attending public hearings and community meetings showing up is 90 % of the game. public hearings provide an opportunity for public comments on a particular project or vote. this kind of community involvement can make a strong statement. - time is limited at public hearings, so arrive early to sign up for a slot to speak. - when you speak, focus on your main points. you will often be able to submit written statements which will allow you to address additional concerns. - be polite and respect other community members ’ ideas. a hearing is a forum for the exchange of ideas, not a neighborhood contest. meeting with elected officials in person is an opportunity to make personal contact with decision - makers and convey your position in a persuasive and animated manner. a lobby visit allows you to tell your senator or representative what you think about a certain issue or bill and ask her / him to take positive action. here are some suggestions for a successful lobby visit : before the meeting - request a meeting in writing with specific times and dates. follow up with a call to the scheduler or secretary to confim the meeting. - make sure to convey what issue or bill you would like to discuss. - decide on talking points to express your most important ideas. - set a goal for the meeting. do you want the representative to vote for or against a bill or introduce legislation? during the meeting - be prompt. - keep it short and stick to your talking points. - take the time to thank the elected official for past votes in support of your issues. - provide personal and local examples of the impact of the legislation. - be honest and don ’ t claim to know more than you do about an issue. you don ’ t have to be the expert, just a committed and active constituent. - set a deadline or timeline for response. after the meeting - write a thank you letter to the legislator. - send any materials and information you offered. - follow up on deadlines and if they are not met, set up others. be persistent.


did you know?? on average, a fertile cat can produce three litters a year, each with an average of four to six kittens. if you run the numbers, this means that a single cat and her first - year offspring can yield upwards of 150 kittens within a three - year period. a fertile dog can produce up to two litters a year of six to10 puppies each. the humane society of the united states ( hsus ) reports that every year in the u. s., between six and eight million dogs and cats are turned over to animal shelters ; of that number, three to four million are euthanized - - as many as are adopted. these tragic numbers would be greatly reduced if more pets were spayed or neutered. and if that ' s not reason enough... apart from the problem of pet overpopulation, keep in mind that " intact " ( i. e. un - neutered ) dogs and cats are not the most pleasant companions to have around the house. here ' s why : - intact female dogs will come into heat every six to 12 months with each heat lasting 10 - 24 days. during this time they have a bloody vaginal discharge which may leave stains around the house. this bleeding is different from menstruation in human females as it coincides with the time the female dog is most likely to become pregnant. female dogs in heat may become anxious, and are more likely to fight with other female dogs, including those in the same household. - intact female cats can keep coming into heat every two weeks unless they are mated. they will typically engage in such mate - seeking behaviors as yowling, rolling and urinating in unacceptable places. - at maturity - - typically at six to nine months of age - - male dogs and cats become capable of breeding. males of both species will " mark " their territories by spraying strongly scented urine on furniture, curtains, and elsewhere around the house. - given the chance, intact male cats and dogs will attempt to escape the house to roam in search of a mate. during this time, they become aggressive toward other males and - - in the case of dogs - - toward people, and are more likely than neutered animals to engage in fights. the medical benefits apart from helping to ease the problem of pet overpopulation - - and making home life more pleasant both for your family and your pet - - spaying or neutering your dog or cat carries significant health benefits as well. spa


the medical benefits apart from helping to ease the problem of pet overpopulation - - and making home life more pleasant both for your family and your pet - - spaying or neutering your dog or cat carries significant health benefits as well. spaying female dogs eliminates the risk of uterine cancer and pyometra - - a serious, potentially fatal uterine infection and dramatically reduces the risk of mammary cancer in both dogs and cats, especially if done before the first heat. intact female dogs may go into a period called pseudocyesis, or " false pregnancy ", a condition which can occur after being in heat. their bodies go through all of the usual hormonal changes associated with pregnancy, including milk production, even though they are not pregnant. this is avoided if females are spayed. for male pets, neutering eliminates the possibility of developing testicular cancer and reduces the risk of developing prostate illness. a further benefit to neutering male cats is that it will significantly reduce the risk of infection with feline immunodeficiency virus ( fiv ), a virus that causes a disease in cats similar to aids in humans. fiv is carried in the saliva and blood of infected cats. intact male cats are much more likely than neutered males to roam and fight. a scratch or bite suffered in such a fight from an fiv - infected male carries a significant risk of fiv infection. the majority of fiv - infected cats are intact males. and even if the wounds are not inflicted by an fiv - positive cat, they may nonetheless result in serious injury and infection. it all adds up while spaying / neutering are surgical procedures that carry a small element of risk, the scales are heavily tipped toward the benefits side. the incidence of complications from the procedures is quite low. on balance, it ' s a no - brainer : spaying / neutering is one of the best things you can do to improve a pet ' s quality of life. discuss any questions or concerns you may have with your veterinarian while your pet is still young. you will be doing both your pet and yourself a great service. more from webvet : - a tribute to african - american deans in veterinary medicine - a remarkable animal - human friendship - 5 things i ' ve learned from getting a second cat


thursday, march 31, 2011 1 ) baby ’ s brains are great statisticians. between the ages of 6 - 9 months, they listen to everything they hear around them, and are able to calculate what sounds are important to pay attention to in the language they are hearing. for example, is the difference between “ r ” and “ l ” important? yes in english, no in japanese. 2 ) babies who grow up in language rich environments enter kindergarten with four times the vocabulary of babies who grow up in language poor environments. children who have a higher vocabulary will have an easier time learning how to read. and those children who grew up in language - poor environments * never * catch up in their reading ability. 3 ) babies learn through interacting with people. mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandparents, and every other person a baby spends time with, is a learning experience for baby. television does not interact with babies, and even when babies look like they are fascinated with a television, they have found that babies do not learn anything from it. 4 ) babies who live in a bilingual house learn language just as fast as babies who live in a monolingual house. they measured vocabulary in kids from both situations at a certain age, and kids had the same vocabulary numbers. the key was that the young children in the bilingual homes had the same number of words in their vocabularies spread over the two languages. what can parents take away from this research? 1 ) talk to your babies. even if they can ’ t talk back, they are still learning. you are your child ’ s best toy. 2 ) pay attention to your baby, and whatever they do, you add to it. if they say “ ba ”, say “ baba ”. if they say “ baba ”, say “ bada ”. if they say “ truck ”, you say “ red truck ”. 3 ) use the television sparingly, if at all. be aware that even if you really need to park your kids in front of the tv in that crazy moment while you finish dinner while the kids are cranky and tired, that is a moment that they ’ re not learning. ( can you tell i did that, too? ) 4 ) read to your babies, even if they can ’ t talk yet. ( you ’ re not surprised i would put in a plug like this, are you? ). read to them in whatever language you find most comfortable. notice when they interact with the book or the story, talk to


can ’ t talk yet. ( you ’ re not surprised i would put in a plug like this, are you? ). read to them in whatever language you find most comfortable. notice when they interact with the book or the story, talk to them about it, then read to them again and again. you ’ re not only having fun with your beloved child, you ’ re helping to build their brains! saturday, march 19, 2011 your child is writing an essay for school, and finds a site on the internet that is very interesting and useful for his or her paper. but is it true? is the information trustworthy? there ’ s a site about martin luther king jr written by a white supremacist group. there ’ s another website site claiming that the moon landings never took place written by a guy in his garage. should you believe the information you read on either of those sites? here are some tips for figuring it out : 1 ) the first thing to look for is who wrote the site. everybody has a point of view, and you should know what it is. reliable sites will have the author ’ s or organization ’ s name in an obvious place. you should also be able to find a link to “ about us ” that tells about the organization and their goals. the two sites i reference above don ’ t have this information. 2 ) look up at the address bar. does it have a “. com ” or “. org ”? anybody at all can create a website with those top level domain names. if you have any questions, you can always search google using whois samplesite to find out who the site is really registered to. does it have a “. gov ” or “. edu ”? those sites are hosted by either the government or an accredited educational institution. in fact, when you use google, you can limit your results to only those sites by typing in site :. edu samplesearch or site :. gov samplesearch. 3 ) did you find a great article on wikipedia? wikipedia is what is known as a “ stepping stone ” site. that means that your child shouldn ’ t use the information in the article directly for their paper, but it is a great source to find information they can use via the links to outside resources listed at the bottom. 4 ) finally, sno - isle has a great collection of databases with good, reliable information. go to www. sno - isle. org, hover over the “ databases and research ” in


this is a tricky question to answer because weather, what you experience at your house right now, is not really that same thing as climate, the patterns of global air and sea movements that bring weather. so milder winters can be a possibility in certain locations, as they will be exposed to an overall warming of the entire atmosphere. but colder winters can be experienced. since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0. 2 degrees celsius per decade. however, weather imposes its own dramatic ups and downs over the long term trend. we expect to see record cold temperatures even during global warming. nevertheless over the last decade, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows. this tendency towards hotter days is expected to increase as global warming continues into the 21st century. vladimir petoukhov, a climate scientist at the potsdam institute for climate impact research, has recently completed a study on the effect of climate change on winter. according to petoukhov, these anomalies could triple the probability of cold winter extremes in europe and northern asia. recent severe winters like last year ' s or the one of 2005 - 06 do not conflict with the global warming picture, but rather supplement it. weather being a local response to climatic conditions means that you have to understand what has changed in the climatic patterns in your region. what are your local weather drivers? how have they changed since the 1970s? thus, you could end up with some areas experiencing colder winters ; due to greater moisture levels in the air, more precipitation of snow, greater heat loss at night due to clear skies, etc. or you could have an area that will experience milder temps in winter due to warmer air currents, warmer oceans, localised heat island impacts, etc. for further information you should investigate the weather and climate agencies publications for your area.


when we talk about network hardware, we are commonly using the term megabit. for example, a 10 / 100 fast ethernet network card is 10 / 100 megabit. 1 gigabit ( gb ) equals 1024 megabits ( mb ). when microsoft windows displays the network transfer speed, it is displayed using megabytes ( mb ) not megabits ( mb ). one megabit ( mb ) equals 0. 125 megabytes ( mb ). there are 8 megabytes ( mb ) in 1 megabit ( mb ). theoretical transfer speed since there are 8 megabytes ( mb ) in 1 megabit ( mb ), we can determine the theoretical maximum network transfer speed in megabytes. 1 gigabit equals 1024 megabits which equals 128 megabytes. in theory, a 1 gigabit network should provide us with a transfer speed of 128 megabytes. average transfer speed on a 100 megabit network using cat - 5 / cat - 6, the average transfer rate is 8. 6 megabytes to 12. 5 megabytes. on a gigabit network ( 1024 megabit ) using cat - 5 / cat - 6, the average transfer rate is 21. 5 to 45 megabytes. on a gigabit network using cat - 5 / cat - 6, why isn ' t the average transfer rate closer to the theoretical maximum of 128 megabytes? the simple answer the simple answer is the transfer rate is typically limited by the maximum transfer rate of the computer hard drive found in the origin and / or destination computer. ideally, both the origin and destination are using a modern computer with a raid controller, ssd drives, optimal motherboard bus architecture, multi - core processor, recommended ram and recommended swap file with plenty of free space. using this configuration, you should be able to obtain an average transfer rate of 72 megabytes and greater. the complete answer on a computer network ( wan, lan, vpn, etc. ), the data transfer rate for client / server can be impacted by : - raid controller - hard drive type - motherboard bus speed - swap file setting - free disk space - free ram - flow control - auto negotiation - shared resources - cabling quality and type ( fiber, cat - 5 and cat - 6 ) - cabling length - network card driver version - network card firmware - electrical interference - protocol type and overhead - hops ( routers, switches, hubs, firewalls ) - poorly


the rise of the black muslims looks at the roots of the organization that produced malcolm x. whenever the nation of islam or its leader louis farrakhan is covered in the mainstream media, they are dismissed as " reverse racists. " by sensationalizing the nation ' s anti - white stance and highlighting examples of farrakhan ' s anti - semitic statements, the media has tried to discredit the nation ' s overall argument that the u. s. is racist to the core. socialists have criticisms of farrakhan and the nation, not only against anti - semitism, but the organization ' s program of black economic self - sufficiency, which would only benefit a minority of african americans. but we understand that the appeal of the muslims ' ideas of black superiority has nothing in common with white racism. nationalism is a defensive reaction to the blatant segregation forced upon blacks. the left failed to grasp this when the black muslims, as the nation is commonly called, first gained national attention in the late 1950s. the nation ' s theory of black superiority and its hostility towards " white devils " led many socialists to accept the media ' s argument that nation members were reverse racist. thus, the left, still reeling from the anti - communist mccarthy witch - hunts, isolated itself from blacks influenced by the nation. in fact, the black muslims represented one of the few political alternatives to northern blacks, at a time when most black political organizations concentrated on legal assaults against jim crow in the south. at the same time, trade union leaders effectively sided with employers in keeping blacks in the lowest - paid and least - skilled jobs. so while the civil rights struggle against southern segregation laws captured media attention, the black majority in the north encountered conditions almost as brutal. by 1960, the differential between black and white unemployment had reached two to one, where it remains to this day. throughout the 1950s - - a time of general economic expansion - - less than half the black working class held full - time jobs year round. although formal segregation laws did not exist in the north, black workers nevertheless lived in segregated neighborhoods in declining central cities. in such conditions, the black muslims flourished. what had begun in detroit as a religious sect in the early 1930s grew, under the leadership of elijah muhammad and organizer malcolm x, into a movement of an estimated 100, 000 members by 1961. muhammad ' s apocalyptic vision of a black - white confrontation, articulated by malcolm, influenced hundreds of thousands more who were not necessarily prepared to join the organization. as one youth told black


, into a movement of an estimated 100, 000 members by 1961. muhammad ' s apocalyptic vision of a black - white confrontation, articulated by malcolm, influenced hundreds of thousands more who were not necessarily prepared to join the organization. as one youth told black sociologist c. eric lincoln in 1962 : man, i don ' t care what those [ nation ] cats say out loud - - that ' s just a hype they ' re putting down for the man ( i. e. whites ). let me tell you - - they ' ve got some stuff for the man even the mau mau [ the anti - colonial kenyan rebels ] didn ' t have! if he tries to crowd them like he ' s been used to doing to the rest of us all the time, they ' re going to lay it on him from here to little rock [ arkansas, the scene of racist violence against school desegregation ]. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - unable to refute malcolm x ' s searing criticism of racism in america, politicians and the media tried to dismiss the black muslims as cranks, focusing on elijah muhammad ' s claim to be the messenger of allah, and the strict, almost militaristic discipline that came with membership in the organization. but as the nation grew, the government ' s attitude hardened, and the media ' s charges of " black racism " grew more shrill. even though the organization abstained from most civil rights struggles and did not confront the authorities, it was seen as a serious threat. the authorities ' fears were justified. even though the nation declined after malcolm x was forced from the organization and assassinated in the mid - 1960s, its ideas of black self - defense and separatism were adopted by millions in what became the black power movement. in fact, farrakhan ' s program in later years was mild compared to the demands of the radical black nationalists in the late 1960s. unfortunately, many on the left of the 1960s repeated the mistake they had made earlier. rather than starting from the position that black and white unity must be built on black workers ' terms, some radical organizations blamed black nationalists for splitting the movement - - a charge no different than the complaint of liberals about the " racism " of black nationalism. radical nationalists like the black panthers and other radical nationalists were more isolated when they were hit by government repression. whatever criticisms socialists have of black nationalists, the first priority is to defend them from racist attack, even in the case of aggressively anti - white


# sandy : climate disasters in the age of social media hurricane sandy was the largest atlantic storm in history. at its peak it was over 1100 miles wide with winds up to 110 mph. nine countries were hit by it and half of the states in the us, with a domestic cost greater than $ 65 billion. at least 250 people died, millions of people were left without power, running water, and more. during the days immediately leading up to and following the storm, 20 million tweets about sandy were also sent out, and more than 800, 000 photos were tagged with sandy on instagram. news outlets everywhere were using social media to turn the millions of storm survivors into instant citizen journalists. and they weren ’ t the only ones : con edison, the city of new york, and other governmental and public utility organizations were using twitter to reach out to their constituents and keep them informed of evacuation plans and storm updates. with hurricane sandy, social media further cemented itself as an indispensable source during times of mass crisis. after the storm passed, questions about its cause and even how future, worse storms might be avoided came up. climate change, an issue that had been politically undesirable to address, suddenly got thrown back into sharp relief once the immediate impact could be felt so severely. and just as social media helped share knowledge about sandy, it also helped disseminate and foster the discussion on climate change. many questions remain though : how can social media be leveraged to increase its usefulness in times of crises? what impact is social media having on how we learn and engage with these natural disasters? how can social media affect the public policy discussion around climate change? please join us on monday, 12 / 10 at 1 : 00 pm est / 10 : 00 am pst at our free webinar : " # sandy : climate disasters in the age of social media. " we ' ll address these questions and more in a panel with scott dodd, journalist and editor of onearth. org and michael leuthner, digital & social media director, the climate reality project, moderated by marc gunther, journalist and consultant in business and sustainability and contributing editor at fortune magazine. social media today


cassini prepares to swoop by saturn ' s geyser - spewing moon 7 aug 2008 ( source : jet propulsion laboratory ) fractures, or " tiger stripes, " where icy jets erupt on saturn ' s moon enceladus will be the target of a close flyby by the cassini spacecraft on monday, aug. 11. cassini will zoom past the tiny moon a mere 50 kilometers ( 30 miles ) from the surface. just after closest approach, all of the spacecraft ' s cameras - - covering infrared wavelengths, where temperatures are mapped, as well as visible light and ultraviolet - - will focus on the fissures running along the moon ' s south pole. that is where the jets of icy water vapor emanate and erupt hundreds of miles into space. those jets have fascinated scientists since their discovery in 2005. " our main goal is to get the most detailed images and remote sensing data ever of the geologically active features on enceladus, " said paul helfenstein, a cassini imaging team associate at cornell university in ithaca, ny. " from this data we may learn more about how eruptions, tectonics, and seismic activity alter the moon ' s surface. we will get an unprecedented high - resolution view of the active area immediately following the closest approach. " seeing inside one of the fissures in high resolution may provide more information on the terrain and depth of the fissures, as well as the size and composition of the ice grains inside. refined temperature data could help scientists determine if water, in vapor or liquid form, lies close to the surface and better refine their theories on what powers the jets. imaging sequences will capture stereo views of the north polar terrain, and high resolution images of the south polar region will begin shortly after closest approach to enceladus. the image resolution will be as fine as 7 meters per pixel ( 23 feet ) and will cover known active spots on three of the prominent " tiger stripe " fractures. in addition to mapping the moon ' s surface in visible light as well as infrared and ultraviolet light, cassini will help determine the size of the ice grains and distinguish other elements mixed in with the ice, such as oxygen, hydrogen, or organics. " knowing the sizes of the particles, their rates and what else is mixed in these jets can tell us a lot about what ' s happening inside the little moon, " said amanda hendrix, cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph team member at nasa ' s jet propulsion laboratory, pasadena,


, their rates and what else is mixed in these jets can tell us a lot about what ' s happening inside the little moon, " said amanda hendrix, cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph team member at nasa ' s jet propulsion laboratory, pasadena, calif. other instruments will measure the temperatures along the fractures, which happen to be some of the hottest spots on the moon ' s surface. " we ' d like to refine our numbers and see which fracture or stripe is hotter than the rest because these results can offer evidence, one way or the other, for the existence of liquid water as the engine that powers the plumes, " said bonnie buratti of jpl, team member on cassini ' s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer. cassini discovered evidence for the geyser - like jets on enceladus in 2005, finding that the continuous eruptions of ice water create a gigantic halo of ice and gas around enceladus, which helps supply material to saturn ' s e - ring. this marks cassini ' s second flyby of enceladus this year. during cassini ' s last flyby of enceladus in march, the spacecraft snatched up precious samples and tasted comet - like organics inside the little moon. two more enceladus flybys are coming up in october, and they may bring the spacecraft even closer to the moon. the oct. 9 encounter is complimentary to the march one, which was optimized for sampling the plume. the oct. 31 flyby is similar to this august one, and is again optimized for the optical remote sensing instruments. for images, videos and a mission blog on the flyby, visit : http : / / www. nasa. gov / cassini. more information on the cassini mission is also available at http : / / saturn. jpl. nasa. gov. editors : a pre - flyby videofile with animation, images and interview is available on nasa tv. the videofile airs at 12 p. m. eastern on the media channel with replays at 4 p. m., 8 p. m. and 10 p. m eastern. in the continental united states, nasa television ' s public, education and media channels are carried by mpeg - 2 digital c - band signal on amc - 6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17c, 4040 mhz, vertical polarization. they ' re available in alaska and hawaii on an mpeg -


winner : quantum leap quantum - dot lasers from japan ' s qd laser will make high - speed " fiber to the home " networks simpler, cheaper, and more power - efficient image : qd laser collecting the dots one of qd laser ’ s achievements, as shown in these atomic - force microscope images, was to double the dot density in its quantum - dot lasers, from 30 billion [ left ] to 60 billion [ right ] dots per square centimeter. this is part of ieee spectrum ' s special report : winners & losers 2009, the year ' s best and worst of technology. japanese start - up qd laser ’ s yasuhiko arakawa [ left ] and mitsuru sugawara oversaw the 15 - year effort to commercialize a temperature - stable semiconductor laser. suppose you had a dog whose personality fluctuated with the weather. on cool, crisp mornings, he ’ s a champ, fetching, rolling over, and shaking hands at your slightest command. but as the sun climbs higher and the day warms up, he becomes less and less responsive, and you have to ply him with doggy treats to get him to obey. and during heat waves? forget about it — he barely plays dead unless you double or triple his kibble ration. while you could excuse such behavior in fido, something remarkably similar goes on all the time with the semiconductor lasers used in cd and dvd players and in optical communications. these tiny devices are incredibly sensitive to heat. even a small rise in temperature causes the electrons within to move around faster and migrate out of the laser ’ s active layer — the thin slice of semiconducting material where the electrons recombine with positively charged holes to make light. as a result, the laser ’ s light output fluctuates, and it needs stronger and stronger electrical currents to keep lasing. at 85 °c, the device might need two or three times as much current to produce the same amount of light as at 25 °c. to get around that shortcoming, developers of semiconductor lasers must either cool them or introduce extra circuitry that maintains the device ’ s output even as the temperature fluctuates. but those workarounds increase both the cost of making the lasers and the power they consume. ever since this problem came to light, researchers have been hunting for a semiconductor laser that is inherently stable. one promising technology, first proposed 27 years ago, is the quantum - dot laser. such a device tightly confines the electrons and holes within many nanoscale


this problem came to light, researchers have been hunting for a semiconductor laser that is inherently stable. one promising technology, first proposed 27 years ago, is the quantum - dot laser. such a device tightly confines the electrons and holes within many nanoscale blobs, or dots, of semiconducting material. with enough dots — millions or billions, that is — lasing will occur and steady output maintained, regardless of external temperature. while researchers can now grow these devices using standard molecular - beam epitaxy equipment, mass - producing them has been very tricky. the japanese start - up qd laser, of tokyo, a joint venture of fujitsu and mitsui venture capital corp., has finally succeeded. its quantum - dot lasers use inexpensive substrates made from gallium arsenide ( gaas ) and boast an industry - leading density of 60 billion dots per square centimeter [ see images, ” collecting the dots ” ]. compared with the conventional indium - phosphide lasers now used in optical networks, qd laser ’ s devices will consume just half the power while transmitting up to 10 gigabits of data per second at a wavelength of 1. 3 micrometers. best of all, they will generate the same output at any temperature from – 40 to 100 °c. to mass - produce the gaas laser chips, qd laser has partnered with one of japan ’ s leading consumer - electronics firms, which will use the same production lines on which it currently cranks out conventional red lasers for dvd and cd players, video - game consoles, and other products. ( qd laser says it will reveal the name of its partner later this year. ) the initial shipments of laser chips are destined for an unnamed optical equipment vendor, which sometime this spring will begin offering the world ’ s first optical transceivers incorporating a quantum - dot laser. fujitsu will almost certainly buy the transceivers for use in optical lans and fiber - to - the - home networks. the quantum - dot laser has long been envisioned as a successor to the quantum - well laser, itself an improvement on earlier laser designs because it confined the injected electrons to an extremely thin layer — no more than tens of nanometers thick — of active material. that way, it required less current to induce lasing. but like the ” bulk ” semiconductor lasers it superseded, the quantum - well laser is sensitive to temperature. in the active layer of a bulk semiconductor laser, which you can picture as a fat, rectangular


, it required less current to induce lasing. but like the ” bulk ” semiconductor lasers it superseded, the quantum - well laser is sensitive to temperature. in the active layer of a bulk semiconductor laser, which you can picture as a fat, rectangular slab, the electrons and holes move in three dimensions, and that makes their interactions hard to control. in a quantum - well laser, they can move in only two dimensions, but electrostatic fields tend to build up, pulling the electrons away from the holes. in both cases, an increase in temperature makes the electrons more unruly. researchers began looking at ways to confine the electrons even further. in 1980, yasuhiko arakawa, a 28a ¿ ¿ year - old associate professor at the university of tokyo, had an epiphany. ” i thought, if we fix the position of each electron by confining it in a small box, the energy distribution will not be affected by temperature, ” arakawa recalled in a recent interview at his office at the university of tokyo. each ” box ” would be a semiconducting nanosize crystal into which electrons and holes would be injected. the box would effectively prevent the electrons and holes from being thermally excited to higher energy states. he presented his quantum - box laser idea at the annual meeting of the japanese society of applied physics in march 1981. then, collaborating with another professor, hiroyuki sakaki, he published a paper on the topic in the 1 june 1982 issue of applied physics letters. the two researchers followed up with a series of experiments in which they confined electrons using 30 - tesla magnets and demonstrated that the devices worked the same over a wide temperature range. ” but i thought it would be impossible to fabricate such nanostructures until the 21st century, ” arakawa says. the quantum - box laser concept didn ’ t exactly set the world on fire. some people found it interesting but not particularly useful, while others concluded that the boxes would be structurally unstable. his early work ” attracted almost no one to the field, ” says arakawa, now an ieee fellow. today, he adds, thousands of researchers worldwide are working to advance the field. just three years after arakawa and sakaki ’ s paper, a research group at france ’ s centre national d ’ etudes des telecommunications ( cnet ) noticed a strange phenomenon in the ” superlattices ” they were trying to build out of extremely thin alternating layers of indium arsenide and gallium ars


research group at france ’ s centre national d ’ etudes des telecommunications ( cnet ) noticed a strange phenomenon in the ” superlattices ” they were trying to build out of extremely thin alternating layers of indium arsenide and gallium arsenide. studying their handiwork under an electron microscope, they noticed that some of the indium arsenide had formed tiny regular blobs atop the underlying layer of gallium arsenide. each blob, it turned out, was a quantum dot. the french team didn ’ t actually produce lasing from their weird structure, but it was a start. in 1994, a team at the tokyo institute of technology and a collaboration of the technical university of berlin, russia ’ s ioffe physico - technical institute, and the max planck institute of microstructure physics independently demonstrated the first quantum - dot lasers. ( at that point, the quantum - dot versus quantum - box terminology was still in flux, with the german - russian team using the former term and the japanese using the latter. eventually, arakawa says, the world settled on quantum dot. ” now even i call them quantum dots, ” he says. ) but it ’ s one thing to create an experimental device in the lab and another thing to mass - produce a laser that operates reliably, can be manufactured cheaply, and performs a useful function. qd laser ’ s president and ceo, mitsuru sugawara, and his colleagues began chipping away at the problem of commercialization in 1994. sugawara was then a research physicist at fujitsu, aiming to develop a temperature - stable laser that emitted at 1. 3 µm, the best wavelength for optical communications. ” we weren ’ t interested in quantum dots per se, ” sugawara recalled in an interview last fall. like the cnet group, he and his team had been working on superlattices when they noticed quantum dots forming spontaneously, sugawara says, ” like water beading up on a waxed car. ” after realizing what they ’ d done, they set to work on building a laser. ” we knew that to produce lasing, we had to increase the density of the dots, so we started to study how to grow them intentionally, ” he says. five years later, in 1999, they demonstrated their first quantum - dot laser with a wavelength of 1. 3 µm. in a perfect world, the fujitsu group would have continued to make steady progress,


grow them intentionally, ” he says. five years later, in 1999, they demonstrated their first quantum - dot laser with a wavelength of 1. 3 µm. in a perfect world, the fujitsu group would have continued to make steady progress, and a commercial quantum - dot laser would have hit the market years ago. in the real world, the it bubble burst, and corporate priorities shifted. ” my boss told me that if we didn ’ t stop our research [ on quantum dots ], he ’ d be fired, ” sugawara says. eager to keep japanese r & d on quantum - dot lasers alive, arakawa stepped in. by then his pioneering work on nanostructure devices had made him quite influential in japan ’ s scientific circles. in 2001 he persuaded the japanese government to include quantum - dot research in a national project on photonic networking. fujitsu participated, along with hitachi, mitsubishi, nec, and a number of other japanese companies. the fujitsu group resumed its efforts to increase the dot density, mainly by stacking the quantum - dot layers. in 2004, they built a stack of 10 layers containing 30 billion dots per layer and capable of transmitting data at 10 gb / s. ” at that point, we could think about starting up a venture company, ” sugawara says. though it had nurtured the early stages of research, fujitsu wasn ’ t the best place to commercialize the results, he says. the company ’ s main business is building high - end servers and optical networking systems for government and business customers. it has no expertise in the commodity chip - making methods that sugawara envisioned using for the quantum - dot lasers. in april 2006, fujitsu and mitsui venture capital formed qd laser, providing the start - up with an initial us $ 2 million. fujitsu agreed to let qd laser use its 40 or so patents on quantum - dot technology ; arakawa signed on as the company ’ s technical advisor. although qd laser ’ s official headquarters are in a central tokyo high - rise, most of the company ’ s staff, including sugawara, are based at fujitsu ’ s facility in atsugi, about 45 kilometers southwest of tokyo, and research goes on there and at arakawa ’ s labs at the university of tokyo. there are currently 30 scientists and engineers involved, including five at the university of tokyo. after its founding, the starta ¿ ¿ up continued to work on boosting the lasers ’ dot density.


arakawa ’ s labs at the university of tokyo. there are currently 30 scientists and engineers involved, including five at the university of tokyo. after its founding, the starta ¿ ¿ up continued to work on boosting the lasers ’ dot density. ” we thought we could keep adding more layers, but we realized that wasn ’ t enough, ” sugawara says. using proprietary techniques, researchers at qd laser and tokyo university eventually succeeded in doubling the dot density, from 30 billion dots per square centimeter to 60 billion. sugawara brings out two atomic - force microscope images of quantum dots. the first shows a sparsely dotted surface. ” everyone can make this density, ” he says. then, pointing to the second image, which is crowded with dots, he says, ” but only we can make this. ” qd laser isn ’ t the first company to bring a quantum - dot laser to market. that distinction belongs to innolume, a start - up based in dortmund, germany, and santa clara, calif. since 2007 it has sold quantum - dot ” comb ” lasers, which can emit tens to hundreds of colors over a range of wavelengths. the devices are potentially suitable for optical computing, laser television, and biomedical applications. but innolume has yet to find a wide market for its products. qd laser will do better because its corporate backers have the muscle to see that it does. fujitsu has already agreed to replace the standard indium - phosphide lasers in its optical networking systems with qd laser ’ s gallium - arsenide lasers. but even fujitsu had to be convinced that the new devices would be as reliable as existing lasers. ” the communications market is very conservative, ” sugawara notes. to make its products more palatable to optical equipment makers like fujitsu, his company spent months tailoring the quantum - dot laser ’ s output power and performance so that they matched those of a conventional laser. the resulting laser can seamlessly replace an indium - phosphide laser in an optical transceiver, with no significant redesign required. with telecom giant nippon telegraph and telephone corp. adding 3 million fiber - to - the - home connections each year, sugawara thinks his company could claim 5 to 10 percent of the japanese market by 2011. qd laser is also working on lasers for long - distance communications of up to 20 kilometers. at press time, the company was wrapping up reliability tests and planned to begin selling in the spring.


5 to 10 percent of the japanese market by 2011. qd laser is also working on lasers for long - distance communications of up to 20 kilometers. at press time, the company was wrapping up reliability tests and planned to begin selling in the spring. even as it tries to line up more optical equipment customers, qd laser wants to branch out into the consumer - electronics market, which buys 100 times as many lasers, or about 2 billion devices a year. that ’ s why the partnership with the japanese consumer electronics maker holds particular promise. back in 2006, shortly after his company was founded, sugawara visited four of the major japanese consumer - electronics makers to gauge their interest in quantum - dot lasers. three said no thanks. but the fourth, sugawara recalls, told him, ” we ’ ve been waiting for you. ” the partnership is unusual in japan, he adds, where there ’ s little overlap between the optical - communications sector and the consumer - electronics makers. ” we ’ re one of the first companies to bridge the gap, ” he says. for two years, qd laser engineers worked closely with the consumer electronics firm to refine the fabrication process for the laser chips. qd laser grows the 3 - inch gallium - arsenide wafers in - house and then ships them to its partner, which can print about 50 000 chips on each wafer. each 0. 3 - square - millimeter chip consists of a substrate of n - doped gallium arsenide, followed by a layer of n - doped aluminum gallium arsenide, the quantum - dot layer, and then layers of p - doped algaas and gaas. the company packages each chip in a can about 2 cm long. ” even though we ’ re a small company, we can do mass production, ” sugawara says. qd laser ’ s partner would like to start incorporating quantum - dot lasers into its cd and dvd players and other products. by varying the size and concentration of the quantum dots, you can generate different wavelengths of light. to produce red light at 650 nm, for example, you could start with a 1300 - nm quantum - dot laser and then pass it through a frequency doubler, which halves the wavelength. to make green light, you similarly start with a 1064 - nm laser and double the frequency to get a 532 - nm wavelength. quantum - dot lasers could also be used in laser tv sets, medical devices, and tiny portable projectors that fit in


green light, you similarly start with a 1064 - nm laser and double the frequency to get a 532 - nm wavelength. quantum - dot lasers could also be used in laser tv sets, medical devices, and tiny portable projectors that fit in your cellphone. in the next couple of decades, arakawa says, we ’ ll see quantum dots showing up in quantum computers and other it devices [ for more on quantum computing, see ” dot to dot design, ” ieee spectrum, september 2007 ]. but why stop there? quantum - dot researchers have been looking at ways to use quantum dots in biochemical sensors, solar cells, and other technologies. it ’ s a future arakawa modestly refers to as ” quantum dots for everything. ” for more articles, go to winners & losers 2009 special report. snapshot : a laser that ’ s right on the dot goal : to commercialize a reliable and inexpensive semiconductor laser that ’ s also immune to temperature changes. why it ’ s a winner : these high - speed, low - power, temperature - stable lasers are equally applicable to optical networking and consumer electronics. who : qd laser, a joint venture of fujitsu and mitsui venture capital corp., and university of tokyo where : tokyo and atsugi, japan staff : 30 scientists and engineers budget : us $ 14 million when : spring 2009


anger can often lead to problems which may include violence, bullying or even just frustration. learn to harness your anger with these 5 basic tips : - try to figure out why you ’ re angry. did somebody say something that really ticked you off? did someone tease you? did someone take their anger out on you? if you can answer these questions you may realize you don ’ t even have a reason to be angry. - release your anger gradually. get in touch with your own feelings so you know how you can release your own anger. go out for a jog. go for a swim. workout at the gym. do something creative. shoot some hoops. play the piano. you get the idea. do something that will help you unwind. - ask for help. talk with a friend about your frustrations until you feel better. spend time with your counselor unloading your frustrations. sit down and look your web cam in the lens and make a video, talking about how you feel. watch that video and experience your mood begin to change. - think about someone you can help. the world is full of people who need a hand. think of someone who is having a rough time right now. are they experiencing cyber - bullying or workplace bullying? you can do something to help them. think of what it is and get to work. this is one of the best ways to beat anger and frustration. - get totally relaxed. slow down your thought process and start thinking the most peaceful thoughts you possibly can imagine. put on a relaxing cd. close your eyes take deep breaths. imagine the most relaxing place you could possibly be. maybe it ’ s the beach with the sound of gentle waves in the background. it could be a grassy meadow with the breeze blowing through your hair. feel the tension leave your body. simply allow your body to completely unwind. bruce langford, bullying prevention advocate www. standupnow. ca


file organization refers to the way records are physically arranged on a storage device. intel fortran supports two kinds of file organization : the default file organization is always organization = ' sequential ' for an open statement. the organization of a file is specified by means of the organization specifier in the open statement. you can store sequential files on magnetic tape or disk devices, and can use other peripheral devices, such as terminals, pipes, and line printers as sequential files. you must store relative files on a disk device. a sequentially organized file consists of records arranged in the sequence in which they are written to the file ( the first record written is the first record in the file, the second record written is the second record in the file, and so on ). as a result, records can be added only at the end of the file. sequential files are usually read sequentially, starting with the first record in the file. sequential files with a fixed - length record type that are stored on disk can also be accessed by relative record number ( direct access ). within a relative file are numbered positions, called cells. these cells are of fixed equal length and are consecutively numbered from 1 to n, where 1 is the first cell, and n is the last available cell in the file. each cell either contains a single record or is empty. records in a relative file are accessed according to cell number. a cell number is a record ' s relative record number ( its location relative to the beginning of the file ). by specifying relative record numbers, you can directly retrieve, add, or delete records regardless of their locations ( direct access ). ( detecting deleted records is only available if you specified the - vms option when the program was compiled. ) when creating a relative file, use the recl value to determine the size of the fixed - length cells. within the cells, you can store records of varying length, as long as their size does not exceed the cell size.


forest service rangers will try and use fire to regenerate aspen stands affected by sudden aspen decline with a controlled burn in the battlements roadless area in western colorado. photo by bob berwyn 500 - acre prescribed fire under way near collbran by bob berwyn summit county — as a colorado landmark tree, the aspen gets a lot of attention, especially this time of year, when the stands are vibrant with fiery fall color. this week, a different sort of blaze will roar through a 500 - acre stand of aspens in the battlements roadless area north of collbran, where land managers are using a prescribed burn to treat an area affected by sudden aspen decline, the term for a sudden die - back of the trees linked to stress from the 2002 drought. the pace of the die - back has slowed considerably in the past couple of years, but forest service researchers are still trying to figure out how they might be able to revitalize some of the areas that were hit. and even though sudden aspen decline has slowed in southwest colorado, there is still a slower trend of aspen decline across the state, attributed in part to fire suppression, as well to over - grazing of young stands by elk. aspens are an important part of colorado ’ s forest ecosystems. the groves provide good habitat for cavity nesting birds, and the understory is much more diverse than in many evergreen forests, with shrubs and berries that provide an important food source for many animals. ( more … ) filed under : environment, forest fires, forests, summit county colorado, us forest service | tagged : aspen regeneration, aspens, colorado, controlled burn, forest health, forests, grand mesa, sudden aspen decline, summit county news, us forest service | leave a comment »


class blogs are an excellent starting point. but the most incredible outcomes are observed when students are progressed onto their own individual blogs. why? human nature! as individuals we ’ re all driven by personal ownership ; class blogs have less sense of ownership than an individual blog. in this seventh activity you will : - learn about the recommended approach to setting up individual student blogs - gain tips for creating student blogs - learn how to create student blogs using the blog & user creator – edublogs pro / campus users only - learn how to create student blogs using the edublogs signup page – free edublogs users only - complete the extension activity ( if you have time ). step 1 : recommended approach to setting up student blogs as highlighted in student blogging activity 5 ( beginner ) : add students to your class blog so they can write posts the best approach to student blogging is to take it slowly. benefits of this approach include : - gives you time to increase your own skills while educating your students on appropriate online behaviour. - you ’ re less likely to have problems if you take this approach. if you decide to increase your students ’ blogging roles it ’ s a good idea to introduce it slowly in the following three steps : the idea is as they show increased responsibility you move them onto the next stage of blogging. and remember you can stage granting students rights to post on the class blog and having their own student blog. for example, you might gradually allow three students at a time rights to post on the class blog. then use these students to teach the next group of three students how to post on the class blog and so on. once they ’ re working well on the class blog then you start creating and assigning them their own individual student blog. step 2 : tips for creating student blogs # 1 choosing usernames and blog urls educators normally use the same name for both the student ’ s username and blog url. keep them simple and easy for the student to remember. most use a combination of their student ’ s first name followed by numbers that might represent the year, class number and / or school initials. they do this to protect the identity of the student by not including their last name and to ensure their username is unique ( as edublogs has close to 1, 000, 000 users ). for example, username misty16 or mistybp16. for example, username mistybp16 and blog url mistybp16. edublogs. org


responsibility your students are given. do you want them to be able to write own posts / pages, change themes, add widget and approve comments or do you want ( or need ) to limit their level of responsibility? the five roles for users you can give students on their student blogs are : administrator ; editor ; author ; contributor ; and subscriber. deciding which role to assign them is a balance between : - how much responsibility you ’ re comfortable with assigning your students - school and district guidelines - providing them with an environment that ’ s motivating if you want to approve all posts before they can be published then assign them the role of contributors. if you do assign them the role of contributor it means their posts will be submitted as pending and you ’ ll need to visit their blog dashboard to approve their posts. if you ’ ve added yourself as an admin user you can see all pending posts and comments on your student blogs by going to dashboard > my blogs. for more info refer to managing students on blogs … what role do you assign students? for those comfortable with students having a higher level of responsibility i recommend you subscribe to the post feeds from your student blogs — here is how to subscribe to their posts using google reader. here is a summary of their differences based on user capability : here is a summary of their differences based on access to features in the dashboard : step 3 : create the student blogs how you create the blogs depends on the type of edublogs blog you have : - if you are using an edublogs pro / campus blog – you create the student blogs using the blog & user creator inside your dashboard. - if you are using a free edublogs blog — you ’ ll need to create the student blogs using the edublogs sign up page. you ’ ll need to add yourself as an admin user once the blogs are created. remember spam filters, especially strict ones for institutional email addresses, often block activation and password reset emails from edublogs. org. if unsure use free webmail accounts such as gmail, hotmail that don ’ t block these invitation emails. there are no limitations on the number of student blogs you can create! # 1 creating student blogs using the blog & user creator the blog & user creater is designed specificially to save time and make it easy for educators to mass create student blogs. creating the blogs is a simple as : 1. go to users > blog & user creator in your dashboard. 2. click


blog & user creater is designed specificially to save time and make it easy for educators to mass create student blogs. creating the blogs is a simple as : 1. go to users > blog & user creator in your dashboard. 2. click on create blogs tab. 3. select their role on their new blog, their role on your blog, your role on their blog and select ‘ upgrade to give access to new premium features and other features ’. - we recommend the use of pre - set passwords as it means students will be able to log in if you got the email address wrong or their login email is blocked by filters on their email account. 3. add the usernames - use only lowercase letters and numbers, with no spaces, in the username - the username is what they use to sign into the blog dashboard and is displayed on posts and comments they write. you can ’ t change a username, however you can change what name is displayed. - if you are creating a new username and see ‘ sorry, that username already exists! ’ it means you need to use a more unique username. remember there is over 1, 000, 000 users in edublogs. org. a simple solution for students is to use a combination of their first name, school initials and their room or year. 4. add their email address - you can ’ t create several usernames with the same email address because the system resets password based on email address. but you can trick it using the gmail + method - spam filters, especially strict ones for institutional email addresses, often block these activation emails. if unsure use free webmail accounts such as gmail, hotmail that don ’ t block these invitation emails. 5. add their password - leave this blank if you want to let the system automatically create the password 6. add their blog urls - you can ’ t change a blog url once a blog is created so choose carefully 7. add blog title - this can be changed later in settings > general 8. click submit at the bottom of the page # 2 creating student blogs using the edublogs signup page if you are using a free edublogs blog you ’ ll need to create the student blogs using the edublogs sign up page. you ’ ll need to add yourself as an admin user once the blogs are created. here is how you do it : 1. go to edublogs. org 2. click on


blogs using the edublogs sign up page. you ’ ll need to add yourself as an admin user once the blogs are created. here is how you do it : 1. go to edublogs. org 2. click on the ‘ free ’ image 3. this takes you to the edublogs sign up page where you need to enter your desired username, email address, tick you agree to tos ( terms of service ) and then click next. - you will be sent an activation email once your account is created. this email normally arrives within 30 minutes. - you have 48 hours to click on the link in the email to activate your blog otherwise you will need to reset up your account. - spam filters, especially strict ones for institutional email addresses, often block these activation emails. if unsure use free webmail accounts such as gmail, hotmail that don ’ t block these activation emails. - use only lowercase letters and numbers, with no spaces, in your username - your username is what you use to sign into your blog dashboard and is displayed on posts and comments you write. you can ’ t change your username, you can change what name is displayed. 4. on the next page enter the blog domain ( i. e. blog url ), blog title, select your preferred privacy and language, enter the captcha word and click signup. - use only lowercase letters and numbers, with no spaces, in your blog url - blog urls can ’ t be changed once created - use a blog url that reflects what your blog is about and is unique - keep in mind people need to be able to remember and easily type your blog url into their browser – where possible try to keep your blog url short but meaningful - don ’ t stress too much about your blog title as this can be changed any time. 5. next you should see a page with the blog title and instructions to check email inbox. this email should arrive within 30 minutes. 6. click on the link in the email to activate the blog account. 7. this activates your account and takes you to the activation page on edublogs. 8. you should also receive another email with the username, password and login details which the student ’ s use to log into their blog dashboard. 9. once the blog is created you ’ ll need to add yourself as an admin user to each student blog by going to users > add new in each student


and login details which the student ’ s use to log into their blog dashboard. 9. once the blog is created you ’ ll need to add yourself as an admin user to each student blog by going to users > add new in each student blog dashboard and following these instructions. step 4 : complete the extension activity ( if you have time ) write a comment on this post or your own post to share your tips for creating student blogs such as : - what worked well? - what caused you problems? - what are the three most important tips you would give other educators when using individual student blogs? - what would you like explained in more detail? and remember to leave a comment with a link to your post ( if you do write a post ) so we can drop past to check it out! we like to include these links to your posts in our weekly reviews! here is where you find the other activities from this series : thanks to everyone who is participating in the 30 days to get started blogging with your students! and if you missed out, it is never too late to work through the challenges at your own pace! you can always form your own team with other educators and work together! - student blogging activity 1 ( beginner ) : setting up your class blog - student blogging activity 2 ( beginner ) : setting up rules & guidelines - student blogging activity 3 ( beginner ) – teaching quality commenting - student blogging activity 4 ( beginner ) – helping parents connect with your class blog - student blogging activity 5 ( beginner ) : add students to your class blog so they can write posts - student blogging activity 6 ( beginner ) : add a visitor tracking widget to your blog sidebar - student blogging activity 7 ( beginner ) : set up your student blogs - student blogging activity 8 ( beginners ) : add your student blogs to your blogroll - student blogging activity 9 ( beginners ) : add your student blogs to a folder in google reader


ubon ratchathani province covers a total area of 15, 744. 85 square kilometers, with amnat charoen province to the north, the banthat mountain range along the4 border of the kingdom of cambodia to the south, the mekhong river and lao people ’ s democratic republic to the east, and yathothon and si sa ket provinces to the west. ubon ratchathani is divided into 19 amphoes and 6 king amphoes, namely : amphoe muang, amphoe warin chamrap, amphoe det udom, amphoe buntharik, amphoe na chaluai, amphoe nam yun, amphoe khong chiam, amphoe phibun mangsahan, amphoe si muang mai, amphoe trakan phutphon, amphoe khemarat, amphoe muang samsip, amphoe khuang nai, amphoe kut khaopun, amphoe pho sai, amphoe tan sum, amphoe samrong, amphoe sirindhorn king amphoe don mot daeng, king amphoe thung si udom, king amphoe na yia, king amphoe no tan, king amphoe lao sua kok, and king amphoe sawang wirawong. the kha and the suai, two local tribes, had moved from si sattanakanahut to this area before the rattanakosin period. during the reign of king rama i, the king thought of locating the people scattered around because of war into one therefore, any leader who could gather the greatest number of people and establish a secure community would be promoted to the rank of chao muang or chief. for this reason, in 1786, thao kham phong, who had led a group of his people to settle in the huai chaeramae area on a plain on the bank of the mun river, was promoted to the rank of chief. later, when he helped the thai troops to attack nakhon champasak, he was promoted to the rank of phra pathum worarat suriyawong and became chao muang or governor of ban chaeramae, which was upgraded to the status of a province called ubon ratchathani. later, the city was moved to a new site at dong u - phung, which is the site of the present city with seven other towns during the reign


, which was upgraded to the status of a province called ubon ratchathani. later, the city was moved to a new site at dong u - phung, which is the site of the present city with seven other towns during the reign of king rama v, before the reform of the provincial administration which divided the kingdom into monthon ( circle ), changwat ( province ), and amphoe ( district ), ubon ratchathani was annexed to lao kao town. later in 1899, the name of the area was changed to the northeastern monthon with ubon ratchathani as its administrative center, and the name was changed again in 1900 to monthon i - san. because of the depression in 1915, the status of monthon ubon ratchathani was reduced to only a province in monthon nakhon ratchsima in 1933, the division of the kingdom into monthon was abolished and the city has been known as ubon ratchathani from that time on. transportation to ubon ratchathani is very convenient by car, train, and air. by car : follow highway 1 ( phahon yothin road ) to highway 2 ( friendship then follow highway 2 to highway 24 ( chok chaidet udom ) ; turning onto this route and following it untio the end. the total distance is 629 kilometres. on take highway 2 to nakhon ratchasima and turn onto highway 226 to buri ram – surin – si sa ket – ubon ratchathani. by bus : there are both air - conditioned and ordinary buses leaving from the northeastern bus terminal ( talat mo chit ) many times a day. for detailed information tel. 272 - 5228 ( ordinary bus ) and 272 - 5299 ubon ratchathani bus terminal tel. ( 045 ) private agencies : nakhon chai air tel. 2725271 ( at ubon ratchathani tel. 269385 - 6 ), mong khon tour tel. 2725239 ( at ubon ratchathani tel. 255116 ), chet chai tour tel. 2725264 ( at ubon ratchathani tel. 254885, 255907 ), sahamit tour. tel. 2725252 ( at ubon ratchathani tel. 255043 ), sayan tour ( ubon ratchathani ) tel. 254885, 242163,


the mere mention of korean food and the first thing that comes to mind is kimchi – the spicy red - tinged fermented vegetable dish. it is as distinctly korean as hamburger is american, and pasta italian. but like every other country, while a hint or more of spice is vital to korean food recipes, there is so much more to their cuisine than just kimchi. a lot of the food consumed by present - day koreans came from the cuisine and customs of the royal court. korean food is one of the healthiest cuisines because it is vegetable - based and meats are cooked without a lot of oil. a full meal is balanced, considering spiciness, texture, temperature, and careful presentation. a complete korean meal is called hanjoungshik and is composed of fish, steamed ribs, and other meat and vegetable dishes, rice, soup, and of course, kimchi. there is also twoenjang - guk, a fermented soybean paste soup with clams. there are many banchan or side dishes which are shared, and each side dish must complement the others. usual side dishes are steamed vegetables, kimchi, beef, fish, and bean taste soup. you can see the richness and diversity of korean recipes during gatherings and special occasions, because various dishes are cooked in many different ways. some are stewed, pan - fried, fermented, simmered, steamed, or eaten raw. but the one dish that must always be present is kimchi. kimchi is known for its spicy tangy crunch, and is considered a digestive aid and appetite stimulant. it can be seasoned with pepper, garlic, radish, green onions, ginger, and other ingredients. but red chilli pepper flakes is what gives it its red coloring and makes it hot and spicy. served during every korean meal, it is said to be good in vitamin c and fiber. there are more than 100 varieties of kimchi, the most popular of which is the baechu or napa cabbage variety. if you want to try korean dishes but are not into spicy food, don ’ t worry. korean food recipes also include meat dishes and these are usually eaten with vegetables or beans. the most popular of these is the samgyeopsal – thinly - sliced pork belly meat that resembles bacon. you can also try their bulgogi or marinated barbecued beef, and the galbi – grilled beef ribs wrapped in lettuce and do


according to japan ’ s asahi shimbun, cleanup crews working near the ruined fukushima daiichi nuclear plant, “ dumped soil and leaves contaminated with radioactive fallout into rivers. ” crooked cleanup ( 1 ) : radioactive waste dumped into rivers during decontamination work in fukushima http : / / t. co / vz7bfmc9 a team of journalists who observed the decontamination work in the region last month added : “ water sprayed on contaminated buildings has been allowed to drain back into the environment. and supervisors have instructed workers to ignore rules on proper collection and disposal of the radioactive waste. ” workers were apparently aware that they were breaking rules, the paper reported : from dec. 11 to 18, four asahi reporters spent 130 hours observing work at various locations in fukushima prefecture. at 13 locations in naraha, iitate and tamura, workers were seen simply dumping collected soil and leaves as well as water used for cleaning rather than securing them for proper disposal. photographs were taken at 11 of those locations. the reporters also talked to about 20 workers who said they were following the instructions of employees of the contracted companies or their subcontractors in dumping the materials. a common response of the workers was that the decontamination work could never be completed if they adhered to the strict rules.


in an exclusive interview with thinkprogress green, lubchenco, the administrator of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration ( noaa ), discussed the vicious circle of oil and gas greenhouse pollution melting the arctic sea ice, making it possible for new oil and gas drilling in the region that will melt the ice even faster. lubchenco had just appeared in a panel on threats to oceans at the society of environmental journalists annual conference on friday morning, discussing ocean acidification and the unexpectedly rapid decline of arctic sea ice, both results of greenhouse pollution from burning fossil fuels. “ less sea ice means greater access to reserves for gas and oil that are there, ” lubchenco said in the tp green interview, agreeing that “ increased production of oil and gas means less sea ice. ” when asked whether there are civilizational risks to a world without permanent arctic sea ice, lubchenco explained that “ what happens in the arctic doesn ’ t stay in the arctic ” : well, what happens in the arctic doesn ’ t stay in the arctic. it has huge implications for the global system. and one of the reasons people are legitimately concerned about melting of sea ice are the uncertainties associated with the consequences of that for the rest of the planet. we ’ re entering a no - analogue world here. we ’ ve never experienced the kinds of changes that we ’ re seeing now in the arctic and elsewhere. and we don ’ t fully understand what the consequences of that are going to be. watch the interview : the united states and other nations with access to the arctic are taking steps to support the expansion of drilling in regions made accessible by global warming pollution. although norway is concerned about the costs of a deepwater horizon - like disaster, the government is still encouraging arctic drilling. in august, exxon mobil signed a blockbuster deal with russia ’ s rosneft to explore the russian reaches of the arctic ocean for oil. this month, the department of interior announced it is moving forward with 500 oil drilling leases sold during the bush administration for the chukchi sea. last week, the environmental protection agency granted shell an air permit for exploratory drilling in the beaufort sea. the arctic ocean is estimated by the u. s. geological survey to have vast reserves of oil and gas. burning of those fossil fuels would add tens of billions of tons of carbon dioxide to our already overheated atmosphere. although noaa is the nation ’ s top oceanographic agency, its scientists play only a minor, advisory role in


new york — from the rocky mountains to new england, hospitals are swamped with people with flu symptoms. some medical centers have limited visitors, and one pennsylvania hospital set up a tent outside its er to handle the feverish patients. flu season in the u. s. has hit early and, in some places, hard. but whether this will be considered a bad season by the time it has run its course in the spring remains to be seen. those of us with gray hair have seen worse, said dr. william schaffner, a flu expert at vanderbilt university in nashville. the evidence so far is pointing to a moderate season, schaffner and others believe. it just looks bad compared with last year — an unusually mild one. flu usually doesn ' t blanket the country until late january or february, but it is already widespread in more than 40 states. also, the main influenza virus this year tends to make people sicker. and there are other bugs out there causing flu - like illnesses. so what people are calling the flu may, in fact, be something else. there may be more of an overlap than we normally see, said dr. joseph bresee, who tracks the flu for the centers for disease control and prevention. the flu ' s early arrival in the u. s. coincided with spikes in a variety of other viruses, including a childhood malady that mimics flu and a new norovirus that causes what some people call stomach flu. flu is a major contributor, though, to what ' s going on, experts say. the early onslaught has prompted hospitals to take steps to deal with the influx and protect other patients from getting sick, including restricting visits from children, requiring family members to wear masks, and banning anyone with flu symptoms from maternity wards. one hospital in allentown this week set up a tent for a steady stream of patients with flu symptoms. but so far, what we ' re seeing is a typical flu season, said terry burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital, lehigh valley hospital - cedar crest. health officials are analyzing this year ' s flu vaccine ' s effectiveness, but early indications are that about 60 percent of all vaccinated people have been protected from the flu. that ' s in line with how effective flu vaccines have been in other years. on average, about 24, 000 americans die each flu season, according to the cdc. symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. some people also suffer vomiting


kitchen food safety basics of kitchen food safety : clean, separate, cook, chill learn the about the basics of food safety in the kitchen. the four simple concepts : clean, separate, cook and chill can help prevent foodborne illness. - spring clean your way into a safer kitchen ( partnership for food safety education ) - clean, separate, cook and chill ( canadian partnership for consumer food safety education ). - five keys to safer food manual ( world health organization pdf 3, 936 kb ) - food safety education - the four messages : clean, separate, cook, chill ( usda ) - washing food - does it promote food safety? ( usda ) - kitchen companion - your safe food handbook ( usda ) - fight bac! ( partnership for food safety education ) - uc food safety in the kitchen publications holiday food safety - holidayfoodsafety. org is dedicated to providing information, including videos, about keeping food safe during the holidays. you can find detailed information and useful tips on : - the turkey - cranberry sauce recipe - selecting, preparing, and canning fruit ( national center for home food preservation ) - preparing the kitchen - safely handling ingredients - menu selection - foodsafety. gov - useful information about holiday food safety. includes “ food safety for moms to be ", " mail order food safety " ( usda ) and the video " be food safe for holiday buffets " ( usda ). - fda : holiday food safety - cdc : holiday food safety podcast packing a safe lunch packing a safe lunch for our little ones is just as important as packing a lunch that is nutritious. the web pages below discuss food safety tips for the lunch box. - the lunch box series, c : safe lunches for preschol children ( uc pub pdf 2335k ) tips on keeping food safety in mind when you put together your rpeschooler ' s nutritious sack lunch. in english and spanish ( la lonchera : como empacar almuerzos seguros para ninos preescolares pdf 1290k ). - back to school food safety tips for parents and students ( usda ) - eating outdoors - handling food safely ( fda ) - an ounce of prevention keeps the germs away ( cdc pdf 3, 187 kb )


the stormwater ecological enhancement project ( seep ) began in 1995 as a take - home final exam for the course ecosystems of florida. the objective was to develop a management plan to enhance a stormwater retention basin located within the university of florida natural area and teaching lab ( natl ) for species diversity while optimizing the basin ' s use for research and education. since that time, the wetlands club at uf has taken this project further and implemented a full - scale created wetland that achieves not only the original objectives but also improves wildlife habitat, water quality, and aesthetics. these efforts have been in close coordination with the natl advisory committee. what is a stormwater retention basin? water that runs off the land during and after a rainstorm is called stormwater runoff. this runoff and any pollutants it carries flows into streams, rivers, lakes and depressions throughout the landscape. in an urbanized landscape natural physical, chemical and biological processes are disrupted and leaves, litter, animal waste, oil, greases, heavy metals, fertilizers and pesticides are transported downstream. a stormwater retention basin provides temporary storage for the runoff generated by development in the watershed, releasing it slowly and reducing the potential for flooding. the basin also provides some treatment of pollution carried by the stormwater runoff. while wetlands have historically been considered of little importance, our increasing understanding of these systems is changing this misconception. wetlands are now recognized for providing many vital benefits. some of these benefits include : - habitat for commercially valuable fish and shellfish, - improved water quality. although we have lost more than 50 percent of the historic wetlands in the lower 48 states, protection of wetlands has increased considerably over the past 15 years due to recognition of these values. wetlands and stormwater basins wetlands can be found alongside rivers and lake shores, and as low areas in the landscape that often become flooded during storms. these wetlands are the natural stormwater basins of the landscape. as humans create stormwater basins to reduce the effects of development, it seems only logical to mimic these natural stormwater basins. this provides benefits beyond that of water storage as the basin becomes a multipurpose area serving our needs to reduce flooding while offsetting wetland functions that have been lost over the past 200 years. the water treatment component of the retention basin would also be substantially enhanced by the diversity of vegetation and complexity of the integrated wetland community. the integration of these " free " services provided by a natural system with the needs of our growing world has been termed ecological engineering. this new


of the retention basin would also be substantially enhanced by the diversity of vegetation and complexity of the integrated wetland community. the integration of these " free " services provided by a natural system with the needs of our growing world has been termed ecological engineering. this new approach to urban and regional planning is not only a more environmentally sensitive approach, but one that uses processes that have been working naturally for millions of years. the retention pond at natl the 3 - acre retention pond is the low point of a 39. 75 acre watershed. the majority of the basin was constructed in 1988 with additional storage created in 1990. structures within this watershed contributing significant runoff to the basin include the center for performing arts, entomology and nematology buildings, the park & ride commuter lot and roadways between and around these buildings. the total storage of the basin to offset the increased runoff generated by these impervious surfaces is 478, 000 cubic feet. as originally designed the bottom of the basin is essentially flat, with uniform slopes on the north, south and east sides. to the west of the basin the slope is low and quickly grades into the preexisting depression of the area. because the basin is almost uniform in elevation the established vegetation was dominated by cattail. ecologically enhanced design the primary goal of the project is to increase the diversity of flooding depths and frequency of flooding that will occur since this is the primary factor regulating species composition in a wetland. to do this two depressions, one 4 - feet, the other 5 - feet deep, were dug at the southeastern end of the pond providing a deep, open - water habitat. at the north end a low berm was constructed to temporarily impound 80 % of the entering stormwater. this forebay provides the first phase of treatment and was planted with species known to take up heavy metals and remove nutrients. water from the forebay is then slowly released, first flowing through an area planted to resemble a bottom - land hardwood swamp, and move into a shallow freshwater marsh before entering the deep - water ponds. at the southeastern end of the pond another small berm was built to divert stormwater away from the deep - water ponds, increasing treatment time. at the end of this berm a knoll was built and planted with trees to provide nesting or roosting sites for birds. the basin was planted with species that resemble those found in wetlands of north central florida. a boardwalk also will be constructed. expected seep benefits the seep project already has provided a great learning experience for wetlands club members


roosting sites for birds. the basin was planted with species that resemble those found in wetlands of north central florida. a boardwalk also will be constructed. expected seep benefits the seep project already has provided a great learning experience for wetlands club members through project design and organization, regulatory agency interaction and team work. other benefits of the project include : - species diversity. the variety of plantings and topographic diversity on the sight provides new genetic material as well as suitable establishment sites for long - term increases in vegetative species diversity within the basin. - wildlife habitat. vegetative diversity as well as diversity of aquatic habitat provides a multitude of new biotic niches not previously available in the basin. the value of this habitat becomes increasingly important as other areas on campus and in the gainesville community are encroached upon. - aesthetics. retention basins are notoriously unattractive, often fenced in, littered with trash, and square. although the retention basin at the natl is pleasant compared to some, its appeal would be improved if it resembled a diverse wetland. - water quality. construction of the forebay, planting of species known to have high treatment potential, and diversion of stormwater to maximize treatment all improve the water treatment potential of the basin. - research. since integration of wetlands and stormwater basins is still a relatively new concept, little is known about optimization and performance of these systems. implementing seep provides a unique opportunity to test the principles of this integration, pushing the university of florida to the forefront of this technology. the location of this site on campus as well as the location of the site within natl allows for easy access and control over activities within the site. faculty, staff and state agencies interested in this topic will be able to use this as a long - term study site. - education. educational opportunities for both students and the public enormous for this site. the university has one of only three wetland centers in the country with some of the founding faculty in principles of ecological engineering. many courses throughout the campus use the area for various components of their curriculum. public education opportunities abound with the construction of the new florida museum of natural history within a stones throw of the basin.


currently, hundreds of satellites orbit the earth, many with instruments that improve our lives and define our lifestyles. satellite - based technology makes it possible to watch our favorite television shows, navigate unfamiliar roads and plan weather - dependent activities a week ahead. satellites also collect data that aren ’ t as easy to explain, such as the nasa instrument to be launched this spring to measure sea surface salinity over the globe. annette decharon ’ s job is to explain exactly what that instrument, dubbed aquarius, will do once it ’ s launched in 2011 and why its mission — to collect data on salt concentrations at the ocean surface — is critical for nasa and for society as a whole. from her mission control - style desk in an office at the university of maine darling marine center in walpole, maine, decharon ’ s job as senior marine education scientist is to make ocean sciences more accessible for various audiences. her work with nasa / aquarius education & public outreach targets the public, students from elementary school to college, and science communicators from classroom teachers to ocean researchers. “ many people don ’ t really interact with the ocean at all, so they don ’ t think about how it affects them, but it ’ s basically the key driver of climate, ” says decharon, who teaches a umaine semester by the sea class and directs one of the national centers for ocean sciences education excellence ( cosee ). “ in all of our education and outreach programs, we really try to emphasize that point. one approach is through visualization of ocean data and concepts. this is important because the ocean is so remote that people can ’ t readily identify with it. but if you give them visuals that help them see the big picture and how things interact, they are more likely to believe its relevance. ” the educational materials decharon and her team produce help demonstrate why monitoring sea surface salinity is key to understanding what ’ s happening in the oceans. “ most people know the oceans are salty, but they don ’ t know that patterns of salinity change geographically and over time, ” she says. “ if there ’ s a lot of rain or if ice melts in a region, the sea surface will be less salty. if you get higher evaporation, seawater will be saltier. sea surface salinity changes can tell us how the water cycle is changing over the ocean. that ’ s important because 86 percent of global evaporation and 74 percent of global precipitation happens over the oceans. ”


seawater will be saltier. sea surface salinity changes can tell us how the water cycle is changing over the ocean. that ’ s important because 86 percent of global evaporation and 74 percent of global precipitation happens over the oceans. ” over its three - year mission, aquarius data will be used to produce monthly maps of global sea surface salinity. within a few months, aquarius will collect as many sea surface salinity measurements as the entire 125 - year historical record from ships and buoys. the newest findings also will be used in climate prediction and el nino forecasts. to increase awareness and understanding of salinity, decharon and her team have developed a website with a wealth of information, including trivia ( bet you didn ’ t know, for example, the word “ salary ” may derive from the money paid to roman soldiers to buy salt ), online data tools and suggested activities for students from elementary ( a potato float helps children understand the concept of relative density ) to high school ( an experiment that splits saltwater into its constituent ions ). the activities are aligned with national science education standards and ocean literacy principles, and are evaluated to ensure their efficacy. as ensconced as decharon is now in the world of science education, she didn ’ t start out that way. a university of california – davis graduate in geology, decharon earned a master ’ s degree in oceanography at oregon state university. she worked at brown university as a research assistant in the department of planetary geology before being hired as a mission planner for the nasa jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena, calif. “ i discovered that i am pretty good at taking lots of input and coming up with plans that satisfied the needs of various types of people, including nasa engineers and scientists, ” she says. “ that ’ s something you usually don ’ t get during your scientific training. ” after several years, decharon went from mission planning to public outreach on nasa ’ s topex / poseidon mission, the pioneering satellite that measured sea surface height during the 1997 – 98 el nino event. decharon assisted in media campaigns, produced outreach materials and created some of nasa ’ s early educational websites. it was an exciting experience merging science, technology and education, decharon says, and a springboard for her role as director of cosee - ocean systems. the umaine - based cosee center brings together scientists and educators in peer - to - peer interactions, both in person and online. educators contribute their


unaids and unicef welcome news of a baby born with hiv who now as a toddler appears “ functionally cured ” through treatment and looks forward to further studies to see if findings can be replicated. geneva, 4 march 2013 — the joint united nations programme on hiv / aids ( unaids ) and unicef welcome a new case study, which found a baby treated with antiretroviral drugs in the first 30 hours of life and who continued on hiv treatment for 18 months appeared to be functionally cured. the findings were presented today at the conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections ( croi ) in atlanta, georgia in the united states of america. according to researchers the mother who was living with hiv at the time of birth had not received antiretroviral ( arv ) medication or prenatal care. researchers say that the child was born prematurely in july 2010 in the state of mississippi. due to the high risk of exposure to hiv, the researchers say the baby was started on a triple therapy regimen of antiretroviral drug 30 hours after birth and before proof of infection could be confirmed. the newborn ’ s hiv - positive status was subsequently confirmed through a highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction testing which was conducted on several occasions. the case study stated that the baby was discharged from the hospital after one week and continued arv treatment until 18 months of age, when for reasons that are unclear the treatment was discontinued. however, when the child was seen by medical professionals about a half a year later, blood samples revealed undetectable hiv levels and no hiv - specific antibodies. if the findings are confirmed this would be the first well - documented case of an hiv - positive child who appears to have no detectable levels of the virus despite stopping hiv treatment. “ this news gives us great hope that a cure for hiv in children is possible and could bring us one step closer to an aids free generation, ” said unaids executive director michel sidibe. “ this also underscores the need for research and innovation especially in the area of early diagnostics. ” in 2011, unaids and its partners launched a global plan for the elimination of new hiv infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. significant progress has been made and continued support and research is needed. “ while we wait for these results to be confirmed with further research, it is potentially great news, ” said unicef executive director, anthony lake. “ this case also demonstrates what we already know — it is vital to test newborn babies at


george frideric handel from uncyclopedia, the content - free encyclopedia - " handel " redirects here. perhaps you were just looking for door handle. george frideric handel ( german : georg friedrich handel ; pronounced [ ɡɔːdʒ ˈhændəl ] ) ( 23 february 1685 – 14 april 1759 ) was an expert at handling things, and more specifically all things related to music. with his many operas, oratorios and concerti grossi, he revolutionized the scene of german - english baroque. his music ' s influence was of such proportions that it may justly be described as being of cosmic significance. born in halle an der saale, he traveled the world to spread his heavenly music. some of his most notable works include yes, we can handle it!, walking on water, with handles!, and music for the royal handles. handel ' s music went on to inspire composers like haydn, mozart and beethoven. and all this despite his obvious handicap. edit early life handel was born in halle an der saale ( german for " hall on the saale river " ) to georg and dorothea ( nee taust ) handel in 1685, the same year that both johann sebastian bach and domenico scarlatti were born. handel displayed considerable musical talent at an early age ; by the age of seven he was a skillful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ. however, his father, a distinguished citizen of halle and an eminent barber - surgeon, thought about handling things differently, preferring him to study law. however, when handel managed to greatly impress duke johann adolf i, the latter urged handel ' s father to let handel take musical lessons. handel ' s first teacher was friedrich wilhelm zachow, the organist at the local church. handel learned about harmony and contemporary styles. he studied with zachow from 1692 to 1703, when he moved to a largely unknown village where he would later invent the hamburger. handel was such an excellent student that he soon surpassed his teacher ' s capabilities. after zachow died, handel became a benefactor to his widow and children in gratitude for his teacher ' s instruction. edit from halle to italy handel was bored with the nazifuckers in germany so he decided to go to the country of music at the time, italy. italy was nutorious for it ' s fine opera which handel adored. since the brits had the true money and handel was such a filthy money - whore he later one moved to england so he could make some money


at the time, italy. italy was nutorious for it ' s fine opera which handel adored. since the brits had the true money and handel was such a filthy money - whore he later one moved to england so he could make some money from his operas. as they said in europe at the time : " in italy you can make art, but in england you can make money, so go there you whore " edit journey to india he totally went there. edit the move to london in 1711 handel moved to london because the inbred brits had no culture what so ever. the english really wanted to listen to some opera but they where completely retarded so they gave handel a call so he came to england. handel how was only slightly less retarded then the brits gave an great success with his first opera rinaldo about a crusader without any testicles how sang like a woman. the leading role was written for the castrato senesino. senesino and handel started a homosexual relationship during the preformence of this great opera. handel also slept around with several other singers including castratos like cafferelli, farinelli and tom cruise. handel also had sexual affairs with gorgeous sopranos and scary contra - altos. after over 40 operas the retarded brits got bored of opera so handel had to write new music. handel was so stupid and had no creativity what so ever so he just moved over from opera to oratorios. the two art - forms are basically the same, just that an oratorio isn ' t acted on stage but preformed in a church like some long and dull mass. he had immense success with the oratorio messiah, also know as messiah christ superstar and " a long wait to the hallelujah - chorus ". after two hours of long wait with small random choruses, arias and boring recetatives the famous hallelujah - chorus finally comes. at the first performance the queen of england came and the king himself jizzed in his pants. they thought it had ended after that chorus but they where wrong so they killed themself. edit the move to america needing somewhere to go, handel travelled to america, he did not like what he saw... but yet he dealed with the lack of original culture, and composed barsongs, the most famous being " throw the jew down the well. " handel had many cannons but there is one he was particularly proud of. oh, but this section is


yet he dealed with the lack of original culture, and composed barsongs, the most famous being " throw the jew down the well. " handel had many cannons but there is one he was particularly proud of. oh, but this section is actually about a place called " cannons ". sorry! edit royal academy of music edit opera at covent garden as mentioned earlier handel wrote operas, so yeah. he totally did that! edit later years he later got blined but he learned to play the organ anyway and he completley " wow - ed " the audience with his organplaying. he was known as the " drunken pig of organplaying " ( se this picture : ) since he resembled one so much. he died eventually ( thank god! ) in a surprising segue into the mainstream music business, handel joined up with brackets and hinges to form the doors. - rinaldo " the castrated knight " ( 1711 ) - rinaldo ii " the return of the knight without a ballsack " ( 1712 ) - giulio cesare in egitto " the emperor of rome without his testicals " ( 1724 ) - rodelinda " some guy crying about his lost balls " dove sei amante testicals? " ( 1725 ) - alcina " a bitchy cougar soprano - sorceress that have sex with alot of castrated men " ( 1735 ) - serse " it beginns with that aria " ombra mai fu ", the rest is pretty shitty " ( 1738 ) - esther " like, the first oratorio in english ever! totally, fuck italian! " ( it is funny because the ouverture is written in an italian style! ) ( 1718 ) - messiah " oh jesus! everyone knows this. a long fucking wait untill the hallelujah - chorus " ( 1741 ) - judas maccabeus " about that jew that killed jesus, you know judas. ( 1746 ) - orchestral music - organ - concertos op. 4 and 7 - golder shower music on the thames - water music in da shower - music for the royal erection edit musical influences handel is a key figure in the world of club music and dance. he is often refereed to as the " great grandmother " of dance music, dance in fact being an anagram of his name. being born in the 1930 ' s, handel grew up listening to club on the popular radio stations and town criers. he was particularly fond of the instruments found in dance music,