functions and variables in physical science experiments almost all true science experiments involve designing a series of trials where one variable is manipulated and another variable changes as a result of this manipulation. all other variables are held constant. a variable is said to be a function of another variable if, for various values of x, it is possible to establish corresponding values of y, i. e. y = 6x. in todayıs lab you will be working with various weights that can be hung on a spring. work in pairs to determine any connections between the variables that you choose to investigate. any spring will deform if you put a large amount of weight on it. the purpose of this lab is not to see how much weight a spring will take before it breaks or deforms. deforming a spring by using an excess of weight, will ruin your experiment and it will force us to buy new springs. you can keep the lab fees from increasing if you use a reasonable amount of weight on the springs. be nice to your springs. when you have written a question and identified the variables you want to investigate, conduct an experiment to see what effect changing one variable has on another variable. prior to beginning your experiment, you need to check your question and your procedure with your instructor. please be sure to describe what experiment you are conducting and what materials you are using ( the procedure ) in your lab notebook ( or if this is the first lab, use this sheet of paper ). the level of detail you include in your procedure should allow someone to repeat your experiment just by reading your procedure. all data, observations, calculations, graphs, diagrams, etc. should be recorded in your lab notebook as well. be sure to include appropriate units with all measurements and results of calculations. you will need to follow the rules for working with significant figures. the expectations for this lab experiments are : a ) you need to run a minimum of two different experiments, b ) you need to collect a minimum of five data points for each experiment, c ) you need to run each experiment twice and average your data, d ) record your data for each experiment in a data table, e ) there are at least two different types of springs, use them, describe them, make a comparison, f ) for each experiment you do, plot a graph using the average values of your variables ( when appropriate ), g ) identify at least two resulting relationships, h ) include an algebraic expression ( a mathematical equation and a written statement ) describing the correlation between your variables, i ) show


, plot a graph using the average values of your variables ( when appropriate ), g ) identify at least two resulting relationships, h ) include an algebraic expression ( a mathematical equation and a written statement ) describing the correlation between your variables, i ) show how your data fits the equation. beginning questions : in this lab you are faced with determining relationships between multiple variables. what are two initial questions that can be answered by doing this lab activity? procedure. identify your dependent variable and your independent variable. what variables are kept constant? data / observations : ( attach a separate piece of paper ) record all data and observations. include appropriate units. graphs ( attach graph paper ). the dependent variable is plotted on the _ _ _ _ _ axis and the independent variable is plotted on the _ _ _ _ _ axis. be sure to calculate the slope of each graph. claims : based on the data collected, the graphs, etc. what claims can be made? evidence : support your claims with appropriate evidence. reading / reflection : what are some of the principles that you have learned or applied in this lab? how does this compare to other groups? how does this compare to information found in a physics textbook? compare graphs when using the thick wire / heavy spring vs. the thin wire / light spring, what physical variable does the slope of these graphs represent? please show how you arrived at your answers to each of the following questions using a ) your algebraic expression, b ) your graph. how does your equation or graph tell the difference between the two springs? if a 63 gram weight is hung on the longer spring, what would be the amount of stretching? what would be the length of the spring? does it make a difference if you investigate the length of the spring or the amount of stretching of the spring? if a 63 gram weight is hung on the shorter spring, what would be the amount of stretching? what would be the length of the spring?


an open heart. he ' s friends with unlikely people... people who are very different from him. he might not even understand them, but he still travels with them, jokes with them, and fights for them. you see this with mcclane, too, in the way he befriends a young, aloof limo driver or an eccentric airport groundskeeper. the american hero isn ' t multicultural. wayne and mcclane aren ' t worldly. they are proud of their own culture and not too interested in learning others, but they are accepting of people from any origin. what else might be a characteristic of the archetypal american hero? and can you think of any game characters that come close? i think the master chief in halo and marcus fenix in gears of war might. i ' ve asked my english friend, david, to describe who he thinks is the quintessential british / english hero from film and literature. his gut reaction was sean connery as james bond. i ' ll be interested to see how american heroes compare to heroes of other cultures. my guess is that heroes cross - culturally are basically the same, but there are a number of significant nuances. humility, for example, is not a virtue in all cultures.


of events and... plotstructure. pps - search structure through short stories literary element describes shows causal arrangement events teaching across generations effective teaching and learning department email @ example. com © 2005 baker college opening activity take a few moments to think... suffering or having fun - importance of perceived workload in teaching with computer simulation poon, tat hong ( ted ) department of management the hong kong... ted. ppt - search suffering having importance perceived workload computer simulation department management teaching, learning, and technology quotations complied by diana dell, ed. s. it is possible to store the mind with millions of facts and still be entirely uneducated. teaching for successful intelligence robert j. sternberg yale university contact information robert j. sternberg, director pace center department of psychology yale... sternberg. ppt - search successful intelligence robert sternberg contact information director center psychology teaching procedures and skills jennifer peel, ph. d. assistant professor, anesthesiology director of education, gme office remember being taught procedures in 3rd year? teaching reading comprehension in the middle school timothy shanahan university of illinois at chicago firstname. lastname @ example. org why teach reading in the middle school? teaching creativity and teaching for creativity what is creativity? the definition of creativity : » “ the application of knowledge and skills in new ways, to... teaching in a multicultural setting introduction globalization & technological advancement created new complex problems. cultures bring together diverse backgrounds... walingo. ppt - search multicultural setting introduction globalization technological advancement created complex cultures bring together diverse backgrounds teaching styles michele b. lundy m. d. university of arizona faculty development march 5, 2009 facilitative style elicits / accepts student feelings offers feelings...


عالم حواء للرشاقة و الجمال و احدث الازياء و الموضة و ديكور المنزل و كل ما يهم العروسة, فساتين افراح, دبل الخطوبة و اطقم ذهب, العناية بالشعر و البشرة مع وصفات حصرية بالفيديو من مطبخ همسه الاثنين ، 29 اغسطس ، 2011 what is a pennyweight of gold? what is a gram of gold? these are the most frequently asked questions we receive at goldfellow. it ' s problematic for everyone as it doesn ' t relate to any measurement we currently use in our daily life. pennyweights, however are still commonly used in the u. s. jewelry industry but we prefer to use the more accurate and globally recognized grams ( metric ) as our unit of measure. there are 20 pennyweights also referred to as dwt in an ounce. there are also 31. 1 grams in an ounce. as we are talking about precious metals i ' ll use gold in my example throughout this post. many of our customers are weighing their valuables on home kitchen or postal scales of either mechanical or digital make. most measure in grams and ounces, particularly when weighing food. the grams shown on your scale are not the same as the grams used in gold! you are measuring on a device that uses 28 grams per ounce while gold is measured in troy ounces. there are 31. 1 grams per troy ounce. the simplest way to use your home scale is to multiply the number showing as ounces by 20. that ' s it. if your scale shows 3. 5 oz you have approximately 70 pennyweight. 1. 5oz is about 30 pennyweight and so on. ( same for silver and platinum ) ok, now for measuring your gold in grams. the scale shows 3. 5 ounces. multiply by 31. 1 and it comes to 108. 85 grams of gold. if it ' s 1. 5 oz x 31. 1 = 46. 65 grams. lastly, if you would like to know a price per gram


data appendix for economic growth in the long run abstractthis extended data appendix describes the sources and methods used to construct the data used in our paper " economic growth in the long run. " download infoif you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. in case of further problems read the ideas help page. note that these files are not on the ideas site. please be patient as the files may be large. bibliographic infopaper provided by university library of munich, germany in its series mpra paper with number 41325. date of creation : 14 sep 2012 date of revision : physical capital ; human capital ; investment ; schooling ; find related papers by jel classification : - o11 - economic development, technological change, and growth - - economic development - - - macroeconomic analyses of economic development - o47 - economic development, technological change, and growth - - economic growth and aggregate productivity - - - measurement of economic growth ; aggregate productivity ; cross - country output convergence - o15 - economic development, technological change, and growth - - economic development - - - economic development : human resources ; human development ; income distribution ; migration - j24 - labor and demographic economics - - demand and supply of labor - - - human capital ; skills ; occupational choice ; labor productivity this paper has been announced in the following nep reports : please report citation or reference errors to, or, if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your repec author service profile, click on " citations " and make appropriate adjustments. : - schoellman, todd, 2008. " the causes and consequences of cross - country differences in schooling attainment, " 9243, university library of munich, germany. - todd schoellman, 2007. " the causes and consequences of cross - country differences in schooling attainment, " 2007 meeting papers 297, society for economic dynamics. blog mentionsas found by econacademics. org, the blog aggregator for economics research : - the latest on growth accounting by economic logician in economic logic on 2012 - 10 - 11 14 : 41 : 00 by himaginary in himaginaryの 日 on 2012 - 10 - 13 07 : 00 : 00 for technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact : ( ekkehart schlicht ). if references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.


yesterday i described the gates foundation ’ s measuring effective teachers ( met ) project as “ an expensive flop. ” to grasp just what a flop the project was, it ’ s important to consider what success would have looked like. if the project had produced what gates was hoping, it would have found that classroom observations were strong, independent predictors of other measures of effective teaching, like student test score gains. even better, they were hoping that the combination of classroom observations, student surveys, and previous test score gains would be a much better predictor of future test score gains ( or of future classroom observations ) than any one of those measures alone. unfortunately, met failed to find anything like this. if met had found classroom observations to be strong predictors of other indicators of effective teaching and if the combination of measures were a significantly better predictor than any one measure alone, then gates could have offered evidence for the merits of a particular mixing formula or range of mixing formulas for evaluating teachers. that evidence could have been used to good effect to shape teacher evaluation systems in chicago, la, and everywhere else. they also could have genuinely reassured teachers anxious about the use of test score gains in teacher evaluations. met could have allayed those concerns by telling teachers that test score gains produce information that is generally similar to what is learned from well - conducted classroom observations, so there is no reason to oppose one and support the other. what ’ s more, significantly improved predictive power from a mixture of classroom observations with test score gains could have made the case for why we need both. met was also supposed to have helped us adjudicate among several commonly used rubrics for classroom observations so that we would have solid evidence for preferring one approach over another. because met found that classroom observations in general are barely related to other indicators of teacher effectiveness, the study told us almost nothing about the criteria we should use in classroom observations. in addition, the classroom observation study was supposed to help us identify the essential components of effective teaching. that knowledge could have informed improved teacher training and professional development. but because met was a flop ( because classroom observations barely correlate with other indicators of teacher effectiveness and fail to improve the predictive power of a combined measure ), we haven ’ t learned much of anything about the practices that are associated with effective teaching. if we can ’ t connect classroom observations with effective teaching in general, we certainly can ’ t say much about the particular aspects of teaching that were observed that most contributed to effective teaching. just so you know that i ’


are associated with effective teaching. if we can ’ t connect classroom observations with effective teaching in general, we certainly can ’ t say much about the particular aspects of teaching that were observed that most contributed to effective teaching. just so you know that i ’ m not falsely attributing to met these goals that failed to be realized, look at this interview from 2011 of bill gates by jason riley in the wall street journal. you ’ ll clearly see that bill gates was hoping that met would do what i described above. it failed to do so. here is what the interview revealed about the goals of met : of late, the foundation has been working on a personnel system that can reliably measure teacher effectiveness. teachers have long been shown to influence students ’ education more than any other school factor, including class size and per - pupil spending. so the objective is to determine scientifically what a good instructor does. “ we all know that there are these exemplars who can take the toughest students, and they ’ ll teach them two - and - a - half years of math in a single year, ” he says. “ well, i ’ m enough of a scientist to want to say, ‘ what is it about a great teacher? is it their ability to calm down the classroom or to make the subject interesting? do they give good problems and understand confusion? are they good with kids who are behind? are they good with kids who are ahead? ’ “ i watched the movies. i saw ‘ to sir, with love, ’ ” he chuckles, recounting the 1967 classic in which sidney poitier plays an idealistic teacher who wins over students at a roughhouse london school. “ but they didn ’ t really explain what he was doing right. i can ’ t create a personnel system where i say, ‘ go watch this movie and be like him. ’ ” instead, the gates foundation ’ s five - year, $ 335 - million project examines whether aspects of effective teaching — classroom management, clear objectives, diagnosing and correcting common student errors — can be systematically measured. the effort involves collecting and studying videos of more than 13, 000 lessons taught by 3, 000 elementary school teachers in seven urban school districts. “ we ’ re taking these tapes and we ’ re looking at how quickly a class gets focused on the subject, how engaged the kids are, who ’ s wiggling their feet, who ’ s looking away, ” says mr. gates. the researchers are also asking students what works in


ignacio first noticed the signs of his non - hodgkin lymphoma when he had trouble breathing and was coughing a lot during football practice. he also started having fever without knowing why. he told his parents, and they took him to the doctor. the doctor did an exam and ordered some lab tests and a ct scan. everyone hoped that it would not show anything, but a lump was found. after some more tests, including a biopsy by the surgeon, the doctors diagnosed ignacio with non - hodgkin lymphoma. at first, ignacio was scared when he heard that non - hodgkin lymphoma is a form of cancer. but he quickly learned that it ' s highly treatable, especially if caught early, as his was. ignacio was relieved when his doctor told him that the odds were good that he ' d be cured. what is non - hodgkin lymphoma? a lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system. the lymphatic system is a part of the body ' s immune system and helps filter out bacteria, viruses, and other unwanted substances. most people don ' t notice the workings of their lymphatic systems ; in fact, the only time you might be aware of your lymphatic system is when the lymph nodes ( which are sometimes referred to as glands ) swell up. this often happens when a person is sick — a sign that the lymphatic system is working hard to filter harmful substances out of the body. non - hodgkin lymphoma is a disease in which cancer cells form in the lymphatic system and start to grow uncontrollably. there are several different types of lymphomas. some involve a particular type of cell ; these are grouped under the heading hodgkin lymphoma. all other forms of lymphoma fall into the non - hodgkin grouping. the different forms of non - hodgkin lymphoma depend on such things as what the cells look like under a microscope. no one really knows what causes non - hodgkin lymphoma. doctors have identified some risk factors ( things that may increase a person ' s chances of developing a particular condition ) for non - hodgkin lymphoma. these include conditions that weaken the immune system, such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ( aids ), taking immune -


suspects non - hodgkin lymphoma, he or she will refer you to an oncologist, a doctor who specializes in the treatment of cancer. the oncologist will then do tests to diagnose the problem. if someone has swollen lymph nodes, the doctor may want to perform a biopsy if the swelling does not go down after other treatments. a biopsy is a type of test where a doctor removes a tiny bit of tissue from the body and sends it out to a laboratory for a specialist to examine. depending on the type of biopsy a person has, a doctor may use local anesthesia ( where only a part of the body is numbed ) or general anesthesia ( where a person is asleep ) to ensure there ' s no pain. biopsies used to test for non - hodgkin lymphoma include excisional biopsy ( where the doctor opens the skin to remove an entire lymph node ) or incisional biopsy ( where the doctor removes only a part of the lymph node ). another type of biopsy, fine needle aspiration ( where a very thin needle suctions out a small amount of tissue from the lymph node ) is used on some occasions to diagnose non - hodgkin lymphoma. doctors sometimes also perform a bone marrow biopsy, where a needle is used to take samples of the soft tissue found in a bone. your doctor may do other tests to diagnose non - hodgkin lymphoma, including : a chest x - ray, a simple procedure in which the person lies on a table while an x - ray machine takes an image of the chest a computerized tomography ( ct or cat ) scan, which rotates around the patient and creates an x - ray picture of the inside of the body from different angles an ultrasound, which uses high - frequency sound waves to create pictures of the inside of the body a magnetic resonance imaging ( or mri ) scan, which uses magnets and radio waves to allow doctors to see inside the body. a galliumscan, which uses the injection of a material known as gallium and can help show tumors and inflammation a bone scan to detect bone changes a positron emission tomography ( pet ) scan, which can tell the difference between normal and abnormal cells based on metabolic activity once doctors have made a diagnosis of non - hodgkin lymphoma, they use what ' s called a "


aids ( acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ) is a disease that makes it difficult for the body to fight off infectious diseases. the human immunodeficiency virus ( hiv ) causes aids by infecting and damaging part of the body ' s defenses against infection — its lymphocytes, which are white blood cells in the immune ( infection - fighting ) system that are supposed to fight off invading germs. hiv can be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluid of someone who is infected with the virus. that contact usually comes from sharing needles or by having unprotected sex with an infected person. an infant could get hiv from a mother who is infected. hiv and aids can be treated, but there are no vaccines or cures for them. what hiv does to the body the virus attacks specific lymphocytes called t helper cells ( also known as t - cells ), takes them over, and multiplies. this destroys more t - cells, which damages the body ' s ability to fight off invading germs and disease. when the number of t - cells falls to a very low level, people with hiv become more susceptible to other infections and they may get certain types of cancer that a healthy body would normally be able to fight off. this weakened immunity ( or immune deficiency ) is known as aids and can result in severe life - threatening infections, some forms of cancer, and the deterioration of the nervous system. although aids is always caused by an hiv infection, not everyone with hiv has aids. in fact, some adults who become infected with hiv may appear healthy for years before developing aids. how common is hiv / aids? the first case of hiv was reported in 1981, but the disease may have existed unrecognized for many years before that. hiv infection leading to aids has been a major cause of illness and death among children, teens, and young adults worldwide. in recent years, hiv infection rates have been increasing rapidly among teens and young adults. half of all new hiv infections in the united states occur in people under 25 years old ; thousands of teens acquire new hiv infections each year. most new hiv cases in younger people are transmitted through unprotected sex ; one third are from injected drug usage via the sharing of dirty, blood - contaminated needles. among children, most cases of hiv infections resulted from transmission of the hiv virus from the mother to her child during pregnancy or birth, or through breastfeeding. in rare cases children may have been infected by being


news & tips a collection of helpful articles on teachers and teaching iste nets * s part 4 : critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making this is my fourth article in a series of six about iste ’ s nets * s ( national educational technology standards for students ). the fourth standard is “ critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. ” critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. - identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation. - plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project. - collect and analyze data to identify solutions and / or make informed decisions. - use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions. ( excerpted from http : / / www. iste. org / content / navigationmenu / nets / forstudents / 2007standards / nets _ for _ students _ 2007. htm ) i don ’ t know if you ’ ve been reading all the articles up to this one, but you need to know that i have approached each topic with varying levels of confidence. i concluded that we ’ re not doing enough to encourage creativity and innovation, we ’ re somewhat better with communication and collaboration, and we ’ ve come a long way with research and information fluency. but as i sat down to write this installment, i had a bit of an epiphany. our success with this technology standard depends completely on how willing we are to let go of the reins and let the students drive their own learning. i wish i knew the source of the now - famous “ sage on the stage versus guide on the side ” metaphor for the shift we need to see in education. oh look, here ’ s a webpage that claims to know the origin of the saying. i ’ m not even a little surprised that it came out of using inquiry as a tool for critical thinking. that was apparently written in 1993 about changing college teaching. but we now have the tools and the experience to know that we should be using inquiry and critical thinking with our youngest students as well. my epiphany had a “ part two ” : we don ’ t do this enough because our society and culture have conditioned students to be afraid of failure. most of my students are afraid to bring home anything less than an a. the grades are what drive their achievement, not the learning. what they cram for a test is gone within


our society and culture have conditioned students to be afraid of failure. most of my students are afraid to bring home anything less than an a. the grades are what drive their achievement, not the learning. what they cram for a test is gone within weeks, and all they have learned is how to do well on tests. are they using what they ’ ve learned? have they retained anything of value? my middle school students just finished up a project in which they created short surveys, had fifty or more people respond to them, and then graphed the results for an analysis report. the older students had a proposed independent variable and dependent variable. their graphs should have helped them determine if there was any kind of correlation between the two variables. i have a speech i give several times over the course of the project, which goes a little something like this : “ sometimes all you find out is that these two things have nothing in common, or if they do, you can ’ t prove it based on your data. to say otherwise would be a lie, and will cost you points on the grade. ” i remind them that thomas edison had a thousand failed ideas before every successful patent achieved. i still suspect they don ’ t believe me. we are fighting an uphill battle on this one, folks. how can we get our students to think critically, solve problems, and make decisions, when the dialog inside their minds sounds like this : “ which choice will get me the best grade with the least work? which choice will make my parents happy? how can i still get an a if i start on this project two days before it is due? which of my friends is on facebook right now? ” we need to encourage students to try things out, with the goal of failing more than they succeed, so that they can come to appreciate that we learn and retain much more from our failures than we do from our victories. for my graduate school cumulative portfolio, i ’ ve been reviewing keller ’ s arcs model of motivation a lot recently. arcs stands for attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. as i look at the fourth standard, it ’ s clear to me that if we can apply these four principles of learner motivation to any problem - based project, we can achieve all the goals of the standard while also providing a very meaningful, motivating learning experience for students. by allowing them to find and choose a problem to solve, we get their attention, keep it relevant to them, enable them to gain confidence by trial and error, and


interfaith dialogue hindu jewish contactus at equalsouls. org contactus at equalsouls. org mon may 11 03 : 23 : 18 utc 2009 " equality based on the soul " historically christian and muslim faiths have their roots in so at their core concepts about the soul, creation and god are all * i would like to address certain linguistic and philosophical similarities common to both jews and hindus, which may open up a 1. names of god, a. the most holy of all names of god for a jew is kna or kana, rabbi ' s have slapped my face when i have said this name out loud. this is considered to be the most intimate name for god in the old testament. where it is translated, " i am a jealous god, have no other gods before you ", the literal hebrew translation is, " my name is el kna ( kana ), have no other gods before you. " this name expands to kre shtn as rabbi aryeh kapln, in meditation and the kabbalah explains " on monday, you must intertwine the associated name " kre shtn " " b, from a vedic ( hindu ) view point, kana is also an affectionate name of krishna, the pronunciation used above " kre shtn " is very similar to the way south indians pronounce krishna. 2. abraham and brahma : very few know that there are two abrahams in a. there is a description of how the universe was in chaos until abraham appeared. it is said, " over the whole, there hovered tohu ( chaos ) and as long as tohu dominated, the whole world was not in being or existence. when did that key open the gates and make the it was when abraham appeared. " [ genesis ii 4 ] as explained in the introduction to the zohar the soncino press ltd - - london new york there is also this reference one needs to ponder it is said, " angels are supposed to have no back and four faces, so always to be able to [ talmud, cf. ezek i. 6 ] b. in the first canto of the srimad - bhagavatam, there is a long description of how brahma created the planets, stars etc. it is well known that the brahma of this universe has 4 heads. 3. demigods and angels have the same function in both trations. a. the midrash teaches, " there is no blade of


" [ meditation and kabbalah p 80 chapter 4, teachings of rabbi abraham abulafia ] " metatron is therefore not a proper name at all but a designation for the whole category of celestial powers performing a mission. " [ origins of the kabbalah, iii, 6 ] b. in the creative process, it is from maha - vishnu that all of the universes emanate, sudarshan cakra ( flaming sword that revolves ) controlled by visnu similarly punishes and grants liberation. " without illumination, nothing can be seen, especially in this the illumination in this world emanates from the effulgence of sudarshan, the original vision of the supreme personality of godhead. the illuminating principles of the sun, the moon and fire emanate similarly, illumination by knowledge also comes from sudarshan. " [ srimad bhag. 9. 5. 7, purport ] also there is a series of visnu expansions each with a chakra. 7. the lord in the heart a. when the soul is about to descend to this world, it first goes down to the terrestrial garden of eden and sees there the glory of the souls of the righteous, and then goes down to gehinnom and sees the wicked who cry " woe, woe ", and find no compassion. that holy form ( god ) stands by him until he emerges into the world, after which it keeps him company and grows up with him. " [ the zohar 43b ] [ ki tazria b. in the bhagavad - gita " yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the supersoul, paramatma. " [ bg. 13. 23 ] 8. guru and rabbi a. in judaism, knowledge is also passed from the rabbi to his students, but not everyone is qualified to become a student. " as a matter of law, the sages state that these mysteries ' cannot even be taught to a single individual, unless he is wise enough to understand with his own knowledge. ' even in such a case, the complete tradition was only given over to the head of the group, and he would then only instruct those whom he saw fit. only individuals possessing the highest qualities of scholarship and piety would be admitted to the circle of initiates. " [ introduction


people who have dedicated their lives to the service of god may at times feel unlimited joy or ecstasy while engaged in prayer. it is said, " permute the letters back and forth, and in this manner, you will reach the first level. as a result of the activity and your concentration on the letters, your mind will become bound to them. the hairs on your head will stand on end and tremble. your lifeblood is in your heart, and regarding this it is written, " the blood is the soul " [ deuteronomy 12 : 23 ]. it is likewise written, " the blood in the soul will atone " [ leviticus 17 : 11 ]. this blood within you will begin to vibrate because of the permutations that loosen it. your entire body will then begin to tremble, and all your limbs will be seized with shuddering. you will experience the terror of god and will be enveloped with fear of him. you will then feel as if an additional spirit is within you, arousing you and strengthening you, passing through your entire body and giving you leisure. it will seem as you have been anointed with perfumed oil, from head to foot. you will rejoice and have great pleasure. you will experience ecstasy and trembling - - ecstasy for the soul, and trembling for the body. [ meditation and kabbalah, treasury of the hidden eden p85 - 86 ] b. the stage of bhava, love of god, is manifested by eight transcendental symptoms, namely inertness, perspiration, standing of hairs on end, failing in the voice, trembling, paleness of the body, tears in the eyes, and finally trance. [ srimad bhag. 2 : 3 : 24 purport ] 11. god ' s beauty a. the jewish scriptures describe a vision of god. " his head is a treasure of fine gold. his locks are hanging, black like the raven. " in both talmudic and kabbalistic traditions, one of the interpretations is that it relates to a vision of god ; " when he is visualized in battle, he is seen as a young man with black hair. " [ sefer yetzirah ch 6. 1 ] b. the vedas refer to the form of the lord. in the srimad - bhagavatam it is stated, " the lord is super excellently beautiful on account of his open and merciful smile and his sidelong glance upon his devotees. his


##das refer to the form of the lord. in the srimad - bhagavatam it is stated, " the lord is super excellently beautiful on account of his open and merciful smile and his sidelong glance upon his devotees. his black hair is curly, and his garments, waving in the wind, appear like flying saffron pollen from lotus flowers. his glittering earrings, shining helmet, bangles, garland, ankle bells, waist belt and various other bodily ornaments combine with the conch shell, disc, club, and lotus flower to increase the natural beauty of the kaustubha pearl on his chest. " [ srimad bhag. 2. 24. 47 - 48 ] williamglick at gmail. com < mailto : williamglick at gmail. com > if you do not want to receive any more newsletters, to update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit forward a message to someone powered by phplist, www. phplist. com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - next part - - - - - - - - - - - - - - an html attachment was scrubbed... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - next part - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a non - text attachment was scrubbed... size : 2408 bytes desc : not available more information about the pkg - gnome - maintainers


interpreting book of mormon geography reviewed by randall p. spackman mormon ' s map is john l. sorenson ' s most recent compilation and discussion of book of mormon passages relating to geography. the book is composed of 128 pages of understandable text ( including seventeen maps illustrating geographical features mentioned in the text ). fifty - four endnotes ( pp. 129 - 34 ), a scripture index ( pp. 135 - 42 ), a subject index ( pp. 143 - 54 ), and various other resources make this book a compact research tool. the inside front cover contains " mormon ' s map, " a blue - and - green graphic resembling the maps of biblical lands found at the end of the king james version of the holy bible published by the church in 1979. a legend listing geographical details ( that are indicated on the map only by numbers ) accompanies this map. another multicolored map entitled " major physical features " is placed on the inside back cover, permitting the reader to refer quickly to general topographic features. mormon ' s map revisits many of the verses in the book of mormon that were mined for geographical meaning in the author ' s earlier and larger volumes : an ancient american setting for the book of mormon ( 1985 ) and the geography of book of mormon events : a source book ( 1992 ). 1 indeed, the concluding paragraph in mormon ' s map asserts that " the features found on ' mormon ' s map ' as presented in this book are more carefully defined, more logically cross - checked, and more numerous than the criteria in the 1992 work " ( p. 128 ). my first impression of mormon ' s map — the sort of impression one would get in a bookstore after browsing through the book for a few minutes — was that it provided an attractively packaged, readable, and relatively thorough guide for anyone interested in a reasoned interpretation of book of mormon geography. what is mormon ' s map? sorenson indicates that what he has called " mormon ' s map " would, in its ideal form, be a " two - dimensional rendering of the body of information about geography that mormon possessed in his mind " ( p. 125 ). however, the version of mormon ' s map set forth in sorenson ' s book can only be " a reasonable approximation " ( p. 126 ) of " the nephites ' conception of their geography " based on " all the information [ sorenson has ] been able to elicit from mormon ' s words and those of other book of mormon writers " ( pp


inscribed stone altar from the seventh or sixth century b. c. ( about the time of lehi ) referring to the tribe of " nihm. " 4 such tangible support indicates that the events described in the book of mormon were not the imagined novelties of joseph smith but reasonably could have happened just where and when the book says they occurred. such evidence ( whether geological, topographical, cultural, geographical, or environmental ) is not a prerequisite for the development of a basic understanding and spiritual acceptance of and loyal commitment to the religious message of the book of mormon. the workings of the holy spirit are not dependent on educational attainments, scholarly acceptance, or scientific advances. perhaps these facts are related to sorenson ' s reasons for not expressly mentioning this line of argument. his book seems primarily addressed to latter - day saints who, in the overwhelming majority, are neither educationally ready nor sufficiently funded to develop carefully drawn theories, to pursue and examine potential data, to recognize physical substantiation, and, where necessary, to suggest modifications to prevailing interpretations of book of mormon geography. for such readers, mormon ' s map fills the purpose of providing a reasonably careful guide to current views about the geography of the book of mormon. nonetheless, book of mormon geography is vital to the establishment and management of an efficient and productive process for developing theories about, and seeking and finding material evidence related to, the book of mormon. the lord has declared that the book of mormon " contains the truth and the word of god " ( d & c 19 : 26 ), and he has commanded us to " grow... in the knowledge of the truth " ( d & c 50 : 40 ). surely that divinely intended growth may involve an organized process for extending our knowledge about the people and geography described in the book of mormon. sorenson does address the issue of latter - day saint church leaders having already settled questions about nephite geography. he makes it clear that early suppositions of church members about a hemispheric geography ignored the evidence to be found in the text of the book of mormon. sorenson also quotes church leaders and publications to show that no authoritative map or geography has ever been revealed or adopted, remarking that " what logically would seem to be one of the first steps in a systematic investigation — to construct a map of the american ' land of promise ' based solely on statements in [ the book of mormon ] ( at least 550 passages are relevant ) — seems not to have occurred to anyone during the


of the first steps in a systematic investigation — to construct a map of the american ' land of promise ' based solely on statements in [ the book of mormon ] ( at least 550 passages are relevant ) — seems not to have occurred to anyone during the church ' s first century " ( p. 4 ). the investigative efforts in the second century have resulted in " tremendous confusion and a plethora of notions that holds no promise of producing a consensus " ( p. 5 ), primarily because most writers fail to take the first step of detailed textual examination. mormon ' s map is sorenson ' s most recent effort to provide such a first - step analysis for a general latter - day saint audience. 5 a comprehensive process in the book ' s second chapter, sorenson describes the process for developing " mormon ' s map. " the starting point, certainly, is the text itself. " whatever the book of mormon says about its own geography... takes precedence over anything commentators have said of it " ( p. 9 ). sorenson advises that we must " intensively examine the text mormon left us ( of course, we have access to it only as it has been transmitted to us in english through joseph smith ) " ( p. 12 ). this is a premise he also sets forth in the geography of book of mormon events : if we are serious about answering the question [ where were the lands in which book of mormon events took place? ]... what should we do...? well, the question itself has two sides to it. our goal has to be to construct an equation involving the two sides : nephite locations a, b, c, etc. = new world locations x, y, z, etc. we cannot work on the whole equation without first attaining thorough definition of the variables on either side of the equal sign. equipping ourselves with that thorough knowledge demands different capabilities on the one side and on the other. for the external world, we cannot substitute knowledge of scripture for knowledge of climate, topography, hydrography, etc. unavoidably, we must have a profound grasp of the elements of the physical and cultural scene in its own terms — without any reference to the scripture. most people offering [ geographic ] models show that they have limited knowledge of that world. on the other side, we must know all there is to know about the statements in the book of mormon on the matters at hand — without any reference to external geography, archaeology, or history. everything done so far in


limited knowledge of that world. on the other side, we must know all there is to know about the statements in the book of mormon on the matters at hand — without any reference to external geography, archaeology, or history. everything done so far in studying the geography of book of mormon events [ presumably including sorenson ' s earlier writings ] has been inadequate by reason of incompleteness, if not of real errors. 6 john e. clark addresses the same issue in his article " a key for evaluating nephite geographies, " published in 1989. 7 he examines the book of mormon passages he thought were important in developing an understanding of an " elemental " geography described in the book. clark seems to be the first to attempt to treat the geography of the book of mormon solely from an internal standpoint and to base his thoughts on " all the geographical passages in the book of mormon. " 8 because of the importance of clark ' s 1989 article and sorenson ' s 1992 book with respect to the topic treated in mormon ' s map, this review will refer to these earlier studies. for example, clark addresses the issue of textual examination as follows : it has been my experience that most members of the church, when confronted with a book of mormon geography, worry about the wrong things. almost invariably the first question that arises is whether the geography fits the archaeology of the proposed area. this should be our second question, the first being whether the geography fits the facts of the book of mormon — a question we all can answer without being versed in american archaeology. only after a given geography reconciles all of the significant geographic details given in the book of mormon does the question of archaeological and historical detail merit attention. the book of mormon must be the final and most important arbiter in deciding the correctness of a given geography ; otherwise we will be forever hostage to the shifting sands of expert opinion. 9 with the fervent injunction ( and leadership ) of clark and sorenson requiring us to focus our attention on the text of the book of mormon as a first step in creating a realistic geography, the next crucial issue seems to be finding all the passages of text on which our focus is to rest. both authors begin with alma 22 and quickly build interpretative links to other passages of text. according to mormon ' s map, the nearest thing to a systematic explanation of mormon ' s geographical picture is given in alma 22 : 27 - 34. in the course of relating an incident involving nephite missionaries and the great king over the lamanites


verses listed in geography of book of mormon events. that is, of the 637 verses cited in mormon ' s map, neither clark nor sorenson had identified 258 verses earlier as being relevant to book of mormon geography. furthermore, of the 492 " new " verses listed in geography of book of mormon events, fully 291 did not receive any mention in mormon ' s map. table 1 below shows the distribution of verses with potential geographical significance cited in clark ' s article and in sorenson ' s geography of book of mormon events and mormon ' s map. as the table depicts, clark ' s study of book of mormon passages relevant to geography relies almost entirely on verses in the books of alma and mosiah ( 86 percent of the cited verses ). these books are also vital to sorenson ' s geography of book of mormon events ( 63 percent of the cited verses ) and mormon ' s map ( 53 percent of the cited verses ). nonetheless, sorenson ' s work indicates a capacity to expand the scope of inquiry outside the books of alma and mosiah and to find geographical inferences in a wide variety of scriptural contexts. this does not mean that clark ' s work is defective ; he apparently did not intend to go beyond an " elemental " geography. sorenson, on the other hand, has dedicated a tremendous amount of time to the study of an internal nephite map of book of mormon events. | clark 1989 | | sorenson 1992 | | sorenson 2000 | | word of mormon | | 0 | | 1 | | 0 | after i eliminated duplications and identified all geographically relevant verses used by clark and sorenson combined, i compiled a table of 1, 068 verses that have been thought to carry potential meaning for constructing a nephite conceptual geography. 11 it seems to me that if we are going to become conscious of and accept the idea that we are searching for as good an internal map as we can find, then we really need to be reading these 1, 068 verses in the book of mormon. they would now seem to be the best place to start. are the 637 verses cited in mormon ' s map ( 60 percent of the total ) sufficient to develop an adequate internal map? sorenson clearly believes that his book examines " mainly the most decisive and clearest statements " ( p. 15 ). i do not know who could answer the question in any better manner today. a new level of book of mormon interpretative scholarship will have to be reached before our comprehension of the book


the most decisive and clearest statements " ( p. 15 ). i do not know who could answer the question in any better manner today. a new level of book of mormon interpretative scholarship will have to be reached before our comprehension of the book ' s internal geography will be more accurate. today, we can primarily refer just to the somewhat different views of clark and sorenson. a comprehending process in addition to including a comprehensive reading of textual passages, the process of reading the book of mormon for geographical meaning must provide us with comprehension of the meanings denoted and connoted by the words in the text. necessarily, this raises the issue of how to interpret the text. sorenson identifies several important principles that guide his interpretation of the book of mormon text. clark also sets forth his assumptions on how to interpret the text. at their most basic level, these principles or assumptions fall into four common categories. the assumption of simplicity rational simplicity and economy are to be assumed. mormon ' s map states : " we should avoid needlessly complicated synthesis. if two explanations occur to us for solving a geographical problem, the simpler solution — the one with the fewest arbitrary assumptions — is probably better " ( p. 14 ). clark words the assumption of simplicity as follows : " the best internal reconstruction is one which reconciles all of the data in the book of mormon with a minimum number of additional assumptions. " 12 these assumptions represent ockham ' s razor, the " principle attributed to the fourteenth - century english philosopher william of ockham... that one should choose the simplest explanation, the one requiring the fewest assumptions and principles. " 13 it is the rational principle of parsimony that ought to guide our interpretations of the book of mormon text unless, of course, the text itself unambiguously requires a more complex interpretation. the assumption of consistency in the geography of book of mormon events, sorenson presents the assumption of consistency this way : " minor slips of the ' pen ' aside, all the information on geography will prove to be consistent. " 14 in mormon ' s map, he sets forth his assumption in the form of a conclusion about consistency : my personal experience with the text of the book of mormon is that all the geographical information does prove to be consistent, so i conclude that mormon possessed an orderly " mental map " of the scene on which his people ' s history was played out.... mormon leaves no evidence of confusion about geography ; he easily persuades me that he could have told us more had


i conclude that mormon possessed an orderly " mental map " of the scene on which his people ' s history was played out.... mormon leaves no evidence of confusion about geography ; he easily persuades me that he could have told us more had he chosen to do so. even when particular lands or cities are mentioned at widely separated places in the text, the statements fit comfortably together into a plausible whole. he never hints that he did not understand the geography behind the records of his ancestors that he was abridging ; rather, his writing exudes an air of confidence. ( pp. 10 - 11 ) clark also expresses this assumption in his study of book of mormon geography : " assume that all passages are internally consistent and can be reconciled. " clark adds two closely related propositions : " assume no scribal errors unless internal evidence indicates otherwise.... assume no duplication of place names unless the text is unambiguous on the matter. " 15 i would add the word unmistakably to clark ' s " scribal error " assumption. internal evidence must unmistakably indicate an error. that which a reader might initially think is a " slip of the pen " ( because of an insufficiently examined interpretation ) usually turns out to be reconcilable when more evidence from the text of the book of mormon is carefully considered. the assumption of uniformity both clark and sorenson rely on the assumption that at the time of the book of mormon, the natural world existed, operated, and was described in ways similar to the natural world we study and understand today. clark makes this a general assumption and mentions, as examples, " that the locality where the book of mormon events took place was not unrecognizably altered at the time of the crucifixion, that geographic details in the small plates and in the book of ether are therefore compatible with those in mormon ' s and moroni ' s abridgment, and that the principles of natural science that apply to today ' s environments are also pertinent to nephite lands. " 16 in mormon ' s map, sorenson expresses the sense of a general uniformitarian assumption with two rather simple propositions : " the expressions ' up, ' ' down, ' and ' over, ' when used in a geographical context, refer to elevation.... nature worked the same anciently as it does today. " sorenson elaborates with examples : " we can be sure that the headwaters of rivers were at


and ' over, ' when used in a geographical context, refer to elevation.... nature worked the same anciently as it does today. " sorenson elaborates with examples : " we can be sure that the headwaters of rivers were at a higher elevation than their mouths, and a river implies the presence of a corresponding drainage basin " ( p. 13 ). sorenson also confronts the idea that " we cannot hope to attain clarity because of the great destruction that took place at the time of the savior ' s crucifixion. " those who suggest such a notion may feel that the destruction " so changed everything that what could be seen of the landscape in former times would not be recognizable afterward. mormon lets us know that this concern is unfounded " ( p. 11 ). sorenson then leads us through the textual evidence to conclude that " most of the basic land forms and ecological conditions had [ not ] been rendered unrecognizable " ( p. 12 ). hence, both textual evidence and logic require an assumption of uniformity in the way nature operates today and operated in book of mormon times. if one were to assume otherwise, one ' s geographical theory would have to be categorized as being in the realm of science fiction. a fictional geography may be appropriate for a literary work about imaginary characters, but such a geography would not be appropriate for the book of mormon. the events set forth in the book of mormon were perceived to have happened by actual nephite historians and their sources. such events occurred in real geographical settings subject to the normal laws and processes of nature. the assumption of an uncertain cultural comprehension clark suggests, without elaboration, that one should " assume a literal meaning " for book of mormon terminology. 17 sorenson seems to recommend otherwise. " ideas in the record will not necessarily be familiar or clear to us.... book of mormon terminology will not necessarily be clear to us, even in translation, because language and cultural assumptions change.... we must seek to overcome any problems this causes us by striving to think, feel, and see as if we were mormon, rather than supposing that we can read the text ' literally ' ( which actually turns out to mean ' according to unspoken assumptions of our current culture ' ) " ( pp. 13 - 14 ). neither author is consistent in following his own advice, as will be discussed below. naturally, if one strives to think, feel, and see like mormon, one might simply be thinking,


culture ' ) " ( pp. 13 - 14 ). neither author is consistent in following his own advice, as will be discussed below. naturally, if one strives to think, feel, and see like mormon, one might simply be thinking, feeling, and seeing in accordance with one ' s own cultural preconceptions ( including those one has about mormon ). to actually accomplish what sorenson suggests, we must know something about how mormon thought, felt, and viewed the world ; to do that, we should know at least the basics about how others in his part of the world perceived themselves and their world. thus, we must know where mormon lived in order to discover from all this internal book of mormon research where mormon lived! the process is circular and moves forward only with the acceptance and incorporation of more completely developed and understood information. as a result of this circularity, sorenson ' s assumption of uncertainty in cultural terminology and ideas necessarily leads to a delicate exercise in determining when to rest ( one cannot stop entirely ) in this cyclical process of interpreting the text, associating the text with a theoretical world, examining the remains of the real world related to such a theoretical world, and then reinterpreting the text, modifying the theory, conducting further research, reinterpreting the text, etc. these are not tasks that most readers want to or can undertake. hence, sorenson ' s assumption imposes a requirement of special knowledge or expertise and turns the process of reading the book of mormon for geographical purposes into a process that must fundamentally be a scholarly pursuit. while i think sorenson ' s assumption is a correct one, as a general reader of book of mormon geography i also think the assumption is not without interpretative risk ( clark ' s " shifting sands of expert opinion " referred to above ). we cannot continue to rely indefinitely on individual scholars working independently to bring about an improved understanding of book of mormon cultural ideas and terminology ( whether having to do with geography or otherwise ). the need for collaborative work continues to grow. the institutions necessary to produce such work ought to be identified, promoted, supported, and managed. but here i am really taking off on a tangent — an important tangent, nonetheless, that is directly related to sorenson ' s work in mormon ' s map. sorenson is surely correct that we have to take mormon ' s terminology and ideas into account. we must also bear in mind the transmission of the text from mormon ' s language into the english of joseph smith and from there into the


' s map. sorenson is surely correct that we have to take mormon ' s terminology and ideas into account. we must also bear in mind the transmission of the text from mormon ' s language into the english of joseph smith and from there into the english of our contemporary culture. as mormon ' s map briefly observes, " english has changed between 1829 and 2000 " ( pp. 13 - 14 ). does this mean we must strive to think, feel, and see like joseph smith, too? the answer is yes. where did joseph smith live? how did people think, feel, and see in his culture? how did they express themselves? what did they know of mormon ' s world? we must also question how people today think, feel, see, and communicate. indeed, what do we know today about mormon ' s world? thus, we must be aware of three cultural screens — mormon ' s ( or the nephites ' ), joseph smith ' s, and our own — standing between us and the world of the book of mormon. we must assume an uncertain comprehension at our own level, at joseph smith ' s level, and, perhaps to a much lesser extent, even at mormon ' s level. all three cultural screens must be taken into account in any serious interpretative process. my own research provides a clear example of the kinds of issues that need to be examined when attempting to interpret passages in the book of mormon and place their meaning into current english language and concepts. mormon ' s map mentions the particular issue of the differences between contemporary and ancient notions about " many days " of travel. " similarly, we might ask, would ' year ' have meant the same to [ mormon ] as it does to us? lasting how long? beginning and ending when? composed of what seasonal variations in climate? " ( p. 78 ). when i began studying book of mormon chronology, 18 i started with a naive awareness that part of nephite record keeping included the measurement of years. that ' s an english word familiar to me and the same word that joseph smith used to represent calendrical periods expressed by nephi in the sixth century b. c. ( e. g., 2 nephi 5 : 28 — " thirty years " ), by mormon in the fourth century a. d. ( e. g., mormon 6 : 5 — " three hundred and eighty and four years " ), and by moroni in the fourth or fifth century a. d., when he abridged records


, must necessarily lead to a distorted book of mormon chronology because it was not the calendar used by the ancient record keepers. nephi, mormon, and the jaredites used distinctive calendars for separate purposes. our interpretative experience can add rich levels of meaning to our literal reading of the word years. can i also, as sorenson proposes, think, feel, and see as mormon did? again, i would say yes — in a way i can. but sitting in my easy chair and urging myself into some sort of imaginary late - nephite reverie is certainly not the way. once the terminology and ideas expressed in the book of mormon with respect to a specific topic have been fully examined from a textual standpoint, then careful study of external sources ( including other scriptures ) and thoughtful synthesis must be undertaken. that is one of the reasons why mormon ' s map is such a valuable book — a scholar of sorenson ' s stature has taken the time and effort to clarify his thinking regarding the textual evidence he has examined and interpreted concerning the book of mormon land of promise. interpreting book of mormon directions the assumptions of clark and sorenson appear to differ most in their interpretative effect in relation to issues about directions in the book of mormon. these issues require the adoption of interpretations that are more complex and uncertain because the book of mormon seems, at least on the level of construal undertaken so far, to provide relatively little information about the nephite directional system. as a result, clark and sorenson bring significant external assumptions to their interpretative tasks. these assumptions are valuable for the light they shine on the interpretation process. sorenson ' s treatment of the nephite directional system in mormon ' s map is for me the least satisfying discussion in the entire book. it is not a step forward. 19 to explain my disappointment and to help elucidate the interpretative process yet to be commenced with respect to directions in the book of mormon, i will contrast sorenson ' s treatment of nephite directions with the very limited interpretation undertaken by clark. in mormon ' s map, sorenson devotes a short section to nephite directions. he begins, not with an examination of the text relating to directions, but with textual passages that indicate how limited our understanding of nephite ideas and terminology might be. " when we examine the text of the book of mormon carefully, we can detect numerous places where cultural assumptions that were second nature to the nephites are quite different than those we hold. we latter - day


of mormon having something to do with directions. he begins by mentioning the obvious difference between terms such as north and northward, south and southward. he then jumps to what i consider an unsupportable conclusion. " by their frequency of using the ' - ward ' suffix, we can infer that mormon and his ancestors used a somewhat different cultural scheme for directions than we do " ( p. 80 ). why is this a reasonable inference? did mormon use the suffix or did joseph smith, in his attempt to express a nephite concept? how does frequency of use necessarily require a different directional system? what if the nephite directional scheme were exactly the same as ours, but the more important geographic areas were not directly north or south of the nephites? wouldn ' t joseph smith then refer to northward and southward as a matter of accuracy and fact, rather than to indicate a different directional scheme? indeed, in an earlier chapter of mormon ' s map, sorenson uses the term northward to help explain his reason for tilting the hourglass - shaped nephite lands away from a strict north - south axis ( pp. 18 - 20 ). that is, his argument about the need for a tilt in the axis of the nephite land of promise is founded on an interpretation of the nephite directional system so that it included cardinal directions. clearly, this matter has not been thoroughly examined, and we have no reason at this point to disregard a directional system based on cardinal directions. sorenson then provides a second example that he thinks should lead us to be cautious when interpreting the nephite directional system. he contrasts the use of the terms came and went in the book of mormon. he speculates that the distinction may have something to do with the place where the historian was recording the events, but then he notes that this contrast has not yet been analyzed systematically. the best that sorenson seems to be able to muster in this section is an expression of caution. " beware of making assumptions about meanings that may prove to be misleading because they spring from modern - day assumptions rather than from ancient ways " ( p. 81 ). however, sorenson has not guided us through an examination of passages leading to the conclusion that a literal reading is not appropriate when it comes to the nephite directional system. in fact, he acknowledges that not enough work has been done on this topic. while commenting that " directional matters " are often " subtle, " he expressly notes that there is much yet to be considered " before


the nephite directional system. in fact, he acknowledges that not enough work has been done on this topic. while commenting that " directional matters " are often " subtle, " he expressly notes that there is much yet to be considered " before we even know all the right questions about nephite direction systems " ( p. 81 ). in contrast, clark ' s interpretation of the directions used by nephite authors is, at least initially, " literal " and thus builds on the foundation of textual analysis. clark specifies his directional assumptions as follows : i assume that the nephite directional system was internally consistent and that this consistency persisted throughout the period of their history. i do not pretend to know how nephite " north " relates to the north of today ' s compass, and such information is irrelevant for my present purpose of reconstructing an internal geography. i do assume, however, that regardless of what any " real " orientation may have been, nephite north was 180 degrees from nephite south, and both were 90 degrees off of east and west. the directional suffix " - ward " is here loosely interpreted to mean " in the general direction of. " thus, i read " northward " as " in a general northerly direction. " finally, all directions are directions from " somewhere. " i assume the central reference point was the city of zarahemla, located in the " center " of the land of zarahemla ( helaman 1 : 24 - 27 ). 20 clark ' s initial view of nephite directions relies precisely on our own culture ' s cardinal directions. our " literal " understanding is, and to my mind must be, our first and most unsophisticated interpretation of the meanings associated with words used in the book of mormon. this " literal " approach to book of mormon directions also happens to be consistent with concepts of direction and geographical organization that were familiar to joseph smith and his contemporaries. 21 as joseph translated the book of mormon, he seems to have used the directional and geographical concepts familiar to him. this is, and must be, our second level of interpretation of a word or phrase mentioned in the book of mormon. in most cases, the first and second levels of interpretation probably will be identical, but this need not always be the case. the english language has changed in some respects since the time of joseph smith. near the end of his article, clark describes in much greater detail another related directional pattern when he seeks to interpret helaman


, but this need not always be the case. the english language has changed in some respects since the time of joseph smith. near the end of his article, clark describes in much greater detail another related directional pattern when he seeks to interpret helaman 3 : 8. in that verse, the nephites are said to have expanded " from the land southward to the land northward, and... spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east. " clark acknowledges that his reading of the book of mormon directional system can be literal only to a point. then another level of interpretation is called for and additional assumptions must be made. clark refers to this change in interpretative process as requiring an explanation that is metaphorical : the passage in helaman may have been meant in a metaphorical rather than a literal way. explaining away difficult passages as metaphors goes against one of my guiding assumptions for dealing with the text, but in this case i think it is well justified. north and south sea probably have no more concrete meaning than the phrases " filling the whole earth " and " as numerous as the sands of the sea. " mormon waxes poetic whenever describing the nephites ' peaceful golden age of uninterrupted population growth and expansion. this is understandable given the circumstances under which he wrote, and his knowledge of the certain doom of his people. it is interesting that in a parallel passage describing the same sort of population expansion [ helaman 11 : 20 ] no north or south sea is mentioned.... i am convinced that the reference to a north sea and a south sea is devoid of any concrete geographical content. all specific references or allusions to book of mormon seas are only to the east and west seas. any geography that tries to accommodate a north and south sea, i think, is doomed to fail. but we cannot dismiss the reference to these seas out of hand. if they are metaphorical, what was the metaphor? 22 with this piling up of inferences, clark theorizes that the north and south seas mentioned in the text are not physical bodies of water. he bases this theory on the slim fact that these seas are not mentioned in one similar passage in the book of mormon. hence, he moves his interpretation of book of mormon directions from a literal one consistent with our culture ( and joseph smith ' s culture 175 years ago ), where cardinal points are the principal directions


not mentioned in one similar passage in the book of mormon. hence, he moves his interpretation of book of mormon directions from a literal one consistent with our culture ( and joseph smith ' s culture 175 years ago ), where cardinal points are the principal directions, to a third level of cultural understanding ( a nephite metaphorical level ) that still may have been somewhat accurately depicted by english words describing a cardinal direction system. clark also notes that this metaphorical interpretation " would not be out of place in the middle east at the time of lehi ; and it is remarkably close to the mesoamerican view of their world. " 23 that is, at this third level of interpretation, a nonliteral theory has been created and compared favorably with what clark would consider appropriate external cultures to lend credence to his further sense of the meanings that might be associated with our ( and joseph smith ' s ) cardinal directions. clark ' s conceptualized nephite world, " as part of a metaphor for the whole earth, " places zarahemla at the center and expands outward ( in the four cardinal directions ) through lands and wildernesses to the four seas mentioned in helaman 3 : 8. 24 clark ' s literal interpretation of a couple of verses that mention ( and don ' t mention ) north and south seas, his identification of an interpretative problem, and then his creation of a metaphorical solution or theory are procedurally sound ( but not necessarily substantively correct ). he then compares the metaphorical theory with ideas from external sources he assumes were related to the book of mormon. this is a valid interpretative process, but not necessarily one that leads to an accurate interpretation. from a substantive point of view, one must also note that clark ' s problem with the text of helaman 3 : 8 is based on his inference from helaman 11 : 20 that the north and south seas " probably " had no real existence. why is that inference " probably " accurate? are there no other passages in the book of mormon that might bear on this question? in how many other ways is the term north used in the book of mormon? what about uses of the term south? is it impossible or just unlikely that there were north and south seas? the interpretative process dealing with north and south seas has actually just begun. in mormon ' s map, sorenson seems to throw his required caution to the wind when he interprets north and south seas literally. these seas seem to serve his purpose of tilting the axis of


is identical to sorenson ' s in one regard : so little work has apparently been done on the topic that we do not yet know all the right questions to ask. where does sorenson think we are today? i have not attempted to provide a substantive evaluation of the chapters of mormon ' s map that deal with sorenson ' s detailed views of book of mormon land forms, topography, environment, distances, and civilization. i have no training or expertise in those subjects. frankly, the task would have to begin with comparisons of sorenson ' s inferences and the 1, 068 verses identified as having potential geographical relevance. that will take a great deal of impartial ( hopefully collaborative ) work. thus, i find myself in the position of virtually every other reader of mormon ' s map ( sorenson excepted ). i must rely on my own rational responses to sorenson ' s detailed interpretations and those responses include " interesting, " " challenging, " and " what if... " but hardly anything substantive. to his credit, sorenson also helps us in this area by concluding mormon ' s map with a chapter entitled " so how much do we know? " in essence, he reviews his own work. he compares the version of " mormon ' s map " he has been able to construct with the widely duplicated maps that early european cartographers produced : " they drew in coastlines on the basis of reports that were not very clear or full from voyagers who had traversed portions of the coast. where they did not possess direct information, those mapmakers made inferences — guesses may be more accurate. as for the interior spaces beyond the coasts, their information was even sketchier. still, the maps they drafted were avidly sought by later voyagers and served them well enough. the comprehensive ' mormon ' s map ' on the inside front cover of this book can prove useful too " ( p. 126 ). sorenson then lists the three uses to which he thinks " a map in this tentative condition " ( p. 127 ) can be put. first, it provides " a model that we can apply to stories from the record to check their consistency and perhaps shed new light on factors [ the stories ] involved that had not occurred to us before. " second, " we may discern new questions about geography... gaps in our knowledge for which we might seek answers by consulting mormon ' s text anew. " third, " the map summarizes a set of criteria... against which


, " we may discern new questions about geography... gaps in our knowledge for which we might seek answers by consulting mormon ' s text anew. " third, " the map summarizes a set of criteria... against which to evaluate proposals for where in the external world nephite lands were located " ( p. 127 ). this is a succinct summary of where we are today. " mormon ' s map " is surely " tentative, " but we may finally be in a position to begin filling in the blank spots in our understanding through a reasoned process. by combining clark ' s " elemental " geography and interpretative process with sorenson ' s more comprehensive geography of book of mormon events and mormon ' s map, we have a solid foundation for a collaborative project to consciously produce a generally acceptable interpretation of the nephite map described in the text of the book of mormon. we have a method for identifying interpretative issues, pulling together the textual passages that have been identified on each issue as controlling, determining various interpretative theories about those passages, and then comparing the theories for simplicity, consistency, uniformity, and uncertainty in our interpretation of ideas and terminology. will such a collaborative project necessarily produce a duplicate of clark ' s " elemental " geography or sorenson ' s mormon ' s map i have met john clark and john sorenson and admire them both, but i don ' t think i know anyone who could answer that question today. why don ' t we find the answer? when one approaches a landfall from the sea, the barest edge of land first appears as a dark contour rising up on the horizon. mormon ' s map leaves me with a clear sense that it represents just the first contour of a wonderful, exciting, and " promised " land filled with information and levels of meaning that are yet to be discovered, understood, and communicated. thank you, professor clark, for your attention to the interpretative process. thank you, professor sorenson, for extending that process into mormon ' s map. " land ho! "


( medical xpress ) - - cambridge scientists have, for the first time, created cerebral cortex cells those that make up the brains grey matter from a small sample of human skin. the researchers findings, which were funded by alzheimers research uk and the wellcome trust, were published today in nature neuroscience. diseases of the cerebral cortex range from developmental conditions, such as epilepsy and autism, to neurodegenerative conditions such as alzheimers. todays findings will enable scientists to study how the human cerebral cortex develops, how it wires up and how that can go wrong ( a common problem leading to learning disabilities ). it will also allow them to recreate brain diseases, such as alzheimers, in the lab. this will give them previously impossible insight, allowing them to both watch the diseases develop in real time and also develop and test new drugs to stop the diseases progressing. dr. rick livesey of the gurdon institute and department of biochemistry at the university of cambridge, principal investigator of the research, said : this approach gives us the ability to study human brain development and disease in ways that were unimaginable even five years ago. for their research, the scientists took skin biopsies from patients and then reprogrammed the cells from the skin samples back into stem cells. these stem cells as well as human embryonic stem cells were then used to generate cerebral cortex cells. dr. livesey added : we are using this system to recreate alzheimers disease in the lab. alzheimers disease is the commonest form of dementia in the world, and dementia currently affects over 800, 000 people in the uk. its a disease that primarily affects the type of nerve cell weve made in the lab, so weve the perfect tool to create a full, human model of the disease in the lab. dr. simon ridley, head of research at alzheimers research uk, the uks leading dementia research charity, said : we are really pleased to have contributed funding for this work and the results are a positive step forward. turning stem cells into networks of fully functional nerve cells in the lab holds great promise for unravelling complex brain diseases such as alzheimers. dementia is the greatest medical challenge of our time we urgently need to understand more about the condition and how to stop it. we hope these findings can move us closer towards this goal.


parkinson ' s disease ( pd ) is a movement disorder. the symptoms get worse over time and can include : - muscle rigidity - tremor at rest - slowing down of movements ( bradykinesia ) - difficulty moving and gait instability pd is caused by a loss of certain nerve cells in the brain. the loss of these cells causes a decrease in the amount of a brain chemical called dopamine. low dopamine levels cause pd symptoms. the brain cells may be lost because of genetic defects, the environment, or some combination of the two. a small amount of people with pd have an early - onset form. this type is caused by an inherited gene defect. secondary pd has similar symptoms but is caused by several factors such as : - antipsychotic drugs, such as haloperidol ( haldol ), fluphenazine ( prolixin ), trifluoperazine ( stelazine ), and chlorpromazine ( thorazine ) - antinausea / gastric motility medications such as prochlorperazine and metoclopramide - cardiovascular drugs, such as some calcium channel blockers and antiarrhythmic drugs - valproic acid ( a medication used for seizures, migraines, and bipolar disorder ) - carbon monoxide poisoning - manganese poisoning - brain tumors - iv drug abuse contaminated by mptp ( a type of neurotoxin ) - reserpine ( medicine to treat schizophrenia and high blood pressure ) - insecticide exposure factors that increase the chance of pd include : symptoms of pd begin mildly. they will worsen over time. - " pill - rolling " tremor in the hands - tremors are present at rest, improve with movement, and are absent during sleep - stiffness and rigidity of muscles, usually beginning on one side of the body - difficulty and shuffling when walking - short steps - slowness of purposeful movements - trouble performing usual tasks, due to shaking in hands and slowness of movement - trouble speaking ( often speaking with a low volume ) - flat, monotonous voice - shaky, spidery, or small handwriting - poor balance - difficulty with rising from a sitting position - seborrhea ( a skin problem that causes a red rash and white scales ) - loss of smell - urinary symptoms ( frequency and urgency ) - bowel movement symptoms ( straining, constipation ) - tendency to fall - stooped posture - increasingly mask - like face, with little


is morgellons disease a physical or psychological condition? last year, the u. s. centers for disease control and prevention ( cdc ) launched a study of a curious and controversial condition known as morgellons disease, which is characterized by creeping, crawling and stinging sensations under the skin. the project, whose goal is to identify possible risk factors and causes, was prompted by pressure from afflicted people, along with the advocacy groups and congressmen that represent them, according to cdc spokesperson lola russell. many in the medical community question whether morgellons is an infectious disease or a psychiatric disorder. morgellons has drawn increasing attention since 2002, when a pittsburgh woman named mary leitao launched a web site describing skin sores and filamentlike structures emerging from her two - year - old son ’ s s skin. after being inundated with e - mails from people complaining of similar symptoms, leitao founded the morgellons research foundation ( mrf ) to raise awareness and secure research funding for the bizarre condition. since then, nearly 14, 000 families have reported morgellons cases to mrf, although the actual number may be higher, the organization says. to learn more about morgellons, which many patients believe is caused by parasites, we consulted michael cappello, a pediatrics professor and infectious disease specialist at yale university school of medicine in new haven, conn. [ an edited transcript of the interview follows. ] what is morgellons disease? it is a skin condition that does not have an accepted medical definition. the name itself was given not by physicians per se — at least contemporary physicians — but by an advocacy group. [ leitao borrowed the name from 17th - century french doctors who observed a similar condition in children. ] what are the symptoms? patients complain of itching and scratching sensations. they get wrapped up in the belief that there is something beneath their skin — an infectious agent, such as a parasitic worm — that can be extracted. they often try to pull that something out of their skin, which creates open sores. patients will say, “ i scratched and i pulled this living thing out of my skin. ” how do the patients describe these living things they believe are beneath their skin? often they describe them as tiny fibers. [ according to the mrf, the fibers or " filaments " are " near microscopic " and may be white, blue, red or black. in addition to the filaments, there may also be


providing digital resourcesfor the australian curriculum biological, physical and earth and space sciences for early learners early learners discover the past through toys and games multimedia and inquiry questions about life in ancient times conducting historical inquiry related to australian history this is a short story about the lives of stick insects. living things have basic needs! these videos show how bugs handle their prey. dr tanya hill, astronomer, explains why we experience day and night. dr tanya hill, astronomer, explains changes in the sky and the star patterns. an interactive where students match objects that move the same way. this is a story about toys used by several generations of a family. toys from the museum ' s collection are used to explore continuity and change. children sequence images of toys from the my grandmother ' s toy box story. students investigate primary and secondary sources about the vesuvius eruption. students examine the importance of conserving the remains of pompeii. the features and functions of a roman house are explored in this resource. what does the practice of public bathing tell us about everyday roman life? illustrations of daily life and slaves ' videos prompt an inquiry into slavery. alistair thomson offers advice to students on how to record oral histories. dr moya mcfadzean discusses the role of objects in personal migration stories. michael reason discusses how photographs assist in understanding the past. dr paula hamilton reflects on creating community histories. museum victoria learning lab material is licensed under a creative commons attribution 3. 0 australia license, displayed at the bottom of each learning lab page unless stated otherwise. where website users are directed via links to museum victoria material which is not a component of the learning lab, the applicable copyright notice for that material appears in the rights tab in the page footer. hi haidar - we checked with our live exhibits department with your query, and they have said the following : no - one has ever recorded the life span of a male vi... to read the latest tweets from @ museumvictoria follow museum victoria on hello kristen - if you can upload a clear image to us via our ask the experts page, we will see if the bird can be identified - it would also be useful to know...


search national agricultural library ( nal ) digital collections showing item 0 of from your search. a system for estimating bowen ratio and evaporation from waste lagoons - a low - cost system was deployed above a swine waste lagoon to obtain estimates of bowen ratios and characterize lagoon temperatures. the system consisted of humidity and temperature sensors and anemometers deployed above the lagoon, water temperature sensors, and a meteorological station located by the lagoon. to evaluate the system, data was analyzed from the 25th through 28th june 2007. bowen ratios showed diurnal behavior near the lagoon surface characterized by negative values during day and positive ones at night. latent ( evaporation ) and sensible heat fluxes were towards the atmosphere and the lagoon, respectively for most of the day. a diurnal cycle in atmospheric and lagoon temperatures was also observed. furthermore, wind speeds above the lagoon were highest in the afternoon. these variations were linked to lagoon temperature stratifications which became more pronounced as wind speeds increased. temperature stratification at the lagoon indicated increased heat exchange at the lagoon ' s interface with the atmosphere. during the night, the stratification disappeared and temperatures in the water column were almost identical down to about 60 cm. this behavior is similar to that observed in other shallow water bodies that are fetch - limited. lagoon heating was driven by the diurnal cycle of solar radiation and net radiation. this suggests that bowen ratios had an inverse relationship with lagoon heating and its thermal stratification. this also indicates that there was an increase in latent heat flux and evaporation during the daytime. these results are important for characterizing the thermal behavior of the lagoon leading to a better representation of processes responsible for emissions. quintanar, a. i., mahmood, r., loughrin, j. h., lovanh, n., motley, m. v. estimation, evaporation rate, waste lagoons, swine, pig manure, water temperature, sensors, anemometers, meteorological data, temperature profiles - includes references - applied engineering in agriculture 2009, v. 25, no. 6 journal articles, usda authors, peer - reviewed - works produced by employees of the u. s. government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the u. s. the content of this document is not copyrighted.


sunlight is earth ’ s most abundant energy source and is delivered everywhere free of charge. yet direct use of solar energy — that is, harnessing light ’ s energy content immediately rather than indirectly in fossil fuels or wind power — makes only a small contribution to humanity ’ s energy supply. in 2008, about 0. 1 % of the total energy supply in the united states came from solar sources. in theory, it could be much more. in practice, it will require considerable scientific and engineering progress in the two ways of converting the energy of sunlight into usable forms. photovoltaic systems are routinely employed to power a host of devices — from orbiting satellites to pocket calculators — and many companies make roof - sized units for homes and office buildings. photovoltaic ( pv ) systems exploit the photoelectric effect discovered more than a century ago. in certain materials, the energy of incoming light kicks electrons into motion, creating a current. sheets of these materials are routinely employed to power a host of devices — from orbiting satellites to pocket calculators — and many companies make roof - sized units for homes and office buildings. at the present time, however, the best commercial pv systems produce electricity at five to six times the cost of other generation methods, though if a system is installed at its point of use, which is often the case, its price may compete successfully at the retail level. pv is an intermittent source, meaning that it ’ s only available when the sun is shining. furthermore, unless pv energy is consumed immediately, it must be stored in batteries or by some other method. adequate and cost - effective storage solutions await development. one factor favoring pv systems is that they produce maximum power close to the time of peak loads, which are driven by air - conditioning. peak power is much more expensive than average power. with the advent of time - of - day pricing for power, pv power will grow more economical. sunlight can also be focused and concentrated by mirrors and the resulting energy employed to heat liquids that drive turbines to create electricity — a technique called solar thermal generation. existing systems produce electricity at about twice the cost of fossil - fuel sources. engineering advances will reduce the cost, but solar thermal generation is unlikely to be feasible outside regions such as the southwestern united states that receive substantial sunlight over long time periods. despite the challenges, the idea of drawing our energy from a source that is renewable and that does not emit greenhouse gases has powerful appeal.


researchers at the university of washington school of public health and community medicine have produced new analyses predicting the risk of heart disease among diverse population groups - - younger women, middle - aged men and older japanese - american men. the findings are being presented on march 26 at the 39th annual american heart association ( aha ) conference on cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention in orlando, florida. the analyses are based on results from several studies showing that for every nanometer decrease in low - density lipoprotein ( ldl ) particle diameter or size, heart disease risk increases from 30 to 230 percent, depending on the population studied. ldl particles carry the " bad cholesterol " through the bloodstream. smaller ldl particles may more easily become trapped in blood vessel walls than larger ones, possibly increasing risk for atherosclerosis. ldl particle size is determined using a technique called gradient gel electrophoresis that separates ldl particles obtained from blood samples by their diameter and shape. the uw researchers have analyzed data from three different population groups. in a case - control study of 231 primarily caucasian women aged 20 - 44 in western washington, blood samples from women with heart disease had smaller ldl size than control women in the same age group. a one - nanometer decrease in ldl size was associated with a more than two - fold risk for heart disease. the relationship remained after taking into account smoking, diabetes, hypertension and ldl cholesterol level, but was reduced substantially after taking into account triglycerides ( another form of fat carried in the bloodstream ) or high - density lipoprotein ( hdl ) cholesterol, known as the " good cholesterol ". " many people think heart disease occurs mainly in men, but heart disease is also the number - one cause of death among women in this country, " says dr. melissa austin, profes contact : ellen liang university of washington


a term used with reference to business transactions to signify the investing of money at a risk of loss on the chance of unusual gain. the word is commonly used only when the risk of loss is greater than ordinary business methods and prudence warrant. a coal merchant who sees grounds for thinking that the coming winter will be severe, and that there will be a general strike among coal miners, shows enterprise if he lays in a large stock of coal with the expectation of reaping more than usual profit from its sale. he incurs the ordinary risks of business, he does not speculate. but if a man thinks, on trivial indications, that there is going to be a great development in the opening up of a new country, and buys large tracts of prairie land in the district on the chance of its rising rapidly in value, he would be said to speculate in land. more specifically, speculation is used to designate dealings in futures and options on the exchanges, especially when the parties to the transaction do not intend any effective transference of commodities or securities, but only the payment of differences between making - up prices and those agreed on. such time - bargains are universally practised nowadays on the world ' s exchanges, and the volume of business done in them vastly surpasses that where effective transfer of securities or commodities is contemplated. the transactions may vary indefinitely in character between bona fide and perfectly lawful buying and selling, on the one hand, and the merest gambling or betting on future prices, on the other. some of the ordinary types of such operations are the following. a speculator buys at the current rate a thousand dollars ' worth of stock for the account at the end of the month. when the day for settlement arrives, if the price has risen, he is paid the difference between the price at which he bought and the making up price. if the price is lower, the speculator loses and pays the difference to the broker. in the slang of the exchange, this is a " future ", or " time - bargain or a deal in " differences " ; and one who speculates for the rise of prices is called a " bull ", while one who speculates for the fall is called a " bear ". when the operator loses, he may prefer to extend the time of settling the account to the next settling day. this may be done by arrangement with the broker, and the transaction is known as " carrying over ". a speculator may purchase at a fixed rate the right to receive or to refuse a certain amount