, ‘ why are we looking for the least devil, when we are good people here? why don ’ t we run ourselves? " and that started the snowball effect which ended with more than four thousand grameen members elected into local office. that ’ s amazing. and the way they talk is completely different. i never heard women in bangladesh talking like this. they are challenging the government. they say, " the government can ’ t tell us how to vote. we made commitments to our electorate. " this is the kind of thing that happens. so in health care, in political participation, in the relationship between mother and child and between husband and wife, there are transformations of society. now you can open up, you can do things, you can discover your own talent and ability and look at the world in a very different way than you looked at before. because grameen offers a chance to become part of an institution, with some financial support to do your own thing. our customers are in a kind of business relationship, but one that makes such a difference to their lives. of course there is resistance. the first resistance came from the husbands who felt insulted, humiliated, threatened that their wives were given a loan and they were not. the tension within the family structure sometimes led to violence against the women. so we paused for a while and then came up with an idea. we started meeting with the husbands and explaining the program in a way where they could see it would be beneficial to their family. and we made sure to meet with husbands and wives together so everyone understood what was expected. so that reduced a lot of initial resistance by the husbands. neighborhood men also raised objections, and cloaked the fact that they felt threatened by women ’ s empowerment in religious trappings. we carefully examined whether our program was in some way antireligious. but they were hiding behind religion instead of admitting that they felt bypassed. it was the male ego speaking in religious terms. our best counterargument was just to give it time. it soon became clear that our borrowers were still attending to their religious duties, at the same time earning money and becoming confident. women started confronting the religious people. they said, " you think taking money from grameen bank is a bad idea? okay, we won ’ t take any more — if you give the money yourself. we don ’ t care who gives it to us, but without money we cannot do anything. " and of course the religious advocates said, " no, no, we can


we won ’ t take any more — if you give the money yourself. we don ’ t care who gives it to us, but without money we cannot do anything. " and of course the religious advocates said, " no, no, we can ’ t give you money. " so that was the end of that. we also received criticism from development professionals who insisted that giving tiny loans to women who do not have knowledge and skill does not bring about structural change in the country or the village and therefore is not true development at all. they said development involves multimillion dollar loans for enormous infrastructure projects. we never expected opposition from the development quarter, but it happened, and became controversial. because what we do is not in their book. they cannot categorize us, whether right, left, conservative, or liberal. we talk free market, but at the same time we are pro - poor. they are totally confused. but if you are in a classroom situation, you wander around your abstract world, and decide microcredit programs are silly because they don ’ t fit into your theoretical universe. but i work with real people in the real world. so whenever academics or professionals try to draw those conclusions, i get upset and go back and work with my borrowers — and then i know who is right. the biggest smile is from one of those women who has just changed her existence. the excitement she experienced with her children, moving from one class to another, is so touching, so real that you forget what the debate was in the ballroom of the hotel with all the international experts, telling you that this is nothing. so that ’ s how i ’ ve got the strength — from people. grameen bank is now all over bangladesh, with 2. 4 million families. even in hard times, like this year ’ s terrible flood, people are willingly paying and we ’ re getting really good loans. that demonstrated the basic ability of the people to do something that they believe in, no matter what others say. people ask, what is the reason that we succeeded, that we could do it, when everybody said it couldn ’ t be done. i keep saying that i was stubborn. so when you ask if it took courage, i would instead say it took stubbornness. no matter what kind of beautiful explanation you give, that ’ s what it takes to make it happen. speak truth to power ( umbrage, 2000 )


last week, our children and youth as well as some of you participated in an intergenerational service and shared stories about the births of three individuals - - buddha, confucius, and jesus. this week, i want to delve a little more deeply into the story of the birth of jesus. before i get too far, though, let ’ s get a few things straight. we don ’ t have to take this story literally to take it seriously. modern day biblical scholarship tells us the historical jesus probably was most likely born in or near nazareth, not bethlehem. he was probably born in a house, not in a manger. i would say that the chances that he was born on december 25 are about 1 in 365. there were most likely no shepherds, magi, or little boys playing drums while cattle lowed. but the biblical writers of the gospels of matthew and luke weren ’ t trying to write history. what were they trying to tell us? i think it ’ s like this … before, during, and after jesus ’ s lifetime, the jewish people were having a very difficult time. they were being violently oppressed and exploited by the roman empire. they were waiting for a leader, someone who would united the jewish people and lead them in a military rebellion against their roman oppressors. they didn ’ t use the word “ leader ” though. they used the title “ anointed one. ” or in hebrew, messiah. or in greek, christos. someone who had been anointed by god to lead the jewish people toward a better way of life. but when jesus came around, most people reacted the same way a lot of republican primary voters are reacting to the current crop of presidential candidates - - “ you ’ ve gotta be kidding me! can ’ t we do any better than this? ” after all, jesus looked more like a homeless person than a future king - - probably because he was a homeless person - - and he talked more about love and forgiveness than the violent overthrow of the government. to put it bluntly, he wasn ’ t the kind of guy most people were expecting. many years after jesus died, when the writers of the gospels of luke and matthew sat down to write his “ backstory, ” so to speak, they wrote these stories to make the point that the world sometimes doesn ’ t work in the way we expect it to work, that life sometimes surprises us, and that sometimes hope for our own lives and for our world comes in the most unlikely of


, they wrote these stories to make the point that the world sometimes doesn ’ t work in the way we expect it to work, that life sometimes surprises us, and that sometimes hope for our own lives and for our world comes in the most unlikely of times and the most unlikely of places and in the most unlikely of ways. after all, nobody expected a savior to his people to be born to such poor parents in such humble beginnings. nobody expected such an auspicious event to be announced to shepherds, people of the lowest stature in first century jewish society. and nobody expected a baby, born during a time of oppression, exploitation, and violence, would grow up to practice and preach a gospel of love, justice, and peace. the biblical stories about jesus ’ s birth are all about the reversals of expectations. more than reminding us of some literal truth about jesus, their purpose is to remind us of that possibility in our own lives and in our own world. as your minister, though, i know that even during the month of december, i can only make so many biblical references with unitarian universalists before your eyes start to glaze over so they look like the frosting on christmas cookies. so let me tell another story, a much more recent story about much more recent events. it ’ s a bit of a convoluted story, but it begins like this … in october 2007, a young man named bradley manning, originally from a small town in oklahoma, joined the u. s. army. he trained as an intelligence analyst and was eventually sent to iraq in 2009. manning, though, was a troubled young man in many ways. he didn ’ t support the u. s. military ’ s mission in iraq. he also says he was harassed and bullied for being gay. within a few months of being sent to iraq, manning allegedly downloaded thousands of classified documents to his personal computer and eventually provided them to wikileaks, an organization that publishes leaked documents on the internet. among the documents manning allegedly provided to wikileaks were 250, 000 u. s. state department cables, some of which documented both rampant corruption and opulent spending by government leaders in the northeastern african nation of tunisia. the spread of news within tunisia about this rampant corruption and opulent spending was at least a contributing factor, if not a major factor, in the overthrow of that nation ’ s government in january 2011 - - less than a year ago, and the overthrow of the government of tunisia was the beginning of what has come


point - - similar to the gospel writers ’ point, i suppose - - is that despite how much we say we know about everything, despite how boringly predictable our lives and the world in which we live sometimes seems, i want to suggest that our lives and our world are a little less predictable than we imagine. to the very best of my knowledge, i don ’ t remember any predictions about anything like the arab spring or occupy wall street. i especially don ’ t remember anybody making any predictions about the way all of this would happen. to be fair, some of you may have questions about the way i ’ ve told this story. if bradley manning hadn ’ t been harassed for his sexual orientation, would he have leaked the secret documents? if he hadn ’ t leaked the secret documents, would the revolution in tunisia and the rest of the arab spring still happened? if the arab spring hadn ’ t happened, would the occupy wall street protests have occurred? i don ’ t know the answer to these questions either. here ’ s what i do know though … in ancient greek, there are two words for time - - chronos and kairos. chronos is regular, linear, predictable time. it ’ s the root of the english word “ chronology. ” kairos, though, refers to special time. to use more traditional theological language, it ’ s when the power of the divine breaks into history to bring about something new and totally unexpected. to use less traditional language, it ’ s when the events of the universe, the events of history, the events of life, serendipitously conspire to bring about something totally new and totally unexpected in our lives, often in a totally unexpected way, and sometimes even something good. what i want to suggest for your consideration this morning is that too often, i suspect most of us live our lives according to a chronos mentality rather than living with a kairos mentality. the biblical stories of jesus ’ birth were originally written to inspire us toward a kairos mentality - - but in our 21st century culture these stories are usually not understood too literally, but even among skeptics, the stories have become so familiar to us that they ’ ve lost their power to jar and jolt us out of a chronos mentality. “ that ’ s the way, it was supposed to happen! ” we say when we hear a story about a baby being born in a manger growing up to change the world. many of the events of 2011 seem to


s a wonderful, sensitive, funny, and beautiful woman but has been unlucky in her relationships. after being married and divorced once and having several unsuccessful relationships, she began to wonder if she would ever find somebody to love and who would love her. then this past year, life serendipitously conspired and she did. she and her husband were married in november and she seems happier than she has ever been. i think of everything [ my wife ] and i did to become parents. for about seven years we tried becoming parents by the old - fashioned way and by some of the new - fangled ways made possible by medical science. for seven years, none of our efforts were successful. then we decided to adopt. we were told it would take about one year, but after one year, we were still childless. after two years, we were still childless. it was only after waiting nearly three years that life serendipitously conspired and we received a referral for a healthy 15 - month - old boy from medellin, colombia. [ my son ] is five now, and [ my wife ] and i couldn ’ t be any happier with how our lives have turned out. this past week, i had a conversation with mark miloscia. as some of you know, mark represents federal way in the state legislature and is now running for state auditor. i like mark because he has been one of the champion ’ s of campaign finance reform in our state, an issue that ’ s important to me. every year for many years now, mark has introduced a campaign finance reform bill, and it has failed, but will it always, or one day will life serendipitously conspire so that enough people realize everyone should have an equal voice in making important decisions about our country. in christian scripture, whenever anybody asks jesus when the kingdom of god will arrive, he says that nobody except god knows and one shouldn ’ t believe anybody who says he or she knows. instead, jesus says, always be ready for it. i don ’ t interpret jesus ’ words to be a doomsday prediction about the end times but an expression of an existential truth about human existence - - that none of us knows when or where or how life is going to serendipitously conspire to bring about something new and different and unexpected in our lives but that we should live in anticipation, in preparation, in readiness, in openness to possibility. i think the poet emily dickinson was saying


going to serendipitously conspire to bring about something new and different and unexpected in our lives but that we should live in anticipation, in preparation, in readiness, in openness to possibility. i think the poet emily dickinson was saying much the same thing when she wrote, “ not knowing when the dawn will come, i open every door. ” one of the reasons i ’ m always excited when we welcome new members into this congregation is that i never know life is going to serendipitously conspire so that your participation in this congregation may lead to something totally unexpected and totally new in our shared lives together. i recently read about a man who saw a woman stopped along the side of the road. the woman was trying to change the tire on her car and was having trouble. he stopped to help. after helping her, he got back in his car and kept on driving. a few miles down the road he had a heart attack. then the same woman stopped her car, called for help, and performed cpr on him until an ambulance arrived, saving his life. this morning we ’ re selling items in the welcoming room to raise funds for another microbank. if we ’ re able to fund another bank, that bank may be able to make a small loan to a woman trying to run her own business. then that woman may be able to afford to send a child to school. then that child may grow up to make an incredible contribution to his community, to her nation, or even to humanity as a whole, perhaps even doing something that will save the life of somebody in this congregation. do i have any guarantees of that? absolutely none at all. but as i ’ ve been saying, none of us knows when, where, or how life may serendipitously conspire to bring about something totally unexpected and totally new. the most any of us can do is be ready, play our part, and not refuse to do the something we can do. my friends, not knowing when the dawn will come, let us open every door. now and always, let us live with hope, courage, perseverance, patience, and faith in the goodness of things yet to come. let us live in anticipation that somewhere, something incredible is waiting to happen, in our own lives and in the world. and if there is a time in any of our individual lives when our own hope wanes, when our own flame flickers, may it be renewed here in this religious community we share


washington, dc — the u. s. department of energy ( doe ) today announced the launch of a website, doepatents, which allows search and retrieval of information from a collection of more than 20, 000 patent records. the database represents a growing collection of patents resulting from r & d supported by doe and demonstrates the department ’ s considerable contribution to scientific progress from the 1940s to the present. “ from helping the blind to see again to identifying hidden weapons through holographic computerized imaging technology, the u. s. department of energy has supported and will continue to support research addressing some of the world ’ s most pressing scientific challenges, ” under secretary for science dr. raymond l. orbach said. “ content within doepatents represents a truly impressive demonstration of doe research and development and technological innovation. ” highlighted at doepatents is a compilation of noteworthy doe innovations from the past few decades. these technologies have improved quality of life and provided national economic, health and environmental benefits. one such invention is the artificial retina, a collaborative research project between doe national laboratories, universities and the private sector aimed at restoring vision to millions of people blinded by retinal disease. another invention is the doe national renewable energy laboratory ’ s pioneering multi - junction solar cell. a cell based on this design set a world efficiency record in converting sunlight to electricity. the doepatents database also includes inventions of nobel laureates associated with doe or its predecessors such as enrico fermi, glenn seaborg and luis alvarez, along with other distinguished scientists. patents consists of bibliographic records, with full text where available via either a pdf file or an html link to the record at the united states patent and trademark office. the doepatents database is updated quarterly with new patent records. the website is updated on a regular basis with news and information about significant and recent inventions. resource links for inventors are included at the site, as well as recent inventions and patent news pages. doepatents was developed by the doe office of scientific and technical information ( osti ) and may be viewed at http : / / www. osti. gov / doepatents /. osti, a part of the doe office of science, accelerates discovery by making research results rapidly available to scientists and to the public. the office of science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation. jeff sherwood, doe, ( 202 ) 586 - 5806 cathey daniels, osti, ( 865 ) 576 - 9539


launch date : december 02, 1997 mission project home page - http : / / www. mpe - garching. mpg. de / eqs / eqs _ home. html equator - s was a low - cost mission designed to study the earth ' s equatorial magnetosphere out to distances of 67000 km. it formed an element of the closely - coordinated fleet of satellites that compose the iastp program. based on a simple spacecraft design, it carries a science payload comprising advanced instruments that were developed for other iastp missions. unique features of equator - s were its nearly equatorial orbit and its high spin rate. it was launched as an auxiliary payload on an ariane - 4, december 2nd, 1997. the mission was intended for a two - year lifetime but stopped transmitting data on may 1, 1998. the idea of an equatorial satellite dates back to nasa ' s ggs ( global geospace science ) program, originally conceived in 1980. the equatorial element of the program was abandoned in 1986 and several subsequent attempts to rescue the mission failed, leaving a significant gap in both nasa ' s gss and the international iastp programs. the max - planck - institut fur extraterrestrische physik ( mpe ) decided to fill this gap because of its interest in gss and the opportunity for a test of an advanced instrument to measure electric fields with dual electron beams. in addition to mpe - internal funds and personnel, the realization of equator - s was possible through a 1994 grant from the german space agency dara ( meanwhile part of dlr ).


more on those rorquals : part i is required reading. to those who have seen this stuff before : sorry, am going through a busy phase and no time for new material ( blame dinosaurs and azhdarchoid pterosaurs … and baby girls ). oh, incidentally, i recently registered tet zoo with researchblogging : i haven ’ t done this before because ‘ blogging on peer - reviewed research ’ is the norm at tet zoo, not the exception. it seems to take ages for posts to be uploaded to researchblogging – like, hours. is this normal? anyway … this time we look at the basics of rorqual morphology and at their feeding behaviour. the rostrum in rorquals is long and tapers to a point ( though it is comparatively broad in blue whales ) and, in contrast to other mysticetes, a stout finger - like extension of the maxillary bone extends posteriorly, overlapping the nasals and abutting the supraoccipital ( the shield - like plate that forms the rear margin of the skull ). the dorsal surfaces of the frontals ( on the top of the skull ) possess large depressions while the ventral surfaces of the zygomatic processes ( the structures that project laterally from the cheek regions ) are strongly concave, again unlike the condition in other mysticetes [ painting above by valter fogato ]. rorqual lower jaws are gigantic, beam - like bones that bow outwards along their length. the symphyseal area ( the region where the jaw tips meet ) is unfused, as is the case in all mysticetes ( even the most basal ones ) but not other cetaceans, meaning that the two halves of the jaw can stretch apart at their tips somewhat. exceeding 7 m in blue whales, rorqual lower jaws are the largest single bones in history ( ha! take that sauropoda ). a section of blue whale jaw was once ‘ discovered ’ at loch ness and misidentified as the femur of a gigantic, hitherto undiscovered tetrapod. occasionally rorqual skulls have been discovered in which the long lower jaws have been stuck wedged inside various of the skull openings and with their tips protruding like tusks. people unfamiliar with cetacean skulls have then naively assumed that the skull belonged to some sort of tusked prehistoric sea monster. ben roesch once discussed the


inside various of the skull openings and with their tips protruding like tusks. people unfamiliar with cetacean skulls have then naively assumed that the skull belonged to some sort of tusked prehistoric sea monster. ben roesch once discussed the case of the ataka carcass of 1956 : a giant beached animal possessing divergent ‘ tusks ’ that are in fact the separated halves of a rorqual ’ s lower jaw ( see adjacent image ). i ’ ve come across another case of this sort of thing. the accompanying newspaper piece, from the telegraph of june 29th 1908, features a skull trawled up by the aberdeen vessel balmedie ( sailing out of grimsby ), and thought by the article ’ s writer to be that of ‘ some prehistoric monster ’, apparently with tongue preserved. it ’ s clearly a rorqual skull, and the pointed, narrow rostrum and posterior widening of the mesorostral gutter indicates that it ’ s a minke whale skull [ for other cases in which whale carcasses have been mistaken for ' sea monsters ' see the tecolutla monster article ]. moving back to the morphology of the rorqual lower jaw, a tall, well - developed coronoid process – way larger than that of any other mysticete – projects from each jaw bone and forms the attachment site for a tendinous part of the temporalis muscle, termed the frontomandibular stay. all of these unusual features are linked to the remarkable feeding style used by rorquals. how do they feed? predominantly by lunge - feeding ( also known as engulfment feeding ) : by opening their mouths to full gape ( c. 90º ), and then lunging into a mass of prey. those depressed areas on the frontals and zygomatic processes house particularly large temporalis and masseter muscles, the muscles involved in closing the jaw. the frontomandibular stay provides a strong mechanical linkage between the lower jaw and skull and primarily serves to amplify the mechanical advantage of the temporalis muscles. as a rorqual lunge - feeds, a huge quantity of water ( hopefully containing prey ) is engulfed within the buccal pouch, transforming the whale from ‘ a cigar shape to the shape of an elongated, bloated tadpole ’ ( orton & brodie 1987, p. 2898 ). while a rorqual uses its muscles to open its jaws, the energy that powers the expansion of the bucca


cigar shape to the shape of an elongated, bloated tadpole ’ ( orton & brodie 1987, p. 2898 ). while a rorqual uses its muscles to open its jaws, the energy that powers the expansion of the buccal pouch is essentially provided by the whale ’ s forward motion, and not by the jaw muscles. in other words, the engulfing process is powered solely by the speed of swimming. orton & brodie ( 1987 ) noted that the engulfed water ‘ is not displaced forward or moved backward by internal suction, but is simply enveloped with highly compliant material ’ ( p. 2905 ). rorquals do not, therefore, set up a bow wave as they engulf ( update : by complete coincidence, paul brodie told me in a recent email [ 28th feb 2009 ] that he ’ s just completing a long - in - the - pipeline manuscript containing field data on sei whale. wow, i really look forward to seeing this ). a rorqual may engulf nearly 70 % of its total body weight in water and prey during this action, which in an adult blue whale amounts to about 70 tons ( pivorunas 1979 ). in order to cope with this, the tissues of the buccal pouch must be highly extensible and able to cope with massive distortion. the ventral surface of the pouch is covered by grooved blubber, on which the 50 - 90 grooves extend from the jaw tips to as far posteriorly as the umbilicus. the ventral grooves can be extended to 4 times their resting width, and to 1. 5 times their resting length. internal to the grooved blubber is the muscle tissue of the buccal pouch, and this is unique, containing large amounts of elastin, and consisting of an inner layer of longitudinally arranged muscle bands and an outer layer where the bands are obliquely oriented ( pivorunas 1977 ). when a rorqual lunges, delicate timing is needed, otherwise the buccal pouch will rapidly fill with seawater and not with prey. how then do rorquals get their timing just right? it seems that rorquals possess batteries of sensory organs within and around the buccal pouch : there are laminated corpuscles closely associated with the ventral grooves that might serve a sensory function, and located around the edges of the jaws, and at their tips, are a number of short ( 12. 5 mm ) vibrissae. long assumed to be vestiges from


associated with the ventral grooves that might serve a sensory function, and located around the edges of the jaws, and at their tips, are a number of short ( 12. 5 mm ) vibrissae. long assumed to be vestiges from the time when whale ancestors had body hair, it now seems that these structures have a role in sensing vibrations. once a mass of prey is engulfed, a rorqual then has to squeeze the water out through its baleen plates while at the same time retaining the prey. rorqual baleen plates number between 219 to 475 in each side of the jaw ( the number of plates is highly variable within species, with sei whales alone having between 219 and 402 ), and each plate ranges in length from 20 cm ( in the minkes ) to 1 m ( in the blue ). as the whale stops lunging forward, the pressure drops off, allowing deflation of the buccal pouch. passive contraction of the blubber grooves and active contraction of the muscle layer within the buccal pouch also occurs at this time [ adjacent image, showing engulfment process in fin whale, by jeremy goldbogen and nicholas pyenson and taken from the uc berkeley news site. goldbogen et al. ' s research is discussed in the next article. see also pyenson ' s site and goldbogen ' s site ]. for an outstanding sequence of photos illustrating engulfment in action, see randy morse ’ s photos of a feeding blue whale. so that ’ s the basics. but there ’ s so much more to the subject than this. how is it that, during lunge feeding, agile, highly reactive prey remain within the mouth cavity prior to the mouth ’ s closure? why do some rorquals make loud noises during lunge - feeding? why, given their giant size and theoretical high aerobic dive limit, do big rorquals not spend more time lunge - feeding beneath the surface? why do some rorquals exhibit strongly asymmetrical patterns of pigmentation? and don ’ t forget that not all rorquals lunge - feed. more on these issues in the following post. refs – - orton, l. s., brodie, p. f. ( 1987 ). engulfing mechanisms of fin whales canadian journal of zoology, 65, 2898 - 2907 pivorunas, a. 1977. the fibrocartilage skeleton and related structures of the ventral pouch of balaeno


php is considered an insecure language to develop in not because of secret backdoors put in by the php language developers, but because it was initially developed without security as a major concern and compared to other languages / web frameworks its difficult to develop securely in it. e. g., if you develop a lamp / lapp ( linux + apache + mysql / postgresql + php ) web app, you have to manually code in input / output sanitation to prevent sql injection / xss / csrf, make sure there are no subtle calls to eval user - supplied code ( like in preg _ replace with a ' / e ' ending the regexp argument ), safely deal with file uploads, make sure user passwords are securely hashed ( not plaintext ), authentication cookies are unguessable, secure ( https ) and http - only, etc. most modern web - frameworks simplify many of these issues by doing most of these things in a secure fashion ( or initially doing them insecurely and then getting secure updates ). the risk of there being a secret backdoor in an open - source php is small ; and the risk is present in every piece of software ( windows / linux / apache / nginx / iis / postgresql / oracle ) you use - - both open - source and closed - source. the open - source ones at least have the benefit that many independent eyes look at it all the time and you could examine it if you wanted. also note in principle, even after fully examining the source code and finding no backdoors and fully examining the source code of your compiler ( finding no backdoors ), if you then recompile your compiler ( bootstrap by using some untrusted existing compiler ) and then compile the safe source code with your newly compiled " safe " compiler, your executable code could still have backdoors brought in from using the untrusted existing compiler to compile the new compiler. see ken thompson ' s reflections on trusting trust. ( the way this is defended against in practice is by using many independent and obscure compilers from multiple sources to compile any new compiler and then compare the output ).


the bigger picture : visual archives and the smithsonian now open to the public ( in 1922 ) - museum of the american indian on november 14, 1922, george gustav heye opened to the public the museum of the american indian, heye foundation in new york city to display his collection of native american artifacts. heye, a mining engineer, began collecting native american artifacts while working in arizona in 1896. the museum, founded in 1916, was located at audubon terrace and there was also a research branch in the bronx where collections were available for research and study. after heye ' s death in 1957, the future of the museum was in doubt. some thoughts were to transfer the collection to the american museum of natural history in new york or possibly for it to be purchased by businessman, h. ross perrot. neither of these options came to pass. it was not until the 1980s when discussions began with the smithsonian that a home would be found for the museum of the american indian. on november 18, 1989, president george h. w. bush signed legislation creating the national museum of the american indian as part of the smithsonian. today the museum consists of the george gustave heye center in new york city ( unfortunately because of hurricane sandy the heye center is temporarily closed ), the cultural resources center facility in maryland, and the museum on the mall in washington, d. c. - history of the national museum of the american indian, smithsonian institution archives


written by kara fleck, simple kids editor and rockin ’ granola mama. as we wind down summer and prepare to say “ hello ” to fall days, here are a few ways to play, learn, and explore during the month of september. ways to play, learn, and explore in september september ’ s flower is the aster. the word “ aster ” comes from the ancient greek for “ star. ” sometimes the aster is called the michaelmas daisy. there are some activities and a poem for the michaelmas daisy at the flower fairies official website. while you and your kids are learning about autumn flowers, why not try your hand at a few of these felt sunflowers from living crafts? the wonderful se7en has a free printable september calendar for you. although september is the ninth month, the word september comes from the latin “ septi ” for seven because in the roman calendar it was the seventh month. talk like a pirate day is september 19th ( which also happens to be the day after my husband christopher ’ s birthday, what fun! ). right now you can pick up a copy of captain no beard for your kindle for 99 cents from amazon ( you can pick up the printed version, too ) – and if you are an amazon prime member you can borrow it for free! love that! the autumnal equinox occurs on september 22nd. the leaves will begin to change colors, the air will become cooler, and the hours of daylight a little shorter. here are a few fun leaf - related activities : why not try out an autumn recipe or two with your kids this month? - maple pecan baked apples : : : simple bites - pumpkin butterscotch cookies : : : joy the baker - healthy after - school snacks : popsicles : : : playful learning how will you and your kids be playing, learning, and exploring this september?


the cerebral cortex, a layer of neural tissue surrounding the cerebrum of the mammalian brain, has been known to play various roles in memory, language, thought, attention, and consciousness. up until now, no invertebrate equivalent to the cerebral cortex has been encountered, but detlev arendt, raju tomer, and colleagues may have found an evolutionary counterpart. the obvious answer is hidden in one simple creature – the worm. wait, what? yeah, you heard me. the marine ragworm, found at all water depths, has been shown to possess a tissue resembling that of our mysterious cerebral cortex. arendt and his colleagues used a technique called cellular profiling to determine a molecular footprint for each kind of cell in this particular type of ragworm. by utilizing this technique, they were able to uncover which genes were turned on and off in each cell, providing a means for cellular categorization. surprisingly, mushroom bodies, regions of the ragworm ’ s brain that are thought to control olfactory senses, show a striking similarity to tissue found in our cerebral cortex. this intriguing discovery may provide remarkable insight into the evolutionary basis of what has developed into an incredibly important cerebral structure. read more about this review here, or see the original article in cell.


object pool design pattern object pooling can offer a significant performance boost ; it is most effective in situations where the cost of initializing a class instance is high, the rate of instantiation of a class is high, and the number of instantiations in use at any one time is low. object pools ( otherwise known as resource pools ) are used to manage the object caching. a client with access to a object pool can avoid creating a new objects by simply asking the pool for one that has already been instantiated instead. generally the pool will be a growing pool, i. e. the pool itself will create new objects if the pool is empty, or we can have a pool, which restricts the number of objects created. it is desirable to keep all reusable objects that are not currently in use in the same object pool so that they can be managed by one coherent policy. to achieve this, the reusable pool class is designed to be a singleton class. the object pool lets others “ check out ” objects from its pool, when those objects are no longer needed by their processes, they are returned to the pool in order to be reused. however, we don ’ t want a process to have to wait for a particular object to be released, so the object pool also instantiates new objects as they are required, but must also implement a facility to clean up unused objects periodically. the general idea for the connection pool pattern is that if instances of a class can be reused, you avoid creating instances of the class by reusing them. < strong > reusable < / strong > - instances of classes in this role collaborate with other objects for a limited amount of time, then they are no longer needed for that collaboration. < strong > client < / strong > - instances of classes in this role use reusable objects. < strong > reusablepool < / strong > - instances of classes in this role manage reusable objects for use by client objects. usually, it is desirable to keep all reusable objects that are not currently in use in the same object pool so that they can be managed by one coherent policy. to achieve this, the reusablepool class is designed to be a singleton class. its constructor ( s ) are private, which forces other classes to call its getinstance method to get the one instance of the a client object calls a acquirereusable method when it needs a reusable object. a reusablepool object maintains a collection of reusa


private, which forces other classes to call its getinstance method to get the one instance of the a client object calls a acquirereusable method when it needs a reusable object. a reusablepool object maintains a collection of reusable objects. it uses the collection of reusable objects to contain a pool of reusable objects that are not currently in use. if there are any reusable objects in the pool when the acquirereusable method is called, it removes a reusable object from the pool and returns it. if the pool is empty, then the acquirereusable method creates a reusable object if it can. if the acquirereusable method cannot create a new reusable object, then it waits until a reusable object is returned to the collection. client objects pass a reusable object to a releasereusable method when they are finished with the object. the releasereusable method returns a reusable object to the pool of reusable objects that are not in use. in many applications of the object pool pattern, there are reasons for limiting the total number of reusable objects that may exist. in such cases, the reusablepool object that creates reusable objects is responsible for not creating more than a specified maximum number of reusable objects. if reusablepool objects are responsible for limiting the number of objects they will create, then the reusablepool class will have a method for specifying the maximum number of objects to be created. that method is indicated in the above diagram as setmaxpoolsize. do you like bowling? if you do, you probably know that you should change your shoes when you getting the bowling club. shoe shelf is wonderful example of object pool. once you want to play, you ’ ll get your pair ( aquirereusable ) from it. after the game, you ’ ll return shoes back to the shelf ( objectpoolclass with private array of releasemethods in objectpool class - make sure that your objectpool is singleton rules of thumb - the factory method pattern can be used to encapsulate the creation logic for objects. however, it does not manage them after their creation, the object pool pattern keeps track of the objects it creates. - object pools are usually implemented as singletons. object pool code examples | this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution - noncommercial - no derivative works 3. 0 unported license |


beat the heat : heat illness in children it has been an extremely hot summer so far in all parts of the united states. record highs are being set all over the country. today we will discuss exertional heat illness in children so you can be better prepared to identify and prevent this in our children as they continue to be active throughout the summer months. why is temperature regulation important? our bodies are made to function at an optimal core temperature of 98. 6°f ( 37°c ). the “ thermal neutral ” zone in which we operate is 36. 5 – 37. 5°c. when the temperature deviates too much from that, temperature sensitive structures such as body enzymes and other proteins begin to denature, and essential processes start to fail. extreme cold slows down metabolic processes and at temperatures below 33°c we lose consciousness. in extreme heat, temperatures above 42°c are not compatible with life. how do we temperature regulate? even without activity, our body is generating heat at a rate that would increase our core temperatures by over 1°c per hour. when we are exercising hard, that heat generation can increase 10 - fold. therefore our bodies are equipped under normal circumstances to dissipate the heat. the main methods of heat dissipation are : radiation, convection, conduction, and evaporation. radiation is the primary way in which heat is dissipated when the skin temperature is greater than air, but when air temperature exceeds the skin temperature, evaporation becomes the primary method of cooling. this happens in the form of sweating ( humans ), and panting ( dogs ). when normal functions of heat dissipation are not working correctly, or when heat generation exceed heat loss, the body is in danger of a spectrum of heat - related illnesses from heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. why are children at greater risk than adults? children are more susceptible to heat illness because they have : 1. greater surface area to body mass ratio 2. lower rate of sweating 3. higher temperature at initiation of sweating 4. slower rate of acclimatization to heat tips on beating the heat? 1. stay indoors or in a shaded area during the hottest part of the day. schedule practices or events before 11am and after 6pm. 2. pre - hydrate! dehydration increases the risk of ehi. 3. hydrate on a regular schedule during and after exercise. thirst is a poor indication of hydration status, especially in children. a good starting point


. 2. pre - hydrate! dehydration increases the risk of ehi. 3. hydrate on a regular schedule during and after exercise. thirst is a poor indication of hydration status, especially in children. a good starting point is 4 to 6 ounces of fluid every 15 minutes for a 90 - lb child. 4. check the weight! checking your child ’ s weight before and after exercise will give you an idea if hydration was adequate. weight loss of greater than 2. 5 % indicates dehydration. 5. get acclimatized. the body can take 1 - 2 weeks to get adjusted to the heat, so avoid strenuous practices in the beginning. start light and gradually increase. 6. wear appropriate clothing. keep it light on the hottest days. 7. know the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke : heat exhaustion : athletes can be sweaty, ashen in color and complaining of weakness, headache, dizziness, irritable, nauseous or vomiting. heat stroke : athletes can have similar symptoms as heat exhaustion, but can also be dry, hot, and flushed, and will also have confusion, delayed response or other change in mental status. rectal temperature if taken will be > 104°f. 8. if your child has any medical problems that may affect their ability to temperature regulate, discuss with your pediatrician. what should you do if you suspect heat exhaustion or heat stroke? 1. get the athlete out of the sun, and indoors or into a shaded area. 2. oral hydration and cooling with active cooling techniques such as removing excess clothing, drinking cool water, sponging the body with cool water, placing ice pack in the armpits, and groin. 3. have the athlete evaluated by a medical professional as soon as possible. 4. if there is any change in responsiveness or other mental status change, be concerned about heat stroke. call 911 and initiate rapid cooling if possible. wishing everyone a safe, happy, and fun summer!


stats articles 2010 why any ol ' diet will work ( if your bmi is high enough ) : a case study in regression toward the mean rebecca goldin, phd, february 10, 2010 understanding regression toward the mean imagine a city where, from year to year, the overall height of the population is stable. there are no sudden growth spurts or frantic attempts by parents to give their children growth hormones, or movements of very short people in or very tall people out of the city limits. now consider the following statistical conundrum : if you measure the tall people in the city, they will tend to have children who are shorter and, similarly, the short people will tend to have children who are taller. other strange things are happening too. though the city ' s school test scores are not improving overall, the children with the worst test scores last year, appear to be doing better this year. what you are witnessing is called " regression toward the mean, " and it means that whenever you measure something more than once in a population, the extremes tend to move more toward the average. consider height : suppose the range of adult heights ( the minimum to maximum heights ) is four feet to seven feet, and stays the same over several generations. if we look at just those who are 7 feet tall, we will find that they have children who are shorter, since if these children grow to be taller than 7 feet, the height range of the population would change. if the range stays the same, the 7 - feet people cannot have children who are taller than themselves! you might ask : but where do we get the new 7 - feet tall people if the tallest people have shorter kids? first, a maximum height individual might have a same - heigh child. second, invariably, some tall people who are not quite at the maximum will have taller children - for example, someone 6 feet 6 inches could have a child who grows to be 7 feet tall. these kids will become the next generation of “ tallest. ” “ height of children ” is an example of a measurement that has some random fluctuation, that has nothing to do with genetics at all. regression toward the mean describes the behavior of such randomness. unfortunately, it can lead to some bias in observational studies, and understanding its effects is an important defense against false conclusions. just as we may be misled about what is happening to our society ’ s height if we only observe the heights of the children of very tall people ( thinking that they are shrinking ) we may be misled


is an important defense against false conclusions. just as we may be misled about what is happening to our society ’ s height if we only observe the heights of the children of very tall people ( thinking that they are shrinking ) we may be misled about social progress and medical success if we do not recognize the phenomenon. how bias sneaks in : an experiment in regressing we can set up an experiment that illustrates the phenomenon without having to wait generations to see the result. take a random group of people and ask them each to flip a coin 100 times and record the result. we would expect to find that many people got close to 50 heads and 50 tails. but we would also find that a few people got many more heads than tails and vice versa. suppose we did the experiment again with just those who got the outlying results. let ’ s call someone a “ head - flipper ” if he / she got at least 60 heads, and we only include head - flippers in our second experiment. we would still expect these people to have, on average, 50 heads and 50 tails in second set of flips. the head - flippers would generally not be head - flippers any longer. as these experiments are independent of each other, we do not expect head - flippers to be particularly likely to flip heads the second time they participate in the experiment. now imagine i have noted the first set of results and decided that what the world needed was a medication that improved one ' s ability to flip tails ( imagine i ' m crazy ). of course, i am only interested in what this medicine does to head - flippers, since they are the ones with the very serious problem of over - flipping heads. what will i find if i give all the head - flippers the medicine and run my test again? amazingly, most of them will no - longer flip at least 60 heads - i will have proven success! of course, the medication is illusory, as this purported increase in tail - flipping is only in comparison to those people who were chosen because they had flipped a lot of heads. we have simply observed regression toward the mean. regression toward the mean is a fundamental notion in statistics, and important to account for in experiments. it can create bias in poorly done observational studies. if the score on the coin flips were replaced by blood pressure measurements, for example, we should expect that people with the highest blood pressure readings are also those whose pressure will go down at the next measurement, whether they are given a


critical the second reading. the situation becomes much clearer when we look at the whole picture. by looking at the whole graph, we see there were five people below the red line, but to the right of the blue line, who had non - critically high blood pressure on the first reading, but above critical on the second. these people whose condition “ worsened ” from one reading to the next will compensate for those who “ improved, ” so that we see an average of no change. the point of a clinical trial is to get rid of the ( random ) bias introduced by regression toward the mean. a randomized clinical trial would compare groups of people with high blood pressure readings, by giving one group the medicine and the other not. it would then observe whether there is more benefit for the group that takes the medicine. alternatively, one could introduce a regimen for everyone without regard to blood pressure levels ( such as an exercise routine ) and see whether the average changes. weight loss and regression toward the mean by the same principle, the heaviest people are in a good position not to be heaviest at the next weigh - in. suppose that in february, 2010, we observe the weight of a population of people whose overall average weight and distribution of weights does not change. at the end of the year, the people with the highest bmi are likely to have decreased their weight while those with the smallest are likely to increase. these changes which are attributed to " regression toward the mean " should be understood to be the changes due to random fluctuations of the weight measurement - - it could be because our weights do fluctuate some without any intervention on our part, or because the scales we use have some random error. if the population as a whole does not have an increased average or change its weight distribution, then as people below the average will tend to put on weight, while those who have a very high bmi will be likely to go down in weight. [ keep in mind that the average bmi may well be over 25, classifying the average person as overweight - regression toward the mean doesn ' t do anything for the average! ] now throw " going on a diet to lose weight " into the picture, something that typically only overweight people do, and this effect should be exaggerated. on average, attempting to lose weight has a positive impact on losing weight. of course there are many aspects of changing bmi levels that are more complicated than we have presented here. in particular, american bmi is not standing still ; it is increasing. and


heel bursitis is another type of heel pain. the sufferer of this kind of heel pain experiences pain at the back of the heel when the patient moves his joint of the ankle. in the heel bursitis type of heel pain there is swelling on the sides of the achilles ’ tendon. in this condition the sufferer may experience pain in the heel when his feet hit the ground. heel bruises are also referred as heel bumps they are usually caused by improper shoes. the constant rubbing of the shoes against the heel. what is bursitis? bursitis is the inflammation of a bursa. normally, the bursa provides a slippery surface that has almost no friction. a problem arises when a bursa becomes inflamed. the bursa loses its gliding capabilities, and becomes more and more irritated when it is moved. when the condition called bursitis occurs, the normally slippery bursa becomes swollen and inflamed. the added bulk of the swollen bursa causes more friction within an already confined space. also, the smooth gliding bursa becomes gritty and rough. movement of an inflamed bursa is painful and irritating. “ itis ” usually refers to the inflammation of a certain part of the body, therefore bursitis refers to the constant irritation of the natural cushion that supports the heel of the foot ( the bursa ). bursitis is often associated with plantar fasciitis, which affects the arch and heel of the foot. what causes bursitis? - bursitis and plantar fasciitis can occur when a person increases their levels of physical activity or when the heel ’ s fat pad becomes thinner, providing less protection to the foot. - ill fitting shoes. - biomechanical problems ( e. g. mal - alignment of the foot, including over - pronation ). - rheumatoid arthritis. bursitis usually results from a repetitive movement or due to prolonged and excessive pressure. patients who rest on their elbows for long periods or those who bend their elbows frequently and repetitively ( for example, a custodian using a vacuum for hours at a time ) can develop elbow bursitis, also called olecranon bursitis. similarly in other parts of the body, repetitive use or frequent pressure can irritate a bursa and cause inflammation. another cause of bursitis is a traumatic injury. following trauma, such as a car accident or fall, a patient may develop bursitis. usually


select the product you need help with - internet explorer - windows phone - more products description of the way that excel saves files article id : 814068 - view products that this article applies to. when you save an existing file in excel, excel creates a temporary file in the destination folder that you specify in the save as dialog box. the temporary file contains the whole contents of your workbook. if excel successfully saves the temporary file, the temporary file is renamed with the file name you specify in the save as dialog box. this process of saving files makes sure that the original file is not damaged. the original file is useful if the save operation is not successful. when excel saves a file, excel follow these steps : important points about saving additional informationfor additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the microsoft knowledge base : ( http : / / support. microsoft. com / kb / 214073 / ) you receive an error message when you try to save a file in excel ( http : / / support. microsoft. com / kb / 289273 / ) description of the autorecover functions in excel 2002 ( http : / / support. microsoft. com / kb / 324521 / ) xl2002 : how to recover a lost worksheet or lost version of a worksheet article id : 814068 - last review : september 19, 2011 - revision : 6. 0


the re - introduction of wolves in a us national park in the mid - 1990s is not helping quaking aspens ( populus tremuloides ) to become re - established, as many researchers hoped. in a study published in the journal ecology showed that the population of wolves in yellowstone park was not deterring elks from eating young trees and saplings. it was assumed that the presence of wolves would create a “ landscape of fear ”, resulting in no - go areas for elks. researchers writing in the ecological society of america ’ s ( esa ) journal said that the aspens were not regenerating well in the park as a result of the elk eating the young trees. however, they added that the conventional wisdom suggested that as the wolves were predators of the elk, it was thought that the elk would eventually learn to avoid high - risk areas in which the wolves were found. this would then allow plants in those areas – such as aspen – to grow big enough without being eaten and killed by the elk. and in the long - term, the thinking went, the habitat would be restored. in this latest study, lead author matthew kauffman – a us geological survey scientist – suggested the findings showed that claims of an ecosystem - wide recovery of aspen were premature. “ this study not only confirms that elk are responsible for the decline of aspen in yellowstone beginning in the 1890s, but also that none of the aspen groves studied after wolf restoration appear to be regenerating, even in areas risky to elk, ” dr kauffman explained. because the “ landscape of fear ” idea did not appear to be benefiting aspen, the team concluded that if the northern range elk population did not continue to decline ( their numbers are 40 % of what they were before wolves ), many of yellowstone ’ s aspen stands were unlikely to recover. “ a landscape - level aspen recovery is likely only to occur if wolves, in combination with other predators and climate factors, further reduce the elk population, ” observed dr kauffman. the paper, are wolves saving yellowstone ’ s aspen? a landscape - level test of a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade, has been published online in ecology. the authors of the paper are : matthew kauffman ( usgs ), jedediah brodie ( university of montana ) and erik jules ( humboldt state university ). source : esa press release filed under : animals, biodiversity, conservation, research | tagged : aspen, ecological society of america, ecology, ecosystem, elk, environment,


both texas a & m and the university of missouri have acclaimed veterinary colleges, and the two schools have frequently collaborated on work involving animals. a current project could have a huge impact on the beef industry. james womack, the w. p. luse endowed and distinguished professor in texas a & m ’ s college of veterinary medicine & biomedical sciences, has partnered with missouri colleague jerry taylor to work on a five - year grant to study bovine respiratory disease, commonly called brd. it is a $ 9. 2 million project to find ways to prevent the disease and funding comes from the department of agriculture ’ s national institute of food and agriculture. for cattle owners, brd is major threat – it is the leading cause of disease in beef and dairy cattle and it annually causes losses approaching $ 1 billion in the cattle industry. “ it ’ s a disease that can really be devastating for ranchers, ” womack says of the project. “ it can sometimes be fatal, but the overall lack of production from cattle that have the disease is often the biggest concern. “ it is the no. 1 health problem in the cattle industry. it affects about 10 percent of the cattle in the country, so when you consider all of the millions of cattle in the united states, it results in numbers that are staggering. ” womack says he and missouri ’ s taylor will look at the disease from a genetic viewpoint and examine the causes of brd, and will do dna testing on at least 6, 000 cattle. “ we ’ ll take dna samples from cattle that have the disease, and also from those that don ’ t, ” womack explains. “ then we ’ ll look at variations on over 700, 000 genomes and do a comparative study. we have known for years that individual cattle vary in their response to the pathogens that cause brd and that much of that variation is genetic. “ we hope this project will be a model for the power of cooperation of research and educational institutions and animal industries to make basic discoveries, train professionals in the application of these discoveries, and to translate this new knowledge into economic gain along with improved animal health and welfare. ” texas a & m and missouri are key partners in the project, but other schools, such as washington state, uc - davis, new mexico state, colorado state and wisconsin are also involved in the work. “ partnering with missouri and these schools has been excellent for all concerned, ” womack adds. “ we are proud to be associated with the missouri team and jerry taylor and their outstanding


posted on february 27, 2012 by ollie dreon recently, i attended a workshop where the presenter talked about the importance of conducting course and program level assessment. “ we need to better assess what students are doing and to what extent they ’ re doing it, ” she explained. “ but the students aren ’ t the only ones we should be assessing. as educators, we need to reflect on our instructional techniques and learn from our work. we ’ re all students by nature. this should be part of our dna. ” the idea that “ we ’ re all students by nature ” really resonates with me, not only for what it says about us as a profession but also for what it says about our ability as educators to succeed in the future. more than one report has identified some challenging years ahead for educational institutions. for instance, educause recently published its 2012 horizon report which examines several emerging technologies that will play a role in our educational future. from tablet computers to learning analytics to gesture - based computing, there are some exciting technologies on the horizon. what effect will these technologies have on how we teach and how students learn? it really depends on us. “ the abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the internet, ” the horizon report states “ is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators. ” but revisiting our roles as educators means that we have to assess what we ’ re doing, embrace our natural tendencies as students and learn. i know this isn ’ t a foreign concept to many of my colleagues. i ’ m blessed to work with so many creative people who are willing to take risks and try out new pedagogical techniques. like the many outstanding students i ’ ve had the pleasure to work with, they are true inspirations. but the horizon report also identifies significant obstacles for educators “ who are students by nature. ” “ institutional barriers, ” the authors write, “ present formidable challenges to moving forward in a constructive way …. much resistance to change is simply comfort with the status quo, but in other cases, such as in promotion and tenure reviews, experimentation with or adoptions of clearly innovative applications … is often seen as outside the role of researcher or scientist. ” while challenges exist in almost an institution, especially institutions of higher education, i see real promise in the making. people are starting to embrace the scholarship of teaching and learning as a critical aspect of our work. while the philosophy may be new to some, it ’ s really just about cultivating a culture where educators and “


i see real promise in the making. people are starting to embrace the scholarship of teaching and learning as a critical aspect of our work. while the philosophy may be new to some, it ’ s really just about cultivating a culture where educators and “ students by nature ” can thrive. filed under : uncategorized | leave a comment » posted on february 20, 2012 by ollie dreon innovation is another buzz word you ’ ll hear around the water cooler these days. everyone is promoting innovative teaching practices or trying to promote innovative solutions to the big problems facing schools, education and society. lost in the discussion of innovation, however, is the fact that being innovative requires a great deal of risk taking and possibly some failure. as a culture, we struggle with the idea of failure which limits our desire to take risks and innovate. but perspective is everything. take thomas edison. arguably one of the greatest american innovators of the 19th century, edison tried almost a thousand times to build the incandescent light bulb before eventually getting it right. when asked about failing so many times, edison reportedly replied “ i have not failed 1, 000 times. i have successfully discovered 1, 000 ways to not make a light bulb. ” it ’ s all about perspective. or look at michael wesch. wesch is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at kansas state university and has been an advocate for using technology instructionally to engage students actively in classroom content. wesch has given ted talks and created several technology - based videos that have gone viral. for instance, wesch ’ s vision of students today which describes the digital lives of collegiate students has been watched over 4 million times. he ’ s a world renowned technology leader and educator. last week, the chronicle of higher education featured wesch in an article titled “ a tech - happy professor reboots after hearing his teaching advice isn ’ t working. ” while wesch has been advising colleagues to use twitter and blogs in their teaching, his colleagues have not reported the same level of success as wesch has had. “ it was chaos, ” one of wesch ’ s colleagues said after implementing wesch ’ s strategies. ” it just didn ’ t work. ” but it ’ s all about perspective. innovation requires risk taking and involves educators learning from their efforts. rather than focusing on his colleagues ’ failures and dismissing technology outright, wesch chose to re - examine its use and learn from their mistakes. educators need to have a purpose for integrating technology and focus on establishing relationships with students,


learning from their efforts. rather than focusing on his colleagues ’ failures and dismissing technology outright, wesch chose to re - examine its use and learn from their mistakes. educators need to have a purpose for integrating technology and focus on establishing relationships with students, wesch now recommends. wesch ’ s story teaches us a lot about teaching, learning and instructional technology. but it also offers us so much more. innovation is about trying new things and promoting positive change. but we don ’ t always hit the mark. we learn from our mistakes. filed under : uncategorized | 2 comments » posted on february 14, 2012 by ollie dreon regular readers of the 8 blog know that i talk about collaboration a lot. over the last few years, i ’ ve written about wikis, google docs, crocodocs, and stixy ( and many other applications ) and discussed how different tools can be used to foster collaboration in classroom environments. but why is collaboration so important? in their book on 21st century skills, bernie trilling and charles fadel identify collaboration as a critical skill for individuals to “ survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. ” in a recent new york times article, lawrence summers, a former harvard president, writes that collaboration is the “ inevitable consequence of the knowledge explosion. ” the world is becoming a more open place, summers writes, and businesses are placing a greater value on the ability to work together. with the world becoming increasingly connected and people working and learning from a distance, collaboration needs to be a curricular focus in our courses and cultivated in our classrooms, schools and institutions. we just can ’ t expect students to know how to collaborate. it ’ s a skill that needs to be developed. but cultivating collaboration isn ’ t easy, especially in educational settings. like so many concepts, collaboration skills are best learned socially. students learn to collaborate by directly communicating and working with their classmates, either physically, face - to - face or virtually through technology. we as educators must support their collaboration and help them learn from their collaborative experiences. but is this happening in our schools? summers doesn ’ t seem to think so. examining the current state of america ’ s institutions of learning, summers writes, “ the great preponderance of work a student does is done alone at every level in the educational system … for most people, school is the last time ( students ) will be evaluated on individual effort. ” but cultivating collaboration isn ’ t just a curricular challenge. we as educators must be


does is done alone at every level in the educational system … for most people, school is the last time ( students ) will be evaluated on individual effort. ” but cultivating collaboration isn ’ t just a curricular challenge. we as educators must be models of collaboration ourselves. we can ’ t just talk the talk. we must walk the walk. we must break free of our respective silos and learn to collaborate with one another. in his book called collaboration, morten hansen identified four barriers to collaboration that institutions may face. these barrier include : - the not invented - here barrier : people are unwilling to reach out to others and reject the ideas from the outisde - the hoarding barrier : people are unwilling to provide help or keep information close at hand because they are competing with one another - the search barrier : people are not able to find what they are looking for because information is spread across the institution - the transfer barrier : people are not able to work with people, especially ones they don ’ t know well. i ’ m sure hansen ’ s barriers will resonate with many readers but they can be overcome. and they need to be overcome. not only to be better educational models for our students, but also so we can be more productive, more creative and more innovative. collaboration is more than a bridge between two ideas. it is the catalyst that spawns a multitude of new ideas. and that needs to be valued, cultivated and celebrated. filed under : collaboration | leave a comment » posted on february 8, 2012 by ollie dreon a few weeks ago, i discussed the new ibooks author app and also outlined some of my concerns with the end user licensing agreement for the application. if you recall, some people were interpreting the eula as apple claiming some ownership of any content that is authored using the ibooks author app, whether it is uploaded onto the ibookstore or not. they compared it to microsoft claiming some ownership of every document written with ms word or any presentation created with powerpoint. enough people expressed their concerns that apple recently modified its eula to clarify their intentions. looking at the revised eula, authors will retain all of their rights for the content of their work but are not able to sell the specific ibooks files anywhere but through the ibookstore. to check out the eula for yourself, visit the app store preview. for an in - depth analysis of the eula language, check out this post from appadvice. filed under : etexts, ipad


ibookstore. to check out the eula for yourself, visit the app store preview. for an in - depth analysis of the eula language, check out this post from appadvice. filed under : etexts, ipads | leave a comment » posted on february 7, 2012 by ollie dreon after featuring apple - related topics in the last two posts on the 8 blog, many readers may be ready for something different. before moving on, however, there is one more important feature of the apple education event that i feel needs to be discussed. besides the release of the ibooks author app and the dedicated itunesu portal, apple also showcased the course management tools that are now available through itunesu. while i ’ m really excited that itunesu is giving educators the ability to build online courses for free, i ’ m a little concerned about the message apple is sending with their online tools. recent studies show that online learning is becoming a prevalent option for collegiate and k - 12 students. for instance, in its recent study on technology use by american collegiate students, educause reported that over 30 % of students have enrolled in at least one online course during the collegiate career. the national council of education statistics released a report last fall which examined online education in public secondary schools. with over 2300 school districts across the country participating, the nces reported that 55 % of schools offered some distance learning options for students and over 1. 8 million students were enrolled in some sort of online course. as the tools become easier to use, these numbers will continue to grow. and that ’ s where apple steps in. with the itunesu course management tools, an educator has the ability to create entire courses by wrapping posts, assignments and materials around recorded lectures. while these options are intended to help educators provide “ content and context ” to their course, the message that apple is clearly sending is that online learning is an endeavor that students should undergo independently. none of the course management tools allow students to communicate with one another or directly to educators. there is also no way for educators to provide feedback to their students or to assess their students ’ learning. since apple is not a degree granting institution ( at least not yet … ), i understand why it may have avoided including these features. but then again, maybe apple didn ’ t feel communication and assessment tools were necessary. looking at apple ’ s course creation guidelines, they offer several “ best practices ” for course construction. the list includes displaying content with “ short titles for posts and assignments


when i was 15 i had a burning ambition to learn bsl ( british sign language ) i went to classes for the next two years, whilst attending school and sixth form. i had no relatives or friends who were deaf at that point, i just felt the need to be able to communicate with the deaf community. it is a beautiful language and both of my daughters know key words in makaton, and attended tiny talk classes. i now have friends and relatives who have hearing difficulties and have ( though small ) an understanding of the extremely important need to communicate effectively, and the effects of not being able to communicate can have. so fast forward to last month and being asked, as a blogger to be involved in the time to share campaign for the tots 100. i received an email that my charity would be the ear foundation, ( nottingham ) i could not be more delighted to work with such an amazing charity. the ear foundations vision : all deaf children, young people and adults have the opportunity to hear, communicate and develop spoken language using the latest technological interventions. the ear foundation – bridging the gap between clinic - based services, where today ’ s exciting hearing technologies, such as cochlear implants are fitted, and home, school and work where they are used in daily life. the ear foundation was first set up in 1989, the first person to receive an implant michael blatt, who still an advocate to other people thinking of having the operation. at first the ear foundation was set up to bring the new technique of cochlear implantation to the uk, making it possible for profoundly deaf children to hear. now the ear foundation is a unique charity providing support for children across the uk with cochlear implants and hearing aids, and they do this through information, community education, resources, and research & development. so what is a cochlear implant? a cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants do the work of damaged parts of the inner ear ( cochlea ) to send sound signals to the brain. so through the charities hard work, they are able to help children, young adults and adults. here is a summary of the work that they do : - family programme : connect & communicate in marjorie sherman house - continuing education programme in nottingham, throughout the uk, internationally and on the web - sound advice programme helping to make the most of the technology


here is a summary of the work that they do : - family programme : connect & communicate in marjorie sherman house - continuing education programme in nottingham, throughout the uk, internationally and on the web - sound advice programme helping to make the most of the technology - advocacy and lobbying programme supporting access to the use of appropriate hearing technologies for all who need them - family and user - led research programme providing evidence - base from our activities so how can i help as a blogger? through the connect and communicate family programme at marjorie sherman house ( nottingham ) at the programme there are a wide range of activities / opportunities to learn together with other families about hearing technologies. - small talk – babies - ready steady go – pre - school children - leaping! – primary aged children - special branch – for children with additional and complex needs and cochlear implants - xtra connections – for children with additional and complex needs – in london - to infinity – 11 - 18 year olds - sound advice – adults i will be attending the small talk, babies morning on the 18th june 2012. following that i shall be writing a post to try to explain a little further some of the amazing work that the ear foundation carries out in the community. hopefully this will raise awareness of the charity in the nottingham community. i want to leave you with a link to the donation page, and fundraising page on the site, and the thought that a donation to the foundation can help support a child, young person or adult on their journey of communication. thank you for reading time to share invites parent bloggers to share an hour or more of their time with a good cause, and write about it. the aim is to help raise the profile of charities across the uk, while giving much - needed practical support to those charities, and highlighting the amazing work being done across the uk by charity volunteers. june is national volunteering month, and we ’ re asking as many bloggers as possible to support the time to share campaign by giving some of their time, and helping to share the word about volunteering. incoming search terms : - charity quotes - charity catchphrases - quotes on charity - the ear foundation nottingham - the hear foundation nottingham category : the blog


friends on the brain posted by adam benforado on october 27, 2011 have a lot of friends on facebook? think that makes you special? well, researchers at university college london suggest that you might just be right. according to a new study published in proceedings of the royal society b, facebook users with the largest number of pals had greater brain density in areas of the brain associated with social perception and associative memory. for anyone who has been following the debate over whether technology has been changing our brains, it ’ s worth a read, although the research doesn ’ t answer the question of whether the brain differences in the sample were an effect or a cause of individuals having more online friends. an abstract of the paper appears below : the increasing ubiquity of web - based social networking services is a striking feature of modern human society. the degree to which individuals participate in these networks varies substantially for reasons that are unclear. here, we show a biological basis for such variability by demonstrating that quantitative variation in the number of friends an individual declares on a web - based social networking service reliably predicted grey matter density in the right superior temporal sulcus, left middle temporal gyrus and entorhinal cortex. such regions have been previously implicated in social perception and associative memory, respectively. we further show that variability in the size of such online friendship networks was significantly correlated with the size of more intimate real - world social groups. however, the brain regions we identified were specifically associated with online social network size, whereas the grey matter density of the amygdala was correlated both with online and real - world social network sizes. taken together, our findings demonstrate that the size of an individual ’ s online social network is closely linked to focal brain structure implicated in social cognition. related situationist posts :


america ’ s housing crisis is one of the biggest problems plaguing the economy, as the country ’ s homes have lost $ 7 trillion in cumulative value over the last five years. four million americans are either behind on their payments or in foreclosure, and a quarter of the nation ’ s homeowners are underwater on their mortgage. those foreclosures have driven down home values in communities across the country. according to a new report by the center on responsible lending, however, the foreclosure crisis isn ’ t finished yet. in fact, with 3. 6 million households at immediate risk of losing homes, we ’ re not even halfway through it. even more damning from the report, though, is the fact that the housing crisis has disproportionately affected minority voters. though more whites — who make up a larger share of homeowners — have been plagued by foreclosure, the percentage of blacks and latinos affected is nearly twice as high : although the majority of affected borrowers have been white, african - american and latino borrowers are almost twice as likely to have been impacted by the crisis. approximately one quarter of all latino and african - american borrowers have lost their home to foreclosure or are seriously delinquent, compared to just under 12 percent for white borrowers. asian borrowers have fared better as a whole than latino and african - american borrowers, but they, too, have been disproportionately affected, especially in some metropolitan areas. wall street banks and lenders took advantage of consumers throughout the lead - up to the housing crisis, and this report shows that the lending, at times, was even more predatory when targeting blacks and latinos. thinkprogress reported on this disparity in 2009, when bailed - out banks were found to have pushed many minorities who qualified for prime loans into higher - priced subprime loans, which can add more than $ 100, 000 in interest payments over the life of a loan. in fact, 30. 9 percent of latinos and a whopping 41. 5 percent of blacks were given higher - priced loans by large banks, compared to just 17. 8 percent of white borrowers. as with almost everything coming out of the banking industry regarding the financial crisis, the report only makes the case stronger for the newly - created consumer financial protection bureau, the agency tasked with targeting and ending predatory lending and banking excess. discriminatory lending is illegal, and yet for years


this tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms. the root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the tree of life. the basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. this ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right. you can click on the root to travel down the tree of life all the way to the root of all life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the tree of life all the way to individual species. close box insects have a large number of unique, derived characteristics, although none of these are externally obvious in most species. these include ( kristensen, 1991 ) : - lack of musculature beyond the first segment of antenna. - johnston ' s organ in pedicel ( second segment ) of antenna. this organ is a collection of sensory cells that detect movement of the flagellum. - a transverse bar forming the posterior tentorium inside the head - tarsi subsegmented - females with ovipositor formed by gonapophyses from segments 8 and 9 - annulated, terminal filament extending out from end of segment 11 of abdomen ( subsequently lost in most groups of insects ) one notable feature linking thysanura + pterygota is the presence of two articulations on each mandible. archaeognathans have only one mandibular condyle or articulation point ; they are " monocondylic ". thysanura + pterygota, with their two mandibular condyles, are sometimes called dicondylia. the many other apomorphies linking dicondylia are described in kristensen ( 1991 ). it is possible that the thysanurans are not themselves monophyletic ; thysanura ( exclusive of the family lepidothricidae ) plus pterygotes may be monophyletic, with lepidothricids sister to this complex ( kristensen, 1991 ). beutel, r. g. and s. n. gorb. 2001. ultrastructure of attachment specializations of hexapods, ( arthropoda ) : evolutionary patterns inferred from a revised ordinal phylogeny. journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research 39 : 177 - 207. bitsch, j


of attachment specializations of hexapods, ( arthropoda ) : evolutionary patterns inferred from a revised ordinal phylogeny. journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research 39 : 177 - 207. bitsch, j. and a. nel. 1999. morphology and classification of the extinct archaeognatha and related taxa ( hexapoda ). annales de la societe entomologique de france 35 : 17 - 29. boudreaux, h. b. 1979. arthropod phylogeny with special reference to insects. new york, j. wiley. carpenter, f. m. 1992. superclass hexapoda. volumes 3 and 4 of part r, arthropoda 4 of treatise on invertebrate paleontology. boulder, colorado, geological society of america. carpenter, f. m. and l. burnham. 1985. the geological record of insects. annual review of earth and planetary sciences 13 : 297 - 314. caterino, m. s., s. cho, and f. a. h. sperling. 1999. the current state of insect molecular systematics : a thriving tower of babel. annual review of entomology 45 : 1 – 54. chapman, r. f. 1998. the insects : structure and function. cambridge university press, cambridge, u. k., new york. daly, h. v., j. t. doyen, and a. h. purcell iii. 1998. introduction to insect biology and diversity, 2nd edn. oxford university press, oxford. dindall, d. l. 1990. soil biology guide. new york, john wiley & sons. engel, m. s. and d. a. grimaldi. 2004. new light shed on the oldest insect. nature 427 : 627 - 630. evans, h. e. 1993. life on a little - known planet. new york, lyons & burford. gereben - krenn, b. a. and g. pass. 2000. circulatory organs of abdominal appendages in primitive insects ( hexapoda : archaeognatha, zygentoma and ephemeroptera ). acta zoologica 81 : 285 - 292. grimaldi, d. 2001. insect evolutionary history from handlirsch to hennig, and beyond. journal of paleontology 75 : 1152 -


ephemeroptera ). acta zoologica 81 : 285 - 292. grimaldi, d. 2001. insect evolutionary history from handlirsch to hennig, and beyond. journal of paleontology 75 : 1152 - 1160. grimaldi, d. and m. s. engel. 2005. evolution of the insects. cambridge university press. hennig, w. 1981. insect phylogeny. new york, j. wiley. kjer, k. m. 2004. aligned 18s and insect phylogeny. systematic biology 53 ( 3 ) : 506 - 514. klass, k. d. 1998. the proventriculus of the dicondylia, with comments on evolution and phylogeny in dictyoptera and odonata ( insecta ). zoologischer anzeiger 237 : 15 - 42. kristensen, n. p. 1975. the phylogeny of hexapod " orders ". a critical review of recent accounts. zeitschrift fur zoologische systematik und evolutionsforschung 13 : 1 – 44. kristensen, n. p. 1981. phylogeny of insect orders. annual review of entomology 26 : 135 - 157. kristensen, n. p. 1995. forty years ' insect phylogenetic systematics. zoologische beitrage nf 36 ( 1 ) : 83 - 124. kukalova - peck, j. 1987. new carboniferous diplura, monura, and thysanura, the hexapod ground plan, and the role of thoracic lobes in the origin of wings ( insecta ). canadian journal of zoology 65 : 2327 - 2345. labandeira, c. c., and j. j. sepkoski, jr. 1993. insect diversity in the fossil record. science 261 : 310 – 315. larink, o. 1997. apomorphic and plesiomorphic characteristics in archaeognatha, monura, and zygentoma. pedobiologia 41 : 3 - 8. merritt, r. w. and k. w. cummins, eds. 1984. an introduction to the aquatic insects of north america, second edition. kendall - hunt. naumann, i. d., p. b. carne, j. f. lawrence, e. s. nielsen, j. p. spradberry


to the aquatic insects of north america, second edition. kendall - hunt. naumann, i. d., p. b. carne, j. f. lawrence, e. s. nielsen, j. p. spradberry, r. w. taylor, m. j. whitten and m. j. littlejohn, eds. 1991. the insects of australia : a textbook for students and research workers. volume i and ii. second edition. carlton, victoria, melbourne university press. pass, g. 2000. accessory pulsatile organs : evolutionary innovations in insects. annual review of entomology 45 : 495 - 518. snodgrass, r. e. 1935. principles of insect morphology. mcgraw - hill, new york. 667 pp. snodgrass, r. e. 1952. a textbook of arthropod anatomy. comstock publishing associates, ithaca, n. y. 363 pp. stehr, f. w. 1987. immature insects, vol. 1. dubuque, iowa : kendal / hunt. 754 pp. stehr, f. w. 1991. immature insects, vol. 2. dubuque, iowa : kendal / hunt. 974 pp. wooton, r. j. 1981. paleozoic insects. annual review of entomology 26 : 319 - 344. - smithsonian institution department of entomology. - entomology department of harvard ' s museum of comparative zoology - entomology department. california academy of sciences. - the essig museum of entomology. berkeley, california. - insect division. university of michigan museum of zoology. - bishop museum hawaii entomology home - introduction to insect biology & classification. the university of queensland. - virtual exhibit on canada ' s biodiversity : insects. - entomological data information system ( edis ). staatliches museum fur naturkunde stuttgart, germany. - compendium of hexapod classes and orders. north carolina state university. - nomina insecta nearctica. a checklist of the insects of north america. - common names of insects in canada. entomological society of canada. - the canadian national collection ( cnc ) of insects, arachnids and nematodes. - singing insects of north america. by thomas j. walker ( crickets and katydids ) and thomas e. moore ( cicadas ). - entomology


cnc ) of insects, arachnids and nematodes. - singing insects of north america. by thomas j. walker ( crickets and katydids ) and thomas e. moore ( cicadas ). - entomology database konchu. species information database on japanese, east asian and pacific insects, spiders and mites. - a catalogue of the insects of south africa. - csiro entomology home page. - general entomology resources from scientific reference resources : - entomological society of america. - chemical ecology of insects. john a. byers, usda - ars. - elin. entomology libraries and information networks. - entomological glossary. - popular classics in entomology. colorado state university. - forensic entomology pages, international. - book of insect records. university of florida. - alien empire. companion piece to a pbs nature program. - entomology index of internet resources. iowa state university. - entomology on the www. colorado state university. - entomology on the www. michigan state university. - biosis biologybrowser : insecta. images and other media : - bugguide. net. an online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures. - hawaiian insect image galleries. bishop museum. - entomology image gallery. iowa state university. - very cool bugs. - dennis kunkel ' s microscopy. - the virtual insectary. - thais in 2000 : entomology. - reference library of digitized insect sounds. richard mankin, center for medical, agricultural and veterinary entomology, gainesville, florida. - meganeura. palaeoentomological newsletter. - eocene fossils. - fossil insects from florissant ( colorado ). peabody museum of natural history. - stewart valley fossil insects. california academy of sciences. - amber and copal : their significance in the fossil record. hooper virtual natural history museum. - the natural history of amber. 3 dot studio. - frozen dramas. swedish amber museum. - nature ' s preservative - - organic flypaper : amber gives a green light to study of ancient life. the why files. university of wisconsin. - amber home. gary platt. - baltic amber inclusions. wolfgang wiggers. - dominican amber fossils. esp designs. - the amber room. steve kurth. - thomas say ( 1787 - 1834 ), father of


university of wisconsin. - amber home. gary platt. - baltic amber inclusions. wolfgang wiggers. - dominican amber fossils. esp designs. - the amber room. steve kurth. - thomas say ( 1787 - 1834 ), father of american entomology. - charles darwin ( 1809 - 1882 ), aboutdarwin. com. - jean - henri fabre ( 1823 - 1915 ) e - museum. - famous entomologists on postage stamps. for young entomologists : - bugbios. shameless promotion of insect appreciation by dexter sear. - o. orkin insect zoo. national museum of natural history. smithsonian institution. - bug camp. field museum of natural history, chicago. - insectclopedia. links to websites about insects. - bugscope. educational outreach project of the world wide laboratory. - the bug club for young entomologists. uk amateur entomologists ' society. - the wonderful world of insects. - class : insecta. spencer entomological museum at the university of british columbia, vancouver, canada. page copyright © 2002 all rights reserved. citing this page : tree of life web project. 2002. insecta. insects. version 01 january 2002 ( under construction ). http : / / tolweb. org / insecta / 8205 / 2002. 01. 01 in the tree of life web project, http : / / tolweb. org /


5th grade oral language resources students will : • learn about the concept of whales. • access prior knowledge and build background about whales. • explore and apply the concept of whales. students will : • demonstrate an understanding of the concept of whales. • orally use words that describe different types of whales and where they live. • extend oral vocabulary by speaking about terms that describe whales and whale body parts. • use key concept words [ inlet, humpback, ocean, fins, underwater ; submerge, ascend, baleen, mammal ]. explain • use the slideshow to review the key concept words. • explain that students are going to learn about : • where whales live. • parts of a whale ' s body. model • after the host introduces the slideshow, point to the photo on screen. ask students : what kind of animal do you see in this picture? ( whale ). what do you know about these animals? ( answers will vary ). • ask students : what are the dangers facing whales? ( too much hunting, polluted environment ). • say : in this activity, we ' re going to learn about whales. how can we protect whales? ( not pollute the environment, join groups that are concerned with their safety ). guided practice • guide students through the next two slides, showing them examples of whales and the way whales live. always have the students describe how people are different from whales. apply • play the games that follow. have them discuss with their partner the different topics that appear during the talk about it feature. • after the first game, ask students to talk about what they think a whale ' s living environment is like. after the second game, have them discuss what they would like and dislike about having the body of a whale. close • ask students : how do you move in the water? • summarize for students that since whales are mammals, they have to come above water to breathe. encourage them to think about how they breathe underwater.


this page is based on the 1993 jepson manual. please see the jepson eflora for up - to - date information about california vascular plants. | jepson flora project : jepson interchange | | treatment from the jepson manual | | previous taxon | jepson interchange ( more information ) ©copyright 1993 by the regents of the university of california print edition is available from the university of california press | the second edition of the jepson manual ( 2012 ) is available from the university of california press | | see also the jepson eflora, which parallels the second edition | perennial, shrub, tree stem : bark often peeling distinctively leaves simple, generally cauline, alternate, opposite, rarely whorled, evergreen or deciduous, often leathery, petioled or not ; stipules 0 inflorescence : raceme, panicle, cyme, or flowers solitary, generally bracted ; pedicels often with 2 bractlets flower generally bisexual, generally radial ; sepals generally 45, generally free ; petals generally 45, free or fused ; stamens 810, free, filaments rarely appendaged, anthers awned or not, dehiscent by pores or slits ; nectary generally at ovary base, disk - like ; ovary superior or inferior, chambers generally 15, placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1many per chamber, style 1, stigma head - to funnel - like or lobed fruit : capsule, drupe, berry seeds generally many, sometimes winged genera in family : ± 100 genera, 3000 species : generally worldwide except deserts ; some cultivated, especially arbutus, arctostaphylos, rhododendron, vaccinium reference : [ wallace 1975 wasmann j biol 33 : 188 ; 1975 bot not 128 : 286298 ] subfamilies monotropoideae, pyroloideae, vaccinioideae sometimes treated as families. nongreen plants obtain nutrition from green plants through fungal intermediates. shrub, small, glabrous to hairy stem decumbent or prostrate, often rooting leaves opposite, appressed, evergreen, leathery or thin inflorescence : flowers solitary in upper leaf axils ; bracts 0 ; bractlets 46 ; pedicels jointed to flower flower : sepals 45, free ; petals 45, ± 2 / 3 fused, generally white ; st