, level of training, canter peculiarities of each horse. You want to keep cantering so do not continue spiraling in. Canter couple small circles and make a transition to trot. In trot establish good balance and spiral out. When back on 20 m circle pick up canter again and repeat the exercise. Change rein and repeat it on the other lead </DIV> <DIV><B>Emphasis on spiraling out</B> When you feel that first exercise is working well you are ready for spiraling out in canter. <I>This will be quite hard for a horse at first because they must jump under themselves with inside hind and lift through the ribcage in order to spiral out correctly.</I> If the rider does not pay attention to keeping the horse in front of the inside leg and uses inside rein to help initiate spiral out it will nullify the purpose of this exercise. Use a tap of the whip to get a response if leg alone is failing to produce results. The moment the horse tries to jump slightly outward half-halt outside rein to prevent your horse from falling into outside shoulder. At this moment you are aligning your horse by making him jump further under himself with inside hind leg and keeping his shoulders level and in front of you not allowing them escape to the outside. The stride becomes more organized with better jump and with a feel of roundness and connection, the horse canters straighter. </DIV> <DIV><B>Toward shoulder-fore</B>After your spirals out become consistent and you can feel improvement in your horse's canter start cantering straight in shoulder-fore position immediately after you spiral out. Plan your spiral out in such a manner that you will reach the wall exactly at the moment of a shoulder-fore position. In previous exercise you would continue on a circle but now you are going to use the connection from inside leg and outside rein and send your horse along the wall preserving shoulder-fore position. Be happy with only a few strides and then start another spiral. Do not force this way of cantering on your horse by holding strongly with the reins. Take time to develop his strength, coordination, tolerance and acceptance. Horses do not canter in shoulder-fore at liberty except jumping away from something spooky! :) </DIV> <DIV>In all of the above exercises remember the importance of your posture and balance: <UL> <LI>Levelness and squareness of your seatbones, hips, shoulders <LI>Levelness of your horse's shoulders and hips <LI>Align your shoulders and hips to your horse's shoulders and hips respectively <LI>Never twist your seat to ask your horse for something, you will instantly unplug your seatbones, especially, in canter. Always be centered and square. <LI>Your hands in front of you and same distance from your body. Do not pull inside hand back! <LI>Inside leg at the girth at all times, outside leg behind the girth at all times (many riders lose the position of their legs during spiral out) <LI>Make your hip's motion match your horse's motion without pushing or speeding him. The only driving aids are lower legs and then whip or spurs not pushy hips or rocking shoulders <LI>Remember rider's hips describe backward circle during each canter stride cycle (inside hip's circle has slightly bigger radius) <A class=text target=_blank href="">Read more on the subject</A> <LI>Upper body is quiet and vertical </UL> </DIV> <DIV>Happy riding...</DIV> <ADBREAK> 2016-11-21T18:56:00-06:00 Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Irina Yastrebova
By Monday, most Canadians will get their annual taste of tax theory at work: the more you earn, the more tax you pay. But not quite everyone. A CBC News analysis of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) data shows that, between 2011 and 2014, a growing number of Canadians earning a six-figure income or more didn't pay a cent in income tax. The analysis compiled all individual income tax and benefit returns filed with the CRA and focused on the top three income brackets: $100,000 to $149,999, $150,000 to $249,999 and $250,000 and over. During those four fiscal years, the number of Canadians who legally avoided paying income tax rose about 50 per cent from 4,050 to 6,110. The number of filers who made more than $250,000 a year and completely avoided taxes doubled. High-income Canadians who pay no income tax Every year, one out of three income tax returns filed in Canada is considered non-taxable, meaning the tax payable amounts to less than $2. Almost all of them are filed by low-income residents earning less than $15,000 a year. The CRA says: "It is possible for individuals classified in the upper income ranges to reduce their tax liability to zero by using deductions such as business or farm losses of previous years and allowable business investment losses, or significant contributions to RRSPs. "Tax filers can also use non-refundable tax credits such as charitable donations, or dividend and foreign tax credits." Since April 30, the usual tax deadline, is a Sunday this year, the CRA says, it considers a tax return to be filed on time "if we receive it on or it is postmarked on or before May 1, 2017." 450 returns from outside Canada In the 2014 tax year, half of the 6,000 high-income non-taxable returns were filed by Quebec and British Columbia residents. Hundreds more came from Ontario and Alberta. More than 450 returns were submitted by citizens working out of country. According to the most recent CRA data available, the majority of Canadians who qualify as earning these high incomes would usually be paying between $24,100 and $157,000 in federal and provincial taxes. So how did thousands of high earners manage to bring that bill down to zero? CBC News asked three tax policy experts to explain. All of them pointed out that these Canadians represent a minuscule fraction — less than 0.1 per cent — of the 27.5 million income tax returns filed every year in Canada. 'Our tax system is overly complex and probably benefits people who hire lawyers and accountants to work for them.' — Michael Veall, economics professor But two of them hinted at a larger picture, one in which rich and fiscally savvy taxpayers — most of them owners of corporations — claim most of their earnings as business and investment income in order to benefit from a combination of credits and lower their tax rates. "Our tax system is overly complex and probably benefits people who hire lawyers and accountants to work for them … lower-income people don't have that option," says Michael Veall, an economics professor at McMaster University who has spent 30 years studying Canada's tax system. Last year, he co-authored a study that found nearly half of high-income Canadians are business owners. He says this allows them to write off most of their income "through their corporations and not pay taxes immediately." That strategy unlocks a trove of "special deals made for business and investment income," explains Michael Smart, who teaches economics at the University of Toronto. "Those kinds of income are based on lowest tax rates overall, typically less than you would pay on your salary or wage income as an ordinary Canadian. When you add all of them up, you allow taxpayers to be smart about how to exploit this system." Canada Revenue Agency Legal deductions such as business or farm losses of previous years and significant contributions to RRSPs can reduce payable income tax to zero, the Canada Revenue Agency says. Charitable donations can help, too. (Canada Revenue Agency) Veall says provisions like capital gains deductions allow investors to write off half of the profits they make from selling stocks. He considers it too generous. "Most people would feel differently about a capital gain made by somebody who bought a stock today, sold it a month later and made a big amount of money on that. Most people would think that should be fully taxable. But what about someone who bought the stock 30 years ago and is selling it now? Other tax systems in other countries have made fixes for this." Capital gains were among the most popular options with high income earners in 2014, with an average of $131,000 claimed for each taxpayer. Smart says there are other tax preferences that benefit the richest and allow them to lower their taxes "to a degree most Canadians would consider surprising and unfair," like the exploration and development deduction for investments in the oil or gas industry. According to the CBC News analysis, tax filers who earned $250,000 or more in 2014 are behind 70 per cent of the amounts written off under that deduction, with an average of $33,000 each. 'The general rule is that it would be unfair for me to pay taxes on the money I made this year, if I lost the same amount of money last year.' — CIBC managing director Jamie Golombek But Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at CIBC, has a completely different explanation as to why some high income taxpayers pay zero taxes. He says they likely are ''self-employed business people'' who lost money during a previous tax year and carried that loss over. ''If I had to guess, I would say the primary reason for that is because of our system of loss carry-forwards. It is a complex system, but the general rule is that it would be unfair for me to pay taxes on the money I made this year, if I lost the same amount of money last year.'' He also points out the available CRA documents don't allow for tracking every individual return year over year, making it difficult to verify if an investor reported a gain one year and a loss the following year. charitable donation credits Once these business-related credits and deductions are applied, high-income taxpayers can use another item to lower their tax rates even further. "Charitable contributions play a big part for taxpayers that have a low overall tax rate," says Smart. According to the CBC News analysis, more than half (53 per cent) of the amounts deducted as charitable donations and gifts in the tax year 2014 came from Canadians earning $100,000 or more. They wrote off more than $5 billion, or about $4,300 each. Smart stresses he doesn't know how taxpayers manage to avoid paying taxes completely, but "if you combine the various different loopholes in the system, the alternative minimum tax is supposed to kick in and guarantee that every taxpayer's overall tax rates is about 15 per cent of their total income. There are a few exceptions to that, and one is charitable contributions." How CBC News analyzed the tax returns All data analyzed for this story was found in the Canada Revenue Agency Final Statistics Report, for tax years 2011 to 2014 (most recent). Reports include aggregated data on filers, such as their total income as assessed, the amount they paid in taxes, as well as a breakdown of taxable and non-taxable returns. CBC News combined all provincial reports (Table 2) and filtered out every column but the three top income classes starting at $100,000. Amounts include federal and provincial/territorial tax. • A previous version of this story mistakenly said that Canadians earning $100,000 or more wrote off more than $5 million in charitable donations and gifts in the 2014 tax year. In fact, they wrote off more than $5 billion. Apr 27, 2017 11:40 AM ET
Which Countries have the Longest Life Expectancy? We are all living longer than ever due to medical advances and better knowledge about issues such as nutrition and hygiene has increased the world’s average life expectancy from 30 in the Medieval period to 67.2 years. There are of course huge regional discrepancies and differences between countries, and although you can’t guarantee a long or healthy life by moving to one of these places, life expectancy figures can give a general indication of how good healthcare and standards of living are. The country which comes out at the top of the rankings for life expectancy is Japan, where the average man can expect to live to 79.29 years and the average woman for 86.96 years. The long life expectancies are put down to a combination of a traditionally healthy diet featuring little saturated fat and lots of fish, and some of the most advanced medical technology in the western world. The Swiss outrank all other Europeans with their life expectancies of 79.31 for a man and 84.12 for a woman. Standards of living in Switzerland are also high compared with their European neighbours but settling in Switzerland and living their permanently is not always simple. We’ve all heard about how healthy the Mediterranean diet is, and the fact that on average Italians are living to 78.58 years for men and 83.98 years for women seems to prove the point. The combination of the Mediterranean style diet which is high in vitamins and minerals and low in saturated fats and processed products has a lot to do with the long life expectancies, as does the outdoors style of living. Australia has been a long popular destination with British expats looking for a better lifestyle for them and for their families, and the average life expectancy for an Australian man is 79.12 and for a woman, 83.75. The Aussie way of life which is based on lots of outdoors living and sport has a lot to do with these high figures, as does the good healthcare system enjoyed by Australians. The Worst It’s not surprising that the countries which perform worst on the world rankings of life expectancy are those which have suffered from civil wars, large scale problems with tropical diseases or AIDS and widespread poverty. The countries at the very bottom of the world rankings are the Central African Republic, Lesotho and Sierra Leone, where the average life expectancy is as low as 45 years.
Kiveton & Wales Heritage Kiveton & Wales Heritage In This Section Before The Pits Also see A History of Wales Until 1900 an extensive study published around ten years ago, now republished and available from the history society. Also see, Dawn Mason's Kiveton Hall, Geoff Nuttall's excellent and comprehensively researched Who was Lord Conyers? This section is being developed by the history society in the future, when we hope it will contain many more insights into the history of Kiveton and Wales before the sinking of the deep pits. It is common misconception that there was little in Kiveton Park or Wales prior to the sinking of the deep pits in the mid-19th century. In several maps from the nineteenth century, Kiveton, which was officially deemed a hamlet of nearby Harthill, did not even appear: there was just an untitled space amidst a triangle of long-established villages with well-known medieval pedigrees, namely Harthill, Todwick and Wales; or just a small settlement on the fringes of the large park around what had been Kiveton Hall. However, this is misleading. It's certainly true that Kiveton and Wales grew enormously and were both transformed after the pits were sunk, but they had rich histories going back long before, which are all too often ignored. As discussed on Paul Newbold's J31 website, which reveals much about the history of many communities in this area, both the names of Kiveton and Wales preceded the Norman Conquest. Wales is thought to be derived from the Saxon for ‘Stranger' while Kiveton from the Saxon for ‘homestead' and ‘hollow'. Wales was a more established community than Kiveton before mining started on a large scale. This is well shown by the development of Wales Church, a little of which is discussed elsewhere on this site, and can be read in more detail on the Church's own site and in a fascinating pamphlet available in the Church itself. Wales Church was built in Norman times. There considerable documentary evidence about this area in medieval times. The Doomsday books records Cieutone as owned by William de Warenne, one of the richest land-owners in England, and one of the few who had fought alongside William the Conquerer at Hastings. Poll tax lists from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries record the name Keuton as being widespread. Hugh de Keueton acted as a juror at the trial of William Somer who was convicted of stealing an overtunic at Conisburgh. Incidentally, on the same day Adam the Miller of Herthill's wife was fined for illegal brewing.i In 1368, Sir John De Keuton, alongside other local figures of note, bore witness to the granting of a garden in Todwick by his son William to William Scintepoule of Todwick.ii In 1379, presumably the same John De Keuton, whose occupation was recorded as a Sergeant-at-Arms, had to pay far more than anyone else liable to pay in the parish of Harthill. In a fascinating charter of Edward III, who ruled in the fourteenth century, it was again John de Kyveton, then Rector at Radcliffe, who bestowed land and rent to Roche Abbey on the condition that the Abbot would say mass everyday at the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in Kiveton. This chapel seems to have then existed in comparable form for some centuries until the reformation - the break with Rome in the time of Henry VIII and the creation of the Church of England. The chapel was sold in 1532, along with local lands: ‘Manors of Harthill and Keton als. Keueton and 30 messuages and a water-mill with lands there; and in woodhall, Waliswood, Thorpe Ryonyld, and Aughton; also the advowson of the free chapel or chantry of Keton, als. Keueton.' Interestingly, ‘John Keton, clerk, Nicholas Metcalfe, clerk, Edward Eire, Christopher Eire, Ankarus Fretchewell, and William Bayn' can also be found in the document. This building was still described in 1547 as the ‘Chapel of Trinity at Kiveton'. It should be noted that, as is well known, the Chantry at Hard Lane, gave the name to Chantry Place. It is also documented that the most recent manifestation of Kiveton Hall was built in the late seventeenth century. There are hints, witnessed by a few local people, that there was possibly much more before that time. Large foundation stones have been found and there are reports of stone-built tunnels stretching out under the fields towards Todwick. The stones were much bigger than which would have been used in the early-modern building of Kiveton Hall. These are only anecdotes but if they have any truth then they are important indications as to the possible nature of buildings here in medieval times or before. There are many pieces of documentary evidence about the nature of Kiveton in the early sixteenth century. A manuscript in Arundel Castle discusses the recovery of property in Kiveton and elsewhere.iii Fines for the Easter Term of 1544 include ‘Lands in Keton in the parish of herthill', from William Hewet to Nicholas Keton, ‘son and air of Cuthbert Keton'.iv Just a few months later we find reference to ‘three messuages with land in the parish of herthill', again between Hewet and Nicholas, who in this instance is described simply as a ‘gent'. We also have a full survey of the Kiveton estate dated 1564.v Joseph Hunter provided the following account in 1828: The parish of Harthill: The principle tenants at Kiveton under the Segraves were a family who acquired as their hereditary name the name of their principle, and perhaps only, estate. The last of these was Nicholas Keeton or Kiveton, who lived in the reign of King Henry VIII. Probably by one of these, or by the Segraves, the chapel of Kiveton was founded, which fell at Reformation. In King Henry's Valor it is described as a chantry in the chapel of Kneton (Keeton) in the parish of Harthill. Richard Darwent, the chaplain, was then cantarist. Its annual endowment was 55s 8d, issuing out of lands and tenements at Harthill, Anston, Wales, Blithe, and Torworth. The possession of an interest at Torworth seems to show that the Serlbys had been benefactors. In Holgate's return of chantries (1547) it is described as 'The chapel of Trinity at Keeton.'Nicholas Keeton in 27 Henry VIII (i.e. 1536) sold his estate at Kiveton to William Hewet, of London, citizens and Sir Edward Osborne of Kiveton was an important political figure in the years before the English Civil War, heavily involved in the administration of Ireland, where he was given permission by the King to visit in the summer of 1639. Even more fascinatingly, a volume of 155 sheets of writing by his first wife, Margaret, survives in the British Museum, packed with musing, poetry and literary exercises.vii Edward's life was hit by tragedy in 1638. The diary of Sir Henry Slingsby reveals that on the morning of 31 October 1638, Sir Edward left his home in York to travel to Kiveton and his wife travelled to London. As they travelled seven chimneys fell on the Manor House, burying and killing their teenage son.viii This was Thomas Osbourne, who because of his brother's death became the First Duke of Leeds. Sir Edward Osborne was a keen supporter of the Royalists during the Civil War, even becoming lietuentant general of the Royalist forces raised at York. He played little direct part in the war after the Royalist defeat at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. After the war finished Sir Edward had to face parliament, which gave him, ‘Sir Edward Osborne, of Kiveton in the County of York'', a large fine because he had acted as ‘A Commissioner for levying Monies, to maintain the Forces raised against the Parliament.'ix It is recorded that Sir Thomas Osborne returned to Kiveton in 1653, the year after his marriage to the well-connected Lady Bridget Bertie, after spending some rather exotic times in Italy and Paris. In 1656 we have records of a lease in Lincolnshire undertaken by Dame Anne Osbourne, again ‘Kiveton alias Keeton', and Sir Thomas Osbourne. Thomas had something of an illustrious and powerful career over subsequent decades, reaching the position of Lord Treasurer in 1673, at which point his title became ‘Baron Osborne of Kiveton and Viscount Latimer of Danby'. However, amidst tensions and without allies, his position became tenuous. Even worse, in 1679 the Baron of Kiveton, or rather ‘Danby' as he was now popularly referred to, was committed to the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned for five years. When he was released illness prevented him taking a decisive political role and it is recorded that he retired to his Yorkshire estate. He was involved in further political turmoil in the conspiracy against James, supporting William of Orange. Further importance of Kiveton is demonstrated when Thomas formally moved to Kiveton in 1688. Pereguine Osborne was made Lord Osborne of Kiveton in 1690 and for a while attended the House of Lords which commendable regularity, but it was for more dashing exploits that he was well known. He was an important naval commander, and even led the first ever regiment of marines. The histories of the Dukes of Leeds, and others who shared this amongst other titles have been told elsewhere. Of note, the fifth Duke of Leeds was Francis Osborne, who took his father's barony as Lord Osborne of Kiveton on 15 May 1776. He was a prominent figure and foreign secretary in the years prior to the Napoleonic wars, although it has been suggested by one biographer that his vanity outlived his political decline. He died on 31 January 1799 and was buried at Harthill. The exploits of the varied lords of Kiveton is fascinating, but they tell little of the development of the local area and its people. It is these aspects which the History Society will be exploring over the course of 2008. In the physical sense, the most obvious contribution to the outward appearance of the village came at the end of the seventeenth century when a large hall was built, just up from Kiveton towards Todwick... Thanks go to Dawn Mason and Sheffield Archives for advice on this section Thomas Osborne was the first Duke of Leeds and arranged the building of Kiveton Hall between 1698 and 1704. This hall has become something of a local legend, which it deserves for its sheer size and style. It's worth pondering how things might have been if it had survived. The exact positioning of the hall might seem slightly strange, but if you stand for a moment where the hall used to be and look west you'll be rewarded with a glorious expansive vista towards Sheffield, and what then would have been Sheffield Park. Kiveton Hall was not to last, for, in the understated words of White's Dictionary of the West Riding (1837), Kiveton ‘continued to be one of the principal seats of his [the Duke of Leeds] successors, till his present Grace pulled it down and enclosed its spacious park about the year 1812.'x Rather cruelly, the Nottingham Journal for 11 January 1812 advertised an auction to take place on the 17 January, for the fittings of the hall, including joists and fireplaces. The reasons for its demolition remain conjecture, but the story is widespread that a lost bet with the Prince of Wales led to the Hall's fate. There is little to corroborate this version of events but the Hall was certainly demolished and it's curious to imagine that just months prior to the Battle of Trafalgar a major stately home may have been demolished due to a wager with the future King. However, three points suggest the wager theory is only a myth. Firstly, it was totally denied by the then Duke of Leeds just after the First World in correspondence with a regional history society. Secondly, in the same letter, it was pointed out, correctly, that this story has been attached to many different stately homes that fell from grace. Thirdly, and most convincingly, several maps from the late eighteenth century, which give an impression of buildings according to their significance according to size, suggest the Hall to be of lesser importance than Todwick Manor: in short, it had already fallen from grace long before its demolition, for whatever reason. Nevertheless, distinguished visitors were still being entertaining at Kiveton in the first decade of the nineteenth century, only a few years before its demolition. The most likely reason for its demolition is that put forward convincingly by Geoff Nuttall, that the expenditure of two estates and the encroaching industrialisation from the north and west led to a permanent move to Hornby Castle. The sheer grandeur of the hall at its peak is evidenced by the interior decorations, sketches for which by Louis Laguerre have survived in archives. The hall was designed by William Malman, whose approach led his biographer to describe him as a ‘maverick architect', although Kiveton itself seems to have been fairly conventional and escaped his more flamboyant efforts.xi One architectural commentator suggested the design was ‘somewhat ineffectually proto-Palladian'.xii This is not to underestimate its scale and grandeur. Even the sash windows were based on those recently installed at St. James's Palace in London.xiii Celebrated carver Thomas Young was involved in the working of its wooden features; other major projects he worked on included Chatsworth Hall in Derbyshire.xiv As the century progressed, other plans were made to extend its grandeur, incorporating the work of some of Britain's best architects, such as James Gibb who designed a ‘gothic ruin' for the Hall in 1741 - although this was never brought to fruition.xv The extent of the gardens and the efforts of its gardeners were astonishing. For example, we know that in 1708 the Hall's nurseries had, at various stages of growth, an astonishing 703 limes, 310 elms, 40 sycamores, 30 chestnuts, 120 ashes and 350 oaks.xvi In 1727, George Vertue described the Hall as: at Keaton ye Seat of the Ld Marquis of Carmarthen - Nottinghamshire, a regular square building brick and stone with offices, Wings, built by Osborn Du. of Leeds - after 1690. A fine park.xvii There is an equally fascinating list of dogs kept in the kennels of the hall in 1763 and full inventory of the hall for 1727.xviii This inventory is an incredible document, a copy of which can be read at Sheffield Archives.xix On just the ground floor of the first wing the inventory deals with the following rooms are recorded: The North Garret and Clost; the second garret (south); the third Garret or wardrobe; the fourth garret or wardrobe; the sixth garret (south); north back stairs; little room eastwards; the long wardrobe; little room east. Going up on to the second floor there stood the ‘great dining room'. Beautiful paintings and tapestries graced the walls, and a large double hearth stood beneath a purple marble chimney peace. A painting of Charles I on horseback acted as a reminder of the family's role in the civil war a hundred years before. Other paintings included of the family itself and in the centre of the room stood a large banquet table of Eqyptian marble on a wooden frame. Perhaps the most eye-catching of the decorations in the room would have been the five marble statues on black pedestals, depicting rather curiously Cleopatra, Venus. Cupid, Paris and Nero. The Great Drawing Room, also on the second floor, was similarly impressive, in similar taste to the Dining Room, including fourteen chairs and two stools, with black and gold framed, governed in flowered velvet. The Great Bedchamber was similarly priuod, and included a full length painting of Queen Mary. The best dressing room was packed with tapestries and paintings, as was the best closet, with hangings of Indian satin. The picture room was astonishing. It had a fireplace of best Plymouth marble, which was pretty standard for this building, but it also contained a huge amount of priceless paintings. The family were clearly Royalists. Charles I popped up on a few paintings, as did Charles II, and there was a picture of Henry VIII and his sisters. Local dignitaries were pictured, including Edward Osborn and ‘Alderman Hewyt'. There was a ‘Festival of Rubins' and a whole variety of biblical scenes or scenes of particular fashions, such as of an Italian magician. Rather curiously, the ceiling in the picture room is recorded as being decorated with a cupid but also a ‘death's head'. The rest of the hall has rooms of similar note. The servants' room in the south-east wing was rather different, containing a bell line and pulleys so they could be summoned and a ‘sacking bedstead of old materials'. There was a Great Stair Case between the floors, which contained an organ in a case painted olive and gold. The stairs themselves were covered in matting, presumably both for comfort and to stop people slipping and coming crashing down them. The upper floor of the Great Hall had a large fire grate and seven statues: a rather motley selection incorporating Pan. Hercules, Lucretia, Diana, Paris, Venus and, unsurprisingly, Cupid with his bow. The vestibule contained more of the same exuberance, as did the drawing rooms and bedchambers of the eastern wing. An item of note could be seen in the south-eastern closet: a dressing mirror in a frame of red Japanese wood - this was in 1727! The servants room in this wing is similarly revealing as those elsewhere in the hall, including a single picture of Eliza and the prophet. The servants had their own hall, in which was set a long oak table, a fire range and an ‘old couch'. The stewards also had their own hall and closet. The hall had its own chapel, although there is some indication, judging by the amount of old broken furniture, that it was used as a storeroom for that not wanted elsewhere. All this was only one wing. As we move to what the 1727 survey described as ‘the Right Wing' we find even more rooms. These are more basic, austere in some respects and seemingly designed for higher servants. Yet, a bedchamber in the same wing included a quilt made in Holland, with the adjacent rooms containing a harpsical, a card table and prints of the naval hospital at Greenwich and two prints of ships. There were also prints of Chelsea House, of Badminton and extensive genealogical listings of English, French, German, Spanish and even the Turkish Royal families. This room had, seemingly, a rather male feel to it, and was very different to two other rooms in the right wing: the Lady's Woman's Room and Closet and the Queen Damask Room. Lord Danby's Room was fairly conventional. Standards were high, including Cornish curtains and a large vainet on a silver gilt frame. The passages and stairs aoround the Lord's room were very cluttered. Paintings were accompanied by maps of England, Westminster and Middlesex, and a large walnut pendulum clock ticked away in one passage. In the same wing were other rooms including a dining room with a whole range of portraits of gentry. The Green Room had a particularly interesting feature of note: seven stags' heads fixed upon its walls. Around these rooms lay more rooms for servants, including the porter's room, housekeeper's room and a linen room, packed with trunks and chests containing linen for the main beds in the hall. In the left wing of the hall there were ten different garrets and rooms for the cooks and the cook's maid. Interestingly, there was also a room for the ‘Mrs Carter', although the record give no record of who this was. In the vicinity the hall were also a washhouse, a distillery room and two dairies. There was a great stable, middle stable and stable for the hunt. There was a poultry room, gardener's room, a dog kennel and bacon room, containing a chest in which bacon would have been laid and a bench on which it would have been salted. There was a bake house and a bolting house. Interestingly, it was recorded that many of the cushions and common prayer books at Harthill Church came under the inventory of the Hall. Such was Kiveton Hall in 1727 - as to why it fell from favour and when..... who knows? Tell A Friend
Home / Current Affairs / IISc scientists help peer into insides of HIV-infected cell IISc scientists help peer into insides of HIV-infected cell A new biosensor can measure what is going on within HIV-infected cells in real-time and also provide insight on the interactions between the AIDS virus and the tuberculosis causing bacteria within the cells. Researchers from IISc, Bangalore, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi have exploited this non-invasive biosensor that can measure what is going on within HIV-1 infected cells in real-time. This technology can offer insights which can help in controlling the AIDS infection besides insight on the interactions between HIV-1 and TB-causing bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), says a release by Gubbi Labs. Since its discovery, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS has caused an estimated 36 mn deaths worldwide (as of 2012). Its causative agent, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), has thus been a hot topic of research. Human body produces oxygen free radicals called Reactive Oxygen Species or ROS, during routine cellular metabolism. GSH levels in infected cells and tissues are indicators of the level of infection. The team has devised a non-invasive biosensor methodology for precise measurements of GSH levels within HIV-1 infected cells. Earlier methods use whole cell or tissue extracts, which destroy detailed information related to the GSH levels in different areas within an infected cell. The sensitivity and specificity of this biosensor could be further used in understanding the physiological changes in HIV-1 infected cells and the mechanism of drug action. “Importantly, we also discovered that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, another major human pathogen, specifically disturbs glutathione balance to increase the replication of HIV. “Since TB is the major cause of HIV related deaths, our findings have major mechanistic and therapeutic potential for both TB and AIDS (among the main causes of human death),” said one of the researchers. Leave a Reply Check Also Pakistan players target first World Cup win against India Sunanda case: Tharoor quizzed once again
Skip to content June 12, 2017 Toyota is researching heart-monitoring cars that could prevent crashes by John_A Why it matters to you Although self-driving cars would do away with the need for such technology, in the meantime it could help make our roads safer. As occasional news reports have shown, having a heart attack or some other medical emergency while driving can prove devastating for anyone nearby when it happens. Of course, with self-driving cars expected one day to rule the road, there’d be no need for such technology. But with the widespread use of autonomous vehicles still a ways off, Toyota’s plans could prove an effective interim safety measure to prevent injuries (and potentially worse) not only to the driver and the vehicle’s occupants, but also to pedestrians close by. To develop a system, Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been working with Kayvan Najarian, director of data science at the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care. Najarian told Michigan Medicine that as healthcare facilities continue to improve, “there will be an increased number of older-age drivers, which could increase the number of medical events happening behind the wheel.” The joint team noted that the solution involves embedding an algorithm-powered system inside the car that can monitor and predict an adverse cardiac event. One of the central challenges is to create an effective algorithm capable of making accurate predictions regarding cardiac events, after all, any stops made in error would not only be an annoying inconvenience for the driver but also a highly stressful experience, with the person behind the wheel worrying they’re about to have a heart attack when in fact they’re perfectly fine. Accurate monitoring is also dependent upon how the technology is incorporated into the vehicle. Discussing the issue, Toyota’s Pujitha Gunaratne said, “A challenge for vehicle applications is having a system that can detect small changes in heart rhythms but can also separate out the noise and motion that happens inside the vehicle.” He added, “In an ICU, there are all types of mechanisms in place to ensure that the monitors are not experiencing electronic interference. That’s not as easy inside a vehicle.” At the current time, the team is exploring hardware options for in-car sensors and monitors, which could be built into car components such as seat belts and steering wheels. It’s also collecting physiological data for its algorithm using officially approved heart monitors. Although such medical emergencies are extremely rare considering the number of miles people travel in their vehicles, such a system could prove effective in preventing further injuries and fatalities should the driver lose control of the vehicle. It’s usefulness could be further enhanced if the system automatically sent a signal to the nearest hospital so that first responders could reach the driver to offer medical assistance. Read more from News Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s Subscribe to comments %d bloggers like this:
Explore BrainMass Calculating Acceleration Question: Bar BDE is attached to two links AB and CD. Knowing that at the instant shown link AB rotates with a constant angular velocity of 3 rad/s clockwise, determine the acceleration (a) of point D, (b) of point E. Please refer to attachment to see a diagram of this scenario. Solution Preview a.) Velocity will be according to largest arm (AB) AB = r = 12 in = 12/12 ft w = angular velocity =3 rad/s ve = vd = vb = rw = (12/12)3 = 3 ft/s ... Solution Summary This solution provides a completed response, including the formulas and an outline of the metrics required, to calculate for the two unknown point values which pertain to this physics mechanics problem. All answers are provided in the correct units.
HFE and Non-HFE Hemochromatosis Progress in hematology Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a disorder of iron metabolism in which enhanced absorption of dietary iron causes increased iron accumulation in the liver, heart, and pancreas. Most individuals with HH are homozygous for a point mutation in theHFE gene, leading to a C282Y substitution in the HFE protein. The function of HFE protein is unknown, but the available evidence suggests that it acts in association with β2-microglobulin and transferrin receptor 1 to regulate iron uptake from plasma transferrin by the duodenum, the proposed mechanism by which body iron levels are sensed. The identification of HFE has established the foundation for a better understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of iron homeostasis and its altered regulation in HH. Additionally, the ability to accurately diagnose iron overload disorders has been strengthened, family screening has been improved, and evaluation of patients with other forms of liver disease complicated by moderate-to-severe iron overload is now possible. However, the role of HFE testing in generalized population screening for HH is still controversial. Recently, other forms of HH have been described that are not related to HFE but are due to mutations in genes coding iron transport proteins. Key words Iron Iron overload Hemochromatosis Thalassemia HFE IREG1 TfR2 1. 1. Anderson GJ. Ironing out disease: inherited disorders of iron homeostasis.IUBMB Life. 2001;51:11–17.PubMedGoogle Scholar 2. 2. Bacon BR, Powell LW, Adams PC, et al. Molecular medicine and hemochromatosis: at the crossroads.Gastroenterology. 1999;116: 193–207.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 3. 3. Feder JN, Gnirke A, Thomas W, et al. 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Iron uptake from plasma transferrin by the duodenum is impaired in the HFE knock-out mouse.Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2002;99:5622–5626.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 9. 9. Tavill AS. Management of hemochromatosis. (AASLD Practice Guidelines)Hepatology. 2001;33:1321–1328.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 10. 10. EASL International Consensus Conference on Hemochromatosis.J Hepatol. 2000;33:485–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar 11. 11. Camaschella C, Roetto A, De Gobbi M, et al. Non-HFE hemochromatosis. In: Proceedings from the World Congress on Iron Metabolism. August 18-23, 2001. Cairns, Australia.Google Scholar 12. 12. Camaschella C, Roetto A, Cali A, et al. The gene TFR2 is mutated in a new type of hemochromatosis mapping to 7q22.Nat Genet. 2000;25:14–15.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 13. 13. Pietrangelo A, Montosi G, Totaro A, et al. Hereditary hemochromatosis in adults without pathogenic mutations in the hemochromatosis gene.N Engl J Med. 1999;341:725–732.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 14. 14. 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Increased frequency of the hemochromatosis Cys282Tyr mutation in sporadic porphyria cutanea tarda.Lancet. 1997;349:321–323.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 20. 20. Stuart KA, Busfield F, Jazwinska EC, et al. The C282Y mutation in hemochromatosis (HFE) gene and hepatitis C virus infection are independent cofactors for porphyria cutanea tarda in Australian patients.J Hepatol. 1998;28:404–409.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 21. 21. Sampietro M, Piperno A, Lupica L, et al. High prevalence of His63Asp HFE mutation in Italian patients with porphyria cutanea tarda.Hepatology. 1998;27:181–184.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar 22. 22. Sullivan JL. Iron and the genetics of cardiovascular disease [editorial; comment].Circulation. 1999;100:1260–1263.PubMedGoogle Scholar 23. 23. Angelucci E, Brittenham GM, McLaren CE, et al. Hepatic iron concentration and total body iron stores in thalassemia major.N Engl J Med. 2000;343:327–331.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar Copyright information © The Japanese Society of Hematology 2002 Authors and Affiliations 1. 1.Iron Metabolism LaboratoryThe Queensland Institute of Medical Research and The University of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia Personalised recommendations

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