Darryl D’Monte continues his reportage of the Climate Action Network International meet on in Bangkok where, he says, two NGOs put forward blueprints that could be templates on which the new climate treaty is based
Two NGOs -- the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and a consortium led by Greenpeace -- have put forward blueprints that could be templates on which the new climate treaty, due to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December, is based.
WWF employs the concept of greenhouse development rights (GDRs), which have earlier also been propagated by the Stockholm Environment Institute and others. This August, it released a report titled ‘Sharing the effort under a global carbon budget’.
WWF says: “A strict global carbon budget between now and 2050 based on a fair distribution between rich and poor nations has the potential to prevent dangerous climate change and keep temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius.”
The report is based on research and shows different ways to cut global emissions by at least 80% globally, by 2050, and by 30% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Both the EU and US have agreed to this 2050 target but differ drastically on the intermediate goals, which have a vital bearing on keeping global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees C, beyond which there will be catastrophic climate changes.
“In order to avoid the worst and most dramatic consequences of climate change, governments need to apply the strictest measures to stay within a tight and total long-term global carbon budget,” said Stephan Singer, director of global energy policy at WWF. “Ultimately, a global carbon budget is equal to a full global cap on emissions.”
According to the analysis, the total carbon budget -- the amount of tolerable global emissions over a period of time -- has to be set roughly at 1,600 Gt CO2 eq (gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) between 1990 and 2050.
As the world has already emitted a large part of this, the budget from today until 2050 is reduced to 970 Gt CO2 eq, excluding land use changes.
The report evaluates different pathways to reduce emissions, all in line with the budget. It describes three different methodologies which could be applied to distribute the burden and the benefits of a global carbon budget in a fair and equitable way.
- Greenhouse development rights (GDRs), where all countries need to reduce emissions below business-as-usual based on their per capita emissions, poverty thresholds, and GDP per capita.
- Contraction and convergence (C&C), where per capita allowances converge from a country’s current level to a level equal for all countries within a given period.
- Common but differentiated convergence (CDC), where developed countries’ per capita emissions converge to an equal level for all countries and others converge to the same level once their per capita emissions reach a global average.
The report says that by 2050, the GDR methodology requires developed nations as a group to reduce emissions by 157% (twice what they are contemplating). “Given that they cannot cut domestic emissions by more than 100%, they will need to finance emission reductions in other countries to reach their total.”
While the greenhouse development rights method allows an increase for most developing countries, at least for the initial period, the two other methods give less room for emissions increase. Under the C&C and CDC methodology, China, for example, would be required to reduce by at least 70% and India by 2-7% by 2050, compared to 1990.
The poorest countries will be allowed to continue to grow emissions until at least 2050 under the GDR methodology, but will be required to reduce them after 2025 under the two remaining allocation options.
The Greenpeace proposal, which has WWF and other partners, was released at an earlier UN climate meet in Bonn this year. It also talks of a global carbon budget. Industrial countries would have to phase out their fossil fuel energy consumption by 2050. The trajectory would be as follows: 23% between 2013 and 2017, 40% by 2020 (twice the EU commitment), and 95% by 2050.
Globally, deforestation emissions would need to be reduced by three-quarters by 2020, and fossil fuel consumption by developing countries would have to peak by 2020 and then decline.
The proposal envisages that industrial countries will provide at least $160 billion a year from 2013 to 2017, “with each country assuming national responsibility for an assessed portion of this amount as part of its binding national obligation for the same period”.
The main source of this funding, which could prove controversial, would be auctioning 10% of industrial countries’ emissions allocations. There would also be levies on aviation and shipping, since both add to global warming.
Greenpeace proposes a Copenhagen climate facility which would apportion $160 billion as follows:
- $56 billion for developing countries to adapt to climate change.
- $7 billion a year as insurance against such risks.
- $42 billion in reducing forest destruction and degradation.
- $56 billion on mitigation and technology diffusion.
Talks at Bangkok are deadlocked between the G77 and China that want to continue with the Kyoto Protocol, and the US which wants a new treaty. The EU is open to a continuation of the old treaty with a new track to include the US (which has not ratified Kyoto), as well as emerging developing countries. Where and how such proposals will dovetail with the document now being negotiated is by no means clear, and it will be nothing less than a catastrophe for the entire planet if Copenhagen ends in a stalemate.
Infochange News & Features, October 2009


The Ancient Forests of North America are extremely diverse. They include the boreal forest belt stretching between Newfoundland and Alaska, the coastal temperate rainforest of Alaska and Western Canada, and the myriad of residual pockets of temperate forest surviving in more remote regions.
Together, these forests store huge amounts of carbon, helping tostabilise climate change. They also provide a refuge for large mammalssuch as the grizzly bear, puma and grey wolf, which once ranged widelyacross the continent.
In Canada it is estimated that ancient forest provides habitat forabout two-thirds of the country's 140,000 species of plants, animalsand microorganisms. Many of these species are yet to be studied byscience.
The Ancient Forests of North America also provide livelihoods forthousands of indigenous people, such as the Eyak and Chugach people ofSouthcentral Alaska, and the Hupa and Yurok of Northern California.
Of Canada's one million indigenous people (First Nation, Inuit andMétis), almost 80 percent live in reserves and communities in boreal ortemperate forests, where historically the forest provided their foodand shelter, and shaped their way of life.
Through the Trees - The truth behind logging in Canada (PDF)
On the Greenpeace Canada website:
Interactive map of Canada's Borel forest (Flash)
Fun animation that graphically illustrates the problem (Flash)
Defending America's Ancient Forests


Many manufacturing plants employ compressed air systems in one capacity or another, and, for the most part, these systems provide similar output. While all compressed air might be the same, the engineering of that air is not. The needs of a petrochemical plant are quite different from those of an automobile manufacturing plant. Application-specific engineered air addresses those different needs.
Engineered air describes compressed air tailored to meet specific industry needs—100 percent oil-free, particulate filtered, and reliable. It goes beyond the simple output of compressed air at a specified pressure pounds per square inch. Engineered air provides the right type of air for the right application. A good example of this concept put into practice is work done at a North American ethylene plant.
Ethylene processing plants use compressed air systems in a number of ways. Air powers pneumatic tools used in general maintenance, and it is employed for other plant operations, such as blow-down and dry-out. Blow-down uses compressed air to clear pipes and vessels of debris and blockage, while dry-out uses compressed air to remove moisture from pipes prior to ethylene processing.
Ethylene plants also use compressed air combined with steam to remove the coke build-up in the cracking furnaces. Scheduled periodic removal of this solid build-up allows the overall ethylene processing operations to run more efficiently.
Recently, a world-scale North American ethylene plant was undergoing a major expansion project that required a specially designed compressor system to handle the additional requirements. With this major expansion underway, it was vital that this new system provide absolutely reliable engineered air.
In order to ensure the most dependable compressed air source possible, the compressor package included a custom-designed compressor with a high-tech control system, meeting requirements for durability and reliability, accessibility and maintainability, and high level of control (Fig. 1).
The base design for this customized system also had to meet stringent API 672 standards for packaged, integrally geared centrifugal air compressors for petroleum, chemical, and gas industry services.
Durability and reliability
A baseload ethylene plant is the lynchpin of any petrochemical manufacturing complex. Ethylene is the building block and feedstock for all the downstream feeder plants. A baseload plant is expected to run continuously, maximizing efficiencies and minimizing costs. Downstream plants totally rely on the plant to provide a continuous supply of feedstock—in this case ethylene.
This is one of the key reasons the compressor system had to be designed to be extremely durable. To ensure this durability, the customized air compressor features self-adjusting tilting pad journal bearings that can adapt to load changes, providing stability, as well as double-acting thrust bearings to accommodate all load conditions. In addition, the system features stainless steel impellers, resistant to corrosion and erosion.
All of the compressor systems had to run reliably also. An unplanned shutdown would have an adverse impact on the entire petrochemical complex manufacturing capabilities. The compressor was built with a redundant oil system, helping eliminate the possibility of system failure, allowing the ethylene plant to meet its availability targets (Fig. 2).
Within an air compressor, the oil pump is the heart of the lubrication system; it is what keeps the machine running smoothly. If the pump breaks down, the machine comes to a grinding halt. To avoid this, we included not one, but two full capacity, full pressure pumps in the design—one motor-driven auxiliary and the other a shaft-driven main.
During regular operations, the shaft-driven main is operating, while the motor-driven auxiliary is on perpetual standby for emergency situations, providing additional overall package protection. Without this redundant system, in the event of an oil system malfunction, the entire compressor system needs to be shut down. The redundant system eliminates downtime and provides a reliable source of engineered air.
Accessibility and maintainability
In order to keep the plant’s compressor system running efficiently and reliably, it was essential to design the unit for maximum accessibility and maintainability. While requiring additional time and attention from plant engineers, scheduled cleaning and maintenance are a sound investment. As with all other plant operating systems, compressed air systems that have a planned maintenance program are less likely to have unexpected breakdowns. Simply put, less downtime allows for more production. In addition, consistent cleaning and maintenance practices help keep wear and tear to a minimum. This ultimately saves money in replacement parts.
The intercooler design is an example of the ease-of-maintenance design philosophy. Within a compressor intercooler, both U-shaped and straight intercooler tubes are industry practice. However, straight tubes are easier to clean than those with a U-bend design. An engineer can simply remove the water piping, unbolt the water box, and rod the tubes in place. Rodding is not possible with U-bend tubes found in some compressors.
In addition, intercooler tubes with a water-in-tube design are easier to clean and maintain than those with an air-in-tube design that require wire brush or chemical bath cleaning. This compressor features straight intercooler tubes with water-in-tube design for this very reason. The longer it takes to clean the intercooler, the longer engineered airflow is down.
Another example of important compressor components that benefit from diligent inspection and maintenance are journal and thrust bearings. These bearings help provide a stable and near frictionless environment to support and guide the rotating shaft. Properly installed and maintained, these bearings can last for extended periods of time. However, regularly scheduled inspections and maintenance keep them running reliably. The ethylene plant’s compressor features horizontally split bearings, which are easy to maintain, inspect, and replace. An engineer simply removes the top half of the gear case to service. No other disassembly is required.
Interchangeability of parts is another factor taken into consideration when designing the ethylene plant’s compressor system. Interchangeability contributes heavily to ease of maintenance. Interchangeable parts save time and money. Multiple stage air compressors use a bull gear and pinion system to power the impellers at each stage of air compression. The quality of the bull gears used directly determines whether they are interchangeable. The customized compressor uses high precision AGMA Quality 13 gears.
The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) provides established gear quality ratings, ranging from 3-15. These numbers signify the quality levels, or standards, developed by the AGMA that differ per application. AGMA Quality Level 13 gears, otherwise known as aircraft-quality gearing, are generally regarded as high-precision gears. They provide lower noise levels and, under normal operating conditions, have a longer performance life. More importantly, though, they provide interchangeability.
If the gear is AGMA Quality Level 12 or below and any one of the three pieces needs to be replaced, all three pieces—one gear and two pinions—need to be replaced. However, with Level 13 gears, rather than remove and replace all three pieces, the plant engineer needs to swap out only the component in question. This saves time and money in unnecessary replacement parts.
High level of control
The operation of multiple compressors feeding into a single plant air system needs to be coordinated, monitored, and controlled in order to accommodate various applications. An initial investment in innovative monitoring technology can ultimately pay for itself.
With that in mind, the customized compressor can be accommodated with a PLC-based automatic sequencer, which permits up to eight compressor units to communicate with one another and operate in sequence according to a programmed schedule. High-tech PLC-based automatic sequencers are capable of monitoring and matching compressor supply to demand. For example, they can select which compressors to use at any given time, shutting down those compressors not necessary to plant operations, even choosing back-up units if needed. By turning multiple compressors into one, an automatic sequencer can ensure stable system pressure, which allows the entire operation to run as efficiently as possible, saving both time and money.
In addition, a PLC-based modular control system allows for remote monitoring and diagnostic checks on the compressed air systems, helping to predict and prevent any systems malfunctions that could result in stoppage of engineered air. This can save money on repairs and replacements, as well as lost production time.
The most cost-effective systems, like the FS-Elliott Regulus control system, provide state-of-the-art technology and ease-of-use. The ideal control system should feature an easy-to-operate touch screen with a graphic color display. These features allow operators to view easy-to-understand graphics while monitoring the plant engineered air systems. An advanced system also provides easy adjustment of set-points and control mode changes using the touch screen. These flexible controls are fully adaptive, changing to meet the plant’s application-specific needs.
The control system also stores and logs operating data used for trend monitoring and preventive maintenance. This feature permits engineers to monitor and predict trends in their engineered air systems and act before problems arise. Extended monitoring of vital parameters is important for equipment protection, saving money in maintenance and avoiding repairs.
Ethylene plants are extremely energy conscious. A systems operation closer to surge lines saves power and minimizes wasteful unloading, while lower set-points and precise control minimizes energy usage. The advanced control system is able to make more efficient use of the ethylene plant’s manpower. With easy-to-use remote control and monitoring capabilities, this system can reduce the tasks of the ethylene plant operators, allowing them to shift focus to other plant responsibilities.
An engineered air system is created with specific plant applications in mind, to increase reliability and efficiency. The custom-engineered compressor we installed at the ethylene plant was designed with the following key points in mind:
• Durability and reliability—A robust engineered design combined with key system redundancies.
• Accessibility and maintainability—Moving parts designed with ease of access and maintenance in mind.
• High level of control—High-tech control systems provide for efficient operation and allow plant operations to predict and prevent possible problems.


At the heart of the celebration of Thanksgiving is the idea of 'giving thanks' but the main attraction of this festival is the tradition of family gathering for sharing the Thanksgiving dinner and eating turkey on this holiday. It is well known that the turkey has a delicious history and it is considered as the favorite bird of the Americans. But there are even more interesting and fun facts about this bird, which can surprise you. Here we are with our collection of various facts about turkey as Turkey Trivia.
Turkeys originated in North and Central America.
Usually the turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas but
they are capable of adapting themselves to different habitats.
Turkeys spend the night in trees.
You can easily see a turkey on a warm clear day or during light rain.
Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning.
Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.
Turkeys start gobbling before sunrise and generally continue through
most of the morning.
The field of vision of wild turkey is so good that it is about 270
The wild turkey has excellent hearing.
A spooked turkey can run at speed up to 20 miles per hour.
A wild turkey can run at speed of up to 25 miles per hour.
A wild turkey can fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour.
Domesticated turkeys or the farm-raised turkeys cannot fly.
Turkeys were one of the first birds to be domesticated in the America.
The male turkeys are called 'tom', the female turkeys are called 'hen'
and the baby turkeys are called 'poult'.
The male turkeys gobble whereas female turkeys make a clicking noise.
The male turkeys gobble to attract the female turkeys for mating. The
gobble is a seasonal call made during the spring and fall.
A mature turkey generally has around 3,500 feathers. The Apache Indians
considered the turkey timid and wouldn't eat it or use its feathers on
According to an estimate, during the Thanksgiving holiday more than 45
million turkeys are cooked and around 525 million pounds of turkey is
About ninety-five percent of American families eat turkey on the
Thanksgiving Day whereas fifty percent eat turkey on Christmas holiday.
Almost fifty percent of Americans eat turkey at least once every 2
According to the National Turkey Federation about twenty-four percent
of Americans purchase fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving and seventy percent
purchase frozen turkeys.
North Carolina is the number one producer of turkeys. It produces
around 61 million turkeys per year. Minnesota and Arkansas are second
and third number producers of turkey.
The part of the turkey that is used in a good luck ritual is known as
The red fleshy growth from the base of the beak that hangs down over
the beak is called 'snood'. It is very long on male turkeys.


Blue Ocean Research & Conservation
Discovering the Ocean
Our scientific research has focused recently on an often overlooked yet ecologically important part of many ecosystems–sponges. Numbering over 8000 species, they are common to many aquatic habitats from the Ross Shelf in Antarctica, Lake Baikal in Russia, rocky reefs in South Africa, to coral reefs throughout the Caribbean.
Sponges are critical to coral reef survival. Sponges filter and clean the water, provide shelter for commercially important species like juvenile lobsters, and are eaten by many fish and turtles. On many coral reefs, sponges outnumber corals, with sponges providing three-dimensional structure that creates habitat and refuge for thousands of species. Because of their large size and kaleidoscope colors, sponges help fuel the popular and lucrative diving and tourism industries.
As climate change results in warmer, more acidic oceans, all marine life is potentially affected. It is well-known that coral health declines under these conditions, but the effect on sponge growth and survival is unknown. Significant declines in sponge health and biomass would be catastrophic to coral reefs, reducing water quality and severely impacting thousands of species from symbiotic microbes to foraging hawksbill turtles. A major loss of sponges would not only negatively impact marine life, but also local communities that depend on reefs for coastal protection and food.
Blue Ocean’s research scientist, Dr. Alan Duckworth, studied the effects of warmer, more acidic waters on the sponge Cliona celata, which bores into the shells of scallops and oysters, weakening and eventually killing them. Alan hypothesized that because climate change will result in shellfish having weaker shells, these sponges could cause greater losses of shellfish. This study has been done in collaboration with Dr. Bradley Peterson of Stony Brook University.
Alan’s other area of study was the first climate change experiment focused on tropical sponges. It investigated the effects of warmer, more acidic water on the growth, survival, and chemistry of several Caribbean coral reef sponges. This study was based at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab in Jamaica and chemical analysis of sponge samples was completed by Dr. Lyndon West from Florida Atlantic University.
Putting Teeth in Shark Conservation
The goal of this fellowship is to help small, island nations by strengthening their ability to identify illegal shark fishing and enforce recently established shark sanctuaries. It will help provide much needed scientific research, training, outreach and DNA-testing tools which can then be used to help protect valuable marine sanctuaries worldwide.


A jet owned by the German Air Research Center, which is equipped with devices and sensors to analyze the ash emitted by the volcano in Eyjafjallajökull glacier in Iceland, arrived in the country yesterday.
“The jet can tell us about the distribution of the ash and it can, to a certain degree, fly into the ash cloud, although it cannot be exposed to too much ash,” Haraldur Ólafsson, professor in meteorology at the University of Iceland, told Morgunbladid.
On their way to the country, the crew of the test jet didn’t notice much ash above Iceland’s southwestern corner. The jet took a few dives above Eyjafjallajökull to collect samples, which will be analyzed today.
Ólafsson said it is clear that the ash level will be low. The jet will go on another expedition today and is expected to return to Germany on Sunday.
The cost of the expeditions, approximately ISK 30 million (USD 233,000, EUR 175,000), will only be covered by Iceland to a small extent—the largest part will be paid for by the German Ministry of Transport and the British Meteorological Office.
Ólafsson explained that significant interests are at stake. “In the past days the forecasts that have come from the British Met Office have been rather bleak and more pessimistic than what considered reasonable compared to the current situation of the eruption”.
“The reason [for the testing] is that it is costly to close the airspace and it is very important to have confirmation of whether there is a real danger,” Ólafsson said, adding that the risk factor of ash in the atmosphere has never been analyzed directly before.
“It has been evaluated visually. People have measured the height of the ash plume on radars and visually from airplanes,” Ólafsson explained. “Significant uncertainty lies in these measurements, which explains why the forecasts have been questionable”.


The European Union runs into roadblocks in its plans for Kosovo
WHEN the Austro-Hungarian empire declared war on Serbia in July 1914, few could have imagined that the result would be the demise not only of the Habsburg empire, but also of the Russian and Ottoman ones. Nobody believes that Serbia's challenge to the European Union over Kosovo will be anything like as dramatic; most Serbs want to join the EU, not destroy it. Yet 100 days after Kosovo declared independence, Serbia has done a lot better than anybody expected in thwarting the EU's plans for it.
Serbia still regards Kosovo as a province, but the ethnic Albanians, who constitute over 90% of its 2m people, declared its independence in February. So far 41 countries have recognised Kosovo, including America and 20 of the EU's 27 members. But five of these are microstates like Nauru and the Marshall Islands. And such big hitters as Brazil, China, India and Russia have not recognised the new country. Nor have Spain, Egypt or even most Muslim countries.
Since the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo has come under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Legally the last word in its government accordingly lies with the head of the UN mission in Pristina. When Kosovo declared its independence, the EU authorised the establishment of a big new police and justice mission named EULEX. With the Americans and others, it also set up the office of the international civilian representative (ICR), investing him with sweeping powers.
On June 15th Kosovo's new constitution is due to come into force. It foresees no role at all for the UN. But legal and technical problems mean that the EULEX mission has been postponed. As for the ICR, whose (Dutch) head, Pieter Feith, is also the EU's special representative in Kosovo, one UN official scoffs, “He and his team are here as tourists. What are they doing? They can't take over the role they were assigned, as we are still here.”
Since independence the Belgrade government has consolidated its grip on Serbian areas of Kosovo, including almost all of the region north of Mitrovica. It even held local elections, condemned as illegal by the UN, the EU and the ICR. EULEX and the ICR will be unable to operate in these areas. De facto, Kosovo is thus divided not only into Serb and ethnic-Albanian areas, but also into places where the UN will keep operating and the ethnic-Albanian areas where EULEX and the ICR will probably take over. For the EU, says one diplomat, “It is a face-saving operation now. Their plan has been derailed.”
As the June 15th deadline nears, meeting after meeting is taking place to try to resolve the impasse. The UN's future role is now utterly unclear because, as the joke has it, everyone is “waiting for Ban”. Under pressure from all sides, the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has done little beyond prohibiting the transfer of cars, buildings and equipment to EULEX and the ICR. The Russians recently warned him that any notion that he might try to resolve the problem without the approval of the UN Security Council (and thus of Russia) was “out of the question”.
Attempts are now being made to square the circle by seeing if EULEX could somehow come under the UN's legal authority, but so far no progress towards a deal has been made. What is becoming distressingly obvious to Kosovo's Albanians is that, despite declaring independence, their future is still tied to Serbia's. Keen to gain more recognition, they are making little fuss. But Mr Feith says “they need to be given some comfort that their interests are being taken care of.” If they don't get it, he sees trouble ahead.


Considering the fact that half of you reading this right now are probably wearing one, It’s only right to start this week off with the most commonplace of all acronymic items– the OCBD (oxford cloth button down.) While the latter half is attributed to the shirt’s button down collar, Oxford Cloth itself has a far less straightforward explanation. As the last remaining fabric from a series of four, Oxford cloth’s story is one of inexplicable survival. In the late nineteenth century a Scottish Mill designed and produced four cloths, one for each of the world’s most distinguished universities. While Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge all had their respective cloths lost to history, for reasons unknown Oxford endured becoming one of the most widespread fabrics in the world. Oxford cloth is created by weaving together two yarns that are of the same color but just a shade different, giving it a marled texture that breaks from the ordinary aesthetic of a solid dress shirt.
Oxford Cloth shirts were originally perceived to be a piece of formal wear and were exclusively worn as part of a suit. This all began to change in 1896, when John E. Brooks, (the grandson of Henry Sand Brooks, the founder of Brooks Brothers’) went to England and noticed that polo players were wearing shirts with button down collars to keep them secured during games. Brooks brought the design back to the states, and Brooks Brothers combined the button down collar with oxford cloth to create the OCBD. They remained a relatively formal shirt until the 1930′s, when tennis and polo players began wearing Oxford cloth button downs during their games. While these were still unequivocally upper class sports, they nonetheless placed the Oxford shirt in an entirely new context, and by the 50′s Ivy League undergrads were wearing OCBD’s. For the students, and their limited wardrobes, the versatile shirts were a major asset. OCBD’s could not only be worn untucked on weekends, or with a jacket when going out, the shirts relaxed basket weave also allowed them to be worn pretty much year round. Today, practically every company produces their version of the OCBD, and they’re somewhat of a collectors item, not because they’re rare but because you can never collect too many.


|BEING PREPARED - READ ONLINE|
Winter storms may include strong winds, heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain, ice and/or extreme cold. Storms often knock out power, down trees, and make roads impassable for days. The weight of snow and ice can collapse buildings. Winds descending off mountains can reach 100 miles per hour. Ice jams in rivers can lead to flooding, and snow in the mountains can become an avalanche.
Winter storms are called deceptive killers because most deaths are only indirectly related to the storm. Nearly seventy percent of all deaths from ice and snow are due to traffic accidents on icy roads. The remainder are from exposure of people caught out in the storm, hypothermia, dehydration, and heart attacks from over exertion.
What constitutes extreme cold varies in different areas of the country. In southern and coastal areas, both the people and the buildings are unused to winter weather. Extreme cold may mean temperatures just below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) because it damages crops, bursts pipes, brings down power lines and threatens people living in houses with inadequate heat. In the north and Midwest, winter storms are expected and few would consider it extreme cold unless the temperatures are below zero.
The safest place to be in a winter storm is in a building. If you live in an area that has severe winters, your house should be prepared. Start with an outdoor thermometer that is easily readable from inside the house. As winter approaches, install storm windows or staple over windows with strong plastic sheeting to improve insulation. Windows should also have heavy draperies that can keep out the cold. Insulate outside walls, attics and crawl spaces. Weather strip all doors. Wrap or insulate water pipes to prevent freezing. Remove and store hoses and cover the hose nipples until spring. Make sure your furnace is working properly and check all fireplaces or other secondary heating systems. As a bonus, all this will save you money on your heating bills.
As a winter storm approaches, there are additional preparations. Make sure that you have food and water for a week because it may be difficult to get out for several days after the storm passes. Fill your car with gas and check your emergency supplies. If you live in an area where winter storms are unusual, you may need to bring in hoses, wrap pipes and cover windows to improve your insulation.
During the storm, stay inside. Even if you lose power and heat, you will be safer in the house than in a car. Wear several layers of loose fitting, light weight, warm clothing so you can adjust to the temperature in the house. Wear socks and shoes. Get out mittens and a hat that covers your ears to use if you need them. Eat regularly and drink plenty of water, broth or juice to avoid dehydration. Avoid alcohol and caffeine since they make hypothermia and dehydration worse.
Reduce the temperature in the house to conserve fuel: 65F in the day and 55F at night. There will be very high demand on the natural gas and electricity distribution systems. If you use oil, your tank could run dry before you can get it refilled.
When using alternative heat from a fireplace, wood stove or space heater, follow all fire safety rules and ventilate properly to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Keep a fire extinguisher or bucket of water near the fire in case it gets out of control.
Open cabinet doors under sinks to keep the pipes warm and let all faucets drip a little to keep the water lines from freezing. If a pipe freezes, use a hair dryer to thaw it out gently, never a torch. Heat only the areas of your house that you are using.
If you lose heat, move everyone into one room to conserve what heat you can. Use an interior room with few doors or windows. A bedroom or dining room is usually a good choice. Seal off drafts by putting blankets over windows and towels under doors. Walk around or exercise to generate body heat and maintain circulation. Sleep in shifts. At least one person should stay awake at all times to make sure the others are alright. Watch for signs of hypothermia such as slurred speech, disorientation, or uncontrollable shivering. Let the authorities know that you are in trouble so they can get to you as quickly as possible after the storm.
Try to make sure your car will continue to work if you need it. Winterize your car in the fall. Keep the battery and ignition system in top condition, and keep the battery terminals clean. In long periods of severe cold, cars will be hard to start in the morning. If you don’t have an engine warmer, you can keep the car warm the same way you keep a person warm. Every few hours, start the car and run it until it is warm. Make sure the garage door is open to avoid carbon monoxide. When the car is warm, turn it off and close the garage. Put blankets over the hood and radiator. This holds in the engine heat and keeps the car warm enough to restart.
Use public transportation instead of your car, if public transportation is available. If you must drive in a winter storm, be very well prepared. If the car is parked outside, clean the ice and snow off the hood, roof, trunk and lights, as well as the windows. Warm up the car outside, never in the garage. Plan your route carefully, stay on main roads and plan alternatives if some roads are impassable. Call ahead so you are expected. Give your route and estimated time of arrival.
If possible, travel with at least two people in the car and travel only in daylight. If you have a choice of vehicles, take the one that is most brightly colored. Drive for the road conditions: do not speed; be cautious about passing; and remember that patches of ice can be virtually invisible. Make sure the car is fit for the road. In bad conditions, you should have snow tires or chains. Keep the car at least half full of gasoline and top it off before the storm hits. This reduces the chance of icing in the fuel line. Wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare. Carry a cell phone and keep in touch with those at your destination.
Keep emergency supplies in the car all winter long. Along with the usual car emergency kit, you should have supplies for being stranded in the snow. These include several gallons of water, high calorie non-perishable foods, blankets, a change of clothes for keeping dry, a bright colored flag for the antenna or window, sand or cat litter for traction, a shovel, a windshield scraper, and a large coffee can with lid and toilet paper for sanitation.
If you get stuck in the snow, turn the steering wheel from side to side to clear away some of the snow. Accelerate slowly and see if you can get the car moving again. If this does not work, use the shovel to dig out the drive wheels and put some sand or litter under them for traction. If neither of these works, you are stuck.
If you have to stop, stay in your vehicle. You will quickly become disoriented in snow and cold. Try to find a place where you are partially protected by an overpass or tree line. Make the car as visible as possible: set out flares or triangles; lift the hood; put a brightly colored cloth or flag on the antenna or window; clear snow off the roof. Leave the overhead light on so you can be seen at night unless this appears to be running down the battery. In remote areas, spread a large cloth or the trunk mat on top of the snow to attract the attention of rescue planes.
Clear the snow away from the exhaust pipe, open the two front windows about 2 inches and run the engine and heater for 10 minutes out of every hour. This is usually enough to keep the occupants warm while conserving fuel and reducing the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Listen to the radio, charge the cell phone and turn on the emergency flashers while the motor is running. Roll the windows up just before turning off the engine. If you feel drowsy or nauseated, turn the engine off immediately.
Conserve as much body heat as possible. Wear all the dry clothing you have available. Huddle together if there is more than one person in the car. Use maps and newspapers as added insulation under the blankets. If they are dry, put the floor mats under you on the seat to insulate your back side. Keep your hands and feet inside your clothing and cover your head and ears.
Keep your circulation going and generate body heat by doing isometric exercises. Contract muscles in your arms and legs rhythmically. Clap your hands and move your legs. Sing and dance to the music in your seat. If there are two people in the car, alternate brief periods of sleep. You need to reawaken and exercise periodically.
Don’t go outdoors in a winter storm unless it is absolutely necessary. If you must go out, prepare very carefully. Stretch and warm up before going out. If you are shoveling snow, pushing a car, or walking in deep snow, you are doing heavy exercise. Avoid over exertion and take frequent breaks to warm up. Do not work up a sweat as this can lead to chilling and hypothermia. If you develop chest pain or shortness of breath stop immediately and go inside since these may be signs of a heart attack. Walk carefully. Falling on ice can cause disabling injuries.
If you are caught outside in a snow storm, the first thing to do is find shelter. If you can get to a building or a car, go immediately. If you are too far away from existing shelters, try to build a shelter. Prepare a lean-to, wind-break or even a snow cave for protection from the wind. Build a fire in the open for heat and as a signal to rescuers. If you can place rocks around the fire they will absorb and radiate heat to keep you warmer. Curl up and cover all exposed parts of your body to preserve heat and prevent frostbite of your fingers and toes. Stay as dry as possible. In extreme cold, do not let yourself go to sleep. If you feel drowsy, start exercising. This will wake you up and increase your body heat.
Once the snow storm has passed, do whatever you can to make yourself visible to rescuers. Dig out your car or tent so it shows up against the snow. Get out from under trees. Use a bright cloth as a flag. Stamp out “HELP” or “SOS” in the snow. Write the message with tree limbs or stones or anything that will show up against the snow. Don’t over exert yourself and don’t try to walk out. Let help come to you.


You have always heard that in ancient times salt was like gold, but why is that? Salt is the original preserving mean. Meat cured in salt doesn’t spoil, cheese soaked in brine lasts longer, and those foods could then be stored for long travels, colder months, or times of famine. Cervia, a small town on the Adriatic coast of Italy whose main trade has traditionally been in salt, has always been considered a prized domain by the Pope State exactly for this reason.
Salt has been for a very long time a state monopoly in Italy, so all production was sent to be repackaged at a central government facility. Only in the past five years the salt monopoly has been lifted, allowing salt producing facilities to brand their products. So, instead of getting whatever salt you can get at the Sali e Tabacchi store (the designated monopoly outlet where you buy all tobacco products and lottery tickets- and where you used to buy salt as well!) you can pick a local salt, from a given salt pond. Since Cervia is about 2 miles from my hometown, smack in the heart of Romagna, I am partial to Cervia’s salt!
The salt ponds in Cervia are fortunately alive and well. They survived modernization and mechanization, and some of the ponds are still harvested by hand, making for an extraordinary open air museum of salt heritage! Sal Fiore (flower salt, the same fleur de sel of French celebrity) is a fine sea salt, still called sale del papa (Pope’s salt), as traditionally the first harvested salt was delivered to Rome to be used on the Pope’s table. Given this important historic background, the salt producers in Cervia decided to brand their salt as Sale Dei Papi, the Popes’ salt. An important name!
In 2004, Slow Food recognized Salina Camillone (a salt pond, pictured above) as a Presidia, to preserve the production, harvesting methods and the quality of the product. Two salts are then recognized as the diamond head of Cervia’s production: the Salina Camillone salt and the Salfiore di Romagna, the Popes’ Salt.
Both Salina Camillone salt and Sal Fiore are completely natural: they dry by sunlight, and no additivies or anti-caking agents are added to the final product- not even iodine, as sea salt naturally has it! Sal Fiore is a fine salt, the first one to be harvested in the traditional method, and it’s a perfect finishing salt, as its crunchy texture and sharp sea taste make for an interesting touch on salads and steamed vegetables. The salt from Salina Camillone is instead very coarse, harvested by hand in limited uquantities every day, from June till September. The Camillone salt pond has been harvested in the same way since Roman times, and the salt it produces is somewhat more humid than other sea salts, making for a terrific ingredient in salt crust recipes.
Cervia’s salt is still an artisanal product, not widely available on the shelves- even in Italy! You can find it mainly online, at the official website of the Saline di Cervia, or at this other small online shop, based on the East Coast, Olive Nation. Corti Brothers also carries it online, and the website carries an extensive history of the product!
Filed under: Traditional Foods


August 20, 2012
- coddle (verb)
- What does it mean?
- : to treat with extreme care : pamper
- How do you use it?
- "Big Ma was not one for coddling any of us, but now she turned from the stove and, wiping her hands on her long white apron, sat down on the bench and put her arm around Little Man." (Mildred D. Taylor, _Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_)
- Are you a word wiz?
The "pamper" sense of "coddle" comes from an earlier meaning that had to do with a special kind of careful treatment given to something delicate. What do you think was treated so carefully?We're not going to coddle you, just tell you that A is the right answer. When "coddle" first came to be part of the English language around 1600, the word meant to cook something slowly and gently in water that is just below the boiling point. Usually eggs are what's being cooked when "coddle" is used in this sense today, but when "coddle" was first being used, other foods, especially fruit, were also cooked by coddling. Because coddling is a very gentle way to cook something, such gentle treatment led to the extended meaning of "to treat with extreme care, pamper."


From cave paintings to the internet NOV 03 2008
A fantastically extensive timeline of recorded information "from cave paintings to the internet". It's an expanded version of the timeline that appears in the book, From Gutenberg to the Internet (more info), which seems really interesting.
From Gutenberg to the Internet presents 63 original readings from the history of computing, networking, and telecommunications arranged thematically by chapters. Most of the readings record basic discoveries from the 1830s through the 1960s that laid the foundation of the world of digital information in which we live. These readings, some of which are illustrated, trace historic steps from the early nineteenth century development of telegraph systems -- the first data networks -- through the development of the earliest general-purpose programmable computers and the earliest software, to the foundation in 1969 of ARPANET, the first national computer network that eventually became the Internet. The readings will allow you to review early developments and ideas in the history of information technology that eventually led to the convergence of computing, data networking, and telecommunications in the Internet.
(via design observer)


The riveting story of the two crusading lawyers who led the legal battle to end segregation, one case and one courtroom at a time.
The Supreme Court’s decision inBrown v. Board of Educationis widely considered a seminal point in the battle to end segregation, but it was in fact the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign.Root and Branchis the epic story of the two fiercely dedicated lawyers who led the fight from county courthouses to the marble halls of the Supreme Court, and, in the process, laid the legal foundations of the civil rights movement.
Charles Hamilton Houston was the pioneer: After becoming the first African-American on theHarvard Law Review, he transformed the law school at all-black Howard University into a West Point for civil rights advocacy.
One of Houston’s students at Howard was a brash young man named Thurgood Marshall. Soon after Marshall’s graduation, Houston and Marshall opened the NAACP’s legal office. The abstemious, proper Houston and the folksy, easygoing Marshall made an unlikely duo, but together they faced down angry Southern mobs, negotiated with presidents and senators, and convinced even racist judges and juries that the Constitution demanded equal justice under law for all American citizens.
Houston, tragically, would die before his strategy came to fruition in the Brown suit, but Marshall would argue the case victoriously and go on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice—always crediting his mentor for teaching him everything he knew. Together, the two advocates changed the course of American history.


Nordic Cool 2013: Literature Panel: The Secret Behind the Northern Lights
In this interactive session, Norwegian solar physicist Pål Brekke utilizes photos and video footage from NASA satellites to discuss the visual phenomenon known as the Northern Lights.
- Sat., Mar. 2, 2013, 10:30 AM
- Terrace Gallery
Please use the event calendar to search for current events.
For the duration of Nordic Cool 2013, the Terrace Gallery will become the Cool Club, an extension of the Nordic Design Illustrated exhibition. The Cool Club will feature the iconic Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chairs, on loan from Fritz Hansen, the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, D.C., and Furniture from Scandinavia, and a new curtain made from fabric by Marimekko.
For thousands of years, people in the northern part of the world have marveled at the spectacular and fearful displays that occasionally light up the northern sky. Award-winning Norwegian solar physicist Pål Brekke has published several popular books about the Sun and the aurora borealis, including the most recent, Our Explosive Sun and The Northern Lights: A Guide. One of the foremost scholars on the subject, Mr. Brekke has spoken multiple times to full houses at the Smithsonian and elsewhere. In this interactive session, he will utilize photos and video footage from NASA satellites to discuss the visual phenomenon known as the Northern Lights. This panel will be moderated by Joseph M. Davila, an Astrophysicist in the Solar Physics Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Part of Nordic Cool 2013.
Joseph M. Davila, USA (Moderator)
Joseph M. Davila is an award-winning astrophysicist in the Solar Physics Branch of the Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Davila earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX in 1972, a BS in Physics from the University of California, Irvine in 1978 and a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Arizona in 1982. His research interests have included the linear and non-linear theory of hydromagnetic waves; hydromagnetic instabilities due to energetic particle beams, resonance absorption in inhomogeneous plasmas, the acceleration of high speed wind streams in solar and stellar coronal holes, and plasma heating in closed magnetic structures. Dr. Davila has also published research on the acceleration of cosmic rays, the transport of energetic particles within the Galaxy, the modulation of Galactic cosmic rays by the solar wind, and the propagation of solar cosmic rays in the interplanetary medium.
Pål Brekke, Norway
Pål Brekke received a Dr. Scient degree in 1993 from the University of Oslo and he participated on behalf of Norway in the pre-launch activities for the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. After the launch of SOHO in December 1995, he was part of the science operation team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1999, he joined the European Space Agency (ESA) as the SOHO Deputy Project Scientist stationed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. While there he was also responsible for outreach and media activities making SOHO into one of the most well-known current satellite projects with more than 60 million hits per month on their web page. Currently, he works as a senior advisor at the Norwegian Space Centre in Oslo and as an adjunct professor at the University Center at Svalbard (UNIS). He is a Norwegian delegate to the ESA Science Programme Committee and a delegate to the International Living with a Star. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, ESA's Exceptional Achievement Award, and the Laurels for Team Achievements from the International Academy for Astronautics. He is an internationally known lecturer and author of several popular science articles and books - the latest Our Explosive Sun (Springer 2012). He will be coming out with a new book in January tailored toward tourists, visitors, and anyone hunting the northern lights, The Northern Lights: A Guide.
This is a FREE event. General Admission tickets will be distributed, two (2) per person on a first-come-- first-serve basis, in front of the theater, 30 minutes before the performance begins.
The Nordic Cool 2013 Literature Series is curated by Danish Arts Council, Norwegian Literature Abroad, Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet), Finnish Literature Exchange, and Icelandic Literature Foundation.
Nordic Cool 2013 is presented in cooperation with
and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, and Barbro Osher
Major support is provided by the Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter,
Mrs. Marilyn Carlson Nelson and Dr. Glen Nelson, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation,
David M. Rubenstein, and the State Plaza Hotel.
International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the
Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.


Dover Castle, Kent - England
Located at the shortest crossing between the UK and continental Europe, Dover Castle played a prime role in England's historical fortunes. Invading from France, William the Conqueror built the first castle in 1066 - an earthwork structure with a motte. Henry II did most to shape the building between 1179 and 1188, adding defences radiating out from the keep to produce Europe's first concentric castle. Henry II’s work was carried out with the help of Maurice the Ingeniator, and was completed by King John, resulting in a four-storey keep, a three-towered forebuilding and impregnable defensive walls.
From 1216-17 the castle was besieged by the French, standing up to the test, but Henry III strengthened the defences further. The outer curtain wall was completed, stretching to the edge of the cliff, and Constable's Gate was constructed - a cluster of different sized towers designed to command all angles of attack. In the 18th century, Colonel William Twiss added extra gun positions, and constructed Constable's Bastion, Canon's Gateway and numerous barracks and storehouses. Further additions were made in the 1850s, and Dover Castle played an vital role in the two world wars as a site for anti-aircraft guns and radar. The army remained in the castle until 1958, and in 1963 handed it over to the Ministry of Works for preservation.
The entry to Dover Castle, which includes two chapels, is the magnificent forebuilding. The significance of the three-towered forebuilding , can be fully appreciated, stretching along the eastern wall of the keep. It was around this stronghold that the concentric castle was developed and work was completed in the mid-13th century. Looming over the busy port, the centrepiece of Dover Castle is the Great Tower - the largest keep in Britain - a four storey building housing a basement, a first floor and a second floor spanning two stories. The outer curtain wall, with twenty individual towers, creates an outer bailey stretching to the edge of the cliff.
The Great Tower and forebuilding, viewed from the west demonstrate the vast size of Dover Castle, perched atop the cliffs overlooking the English Channel. Beneath the castle is a network of tunnels, a barracks during the Napoleonic Wars and a military command centre during World War II.


Robin Yapp, Contributor
December 10, 2012 | 5 Comments
Saudi Arabia's newly announced commitment to introducing solar-powered desalination plants marks a welcome and significant step in advancing the technology. In October 2012, Abdul Rahman Al-Ibrahim, governor of the country's Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), which procures the majority of its extensive municipal desalination assets, announced plans to establish three new solar-powered desalination plants in Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan. SWCC is the biggest producer of desalinated water worldwide, accounting for 18% of global output.
Energy-intensive desalination plants have traditionally run on fossil fuels, but renewables, particularly solar power, are now beginning to play a part.
Around half the operating cost of a desalination plant comes from energy use, and on current trends Saudi Arabia and many other countries in the region would consume most of the oil they produce on desalination by 2050.
The dominant desalination technology at present, with around 60% of global capacity, is Reverse Osmosis (RO), which pushes brine water through a membrane that retains the salt and other impurities.
Thermal desalination uses heat as well as electricity in distillation processes with saline feedwater heated to vaporise, so fresh water evaporates and the brine is left behind. Cooling and condensation are then used to obtain fresh water for consumption.
Multi Stage Flash (MSF), the most common thermal technique accounting for around 27% of global desalination capacity, typically consumes 80.6 kWh of heat energy plus 2.5-3.5 kWh of electricity per m3 of water. Large scale RO requires only around 3.5-5 kWh/m3 of electricity.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), desalination with renewable energy can already compete cost-wise with conventional systems in remote regions where the cost of energy transmission is high. Elsewhere, it is still generally more expensive than desalination plants using fossil fuels, but IRENA states that it is 'expected to become economically attractive as the costs of renewable technologies continue to decline and the prices of fossil fuels continue to increase.'
Solar Reducing Costs
SWCC has taken a long view and aims to gradually convert all its desalination plants to run on solar power as part of a drive unveiled by the Saudi government earlier this year to install 41 GW of solar power by 2032.
The Al-Khafji solar desalination project, near the border with Kuwait, will become the first large-scale solar-powered seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant in the world, producing 30,000 m3 of water per day for the town's 100,000 inhabitants.
Due for completion at the end of 2012, it has been constructed by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), the Saudi national science agency, using technology developed in conjunction with IBM. Innovations include a new polymer membrane to make RO more energy efficient and protect the membrane from chlorine - which is used to pretreat seawater - and clogging with oil and marine organisms.
The use of solar power will bring huge cuts to the facility's contribution to global warming and smog compared to use of RO or MSF with fossil fuels, according to the developers.
Al-Khafji is the first step in KACST's solar energy programme to reduce desalination costs. For phase two, construction of a new plant to produce 300,000 m3 of water per day is planned by 2015, and phase three will involve several more plants by 2018.
Historically, desalination plants have been concentrated in the Persian Gulf region, where there is no alternative for maintaining the public water supply. The region has excellent solar power prospects, suggesting that coupling of the two technologies may become commonplace. A pilot project to construct 30 small-scale solar desalination plants by the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi has already seen 22 plants in operation, each producing 25 m3 of potable water per day.
But population increases and looming water scarcity have also prompted widespread investment in desalination. It is now practised in some 150 countries including the US, Europe, Australia, China and Japan and it is becoming an increasingly attractive option both financially and for supply security.
Over the past five years the capacity of operational desalination plants has increased by 57% to 78.4 million m3 per day, according to the International Development Agency. Sharply falling technology costs have been a key driver of the trend and an EU-funded project is examining the case for expanding solar-powered desalination.
Solar power may even offer a solution to an impending crisis in Yemen, where water availability per capita is less than 130 m3/year. Yemen's capital Sana'a, with a population of two million, faces running out of groundwater before 2025. It is estimated that a solar plant powered by a 1250 MW parabolic trough to desalinate water from the Red Sea and pump it 250 km to Sana'a could be constructed for around $6 billion.
Around 700 million people in 43 countries are classified by the UN as suffering from water scarcity today - but by 2025 the figure is forecast to rise to 1.8 billion. With the global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050 and the US secretary of state openly discussing the threat of water shortages leading to wars, desalinated water has never been more important.
Demand for desalinated water is projected to grow by 9% per year until 2016 due to increased consumption in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and in energy-importing countries such as the US, India and China.Population growth and depletion of surface and groundwater means desalination capacity in the MENA region is expected to grow from 21 million m3/day in 2007 to 110 million m3/day in 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
US President John F Kennedy, speaking in 1962, said: 'If we could produce fresh water from salt water at a low cost, that would indeed be a great service to humanity, and would dwarf any other scientific accomplishment.' In the half century since, the need for innovation to satisfy humanity's demand for clean water has become ever more urgent. While technological advances continue to improve the efficiency of desalination methods, it is vital that the sources of power used by desalination plants also continue to evolve.
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Please visit this url for more educational videos:
World War I (abbreviated as WW-I, WWI, or WW1), also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict that embroiled most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. Over 70 million military personnel were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. The main combatants descended into a state of total war, pumping their entire scientific and industrial capabilities into the war effort. Over 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history.
The immediate or proximate cause of war was the assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist. Austria-Hungary's resulting demands against the Kingdom of Serbia activated a sequence of alliances. Within weeks the major European powers were at war; their global empires meant that the conflict soon spread worldwide.
By the war's end, four major imperial powers—Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire—had been militarily and politically defeated, with the latter two ceasing to exist as autonomous entities. The revolutionized Soviet Union emerged from the Russian Empire, while the map of central Europe was completely redrawn into numerous smaller states. The League of Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European nationalism spawned by the war, the repercussions of Germany's defeat, and the Treaty of Versailles would eventually lead to the beginning of World War II in 1939.


THREE-PHASE ROTATING FIELDS
The three-phase induction motor also operates on the principle of a rotating magnetic field. The following discussion shows how the stator windings can be connected to a three-phase ac input and have a resultant magnetic field that rotates.
Figure 4-4, views A-C show the individual windings for each phase. Figure 4-4, view D, shows how the three phases are tied together in a Y-connected stator. The dot in each diagram indicates the common point of the Y-connection. You can see that the individual phase windings are equally spaced around the stator. This places the windings 120° apart.
Figure 4-4. - Three-phase, Y-connected stator.
The three-phase input voltage to the stator of figure 4-4 is shown in the graph of figure 4-5.
Use the left-hand rule for determining the electromagnetic polarity of the poles at any given instant. In applying the rule to the coils in figure 4-4, consider that current flows toward the terminal numbers for positive voltages, and away from the terminal numbers for negative voltages.
Figure 4-5. - Three-phase rotating-field polarities and input voltages.
The results of this analysis are shown for voltage points 1 through 7 in figure 4-5. At point 1, the magnetic field in coils 1-1A is maximum with polarities as shown. At the same time, negative voltages are being felt in the 2-2A and 3-3A windings. These create weaker magnetic fields, which tend to aid the 1-1A field. At point 2, maximum negative voltage is being felt in the 3-3A windings. This creates a strong magnetic field which, in turn, is aided by the weaker fields in 1-1A and 2-2A. As each point on the voltage graph is analyzed, it can be seen that the resultant magnetic field is rotating in a clockwise direction. When the three-phase voltage completes one full cycle (point 7), the magnetic field has rotated through 360°.
ROTOR BEHAVIOR IN A ROTATING FIELD
For purposes of explaining rotor movement, let's assume that we can place a bar magnet in the center of the stator diagrams of figure 4-5. We'll mount this magnet so that it is free to rotate in this area. Let's also assume that the bar magnet is aligned so that at point 1 its south pole is opposite the large N of the stator field.
You can see that this alignment is natural. Unlike poles attract, and the two fields are aligned so that they are attracting. Now, go from point 1 through point 7. As before, the stator field rotates clockwise. The bar magnet, free to move, will follow the stator field, because the attraction between the two fields continues to exist. A shaft running through the pivot point of the bar magnet would rotate at the same speed as the rotating field.
This speed is known as synchronous speed. The shaft represents the shaft of an operating motor to which the load is attached.
Remember, this explanation is an oversimplification. It is meant to show how a rotating field can cause mechanical rotation of a shaft. Such an arrangement would work, but it is not used. There are limitations to a permanent magnet rotor. Practical motors use other methods, as we shall see in the next paragraphs.
The construction of the synchronous motors is essentially the same as the construction of the salient-pole alternator. In fact, such an alternator may be run as an ac motor. It is similar to the drawing in figure 4-6. Synchronous motors have the characteristic of constant speed between no load and full load. They are capable of correcting the low power factor of an inductive load when they are operated under certain conditions.
They are often used to drive dc generators. Synchronous motors are designed in sizes up to thousands of horsepower. They may be designed as either single-phase or multiphase machines. The discussion that follows is based on a three-phase design.
Figure 4-6. - Revolving-field synchronous motor.
To understand how the synchronous motor works, assume that the application of three-phase ac power to the stator causes a rotating magnetic field to be set up around the rotor. The rotor is energized with dc (it acts like a bar magnet). The strong rotating magnetic field attracts the strong rotor field activated by the dc. This results in a strong turning force on the rotor shaft. The rotor is therefore able to turn a load as it rotates in step with the rotating magnetic field.
It works this way once it's started. However, one of the disadvantages of a synchronous motor is that it cannot be started from a standstill by applying three-phase ac power to the stator. When ac is applied to the stator, a high-speed rotating magnetic field appears immediately. This rotating field rushes past the rotor poles so quickly that the rotor does not have a chance to get started. In effect, the rotor is repelled first in one direction and then the other. A synchronous motor in its purest form has no starting torque. It has torque only when it is running at synchronous speed.
A squirrel-cage type of winding is added to the rotor of a synchronous motor to cause it to start. The squirrel cage is shown as the outer part of the rotor in figure 4-7. It is so named because it is shaped and looks something like a turnable squirrel cage. Simply, the windings are heavy copper bars shorted together by copper rings. A low voltage is induced in these shorted windings by the rotating three-phase stator field. Because of the short circuit, a relatively large current flows in the squirrel cage.
This causes a magnetic field that interacts with the rotating field of the stator. Because of the interaction, the rotor begins to turn, following the stator field; the motor starts. We will run into squirrel cages again in other applications, where they will be covered in more detail.
Figure 4-7. - Self-starting synchronous ac motor.
To start a practical synchronous motor, the stator is energized, but the dc supply to the rotor field is not energized. The squirrel-cage windings bring the rotor to near synchronous speed. At that point, the dc field is energized. This locks the rotor in step with the rotating stator field. Full torque is developed, and the load is driven. A mechanical switching device that operates on centrifugal force is often used to apply dc to the rotor as synchronous speed is reached.
The practical synchronous motor has the disadvantage of requiring a dc exciter voltage for the rotor. This voltage may be obtained either externally or internally, depending on the design of the motor.


As a holistic veterinarian, I feel it is incredibly important to take the whole
animal into consideration when it comes to nutrition. And, whenever practical, my
preference is to provide nutrients, minerals and vitamins in their natural forms.
In this post, I’d like to talk to you specifically about vitamin E, to review both the strengths and weaknesses
of natural and synthetic forms.
Vitamin E is an incredibly complex and important nutrient that, among other things,
functions as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are naturally occurring nutrients that
promote health by slowing the destructive aging process of cells (a breakdown called
“peroxidation”). In peroxidation, damaged molecules known as free radicals steal
pieces from other cells, like fat, protein or DNA. The damage can spread, damaging
and killing entire groups of cells. While peroxidation can be useful to destroy
old cells or germs and parasites, when left unchecked, free radicals produced by
peroxidation also damages healthy cells. Antioxidants can help to stem the tide
of peroxidation, thus stabilizing free radicals.
Antioxidants like vitamin E are crucial to the health of companion animals of any age.
They can improve the quality of the immune response and the effectiveness
of vaccines in young pets, and help maintain a vital immune system in seniors. More...


Today, existing insulin pumps are about the size of a pager. The new ST- enabled Debiotech miniaturized MEMS device is about one quarter the size of these existing pumps and can be worn as a nearly invisible patch on the skin. The small size frees the patient from concerns with holding the pump in place and concealing it under clothing.
The insulin Nanopump, developed by Debiotech and industrialized by ST, represents the first use of microfluidic MEMS technology in diabetes treatment. Functional samples have already been produced and the two partners expect that a fully industrialized product, in the form of a disposable cartridge, will be available in selected markets in 2008. Debiotech will remain responsible for the commercialization of the product through its licenses with major players in the medical device market.The press release states that the Nanopump can control it's output down to the nanoliter level and has capabilities of detecting occlusions, bubbles and other malfunctions. A browse through their website shows that this is not the only innovation they're working on that affects diabetics. They're also developing a micro-needle array built using MEMS technology to allow for improved hypodermic drug delivery.


Examples of analysis sections
An example from a law field report about a courtroom observation
Click here to see the description section of this law field report.
| The legal processes I observed in the district court hearing reflect to a certain extent Australian social values. Their purpose is to attempt to maintain an efficient court system and create justice before the law. Processes such as rules of evidence which ensure only the most applicable evidence is heard have been developed over many years, thus demonstrating an influence of past and future cases. Similarly, the doctrine of precedent ensures that similar cases have similar results. Procedural grounds for objections protect witnesses from harassment and potential confusion. Therefore, all of these legal processes create an environment in which changing social values will bring about complementary changes in court decisions.
||The meaning and theoretical significance of the observations described are explored
Footnote 1: adapted from Woodward-Kron, R., Thomson, E. & Meek, J. (2000) A text based guide to academic writing. CD-Rom. Dept. Of Modern Languages, University of Wollongong.
An example from an education field report about a classroom practicum experience
| As I help the students I am conscious of the scaffolding Vygotsky described taking place. I observed other people such as teachers and parents scaffolding with their children. It was, therefore, interesting to realise that I was doing the same as I walked around the classroom helping the children with their tasks. Scaffolding helps the children to reach their zone of proximal development which in turn helps them to achieve more complex tasks.
I have found my practical experience in the classroom has been full of examples supporting the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and to a lesser extent Erikson. It is also good to see that these theories actually have real world application to child development.
|Exploring the significance of practical experience and observations from a theoretical perspective
Reflection about what the field experience has meant for theoretical understanding
This is the analysis section from a history field report about historical monuments.
Click here to see the description section of this history field report.
The Bulli Coal Mining Company had 331 employees: this represented approximately 20% of the population of Bulli. Given the small size of the Bulli community, the population was calculated at 1352 persons in the 1891 census (Mitchell & Sherington, 1984: 42), and its dependence on the Bulli Coal Mining Company, the impact of a disaster of this magnitude was enormous. Henry Parkes and his government realising the hardship being experienced by the community, particularly the bereaved families, gave “official support to a public fund and established a board to distribute the money after investigating the needs of those bereaved” (Mitchell & Sherington, 1984: 58).
The impact of the disaster is reflected in the structure of the monument. The monument was intended to last the test of time. Its shape, an obelisk, is unlike anything else in the area. This fact combined with the historical use of the obelisk, principally in ancient Egypt, suggests the memorial was considered important to the community. No reference is made on the monument, however, in regard to the date of the dedication or to who unveiled it which is significant given the government support of a disaster relief fund for the Bulli community in the wake of the disaster.
Analysis of the event the monument commemorates
Conclusion drawn about the structure and shape of the monument given
Footnote 2: adapted from Flello, J. unpublished manuscript.
An example from an education field report about a classroom practicum experience. (This example contains a mixture of description and analysis within a single paragraph. This is an alternative approach to having these two types of different writing in separate sections.)
| Both childcare centres encouraged the children to think critically and reflectively about themselves and the wider community; for example, I observed an incident at centre 2 (14/5), where the teacher helped the children with an equity of access issue in the playground. Several children wanted to play on the slide and gym equipment but one child continually walked up the slide disrupting the pattern of play. The group of children began to speak loudly and harshly to him and threatened to kick him. The teacher was able to facilitate a resolution to this problem by getting the children to examine what was happening and think of alternative actions. There were all, in effect, being empowered to deal with the injustice they were facing in the playground rather than resorting to physical violence or giving up and playing elsewhere, as some children were about to do.
||Topic sentence: a general theoretical conclusion is drawn
Conclusion illustrated by an example observed in the field
Description of the observed event
Theoretical perspective used to analyse the event
Footnote 3: adapted from McNabb, Learning Skills Centre, University of Melbourne.
Comments and questions should
be directed to Unilearning@uow.edu.au


Before we may design a crystal filter it is necessary to know the crystal's data.
Unfortunately this information is not in the datasheet - or we have no datasheet
because the crystals were bought on a market some decades ago ...
Fig.1: A crystal, it's symbol and equivalent circuit
Fortunately these values may be measured using a small adapter - which may be built on the fly.
We measured our crystals using the circuit below :
Fig.2: Measurement Adapter
Fig.3: Measurement Adapter Schematics
The Capacitors used are Mica (Glimmer) obtained from www.reichelt.de
With a jumper either the short or one of the series capacitors ( 15 pF or 33 pF ) may be selected.
The tree positions of the jumper result in 3 different Transmission curves when using
a Network Analyser or Spectrum Analyser with built in generator.
( of course you may use a generator and a hf-voltmeter or anything equivalent ... )
The Amplitude response looks somehow like this :
Fig.4: Measured Amplitude Response S21
You will notice, that the maximum (fs) will move while the minimum (fp) remains constant.
With the short selected we measure the lowest frequency where Transmission
is maximum. The maximum ( with 33 pF selected ) is next and then the
maximum ( with 15 pF selected ).


"We consider it essentially the child's personal time and don't feel it should be taken away for academic or punitive reasons," said Dr. Robert Murray, who co-authored the new policy statement for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Recess helps students develop communication skills, such as cooperation and sharing, and helps counteract the time they spend sitting in class, according to the statement.
"The cognitive literature indicates that children are exactly as we are as adults. Whenever they're performing a complicated or complex task, they need time to process the information," said Murray, a professor at Ohio State University in Columbus.
"Kids have to have that time scheduled. They're not given the opportunity to just get up and walk around for a few minutes," he added.
Previous research, according to the statement's authors, found children pay closer attention and perform better mentally after recess.
Last January, a review of 14 studies found kids who get more exercise from - among other things - recess and playing on sports teams tend to do better in school (see Reuters Health story of January 3, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/UcJhV0.)
But a 2011 survey of 1,800 elementary schools found about a third were not offering recess to their third grade classes (see Reuters Health story of December 5, 2011 here: http://reut.rs/UcOqwt.)
Murray told Reuters Health that schools in Japan offer children about 10 minutes of free time after every 50 minutes of class, which he said makes sense.
"I think you can feel it if you go to a lecture that after 40 to 50 minutes of a concentrated activity you need to take a break," he said.
Currently, the American Heart Association calls for at least 20 minutes of recess every day, but Murray said recess needs depend on the child.
"Most schools - on average - are working on the framework of 15 to 30 minute bursts of recess once or twice a day," he said.
There is, however, consensus on when in the day children's recess should take place.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both recommend schools schedule recess before lunch.
Previous studies have found that children waste less food and behave better for the rest of the day when their recess is before their scheduled lunch, the pediatricians' statement notes.
The statement also says schools should not substitute physical education classes for recess.
"Those are completely different things and they offer completely different outcomes," said Murray. "(Physical education teachers are) trying to teach motor skills and the ability of those children to use those skills in a bunch of different scenarios. Recess is a child's free time."
The pediatricians also warn against a recess that is too structured, such as having games led by adults.
"I think it becomes structured to the point where you lose some of those developmental and social emotion benefits of free play," said Murray.
"This is a very important and overlooked time of day for the child and we should not lose sight of the fact that it has very important benefits," he added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/HjQ8dI Pediatrics, online December 31, 2012.


Choose Privacy Week
Privacy is a particularly slippery and amorphous issue, about which people hold a wide variety of opinions and beliefs, particularly in the post-9-11 world in which we live.
Libraries and library workers think about privacy issues a lot - and want our customers to think critically about privacy issues, too. Personal privacy issues touch everyone at virtually every stage of life, and even into death (e.g., access to the Social Security Death Index online), raising a universe of hard questions to be answered.
Sponsored by the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), Choose Privacy Week is an annual initiative inviting library users of all ages and backgrounds into a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age. The theme for this year's Choose Privacy Week is "Freedom from Surveillance."
Libraries have been interested in maintaining the privacy of individuals. Beaufort County Library Board of Trustees adopted the American Library Association Core of Ethics years ago. It's part of our core values as library workers. Why? Because freedom of speech is meaningless without the freedom to read.
Click here [http://www.privacyrevolution.org/images/uploads/Trina_UserHandout.pdf] for handout explaining why librarians and libraries insist upon empowering our customers to explore, research, and make choices based upon their individual needs.
Q: Where are the lines drawn between "right of privacy" and "right to know" today ?
The major source used in the preparation of this entry was http://www.privacyrevolution.org/. Please explore the website - and think hard about where you stand on the issue of individual privacy rights.


3.1 Systematic Errors
Systematic errors are uncertainties in the bias of the data. A simple example is the zeroing of an instrument such as a voltmeter. If the voltmeter is not correctly zeroed before use, then all values measured by the voltmeter will be biased, i.e., offset by some constant amount or factor. However, even if the utmost care is taken in setting the instrument to zero, one can only say that it has been zeroed to within some value. This value may be small, but it sets a limit on the degree of certainty in the measurements and thus to the conclusions that can be drawn.
An important point to be clear about is that a systematic error implies that all measurements in a set of data taken with the same instrument are shifted in the same direction by the same amount - in unison. This is in sharp contrast to random errors where each individual measurement fluctuates independently of the others. Systematic errors, therefore, are usually most important when groups of data points taken under the same conditions are being considered. Unfortunately, there is no consistent method by which systematic errors may be treated or analyzed. Each experiment must generally be considered individually and it is often very difficult just to identify the possible sources let alone estimate the magnitude of the error. Our discussion in the remainder of this chapter, therefore, will not be concerned with this topic.


This week’s illustration post focuses on perhaps the most popular illustrated genre of the Renaissance: the emblem book. Emblem books were a genre developed in the early 16th century as digestible and curious works which combined an image, a motto and an explanatory text. This genre remained popular on the continent well into the 17th century, although, strangely, it never found any real footing in the U.K. The illustrations were most commonly woodcuts and the mottoes Latin, however Greek and vernacular mottoes were common as well.
The intention of most emblem books was to deliver a moral lesson through text and image, but often the connection between these two elements is obscure. There are many projects that have developed over the last decade to provide a digital repository for these books worth exploring (Emblematica Online [Univeristy of Illinois and Herzog August Bibliothek], University of Glasgow and the Emblem Project Utrecht are good examples).
Although St Andrews 17th century holdings remain largely unexplored, I did come across a wonderful example of a Spanish emblem book published at the height of the genre’s popularity. This week’s post features the emblems from Sebastián de Covarrubias y Orozco’s Emblemas morales (1610). This work was published under the direction of Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma, shortly after Covarrubias had recovered from a serious illness. This is perhaps Covarrubias’s most popular publication on emblems, but he is most well-known for his Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española (1611).
From the beginning of this book it is quite obvious that the author’s roots, both as a canon in the Catholic Church and as a keen lexicographer, are quite influential. However, Covarrubias does stray off into the weirder and esoteric world of the emblem books of the day: dragons, serpents, snake-eating deer and oversized-tops (above, which look like the ship from Flight of the Navigator to this blogger). Covarrubias also draws on everyday scenes of fishermen and farmers toiling in the field to root this emblem book in the real-world.
I’ve sampled here some of my favourites from this book, however a full scan is available at Emblematica Online. This work was not Covarrubias’s first foray into the world of emblem books, in 1589 he published a work, also entitled Emblemas morales, which provides almost 100 pages worth of text about emblems and their origins and then provides 100 examples afterword (none of which are repeated in his 1610 work). This work was republished in 1604 with the same text but with new woodcuts.
Covarrubias’s 1610 Emblemas morales, however, is a completely new work, featuring new emblems and mottoes with shorter verse explanations.


S7 Technical Assistance
Eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea)
Determining whether eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea) may be present in a proposed project area in the following northeastern Illinois counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will.
|Photo by Mike Redmer
As part of Step 1 of the S7 process, you checked the Illinois species list and found that eastern prairie fringed orchid is present in the county where your proposed project is located. The next step is to determine whether eastern prairie fringed orchid "may be present" in the action area of your proposed project. Below is guidance to help you make that determination.
Habitat: The eastern prairie fringed orchid (orchid) occurs in a wide variety of habitats, from wet to mesic prairie or wetland communities, including, but not limited to sedge meadow, fen, marsh, or marsh edge. It can occupy a very wide moisture gradient of prairie and wetland vegetation. It requires full sun for optimal growth and flowering, which ideally would restrict it to grass and sedge dominated plant communities. However, in some plant communities where there are encroaching species such as cattail and/or dogwood, the orchid may be interspersed or within the edge zones of these communities and thus can sometimes occur in partially shaded areas. The substrate of the sites where this orchid occurs include glacial soils, lake plain deposits, muck, or peat which could range from more or less neutral to mildly calcareous (Bowles et al. 2005, USFWS 1999). In some cases, the species may also occur along ditches or roadways where this type of habitat is present.
Processes that maintain habitats in early or mid-successional phases may be important in providing the sunny, open conditions required by the orchid (USFWS 1999). Sedge meadow and marsh habitats that support this orchid are usually early- or mid- successional because of past grazing, drainage, or soil disturbance. Patch disturbances that expose the soil to this orchid’s seeds, and reduce competition from established plants, may be needed for seedling establishment.
Hawkmoths are the pollinators of this orchid species. In Illinois the hawkmoth, Sphinx eremitus is a confirmed pollinator although there may be others. Eumorpha pandorus and Eumorpha achemon have been confirmed as pollinators in other states. Host plants for the caterpillars of Sphinx eremitus include various species of beebalm (Monarda spp.), mints (Mentha spp.), bugleweed (Lycopus spp.) and sage (Salvia spp.).
Follow the steps below to determine whether the eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in the action area of your proposed project. This guidance is specific to Cook, Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, and Will counties in northeastern Illinois.
1) Define the action area – all areas to be affected directly or indirectly by the Federal action and not just in the immediate area involved in the action. (For example: downstream areas, adjacent off-site wetlands, etc.)
2) Does the action area support any wet to mesic prairie or wetland
communities including, but not limited to sedge meadow, fen, or marsh edges?
If the answer is yes, go to number 3 (below). If the answer is no, conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present,” document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is required.
3) Conduct a floristic quality assessment for the proposed project site during the growing season or use a previous assessment that is not more than three years old and was conducted during the growing season.
4) If any wetland in the action area is determined to be high quality, (a Floristic Quality Index of 20 or greater and/or a Native Mean C of 3.5 or greater) proceed to number 5 (below) or contact the Chicago Field Office for further consultation.
Wetlands that are not high quality will not support eastern prairie fringed orchid. For those wetlands, conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present,” document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is required for those wetlands.
5) Compare the plant species list generated for each high quality wetland with our Associate Plant Species List for the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid. If four or more associates are listed, then proceed to number 6. If not, high quality wetlands that support three or less eastern prairie fringed orchid associate plant species are unlikely to support eastern prairie fringed orchids. Conclude that “the eastern prairie fringed orchid is not present” and document your finding for your records or provide this information to the federal action agency. No further consultation is necessary for those wetlands.
6) The eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in your action area. You may either assume that the eastern prairie fringed orchid is present and proceed to Step 2 of the Section 7 Consultation Process or conduct a field search during the bloom date of the orchid; June 28 through July 11. Because northeastern Illinois orchid populations bloom sporadically rather than all plants blooming at the same time, searches should be conducted on a minimum of three non-consecutive days within this time period. Please notify the Chicago Field Office before conducting your survey.
7) If you assume that the eastern prairie fringed orchid may be present in the action area or a field search proves that the orchid is present, the next step in the S7 Consultation Process is to determine whether the proposed action may affect any eastern prairie fringed orchids. Go to Step 2 of the S7 Consultation Process to begin that determination.
Please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chicago Illinois Field Office if you for more information or if you have any questions.
Chicago Illinois Field Office
1250 South Grove, Suite 103
Barrington, Illinois 60010
Phone: 847/381-2253, ext. 20
1Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region, 4th ed. Indiana Academy of Science, Indianapolis. 921pp.
Step 1 of the Section 7 Process
Section 7 Technical Assistance


A species on the brink – Freshwater Pearl Mussel
They can live for over a century, they have one of the most bizarre life-cycles of any species you’re likely to find and they’re one of the reasons why the Romans invaded Britain. What’s more is that their future is in our hands. The freshwater pearl mussel might not have the glamour of some other iconic ‘Scottish’ species like the golden eagle or red squirrel, but they’re incredibly important. Scotland holds around half of the world’s population of this fascinating creature and they are currently balancing on a knife-edge.
Populations are found in some of the rivers flowing into Loch Ness.
Freshwater pearl mussels are very slow-growing and live at the bottom of clean, generally fast-flowing rivers. These animals, which spend the early part of their life harmlessly attached to the gills of trout and salmon before settling onto a suitable substrate are now extinct across most of their former range. Highland rivers are a stronghold for the species.
As their name suggests, they very occasionally bear a pearl, and this has in many ways led to their downfall. The taking of mussels by ‘pearl-fishers’ has been the main reason for the massive declines in these populations, but they have also been affected by pollution and river-engineering works.
The freshwater pearl mussel was given full legal protection in 1998 but unfortunately illegal activity still continues. Every year we still come across significant ‘kills’ where piles of hundreds of empty shells mark the scene of a few hours illegal fishing, where a whole population of this globally threatened species can be wiped out in a couple of hours.
These threats to the species have meant that the freshwater pearl mussel is a UK Wildlife Crime priority. This means that the Police work closely with Scottish Natural Heritage, anglers, bailiffs, river users and a wide-range of other organisations to help tackle these crimes by improving awareness, collection of intelligence and better enforcement to safeguard the species.
However, whilst the police and other organisations do their best to help tackle wildlife crime in this way they can’t do it alone, and the help of the public can be absolutely crucial. Pearl fishing is often carried out in remote locations, or very early in the morning when there is less chance of being detected, and often during the summer when daylight hours are long and the rivers are low. Fishing is often carried out by wading out into rivers and using glass-bottomed buckets to find the mussels and a cleft stick to recover them. If anyone sees or suspects that pearl fishing is taking place we urge people to report it to their local police station and Wildlife Crime Officer as soon as possible.
At the same time there are numerous projects aimed at active conservation of the species, including a recent £3.5 million project funded by the European Commission’s LIFE+ fund and secured by Scottish National Heritage and 14 other organisations. The project will improve habitats for the species, encourage simple and effective positive management of rivers where they are present, improve awareness and understanding of the species as well as helping address wildlife crime issues.
So it’s not all doom and gloom for this remarkable species, and everybody has a role in ensuring it’s survival – let’s hope that we can bring the freshwater pearl mussel back from the brink.
If you would like more information on the species visit SNH’s website at http://www.snh.gov.uk/about-scotlands-nature/species/invertebrates/freshwater-invertebrates/freshwater-pearl-mussel/