central europe is keen on integrating with the west, then it is incumbent on the region ' s elites to go beyond their uncritical appropriation of the nation - state model to embrace those patently universal enlightenment values that make nationhood and popular sovereignty palatable for ethnic minorities. established elites and media have played a crucial role in fashioning modern mass culture over the past two centuries. moreover, over the past decade, most regional leaders have striven to adopt requisite institutional standards for membership in the european union and nato. the leverage therefore, already exists ; it remains only that western policy planners fully realize and encourage the implementation of these international standards and modern mass culture through a combination of school instruction and visual public media. visual media has been proven the most effective means of transmitting information and molding people ' s minds ; in head - to - head competition it consistently trumps both print media and radio, both because of its easier accessibility and the didactic power of visual imagery. to their credit, democratic leaders in serbia and the rest of central europe have identified access to visual media as an indispensable element for creating a western - style civil society. unfortunately, their realization stems from first - hand experience with the effectiveness of the government - controlled visual media in an authoritarian regime, where the country ' s silent majority relies primarily - and usually exclusively - on what it sees on television. western policymakers however, have consistently dragged their feet in responding to appeals for a visual component to the existing radio " ring around serbia. " thus, yugoslavia ' s crown prince alexander bemoans intermittent encounters with tony blair, in which the british prime minister reassures him that " we ' re working on it! " another example is the misperception of the state department earlier this year of the effectiveness of voice of america ' s television broadcasts into serbia ; the department was sublimely unaware that the milosevic regime had long - since eliminated their access to every relay transmitter in the country. even a high - ranking voa staffer expressed surprise upon learning that its television broadcasts reached only a few miles into serbia, courtesy of a single transmission tower in bijeljina. the omnicompetent state the struggle for control of mass media highlights a third structural reality to which world policymakers have been slow to adapt, namely the ability of modern authoritarian regimes to culturally manipulate and criminally assault their own people. the emergence of what gale stokes has termed the " omnicompetent state " represents only the latest stage in the centuries - long, state -


adapt, namely the ability of modern authoritarian regimes to culturally manipulate and criminally assault their own people. the emergence of what gale stokes has termed the " omnicompetent state " represents only the latest stage in the centuries - long, state - building process. nor is it the first time its evolution has challenged the conscience of the international community. during early modern times the aggressive behavior of the first " great powers " promoted systemic paranoia and almost continuous international conflict. to address this problem, over the past century, the international community has contemplated applying universal standards of behavior inside sovereign countries. notwithstanding isolated cases of unilateral, third - party intervention in uganda and cambodia, nato ' s air offensive against rump yugoslavia in 1999 represents a watershed in the enforcement of internationally recognized norms of conduct ( as prescribed by the un charter ) within the frontiers of a sovereign state. journalist seymour hirsch is doubtless correct in attributing the resulting " clinton doctrine " to the worldwide mediation of cnn and other global agents of visual media. yet another factor has been " u. s. leadership " that combines contrived appeals to national self - interest with a very real sense of moral outrage. whatever the motivations, policy planners should certainly contemplate and, hopefully reinforce, the prospect of appending the body of international law to facilitate such humanitarian interventions in order to meet this latest, twentieth - century challenge posed by the state - building process. the pivotal role that the u. s. has played in yugoslavia over the past five years underscores a fourth development that demands constant attention, especially by its own policymakers. the dissolution of the soviet union marked two potential watersheds in the history of international relations : an abrupt halt to the five - century - long european arms race that began with france ' s invasion of italy in 1494, and the usurpation of the balance of power by u. s. hegemony. whether these developments will become fixed structures or merely temporary " conjunctures " will depend on how the u. s. handles itself on the international stage, especially in matters that challenge the pretensions and perceived interests of countries like france, russia, or china. in the past, competing states have capitalized on the arrogant unilateralism of momentary hegemons such as charles v, louis xiv, revolutionary france and wilhelmine germany to reestablish a new balance comprising a coalition of major powers. so far, the u. s. has defied this dynamic by sustaining an ostensibly multilateral


##gemons such as charles v, louis xiv, revolutionary france and wilhelmine germany to reestablish a new balance comprising a coalition of major powers. so far, the u. s. has defied this dynamic by sustaining an ostensibly multilateral foreign policy in the kuwait, bosnia and kosovo conflicts, as well as in less strategically significant humanitarian interventions around the world. forestalling the re - assembly of a new bi - polar balance of power however, will take constant vigilance so long as stress remains between the u. s. self - interest and that of other great powers. the fateful faux pas of past hegemons suggests that the u. s. should limit overtly self - seeking initiatives ( such as contravening the abm treaty ), while helping to construct a universal legal framework to promote an international status quo that seals u. s. hegemony. if international law is the first resort of the strong, it is also the last refuge of the weak. hence the tremendous advantages that such a framework offers to the states and societies of the former yugoslavia. once the u. s. and its allies have established the requisite parameters for collaboration, they can leave it to each of the newly former yugoslav republics to set its own pace for aid and integration with the new europe. charles ingrao spoke at an ees noon discussion on may 2, 2000


viticulture - n. : the cultivation or culture of grapes enology - n. : a science that deals with wine and wine making the v & e department combines the sciences of viticulture and enology in a single research and teaching unit that encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that impact grape growing and winemaking. for over one hundred years the university of california has maintained an active and productive program in research and education in viticulture and enology. the continuing excellence of the department has enabled california growers and vintners to develop practices that have allowed the golden state to achieve its potential and become a premier wine - producing region. wendell jacob honors the memory of his father, harry e. jacob - - former v & e faculty member. wendell jacob honors the memory of his father, harry e. jacob, former v & e faculty member. by allison chilcott ( note : this article first appeared in outlook 2005, the publication of college of agricultural and environmental sciences. ) students and campus visitors alike will learn to identify dozens of varieties of grapes - - including table, wine, and raisins - - when the harry e. jacob demonstration vineyard opens adjacent to the robert mondavi institute for wine and food science courtyard in 2008. the demonstration vineyard will serve as uc davis ’ primary vineyard education site for classes and tours hosted by the department of viticulture and enology. this unique interactive learning center, to...


key : " s : " = show synset ( semantic ) relations, " w : " = show word ( lexical ) relations display options for sense : ( gloss ) " an example sentence " - s : ( n ) bear ( massive plantigrade carnivorous or omnivorous mammals with long shaggy coats and strong claws ) - s : ( n ) bear ( an investor with a pessimistic market outlook ; an investor who expects prices to fall and so sells now in order to buy later at a lower price ) - s : ( v ) bear ( have ) " bear a resemblance " ; " bear a signature " - s : ( v ) give birth, deliver, bear, birth, have ( cause to be born ) " my wife had twins yesterday! " - s : ( v ) digest, endure, stick out, stomach, bear, stand, tolerate, support, brook, abide, suffer, put up ( put up with something or somebody unpleasant ) " i cannot bear his constant criticism " ; " the new secretary had to endure a lot of unprofessional remarks " ; " he learned to tolerate the heat " ; " she stuck out two years in a miserable marriage " - s : ( v ) bear ( move while holding up or supporting ) " bear gifts " ; " bear a heavy load " ; " bear news " ; " bearing orders " - s : ( v ) bear, turn out ( bring forth ) " the apple tree bore delicious apples this year " ; " the unidentified plant bore gorgeous flowers " - s : ( v ) bear, take over, accept, assume ( take on as one ' s own the expenses or debts of another person ) " i ' ll accept the charges " ; " she agreed to bear the responsibility " - s : ( v ) hold, bear, carry, contain ( contain or hold ; have within ) " the jar carries wine " ; " the canteen holds fresh water " ; " this can contains water " - s : ( v ) yield, pay, bear ( bring in ) " interest - bearing accounts " ; " how much does this savings certificate pay annually? " - s : ( v ) wear, bear ( have on one ' s person ) " he wore a red ribbon " ; " bear a scar " - s : ( v ) behave, acquit, bear, deport, conduct, comport, carry ( behave in a certain manner ) " she carried herself well " ; " he bore himself with dignity " ; "


key : " s : " = show synset ( semantic ) relations, " w : " = show word ( lexical ) relations display options for sense : ( gloss ) " an example sentence " - s : ( n ) skim ( a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid ) " there was a thin skim of oil on the water " - s : ( n ) skim, skimming ( reading or glancing through quickly ) - s : ( v ) plane, skim ( travel on the surface of water ) - s : ( v ) skim over, skim ( move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of ) - s : ( v ) scan, skim, rake, glance over, run down ( examine hastily ) " she scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi " - s : ( v ) skim, skip, skitter ( cause to skip over a surface ) " skip a stone across the pond " - s : ( v ) skim ( coat ( a liquid ) with a layer ) - s : ( v ) skim, skim off, cream off, cream ( remove from the surface ) " skim cream from the surface of milk " - s : ( v ) skim, skim over ( read superficially ) - s : ( adj ) skim, skimmed ( used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed ) " yogurt made with skim milk " ; " she can drink skimmed milk but should avoid butter "


imagine in this way! theme defines main structure for whole site! theme is something like structure for a post, a page or a custom post type, custom page,..! so far you know theme is really html code! in the end of wordpress excute, it returns html code to browser, and browser display for you! that html is build based on theme file ( index. php, header. php, footer. php, single. php ) plugins use hook & filter to modify theme before we output to browser! if you want to add social buttons to end of post! you can change single. php and add code to put some social button right below the _ content ( )! but you can make a plugin to use wordpress ' s filter & hook to change html of post, to append you social buttons! but what happen if you put plugin code in theme file? assume you put some functions to render content into functions. php of theme! then call those functions manually somewhere on your theme! or even better, you can use hook & filter to auto change content without manually call in theme! so as long as wordpress can include your code in someway, and run it! as long as your code run it, it can do anything for you via using hook & filter! some simple plugins can quite easy to put into a theme file! but some big plugins are too bloat to put into theme file! then later, you decide to remove that function, you go to theme file and remove the code? sound stupid, right? so we have plugin, it ' s a way to auto modify the running process of wordpress to change content, to change database,... moreover, some hooks are runned before call theme so you can ' t put theme in theme file! as long as you code is included by wordpress, wordpress runs it then return result! you can put that code in theme files, wordpress will call it for you! but if you package it as a plugin, you can easy install / deactive / remove without changing any theme files! additionaly, you also keep your theme simple / clean! so when you need to changing something, put it as a plugin if possible! don ' t put it in theme files!


mubarak ' s dream remains just that in egypt ' s desert originally published on tue july 10, 2012 8 : 57 am in the middle of southern egypt ' s windy desert, wheat fields stretch as far as the eye can see on a 24, 000 - acre farm. it ' s part of a grandiose project called toshka that was dreamed up 15 years ago by the government of hosni mubarak, egypt ' s authoritarian leader who ruled the country for three decades before being ousted last year. a key component of the toshka project was to cultivate a half - million acres of farmland in the desert to deal with egypt ' s rising demand for food. to irrigate the land, millions of dollars were spent building pumping stations and canals to draw water from nearby lake nasser, a vast man - made lake created by the construction of the aswan high dam on the nile river. but mismanagement, corruption and mubarak ' s eventual ouster have left toshka and other projects languishing. now, as economic hardship rises in egypt, there ' s renewed interest in — and debate over — the toshka project. building a new community in addition to his goal of cultivating farmland in the desert, mubarak also sought to create new towns for egyptians in this vast barren region, with hopes of persuading up to 20 percent of egypt ' s population to move here. " toshka has a very specific importance, not only as a new area for people to move in, but also being close to the border with sudan, " says mahmoud abu zeid, who heads the arab water council in cairo and was egypt ' s water minister when toshka was conceived. " we need to have a new community there, an egyptian community to live there. and also, you never know what happens between the two countries in the future, " he says. " so it has a strategic aim, and also a development aim, supported by decisions from top - down. " emma deputy bracy, a doctoral student in cairo who is writing her dissertation on the project, says mubarak saw toshka as a social contract with young egyptians. " they called it ' the march to the desert, ' and it was supposed to be literally a relocation of 20 percent of egypt ' s population focused mainly on youth, " bracy says. it was also supposed to be a place to reintegrate workers who were coming back from places like iraq, saudi arabia


it was supposed to be literally a relocation of 20 percent of egypt ' s population focused mainly on youth, " bracy says. it was also supposed to be a place to reintegrate workers who were coming back from places like iraq, saudi arabia and libya, she says. but progress was slow, hampered by mismanagement, shady land deals and repeated delays in funding from both inside and outside egypt. when then - prime minister kamal el - ganzouri — the project ' s key proponent — was replaced in 1999, the project was largely shelved. talk of reviving the project these days, what ' s left is a blue - and - white sign in the desert that has become an unintended monument to the project ' s abandonment. it reads : " new toshka city. " now, though, concerns over egypt ' s weakening economy have prompted talk of reviving the project. its key proponent, kamal el - ganzouri, was again named prime minister by the ruling generals, although he will be replaced when the new president, mohammed morsi, names his cabinet. " ganzouri came back, and he ' s pushing the project right now very strongly, and encouraging different ministries to finish their plans and so on, " says the former water minister, abu zeid. major hurdles remain, however. critics say egypt lacks the means to transport large quantities of wheat and other produce from toshka to the rest of the country. most of what the farms there produce now is exported because it ' s more profitable. nor is it easy to cultivate the land. farm managers say the ground is salty and that it takes about three years to convert into soil that can be used for crops. " if you want to take the natural conditions into account, probably any kind of solar - energy farming down there would make a lot more sense, " adds bracy, the doctoral student. the muslim brotherhood — a movement in which morsi was until recently a key leader — is also dead set against reviving the project, which it links to mubarak ' s excesses. existing farms thrive in the southern egyptian city of aswan, mohamed abdul fattah, the secretary - general of the brotherhood ' s political party, says the group has its own revival plan emphasizing tourism and agricultural projects in other locations. " i ' ve seen independent studies that show toshka was doomed to fail to begin with, " he says. " a lot of money went into it, but few jobs came out of it


plan emphasizing tourism and agricultural projects in other locations. " i ' ve seen independent studies that show toshka was doomed to fail to begin with, " he says. " a lot of money went into it, but few jobs came out of it. so it ' s not just about the corruption. " still, the handful of farms started up as part of the project appear to be thriving. one is kingdom agricultural development company, owned by saudi arabian prince al - waleed bin talal, one of the world ' s wealthiest men. crop manager ibrahim dahrouk says the farm provides hundreds of jobs to local residents, including women. they earn between $ 6 and $ 9 a day, considered a hefty wage in these parts. but unemployment is rampant in the nearby town of abu simbel, which has suffered because of the steep decline in egyptian tourism since the revolution. dozens of angry men recently staged a sit - in at the electric company there after the government hired out - of - towners for 60 jobs in the area. some of the protesters claimed if toshka was revived, it would go a long way to eradicating poverty in abu simbel and other communities in southern egypt. assad abeid el - majeed, the mayor of abu simbel, argues that toshka is a national project that egyptians should take pride in. the pumping stations and other infrastructure are there now, he says, and they should be put to use. renee montagne, host : in egypt, a major concern for the new islamist president is the economy. since last year ' s revolution, jobs are harder to come by. the cost of living is rising, and fuel shortages are leading to lengthy lines at egyptian gas stations. such problems are not new. former president hosni mubarak tried tackling economic hardships with grandiose projects like one called toshka in southern egypt. the idea was to cultivate farmland in the desert and also expand living space for egyptians, which for thousands of years has been centered almost entirely along the nile river. but mismanagement, corruption and mubarak ' s ouster have left projects like toshka languishing. npr ' s soraya sarhaddi nelson traveled to the manmade oasis and filed this report. ( soundbite of wind ) soraya sarhaddi nelson, byline : wheat fields in the middle of a windy desert stretch as far as the eye can see on this 24, 000 - acre farm called the south valley development


this report. ( soundbite of wind ) soraya sarhaddi nelson, byline : wheat fields in the middle of a windy desert stretch as far as the eye can see on this 24, 000 - acre farm called the south valley development company. the crops here are fed by fast - moving canals, with water pumped in from lake nasser, the vast man - made lake created by the construction of the aswan high dam on the nile river. other large farms carved out of the desert used the same irrigation network, which is part of the toshka mega - project dreamed up by the mubarak government 15 years ago. million of egyptians were to be relocated here in what officials hoped would become a new nile valley. the plan was to build towns and factories, as well as cultivate a half million acres of farmland in this barren region next to sudan, which like egypt, is totally dependent on the nile. mahmoud abu zeid : toshka has a very specific importance. nelson : that ' s mahmoud abu zeid, who heads the arab water council in cairo. he was egypt ' s water minister when toshka was conceived. zeid : not only as a new area for people to move in, but also being close to the borders with sudan. i mean, we need to have a new community there, egyptian community, to live there. and also, you never know what happens between the two countries in the future. so it has a strategic aim, and also a development aim supported by decisions from top - down. nelson : emma deputy bracy, a doctoral student in cairo who is writing her dissertation on toshka, says the project was the mubarak government ' s attempt at a social contract with young egyptians. emma deputy brace : they called it a march to the desert, and it was supposed to be, literally, a relocation of 20 percent of egypt ' s population focused mainly on youth, and it was supposed to be some sort of a safety valve for reintegrating workers into the population who were coming back from places like iraq and saudi and libya. nelson : then prime minister prime minister kamal el - ganzouri tackled the project with gusto, but progress was slow, hampered by mismanagement, shady land deals and repeated delays in funding from both inside and outside egypt. many of the projects associated with toshka were shelved after ganzouri was replaced in 1999. an unintended monument to its abandonment is a blue - and - white sign that reads new


delays in funding from both inside and outside egypt. many of the projects associated with toshka were shelved after ganzouri was replaced in 1999. an unintended monument to its abandonment is a blue - and - white sign that reads new toshka city, posted in the middle of the desert. but the nearby farms started up as part of the project are thriving, with new plans to expand approved by the military - led government. one is kingdom agricultural development company, owned by saudi arabian prince al - waleed bin talal, one of the world ' s wealthiest men. in one harvested wheat field here, a giant john deere tractor tills the soil for the next crop, which is to be peanuts. the saudi farm ' s crop manager is egyptian ibrahim dahrouk. he says it takes two to three years to prepare the salt - rich earth for farming. ibrahaim dahrouk : and now the soil has changed, there are green area, not like before. big difference. nelson : the farm provides hundreds of jobs to local residents, including women who prune grapes from vines that form a canopy overhead. they earn between six and $ 9 a day, a hefty wage in these parts. doa ' a mahfouz : ( foreign language spoken ) nelson : eighteen - year - old doa ' a mahfouz says she ' s thrilled to be working, given that jobs are scarce since the egyptian revolution last year. she wishes the greater toshka project will be revived to provide more jobs for her community. unemployment is rampant in nearby abu simbel, which has suffered because of the steep decline in egyptian tourism since the revolution. the resorts where americans and europeans once flocked during trips to nearby temples and lake nasser sit empty. ( soundbite of crowd chatter ) nelson : on a recent evening, dozens of angry men staged a sit - in at the local electric company after the government hired out - of - towners for 60 jobs in the area. ( soundbite of crowd chatter ) nelson : one industrial supervisor here who declined to give his name adds that residents plan to ask the government to reactivate the toshka project. he argues that if they did, it could go a long way to eradicating poverty in many communities in upper egypt - not that the military - led government didn ' t try. ( soundbite of press conference ) prime minister kamal el - ganzouri : ( speaking foreign language ) nelson : kamal el - gan


##dicating poverty in many communities in upper egypt - not that the military - led government didn ' t try. ( soundbite of press conference ) prime minister kamal el - ganzouri : ( speaking foreign language ) nelson : kamal el - ganzouri, who once again became prime minster under the military - led government, talked at length at news conferences like this one about the need to boost the economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. egypt also was contending with its huge dependence on foreign wheat because of an agricultural shortfall. former water minister mahmoud abu zeid says those factors make him hope that a toshka revival is in the offing. zeid : ganzouri came back, and he ' s pushing the project right now very strongly and encouraging the different ministries to finish that plan, and so on. nelson : but critics say egypt lacks the means to transport large quantities of wheat and other produce from toshka to the rest of the country. most of what toshka produces now is exported because managers there say it ' s more profitable. and the muslim brotherhood - a movement in which the new president mohammed morsi was a key leader - is also dead - set against reviving the project, which it links to mubarak ' s excesses. in the southern city of aswan, the brotherhood ' s political party ' s secretary general is mohamed abdul fattah. he says the group has its own revival plan, which emphasizes tourism and agricultural projects in other locations. mohamed abdul fattah : ( through translator ) i ' ve seen independent studies that show toshka was doomed to fail to begin with. a lot of money went into it, but few jobs came out of it. so it ' s not just about the corruption. nelson : the brotherhood ' s position irritates abu simbel mayor assad abeid el - majeed. assad abeid el - majeed : ( foreign language spoken ) nelson : he argues toshka is a national project that egyptians should take pride in. the pumping stations and other infrastructure are there now, he says, and they should be put to use. soraya sarhaddi nelson, npr news. transcript provided by npr, copyright national public radio.


where on earth...? misr mystery image quiz # 8 here ' s another chance to play geographical detective! this multi - angle imaging spectroradiometer ( misr ) image covers an area measuring approximately 297 kilometers x 221 kilometers, and was captured by the instrument ' s vertical - viewing ( nadir ) camera on april 12, 2001. a large river flows from the left side of the image, below center, and traverses the image, angling northeast toward the upper right. it then makes a hairpin turn and continues to flow in a generally southward direction near the right - hand side of the image. below are eight statements about this river, only some of which are true. use any reference materials you like, and mark each statement true or false : 1. within the image area, the river flows across an international boundary into an area where over 100 species of orchids grow. 2. the river ' s name in a particular language means " pacifier " in english. 3. sedimentary rocks containing mineral grains that record changes in the orientation of earth ' s magnetic field have been found north of the river. 4. at least one expert kayaker has perished attempting to navigate a deep gorge of the river. 5. the two highest named peaks within the image area are situated on opposite sides of the river ; each has a maximum elevation of nearly 4000 meters. 6. the description of a mythical place in a 1930 ' s british novel is thought by some explorers to have been inspired by a location on this river. 7. scientists believe that 100 million years ago the region through which the river flows was farther from the equator than it is today. 8. in the 1920 ' s, an expedition along the river searched for and successfully encountered a legendary 30 - meter - high waterfall. misr was built and is managed by nasa ' s jet propulsion laboratory, pasadena, ca, for nasa ' s office of earth science, washington, dc. the terra satellite is managed by nasa ' s goddard space flight center, greenbelt, md. jpl is a division of the california institute of technology. a new " where on earth...? " mystery will appear periodically. the image also appears on the earth observatory, http : / / earthobservatory. nasa. gov /, and on the atmospheric sciences data center home pages, http : / / eosweb. larc. nasa. gov /, though usually with a several - hour delay. credit : image credit : nasa / gsfc /


romanticism, poe, and the raven the era of romanticism spans from the late 1700 ' s to the mid 1800 ' s following the french revolution ; therefore, " romanticism " encompasses characteristics of the human mind in addition to the particular time in history when these qualities became dominant in culture. romanticism depicts an artistic movement which emerged from reaction against dominant attitudes and approaches of the 18th century. romanticism established realism in literature through creativity, innovation, exploration, and vivid imagery. by expanding beyond the definition of love, romanticism, accented by mystery, delves into the strange and fantastic aspects of human experiences. " to escape from society, the romantics turned their interests to remote and faraway places ; the medieval past ; folklore and legends, and nature and the common man. " edgar allen poe is noted as one of the few american " romantic " poets. poe ' s poem " the raven " portrays romanticism as characterized by emotion, exotica, and imagination. a friend of edgar allen poe, r. h. horne, wrote of " the raven ", " the poet intends to represent a very painful condition of the mind, as of an imagination that was liable to topple over into some delirium or an abyss of melancholy, from the continuity of one unvaried emotion. " edgar allen poe, author of " the raven, " played on the reader ' s emotions. the man in " the raven " was attempting to find comfort from the remembrance of his lost love. by turning his mind to lenore and recalling how her frame will never again bless the chair in which he now reposes, he is suddenly overcome with grief, whereby the reader immediately feels sorry for the lonely man. the reader pities the man ' s state of mind. in addition to an emotional characteristic, poe also portrays the exotic. exotic means " unnatural ". exotic means a raven that speaks only one word. exotic means a bird that refuses to leave and insists in staying in one place. finally, exotic means a life of torment of the speakers soul. the man is drawn to the bird to seek an answer to the monotonous reply of " finally, " the raven : is characterized by imagination. the man imagines that a raven is a godsend, intended to relieve him of his anguish. the man imagines that like all other blessings of his life, the bird will leave. the man ' s imagination rebukes the bird. the man calls the bird a " thing of evil ". the reader imagines a


( pdf 151 kb ) in recent years, scientists working at the intersection of two historically well - developed fields, retinal physiology and circadian biology, upended the conventional view of retinal organization with the confirmation of a nonvisual ocular photoreceptor system. the fact that the eye has functions beyond image perception holds the potential to explain why a significant proportion of patients with progressive degenerative ocular disease suffer from sleep disturbances. an understanding of these non - rod / non - cone photoreceptors might also explain seasonal affective disorder ( sad ), jet lag and depression in the blind. it has the potential to influence intraocular lens selection for cataract patients. “ the shocker is, you don ’ t need rods and cones to synchronize your circadian clock to the local light - dark cycle, ” said russell n. van gelder, md, phd. “ there ’ s this whole other photoreceptive system lurking in the retina entraining your circadian system. ” dr. van gelder is professor and chairman of ophthalmology at the university of washington in seattle. the eye is a camera, and clock, too the notion of a parallel ocular universe began more than 80 years ago with the observation that blind mice continued to show pupil constriction in response to light. 1 over time, researchers at about a dozen labs worldwide pursued the idea that the circadian and classical visual systems process light information in different ways. russell g. foster, bsc, phd, chairman of both circadian neuroscience and ophthalmology at oxford university, noted that by 2001, scientists had established the existence of a subset of photosensitive retinal ganglion cells ( referred to in the literature as either prgcs or iprgcs, intrinsically photosensitive rgcs ) that regulate a variety of different responses to environmental brightness, including sleep propensity. this small subpopulation of rgcs responds directly to light and relays information along the nonvisual pathway to the brain ’ s circadian pacemaker, located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, dr. foster said. they do this by employing the photopigment melanopsin, which is believed to set the circadian clock and initiate other nonimage forming visual functions. dr. foster has shown that loss of melanopsin in the prgcs attenuates circadian responses to light


melanopsin, which is believed to set the circadian clock and initiate other nonimage forming visual functions. dr. foster has shown that loss of melanopsin in the prgcs attenuates circadian responses to light. 2 circadian drift. “ all of this suggests that diseases that kill melanopsin - using photosensitive retinal ganglion cells will result in behavioral changes that are manifested as sleep disorder problems or difficulty adjusting to changes in the light / dark cycle, ” said dr. van gelder. this research expands an understanding of the circadian clock, which governs the human habit of sleeping at night and waking in the morning. that clock, said dr. van gelder, does not naturally have a 24 - hour period. “ it requires a daily light signal to stay synchronized to the outside world. without that, the body ’ s clock will drift on its own. ” consider, he said, two patients with ocular disease. john has ganglion cell disease and jane has outer retinal disease. on january 1, both of their internal clocks tell them to awaken at 7 a. m. on january 2, jane ’ s clock sees the sun rise and awakens at the same time. but john ’ s clock can ’ t see the light signal, so he wakes up closer to 7 : 30. on day three he wakes up around 8. by day 24, john ’ s inner clock awakens him a full half - day later, at 7 p. m., while jane is still rising at 7 a. m. counting sheep won ’ t help. the discovery of photosensitive rgcs may explain why john ’ s sleep cycle is perturbed, while jane remains on schedule. “ we suspect that sleep health and circadian health are probably dependent on the health of the optic nerves, ” dr. van gelder said. if the prgcs are injured, it appears harder to keep the body ’ s clock synchronized. “ they ’ re the only cells in the retina that encode brightness. ” if you were to place a mouse retina in a dish and expose it to light, from relatively dim to bright, the retina will respond linearly, functioning like a camera light meter, he explained. “ this light meter controls at least three different aspects of physiology : circadian clock synchronization, pupillary light response and sleep. that is, it directly drives sleep and wakefulness in mice, ” he said


light meter, he explained. “ this light meter controls at least three different aspects of physiology : circadian clock synchronization, pupillary light response and sleep. that is, it directly drives sleep and wakefulness in mice, ” he said. “ the obvious question is : what is the effect on human health if these cells are sick? ” studies link glaucoma and sleep problems. one possible answer to that question comes out of a study conducted by dr. van gelder himself, linking optic nerve disease to sleep disturbances. 3 his study, which monitored sleep patterns in a population of blind children, found that optic nerve disease is predictive of increased daytime napping in young visually impaired subjects. “ we saw kids with end - stage glaucoma who had a hard time adjusting to the wake / sleep cycle of the outside world, ” dr. van gelder said. “ if you ’ re blind from an optic nerve disease, you ’ re nine times more likely to have significant daytime sleepiness than if you are blind from other causes. ” a study by other researchers found that melanopsin - using cells in rats died after researchers induced an increase in iop. “ the results, ” the researchers write, “ suggest that serious attention should be paid to the function of the nonimage forming system in glaucoma patients in the future. ” 4 implications and applications the discovery of novel photoreceptors within the eye is leading researchers down a number of new paths. here are three areas they ’ ve been looking at. iol selection. cataract surgery has been associated with improvement in the sleep / wake cycle, possibly because the prgcs are maximally sensitive in the “ blue ” ( 480 nm ) part of the spectrum, while the yellow discoloration of a cataractous lens may reduce transmission of available photons to the retina. this has implications for what dr. foster called “ the general global move toward implanting yellow, blue - filtering lenses. ” the impact of blue - filtering lenses is a question worth pursuing, he said, noting that circadian rhythms might be affected if these lenses reduce the amount of blue light available to the melanopsin pigment. seasonal affective disorder. ignacio provencio, phd, a professor of biology at the university of virginia, studies the genetics of circadian rhythms and has discovered that a mutation in a gene that codes for melanopsin may play a role in causing seasonal affective disorder ( sad ). 1 this


, a professor of biology at the university of virginia, studies the genetics of circadian rhythms and has discovered that a mutation in a gene that codes for melanopsin may play a role in causing seasonal affective disorder ( sad ). 1 this finding, said dr. van gelder, could suggest that depression, common in the blind, may be a form of sad. “ blindness, ” he said, “ may be like the effect of living in chronic winter. ” nonvisual light perception. after ablating all rods and cones in mice, dr. foster and colleagues found that the mice were still fully able to constrict their pupils under bright light conditions. 2 “ these findings raise some important clinical considerations regarding the diagnosis of ‘ complete ’ blindness, ” dr. foster said. “ clearly, any such diagnosis should take into account both visual and nonvisual elements, that is, the health and function of both the rod and cone and prgc photoreceptive systems. ” dr. foster advised that blind individuals who are found to be light sensitive should expose their eyes to sufficient daytime light to maintain normal circadian entrainment and sleep / wake rhythms. 1 roecklein, k. et al. j affect disord 2009 ; ( 114 ) 279 – 285. 2 foster, r. g. et al. j comp physiol 1999 ; 169 : 211 – 220. how to help patients dr. van gelder advised ophthalmologists to be mindful of the potential interplay of certain ocular diseases and these novel rgcs. “ we, as ophthalmologists, should expect that patients with advanced optic nerve disease may have difficulty synchronizing their lives with the light / dark cycle. ” ask some questions. therefore, he said, when physicians see patients who have a bilateral optic nerve disease, such as glaucoma, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy or optic atrophy, they should ask relevant questions : how ’ s your sleep? do you feel in synch with day and night? do you find yourself awake at inopportune hours and sleepy during others? consider a referral. dr. van gelder advised referring patients who have trouble sleeping to a sleep disorder clinic. “ this is a treatable disorder, ” he said, citing the work of alfred j. lewy, md, phd, a psychiatrist at oregon health & science university, who has been treating blind patients with melatonin for some 20 years. 5


this is a treatable disorder, ” he said, citing the work of alfred j. lewy, md, phd, a psychiatrist at oregon health & science university, who has been treating blind patients with melatonin for some 20 years. 5 though melatonin is available over the counter, dr. van gelder cautioned ophthalmologists not to prescribe it without a referral to a sleep clinic because there are well - established treatment protocols. melatonin will shift the clock, and shifting at the wrong time can actually make things worse, he said. the point, said dr. van gelder, is attending to those patients who suffer from sleep disorders. “ we would never look at a patient with optic nerve hypoplasia without thinking they might have a systemic disease. but we don ’ t see a patient with end - stage optic nerve disease and immediately think that this person is at risk for sleep disorders. we should. ” 1 keeler, c. e. am j physiol 1927 ; 81 : 107 – 112. 2 foster, r. g. and m. w. hankins. curr biol 2007 ; 17 : r746 – r751. 3 wee, r. and r. n. van gelder. ophthalmology 2004 ; 111 ( 2 ) : 297 – 302. 4 wang, h. z. et al. chin med j 2008 ; 121 ( 11 ) : 1015 – 1019. 5 lewy, a. j. cold spring harb symp quant biol 2007 ; 72 : 623 – 636.


science subject and location tags articles, documents and multimedia from abc science monday, 18 february 2013 heavy metal music fans in a mosh pit act like atoms in a gas - a finding that could advance emergency evacuation design and planning. wednesday, 21 september 2011 an australian seismologist says this week ' s trial of italian scientists for failing to warn of a devastating earthquake could muzzle experts from sharing their knowledge in the future. friday, 27 august 2010 australia ' s leading body responsible for monitoring space weather has dismissed claims that a massive solar storm could " wipe out the earth ' s entire power grid ". monday, 12 july 2010 australian researchers develop software to let mobile phones communicate with each other where there is no reception. thursday, 18 february 2010 society needs to learn from resilient ecosystems if it is to better cope with unanticipated shocks in the future, say experts. tuesday, 10 february 2009 an australian fire - behaviour specialist who helped authorities track the infernos, says the golden rule of surviving a bushfire - evacuate early or fight to the bitter end - still stands, despite the weekend ' s high death toll. monday, 9 february 2009 australians remain unprepared to deal with bushfires despite a long history of loss and devastation from natural disasters, according to some of the country ' s leading bushfire researchers. monday, 10 march 2008 we can expect an average three catastrophic, magnitude 9 or greater earthquakes around the world each century, according to a new study.


but in response to pressure from a student - led native american alliance, northwestern officials say they plan to form a commission to research evans ' connection to the one of the worst massacres of native americans in the country ' s history. in 1864, evans was territorial governor of colorado when a militia of about 700 men attacked a temporary village of southern cheyenne and arapaho people at sand creek. according to the national park service, the soldiers killed 165 to 200 native americans, about two - thirds of them women, children and elderly. known as the sand creek massacre, it is considered one of the worst acts of genocide in the country ' s history and led to evans ' removal from his governorship after a congressional investigation. according to the native american and indigenous student alliance at northwestern, the university has ignored that part of evans ' history. evans continued as a major benefactor and member of northwestern ' s board long after details of the massacre came to light. " many institutions that have been around as long as northwestern have issues like these, " said heather menefee, 19, a northwestern sophomore and the student alliance ' s co - president. " but it was surprising to me that you could go on the northwestern website and look at the official biography of john evans, and it didn ' t even mention his involvement in sand creek. it seemed like the university was erasing it. " while evans was not directly involved in the massacre, many believe his actions as governor created an environment hostile to native americans, and his effort to cover up what happened that day was met with fiery criticism. in a " report of the committee on the conduct of war " published in the chicago tribune in 1865, evans ' testimony before the congressional panel is described as " characterized by such prevarication and shuffling as has been shown by no witness they have examined … for the evident purpose of avoiding the admission that he was fully aware that the indians massacred so brutally at sand creek were then, and had been, actuated by the most friendly feelings toward the whites. " northwestern spokesman alan cubbage said administrators have had " a fairly constructive conversation " with the students, who put together a petition asking the university to investigate evans ' past and wrote a scathing guest column about the situation that was published in the campus newspaper jan. 23. " the provost has asked several of our very renowned faculty members in the history department and other departments to offer advice about what sort of people should be on a study committee, " cubbage said. " we ' re looking at a committee


23. " the provost has asked several of our very renowned faculty members in the history department and other departments to offer advice about what sort of people should be on a study committee, " cubbage said. " we ' re looking at a committee that would look into the historical aspects of john evans and his role in the sand creek massacre. " cubbage said the committee would include scholars from other universities. given the country ' s history, many universities have had to confront historical connections to slavery or to crimes against native americans. in 2003, for example, brown university launched a steering committee on slavery and justice to investigate the university ' s relationship to slavery and the trans - atlantic slave trade. gary alan fine is the director of graduate studies in northwestern ' s sociology department and also carries the title of john evans professor of sociology. after receiving the professorship in 2004, fine researched evans and quickly learned of his connection to the sand creek massacre. he brought up the subject of evans ' questionable past during his inaugural lecture at the university and said he is pleased to see students pressing for a deeper investigation. " i think the challenge for administrators now that they ' re taking it seriously is how much they want to embrace this, " fine said. " the model at brown, which i think was enormously successful, is they made it a campuswide effort. they brought in all the interested parties — students and faculty and administrators and alumni and members of the african - american community — and used it as a teaching opportunity for brown and also an opportunity to be part of a national dialogue. " adam mendel, 22, a northwestern senior and co - president of the native american and indigenous student alliance, said his group is calling on the university to recognize evans ' responsibility for the massacre, establish a native american studies program and create a scholarship fund for arapaho and cheyenne students. because evans didn ' t give the order for the massacre — documents from the time show he was not even in colorado when it happened — some question the extent of his culpability. others point out that along with helping create and fund northwestern university, evans was a noted abolitionist who was appointed to the territorial governorship of colorado by abraham lincoln. but mendel said his research paints a picture of evans as a man eager to rid colorado of native americans. a proclamation evans sent out not long before the massacre authorized all residents of colorado to " kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile indians. " " his proclamation speaks toward his policy


of native americans. a proclamation evans sent out not long before the massacre authorized all residents of colorado to " kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile indians. " " his proclamation speaks toward his policy toward the native americans in the area, " mendel said. " he had a hostile policy toward them, encouraged people to hunt and kill them. he didn ' t specifically order the attack, but he instituted policies that led to the attack. he was particularly out there, even for this time period. he was investigated by congress and removed from office. colorado ' s admission to the union was delayed for a few years because of this event. " bethany hughes, 31, a northwestern doctoral student and member of the choctaw nation of oklahoma, is working on a research project about the massacre. she said that in addition to being territorial governor, evans was a railroad magnate with a vested interest in making sure rail lines were built across colorado and farther west. she said that even after losing his governorship, evans thrived thanks to his railroad operations — and northwestern continued to receive money from him. " it is a complex situation, " hughes said. " there have been great, positive outcomes of john evans ' actions — we have the university, we support scholarship and research and creativity and art. you can trace that all back to john evans. but you can also trace back to john evans the impact on a more specific community, the cheyenne and arapaho tribes. to dismiss or not deal with this conflict and tension in john evans ' nature has been troublesome for northwestern. " cubbage said the university ' s provost and vice president for academic affairs will meet with some faculty members next week to discuss forming a commission to study evans. he applauded the students for seeking an accurate historical investigation, given the wide - ranging information that is out there relating to sand creek. " i think this was the worst act of genocide in the american context, " fine said. " yes, there ' s a need for justice. yes, there ' s a need for memory. a lot of things have been written about sand creek by amateur historians. let ' s see what we can sort out through having enough resources to look at the appropriate archives and make a scholarly determination of what really happened. "


the number of children infected globally with hiv has decreased by more than a quarter ( 26 % ) between 2009 and 2011, however more than 90 percent of the 3, 4 - million children living with hiv are in sub - saharan africa. released yesterday ( wed ), the annual unaids report revealed that there were 34, 2 - million people living with hiv in 2011, more than ever before, which they ascribed to the life - prolonging effects of antiretroviral therapy. an estimated 23, 5 - million of these people were living in sub - saharan africa, including 3, 1 - million children. unaids reported a number of other achievements including : - an increase of 20 percent in just one year of people accessing art ( 8 - million ) ; - a 20 percent reduction in the number of people newly infected with hiv ( 2, 5 - million ) ; - a 24 percent decline since the peak in 2005 in the number of people who died from aids - related causes in 2011 ( 1, 7 - million ). tuberculosis remained the leading cause of death among people living with hiv, despite it being a preventable and curable disease. young people aged 15 to 24 years accounted for almost half ( 40 % ) of all new adult hiv infections. globally, infection rates in young women 15 to 24 years old are twice as high as among men of the same age with a young woman acquiring hiv infection every minute. there is agreement that this is mainly due to their lower economic and sociocultural status in many countries where women and girls are disadvantaged in negotiating safer sex and accessing hiv prevention information and services. the statistics are : - hiv is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age wordwide ; - only one female condom is available for every 36 women in sub - saharan africa ; - more than one third of women aged 20 - 24 years in low - and middle - income countries marry before they are 18 years old ; - approximately 40 percent of pregnancies worldwide are unintended ; - globally, less than 30 percent of young women have comprehensive and correct knowledge on hiv ; - two thirds of the world ’ s 796 - million illiterate adults are women ; - between 11 and 45 percent of adolescent girls reported that their first sexual experience was forced. a failure by many countries to implement and scale up some of the basic programmes that aim to reduce hiv transmission, was cited as a reason for the high rates of infection among those 15 to 24 years. these programmes include voluntary medical male circumcision, behaviour


by many countries to implement and scale up some of the basic programmes that aim to reduce hiv transmission, was cited as a reason for the high rates of infection among those 15 to 24 years. these programmes include voluntary medical male circumcision, behavioural change programmes, condom promotion and key programmes for those populations at higher risk of hiv infection such as teenagers, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. some achievements were also reported in sub - saharan africa where nearly 6, 2 - million people are receiving art, up from just 100 000 in 2003. the most dramatic progress was in south africa, zimbabwe and kenya. in 2011, at least 300 000 people in south africa were newly enrolled in treatment. the report cautions that as more people start art, concerns are growing about the possible increase in hiv drug resistance. low to moderate levels of transmitted drug resistance have been observed – increasing from one percent in 2005 to three percent in 2010. recent surveys reported that among those initiating treatment in low - and middle - income countries, about five percent had drug resistance. south africa is listed in the report as one of eight countries showing a rapid decline in new hiv infections among children – 49 percent. the majority of adult hiv infections in sub - saharan africa resulted from unprotected sexual intercourse, including paid sex and sex between men. the report also makes a case for treatment interventions to become increasingly community based. a systematic review of treatment programmes in sub - saharan africa reported that, on average, 70 percent of people receiving art from specialist clinics were still receiving treatment after two years. on the other hand, a community art group model initiated by people receiving art in mozambique, to improve access and retention on treatment and decongest health services, resulted in 97, 5 percent of people still receiving treatment after 26 months.


a new drug to manage resistant chronic pain monday, april 30, 2012 tau develops " bl - 7050 " to ease the neuropathic pain of millions of sufferers neuropathic pain, caused by nerve or tissue damage, is the culprit behind many cases of chronic pain. it can be the result of an accident or caused by a variety of medical conditions and diseases such as tumors, lupus, and diabetes. typically resistant to common types of pain management including ibuprofen and even morphine, neuropathic pain can lead to lifelong disability for many sufferers. now a drug developed by tel aviv university researchers, known as bl - 7050, is offering new hope to patients with neuropathic pain. developed by prof. bernard attali and dr. asher peretz of tau ' s department of physiology and pharmacology at the sackler faculty of medicine, the medication inhibits the transmission of pain signals throughout the body. in both in - vitro and in - vivo experiments measuring electrical activity of neurons, the compound has been shown to prevent the hyper - excitability of neurons — protecting not only against neuropathic pain, but epileptic seizures as well. the medication has been licensed by ramot, tau ' s technology transfer company, for development and commercialization by biolinerx, an israeli biopharmaceutical development company. targeting potassium for pain control according to prof. attali, the medication works by targeting a group of proteins which act as a channel for potassium. potassium has a crucial role in the excitability of cells, specifically those in the nervous system and the heart. when potassium channels don ' t function properly, cells are prone to hyper - excitability, leading to neurological and cardiovascular disorders such as epilepsy and arrhythmias. these are also the channels that convey pain signals caused by nerve or tissue damage, known as neuropathic pain. with few treatment options available for neuropathic pain, prof. attali set out to develop a medication that could bind to and stabilize the body ' s potassium channels, controlling their hyper - excitability and preventing the occurrence of pain by keeping the channels open for the outflow of potassium. this novel targeting approach has been recently reported in the journal pnas. inducing calm in the neurons understanding the mechanism that controls these channels has been crucial to the development of the drug. by successfully controlling the excitability of the neurons, prof. attali believes that bl -


biodegradable transistors - - made from us wednesday, march 7, 2012 award - winning tau research uses self - assembling blood, milk, and mucus proteins to build next generation technology silicon, a semi - conducting element, is the basis of most modern technology, including cellular phones and computers. but according to tel aviv university researchers, this material is quickly becoming outdated in an industry producing ever - smaller products that are less harmful to the environment. now, a team including ph. d. students elad mentovich and netta hendler of tau ' s department of chemistry and the center for nanoscience and nanotechnology, with supervisor dr. shachar richter and in collaboration with prof. michael gozin and his ph. d. student bogdan belgorodsky, has brought together cutting - edge techniques from multiple fields of science to create protein - based transistors — semi - conductors used to power electronic devices — from organic materials found in the human body. they could become the basis of a new generation of nano - sized technologies that are both flexible and biodegradable. working with blood, milk, and mucus proteins which have the ability to self - assemble into a semi - conducting film, the researchers have already succeeded in taking the first step towards biodegradable display screens, and they aim to use this method to develop entire electronic devices. their research, which has appeared in the journals nano letters and advanced materials, recently received a silver award at the materials research society graduate student awards in boston, ma. building the best transistor from the bottom up netta hendler, elad mentovich, and bogdan belgorodsky one of the challenges of using silicon as a semi - conductor is that a transistor must be created with a " top down " approach. manufacturers start with a sheet of silicon and carve it into the shape that is needed, like carving a sculpture out of a rock. this method limits the capabilities of transistors when it comes to factors such as size and flexibility. the tau researchers turned to biology and chemistry for a different approach to building the ideal transistor. when they appled various combinations of blood, milk, and mucus proteins to any base material, the molecules self - assembled to create a semi - conducting film on a nano - scale. in the case of blood protein, for example, the film is approximately four nanometers high. the current technology in use now is 18 nanometers, says men


self - assembled to create a semi - conducting film on a nano - scale. in the case of blood protein, for example, the film is approximately four nanometers high. the current technology in use now is 18 nanometers, says mentovich. together, the three different kinds of proteins create a complete circuit with electronic and optical capabilities, each bringing something unique to the table. blood protein has the ability to absorb oxygen, mentovich says, which permits the " doping " of semi - conductors with specific chemicals in order to create specific technological properties. milk proteins, known for their strength in difficult environments, form the fibers which are the building blocks of the transistors, while the mucosal proteins have the ability to keep red, green and, blue fluorescent dyes separate, together creating the white light emission that is necessary for advanced optics. overall, the natural abilities of each protein give the researchers " unique control " over the resulting organic transistor, allowing adjustments for conductivity, memory storage, and fluorescence among other characteristics. a new era of technology technology is now shifting from a silicon era to a carbon era, notes mentovich, and this new type of transistor could play a big role. transistors built from these proteins will be ideal for smaller, flexible devices that are made out of plastic rather than silicon, which exists in wafer form that would shatter like glass if bent. the breakthrough could lead to a new range of flexible technologies, such as screens, cell phones and tablets, biosensors, and microprocessor chips. just as significant, because the researchers are using natural proteins to build their transistor, the products they create will be biodegradable. it ' s a far more environmentally friendly technology that addresses the growing problem of electronic waste, which is overflowing landfills worldwide. for more technology news from tel aviv university, click here.


climate change may lead to fewer - - but more violent - - thunderstorms tuesday, july 10, 2012 number of flash floods and forest fires could increase with temperature, says tau researcher researchers are working to identify exactly how a changing climate will impact specific elements of weather, such as clouds, rainfall, and lightning. a tel aviv university researcher has predicted that for every one degree celsius of warming, there will be approximately a 10 percent increase in lightning activity. this could have negative consequences in the form of flash floods, wild fires, or damage to power lines and other infrastructure, says prof. colin price, head of the department of geophysics, atmospheric and planetary sciences at tel aviv university. in an ongoing project to determine the impact of climate change on the world ' s lightning and thunderstorm patterns, he and his colleagues have run computer climate models and studied real - life examples of climate change, such as the el nino cycle in indonesia and southeast asia, to determine how changing weather conditions impact storms. an increase in lightning activity will have particular impact in areas that become warmer and drier as global warming progresses, including the mediterranean and the southern united states, according to the 2007 united nations report on climate change. this research has been reported in the journal of geophysical research and atmospheric research, and has been presented at the international conference on lightning protection. from the computer screen to the real world when running their state - of - the - art computer models, prof. price and his fellow researchers assess climate conditions in a variety of real environments. first, the models are run with current atmospheric conditions to see how accurately they are able to depict the frequency and severity of thunderstorms and lightning in today ' s environment. then, the researchers input changes to the model atmosphere, including the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ( a major cause of global warming ) to see how storms are impacted. to test the lightning activity findings, prof. price compared their results with vastly differing real - world climates, such as dry africa and the wet amazon, and regions where climate change occurs naturally, such as indonesia and southeast asia, where el nino causes the air to become warmer and drier. the el nino phenomenon is an optimal tool for measuring the impact of climate change on storms because the climate oscillates radically between years, while everything else in the environment remains constant. " during el nino years, which occur in the pacific ocean or basin, southeast asia gets warmer and drier. there are fewer thunderstorms, but we found fifty percent more lightning


radically between years, while everything else in the environment remains constant. " during el nino years, which occur in the pacific ocean or basin, southeast asia gets warmer and drier. there are fewer thunderstorms, but we found fifty percent more lightning activity, " says prof. price. typically, he says, we would expect drier conditions to produce less lightning. however, researchers also found that while there were fewer thunderstorms, the ones that did occur were more intense. fire and flood warning an increase in lightning and intense thunderstorms can have severe implications for the environment, says prof. price. more frequent and intense wildfires could result in parts of the us, such as the rockies, in which many fires are started by lightning. a drier environment could also lead fires to spread more widely and quickly, making them more devastating than ever before. these fires would also release far more smoke into the air than before. researchers predict fewer but more intense rainstorms in other regions, a change that could result in flash - flooding, says prof. price. in italy and spain, heavier storms are already causing increased run - off to rivers and the sea, and a lack of water being retained in groundwater and lakes. the same is true in the middle east, where small periods of intense rain are threatening already scarce water resources. for more environment and ecology news from tel aviv university, click here.


u. s. ag wary as monsanto heads to supreme court the case also is important to regenerative medicine that relies on stem cell technologies. a stem cell by definition is a cell that can self - replicate, thus the case may answer the question of whether a patentee can control progeny of a patented stem cell, according to antoinette konski, a partner with foley & lardner ' s intellectual property practice group. monsanto, a $ 13 billion behemoth in agricultural seed and chemical sales, also sees the case as much bigger than itself. " this case really centers on the question of twenty - first century technology such as what we bring in agriculture and other companies bring for say stem cell research or nanotechnology.... and how they ' re going to be handled under principles of intellectual property law, " said monsanto general counsel dave snively. because seeds self - replicate, creating progeny when planted, they are unlike more traditional patented products. using a computer or smartphone does not create more computers or phones. but using a seed can make new seeds. for generations all around the world, farmers have practiced the art of saving seed, holding onto some of the grain they harvest each season to plant in a subsequent season. the advent of patented biotech seeds has changed that as monsanto and rival seed developers barred farmers from seed saving, arguing that if farmers do not buy new seed each year the companies cannot recoup the millions they spend to develop the specialty seeds. transgenic crops, which splices genes from other species into plant dna, have given farmers crops that resist insects and tolerate treatments of herbicide, making killing weeds easier for farmers. the majority of u. s. corn and soybean acres are now planted with patented biotech seeds. the case before the supreme court traces its roots to 1999, when bowman decided to plant a " second crop " of soybeans after he harvested winter wheat from the farmstead he runs near sandborn, indiana. while he used monsanto ' s roundup ready engineered seeds for his main, or " first " crop, bowman said he decided to use inexpensive commodity grain that he could purchase from a local grain elevator for his " second " planting of soybeans in late june. yields are generally lower for late - planted soybeans because conditions tend to be more optimal in april and may. the mixture of grain bowman bought, which he dubbed " junk, " carried no patent technology agreement and no directive prohibiting seed saving as do the


with several of his inventions on display in the smithsonian institute, 67 patents to his name, and over 100 inventions, ben kleinerman, 91, radiates electrifying enthusiasm for improving the lives of others through his creative brainstorms - - from the quirky to the essential. if there is one thing ben kleinerman is proud of, it ' s his unique role in israel ' s victory in the 1967 six - day war. he was the principal engineer and program manager of the ka - 56 camera at fairchild camera corp. at the time, and they had just developed a brand new technology. in the underbelly of a fighter plane, this special panoramic camera was equipped with their novel infrared - enabled poromat film. an ingenious device, the advantage of this camera and its unique film was that fighter jets could do surveillance and reconnaissance missions, capturing images of the territory beneath them, instantly develop those pictures while still in the air, and then turn around and strike with amazing accuracy. prior to the ka56, the reconnaissance plane had to first land and then develop the film, giving the enemy time to re - order the airfield, replacing decoys in the positions of the real metal planes. the state of israel sat in agonizing uncertainty, surrounded by seven countries whose military power far outweighed the skimpy israeli defense forces. the state of israel sat in agonizing uncertainty, surrounded by seven countries whose military power far outweighed the skimpy israeli defense forces. brigadier general mordecai hod, commander - in - chief of the israeli air force, commandeered kleinerman ' s specialized camera, the ka56 the egyptian air force was readying itself for battle, with some planes and hundreds of decoys made out of paper mache and wood stretched out on the tarmac. israeli jets flew stealthily above, snapping infrared - sensitive pictures with their newly outfitted cameras, and within minutes correctly bombing with the short supply of bombs that they had. the successful air strike crippled the egyptian army and was a decisive factor in israel ' s miraculous victory. five days later, the war was over. " after the war, general hod came to the united states, to our offices, to personally thank us later on, " ben reminisces, " but i was already in texas, working on the mars orbiter and voyager, so i wasn ' t there to get his thanks in person. " ben invented the forerunner of today ' s electric toothbrush -


" ben reminisces, " but i was already in texas, working on the mars orbiter and voyager, so i wasn ' t there to get his thanks in person. " ben invented the forerunner of today ' s electric toothbrush - - only critics said it was the most ridiculous and useless thing they ' d ever seen! if you remember the inconvenient days of single - use flashbulbs, you can thank ben kleinerman for putting you out of your photographic misery. he produced the first rechargeable flashbulb, the technology as used today. ben also invented a precursor for today ' s mega - million success story, skype. ben also invented a precursor for today ' s mega - million success story, skype ; telescan is a conventional telephone with a screen that allows you to watch your buddy shmooze with you. but again, the idea was shot down as rubbish by everyone except perhaps some fire and police departments and a few banks, who thought they might rustle up a small use for it. " one day i got a letter from the smithsonian institute. they said they wanted me to send them some of my prototypes to display and they sent me some empty boxes to pack them into. we packed up some of my inventions, drove down, and the people at the smithsonian were very nice and hospitable. " his works are still there. there ' s the transitape, the world ' s first fully portable, battery operated, all - transistor, 2 - speed tape recorder. transitape was selected as one of the greatest inventions of the past 50 years and was exhibited at the cooper - hewitt museum in nyc, sharing the spotlight with period greats such as the washing machine, wonder bread, and fdr, honored for social security. the cinesone is another classic, taking the technology of home - movie reels to new heights by giving it a voice. before the cinesone emerged on the scene, silent movies were the order of the day. now, voice could accompany the moving picture, a radical and welcome upgrade. the cinesone ' s debut model was ben ' s oldest daughter, kay, whose first birthday party is eternally preserved and on view at the smithsonian institute for visitors to marvel at - - a 400 - foot, 16 mm tape reel filled with ten minutes of birthday scenery, mankind ' s first ever audio - visual home presentation! in 1964, he created an ekg machine so lightweight and portable that it was


visitors to marvel at - - a 400 - foot, 16 mm tape reel filled with ten minutes of birthday scenery, mankind ' s first ever audio - visual home presentation! in 1964, he created an ekg machine so lightweight and portable that it was the size of a king pack of cigarettes, effectively replacing the bulky machines carried by doctors who made home visits, as was the style of the day. the cardio - sensor didn ' t give a printable readout ; instead, it was a cardiograph which allowed doctors to interpret a patient ' s pqrst heartbeat curve to quickly diagnose a problem. when the cardio - sensor device hit the market, the cities of new york and atlanta immediately purchased hundreds. in the shadow of the cold war, city officials, worried about a russian nuclear attack, wanted to be prepared for the grisly prospect of doctors arriving on the scene of catastrophe, urgently needing to differentiate between victims who were still alive and those who had already died. with generals clark and eisenhower eastman kodak worked with him to develop a patent that would make magnetic soundtracks unalterable, thereby preventing nefarious re - recordings. " while john f. kennedy was in office, we took a speech of his, recorded it as magnetic sound on 16mm film. kennedy had said, ' we will never bomb and attack cuba. ' the way the magnetic soundtrack works, it was very easy for someone to change his words to say, ' we will bomb and attack cuba. ' the apparatus detected the erased word ' never. we showed the world what could happen. " next time you watch the weather channel, you ' ll see another ben kleinerman original, " the green screen, " built by federal manufacturing and engineering for cbs as a background projection system. ben also worked for years in the thrust and tailwind of world war ii as personal field photographer of generals clark and eisenhower, following them around italy and austria and capturing the minutiae of their lives. he rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous in his capacity as army photographer, an insider at all diplomatic events. " i worked with eisenhower. we went to see hitler ' s eagle ' s nest in austria. " " i was assigned to general clark for almost four years and i was with him every day of the week. and while clark was away, i worked with eisenhower. we went to see hitler ' s eagle ' s nest in austria. " while courting his wife, ben brought her to the pentagon to see his handiwork ; she


of the week. and while clark was away, i worked with eisenhower. we went to see hitler ' s eagle ' s nest in austria. " while courting his wife, ben brought her to the pentagon to see his handiwork ; she was duly impressed. they were shown thousands of official photos take by ben. in the circular room there was a selection of larger photos. along with joe rosenthal ' s famous photo of the flag raising at iwo jima, there was ben ' s photo of hitler ' s coffee table at the eagle ' s nest being signed by general eisenhower and seven other generals. all in the family life hasn ' t been easy for ben kleinerman. in 1981, he was stricken with guillain barre disease, similar in nature to polio. while many victims die from the illness, ben ' s lungs were not affected but he experienced total paralysis and could only move his eyelid. for seven months, he didn ' t move and he communicated with his family through his left eyelid. but he never complained. ben ' s son, gavriel ( gil ) built a piezo - electric device – a pressure - sensitive pointer that enabled ben to signal once his left thumb began functioning - - which the hospital permitted for ben ' s use. ( ben ' s dependence on oxygen meant no spark - producing devices allowed. ) ben made a substantial recovery and hasn ' t looked back since his illness. his prolific patents, though nurtured with plenty of love and effort, pale in comparison to his true love - - his three children, kay, gavriel, and janie, and his wife of 63 years, margery, who shares his passion for inventions. " i ' ve always tried to get my wife involved in my inventing - - so many things are her ideas. she gives me a lot of inspiration. " ben feels he has truly made his mark on the world and takes great pleasure in his work, especially in the inexplicable brilliance of divine providence that can only be detected many years later. case in point : ben ' s son gavriel, executive vice president of aish hatorah, jerusalem, sits in an office that overlooks the western wall that was liberated in 1967 with the help of his father ' s technology.


bikinis are thriving but lebanon ' s sea turtles are no longer on the beach the number of sea turtle nests laid on the tyre coast nature reserve dropped by half from about ten to just five this year, raising concerns among conservationists that the threatened animals may be losing the battle for survival. reserve director hassan hamza described this nesting season as “ weak, ” but added that the small number of nests does not necessarily indicate a severe drop in population. he explained that the turtles ’ normal breeding cycle is one to two years, resulting in peak and off - peak years. two endangered species – the loggerhead sea turtle ( caretta caretta ), and the green sea turtle ( chelonia mydas ) – lay their eggs on lebanon ’ s beaches. last summer, a number of sea turtles died on tyre ’ s shores due to pollution and problems arising from litter. a decrease in the population could lead to an imbalance in the marine ecosystem. nesting season usually lasts from may to october, with turtles returning to the place of their birth under the cover of darkness to dig a hole in the sand in which to lay their eggs. when the young turtles hatch, they head instinctively towards the sea, but can be fatally distracted by bright lights and noise. because the nests are beset by many dangers, a specialized team from the reserve continuously combs the beach to locate the nests, count them, observe them and protect them from human and animal attacks by fencing them in. collecting sea turtle eggs was reportedly quite profitable when soldiers from the island of fiji served as part of the un interim force in lebanon ( unifil ) until 2000. some residents of tyre ’ s coastal areas would collect sea turtle eggs – considered the most famous fijian dish – and take them to their headquarters on the coast of qlaili where the soldiers would pay exorbitant amounts of money for them. to protect the eggs and guarantee easy movement for the turtles, the nature reserve management has struck agreements with resort owners along the coastline to protect nesting areas during breeding season. scientists from italy collaborated with the reserve to organize lectures for local scientists, to raise awareness and provide guidance about the turtles ’ value to the ecosystem and the need to protect them. these lectures stressed the importance of not polluting the sea and reducing light and noise in areas where turtles nest. the reserve also spearheaded an awareness program for fishermen stressing the importance of keeping the sea clean and not throwing away oil or nylon bags that resemble turtles ’ natural prey, jellyfish, and can end up choking the


dr. girish paniker, director of conservation research, school of areas, was among 3, 000 scientists, professionals, educators, and students to participate in the 2010 international annual meetings of american society of agronomy ( asa ), crop science society of america ( cssa ), and soil science society of america ( sssa ) held october 31 - november 3, 2010, in long beach, california. the theme of this meeting was “ green revolution 2. 0 : food + energy and environmental security ”. dr. panicker presented the results of his four - year research project on carbon buildup, nutrient management, and prevention of climate change and soil erosion, which is a major conservation issue on about 50 % of u. s. croplands. the paper, titled “ rotation of horticultural crops on no - till and conventional plots and buildup of carbon and plant nutrients ” was co - authored by dr. franklin chukwuma, off - campus centers coordinator for the asu extension program. the research findings of this project ( funded by the usda and to be completed in october 2011 ) contain highly valuable information on no - till horticultural crop production, and carbon and plant nutrients buildup. the information is useful for erosion prediction, nutrient management, and conservation planning on horticultural lands. “ the results show that climatic conditions of the southeast region allow one spring crop of sweet corn, two summer crops of watermelon, and a winter cover of hairy vetch to be successfully raised on the same plot within one year, ” stated dr. panicker. “ the technique developed is useful for residents who have plots. they can grow these four crops in one year in their backyards without having any farm machinery and even without a push mower. the crops can even be raised by elderly residents since no tilling is involved. ” because of the utmost importance of the research, the presentation was selected by the american society of agronomy for online publication. it also covers the carbon / nitrogen ratio and residue management techniques for 36 horticultural crops, which are the major research components alcorn has developed for the usda / nrcs and usda / ars. over five million dollars have been invested in this project in the last 18 years. " alcorn is the only university that has done this research work on horticultural crops, and the information collected is being disseminated through the web sites of asu, the national soil erosion research lab, purdue university ( indiana ), and the national plant data center, baton rouge, ”


the forgotten man : a new history of the great depression by amity shlaes challenging conventional history, amity shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the great depression that devastated america in the early part... show synopsis challenging conventional history, amity shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the great depression that devastated america in the early part of the twentieth century. she shows how both presidents hoover and roosevelt failed to understand the prosperity of the 1920s and heaped massive burdens on the country that more than offset the benefit of new deal programs. from 1929 to 1940, federal intervention helped to make the depression great by forgetting the men and women who sought to help themselves. in this illuminating work of history, shlaes follows the struggles of those now forgotten people, from a family of butchers in brooklyn who dealt a stunning blow to the new deal, to bill w., who founded alcoholics anonymous, and father divine, a black cult leader. she takes a fresh look at the great scapegoats of the period, from andrew mellon to sam insull of chicago. finally, she traces the mounting agony of the new dealers themselves. authoritative, original, and utterly engrossing, the forgotten man reveals how those dark years shaped both current political challenges and the strong national character that helps americans to confront them.


by : ansar raza structure of sggs sri guru granth sahib ( sggs ) is the most respected and sacred book of the sikhs. it contains 5894 hymns, called shabads, composed in 18 ragas ( musical patterns ). out of these 5894 hymns, 976 are by guru nanak ; 61 by guru angad ; 907 by guru amardas ; 679 by guru ramdas ; 2216 by guru arjan ; 118 by guru tegh bahadur ; and 937 by the 15bhagats and bards. the 1430 pages of sggs are divided into 33 sections. the first section consists of three prayers : japji — the morning prayer ; sodar – the evening prayer ; and sohela – the bedtime prayer. the next section is composed of the bani of gurus and bhagats. almost every verse of bani of each sikh guru ends with the pen name of ‘ nanak ’ as the author, whether it was composed by guru nanak himself or by the other sikh gurus who succeeded him. this was designed by guru arjan, for presenting oneness in the authorship of all the sikh gurus and oneness in the whole philosophy of guru nanak under the pen name of ‘ nanak ’. nevertheless, the identity of the contributing guru is specified under their succession number to guru nanak. each part is called mahla by guru arjan. thus, the contribution of guru nanak is identified as mahla 1 as he is the founder of sikhism ; the verse of the second guru, angad, is identified as mahla 2 as he is the second in succession to guru nanak ; the verse of the third guru, amardas, is identified as mahla 3 ; and so on. this system has been followed consistently throughout the main text of the sggs. bhagat bani section contains the bani of 13 bhagats ( devotees ) namely kabir, farid, namdev, ravidas, trilochan, beni, dhana, jaidev, sain, pipa, sadhana, ramanand, and parmanand ; 4 sants namely bhikhan, surdas, and sundar. these bhagats were involved in the bhagti movement in the medieval india. they revolted against the malpractices in various religions of india. the swayiae of bhatts are grouped together under one section in


‘ dasam granth ’ and ‘ sarab - loh granth ’. the later, containing belligerent teachings incited sikhs to fight against moguls. it was kept strictly secret by akali nihang sikhs. near the end of his life, guru gobind singh ended the line of human gurus by investing the sggs with the status of eternal guru and his official successor. it is narrated that before his death, guru nanak passed on his writings and the collected compositions of the saints to one of his disciples and successor guru angad, earlier known as ‘ lehna ’, who in turn passed on the collection along with his own compositions to guru amar das the third guru. the latter added his compositions to the collection. guru amar das had two sons mohan and mohri and a daughter bibi bhani. being the elder son baba mohan aspired to succeed his father as the fourth guru. however guru amar das thought otherwise and nominated his son - in - law, bhai jetha, to be the fourth guru and called him “ ram das. ” baba mohan seems to have sensed this in advance and was jealous of bhai jetha. it is believed that he laid his hands on the collected compositions including those of his father. they were not made available to guru amar das for handing over to the fourth guru on transfer of guruship. these collections are called mohan pothis. when guru arjun was appointed as the fifth guru, he only had the compositions of his father, his own and those of the saints which were presented to him. when he decided to compile the granth, he needed the writings of the first three gurus and saints which were with baba mohan. he sent baba buddha and bhai gurdas, one after the other, to request baba mohan to hand over the books, but they returned empty handed. it is narrated that guru arjun then personally went to baba mohan and recited a shabad praising mohan who lived in a tall house. baba mohan was moved to hear the hymn. he came downstairs with the pothis ( manuscripts ) and presented them to the guru. however, prof. devinder singh chahal, phd, in his article “ aad guru granth sahib — fallacies and facts ”, refutes this story as fabricated. he is of the view that these pothis were already with guru arjun and the shabad attributed to him is in praise of god and not for baba mohan. in continuation of the above story, it is narrated in sikh


pieces of verse had “ nanak ” at the end. meharban added his own poetry to the original verses of the first four gurus under nanak ’ s name and created a granth. ” different versions of sggs ( birs ) regarding different ‘ birs ’ ( manuscripts ) of sggs mohinder singh, director, national institute of punjab studies, bhai vir singh sahitya sadan, new delhi, writes in his article conserving guru granth sahib manuscripts : “ since printing or any other mode of making copies of the scripture were not available in those days, making handwritten copies of the bir was considered an act of religious merit. devotees spent months together in copying the birs neatly for the benefit of the congregations. however, a survey of some of the rare guru granth sahib birs pertaining to seventeenth and eighteenth century shows that in spite of guru ’ s disapproval of the bir copied by bhai bano, some of the devotees also made its copies along with the kartarpuri bir. since the original kartarpuri bir was not given to guru tegh bahadur by the guru ’ s rivals, dheermal and his supporters, the tenth guru, gobind singh had to prepare another version of the guru granth sahib, popularly known as the damdami bir, which also included a few hymns of his father guru tegh bahadur. it is this version of the granth that provides the authentic text of the printed guru granth sahib. the first serious attempt at locating and cataloguing rare guru granth sahib manuscripts was made by sardar g. b. singh, a high ranking official of the indian post and telegraph department. as an outcome of it, he published a book called, sri guru granth sahib dian prachin biran, popularly known as prachin biran ( rare manuscripts ). in his preface to the book, g. b. singh writes that he became interested in the study of rare guru granth sahib manuscripts when the sikh sangat of dhaka presented him with some rare hukamnamas of guru teghbahadur during his visit to that place in 1915 a. d. during his long tenure in the postal service, he tried to locate and study some more rare guru granth sahib birs while travelling to different parts of india. since facilities like photocopying, microfilming or digitization were not available then, g. b. singh took exhaustive notes himself. whenever


and study some more rare guru granth sahib birs while travelling to different parts of india. since facilities like photocopying, microfilming or digitization were not available then, g. b. singh took exhaustive notes himself. whenever he found any writings in these manuscripts in the hand of the gurus, he tried to make their copies faithfully by using the tracing paper and has reproduced these rare writings in his book referred to above. in the second part of his book, g. b. singh mentions the rare manuscripts that he was able to go through during his research. these include rare manuscripts such as the kartarpuri bir, the damdami bir, bhai bano bir, bura sandhu bir, pindi lala bir ( destroyed during the army action in the golden temple in 1984 ), dehradun bir and other rare manuscripts at agra, mirzapur, lucknow, ayodhya, allahabad, burhanpur and patna. even though the fifth guru did not approve of bhai bano ’ s action of copying the adi granth, it is interesting to note that the devotees kept on making its copies since the original bir, now known as kartarpuri bir, had gone into the hands of the descendents of dheermal who did not allow its access to anyone. under the circumstances, the devout sikhs were left with no option but to make copies from the bano bir which was easily available. therefore, we find many manuscripts of the bano recession. according to popular belief, the original bhai bano bir was kept with a family of bhai bano in village mangat, district gujarat ( now in pakistan ). after the partition of the country, this bir was temporarily kept in the house of one bhai mastan singh in village barot, district meerut ( u. p. ). it was here that this bir was examined by bhai randhir singh, a gurdwara inspector of the shiromani gurdwara parbandak committee. later on, this bir was installed in a gurdwara built in the memory of bhai bano in jawaharpur, kanpur. bhai vir singh sahitya sadan, new delhi, has six manuscripts of bhai bano bir pertaining to different periods. prof. devinder singh chahal, phd writes about this section of sggs : “ after the sloka ( ac


different from that spoken during the period between the 12th and 17th century when the bani was composed by bhagats and sikh gurus. although the bani was composed and written in the language spoken by the then people, with the time it has become very difficult to understand and interpret it now. therefore, knowledge of old languages and their grammars is essential to understand the gurbani in its entirety and originality. ” reverence of sggs by sikhs guru arjun directed that during daytime the holy book should remain in the harimandir and by night, after, sohila was read, it should be taken to the room he had built for himself. as evening advanced, bhai buddha recited sohila and made the concluding ardas or supplication. the granth sahib was closed and wrapped in silks. bhai buddha held it on his head and marched towards the chamber indicated by guru arjun. the guru led the congregation singing hymns. the granth sahib was placed on the appointed seat, and the guru slept on the ground by its side. daily, in the morning, the holy book is taken out in state to the harimandir and brought by night to rest in the room marked for it by guru arjun. the practice continues to this day. but the volume is not the same. that original copy was taken to kartarpur when guru arjun ’ s successor, guru hargobind, left amritsar in 1634. there it passed into the possession of his grandson, dhir - mall. it has since remained in that family. some sikh scholars criticize this practice. prof. devinder singh chahal, phd writes about the reverence of sggs by sikhs : “ one of the reasons has been explained by dr gopal singh that due to improper understanding of ‘ sabd ’ ( guru ’ s word ) the granth started to be worshipped more than read, uttered as a magical formula or a mantram for secular benefits. now in almost all the gurdwaras in the world, whether they are under the shiromani gurdwara parbandhak committee ( sgpc ), amritsar or any other organization, the aad guru granth sahib ( aggs ) is treated almost as an idol. however, the idol worship is condemned in nanakian philosophy. moreover, i was surprised to note, when i was casually glancing through “ the cambridge factfinder ”, which says under the subheading of ‘ beliefs in sikhism ’ as : “


however, the idol worship is condemned in nanakian philosophy. moreover, i was surprised to note, when i was casually glancing through “ the cambridge factfinder ”, which says under the subheading of ‘ beliefs in sikhism ’ as : “ worship of the adi granth ” as one of the beliefs [ 11 - p 411 ]. it appears that such is the impression about sikhism in the printed literature. ” he further writes : “ the irony is that the sikhs are following the historical information in which the ‘ sabd guru ’ has been successively changed to ‘ granth guru ’ to ‘ visible body of the guru ’ to ‘ darshan guru ’. consequently, the sikhs started to pay more and more attention to ritualistic aspects to the ‘ granth guru ’ than on the deliberation on the philosophy given in the ‘ sabd guru ’ … guru nanak ’ s observation that there would be very few sikhs, who will deliberate on the bani / sabd to be called as gurumukh, is so true today as it was then at the time of guru nanak. there are many ( apparent ) gurumukhs, but rare are those who understand the bani in its real perspective. therefore, guru nanak thought it necessary to emphasize the importance of listening, understanding, practicing the philosophy embodied in the bani ( stanzas # 8 - 15 of jap ) guru amardas also noticed that many sikhs used to come to have his darshan ( just to visit the guru to see / meet him ) but were not interested to listen to his philosophy : all the humans of the world desire to behold the true guru1. one does not get salvation by merely seeing ( the true guru1 ), unless one deliberates / contemplates on his sabd ( word ). aggs. m. 3, pg. 594. guru amardas clearly means that it is the ‘ sabd ’ that is the ‘ guru ’ not the human body as the ‘ guru ’. the same situation is seen today when most of sikhs visit the gurdwara just at the time of bhog, paying their respect to the aad guru granth sahib for a few minutes then go to langar hall. … since the granth has been declared as guru more and more attention is being paid to treat it as an idol and to have its darshan ( seeing ). moreover, continuous recitation of the aggs ( akhand paath ) is considered a mantram for