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Today’s vocabulary word is "coasting," which is what Boston boys used to call sledding. Their "coast" was the slope they chose to sled on, which for the South Latin School students in the winter of 1774-75 meant down from part of Beacon Hill onto School Street.
John Andrews, a Boston merchant, wrote to a correspondent in Philadelphia on 29 Jan 1775:
Shall close this by giving you a small anecdote, relating to some of our school lads—who as formerly in this season improv’d the Coast from Sherburn’s hill down to School street. General [Frederick] Haldiman, improving the house that belongs to Old Cook, his servant took it upon him to cut up their coast and fling ashes upon it.John Elliott wrote out the same story for the Rev. Jeremy Belknap the next day:
The lads made a muster, and chose a committee to wait upon the General, who admitted them, and heard their complaint, which was couch’d in very genteel terms, complaining that their fathers before ’em had improv’d it as a coast for time immemorial, &ca. He order’d his servant to repair the damage, and acquainted the Governor [Gen. Thomas Gage] with the affair, who observ’d that it was impossible to beat the notion of Liberty out of the people, as it was rooted in ’em from their Childhood.
You may remember there is a declivity from the lane opposite School Street, which is the winter season the boys make use of as a coasting-place. Here not long since a number of boys were assembled for the purpose aforesaid. A servant of General Haldiman’s (whose stables were in that lane), being displeas’d by the slippery walking their amusement occasioned, maugre their pleadings & threatnings, scattered ashes over the place, & spoiled their fun.This anecdote was fondly, though not accurately, remembered in Boston for decades. There are some stirring mid-1800s depictions of the schoolboys' committee in books, paintings, and engravings, mostly with the wrong location, date, or general. The publication of these two letters by the Massachusetts Historical Society in the late 1800s provide our only contemporaneous sources for the incident.
With the true spirit of the sons of Boston, they chose a committee to wait upon the General to remonstrate against the proceedings, & complain of the maltreatment they had received of his servant. When the servant came to the door, he asked their business; they replied it was with the General. The servant was ordered to wait upon them into the parlour. The chairman informed the General that they were a committee from the boys, sent to make complaint of the invasion of their rights made by one of his servants; that he had spoiled their sport by tossing a quantity of ashes over a spot of ground which they & their fathers before them had taken possession of for a coasting-place.
The General at first did not understand what they meant by the term coasting. When informed of its meaning, he called all his servants, and, being told which was the offender, ordered him to go & throw water on the place sufficient to rectify the damage caus’d by the ashes. He treated the committee with a glass of wine, & they took their leave.
General Haldiman with great good humour told the story at General Gage’s table, which afforded the company great diversion. The Governor observed that they had only caught the spirit of the times, & that what was bred in the bone would creep out in the flesh.
As for "coast" and "coasting," my Oxford English Dictionary lists these letters as the first recorded uses of the words with this meaning. It remained Bostonians' term of choice for decades. In a paper on a New England boy of the mid-1800s delivered at the 2002 Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, Prof. Rebecca R. Noel reported that Ned Wright consistently described himself as "sledding" in Montpelier but "coasting" on Boston Common. And the usage survives in such terms as "roller coaster." | <urn:uuid:3ac5c85a-e4f8-4d9b-ba77-a50005d63ad9> | {
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The latest Atlantic Monthly brings Maryland law professor and novelist Garrett Epps’s article “The Founders’ Great Mistake,” about flaws in the U.S. Constitution—specifically, the document’s vagueness in defining the role of chief executive in a government that was supposed to be led by the legislative branch.
Some thought-provoking extracts:
- “One important reason for the [Constitutional Convention] delegates’ reticence was that George Washington, the most admired man in the world at that time, was the convention’s president. Every delegate knew that Washington would, if he chose, be the first president of the new federal government—and that the new government itself would likely fail without Washington at the helm. To express too much fear of executive authority might have seemed disrespectful to the man for whom the office was being tailored.”
- “Under the pen name ‘Pacificus,’ [in 1793 Alexander] Hamilton wrote a defense of Washington’s power to act without congressional sanction. . . . Hamilton seized on the first words of Article II: ‘The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.’ He contrasted this wording with Article I, which governs Congress and which begins, ‘All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.’ What this meant, Hamilton argued, was that Article II was ‘a general grant of…power’ to the president. Although Congress was limited to its enumerated powers, the executive could do literally anything that the Constitution did not expressly forbid. Hamilton’s president existed, in effect, outside the Constitution.” The picture of Hamilton above comes from the Library of Congress.
- “Some members of the founding generation believed that a duly elected president would simply be reelected until his death, at which point the vice president would take his place, much like the Prince of Wales ascending to the throne.”
- “When George Washington became president, he left a large organization (the Mount Vernon plantation) to head a smaller one (the federal government).” [Smaller in terms of employees, possibly, but not in geographic reach or potential influence on Americans.] | <urn:uuid:da11041a-ae39-4ab7-a216-4a501ef730c3> | {
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Toby Tyrrel's book "On Gaia" is an interesting book in many respects, but it misses some fundamental features of the self-regulating planetary system that we call "Gaia". (image from Alternative Energy Action Now)
Imagine that a friend of yours invites you to his marriage. You go there and you see everything you expect to see: the church, the flowers, the priest, the groom, and so on. But, as the ceremony goes on, you notice that your friend has overlooked something important: the bride is missing.
With the book by Toby Tyrrel, "On Gaia", you get a similar impression. It is well done in many respects and plenty of details are at the right place: evolution, life, climate, and more. But, as you keep reading it, you notice that the author seems to have overlooked something important: Gaia herself is missing.
It is said that marriages fail because of excessive expectations of spouses. The same problem seems to be plaguing more than one study on Gaia, including this one. Some people seem to expect really too much from the poor lady and then they end up concluding that she doesn't even exist - as Tyrrell does with this book. His conclusion is wholly negative: there is no such think as a stabilizing feedback system called Gaia and the fact that the Earth has maintained conditions favorable to life for some four billion years is due mainly to "hazard and happenstance" (p 206 of the book).
The problem of excessive expectations appeared early in the history of studies of the stability of the Earth's ecosystem. James Lovelock, the originator of the idea of Gaia (together with Lynn Margulis), proposed that Gaia could "optimize" the ecosystem for the benefit of life. That was too much. The Earth's ecosystem is a complex system of interacting biological and geophysical loops - some tend to stabilize the system, some to destabilize it. The final result is the typical one of all complex system: the tendency of the system to oppose perturbations. That's not the same as optimization - it is homeostasis; something that tends to maintain the system's parameters within certain limits - not necessarily the optimal ones but, at least, in a range that maintains the cycles going.
There are many examples of this behavior; for instance your body is a complex system and it does exactly that: it seeks homeostasis. If the temperature of your body becomes too high, your internal thermostat will bring it down by sweating. But you can't expect the thermostat to be perfect and all powerful: if you fall into a vat of boiling oil, sweating won't help you much. The same is true for Gaia, which is - mainly - a planetary thermostat that tends to keep the planetary temperature within the limits needed for liquid water (and hence life) to exist. You don't have to expect the thermostat to be perfect and all powerful and, indeed, the Earth's history has seen all sorts of catastrophes occurring; when the planet became very hot or very cold, nearly destroying all life on it. But the system has always recovered and has countered all sorts of perturbations. That includes the gradually increasing solar irradiation over the eons that should have had a deleterious effect on life on Earth, had it not been balanced by a decrease in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Curiously, however, Tyrrell just can't see the thermostat in action. One reason is that it is very difficult to understand the Earth's feedback system without taking into account geology and, here, the author clearly has troubles in integrating geology in the discussion. Geology, indeed, is the true "missing bride" of the book. Not that geological phenomena are not mentioned in Tyrrell's book, but often in a cursory and insufficient manner. For instance, there is no real discussion of the cycles of the Earth's ecosystem which involve continuous exchanges of matter from the surface to the mantle and back. These cycles renew the atmospheric composition and provide the chemical elements necessary for life. Without a hot core that provides energy for these exchanges, the Earth couldn't be a live planet - it would be dead like Mars.
The problem appears in particular for the main mechanism of the Earth's thermostat: silicate weathering. It is part of the planet-wide carbon cycle, a chemical reaction that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Its rate depends on temperature, so it has temperature regulating capabilities. (see this post of mine for an introduction and ref. (1) for an in-depth discussion). Tyrrell mentions silicate weathering for the first time only at page 141, quickly arriving to the conclusion that it is only a negative factor for life because of its cooling effect (2)). You need to arrive almost to the end of the main text (p. 191-192) to find a brief discussion of whether silicate weathering can be part of a temperature stabilizing mechanism. Here, too, Tyrrell's conclusion is negative, apparently on no other basis than generic skepticism.
Now, of course one may disagree on all current scientific interpretations, but considering that silicate weathering is a core element of the whole thermostat question, it would surely deserve more discussion before arriving to dismiss Gaia as non existent. This is not the only problem related to geology in the book. Other factors, for instance the effect of the sun's increasing luminosity, are missing or barely mentioned. So, it is really disappointing that the book misses so badly its avowed target - Gaia - especially considering that there are several sections of it that are well done and worth reading, such as the discussion about the temperature effects on biological productivity.
In the end, I think that there is a basic problem in Tyrrell's approach. In the "Conclusions" section, he states that accepting or rejecting the Gaia hypothesis has a strong effect on "how we decide to manage the Earth System" and that "Gaia, by the very nature of the hypothesis, inculcates a predisposition to suspect natural feedbacks to be stabilizing." In other words, Tyrrell emphasizes that Gaia could generate a dangerous feeling of complacency on people and hamper their efforts of fighting climate change.
I beg to differ on this point. Not that I don't share Tyrrell's worries about global warming but in my personal experience the concept of Gaia as a stabilizing factor on climate is alien to the mind of typical science deniers. Rather, most of them seem to use the exactly opposite meme: "climate has always been changing," normally without showing the slightest interest in what exactly causes climate to change - they just don't care. Of course, the internet is so wide that you can find just about anything in it and, as proof of his position, Tyrrell cites a specific site that goes under the name of "The Resilient Earth". However, apart for the title that indeed reminds the concept of Gaia, the contents of the site seem to be the usual mishmash of denialist memes: from "no warming during the past 15 years" to "Al Gore is fat". The general opinion that can be read in deniers' sites about Gaia is that the concept is not just ridiculous but, rather, living proof that climate change is not science but a religion - intended as a derogatory term. (see the figure below as an example of Gaia-bashing. From thepeoplescube.com)
So, I think the least thing we should be worried about is that the concept of Gaia could engender a dangerous "lasseiz faire" attitude. On the contrary, understanding the factors that determine the Earth's temperature can only generate a healthy dose of respect for the delicate balance that has kept climate stable during the past ten thousand years or so. Homeostasis is no guarantee of absolute stability; that holds for an entire planet, just as it does for bicycles (and the latter is something that everyone understands).
In the end, Gaia is not a Goddess, (and surely not a benevolent one). She is not all powerful, she has no ability of optimizing the Earth's environment for life, and she is no guarantee whatsoever that we can keep behaving as planetary hooligans without suffering the consequences of our actions. Gaia is a huge and complex system; a gigantic tangle of geological and biological feedbacks. We are just starting to understand how this system generates its overall tendency to homeostasis and how it has evolved over the billion years of its existence (3). It will continue to evolve until, hundreds of millions of years from now, it will "die" when the Sun becomes too hot for the homeostatic mechanisms to continue operating. In the meantime, we have to keep living on this planet (if we can). Gaia may not be the perfect bride; but we can't keep behaving as if she didn't exist.
1. For a review of the climate effects of silicate weathering, see Lee R. Kump, Susan L. Brantley, and Michael A. Arthur, Chemical Weathering, Atmospheric CO2, and Climate Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences Vol. 28: 611-667 (Volume publication date May 2000) DOI: 10.1146/annurev.earth.28.1.611
2. This point illustrates the problems that this book has with geology. At page 142, Tyrrel attributes one of the "big five" mass extinctions, the Late Devonian one, to excessive cooling caused by silicate weathering. But he doesn't say anything about the generally held opinion that mass extinctions appear to be caused by excessive warming (including the Devonian one). See, eg. David L. Kidder, Thomas R. Worsley "Phanerozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), HEATT (Haline Euxinic Acidic Thermal Transgression) episodes, and mass extinctions" Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Volume 295, Issues 1-2, 1 September 2010, Pages 162-191
3. For a thorough description of the feedbacks cycles of the Earth's system, you'll do well in reading the book by Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson "Revolutions that Made the Earth". Beware: it is not an easy book to read, but it is surely worth the effort.
About Gaia, see also these posts by yours truly, Ugo Bardi,
"The Great Chemical Reaction: life and death of Gaia"
"Man Vs. Gaia"
"The Next ten billion years" | <urn:uuid:9e9788f9-4f67-42b8-a0b4-96752e8e2c63> | {
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Margaret was probably born in Hungary and raised at Stephen’s Court, where her father, Prince Edward d’Outremer, was in exile. When she was 12 years old she was taken to the court of King Edward the Confessor in England, but was forced to flee England with her siblings and her mother, Agatha, after the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
The family was given refuge at the court of King Malcolm III of Scotland and soon Margaret and Malcolm fell in love. They were married in 1070 at Dunfermline Castle and subsequently had eight children.
Margaret was known for her great piety. She prayed and fasted constantly and showed much concern for the poor. She supported synods that reformed abuses that were so prevalent at the time, such as simony and usury. She also encouraged arts and education, acted as adviser in state matters, and with her husband, Malcolm, founded Holy Trinity Church at Dunfermline. Margaret died at Edinburgh Castle on November 15, soon after finding out that rebels attacking Alnwick Castle had killed her husband and one of her sons. She was canonized in 1250 and declared patroness of Scotland in 1673.
Queen Margaret had a great influence on her husband and his court. With her refined ways and intellect, she was able to bring about many changes for the good. Malcolm, while a good man, tended to be quick-tempered and “rough around the edges.” Many of the people were ignorant and unrefined. Margaret was able to bring out the best in her husband and others, however. She obtained good teachers, took measures to rid the court of all evil practices, and had new churches built. Margaret herself embroidered the priest’s vestments.
Malcolm was very pleased with the changes that Margaret brought about in his court. Soon the men showed better manners and the ladies, following Margaret’s example, became gentler and more devout. Queen Margaret and King Malcolm also were a wonderful example to others in their piety. They prayed together and also personally took food to the crowds of needy people. God blessed this royal couple with eight children, two daughters and six sons. Margaret was a wonderful mother as well and her youngest son became St. David.
Father, help us to learn from the pious example of this great queen. When Margaret learned of the death of her beloved husband and son, rather than despair, she prayed and thanked You for sending her such a great sorrow to purify her of her sins. Like St. Margaret, help us to be a good and pious influence on the people in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Other Saints We Remember Today
St. Gertude the Great (1302), Virgin, Benedictine nun and mystic
St. Mechtilde of Helfta (1298), Virgin, friend/St. Gertrude the Great | <urn:uuid:ffd5bef8-7454-471e-a183-946620af2029> | {
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QUESTION: May a funeral be held on Tu Beshevat? The question has been asked by environmentally conscious teenage grandchildren who feel that this holiday is important to them? (Charles Lehman, Chicago IL).
ANSWER: This day, the New Year of the trees, is one of the very minor commemorative days mentioned by the Mishnah (R H 1.1) which has hardly been noted through the centuries. In ancient times it was customary to plant a cedar for every male child and a cypress for each female baby on that day. When the child was to be married the trees were cut down and the wood used for the hupah poles (Git 57a).
It was celebrated more widely by some kabbalists including Nathan Benjamin of Gaza who provided a liturgy for the night. Hayim Vital of Safed in the 16th century developed a full seder for the holiday (Sefer Peri Etz Hadar) of readings from many different sources. Hayim Vital also specified thirty species of fruit and nuts to be consumed during that night. He divided them into three groups of ten, each for ten sefirot. Consuming these fruit was considered atonement for the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge in Paradise.
In northern Europe where fruit and nuts were not as plentiful and the population much poorer, carobs from Israel where consumed as a symbol of the festive day.
In more recent times this holiday has been associated with our ecological concerns and some congregations has developed their own seder for the night. Judaism has historically expressed concern for the environment (W. Jacob Contemporary American Reform Responsa # 12); as our interest in this increases, the minor holiday will become more important. This has happened during the last century with Hannukah.
Despite such emphasis there would be no reason for avoiding a funeral on this day. There are no such prohibitions connected with any of the minor holidays. The grandchildren should combine their concern for ecology with the honor due to their grandfather; it may make the day even more memorable for them in the future. | <urn:uuid:6f791e7c-d7df-4d1a-9022-7edf25ab6d44> | {
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Nonpoint source pollution -- South Dakota; Watersheds -- South Dakota; Water -- Pollution -- South Dakota; Water quality management -- South Dakota
Report on continued planning, design, and implementation of best management practices in selected 303d listed waterbodies in South Dakota. This project was conducted in cooperation with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural...
During the fall of 1966 a badger study was initiated with the following objectives:
1. To determine the composition of the badger's diet in the study areas.
2. To determine the degree of pheasant nest depredation done by badgers in selected study...
Occupations -- Environmental aspects -- South Dakota; Clean energy industries -- Employment -- South Dakota; Green movement -- Environmental aspects -- South Dakota
A publication highlighting the findings of a research project completed in 2011 by the Labor Market Information Center with the cooperation of the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. | <urn:uuid:33928f5b-64d7-4f1b-bdb2-fd0be7c050cb> | {
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"Cooling Tower Heat Transfer 101"
By Brad Buecker
"Evaporation is utilized to its fullest extent in cooling towers, which are designed to expose the maximum transient water surface to the maximum flow of air – for the longest period of time.”1
For water to evaporate it must consume a large amount of energy to change state from a liquid to a gas.
Evaporation causes dissolved and suspended solids in the cooling water to increase in concentration. This concentration factor is (logically) termed the cycles of concentration (C). Cycles of concentration can be monitored by comparing the ratio of the concentration of a very soluble ion, such as chloride or magnesium, in the makeup (MU) and recirculating (R) water. Very common is a comparison of the specific conductivity of the two streams, particularly where automatic control is utilized to bleed off recirculating water when it becomes too concentrated.
Besides blowdown, some water also escapes the process as fine moisture droplets in the cooling tower fan exhaust. This water loss is known as drift (D). Where towers are well-designed, drift is quite small and can be as low as 0.0005 percent of the recirculation rate.2 Drift particulate minimization is very important, as regulations on particulate emissions from cooling towers continue to tighten. Leaks in the cooling system are referred to as losses (L).
1. J.C. Hensley, ed., Cooling Tower Fundamentals, 2nd Edition; The Marley Cooling Tower Company (now part of SPX Cooling Technologies, Overland Park, Kan.), 1985.
2. Personal conversation with Rich Aull of Brentwood Industries.
Power Engineering, July 2010 | <urn:uuid:e5cb2966-a291-4740-b6e8-acb0d7e4de98> | {
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Israeli artist Aharon Gluska was born in Hadera, Israel and now lives in New York. Gluska's works focus on the faces of victims of the Holocaust and have an eerie effect in a gallery installation. The images appear to suggest faces appearing from a mist or from time past, as if midway between absence and presence, in and out of the memory of the viewer. His art is also an attempt to put faces on the victims. On occasion, as shown on images on this site, the facial images are arranged not on walls, but on the floor, which creates a grave-like effect. Gluska's early images were single, evoking memories of the photographs taken of inmates as they were registered into concentration camps. His later works have the form of multiples, a repetition of images that suggest the transformation of human life into ash or nothingness. In some of his works, those portrayed look right and left, as if there was no exit. The darkness surrounding the facial images reinforces the darkness of the event, and the fate of those depicted.
Another suggestion in some of Gluska's multiple series is that of bystanders peering through a small hole to see just part of the face of the "victim." In such serial works, unlike the tradition of Andy Warhol, each image has varying distortions. Some of the images evoke 19th century Daguerreotypes or silver emulsion images, or may even be considered as faces from sarcophagi from Roman or Byzantine tombs.
Gluska's dark abstractions in the form of an artist's book suggest an emotional response to the negativity of the human suffering of the Holocaust and images of oblivion.
For more information:
Aharon Gluska website.
Aharon Gluska is featured in the book Jewish-American Artists and the Holocaust by Matthew Baigell
Site constructed with permission of the artist. Page updated 2012. | <urn:uuid:ebd4a7b1-bf09-4ee2-865d-1f1ed402df4a> | {
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‘When the crocus blossoms,’ hiss the women in Berlin,
‘He will press the button, and the battle will begin.
When the crocus blossoms, up the German knights will go,
And flame and fume and filthiness will terminate the foe…
When the crocus blossoms, not a neutral will remain.’
(A P Herbert, Spring Song, quoted in To Lose a Battle, by Alistair Horne)
On May 10, 1940, German forces launched an attack against Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Few people among the Allies imagined that France would collapse in only six weeks: Churchill, for example, had a high opinion of the fighting qualities of the French army. But collapse is what happened, of course, and we are still all living with the consequences. General Andre Beaufre, who in 1940 was a young Captain on the French staff, wrote in 1967:
The collapse of the French Army is the most important event of the twentieth century.
If it’s an exaggeration, it’s not much of one. If France had held up to the German assault as effectively as it was expected to do, World War II would probably have never reached the nightmare levels that it in fact did reach. The Hitler regime might well have fallen. The Holocaust would never have happened. Most likely, there would have been no Communist takeover of Eastern Europe.
This campaign has never received much attention in America; it tends to be regarded as something that happened before the “real” war started. Indeed, many denizens of the Anglosphere seem to believe that the French basically gave up without a fight–which is a considerable exaggeration given the French casualties of around 90,000 killed and 200,000 wounded. But I think the fall of France deserves serious study, and that some of the root causes of the defeat are scarily relevant to today’s world.
First, I will very briefly summarize the campaign from a military standpoint, and will then shift focus to the social and political factors involved in the defeat.
France’s border can be thought of in terms of three sectors. In the north, the border with with Belgium. Early French military planning had been based on the idea of a strong cooperative relationship with Belgium: however, in the years immediately prior to 1940, that country had adopted a position of neutrality and had refused to do any joint military planning with France. In the south, the border was protected by the forts of the Maginot Line (the southern flank of which was anchored by mountainous territory bordering on Switzerland and Italy.) In between these regions was the country of the Ardennes. It was heavily wooded and with few roads, and the French high command did not believe it was a feasible attack route for strong forces–hence, the Maginot Line had not been extended to cover it, and the border here was protected only with field fortifications.
The French plans was based on the assumption that the main German attack would come through Belgium. Following the expected request from the Belgian government for assistance, strong French forces were to advance into that country and counterattack the Germans. In the Maginot and Ardennes sectors, holding actions only were envisaged. While the troops manning the Maginot were of high quality, the Ardennes forces included a large proportion of middle-aged reservists, and had been designated as lower-class units.
The opening moves seemed to fit expectations. The Germans launched a powerful attack through Belgium, and the Belgian government made the expected requests for help. Andre Beaufre:
Doumenc sent me at once to Vincennes to report to General Gamelin (the French supreme commander). I arrived at 6.30 AM at the moment when the order had just been given for the huge machine to go into operation: the advance into Belgium. Gamelin was striding up and down the corridor in his fort, humming, with a pleased and martial air which I had never seen before. It has been said since that he expected defeat, but I could see no evidence of it at the time.
There was heavy fighting in Belgium…but the German attack on this country had served to mask their real point of maximum effort. Early in the morning of the 13th, it became clear that massive German forces were moving through the Ardennes, which had turned out to not be so impassable after all. A massive German air attack paved the way for a crossing of the Meuse river and the capture of the town of Sedan. French officers were stunned by the speed of the German advance–they had expected delays while the Germans brought up heavy artillery, not understanding that dive bombers could play a role similar to that traditionally played by artillery. And the bombing was psychologically-shattering, especially for inexperienced troops. The famous historian Marc Bloch had been exposed to many artillery barrages while fighting in the First World War: in reflecting on his service in 1940, he observed that he found aerial bombing much more frightening even though it was, objectively, probably less dangerous. (Bloch later joined the Resistance and was captured by the Germans and shot.)
The French command never really recovered from the unexpected thrust through the Ardennes and the fall of Sedan. Beginning on May 27, the British evacuated their troops at Dunkirk. On June 14, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned. He was succeeded by Philippe Petain, a hero of the First World War, who immediately sought terms with the Germans. The “armistice”–basically a surrender–was signed on June 20. By Hitler’s order, it was signed in the same railway car where the armistice of 1918 had been signed. Hitler was present in person for the ceremony: William Shirer was fifty yards away, and was studying his expression through binoculars: It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph.
Many military factors were involved in the defeat–obsolete doctrine on armored forces, inadequate use of radio communications, a strange and cumbersome military organization structure. But the roots of the 1940 debacle are not to be found only–or perhaps even primarily–in strictly military matters. A major role was played by certain characteristics of French society and politics of the time–and some of these factors are spookily similar to some of the things that are going on in America today.
In her autobiography, Simone de Beauvoir reflects on the attitude of the French Left (of which she was a part) toward the rise of Nazi Germany…”there was no threat to peace; the only danger was the panic that the Right was attempting to spread in France with the aim of dragging us into war.” (Horne) A constant thread that runs through France in the 1930s is the extreme factionalism, often resulting in more fear and distrust of other Frenchmen than of the rising external enemy.
This was not only a phenomenon of the Left. Among conservative elites, for example, the phrase Better Hitler than Blum was popular. Leon Blum (Premier 1936-37) was a fairly mild Socialist, best known for his advocacy of the 5-day week. Something about him inspired crazed hatred on the part of French Conservatives and Rightists. “A man to shoot in the back,” wrote Charles Maurras, and he was by no means alone in such sentiments. As Julian Jackson puts it in his book The Fall of France: “Politics in France in the 1930s had reached a pitch of violence that had something of the atmosphere of civil war.”
Leon Blum and George W Bush are, of course, two very different men, believing in very different kinds of things. But it is hard not to hear an echo of the insane Blum-hatred of the late 1930s in the insane Bush-hatred of today.
Nor did the factionalism stop on May 10, 1940. Georges Mandel, the courageous Minister of the Interior, observed a Deputy (legislator) whose district had been bombed by the enemy…he went about the lobbies (of the Chamber of Deputies), screaming “I will interpellate the government on this outrage as soon as the Chamber meets!”Mandel remarked to his friend, the English General Edward Spears, about the disconnect of this behavior from reality. “Paris is bombed by the Germans? Let’s shake our fists at our own Government.”
It is virtually impossible to win a war when politics is being conducted in such a manner…when the “enemy” across the aisle is hated more than the enemy in the bombers overhead. And, again, it is hard not to hear the echo of that Deputy of 1940 in the way that every reverse in Iraq or Afghanistan is used as a platform for vicious attacks on President Bush.
The tendency to view everything through the lens of domestic politics certainly had a malign influence on French military preparedness. Consider, for example, the matter of aircraft production. When the aggressive Guy La Chambre took over as Air Minister (in January 1938), he reputedly “found nothing but a disheartened industry of small workshops of which only one factory alone was equipped for mass production. As war approached and the production gap with the Luftwaffe appeared hopelessly wide, he tried to fill it by means of large-scale purchases from the United States; but even this measure of desperation met with intense opposition from the French aircraft manufacturers lobby.” (Horne) At roughly the same time, the Left was objecting to the restoration of a longer work week in order to increase armaments production. (In the event, some aircraft orders were placed in the US, but not nearly on the scale needed, and the work week was lengthened, but not without an epidemic of disruptive strikes.)
The 1930s were a time of frequent financial/political scandals. The most famous of these was the Stavisky affair: Serge Alexander Stavisky was able to sell bonds worth 200 million francs based on the assets of Bayonne’s municipal pawnshop. His political connections assisted him both in pulling off the scam and in getting his trial postponed 19 times. The result was a considerable weakening of confidence in France’s governing institutions.
There was rising xenophobia and anti-Semitism. With onset of the Depression (which came later in France than in the US and Britain), immigrants were viewed as competitors for jobs (even though France was in a demographic crisis, with both a low birth rate and the effects of the horrendous casualties of 1914-1918), and became targets of violence. France was faced with half a million refugees from Spain following Franco’s defeat of Republican forces in that country, and there were also refugees from other Nazi and Fascist countries. (Despite the xenophobia, “it must be said that France was more generous in providing asylum than any other European country or than the United States.” (Piers Brendon, The Dark Valley))
In the period just before Munich, fears of war were very strong, and many people chose to blame the Czechs…and the Jews. In Paris, Strasbourg, Dijon and elsewhere mobs attacked Jews and looted their shops, shouting: “Down with the Jewish war.” (Brendon)
By 1939, many Frenchmen had had enough of Hitler’s threats, and support for resistance against further aggression was growing…but there were still strong voices for appeasement. And these was a pervasive sense that something was deeply wrong with French society. Jean Renoir’s film La Regle du Jeu, opened in July 1939 but banned as “too demoralizing” by September, portrayed, in Brendon’s words, “a corrupt and disintegrating society held together only by deception. ‘We live at a time when everyone lies,’ says one of the characters, ‘drug ads, governments, radio, movies, newspaper.’”
The most splendid Parisian ball of the 1939 season took place on a warm July night at the Polish embassy. Brendon describes the scene:
Ministers and diplomats sipped champagne while an orchestra played and beautiful women in frothy gowns waltzed with military officers. “In the gardens white marble sphinxes gleamed beneath the stars…and pots of red fire threw on the scene the glow of a conflagration.’ The polish Ambassador, Julius Lukasziewicz, believed that Bonnet was “definitely seeking some legally valid escape” from French obligations, news of which accounted for increased “blustering” in Berlin. The shadows quivered. All thought war imminent and some were reminded of the ball “given by Wellington on the eve of Waterloo.” Watching a mazurka, Reynaud (who became Prime Minister just before the attack of 1940-ed) remarked: “it is scarcely enough to say that they are dancing on a volcano. For what is an eruption of Vesuvius compared to the cataclysm which is forming under our feet?” | <urn:uuid:769554a3-d820-4a4f-b1f1-7b24195316ea> | {
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Physical health problems encountered during adolescence can affect the development of the body, if not treated. There are few anatomic regions, such as spine, knee and ankle, in adolescents which can get orthopedic problems such as Osgood-Schlatter disease, and Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis.
Osgood-Schlatter disease is caused due to injury or overuse of the knee which causes swelling and pain in the area below the knee, above the shin bone. The patellar tendon and the soft tissues surrounding it gets inflamed, because of the constant pulling of the area where the tendon joins the below knee. Usually, adolescents who participate in sports actively and are athletic, such as football, basketball, soccer, ballet and gymnastics, tend to get the Osgood-Schlatter disease. Boys of age eleven to fifteen and girls of age eight to thirteen are at greater risk. The reason why adolescents get this problem is that their bones grow faster when compared to the tendons and muscles in this age and because of this the muscles and tendons stretch and become tight.
orthopedic problems The symptoms of Osgood-Schlatter disease are swelling of knee, tenderness below knee area and limping. The doctor will check the medical history of the patient and will conduct physical examination and diagnostic procedures such as taking an X-ray. The physician will decide on the treatment to be done by studying the overall health, age, medical history, tolerance for certain medications and extent of the disease. Treatment will include medications, rest, compression, elevation, neoprene knee sleeve and physical therapy. The main aim will be to control and limit the knee pain by cutting down on the adolescent’s physical activities. Usually the Osgood-Schlatter disease gets healed over a period of time and in very rare cases is a surgery required.
Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is a problem which affects the hip joint. The ball or head of the thigh bone, also known as femoral head slips from the thigh bone’s neck. Because of this the hip joint becomes stiff and painful. Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is the most common disorder of the hip which can happen in both the hips or one and it is more common in boys when compared to girls. Basically, adolescents of the age ten to eighteen years and who are overweight can be affected by this condition. The condition can arise over a time interval of few weeks or years. The condition, if resulted because of trauma and is also called acute slip and if results after a period of time is called chronic slip. Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is caused because of medications, radiation treatment, thyroid problems, and chemotherapy.
orthopedic problems adolescents There are three degrees of intensity of slipped capital femoral epiphysis, mild, moderate and severe. In mild slipped capital femoral epiphysis, only one third of femoral head slips from the thigh bone. In moderate, one third to half slips and in severe, more than half of the femoral head slips. The symptoms of this condition are pain in hip which increases upon movement, pain in thigh, knee & groin and limpness in the leg. When an adolescent walks there will be a clicking sound in the hip and his/her legs will be turned outwards.
Apart from studying the medical history of the patient, the doctor will recommend diagnostic procedures such as bone scans, X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging and blood test. The bone scans will determine the arthritic changes and degenerative changes in the joints, which helps to detect tumors & bone diseases and the cause of pain and inflammation. The X-ray will give the inside picture of the bones, tissues and organs. The magnetic resonance imaging provide detailed image of the structures within the body with the help of large magnets. It is best if slipped capital femoral epiphysis is determined in the early stages, so that the femur bone’s head doesn’t slip off any further. The adolescent may need to undergo a surgery along with physical therapy.
Scoliosis in Adolescents
Normally, a spine when viewed from rear should appear straight but if the spine is lateral or curved or sideways or rotated then it is affected by scoliosis. It gives an appearance as if the person has leaned to a side. According to Scoliosis Research Society the definition of scoliosis is the curving of the spine at an angle greater than 10 degrees on an x-ray. Scoliosis is a kind of spinal deformity and shouldn’t be confused to poor posture. Usually there are 4 common kinds of patterns of curves experienced in Scoliosis which are: Thoracic wherein the right side has ninety percent curves, lumbar wherein left side has seventy percent curves, thoracolumbar wherein right side has eighty percent curves and double major where both right and left sides have curves.
In majority of the cases, as high as eight to eighty five percent, the cause of the deformity is unknown, this is also known as idiopathic scoliosis. It is observed that females have scoliosis more commonly than males. According to some established facts 3 to 5 children per 1000 has chances of developing spinal curves which is a number big enough requiring medical treatment. There are three types of scoliosis that can develop in children namely congenital, neuromuscular and idiopathic. Congenital scoliosis is seen in 1 out every 1,000 births which is caused due to vertebrae’s failure in normal formation, vertebrae is absent, vertebrae is formed partially and vertebrae is not separated. Neuromuscular scoliosis is linked with various neurological conditions and particularly in children who don’t walk like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, tumors in spinal cord, paralytic conditions and neurofibromatosis. The cause of third type of scoliosis called Idiopathic scoliosis is still unknown. It is further divided into infantile, juvenile and adolescent scoliosis. Infantile scoliosis occurs up to the age of 3 years from birth wherein the vertebrae curve is towards left and is more frequently observed in boys. The curve takes normal shape with the growth of child. Juvenile scoliosis is common in children of age three to nine. Adolescent scoliosis is common in kids of age ten to eighteen and this is also the most common form of scoliosis occurring more in girls than boys.
The other possible causes of the deformity include hereditary reasons, different lengths of legs, injuries, infections and tumors. There are numerous symptoms attributed to scoliosis which can vary from individual to individual. The symptoms are: Difference in heights of the shoulders, off-centered head, difference in the height or position of the hip, difference in the position or height of shoulder blade, different arm lengths in straight standing position and lastly different height back sides when the body is bent forward. Other symptoms include leg pain, back pain and change in bladder and bowel habits do not belong to the symptoms of idiopathic scoliosis and require medical checkup by a doctor. The symptoms may be similar to other problems related to spinal cord or other deformities or could result from an infection or injury and consulting a doctor is the best bet in this situation who may conduct diagnosis to know what exactly it is.
The diagnosis of scoliosis requires thorough medical history of the teenager, diagnostic tests and also physical examination. The doctor asks for entire prenatal history, birth history and also would want to know if anyone in the family has scoliosis. The doctor may also ask for the milestones related with the development of the teenager since some kinds of scoliosis are known to be related to neuromuscular disorders. The delay in development may need additional medical evaluation. Doctor may also prescribe x-ray, CT scan and MRI scan of the back to measure the degree of curvature in the spinal. There are various treatments available for scoliosis which is decided by the physician depending on teenager’s age, medical history and health in general. The method of treatment also depends on the extent to which disease has reached. The tolerance of the teenager to certain medicines, therapies and procedures are also taken into consideration. Expectations and opinion of the parents or teenager is also the criteria in deciding the type of treatment. The main aim of the treatment is stop the curve from progressing and avert deformity. The treatments include observation and repetitive examinations, bracing and surgery to correct the defect.
Sprains and Strains in Adolescents
Sprains and strains are among the majority of the injuries caused while playing sports. Sports injuries can be caused by small trauma which involves ligaments, muscles and tendons including bruises, sprains and strains. The body part which is most commonly involved in spraining or straining is the ankle. The 3 ligaments that are involved during ankle sprain or strain include anterior talofubular ligament, posterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament.
An injury caused to the soft tissue as a result of a direct force like fall, kick and blow is called a contusion or a bruise. A sprain is nothing but a ligament injury which is wrenched or twisted. Sprains usually affect knees, wrists and ankles. On the other hand a strain is an injury caused to a tendon or muscle which usually results from force, stretching and overuse.
Sprains/Strains are usually diagnosed by a physician after a physical examination. The physician asks for thorough medical history of the adolescent and asks various questions that lead to the cause of the injury. Various diagnostic procedures are also available which also helps in evaluating the problem. X-ray is one of the oldest and common diagnostic tests done to know the extent and exact location of the injury. An x-ray uses electromagnetic waves to get photos of internal tissues, organs and bones onto a film. MRI scan is one of the recently evolved diagnostic procedures which also help in evaluating a physical injury. This procedure actually called Magnetic Resonance Imaging makes use of bug magnets, computer and radio frequencies to get detailed pictures of structures and organs inside the body. Another diagnostic procedure called Computed Tomography Scan or CT scan is also used to evaluate the extent and location of injury. This procedure uses a blend of computers and x-rays to get cross sectional pictures in horizontal and vertical alignment. It shows thorough pictures of any part of the body like muscles, bones, fat and organs. They provide more information than conventional x-rays.
There are various symptoms of strain and sprain depending on each teen’s physical condition and they may vary accordingly. One of the symptoms includes pain in and around the area injury. There could also be a swelling around the injured area. Some teens also experience difficulty when they use or move the area of the body that is injured. Some teenagers also undergo bruises or redness in the area that is injured. Many times the symptoms of sprains and strains may look similar to other medical conditions and a doctor’s advice is the best option in this scenario.
Depending on various factors the treatment of sprains and strains will be prescribed by the teenager’s physician that include teenager’s age, overall health of the teenager, and medical history of the adolescent. To what extent the teen is injured is also a factor in determining the nature of treatment. A teenager’s level of tolerance to certain medications, therapies and procedures is also taken into consideration before opting for a particular method of treatment. The treatment also depends of what expectations one has and also preference and opinion.
Various options available for treatment include things like restriction of the activity after the injury, application of cast/splint on the injured spot, crutches or wheelchair, physical therapy which involves stretching exercises to give strength to the muscles, tendons and ligaments that are injured and last but not the least is the surgery which is opted for in worst case scenario.
In the long-term scenario bruises, sprains and strains heal pretty quickly in kids and teenagers but it is important that the adolescent sticks to the restrictions imposed during the treatment and healing process like restriction of activity and regularly attending physical therapy sessions if any. It is noted that majority of the sports related injuries results either due to traumatic injury or excessive use of muscles and joints. But, they can be avoided and prevented with right training, by wearing right protective gears and by using right equipment for training.
Tennis Elbow in Adolescents
Tennis elbow is a condition in which tendon fibers that attach on epicondyle on the elbow’s exterior degenerates. The tendons talked about here anchor the muscles that help wrist and hand to lift. Although tennis elbow occurs mostly in patients of thirty to fifty years of age but it can happen to people of any age. Also tennis elbow affects almost fifty percent of teenagers who are in racquet sports thus the name “tennis elbow”. But still most of the patients who suffer with tennis elbow are people who don’t play racquet sports. Majority if the times there isn’t any specific injury before the symptoms start showing up. Tennis elbow can also happen to people who use their forearm muscles frequently and vigorously for day to day work and recreational activities. Ironically some patients develop the condition without any of the activity related reasons that leads to the symptoms.
The symptoms of tennis elbow include severe burning pain on the elbow’s exterior region. In majority of the cases this starts as a slow and mild pain gradually worsening with the passage of few weeks or sometimes months. The pain worsens when one tries to lift objects. In some cases it may pain even while lifting light objects like a book or full coffee cup. In the severest cases it can pain even at the movement of the elbow.
The diagnosis of the tennis elbow involves physician inquiring about the medical history of the teenager and a physical examination of the elbow by pressing directly on the part where bone is prominent on the elbow’s exterior to check if it causes any pain. The physician may also ask the teenager to lift the fingers or wrist and apply pressure to check if it causes any pain again. X-rays are never opted for diagnosis. However a MRI scan may be done to see changes in tendons at the attachment to the bone.
There are many treatment options available and in majority of the cases non-surgical treatment is given a try. The ultimate goal of the 1st phase of the treatment is pain relief. Be ready to hear from the physician to stop any activity leading to the symptoms. The doctor may also tell the teenager to apply ice to elbow’s exterior and he/she may also tell the teenager to take anti-inflammatory medicines for relief from pain.
The symptoms also diminished with the help of orthotics. The physician may also want to go for counterforce braces and also wrist splints which can greatly cut down symptoms by providing rest to tendons and muscles. The symptoms should show signs of recovery within 4 to 6 weeks otherwise next option would be to go for a injection called corticosteroid in the vicinity of the elbow. This greatly reduces pain and is also very safe to use. There are many side affects involved if it is overused.
Once there is a relief from pain the treatment’s next phase starts which involve modification of activities in order to prevent the symptoms from returning. The doctor may also prescribe the teenager to go for physical therapy which may include stretching exercises to gradually increase the strength of the affected tendons and muscles. Physical therapies have high success rates and return your elbow back to normal working again. Again non-surgical procedures are highly successful in eighty five to ninety percent patients.
Surgical procedure is considered only when patients undergo relentless pain that doesn’t improve even after 6 months of non-surgical treatment. The procedure involves removal of affected tendon tissue and attaching it back to bone. The surgery is done on outpatient basis and does not need stay at the hospital. The surgery is done by making a small incision on elbow’s exterior’s bony prominence. In recent years a surgery known as arthroscopic surgery has also been developed but no major benefits have been seen using it over the traditional method of open incision. | <urn:uuid:4acf9421-cb2d-4134-8cfa-fead1316cb90> | {
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Climate and the weather: There is now a mass of evidence that climate is changing fast. Confusion arises because most people don’t appreciate the difference between weather and climate. A cold winter in north Europe doesn’t mean that the climate is cooling: there’s a lot of natural variation year by year and always has been. Climate is about averaging the weather’s variations around the planet over a number of years and looking for a global trend. And there is a trend: temperatures are increasing. The planet is getting hotter and the rate looks set to accelerate.
The evidence comes from careful observations by scientists from many different disciplines over many years. Many lines of evidence can actually be seen happening:
- Ice sheets and glaciers are melting everywhere and there are many dramatic before and after photos which illustrate this
- The area covered by floating sea ice in the Arctic is reducing rapidly
- Permafrost in the Arctic is melting, releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas (an example of a dangerous ‘positive’ feedback)
- The lower atmosphere (troposphere) is becoming warmer
- Sea levels and ocean temperatures are rising (see below)
- Species of animals and plants are ‘migrating’ to higher latitudes because their home ranges are becoming too warm for them. Diseases are also expanding their range and affecting crops and trees as well as people
- Coral reefs are being killed by the hotter waters. Corals are not only beautiful to look at, they are nursery grounds to myriads of marine species (and sometimes called ‘the rainforests of the sea’.) The planet needs its corals because they sequester carbon from carbon dioxide (CO2) to build their skeletons out of a hard, white mineral called calcium carbonate so, like trees, they are ‘carbon sinks’
- The oceans are absorbing much of the CO2 but as they do so, they are becoming more acidic. This is affecting all kinds of marine life which build their shells out of calcium carbonate. The mineral dissolves in weak acid so acidification means that corals and shells won’t be able to grow, triggering all kinds of knock-on effects in the marine food chain.
How can scientists investigate past climates accurately? One way is to examine drill cores taken from ice sheets like those covering Antarctica and Greenland. Past climates can be reconstructed effectively using the records of former atmosphere composition and precipitation preserved in the ice. What’s more, they can be cross-checked using actual historical records and other ‘proxy’ observations such as tree-rings, isotope analysis and radiometric dating. Importantly, the ice cores contain a record of CO2 levels which are higher now than at any time in the last 700,000 years. One well-known result of using all these different methods to assess past climates is the hockey stick graph in which numerous different lines of evidence broadly agree that temperatures have over recent decades started on a steep upward trend. It is not a uniform upward movement because of complex atmosphere-ocean oscillations, the best-known of which is El Niño.
One prediction made by the computer models is that the Arctic and Antarctic will warm faster than the rest of the world. Evidence is coming in that not only is this happening but, alarmingly, it’s happening even faster than predicted because of positive feedbacks. Other predictions show droughts and desert areas increasing (particularly in Australia) and more violent weather patterns with poor countries particularly vulnerable (especially much of Africa). Tropical forests - normally massive carbon 'sinks' (the trees absorb CO2 from the air and transform it into wood, so locking up the carbon) – are today being logged and burned to make way for farming and biofuel plantations, releasing vast quantities of CO2 into the air. As if that wasn’t enough, the models predict drying and major die-off of the Amazon rainforests and increase in wildfires in these former sanctuaries of biodiversity.
The main concern is that rising global temperatures will trigger ‘tipping points’ where GHG inputs reach a critical level, causing a major climate ‘flip’ which could be extremely hostile to much of life – including humans. We know from the distant past that major climate change events can and do occur. One of these, almost certainly caused by GHGs from stupendous volcanic eruptions, wiped out 90 per cent of life on the planet. This mass extinction event occurred around 250 million years ago and was probably worsened by ‘tipping points’ such as major methane releases from methane clathrates. (Today’s oceans host vast deposits of clathrates.) We know of 5 mass extinctions from the geological record and we are now causing the sixth.
How warming happens: the greenhouse effect If you enter a greenhouse on a sunny day, it’s hot because the sun’s heat is trapped by the glass. Carbon dioxide (and other gases like methane, nitrous oxide and ozone-killer CFCs) are called greenhouse gases because they, like the glass in a greenhouse, trap some of the sun’s heat. Without the greenhouse ‘blanket’, the planet would radiate most of this heat back into space. As more GHGs gush into the atmosphere from power station chimneys, farming and car tailpipes, it’s rather like adding double glazing to the greenhouse: more heat is trapped. Most of this heat is absorbed by the world’s oceans so they, like the air, are getting hotter.
The bathtub effect: Without the greenhouse effect, life on Earth wouldn’t exist. Some GHGs are essential to keep the planet habitable, but humans are grossly overdoing it. Imagine a bath (which represents the atmosphere) with the taps full on and gushing water (representing GHGs pouring into the atmosphere). There’s no plug so water is also draining from the plughole (representing carbon ‘sinks’ like the oceans and forests which both naturally absorb CO2). In a stable system, the amount of water coming in is roughly balanced by the amount flowing out: the carbon cycle. But we’ve upset the system by pouring increasing amounts of ‘water’ into the ‘bathtub’ so the tub is filling up and will soon overflow. The ‘carbon sinks’ drain is overwhelmed so the planet heats up. This is well explained by the Bathtub simulator. Before people began to burn fossil-fuel in the 19th century, CO2 levels – even during warm periods - were below 300 parts per million (ppm). During ice ages, they fell to less than 200ppm. Since the industrial revolution, they have risen ever faster, particularly in the last decade and now stand at 387. Actual warming closely mirrors this rise.
Sea level rise: Warmer water expands so sea levels go up. But sea levels also rise because of all the melting glaciers and ice sheets around the world. In fact, the rapid melting of almost all the world’s glaciers is one of the most scary indicators that the climate is warming. Sea levels have been rising by about 2mm each year for the last century but this is predicted to greatly increase, causing large scale flooding of many low lying populated areas. The IPCC in their latest (2007) report predict about half a metre of further sea level rise though more recent research suggests double that amount.
This guide to the scientific evidence for climate change and the predictions science can make is deliberately very brief. Below is a list of sources of further information if you want to follow anything up.
The Royal Society has produced this overview of the current state of scientific understanding of climate change to help non-experts better understand some of the debates in this complex area of science.
New Scientist's guide to climate change, global warming and greenhouse gases with many other interesting links and news stories.
‘Understanding and Responding to Climate Change’ Downloadable PDF document from the US National Academies. Excellent guide with clear explanations and many images. A free printed version is also available.
RealClimate Climate science blog written by climate scientists with many useful short guides e.g. ‘Highlight’ (right column, scroll down)
Climate change for kids, explained by OneWorld’s Tiki the Penguin
OneWorld’s guide to climate change exposes the reality that global warming will impact poorer countries harder and sooner than the richer countries which are responsible. | <urn:uuid:1d9da3c6-943a-4651-bac7-226d34eb9ce7> | {
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The Association of College and Research Libraries defines the information literate student as able to:
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• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally
Information Literacy, Oral Communication, Critical Thinking and Written Communication are the Universal Student Competencies as defined by the Middle States General Education requirements.
The following resources are designed to assist faculty in developing assignments and instruction that meets the Information Literacy competencies.
Working with a librarian
Information Literacy hands-on activities reinforce the work done in the classroom and assist faculty and students in the use of research tools. In order to assist students in their academic work, the Information Literacy Librarian collaborates directly with instructors in a team teaching setting. The Librarian will provide assistance with, and advice on, effective strategies for the integration, delivery, and evaluation of Information Literacy Competencies within the College’s curricula.
Please contact Katie DeRusso at x5858 or email [email protected] for more information or to schedule a session.
The information literacy librarian will work with faculty on creating assignments, providing a full-class session on conducting research for a class assignment or can serve as an embedded librarian, working closely with the class throughout the semester.
Designing assignments for student success
Well-designed course-related library assignments are an effective way to introduce students to research and emphasize the importance of information sources. The following guidelines will help to insure students a positive library experience and reinforce library use as a means of learning.
• Assume minimal library knowledge and recognize that students might not be able to complete a research assignment without a librarian’s assistance.
• Although many students may be familiar with using some library tools, few understand the intricacies of subject headings or keyword searching and many have never used research journals.
• Explain the assignment detail and be sure to define terms such as “peer-reviewed articles” or “scholarly papers”
• Give students specific guidelines about the types of sources to be used. For instances, “you must use at least two books, three magazine/journal articles, and no more than two thoroughly evaluated websites”.
• Always be sure the library has the needed information students are instructed to use.
• There are few experiences more frustrating than looking for what does not exist or has been checked out. Use the Library's reserve service for materials that many students need to use.
• Avoid the mob scene. Dozens of students using just one book, article, or index, or looking for the same information usually leads to misplacement, loss, or mutilation of materials.
• Avoid scavenger hunts. Searching for obscure facts frustrates students, can cause chaos in the library stacks, and teaches students little about research (and it’s very easy for them to copy off each other). If planning a library exercise, talk to a librarian about designing one appropriate to the class.
• Ask a librarian to test your assignment before you give it to students
• Send a copy of the assignment to the library so the reference librarians can be fully prepared when students come for assistance. | <urn:uuid:bce956db-34c1-48ad-b42f-ce07df41c0d6> | {
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Just when we're finally used to seeing everybody constantly talking on their cell phones, it suddenly seems like no one is talking at all. Instead, they're typing away on tiny numerical pads, using their cell phones to send quick messages. SMS, or text messaging, has replaced talking on the phone for a new "thumb generation" of texters.
In this article, we'll find out how text messaging works, explore its uses and learn why it sometimes takes a while for your text message to get to its recipient.
SMS stands for short message service. Simply put, it is a method of communication that sends text between cell phones, or from a PC or handheld to a cell phone. The "short" part refers to the maximum size of the text messages: 160 characters (letters, numbers or symbols in the Latin alphabet). For other alphabets, such as Chinese, the maximum SMS size is 70 characters.
But how do SMS messages actually get to your phone? If you have read How Cell Phones Work, you can actually see what is happening.
Even if you are not talking on your cell phone, your phone is constantly sending and receiving information. It is talking to its cell phone tower over a pathway called a control channel. The reason for this chatter is so that the cell phone system knows which cell your phone is in, and so that your phone can change cells as you move around. Every so often, your phone and the tower will exchange a packet of data that lets both of them know that everything is OK.
Your phone also uses the control channel for call setup. When someone tries to call you, the tower sends your phone a message over the control channel that tells your phone to play its ringtone. The tower also gives your phone a pair of voice channel frequencies to use for the call.
The control channel also provides the pathway for SMS messages. When a friend sends you an SMS message, the message flows through the SMSC, then to the tower, and the tower sends the message to your phone as a little packet of data on the control channel. In the same way, when you send a message, your phone sends it to the tower on the control channel and it goes from the tower to the SMSC and from there to its destination.
The actual data format for the message includes things like the length of the message, a time stamp, the destination phone number, the format, etc. For a complete byte-by-byte breakdown of the message format, see this page. | <urn:uuid:820ab1bb-c8db-4031-aac7-73f66fbb0e02> | {
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History often emerges only in retrospect. Events become significant only when looked back on. No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square in a town barely on a map, he would spark protests that would bring down dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and rattle regimes in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Or that that spirit of dissent would spur Mexicans to rise up against the terror of drug cartels, Greeks to march against unaccountable leaders, Americans to occupy public spaces to protest income inequality, and Russians to marshal themselves against a corrupt autocracy.Protests have now occurred in countries whose populations total at least 3 billion people, and the word protest has appeared in newspapers and online exponentially more this past year than at any other time in history.
Is there a global tipping point for frustration? Everywhere, it seems, people said they'd had enough. They dissented; they demanded; they did not despair, even when the answers came back in a cloud of tear gas or a hail of bullets. They literally embodied the idea that individual action can bring collective, colossal change. And although it was understood differently in different places, the idea of democracy was present in every gathering. The root of the word democracy is demos, "the people," and the meaning of democracy is "the people rule." And they did, if not at the ballot box, then in the streets. America is a nation conceived in protest, and protest is in some ways the source code for democracy and evidence of the lack of it.
The protests have marked the rise of a new generation. In Egypt 60% of the population is under the age of 25. Technology mattered, but this was not a technological revolution. Social networks did not cause these movements, but they kept them alive and connected. Technology allowed us to watch, and it spread the virus of protest, but this was not a wired revolution; it was a human one, of hearts and minds, the oldest technology of all.
Everywhere this year, people have complained about the failure of traditional leadership and the fecklessness of institutions. Politicians cannot look beyond the next election, and they refuse to make hard choices. That's one reason we did not select an individual this year. But leadership has come from the bottom of the pyramid, not the top. For capturing and highlighting a global sense of restless promise, for upending governments and conventional wisdom, for combining the oldest of techniques with the newest of technologies to shine a light on human dignity and, finally, for steering the planet on a more democratic though sometimes more dangerous path for the 21st century, the Protester is TIME's 2011 Person of the Year.
Next The Protester | <urn:uuid:e7f66753-c74d-445e-a465-e07cc9e0f0d6> | {
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CHICAGO: Using software originally written for helicopters, scientists have analysed the aerodynamics of the largest bird known to have taken flight – it was the size of a light aircraft.
Argentavis magnificens cruised the skies above the Argentina’s grassy pampas about six million years ago, a soaring behemoth of a bird, dragging 63 kg in ballast.
But with little in the way of muscle to flap its wings and propel itself through the air, just how did the largest bird to ever take wing stay aloft?
That question has puzzled palaeontologists for decades, but in a study released today, U.S. researchers suggest that the now extinct Argentavis was essentially an expert glider, hitching a lift on thermals and updrafts.
“Once it was airborne, there was no problem. It could travel 200 miles in a day,” said geologist Sankar Chatterjee of the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and lead author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chatterjee and a team of researchers analysed the aerodynamics of the ancient bird of prey by plugging information about its flight parameters into flight simulation software.
The analysis showed that the prehistoric aviator, like most large soaring landbirds, was too large to sustain powered flight, but could soar efficiently, reaching speeds of up to 108 kph in the right conditions.
Like modern-day condors, Argentavis would have relied on updrafts in the foothills of the Andes, or columns or pockets of rising air known as thermals over the grassy pampas where it hunted its prey, for lifting power.
In all likelihood, the bird would have circled upwards on a thermal and glided from thermal to thermal sometimes over long distances between its roost site and feeding areas.
Although it had a 6.5-metre wingspan, its 30-metre turning radius was short enough that it could keep circling within a thermal as it rose high to search the plains for its prey.
“The hardest part would be taking off from the ground,” said Chatterjee. “It would have been impossible to take off from a standing start. It probably used some of the techniques used by hang-glider pilots such as running on sloping ground to get thrust or energy, or running with a headwind behind it.” | <urn:uuid:8d5c5782-7e18-4f82-ad67-8fb75a7ab12f> | {
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Anger is a normal reaction to a variety of situations that may confront us in our day to day life. Anger becomes a problem when we become either aggressive, out of control with our expression of anger; or we passively express our anger in a hurtful way to ourselves or others.
Aggressive anger is characterized by threats, hurtfulness, destructiveness, unjustly blaming others, selfishness, vengeance, physical expression of anger (such as fights or physical abuse) impulsivity and unpredictability. Aggressive anger can lead to loss of job, relationships and in extreme forms may lead to incarceration.
Passive anger is characterized by underhanded, sneaky type behavior such as manipulation, self-blame, self-sacrifice, evasiveness, exclusion of others, and obsessive behavior.
Anger management is a process of learning to recognize signs that we are becoming angry, and taking actions to calm down and deal with situations in a positive way. Anger management doesn't try to keep us from feeling anger or holding it in, but instead teaches us to deal with anger in a positive and constructive way.
For more information about Anger Management, or to find immediate help, click: [email protected]
Or call 305-598-6640 | <urn:uuid:b132ef1c-1e1c-479b-b61a-3c350c149552> | {
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Jubilee Day service honors DeKalb's unsung civil rights heroes
Ken Watts | 1/3/2014, 6 a.m.
DECATUR Forty-eight DeKalb residents who labored in obscurity during the 1960s civil rights movement were applauded by a small but enthusiastic crowd on Jubilee Day at Rainbow Park Baptist Church.
The annual Jan. 1 celebration, hosted by the DeKalb NAACP, marked the 151st anniversary of the effective date of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was aimed at freeing the slaves in all territory still at war with the Union.
This year it also honored the “unsung foot soldiers” of the civil rights movement who desegregated public schools in DeKalb and helped plan and execute demonstrations that ended Jim Crow laws in metro Atlanta.
Nine men and women attended the ceremony and the names of 22 others were read aloud by NAACP members D.E. Smith and Teresa Hardy.
Those in attendance were Lavern Woods Baker, Vincent Sanders, Gerald Sanders, Demetria Sanders Evans, Albert Smith, Roger Mills, Olitha McGuire Reid, Teresa Kelly Shy and Barbara Cross.
“We love and appreciate you for your service and willingness to sacrifice for us,” D.E. Smith said. “There are many others whose names we got after the printing deadline but we appreciate them as well.”
Vincent Sanders of Decatur, who helped desegregate Lithonia High School in 1965, said he’s grateful to the NAACP for making an effort to recognize unsung foot soldiers.
“It was a very nice program,” he said. “We feel appreciated and they should make it an annual event.”
Minister Jared Sawyer, a speaker at the ceremony, acknowledged his generation’s debt to civil rights-era activists.
“You may not be on the pages of history, but what you accomplished is truly amazing,” said Sawyer, who is 16 years old.
Lavern Woods Baker of Decatur participated in the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, and had been active in the DeKalb NAACP before that historic event.
She said she was an adviser for young people in the DeKalb NAACP and that she helped them prepare for demonstrations at cafeterias, stores, movie theaters and other places in the community that they were trying to integrate.
“I instructed them in nonviolent resistance and attitude,” Baker said. “You had to have a positive attitude and let them know that things would change.”
Albert Smith of Decatur was president of the DeKalb NAACP’s Youth Council in 1963. He helped staged several demonstrations to integrate the Lithonia city parks.
“We expanded into Decatur and did the same thing there,” said Smith, 68. “Then after I graduated from high school and went on to Morehouse College, I started working with SNCC – the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee – with Stokely Carmichael and Julian Bond, and we did demonstrations against some of the segregated restaurants there.”
On Aug. 28, 1963, he was among the crowd on the Washington Mall when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Smith said he would like to see greater activism among today’s youth.
“In the civil rights era, kids were a big part of the movement all over the South,” he said. “They jumped in and did what was necessary at the risk of their own safety.” | <urn:uuid:040d24fe-2577-4d53-9e08-32342259dc35> | {
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Researchers are obliged not to make compensation for participating in a clinical drug trial too attractive. Pay is based on the type of trial and how long it runs. Shorter trials usually pay less: typically $25 to $100 for a half day. In a longer, more difficult trial, you may make $100 to $200 per day, and up to thousands of dollars for the entire project [source: GPGP.net]. While some people move from trial to trial, no healthcare is offered to participants outside of the study. If you suffer physical injury during the study, there is no long-term medical support or additional pay. As a participant at a research facility, you can expect forms of entertainment including music, television, books and video games. Payment is made to subjects at the end of the clinical trial.
Why did the Chimpanzee Research Programs use captive breeding?
Answered by Curiosity
How is brain death determined?
Answered by Discovery Fit & Health
Why have contract medical research firms come under fire?
Answered by Science Channel | <urn:uuid:28476584-34e0-4b6f-9168-2d8fee644091> | {
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As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrated a birthday this month, it is worth noting how this document—noble in its original intentions—is often reinterpreted by advocates of a host of issues, resulting in a laundry list of new rights claims and corresponding government responsibilities thrust upon the 193 U.N. member states. Two prime examples of this misuse concern the rights to life and religious liberty, natural rights often sacrificed to any number of social causes.
With regard to abortion, the right to life promised to “everyone” in the Universal Declaration (Article 3) is rarely applied to the unborn, while a right to health or an adequate standard of living (Article 25) has been expanded substantially to include a woman’s so-called right to access abortion services.
Anand Grover, whose full title is Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, has repeatedly made the case that decriminalizing abortion is essential to reducing maternal mortality and achieving women’s right to health. As Special Rapporteur—U.N. lingo for an appointed, and largely unaccountable, expert—Grover recently caused a stir among some member states when he issued a report claiming that legal abortion is tantamount to a human right. The report stated:
Criminal laws penalizing and restricting induced abortion are the paradigmatic examples of impermissible barriers to the realization of women’s right to health and must be eliminated…Creation or maintenance of criminal laws with respect to abortion may amount to violations of the obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil [sic] the right to health.
Concerning religious liberty, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Nevertheless, these rights promised to individuals are at the center of a decade-long effort led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to globalize laws against blasphemy and apostasy that are common in Islamic societies. The Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society recently hosted authors Nina Shea and Paul Marshall for an event to discuss their new book Silenced, in which they document this effort:
In 1999, some Muslim-majority states began to argue that the UN must condemn and prohibit what the OIC labels “defamation of religions,” particularly of Islam. They have acknowledged that these “defamation of religions” resolutions are meant primarily to shield Islam and Muslims from criticism. The “defamation” push effectively seeks to redefine human rights in five ways, by: 1. treating religious matters under hate speech bans as if they were akin to racial matters; 2. granting rights to religions themselves rather than to individuals; 3. creating a new right not to be offended in matters of religion; 4. claiming that freedom of religion stands in opposition to freedom of expression; 5. giving an expansive interpretation to the exceptions to the right of freedom of expression. (Silenced, p.206)
In building a case for a ban on the defamation of religions, its advocates paint Muslims collectively as victims of discrimination. In fact, the OIC has an Islamophobia Observatory, which publishes a monthly bulletin chronicling “manifestations of Islamophobia,” mostly in Europe and the United States.
All rights claims are not equal, and as the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights is stretched and twisted to encompass ever more social and economic rights claims—sometimes conflicting ones—natural human rights are at risk of becoming endangered. | <urn:uuid:fa456eb7-61dd-4d30-acc6-349fe96f1ee6> | {
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Hazing of any kind is prohibited on campus and is unlawful in the state of North Carolina. The term encompasses actions or activities that do not contribute to the positive development of a person, including any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, or risks emotional/physical harm.
There are three main types of hazing:
Subtle - Subtle hazing includes all activities or attitudes meant to embarrass, humiliate or ridicule a person. Examples include: Issuing demerits; requiring silence periods; planning scavenger hunts for meaningless objects; and name-calling.
Harassment - Harassment hazing includes activities that confuse, frustrate, or cause a member undue stress through mental anguish and physical discomfort. Examples include: Requiring ridiculous costumes or activities; requiring probationary members to perform personal services; verbal abuse; any form of questioning under pressure or in an uncomfortable position; sleep or hygiene deprivation; and expecting new members to harass others.
Violent - Violent hazing includes any activity that causes physical or emotional harm. Examples include: Forcing alcohol consumption; forcing consumption of vile substances; sexual violation; assault; burning; forcing members into life-threatening situations; forcing water intoxication, forcing public nudity; and abducting/kidnapping members.
There are other ways to foster unity within a group and instill a sense of membership. For example: | <urn:uuid:0d3cb169-a06a-4f5a-a4f6-4cc867aad616> | {
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What is Academic Dishonesty?
In promoting a high standard of academic integrity, the University broadly defines academic dishonesty—basically, all conduct that violates this standard, including any act designed to give an unfair or undeserved academic advantage, such as:
- Unauthorized Collaboration / Collusion
- Falsifying Academic Records
- Misrepresenting Facts (e.g., providing false information to postpone an exam, obtain an extended deadline for an assignment, or even gain an unearned financial benefit)
- Any other acts (or attempted acts) that violate the basic standard of academic integrity (e.g., multiple submissions—submitting essentially the same written assignment for two courses without authorization to do so)
Several types of Academic dishonesty—unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism, and multiple submissions—are discussed in more detail on this Web site to correct common misperceptions about these particular offenses and suggest ways to avoid committing them.
For the University's official definition of academic dishonesty, see Section 11-402, Institutional Rules on Student Services and Activities. | <urn:uuid:90cd7c54-e033-4159-ba27-be494e6ad3d8> | {
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What is your philosophy of education? This question is both tricky and challenging, that you have to focus to create good essays. A philosophy is about one's outlook. Aspiring mentors are required to formulate their own personal educational philosophy.
Your philosophy reflects who you are,
There is no absolute philosophy as people have different beliefs. You can quote an existing philosophy but always give credit where it is due. And remember that it does not end with mentioning a philosophy. Show that you clearly understand the idea. Explain using your own words. Relate the concept to your personal experience.
Speak from the heart to come up with good essays. Be retrospective. Look back to what triggered your passion to teach. Is it your least or most favorite professor? Fast forward to your aim which you would like to work on.
Composing a philosophy is not merely a statement of principles. It is at the same time, an action plan. You are to expound how you will apply your beliefs to your teaching strategies.
Be careful of what and how you write,
Maintain a positive voice. You do not have to criticize other instructors' teaching styles, and compare with yours. Do not talk about the problems that the field of education is currently facing. Your audience are aware of that. Discuss instead realistic solutions. Talk about your how your techniques can promote learning.
Treat your philosophy as a critical writing coursework. Focus on a single topic per paragraph. Use the first sentences as introduction. You would not want to confuse your readers, so organize your thoughts and observe smooth transitions. Proofread as many times as you can. You can also ask expert writers of good essays to read your philosophy. Take note of their feedbacks when revising your output.
Keep in mind,Deans or principal would like to look into the mindset of potential members of their learning community. They are not just after your ability to compose good essays. They want to know if you have what it takes to teach, and that you have to prove on your philosophy. | <urn:uuid:7675644a-31d4-4cbf-ade5-728794f2754f> | {
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Why is the ninth month called September?
tidal tid·al (tīd'l)
Resembling the tides; alternately rising and falling.
(in the LXX. called "Thorgal"), styled the "king of nations" (Gen.14:1-9). Mentioned as Tudkhula on Arioch's brick (see facing page 139). _Goyyim_, translated "nations," is the country called Gutium, east of Tigris and north of Elam. | <urn:uuid:b582014c-0a30-406b-960d-37c1c99a457d> | {
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See also the entry on Higher female effective population size in recent human evolution
Evolution Int J Org Evolution. 2004 Jul;58(7):1613-6.
Estimating the strength of sexual selection from Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA diversity.
Wade MJ et al.
We show that a sex difference in the opportunity for selection results in sex differences in the strength of random genetic drift and thus creates different patterns of genetic diversity for maternally and paternally inherited haploid genes. We derive the effective population size Ne for a male-limited or female-limited haploid gene in terms of I, the "opportunity for selection" or the variance in relative fitness. Because the variance in relative fitness of males can be an order of magnitude larger than that of females, the Ne is much smaller for males than it is for females. We derive both nonequilibrium and equilibrium expressions for F(ST) in terms of I and show how the portion of I owing to sexual selection, Imates, that is, the variation among males in mate numbers, is a simple function of the F's for cytoplasmic (female inherited) and Y-linked (male inherited) genes. Because multiple, transgenerational data are lacking to apply the nonequilibrium expression, we apply only the equilibrium model to published data on Y chromosome and mitochondrial sequence divergence in Homo sapiens to quantify the opportunity for sexual selection. The estimate suggests that sexual selection in humans represents a minimum of 54.8% of total selection, supporting Darwin's proposal that sexual selection has played a significant role in human evolution and the recent proposal regarding a shift from polygamy to monogamy in humans. | <urn:uuid:98f6a58b-3976-40d2-b6fb-bc017efad3d8> | {
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By Joe T. Roff
Joe T. Roff, who has written this story of the early days in the Chickasaw Nation, is the oldest living member of a well known family who were pioneers in southwestern Oklahoma.
At his home in Roff, Pontotoc County, on April 13, 1935, he celebrated his 87th birthday. There were present on this occasion more than twenty-five relatives, including children, grandchildren, one sister, Mrs. Jennie Braly of Ada, and one brother, Charles L. Roff, who for many years was a resident and respected citizen of the Territory of Oklahoma, but now residing at Durant.
Joe T. Roff was born in Grundy County, Missouri, April 13, 1848, the son of Maj. C. L. Roff. When Joe Roff was but a child his father, Major Roff, moved to Chillicothe, Missouri, where he engaged in the mercantile business until 1858 when he, with his family, migrated to North Texas and located on Red River near Gainesville on the line separating Texas from Indian Territory.
Major and Mrs. Roff were the parents of several children, all of whom were pioneers in the settlement and development of Cook County, Texas, and that part of the Indian Territory known as the Chickasaw Nation.
It is doubtful whether anywhere in the United States, with a like population, there could have been found people who were more honorable in their dealings with their fellow men than the early settlers in the Chickasaw Nation. Some of these people were Chickasaw Indians—some part blood, some inter-married citizens and many others were white American citizens who were in the cattle business holding "rights" through their Indian friends. Many of the descendants of these pioneers are prominent citizens of Oklahoma today. Some have succeeded in business, some in professional life, while in politics they are most all to be reckoned with—if you be an office seeker.
Among the early settlers in the Chickasaw Nation, but few were better known than the Roff family. They opened up and
put in cultivation many farms; they engaged in various enterprises; built homes, started towns and helped to make what was a pasture land in to one of the richest agricultural sections in America.
Not only did the Roff family contribute to the material greatness of the country, but they made contribution to the educational, moral and religious interests. They helped in the construction of schools and churches, and to promote every worthy object for the preservation of high ideals of life and a better civilization.
Joe Roff has been generous to a fault and in his old age he has felt the effects of the depression, but he has no regrets; he has been amply rewarded.
While the great majority of the people were of the type spoken of, yet many renegrades from the States had drifted into the Indian Territory to avoid the laws of the States. There were bold cattle and horse thieves to be dealt with, but when the honest people could not be protected by the law, they appealed to the first law of nature and made and enforced their own laws.
While the story related in Mr. Roff's reminiscences tell of horse stealing and cattle rustling and of the criminal gangs that infested the country in the days succeeding the Civil War, yet this is a part of the history of Southwestern Oklahoma and is told by a friend of law and order who had first hand knowledge of the events related by him.
The story of the early days was written by Joe T. Roff in 1930 but has been slightly revised and corrected for publication in the Chronicles by the author and his brother, Charles L. Roff, on the birthday of Joe Roff, April 13, 1935. —D. W. P.
Cook County (Texas), at the time of the Civil War, was a frontier County and Gainesville, a frontier town. Beyond stretched the boundless prairies with only a few white habitations here and there. There was an unlimited amount of game and thousands of plains Indians roved this vast expanse.
The frontier forts scattered along the border with their detachments of Federal troops, had afforded some protection
against Indian attacks before the war. These troops were now gone and most of the able bodied men of Texas being in the Southern army, the Indians were not slow to take advantage of the situation and began making raids and stealing horses from the planters along Red River.
The first depredations staged by the Indians were small affairs, usually particpated in by only a few Indians who would come in during the light of the moon and run off the settlers' horses. Later they became bolder and began sending out war parties numbering from 150 to 200 Indians who often engaged in battle with the white settlers.
Sometime in the early part of the winter of 1862, a large war party of Indians came in on Fish Creek near the Potter place and had a fight. This was about ten miles northwest of Gainesville.
A man named Jim White with his family consisting of a wife and children were ranching on Bushy Elm a few miles west of the Potter place. He had moved there the previous spring with a bunch of cattle from Grayson County. On the morning the war party came in, he started out in company with one of his step-sons, Porter Parker, and one of his boys, Charley White, to make a trip back to Grayson County to kill some hogs he had left there to fatten. Shortly after they left, his other step-son, Ed Parker, just home from the army on a furlough, and a man named Anderson went out a short distance from the ranch to kill a beef. A few hundred yards from the ranch they saw in the distance four or five men huddled together on horseback. Anderson thought they were Indians and wanted to go back to the ranch, but Parker, remarking that he never ran until he knew what he was running from, rode down where they were and discovered that they were in fact, Indians. He threw up his hand in token of peace and the Indians responded in like manner but when they did so he saw their quivers of arrows and hastily turning his horse, spurred away with the Indians in close pursuit. Anderson was riding a good horse and having a good start managed to make his escape, but Parker was riding a small pony and the Indians soon caught up with him, one riding up on his right side, one on the left and one behind him. Parker
was unarmed, and as they rode up he reached out to grasp one of the Indians by his long hair. As he did so, the Indian behind him shot him in the back with an arrow but he finally managed to reach the house, tumble from his pony and spring inside. There was an old gun in the house and Anderson, by displaying it in a threatening manner, kept the Indians at a distance and they finally withdrew. Mrs. White attempted to pull the arrow from Parker's back, the first time without success. On the second attempt she gave it a jerk and the shaft separated from the head, leaving the head inside. The head of the arrow was made of hoop iron, cut diamond shape with a groove cut in the arrow head to fit the arrow and attached to the shaft with green sinew which, drying out, had held it firmly in place, but the blood had softened the sinew, and when Mrs. White jerked the arrow the head and shaft parted.
In the meantime, Mr. White and the two boys had started on the first stage of their journey to Grayson County. Mr. White was riding a small pony and Porter Parker and Charley White were working a yoke of oxen to a wagon. Two or three miles from home they heard a volley of shots over on Fish Creek and knew that the Indians were in the country. Mr. White told the boys that he would hurry back to the ranch, and directing them to follow with the ox team, he rode away.
When the boys finally reached the crest of the hill, they had a clear view down the valley to the ranch house and, to their horror, they saw a large band of mounted Indians down near the house apparently in hot pursuit of some one. The boys then turned back over the hill, took to the prairie and made for a small bushy creek bottom that ran close up to the house. Creeping cautiously through the bushes along this creek bottom they finally reached the house in safety. Mr. White had not arrived and their worst fears were confirmed when one of them finally saw something lying on the ground two or three hundred yards from the house. It was the dead body of Mr. White, horribly mutilated. His entire scalp had been torn off, both ears, his nose and one hand had been cut off and his body cut open.
The body of Mr. White was taken to Gainesville and buried. Ed Parker was taken along for medical treatment and carried
to the home of Dr. Bomar. Dr. Bomar was not a surgeon, in fact there was no surgeon in Gainesville and no operation could be performed to remove the arrow head. He lingered a few days in great agony and then passed away.
Following the death of Mr. White and his stepson, I, as the only member of our family at home able to do anything, was called upon to assist in moving Mrs. White's things from Bushy Elm back to Grayson County. I drove a yoke of oxen to a wagon and it was a long, hard trip for a boy of my age. West of Gainesville we struck the Indian trail, one-fourth of a mile wide, indicating quite a large band and that they were driving a big bunch of loose horses for many dead horses were scattered along the trail.
It was a terrible trip and I still feel its effects. I was almost barefooted, the weather turned very cold and my feet were badly frozen. They still give me trouble even to this day.
Mrs. White lived only a few days after her return to Grayson County. The loss of her loved ones and the great nervous strain she had passed through was too much for her and she passed away, leaving six children, one of them only four years old, without a home or a relative in the country, but kind hearted neighbors rallied to their support and these orphan children found homes among the people. My folks took one of the girls and raised her. These children all lived to years of maturity and most of them married in the community. The oldest boy, Charley White, a deaf mute, was killed near Marietta, Indian Territory, by a train shortly after the Santa Fe railroad was built through the Indian Territory, and I have long since lost sight of the other members of the family.
The effort on the part of the authorities during the Civil War to curb Indian raids and depredations was only partly successful. Only one regiment of soldiers was available for the protection of the border, and as these troops were necessarily scattered out in small bodies along a long frontier line, the Indians, availing themselves of advance information as to where they were posted, made numerous incursions through the line to the white settlements.
At one time a detachment of twenty men belonging to Capt. White's company, struck a warm Indian trail in the northern part of Denton County. They followed the trail for some distance and finally came in sight of a small band of Indians riding leisurely along. Believing this small party of Indians constituted the entire raiding force, the soldiers started in pursuit, but it developed that the Indians they were pursuing were being used merely as a decoy and before they realized it they were surrounded by a large force of Indians, 150 to 200 in number and were forced into a running fight in order to cut their way out. The Indians were armed with bows and arrows and the soldiers with a varied assortment of old time rifles, shot guns and a few old cap and ball revolvers.
An amusing incident occurred during the battle, which proves that comedy and tragedy are sometimes curiously intermingled. Among the detachment of soldiers was Henry McGuire and his son, Berry. The old man was riding a small yellow pony with very little speed, but his son was mounted on a good horse which could easily outrun the old man's pony. When the Indians began to close in on them the old man was continually falling behind and each time this occurred he would call out to his boy, "Wait for your old Papa, Berry." The boy would then check up his horse, hold the Indians off until his father got a little start and then spur ahead again, saying: "Rid up, pap." The old man finally became thoroughly exasperated under this continual urging and cried out: "By Gad! Do you think I am a riding jockey?"
Although overwhelmingly outnumbered, the soldiers finally broke through and made their escape. Only one of them, a man named Snodgrass, of Whitesboro, was killed in the engagement.
In the winter of 1866 a large band of Indians made a raid in the western part of Cook County.
Ed Shegog, his wife and children were living in the path of this raid. At the time the raid occurred, Mr. Shegog was away from home. Tom Manasco, Mrs. Shegog's father, who lived near the Shegog home, learned that the Indians were in the country and went over to his daughter's home to take her and her small children to his own place, and on the way to his ranch they were
attacked by the Indians and Mr. Manasco was killed and the helpless woman with her children, including her baby, were carried off by the Indians. When night came it became intensely cold. The Indians had taken her baby from her and for a long time she could hear it sobbing in the darkness. Finally its cries ceased and one of the Indians rode up to her and grunted: "Papoose gone to Heaven." Either they had killed it, or it had perished from exposure.
The night was so dark that the Indians seemed to lose their sense of direction and wandered aimlessly around over the prairie. Late in the night Mrs. Shegog, numbed with the cold and nearly exhausted, fell from her pony. One of the Indians threw a Buffalo robe over her and they all rode off and left her. When morning came she managed to make her way to a nearby house and tell her sad story.
In the fall or early winter of 1867, a band of about twenty-five Indians crossed Red River to the Texas side at Scivills Bend in the night time and made a raid on the white settlement. As soon as it was discovered that the Indians were in the country, a small posse of men started in pursuit. There were six men in the party as I recall it now, two brothers, John and Ike Hobbs, Steve Pruitt, a Mr. Morris, a boy named Pace, and a young man named Rousseau.
They trailed the Indians back across the river to the Indian Territory side. It was daylight by that time. The country was rough and broken and heavily timbered, and the Indians resorted to the old strategy of leaving two or three of their number behind to lead the white men into an ambush, with the usual result that while hotly pursuing the decoy Indians, they found themselves suddenly surrounded by the main body of Indians.
My brother and I were "batching" at this time on the Texas side about two miles from where the whites encountered the Indians. It was a still, clear, frosty morning and we distinctly heard the first shots fired and heard the Indians chanting their war song.
Repeating rifles were unknown at that time. The Indians were armed with Spencer rifles, old discarded army guns, and
the white men were armed with cap and ball shooters, shot guns and army muskets. As soon as the first volley was fired, everyone had to reload. During the intermission that followed one of the white men gave a loud hallo! And by a strange co-incidence, two hunters in the woods nearby heard the cry and answered it and the Indians, believing reinforcements were at hand, hastily gathered up their dead and left.
Three Indians were killed in this engagement. On the side of the white men, young Pace was killed, and Mr. Rosseau was seriously wounded.
These Indians came from the Indian Reservations. This was the last Indian raid made in the vicinity of where I lived as I now recall.
LIFE IN THE OLD CHICKASAW NATION
I moved to the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in 1871. When I came to the Territory there were very few white settlers here. The land embraced in what was then the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations had, by treaty with the Indians, been ceded to them in consideration of the relinquishment of lands in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. At the time of the removal of the tribes known as the Five Civilized Tribes, to the Indian Territory, the country was intended as a permanent abiding place of such tribes, where, as self-governing communities, they should be free from the interference and encroachment of the whites, but as years passed by and the population of the states contiguous to the Indian Territory increased, the whites overflowed into the Territory where they formed the commercial classes and improved and cultivated the land as tenants of the Indians.
Thus finally, partly as a result of the short-sightedness of the Indians, in admitting the whites into the country, and partly as a result of the pressure of the dominant race, which had overridden them in their homes east of the Mississippi and which they were again powerless to resist, the seclusion and isolation which they sought by immigration, was lost.
It is a matter of history now that their tribal laws and courts were finally abolished, the land once held by them in common
was alloted to them in severalty, and the old Indian Territory and Oklahoma came into the Union as one State.
I only refer to these matters here as a background for my description of life in the old Chickasaw Nation and the incidents I am about to describe, for those conditions grew out of the changes that time has wrought during the last fifty years.
At the time I came to the Chickasaw Nation the country was only thinly settled and as I have already stated there were only a few white settlers here, many of them intermarried white men who had contracted marriages with women of Indian blood. The Indians as a general thing lived in small settlements but the few white settlers were scattered here and there over the country and seldom located in the Indian settlements. Most of the Indians were adverse to manual labor and as game was plentiful they managed to get along very well with their stock and small garden patches. A few of the mixed bloods were more enterprising and had farms but, generally speaking, there was very little effort on the part of the Indians to put the land in cultivation. Originally no white people had any right to live in the Indian country and those who came in were really here on sufferance or permission of the Indian authorities. A permit law was enacted under the provisions of which white men were permitted to live in the Territory. The first permit law enacted provided that whites might live here by paying an annual permit fee or tax of twenty-five cents. This charge was later increased by the Indian Legislature, first to $1.00 per year and later to $5.00. There was very little objection to the first raise but when the annual permit was boosted to $5.00 per head there was some dissatisfaction among the whites. Some few of them moved out but most of them paid the tax without question.
As the land was held in common, no one could acquire title to any particular tract of land. Right of possession depended on occupancy and improvements made upon the land. There was no law regarding land lines other than a trespass law making it unlawful for anyone to locate or reside nearer than one-fourth mile from the holdings and improvements of another.
As white people continued to drift into the country, some of the more enterprising Indians conceived the idea of making
long-time leases on their holdings from five to ten years, depending upon the amount of land put into cultivation and the kind of buildings erected. Under this lease system the country began to settle up very rapidly. The open range and plenty of grass and water began to attract cowmen and a number of stock ranches were established in the Indian Territory at an early date.
The fullblood Indians did not take kindly to the encroachments of the whites and would have been better satisfied without their presence in the country. I well remember a conversation at the Brier creek Court House on one occasion between Dr. Worthington an intermarried citizen who was County Clerk of Pickens County, and a bunch of full bloods, over the lease question. He was urging them to lease out their land, telling them that the game would soon be gone and that they woud have to change their customs; that if they would rent out their land the rents would make them a living. The Indian listened attentively to his argument but rather scoffed at the idea, saying: "Tom Fuller mighty good, Doc; Tom Fuller mighty good."
As time went on the lease system was greatly extended. Cowmen were stocking the range with cattle, some of the pastures being fenced. Under the Indian law it was unlawful for a white man to hold cattle in the Indian Territory but this law was easily evaded by an arrangement with some Indian under which the pasture and cattle were held in the Indian's name.
Owners of herds of cattle on their way to the northern markets through the Chickasaw Nation from Texas were compelled to pay a tax of twenty-five cents per head on the cattle driven through the Indian domain. This law was also evaded by resourceful cowmen and Indians in many instances by giving a bogus bill of sale to some Indian who would meet them at Red River, the Indian for an agreed sum accompanying the cattle and claiming them as his own until they passed the Chickasaw border on the north.
During Governor Overton's administration in 1876 or 1877 the Indian Legislature again amended the permit law by raising the tax on each non-citizen from the five to twenty-five dollars. There had been some dissatisfaction some years before when the tax had been raised from one to five dollars but nothing to
compare with the tempest raised by this last increase. Many of the lessees and renters openly refused to pay and Governor Overton called out the militia and also the assistance of a squad of United States soldiers to collect the permit tax and remove those who refused to pay. These strong measures were effective and most of the white men paid off, their Indian landlords assisting them in many instances. Those who persisted in their refusal were removed from the limits of the Chickasaw Nation.
Meanwhile the tide of white immigration to the Indian Territory continued. A good many cowmen came in from Texas seeking new range for their cattle and all this tended to advertise the country. Many of the cowmen ran wire fences around their ranges, putting in large pastures to save expense and keep other cattle off their range. In this way a number of large pastures were enclosed in the western part of the Chickasaw Nation, some of them covering thousands of acres.
This illegal practice became so prevalent as to finally attract the attention of the Indian Government and a law was passed prohibiting Indian citizens from fencing more than a square mile or 640 acres of land and orders were issued for the removal of all fences enclosing holdings in excess of that provided by law. The owners refused to take down their fences and the militia was again called out to cut down the large pastures and put out permit evaders, and the Indian militia in obedience to these orders proceeded to cut the wire around the illegal pastures and considerable excitement followed.
W. E. Washington, an intermarried citizen, was the owner of one of these large pastures. A detachment of militia camped near his ranch with the view of cutting his fences the following day. During the night their horses were all stolen or run off, some twenty head were killed and the balance scattered over the country. It was generally believed that Washington's cowboys had run the Indian's horses off and Mr. Washington and some of his cow hands were arrested as I recall but the matter was finally adjusted in some way, Mr. Washington paying for the horses.
The early history of the Chickasaw Nation and so far as that is concerned, the whole Indian Territory, is crimsoned with blood. Many of the white men in the Chickasaw Nation could
hardly be classed as good citizens. The unsettled condition of the country and the difficulty of bringing criminals to justice made it an ideal refuge for renegades and outlaws from other states.
The United States Criminal Court with headquarters at Ft. Smith, Ark., was the only court having jurisdiction in the Indian Territory. It is true that there were Indian Courts but they had jurisdiction only in cases involving Indian citizens. A few Deputy United States Marshals, scattered over this vast territory constituted the only police force and energetic and efficient though they might have been, they were too few in number to apprehend many of the law violators and all round bad men of that day and time.
It was a violation of the United States law to introduce intoxicating liquor into the Indian country but this by no means prevented its introduction.
Among the notorious whiskey runners whose names were well known were the Wade brothers, white men, and two negroes, Dick Glass and George Mack. Their headquarters were in the Seminole Nation but as their supply of whiskey came from Texas, they had to pass through the Chickasaw Nation with their supplies, following what became known as the old whiskey trail. Another well known whiskey peddler and all round bad man was Frank Pierce Roberts, sometimes called Frank Pierce, who came from Texas. His headquarters was at Johnsonville, Chickasaw Nation. A bad negro, named Manual Patterson was another notorious character. He lived near old Cherokee town on the Washita. He finally killed one of the Ayers brothers, a Deputy United States Marshal, while resisting arrest and later died in the Ft. Smith jail.
To this list may be added the name of Bud Stevens. He committed a crime near Gardenville, Grayson County, Texas; when Deputy Sheriff Dallas Hodges tried to arrest him, Stevens shot and killed him and accompanied by his wife, fled to the Indian Territory and located near Sorgum Flats on the Washita. in the Arbuckle mountains. Some of the brothers of Dallas Hodges learned of his whereabouts and went to arrest him. Stevens was in hiding in a secluded place in a rough broken country and
detecting their approach before they saw him, he opened fire, killing Babe Hodges and wounding Mr. Coleman and then made good his escape to a negro community near the foot of the mountains. Here he found a congenial spirit in the person of a young negro named Bully July and being of the same type of character they soon become cronies and boon companions and made frequent trips together to the mountain but July's cupidity finally resulted in Steven's death. Learning that Stevens had accumulated some little property, and desiring to possess it, the negro lured Stevens into the mountains, shot him down in cold blood and having concealed the body returned to the Stevens' home and informed Mrs. Stevens that her husband was badly injured in the mountains and needed her care and attention. The unsuspicious woman unhesitatingly accompanied the negro to the place where her husband was supposed to be located, where he murdered her and cast her body into a deep cave.
The protracted absence of Stevens and his wife excited little attention in the community where they had resided for it was known that he was an outlaw and on the 'dodge,' and it was generally believed that they had left the country. Probably their fate would never have been known if the lips of the murderer had remained sealed, but whiskey finally betrayed him. While attending a negro gathering and under the influence of whiskey he confidentially revealed the details of his crime to one of his colored friends named Loftus. Loftus later betrayed his confidence and told some of the other negroes. Bully became suspicious of Loftus and killed him but the details of the crime finally leaked out, probably through some of the negroes whom Loftus had told and officers were sent to the scene of the crime, the cave located in which Mrs. Stevens' body had been cast, and one of the officers lowered into the cave. When he reached the bottom he found that it was a veritable snake den and signalled his friends and they pulled him out. Procuring a gun he again descended and killed a large number of rattle snakes. The skeleton of Mrs. Stevens was found in the cave and with it a carpet bag containing her clothing. Bully was arrested, carried to Ft. Smith, tried, convicted and hanged in 1882.
I now come to the incidents leading up to the killing of my two brothers, Jim and Andy Roff, by the notorious Lee gang of
outlaws in 1885. At that time Jim and Andy and another brother of mine were ranching between Caddo Creek and the mountains about two miles west of the present location of Berwyn. Frank Pierce whose real name was Frank Pierce Roberts, Jim Lee and his brothers, Pink and Tom Lee, and their brother-in-law, Ed Stein, were operating in the vicinity of Red River some distance from where my brothers were ranching.
Frank Pierce had moved into the Indian Territory from one of the western counties of Texas and had located at Johnsonville, Indian Territory. His principal business was bootlegging and he was considered a very bad man. While he was at Johnsonville he killed Chub Moore, a Chickasaw Indian, but escaped conviction on a claim of self defense.
Ed Stein was running a small store at that time at Delaware Bend in Texas on Red River and from him Pierce obtained his supplies of whiskey. In fact Stein's place was the source of supply of most of the whiskey peddlers operating in the Chickasaw Nation. Jim Lee had married an Indian wife and as this gave him a 'right' in the country, he had a large pasture fenced in on the Indian Territory side of the river twelve or fifteen miles northwest of Delaware Bend near what was called Cold Branch, a tributary of Caddo Creek, a rather out-of-the-way place, and with him lived his brother, Pink. This place was the general "hold" of most of the bad men and outlaws passing through that part of the country.
These four men were all friends and associates in crime and the Lee brothers and Frank Pierce, in addition to their other criminal activities, were associated in rustling cattle.
For several years up to 1885 a number of cattle ranged in the mountains near the Roff ranch and in April of that year while my brother Jim was up in the mountains looking through the stock, he saw five or six men on horseback rounding up a small bunch of cattle. He started to ride over to where they were to identify them if possible and to see what they were doing with the cattle but when they saw him coming they left the cattle and rode off. He could not recognize any of the party but upon examining the cattle he discovered that they belonged to some of the settlers in the neighborhood, who owned small
herds. Some of them belonged to a man named Estes; others to a man named McColgin and others were 'off' brands. He left the cattle, rode off some distance and concealed himself, in a short time the rustlers returned and rounded up the cattle. Jim then went to Estes and McColgin and reported what he had seen. It was evening and they were late in striking the trail so they waited until morning and started out. They trailed the cattle across the river to Delaware Bend. When they rode up to Steine's store four or five men came out with guns in their hands, including Frank Pierce, the Lee Boys and also Ed Steine, who acted as spokesman for the party. My brother asked if he had seen anyone pass leading or driving a large span of black mules. Steine then turned to his followers, saying: "They are looking for some mules." Being greatly outnumbered and at a decided disadvantage, my brother and his companions did not deem it advisable to mention cattle and soon after rode away.
Later they got in touch with the sheriff's office at Gainesville and Mr. Hill, the sheriff, arranged to meet them on a fixed date and lay plans for the arrest of the rustlers. In accordance with this arrangement a meeting was held by a posse of men from the Territory, Sheriff Hill and some of his deputies. Sheriff Hill suggested that, inasmuch as he and his deputy, Pat Ware, were unknown to the Lee boys and Frank Pierce, they would go to the store and get inside on a pretext of wanting to buy something and in this manner locate their men and get the drop on them and in the meantime that the rest of the posse wait on the Territory side until they heard from them. This plan was finally adopted. Hill and Ware rode on to the store where they were met by Frank Pierce with a Winchester in his hands who bruskly asked them what they wanted and upon being informed by Mr. Hill that they were on their way to Dexter and wanted to know what road to take, Pierce pointed to the road with his gun and told them to 'hit it and not look back,' but to obey so they rode on to Dexter.
In the meanwhile the posse on the Territory side were waiting for some word from the sheriff but hearing nothing they finally became restless and sent a man who lived in that neighborhood and had sometimes traded at the Steine store to investigate, believing that he would not arouse any suspicion
among the people who were acquainted with him; when he arrived at the store Pierce ordered him to get in the house and be sure and stay there. As he did not return and no word came from him the posse finally decided to investigate the matter for themselves. There were six or eight men in the party, John Washington, Andy Roff, three or four Chickasaw Indians and possibly one or two others. They crossed the river and on approaching the store saw Frank Pierce come out of the back door and start across the lot. Mr. Washington, who had taken shelter behind a rail fence, called out to him to hold up, to which Pierce replied: "Hold up yourself." And he fired his gun at Washington, the bullet striking one of the fence rails and scattering a lot of splinters around him. Pierce then ran some distance, jumped on his horse which was already saddled, and started to cross the river, the members of the posse shooting at him and he returning their fire. He managed to reach the other side of the river but there he fell from his horse on the sand bar, literally shot to pieces, his record of crime at an end.
The members of the posse recovered a number of the stolen stock in a bushy pasture on the Texas side in a bend of the river. The Lee boys were not at the store at the time Pierce was killed but when they learned of his death they were much incensed and gathered together a number of bad men at Jim Lee's place on Cold Branch.
At this time Jim Guy, a brother of Governor Guy, was a Deputy U. S. Marshal, and also a member of the Indian Police force. He had a writ for Dallas Humby, an Indian negro charged with wife murder and finally located and arrested him at the home of his brother, Ed Humby, but his prisoner had a severe attack of sickness and Guy, thinking that he would not be able to travel left him with his brother Ed upon his promise that he would keep him until he was able to travel and then turn him over to the officer but before Guy could get back the Lee boys came and got him and took him to their place.
At this time Mr. Guy also had warrants for the arrest of Jim and Pink Lee and also an order from Governor Wolfe to cut their pasture, it being in excess of the acreage allowed by law.
With a view of arresting these parties and the negro, Dallas Humby, who was staying at the Lee place, Guy went to the Roff ranch and requested them to go with him as members of a posse to assist in apprehending these parties. My older brother, Andy, knowing that they would be on the lookout and were strongly fortified, did not believe it advisable to make any attempt at that time and tried to talk him out of the notion but Guy insisted telling them that if they would not go with him then he would not try to arrest them at all and finally my brothers seeing that it was a case of now or never, reluctantly consented to go. There were six men in the original party, my two brothers Andy and Jim, a cowboy from the ranch named Billy Kirksley, Deputy United States Marshal Jim Guy, and two regular posse-men, Windy Johnson and Emerson Folsom, a Choctaw. It was an ill-advised expedition for Guy's rashness cost him his life and that of three others of the party.
On the morning of the first day of May, 1885, Guy marshalled his forces at Henderson's store on the Washita some eight or ten miles from the Lee ranch. There were eleven or twelve men in the posse by this time. They left before dawn and arrived at the Lee ranch about sun-up. The Lee ranch house was a two room log house with an open hall between the two rooms. There was a small window on the north side of the east room with a board shutter and a stick and dirt chimney in the east end of the room. The house had been carefully arranged to resist attack with port holes through which to shoot, one port hole in the chimney and one on each side of the east room.
Some two hundred yards east of the house was a boggy branch and when Guy's forces reached the branch they found it so wet and boggy that they could not cross, only Jim Roff's horse reaching the other side, so they agreed to leave their horses with Mr. Johnson and walk up to the house. Mr. Guy told the boys that if the Lee boys refused to surrender he would not stage a fight but would withdraw his forces.
When the members of the posse came up, near the northeast corner of the east room, someone, afterward said to be Ed Steine, the Lee boys' brother-in-law, opened the window shutter on the north side and asked them what they wanted. Mr. Guy
told him that he had writs for Jim and Pink Lee and an order from Governor Wolfe to cut their pasture; that he wanted them to come out and surrender and did not want any trouble and that he would see that they were protected. Steine told him to come around to the front and they would talk the matter over and shut the window. Guy and Folsom walked around to the front near a large Oak free standing a short distance from the east end of the hall where Mr. Guy set his gun down. A moment later a shot was fired from the west room, the ball passing through his body killing him almost instantly. This shot was supposed to have been fired by the negro, Dallas Humby.
A few moments of silence followed and then from the port holes on the east end of the house was rained a volley of shots into the group of men outside most them were assembled near the east end of the house. My two brothers, Andy and Jim Roff and Billy Kirksey were shot down in the first volley. Jim Roff and Kirksey were killed instantly, two bullets passing through their bodies. Andy Roff, though badly wounded, managed to get some distance from the house. The other members of the party fled from the scene of danger, some of them reaching the shelter of a small gulch heading up near the northeast corner of the house and others running and hiding from tree to tree and firing back. They all eventually made their escape.
My brother Andy was last seen alive by some of the boys who escaped, sitting at the root of a tree some little distance from the house apparently in great agony. All indications show that he must have been alive when the general firing ceased for when his body was picked up, later at the root of the tree where he had been seen, it was discovered that two shots had passed through his body, one through the lower part and the other seemed to have been fired when he was in a sitting position for the bullet had entered his breast under the collar bone and passed out at the back lower down and had evidently been fired at close range for his clothing was powder burned.
It was related by the survivors that ten or twelve men must have been concealed inside the house at the time the shooting occurred for the firing was incessant, five or six guns working from the port holes and others being constantly fired from other
parts of the house. It was the general opinion that the gang inside included the three Lee boys, Jim, Pink and Tom, their brother-in-law, Ed Steine, Tom Cole, a man named Copeland, the negro, Dallas Humby and possibly three or four more including the Dyer brothers who shortly afterwards were hanged by a mob in Lamar County, Texas, after killing the sheriff of that county. At the time of the hanging one of them had a gunshot wound which he said he had received in a fight in the Indian Territory.
Great excitement followed these brutal and unjustified murders and large bodies of armed men were organized and sent out to range the country and hunt down the outlaws. The day following the tragedy a small body of men on the look out for the Lees, were fired upon from the brush but fortunately no one was hurt for the shots were fired at long range. The Sunday following the shooting which occurred on Friday, a crowd went to the Lee ranch and finding the place deserted, burned the ranch house down.
A. B. Roff offered a large reward for the capture of the Lee boys and Ed Steine, dead or alive. This reward was posted at Gainesville and as a result officers and detectives came in from Dallas and other Texas points to join in the hunt.
Shortly after the reward was posted Ed Steine and Tom Lee slipped through the country to Denison, Texas, and surrendered to the officers. They were taken to Sherman, placed in jail and on a preliminary hearing before U. S. Commissioner Rickets were committed without bail on a charge of murder and were taken to Ft. Smith and lodged in the U. S. jail to await trial. They had considerable property, cattle, horses, and some money and were able to secure able attorneys to defend them. Judge Pierson of Denison, Texas, and Cravens and Duvall of Ft. Smith were employed in their defense. They were tried that fall and after a hard fought battle were acquitted. Ed Steine moved to Denison and resumed his favorite business of selling whiskey but as he was one of his own best customers he soon wound up his earthly career. The last account of Tom Lee was of his conviction and confinement in the penitentiary on a charge of larceny.
The real leaders of the outlaw band, Jim and Pink Lee were at large for some time. They went heavily armed, usually carrying two revolvers apiece in addition to two rifles on their saddles and as they had a wide range extending from Delaware Bend on Red River on the south to the Canadian River on the north and a host of friends of their own stripe to keep them posted, scattered all over the country, their apprehension was a difficult task. Many of the niggers on Caddo Creek were giving them aid and comfort, carrying them provisions, advising them of the whereabouts of the pursuers and hiding them on occasions.
But a tireless Nemesis in the persons of Heck Thomas and Jim Taylor, were on their track. Heck Thomas, then living at Ft. Worth, Texas, a former United States Marshal and at one time city marshal of Lawton, Oklahoma, is well known to most of the people of Oklahoma. Taylor was a resident of the Indian Territory and had the reputation of being extremely handy with a gun. These men working together kept persistently on the trail of these outlaws from early summer until the month of September 1885.
One of the principal hold outs of these desperadoes was at Delaware Bend where many of their old friends and some of their kinfolks lived including Doe Lee, a brother, and two sisters; the Lee boys were often hiding around with these people.
In the vicinity of the homes of the members of the Lee clan, Thomas and Taylor established headquarters, staying at Strather Brown's place out on a hill on the edge of the prairie.
On the morning of the 7th day of September, 1885, Jim and Pink Lee started out south towards Brown's place with the avowed intention of locating Thomas and Taylor and shooting them down at long range. While Thomas and Taylor were at dinner some of the women folks came in and reported that the Lee boys bad just ridden by at the back of the lot and Thomas and Taylor immediately started in pursuit accompanied by Jack Brown and another whose name I do not now recall. Believing that the Lee boys had gone into the 'brakes' in the direction of Steine's store they went in that direction but could not locate them there. Mr. Thomas finally ascended a high point overlooking John Washington's pasture and with the aid of his
field glasses located them out on the prairie five or six hundred yards from Brown's house towards which they were intently gazing.
A long branch headed in the prairie in Washington's pasture up near where the outlaws were standing and Thomas and his companions, entirely concealed from them, traveled up this branch to a place where it forked near the top of the hill. Here Jim Taylor left the rest of the party and crawled up the hill until he could peep over the top. One glance was enough for the Lee boys were in plain view only about seventy-five yards away. They were evidently unmindful of danger for they were still gazing off towards Brown's house. They had discarded two of their guns and each carried only one rifle apiece, one of them of large calibre, a 45-90 as I now recall, probably intending to do their shooting at long range.
Crawling back out of sight Taylor signalled Thomas to join him. Brown and his companion then crawled up the left fork of the branch to a clump of small trees and Thomas went directly up the hill and joined Taylor and together they crept to the crest of the hill. Whether they commanded the outlaws to lay down their arms and surrender, history does not record. At any rate they shot, and shot to kill. Pink Lee was shot through the head and expired at once. Jim Lee was badly wounded but game to the last, he sprang to where his brother lay and opened fire on his enemies but his sights were raised for long range shooting and they all went wild. As he refused to give up another shot was fired which closed his earthly pilgrimage.
Years have come and gone since those tragic days. Most of the actors in this stirring drama, good, bad and indifferent are sleeping away the ages in some quiet grave.
This is a world of change and other days and times have come. The old outlaws of the past are known no more and are almost forgotten. The old Tribal laws and customs have passed away and Oklahoma is now a sovereign state of the Union.
In this narrative I have touched the dark side of life but there was a brighter side as well. There was light among the shadows, sunshine and roses as well as crime and bloodshed.
There were joys as well as sorrows. People lived and loved and lost in those early days as they do now. There were friends whom we loved; neighbors whom we honored and respected. A great many of them have gone but I feel sure that these early pioneers have done their 'bit' to make the world a better place in which to live.
And those old time Chickasaws who were our friends, how we cherish their memory. Let us hope that their vision of a "Happy Hunting Ground" is a reality. | <urn:uuid:0c551b25-dc93-4524-8109-a1b786a6d9c0> | {
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Tribbey is located ten miles south of the intersection of State Highways 9 and 102 in southern Pottawatomie County. The town's namesake, Alpheus M. Tribbey, and his family came from Texas to Marietta, Indian Territory, in 1888. When the Iowa, Sac and Fox, Citizen Band Potawatomi, and Absentee Shawnee lands were opened on September 22, 1891, Tribbey staked a claim. He gave land to the Eastern Oklahoma Railway (later Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) in 1903 and twenty-two acres for a townsite, platted in 1904. He built a two-story building that served as his residence and as the Tribbey Hotel. The post office opened on February 4, 1905, with Thomas Anderson as the first postmaster. J. W. Forster and his two sons established the first cotton gin and sawmill. The town soon bustled with two cotton gins, two blacksmith shops, a bank, several stores, and a livery.
With cotton as the main crop, farmers also raised corn, potatoes, alfalfa, fruit, and cattle. Tribbey was the shipping center for cotton until the market declined due to lack of rain and boll weevil devastation during the early 1920s. In 1919 Service Pipeline built a pump station in Tribbey, employing approximately fourteen men as well as roughnecks and pipeline workers. In 1961 the pump station was replaced by an electronic system.
Between 1900 and 1920 population increased from 200 to 500. After the Great Depression Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs provided employment to Tribbey citizens. During World War II residents commuted to the Oklahoma City area to work at defense jobs. Decline in population caused the railroad service to be discontinued in 1954 and the postal service to be moved to Macomb in 1958. The school was annexed to Wanette in 1967. In 1989 an eight-and-one-half-foot-high granite memorial honoring approximately two hundred local military men was erected at Tribbey Cemetery. At the turn of the twenty-first century with a population of 273, the former Tribbey Baptist Church housed a quilting fabric store, and the Santa Fe Depot, built in 1905, was Sandmans' Café and Gas Station.
SEE ALSO: SETTLEMENT PATTERNS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Madge Mitchell, The Story of Tribbey, 1905-1988 (Norman, Okla.: Privately printed, 1988). Charles W. Mooney, Localized History of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, to 1907 (Midwest City, Okla.: Thunderbird Industries, 1971). Pottawatomie County History Book Committee, comp. and ed., Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma History (Claremore, Okla.: Country Lane Press, 1987).
Ruby Collier Wright
© Oklahoma Historical Society | <urn:uuid:3b845231-c604-4b5a-a49a-784723b6f9e5> | {
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[Excerpt] Power is a crucial phenomenon in organizations, both pervasive and somewhat elusive. The study of power in organizations has a long tradition (Crozier 1964), yet the literature on power is fragmented and has been a central focus only intermittently over time. Fundamental assumptions about the role of power vary widely. On the one hand, power can be construed broadly as a negative and divisive force in relations, groups, and organizations. It enables those having power to exert influence over or command the compliance of others through coercion, force, and threats. This is the punitive, manipulative face of power (Deutsch and Krauss 1962; Lawler et al. 1988; Tedeschi et al. 1973). On the other hand, power can be construed as a positive, integrative force enabling those with power to provide rewards, inducements, and reinforcements to others (Bacharach and Lawler 1980; Boulding 1989). It gives those with power the opportunity to promote cooperation and collaboration. The negative view of power emphasizes the harm it can do and the resistance it can generate, whereas the positive view of power emphasizes the role of power in mobilizing concerted action toward collective goals. Implicitly, negative and positive emotions (e.g., pleasure, enthusiasm, pride or anger, fear, sadness) are likely to be associated, respectively, with the negative and positive faces of power. This chapter proposes a power-process model for examining the relationship between power and emotion. | <urn:uuid:48ba7b32-3589-400a-a665-e00caa4c0b23> | {
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The Bra and its Effects on Women and Society
USU Student Showcase
The project examines the social, physical, and emotional aspects connected with women wearing bras. Throughout history women have subjected their bodies to clothing that change their natural shapes, such as corsets and brassieres because of the pressures of society. Brassieres have no positive effects on the body, but rather they prohibit natural bodily functions, they are a way for men and society to control women, and bras negatively affect the female image. Women do not have much of a choice when it comes to wearing a bra. Most places in the work force will not allow women to work without one and it is seen as improper to go without one in public. Women who do venture in public braless are branded with names like slut or easy. They are negatively thought of as bra burning feminists. The goal of the project is to make people aware of the problems associated with wearing bras so that changes can be made in society. These changes may include, more easily accepting the natural female body and desexualizing the breasts. These changes can help women to overcome pressures from the media and society and be able to accept their natural body.
Hooper, Amelia, "The Bra and its Effects on Women and Society" (2014). USU Student Showcase. Student Showcase. Paper 41.
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Motion of Interacting Gas Bubbles in a Viscous Liquid Including Wall-Effects and Evaporation
The motion of single and multiple gas bubbles in an otherwise stationary liquid contained in a closed right vertical cylinder is investigated using a modified volume-of-fluid (VOF) method incorporating surface tension stresses. An isolated bubble was considered in a separate paper, where the initial bubble radius was small in comparison with that of the cylinder and wall effects were negligible. In this work the focus is on the interference effects during the motion of two initially spherical bubbles in a gravitational field, as well as the influence of the container wall on the bubble motion: the initial bubble diameter in the present study is more than half the cylinder diameter. The bubble size is also much larger than that required to satisfy the condition in which the gas can be treated as incompressible. In addition, the effect on bubble motion of the inclusion of evaporation at the gas-liquid interface as well as the bursting of a bubble through a free surface are considered. The modified VOF method used in this study is able to identify and physically treat features such as bubble deformation, cusp formation, breakup, and joining. Results are presented in a two-dimensional as well as a three-dimensional coordinate framework. The bubble motion ratio, the viscosity ration, the ratio of the cylinder radius to that of the initial bubble, and for interacting bubbles, the initial bubble separation.
Date of this Version
L. Chen, S. V. Garimella, J. A. Reizes, and E. Leonardi, “Motion of Interacting Gas Bubbles in a Viscous Liquid Including Wall-Effects and Evaporation,” Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications, Vol. 31, No.6, pp. 629-654, 1997.
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Patients frequently come into the Urgent Care clinic for problems related to neck pain. It can be caused by a number of different factors including ligament or muscle strain, arthritis or a “pinched nerve.”
It is quite common, and in fact 10% of adults have neck pain at any one time. Most patients recover with conservative therapy regardless of the cause of the pain. Understanding neck pain is much easier if you have a good knowledge of the structural anatomy of the neck.
Brief description of the anatomy is outlined below:
1) Cervical vertebrae: Seven small bones the make up the cervical spine of the neck
2) Spinal canal: The structure through which the spinal cord (nerves) flow which is made from the cervical vertebrae as well as the supporting ligaments and overlying neck muscles.
3) Cervical discs: Between the neck bones, these tiny shock absorbers cushion one bone from another. The inner part of the disc contains a gelatin-like material and when excessive pressure on the disc occurs, this gelatin-like material can protrude and cause what we call a “herniated disc.”
Causes: There are several causes for neck pain, some of which are mentioned here:
1) Whiplash injury: A traumatic event that causes sudden forward/backward movement of the cervical spine. A motor vehicle accident is the most common cause.
2) Cervical strain: Injury to muscles of the neck that cause spasm of the neck and upper back muscles causes this type of pain. It can be a result of physical stresses of everyday life including poor sleep habits, muscle tension from psychological stress, or poor posture.
3) Diffuse skeletal hyperostosis: Also called (DISH) is when there are abnormal calcifications in the ligaments and tendons along the cervical spine.
4) Cervical spondylosis: Abnormal wear and tear causes gradual narrowing of the disk space and loss of normal bone structure which often leads to bone spurs. These spurs can increase the pressure on surroundings areas.
5) Cervical discogenic pain: The intervertebral discs of the neck function as shock absorbers that cushion the neck bones from one another. If there are structural changes in these discs, it can cause pain.
6) Cervical facet syndrome: Pain involving the facet joints is common in people who repeatedly extend the neck (tilt the head backwards). The facet joints are on the left and right of the vertebrae.
7) Cervical radiculopathy: When disk or neck pass pushes on or irritates a nerve root, this can cause pain, weakness or numbness/tingling of the neck and/or arm.
8) Cervical spondylotic myelopathy: This is narrowing of the spinal canal inside the bones of the neck, and is usually caused by either damage to the disks or degeneration from arthritis.
Testing: In order to determine the cause of the pain, your healthcare provider will examine your neck and look at the movement or range of motion to the neck and observe posture of the neck and shoulders. In some cases there may be a radiological study such as an x-ray, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT scan (computed tomography) ordered. The need for on of these tests depends on the patient’s history and physical examination.
Treatment: The individual treatment is tailored to the patient to help treat the underlying cause of pain. Some possible treatments may include:
1) Medications: Ibuprofen, naproxen or Tylenol may be prescribed. Other medications such as muscle relaxants or narcotics may also be prescribed depending on the circumstances.
2) Heat: Can be helpful for decreasing the muscle spasm in the neck. Moist heat (from a shower, hot tub, or moist towel warmed in a microwave or with warm water) seams to work best
3) Ice: Can reduce the pain in many people. Ice is applied directly to the painful area. A bag of ice, frozen peas or a ice cubes in a plastic bag is often used, but avoid applying the blue ice that is used for coolers/camping to the skin as this can cause freezer burn.
4) Massage: By applying pressure on both sides of the neck and upper back, the neck muscles may be relaxed. This is usually most helpful if done by a professional massage therapist.
5) Stretching exercises: Do not attempt exercises without being evaluated by a healthcare provider as they can actually make the problem worse if performed incorrectly. Exercises can be performed to relieve stiffness and improve range of function.
6) Stress reduction: Neck tension can be increased due to emotional stress and can delay the recovery process. To help with stress reduction, breathing exercises, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, prayer or self-hypnosis are helpful for some patients.
7) Posture: It’s important to avoid extreme ranges of motion or positions that cause constant tension. Avoid sitting in the same position for extended periods of time. Also avoid placing backpacks, over-the-shoulder purses, or children on the shoulders. Do not perform overhead work for prolonged periods of time. Hold your head up and keep shoulders back and down to maintain a good posture. Sleep with your neck in a neutral position by sleeping with a small pillow under the nape of your neck (while laying on your back). Carry heavy objects close to your body rather than with outstretched arms.
1) Osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT)– physically manipulating the muscles, soft tissues and joints can help with neck pain
2) Trigger Point Injection: A local anesthetic such as lidocaine can be injected into an area of muscle spasm
3) Accupuncture: A needle placed into the proper body area by a healthcare professional who is trained in accupunture therapy can be helpful
4) Electrical stimulation: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a treatment that uses a mild electric current that is applied to the skin to decrease pain and increase mobility and strength. Some people have found TENS helpful.
5) Cervical traction: The use of weights to pull the spinal column into alignment have been helpful for some people in the short term, however clinical studies have shown no long term benefits.
6) Surgery: Surgery has a role in relieving symptoms related to a pinched nerve in some cases. Usually these patients have tried all prior treatment options before proceeding with surgery.
To find an Osteopathic physician in your area, the American Osteopathic Association has a useful website: http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/find-a-do/Pages/default.aspx
This document is for informational purposes only, and should not be considered medical advice for any individual patient. If you have questions please contact your medical provider.
I hope that you have found this information useful. Wishing you the best of health,
Scott Rennie, DO | <urn:uuid:a91d52c1-61d8-4ea5-bd12-c3b401554527> | {
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June 3, 2011
KevinMD had a guest blogger who questioned the value of needing to treat one million strep throat infections with antibiotics to save one patient from rheumatic fever and heart disease. Typically, we only need to treat a particular strain of strep called Group A beta-hemolytic Strep (GABHS), which produces a particular type of toxin and antigen. However, non-GABHS is often treated with antibiotics, as well as for a significant number of viral throat infections.
This practice is based on studies in the 1940 and 1950s showing that the rate of rheumatic fever in children can be cut 50% from 2% to 1%. Currently, the rate of rheumatic fever in the US is 1 per 1 million people with strep throat. On the other hand, one million courses of antibiotics can cause 2,400 cases of significant allergic reactions including anaphylactic reactions, 50,000 to 100,000 cases of diarrhea and 100,000 cases of skin rash. Here’s another article that states that strep throat risks are greatly exaggerated.
There’s a lot of merit in what Dr. Lundberg has to say, but when I reviewed the symptoms of rheumatic fever, I was shocked to see how all the symptoms sounded like an acute episode of obstructive sleep apnea. Let me explain:
Rheumatic fever typically occurs in children, and usually presents about 2-3 weeks after a strep infection. Children will naturally have large tonsils. If inflamed for whatever reason (virus, bacteria, allergies, etc.), they’ll get larger by definition. Having large tonsils all of a sudden will close off your throat suddenly, preventing you from breathing properly at night while sleeping. This sudden onset of sleep apnea can cause a number of systemic symptoms which are very similar to the classically described symptoms of rheumatic fever:
- painful, tender, red and swollen joints
- heart palpitations
- chest pain
- shortness of breath
- skin rashes
- severe fatigue
- skin nodules.
You may be thinking, how do these symptoms relate to sleep apnea?
If you have any type of infection, you’ll also have fever. Also, having sudden breathing pauses will cause vasomotor symptoms which can also produce fever, chills, hot flashes and night sweats (similar to menopause).
There are numerous reports of rheumatoid arthritis resolving completely with sleep apnea treatment. Obstructive sleep apnea, by definition causes systemic inflammation, which can even affect your joints.
Not breathing well at night can stimulate your heart, causing palpitations. This can also cause shortness of breath.
Numerous dermatologic conditions have also been linked to sleep apnea. Many people report that their psoriasis or eczema improves after sleep apnea treatment.
Sleep apnea causes a hyper-coagulable state. This can cause micro-strokes or throw small clots to the most remote parts of the body (skin).
Sudden onset of sleep-breathing problems can initiate an intense autoimmune response, since sudden stress can stimulate your immune system.
Granted, toxins from a strep infections can aggravate many of these problems. However, heart valve biopsies in patients with rheumatic fever only sometimes show inflammation and scarring, similar to what we may see with autoimmune conditions. Bacteria or toxins are usually not found.
I have to say that there are certain situations where strep must be treated, but the vast majority of people who have strep don’t actually have a true infection, and even if they do test positive on a culture, they could be one of the 15% of normal carriers, who just happened to have a viral infection, or reflux. The words strep throat is definitely over-used these days—oftentimes people with any degree of throat pain will say they have strep throat.
Furthermore, since most adults will have much smaller tonsils, your risk of having heart complications will probably be much lower compared to children’s risks.
To date, I’m not aware of any solid prospective evidence-based study what supports our current guidelines for routine treatment for strep, especially for adults. I suspect a new study in the future will completely reverse the current management of strep. Unfortunately, even if such a study does surface, it’ll be very difficult for physicians to change their ways.
How often do you test positive for strep? If so, how often are you prescribed antibiotics even if it comes back negative?
Click here for a follow-up discussion about the dangers of Strep throat over-treatment.
January 5, 2011
Believe it or not, your skin is considered an end organ, meaning that it’s at the outermost reaches of your blood supply. It’s also a part of your body which can be deprived of blood flow if you’re under stress, similar to what happens to your digestive or reproductive systems.
Psoriasis is a common skin condition that affects about 34 million Americans, or about 3% of the population. It’s characterized by red, scaly patches of skin covered by white flakes. It’s thought to be a chronic autoimmune condition, where your body’s immune system can attack or damage your own tissues.
I’ve written before about strong links between psoriasis and obstructive sleep apnea, but here are a series of studies that further solidifies this connection. Some of the studies I’ve cited before. Others are new:
Metabolic syndrome (Syndrome X) is a combination of high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and high cholesterol levels. Having all three conditions has been shown to significantly increase your risk of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. Numerous studies show that people with metabolic syndrome can also have obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, syndrome Z has been described as all the features of Syndrome X plus obstructive sleep apnea.
A study published in Archives of Dermatology showed that patients with psoriasis had a higher chance of having metabolic syndrome compared to people who didn’t (40% vs. 23). I’ve written in the past about how chronic physiologic stress due to sleep apnea causes diversion of blood flow and nutrients to the bowels, reproductive organs, and the skin, since they’re considered “low priority” organs. Low blood flow causes a relative hypoxia, creating oxidative stress, and along with a heightened immune system, so it’s not surprising that the skin can show psoriatic plaques.
Here’s a study showed that women who drank more than two alcoholic beverages per week had a significantly higher risk of psoriasis. Alcohol relaxes your throat muscles, aggravating sleep apnea.
Researchers from harvard showed that comorbid conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidemia all increased over time. Not too surprising if you already have sleep apnea.
Pregnant women with psoriasis were found by Harvard and Mass General researchers to have higher risk of pregnancy-related complications, including spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, preeclampsia, placenta previa, and ectopic pregnancy. Gaining weight can aggravate sleep apnea. Studies show that CPAP can help with preeclampsia.
People with psoriasis were found to have increased risk of depression (39%), anxiety (31%) and suicidal thoughts (44%). Sleep apnea can cause structural, metabolic, and biochemical changes in your brain due to hypoxia.
And lastly, young adults who are obese were found to have a higher risk of developing psoriatic arthritis later in life. Obesity is a major risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea.
Perhaps psoriasis should be placed on the ever-growing list of complications of obstructive sleep apnea. What do you think?
December 26, 2010
Women who drink 2 or more times per week, particularly nonlight beer, are found to have a higher risk of developing psoriasis. This study out of Harvard University showed that the risk increased by 1.72 times normal. One hypothesis that was proposed was that non-light beer is made from wheat products, and that wheat contains gluten, which is a common component that provokes an autoimmune response in Celiac disease.
I’ve written before about how sleep apnea could cause psoriasis in men, and this situation can apply to women as well. Sleep-breathing problems at night, whether or not they’re apneas, can cause a low-grade physiologic stress response which heightens your immune system. When your body’s immune system is in a constant state of stress, it can easily attack normal tissues or proteins. Furthermore, when your body is under stress, certain parts of your body (like your skin, digestive or reproductive organs) will be deprived of blood flow and nervous innervation. Hypoxic states can cause oxidative stress, which has been shown to be linked to autoimmunity, atherosclerosis and even cancer.
Knowing how prevalent obstructive sleep apnea is in our population, this connection is not surprising. Is there anyone reading this blog that had their psoriasis go away completely after your sleep apnea was treated?
August 16, 2010
How is psoriasis connected to obstructive sleep apnea? You may think I'm crazy for even making the suggestion, but if you look at the studies, the results don't lie—you just have to connect the dots.
I've always wondered about this link, since almost every known medical condition is proven to be or possibly associated with obstructive sleep apnea. I was reminded about this connection when I read about golfer Phil Mickelson's psoriatic arthritis. I already commented on the association between sleep apnea and arthritis, and this time, I'm going to show you that psoriasis may be connected as well.
First of all, numerous studies have shown that people with psoriasis have a much higher chance of having cardiovascular disease. There are other reports that psoriasis is associated with an increased incidence of cancer, lymphoma, obesity, metabolic syndrome (also known as "Syndrome X"), autoimmune diseases (Crohn's disease and diabetes, etc.), psychiatric diseases (such as depression and sexual dysfunction), psoriatic arthritis, sleep apnea, personal behavior issues, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). If you have severe psoriasis, the likelihood that you'll have a heart attack is 3 times normal. Your chance of dying overall is almost doubled than if you didn't suffer from this condition. Average life expectancy is about 3 to 5 years shorter for someone with psoriasis.
We also know that obstructive sleep apnea can cause metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, inflammation, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Your risk of dying early increases 45% if you have severe obstructive sleep apnea.
There's even a case report of someone with severe psoriasis who was completely cured after undergoing gastric bypass surgery for obesity.
Here's my take on the connection between obstructive sleep apnea and psoriasis: The chronic stress response and repeated episodes of hypoxia deprives the skin of vital blood flow and nutrients. Sympathetic activity overload preferentially shuts down certain parts of the body that are considered unessential, such as the digestive system, reproductive system, and the skin. In addition, chronic low-grade stress also causes your immune system to overreact and cause inflammation, inducing various self-destroying tendencies that are common with autoimmune conditions.
What do you think about this possible connection? I'd like to hear your opinion.
March 19, 2009
Skin disease is one area that I haven’t covered so far, but data from three large clinical trials suggests that having psoriasis significantly raises your risk for heart disease and stroke. Looking at this issue through my sleep-breathing paradigm, it all makes sense. Not being able to achieve deep efficient sleep can cause a low-grade physiologic stress response, which does two things: It constricts blood vessels going to end organs and parts of the body that you don’t need when you’re running from a tiger. This includes the bowels, the reproductive organs, and the skin. Less blood flow in general leads to poor healing and poor functioning. Chronic low-grade stresses can also ratchet up your immune system which ends up attacking it’s own body parts. In light of these possibilities, it’s not surprising at all that people with psoriasis have increased risk of cardiovascular disease. | <urn:uuid:b3b2252a-55aa-4f85-805c-725cf9d393e0> | {
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Web Search Strategies in Plain English
2 (2 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
The Web may seem like a vast ocean when it comes to finding something you need. Thankfully, search engines can help turn oceans of information into small pools that make finding information easier. This is Web Search Strategies in Plain English. Before we dive in, Let's talk a bit about how search works on the Web. Search engines go out and try to account for every word on every web page. All this information is then organized for easy reference. When you search for a word, the search engine finds all the pages where the word appears, and displays them in the search results. Usually, the pages that appear highest in the search results have lots of other web pages linking to them. Each link acts as a vote to say, "This may be a good resource." The problem is that there are often too many results. You need a way to reduce the number of results so you can find what you need. Let's look at how this works. Say you're looking for a specific kind of fish, and these represent all the websites on the Web. Searching for FISH doesn't help much. There are way too many results. You need to be more specific. Try to imagine the exact fish and describe it in the search box. You'll see that each word you use gets you closer to what you need. You can do this for any website by imagining the website that has your answer. What's the title of the page? What words appear on it? If you put those words in the search box, you'll get closer to finding answers. But to be a smart searcher, you should know some basic shortcuts. Let's say you're looking for words that appear together, like a phrase or a quote. An example is a search for information on sand sharks. If you search for it like this, the search engine looks for pages with SAND and SHARKS. To get better results, put quotes around the words like this. It limits the results to the exact phrase. Here's another shortcut. Words often have multiple meanings. Consider the word MULLET, which is both a fish and a hairstyle. A search for MULLET may give you a number of results about the hairstyle, but fewer about the fish. To remove the results about hair place a hyphen or minus sign just before the word you want to exclude, which means, "show me the pages about mullet, but take away results relating to hair." By being specific, and using words and symbols that remove useless information, you can find exactly what you need, and keep the Web from swallowing you whole. I'm Lee LeFever and this has been Web Search Strategies in Plain English on the Common Craft Show. The Common Craft Store now offers downloadable versions of our videos for use in the workplace. Find them at CommonCraft.com/store.
Duration: 2 minutes and 50 seconds
Country: United States
Producer: Common Craft, LLC
Director: Lee LeFever
Posted by: leelefever on Sep 23, 2008
A short video designed to help you get the most out of web searches.
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Drill pipe is an industrial tubular used to drill into the ground. There are three major industries that use drill pipe. The most common application of drill pipe is in the oil and gas industry. Another industry that uses drill pipe is the underground construction industry, or more specifically, the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) industry. And finally, the water well drilling industry also uses drill pipe. Drill pipe accounts for more than half of all product sales for E&M Specialty Co., who proudly serves all three of these major industries. At E&M, we have the largest selection of drill pipe for sale in the Gulf region, which makes us the #1 drill pipe supplier.
The oil and gas industry is where drill pipe is used the most. In 1987, E&M Specialty Co. began as a drill pipe supplier for oil and gas drilling contractors. Each 31ft length of drill pipe is screwed together one by one, and collectively they are known as the drill string. Drill collars and heavy-weight drill pipe are also parts of the drill string. At the bottom of the drill string is the drill bit, which does the actual boring into the earth. Initially all oilfield drill pipe is drilled into the ground vertically by the drilling rig. Then, depending on the proposed location and orientation of the oil well, the direction of the drilling is sometimes changed to horizontal. In comparison to other industries that use drill pipe, oilfield drill pipe is made to withstand the toughest working conditions. This is mainly due to the extreme depths it is used and the extreme conditions of the earth at those depths. For example some drill string lengths are in excess of 30,000ft.
Another industry that uses drill pipe is the underground construction industry, or more specifically, the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) industry. E&M Specialty began supplying drill pipe to the HDD industry in the mid 1990’s. This industry utilizes drill pipe to bore tunnels underneath waterways, major roadways, and generally any place where trenching is not acceptable. The resulting bore is used for various utility pipelines such as: fiber optic, water, electricity, and oil and gas. HDD drilling rigs are very different from oilfield drilling rigs in that they are almost completely laying flat or horizontal. Most of the larger (Maxi) HDD rigs use exactly the same drill pipe that the oilfield uses.
The water well drilling industry uses drill pipe also. Water wells are very shallow compared to oil wells, so the drill pipe and drilling rigs are lighter duty. E&M Specialty has served the water well drilling industry since the late 1980’s. | <urn:uuid:a4d04c19-9589-4138-ad0f-f1cf513b1cad> | {
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M J K THAVARAJ^
The Concept of Asiatic Mode of Production:
Its Relevance to Indian History
MARX was preoccupied with the discovery of the laws of social development. Explorations into historical materialism led Marx to analyse not only the nature of transition from feudalism to capitalism in his immediate European environment but also into the identification of earlier socio-economic formations especially of Asia. In this he had to rely on the writings of ever so many political thinkers, economists and historians from Aristotle to Hegel as well as the accounts given by European travellers and missionaries. Most c^f these sources were Euro-centric. Marx was particularly influenced by the writings of Richard Jones (political economist), Hegel (philosopher) and Bernier (traveller). His ideas, however, were evolving over three decades since the Communist Manifesto. Marx made several references to Asiatic Community, Oriental Despotism, historic forms of property etc, in his articles on India and China, Capital, Volume III and letters exchanged by Marx and Engels amongst themselves and with others. Asiatic Mode of Production (AMP) as a distinct historical category first appeared in his Economic Manuscripts of 1857-1859 and was confirmed in his Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy of 1859. Though modified with additional historical material like Morgans Ancient Society which influenced both Marx and Engels, the vagueness and geographic particularism which shrouded the concept gave rise to genuine methodological and epistemological problems for Marxist historiographers on the one hand and ammunition for ideological and political controversies on the other. The academic debate on the concept has waxed and waned but cannot be said to have ended.
AMP as Defined by Marx
While outlining the AMP in the Economic Manuscripts, Marx underlined the communal ownership of property. It is the community which produces and reproduces itself by living labour. Only insofar
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Finding Data Citing data
DSS lab consultation schedule
*No appts. necessary during walk-in hrs.
Note: the DSS lab is open as long as Firestone is open, no appointments necessary to use the lab computers for your own analysis.
Interpreting Regression Output
This guide assumes that you have at least a little familiarity with the concepts of linear multiple regression, and are capable of performing a regression in some software package such as Stata, SPSS or Excel. You may wish to read our companion page Introduction to Regression first. For assistance in performing regression in particular software packages, there are some resources at UCLA Statistical Computing Portal.
Brief review of regression
Remember that regression analysis is used to produce an equation that will predict a dependent variable using one or more independent variables. This equation has the form
where Y is the dependent variable you are trying to predict, X1, X2 and so on are the independent variables you are using to predict it, b1, b2 and so on are the coefficients or multipliers that describe the size of the effect the independent variables are having on your dependent variable Y, and A is the value Y is predicted to have when all the independent variables are equal to zero.
In the Stata regression shown below, the prediction equation is price =
-294.1955 (mpg) + 1767.292 (foreign) + 11905.42 - telling you that price
is predicted to increase 1767.292 when the foreign variable goes up by
one, decrease by 294.1955 when mpg goes up by one, and is predicted to be
11905.42 when both mpg and foreign are zero.
Coming up with a prediction equation like this is only a useful exercise if the independent variables in your dataset have some correlation with your dependent variable. So in addition to the prediction components of your equation--the coefficients on your independent variables (betas) and the constant (alpha)--you need some measure to tell you how strongly each independent variable is associated with your dependent variable.
When running your regression, you are trying to discover whether the coefficients on your independent variables are really different from 0 (so the independent variables are having a genuine effect on your dependent variable) or if alternatively any apparent differences from 0 are just due to random chance. The null (default) hypothesis is always that each independent variable is having absolutely no effect (has a coefficient of 0) and you are looking for a reason to reject this theory.
P, t and standard error
The t statistic is the coefficient divided by its standard error. The standard error is an estimate of the standard deviation of the coefficient, the amount it varies across cases. It can be thought of as a measure of the precision with which the regression coefficient is measured. If a coefficient is large compared to its standard error, then it is probably different from 0.
How large is large? Your regression software compares the t statistic on your variable with values in the Student's t distribution to determine the P value, which is the number that you really need to be looking at. The Student's t distribution describes how the mean of a sample with a certain number of observations (your n) is expected to behave. For more information on the t distribution, look at this web page.
If 95% of the t distribution is closer to the mean than the t-value on the coefficient you are looking at, then you have a P value of 5%. This is also reffered to a significance level of 5%. The P value is the probability of seeing a result as extreme as the one you are getting (a t value as large as yours) in a collection of random data in which the variable had no effect. A P of 5% or less is the generally accepted point at which to reject the null hypothesis. With a P value of 5% (or .05) there is only a 5% chance that results you are seeing would have come up in a random distribution, so you can say with a 95% probability of being correct that the variable is having some effect, assuming your model is specified correctly.
The 95% confidence interval for your coefficients shown by many regression packages gives you the same information. You can be 95% confident that the real, underlying value of the coefficient that you are estimating falls somewhere in that 95% confidence interval, so if the interval does not contain 0, your P value will be .05 or less.
Note that the size of the P value for a coefficient says nothing about the size of the effect that variable is having on your dependent variable - it is possible to have a highly significant result (very small P-value) for a miniscule effect.
In simple or multiple linear regression, the size of the coefficient for each independent variable gives you the size of the effect that variable is having on your dependent variable, and the sign on the coefficient (positive or negative) gives you the direction of the effect. In regression with a single independent variable, the coefficient tells you how much the dependent variable is expected to increase (if the coefficient is positive) or decrease (if the coefficient is negative) when that independent variable increases by one. In regression with multiple independent variables, the coefficient tells you how much the dependent variable is expected to increase when that independent variable increases by one, holding all the other independent variables constant. Remember to keep in mind the units which your variables are measured in.
Note: in forms of regression other than linear regression, such as logistic or probit, the coefficients do not have this straightforward interpretation. Explaining how to deal with these is beyond the scope of an introductory guide.
R-Squared and overall significance of the regression
The R-squared of the regression is the fraction of the variation in your dependent variable that is accounted for (or predicted by) your independent variables. (In regression with a single independent variable, it is the same as the square of the correlation between your dependent and independent variable.) The R-squared is generally of secondary importance, unless your main concern is using the regression equation to make accurate predictions. The P value tells you how confident you can be that each individual variable has some correlation with the dependent variable, which is the important thing.
Another number to be aware of is the P value for the regression as a whole. Because your independent variables may be correlated, a condition known as multicollinearity, the coefficients on individual variables may be insignificant when the regression as a whole is significant. Intuitively, this is because highly correlated independent variables are explaining the same part of the variation in the dependent variable, so their explanatory power and the significance of their coefficients is "divided up" between them. | <urn:uuid:63113b24-ff8b-476c-9ea3-6f3c963b10a2> | {
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Thunderf00t’s YouTube Video on the recent outbreak of swine flu.
And this is Thnderf00t’s comment to the video.
Basic health procedures from the World Health Organization.
How can I protect myself from getting swine influenza from infected people?
In the past, human infection with swine influenza was generally mild but is known to have caused severe illness such as pneumonia For the current outbreaks in the United States and Mexico however, the clinical pictures have been different. None of the confirmed cases in the United States have had the severe form of the disease and the patients recovered from illness without requiring medical care. In Mexico, some patients reportedly had the severe form of the disease.
To protect yourself, practice general preventive measures for influenza:
•Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and who have fever and cough.
•Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly.
•Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.
If there is an ill person at home:
•Try to provide the ill person a separate section in the house. If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter in distance from others.
•Cover mouth and nose when caring for the ill person. Masks can be bought commercially or made using the readily available materials as long as they are disposed of or cleaned properly.
•Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the ill person.
•Try to improve the air flow in the area where the ill person stays. Use doors and windows to take advantage of breezes.
•Keep the environment clean with readily available household cleaning agents.
If you are living in a country where swine influenza has caused disease in humans, follow additional advice from national and local health authorities. | <urn:uuid:8b387f17-bd7a-4141-9ecb-2c0767a0664d> | {
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CloudSat samples the atmosphere, taking the tiniest vertical slices of clouds and haze and dust and smoke and creating a profile of all that stands between us and space. This vertical sampling is possible because the satellite carries a radar instrument similar to those used to track storms on the ground, but more than 1,000 times more sensitive. The profiles reveal the hidden structure of clouds and their distribution and abundance.
It is rare, however, for the satellite to fly directly over the center of a tropical cyclone. On August 11, 2013, CloudSat did exactly that, capturing a perfect profile of the category 4 Super Typhoon Utor approaching the Philippines. Since its launch in April 2006, CloudSat has directly intersected the eye of a storm of this intensity and size only a handful of times.
The view of the storm at the top of this page comes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, which flies in formation with CloudSat and acquired this image a few minutes before the CloudSat overpass. The red line shows the footprint of the CloudSat radar observation displayed in the lower image. The CloudSat observation is about 10 kilometers east of the center of the storm, taking in the structure of the eye and eye wall. At the time, Utor had winds estimated at 115 knots (132 mph) and a minimum pressure of 937 millibars.
This overpass reveals many unique features of a well-defined and intense typhoon, including a distinct eye, bands of rain separated by cloud-free areas, and extremely heavy rain. The dip in the center of the profile shows an outward sloping eye and strong eyewall. The lack of a data signal below five kilometers (ten kilometers close to the eye) is due to heavy precipitation, since the radar pulse loses power traveling through intense rain. The strong signal elsewhere points to large amounts of ice and liquid water spread throughout the storm. Dark stripes are rain bands, and these are separated by moats (cloud-free areas) beneath the cirrus canopy.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using CloudSat FirstLook data provided courtesy of the CloudSat team at Colorado State University. Caption by Natalie D. Tourville and Holli Riebeek.
- CloudSat - CPR | <urn:uuid:5679a5ef-969a-469f-a864-2ded4adc6915> | {
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We are excited to display the preliminary results of our modeling research using eBird data. These maps, which are called STEM (Spatio-Temporal Exploratory Model) maps, use eBird stationary and traveling count checklists that report all species. The location of each checklist is associated with remotely-sensed information on habitat, climate, human population, and demographics generating a suite of approximately 60 variables describing the environment where eBird searches take place. By relating these environmental variables to observed occurrences, STEM is used to make predictions at unsampled locations and times. Models are trained one species at a time. Following model training, the expected occurrence for that species is predicted on each of 52 days, one per week throughout 2009, at some 130,000 locations sampled throughout the conterminous US. This massive volume of information is then summarized on maps, which in many cases reveal novel information about the annual cycles of North American birds. These maps showcase the power of eBird – year-round, continental-scale monitoring of all species.
Obviously, these maps show only the Lower 48 United States. This is because the landscape and climatic variables used to model the bird occurrence are only available for the Lower 48. The Lab and its partners are engaged in ongoing research to find and incorporate satellite-sensed data that will be applicable worldwide and at least allow us to expand these maps to Canada, Central America, and South America. Each species map is displayed with a text overview of the broad-scale migration patterns, along with an interesting biological story to consider. Of course, every map has many more stories to tell, and we invite you to provide your comments and reactions on the eBird blog. | <urn:uuid:6f5f0623-f7bd-45b6-9ca2-7485e3db11d5> | {
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What is in this article?:
- Forensic Casebook: The Case of the Missing Ground Wire
- SIDEBAR:Electrical Circuit Phenomena
Grounding problems on utility pole lead to death of a cable television technician.
SIDEBAR:Electrical Circuit Phenomena
Because the ground wire was not connected to ground and cut in two places, the connection between the end of the ground wire above the cut section and the ground was through the wood pole. The dry wood (the weather was dry at the time of the accident) in the pole presented a high resistance to electric current so that very little current flowed via this path. In other words, not enough current flowed to cause the protective devices that protected the power circuit to trip and interrupt the current. Thus, the arc between the phase conductor and the ground wire could have continued indefinitely. Had the ground wire not been cut in two places, it would have provided a safe path to ground and should have tripped protective devices.
As shown in the first Figure, when the victim contacted the energized ground wire above the cut sections and the grounded cable support wire at the same time, the current flowed into his hand touching the energized ground wire, through his body, out his other hand to the cable TV support cable, and then through the cable TV ground wire to ground. The burn marks on his hands confirmed this path.
The resistance of the human body for electrical safety purposes is considered to be about 1,000 ohms, according to IEEE Std 80-2000. Before the switch is closed in the above circuit, simulating a person contacting the energized ground wire while being grounded through the cable TV support cable, the voltage across the resistance representing the wood pole is about 880V, as measured by the electric utility. When the switch is closed, the body resistance shorts out the wood pole resistance, because it is so much smaller in value, which allows current to flow through the body. When this happens, the voltage across the body resistance will drop from whatever the open-circuit voltage on the ground wire was (880V or higher) to a lower value due to the higher current flow from the source through the body resistance (click here to see Figure). It only takes about 70mA to 300mA of current to kill a human. Thus, it only takes about 70V to 300V to cause a potentially fatal current to flow in the body. | <urn:uuid:e8ce3082-f640-4e60-9024-38b106aba8d7> | {
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Alan B. Krueger is an economist at Princeton.
Voting is usually considered the domain of political scientists, but economists are also interested in voter behavior for at least three reasons.
First, it is a seemingly irrational decision for any individual to vote, as the chance that a single voter influences an election outcome is vanishingly small in a statewide election while there are (small) costs to voting. Second, politicians use their limited resources to try to maximize their vote totals, which is inherently an economic allocation problem. Third, the field of “political economy” studies how political institutions and governance structures influence the economy, and vice versa.
Shortly before the last presidential election, I wrote an Economic Scene column for The Times on the cost-effectiveness of various strategies to increase voter turnout. My column relied heavily on a fascinating book by the Yale political scientists Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber, “Get Out the Vote!” (Brookings Institution Press). For a decade the duo has used controlled experiments conducted as part of actual election campaigns to learn how leafleting, robocalls, TV ads and other strategies affect voter turnout.
They concluded that it is expensive to increase voter turnout. Door-to-door canvassing, though expensive, seemed to yield the most votes per dollar spent. TV ads did not seem very effective.
Back in 2004, I encouraged Mr. Green to make a forecast of voter turnout for the presidential election. Based on his research, he estimated that roughly every $50 spent on mobilization would result in about one additional vote. We guessed that the campaigns and their supporters would spend $200 million more on voter turnout in 2004 than in 2000. Based on these ballpark figures, we predicted that turnout in the presidential election of 2004 would have been 4 million votes (or 2 percent of eligible voters) higher than in 2000, but below the 1992 rate.
We were too low. Professor Michael McDonald of George Mason University provides comprehensive voting statistics at this Web page. Voter turnout in 2004 was 60.1 percent of eligible voters, 5.9 points higher than in 2000 and 2 points higher than in 1992. | <urn:uuid:6847ca41-98ef-4459-852f-3f6c9e4c3b1d> | {
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What is the nature of mathematics? Becoming a mathematician in the 1960s, I swallowed hook, line, and sinker the Platonistic philosophy dominant at the time, that the objects of mathematics (the numbers, the geometric figures, the topological spaces, and so forth) had a form of existence in some abstract ("Platonic") realm. Their existence was independent of our existence as living, cognitive creatures, and searching for new mathematical knowledge was a process of explorative discovery not unlike geographic exploration or sending out probes to distant planets.
I now see mathematics as something entirely different, as the creation of the (collective) human mind. As such, mathematics says as much about we ourselves as it does about the external universe we inhabit. Mathematical facts are not eternal truths about the external universe, which held before we entered the picture and will endure long after we are gone. Rather, they are based on, and reflect, our interactions with that external environment.
This is not to say that mathematics is something we have freedom to invent. It's not like literature or music, where there are constraints on the form but writers and musicians exercise great creative freedom within those constraints. From the perspective of the individual human mathematician, mathematics is indeed a process of discovery. But what is being discovered is a product of the human (species)-environment interaction.
This view raises the fascinating possibility that other cognitive creatures in another part of the universe might have different mathematics. Of course, as a human, I cannot begin to imagine what that might mean. It would classify as "mathematics" only insofar as it amounted to that species analyzing the abstract structures that arose from their interactions with their environment.
This shift in philosophy has influenced the way I teach, in that I now stress social aspects of mathematics. But when I'm giving a specific lecture on, say, calculus or topology, my approach is entirely platonistic. We do our mathematics using a physical brain that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years by a process of natural selection to handle the physical and more recently the social environments in which our ancestors found themselves. As a result, the only way for the brain to actually do mathematics is to approach it "platonistically," treating mathematical abstractions as physical objects that exist.
A platonistic standpoint is essential to doing mathematics, just as Cartesian dualism is virtually impossible to dispense with in doing science or just plain communicating with one another ("one another"?). But ultimately, our mathematics is just that: our mathematics, not the universe's. | <urn:uuid:5fce24cd-ab6d-43f2-951a-3d25dddef848> | {
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In a Scientific American blog post Deep thought is dead, Long live deep thought, a bioinformatics analyst broods on the question, ‘Where are these jobs that will require such rapid “searching, browsing, assessing quality, and synthesizing the vast quantities of information?" and decides quiet a lot of information can be gained by this type of superficial processing of large quantities of material.
"Our ability to produce data is outstripping our ability to understand
it. In fact, the need to make sense of these mountains of information is
so great that it’s given rise to one of the hottest interdisciplinary fields on the market: data mining and predictive analytics."
Perhaps it's a trade-off. A lot can be gained from slowly and deeply reading a dense but wise text, but a different sort of knowledge (and equally legitimate) can be arrived at by superficial processing of large quantities of material. This more superficial processing may be particularly well suited to inductive problems where principles may be extrapolated from different examples or instances.
researchers in Neuroimage found that the striatal-thalamic regions (blue left) were important for the extrapolation step in inductive problem solving. This is all very interesting because of the association of striatal structures with curiosity and novelty.
One wonders whether strong caudate learners should be considered as a distinct learning style - novel, curiosity driven, inductive learners who learn best by engaging primary or direct experiences- then reasoning back to first principles.
We see many of these types of learners in high tech / computer engineering fields - and that probably also jives with the video gamers have bigger brains (caudates) research. | <urn:uuid:60f5563f-1543-4209-9013-e23330c03a2a> | {
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Last year as we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the social studies class in my grandson’s middle school discussed the man and his ideas. However, it never once came up that Dr. King was a Baptist minister and his religious beliefs, as well as his philosophical beliefs, were the driving force behind his actions.
Included in Dr. King’s Christian beliefs were the biblical teachings about angels. He took courage in the knowledge that angels were helping those who worked for justice. He wrote, “The universe is under the control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship (angels). Behind the harsh appearance of the world there is a benign power.”
Dr. King and his wife discussed two incidents where angels played an important part in their journey. Dr. King himself had a life-altering experience when he was in the depths of despair. From his description of the incident, it seems likely that angels were present in his humble kitchen at the time. His wife, Coretta Scott King, was also certain that an angel saved her life and the life of their child at another time.
The first incident occurred one night when Martin Luther King was agonizing over the price his activities might exact against himself, Coretta, and their baby daughter, Yolanda, called Yoki. The decision to continue fighting for civil rights was not an easy one. It all came to a head one night in what Martin Luther King would later call his own “Gethsemane experience.” | <urn:uuid:04494c5c-cd92-46cc-8483-dd854d0eeadb> | {
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An Adjustment removes the interference to the body’s central nervous system, causing the body to function normally. An adjustment can help with anything from a common headache to improving your body’s energy and overall health.
How Does An Adjustment Work?
Throughout history, adjustments, or spinal manipulations, have been performed to help relieve people of back and neck pain. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, utilized spinal manipulation in his practice 2,500 years ago. For more than 100 years Chiropractors have been the specialists in spinal adjustments. About 95% of all spinal adjustments today are performed by Chiropractors. Doctors of Chiropractic are highly trained and skilled in the art of adjustments and manipulations.
What Is An Adjustment?
Adjustments and manipulations are techniques used to restore motion to joints that have lost their ability to move normally. To fully understand, we must first learn about normal joint mechanics.
All joints have an active and passive range of motion. Active range of motion is the movement a joint makes using only your muscles. Move a finger back and for the and notice how far it moves. At the end of its motion you can push on your finger and it will move a little farther. This extra motion is the passive range of motion. The joint should give or spring as you push it into the passive range.
At the end of the passive range of motion is an area called the paraphysiological zone. The goal of adjustments is to move the joint beyond the passive range of motion and into the paraphysiological zone.
As the joint is moved into this special zone a popping sound is usually heard. This requires great speed and skill and should only be done by someone who has had extensive training. Adjustments may be used on any joint of the body that has lost its normal join motion. Doctors of Chiropractic are specialists in performing adjustments.
What Makes The Popping Sound?
When a joint is adjusted the two surfaces of the joint separate. The popping sound is not made from the bones, but is the collapse of a gas bubble formed in the joint fluid as the joint is separated. It takes approximately 20 minutes for the joint surfaces to return to their previous position and pressure. This is why many patients fell “loose” after an adjustment. Adjustments allow the joint to have more freedom and a greater passive range of motion.
How Do Adjustments Work?
The effects of adjustments are very broad. They include various mechanical, or direct, and reflex, or indirect, mechanisms. These include:
|~||Increasing joint motion (mechanically) which causes a decrease of pain (reflex). You have different types of nerves that sense different types of sensations. The nerves that sense motion, heat, cold, and vibration will override the nerves that sense pain. This is why people will feel okay while they are active, but when they sit down and relax their pain may come back. As the brain receives information about movement and other sensations, it closes the gate on the nerves that sense pain.
|~||Stimulating a joint with an adjustment (mechanical) causes relaxation of the muscles around the joint (reflex).
|~||Chronic pain results in decreased joint mobility, shortening of joint tissues, and the formations of adhesions. Adjustments stretch shortened tissues and break joint adhesions. This results in increased joint motion causing the reflexes noted above.
|~||Sometimes a tag of joint tissue will become trapped in neck or back joints. This may cause irritation in both the affected and neighboring joints, which leads to muscle spasms and a locked neck or back. Adjustments can release these joint tags (mechanical).
|~||Spinal adjustments stimulate the autonomic nervous system (reflex), which regulates the function of the organs. Some of the effects include changes in blood circulation, skin temperature, blood pressure, blood chemistry, and the diameter of the pupils.
|~||Correcting abnormal joint mechanics provides relief of chronic nerve compression and irritation. Some patients have a combination of stenosis, or narrowing of the canals that the nerves pass through, and decreased joint motion. Adjustments will increase joint motion and relieve compression of the nerves, resulting in reflex effects that reduce pain and muscle dysfunction.
Chiropractors have sometimes been criticized throughout the past century for their use and claims of the benefits of spinal adjustments. Every Chiropractor has witnessed “miracles” in his or her office. Patients not only describe relief of pain but also changes in their vision, bowels, amount of dizziness, breathing, and sleeping. The list goes on and on. Each year there are more research studies being done to explain these dramatic results.
In the 1980′s, there was an explosion of research on the treatment of back and neck pain; specifically concerning the effectiveness of spinal adjustments. These research studies have been used to establish US and UK clinical guidelines for the management of low back pain.
These government sponsored multidisciplinary guidelines recommend spinal adjustments, over-the-counter drugs, and hot or cold treatments as the only proven treatments for acute low back pain. The US guideline recommends against most traditional, and unproven, medical treatments including muscle relaxers and prescription drugs, bed rest, traction, TENS units, ultrasound, and various injections.
Chiropractic was once considered unorthodox and simply a placebo. Today, research has proven Chiropractic to be the treatment of choice for many conditions. Tomorrow’s research will only tell how far reaching spinal adjustments can be. | <urn:uuid:60d721f5-6d67-4afb-b3b2-731e819c926a> | {
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“The ground-plan of a typical Auvergnese church was developed from the early Christian basilica plan. Transept-arms and a choir give it the cruciform shape; the long nave is flanked by aisles; the primitive projecting narthex is replaced by a vestibule which is included behind the main façade; and the apse is encircled by chapels. This was the plan characteristic of those Northern Romanesque styles from which the Gothic styles were to spring. But in Auvergne the structure raised upon this plan was distinctively Southern in idea, and at the same time distinctively local in treatment.
The aisles of Notre Dame du Port like those in Poitou and Provence, are much taller than the old basilican aisles which, with great triforia and clearstories above them, were retained in Northern Romanesque and in Gothic art. Once again this increase in altitude is explained by the desire for high-palced lateral vaults as buttresses for the long barrel-vault of the nave. But the Auvergnese aisle is not so very lofty as are those of Poitou and Provence, and its service as a buttress is performed in a different way.
In Poitou and Provence the aisle-vault is the half of a barrel-vault,—continuous, and in section the quarter of a circle,—and it meets the nave-wall at so high a point that in Provence this wall gives space only for a range of very small clearstory windows, and in Poitou for no openings at all. But in Auvergne the less lofty aisle is covered by a series of rectangular intersecting vaults. These support a triforium gallery. The ceiling of this gallery is not of wood, as are those of the triforia of Romanesque churches in the North, but is a second series of intersecting vaults. Above these is thrown the actual buttressing vault, which like the aisle-vault proper in Poitou and Provence, is half of a barrell-vault. Thus that safe construction of stone ceilings above the broad nave, which in all Southern provinces was achieved much earlier than at the North, was most elaborately and scientifically compassed in Auvergne, and also most beautifully.”—Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer,
“... if from the examination of the general features we proceed to the details of the building, every one who understands construction will be amazed to see what numberless precautions are resorted to in the execution,—how the prudence of the practical builder is combined with the daring of the artist full of power and inventive imagination; while in examining the mouldings and the sculpture we remark the use of reliable methods, a scrupulous adherence to principles, a perfect appreciation of effect, a style unequaled in purity by modern art, an execution at the same time delicate and bold, quite free from exaggeration, and owing its merit to the study and love of form.”—Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, Regarding Notre Dame de Paris in Discourses on Architecture, 1860
“The introduction of the pointed arch in vaulting construction first gives the Gothic architect the chance to carry out his aspiration for a building with taut sinews and pliant members, and without any superfluous flesh or any superfluous mass. For the much slighter lateral thrust of ogival vaulting per mits a higher and more slender treatment of the supporting pillars, and thus first makes possible that thorough breaking up of the static construction, and that expression, consonant with Gothic demands, of delicate, flexible, and unencumbered action. It is as if, now—with the introduction of the pointed arch—a great selfconsciousness went through the building. The cue seems to be given that lets its pent-up need of activity, its predisposition to express pathos, take the stage. The whole building strains itself in the joyous consciousness of being freed at last from all material weight, from all terrestrial limitations. The pillars grow high, slender, and supple; the vaulting loses itself in dizzy heights. And yet everything is subservient to this vaulting carried far aloft. For its sake only the building seems to exist. The vaulting already begins at the foundation of the building, as it were. All the great and small vaulting-shafts, which spring up from the floor and like living forces invest the pillars, appear both structurally and aesthetically as mere preparation for the vault. With lithe strength they fly up from the floor to fade away gradually in an easy movement. The movement pressing on from both sides is unified in the crown of the vault by a keystone, which, in spite of the actual weight demanded by its structural function as abutment, makes no aesthetic impression of weight and appears, rather, a natural termination, light as a flower.”—Wilhelm Worringer, Form Problems of the Gothic, 1918
“Without staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica, the reader will easily understand thus much of it: that it had a nave and two aisles, the nave much higher than the aisles; that the nave was separated from the aisles by rows of shafts, which supported, above, large spaces of flat or dead wall, rising above the aisles, and forming the upper part of the nave, now called the clerestory, which had a gabled wooden roof.”—John Ruskin, | <urn:uuid:f275ad0d-45b6-43ec-83f4-97bd7a69b241> | {
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Level: B1/Intermediate and up
Skills: Reading, speaking, listening and writing
Language: nouns and adjectives (e.g. happy/happiness, grateful/gratitude)
The lesson starts with a short text to introduce the topic and get the students thinking about how people recognise and celebrate gratitude in their cultures. It then moves onto the video, where students watch two people visiting a friend and reading aloud a letter they have written , thanking them for what they have done. There is some focus on vocabulary, and some useful phrases that students could use themselves to say thank you. Finally, the students are asked to write their own thank you letter, which they may or may not choose to actually deliver.
Secrets of a long and happy marriage
Level: Pre-Int/strong A2 upwards
Skills: Listening and speaking (giving advice)
Language: idioms connected with love and marriage, imperatives to give advice
The lesson starts with some discussion about marriage before students are asked to give their ‘top tips’ for a successful marriage. They then watch the video and compare Selma and Kenny’s advice with their ideas.
The video is quite easy to follow, though the couple do talk over each other at times (there is a transcript). It’s funny and quite touching.
There is then a focus on idioms connected with love and marriage, and then we look at some of the ways Selma and Kenny use imperatives to give advice. Students can then use this language to reformulate their original pieces of advice.
A good deed
Level: PreIntermediate/A2 – Upper Intermediate/B2
Skills: Listening (audio not video), speaking (telling a narrative)
Language: Narrative tenses (simple past and past perfect)
The lesson starts with a short text giving some background to the Depression of the 1930s, and invites students to think about parallels with the situation in some countries today and what can, or should be done by individuals and governments.
Students then listen to the audio, which is quite short and simple, listening both for gist and specific information.
There is then a focus on narrative tenses, specifically simple past and past perfect. This could work as part of an introduction to past perfect, or as a review at higher levels. Students then try to retell Virginia’s story, using tenses appropriately, before going on to tell their own ‘good deed’ stories.
Try something new for 30 days
Skills: Listening, Speaking
Language: Present Perfect for experience (Have you ever + past participle) and idioms.
The lesson starts with a quick review of present perfect for experience: Have you ever + past participle?
Students then watch the video (3 minutes), which is quite simply and clearly expressed, looking at what challenges Matt carried out, and the impact these challenges had on his life.
There is a focus on some idiomatic language, and then the lesson concludes by asking students to think of some challenges they’d like to do themselves (and that they’d like to set for the teacher!)
Skills: Listening, Writing (self-descriptions)
Language: Collocations to describe facial features (thick hair, full lips etc)
The lesson is based around the recent Dove advertisement, showing the huge difference between women’s views of their looks and how other see them. The lesson starts by focusing on collocations to describe facial features, such as thick hair, full lips and so on. Students then watch the video and discuss some of the issues raised, including self -esteem, the role of the media,and differences between men and women. More language to describe physical appearance is ‘pulled out’ of the video, and the lesson ends with students writing detailed descriptions of themselves.
An optional extra that might work well to lighten the class a little is a very funny spoof video, where some men find out that they are actually much uglier than they think they are! The link is in the accompanying notes.
Q & A
Level: B2/Upper Int+ (good intermediate class could cope)
Skills: Listening (inferring meaning), Reading, Speaking
Joshua, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, interviews his mother, giving us insights into what it’s like for him to be different from others, and the loving relationship between the two of them. Great for raising awareness of Asperger’s and of bullying, and very touching.
The lesson involves listening and inferring meaning, plenty of discussion, and also has a focus on ellipsis, where words are omitted because the meaning is clear.
The Science of Smiling
Level: B1+ Int+ (suitable for lower level IELTS students as well as General English)
Skills: Listening, Reading (summary completion), Speaking
Language: Idioms to describe emotions (e.g. fly off the handle)
This lesson is about why smiling, even when we don’t feel much like it, can actually make us happier. The lesson starts with a short video, demonstrating the impact of smiling on the ‘miserable’ people of Edinburgh. After some brief discussion, the students go on to read a text about the various scientific findings about the emotional impact of smiling. The text and task (summary completion) would be suitable for students preparing for IELTS, especially at a lower level, but is suitable for a General English class as well. Finally, the lesson looks at a lexical set of idioms to describe emotions, and the students are asked to discuss how different situations might make them feel.
The Icing on the Cake
Level: A2+/Pre-Int + (adaptable for higher levels)
Skills: Listening and Speaking
Language: Impersonal pronouns/adverbs (something, anyone, everywhere,nobody etc) and vocabulary to describe positive qualities (ambitious, patient, kind etc)
The lesson is based around another wonderful animated true story from http://www.storycorps.com. The conversation between a mother and daughter looks back on the family’s struggles as poor immigrants to the US, and how the daughter was inspired by her mother’s determination. It would work very well with groups of students who have experienced something similar, but is suitable for anyone.
The lead-in task asks students to predict, using pictures of key incidents in the story. The use of pictures makes it suitable for lower level learners, and it could also be done with learners who have literacy issues, by making the follow up questions oral. After watching and listening, students are asked to think about whether they admire the parents in the story (or not), which should lead to some interesting discussion about immigration, the necessity of working versus spending time with children and so on. Then there is a focus on impersonal pronouns/adverbs (something, anything, everyone.nowhere etc) and a discussion task which brings in more vocabulary to describe qualities we’d like to pass onto our children. Again, this could be adapted to lower and higher levels through the choice of vocabulary.
The Chicken Nugget Experiment
Level: At two levels A2+/Pre-Int+ and B2+/Upper Int +
Skills: Listening and Speaking
Language: Vocabulary to discuss junk food (nutritious, saturated fat, obesity). Lower level: Giving opinions, agreeing/disagreeing. Higher Level: Contrast markers (despite, even though, although, however etc)
After a video lead-in, the lesson is based around a video of British chef, Jamie Oliver, demonstrating exactly what does go into cheap chicken nuggets to a group of American children. It’s pretty revolting, but the children reckon it’s ‘awesome’..and there’s a surprise at the end.
The lesson is at two levels, Lower Intermediate (A2+) and Upper Intermediate (B2+). The video is quite easy to follow even if students don’t understand everything that’s being said. Both versions introduce a set of vocabulary for talking about junk food, and both have a variety of discussion tasks and questions. The lower level version also introduces some functional language for giving opinions and agreeing and disagreeing, while the higher level version looks at how to use contrast markers, although, even though, despite etc.
To R.P. Salazar, with love.
Level: B1/Intermediate +
Skills: Listening and Speaking
Language: Different uses of ‘like’, including ‘slang’ uses and ‘would’ and ‘used’ to for past habits.
The lesson uses an authentic recording from http://www.storycorps.com, which has also been animated. The lesson focuses on vocabulary and grammar from the recording, and asks students to think about the role of luck or fate in our lives, and whether there really is someone for everyone. The lesson finishes with a speaking activity where students can tell the tale of how they and their partner (or a couple they know) met.
Living without Money
Level: B2/Upper Int + (because of the authentic reading text)
Skills: Reading and speaking
Language: Vocabulary from the text, related to money and to different roles.
Note that the lead-in video is in German, and students should use the subtitles. After the lead-in, students work on vocabulary from the authentic text, related to money and different roles in life. They then look in detail at the reading text before being invited to consider their opinions about Heidemarie’s lifestyle, and the bigger question of whether society is too materialistic and whether (and how) it should change.
Pay it Forward
Level: At three levels, see below.
Skills: Reading, speaking, writing
Language: Relative pronouns and defining relative clauses (for higher level also omiting relative pronoun when it’s an object, and reduced relative clauses)
This lesson starts with a short reading text about a recent event at a coffee shop in Canada, where some-one’s kindness in paying for the person behind them led to 288 people passing on the favour to the next in line. The lesson then uses the video above (no words, just music) to extend the idea, before focusing on defining relative clauses. There are three different versions, so that you can either choose the most appropriate for your students, or use all three with mixed level classes. The lesson rounds off by asking students to complete a story, imagining their own chain of events.
Level: Upper Intermediate + Adults and Teens
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
With a reading text about a real-life Secret Millionaire, who wanted to give something back, this lesson introduces a range of idioms to talk about wealth and poverty and gets students thinking about the gap between rich and poor, the responsibilities of those who are better off, and what it means to have someone who believes in you. There is a focus on strategies for skim reading and the lesson finishes with a writing activity where students write to someone who made a difference in their lives. | <urn:uuid:943984a6-e63b-49c1-9f1d-5e7d8a6cf65a> | {
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Henry Way Kendall (December 9, 1926 – February 15, 1999) was an American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990 jointly with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics."
|This scientist article is a stub. You can help Wikiquote by expanding it.|
- While science and technology play critical roles in sustaining modern civilization, they are not part of our culture in the sense that they are not commonly studied or well comprehended. Neither the potential nor the limitations of science are understood so that what can be achieved and what is beyond reach are not comprehended. The line between science and magic becomes blurred so that public judgments on technical issues can be erratic or badly flawed. It frequently appears that some people will believe almost anything. Thus judgments can be manipulated or warped by unscrupulous groups. Distortions or outright falsehoods can come to be accepted as fact.
- Henry Way Kendall (2000). A distant light: scientists and public policy. Springer. p. 4. ISBN 0387988335. | <urn:uuid:6ff63cd8-4449-43b7-b984-071c2c5a785b> | {
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Georg Eberhard Rumphius
|This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013)|
Georg Eberhard Rumphius (originally: Rumpf; baptized c. November 1, 1627 – June 15, 1702) was a German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company in what is now eastern Indonesia, and is best known for his work Herbarium Amboinense. In addition to his major contributions to plant systematics, he is also remembered for his skills as an ethnographer, and his frequent defense of Ambonese peoples against colonialism.
Rumphius was the oldest son of August Rumpf, a builder and engineer in Hanau, and Anna Elisabeth Keller, sister of Johann Eberhard Keller, governor of the Dutch-speaking Kleve (Cleves), at that time a district of the Electortel (Kurfürstentum) of Brandenburg. He was baptized Georg Eberhard Rumpf in Wölfersheim, where he grew up. He went to the Gymnasium in Hanau. Though born and raised in Germany he spoke and wrote in Dutch from an early age, probably as learned from his mother. He was recruited, ostensibly to serve the Republic of Venice, but was put on a ship (The Black Raven) in 1646 bound for Brazil where the Dutch and Portuguese were fighting over territory. Either through shipwreck or capture he landed in Portugal, where he remained for nearly three years. Around 1649 he returned to Hanau where he helped his father's business.
Merchant of Ambon
A week after his mother's funeral (December 20, 1651) he left Hanau for the last time. Perhaps through contacts of his mother's family, he enlisted with the Dutch East Indies Company (as Jeuriaen Everhard Rumpf) and left as a midshipman, December 26, 1652, aboard the ship Muyden for the Dutch East Indies. He arrived in Batavia in July 1653, and proceeded to the Ambon archipelago in 1654. By 1657 his official title was "engineer and ensign", at which point he requested a transfer to the civilian branch of the company and became "junior merchant" on Hitu island, north of Ambon. He then started to undertake a study of the flora and fauna of these Spice Islands. Eventually, Joan Maetsuycker, the governor-general in Batavia, gave him dispensation from his ordinary duties to complete this study. He would become known as Plinius Indicus (the Pliny of the Indies).
Rumphius is best known for his authorship of Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense, a catalogue of the plants of the island of Amboina (in modern-day Indonesia), published posthumously in 1741. The work covers 1,200 species, 930 with definite species names, and another 140 identified to genus level. He provided illustrations and descriptions for nomenclature types for 350 plants, and his material contributed to the later development of the binomial scientific classification by Linnaeus. His book provided the basis for all future study of the flora of the Moluccas and his work is still referred to today. Despite the distance he was in communication with scientists in Europe, was a member of a scientific society in Vienna, and even sent a collection of Moluccan sea shells to the Medicis in Tuscany.
After going blind in 1670 due to glaucoma, Rumphius continued work on his six-volume manuscript with the help of others. His wife and child were lost to an earthquake and tsunami on February 17, 1674. In 1687, with the project nearing completion, the illustrations were lost in a fire. Persevering, Rumphius and his helpers first completed the book in 1690, but the ship carrying the manuscript to the Netherlands was attacked by the French and sank, forcing them to start over from a copy that had fortunately been retained. The Herbarium Amboinense finally arrived in the Netherlands in 1696. However, "the East India Company decided that it contained so much sensitive information that it would be better not to publish it." Rumphius died in 1702, so never saw his work in print; the embargo was lifted in 1704, but then no publisher could be found for it. It finally appeared in 1741, thirty-nine years after Rumphius's death. Much of the natural history in Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën ("Old and New East-India") by François Valentijn was by Rumphius and they were close friends.
- Herbarium Amboinense. 1747.
- Amboinsche Rariteitkamer (Amboina Curiosity Cabinet, 1705)
- Amboinsche Historie (Amboina History)
- Amboinsche Lant-beschrijvinge (a social geography)
- Amboinsch Dierboek (Amboina animal book, lost)
- Merrill, Elmer D. (1 Nov 1917). An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense (Digitised, online, via biodiversitylibrary.org). Publication No. 9. Manila, Philippines: Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Bureau of Science. pp. 1–595. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013. (cited in Monk,, K.A.; Fretes, Y.; Reksodiharjo-Lilley, G. (1996). The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 962-593-076-0.)
- Monk,, K.A.; Fretes, Y.; Reksodiharjo-Lilley, G. (1996). The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 962-593-076-0.
- "Author Query for 'Rumph.'". International Plant Names Index.
- Wehner, U., W. Zierau, & J. Arditti The merchant of Ambon: Plinius Indicus, in Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives, pp 8–35. Tiiu Kull, Joseph Arditti, editors, Springer Verlag 2002
- Georg Eberhard Rumpf and E.M. Beekman (1999). The Ambonese curiosity cabinet - Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, Yale University Press (New Haven, Connecticut): cxii + 567 p. (ISBN 0300075340) English translation preceded by an account of his life and work and with annotations.
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Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
|Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve|
|Location||Lake Huron, Alpena County, Michigan USA|
|Nearest city||Alpena, Michigan|
|Area||448 square miles (1,160 km2)|
|Governing body||Michigan Department of Natural Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|
The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary on Thunder Bay, part of Lake Huron, within the U.S. state of Michigan. The 448-square-mile (1,160 km2) sanctuary and underwater preserve protects an estimated 116 historically significant shipwrecks ranging from nineteenth century wooden side-wheelers to twentieth century steel-hulled steamers. The Thunder Bay is the thirteenth National Marine Sanctuary designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was established in 2000.
The landward boundary of the sanctuary extends from the northern boundary of Alpena County near Middle Island, to its southern boundary near South Point. The sanctuary extends east from the lakeshore to longitude 83 degrees west. Alpena is the largest city in the area.
There are a great many wrecks in the sanctuary, and their preservation and protection is a concern for national policy makers.
Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center
Tied to the sanctuary is the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W Fletcher St, Alpena, MI 49707 (989) 356-8805. The museum features exhibits about local ship wrecks and the Great Lakes, an auditorium, an archaeological conservation lab and education areas.
- Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve NOAA
- Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center NOAA
- Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve Michigan Underwater Preserve Council
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The handfishes are a poorly known lophiiform family containing four described species in two genera: Brachionichthys and Sympterichthys. Handfishes are restricted to dispersed inshore marine habitats off southern Australia and primarily Tasmania. Like most other shallow-dwelling lophiiforms, they are exclusively benthic. Several species in the family are of conservation concern and listed as vulnerable to extinction by the Australian government (Last et al., 1983).
Australia's CSIRO has produced a QuickTime clip that outlines the conservation status of the spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) and demonstrates the tetrapod-like locomotion of brachionichthyids.
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What is Nanotechnology?
The term nanotechnology refers to research and technology development conducted with particles and materials in the size range of approximately one to one hundred nanometers in any dimension (i.e., nanoscale). A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, approximately one hundred thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
Nanotechnology refers to the intentional engineering or manufacture of nanoscale particles. However, nanoscale materials can also be produced unintentionally, from various human and natural processes (e.g., particulates produced from fuel combustion, volcanic ash, viruses).
Nanotechnology holds great promise for creating new materials with enhanced properties and attributes. For example, greater catalytic efficiency, increased electrical conductivity, and improved hardness and strength, derive from the larger surface area per unit of volume of nanoscale materials as well as special physical properties (i.e., quantum effects) that occur at nanoscale dimensions.
Nanoscale materials are already being used or tested in a wide range of products such as sunscreens, composites, medical and electronic devices, and chemical catalysts.
Nanotechnology Applications for the Environment
Nanoscale materials have potential beneficial applications for future environmental remediation or as detectors. For example, nanosized cerium oxide has been developed to decrease diesel emissions, and iron nanoparticles can remove contaminants from soil and ground water. Nanosized sensors hold promise for improved detection and tracking of contaminants in the environment.
In these and other ways, nanotechnology presents an opportunity to improve how we measure, monitor, manage, and reduce contaminants in the environment. EPA is interested in the potential benefits of nanotechnology and charged with regulating its disposal. A challenge for environmental protection is to help fully realize the societal benefits nanotechnology while identifying and minimizing any adverse impacts to humans or ecosystems from exposure to nanoscale materials.
EPA is working to gain a better understanding of how to best apply nanotechnology for pollution prevention in current manufacturing processes and in the manufacture of new nanoscale materials, as well as in environmental detection, monitoring, and clean-up of waste sites. This understanding will come from scientific information gathered by environmental research and development activities conducted by government agencies, academia, and the private sector. | <urn:uuid:c19a27cc-01b5-47d3-8a7e-ba19e0cd1b5b> | {
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Everyone can play their part in preserving our nation's water resources. With the simple steps and informational tools below, you'll find that it's easier than ever.
You've purchased some WaterSense labeled products and started down the road to savings, but don't stop there. There are lots of things you can do in your own home to reduce water use and get more from less. Just follow our simple tips below to get started!
Here, there, and everywhere:
- Fix a Leak: Small household leaks can add up to gallons of water lost every day. That's why WaterSense reminds Americans to check their plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems each year in March during Fix a Leak Week.
In the bathroom—where over half of all water use inside a home takes place:
- Turn off the tap while shaving or brushing teeth.
- Showers use less water than baths, as long as you keep an eye on how long you've been lathering up!
- Learn tips on how to Shower Better here!
In the kitchen- whip up a batch of big water savings:
- Plug up the sink or use a wash basin if washing dishes by hand.
- Use a dishwasher; and when you do, make sure it's fully loaded!
- While you're at it, scrape that plate instead of rinsing before loading it into the dishwasher.
- Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cool.
- Thaw in the refrigerator overnight rather than using a running tap of hot water.
- Add food wastes to your compost pile instead of using the garbage disposal.
In the laundry room—where you can be clean AND green:
- Wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate water level or load size selection on the washing machine.
Of the estimated 29 billion gallons of water used daily by households in the United States, nearly 7 billion gallons, or 30 percent, is devoted to outdoor water use. In the hot summer months, or in dry climates, a household's outdoor water use can be as high as 70 percent.
In the yard—be beautiful and efficient:
- Create a water-smart landscape that is both beautiful and efficient to give your home the curb appeal you desire.
- Timing is everything! Knowing when and how much to water allows you to keep a healthy landscape.
- Upgrade to a WaterSense labeled controller if you have an in-ground irrigation system.
- Find a certified irrigation professional to install, maintain, or audit your irrigation system to ensure it is watering at peak efficiency.
- Take a look at the Landscape Photo Gallery for inspirational examples of beautiful, water-smart landscapes from across the country.
Other outdoor uses—drop that hose and keep it covered:
- Sweep driveways, sidewalks, and steps rather than hosing off.
- Wash the car with water from a bucket, or consider using a commercial car wash that recycles water.
- If you have a pool, use a cover to reduce evaporation when pool is not being used.
Take the Pledge, Be for Water
Use this simple calculator to estimate how much water, energy, and money you can save by installing WaterSense labeled products in your home or apartment building.
For everything, there is a season...
...to be more water efficient! During the course of the year, our daily activities will change and so will our water use. Here's your "to-do" for savings this season! Click on the image to the right or the images below to learn more helpful hints for being water-efficient all year round.
*Copyright Eric Vance 2010, All Rights Reserved. Reproduction rights granted to USEPA | <urn:uuid:6dfd0d35-957b-49d0-81cd-15fcb5146614> | {
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de Andrade, Rafael Barreto and Barlow, Jos and Louzada, Julio and Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Zagury and Souza, Mateus and Silveira, Juliana M. and Cochrane, Mark A. (2011) Quantifying responses of dung beetles to fire disturbance in tropical forests:the importance of trapping method and seasonality. PLoS ONE, 6 (10). -.
|PDF - Published Version |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (392Kb) | Preview
Understanding how biodiversity responds to environmental changes is essential to provide the evidence-base that underpins conservation initiatives. The present study provides a standardized comparison between unbaited flight intercept traps (FIT) and baited pitfall traps (BPT) for sampling dung beetles. We examine the effectiveness of the two to assess fire disturbance effects and how trap performance is affected by seasonality. The study was carried out in a transitional forest between Cerrado (Brazilian Savanna) and Amazon Forest. Dung beetles were collected during one wet and one dry sampling season. The two methods sampled different portions of the local beetle assemblage. Both FIT and BPT were sensitive to fire disturbance during the wet season, but only BPT detected community differences during the dry season. Both traps showed similar correlation with environmental factors. Our results indicate that seasonality had a stronger effect than trap type, with BPT more effective and robust under low population numbers, and FIT more sensitive to fine scale heterogeneity patterns. This study shows the strengths and weaknesses of two commonly used methodologies for sampling dung beetles in tropical forests, as well as highlighting the importance of seasonality in shaping the results obtained by both sampling strategies.
|Journal or Publication Title:||PLoS ONE|
|Additional Information:||© 2011 Andrade et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.|
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||RAIN-FOREST ; COLEOPTERA SCARABAEIDAE ; INSECT CONSERVATION ; RECURRENT WILDFIRES ; PLANTATION FORESTS ; AMAZONIAN FORESTS ; BIODIVERSITY ; DIVERSITY ; ABUNDANCE ; ASSEMBLAGES|
|Departments:||Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre|
|Deposited On:||05 Dec 2011 16:59|
|Last Modified:||19 Sep 2013 14:53|
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An illustration of Geoffrey Chaucer as a Canterbury pilgrim. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin. | <urn:uuid:b75c3005-cd2a-44b2-bc57-ec119cc9997c> | {
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Ballistics is also used to describe the process of identify
ing a firearm
through test firings and careful examination of spent casing
s and bullet
s from those firings. It is a process used daily by law enforcement
personnel all over the world, as well as by those designing and testing new (or restored) firearms.
More in line with Webster1913's definition, it (in another incarnation) is the study of the flight and energy transfer of projectiles, usually from firearms, for purposes other than identification. For example, hunting (in many nations/states/provinces) is regulated as to the type of ammunition that is permitted for use against various targets. The reasoning is fairly straightforward; you wish to ensure that the hunter is safely employing a weapon; one that (when properly wielded) will kill the target quickly and cleanly, without causing it painful and debilitating (but not fatal) injury.
There are reasons other than strict humanitarianism for this. For one, it helps to ensure that a minimum number of animals are destroyed per hunter. For another, it helps to ensure the safety of people and property; for example, while hunting for fowl with a shotgun and shot shells is quite sensible, hunting for those same creatures with a rifle is foolhardy. Not only are your chances of success much reduced, but a rifled bullet (especially when aimed in an upward direction as it would be when hunting birds) will carry an enormous distance - miles, in many cases. When it strikes the ground it will not be going as quickly as it did leaving the gun, due to friction, but it will be going fast enough to cause fairly severe damage to anyone or anything that it hits. Round shot packed into a shell, with lower pressure and more chaotic flight patterns, will fall harmlessly to the ground in as little as a hundred feet. (WARNING: Don't stand in front of them to check.)
In any case, the desire to ensure a clean kill overlaps to some degree (actually, sometimes is a complete Boolean OR) with military ammunition design. Due to various treaties and agreements, there are limitations on the types of bullet that can be used in an antipersonnel weapon such as the rifle, carbine or pistol. These are not always designed to reduce the 'cleanliness' of the shot, or increase damage, as might be assumed. The ideal disposition of an enemy soldier is not, in fact, dead. Rather, the ideal outcome (from a military standpoint) is to succeed in incapacitating as many enemy soldiers through injury as possible, without killing them. The reasoning is fairly simple; a dead soldier consumes no resources, whereas a wounded one (assuming policy calls for it) will occupy the time and supplies required to transport, protect and heal him or her back to fighting condition.
So, in the guise of humanity, one example of a convention on ammunition is the specification for all military wartime ammo to have a full metal jacket. This not only allows it to travel through light obstructions without slowing appreciably, but ensures that when it hits it is more likely to bore a hole than to fragment and transfer all of its energy to the target. This is directly opposite the ideal self-defense or law enforcement pistol ammo, which ideally transfers all its energy to the target without passing through and harming anything or anyone behind said target. In addition to protecting bystanders, this means that the target in question is more likely prevented from doing harm to the shooter or anyone else.
Anyhow, as one might imagine, the amount of energy a bullet carries (measured in joules) can be quite important to hunters, policemen, military planners ,and private firearm owners, if for differing reasons. That energy is determined by two factors - the mass of the bullet and the muzzle velocity with which it leaves the gun. With that in mind, here are some rough energy levels for some of the more popular bullet types and calibers.
Cartridge Caliber/mm Bullet mass (g) Muzzle Velocity Muzzle Energy (joules)
.45 ACP .45 16.8 g 259 m/sec 850 fps 540 joules
9mm Parabellum 9mm 7.5 g 366 m/sec 1,200 fps 475 joules
Centerfire Hornet .22 3.0 g 820 m/sec 2,690 fps 1,009 joules
Remington NATO .223/5.56mm 3.6 g 1,006 m/sec 3,301 fps 1,822 joules
M1 Carbine .30 7.1 g 607 m/sec 1,991 fps 1,308 joules
Winchester .30-30 9.7 g 728 m/sec 2,388 fps 2,560 joules
Soviet AK-47 7.62mm 8.0 g 715 m/sec 2,346 fps 2,045 joules
Lee-Enfield .303 11.7 g 770 m/sec 2,526 fps 3,469 joules
Winchester,NATO,FN .308/7.62x51mm 11.7 g 3,744 joules
Winchester .458 Magnum 33.0 g 643 m/sec 2,110 fps 6,822 joules (1)
Dakota .450 Magnum 32.4 g 747 m/sec 2,451 fps 9,040 joules (2)
Weatherby .460 Magnum 32.4 g 793 m/sec 2,602 fps 10,187 joules (3)
Browning MG .50 caliber 46.7 g 857 m/sec 2,812 fps 17,149 joules (4)
(1) Used for big game hunting, known as the 'Africa' round
(2) This is a custom cartridge for the Dakota 76 Rifle, a hunting piece
(3) Weatherby makes hunting rifles only, in various Magnum calibers from .224 to .460
(4) Used in the Browning 50-cal machine gun (as well as recent sniper rifles like the Barrett 50-cal).
First developed in 1921 by John Moses Browning.
As you can see, there is a wide variety of power available in ammunition. Note that the higher the energy delivered to the bullet, the more punishing the recoil on the shooter, as well (ameliorated somewhat by the mass of the gun).
Final note: the study of the energy transfer from the gun/cartridge to the bullet, and the resulting trajectory, is sometimes called initial ballistics. This is as opposed to terminal ballistics, which is concerned with the interaction between the bullet at the target (or whatever it hits) and the consequences for both. This includes shock damage, penetration, deformation of the bullet, etc. For an example of how this can be applied, see this manufacturer's propaganda:
Sources and recommended reading:
- Ballistics calculator at: http://www.zvis.com/bvjtools.shtml
- Hartink, A.E. Encyclopedia of Rifles and Carbines. Rebo Productions, 1997: Lisse, The Netherlands.
- Remington Rimfire Ballistics at: http://members.dandy.net/~billc/10_22stuff/remdata.htm
- Rinker, Robert A. Understanding Firearm Ballistics. Mulberry House, 1999: Apache Junction, Arizona (not kidding).
- Pejsa, Arthur. Modern Practical Ballistics. Kenwood Publishing, 1991: Minneapolis, Minnesota. | <urn:uuid:84b4374d-2d29-47a5-a6fa-63be2dbaee85> | {
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Il-62 (Ильюшин Ил-62, NATO
code name "Classic
") was the first long-range jet transport built in Russia
, borrowing heavily from the four-rear-engine design of the British Vickers VC-10
. Even today, it remains the most successful Eastern bloc attempt at an intercontinental airliner.
Its first flight was in January of 1963. Aeroflot became the first airline to operate the Il-62, putting it into service between Moscow and Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk, and Tashkent in 1968. The original Il-62's, however, were very inefficient in comparison to comparable Western aircraft like the Boeing 707. Ilyushin announced an upgrade, the Il-62M, in 1970, which used newer engines, avionics, and thrust reversers. The model remained in production until 1993, and flew for a wide variety of airlines, including Air-India, CSA, Interflug, LOT, and Tarom.
Il-62's are interesting beasts. They carry a five-man flight crew: back during Soviet days, Aeroflot would send a mechanic out on board each Il-62 flight, so that Western technicians would never have to touch the plane. You can tell an Il-62 from a VC-10 by the bullet-shaped pylon at the top of its tail, or, more often, by the Cyrillic letters on the side.
Aeroflot, Cubana, Air Koryo, Domodedovo Airlines, Khabarovsk Air, and other airlines in the former Soviet bloc continue to operate Il-62's. Several CIS governments and North Korea use the type as a VIP transport.
Il-62 (1963) Il-62M (1970)
Wingspan: 141'9" (43,2 m) 141'9" (43,2 m)
Length: 174'4" (53,1 m) 174'4" (53,1 m)
Height: 40'6" (12,4 m) 40'6" (12,4 m)
Ceiling: 39,000' (1,3 km) 39,000' (1,3 km)
Range: 4,190 mi (6.700 km) 5,000 mi (8.000 km)
Empty: 146,400 lb (66.400 kg) 156,200 lb (71.000 kg)
Loaded: 356,400 lb (162.000 kg) 363,000 lb (165.000 kg)
Engines: Four Kuznetsov NK-8 Four Soloviev D-30KU
Speed: 580 mph (933 kph, Mach 0.68) 595 mph (950 kph, Mach 0.69)
Capacity: 186 passengers in all-coach 198 passengers in all-coach | <urn:uuid:3f7af394-dcca-4850-b342-8872d19076d8> | {
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Beware of what you add to Your Compost!
Posted: April 29, 2011
by Andy Beck, Penn State Extension, Schuylkill and Berks Counties
A grower recently called my extension office describing symptoms of herbicide damage that appeared on his tomatoes transplants. The plants were grown from seed during the winter months and then transplanted into the soil under a heated plastic hoop house. After examining the plant material it was evident that some type of herbicide had caused the damage. However, the grower claimed no herbicide was applied to the plants at any point during the growing process. In fact, the only application made was a mixture of composted horse manure and hay incorporated into the soil a few months prior to planting.
Composted horse manure containing dried hay, is often considered a valuable nutrient resource for its soil amending characteristics. Knowing what herbicides have been used to manage weed populations is crucial before using it as a soil amendment. Herbicides that contain pyridine carboxylic acid (aminopyralid, clopyralid, fluroxypyr, picloram, and triclopyr) can remain active in manure piles, unworked compost piles, and forages which are dried and baled. As you can see from the picture, it’s doubtful these tomatoes will provide adequate yields this summer. | <urn:uuid:3147ae38-7b7b-4776-ba1f-a4314fcd23cf> | {
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It’s National Severe Weather Preparedness Week
“Know your risk, take action, and be a force of nature” by taking proactive preparedness measures and inspiring others to do the same during National Severe Weather Preparedness Week.
Last April, tornadoes raked the central and southern United States, spawning more than 300 tornadoes and claiming hundreds of lives. That devastating, historic outbreak was only one of many weather-related tragedies in 2011, which now holds the record for the greatest number of multi-billion dollar weather disasters in the nation’s history.
The country has already experienced early and destructive tornado outbreaks in the Midwest and South this year over the last two months, including a significant number of tornadoes last weekend. May is the peak season for tornadoes, so it is important to take action now.
You also may remember the fake tornadoes that struck Fairfax County in March. Or the real floods that affected us last September.
“One of the lessons we can take away from the recent tornado outbreaks is that severe weather (of any kind) can happen anytime, anywhere,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate. “While we can’t control where or when it might hit, we can take steps in advance to prepare and that’s why we are asking people to pledge to prepare, and share with others so they will do the same.”
To “be a force of nature,” FEMA, NOAA and Fairfax County encourage you to prepare for extreme weather by following these guidelines:
Know your risk:
- The first step to becoming weather-ready is to understand the type of hazardous weather that can affect where you live and work, and how the weather could impact you and your family. Check the weather forecast regularly and sign up for alerts. Severe weather comes in many forms and your shelter plan should include all types of local hazards.
- Develop an emergency plan based on our local weather hazards and practice how and where to take shelter. Create or refresh an emergency kit for needed food, supplies and medication. Post your plan where visitors can see it. Learn what you can do to strengthen your home or business against severe weather. Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio. Download FEMA’s mobile app so you can access important safety tips on what to do before and during severe weather. Understand the weather warning system and become a certified storm spotter through the National Weather Service.
Be a force of nature:
- Once you have taken action, tell your family, friends, school staff and co-workers about how they can prepare. Share the resources and alert systems you discovered with your social media network. Studies show individuals need to receive messages a number of ways before acting – and you can be one of those sources. When you go to shelter during a warning, send a text, tweet or post a status update so your friends and family know. You might just save their lives, too. For more information on how you can participate, visit www.ready.gov/severeweather. | <urn:uuid:a5a24d72-396e-4373-a808-59bc05532816> | {
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Newborns and young infants can't easily raise their heads, so they need special protection from suffocation. But small children are at risk, too.
Protecting Kids From Suffocation
Protect kids from the dangers of suffocation by following these rules:
- Never place an infant face-down on soft surfaces such as a waterbed, comforter, sheepskin rug, or mattress cover.
- Never put an infant in a crib or on a bed with soft bedding, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, or plush toys.
- Avoid pillow-like bumpers and consider removing crib bumpers altogether.
- Never put an infant down on a mattress covered with plastic or on or near a plastic bag.
- Make sure your baby's crib mattress is the right size and fits snugly in the crib. This keeps a baby from getting caught between the mattress and the crib sides.
- Make sure your baby's crib sheet fits snugly on the mattress to keep it from coming off and getting wrapped around your baby's head. You also can buy crib sheet holders to keep sheets in place.
- Don't put an infant to sleep on an adult bed. If you practice cosleeping, be sure to follow the safety rules.
- Infants should not bed share with other children.
- Promptly dispose of plastic shopping bags and plastic dry-cleaning bags. Tie several knots in each bag before throwing it out.
- Keep all plastic bags, including garbage bags and sandwich-style plastic bags out of the reach of young kids.
- When cleaning up after a birthday or holiday party, pay special attention to all plastic bags from packaging. Collect them and throw them out immediately.
- Keep balloons, including uninflated balloons, out of reach and immediately pick up and safely dispose of pieces of broken balloons.
If you're expecting a baby or already have a child, it's a good idea to:
- Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver.
- Keep the following numbers near the phone (for yourself and caregivers):
- toll-free poison-control number: 1-800-222-1222
- doctor's number
- parents' work and cell phone numbers
- neighbor's or nearby relative's number (if you need someone to watch other children in an emergency)
- Make a first-aid kit and keep emergency instructions inside.
- Install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
Maintaining a Safe, Kid-Friendly Environment
To check your childproofing efforts, get down on your hands and knees in every room of your home to see things from a child's perspective. Be aware of your child's surroundings and what might be potentially dangerous.
Completely childproofing your home can be difficult. If you can't childproof the entire house, you can shut the doors (and install doorknob covers) to any room a child shouldn't enter to prevent wandering into places that haven't been properly childproofed. Doorknob covers and childproof locks for sliding doors are also great for keeping little ones from leaving your home. Of course, how much or how little you childproof your home is up to you. Supervision is the very best way to help prevent kids from getting injured. However, even the most vigilant parent can't keep a child 100% safe at all times.
Whether you have a baby, toddler, or school-age child, your home should be your little one's haven for safe exploration. After all, touching, holding, climbing, and exploring are the activities that develop a child's body and mind.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: February 2010
© 1995-2012 The Nemours Foundation/KidsHealth. All rights reserved.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor. | <urn:uuid:1e1a354c-516b-4c56-8338-b7a5517ce7d7> | {
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Before the invention of the thermometer, our ancestors had no objective comeback to such snappy repartee as, “Cold enough for ya?”
Before the invention of the thermometer, our ancestors had no objective comeback to such snappy repartee as, “Cold enough for ya?” Temperature was subjective, measured only by the Goldilocks and the Three Bears scale: too hot, too cold, just right. Hot and cold, in fact, were thought of as two independent properties, rather than a thermodynamic continuum.
Then along came Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), a German physicist who spent much of his life creating precision meteorological instruments. Fahrenheit fashioned his first thermometer 300 years ago, in 1709; it was filled with alcohol rather than mercury (an innovation Fahrenheit introduced five years later). At least by some accounts, it was also 300 years ago—during the brutal winter of 1708-1709—when Fahrenheit took the measure of what would become zero on his temperature scale in 1724.
Like most inventors, Fahrenheit built on earlier ideas. In ancient Alexandria, both the philosopher Philo and the mathematician Hero observed that the expansion and contraction of air with changing temperature caused the level of a liquid in a tube to rise and fall. In the early 11th century, the Persian scientist Avicenna developed a device based on this principle. And none other than Galileo is often identified as the inventor of the thermometer, though his innovation was actually a thermoscope—lacking a scale or standard to compare temperature from one place or device with another. Galileo’s gizmo, which wasn’t sealed against changes in air pressure, was as much barometer as thermometer.
Another Italian, Santorio (aka Sanctorius), is credited with the first thermometer scale, as early as 1612. But Santorio’s device was also vulnerable to changes in air pressure—a problem solved in 1654 by yet another Italian, Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The duke crafted the first thermometer using a liquid (alcohol) sealed in a tube, the familiar form of thermometers today.
Despite suggestions from scientists ranging from Christian Huygens to Isaac Newton, however, the successful combination of a sealed thermometer and an accurate temperature scale took another 60 years. Not merely a physicist, Fahrenheit was also a skilled craftsman capable of manufacturing thermometers of a previously unknown precision. His 1714 invention of the modern mercury thermometer enabled still more-accurate measurements and in turn made possible his eponymous scale in 1724.
Several competing stories explain how Fahrenheit wound up with the freezing and boiling points of water at, respectively, 32 and 212 degrees. He drew upon the earlier work of Ole Christensen Rømer (1644-1710), who’d created a scale using a thermometer filled with red wine.
But Fahrenheit wanted to avoid Rømer’s need for negative numbers—hence his measurement of an especially cold winter in his hometown of Danzig (later part of Poland). Fahrenheit was blissfully unaware of temperatures in places such as North Dakota that would extend his scale “below zero.”
He later confirmed this low temperature in the lab with a mixture of ice, salt and water. Fahrenheit then set an upper point based on his body temperature, and divided the scale between by 12 and again by 8 to reach 96 degrees. (The scale was later recalibrated so human body temperature averages 98 degrees.) This gave him a freezing point for water at 32 degrees and a boiling point at 212. Other versions have him using the blood temperature of horses or the melting point of butter as the basis for 100 degrees. In any case, Fahrenheit’s scale became the basis for measuring temperature in most English-speaking countries until the 1960s, and remains standard in the United States.
Other countries adopted the “centigrade” scale created by Swedish scientist Anders Celsius (1701-1744), which allotted 100 degrees to the difference between boiling and freezing. Celsius’ original scale ran backwards, with 100 as the freezing point; taxonomic pioneer Carl Linnaeus, a contemporary of Celsius, suggested flipping the scale to its current form. In 1948, the Ninth General Conference on Weights and Measures changed “degrees centigrade” to “degrees Celsius,” much like “degrees Fahrenheit.”
But the 10th such conference, convened in 1954, selected the scale invented in 1848 by William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), as the metric measure of thermodynamic temperature. Kelvin’s scale uses the same degrees as Celsius’ (nine-fifths of a Fahrenheit degree), but assigns zero to absolute zero, the point at which a substance has no heat energy and its molecules don’t move (equal to minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit). Kelvin got a further posthumous honor at the 13th conference in 1967, which eliminated the word degree: The freezing point of water could now be referred to, for instance, as “273.15 Kelvin.”
Nonetheless, at least in the United States, when the weatherman says the temperature will be zero, he doesn’t mean the freezing point of water (zero degrees Celsius) or—thank goodness!—absolute zero (zero Kelvin). He’s referring to zero degrees Fahrenheit, pretty much as Herr Fahrenheit himself measured it, 300 years ago. | <urn:uuid:d184da2e-68ef-4898-abdc-a8bcfbea921a> | {
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Lean forward when you are going up a hill on a mountain bike. This will create more even weight distribution and ensure the front wheel remains on the ground. Leaning back adds more resistance on the back wheel and makes it harder to pedal.
Exercising to tone up your body is only the first step. You must also fuel your body with nutritious foods. If you do things like body building, you'll need to consume different things when compared to someone losing weight.
While working on your biceps, ensure that your technique is sound. IF you don't do this, you risk straining your muscles. The way to do biceps curls is with the wrists bent backward just slightly. When done, transfer to normal positioning slowly. This builds biceps the right way.
When using a workout machine, always begin by testing the pads by pressing onto the seat or back cushion. Be sure that the wood under the padding is not able to be felt; if it is, move on. Machines with inadequate padding are less supportive than their fully padded counterparts, and they may cause bruises or soreness.
If you are a smoker, you must quit as soon as possible to not only prevent early death, but to increase your health overall. No matter how old you are, it's not too late to quit smoking. You reduce the risk of heart attacks and you tend to increase your lifespan, too. Treat yourself right and quit smoking.
Your run should consist of three parts. Begin running slowly, and work gradually up to the pace at which you usually run. Push your pace up as high as you can get it during the last part of your run. This helps increase your endurance and eventually, you should be able to start running longer every time you run.
Before you start a weight lifting program for your arms, define the goals that you wish to achieve. Heavier weights are the key to building more muscle mass. Sculpting your arms can be done by doing more reps with lighter weights.
Signing up for volunteer work can help you to get moving while helping others in need. There are a lot of labor-intensive jobs that call for volunteers. It'll let you get your blood pumping and help others at the same time.
Aerobic exercises are a great way to get those rock hard abs you desire. Try to do weight training two or three days per week and cardio for about 30 or 45 minutes three times per week. Do a full body workout and work on your abs every other day.
Decide on a fitness plan that matches your needs plus your interests. If you choose something you enjoy, you'll be excited to work out.
Before you use machines at a gym, clean them. People leave germs on the equipment so it's best to keep this in mind. You went to the center to feel better, not to get sick.
Do not do more than an hour of weight training. Muscle wasting also becomes a problem if you exercise for more than an hour. Be sure to keep your weight workouts under 60 minutes.
You must ice the area in which you develop a muscle sprain. This will help reduce swelling and redness in the area. Additionally, if you can, elevate the injured area so blood can get to it quickly and help the injury heal faster. It is important that you wrap the ice in a towel so it doesn't come in direct contact with your skin.
Comfortable shoes are an important part of getting fit. Instead of shopping for shoes in the afternoon or morning, shop for them in the evening, when your feet have become larger. There should always be about 1/2 inch of room between your shoe and toes. It should be possible to move your toes.
Dive bomb push ups can make regular push ups seem like child's play. Have an arched back with your hands and feet on the floor to perform dive bomb pushups. Next, bend your elbows while moving your body forward and downward. Then, return your torso to the starting point. A dive bomb push-up is used to strengthen pectoral muscles.
Even though it takes a lot of work to hit your goals, the end results are worth it. When you get fitter, you will look better and help your health and overall well-being too. Getting fit is a great way to live life to its fullest and helps you accomplish tasks more easily. | <urn:uuid:4d67e524-e39c-47ac-ba8c-885f56955966> | {
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Sesame Workshop's Best Practices Guide for Children's App Development is now available for download. In addition to insight from the organization's more than 40 years of children's media testing, the paper, highlighted on Monday by All Things D, includes more than 50 touchscreen studies conducted by Sesame Workshop.
Those tests found that the most intuitive gesture for children is a simple tap on the screen. Kids also like to trace and draw on the screen but have a hard time not lifting their finger, so Sesame Workshop recommends that developers make their applications support partial completion.
Children also find swiping a tablet screen intuitive if there are visual indications on where to swipe. Children can also drag items onscreen but tend to have difficulty with "finger-on-screen continuity," so supporting partial completion is recommended.
On an iPad, children tend to have more trouble with maneuvers such as pinching, tilting or shaking the device, multi-touch, and double tapping.
The best interactive applications for children include a character or friendly adult who greets them once the application is opened. Instructions are then presented up front, while developers are recommended to use time-outs in order to suggest to children what to do next.
The studies also found that children tend to hold iPads in landscape mode and rest their palms at the bottom of the device. As a result, developers are not recommended to place icons at the bottom of the screen, where they are likely to be accidentally pressed.
It's also recommended that children be required to listen to the text on a page in its entirety before the features on the page are enabled. This prevents the child from becoming distracted by selectable options on the page.
Children and schools have become an important market for Apple's iPad, which is the dominant product in the worldwide tablet market. Recent data shows that the iPad is definitively replacing sales of traditional PCs to the education market. | <urn:uuid:ad233598-9062-495e-829b-6d20a5108034> | {
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How to assign Swap Space on Linux PC
While installing many of we ignore Swap space. It does not matter what Linux Distro you are using. It can be the last Mint or Ubuntu or any older Debian based operating system. Swap space place a vital role in your systems performance. You cannot just ignore that. I had tested two systems. Both are working on latest Linux Mint Maya. The only different among them was the Swap space. System A has a dedicated partition of 20GB as swap space and System B does not have any swap space. There are major changes in performance observed. When I open YouTube using Opera in System a, it worked smoothly. I had downloaded some software on the same hand, played music files, etc. In system monitor the ram usage was clear and it showed that with Swap space Linux manages the performance. But in System B, when same process was repeated it started freezing at some point. Though there was 50% physical memory available. It looks that some part of ram is kept reserved. The explorer takes time to open and files were listed slowly. The same if done in Windows, then this is a disaster. Swap space is same as Page File in Windows.
In simple word a Page file is memory management tool which is used by resource intensive application to perform well. Many time in Task Manage you can see the virtual memory usage. Swap space is similar to that. Your hard drive has ample of free space. You can assign an empty partition as Swap space and continue with your work. Linux do not format that partition but uses its empty space to fulfill the memory requirement. This is very important for every system. Swap space can improve the systems output. Do not ignore the same while installation. To understand how Swap space work, lets learn about Page file. Here is a very common example. Let’s assume that you have two desks in front of you. The first desk is filled with objects like pager, computer, printer, etc. The second desk is partially filled. Now to arrange a set of paper you need some empty space. For temporary basis you can use the second desk. You can move the papers on it and then pickup them back on your desk. Page File is somewhat similar to that.
In a computer you have two types of memories. First is Physical memory, what you called RAM and the second is Virtual memory which is actually your empty hard drive storage space. Operating system needs physical memory (RAM) to initiate various functions. But when the limit is crossed, then they work on special algorithm (supported by hardware) which helps them to use the empty hard drive space as ram. For example when you open a web browser, it needs RAM to keep those all stuff on your screen, the buttons, the window, etc. But when you open more than 1 tab more memory is consumed. In order to maintain the performance virtual ram is used.
The data is divided into small parts inside memory. Those small parts are known as pages. When the physical memory is out of stock, those pages are transferred to your empty partition for some time. Swapping consist of process where those parts are actually moved to a hard drive partition which is configured as Swap space. Combination of physical and swap space makes the virtual memory. The more you have the better system works. Today’s applications are designed features point of view because of which they need more memory power. The same is mostly applicable to web browser. You can find simply how much ram they consume when you check in System Monitor. The last test that I did, when I open around 7 videos in different opera tab. The maximum ram it was eating was 292 mb. Now you can considered what would your operating system if a major part of resource is consumed so instantly. It will freeze or lag.
But the best part of Linux Distros is that they do not simple go black. In Windows if this thing happen, the screen just zombify. Nothing happens, no mouse movement, app stucked in between, no keyboard reaction, etc. But in Linux after little time, things went back to normal. Swap is needed in every system. It makes your process smoother. Swap helps the system by providing more memory to those applications which are resource intensive. Because of which you do not find any difference on your screen, but in the background this all process are carried out. In some case swap fails. There is a reason for that. Linux mostly work on two different type of swap space. Among which one is dedicated to swap partition assigned by you and second is the swap file which works inside the file system.
Re: How to assign Swap Space on Linux PC
Why Swap Space does not work or fails?
Swap space is a process of providing more memory power to software’s. Now that extra memory power is taken from your current hard drive. Compared to RAM the Hard disk is slower unless you have a SSD. Hard drive works much slower than RAM. So if swapping occurs continuously in the background, your system can appear more slow or even crash sometime. At that point the best thing you can do is add more RAM stick. This happens in exception case only. It does not mean every system is prone to this issue. I am talking about slow system. For example you are trying to run 3D model application on Dual Core pc with 1GB or lesser ram. This type of application needs good processing power and virtual memory. If your system fails to meet the need, the application freezes on your screen. It is not terminated automatically as your operating system still tries to open it. Every system either Windows or Linux are vulnerable to this. Swapping just helps the system to run some apps. It can be a temporary fuel.
You cannot assign 80GB partition as swap space and then wonder I have the fastest system. Every piece of hardware on your motherboard works with appropriate co-ordination. Here this article is based on assigning swap space to Linux Distro. Let’s take Linux Mint Maya under test. There are two conditions for assigning a swap space. First doing that at the time of installation and second after installation Linux Mint. Both the ways are fine. The condition to assign a swap is that you need a separate partition. I will not recommend you to play with the same if there is any data. You can shrink the partition size also. With a simple command you simply find out what is the actual swap space of your existing system. For that in terminal type swapon -s. You can see se the listed swap partition in terminal itself. If you cannot see it then there is no space assigned. I had tested my 8GB usb a number of times to use it as a Swap partition and it have helped a lot.
Maximum Size of Swap File:
If you are confused that how big must be your swap file, then here is answer for the same. Actually you do not need really a very large size. The system when run out of memory the swap partition is then used to give you more performance. You just need a proper disk space for that. I will not recommend installing Linux Mint type of os without swap file. What you can benefit from new distribution is that, the more new the lesser requirement of swap files and better memory management. While in older system the same demand is quiet higher. Your swap space must be double the size of your ram. That is the most common assumption I can give you. If you have 1GB ram in your system then you can add 2 or 3GB swap space which is quiet enough.
How to assign Swap space
A partition which is marked as swap will only be used as swap space. Luckily there are post installation methods that can be used to for this. First let’s begin with adding extra swap space. For that type this in terminal --- fdisk -l /dev/hdb (do not put the starting hyphens). You can see the output of partition which already has a swap space. I am showing you the way here to extend it. If in the result in terminal there is on swap marked then you have to do that before extending the partition. Assigning swap space will wipe out your partition. Your all data will be lost, so be preparing before going for this. Now to make a swap space you need to use mkswap command. You just need to provide the hard drive reference after that. Like mkswap /dev/hdb1. The process will only be successful if you do not face any kind of error after running the command. You can again check back by typing swapon -s to see the partition is actually marked as swap or not. For more advance process you can read a swapfaq on official sites of Mint or Ubuntu. You can also use Gparted tool. For that restart your pc with bootable Mint disc and run Gparted. Format a partition and assign it as the default swap space.
|Tags: linux, linux mint, swap space|
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Audio | view transcript
In a talk delivered to teacher-training students, Sangharakshita tells the story of the Buddha's life, shows that there is no place for God in Buddhism, and explains the Noble Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. An excellent general introduction to Buddhism.
N.B. Poor original recording.
Talk given in 1966.
|1.||Returning from India (5:05)|
|2.||Understanding your religion in relation to other religions (4:48)|
|3.||The word 'Buddha'; the early life of the Buddha (3:44)|
|4.||The Four Sights (7:42)|
|5.||Going Forth; attaining enlightenment (4:23)|
|6.||The Buddha as an Enlightened human being; theistic and non-theistic religions (11:29)|
|7.||What Buddhism is concerned with; The Noble Eightfold Path: i. Right understanding; ii. Right aspiration; iii. Right speech; iv. Right action (13:38)|
|8.||v. Right means of livelihood; vi. Right effort; vii. Right mindfulness; viii. Right concentration; the Buddhas as signposts (9:52)|
|9.||Come and see for yourself: tolerance and the freedom to grow; Buddhism and other faiths (10:24)|
Total running time: 1:11:05 | <urn:uuid:7bef1be1-d564-4ab5-bd2b-b7d3e7da5764> | {
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Jump ducks on small waters. Stock ponds, creeks, drainage ditches, and sloughs hold ducks until the water freezes. Sometimes you can spot and stalk birds, but often you'll have to crawl on your belly to the water's edge, jump to your feet, and hope ducks flush in range. If you spook a big flock of ducks off a pond or marsh, don't shoot. Hide. They should return in twos and threes.
Float a river in a canoe or duck boat. Early in the season, hunting pressure quickly scatters local ducks off the marshes. Drape some camo burlap over the bow, stay low, and use a short paddle. As you come around a bend, hug the inside shoreline, and you'll float right up on ducks resting in the slower current.
Hunt big water. Puddle ducks raft up on lakes and reservoirs. Use a spread of 50 to 150 decoys. Set them in a cove, leave a landing area, and extend one long leg of the spread out into open water to attract cruising ducks.
Hunt where the ducks are. Weather patterns and water levels can divert main flights off their usual migratory corridors. Last year's hotspot will be a dry hole if the ducks are on the other side of the state. Also, ducks migrate in advance of severe storms and cold fronts. Hunt on a flight day and you'll see a sky full of new birds arriving from the north: They'll be unfamiliar with these new surroundings and eager to plop down and rest with other ducks. Tired, migrating ducks make anyone look like a world champion.
Scout in cyberspace. What seperates us from lower life forms? The Internet, of course. The online service Waterfowler.com carries scouting reports and alows you to share information with hunters across your state.
Let your fingers do the scouting. Most state and federal refuges run a duck count once a week; call the refuge offices to keep tabls on duck concentrations.
Hit the back roads. Ducks disappear early in the season after they've been chased off the marshes. Scout ponds, sloughs, and creeks. Talk to bowhunters, who often hang stands near the secluded backwaters where ducks hide out during the early season doldrums.
Keep a hunting log. Certain spots on a lake or marsh draw ducks year after year. If your records tell you ducks throng a particular hole on days with, say, a northwest wind, that's the place to hunt under those conditions.
Go on tornado watch. If you see a cloud of ducks swirling over a grainfield in the morning, they will probably return to feed in the afternoon and again the next morning. Too many hunters overlook field shooting, but who wouldn't like to take a limit of ducks without getting their feet wet?
Get in line. Often, ducks are intent on landing in one hole. On a public marsh you may be better off waiting for a party in the hotspot to limit and leave and then claim it yourself, rather than hunt where the birds don't want to land.
Get their attention. The highball or hail call isn't meant to sound like a duck; it's supposed to grab a flock's attention. Only use the hail call at long range (400 to 500 yards).
Call to "tips and tails." Don't call to ducks that are coming at you. If, however, you can see one wing tip and the tail, or both wings and the tail, the duck isn't looking your way and it's safe to blow the call.
Don't blow them away. Point your call down so the sound reflects off the water. Blowing loudly right at ducks may scare them.
Three heads are better than one. Three callers can sound like a whole flock of ducks. One leads with quacks; the other two make feed calls.
Don't shoot over the target. Decoying ducks are losing altitude quickly. Be sure to shoot below them.
You can't compete with real ducks. If you find that ducks are landing out of range nearby, move your decoys and set up where the ducks want to be. You can't outcall live ducks on the water.
Choke up. Despite what youve heard about steel, it doesn't necessarily pattern tighter than lead. A Modified choke works well for shooting over decoys.
Think big. In steel, 2s and 3s make the best pellets for decoying ducks. BBs and 1s work well at long range. In bismuth and tungten polymer or tungsten matrix, try 3s, 4s or 5s.
Three strikes and they're out. If ducks don't land after three swings over your decoys, odds are they probably won't. Give incoming ducks three chances, four at the most, then take them when you can.
Think carefully about where the duck will fall. Only shoot at ducks that will drop where you can retrieve them. Better yet, bring them down in open water where you can shoot again if they're still moving. Shoot the heards of cripple immediately with steel 6s or 7s.
Wear a camo facemask. Even when you've done everything else right, looking hopefully skyward never hurts. Just don't let the ducks see you doing it. | <urn:uuid:6769d214-b521-4a0c-b8c5-2c334d21c480> | {
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Disability Resource Center
More Alike Than Different
What is a Learning Disability?
Learning Disability is defined as a persistent condition of presumed neurological
dysfunction which may exist with other disabling conditions. This dysfunction
continues despite instruction in standard classroom situations. To be categorized
as learning disabled, a student must exhibit:
- average to above-average intellectual ability;
- severe processing deficit(s);
- severe aptitude-achievement discrepancy(ies);
- measured achievement in an instructional or employment setting.
Indicators of a Possible Learning Disability:
Return to the DRC Learning Skills Laboratory
All college information or academic materials are available in alternate media upon request at (408) 848-4865.
For more DRC information, call 408-848-4865 or TTY at 408-846-4924. | <urn:uuid:a9208ed5-82d5-40b9-b2f4-1fb431b880a7> | {
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February 28, 2007
GCRIO Program Overview
Our extensive collection of documents.
Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999
FROM VOLUME 9, NUMBERS 10-11, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1996
CANADIAN GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAM
All publications except the first (which is still in preparation) are
available at no charge from the CGCP Secretariat, as is the CGCP quarterly
Canada and the
State of the Planet, M. Keating, Ed., approx. 100 pp., expected Mar. 1997.
This major information project launched by the CGCP will be an annual brief
on the planet's vital signs, including electronic versions with a site on the
Internet. The report will include not only environmental trends, but also the
social and economic forces behind them, and will summarize compactly vast
amounts of information now spread though many national and international
reports. For information on this project contact Michael Keating, Project
Director and Editor, 10 Astor Ave., Toronto ON M4G 3M2, Can. (tel: 416 423 2425;
fax: 416 425 0019; e-mail: 103362.75@CompuServ. COM).
Change ProgramAnnual Report 1995-1996, July 1996, 20 pp.; ...Five
Year Plan, late 1996; Promoting Informed Action Through Sound Advice
on Global Change: A Strategy for the Canadian Global Change Program in its
Second Decade, 12 pp., 1995.
The first two publications illustrate how the CGCP has been and will
continue to be implementing the strategic plan laid out in the third.
Changing Planet: An Overview of Global Change Research in Canada, 49 pp.,
Explains in non-technical language how Canadian researchers are contributing
to and benefiting from international research on global change, in diverse
scientific disciplines and in the study of human dimensions. Gives current
estimates of federal funding for global change research, and profiles seven
important Canadian research projects.
Canada of Recent IPCC Assessment Reports, 21 pp., 1996.
Published jointly with the Canadian Climate Program Board, this summarizes
portions of the 1995 Second Assessment Report and the 1994 Special
Report of the IPCC, and follows them with comments specific to Canada.
Involvement in International Global Change Activities: A Compendium (CIGA),
101 pp., 1996.
Concerning Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategies, Apr. 1996.
Published jointly with the Canadian Climate Program Board, this urges
actions to reduce emissions and the impacts of climate change, particularly
recommending energy efficiency measures.
Global Change for Human Health, 1995. Contact Canadian Global Change Prog.,
Roy. Soc. Can., 225 Metcalfe #308, Ottawa ON K2P 1P9, Can. (tel: 613 991 5639;
fax: 613 991 6996; e-mail: [email protected]).
Assesses the impacts of climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and UV
radiation, environmental pollutants, and unchecked population growth. The
situation is serious and will get worse unless action is taken to the point of
settling for nothing less than a complete transformation of the cherished values
of our industrial civilization. Makes recommendations for research and policy
initiatives for protecting public health.
Security: An Overview of Issues and Research Priorities for Canada (Tech
Rep. No. 96-1), 27 pp., 1996.
Data Policy and
Barriers to Data Access in Canada: Issues for Global Change ResearchA
Discussion Paper, 55 pp., 1996.
Research Themes: A Report of the Canadian Global Change Program Research
Committee (IR95-3), 30 pp., 1995.
Guide to Publishers
Index of Abbreviations | <urn:uuid:cfe8f14e-d78b-4258-9e10-61b09fb1d662> | {
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Arrival of the Brides Library and Archives Canada, Acc. no 1996-371-1
The Library and Archives Canada released this blog post yesterday -
"Summer 2013 marks the 350th anniversary of the arrival in New France of the first contingent of the “Filles du roi” (“King's daughters”), young women who became the ancestors of numerous French-Canadian families. A variety of celebrations are planned throughout Quebec, culminating in the New France Festival in Quebec City from August 7 to 11, 2013. The website is at www.nouvellefrance.qc.ca/index.php/en
Between 1663 and 1673, King Louis XIV supported the emigration of these young women, many of them orphans. Their passage to the colony was paid and they received an average dowry of 50 livres, along with a small hope chest containing clothing and sewing materials. In exchange, the women agreed to marry on their arrival in New France, to start a family and to help their husbands work the land. These women were instrumental in helping to populate and develop the colony.
The first contingent of 36 “Filles du roi” landed in 1663. Over the next ten years, an estimated 800 young women settled in New France under the same program.
If you would like to know whether one of your ancestors was a “Fille du roi,” there are many genealogical publications and reviews you can consult".
You can visit the website http://lesfillesduroy-quebec.org | <urn:uuid:c741b754-085c-4250-97ca-3cb387a06c2e> | {
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The units of measure in old deeds are not really confusing if you convert them into current terms. For example, a chain is the length of a cricket pitch. The original measurement was called Gunter's chain or a surveyor's chain and is 22 yards or 66 feet. The whole of the United States was measured and mapped using the Gunters Chain and his chain still applies to all title plans in use today. For this reason all city blocks, roads and avenues are multiples of the chain. Towns were laid out at 6 miles square or 36 sq miles. Early farms were sold to would-be farmers as lots of 640 acres or 1 sq mile. Imperial Measures of Length. A chain was made up of 100 links, each 7.92 inches in length. These measurements were standardized in 1607 by Edmund Gunter in England.
A chain was also equal to 4 poles. Each pole was equal to 5.5 yards. One rod was the same as a pole (and also the same as a perch). Therefore a rod is 16.5 feet.
There was another type of chain, called the Ramsden chain or engineer's chain, which was equal to 100 feet. There are a number of Websites that will automatically convert any unit of measure to another. See Unitconversion.org for example.
The Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States; 1973
Prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, Technical Bulletin 6; pub. U.S. Dept of Interior states as follows:
- 1 yard = 3 ft = 0.9144 meter
- 1 rod, perch, or pole = 25 links = 16.5 ft
- 4 rods = 1 chain
- 1 chain = 4 rods = 66 ft = 100 links
- 10 chains = 1 furlong
- 1 link = 1/100 of surveyor's chain = 7.92 inches
- 25 links = 1 rod = 16.5 ft
- 100 links = 1 chain = 66 ft
- 1 furlong = 10 chains = 1/8 mile = 220 yards = 660 ft = 201.168 meters
- 8 furlongs = 1 mile
- 1 mile = 80 chains = 320 rods = 1,760 yards = 5,280 ft = 1,609.344 meters
- league = 3 statute miles = 4,828.032 meters | <urn:uuid:0dfeedbf-b4b8-41ce-a7d5-3672860f8db4> | {
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Imprinted and More Equal
15 March 2007: An epigenetic change alters the phenotype without changing the genotype. As a result of their unique genetic make-up, imprinted genes act as nodes of susceptibility for asthma, cancer, diabetes, obesity and many behavioral and developmental disorders - a list that is surprisingly long given the limited number of imprinted genes identified so far. The potential for malign influence at these sites is disproportionately large. In this respect, they're similar to the tyrannical pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm, who famously declared, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The same is true for genes, and it's often the imprinted genes that are "more equal" in the formation of human diseases. | <urn:uuid:7f71c8ee-2ae0-42e7-914d-290463c6ae05> | {
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It’s like the plot for an action-filled Hollywood movie: the evil mastermind tries to gain power and control by indoctrinating the unsuspecting civilians. In this case, the villain is the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s trade group. And the Council’s civilian targets? They’re California’s school children. Over the past two years, the Chemistry Council has successfully inserted edits and additions about the environmental “benefits” of plastic shopping bags into an 11th-grade environmental textbook.
Yes. An environmental textbook. Used for environmental science classes in high schools across California.
The suggested changes were submitted by the trade group during a public comment period in 2009. A private consultant hired by the state to develop and edit the curriculum inserted the changes, almost verbatim, into the text.
According to California Watch, this rewrite of textbooks and teachers’ guides coincided with a public relations and lobbying effort by the chemistry council to fight proposed plastic bags bans throughout the country.
Now, a section of the text in the teacher’s edition titled, “The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags,” and a five-point question in a student workbook asking students to list the advantages of plastic bags.
Although the curriculum does include a section on the environmental hazards of plastic bags, the lesson ends with the five-point writing prompt, encouraging students to write about the benefits of plastic bags. In the teachers’ edition, the correct answer to this question section is: “Plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. They take less energy to manufacture than paper bags, cost less to transport, and can be reused.”
These answers can lead to misleading perceptions of plastic bags and their impact on the environment. When experts examine the entire, cradle to cradle process of energy used in manufacturing, pollution, and disposal, paper bags usually win out over plastic (the even better choice? Reusable bags!). Though manufacturing plastic bags may use less energy, most of those plastic bags end up in landfills (less than 1% are recycled each year) and stay there permanently.
Americans use an estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags every year—almost all of which are thrown into the garbage, where they end up destroying wildlife, and adding to the evergrowing Pacific Garbage Patch and other collections of permanent trash (since plastic bags do not decompose for an estimated 1000 years in landfills).
“The American Chemistry Council obviously got engaged to protect their bottom line,” Senator Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, told CA Watch. Pavley is author of the 2003 legislation requiring that environmental principles and concepts be taught in the state’s public schools. It’s inexcusable to allow industry lobbyists with vested interests to rewrite textbooks without even disclosing the source of the passage.
This is greenwashing taken to the next level—it’s the corporatization of the education system. Children should not be getting thinly disguised corporate advertisements in their “environmental curriculum.”. Similar to the marketing strategy of cultivating lifelong brand loyalty by targeting youth, these industry-edited school plans promote positive images of plastic bags, encouraging product loyalty among kids in their most vulnerable learning years.
Last month, a librarian at a Santa Cruz High school started a petition to have the industry’s section removed from textbooks. In response to public outcry and investigations into the edits, California superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, issued a statement, saying his office would work with California’s Environmental Protection Agency to examine the material and identify areas “where further review may be warranted.”
Let’s hope they review and remove it quickly. Our children need, and deserve, an unbiased schooling—a separation of corporate interests and education—nothing less. | <urn:uuid:00877f60-16d1-4b99-9fcd-a543aa787cbc> | {
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(FoodProductionDaily.com – Rory Harrington)
Canada became the first country in the world yesterday [October 13] to declare bisphenol A (BPA) to be a toxic substance that poses risks to human health and the environment. The announcement by the Canadian Health and Environment Ministries confirmed the chemical had formally been added Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999).
“The Government of Canada has a strong record of taking action on Bisphenol A to protect the environment and health of Canadians,” said Environment Minister Jim Prentice. “We are continuing our leadership on this issue and...working hard to monitor and manage Bisphenol A.”
BPA is an industrial chemical used to make a hard, clear plastic such as re-usable polycarbonate baby bottles. It is also used in the manufacture of epoxy resins, which act as a protective lining on the inside of metal-based food and beverage cans. Read more here. | <urn:uuid:3fa2710a-fb0b-4d78-9630-e1196586bd37> | {
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Supervillains rejoice: scientists have developed a way of steering lightning using lasers. I repeat: steering lighting with lasers. And they told me it could never strike in the same place twice!
Admittedly, the team of French scientists have only so far done this in labs, but it still works a treat. The team can create a "virtual lightning rod" by using pulsed lasers to create a column of charged gas in thin air. That means that the lightning zips down the column of charged particles preferentially, eventually making its way to what is supposed to be a less attractive spot for the lightning to hit.
The research, published in AIP Advances, claims that it could be used to shift the spot that lightning strikes by up to 50 meters. While the researchers have their thoughts on maybe, you know, saving lives using the technology, the supervillain in all of us knows full well that this should appear in the next Bond movie. [AIP Advances via PhysOrg] | <urn:uuid:6f7c1b62-0d33-4914-9551-4c30c1481f1b> | {
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There is a unanimous witness in the Christian gospels concerning the place of St. John the Baptist. In the Orthodox world he is generally referred to as the Forerunner. All of the gospels agree that he plays a key role in the coming of the Messiah. It is a role that is largely ignored by most of the Christian world.
The gospels make reference to two Scriptures when they mention St. John. The first is from Malachi 3:
Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
The second is from Isaiah 40:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Both Scriptures make reference to the fact of the Forerunner. Before the coming of the Christ, God will send a messenger to prepare the way. John is the messenger. It is here that most Christians leave St. John. He is a voice and a messenger – as such he simply becomes part of the furniture in the drama of Christ’s coming.
But why is there a messenger? How does John prepare the way? What is the mystery of the Forerunner?
For me, the question is important. Nothing in the story of our salvation is merely incidental. John does not appear because of the prophecy – the prophecy is spoken because John is coming. The Christian gospel, when rightly understood, has a “seamless” quality. It fits together. What is the seamless role of the Forerunner?
The first aspect of his role in Christ’s coming is its simple historical fact. Though the gospel gives John a minor role within the drama, historically his place was very important. John was clearly more important than Christ at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. John had the general approval of the nation of Israel. Even King Herod who arrested John and ordered his death is said to have “feared” him:
knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly (Mark 6:20).
It is to Herod’s shame that he lacked the character to protect John from the wicked demands of Herodias and Salome. Herod’s greatest fear of Christ was that Jesus was somehow John the Baptist come back from the dead (Matt. 14:2).
In Luke’s gospel, Christ is linked with John even before their birth. They are cousins. John, filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, leaps with joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. His role as Forerunner has already begun.
It is John himself who offers an insight into the mystery of his role. In the fourth gospel, St. John describes himself as the Friend of the Bridegroom.
‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled (Jn. 3:28-29).
In the other three gospels, Christ speaks of his disciples as “friends of the bridegroom,” and makes a contrast between their joyful lack of fasting and the strict fasting of the Baptist’s followers. But the gospel of John raises the image of the Friend of the Bridegroom to a mystical level.
The Forerunner’s theological action in the gospels is to preside at the mystical Pascha, the union of heaven and earth: Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan. The full force of this event is lost on many Christians. At best, it is seen as an action in which Christ is revealed as Messiah. It’s place in Orthodox liturgical life is in the company of Christmas and Pascha. The three feasts have a common shape and common iconography. Christmas and Theophany (Christ’s Baptism) are revealed as “little Paschas.”
The Baptism of Christ is the death and resurrection of Christ, in a mystical form. It is the meaning given to Christian Baptism. In Orthodox liturgical language, Christ’s enters the waters of the Jordan and “crushes the heads of the dragons who lurked there.” The image of the dragons, drawn from Psalm 74 (73), reveal the waters of Jordan to be a foreshadowing of Hades. Christ’s death is an entrance into Hades and the crushing of the devil and his minions. It is the union of Christ with those who had been held in bondage, and, through that union, their resurrection from the dead. This is the mystical marriage, the union of God with His creation.
The identification of the Forerunner as the Friend of the Bridegroom also points to the Baptism as a mystical marriage. It is the role of the Bridegroom’s friend to witness the marriage. It is also necessary for someone to perform the Baptism itself. John hesitates before such a role and protests that he is unworthy. But Christ, the true Bridegroom, counters, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15).
The imagery of Christ as Bridegroom has many echoes within the Old Testament. God as the husband of Israel is the primary image within Hosea; the Song of Songs is incomprehensible without it; Psalm 45 (44) is a rich commentary on the topic. In Orthodoxy, the Bridegroom is a beloved title for Christ. It is a primary theme in the Holy Week as the Church moves towards the spiritual climax of Pascha. Everything begins to be described in wedding imagery.
Come from the vision, O ye women, bearers of glad tidings, and say to Sion: receive from us the glad tidings of the Resurrection of Christ; adorn thyself, exult, and rejoice, O Jerusalem, for thou hast seen Christ the King come forth from the tomb like a bridegroom in procession.
The Church sees beyond the Jordan to an even greater role for the Forerunner. John, beheaded by Herod, enters into Hades and continues there his mission of preparation for Christ. There, in Hades, the man whom Christ describes as “the greatest born among women,” carries on his work of self-emptying. John says of Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Just as Christ’s self-emptying carries him into the emptiness of death that he might fill it with Himself, so John enters first into the same emptiness, that he might proclaim the coming Fullness.
He is the Friend of the Bridegroom. How could he not have been present to witness such a victory by his Friend?
August 29 is the feast of the Beheading of St. John. Glory to God!
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History of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
Beginning with founder Dr. Dian Fossey, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International has more than 40 years’ history of gorilla protection and conservation.
We were established in 1978 as the Digit Fund, with the purpose of preserving and protecting the world's last mountain gorillas. Our focus has never wavered, but we have expanded to address other regional challenges to gorilla protection.
Making history in gorilla protection
Originally named the “Digit Fund” in memory of Dr. Fossey's favorite gorilla, the Fossey Fund was given its current name in 1992 to underscore its commitment to carry on the gorilla protection and research programs established by Dr. Fossey after she founded the Karisoke™ Research Center in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park in 1967. Learn more about Dian Fossey. Karisoke has made gorilla protection history by making it possible for the mountain gorillas of the Virungas to be the only great ape population to have grown in number since the 1960s.
Expanding Dian Fossey’s legacy
Since Fossey’s death in 1985, the Fund’s activities have expanded to include protection of Grauer’s (eastern lowland) gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the mountain gorillas in that country’s Virunga National Park, and other endangered species in the gorillas’ habitats. The fund has also established numerous health and education projects in partnership with local government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and universities and with the communities that share the gorillas’ ecosystems, to create a healthy environment for both people and gorillas and empower Africans to become leaders in conserving their own natural resources. This recognition of the interdependence of people and gorillas and the importance of helping people marks another milestone in gorilla conservation history.
Communities we support creating gorilla history
A major advance in gorilla conservation supported by the Fossey Fund began in the late 1990s, when a group of traditional leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to create a network of gorilla reserves by donating their ancestral lands. With financial and technical help from the Fund, these reserves are gaining government recognition that grants them legal status equal to the national parks, while allowing the communities to retain the management role. The same communities established the unique Tayna Center for Conservation Biology (TCCB), with help from the Fossey Fund, offering university-level degrees to the next generation of African conservationists.
Making history with orphan gorilla rehabilitation
One more way the Fossey Fund is making gorilla protection history: In the spring of 2010, at the urging of the Congolese national park service (ICCN) with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and design and construction assistance from Disney's Animal Programs, we opened the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) center in the Congo, on forest land donated by TCCB. Four Grauer’s gorillas that had been rescued from poachers flew by helicopter from their temporary quarters in Goma, DRC to this new state-of-the art facility. In 2011 six more arrived that had been cared for in Kinigi, Rwanda, and others confiscated subsequently have joined them. The center has a capacity for 30 gorillas, and is the first facility of its kind in East Africa. There, the gorillas can learn to live in a group in a natural setting, until they can be released into the wild. | <urn:uuid:efbab065-a67f-4029-861d-e4e70062eea9> | {
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How to Do a Kip in Gymnastics
A kip is an intermediate skill done on the uneven parallel bars in women’s artistic gymnastics. It is also performed in men’s artistic gymnastics on the high bar and parallel bars, but for the purposes of this guide, we will focus on women’s uneven parallel bars.
In women’s gymnastics, the kip is a required element for a level five gymnast and above. It often serves as a stumbling block for level four athletes as it is difficult to master. The skill will take even the most qualified gymnasts several weeks to accomplish—maybe even several months—but it is an essential component to a successful bar routine.
Explanation of the Kip
The kip serves two specific purposes on the uneven parallel bars: It is the way a gymnast gets from the bottom to the top of the bar (the high or the low) with her hips resting on the apparatus; and it is often the way a gymnast will mount the bars. The kip provides the gymnasts with the proper positioning to then perform skills such as hip circles and release moves. It is a critical component to making a bar routine flow smoothly from one skill to the next.
Hot Tip: Feet Position
One mistake gymnasts often make during the kip is to position their feet too high off the ground at the beginning of the glide. If you keep your legs and feet closer to the ground at the beginning of the glide, it will make the kip much easier to achieve.
The three main components in the kip are the swing, the pike-up and the pull-up onto the bar. Here is a step by step progression of the skill:
- Glide swing: Stand about a foot from the apparatus and jump from the ground to the low bar, grabbing the bar with your hands. Let your body glide smoothly in either a pike or straddle position away from the bar.
- Pike-up: At the peak of the glide, make sure your body is flat with your legs together and stomach in a scooped position. As your body starts to naturally swing back towards the bar, lift your feet back up towards the apparatus in a pike position. The goal is to bring the tip of the toes up to the bar.
- Pull-up: After the pike-up, immediately pull your body up onto the bar with arms straight, using the natural motion of the body swing. The kip is completed in this position: your hips resting on the bar, your arms straight and your head looking forward.
The stomach and core muscles are used in just about every skill a gymnast will perform—and the kip is no exception. It takes extraordinary stomach muscles to just initiate the skill and pull your body up even to the bar. This supreme physical challenge is one of the reasons the kip is so difficult to do.
To strengthen your stomach muscles, try these exercises:
This floor exercise simulates the kip motion.
- Lie flat on your back, with your arms above your head and your legs straight.
- Contract your stomach muscles, so that the hollow of your back is flat to the floor.
- Lift your legs, head, and arms six inches off the ground.
- With your head looking toward your feet, gently rock back and forth, without letting your head, arms or legs touch the ground.
Hanging Pike Holds
This bar exercise strengthens your lower core and helps you perform the pike-up.
- Hang from a bar with your feet dangling.
- Raise your legs in a pike position to the bar and hold the position for 10 seconds.
- Slowly, in increments of 10, lower your legs back to the starting position. It is important to control the motion the entire time and not to let your legs swing on the bottom.
- Do five sets if possible – your abs should burn!
The arms also need to be incredibly strong to successfully complete the kip. There are several ways to strengthen your arms, including pull-ups, push-ups and dips. These common exercises will build power and endurance, and are easy to perform at home or in the gym.
Complete 5 to 10 sets of each at least three times a week. The repetition of these drills will help develop lean muscles—a factor that will significantly improve the success of the kip.
It Takes a Coach
But performing a kip takes more than strong muscles. It takes a qualified coach who is willing to spot and train you throughout the entire skill. They must guide you, through trial and error, until you get the proper feel of the motion.
Coaches can also offer hints and tricks on the proper way to glide and pull up into position.
Hot Tip: Rope Trapeze
One tool often used to help gymnasts with the kip is the rope trapeze. The rope trapeze is a rope that hangs from the lower bar in a “U” shaped position. Gymnasts place their feet into the middle of the “U” (often padded with a towel or cushion) and with their hands on the bar, perform the glide motion. The trapeze will help the gymnast learn the proper technique and timing of the glide as well as the proper alignment of the legs.
Remember that the kip is not an easy skill. It is not a natural motion for the body and will take weeks, or months, of work to master. But if you train with a qualified coach and dedicate yourself to developing strong arm and core muscles, the kip will soon be one of your most valued skills on the uneven parallel bars. | <urn:uuid:d075eabc-7d55-48a7-85b4-d521269c6f8c> | {
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§ Lord Palmer
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights cannot be interpreted as justification for unbridled freedom of expression.
§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
Article 9 of the Convention guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the right to manifest one's religion or beliefs. Article 10 guarantees the right to freedom of expression. The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set out in the two articles is subject to certain limitations which are specified in the Convention. These are limitations which are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of, among other things, public safety, the prevention of disorder or crime, the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the reputation and rights and freedoms of others. The jurisprudence of the European Commission of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights has shown that the Convention cannot be interpreted as permitting unbridled freedom of expression. | <urn:uuid:b2846064-a87a-4bd0-9213-4424cacc6f14> | {
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There’s less of a problem with sulfur than phosphorus (P) in Nebraska alfalfa fields, says Charles Shapiro, University of Nebraska soil scientist. Soils in other states are also suffering from a lack of P, according to a recent fertility report from the International Plant Nutrient Institute (IPNI).
Growers, Shapiro says, “need to keep their phosphorus levels up. Good alfalfa removes a lot more phosphorus than corn, and growers might not provide as much for alfalfa as they should.”
Compared to 2005 data, P levels have decreased by 6 parts per million (ppm) to a median 25 ppm, according to the IPNI report, called The Fertility of North American Soils, 2010. Less than 25 ppm indicates deficiency, according to most university recommendations.
The Corn Belt shows the most consistent P declines, dropping 6 ppm to a 2010 median level of 22. “This decline has major agronomic significance, since a high percentage of samples from this region now test below critical levels and call for annual P fertilization to avoid yield reductions,” the report indicates.
The northern Great Plains generally has the lowest P levels and the Northeast continues to have some of the highest soil P levels in the nation. | <urn:uuid:acebcf2e-a3e4-4502-aede-767882961d47> | {
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The Importance of ‘Don’t’ in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior
In a new study, HBS professors Francesca Gino and Joshua D. Margolis look at two ways that companies can encourage ethical behavior: the promotion of good deeds or the prevention of bad deeds. It turns out that employees tend to act more ethically when focused on what not to do. That can be problematic in firms where success is commonly framed in terms of advancement of positive outcomes rather than prevention of bad ones. Key concepts include:
- In general, there are two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees: either the promotion of good actions and outcomes or the prevention of bad ones.
- Through several experiments, the professors found that inducing a prevention focus will lead to ethical behavior more than inducing a promotion focus.
- In encouraging ethical behavior among employees, it behooves firms to consider focusing on preventing negative outcomes, not only in creating a code of ethics but also in setting goals and framing task directives.
In trying to encourage good moral conduct, it's common for a company to come up with a list of don'ts—wording policies such that they focus on unethical behavior employees should avoid rather than on ethical acts they should strive to achieve. Don't cheat. Don't lie. It's a tendency that dates back to the Ten Commandments, the vast majority (eight) of which dictate what thou shalt not do.
Meanwhile, in virtually every other aspect of business there is a focus on what to do. Do meet sales projections. Do outperform competitors. Do impress the boss by getting things done.
"The default tendency is for companies to frame goals in terms of promotion, and what we show here is that this might actually lead to cheating as a side effect."
The dichotomy raises an important question: If employees are generally focused on the benefits of getting things done, will they be attentive to messages about what not to do? Harvard Business School professor Joshua D. Margolis draws a parallel to stage directions in a high-school play. "If you're always told when to enter, you might skip over the one time you're told to exit," he says.
Margolis and fellow HBS professor Francesca Gino explore the issue in a new research paper, "Bringing Ethics into Focus: How Regulatory Focus and Risk Preferences Influence (Un)ethical Behavior," in which they distinguish between two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees: either the promotion of being ethical or the prevention of being unethical. (The paper will be published in the academic journal, "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.")
"Since the Enron scandal, there has been a lot of research across disciplines on why even good people do wrong," Margolis says. "But we have relatively little research to date that says, so, what do you do about it? That's the big game that we're hunting. What are some simple implementations or changes managers can introduce in their organizations to encourage good behavior?"
Promotion or prevention?
Through a series of experiments with college and graduate students, which are detailed in the paper, Gino and Margolis set out to induce individuals to focus on either promotion or prevention via a series of situational cues. They then studied whether the subconscious adoption of either a promotion or a prevention focus could affect an individual's behavior.
The researchers now contend that a person's focus, either promotion or prevention, can indeed influence his or her ethical behavior at any given time.
"I think the main message of the paper is that with situational cues, you can trigger one type of motivation versus the other," Gino says. "And because of this motivation, people end up cheating more or less. What we find is that the cues that induce a promotion focus—this idea of attaining high levels of performance—can lead to more cheating than prevention-focus types of framework or cues."
In one experiment, students had to come up with anagrams under the time pressure of 90 seconds per round, over a series of six rounds, with the understanding that they would be scoring themselves at the end of the test—and that they would be rewarded for high performance.
"In each round, participants were given a series of seven letters and asked to create as many words as possible," the paper explains. "The last series of letters was presented in a different order for each participant so that we could track who cheated and to what extent by comparing workbooks and answer sheets with participants' self-reported performance."
The students learned that they would each receive a Scrabble dictionary to check their work, after which they would fill out an answer sheet to report their performance. But before providing the dictionaries, the researchers distributed a pencil-and-paper maze to each student, in which the goal was to help a trapped cartoon mouse find its way out.
In some mazes, a picture of a piece of cheese sat outside the exit, next to a hole in the wall where the mouse could escape. This was meant to induce a promotion focus: Go get that reward! In other cases, in lieu of cheese, there was a menacing cartoon owl hovering above the maze, such that it behooved the mouse to reach the exit so as not to become bird food. That maze was meant to induce a prevention focus: Don't get killed!
Once they had completed the mazes, the students returned to the task of scoring themselves on the anagram test. They were told to pay themselves from the envelope on their desks according to their performance.
The results showed that the students who completed the cheese maze were far more likely to overstate their results, and to reward themselves accordingly, than those who completed the maze with the scary owl—82 percent (37 out of 45 participants) and 39 percent (16 out of 41 participants), respectively.
In a separate experiment, the researchers demonstrated that they could induce a promotion or prevention focus simply by phrasing the goals of the study in two different ways. Some students received promotion-based instructions that included the following statement, focusing on advancement: "This research project is being conducted to advance the ideals and aspirations pursued by applied social science." Others received a statement focusing on compliance: "Statement of Research Code of Conduct—This research project is being conducted with strict adherence to the standards and obligations required of applied social science."
Again, the students who were steered toward a promotion focus were more likely to cheat on the activities that followed. In other words, inducing a prevention focus may lead to more ethical behavior than inducing a promotion focus. Company executives may want to take note.
"The default tendency is for companies to frame goals in terms of promotion, and what we show here is that this might actually lead to cheating as a side effect," Gino says. "So the idea is to maybe revise those policies in terms of prevention so that they could trigger [ethical behavior]."
In yet another experiment, the researchers repeated the anagram tests, the mazes, and the monetary rewards with a different set of students, but then they added a wrinkle: After rewarding themselves from the envelopes on their desks, the students had the opportunity to donate some of their winnings to National Public Radio.
Tracking moral and immoral actions
The results showed that a much larger number of the student participants donated money to NPR in the promotion focus (10 out of 33) than in the prevention focus (2 out of 33). In other words, while inducing a promotion focus seemed to induce unethical acts, it also led to higher levels of virtuous behaviors to make up for those unethical acts.
"So there is evidence for the fact that people like to feel that they're in balance when it comes to ethics," Gino says. "People are guided by their moral compass when facing ethical dilemmas. And they keep track of their moral and immoral actions. There's a sense that there's a moral scale inside of you, and you want to keep it balanced."
Eventually, Gino and Margolis plan to work within several companies to discover particular ways to incorporate a prevention focus into their bottom line, while still encouraging financial success. In the meantime, managers can be mindful of striking a balance between morals and money when setting goals and offering rewards.
"When you're a manager helping to set up the conditions in which people operate, be attuned to the messages you're sending," Margolis says. "If the message is, 'Be sure not to step over the line, but hit those numbers,' don't be shocked if people forget the first message. You need to be clear about penalties even as you are clear about goal setting. You want a healthy setting between those." | <urn:uuid:498f9752-27d7-4bef-80a1-c3768168b96f> | {
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The heart’s pumping action is driven by electrical stimulation within the heart muscle. The heart’s electrical system allows it to beat in an organized pattern. Electrical signals in your heart can become blocked or irregular, causing a disruption in your heart’s normal rhythm.
A premature heartbeat is an extra beat between two normal heartbeats and occurs in the ventricles before they have had time to fill with blood after a regular heartbeat.
Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC)
Premature ventricular contractions are often called PVCs or PVBs (for premature ventricular beats). They are early contractions that occur when the ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) contract out of sequence with normal heart rhythm. Though they are generally harmless and usually do not require treatment, PVCs may cause more serious arrhythmias in people with heart disease or a history of ventricular tachycardia.
What Are the Symptoms?
Premature ventricular contractions often cause no symptoms. But you may feel these sensations in your chest:
- Pounding or jumping
- Skipped beats or missed beats
- Increased awareness of your heartbeat
What Are the Causes?
PVCs most often occur spontaneously; however, they can also be triggered by:
- Medications (especially decongestants)
- Certain medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, anemia, hypertension and stress
- Early or Extra Heartbeat Arrhythmias: Premature Ventricular Contractions
View Understanding Arrhythmias and Treatment Options Animations
Last Reviewed: March 11, 2010 900245 | <urn:uuid:b7b1ef82-c0b3-45cd-b3ed-fd024d1f005c> | {
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Avoid Empty Carbohydrates
If we had to pick the one single class of food that does the most overall damage to the health of Americans it would be empty carbohydrates, meaning sugar (as in candy, cake, soda, etc.) and carbohydrates (as in pastries and noodles).
- Most people don’t look at food the way it really is...
- Carbohydrates turn into sugar after being digested...
- So whether you’re eating a roll, or a potato or a piece of candy, they are really both just sugar as far as the bloodstream is concerned.
Many of Us Eat Way Too Much Sugar
The reason sugar takes first place in what’s wrong with the modern diet is that we eat so much of it. Most people far underestimate the amount of sugar they eat each day with the average person eating the equivalent of 52 spoonfuls (208 grams or about 1/2 pound) of sugar per day. And it’s much worse doing the Holidays when people double their intake of simple carbohydrates.
This much sugar in our blood prevents our cells from being fat burners, with a whole host of health problems, including increased propensity for disease, and earlier death.
Because eating sugar is such a pleasurable experience, food manufacturers have more than doubled than amount of sugar in foods over the past 30 years. (trying to get us to eat more). Tests show that even animals will eat up to six times as much food when it is laced with sugar.
The Problems With Sugar
Sugar creates several problems for the human body:
- Sugar quickly raises blood sugar levels, which causes the pancreas to release insulin to get the sugar out of the blood. This unnecessary work creates wear and tear on the endocrine systems of the body. It’s like revving your car engine up while it is in neutral or park. You accomplish nothing except to damage your health.
- Sugar increases circulating insulin and fat storage. As insulin levels go up, fat storage also goes up. This causes your leptin levels to go up... and creates confusion for the metabolic system, meaning the survival switch mechanisms regulating whether a person is in fat burning or sugar burning mode get confused so that an overweight person can stay in sugar burning mode even though the body has ample fat stores and should be in fat burning mode.
- Sugar decreases the amount of minerals in the body. Sugar contains no minerals or vitamins. Metabolism of food takes the expenditure of nutrient tools, especially minerals. Since eating sugar results in the expenditure of more minerals than are obtained in the sugar, it is a net negative proposition — the more sugar you eat the more your body is depleted of health sustaining minerals.
- Sugar causes glycation of protein molecules in our body. One of the other main causes of aging in addition to free radical damage is the bonding of sugar with protein. This is called glycation. Through glycation proteins cross link with sugar molecules and lose their elasticity and correct functioning. This plus free radical damage create 99% of the aging process.
Sugar is Addictive
“Sugar is a drug!” To prove this point: when sugar is removed from the diet people become agitated and experience similar symptoms to withdrawal symptoms of smokers morphine users.
Simple carbohydrates (white rice, white potatoes, white bread, etc.) are almost as bad as sugar because they turn into sugar when they are digested. Therefore, this entire discussion applies to simple carbohydrates. People can become as addicted to white rolls, for instance, as to sugar.
Learn to Avoid Carbohydrate Rich Foods
A potato should be seen as a big lump of sugar. Likewise, bread, pastries, noodles, etc. They turn into sugar and the end result is that the body burns sugar for fuel, instead of fat. The result of this is that you age faster, get more disease in your life and die earlier. There are other foods to eat and you can be just as happy eating them.
The buzzword of nutritionists these days is glycemic index. Glycemic index values tell us how quickly these foods will spike the blood sugar level, which calls forth insulin to take the sugar out of the blood into fat storage. Foods with natural sugars and fiber typically don’t spike the sugar level in the blood because they are digested and assimilated much more slowly than are sugar and simple carbohydrates. Hence, they don’t create the problems associated with elevated blood sugar.
In general, meats, legumes and vegetables have low glycemic values. Hence, they are the best foods for us to eat in terms of avoiding fat storage and glycation aging of our body. Click here to see a great explanation of glycemic index and a table showing the best foods to eat in terms of glycemic index.
Make Your Sugar Count
Sugar and simple carbohydrates are truly an enemy of optimum health and longevity, especially when they become a part of daily life.
That’s why in our estimation, these foods should be labeled celebration foods. We should only eat them occasionally and in between those occasions, we should exercise the discipline that will allow us to say no to sugar and thereby our good health and maximum longevity.
We do believe that life is to be enjoyed. Sugary deserts and wonderful breads and pastries can be among those things we count as so enjoyable that they are worth the health blows that comes with them.
However, as with drugs and alcohol, it is easy to become addicted, abuse sugar and suffer dire health consequences. If the siren call of sugar is too much, then you probably need to become one of those persons who lives without sugar, who when something tastes sweet, they immediately spit it out.
What's wrong with eating a little sugar?
Well, let's start with insulin. When you eat sugar, your blood sugar quickly rises and your pancreas immediately responds by secreting the hormone insulin. Insulin, whose job among many other things, is to quickly remove the sugar out of the blood stream by delivering it to cells where it can be used for energy. If sugar is allowed to hang out in the blood stream it does damage by attaching to red blood cells and creating sticky compounds that clog up your system.
There are 2 major problems with this. One, most of us don't use our muscles enough that would create a demand for the energy from the sugar so it will get stored as fat or will continue lurking in the blood stream, wreaking havoc.
The second problem is our bodies were designed to respond to natural foods that contain sugar such as fruits. When we fill our system with candy, ice cream and cake, the pancreas has to shoot out more insulin to get the job done and high amounts of insulin create a whole other set of issues.
Insulin tells the kidneys to hold on to sodium, increasing blood pressure. High insulin levels have also been linked to metabolic syndrome which is a type of pre diabetes that increases the risk of heart disease.
Table sugar is not the only offender with the insulin effect on the body. Refined carbs such as mashed potatoes, white rice, white bread and pasta are quickly converted to sugar in the body since your pancreas can't tell the difference.
Sugar in not nonnutritive but it is anti-nutritive. When sugar is found in whole foods such as apples, berries and even sugarcane it comes complete with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed for complete digestion. When it's found in your sugar bowl or in chemical compounds such as high fructose corn syrup, your body has to borrow from it's stores of nutrients in order to process it. That is one reason why sugar is considered an immune system depressor.
Sugar is addictive and just like any addiction, you may experience withdrawals when removing it from your diet.
Be prepared for those withdrawal symptoms and do yourself a bog favor and kick the "not so sweet side effects" that occur from eating sugar daily.
Sugar is the main contaminant of the circulatory system. Many people don’t realize that sugar in the blood is a major contributor to disease and lessened longevity. Sugar glycates our proteins and feeds microorganism overgrowth in the body. Please study our table on glycemic index value and learn to choose foods that will keep your circulatory system free of excessive sugar. | <urn:uuid:620dd540-3afd-4cdc-a028-34dc80739e71> | {
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A winged robot the size of a fly has taken its first flight, courtesy of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. After more than a decade, engineers at Harvard University have finally finished the first model of the “RoboBee” — the world’s smallest flying robotic insect. Here’s what you should know about this breakthrough in mini-aviation.
1. Its Wings Flap 120 Times a Second
The 80-milligram device has a pair of thin stripped wings that can flap 120 times a second. According to the Science Journal, the RoboBee can hover over short distances, take off, and change direction while being connected to a wire. In only six months, engineers were able to construct up to 20 prototypes of the little flying machine.
2. It’s Still a Work in Progress
Researchers believe that the prototype still has some improvements to be made, which include giving it a small “brain” to function and a battery small enough for RoboBee to fly in the air without connection to a power source. Researcher Kevin Mas said, “Large robots can run on electromagnetic motors, but at this small scale you have to come up with an alternative, and there wasn’t one.”
3. RoboBee Has a Future in Surveillance
With the RoboBee still in development, scientists hope that it can be used for important purposes like surveillance, search and rescue operations, and even monitoring many different environments. With an innovation like this, researchers believe that RoboBee can open more doors for techhology. Project leader Professor Robert Wood explains that, “This project provides a common motivation for scientists and engineers across the university to build smaller batteries, to design more efficient control systems, and to create stronger, more lightweight materials.”
4. It Was Built to Discover the Anatomy of Flies
Harvard University’s robotic experiment was meant for engineers to discover the capabilities of a fly. By adhering together thin layers of composite materials, engineers were able to build the engine, muscles, thorax, skeleton and wings. Just like a real fly, the wings move by themselves and can flap and rotate. “Their capabilities exceed what we can do with our robot, so we would like to understand their biology better and apply it to our own work,” team member Dr. Sawyer Fuller said.
5. You Can See it in Action
If any of this interests you, check out the little robotic insect as it takes its first flight: | <urn:uuid:c9bf8977-15f6-40bd-bd17-560fc6d3d169> | {
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World War II is thought of as bombs being fired between countries, major economic global powers pitting against one another, weapons blasting between each other on the ground and in the water. Let us not forget the power of the radio. The radio was the television or internet of its time, used to persuade its listeners to stick to their wartime governments. Besides all of the presidential and government announcements, an even more melodic and soothing radio persuader was music.
Jazz seemed to be a universal classic enjoyed by both Axil and Allies alike. Jazz was very popular in the United States, Britain and, surprisingly enough, jazz was loved by Germans, even though Hitler was not a fan himself. The Nazi government tried to raid their radios with folk songs that were a reflection of their German ancestors. They banned much music and only permitted radios to play certain genres, such as classical.
Two famous jazz musicians are Louie Armstrong and Bing Crosby. Armstrong's hit “I Wonder” gave a soothing feeling with his sensual voice and the piano during a period of rough national struggle.
Another jazz voice is Martha Tilton. Coming from New York before America's involvement in the war, her biggest hit was “I'll Walk Alone”. This hit is a true jazz gem that sent soldiers dreaming with lyrics like “No matter how far just close your eyes and I'll be there”.
Another jazz favourite, Harry James is caught singing with his partner Helen Forrest in the classic “It's been a long, long time.” Helen steals the fame in this song but reminds its listeners the power of jazz during this epic. Considering most first world homes at the time had a radio, the impact of a president's message and a resounding jazz session added to the significance of the Second World War period. | <urn:uuid:df2d4a17-3387-44e5-a3a2-556ce976fd71> | {
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by John Connell
Each day, more than half a million new connections are made to the Internet. 500,000 people who were not on the Internet yesterday are today taking their first tentative steps onto the global network of networks. The majority of these new connections are being made with a mobile device of some kind, in most cases a cell phone. For every laptop or desktop currently being used to connect to the Internet there are two mobile devices being used to do the same. And of the 500,000 people connecting today, some 400,000 of them live in the developing world.
With between one third and one half of the world’s population already online (2.8 billion as of December 2013), most of them in the developed countries of the world, the greatest scope for continued growth in Internet use in the next few years will be in those parts of the world where a combination of relative under-development, an immature market for the large fixed-line telecoms operators, and therefore an as-yet-inadequate wired infrastructure, has propelled a massive expansion in wireless networks. Countries all around the world recognise the economic benefits of connectivity and this is driving growth in the deployment and usage of LTE (4G) networks at a rate of 250% year on year at the present time. There is no reason to think that this rate of expansion will slow down any time soon. Indeed with the Koreans already working on a 5G network amid claims that it will be ‘thousands of times faster’ than 4G, the mobile market globally is still in its infancy in so many respects.
M-Learning: An Emerging Phenomenon
While the growing mobile networks are already having an unmistakable impact on education around the world, mobile-learning is still fundamentally an emerging phenomenon. Much play has been made in some places, for instance, of the many and varied schemes to introduce tablets, e-readers, and even connected handheld gaming devices into the classroom. Some of these have been successful while others are more conspicuous by the hype surrounding them than by any proven effects on teaching and learning. But such schemes are, in my opinion, really only scratching the surface of m-learning. They have validity in their own right, of course, but they are for the most part simply attempts to extend the range of connected devices for students from desktops and laptops to devices that are small, versatile, easy-to-carry and, yes, more mobile. So while they do have the capacity to enable access to learning in a greater variety of settings, whether in school or out of school, than with desktops, and even laptops, their mobility capability is by no means always the pivotal factor in their deployment.
Three Sets of Affordances
Truly effective m-learning derives, I feel, from three related sets of affordances that mobile networks give to education, but more precisely from the compound effect of the three affordances when taken together. Two of the affordances are probably not hard to discern. The first is that they allow virtual teaching and learning to take place anywhere and at any time. The second is that they offer access to online education to billions of people worldwide who have not previously been able to enjoy that access.
The third affordance offered to education by the expansion of mobile networks to so many more people across the world is that having a cell phone or any other small connected device in your hand, no matter where you are in the world, gives the learner the potential to establish a very high level of control over their own learning. Of course, that has been true in many ways since the first desktop computers were linked up to the Internet, and has been all the more true as laptops became smaller, cheaper, lighter and more mobile over the past couple of decades, but the ability now to enjoy the same level of connectedness with a truly mobile handheld device has taken this process to a new level. Combined with the growing trend to render websites fully responsive, by deploying HTML5′s capabilities to produce sites that are geared to run on low-powered, small-form devices such as phones and tablets, the mobile data networks are now putting m-learning in a very interesting position indeed.
Is the Tipping Point Coming for M-Learning?
When we take these affordances together, along with the progress towards a truly responsive Web, it is clear to me that mobile learning, across its many manifestations (with some still to be formed and defined, no doubt), is about to take off in a big way. The combination of trends, factors and affordances is creating the perfect social and technological ecosystem for virtual learning to spread far beyond the larger desk-bound and lap-bound devices that have dominated for two decades to the kinds of devices that fit in a pocket or are so easily carried and used anywhere, any time.
Two things will happen now. One is the glaringly obvious one that, in the shorter term, and worldwide, providers of content, courses, and programmes of study, both free and paid-for, will increasingly customise and configure their products for the mobile learning market – many are already doing so, of course, but the volume of this will surge hugely over the next couple of years and beyond. Content and course providers, particularly those trying to monetize their products, will be seeking to grab whatever segments of the market they can, and we can be sure that providers will spring up in every part of the world, some looking to build international markets, others happy to focus on regions, on language-communities, on individual countries and even on specific disciplines that will cut across all such geographical fault lines . The effect will be to extend massively the educational choices available to learners all over the world.
The second thing that I believe will happen will take longer to realize. That is that, as this ‘market’ expands, and as learners everywhere and anywhere begin to recognize the sheer scale and spread of what is becoming available to them, they will begin to focus less on accessing or buying discrete ‘packages’ of learning products aimed at them, and more on simply picking and choosing what they need from the torrent of material flowing past them as they seek to learn exactly what they want to learn and not what someone else has decreed they should learn. Smart learners will become skilled in disassembling the packages offered and taking just the bits they want, and then creating their own programmes of study from all the options in front of them. It is a process that will at once thrive on the massive expansion in mobile-ready content online and also render the market in mobile-ready content much more complex and unpredictable than many of the players in the market would wish it to be.
M-Learning in the Developing World
Where people live, whether they want to or can afford to pay for formal educational offerings, what language(s) they want to learn in, how much they require formal accreditation, how systems of informal accreditation (such as digital badges) expand in the years ahead, and a host of other questions pertinent to the individual learner, will all encourage and stimulate learners increasingly to take control of their own learning. This will be a global phenomenon, of course, but I believe that it will be in the developing world that the effects of these transformations will be most profound: learners in the developing world have a hunger for learning that has not been provided for in the past because the means simply weren’t there for its ‘delivery’. Just as the mobile networks themselves are expanding most rapidly in the developing world, so it will be paralled by a rapid escalation of people taking advantage of those networks for their own education.
M-Learning is about to go mainstream, but in ways that the providers of mobile education will find very hard to predict. Providers will need to consider very carefully the combination of affordances described above if they are to match their strategies successfully to the changing times and changing circumstances over the next few years. | <urn:uuid:46c48e31-5dce-4e92-b9f5-5d9bc7da681f> | {
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Today marks the 14th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, commemorating the lives of those lost due to violent transphobia.
According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, over the past twelve months alone, 265 transgender people were murdered around the world.* This number is a conservative estimate and does not take into account the countless murders that occurred when an individual’s gender identity went unnoticed, unreported or misunderstood.
“On this solemn day, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission mourns the loss of our transgender brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short by ignorance and hate. We call upon governments everywhere to eliminate discriminatory laws that encourage transphobic violence and to conduct popular education to respect the safety and dignity of all people, regardless of gender identity or expression,” said Jessica Stern, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).
“Today, we urge governments whose social policies produce invisibility, pathology and mutilation to face a trans person. We invite them to recognize the marvels of diversity and recognize our contributions to community. Instead of working to normalize our bodies—as if our bodies are wrong—let’s work together to construct policies that are inclusive and based on respect,” said Andrés Rivera, Senior Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at IGLHRC.
* For the list with all 265 names as well as additional information on the reported murders, visit the TDOR 2012 Names List on the website of the Trans Murder Monitoring Project. | <urn:uuid:6b5e1576-2908-47fb-a7ad-38117eaf8a13> | {
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Help tomatoes beat the heat
You may love em, but theyre prone to trouble
The most exciting garden event of the summer arrives when juicy, fresh tomatoes are ready for harvest. Last weekend my family and I were delighted to enjoy an armful of this tasty fruit. We ate our tomatoes with a little salt, with white gravy, and in BLT sandwiches.
Our passion for tomatoes is shared by many gardeners, but, as many home gardeners quickly learn, tomato plants are not without problems: They’re susceptible to diseases, insect infestation, and physiological disorders caused by environmental stresses. Those problems, thanks in part to the recent heat wave, are now evident in many plants.
Blossom-end rot is a common problem on green or ripening tomato fruit. It first appears as a tan-to-brown water-soaked lesion on the blossom end of the fruit (opposite the stem). As the fruit ripens, the dry spot enlarges, become sunken, and turns black and leathery. The sunken spot opens the fruit up to other organisms that cause the fruit to rot. This generally occurs on developing tomatoes during extended hot, dry periods; blossom-end rot occurs during the summer when day temperatures are above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and night temperatures are higher than 76 degrees.
The cause of blossom-end rot is a calcium deficiency in the developing fruit. Calcium is needed for proper fruit development. The deficiency occurs in the plant after large fluctuations in soil moisture. Plant growth slows with limited soil moisture. When water becomes available again the plant grows rapidly, but the uptake of calcium lags behind growth, resulting in tissue breakdown.
One way to control blossom-end rot is to maintain even and adequate levels of soil moisture. Mulching established plants with an organic mulch will help suppress weed growth, conserve soil moisture, and maintain the moisture level evenly. Water plants deeply, then wait five or more days between waterings. Peppers, summer squash, and cucumbers may also exhibit this problem.
Poor fruit set is another disorder caused by extreme temperatures. Blossoms can drop off without setting fruit when temperatures are higher than 90 degrees or below 55 for extended periods of time. Dry soil, excessive nitrogen, and shade can also cause poor fruit set.
Tomato (and pepper) fruits exposed to the sun are susceptible to sunburn or sunscald. The affected areas become dry and sunken, with a papery tan-to-white appearance. Sunscald is most common on green fruit and often affects plants that have lost leaves to foliar diseases or incurred breakage during harvest. Controlling plant diseases and insects that cause defoliation can lessen the chances of sunscald.
Drought followed by a heavy rain or watering can encourage rapid growth during ripening. Growth cracks, the result of too much water applied at one time, can be prevented with maintenance of consistent moisture level in the soil. Some varieties are crack-tolerant.
The Iowa State University Extension offers a fact sheet, found at www.extension.iastate.edu/ Publications/PM1266.pdf, with great photos, descriptions and controls for common problems of tomatoes. Keep in mind purchasing tomato varieties bred for disease resistance can keep a variety of maladies at bay.
Jennifer Fishburn is a unit educator with the University of Illinois Extension, Sangamon-Menard Unit. For more information, go to www.extension.uiuc.edu/sangamon. | <urn:uuid:0d867c58-0f9a-4d07-9fea-da2406588cde> | {
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In class last week, we discussed Herbert Kohl's book, Shall We Burn Babar? In prep for it, I stopped in the local library to grab copies of Babar books. I found one I hadn't seen before... It is titled Babar's World Tour, published in 2005 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
"World tour," I thought to myself. What did dear old Babar see?
In the first pages, Babar and his family visit Italy, Germany, Russia, India, Japan, Thailand... where they eat new foods, speak phrases in Italian, etc. At one point, Isabelle notes difference in language and asks "What's wrong with our words?" Celeste explains that "People in different places say things differently. They do things differently, too. They build different kinds of buildings." Note the reference to people, of the present day.
Now, I call your attention to the image I've included with this post. Note, specifically, the text, which I've included below (bold text is mine):
When everyone was rested, they went to Angkor in Cambodia, the ancient city of the Khmers. In Mexico, they climbed a pyramid built by the Aztecs. In both places, the original settlers were gone but tourists abounded.
"Will everyone move out of Celesteville one day, too?" Pom asked.
"Never," said Babar. "But apart from us, it happens a lot, as you'll see."
The "as you'll see" refers to the places they visit next, which are "the cliff houses of the Anasazi in the high desert of the American Southwest, "the Inca Trail, on the same stones that the Incas had walked..." and "... to the remains of the city of Machu Picchu hidden in the Andes Mountains."
How nice for the Babar family and other tourists, that the "original settlers" were gone! How nice that they had, presumably, moved out, leaving these wonderful places for the tourists! And how good it is of Babar to assure Pom that the inhabitants of Celesteville will never move out of Celesteville!
Reviewers of the book failed to note these passages and the messages they impart to the reader. School Library Journal's reviewer finds it lacking because it doesn't have the same adventure and excitement in Jean de Brunhoff's Travels of Babar (which has highly problematic illustrations of "cannibals"). Perhaps if they'd actually come across "savages" (aka "original settlers) she might have given it a favorable review.
The review in Booklist is more favorable: "Though children listening to the story will get only a glimpse or two of each country before moving on to the next, this colorful picture book provides an inkling of the diversity of places and cultures in the world. A pleasant excursion, recommended especially for those who already know and love Babar and his family."
Perhaps, but I wonder about children of all those "original settlers"?!
There is a great deal wrong with this book. It is very useful for a high school or college classroom, but as a read-aloud for young children? No. | <urn:uuid:a24f70d0-476e-4343-8481-85c00658a9c0> | {
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Anaya Urges Presidential Support for Apology
S. James Anaya, a United Nations fact-finder, has learned that vibrant Indian cultures are often invisible in the United States mainstream and that problems of Indians today seem trivial to U.S. citizens who tend to believe Natives and Native issues exist only in the distant past.
Anaya, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, also said that there should be presidential support for an existing apology resolution, because any reconciliation over historical wrongs has been hampered from the start by inadequate acknowledgment.
Anaya, of Purepecha and Chiricahua Apache ancestry, spoke January 24 at the University of Colorado Law School on “Reconciliation in the United States in Light of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
He cited the 500-year Native history of abuses, ranging from the initial invasion to the illegal seizure of millions of acres of tribal land, to the boarding schools which “cut deep into Indian communities,” and to predictable present-day results—disproportionately high rates of poverty, disease, early death, violence, alcoholism and suicide.
Yet he found many mainstream Americans who have said, “Just get over it,” an indication of the invisibility of Natives and Native issues in a wider culture that places them squarely in distant history and ignores the ongoing outcome of abuses “very much felt today.”
Anaya said “robust means of reconciliation” should take place, beginning with a heartfelt and public apology for past wrongs. He added that a “superficial apology” would yield a “superficial reconciliation.”
The document emphasized that the apology didn’t constitute support for or settlement of claims against the U.S., but was for the “many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect” inflicted on Native peoples by U.S. citizens.
“History cannot be undone, but the future can mark a new direction,” Anaya said, urging that the Declaration become a part of decision-making when indigenous issues arise in foreign and domestic policy.
On a personal note that illustrated the here-and-now of Native concerns, Anaya said he’d received a letter from a 15-year-old student attending high school near the Rosebud Sioux (Sicangu Lakota) Reservation in South Dakota.
“Life here is very hand-to-mouth,” the student wrote. “I’m going to be honest with you—sometimes I don’t eat. I’ve never told anyone this before, not even my mom, but I don’t eat sometimes because I feel bad about making my mom buy food that I know is expensive.
“And you know what? Life is hard enough for my mom, so I will probably never tell her.”
Anaya gave the Thomson Visitor Lecture as part of the 2012-2013 Speaker Series of the American Indian Law Program.
Please use the log in option at the bottom of this page | <urn:uuid:0d5e8ce4-9bd2-4fb1-bcdd-d0e82c5d952b> | {
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FRA will act as a facilitator to the 2nd international policy-making colloquium of the European regional office of the Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The event, entitled “Roma Segregated Housing as a Human Rights Challenge”, was organised in cooperation with the Spanish government.
Despite efforts at the national, European and international level to improve the social and economic integration of Roma in the European Union, many still face deep poverty, profound social exclusion, and discrimination, which often means limited access to quality education, jobs and services, low income levels, sub-standard housing conditions, poor health and lower life expectancy. These problems also present often insurmountable barriers to exercising their fundamental rights.
Working & discussion paper
This paper provides an analysis of data collected through FRA’s Roma Survey broken down by gender and covering the core areas of employment, education, housing and health, as well as any other gender‐sensitive policy areas. The paper is the result of a request made by the President of the European Parliament to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on 27 June 2013.
Roma - Europe's largest minority of 10-12 million people - continue to experience discrimination and social exclusion; and they are not sufficiently aware of their rights guaranteed by EU law, such as the Racial Equality Directive. This report presents the first results of the FRA Roma pilot survey and the UNDP/World Bank/European Commission regional Roma survey carried out in 2011. | <urn:uuid:895051a2-b45a-48bc-8d38-3745ae871899> | {
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Languages differ in how much they distinguish between the present and the future. Professor Keith Chen found that speakers of languages that do not rely on the future tense make more future-oriented choices, including saving more money, retiring with more wealth, and smoking less.
The language we speak predicts a range of economic and health behaviors, from how much money we save for retirement to how much we exercise, according to research by Keith Chen, a behavioral economist at the Yale School of Management.
Languages vary in how much of a grammatical distinction they require speakers to make between the present and the future. For example, English requires speakers to talk about the future as different from the present ("It will rain tomorrow"), while German allows speakers to talk about the future as though it is the present (Morgen regnet es, "It rains tomorrow"). In every region of the world, Chen found, languages that make little or no distinction between the present and the future induce speakers to make more future-oriented choices.
Speakers of languages that do not distinguish between the present and the future save more money, retire with more wealth, smoke less, practice safer sex, and are less obese, according to Chen’s findings.
“There’s a connection between how you feel about the future and how your language forces you to talk about the future,” says Chen. “If you speak a language that doesn’t distinguish strongly between the present and the future, you save a lot more because the future feels closer. If you speak a language that separates present and future events, the future feels more distant, which makes it harder to do things to care for your future self like save money, exercise, and eat better.”
The relationship between language and behavior holds not only across countries, but also within countries that have multiple national languages. Chen compared individuals with identical income, education, family structure, and country of birth, but who speak different languages within the same country. Speakers of languages with weak distinctions between the present and the future were 31% more likely to have saved money in any given year, had accumulated 39% more wealth by retirement, were 24% less likely to smoke, were 29% more likely to be physically active, and were 13% less likely to be medically obese compared to speakers of languages that make a strong distinction between the present and the future.
A country’s language also has a significant effect on the national savings rate. Chen found that OECD countries that speak languages that equate the present and the future save on average 6% more of their GDP per year. Luxembourg had the highest national savings rate, while Greece had the lowest.
Languages with weak references to the future include Chinese, Finnish, German, and Japanese. Languages with strong references to the future include English, Greek, Italian, and Russian.
“The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets” is forthcoming in the American Economic Review. | <urn:uuid:5633db23-3988-459c-bad4-223a867b33a3> | {
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Sight Words Learn to Read for iOS – Kids Recognize the Most Common Words
Sydney, Australia – Indie developer Karina Ranaldi today is pleased to introduce Sight Words Learn to Read 1.0 for iOS, her app that helps pre-schoolers and kindergarteners learn to recognize the most frequently used words by sight. Since some of these words cannot be sounded out, they must be learned by sight. Based on the well-known Dolch Sight Word List of 220 “service words” required to achieve basic fluency in reading, the app provides entertaining practice through a 3D animated game, where fish swim across the screen with a word on them. At the start of each round, one sight word is announced aloud and written in text onscreen, and Kids must tap on each fish they see with that word.
According to Wikipedia, “The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used words compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD, a major proponent of the “whole-word” method of beginning reading instruction. The list was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948. The list contains 220 “service words” that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading fluency in the English language. The compilation excludes nouns, which comprise a separate 95-word list. These lists of words are still assigned for memorization in American elementary schools. Although most of the 220 Dolch words are phonetic, children are sometimes told that they can’t be “sounded out” using common sound-to-letter implicit phonics patterns and have to be learned by sight; hence the alternative term, “sight word.”
“Players have 45 seconds to correctly tap on fish displaying the announced word, which is read aloud by a professional voiceover artist at the start of each round. Kids must correctly tap on a minimum of 10 or a maximum of 15 instances of the announced word in each round, points out Ranaldi. “Played in portrait orientation, most animated fish swimming from left to right will display sight words that are not the announced word. However, according to Ranaldi, “there is no penalty for incorrect choices, but 10 correct answers are necessary to complete each round.”
* 2 modes of gameplay: Pre-School or Kindergarten
* Beautifully designed, rich, colorful, entertaining, and engaging graphics
* Underwater themed with animated marine animals and plants
* Interactive game play
* High quality, professionally recorded audio featuring the famous Sharon Brogden
* Fun, quirky background music
* Word repetition to encourage memory building
* The child’s very own fish tank to house their marine animals and plants
* Option for instructions to assist with game play
* Pre-School & Kindergarten Word Lists
* Saved game play with reset function
* Sight Words Facebook page has thousands of followers and regular competitions
Swish the Fish will help your child learn the words that are most commonly found in print. Words like: the, and, am and said, through interactive gameplay that is sure to keep your little one entertained!” stated developer Karina Ranaldi. “Learning to recognize these high frequency words by sight is an early literacy skill that will help fuel your child’s desire to read!! This app has been developed by parents in consultation with teachers!!!”
* iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
* Requires iOS 3.0 or later
* 32.6 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Sight Words Learn to Read 1.0 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category. Review copies are available on request.
Based in Sydney, Australia, indie developer Karina Ranaldi is a mother of two, who became interested in the design and development of kids educational apps after seeing her daughter develop such a passion for learning at such an early age. The future of her business will be to form a partnership with pre-schools and schools and work together to implement her apps within their educational syllabus. Copyright (C) 2012 Karina Ranaldi. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
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Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea)
Click on images to enlarge
Tall fescue, a cool season perennial grass, forms clumps with upright leaves. It is found throughout California, except the Great Basin and deserts, to about 8900 feet (2700 m). Tall fescue is especially invasive in coastal scrub and grassland on the North and Central Coast. It also inhabits other disturbed dry or wet areas. It is widely planted for pasture, turf, hay, and erosion control, but has escaped cultivation. New tall fescue turf cultivars may be less invasive. Sometimes tall fescue is infected with a fungus, Acremonium coenophialum. Livestock that graze on pasture infected with this fungus exhibit a wide variety of chronic health problems.
Coastal scrublands, grasslands, pastures, roadsides, ditches, and other disturbed dry or wet locations.
Seedling leaf blades are rolled in the bud before they open and are hairless and conspicuously veined. The collar is pale and contains a membranous ligule and auricles with hairy-edged lobes, or no lobes.
Tall fescue grows in clumps and can reach 6-1/2 feet (2 m) tall. Stems are coarse, round in cross-section, and have visible stem joints (nodes). Leaves are rolled, loosely rolled, or flat before they open from the bud. Blades are up to 2/5” (1 cm) wide, 4 to 28 inches (10–70 cm) long, dark green, slightly glossy, coarse, with rasplike edges, and radiate from a central clump. Although similar in appearance to dallisgrass, Paspalum dilatatum, tall and meadow fescues are distinguished by growing in tighter clumps, versus the loose bunches formed by dallisgrass.
Ligules are membranous. Auricles have lobes with hairy edges, or no lobes.
Flowers bloom from May through June. The flowering head is open and branching. Stalked, purple-tinged spikelets attach along the flowering branches. Flower head stalks may lay flat when mowed, resulting in ragged-looking turf.
Reproduces by seed and sometimes by underground, creeping, horizontal stems (rhizomes) fragments that result from activities such as cultivation and movement of soil.
Related or similar plants
- Dallisgrass, Paspalum dilatatum
- Meadow fescue, Festuca pratensis Huds. | <urn:uuid:144092fa-b1e3-4811-89dd-8598b18a88aa> | {
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Read more about the rescue of the Danish jews during October 1943 in the menu to the right.
The architect Daniel Libeskind was inspired by the Jewish concept of Mitzvah on which he has based his design of the inside of the Museum. The Hebrew word Mitzvah has numerous meanings, two of which are: "the duty to do the right thing" and "a good deed". The Hebrew letters denoting Mitzvah have been interlaced to form the pattern of the corridors within which the guest moves through the exhibition. Thus the public moves within the text, which is a direct reference to and an ethical reminder of the rescue of the Danish Jews in October 1943. Libeskind's architectural design of the museum is in itself a story about Danish Jewry.
We are happy to offer guided tours in English every Wednesday and Friday at 2 PM!
Get a discount of 10% at selected cafés by showing your ticket from the museum (Photo: Eddie Michel Azoulay).
Talks, guided tours, films and music - keep up with the museums acitivity program ...
- an exhibition about Jews in Denmark
The exhibition is a broad story of Jewish life in Denmark and focuses on co-exixstence and indentity through 400 years. Read more... | <urn:uuid:4ba9bd4e-91dd-4604-845d-2ce1985134d5> | {
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Collections: Objects of the Month
Henry King, Jr. Eternal Light, 1898
Object #: 1975.01
Donor: Robert Reich
Description: Brass eternal light, 1898
Caroline King donated the ner tamid (eternal light) to Washington Hebrew Congregation in memory of her late husband, Henry King, Jr. The inscription reads "In memory of H. King Jr. by his wife and children." A ner tamid is an eternal light that hangs over a synagogue's ark where the Torah is kept, and symbolizes God's constant presence.
Henry King, Jr., came to the United States in 1848 as a teenager. He and Caroline Straus married and opened a millinery business on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, in 1861. The business expanded and relocated a number of times before finding its permanent home at 814 Seventh Street, NW, in 1877. In the meantime, the couple had welcomed seven children into their lives, three of whom would eventually take over the business. Over time, the millinery grew into a department store known as King's Palace that occupied four adjacent addresses (seen at left). King died in 1897 and the business continued under the management of three of his sons and later a grandson.
In 1898, when Washington Hebrew dedicated a new synagogue on Eighth Street, NW, this ner tamid was donated in memory of Henry King, who had been largely responsible for campaigning and fundraising for the new synagogue in his role as congregational president.
About 75 years later, when Robert Reich, a local collector of architectural remnants, unearthed the light, he knew that Henry Brylawski, Chair of the Restoration Committee for the 1876 historic synagogue, was looking for a ner tamid to hang in synagogue. A new ner tamid had already been installed, however, so the blackened, brass light fixture was donated to the Society's archival collection. To prepare it for display in 2005 in our exhibition, Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community, at the National Building Museum, the ner tamid was repaired, polished, and restored.
Do you have artifacts from a local synagogue that you'd like to donate to the Jewish Historical Society? Contact us at [email protected] or (202) 789-0900.
Photo: King's Palace, early 1900s. Courtesy of Library of Congress, LC-DIG-npcc-32044.
The façade of the building survives, now integrated into an office building at 810 Seventh Street, NW, which houses a local bar on the first floor. | <urn:uuid:6c02c420-3671-45db-b9e7-ac6c825fabe7> | {
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Photo Challenge: Follow the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds applies to all visual art and is a concept that every photographer should know well. It states that when composing an image you should imagine there are lines dividing the image into nine equal parts (two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines) and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.
For this photo challenge, put the rule of thirds into action and show us your best image that utilizes it!
Closed April 18, 2011 | <urn:uuid:c17f85aa-dff5-4c8f-9f57-1522400c1c53> | {
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Mr. Pablo Cuadra Religion Class
The Works of Mercy :
The Works of Mercy The works of Mercy are divided in two main categories: Spiritual Works of Mercy Corporal Works of Mercy According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the works of Mercy are: # 2447 “Charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.” This presentation will deal with the first category: “The Spiritual Works of Mercy”
Which are the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy? :
Which are the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy? To instruct the ignorant To counsel the doubtful To admonish sinners To bear wrongs patiently To forgive offences willingly To comfort the afflicted To pray for the living and the dead.
1. Instruct the Ignorant :
Instruct the Ignorant Socrates (470 BC) a Greek philosopher once said: “I neither know nor I think that I know” (Apology of Plato). True wisdom Socrates said is knowing that we know nothing. We all experience ignorance of some sort. Our Christian Faith challenges us to seek the truth; to come out of the shadows of ignorance. Jesus said: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) Human ignorance can be experienced in three different levels A. Intellectual ignorance B. Moral Ignorance C. Spiritual Ignorance
Instruct the Ignorant Intellectual ignorance: “things we don’t know”. Our Christian faith calls us to be teachers, to share the knowledge we have acquired through life with others specially, those who have been deprived of the opportunities to learn and advance in our society. Saint Katherine Drexel (1858-1955) not only committed her life to teach but also donated all her inherited wealth $20 million dollars to open schools for African Americans and Native Americans at a time in America’s history of great discrimination and social injustice to minorities. She was the founder of Xavier University in New Orleans.
Instruct the Ignorant Do you know how to play the guitar or maybe the piano? Do you know math or maybe algebra? Are you a good artist or writer? Do you know a second language? God calls us to share our knowledge, skills, talents with others. Practical tips: Consider being a mentor at a non-profit organization or at your parish education or social program. For example, Covenant House, a Catholic runaway crisis shelter for youth, is always in need for mentors and volunteers for its program. Below there is a link to the Covenant House’s website http://www.covenanthouse.org/
Instruct the Ignorant Moral Ignorance: Ignorance of the moral values, attitudes and dispositions of our faith. Our baptismal call challenges us to be a light to the world. We live in an age marked by secularism and moral relativism. Our society seems to be plagued by sexual scandals, corporate corruption, greed, political abuses, family disintegration and social apathy. In a world so obsess with materialistic and hedonistic tendencies, Catholic Christians are called to instruct and lead first and foremost by example. In his most recent encyclical Spe Salvi (saved by hope), Pope Benedict XVI says: “If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man’s ethical formation, in man’s inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.”
Instruct the Ignorant To combat moral ignorance, first and foremost We Catholic Christians must take a stand. A commitment to learn more about our faith, to know why we believe what we believe. We, Catholics must commit ourselves to educate and form our consciences. Jesus said: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Luke 6:39 Christians are the conscience of the world. We are called by our baptismal call to announce and to denounce. To teach and to challenge. To plant and to uproot. We have a Christian and moral duty to denounce and reject the structures of injustice, sin, and social evil affecting the moral stratum our world and lives.
Instruct the Ignorant How to contend with moral ignorance? practical tips: A. Support the social issues and causes of our Catholic faith. Get to know what these issues are. The website of the U.S. Catholic bishops has plenty of information. Here is their link: http://www.usccb.org/ B. Make a clear stand against the anti-values of our culture. C. Have the courage to take stand for life, family values, social justice. Become involved in your church and society. D. Become acquainted with the moral and social justice values our your Catholic faith. Share these values at home with your children, at work with your colleagues, and with the world at large. E. Be an example, actions are more convincing than words. This means abandoning hypocritical attitudes and adopting Conversion-change of the heart. Conversion (metanoia) is a life long process.
Instruct the ignorant Spiritual ignorance: Ignorance of the core tenets, practices, and devotions of our faith. St. Paul says: “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The day of our baptism our parents received a candle lit from the paschal candle blessed during the Easter Vigil. This candle represents the light of faith, that must be passed on, share and experienced in the domestic church we call the Family. As mature Catholics we have a responsibility to grow in the knowledge of our faith’s teachings but also to share this knowledge with the world at large. Jesus commanded his disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19
Instruct the Ignorant Spiritual Indifference is the result of a faith that was not nourished or mentored. John Paul II in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio highlights the fundamental role of parents and mentors and nurturers of faith. The pope says: “Christian marriage and the Christian family build up the Church: for in the family the human person is not only brought into being and progressively introduced by means of education into the human community, but by means of the rebirth of baptism and education in the faith the child is also introduced into God’s family, which is the Church.”
Instruct the ignorant As practicing Catholics it is our duty to assist those who are struggling with their spiritual lives and crisis of faith. Practical tips: A. Be a role model of faith B. Attend Church with your children on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, young people learn by example. Consistency is key the learning process. C. Learn more about your faith’s teachings. Each day make it a project to teach your children, a friend, stranger, or relative something new about your faith. Sharing is learning. D. Enroll your kids in a Catholic school. If this is not possible, enroll them in the CCD classes of your parish program. CCD stands for confraternity of Christian Doctrine. E. Pray as a family. A family that prays together remains together. Teach your kids about the word of God, and the customs of our Catholic faith.
2. Counsel the Doubtful :
Counsel the Doubtful We all experience confusions and doubts in our human journey. We all know someone discerning a difficult choice. The Holy Spirit has filled us with his gifts to assist those in need of good advise. There are people who tell us what we like to hear and there are those who tell us what we need to hear. Giving Good advise is an act of charity and justice. Knowingly, giving bad advise is an offense against love and justice.
3. Admonish The Sinner :
Admonish The Sinner “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Luke 17:3 Maybe you have a son that is using illegal drugs or a friend that is cheating on his or her spouse or a co-worker that tends to drink and drive. As Christians we have the duty to announce good news but also to denounce sin, injustice and evil. Keeping silence lead us to the sin of omission. The things we could have done or the words we could have said but didn’t. We have the moral duty to offer fraternal correction to our brothers and sisters. “Silence gives consent”. Saying and Hearing the truth can be hurtful at times. However, We should not be afraid to speak the truth and correct others when they do wrong. By taking a stand we may save them from greater catastrophes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not afraid of speaking the truth about social injustice at a time in American history when most Christians kept silence about racism and social inequality.
4. Comfort the Sorrowful :
Comfort the Sorrowful Taking the time to listen, or maybe writing a few words of encouragement, or just simply being present to someone in pain can make a big difference in the life of someone experiencing sorrow and grief. Christ our Lord is the perfect example of Compassion. “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 Mother Teresa spent almost 40 years ministering to sick, lonely ,hungry and dying in the slums of Calcutta India. She insisted on small things done with great love produce big results. As Christians we are compelled to reach with compassion to those in our world who are hurting. Who are the poor among us? What is our response to them?
5. Forgive Injuries :
Forgive Injuries Gandhi once said: “an eye for an eye make this world blind”. We all have made mistakes in the past. And we all have been hurt by someone in the past. Our faith challenges us to forgive and to seek forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the most powerful liberating human experiences. Ironically, forgiveness is at the same time one of the most difficult acts to offer. As Christians we are called to forgive seventy times seven meaning, “always”. Matthew 18: 21-22 In 1981 Pope John Paul II was shot four times by a Turkish national in St. Peter square. The Pope was badly injured by the bullets, undergoing a five hour, life threatening surgery, in Rome. Despite, this attempt on his life and despite the physical injuries resulted as a consequence of the attack, the Pope decided to forgive and meet his attacker. The pope forgave Mehmet Ali Agca and met him in his Italian prison cell in 1983.
6. Bear Wrongs Patiently :
Bear Wrongs Patiently Impatience, anger, negativity, revenge, are all reactions deeply ingrained in human nature. We all have been tempted, time and time again, to react negatively to the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon us by others. Who hasn’t been cut off in traffic or discriminated against in one way or another? Who hasn’t dealt with a rude person or an annoying personality? Christ is our example of patience, he carried his cross, a symbol of injustice, death, hatred, and apathy with patience. Like Christ, we must also carry our cross patiently in a world that is often unfair, indifferent, violent and rude. Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years confined in a prison cell in Robben Island and Pollsmoor prison for fighting apartheid, racial discrimination in South Africa. Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. Soon after his release Mandela began advocating reconciliation and political dialogue with the political opposition. Nelson Mandela received the Nobel peace prize in 1993 and became the first black president of South Africa on May 10, 1994. In an act of good will and reconciliation Mandela invited the guards of his prison to the ceremony of inauguration. Pray for those who discourage us Pray for those who put us down Pray for those who do us violence Pray for those who are unfair to us.
7. Pray for the Living and the dead :
Pray for the Living and the dead In the catacomb of Priscilla 5th century there is this inscription by an early Christian: “I implore you, brothers to pray whenever you come here and invoke the Father and Son in all your prayers so that they might save Agape (the person in the tomb) forever” Catholics believe that we belong to one body that of Christ Rom 12:5. We also believe that we can pray for others in this life and in the life to come. Because the unity of the body of Christ is not fractured or separated by death. Praying for the living and the dead is part of our Judeo-Christian tradition. To this day devout Jews pray for the dead. Christianity inherited this practice from the people of the Old Covenant. Jesus prayed for his disciples, likewise we should also pray for others specially: The poor The homeless Those who find life difficult Those who are trapped by hatred and injustice Those who are victims of hunger, war, and social injustice Those who have no one to pray for them. Those souls in purgatory awaiting the beatific vision. Inscription in Christian catacomb, requesting Prayers for the dead. 5th century
Serenity Prayer :
Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen. For more presentation please visit: http://www.slideshare.net/pcuadra/slideshows | <urn:uuid:825e13b4-9cc9-458e-89d7-80e2419102b3> | {
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THE FIBONACCI SERIES
by Nikhat Parveen, UGA
Introduction to Fibonacci
The Fibonacci Series is a sequence of numbers first created by Leonardo Fibonacci (fi-bo-na-chee) in 1202. It is a deceptively simple series, but its ramifications and applications are nearly limitless. It has fascinated and perplexed mathematicians for over 700 years, and nearly everyone who has worked with it has added a new piece to the Fibonacci puzzle, a new tidbit of information about the series and how it works. Fibonacci mathematics is a constantly expanding branch of number theory, with more and more people being drawn into the complex subtleties of Fibonacci's legacy.
§ Fibonacci in Sequence or Numbers
§ Fibonacci in Nature
§ Fibonacci and Phi
|| Table of Contents || Next Page || References || | <urn:uuid:e9dfaef2-8c39-4ff8-8721-e04ec794db9b> | {
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Not only is artemisinin one of the most important drugs in our arsenal for fighting diseases globally – it is also the most interesting. A derivative of the wormwood plant, artemisinin’s anti-malarial properties were discovered thanks in part to the Vietnam war and Mao Zedong. The history of this drug reads more like an excerpt in the history of international relations rather than the history of medicine. Due to resistance that developed to quinine, artemisinin – in combination with other medicines – has become the drug of choice in most countries against malaria today.
In particular during the early years of the scale up of big-push initiatives to address malaria, the fact that we needed to cultivate and harvest wormwood plants in order to produce artemisinin was rate limiting and an unpredictable process. Demand outstripped supply and supply could be unreliable due to factors such as the weather. In addition, the long lead time and intensity of the cultivation process continues to contribute to the relatively higher costs of ACTs today.
It seems that this is about to change. I learned that as of today, and thanks to the efforts of PATH’s OneWorld Health, Sanofi, and other partners, we now have the ability to produce synthetic versions of artemisinin which can be produced in about 3 months, can be more readily scaled, and can be produced in a much more controlled fashion. This is a remarkable milestone in the fascinating history of this drug.
I’ve heard others say that a Nobel prize should be awarded to recognize the importance of the discovery of this drug – which has done so much to improve human health. It now seems that a new chapter, and new players, might also get to share in this prize if that in fact occurs.Share on Facebook | <urn:uuid:bee418d0-d8be-4121-85b8-602dcaa0fc30> | {
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This is a piece of history I wish I could’ve incorporated into Beaufort 1849 but the timing just wouldn’t work.
Robert Smalls began his life in 1839 in a slave cabin in Beaufort. In his teens he was sent to Charleston and hired out to work for wages that his owner would collect, a not uncommon practice. He worked in a hotel, as a lamplighter and then on the wharves and docks of Charleston. He married, had children, and eventually worked his way up to a wheelman, learning to pilot the Charleston harbor. Though undeniably constrained by the realties of slavery, his life had much more scope for initiative and resourcefulness than the average slave.
Now comes the exciting part. During the Civil War, Smalls was assigned as wheelman on the steamer, Planter, an armed dispatch and transport boat used by the Confederacy. On the night of May 13, 1862, the white crew decided to spend the night on shore, probably to amuse themselves with the distractions Charleston had to offer. Robert Smalls and the seven other slave crewmen took the opportunity to strike. With a Confederate flag flying and Smalls dressed in a captain’s uniform, at 3 a.m. Smalls backed the boat out of her slip and made way to a nearby wharf where the families of Smalls and other crew members were hiding in wait. After loading the contraband passengers, Smalls brazenly chugged the boat past the five Confederate forts guarding the harbor. Then, taking down the Confederate flag and hoisting a white sheet in its stead, he made a beeline for the blockading Federal fleet just beyond. Luckily the first US Navy ship he encountered noticed the sheet moments before it was set to open fire on the renegade vessel.
Smalls turned Planter over to the U.S. Navy, along with its cargo of artillery and explosives. Even more valuable, he handed over a codebook that revealed Confederacy secret signals and placement of mines and torpedoes around Charleston harbor. In addition, due to his comprehensive familiarity with the area, Smalls was able to offer extensive information about the harbor’s defenses.
The North was delighted! Smalls was an overnight hero and media sensation in Northern papers. Congress passed a bill awarding Smalls and the other seven crewmen $1500 in prize money for the captured vessel. Two weeks after the daring escape Smalls even met Abraham Lincoln himself, who was impressed by Smalls’s account of his exploits. Smalls’s deeds became a major argument for allowing African Americans to serve in the Union Army, and Smalls himself served as a pilot for the Union forces. In 1863 Smalls became the first black Captain of a vessel in the service of the United States.
This is just the beginning of Smalls’s accomplishments, but the rest will have to wait for another blog post. I’ll just observe that as much as Smalls was lauded by the North, he was in equal parts reviled by the South. In a war, one side’s hero is almost necessarily the other side’s varlet. | <urn:uuid:0f58a4f2-7b91-47d9-adf4-f62baeed9438> | {
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Center for Neuroscience Research
Sometimes children may have behavioral disorders linked to neurological conditions. To treat or prevent neurological and behavioral disorders in children, our Center for Neuroscience Research focuses on understanding the cellular development of the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord.
Researchers conduct basic and clinical research into some of childhood’s most well-known disorders, including autism, brain injury and recovery, Down syndrome, brain tumors, spina bifida and white matter diseases.
The Center for Neuroscience Research is home to many research programs that combine basic science, clinical and/or community programs, community research, behavioral medicine, developmental neuroscience and the developmental disabilities research center. There is also an advanced pediatric brain imaging research laboratory, and areas for cellular imaging, neurobehavioral and psychological evaluation and neuroimaging.
Several programs at the center provide services and support to every faculty member conducting research. Parents are included as a key part of the care team, valued for their input and feedback and encouraged to participate. We treat the whole child, paying attention to both his/her physical and emotional needs.
Investigators recruit volunteers for research studies on specific disorders, ranging from anxiety to epilepsy to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
To find a research study, search the national database, then submit an e-mail to begin the process of determining if your child qualifies for a research study. A researcher from Children's Research Institute will respond to your query within two business days. | <urn:uuid:a7dd40c7-9a60-441f-ad2c-fc8d028d6d42> | {
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