Researchers reveal more about how our brains control our arms

Krishna Shenoy

Krishna Shenoy

Ready, set, go.

Sometimes that's how our brains work. When we anticipate a physical act, such as reaching for the keys we noticed on the table, the neurons that control the task adopt a state of readiness, like sprinters bent into a crouch.

Krishna Shenoy, PhD, professor of electrical engineering and an affiliate of Stanford's Bio-X initiative, wanted to answer that question as part of his group's ongoing efforts to develop and improve brain-controlled prosthetic devices.

Monitoring the neurons

What the researchers found is that when the monkeys knew what arm movement they were supposed to make and were simply waiting for the cue to act, electrical readings showed that the neurons went into what scientists call the prepare-and-hold state — the brain's equivalent of "ready, set" — waiting for the cue to go.

But when the monkeys made unplanned or unexpected movements, the neurons did not go through the expected prepare-and-hold state. "This was a surprise," Ames said.

Before the experiment, the researchers had believed that a prepare-and-hold state had to precede movement. In short, they thought the neurons had to go into a "ready, set" crouch before acting on the "go" command.

Experimental design

Katherine Ames

In one set of experiments, the monkeys were shown the target but were trained not to touch it until they got the "go" signal. This is called a delayed-reach experiment. It served as the planned action.

Monkey see, monkey do

Ames said that in all three instances, the first information to reach the neurons was awareness of the target. "Perception always occurred first," Ames said.

Instead, roughly 50 milliseconds after the electrical readings showed evidence of perception, a change in neuronal activity signaled the command to touch the target; it came with no apparent further preparation between perception and action. "Ready, set" was unnecessary. In these instances, the neurons just said, "Go!"

One example of such efforts is the BrainGate clinical trial at Stanford, now being conducted under U.S. Food & Drug Administration supervision to test the safety of brain-controlled, computer cursor systems  — "think-and-click" communication for people who can't move.

"In addition to advancing basic brain science, these new findings will lead to better brain-controlled prosthetic arms and communication systems for people with paralysis," Shenoy said.

The work was funded by a Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health, and from REPAIR — Reorganization and Plasticity to Accelerate Injury Recovery — a program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Leading in Precision Health

A Legacy of Innovation


Mon Don's on-campus athletic fields are located in the eastern and southeastern parts of the school grounds.  The football field is directly east of the school itself; bleachers are on either side of it, and a press box is on its west side.  Surrounding the football field is a track, where gym students typically jog at the beginning of outdoor classes, or run a mile for the physical fitness test.  South of the football field is the former baseball field, which did not have an outfield fence for many years.  A blue fence was later added.  The baseball field's dimensions were quite unusual; while the distance was approximately 305 feet from home plate to right field and left field, it was under 300 feet to much of center field, because private property jutted out into center field.  The new, off-campus baseball field was dedicated on April 13, 2013.  The on-campus athletic fields are traditionally the site of the grade school's annual Field Day in the spring.

The football field and track.


CICO Academy

The CICO Academy is a Global Network of professionals who seek to interact with each other to widen their knowledge and expertise. CICO is committed to partnering with leading organizations to achieve critical outcomes for our communities. We believe companies need to take a more holistic approach to how they operate and communicate. As we give this advice to our clients, we are increasingly taking it ourselves. A few times a year CICO organizes an event to focus on a specific subject concerning the Communication market and its position towards the community. As a CICO Academy member you will have the opportunity to connect with other interesting CICO people. CICO connects thought leadership from all around the world.

Schermafbeelding 2017-04-30 om 10.16.05

Today, business runs at real time and organizations need to adapt faster than ever. In order to meet the challenges which fast moving technologies and new customer behavior create, a business must evolve its people, processes and Communication platforms and programs, in order to take full advantage of market condition. Interaction between global citizens and different sectors is therefore also important.

Become a CICO Academy member and mail your request for a membership to

Vigorous partnerships

Conjunction: CICO’s partnership is a term which evokes much sensitivity with its implicit connotations of Sharing and Trust. CICO’s partnership means the highest stage of working relationship between different people brought together by commitment to common objectives. Long term, shared responsibility, reciprocal obligation, equality, mutuality and balance of power. Accountability, joint decision making, respect, transparency, sustainability and mutual interests. Yet, in practice, developing a relationship characterized by a free and equal exchange of ideas is challenging because of language diversity, geographical constraints and differences in terms of how the relationship/partnership is conceptualized and interpreted. CICO always works with an open-minded perspective.

Together making a difference

Identifying common purpose to move forward is an important foundation which CICO expresses through interact deeply with Clients and Partners.

Partnering International Chambers of Commerce

CICO connects Global Knowledge


Tuesday, 9 October 2018

Programme schedule

The programme is now ready, and if you hold a ticket you should have received an email with information on how to sign up for individual larps. Please note that check-in for all larps is at Slurpen 30 minutes prior to the starting time. If you are not there in time, you might lose your spot.

Opening hours for the hangout at Slurpen:

Friday 15:00-00:30
Saturday 10:00-02:00

Bread&Jam 10:00-11:00
Lunch 15:00-17:00
Dinner 21:00-22:00

Lunch and dinner costs NOK 50. Bread and jam is free of charge.

Monday, 8 October 2018

The Monica Lewinsky Effect

"The Monica Lewinsky Effect" (BY), by Tatsiana Smaliak and Ivan Pranovitch, is a non-verbal larp about group aggression and reprobation on social media.

It explores such topics as nature of social media and the use of it. It also makes the players experience feelings of being mobbed on social media and of being a part of a crowd that bullies others.

Sunday, 7 October 2018

Are you new to Larp?

Don’t despair! We have all been there, and here follows a few tips that might be helpful for the larp beginner.
Grenselandet mostly features "chamber larps". This is a genre of larps that typically lasts around four hours.

Chamber larps are often split in three parts:
  1. The workshops, where the group gets to know each other, and where you get to develop your character
  2. The actual play time
  3. The debrief, where you can get out of your role, and discuss the experience together
A few tips for a better experience:

*It's a good idea to wear comfortable, neutral, clothes. You should feel like you can move around freely.

*You don't need to bring anything. A bottle of water can be handy, but usually water is also available at the venue.

*Finally, and very importantly, remember that you can opt out of the larp at any moment if you need to!

What makes a good larp is different from one person to another. However, it can be useful to think about what kind of experience you are looking for, and what’s important to you:
Are you looking for a smaller or a bigger group of players?
Something with a lot of talking or something nonverbal?
A feel good game, a more dramatic one, a political one?

Last note: there will always be people at the venue that can answer questions about the larp or practicalities, don't hesitate to reach out to them!

We are thrilled that you are curious about larp, welcome to this wonderous world!

Saturday, 6 October 2018

Katabasis (UK), by Susan Ploetz, Una Hamilton Helle and Francis Brady, is larp about cave descents, origin myths and group archetypes. It utilises non-verbal (with limited verbal) communication, physicality and symbol-making to create culture, narrative and play.

Generations ago, our people fled into a vast system of caves to create a new world. The Myth says that we started as one large group, but, after the Great Divide, we were separated.

There are stories that the others are still out there, but we haven’t encountered them. As we descend further into the vast network of caverns, we feel the presence and traces of the mythical others as they appear to us as symbols, detritus and echoes in the dark.

We envision Katabasis as a flexible structure for those who want to think about the formation of societies and culture, as well as communication and the negotiation of differences.
It is a larp that explores these themes through myth and symbol creation; and ritualised movement and sound.

Life Lessons

Friday, 5 October 2018

A bloody war without rules spared no one and took men by thousands. Every woman lost someone - father, brother, lover. They learned to live without them, took over their roles.
Because a war does not ask.
The few who returned from the war have never recovered. Life does not wait though, the world recovered, the country without men in leadership roles began to flourish again. The government now faces an important task: to ensure that such a war is never repeated.

Gilead (CZ), by Dagmar Wiesnerova and Martina Drabinova, is a game inspired by the book The Handmaid’s Tale.
The players will explore and experience the historical period of the Republic of Gilead as participants of a conference organized by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

The players will play several characters in the game, some of which may be of a different gender than they identify as.

Thursday, 4 October 2018

In Habitat (NO), by Karete Jacobsen Meland and Martin Nielsen, we explore the transformations of a habitat and its inhabitants.

This is a larp with no spoken or written language at all, including in the workshop. Instead, we will use sounds, lights, smells, body language, touch and a lot of colours.
It will be soft-paced, playful, curious and non-violent. There will be misunderstandings, but don't be afraid of doing something wrong.

Come join us for an experiment.

This larp can be played without knowledge of any language. However, this larp is unsuitable if you are colour-blind and/or if you have severe physical injuries (i.e. unable to carry a 10 kg backpack or crawl on the floor - contact the organizers if in doubt). The players have to be comfortable with some physical contact. Any spoken language will be considered an out-of-play safety mechanic.


DOTS R. Dobbins
Internet-Draft Arbor Networks
Intended status: Informational D. Migault
Expires: October 17, 2018 Ericsson
S. Fouant
R. Moskowitz
HTT Consulting
N. Teague
L. Xia
K. Nishizuka
NTT Communications
April 15, 2018

Use cases for DDoS Open Threat Signaling

The DDoS Open Threat Signaling (DOTS) effort is intended to provide protocols to facilitate interoperability across disparate DDoS mitigation solutions. This document presents use cases which describe the interactions expected between the DOTS components as well as DOTS messaging exchanges. These use cases are meant to identify the interacting DOTS components, how they collaborate and what are the typical information to be exchanged.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft will expire on October 17, 2018.

Copyright Notice

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The DDoS Open Threat Signaling (DOTS) effort is intended to specify protocols that facilitate interoperability between diverse DDoS mitigation solutions and ensure greater integration in term of mitigation requests and attack characterization patterns. As DDoS solutions are broadly heterogeneous among vendors, the primary goal of DOTS is to provide high-level interaction amongst differing DDoS solutions, such as initiating, terminating DDoS mitigation assistance or requesting the status of a DDoS mitigation.

This document provides use cases to provide inputs for the design of the DOTS protocol(s). The use cases are not exhaustive and future use cases are expected to emerge as DOTS is adopted and evolves.

2. Terminology and Acronyms

This document makes use of the same terminology and definitions as [I-D.ietf-dots-requirements]. In addition it uses the terms defined below:

3. Use Cases

3.1. Upstream DDoS Mitigation by an Upstream Internet Transit Provider

This use case describes how an enterprise or a residential customer network may take advantage of a pre-existing relation with its Internet Transit Provider (ITP) in order to mitigate a DDoS attack targeting its network. To improve the clarity of our purpose, the targeted network will be designated as enterprise network, but the same scenario applies to any downstream network, including residential network. As the ITP provides connectivity to the enterprise network, it is already on the path of the inbound or outbound traffic of the enterprise network and well aware of the networking parameters associated to the enterprise network connectivity. This eases both the configuration and the instantiation of a DDoS Mitigation Service. This section considers two kind of DDoS Mitigation Service between an enterprise network and an ITP:

In the first scenario, as depicted in Figure 1, an enterprise network with self-hosted Internet-facing properties such as Web servers, authoritative DNS servers, and VoIP servers has a DMS deployed to protect those servers and applications from DDoS attacks. In addition to on-premise DDoS defense capability, enterprises have contracted with their Internet transit provider for DDoS Mitigation Services which threaten to overwhelm their WAN link(s) bandwidth.

    | Entreprise       |        | Upstream         |
    | Network          |        | Internet Transit |
    |                  |        | Provider         |
    |                  | |      |S | Mitigation |  |
    |                  | |      |  | System     |  |
    |                  | |      |                  |
    |                  | |      |                  |
    |                  | |      |                  |
    |  | DDoS       |<---+      |                  |
    |  | Mitigation |C |        |                  |
    |  | System     |  |        |                  |

       * C is for DOTS client functionality
       * S is for DOTS server functionality

    Figure 1: Upstream Internet Transit Provider DDoS Mitigation

When the enterprise DMS detects an inbound DDoS attack targeting its resources ( e.g. servers, hosts or applications), it immediately begins a DDoS Mitigation.

During the course of the attack, the inbound traffic volume exceeds the 50% threshold; the DMS DOTS client signals the DOTS server on the upstream ITP to initiate DDoS Mitigation. The DOTS server signals the DOTS client that it can serve this request, and mitigation is initiated on the ITP network by the ITP DMS.

Over the course of the attack, the DOTS server of the ITP periodically informs the DOTS client on the enterprise DMS mitigation status, statistics related to DDoS attack traffic mitigation, and related information. Once the DDoS attack has ended, the DOTS server signals the enterprise DMS DOTS client that the attack has subsided.

Note that communications between the enterprise DOTS client and the upstream transit provider DOTS Server may take place in-band within the main Internet WAN link between the enterprise and the ITP; out-of-band via a separate, dedicated wireline network link utilized solely for DOTS signaling; or out-of-band via some other form of network connectivity such as a third-party wireless 4G network connectivity.

The current scenario describes the case where the DDoS Target is in the enterprise network while the secondary DMS is provided by the upstream ITP. An alternate use case may consider the scenario where the ITP informs the enterprise network it is involved into an ongoing attack or that infected machines have been identified. In this case the DOTS client and DOTS server roles are inverted. The DOTS client is located in the ITP network and the DOTS server is hosted in the enterprise network. The enterprise network is then responsible to perform the DDoS Mitigation. In some case the DDoS Mitigation may be delegated back to the upstream ITP, as described in this section.

3.2. DDoS Mitigation by a Third party DDoS Mitigation Service Provider

This use case differs from the previous use case described in Section 3.1 in that the DDoS Mitigation Service is not provided by an upstream ITP. In other words, as represented in Figure 2, the traffic is not forwarded through the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider by default. In order to steer the traffic to the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider, some network configuration changes are required. As such, this use case likely to match large enterprises or large data centers, but not exclusively. Another typical scenario for this use case is the relation between DDoS Mitigation Service Provider forming an overlay of DMS. When an DDoS Mitigation Service Provider mitigating a DDoS attack reaches it resources capacities, it may chose to delegate the DDoS Mitigation to another DDoS Mitigation Service Provider.

   | Entreprise       |        | Upstream         |
   | Network          |        | Internet Transit |
   |                  |        | Provider         |
   |                  | |      |                  |  |
   |                  | |                            |
   |                  | |      | DDoS Mitigation  |  |
   |                  | |      | Service Provider |  |
   |                  | |      |                  |  |
   |  | DDoS       |<---+      |  | DDoS       |<----+
   |  | Mitigation |C |        |  | Mitigation |S |
   |  | System     |  |        |  | System     |  |

       * C is for DOTS client functionality
       * S is for DOTS server functionality

   Figure 2: DDoS Mitigation between an Enterprise Network and third
             party DDoS Mitigation Service Provider

In this scenario, an Enterprise Network has entered into a pre-arranged DDoS mitigation assistance agreement with one or more other DDoS Mitigation Service Providers in order to ensure that sufficient DDoS mitigation capacity and/or capabilities may be activated in the event that a given DDoS attack threatens to overwhelm the ability of a given DMS to mitigate the attack on its own.

The pre-arrangement typically includes the agreement on the mechanisms used to redirect the traffic to the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider, as well as the mechanism to to re-inject the traffic back to the Enterprise Network. Redirection to the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider typically involves BGP prefix announcement eventually combined with DNS redirection, while re-injection may be performed via tunneling mechanisms such as GRE for example. Of course, such mechanisms needs to be regularly tested and evaluated. These exact mechanisms used for traffic steering are out of scope.

  | Entreprise       |        | Upstream         |
  | Network          |        | Internet Transit |
  |                  |        | Provider         |
  |                  |        |        |         | || ||
  |                  |                 |           || ||
  |                  |        | DDoS Mitigation  | || ||
  |                  |        | Service Provider | || ||
  |                  |        |        |         | || ||

       * C is for DOTS client functionality
       * S is for DOTS server functionality

  Figure 3: Redirection to a DDoS Mitigation Service Provider

When the Enterprise Network is under attack or at least is reaching its capacity or ability to mitigate a given DDoS attack traffic, the DOTS client sends a DOTS request to the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider to initiate network traffic diversion - as represented in Figure 3 - and DDoS mitigation activities. Ongoing attack and mitigation status messages may be passed between the Enterprise Network and the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider.

Once the requesting Enterprise Network is confident that the DDoS attack has either ceased or has fallen to levels of traffic/complexity which they can handle on their own or that it has received a DOTS DDoS Mitigation termination request from a downstream Enterprise Network or DDoS Mitigation Service Provider, the requesting Enterprise Network DOTS client sends a DOTS DDoS Mitigation termination request to the DDoS Mitigation Service Provider.

3.3. DDoS Orchestration

In this use case, one or more DDoS telemetry systems or monitoring devices monitor a network - typically an ISP network. Upon detection of a DDoS attack, these telemetry systems alert an orchestrator in charge of coordinating the various DMS within the domain. The telemetry systems may be configured to provide required information, such as a preliminary analysis of the observation to the orchestrator.

The orchestrator analyses the various information it receives from specialized equipment, and elaborates one or multiple DDoS mitigation strategies. In some case, a manual confirmation may also be required to choose a proposed strategy or to initiate a DDoS Mitigation. The DDoS Mitigation may consist of multiple steps such as configuring the network, or updating already instantiated DDoS mitigation functions. In some cases, some specific DDoS mitigation functions must be instantiated and properly ordered. Eventually, the coordination of the mitigation may involve external DDoS resources such as a transit provider or a DDoS Mitigation Service Provider.

The communications used to trigger a DDoS Mitigation between the telemetry and monitoring systems and the orchestrator is performed using DOTS. The telemetry systems implements a DOTS client while the orchestrator implements a DOTS server.

The communication between a network administrator and the orchestrator is also performed using DOTS. The network administrator via its web interfaces implements a DOTS client, while the Orchestrator implements a DOTS server.

The communication between the orchestrator and the DDoS mitigation systems is performed using DOTS. The orchestrator implements a DOTS Client while the DDoS mitigation systems implement a DOTS Server.

The configuration aspects of each DDoS mitigation system, as well as the instantiations of DDoS mitigation functions or network configuration is not part of DOTS. Similarly, the discovery of available DDoS mitigation functions is not part of DOTS; and as such is out of scope.

       | network  |C
       | adminis  |<-+
       | trator   |  |
                     |                       (internal)
                                          |  (external)
                                          | S| DDoS      |
                                          +->| mitigation|
                                             | systems   |
       * C is for DOTS client functionality
       * S is for DOTS server functionality

Figure 4: DDoS Orchestration

The telemetry systems monitor various network traffic and perform some measurement tasks. These systems are configured so that when an event or some measurement indicators reach a predefined level to report a DOTS mitigation request to the orchestrator. The DOTS mitigation request may be associated with some element such as specific reporting.

Upon receipt of the DOTS mitigation request from the telemetry system, the orchestrator responds with an acknowledgment, to avoid retransmission of the request for mitigation. The status of the DDoS mitigation indicates the orchestrator is in an analyzing phase. The orchestrator begins collecting various information from various telemetry systems in order to correlate the measurements and provide an analysis of the event. Eventually, the orchestrator may ask additional information to the telemetry system, however, the collection of these information is out of scope.

The orchestrator may be configured to start a DDoS Mitigation upon approval from a network administrator. The analysis from the orchestrator is reported to the network administrator via a web interface. If the network administrator decides to start the mitigation, they order through her web interface a DOTS client to send a request for DDoS mitigation. This request is expected to be associated with a context that identifies the DDoS mitigation selected.

Upon receiving the DOTS request for DDoS mitigation from the network administrator, the orchestrator coordinates the DDoS mitigation according to a specified strategy. Its status indicates the DDoS mitigation is starting while not effective.

Orchestration of the DDoS mitigation systems works similarly as described in Section 3.1. The orchestrator indicates with its status whether the DDoS Mitigation is effective.

When the DDoS mitigation is finished on the DMS, the orchestrator indicates to the telemetry systems as well as to the network administrator the DDoS mitigation is finished.

4. Security Considerations

DOTS is at risk from three primary attacks: DOTS agent impersonation, traffic injection, and signaling blocking. The DOTS protocol must be designed for minimal data transfer to address the blocking risk.

Impersonation and traffic injection mitigation can be managed through current secure communications best practices. One consideration could be to minimize the security technologies in use at any one time. The more needed, the greater the risk of failures coming from assumptions on one technology providing protection that it does not in the presence of another technology.

Additional details of DOTS security requirements can be found in [I-D.ietf-dots-requirements].

5. IANA Considerations

No IANA considerations exist for this document at this time.

6. Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank among others Tirumaleswar Reddy; Andrew Mortensen; Mohamed Boucadaire; Artyom Gavrichenkov; Jon Shallow and the DOTS WG chairs, Roman D. Danyliw and Tobias Gondrom, for their valuable feedback.

7. Informative References

[I-D.boucadair-dots-multihoming] Boucadair, M. and T. Reddy, "Multi-homing Deployment Considerations for Distributed-Denial-of-Service Open Threat Signaling (DOTS)", Internet-Draft draft-boucadair-dots-multihoming-03, April 2018.
[I-D.ietf-dots-requirements] Mortensen, A., Moskowitz, R. and T. Reddy, "Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Open Threat Signaling Requirements", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-dots-requirements-14, February 2018.

Authors' Addresses

Roland Dobbins Arbor Networks Singapore EMail:
Stefan Fouant USA EMail:
Nik Teague Verisign 12061 Bluemont Way Reston, VA, 20190 EMail:


First Peoples of Cascadia

The term Pacific Northwest is largely used in the American context, while the Canadian equivalent is Canadian West. and begs the question… “Northwest of What?”. In both of these examples, the answer is the distance away from the political capitals of their respective political entities.

The people of these tribes share a common understanding that their very existence depends on the respectful enjoyment of the regions river basins vast land and water resources. They believe their very souls and spirits were and are inextricably tied to the natural world and all its inhabitants. Among those inhabitants, none are more important than the millions of salmon that bring sustenance and prosperity to the region’s rivers and streams. Indian fishers have fished the waters of the Columbia Basin for thousands of years. It was a central part of their cultures, societies, and religions.

Despite some differences in language and cultural practices, the people of these tribes have long shared the foundation of a regional economy based on salmon. To the extent the resource permits, members of these tribes continue to fish for ceremonial, subsistence, and commercial purposes. They still maintain a dietary preference for salmon, consuming sometimes ten times the US average. For these tribes, salmon is important and necessary for their physical health and spiritual well being.

Pre-colonial contact, on the northwest coast of North America, the mild climate and abundant natural resources made possible the rise of a complex aboriginal culture that expanded through the Cascadia bioregion, and connected in with a continental system of trade and exchange. The people who lived in what are today British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon were able to obtain a good living without much effort. They had time and energy to devote to the development of fine arts and crafts and to religious and social ceremonies.

Using the Salish Sea, rivers and other waterways as primary highways, complex trading networks arose and Chinook Jargon, now close to extinct, also called Tsinuk Wawa, was used as a trade language. It is thought to have originated among the Northwest Coast Indians, especially the Chinook and the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) peoples. As English and French settlers and pioneers made their way to region in the 1800’s, Chinook Wawa grew to be the lingua franca for the fur trade, and of the Cascadia bioregion, and many elements in the pidgin’s vocabulary, such as potluck, sasquatch and others can still be seen in Cascadian English today.

The Northwest Coast Indian peoples, who lived in the Pacific Northwest, can be classified into four units, or “provinces.” The northern province includes speakers of Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and the Tsimshian-influenced Haisla (northernmost Heiltsuq or Kwakiutl). The Wakashan province includes all other Kwakiutl, the Bella Coola, and the Nuu-chah-nulth. The Coast Salish–Chinook province extended south to the central coast of Oregon and includes the Makah, Chinook, Tillamook, Siuslaw, and others. The northwestern California province includes the Athabaskan-speaking Tututni-Tolowa as well as the Karok, Yurok, Wiyot, and Hupa.

Coast Salish

People of Cascadia: Today

Today, first nations both on ceded and unceded territory, officially recognized or not, many displaced and having faced hundreds of years of attempted cultural erasure up until the 1970’s, continue to heal from colonial trauma and reconnect with a rich tapestry of Cascadian culture. In British Columbia in Northern Cascadia, there are now about 200,000 indigenous people in 198 distinct First Nations speaking 30 different languages and 60 different dialects, as well as Inuit and Métis, each with their own unique traditions and history. In Alaska, about 100,000 Native American, or Alaska Native people live in groups from the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures live, often defined by their language groups. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, who in turn belong to 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations, who administer land and financial claims.

In central and southern Cascadia, a similar number of First Nations peoples live in tribes such as the Coast Salish, Chehalis, Colville, Cowlitz, Chinook, Hoh, Makah, Chimakum, Quilieute, Willapa, Tillamook, Nisga'a, Gitxsan, Haisla, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Nisqually, Wuikinuxv, Puyallup, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Willapa, Yakama, S’Klallam, Kalispel, Elwha, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Quinault, Samish, Sauk-Siattle, Shoalwater, Skokomish, Snoqualmie, Duwamish, Spokane, Squaxin, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Swinomish, Tulalip, Skagit, Coeur D’Alene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Shoshone Bannock. In Southern Cascadia, additional tribes include the Burns Paiute, Coos, Umpqua, Siuslaw, Grand Ronde, Siletz, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Coquille, Klamath.

"First Nations" from the UBC SCARP Cascadia bioregional atlas. Map by Jain Peruniak.

You can download a full PDF of North American Tribal Nations here (PDF)

Native Map and Pronunciation Guide for Tribes within the northern and central Cascadia bioregion. Learn more at


Simple Techniques for Self Defense

Bernardo Faria, BJJ, Jiu Jitsu, Nick Drossos, Protection, Safety, self defense -

Simple Techniques for Self Defense

Protecting oneself does not require decades of training.  It doesn't require knowing hundreds of techniques.  In actuality, sometimes less is more can save your life.  Being able to asses a situation and understand a few key principles could definitely save your life.  So if you don't have a decade to spare to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but want to gain the distilled knowledge of years of life and death training on the mats, you will want to check out what a world champion athlete shared as the best means to stay safe on the street.

In the video below, Nick Drossos, one of the world's foremost self-defense experts meets up with Bernardo Faria, a 5 time World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion to discuss Bernardo's recommendations for some simple, potentially life-saving techniques.

Key Takeaway:  Distance Management

The number one goal of a self-defense scenario is NOT to become engaged in a situation that requires one to fight.  It is always preferable to walk away after having talked one's self out of the conflict, but in the event that this course of action does not work, it is important to understand the best possible place to be in relation to the person or persons you are in conflict with.

It's crucial to stay safely out of striking distance.  If you find yourself within arms length of an attacker, they are more likely to be able to strike or kick at you.  It is best to stay 2-3 arms lengths away from them with your arms up between you.  If someone, continues to try to close the distance and invade the space that you've established, it's time to close the distance and potentially drop your level to take them down to the ground where they can be controlled.

Key Takeaway:  Knee on Belly

A powerful and easy to implement technique that Bernardo brings from his decades of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training is a position called knee on the belly.  In this position, a prone opponent is kept controlled by placing one's knee across their midline or abdominal area putting enormous pressure into their midsection.  In Bernardo's case he actually uses a higher version of knee on the belly which angles more towards the sternum and chest area.  In jiu jitsu training or competition, this position can often inspire opponents to give up or quit a match because of the debilitating pressure and pain it can cause.  For an unsuspecting attacker with no grappling background, this will ensure that you are able to escape the conflict unscathed.

The knee on the belly position is not only extremely dominating, it also gives one a vantage point to be able to keep an eye out for additional attackers.  By staying upright, you will be able to throw your own strikes if necessary, or simply retreat, escape and seek out the authorities.

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Feedback Loop Driver

“Feedback Loop Driver” is a music performance, strongly based on improvisation, that involves both motion sensing and bio-signals technologies. All sound manipulations are generated in real time by the performer’s physical behaviour on the stage. The performer’s body is equipped with a complex system of sensors that detect three main corporeal descriptors : the electric activity of the muscles, the gesture’s qualities and the performer’s movements in the space. The core metaphor of this work is the notion of feedback. On one hand, the auditory feedback is a response to the performer’s physical behaviour. On the other hand, the feedback affects the way the performer decides to adapt his own corporeality (posture, gestural patterns, movements in the space) to the sound environment. Such a feedback loop mechanism drives the internal evolution of the improvisation. Moreover, physical energy accumulation (effort) and sound energy accumulation (overdrive and distortion) are connected at a very sensorial level : if the corporeal effort generates the audio distortion, the physical tension expressed by the performer reflects the embodiment of the sound environment. In doing so, the bio-physical devices become a sensitive body’s part that stimulates a high degree of resilience and enactive knowledge. As an outcome, the body itself is transformed in an emergent territoriality inhabited and transfigured by the sound.

Interactive Sound Performance


 EnerFAQs Setbacks Legal Header

News and Resources

Updated September 2015

This EnerFAQs explains setbacks in the energy industry, how they are determined, and how they may affect Alberta citizens and their communities.

What is a setback?
A setback is the absolute minimum distance that must be maintained between any energy facility (for example, a drilling or producing well, a pipeline, or a gas plant) and a dwelling, rural housing development, urban centre, or public facility. Setbacks vary according to the type of development and whether the well, facility, or pipeline contains sour gas.

Setback Levels

What is the AER's definition of a “public facility”?The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) examines each specific situation to decide if something is a public facility. When establishing setback distances, the AER does not consider simply any facility used by the public to be a public facility; it must also be a facility that is often used by a large number of people. It also considers the evacuation options that apply to that particular facility. For example, a large year-round campground containing many individual campsites may be designated a public facility under the AER’s definition, whereas a small, seldom-used campground may not.

What is the AER's definition of “unrestricted country development”?
Unrestricted country development refers to any collection of permanent dwellings outside an urban centre that number more than eight per quarter section.

Why are setbacks necessary?
Setbacks prevent populated areas from developing too close to energy facilities and energy facilities from getting too close to people. In other words, setbacks provide a buffer zone between the public and the facility if there is a problem. To better understand the principle behind a setback, let’s compare it to a 30 kilometre per hour speed limit near a school playground. While this speed limit is not a “guarantee” of safety, statistics show that it is much safer to have one than to have no speed limit at all; the average driver can stop quickly at this speed if faced with an emergency, such as a child suddenly running into the street.

The child’s safety isn’t guaranteed, but the odds are strongly in the child’s favour with the low speed limit in place. In a sense, the AER’s setback distances function as the energy industry’s “speed limits.”

How long have setback distances been in effect?
Setback distances have existed, in various forms, for oil and gas operations since early production days (pipeline rights-of-way are a good example).

Established in 1976, new sour gas setback distances were immediately used by the energy industry. In 1979, provincial planning authorities formally adopted the same setback distances, so both the energy industry and all Alberta municipalities use these same guidelines when proposing and approving developments of any kind.

How are setback distances determined?
Sour gas facilities are categorized by the AER into four hazard levels based on release rates for wells, release volumes for pipelines, and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) content. There are predetermined setback distances for each level of sour gas facility. Once the appropriate level has been established for a particular facility, AER staff then examine the types of developments in the vicinity and how people typically use the general area. For example, AER staff would check to see if there are houses, schools, or hospitals close by. If necessary, a setback distance may be increased due to these types of developments.

What are release rates?
The concentration of H2S and how fast it is coming out of the ground determine the release rate.

What are release volumes?
Release volumes are specific to pipelines. There is a fixed amount, or volume, of gas that can be released from any pipeline once the valves are closed—this is called the release volume. Pipelines are built with emergency shutdown valves installed at preset points along the pipeline. When the valves detect pressure drops in the pipeline, they close automatically, stopping the flow of gas through the pipeline and trapping the gas between the two valves closest to the rupture. That’s all the gas that can escape, and the amount of escaping gas can be quickly calculated.

Why is H2S content important?
The higher the concentration of H2S and the rate that it is released, the greater the potential for risk. That is why H2S content and release rates are important factors in setback distances.

Why are setback distances different for a farm home than for a large campground?
Extra space is built into setback distances in the case of towns and major campgrounds to ensure that a proper evacuation can be carried out if necessary. It is much easier to evacuate one family than a great number of people or an entire community.

What if I live near a sour facility?
AER setback distances are deliberately designed so that the actual risk to people from sour gas facilities will be reduced to the lowest levels possible.

What safety precautions does the AER require of industry?
The energy industry is required to maintain safe operations at all of its facilities. With pipelines, for example, the industry has developed a number of important safety practices, such as specially designed block valves and different kinds of pipeline monitoring systems. In the case of drilling wells, industry must comply with strict blowout prevention measures.

What if I am already living within a sour gas setback distance?
Such situations are rare, as both the industry and the municipal planning authorities have followed the same setback guidelines for some time. If you have reason to believe that such a problem does exist for you, contact the operator of the facility or the nearest AER field centre.

May I develop my land if it falls within an AER setback?

Municipal authorities oversee land development and do not permit development where people will be living within the setback. However, lands affected by the setback for a pipeline, for instance, could be landscaped and used as green space. Note that municipal authorities do have setback restrictions for developments other than sour gas, such as road allowance restrictions. This question and others like it should be directed to your local municipal authority. AER advice is available to these authorities with reference to specific projects, as required.

Is there any way I can change a setback distance that affects my land?
Setback distances may be changed when either the rate or volume of the energy facility changes or when the type of development in the setback area is altered. Release rates and release volumes may change over time due to dropping production from a well or the H2S content changing.

An example of altering the purpose for which land is being used is if a landowner wishes to convert a large year-round campground that had been designated a public facility back to farmland and then build a home on it for the family. While the campground may have required a large setback by the planning authority because there could be many people in the camp, the single farm residence would usually require a smaller setback, because it would be easier to notify and evacuate one family.

How do setback distances affect the future development of my hometown?
Setbacks may restrict a community development to a greater extent than an individual dwelling. For example, if your town wanted to expand through annexation, a 500 metre setback distance from any level-2 sour gas facility would be recommended, rather than the 100 metre setback distance facing an individual residence.

What is the difference between a setback distance and an emergency planning zone?
A setback is the amount of land serving as a buffer zone between people and energy facilities. An emergency planning zone, or EPZ, is the distance outward from a facility where people and the environment could be affected by a potential worst-case incident.

What happens if an energy company wants to drill a well or build a facility close to my home?
The AER requires that companies follow section 5.4, “Category Type and Minimum Consultation and Notification Requirements,” of Directive 056: Energy Development Applications and Schedules when dealing with landowners and occupants. The company must provide affected landowners and occupants with factual information regarding the facility and explain the potential land-use restrictions that may occur as a result of the development.

What if I object to this development?
For some applications, The AER requires that a company indicate in its application whether any of the landowners contacted have concerns about the application. The AER may direct the company to contact you again to explore ways to resolve any concerns you might have. Also, anyone who believes they may be directly and adversely affected by an energy resource application can file a statement of concern. See EnerFAQs Expressing Your Concerns – How to File a Statement of Concern About an Energy Resource Project.

Will I be compensated for the use of my land?
Decisions regarding compensation for placing energy facilities on your land do not fall under the AER’s jurisdiction, but are the responsibility of the Alberta Surface Rights Board. The Alberta Surface Rights Board may be reached at 780-427-2444.

Additional Information

For more information on the AER and its processes or if you wish to speak with your local field centre or have general questions about oil and gas in the province of Alberta, contact the AER’s Customer Contact Centre: Monday to Friday (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) at 1-855-297-8311 (toll free).

Every year the AER collects, compiles, and publishes a large amount of technical data and information about Alberta’s energy development and resources for use by both industry and the general public. This includes raw data, statistics, information on regulations, policies, and decisions, and hearing materials.

Publications may be either viewed at the AER library or obtained from the Information Distribution Services (IDS). Publications may also be downloaded free of charge from the AER website www.aer.ca.

To obtain a copy of a specific publication, contact IDS by phone (403-297-8311), fax (403-297-7336), or e-mail (InformationRequest@aer.ca).

AER Head Office
Suite 1000, 250 – 5 Street SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R4
1-855-297-8311 (toll free)

Energy and Environmental 24-hour Response Line (emergencies and complaints): 1-800-222-6514 (toll free)


Understanding open loop vs. closed loop control systems

By Brian Douglas

In this lecture, Brian Douglas an asteroid miner at Planetary Resources and a part-time YouTube educator, discusses the differences between open loop and closed loop control.

Douglas creates produces a series of control system lectures on YouTube where he aims to take specific controls concepts and expand on them in order to provide an intuitive understanding, and ultimately help viewers become better controls engineer.


High Charity

STATUS: Destroyed (Battle of Installation 00, 2552)

POPULATION: 0 (7.7 billion pre-war)
SPECIES: San'shyuum Sangheili / Jiralhanae / Kig-YarUnggoy

High Charity was the holy city of the Covenant, built to be the capital and center of governance for all the races under the Covenant faith.  It was originally constructed in 791 BCE, with a foundation made of solid rock from the San'Shyuum homeworld Janjur Qom, and later covered by the "Skin of the First Worlds", part of the surface from each Covenant race's homeworld.  Power to operate such a massive city came from the Forerunner dreadnought located at its center, though High Charity also contained enough backup generators to travel through slipspace if needed.

High Charity stood as a monument to the glory of the Covenant, operating as much as the center for worship as the capital city.  It was told to the members of the Covenant that they should strive to visit High Charity at least once in their lifetime, though that proved difficult for many if not most.

The mighty city would fall quickly, however, after the Flood managed to infect a portion of the city during the Battle of Installation 05, quickly spreading and ultimately assimilating for the use of the Gravemind.  High Charity was then sent to Installation 00, where it ultimately crashed onto the surface of the Ark and became encased in a shield built around it by the monitor of the installation.


Just six miles and seven subway stops separate a gaping disparity in life expectancy in Chicago.

If you live in the Loop, an affluent neighborhood Chicago's city center, the average life expectancy is 85. That's on par with Japan, one of the world's richest countries.

Take the L train seven stops west to Garfield Park, and life expectancy drops by 16 years. The life expectancy in West Garfield Park is just 69. That's on par with Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries.

Life expectancy varies not only from state to state, as a recent nationwide study found. It also varies from neighborhood to neighborhood in the same city.

David A. Ansell presented these grim statistics on stage at a recent TedX Chicago event. Ansell brought forth this information to make a compelling point: If you are poor, where you live can dictate when you die.

The physician and human rights activist has worked as a doctor at hospitals serving some of the poorest communities in Chicago for four decades. He published a book last year about his findings called "The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills."

Since the event took place in Chicago, Ansell honed in on life expectancy in this particular city. There's a misconception that people die younger in certain Chicago communities because of gun violence. Ansell said that isn't why. Chronic and treatable conditions -- including diabetes, asthma, hypertension and congestive heart failure -- are to blame. "People die early from conditions we have treatment for," Ansell said.

Chicago residents aren't the only ones affected. As a social epidemiologist, Ansell studies the effects of social-structural factors on health across the United States. He's found the same life expectancy disparities between wealthy and poor communities nationwide. In some cases, he's uncovered a 35-year difference in life expectancy between America's healthiest and wealthiest communities and its poorest and sickest.

A litany of factors exacerbate health inequalities, especially in poor urban black communities. Ansell calls this structural violence. Poor access to healthy food is a given. So is access to good healthcare. Other factors such as unsafe housing, unreliable transportation and limited job opportunities also contribute to chronic stress that have detrimental effects on people's health.

Ansell couldn't just leave the audience feeling the weight a large gaping problem. Step one was making the audience aware that health inequity exists. In true TED form, he then moved onto solutions. Ansell is part of a collaborative project to help improve the health of people who live in nine Chicago neighborhoods with the lowest life expectancy. The project aims to improve access to healthcare, education and job opportunities in these communities. The premise is that everyone deserves the right to be healthy.

Tactics include expanding existing programming and coordinating new strategies to improve access to healthy food. Place more community health workers in these communities. Increase local hiring and support local business development. All initiatives address underlying causes of poor health.

Published on: Jun 14, 2018


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    From the 21st Dynasty onward, more copies of the Book of the Dead are found in hieratic script. The calligraphy is similar to that of other hieratic manuscripts of the New Kingdom; the text is written in horizontal lines across wide columns often the column size corresponds to the size of the papyrus sheets of which a scroll is made up.

    Occasionally a hieratic Book of the Dead contains captions in hieroglyphic. The text of a Book of the Dead was written in both black and red ink, regardless of whether it was in hieroglyphic or hieratic script.

    Most of the text was in black, with red ink used for the titles of spells, opening and closing sections of spells, the instructions to perform spells correctly in rituals, and also for the names of dangerous creatures such as the demon Apep.

    In Karl Richard Lepsius published a translation of a manuscript dated to the Ptolemaic era and coined the name " Book of The Dead" das Todtenbuch.

    He also introduced the spell numbering system which is still in use, identifying different spells. The work of E. Wallis Budge , Birch's successor at the British Museum, is still in wide circulation — including both his hieroglyphic editions and his English translations of the Papyrus of Ani , though the latter are now considered inaccurate and out-of-date.

    Allen and Raymond O. Orientverlag has released another series of related monographs, Totenbuchtexte , focused on analysis, synoptic comparison, and textual criticism.

    Initially, these were copied out by hand, with the assistance either of tracing paper or a camera lucida. In the midth century, hieroglyphic fonts became available and made lithographic reproduction of manuscripts more feasible.

    However, a very large amount of the source material in museums around the world remains unpublished. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

    For other uses, see Book of the Dead disambiguation. List of Book of the Dead spells. The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife. How to Read the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

    Medjed's popularity began on Twitter , likely by those sharing the picture on the papyrus. Medjed was released, featuring the god as a playable character shown below.

    As of September , the Japanese art site Pixiv returns over results in a search for "Medjed". Sep 04, at Sep 03, at Know Your Meme is an advertising supported site and we noticed that you're using an ad-blocking solution.

    Like us on Facebook! At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, the New Kingdom saw the Book of the Dead develop and spread further.

    The famous Spell , the Weighing of the Heart, is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, from this period onward the Book of the Dead was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes.

    During the 19th dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, in the Third Intermediate Period, the Book of the Dead started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics.

    The hieratic scrolls were a version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, during the 25th and 26th dynasties, the Book of the Dead was updated, revised and standardised.

    Ancient Egyptian funerary practices — The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death.

    These rituals and protocols included mummifying the body, casting of magic spells, the burial process used by the ancient Egyptians evolved throughout time as old customs were discarded and new ones adopted, but several important elements of the process persisted.

    Although specific details changed over time, the preparation of the body, the rituals involved. Though no writing survives from Predynastic Egypt, scholars believe the importance of the physical body and this would explain why people of that time did not follow the common practice of cremation, but rather buried the dead.

    Some also believe they may have feared the bodies would rise again if mistreated after death, early bodies were buried in simple, shallow oval pits, with a few burial goods.

    Sometimes multiple people and animals were placed in the same grave, over time, graves became more complex, with the body placed in a wicker basket, then later in wooden or terracotta coffins.

    The latest tombs Egyptians made were sarcophaguses and these graves contained burial goods like jewelry, food, games and sharpened splint. This demonstrates that this ancient period had a sense of the afterlife and this may be because admission required that the deceased must be able to serve a purpose there.

    The pharaoh was allowed in because of his role in life, human sacrifices found in early royal tombs reinforce this view. These people were meant to serve the pharaoh during his eternal life.

    Eventually, figurines and wall paintings begin to replace human victims, some of these figurines may have been created to resemble certain people, so they could follow the pharaoh after their lives ended.

    They believed that when he died, the became a type of god. This belief existed from the period through the Old Kingdom.

    In the First Intermediate Period, however, the importance of the pharaoh declined, funerary texts, previously restricted to royal use, became more widely available.

    The first farmers in Egypt are known from the villages of Omari, the people of these villages buried their dead in a simple, round graves with one pot.

    The body was neither treated nor arranged in a way as would be the case later in the historical period. Without any written evidence, there is little to provide information about contemporary beliefs concerning the afterlife except for the inclusion of a single pot in the grave.

    Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated and these rituals were seen as necessary for the gods to continue to uphold maat, the divine order of the universe.

    Housing and caring for the gods were the obligations of pharaohs, nevertheless, a temple was an important religious site for all classes of Egyptians, who went there to pray, give offerings, and seek oracular guidance from the god dwelling within.

    The most important part of the temple was the sanctuary, which contained a cult image. These edifices are among the largest and most enduring examples of Egyptian architecture and their typical design consisted of a series of enclosed halls, open courts, and massive entrance pylons aligned along the path used for festival processions.

    Beyond the temple proper was a wall enclosing a wide variety of secondary buildings. A large temple also owned sizable tracts of land and employed thousands of laymen to supply its needs, temples were therefore key economic as well as religious centers.

    The priests who managed these powerful institutions wielded considerable influence, temple-building in Egypt continued despite the nations decline and ultimate loss of independence to the Roman Empire.

    With the coming of Christianity, however, Egyptian religion faced increasing persecution, for centuries, the ancient buildings suffered destruction and neglect.

    Dozens of temples survive today, and some have become world-famous tourist attractions that contribute significantly to the modern Egyptian economy, Egyptologists continue to study the surviving temples and the remains of destroyed ones, as they are invaluable sources of information about ancient Egyptian society.

    A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature.

    They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and it was the purpose of a temple as well.

    Because he was credited with divine power himself, the pharaoh, as a king, was regarded as Egypts representative to the gods.

    Although the pharaoh delegated his authority, the performance of rituals was still an official duty. The participation of the populace in most ceremonies was prohibited.

    Much of the lay religious activity in Egypt instead took place in private and community shrines, however, as the primary link between the human and divine realms, temples attracted considerable veneration from ordinary Egyptians.

    The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, as such, a pyramid has at least three outer triangular surfaces.

    The square pyramid, with base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a common version. A pyramids design, with the majority of the closer to the ground.

    This distribution of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures and it has been demonstrated that the common shape of the pyramids of antiquity, from Egypt to Central America, represents the dry-stone construction that requires minimum human work.

    Pyramids have been built by civilizations in many parts of the world, khufus Pyramid is built mainly of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece.

    It contains over 2,, blocks ranging in weight from 2. Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees and it is still the tallest pyramid.

    The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the Mesopotamians built the earliest pyramidal structures, called ziggurats.

    Since they were constructed of sun-dried mud-brick, little remains of them, ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions.

    Each ziggurat was part of a complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC, the earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period.

    The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top.

    Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside, the facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance.

    Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks, the number of tiers ranged from two to seven.

    It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no evidence for this. Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a ramp from base to summit.

    Amun — Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu.

    After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom.

    Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him.

    With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia.

    The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut.

    The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt.

    Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I.

    Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners.

    Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes.

    Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu.

    The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important.

    The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate.

    Isis — Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic.

    She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship.

    Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power.

    The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt.

    In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him.

    Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set.

    This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris.

    Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.

    The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling.

    Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear.

    The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself.

    The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven.

    A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis.

    Set is not, however, a god to be ignored or avoided, he has a role where he is employed by Ra on his solar boat to repel Apep.

    Set had a role as a reconciled combatant. He was lord of the red land where he was the balance to Horus role as lord of the black land, in Egyptian mythology, Set is portrayed as the usurper who killed and mutilated his own brother Osiris.

    Osiris wife Isis reassembled Osiris corpse and resurrected him long enough to conceive his son, Horus sought revenge upon Set, and the myths describe their conflicts.

    He married Nephthys and fathered Anubis, and in some accounts he had relationships with the foreign goddesses Anat, some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped horns which correspond to a giraffes ossicones.

    The Egyptians themselves, however, made a distinction between the giraffe and the Set animal, during the Late Period, Set is depicted as a donkey or as having a donkeys head.

    The earliest representations of what might be the Set animal comes from a dating to the Naqada I phase of the Predynastic Period.

    If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a head of the King Scorpion. The head and the tail of the Set animal are clearly present.

    In the mythology of Heliopolis, Set was born of the sky goddess Nut, Sets sister and wife was Nephthys. Nut and Geb also produced two children who became husband and wife, the divine Osiris and Isis, whose son was Horus.

    The Chester Beatty Papyrus No. Classical authors also recorded the story, notably Plutarchs De Iside et Osiride and these myths generally portray Osiris as a wise lord, king, and bringer of civilization, happily married to his sister, Isis.

    Set was envious of his brother, and he killed and dismembered Osiris, Isis reassembled Osiris corpse and embalmed him. As the archetypal mummy, Osiris reigned over the afterworld as a king among deserving spirits of the dead, Osiris son Horus was conceived by Isis with Osiris corpse.

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How to Write a Personal SWOT Analysis Effectively

In business school, a key managerial too that every student comes to know and love is the SWOT analysis. This examination of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is generally used to examine business issues at the strategic or managerial levels. However, a SWOT analysis can also be used at the personal level to identify your own individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in order to develop a more effective path toward your goal. A personal SWOT, however, differs somewhat from a business SWOT, and it can be a bit more challenging since it involves looking objectively at your own behavior, which can be a challenge.

Like any SWOT, the most important step in writing your personal analysis is to begin with a goal in mind. Only be understanding what you want to get out of a SWOT analysis can you effectively categorize your characteristics and traits to help you plan how to achieve that goal. For example, a weakness in the pursuit of one goal might actually a strength in the pursuit of a different goal, or vice versa. Therefore, it is important to set a goal so that you can frame each element of your analysis correctly.

The second step is probably the easiest—setting up your SWOT chart. Draw two intersecting lines, or create a table with two rows and two columns. This will give you four boxes that you can use to list your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Once you have completed these two steps, it’s time to start listing.

Begin by identifying your traits, qualifications, and behaviors. Try making a list describing yourself in as many ways as possible. This can be a bit challenging since it is difficult to honestly evaluate ourselves, especially when identifying negative traits. You might benefit from asking friends and colleagues to help you identify strengths and weaknesses. As you create your list, resist the temptation to try to “spin” your list to sound more positive. Your goal isn’t to sound better to but to evaluate yourself honestly. As you do so, be sure to look beyond just your business training and qualifications. Off-hours hobbies and activities, and your interpersonal relationship skills, can also be strategically important. The wider a net you cast, the more likely you will be to develop a helpful list that will be useful as you analyze yourself. At this point, you will not be categorizing your list, so feel free to list items in any order.

Once you’ve completed your list—and don’t worry if you think of something later; you can always add more!—it’s time to begin categorizing each item on the list. For each item, label it S or W for strengths, or weaknesses. Remember, these are relative, so they are strengths and weaknesses relative to your goal, not in an absolute sense. For example, speaking French might be a weakness if your goal is to open a business in China, but it could be a strength if you plan to operate out of Montreal.

Then, enter your strengths and weaknesses on your chart.

You’ll repeat the process again, this time thinking about anything and everything that could impact your ability to achieve your goals. Consider internal factors (such as your motivation, training, experience, etc.) as well as the more obvious external factors. As you examine these, consider which are opportunities to come closer to your goal and which are threats that might keep you from achieving your goal. Enter these onto your chart. Once you’ve done so, you’ll have a complete SWOT chart and can then begin the more difficult part, the analysis.

Once you have your chart, you can follow the standard SWOT format to determine how to maximize strengths and opportunities and minimize weaknesses and threats. This analysis will form the heart of your professional SWOT analysis writing, and here a personal analysis can be a little tricky because you need to be able to be honest about yourself and areas where you could benefit from improvement and change. The key, again, is to be honest and to consider yourself objectively, as other people might evaluate yourself, and without excuses or rationalizations.

Finally, use what you have learned to develop a plan to achieve your goals. This plan will likely including making some difficult changes to help you overcome threats and minimize weakness, but when done effectively a personal SWOT analysis is a powerful tool to help you plan for the future.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Vancouver Coffee Marathon—Four Coffee Shops in Four Hours

First Hour: Nusa Coffee and Kopi Luwak

Asian Palm Civet

Kopi Luwak at Nusa Coffee

Second Hour: Platform 7

Platform 7 Coffee

Third Hour: Federal Store

The Federal Store
I continued east across town along Broadway into Mount Pleasant and walked south along Quebec Street toward 10th Avenue, where the Federal Store greeted me on the corner. Surrounded with cheerful flowers on all sides and a vegetable garden in the back, the café-grocer beckons me inside. I enter and feel like I’ve entered an alternative past: an integration of '50s trompe-l'oeil 3-D checker floor, plants, and homemade baking in the display with the avant-garde chic of wood and white.

Fourth Hour: Le Marché St. George

Le Marche St. George

Inside Le Marche St. George

Beside me, two young Asian men were discussing an article they’d read about how men get into and out of a bathtub. I realized I’d read the same line several times when one confided to the other that he thought he had sleep apnea and was slowly dying from oxygen deprivation over nights of not quite sleeping.

All in a summer's day, I thought, and closed the book and my eyes, then put my feet up on the planter and smiled the smile of pure contentment..

Monday, August 20, 2018

Do Plants Communicate? Why Is This Important For Us?

Pacific Spirit Park, UBC
Last week I went with Margaret on a nature walk led by UBC Professor and botanist Terry McIntosh in the Pacific Spirit Forest Park at UBC. McIntosh led us through a previously logged forest of Douglas fir, cedar, red alder, vine maple and hemlock. His guided walk was informative, enlightening and entertaining with copious stories that generated laughter and discussion.

Among many interesting discoveries, McIntosh pointed out the paint-like splotches of lichen on the red alder trees, assuring one hiker that these symbiotic communities of fungus, blue-green algae and in some cases yeast were not a harmful disease of the tree, but a commensal partner. The presence of lichens, in fact, just shows that sufficient light is there for them to photosynthesize and grow. Lichens are also a sign of clean, healthy air—given that they do not tolerate pollution in the air.

A moss expert, McIntosh pointed out the mosses on the ground, growing on soil, concrete and trees. After debunking the myth that mosses only grow on the north side of trees in the northern hemisphere—they mostly do, but not always—he mentioned that they were in their dormant stage in the dry summer; the fruiting bodies sprout when the haploid-dominant moss comes to life during the moist winter season to produce diploid spores.

When we reached a partial clearing, McIntosh pointed out 6-foot high horsetails (Equisetum sp.) flourishing amid Spirea and other native plants. Horsetails are really “living fossils”, being the only living genus in a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.

Rendition of Calamites during late Paleozoic
For over one hundred million years the class Equisetopsida was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some grew 30 meters high. One of them, the genus Calamites, was abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period and is featured in my upcoming novel “A Diary in the Age of Water.”

McIntosh also mentioned that the maple twig depicted on the Canadian one cent coin is botanically incorrect. The phyllotaxis of the twig on the coin is clearly alternate while maples all have opposite leaves.

Citing a bogus yet popular information source on the Internet, McIntosh pointed out the danger of using the Internet for taxonomic and ecological answers. He stressed the importance of doing accurate research by verifying the source—a reliable scholarly one. I totally concur with him on this. While the Internet is rich with good information, it can also be misleading and wrong. Users need to be discerning and verify information through cross-checking to ensure a reliable source. See my post on research.

However, I had to disagree on one point he made in the first five minutes of the walk. McIntosh began by describing how much of what goes on in a forest ecosystem is underground, involving bacteria and fungal mycelium that spread and colonize roots of plants. After supposedly blurting out the word “communicate” he berated himself and quickly ‘corrected’ by assuring us that “plants don’t communicate; they aren’t human.” But he allowed that they share nutrients and minerals.

This is still communication.

Humans don’t have the monopoly on communicating; communication occurs in many forms and ways—including vocalization, smell, frequency, gravity, and intention. Cells communicate. Atoms communicate. Everything communicates by acting and reacting, by sharing and receiving. All these interactions are a form of communication.

Moss growing on Red Alder forms community
To return to the subject of plants and trees particularly, UBC’s own forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has proven through hundreds of experiments over 30 years that trees share information via an underground cooperative communications network. “They [converse] not only in the language of carbon,” says Simard in a TED Talk, “but also nitrogen and phosphorus and water and defence signals and allele chemicals and hormones—information.” According to Simard, scientists had already speculated that this belowground mutualistic symbiosis—called a mycorrhiza—was involved. Mycorrhiza literally means “fungus root.” Fungal cells interact with the root cells and trade carbon for nutrients. The fungus gets those nutrients by growing through the soil and coating every soil particle. The mycelium connects different individuals in the forest—like birch with fir and works like the Internet with nodes and links. Simard and others demonstrated that hub or mother trees act as nodes to nurture hundreds of their young saplings and send their excess carbon through the mycorrhizal network to the understory seedlings.

Pacific Spirit Park, UBC
“Forests aren’t simply collections of trees” says Simard. “They are complex systems with hubs and networks that overlap and connect trees to allow them to communicate, and provide avenues for feedback and adaptation. This makes the forest resilient through many hub trees and overlapping networks.”

But the forest is also vulnerable.

In her TED talk, Simard shows an aerial view of a region dominated by clearcuts, just on the border of Banff National Park—where several wildfires are currently burning.

Simard shares that, “in 2014, the World Resources Institute reported that Canada in the past decade has had the highest forest disturbance rate of any country worldwide.” Not Brazil! “It’s 3.6 percent per year—four times the rate that is sustainable,” says Simard.

She warns that massive disturbance at this scale can affect hydrological cycles, degrade wildlife habitat, and emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—creating more disturbance and more tree diebacks. She adds that the planting of one or two commercial species at the expense of the aspens and birches decreases needed complexity in the forest; it makes them vulnerable to infections and bugs. And wildfires. As climate changes, “this is creating a perfect storm,” says Simard, citing the massive mountain pine beetle outbreak that swept across North America and the wildfires currently devastating Alberta and British Columbia as good examples of the consequence of human disturbance.

The key to increasing the resilience to climate-induced wildfires, drought, disease and insect infestations is in recognizing that trees and other plants do and need to communicate in a diverse network of information exchange. Our forests have been weakened through poor forest management based on commercial clearcutting and mono-cultured forests. Complexity enhances an ecosystem’s ability to self-heal. Retention of hub trees and patch cutting (as opposed to clearcutting and monoculture) will help to regenerate a diverse ecosystem, less susceptible to disease, insect infestations, drought and wildfires (as opposed to regular fires, which can be beneficial by opening seeds and creating clearings for more light). Wildfires that burn hot (over 900°C) destroy most of the organic material of the soil, and with it the helpful fungus and bacteria that connects the trees. Wildfires may also impact how water circulates in a watershed; the burned organic matter affects the natural layering of the soils, making it water repellent. This increases runoff and erosion.

Climate Change and Wildfires

Wildfire smoke over Nadine Lake, BC
Citing a BC government report into the fires and floods of 2017, Tracy Sherlock of The National Observer writes: "Last summer could be a "new normal our province and planet now face due to the unpredictable and increasingly volatile impacts of climate change.” From 1900 to 2013, B.C.’s average temperature has increased faster than the global average, their report says. “Scientists predict that the province will face increases in extreme weather, rising sea levels, increasing risk of wildfire and flooding, as well as a change in the location of ecosystems and species that live there.” No one is sure whether climate change means more lightning strikes. Some research suggest more frequent strikes; other research suggests lightning will be less frequent.

Anatomy of a Wildfire

“Extreme heat lofts smoke, ash, and fire into the atmosphere, forging a 45,000-foot-tall convective column that generates two counterrotating vortexes—like a giant egg beater,” writes Kyle Dickman in Popular Science of the 2011 New Mexico wildfire. “It went from normal to nuclear, kicking up a 45,000-foot column of tornadic winds and burning debris.” Here’s how Dickman describes it:

simulation of New Mexico Wildfire
Burning vegetation releases moisture, which the fire’s heat drives up the plume. It condenses into a pyrocumulus cloud, which in turn can create extreme downdrafting winds that can further stoke the ground fire. As vegetation combusts, it releases fuel-rich hydrocarbons. Driven by updrafts, they rise and can ignite into towers of swirling flame. The massive vertical winds inside the column can rip a pine cone off a branch, set it on fire, shoot it a few hundred feet into the air, then spit it as far as 2 miles away, where it can start a new fire. At night, cool dense air pools in the Valles Grande caldera like water filling a 13-mile bathtub. When it sloshes over, it creates 26-foot-per-second winds that fly down-canyon and strike the wildfire’s southern flank. As they squeeze through the canyons radiating from the caldera, the winds gain speed, then rise above the ground and come crashing back like churning ocean waves. As the wind ignites the blaze, it drives the fire forward in 35-foot flames that look like rolling barrels of fire.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Water and Fire…And the ‘New Normal’

Last weekend, I drove with Pixl Press director Anne Voute beneath smoke-induced blushing skies from Vancouver to Calgary. We were heading for the eighth annual writers festival, When Words Collide in Calgary. As we drove, we were thinking: wildfires.

The drive took us out of BC’s coastal western hemlock region northwest towards Kamloops into the heart of wildfire country where hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest are now burning. The day we left, a wildfire had broken out much closer to home—between Hope and Agassiz, just west of BC Highway 7. We smelled the smoke as it billowed up and filled the valley. While a majority of fires were concentrated in areas northwest and southwest of Prince George, a number of them were already filling our coastal skies with enough particulates to create a red ball of the sun—and prompt air advisories throughout BC. The smoke stayed with us throughout the entire drive to Calgary.

In a recent article in “The Grist”, Kate Yoder mentioned the extensive heat maps that cover most of Europe. A new shade—magenta—was created to show the extreme over 35 degree temperatures blanketing much of Spain, France and Germany. According to Yoder, the Carr Fire in California was one of the most severe in their history; it burned down 1,000 homes and even spun a fire tornado through the air—uber scary!

“Over a decade or so, we’re going to have more fire, more destructive fire, more billions that will have to be spent on it,” California Governor Jerry Brown said recently. “All that is the ‘new normal’ that we will have to face.” Yoder asks: “Why on earth is the word normal being thrown around to describe such extraordinary times?” Normal is a dangerous term to use for many reasons. Most places can’t afford a future where climate change and sea level rise are the ‘new normal.’ Calling anything like this ‘normal’ suggests acceptance and hints at complacency.
In my upcoming book A Diary in the Age of Water, limnologist Lynna contemplates in her journal on our tendency to turn a blind eye to environmental destruction. In one of her entries, Lynna discusses UBC fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly’s description of generational differences in the perception of dwindling fish populations. In 1995, Pauly coined the term ‘shifting baseline syndrome’ to describe peoples’ shifting concept of ‘normal and healthy’ in a shifting landscape. Inevitably, the past ‘normal’ is forgotten as the new ‘normal’ is embraced.
“Personally,” says Pauly in an interview with Yoder, “I think it’s wrong [to use the ‘new normal’]. We’re in the middle of a shift that can destroy what we hold dear, and to call this ‘normal’ is absurd.”

The term ‘normal’ suggests a static and relatively constant phenomenon, one that can be measured and predicted based on a known pattern. One of the reasons some people dismiss the reality of climate change is its very unpredictability (if we can’t measure it, it isn’t real). We are on the steep side of a curve whose slope is shifting with each year. NPR correspondent Kirk Siegler defined it this way: “The ‘new normal’ may be that things are just going to keep getting worse.”

On our approach to Kamloops, we drove through kilometres of Engelmann Spruce and subalpine fir, changing to Ponderosa Pine with pockets of sagebrush Chaparral near Merrit. Last year, Kamloops lurked beneath a gray blanket of wildfire smoke and smelled of an old campfire; this year, despite ongoing wildfire activity nearby, we could see where we were going. The winds were on our side—for the time being. That would change; by the time we returned to Vancouver, the winds had moved southwest to blanket the lower mainland with a peach-coloured sky.

As we headed for Golden, dominant vegetation shifted to Interior Cedar / Hemlock, where extreme drought conditions prevailed. We saw evidence of previous and recent fires in the Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir forest stands as we continued through the south end of the Rocky Mountain Trench into the Rockies then on to Banff, Canmore and finally Calgary. Smoke clung like grease to steep mountain sides and blanketed the valleys.  Blue cliffs emerged from gray-pink low cloud, floating and suspended like a Lao Tse painting. Then, like ghosts, they vanished.

The limnologist in my book A Diary in the Age of Water also writes about Peter Kahn, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, who coined the term ‘environmental generational amnesia’ to describe how each generation can only recognize—and appreciate—the ecological changes they experience in their lifetimes. In an article in The Meaning Of Water I argued that the inability to feel and connect beyond our immediate line of sight is a good thing—a kind of selective memory that allows us to adapt to each “new normal.” Mothers of several children can testify to the benefits of “forgetting” their hours of labour to give birth. Hence the ability and willingness to repeat this very painful experience.

A Diary in the Age of Water explores identity and our concept of what is “normal”—as a nation and an individual—in a world that is rapidly and incomprehensibly changing.


Generally speaking, in order to make a product image look clear, you have to upload images no smaller than 300*300 pixels.
However, sometimes, the
optimum size for product images depends on the theme you are using. Once you have activated a theme, you can go to the "Design"->"Theme"-"Theme Settings"->Image Size to check the optimum size for the theme you are using.

The size of the image you upload should be no smaller than that size (if it's bigger, remember to keep the same length to width ratio). Also, you can choose not to use the default image size of the theme and change it by inputting the image size into the "px" box.